shore there; or, in short, that the island was inhabited, and I might be surprised before I was aware; and what course to take for my security, I knew not. Oh, what ridiculous resolutions men take when possessed with fear! It deprives them of the use of those means which reason offers for their relief.

The first thing I proposed to myself was to throw down my inclosures, and turn all my tame cattle wild into the woods, lest the enemy should find them, and then frequent the island in prospect of the same or the like booty; then to the simple thing of digging up my two corn-fields, lest they should find such a grain there, and still be prompted to frequent the island; then to demolish my bower and tent, that they might not see any vestiges of habitation, and be prompted to look farther in order to find out the persons inhabiting. These were the subjects of the first night's cogitations after I was come home again, while the apprehensions which had so overrun my mind were fresh upon me, and my head was full of vapors as above. Thus fear of danger is ten thousand times more terrifying than danger itself when apparent to the eyes; and we find the burden of anxiety greater, by much, than the evil which we are anxious about: and, which was worse than all this, I had not that relief in this trouble, that, from the resignation I used to practice, I hoped to have. I looked, I thought, like Saul, who complained, not only that the Philistines were upon him, but that God had forsaken him: for I did not now take due ways to compose my mind by crying to God in my distress, and resting upon his providence, as I had done before, for my defense and deliverance; which if I had done, I had at least been more cheerfully supported under this new surprise, and perhaps carried through it with more resolution.

JOSEPH ADDISON.

1672-1719.

There is but one opinion of his style: "In a word, one may justly apply to him what Plato in his allegorical language says of Aristophanes, -that the Graces, having searched all the world for a temple wherein they might for ever dwell, settled at last in the breast of Mr. Addison." Dr. Johnson says, "Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar, but not coarse, and elegant, but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison." We select only from his prose.

BICKERSTAFF LEARNING FENCING.

I HAVE upon my chamber-walls drawn at full-length the figures of all sorts of men, from eight feet to three feet two inches.

Within this hight, I take it that all the fighting-men of Great Britain are comprehended. But, as I push, I make allowances for my being of a lank and spare body, and have chalked out in every figure my own dimensions; for I scorn to rob any man of his life by taking advantage of his breath: therefore I press purely in a line down from his nose, and take no more of him to assault than he has of me. For, to speak impartially, if a lean fellow wounds a fat one in any part of the right or left, whether it be in carte or in tierce, beyond the dimensions of the said lean fellow's own breadth, I take it to be murder, and such a murder as is below a gentleman to commit. As I am spare, I am also very tall, and behave myself, with relation to that advantage, with the same punctilio; and I am ready to stoop or stand, according to the stature of my adversary. I must confess, I have had great success this morning, and have hit every figure round the room in a mortal part, without receiving the least hurt, except a little scratch by falling on my face in pushing at one at the lower end of my chamber; but I recovered so quick, and jumped so nimbly into my guard, that, if he had been alive, he could not have hurt me. It is confessed I have written against duels with some warmth; but, in all my discourses, I have not ever said that I knew how a gentleman could avoid a duel if he were provoked to it: and, since that custom is now become a law, I know nothing but the legislative power, with new animadversions upon it, can put us in a capacity of denying challenges, though we were afterwards hanged for it. But no more of this at present. As things stand, I shall put up no more affronts; and I shall be so far from taking ill words, that I will not take ill looks. I therefore warn all hot young fellows not to look, hereafter, more terrible than their neighbors; for, if they stare at me with their hats cocked higher than other people, I will not bear it. Nay, I give warning to all people in general to look kindly at me: for I will bear no frowns, even from ladies; and, if any woman pretends to look scornfully at me, I shall demand satisfaction of the next of kin of the masculine gender.

ON THE USE OF THE FAN.

Tatler, No. 93.

I Do not know whether to call the following letter a satire upon coquettes, or a representation of their several fantastical accomplishments, or what other title to give it; but, as it is, I shall communicate it to the public. It will sufficiently explain its own intentions; so that I shall give it my reader at length, without either preface or postcript:

Mr. Spectator, Women are armed with fans, as men with swords, and sometimes do more execution with them. To the

end, therefore, that ladies may be entire mistresses of the weapon which they bear, I have erected an academy for the training-up of young women in the exercise of the fan according to the most fashionable airs and motions that are now practiced at court. The ladies who carry fans under me are drawn up twice a day in my great hall, where they are instructed in the use of their arms, and exercised by the following words of command: "Handle your fans!" "Unfurl your fans!" 66 Discharge your fans!" "Ground your fans!" "Recover your fans!" "Flutter your fans!" By the right observation of these few plain words of command, a woman of a tolerable genius, who will apply herself diligently to her exercise for the space of but one half-year, shall be able to give her fan all the graces that can possibly enter into that little modish machine.

But, to the end that my readers may form to themselves a right notion of this exercise, I beg leave to explain it to them in all its parts. When my female regiment is drawn up in array, with every one her weapon in her hand, upon my giving the word to "handle their fans," each of them shakes her fan at me with a smile, then gives her right-hand woman a tap upon the shoulder, then presses her lips with the extremity of her fan, then lets her arms fall in easy motion, and stands in readiness to receive the next word of command. All this is done with a close fan, and is generally learned in the first week.

