Steele, Sir Richard (1672-1729)

Tatler, No. 198

From Thursday July 13. to Saturday July 15. 1710

"Her Air discovered her Body a meer Machine of her Mind, and not that her Thoughts were employed in studying Graces and Attractions for her Person."

As you may trace the usual Thoughts of Men in their Countenances, there appeared in the Face of Caelia a Chearfulness, the constant Companion of unaffected Virtue; and a Gladness, which is as inseparable from true Piety. Her every Look and Motion spoke the peaceful, mild, resigning, humble Inhabitant, that animated her beauteous Body. Her Air discovered her Body a meer Machine of her Mind, and not that her Thoughts were employed in studying Graces and Attractions for her Person. Such was Caelia when she was first seen by Palamede at her usual Place of Worship. Palamede is a young Man of Two and twenty, well-fashioned, learned, genteel, and discreet, the Son and Heir of a Gentleman of a very great Estate, and himself possessed of a plentiful one by the Gift of an Unkle. He became enamoured with Caelia, and after having learned her Habitation, had Address enough to communicate his Passion and Circumstances with such an Air of good Sense and Integrity, as soon obtain'd Permission to visit and profess his Inclinations towards her. Palamede's present Fortune and future Expectations were no Way prejudicial to his Addresses; but after the Lovers had passed some Time in the agreeable Entertainments of a successful Courtship, Caelia one Day took Occasion to interrupt Palamede in the Midst of a very pleasing Discourse of the Happiness he promised himself in so accomplished a Companion, and assuming a serious Air, told him, there was another Heart to be won before he gained hers, which was that of his Father. Palamede seemed much disturbed at the Overture, and lamented to her, That his Father was one of those too provident Parents, who only place their Thoughts upon bringing Riches into their Families by Marriages, and are wholly insensible of all other Considerations. But the Strictness of Caelia's Rules of Life made her insist upon this Demand; and the Son, at a proper Hour, communicated to his Father the Circumstances of his Love, and the Merit of the Object. The next Day the Father made her a Visit. The Beauty of her Person, the Fame of her Virtue, and a certain irresistible Charm in her whole Behaviour on so tender and delicate an Occasion, wrought so much upon him, in Spight of all Prepossessions, that he hastened the Marriage with an Impatience equal to that of his Son. Their Nuptials were celebrated with a Privacy suitable to the Character and Modesty of Caelia, and from that Day, till a fatal one of last Week, they lived together with all the Joy and Happiness which attend Minds entirely united.
(IV, pp. 38-9; cf. II, pp. 62-3 in Bond ed.)

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Over 50 entries in the ESTC (1709, 1710, 1711, 1712, 1713, 1716, 1720, 1723, 1728, 1733, 1737, 1743, 1747, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1754, 1759, 1764, 1772, 1774, 1776, 1777, 1785, 1786, 1789, 1794, 1795, 1797).

See The Tatler. By Isaac Bickerstaff Esq. Dates of Publication: No. 1 (Tuesday, April 12, 1709.) through No. 271 (From Saturday December 30, to Tuesday January 2, 1710 [i.e. 1711]). <Link to ESTC>

Collected in two volumes, and printed and sold by J. Morphew in 1710, 1711. Also collected and reprinted as The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.

Consulting Donald Bond's edition of The Tatler, 3 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1987). Searching and pasting text from The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq: Revised and Corrected by the Author (London: Printed by John Nutt, and sold by John Morphew, 1712): <Link to Vol. 1><Vol. 2><Vol. 3><Vol. 4><Vol. 5>. Some text also from Project Gutenberg digitization of 1899 edition edited by George A. Aitken.

03/02/2014