THIS Song is a plain fimple Copy of Nature, deftitute of all the Helps and Ornaments of Art. The Tale of it is a pretty tragical Story, and pleafes for no other Reafon but because it is a Copy of Nature. There is even a defpicable Simplicity in the Verfe; and yet, because the Sentiments appear genuine and unaffected, they are able to move the Mind of the most polite Reader with inward Meltings of Humanity and Compaffion. The Incidents grow out of the Subject, and are fuch as are the moft proper to excite Pity; for which Reason the whole Narration has fomething in it very moving, notwith ftanding the Author of it (whoever he was) has deliver'd it in fuch an abject Phrafe and Poornels of Expreffion, that the quoting any Part of it would look like a Design of turning it into Ridicule. But though the Language is mean, the Thoughts, as I have before faid, from one End to the other are natural, and therefore cannot fail to please those who are not Judges of Language, or those who, notwithstanding they are Judges of Language, have a true and unprejudiced Tafte of Nature. The Condition, Speech, and Behaviour of the dying Parents, with the Age, Innocence, and Distress of the Children, are fet forth in fuch tender Circumftances, that it is impoffible for a Reader of common Humanity not to be af fected with them. As for the Circumftance of the Bobin-red-breaft, it is indeed a little poetical Ornament; and to fhew the Genius of the Author amidst all his Simplicity, it is just the fame kind of Fiction which one of the greateft of the Latin Poets has made use of upon a parallel Occafion; I mean that Paffage in Horace, where he defcribes himself when he was a Child, fallen afleep in a defart Wood, and covered with Leaves by the Turtles that took pity on him.

I have heard that the late Lord Dorset, who had the greatest Wit tempered with the greatest Candour, and was one of the finest Criticks as well as the best Poets,

ot

of his Age, had a numerous Collection of old English Ballads, and took a particular Pleasure in the Reading of them. I can affirm the fame of Mr. Dryden, and know feveral of the most refined Writers of our prefent Age who are of the fame Humour.

I might likewife refer my Reader to Moliere's Thoughts on this Subject, as he has expreffed them in the Chara&ter of the Mifanthrope; but those only who are endowed with a true Greatnefs of Soul and Genius, can diveft themselves of the little Images of Ridicule, and admire Nature in her Simplicity and Nakedness. As for the little conceited Wits of the Age, who can only fhew their Judgment by finding Fault, they cannot be fuppofed to admire these Productions which have nothing to recommend them but the Beauties of Nature, when they do not know how to relish even thofe Compofitions that, with all the Beauties of Nature, have also the additional Advantages of Art.

L

N° 86.

Friday, June 8.

Heu quam difficile eft crimen non prodere vultu ! Ovid.

T

HERE are feveral Arts which all Men are in

fome Measure Mafters of, without having been at the Pains of learning them. Every one that fpeaks or reafons is a Grammarian and a Logician, tho' he may be wholly unacquainted with the Rules of Grammar or Logick, as they are delivered in Books and Syftems. In the fame Manner, every one is in fome Degree a Mater of that Art which is generally diftinguished by the Name of Phifiognomy; and naturally forms to himself the Character or Fortune of a Stranger, from the Features and Lineaments of his Face. We are no fooner prefented to any one we never faw before, but we are immediately ftruck with the Idea of a proud, a reserved, an affable, or a good-natured Man and upon our firft going into a Company of Strangers, our Benevolence or Aversion, Awe or Contempt, rifes. na

;

turally

turally towards feveral particular Perfons, before we have heard them speak a fingle Word, or fo much as know who they are.

EVERY Paffion gives a particular Caft to the Countenance, and is apt to discover it felf in fome Feature or other. I have feen an Eye curfe for half an Hour together, and an Eye-brow call a Man Scoundrel. Nothing is more common than for Lovers to complain, refent, languifh, despair, and die, in dumb Show. For my own Part, I am fo apt to frame a Notion of every Man's Humour or Circumstances by his Looks, that I have fometimes employed my felf from Charing-Cross to the RoyalExchange in drawing the Characters of those who have paffed by me. When I fee a Man with a four rivell'd Face, I cannot forbear pitying his Wife; and when I meet with an open ingenuous Countenance, think on the Happiness of his Friends, his Family, and Relations.

I cannot recollect the Author of a famous Saying to a Stranger who ftood filent in his Company, Speak that I may fee thee: But, with Submiffion, I think we may be better known by our Looks than by our Words, and that a Man's Speech is much more cafily disguised than his Countenance. In this Cafe, however, I think the Air of the whole Face is much more expreffive than the Lines of it: The Truth of it is, the Air is generally nothing else but the inward Difpofition of the Mind made vifible.

