Letter No. 424. Monday, July 7, 1712. Steele
Back 'Est Ulubris, animus si te non deficit--'
Hor.
London, June 24.
Mr. Spectator,
'A man who has it in his Power to chuse his own Company, would
certainly be much to blame should he not, to the best of his Judgment,
take such as are of a Temper most suitable to his own; and where that
Choice is wanting, or where a Man is mistaken in his Choice, and yet
under a Necessity of continuing in the same Company, it will certainly
be to his Interest to carry himself as easily as possible.
'In this I am sensible I do but repeat what has been said a thousand
times, at which however I think no Body has any Title to take
Exception, but they who never failed to put this in Practice--Not to
use any longer Preface, this being the Season of the Year in which
great Numbers of all sorts of People retire from this Place of
Business and Pleasure to Country Solitude, I think it not improper to
advise them to take with them as great a Stock of Good-humour as they
can; for tho' a Country-Life is described as the most pleasant of all
others, and though it may in Truth be so, yet it is so only to those
who know how to enjoy Leisure and Retirement.
'As for those who can't live without the constant helps of Business or
Company, let them consider, that in the Country there is no
Exchange, there are no Play-houses, no Variety of Coffee-houses, nor
many of those other Amusements which serve here as so many Reliefs
from the repeated Occurrences in their own Families; but that there
the greatest Part of their Time must be spent within themselves, and
consequently it behoves them to consider how agreeable it will be to
them before they leave this dear Town.
'I remember, Mr. SPECTATOR, we were very well entertained last Year,
with the Advices you gave us from Sir ROGER'S Country Seat; which I
the rather mention, because 'tis almost impossible not to live
pleasantly, where the Master of a Family is such a one as you there
describe your Friend, who cannot therefore (I mean as to his domestick
Character) be too often recommended to the Imitation of others. How
amiable is that Affability and Benevolence with which he treats his
Neighbours, and every one, even the meanest of his own Family! And yet
how seldom imitated? instead of which we commonly meet with
ill-natured Expostulations, Noise, and Chidings--And this I hinted,
because the Humour and Disposition of the Head, is what chiefly
influences all the other Parts of a Family.
'An Agreement and kind Correspondence between Friends and
Acquaintance, is the greatest Pleasure of Life. This is an undoubted
Truth, and yet any Man who judges from the Practice of the World, will
be almost persuaded to believe the contrary; for how can we suppose
People should be so industrious to make themselves uneasie? What can
engage them to entertain and foment Jealousies of one another upon
every the least Occasion? Yet so it is, there are People who (as it
should seem) delight in being troublesome and vexatious, who (as
Tully speaks) Mira sunt alacritate ad litigandum, Have a certain
Chearfulness in wrangling. And thus it happens, that there are very
few Families in which there are not Feuds and Animosities, tho' 'tis
every one's Interest, there more particularly, to avoid 'em, because
there (as I would willingly hope) no one gives another Uneasiness,
without feeling some share of it--But I am gone beyond what I
designed, and had almost forgot what I chiefly proposed; which was,
barely to tell you, how hardly we who pass most of our Time in Town
dispense with a long Vacation in the Country, how uneasie we grow to
our selves and to one another when our Conversation is confined,
insomuch that by Michaelmas 'tis odds but we come to downright
squabbling, and make as free with one another to our Faces, as we do
with the rest of the World behind their Backs. After I have told you
this, I am to desire that you would now and then give us a Lesson of
Good-humour, a Family-Piece; which, since we are all very fond of you,
I hope may have some Influence upon us--
'After these plain Observations give me leave to give you an Hint of
what a Set of Company of my Acquaintance, who are now gone into the
Country, and have the Use of an absent Nobleman's Seat, have settled
among themselves, to avoid the Inconveniencies above mentioned. They
are a Collection of ten or twelve, of the same good Inclination
towards each other, but of very different Talents and Inclinations:
From hence they hope, that the Variety of their Tempers will only
create Variety of Pleasures. But as there always will arise, among the
same People, either for want of Diversity of Objects, or the like
Causes, a certain Satiety, which may grow into ill Humour or
Discontent, there is a large Wing of the House which they design to
employ in the Nature of an Infirmary. Whoever says a peevish thing, or
acts any thing which betrays a Sowerness or Indisposition to Company,
is immediately to be conveyed to his Chambers in the Infirmary; from
whence he is not to be relieved, till by his Manner of Submission, and
the Sentiments expressed in his Petition for that Purpose, he appears
to the Majority of the Company to be again fit for Society. You are to
understand, that all ill-natured Words or uneasie Gestures are
sufficient Cause for Banishment; speaking impatiently to Servants,
making a Man repeat what he says, or any thing that betrays
Inattention or Dishumour, are also criminal without Reprieve: But it
is provided, that whoever observes the ill-natured Fit coming upon
himself, and voluntarily retires, shall be received at his return from
the Infirmary with the highest Marks of Esteem. By these and other
wholesome Methods it is expected that if they cannot cure one another,
yet at least they have taken Care that the ill Humour of one shall not
be troublesome to the rest of the Company. There are many other Rules
which the Society have established for the Preservation of their Ease
and Tranquility, the Effects of which, with the Incidents that arise
among them, shall be communicated to you from Time to Time for the
publick Good, by,
SIR,
Your most humble Servant,
R. O.
T.
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