'carded as foon as a proper Person is found out to fill up my Place.

IF you have ever been in the Play-houfe before the Curtain rifes, you see most of the front Boxes ⚫ filled with Men of my Family, who forthwith turn out, and refign their Stations upon the Appearance of thofe for whom they are retained.

BUT the most illuftrious Branch of the Blanks are those who are planted in high Posts, 'till fuch ⚫ time as Perfons of greater Confequence can be found out to fupply them. One of these Blanks is equally qualified for all Offices; he can ferve in time of • Need for a Soldier, a Politician, a Lawyer, or what you pleafe. I have known in my Time many a • Brother Blank that has been born under a lucky Planet, heap up_great Riches, and swell into a Man of Figure and Importance, before the Grandees of his Party could agree among themselves which of them fhould ftep into his Place: Nay, I have known a Blank continue fo long in one of these vacant Pofts, (for fuch it is to be reckoned all the Time a Blank is in it) that he has grown too formidable and dangerous to be removed.

BUT to return to my felf. Since I am so very • commodious a Perfon, and fo very neceffary in all well-regulated Governments, I defire you will take my Cafe into Confideration, that I may be no longer • made a Tool of, and only employed to ftop a Gap. Such Ufage, without a Pun, makes me look very blank. For all which Reasons I humbly recommend my felf to your Protection, and am

Your most obedient Servant,

Blank.

P. S. I herewith fend you a Paper, drawn up by a Country-Attorney employed by two Gentlemen, whofe Names he was not acquainted with, and who did not think fit to let him into the Secret which they were tranfacting. I heard him call it a Blank Inftrument, and read it after the following Manner.

. You

You may fee by this single Inftance of what Ufe I am to the bufy World.

I T. Blank, Efq; of Blank Town, in the County of Blank, do own my felf indebted in the Sum of Blank to • Goodman Blank, for the Service he did me in procuring for me the Goods following, Blank: And I do hereby promife the faid Blank to pay unto him the faid Sum of Blank, on the Blank Day of the Month of Blank next enfuing, under the Penalty and Forfeiture of Blank.

I fhall take Time to confider the Cafe of this my imaginary Correfpondent, and in the mean while fhall prefent my Reader with a Letter which feems to come from a Perfon that is made of Flesh and Blood,

Good Mr. SPECTATOR,

'I A

Am married to a very honeft Gentleman that is exceedingly good-natured, and at the fame time very cholerick. There is no ftanding before ⚫ him when he is in a Paffion; but as foon as it is over he is the best-humour'd Creature in the World When he is angry, he breaks all my China Ware that chances to lie in his Way, and the next Morning fends me in twice as much as he broke the Day before. I may pofitively fay, that he has broke me a Child's Fortune fince we were first marry'd toge⚫ther.

AS foon as he begins to fret, down goes every thing that is within Reach of his Cane. I once prevailed upon him never to carry a Stick in his Hand, but this faved me nothing; for upon feeing me do fomething that did not please him, he kick down a great Jarr, that coft him above Ten Pound but the Week before. I then laid the Fragments together in a Heap, and gave him his Cane again, defiring him that if he chanced to be in Anger, he would spend his Paffion upon the China that was broke to his Hand: But the very next Day upon my giving a wrong Meffage to one of the Servants,

he flew into fuch a Rage, that he swept down a • Dozen Tea-Dishes, which, to my Misfortune, flood very convenient for a Side Blow.

I then removed all my China into a Room which ⚫he never frequents; but I got nothing by this neither, for my Looking-Glaffes immediately went to • Rack.

.IN fhort, Sir, whenever he is in a Paffion he is angry at every thing that is brittle; and if on fuch Occafion he had nothing to vent his Rage upon, I do not know whether my Bones would be in Safety. Let me beg of you, Sir, to let me know whether there be any Cure for this unaccountable Diftemper; or if not, that you will be pleased to publifh this Letter: For my Husband having a great Veneration for your Writings, will by that Means know you do not approve of his Conduct.

I am,

Your most humble Servant, &c.

N° 56

Wednesday, July 7.

Adfit

Regula, peccatis qua pœnas irroget aquas:
Ne Scutica dignum horribile fectere flagello.