THOSE who have eftablifhed Phyfiognomy into an Art, and laid down Rules of judging Mens Tempers by their Faces, have regarded the Features much more than the Air. Martial has a pretty Epigram on this Subject.

Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine lafus ;
Rem magnam praftas, Zoile, fi bonus es.

Thy Beard and Head are of a different Die;
Short of one Foot, diftorted in an Eye:
With all thefe Tokens of a Knave compleat,
·Should'ft thou be honest, thou'rt a dev'lish Cheat.

I have feen a very ingenious Author on this Subject, who founds his Speculations on the Suppofition, That as a. Man hath in the Mould of his Face a remote Likeness

to

*

to that of an Ox, a Sheep, a Lion, an Hog, or any other Creature; he hath the fame Refemblance in the Frame of his Mind, and is fubject to those Paffions which are predominant in the Creature that appears in his Countenance. Accordingly he gives the Prints of feveral Faces that are of a different Mould, and by a little overcharging the Likeness, difcovers the Figures of these several Kinds of brutal Faces in human Features. I remember in the Life of the famous Prince of Conde the Writer obferves, the Face of that Prince was like the Face of an Eagle, and that the Prince was very well pleafed to be told fo. In this Cafe therefore we may be fure, that he had in his Mind fome general implicit Notion of this Art of Phyfiognomy which I have juft now mentioned; and that when his Courtiers told him his Face was made like an Eagle's, he understood them in the fame Manner as if they had told him, there was. fomething in his Looks which fhewed him to be strong, active, piercing, and of a royal Descent. Whether or no the different Motions of the animal Spirits in different Paffions, may have any Effect on the Mould of the Face when the Lineaments are pliable and tender, or whether the fame kind of Souls require the fame kind of Habitations, I fhall leave to the Confideration of the Curious. In the mean Time I think nothing can be more glori ous than for a Man to give the Lie to his Face, and to be an honeft, juft, good-natured Man, in fpite of all thofe Marks and Signatures which Nature feems to have fet upon him for the Contrary. This very often hap. pens among thofe, who inftead of being exafperated by their own Looks, or envying the Looks of others, apply themselves entirely to the cultivating of their Minds, and getting thofe Beauties which are more lafting and more ornamental. I have feen many an amiable Piece of Deformity; and have obferved a certain Chearfulness in as bad a Syftem of Features as ever was clap'd together, which hath appeared more lovely than all the blooming Charms of an infolent Beauty. There is a double Praise due to Virtue, when it is lodged in a Body that feems to have been prepared for the Reception of Vice; in many fuch Cafes the Soul and the Body do not feem to be Fellows.

SOCRA

SOCRATES was an extraordinary Inftance of this Nature. There chanced to be a great Phyfiognemist in his Time at Athens, who had made ftrange Difce veries of Mens Tempers and Inclinations by their outward Appearances. Socrates's Difciples, that they might put this Artift to the Tryal, carried him to their Mafter, whom he had never feen before, and did not know he was then in Company with him. After a fhort Examination of his Face, the Phyfiognomift pronounced him the moft lewd, libidinous, drunken old Fellow that he had ever met with in his whole Life. Upon which the Difciples all burft out a laughing, as thinking they had detected the Falfhood and Vanity of his Art. But Socrates told them, that the Principles of his Art might be very true, notwithstanding his prefent Miftake; for that he himself was naturally inclined to thofe particular Vices which the Phyfiognomift had discovered in his Countenance, but that he had conquered the ftrong Difpofitions he was born with by the Dictates of Phi lofophy.

WE are indeed told by an ancient Author, that Socrates very much resembled Silenus in his Face; which we find to have been very rightly obferved from the Statutes and Bufts of both, that are ftill extant; as well as on feveral antique Seals and precious Stones, which are frequently enough to be met with in the Cabinets of the Curious. But however Obfervations of this Nature may fometimes hold, a wife Man fhould be particularly cautious how he gives Credit to a Man's outward Appearance. It is an irreparable Injuftice we are guilty of towards one another, when we are prejudiced by the Looks and Features of thofe whom we do not know. How often do we conceive Hatred against a Person of Worth, or fancy a Man to be proud and ill-natured by his Afpect, whom we think we cannot cfteem too much when we are acquainted with his real Character? Dr. Moore, in his admirable Syftem of Ethicks, reckons this particular Inclination to take a Prejudice against a Man for his Locks, among the fmaller Vices in Morality, and, if I remember, gives it the Name of a Profepolepfia.

L

Saturday,