confutes your Maxim; and I hope to confute it too by my own Behaviour. Is the Carcafe the better Part of the Man? And is it to be valued by Weight, like that of Cattle in a Market?

Instead of this Lacedemonian Severity, those, who had the Care of my Infancy, fell into another Extreme; and, out of Tenderness, tried every Art to correct the Errors of Nature; but in vain : for (as, I think it is, Mr. Dryden fays)

God did not make bis Works for Man to mend.

When they could not do that, they endeavoured to conceal them; and taught me to be ashamed of my Perfon, instead of arming me with true Fortitude to despise any Ridicule or Contempt of it. This has caufed me much Uneafinefs in my younger Days; and it required many Years to conquer this Weaknefs, of which I hope now there are but little Remains left. This ill Management gave me too an infuperable Bashfulness; and although I have paffed the Course of my whole Life among the better Part of Mankind, I have always felt a Reluctance to produce a bad Figure, which may be fome Obftruction to a Man's Advancement in the World; but an Advantage in restraining his Fondness for it.

Unmerited Reflexions on a Man's Perfon are hard of Digestion. Men of Understanding have felt them. Even Mr. Pope was not invulnerable in this Part. For when the Dunces were foiled by his Writings, they printed a Caricatura of his Figure; and it is evident that this stung him more

than

than a better Anfwer; for [] he ranks it among the most atrocious Injuries. I never in my Life received the least Affront on this Head from any Gentleman I ever converfed with; or from any one who had the leaft Pretenfion to that Name: for I fhould be a Churl indeed, if I efteemed as fuch any little innocent Pleafantry of a Friend, which is rather an Inftance of fincere Kindness and Affection; and I should he unfit to fit at Table with him, should I refent his Congratulations on my emerging from an Eclipfe of a Surloin of Roaft-beef, or of a Bowl of Punch, that flood between us. But the Scene changes extremely when I get into a Mob, where Infolence grows in Proportion, as the Man finks in Condition; and where I can scarce pafs without hearing fome Affront. But I am now unmoved with that Scurrility, which used to affect me when I was young. Their Title of Lord I never much valued; and now I entirely defpife, and yet they will force it upon me as an Honour, which they have a Right to beftow, and which I have none to refufe. This a

bufe is grown into fuch a Habit with the Rabble, that an Irish Chairman often ufes it, when he afks me to take a Chair; and fometimes a Beggar, when he demands an Alms.

This Difference of Behaviour towards me hath given me the strongest Idea of the Force of Edu cation; and taught me to fet a right Value upon it. It is certainly the Stamp of a Man's Charac

[i] In his Epiftle to Dr. Arbuthnot are thefe Lines": The Morals blacken'd, when the Writings 'fcape, The libel'd Perfon, and the pictur'd Shape, &c.

ter :

:

ter it diftinguishes the bafe from the valuable Metal; and is the Barrier between the Mob and the civilized Part of Mankind. This Usage hath alfo been a great Advantage to me; for it hath made me (like [k] Horace) fly from the Vulgar to the Company and Converfation of my Superiors, where I am sure to be easy. I have ever enjoyed it; and though I want polite Qualities to recommend me, I cannot fay I was ever ill received by them. Moreover, thefe Abuses from my Inferiors often furnish me with generous Reflexions. I fometimes recollect the Expreffion of Brutus in Shakespear, "Your Words pass by me as the idle "Wind which I regard not:" at other Times a Saying (I think) of Socrates; "Shall I be angry "if an Afs kick at me? It is his Nature fo to do." [] But perfonal Reflexions of this kind are almost unknown among Perfons of high Rank. It must therefore be only a French Romance, that gave rife to the Report, that our great and glorious Deliverer once called Luxemburg crooked-back Fellow; who replied, that he could not know that he was fo, for he had never seen his Back.

When, by fome uncommon Accident, I have been drawn into a Country Fair, Cockpit, Beargarden, or the like riotous Affemblies, after I have got from them, I have felt the Pleasure of

Od. il. 3.

[k] Odi profanum vulgus, & arceo. [1] I might add another Bon Mot of Socrates; when afked, how he could bear the noife and Ill-manners of Xantippe he replied, They that live in a trading Street are not difturbed at the Paffage of Carts. See the Spectator, No 479.

one

one escaped from the Danger of a Wreck; for all the Time I am prefent, I confider myself as liable to Affront, without a Power of thewing any Refentment; which would expofe me to ten-fold Ridicule. Nor am I formed for a Masquerade; where fuch a Figure would foon be difcovered; nor escape Abufe from the lower Clafs, whom the Mask introduces to their Betters; and where all indulge a greater Liberty of Behaviour.

I always had an Averfion in my Childhood to Dancing-mafters; and ftudied all Evafions to avoid their Leffons, when they were forced upon me; for I was ever conscious to myfelf, what an untoward Subje&t they had to work on. I carried this a little too far; and have fometimes wished I had facrificed a little more to the Graces. The Neglect of this has left behind it an Aukwardness in fome Part of my outward Gesture and Behaviour; and I am fenfible, that I might, by Care and Habit, have corrected fome Things now grown inveterate; and that from a natural Diflike to Trifles, I neglected fome Forms too much.

Bodily Deformity is very rare; and therefore a Perfon fo diftinguished muft naturally think, that he has had ill Luck in a Lottery, where there are above a thousand Prizes to one Blank. Among 558 Gentlemen in the Houfe of Commons, I am the only one that is fo. Thanks to my worthy Constituents, who never objected to my Perfon; and I hope never to give them caufe to object, to my Behaviour. They are not like a venal Borough, of which there goes a Story; that, though they never took Exceptions to any Man's CharacVOL. I. E

ter,

ter, who came up to their Price; yet they once rejected the best Bidder, because he was a Negroe.

I never was, nor ever will be, a Member of the [m] Ugly Club; and I would advife thofe Gentlemen to meet no more: For though they may be a very ingenious and facetious Society; yet it draws the Eyes of the World too much up, son them, and theirs too much from the World. For who would choofe to be always looking at bad Pictures, when there is fo great a Collection to be met with of good ones, especially among the Fair Sex; who, if they will not admit them to bé Intimates, will permit them to be diftant Admirers. When deformed Perfons appear together, it doubles the Ridicule, because of the Similitude; as it does, when they are feen with very large Perfons, because of the Contraft. Let them therefore call Minerva to their Aid in both Cafes.

There are many Great and Tall Men, with whom I fhall always esteem it an Honour to converfe; and though their Eyes are placed in a much higher Parallel, they take care never to overlook me; and are always concerned, if, by Chance, they happen to ftrike my Hat with their Elbow. When standing or walking, we indeed find fome Difficulty in the Converfation; for they are obliged to stoop down, as in fearch of a Pin, while I am looking up, as if taking the Height of a Star with a Quadrant. And I own I fometimes use a little Policy, that the Contraft may not be too remarkable.

[m] Spectator, Numb, 17.

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