Timidity of Guilt. King John. Come hither, Hubert. O my gentle Hubert, We owe thee much; within this wall of flesh There is a foul, counts thee her creditor, And with advantage means to pay thy love ; And, my good friend, thy voluntary oath King John. Good friend, thou haft no But thou fhalt have; and creep time ne'er fo flow, Yet it fhall come, for me to do thee good. Attended with the pleafures of the world, Sound one unto the drowsy race of night; If this fame were a churchyard where we ftand, And thou poffeffed with a thousand Though that my death were adjunct to my act, And ftrain their cheeks to idle merriment eyes, By heaven, I would do it. King John. Do not I know, thou would it? Good Hubert, Hubert, Hubert, throw thine eye Hear me without thine ears, and make reply On yon young boy: I'll tell thee what, my friend, Without a tongue, using conceit [conception] alone, Without eyes, ears, and harmful found of words; He is a very ferpent in my way; And, wherefoe'er this foot of mine doth tread, He lies before me. Doft thou understand 'me? Thou art his keeper. Hubert. And I'll keep him fo, That he fhall not offend your majesty. King John. Death. Hubert. My lord? King John. A grave. Hubert. So well, that what you bid me undertake, Hubert. He fhall not live. I could be merry now: Hubert, I love thee; Well, I not fay what I intend for thee: Remember. Lord Kames has obferved, that Nature which gave us paffions, and moderate, intended undoubtedly that made them extremely beneficial when they fhould be fubjected to the government of reafon and confcience. It is therefore against the order of naLure, that paffion in any cafe fhould take the lead in contradiction to reafon and confcience: fuch a ftate of mind is a fort of anarchy, which every one is afhamed of, and endeavours to hide or diffemble. Hence a capital rule in the representation of immoderate paffions, that they ought to be hid or diffembled as much as poffible. And this holds, in an efpecial manner, with refpect to criminal paffions: one never counfels the commiffion of a crime in plain terms: guilt must not appear in its native colours, even in thought the propofal must be made by hints, and by representing the action in fome favourable light. There never was drawn a more complete picture of this kind, than the above murder the young prince Arthur; of king John foliciting Hubert to and, in the Tempelt, Shakspeare has given another beautiful example of it, Lord Kames having obferved, that imagery and figurative expreffion are dilcordant, in the highest degree, with the agony of a mother deprived of her fon, quotes the first fix lines of Conftance's speech as an example, in course, in a bad tafte. But is not this an hypercriticifm? How natural is it for the mind to be inc. fiantly contemplating the beloved object it has loft; to recall it to mind in every place, in every action, in every poffible ideal form; till imagination, if left to itself, would fcarce fee any other object, and would become literally fond of grief?' The tender offices of friendhip fhould indeed be employed, after a time, to divert the afflicted mind to other objects; while piety and good fenfe in the fufferer will at laft intervene, till the healing balm of time can work with more powerful efficacy, and the violence of the first emotions fubfide gradually into the tenderness of regret and the gentleness of refignation. Still, however, the first violent emotions produce the effects which our author has fo judicioully put into the mouth of Conftance, The lines in Italic contain a fentiment which great forrow always dictates. Whoever cannot help himself, calls his eyes on others for affiftance, and often mistakes their inability for coldness. Of the last three lines let every mother judge. a deed of fhame, This murder had not come into my mind: And thou, to be endeared to a king, King John. Hadft thou but shook thy me break off, And those thy fears might have wrought fears in me : But thou didst understand me by my figns, fent, There are many touches of nature, fays Dr. Johnson, in this conference of John with Hubert. A man engaged in wickedness would keep the profit to himself, and transfer the guilt to his accomplice. These reproaches vented against Hubert, are the eruptions of a mind fwelling with not the words of art or policy, but the consciousness of a crime, and difcharging its mifery on another. This account of the timidity of guilt, "hadft thou but shook thy head," &c. is drawn ab ipfis receffibus mentis, from an intimate knowledge of mankind; particularly that line in tell his tale in express words, would which he says, that to have "bid him have ftruck him dumb." Nothing is more certain, than that bad men ufe all the arts of fallacy upon themselves, palliate their actions to their own minds by gentle terms, and hide themfelves from their own detection in ambiguities and fubterfuges.' England invincible, if unanimous. Baftard. England never did, nor ever fhall, Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror, SE GLEANING S. SPARSA COLLEGI. ENECA fays, that a virtuous man ftruggling with adverfity is a fight worthy of the divinity. Another fight, not lefs fublime, is a virtuous king combating the feductions which are ftudioufly multiplied around him; fhutting his ears against the voice of flattery, and inceffantly diffipating the obfcurity with which truth is continually enveloped. And fuch kings there have been. Much vulgar abuse has been poured upon kings and courts, generally by thofe who never faw the one, nor entered the other. A king is frequently the best man in his court. If he be otherwife, it is more his misfortune than his fault. Kings have too much refponfibility, Pofterity, like focieties, feems to have its infatuation. There are men who have given the greateft fplendour to the age in which they lived, whofe merits are depreciated according to the opinion of the fucceeding age, and the fyitems which writers, who have an influence upon public judgment, form to themselves. Egatifm reigns particularly