Volume I Part 90 (1/2)
The younger _Faustina_ was a lively Instance of this sort of Women.
Notwithstanding she was married to _Marcus Aurelius_, one of the greatest, wisest, and best of the _Roman_ Emperors, she thought a common Gladiator much the prettier Gentleman; and had taken such Care to accomplish her Son _Commodus_ according to her own Notions of a fine Man, that when he ascended the Throne of his Father, he became the most foolish and abandoned Tyrant that was ever placed at the Head of the _Roman_ Empire, signalizing himself in nothing but the fighting of Prizes, and knocking out Men's Brains. As he had no Taste of true Glory, we see him in several Medals and Statues [which [1]] are still extant of him, equipped like an _Hercules_ with a Club and a Lion's Skin.
I have been led into this Speculation by the Characters I have heard of a Country Gentleman and his Lady, who do not live many Miles from Sir ROGER. The Wife is an old Coquet, that is always hankering after the Diversions of the Town; the Husband a morose Rustick, that frowns and frets at the Name of it. The Wife is overrun with Affectation, the Husband sunk into Brutality: The Lady cannot bear the Noise of the Larks and Nightingales, hates your tedious Summer Days, and is sick at the Sight of shady Woods and purling Streams; the Husband wonders how any one can be pleased with the Fooleries of Plays and Operas, and rails from Morning to Night at essenced Fops and tawdry Courtiers. The Children are educated in these different Notions of their Parents. The Sons follow the Father about his Grounds, while the Daughters read Volumes of Love-Letters and Romances to their Mother. By this means it comes to pa.s.s, that the Girls look upon their Father as a Clown, and the Boys think their Mother no better than she should be.
How different are the Lives of _Aristus_ and _Aspasia_? the innocent Vivacity of the one is tempered and composed by the chearful Gravity of the other. The Wife grows wise by the Discourses of the Husband, and the Husband good-humour'd by the Conversations of the Wife. _Aristus_ would not be so amiable were it not for his _Aspasia_, nor _Aspasia_ so much [esteemed [2]] were it not for her _Aristus_. Their Virtues are blended in their Children, and diffuse through the whole Family a perpetual Spirit of Benevolence, Complacency, and Satisfaction.
C.
[Footnote 1: that]
[Footnote 2: to be esteemed]
No. 129. Sat.u.r.day, July 28, 1711. Addison.
'Vertentem sese frustra sectabere canthum, c.u.m rota posterior curras et in axe secundo.'
Pers.
Great Masters in Painting never care for drawing People in the Fas.h.i.+on; as very well knowing that the Headdress, or Periwig, that now prevails, and gives a Grace to their Portraitures at present, will make a very odd Figure, and perhaps look monstrous in the Eyes of Posterity. For this Reason they often represent an ill.u.s.trious Person in a _Roman_ Habit, or in some other Dress that never varies. I could wish, for the sake of my Country Friends, that there was such a kind of _everlasting Drapery_ to be made use of by all who live at a certain distance from the Town, and that they would agree upon such Fas.h.i.+ons as should never be liable to Changes and Innovations. For want of this _standing Dress_, a Man [who [1]] takes a Journey into the Country is as much surprised, as one [who [1]] walks in a Gallery of old Family Pictures; and finds as great a Variety of Garbs and Habits in the Persons he converses with. Did they keep to one constant Dress they would sometimes be in the Fas.h.i.+on, which they never are as Matters are managed at present. If instead of running after the Mode, they would continue fixed in one certain Habit, the Mode would some time or other overtake them, as a Clock that stands still is sure to point right once in twelve Hours: In this Case therefore I would advise them, as a Gentleman did his Friend who was hunting about the whole Town after a rambling Fellow, If you follow him you will never find him, but if you plant your self at the Corner of any one Street, I'll engage it will not be long before you see him.
I have already touched upon this Subject in a Speculation [which [1]]
shews how cruelly the Country are led astray in following the Town; and equipped in a ridiculous Habit, when they fancy themselves in the Height of the Mode. Since that Speculation I have received a Letter (which I there hinted at) from a Gentleman who is now in the Western Circuit.
Mr. SPECTATOR,
'Being a Lawyer of the_ Middle-Temple_, [a [2]] _Cornishman_ by Birth, I generally ride the Western Circuit for my health, and as I am not interrupted with Clients, have leisure to make many Observations that escape the Notice of my Fellow-Travellers.
One of the most fas.h.i.+onable Women I met with in all the Circuit was my Landlady at _Stains_, where I chanced to be on a Holiday. Her Commode was not half a Foot high, and her Petticoat within some Yards of a modish Circ.u.mference. In the same Place I observed a young Fellow with a tolerable Periwig, had it not been covered with a Hat that was shaped in the _Ramillie_ c.o.c.k. [3] As I proceeded in my Journey I observed the Petticoat grew scantier and scantier, and about threescore Miles from _London_ was so very unfas.h.i.+onable, that a Woman might walk in it without any manner of Inconvenience.
Not far from _Salisbury_ I took notice of a Justice of Peace's Lady [who [4]] was at least ten Years behindhand in her Dress, but at the same time as fine as Hands could make her. She was flounced and furbelowed from Head to Foot; every Ribbon was wrinkled, and every Part of her Garments in Curl, so that she looked like one of those Animals which in the Country we call a _Friezeland_ Hen.
Not many Miles beyond this Place I was informed that one of the last Year's little m.u.f.fs had by some means or other straggled into those Parts, and that all Women of Fas.h.i.+on were cutting their old m.u.f.fs in two, or retrenching them, according to the little Model [which [5]]