Richard Steele: Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by G. A. Aitken — John Shaqi
Richard Steele: Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by G. A. AitkenSteele, Richard, Sir
General
Richard Steele: Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by G. A. Aitken
Steele, Richard, Sir
English drama (Comedy); Steele, Richard, Sir, 1672-1729
The names of some of the characters recall earlier writings, for
Lucinda and her father, Mr. Sealand, Mr. Charles Myrtle, and Humphrey,
the servant, had all appeared in the _Theatre_, while there was another
Myrtle in the _Lover_. There are, too, passages which at once remind
us of the style of the earlier periodicals; thus Bevil, after escorting
a music-master to the door, says to Indiana, "You smile, madam, to
see me so complaisant to one whom I pay for his visit: Now, I own, I
think it is not enough barely to pay those whose talents are superior
to our own (I mean such talents as would become our condition, if we
had them). Methinks we ought to do something more than barely gratify
them for what they do at our command, only because their fortune is
below us"; to which Indiana replies, "You said, I smile; I assure you
it was a smile of approbation; for, indeed, I cannot but think it the
distinguishing part of a gentleman to make his superiority of fortune
as easy to his inferiors as he can." Or, to take another passage in
the conversation of these same "conscious lovers," Bevil remarks, "If
pleasure be worth purchasing, how great a pleasure is it to him, who
has a true taste of life, to ease an aching heart, to see the human
countenance lighted up with smiles of joy on receipt of a bit of ore
which is superfluous and otherwise useless in a man's own pocket." He
even remembers to praise Addison: "The moral writers practise virtue
after death: This charming Vision of Mirza! Such an author consulted
in a morning sets the spirit for the vicissitudes of the day better
than the glass does a man's person." And when Sir John Bevil observes
that, "What might injure a citizen's credit may be no strain to a
gentleman's honour," Mr. Sealand says, "Sir John, the honour of a
gentleman is liable to be tainted by as small a matter as the credit
of a trader." Much the same lesson is taught, less sententiously, when
Phillis exclaims, "Oh, Tom! Tom! thou art as false and as base as the
best gentleman of them all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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