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Title: The Spectator, Volume 2.

Author: Joseph Addison

Sir Richard Steele


Release date: February 1, 2004 [eBook #11010]
Most recently updated: December 23, 2020

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPECTATOR, VOLUME 2. *** 







title-page










 The Spectator









in three volumes: volume 2








A New Edition



Reproducing the Original Text 

Both as First Issued

and as Corrected by its Authors



with Introduction, Notes, and Index




edited by Henry Morley





1891


















Note: Links from this page to Spectator Volume 1 will work if:



    

  1. you place the other Spectator folder in the same folder with this Spectator Volume 2 folder
    2. 

  2. then rename the Spectator folder SV1
    3. 

  3. then rename the html file Spectator1.html
    4. 
















Table of Contents








List of Original Advertisements Included




























	
 No. 203

	
 Tuesday, October 1, 1711

	
 Addison









Phœbe pater, si das hujus mihi nominis usum,

Nec fals, Clymene culpam sub imagine celat;

Pignora da, Genitor



Ov. Met.




London
Westminster




We
Jus trium Liberorum
Roman
who
1




—Nec longum tempus et ingens

Exiit ad cœlum ramis felicibus arbos,

Miraturque novas frondes, et non sua poma.



Virg.2
Will Maple
Mary
Maple
Kate Cole
viz.
William, Richard,
Rebecca. Sal Twiford
Sarah, Tom, Will,
Frank








Apollodorus
Menander
Thou mayest shut up thy Doors, says he, with Bars and Bolts:
It will be impossible for the Blacksmith to make them so fast, but a Cat
and a Whoremaster will find a Way through them




American
Diogenes
Plant Men








would
tho' very unreasonably, a Degree of
Disgrace
3
And
Bastardy
Cuckoldom
Ignominy
4
is
are
5














  Sir,



  'I am one of those People who by the general Opinion of the World are
  counted both Infamous and Unhappy.



  'My Father is a very eminent Man in this Kingdom, and one who bears
  considerable Offices in it. I am his Son, but my Misfortune is, That I
  dare not call him Father, nor he without Shame own me as his Issue, I
  being illegitimate, and therefore deprived of that endearing
  Tenderness and unparallel'd Satisfaction which a good Man finds in the
  Love and Conversation of a Parent: Neither have I the Opportunities to
  render him the Duties of a Son, he having always carried himself at so
  vast a Distance, and with such Superiority towards me, that by long
  Use I have contracted a Timorousness when before him, which hinders me
  from declaring my own Necessities, and giving him to understand the
  Inconveniencies I undergo.



  'It is my Misfortune to have been neither bred a Scholar, a Soldier,
  nor to any kind of Business, which renders me Entirely uncapable of
  making Provision for my self without his Assistance; and this creates
  a continual Uneasiness in my Mind, fearing I shall in Time want Bread;
  my Father, if I may so call him, giving me but very faint Assurances
  of doing any thing for me.



  'I have hitherto lived somewhat like a Gentleman, and it would be very
  hard for me to labour for my Living. I am in continual Anxiety for my
  future Fortune, and under a great Unhappiness in losing the sweet
  Conversation and friendly Advice of my Parents; so that I cannot look
  upon my self otherwise than as a Monster, strangely sprung up in
  Nature, which every one is ashamed to own.



  'I am thought to be a Man of some natural Parts, and by the continual
  Reading what you have offered the World, become an Admirer thereof,
  which has drawn me to make this Confession; at the same time hoping,
  if any thing herein shall touch you with a Sense of Pity, you would
  then allow me the Favour of your Opinion thereupon; as also what Part
  I, being unlawfully born, may claim of the Man's Affection who begot
  me, and how far in your Opinion I am to be thought his Son, or he
  acknowledged as my Father. Your Sentiments and Advice herein will be a
  great Consolation and Satisfaction to, 

Sir, 

Your Admirer and Humble
  Servant, 

W. B.
















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:



return







Contents










	
 No. 204

	
 Wednesday, October 24, 1711

	
 Steele








Urit grata protervitas,

Et vultus nimium lubricùs aspici.




Hor.














To the Sothades1.



  "The Word, by which I address you, gives you, who understand
  Portuguese, a lively Image of the tender Regard I have for you. The
  Spectator'S late Letter from Statira gave me the Hint to use the
  same Method of explaining my self to you. I am not affronted at the
  Design your late Behaviour discovered you had in your Addresses to me;
  but I impute it to the Degeneracy of the Age, rather than your
  particular Fault. As I aim at nothing more than being yours, I am
  willing to be a Stranger to your Name, your Fortune, or any Figure
  which your Wife might expect to make in the World, provided my
  Commerce with you is not to be a guilty one. I resign gay Dress, the
  Pleasure of Visits, Equipage, Plays, Balls, and Operas, for that one
  Satisfaction of having you for ever mine. I am willing you shall
  industriously conceal the only Cause of Triumph which I can know in
  this Life. I wish only to have it my Duty, as well as my Inclination,
  to study your Happiness. If this has not the Effect this Letter seems
  to aim at, you are to understand that I had a mind to be rid of you,
  and took the readiest Way to pall you with an Offer of what you would
  never desist pursuing while you received ill Usage. Be a true Man; be
  my Slave while you doubt me, and neglect me when you think I love you.
  I defy you to find out what is your present Circumstance with me; but
  I know while I can keep this Suspence.



