Thofe, who are converfant in the writings of polite Authors, receive an additional entertainment from the Country, as it revives in their memories those charming defcriptions, with which fuch Authors do frequently abound. I I was thinking of the foregoing beautiful fimilè in Milton, and applying it to myfelf, when I obferved to the windward of me a black cloud falling to the earth in long trails of rain, which made me betake myself for fhelter to a houfe, which I faw at a little distance from the place where I was walking. As I fat in the porch, I heard the voices of two or three perfons, who feemed very earnest in difcourfe. My curiofity was raifed when I heard the names of Alexander the Great and Artaxerxès; and as their talk feemed to run on ancient heroes, I concluded there could not be any fecret in it; for which reafon I thought I might very fairly liften to what they faid. After feveral parallels between great men, which appeared to me altogether groundlefs and chimerical," I was furprized to hear one fay, That he valued the Black Prince more than the Duke of Vendofme. How the Duke of Vendofme fhould become a rival of the Black Prince, I could not conceive: And was more ftartled when I heard a fecond affirm with great vehemence, that if the Emperor of Germany was not going off, he fhould like him better than either of them. He added, That though the feafon was fo changeable, the Duke of Marlborough was in blooming beauty. I was wondering to myself from whence they had received this odd intelligence; efpecially when I heard them mention the names of feveral other great Generals, as the Prince of Hesse, and the King of Sweden, who, they faid, were both running away. To which they added, what I entirely agreed with them in, That the crown of France was very weak, but that the Marfhal Villars ftill kept his colours. At laft one of them told the company, if they would go along with him, he would fhew them a chimney-fweeper and a painted lady in the fame bed, which he was fure would very much pleafe them. The fhower, which had driven them as well as myself into the houfe, was now over: And as they were paffing by me into the garden, I asked them to let me be one of their company. The Gentleman of the house told me, if I delighted in flowers, it would be worth my while; for that he believed he could fhew me fuch a blow of tulips, as was pot to be matched in the whole country. I accepted the offer, and immediately found that they had been talking in terms of gardening, and that the Kings and Generals they had mentioned were only fo many tulips, to which the gardeners, according to their ufual cuftom, had given fuch high titles and appellations of honour. I was very much pleafed and aftonished at the glorious fhow of these gay vegetables, that arofe in great profufion on all the banks about us. Sometimes I confidered them with the eye of an ordinary spectator, as fo many beautiful objects varnished over with a natural gloss, and ftained with fuch a variety of colours, as are not to be equalled in any artificial dyes or tinctures. Sometimes I confidered every leaf as an elaborate piece of tiffue, in which the threads and fibres were woven together into different configurations, which gave a different colouring to the light as it glanced on the feveral parts of the furface. Sometimes I confidered the whole bed of tulips, according to the notion of the greatest mathematician and philofopher that ever lived *, as a multitude · of optic inftruments, defigned for the feparating light into all thofe various colours of which it is compofed. I was awakened out of thefe my philofophical speculations, by obferving, the company often feemed to laugh at me. I accidentally praifed a tulip as one of the finest I ever faw; upon which they told me, it was a common Fool's Coat. Upon that I praised a fecond, which it feems was but another kind of Fool's Coat. I had the fame fate with two or three more; for which reafon I defired the owner of the garden to let me know, which were the fineft of the flowers; for that I was fo unfkilful in the art, that I thought the most beautiful were the most valuable, and that thofe which had the gayeft colours were the most beautiful. The Gentleman fmiled at my ignorance: He feemed a very plain honest Sir Ifaac Newton, man, man, and a perfon of good fenfe, had not his head been touched with that distemper which Hippocrates calls the Termopana, Tulippomania; infomuch, that he would talk very rationally on any fubject in the world but a tulip. He told me, that he valued the bed of flowers which lay before us, and was not above twenty yards in length and two in breadth, more than he would the beft hundred acres of land in England; and added, that it would have