them. One would think it was the dæmon. of good thoughts that discovered to him thofe treasures, which he must have blinded others from feeing, they lay fo directly in their way. Nothing can equal the pleasure is taken in hearing him fpeak, but the fatisfaction one receives in the civility and attention he pays to the difcourfe of others. His looks are a filent commendation of what is good and praise worthy, and a fecret reproof to what is licentious and extravagant. He knows how to appear free and open without danger of intrufion, and to be cautious without feeming referved. The gravity of his converfation is always enlivened with his wit and humour, and the gaiety of it is temper'd with fomething that is inftructive, as well as barely agreeable. Thus with him you are fure not to be merry at the expence of your reafon, nor ferious with the lofs of your goodhumour; but, by a happy mixture in his temper, they either go together, or perpetually fucceed each other. In fine, his whole behaviour is equally diftant from constraint and negligence, and he commands your re fpect, whilft he gains your heart.

There is in his whole carriage fuch an engaging foftnefs, that one cannot perfuade one's felf he is ever actuated by thofe rougher paffions, which where-ever they find place, feldom fail of fhewing themselves in the outward demeanor of the perfons they belong to : But his conftitution is a juft temperature between indolence on one hand and violence on the other. He is mild and gentle, where-ever his affairs will give him leave to follow his own inclinations; but yet never failing to exert himself with vigour and refolution in the fervice of his prince, his country, or his friend.

Z

Wednesday,

N° 468

Wednesday, August 27.

Erat homo ingeniofus, acutus, acer, & qui plurimum & falis haberet fellis, nec candoris minus.

Plin. Epift. He was an ingenious, pleafant fellow, and one who had a great deal of wit and fatire, with an equal share of good-humour.

M

Y paper is in a kind a letter of news, but it regards rather what paffes in the world of converfation than that of bufinefs. I am very forry that I have at prefent a circumstance before me, which is of very great importance to all who have a relish for gaitey, wit, mirth or humour; I mean the death of poor Dick Eaficourt. I have been obliged to him for fo many hours of jollity, that it is but a fmall recompence, tho' all I can give him, to pass a moment or two in fadness for the lofs of fo agreeable a man.

Poor

Eaftcourt! the last time I faw him, we were plotting to fhew the town his great capacity for acting in his full light, by introducing him as dictating to a fet of young players, in what manner to fpeak this fentence, and utter t'other paffion He had fo exquifite a dif cerning of what was defective in any object before him, that in an inftant he could fhew you the ridiculous fide of what would pafs for beautiful and juft, even to men of no ill judgment, before he had pointed at the failure. He was no less skilful in the knowledge of beauty; and, I dare fay, there is no one who knew him well, but can repeat more well-turn'd compliments, as well as fmart repartees of Mr. Eaficourt's, than of any other man in England. This was eafily to be observed in his inimitable faculty of telling a ftory, in which he would throw in natural and unexpected incidents to make his court to one part, and rally the other part of the company : Then he would vary the ufage he gave them, according

as

as he faw them bear kind or sharp language. He had the knack to raise up a penfive temper, and mortify an impertinently gay one, with the most agreeable fkili imaginable. I here are a thoufand things which croud into my memory, which make me too much concerned to tell on about him. Hamlet holding up the skull which the grave-digger threw to him, with an account that it was the head of the king's jefter, falls into very pleafing reflexions, and cries out to his companion,

Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jet, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times: And now how abhorred in my imagination it is, my gorge rifes at it. Here hung thase lips that I have kiffed I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now, your gambols, your fongs, your flashes of merriment that were wont to fet the table on a roar ? Not one now to mock your own grinning? quite chop fallen? Now get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must come. ber laugh at that.

