" till every body present wishes him dumb, " and looks grave in proportion as he laughs. "That wit and beauty should be defirous of "making a figure is not to be wondered at, "admiration being the very province they "contend for. That folly and ugliness should "thrust themselves forward to public notice, "might be matter of surprise, did we not re"collect that their owners moft probaby think "themselves witty and handsome. In thefe, "indeed, as in many other instances, it un"fortunately happens, that people are strange" ly bent upon making a figure in those very "departments where they have least chance " of fucceeding. "But there is a species of animal, several " of whom must have fallen under the notice "of every body present, which it is difficult "to class either among the witty or the fool"ish, the clever or the dull, the wife or the "mad, who, of all others, have the greatest "propenfity to figure-making. Nature seems " to have made them up in hafte, and to have "put the different ingredients, above referred "to, into their composition at random. They are more common in such a place as this, "than in a more extensive sphere, like fome “ vermin, "vermin, that breed in ponds and rivulets, "which a larger stream or lake would de"stroy. Our circle is just large enough to "give their talents room, and small enough "to be affected by their exertion. Here, "therefore, there is never wanting a junto " of them of both sexes, who are liked or ha"ted, admired or defpifed, who make people "laugh, or fet them afleep, according to the "fashion of the time, or the humour of their "audience, but who have always the fatisfac"tion of talking themselves, and of being "talked of by others. With us, indeed, a "very moderate degree of genius is sufficient " for this purpose; in small societies, folks "are fet agape by small circumstances. I "have known a lady here contrive to make a "figure for half the winter, on the strength " of a plume of feathers, or the trimming of "a petticoat; and a gentleman make shift to "be thought a fine fellow, only by outdoing "every body elfe in the thickness of his queue, " or the height of his foretop. "But people will not only make themselves "fools; I have known instances of their be"coming knaves, or, at least, boasting of " their being fo, from this defire of figure“making, "making. You shall hear a fellow, who has "once got the character of being a sharp man, " tell things of himself, for which, if they " had been true, he deferved to be hanged, " merely because his line of figure-making "lies in trick and chicane; hence, too, pro"ceed all those histories of their own profli"gacy and vice, which some young men of " spirit are perpetually relating, who are will"ing to record themselves villains,' rather "than not be recorded at all. " "In the arts, as well as in the characters of men, this fame propenfity is productive of "strange diforders. Hence proceed the bom"bast of poetry, the tumor of prose, the ga"rish light of some paintings, the unnatural "chiaroscuro of others; hence, in music, the "abfurd mixture of discordant movements, and "the squeak of high-ftrained cadences; in "short, all those sins against nature and fim"plicity, which artists of inferior merit are "glad to practise, in order to extort the no"tice of the public, and to make a figure, by "surprise and fingularity." The accidental interruption of a new visitor now stopped the current of my friend's difcourse; he had, indeed, begun to tire most of the company, who were not all disposed to listen quite fo long as he seemed inclined to speak. In truth, he had forgot that the very reproof he meant to give his neighbours, applied pretty strongly to himself, and that, though he might suppose he was lecturing from the defire of reformation, he was, in reality, haranguing in the spirit of figure-making. course; N° 93. TUESDAY, March 28. 1780. Parva leves capiunt animos. OVID. THAT life confifts, in a great measure, of trifling occurrences and little occupations, there needs no uncommon fagacity or attention to discover. Notwithstanding the importance we are apt to ascribe to the employments and the time, even of the greatest and most illustrious, were we to trace fuch perfons to the end of their labours and the close of their pursuits, we should frequently discover, that trifles were the folace of the one, and the purpose of the other. Public business and political arrangement, are often only the constrained employments to which accident or education has devoted their hours, while their willing moments are destined, perhaps, to light amusements and to careless mirth. It is not, then, surprising, that trifles should form the chief gratification of ordinary men, on whom the public has no claim, and indiviVOL. III, duals |