  I am your admired 

Belinda.








  Madam,



  "It is a strange State of Mind a Man is in, when the very
  Imperfections of a Woman he loves turn into Excellencies and
  Advantages. I do assure you, I am very much afraid of venturing upon
  you. I now like you in spite of my Reason, and think it an ill
  Circumstance to owe one's Happiness to nothing but Infatuation. I can
  see you ogle all the young Fellows who look at you, and observe your
  Eye wander after new Conquests every Moment you are in a publick
  Place; and yet there is such a Beauty in all your Looks and Gestures,
  that I cannot but admire you in the very Act of endeavouring to gain
  the Hearts of others. My Condition is the same with that of the Lover
  in the Way of the World2, I have studied your Faults so long,
  that they are become as familiar to me, and I like them as well as I
  do my own. Look to it, Madam, and consider whether you think this gay
  Behaviour will appear to me as amiable when an Husband, as it does now
  to me a Lover. Things are so far advanced, that we must proceed; and I
  hope you will lay it to Heart, that it will be becoming in me to
  appear still your Lover, but not in you to be still my Mistress.
  Gaiety in the Matrimonial Life is graceful in one Sex, but
  exceptionable in the other. As you improve these little Hints, you
  will ascertain the Happiness or Uneasiness of,

 Madam, Your most
  obedient, 

Most humble Servant,

 T.D.








  Sir, 

'When I sat at the Window, and you at the other End of the Room
  by my Cousin, I saw you catch me looking at you. Since you have the
  Secret at last, which I am sure you should never have known but by
  Inadvertency, what my Eyes said was true. But it is too soon to
  confirm it with my Hand, therefore shall not subscribe my Name.








  Sir, 

'There were other Gentlemen nearer, and I know no Necessity you
  were under to take up that flippant Creature's Fan last Night; but you
  shall never touch a Stick of mine more, that's pos. 

Phillis.








  To Colonel R——s3 in Spain.



  'Before this can reach the best of Husbands and the fondest Lover,
  those tender Names will be no more of Concern to me. The Indisposition
  in which you, to obey the Dictates of your Honour and Duty, left me,
  has increased upon me; and I am acquainted by my Physicians I cannot
  live a Week longer. At this time my Spirits fail me; and it is the
  ardent Love I have for you that carries me beyond my Strength, and
  enables me to tell you, the most painful Thing in the Prospect of
  Death, is, that I must part with you. But let it be a Comfort to you,
  that I have no Guilt hangs upon me, no unrepented Folly that retards
  me; but I pass away my last Hours in Reflection upon the Happiness we
  have lived in together, and in Sorrow that it is so soon to have an
  End. This is a Frailty which I hope is so far from criminal, that
  methinks there is a kind of Piety in being so unwilling to be
  separated from a State which is the Institution of Heaven, and in
  which we have lived according to its Laws. As we know no more of the
  next Life, but that it will be an happy one to the Good, and miserable
  to the Wicked, why may we not please ourselves at least, to alleviate
  the Difficulty of resigning this Being, in imagining that we shall
  have a Sense of what passes below, and may possibly be employed in
  guiding the Steps of those with whom we walked with Innocence when
  mortal? Why may not I hope to go on in my usual Work, and, tho'
  unknown to you, be assistant in all the Conflicts of your Mind? Give
  me leave to say to you, O best of Men, that I cannot figure to myself
  a greater Happiness than in such an Employment: To be present at all
  the Adventures to which human Life is exposed, to administer Slumber
  to thy Eyelids in the Agonies of a Fever, to cover thy beloved Face in
  the Day of Battle, to go with thee a Guardian Angel incapable of Wound
  or Pain, where I have longed to attend thee when a weak, a fearful
  Woman: These, my Dear, are the Thoughts with which I warm my poor
  languid Heart; but indeed I am not capable under my present Weakness
  of bearing the strong Agonies of Mind I fall into, when I form to
  myself the Grief you will be in upon your first hearing of my
  Departure. I will not dwell upon this, because your kind and generous
  Heart will be but the more afflicted, the more the Person for whom you
  lament offers you Consolation. My last Breath will, if I am my self,
  expire in a Prayer for you. I shall never see thy Face again.



  'Farewell for ever. T.