been worth twice the money it is, if a foolish cookmaid of his had not almost ruined him the last winter, by miftaking a handful of tulip-roots for an heap of onions, and by that means, fays he, made me a dish of porridge, that coft me above a thousand pounds fterling. He then fhewed me what he thought the fineft of his tulips, which I found received all their value from their rarity and oddnefs, and put me in mind of your great fortunes, which are not always the greatest Beauties. I have often looked upon it as a piece of happiness, that I have never fallen into any of thefe fantastical taftes, nor esteemed any thing the more for its being uncom mon and hard to be met with. For this reason, I look upon the whole Country in fpring-time as a fpacious garden, and make as many vifits to a spot of daifies, or a bank of violets, as a florift does to his borders or par terres. There is not a bush in bloffom within a mile of me which I am not acquainted with, nor fcarce a daffodil or cowflip that withers away in my neighbourhood without my miffing it. I walked home in this temper of mind through feveral fields and meadows with an unfpeakable pleasure, not without reflecting on the bounty of Providence, which has made the moft pleafing and moft beautiful objects the most ordinary and moft com mon. Saturday, N° 219. Saturday, September 2, 1710. Solutos Qui captat rifus hominum, famamque dicacis Who trivial burfts of laughter ftrives to raife, FRANCIS. From my own Apartment, September 1. EVER were men fo perplexed as a felect com pany of us were this evening with a couple of profeffed Wits, who, through our ill fortune, and their own confidence, had thought fit to pin themfelves upon a Gentleman who had owned to them, that he was going to meet fuch and fuch perfons, and named us one by one. Thefe pert puppies immediately refolved to come with him; and from the beginning to the end of the night entertained each other with impertinences, to which we were perfect ftrangers. I am come home very much tired; for the affliction was so irksome to me, that it furpaffes all other I ever knew, infomuch that I cannot reflect upon this forrow with pleasure, though it is past. An eafy manner of converfation is the most defirable quality a man can have; and for that reafon, Coxcombs will take upon them to be familiar with people whom they never faw before. What adds to the vexation of it, is, that they will act upon the foot of knowing you by fame; and rally with you, as they call it, by repeating what your enemies fay of you; and court you, as they 115 think, by uttering to your face, at a wrong time, all the kind things your friends fpeak of you in your ab fence. Thefe people are the more dreadful, the more they have of what is ufually called Wit: For a lively imagi nation, when it is not governed by a good understanding, makes fuch miferable havock both in converfation and business, that it lays you defenceless, and fearful to throw the leaft word in its way, that may give it new matter for its further errors. Tom Mercet has as quick a fancy as any one living; but there is no reasonable man can bear him half an hour. His purpofe is to entertain, and it is of no confequence to him what is faid, fo it be what is called well faid; as if a man must bear a wound with patience, because he that pushed at you came up with a good air and mien. That part of life which we fpend in company is the most pleasing of all our moments; and therefore I think our behaviour in it should have its laws, as well as the part of our Being which is generally efteemed thet more important. From hence it is, that from long experience I have made it a maxim, That however we may pretend to take fatisfaction in fprightly mirth and high jollity, there is no great pleafure in any company where the basis of the fociety is not mutual good-will. When this is in the room, every trifling circumftance, the most minute accident, the abfurdity of a fervant, the repetition of an old story, the look of a man when he is telling it, the most indifferent and the most ordinary oc currences, are matters which produce mirth and good humour. I went to spend an hour after this manner with fome friends, who enjoy it in perfection whenever they meet, when those destroyers above-mentioned came in upon us. There is not a man among them who has any notion of distinction of fuperiority to one another, either in their fortunes or their talents, when they are in company. Or if any reflection to the contrary occurs in their thoughts, it only ftrikes a delight upon their minds, that fo much wisdom and power is in poffeffion of one whom they love and eleem. In thefe my Lucubrations, I have frequently dwelt upon this one topic. The above maxim would make fhort |