CHARACTERS. 



311 



for his own instruction or the con- 

 solation of their vanity. He put 

 them upon topics with which they 

 were the best acquainted, and thus, 

 without affectation, procured them 

 the pleasure of an outward display 

 of all the little they possessed ; 

 whence he derived the double ad- 

 vantage, of not being wearied in 

 their company, and of rendering 

 them happy beyond their hopes. — 

 If they were satisfied with Fon- 

 tenelle, they were enchanted with 

 La Motte. May this example of 

 philosophical charity serve as a les- 

 son to those stern and untractable 

 men of wit, whose intolerant pride 

 is not satisfied without treating fools 

 with humiliating disdain ; while 

 this unfeeling mode of teaching 

 them what they are, still leaves them 

 understanding enough to seek and 

 to discover the means of revenge. 



Anticipation of the Posthumous 

 Character of Sir Richard Steele, 

 written during his Life by Dr. 

 Rundle ; from Butler's Memoirs 

 of Bishop Hildesley. 



o 



N the 

 the year 



day of in 



-, died sir R. S. 



(in decency we must suppose him 

 dead, when we sum up his actions.) 

 It is pity there is no person of abi- 

 lities left, to give his character to 

 the world, who drew so many, so 

 finely ! In a well- written life of 

 him might be seen an epitome of 

 mankind; and the motto of his first 

 Tatlers was as true of his example 

 as of his writings.* Surely, .so 

 many follies, and so much worth, 

 were never blended together in any 

 single person before. The last he 

 resolved should be the guide of his 



behaviour, though he always fol- 

 lowed the fonner. 



He was a coquette to virtue ; 

 made continual advances, and seem- 

 ed just yielding up himself to the 

 comely dame who courted him, as 

 she once did Hercules : when on a 

 sudden, he would flounce off, flirt 

 back, and sink into the arms of 

 pleasure. His soul, in his calm 

 morning-hours, was truly great ; 

 and some design for public good, the 

 improvement of knowledge, and 

 the security of liberty (which he al- 

 ways esteemed the manhood of the 

 mind), was formed in his thoughts, 

 and was the delight of his medita- 

 tions : and it must be owned that 

 England is ungrateful, if she doth 

 not confess, that the present hap- 

 piness she enjoys was more guarded 

 to her by him, than by any thousand 

 other private men she can boast of. 

 He had undaunted courage to op- 

 pose all mankind, for the sake of 

 what was right ; but still, his in- 

 born imprudences generally render- 

 ed that courage feebly useful to the 

 world; and his inability to with- 

 stand some evening's merriment 

 ruined half his attempts. 



But, notwithstanding theridicule 

 of such an allay in his patriot am- 

 bition, he went on, like others, 

 through good and ill report ; and 

 suffered himself to be laughed at and 

 railed at, with all the indolence and 

 insensibility of a Stoic. 



No bribes of riches or greatness 

 could have tempted him to do a 

 base action; though the necessities 

 into which his carelessness in the 

 management of his fortune, and a 

 thoughtless generosity, had thrown 

 him, often compelled him to submit 

 to baseness, almost as low as those 



Quicquid agunt homines nostri est farrago libelli. Juv. 



