Steps towards Greatness? And if it were poffible to express that easie Grandeur, which did at once perfwade and command; it would appear as clearly to thofe to come, as it does to his Contemporaries, that all the great. Events which were brought to pass under the Conduct of fo well-govern'd a Spirit, were the Bleffings of Heaven upon Wifdom and Valour; and all which feem adverfe fell out by divine Permiffion, which we are not to fearch into.

You have pass'd that Year of Life wherein the most able and fortunate Captain, before your Time, declared he had lived enough both to Nature and to Glory; and your Grace may

2

make

make that Reflection with much more Juftice. He spoke it after he had arrived at Empire, by an Ufurpation upon those whom he had enflaved; but the Prince of Mindleheim may rejoyce in a Sovereignity which was the Gift of Him whose Dominions he had preferved.

GLORY established upon the uninterrupted Success of honourable Designs and Actions is not fubject to Diminution, nor can any Attempts prevail against it, but in the Proportion which the narrow Circuit of Rumour bears to the unlimited Extent of Fame.

WE may congratulate your Grace not only upon your high Atchievements, but likewife upon the happy Expiration of A 4

your

your Command, by which your Glory is put out of the Power of Fortune: And when your Perfon fhall be so too, that the Author and Difpofer of all Things may place you in that higher Manfion of Blifs and Immortality which is prepared for good Princes, Lawgivers, and Heroes, when HE in HIS due Time removes them from the Envy of Mankind, is the hearty Prayer

of,

My LORD,

Your Grace's

moft Obedient,

moft Devoted,

Humble Servant.

The SPECTATOR.

THE

SPECTATOR.

VOL. IV..

No. 252. Wednesday, December 19, 1711..

Erranti, paffimque oculos per cun&ta ferenti.

Virg

Mr. SPECTATOR,

A м very forry to find by your Difcourfe upon the Eye, that you have not thoroughly ftudied the Nature and Force of that Part of a beauteous Face. Had you ever been in Love, you would have faid ten thoufand Things, which it seems did not occur to you: Do but reflect upon the 'Nonsense it makes Men talk, the Flames which it is faid to kindle, the Tranfport it raife, the Dejection it 'causes in the bravest Men; and if you do believe thofe Things are expreffed to an Extravagance, yet you will own, that the Influence of it is very great which moves 'Men to that Extravagance. Certain it is, that the whole Strenght of the Mind is fometimes feated there; that a kind Look imparts all, that a Year's Difcourfe could give you, in one Moment. What matters it what fhe fays

up

to you, fee how fhe looks, is the Language of all who know what Love is. When the Mind is thus fummed and expreffed in a Glance, did you never obferve a fudden Joy arife in the Countenance of a Lover? Did you ne⚫ver see the Attendance of Years paid, over-paid, in an Inftant? You a SPECTATOR, and not know, that the • Intelligence of Affection is carried on by the Eye only; that Good-breeding has made the Tongue falfify the Heart, and act a Part of continual Conftraint, while Nature has preferved the Eyes to her felf, that she may not ⚫ be disguised or mifreprefented. The poor Bride can give her Hand, and fay, I do, with a languishing Air to the Man fhe is obliged by cruel Parents to take for mercenary Reasons, but at the fame Time fhe cannot look as if she loved; her Eye is full of Sorrow, and Reluctance fits in a Tear, while the offering of the Sacrifice is performed in what we call the Marriage Ceremony. Do you never go to Plays? Cannot you diftinguish between the Eyes of those who go to fee, from those who come to be feen? I am a Woman turned of thirty, and am on the Obfervation a little; therefore if you or your Correfpondent had confulted me in your Difcourfe on the Eye, I could have told you, that the Eye of Leonora is flily watchful while it looks negligent; fhe looks round her without the help of the Glaffes you fpeak of, and yet seems to be employed on Objects directly before her. This Eye is what affects Chance-medley, and on a fudden, as if it attended to another Thing, turns all its Charms against an Ogler. The Eye of Lufitania is an Inftrument of premeditated Murder, but the Defign being visible,deftroys the Execution of it; and with much more beauty than that of Leonora, it is not half fo mifchievous. There is a brave Soldier's Daughter in Town, that by her Eye has been the Death of more than ever her Father made fly before him. A beautiful Eye makes Silence eloquent, a kind Eye makes Contradiction an Affent, an enraged Eye makes Beauty deformed. This little Member gives Life to every other Part about us, and I believe the Story of Argos implies no more than that the Eye is in every Part, that is to fay, every other Part would be mutilated, were not its Force reprefented more by the Eye than even by it felf. But this is Hea

C

then