in difcourie; perfonality has more influence upon actions. The Egotift continually boats of himself, and for the most part fpeaks in the first perfon. The perfonal man artfully feeks that which may but ferve his interefts, and flatter his felf-love. The former often fpeaks of himself, and the latter ftrives to turn every thing to his perfonal advantage. Extreme vivacity or indolence prevents a man from being polite. Perfons of a very lively difpofition, are led away by their ardour, and are frequently wanting in attention to others; the idle are really fo from an unwillingness to give themselves trouble. Many very fenfible men think the forms of politenefs beneath them. Learned men are feldom polite. A lively Frenchman fays; feveral perfons affembled produce a disagreeable odour; if obliged to live together, they agree to ufe ftrong perfumes. This is a part of politenefsand no bad defence of perfumery! Custom regulates our ideas of fhame. In China, the emperor orders the baftinado to be given to a minifter or a mandarin; and afterward these perfons continue in their employments, without thinking themfelves difhonoured or degraded. They are like fcholars who return to their places after having been whipped. The idea of virtue is become fo effaced, that fcarcely do we hear the name of it pronounced. The ufual expreffion now is, an honeft man, which contains but negative qualities; or fometimes qualities are mentioned, as bravery, fidelity, &c. but a collective word which expreffes them all is feldom made use of. Amiability is the fafeft and moft advantageous quality to carry into fociety. It is too dangerous to let any thing appear which characterizes the great man. Commerce reconciles all nations; they all in the end, become enlightened by the fciences; and the mental communications these establish between men tends to deftroy national prejudices. Commercial and thinking men have the univerfe for their country. In the number of extravagant ideas with which the heads of madmen are filled, it feldom happens that they have one which inclines them to believe they are in a fubordinate state. Vifit all the madhouses, and you will find the infane inhabitants either princes, kings, emperors, or gods. If they are in love, it is with a princefs or a queen. In general, they fpeak of nothing but grandeur; a fenfible proof that vanity, above every thing, reigns in the human mind. A great man, who has not his in feriors feriors at command, has but a fhallow fortune is equal to his defires and capacity, confidering their inclination to admire men in elevated ftations, and the impreffion which their most trifling expreffions make upon them. We are infufceptible of virtue, unlefs there be fomething we value more than life. Let this be confidered by those who approve of throwing off what they are pleafed to term, religious fhackles or prejudices. It is not for his own pleasure that a rich man gives great fuppers, that another affembles half the town at his balls, or has pictures by eminent masters, or a closet of natural history; it is to add to his confequence. The house and gardens form for the proprietor a fituation in the world; he poffeffes them as he would perform the functions of a place at court, or thofe of a great employment in the city. It is moft difagreeable to be reproached with that, which makes others withdraw themfelves from our fociety. A man may pardon the greatest injury, but he will not forgive another, who reproaches him with being tirefome. The prejudice of birth is one of the most predominant in the minds of men of every clafs and country. The calls of the Indians do not affociate with their infer.ors, and there are feveral grooms to Nabobs, who would think themselves difhonoured by eating with their malters.-The advantage of high birth, chiefly confifts in making merit lefs neceffary. None but men of middling rank are capable of being difhonoured. Obfcure names, when they become famous by crimes or fcandal, call nothing to recollection but the event which covered them with fhame. They are like trees, which are judged of by the only fruit they have ever borne. There are happy days, but no happy lives; this would be an enchanting dream, without once awakening to forrow. He whofe paffions are mild, whofe fituation, who paffes his life with his relations and friends, and dies in their arms without remorse, fear, or pain, is a happy man. Time feems to be abridged by the epochas and divifions, which give us an idea of it. The uniformity of fituations, when they are not too much agitated, increafes the idea of its daration. The traveller, who crosses great plains, is more impatient than he would be upon a road, varied by woods, mountains, and habitations. When love and its pleasures have entirely filled up the fpace of youth, the following epocha of life has neither taftes nor defires. The enervated mind has no longer fufficient ftrength to enjoy pleasures, difengaged from the fenfes; it remained without food and exercife, and the fenfes are now entirely benumbed. There are people, whofe converfation or prefence always excites languor in others; thefe are men who, by the void in their minds, communic te wearinels; or who are fatiguing by a fuperabundance of uninterefting converfation; thus want and fuperfluity are fources of languor. The tears we ftrive to hide are the most affecting. The violence we thus do ourfelves bows both courage and fenfibility.-In like manner, laughter is never more ftrong than when we endeavour to fupprefs it. Every oppofition ftrengthens defire: the wave which meets with obftacles foams, becomes impetuous, or riles into the air. Liberty was given to man that he might have a claim to the merit of virtue. A portion of pride fufficient to remind us of what we owe to ourselves, and fenfibility enough to prevent our forgetting what we owe to others, will produce much of what is called virtue in modern times. Friendship is to love, what an engraving is to a painting. Friends frequently become infupportable in adverfity; they abound |