Hor.

T is the Work of a Philofopher to be every Day fubduing his Paffions, and laying afide his Prejudices. I endeavour at least to look upon Men and their Actions only as an impartial Spectator, without any Regard to them as they happen to advance or crofs my own private Intereft. But while I am thus employed my felf, I cannot help obferving, how these about me fuffer themselves to be blinded by Prejudice and Inclination, how readily they pronounce to every Man's Character, which they can give in two Words, and make him either good for nothing, or qualified for every thing. On the contrary, thofe who fearch thoroughly

thoroughly into humane Nature, will find it much more difficult to determine the Value of their FellowCreatures, and that Mens Characters are not thus to be given in general Words. There is indeed no fuch thing as a Perfon entirely good or bad; Virtue and Vice are blended and mixed together, in a greater or lefs Proportion, in every one and if you would fearch for fome particular good Quality in its moft eminent Degree of Perfection, you will often find it in a Mind, where it is darkened and eclipfed by an hundred other irregular Paffions.

MEN have either no Character at all, fays a celebrated Author, or it is that of being inconfiftent with themselves. They find it easier to join Extremities, than to be uniform and of a Piece. This is finely il luftrated in Xenophon's Life of Cyrus the Great. That Author tells us, That Cyrus having taken a most beautiful Lady, named Panthea, the Wife of Abradatas, committed her to the Cuftody of Arafpas, a young Perfian Nobleman, who had a little before maintain'd in Difcourfe, That a Mind truly virtuous was incapable of entertaining an unlawful Paffion. The young Gentleman had not long been in Poffeffion of his fair Captive, when a Complaint was made to Cyrus, that he not only follicited the Lady Panthea to receive him in the Room of her abfent Husband, but that finding his Entreaties had no Effect, he was preparing to make ufe of Force. Cyrus, who loved the young Man, immediately fent for him, and in a gentle Manner reprefenting to him his Fault, and putting him in mind of his former Affertion, the unhappy Youth, confounded with a quick Sente of his Guilt and Shame burst out into a Flood of Tears, and fpoke as follows.

OH Cyrus, I am convinced that I have two Souls. Love has taught me this Piece of Philofophy. If I had but one Soul, it could not at the fame time pant after Virtue and Vie, wih and abhor the fame thing. It is certain therefore we have two Souls: When the good Soul rules, I undertake noble and virtuous Actions; but when the bad Soul predominates, I am forced to do Evil, All

I can say at present is, that I find my good Soul, encou raged by your Prefence, has got the Better of my bad.

I know not whether my Readers will allow of this Piece of Philofophy; but if they will not, they muft confefs we meet with as different Paffions in one and the fame Soul, as can be fuppofed in two. We can hardly read the Life of a great Man who lived in former Ages, or converse with any who is eminent among our Contemporaries, that is not an Inftance of what I am faying.

BUT as I have hitherto only argued against the Partiality and Injuftice of giving our Judgment upon Men in grofs, who are fuch a Compofition of Virtues and Vices, of Good and Evil; I might carry this Reflection ftill farther, and make it extend to most of their Actions. If on the one Hand, we fairly weighed every Circumftance, we fhould frequently find them obliged to do that Action we at first Sight condemn, in order to avoid another we fhould have been much more difpleafed with. If on the other Hand we nicely examined fuch Actions as appear more dazzling to the Eye, we fhould find most of them either deficient and lame in feveral Parts, produced by a bad Ambition, or directed to an ill End. The very fame Action may fometimes be fo oddly circumflanced, that it is difficult to determine whether it ought to be rewarded or punished. Those who compiled the Laws of England were fo fenfible of this, that they have laid it down as one of their firft Maxims, It is better Suffering a Mifchief, than an Inconvenience, which is as much as to fay in other Words, That fince no Law can take in or provide for all Cafes, it is better private Men fhould have fome Injustice done them, than that a publick Grievance fhould not be redreffed. This is ufually pleaded in Defence of all thofe Hardships which fall on particular Perfons in particular Occasions, which could not be forefeen when a Law was made. To remedy this however as much as poffible, the Court of Chancery was erected, which frequently mitigates and breaks the Teeth of the Common

Law,