men of his own profession, and very often undertakes to become an advocate, upon condition that some one of these his favourites might be joined with him, in order to produce the merit of such whose modesty would otherwise have suppressed it. It may seem very marvellous to a saucy modern, that Multum sanguinis, multum verecundiæ, multum sollicitudinis in ore; To have the face first full of blood, then the countenance dashed with modesty, and then the whole aspect as of one dying of fear, when a man begins to speak;' should be esteemed by Pliny the necessary qualifications of a fine speaker. Shakspeare also has expressed himself in the same favourable strain of modesty when he says: "In the modesty of fearful duty I read as much as from the rattling tongue "Now, since these authors have professed themselves for the modest man, even in the utmost confusion of speech and countenance, why should an intrepid utterance and a resolute vociferation thunder so successfully in our courts of justice? And why should that confidence of speech and behaviour which seems to acknowledge no superior, and to defy all contradiction, prevail over that deference and resignation with which the modest man implores that favourable opinion which the other seems to command? As the case at present stands, the best consolation that I can administer to those who can not get into that stroke of business, (as the phrase is) which they deserve, is to reckon every particular acquisition of knowledge in this study, as a real increase of their fortune; and fully to believe that one day this imaginary gain will certainly be made out by one more substantial. I wish you would talk to us a little on this head, you would oblige, sir, your humble servant.' The author of this letter is certainly a man of good sense: but I am perhaps particular in my opinion on this occasion; for I have observed, that under the notion of modesty, men have indulged themselves in a spiritless sheepishness, and been forever lost to themselves, their families, their friends, and their country. When a man has taken care to pretend to nothing but what he may justly aim at, and can execute as well as any other, without injustice to any other, it is ever want of breeding or courage to be browbeaten or elbowed out of his honest ambition. I have said often, modesty must be an act of the will, and yet it always implies self-denial; for if a man has an ardent desire to do what is laudable for him to perform, and from an unmanly bashfulness, shrinks away, and lets his merit languish in silence, he ought not to be angry at the world, that a more unskilful actor succeeds in his part, because he has not confidence to come upon the stage himself. The generosity my correspondent mentions of Pliny can not be enough applauded. To cherish the dawn of merit and hasten its maturity, was a work worthy a noble Roman and a liberal scholar. That concern which is described in the letter is to all the world the greatest charm imaginable; but then the modest man must proceed, and show a latent resolution in himself; for the admiration of his modesty arises from the manifestation of his merit. I must confess we live in an age wherein a few empty blusterers carry away the praise of speaking, while a crowd of fellows overstocked with knowledge are run down by them: I say overstocked, because they certainly are so as to their service of mankind, if from their very store they raise to themselves ideas of respect, and greatness of the occasion, and I know not what, to disable themselves from explaining their thoughts. I must confess, when I have seen Charles Frankair rise up with a commanding mien, and torrent of handsome words, talk a mile off the purpose, and drive down twenty bashful boobies of ten times his sense, who at the same time were envying his impudence, and despising his understanding, it has been matter of great mirth to me; but it soon ended in a secret lamentation, that the fountains of every thing praiseworthy in these realms, the universities should be so muddled with a false sense of this virtue, as to produce men capable of being so abused. I will be bold to say, that it is a ridiculous education which does not qualify a man to make his best appearance before the greatest man and the finest woman to whom he can address himself. Were this judiciously corrected in the nurseries of learning, pert coxcombs would know their distance: but we must bear with this false modesty in our young nobility and gentry, till they cease at Oxford and Cambridge to grow. dumb in the study of eloquence. STEELE * * See Nos. 206, 242, 350, 373, 390, 400, and 454. T. No. 485. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16. Nihil tam firmum est, cui periculum non sit etiam ab invalido. QUINT. CURT. The strongest things are in danger even from the weakest. 'MR. SPECTATOR, "My lord Clarendon has observed, "that few men have done more harm than those who have been thought to be able to do least; and there can not be a greater error, than to believe a man whom we see qualified with too mean parts to do good, to be therefore incapable of doing hurt. There is a supply of malice, of pride, of industry, and even of folly in the weakest, when he sets his heart upon it, that makes a strange progress in mischief." What may seem to the reader the greatest paradox in the reflection of the historian, is, I suppose that folly, which is generally thought incapable of contriving or executing any design, should be so formidable to those whom it exerts itself to molest. But this will appear very plain, if we remember that Solomon says, "It is sport to a fool to do mischief;" and that he might the more emphatically express the calamitous circumstances of him who falls under the displeasure of this wanton person, the same author adds further, that "a stone is heavy, and the sand weighty, but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both." It is impossible to suppress my own illustration upon this matter, which is, that as the man, of sagacity bestirs himself to distress his enemy by methods probable and reducible to reason, so the same reason will fortify his enemy to elude these his regular efforts; but your fool projects, acts, and concludes with such notable inconsistency, that no regular course of thought can evade or counterplot his prodigious machinations. My frontispiece, I believe, may be extended to imply, that several of our misfortunes arise from things as well as persons, that seem of very little consequence. Into what tragical extravagances does Shakspeare hurry Othello upon the loss of a handkerchief only? and what barbarities does Desdemona suffer from a slight inadvertency in regard to this fatal trifle? If the schemes of all enterprising spirits were to be carefully examined, some intervening accident, not considerable enough to occasion any debate upon, or give them any apprehension of ill consequences from it, will be found to be the occasion of their ill success, rather than any error in points of moment and difficulty, which naturally engaged their maturest deliberations. If you go to the levee of any great man, you will observe him exceeding gracious to several very insignificant fellows: and upon this maxim, that the neglect of any person must arise from the mean opinion you must have of his capacity to do you any service or prejudice; and that this calling his sufficiency in question must give him inclination, and where this is, there never wants strength or opportunity to annoy you. There is nobody so weak of invention, that can not aggravate or make some little stories to villify his enemy; and there are very few but have good inclinations to hear them, and it is infinite pleasure to the majority of mankind to level a person superior to his neighbours. Besides, in all mat |