Make

It is an infolence natural to the wealthy, to affix, as much as in them lies, the character of a man to his circumftances. Thus it is ordinary with them to praise faintly the good qualities of thofe below them, and fay, it is very extraordinary in such a man as he is, or the like, when they are forced to acknowledge the value of him whofe lownefs upbraids their exaltation. It is to this humour only, that it is to be afcribed, that a quick wit in converfation, a nice judgment upon any emergency that could arise, and a most blameless inoffenfive behaviour could not raife this man above being received only upon the foot of contributing to mirth and diverfion. But he was as eafy under that condition, as a man of fo excellent talents was capable, and fince they would have it, that to divert was his business, he did it with all the feeming alacrity imaginable, tho' it ftung him to the heart that it was his business. Men of fenfe, who could tafte his excellencies, were well fatisfied to let him lead the way in converfation, and play after his own manner; but fools who provoked him to mimicry found he had the indignation to let it be at their expence, who called for it, and he would fhew the form of con

ceited heavy fellows as jefts to the company at their own request, in revenge for interrupting him from being a companion to put on the character of a jetter.

What was peculiarly excellent in this memorable companion, was that in the accounts he gave of perfons and fentiments, he did not only hit the figure of their faces, and manner of their geftures, but he would in his narration fall into their very way of thinking, and this when he recounted paffages, wherein men of the best wits were concerned, as well as fuch wherein were reprefented men of the lowest rank of understanding. It is certainly as great an initance of felf love to a weakne.s, to be impatient of being mimick'd, as any can be imagined. There were none but the vain, the formal, the proud, or those who were incapable of amending their faults, that dreaded him; to others he was in the highest degree pleafing; and I do not know any fatisfaction of any indiff rent kind I ever tafted fo much, as having got over an impatience of my ceng myfelf in the air he could put me when I have difpleafed him. It is indeed to his exquifite talent this way, more than any philofophy I could read on the fubject, that my perfon is very little of my care; and it is indifferent to me what is faid of my fhape, my air, my manner, my fpeech, or my addrefs. It is to poor Eaficourt I chiefly owe that I am arrived at the happinets of thinking nothing a diminution to me, but what argues a depravity of my will.

It has as much furprifed me as any thing in nature, to have it frequently faid, that he was not a good player: But that must be owing to a partiality for former actors in the parts in which he fucceeded them, and judging by comparison of what was liked before, rather than by the nature of the thing. When a man of his wit and fmar nefs could put on an utter abfence of common fenfe in his face, as he did in the character of Bufinch in the Northern Lafs, and an air of infipid cunning and vivacity in the character of Pounce in The Tender Hufband, it is folly to difpute his capacity and fuccefs, as he was an actor.

Poor Eaftcourt! let the vain and proud be at rest, thou wilt no more disturb their admiration of their dear

felves,

felves, and thou art no longer to drudge in raifing the mirth of ftupids, who know nothing of thy merit, for thy maintenance.

It is natural for the generality of mankind to run into reflections upon our mortality, when disturbers of the world are laid at reft, but to take no notice when they who can please and divert are pulled from us: But for my part, I cannot but think the lofs of fuch talents as the man of whom I am speaking was mafter of, a more melancholy inftance of mortality than the diffolution of perfons of never fo high characters in the world, whofe pretenfions were that they were noify and mifchievous.

But I muft grow more fuccinct, and, as a SPECTATOR, give an account of this extraordinary man, who, in his way, never had an equal in any age before him, or in that wherein he lived. I fpeak of him as a companion, and a man qualified for converfation. His fortune expofed him to an obfequioufnefs towards the worst fort of company, but his excellent qualities rendered him capable of making the best figure in the most refined. I have been prefent with him among men of the most delicate tafte a whole night, and have known him (for he faw it was defired) keep the difcourse to himself the most part of it, and maintain his good humour with a countenance, in a language fo delightful, without offence to any perfon or thing upon earth, ftill preferving the diftance his circumstances obliged him to; I fay, I have seen him do all this in fuch a charming manner, that I am fure none of thofe I hint at will read this, without giving him fome forrow for their abundant mirth, and one gush of tears for fo many bursts of laughter. I wish it were any honour to the pleasant creature's memory, that my eyes are too much fuffufed to let me go on

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Thursday,