The next motion is that of unfurling the fan, in which are comprehended several little flirts and vibrations, as also gradual and deliberate openings, with many voluntary fallings-asunder in the fan itself, that are seldom learned under a month's practice. This part of the exercise pleases the spectators more than any other, as it discovers, on a sudden, an infinite number of Cupids, garlands, altars, birds, beasts, rainbows, and the like agreeable figures, that display themselves to view; whilst every one in the regiment holds a picture in her hand.

Upon my giving the word to "discharge their fans," they give one general crack, that may be heard at a considerable distance when the wind sits fair. This is one of the most difficult parts of the exercise; but I have several ladies with me, who at their first entrance could not give a pop loud enough to be heard at the farther end of the room, who can now discharge a fan in such a manner, that it shall make a report like a pocket-pistol. I have likewise taken care (in order to hinder young women from letting off their fans in wrong places or on unsuitable occasions) to show upon what subject the crack of a fan may come in properly. I have likewise invented a fan with which a girl of sixteen, by the help of a little wind which is inclosed about one of the largest sticks, can make as loud a crack as a woman of fifty with an ordinary fan.

When the fans are thus discharged, the word of command, in course, is to "ground their fans." This teaches a lady to quit her fan gracefully when she throws it aside in order to take up a pack of cards, adjust a curl of hair, replace a falling pin, or apply herself to any other matter of importance. This part of the exercise, as it only consists in tossing a fan with an air upon a long table (which stands by for that purpose), may be learned in two days' time as well as in a twelvemonth.

When my female regiment is thus disarmed, I generally let them walk about the room for some time; when, on a sudden, (like ladies that look upon their watches after a long visit), they all of them hasten to their arms, catch them up in a hurry, and place themselves in their proper stations upon my calling out, "Recover your fans!" This part of the exercise is not difficult, provided a woman applies her thoughts to it.

The fluttering of the fan is the last, and, indeed, the masterpiece, of the whole exercise; but, if a lady does not misspend her time, she may make herself mistress of it in three months. I generally lay aside the dog-days, and the hot time of the summer, for the teaching this part of the exercise; for as soon as ever I pronounce, "Flutter your fans!" the place is filled with so many zephyrs and gentle breezes as are very refreshing in that season of the year, though they might be dangerous to ladies of a tender constitution in any other.

There is an infinite variety of motions to be made use of in the flutter of a fan. There is the angry flutter, the modest flutter, the timorous flutter, the confused flutter, the merry flutter, and the amorous flutter. Not to be tedious, there is scarce any emotion in the mind which does not produce a suitable agitation in the fan; insomuch, that, if I only see the fan of a disciplined lady, I know very well whether she laughs, frowns, or blushes. I have seen a fan so very angry, that it would have been dangerous for the absent lover who provoked it to have come within the wind of it; and at other times so very languishing, that I have been glad, for the lady's sake, the lover was at a sufficient distance from it. I need not add, that a fan is either a prude or coquette, according to the nature of the person who bears it. To conclude my letter, I must acquaint you that I have from my own observations compiled a little treatise for the use of my scholars, entitled "The Passions of the Fan," which I will communicate you if you think it may be of use to the public. I shall have a general review on Thursday next, to which you shall be very welcome if you will honor it with your presence. -I am, &c. P.S.-I teach young gentlemen the whole art of gallanting a fan. I have several little plain fans made for this use to Spectator, No. 102.

to

N.B.

avoid expense.

THE LOVER'S LEAP.

I SHALL in this paper discharge myself of the promise I have made to the public by obliging them with a translation of the little Greek manuscript which is said to have been a piece of those records that were preserved in the Temple of Apollo upon the promontory of Leucate. It is a short history of "The Lover's Leap," and is inscribed, "An account of persons, male and female, who offered up their vows in the temple of the Pythian Apollo in the forty-sixth Olympiad, and leaped from the promontory of Leucate into the Ionian Sea in order to cure themselves of the passion of love."

This account is very dry in many parts, as only mentioning the name of the lover who leaped, the person he leaped for, and relating, in short, that he was either cured or killed or maimed by the fall. It, indeed, gives the names of so many who died by it, that it would have looked like a bill of mortality had I translated it at full length: I have therefore made an abridgment of it, and only extracted such particular passages as have something extraordinary, either in the case, or in the cure, or in the fate, of the person who is mentioned in it. After this short preface, take

the account as follows:

Battus, the son of Menalcas the Sicilian, leaped for Bombyca the musician. Got rid of his passion with the loss of his right leg and arm, which were broken in the fall.

Melissa, in love with Daphnis. Very much bruised, but escaped with life.

Cynisca, the wife of Eschines, being in love with Lycus; and Æschines, her husband, being in love with Eurilla (which had made this married couple very uneasy to one another for several years). Both the husband and the wife took the leap by consent: they both of them escaped, and have lived very happily together ever since.

Larissa, a virgin of Thessaly, deserted by Plexippus after a courtship of three years. She stood upon the brow of the promontory for some time; and after having thrown down a ring, a bracelet, and a little picture, with other presents which she had received from Plexippus, she threw herself into the sea, and was taken up alive.

N.B.Larissa, before she leaped, made an offering of a silver Cupid in the Temple of Apollo.

Aridæus, a beautiful youth of Epirus, in love with Praxinoë, the wife of Thespis. Escaped without damage, saving only that two of his fore-teeth were struck out, and his nose a little flatted. Cleora, a widow of Ephesus, being inconsolable for the death