grand Committee, to confult about Ways and Means of making Provifion for the common Neceffities. Some talk of an Excife upon May-dew and Rafberry-brandy: that there will be a Poll is ftrongly afferted, in which every Man is to pay according to his refpective Condition. To-morrow. it will be known to how much each Man's Quota amounts. As for Example: how much a Poet is to pay, how much a Wit, how much a Politician, and how much a Critic. A Critic did I fay? I beg your Pardon: they have voted Nemine Contradicente, that they will cefs no Critic till Mr. Moyle return. I have given them my Sentiments upon the forementioned Poll, which were, that it was. fomething hard to make a Man pay for being called, Wit, Poet, or Critic; that they faw, by Experience, lately in the State, that poor Dogs grumbled to pay for their Titles. How then could they think that People would be contented to be taxed for their Nick-names? That in fettling this Tax, they were to take a quite contrary Method, to that which was taken upon fettling a Tax in the State. That in the State, fometimes a Man paid for what he really had : as for Example, when a Country 'Squire paid for his Land or his Money; and fometimes for what he really had not, as when a Cit that is twice dubb'd Knight by the King, and Cuckold by his Wife, pays for his Honour, and for his Children. The first of which is but as it were his, for it is really the King's; and the fecond of which are but as it were his, for they are really the Courtiers, who helped him to his Title. In the State too a Man is made to pay for fomething which he does, or for fomething which he he does not. As a Jacobite pays fo much for fwearing when he's drunk, and fo much for not fwearing when he's fober. But that in our Cafe, if we would be exactly juft, we fhould make People pay neither for what they have, nor for what they have not; nor for what they do, nor for what they do not; but fhould oblige them to pay only for pretending to have what they really have not, or offering to do what they are utterly incapable of doing. That thus the Tax would certainly fall upon the most folvent Part of the Body. For how ridiculous would it be to tax a Man for having Poetry and Wit, when they are almost always Signs that he has not a Farthing to pay? On the other fide, how abfurd would it be to tax him for a bare Want of those Qualities? Since when a Man is dull without pretending, 'tis ten to one but he is poor; for Riches make Men vain, and Vanity makes them affected. But he who is not much at his Ease, is hardly at leifure for Affectation; and I have often feen, that when Vanity has thrown a Fop out of Nature, Neceffity has brought him back again but a rich Rogue will be fure to be always pretending. Fortune takes pleasure in making those vain, whom Nature before made impotent, and both of them often confpire to finish a Coxcomb. Thus I would have none pay but they who put Gravity upon us for Wifdom, Visions for Politics, and Quibbles for Wit; and I would have no Man at any Expence for being called a Poet, a Wit, or a Critic, unless it be by himself. It would be equally hard to lay a Tax upon any one, for his Ill-fortune, or for his Ill-nature, fince they are Things of which no Man is Mafter. But what? A Sot cannot help help his Vanity. Agreed; but then it makes him fo much happier than he deferves to be, that he may well be contented to pay for it. Sir, I am your most humble Servant, JOHN DENNIS. LETTER LXXVI. WHILE I venture to write thefe Lines to you, I take it to be my Intereft not to confider you, as I hitherto always have done, and as for the future I always fhall, viz. as Mr. Wycherley has the greatest comic Wit that ever England bred, as a Man fent purposely into the World to charm the Ears of the wittiest Men, and to ravifh the Hearts of the most beautiful Women: no, Sir, that in writing to you I may affume fome Spirit, I fhall at prefent only confider you as the humble Hermit at Cleve; humble even in the full Poffeffion of all those extraordinary Qualities, the Knowledge of which has made me proud. I must confefs, that I have no great Opinion of that which Men generally call Humility. Humility in moft Men is want of Heat; 'tis Phlegm, 'tis Impotence, 'tis a wretched Neceffity, of which they who lie under it, vainly endeavour to make a Virtue. But in a Man of Mr. Wycherley's Make, 'tis Choice, 'tis Force of Mind, 'tis good, 'tis a generous Condefcenfion. And what Force of Mind is there not not requifite to bend back a Soul by perpetual' Reflection, which would be always rifing, and eternally afpiring by virtue of its in-born Fire ;. yet yours, notwithstanding all its Power, cannot wholly deprefs itself, nor defcend in every Part. of it. At the time that your Will vouchfafes to ftoop, your Understanding foars; your Writings. are as bold as your Converfation is modeft (though thofe are bold, as this is modeft with Judgment) and he who would do you Juftice, muft needs confefs, that you are a very ambitious Writer, though a very humble Man. Yet your very Ambition has obliged Mankind: it has exalted human Nature, in raifing your own by its moft noble Efforts; and that without boafting Pre-eminence. And furely it must be for this very Reafon, that we feel a fecret Pride, when we but read the Discoveries which you have made, Thus I cannot fay what you are, without Vanity, for never was Man exempt from it; but I can fay, that you have made ufe even of Vanity to humble you by way of Reflection, and that you have avoided that dangerous Effect of it, Vain-glory, the Rock upon which feveral great fplit. Wits before you have been seen to fplit. For you have always wifely confidered, that Vain-glory in the Vulgar may be supportable, nay, may be diverting; but that in great Men it must be intolerable. That whereas in the firft, 'tis Want of Difcernment, 'tis Folly,. 'tis the Extravagance and Blindness of Self-love; in the laft, 'tis Crime, 'tis Malice, 'tis a fecret and proud Defign to mortify and infult over the reft of Men, over whom they have fo much Advantage that it is for this very Reason, that we fo deeply refent, and fo feverely revenge the mortal Great mortal Affronts we receive from it. Wits were by Heaven predeftin'd to rule, to rule the Minds of others, the nobleft Empire; but when they grow outwardly vain, they grow Tyrants, and then their difcontented Subjects rebel, and then they depofe thofe Kings as Ufurpers, whom before they obeyed as their lawful Monarchs. But a moderate, a good, and a gracious Prince, like you, commands their Hearts, as well as their Understandings, and under one whom they love fo well, they grow as proud as they are pleased to obey. Our violent Inclinations make us belong to you, and therefore 'tis the Intereft even of our Pride, that you fhould long continue in the Place which your extraordinary Defert has attain'd. Did we nothing but efteem you as much as we do, we fhould certainly envy you, if we did not hate you; for bare Efteem is always forced upon us, whereas Inclination is much more voluntary: befides, as a judicious Frenchman obferves, Efteem is foreign, and comes from abroad, and is therefore received with Grumbling; but Inclination is our own, and born in our Breafts, and is therefore careffed and cherished. I might add, that upon this Account it is hard to with well to thofe whom we very much efteem, if they have not likewife the Skill to make themfelves be beloved; becaufe barely to efteem, depreffes the Spirits, as much as to love very much exalts them; it brings the Soul to a languid Temper, and gives it at once too horrid Views of another's Excel lencies, and of its own Infirmities; but Affection gives it Agitation and Warmth; and in the View of a Friend's Defert, it takes too much Pleasure and too much Pride to confider its own Defects. |