Grace was in all her steps, Heav'n in her eye,
In all her gestures dignity and love:
'Without this irradiating power, the proudest fair-one ought to know, whatever her glass may tell her to the contrary, that her most perfect features are uninformed and dead.
'I cannot better close this moral, than by a short epitaph, written by Ben Johnson with a spirit which nothing could inspire, but such an object as I have been describing.
'Underneath this stone doth lie,
As much virtue as could die;
Which when alive did vigour give
To as much beauty as could live.'
I am, Sir
Your most humble Servant,
R.B.
SPECTATOR, Vol. I. No.33.
Honour.
1. Every principle that is a motive to good actions, ought to be encouraged, since men are of so different a make, that the same principle does not work equally upon all minds. What some men are prompted to by conscience, duty, or religion, which are only different names for the same thing, others are prompted to by honour.
2. The sense of honour is of so fine and delicate a nature, that it is only to be met with in minds which are naturally noble, or in such as have been cultivated by great examples, or a refined education. This paper, therefore, is chiefly designed for those who by means of any of these advantages, are, or ought to be, actuated by this glorious principle.
3. 'But as nothing is more pernicious than a principle or action, when it is misunderstood, I shall consider honour with respect to three sorts of men. First of all, with regard to those who have a right notion of it. Secondly, with regard to those who have a mistaken notion of it. And thirdly, with regard to those who treat it as chimerical, and turn it into ridicule.