Footnote 1:
saudades
Saudades da Patria
Tenho
Saudades



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Way of the World
'I like her with all her faults, nay, like her for her faults. Her
  'follies are so natural, or so artful, that they become her; and those
  affectations which in another woman would be odious, serve but to make
  her more agreeable. I'll tell thee, Fainall, she once used me with
  that insolence, that in revenge I took her to pieces, sifted her, and
  separated her failings; I studied 'em and got 'em by rote. The
  Catalogue was so large, that I was not without hopes one day or other
  to hate her heartily: to which end I so used myself to think of 'em,
  that at length, contrary to my design and expectation, they gave me
  every hour less and less disturbance; 'till in a few days it became
  habitual to me to remember 'em without being displeased. They are now
  grown as familiar to me as my own frailties; and, in all probability,
  in a little time longer I shall like 'em as well.'



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents










	
 No. 205

	
 Thursday, October 25, 1711

	
 Addison









Decipimur specie recti



Hor.


Thus
Allusion
1
and
which
2










  Mr. Spectator,



  'There are none of your Speculations which I read over with greater
  Delight, than those which are designed for the Improvement of our Sex.
  You have endeavoured to correct our unreasonable Fears and
  Superstitions, in your Seventh and Twelfth Papers; our Fancy for
  Equipage, in your Fifteenth; our Love of Puppet-Shows, in your
  Thirty-First; our Notions of Beauty, in your Thirty-Third; our
  Inclination for Romances, in your Thirty-Seventh; our Passion for
  French Fopperies, in your Forty-Fifth; our Manhood and Party-zeal,
  in your Fifty-Seventh; our Abuse of Dancing, in your Sixty-Sixth and
  Sixty-Seventh; our Levity, in your Hundred and Twenty-Eighth; our Love
  of Coxcombs, in your Hundred and Fifty-Fourth, and Hundred and
  Fifty-Seventh; our Tyranny over the Henpeckt, in your Hundred and
  Seventy-Sixth. You have described the Pict in your Forty-first; the
  Idol, in your Seventy-Third; the Demurrer, in your Eighty-Ninth; the
  Salamander, in your Hundred and Ninety-Eighth. You have likewise taken
  to pieces our Dress, and represented to us the Extravagancies we are
  often guilty of in that Particular. You have fallen upon our Patches,
  in your Fiftieth and Eighty-First; our Commodes, in your
  Ninety-Eighth; our Fans in your Hundred and Second; our Riding Habits
  in your Hundred and Fourth; our Hoop-petticoats, in your Hundred and
  Twenty-Seventh; besides a great many little Blemishes which you have
  touched upon in your several other Papers, and in those many Letters
  that are scattered up and down your Works. At the same Time we must
  own, that the Compliments you pay our Sex are innumerable, and that
  those very Faults which you represent in us, are neither black in
  themselves nor, as you own, universal among us. But, Sir, it is plain
  that these your Discourses are calculated for none but the fashionable
  Part of Womankind, and for the Use of those who are rather indiscreet
  than vicious. But, Sir, there is a Sort of Prostitutes in the lower
  Part of our Sex, who are a Scandal to us, and very well deserve to
  fall under your Censure. I know it would debase your Paper too much to
  enter into the Behaviour of these Female Libertines; but as your
  Remarks on some Part of it would be a doing of Justice to several
  Women of Virtue and Honour, whose Reputations suffer by it, I hope you
  will not think it improper to give the Publick some Accounts of this
  Nature. You must know, Sir, I am provoked to write you this Letter by
  the Behaviour of an infamous Woman, who having passed her Youth in a
  most shameless State of Prostitution, is now one of those who gain
  their Livelihood by seducing others, that are younger than themselves,
  and by establishing a criminal Commerce between the two Sexes. Among
  several of her Artifices to get Money, she frequently perswades a vain
  young Fellow, that such a Woman of Quality, or such a celebrated
  Toast, entertains a secret Passion for him, and wants nothing but an
  Opportunity of revealing it: Nay, she has gone so far as to write
  Letters in the Name of a Woman of Figure, to borrow Money of one of
  these foolish Roderigo's3, which she has afterwards appropriated
  to her own Use. In the mean time, the Person who has lent the Money,
  has thought a Lady under Obligations to him, who scarce knew his Name;
  and wondered at her Ingratitude when he has been with her, that she
  has not owned the Favour, though at the same time he was too much a
  Man of Honour to put her in mind of it.



  'When this abandoned Baggage meets with a Man who has Vanity enough to
  give Credit to Relations of this nature, she turns him to very good
  Account, by repeating Praises that were never uttered, and delivering
  Messages that were never sent. As the House of this shameless Creature
  is frequented by several Foreigners, I have heard of another Artifice,
  out of which she often raises Money. The Foreigner sighs after some
  British Beauty, whom he only knows by Fame: Upon which she promises,
  if he can be secret, to procure him a Meeting. The Stranger, ravished
  at his good Fortune, gives her a Present, and in a little time is
  introduced to some imaginary Title; for you must know that this
  cunning Purveyor has her Representatives upon this Occasion, of some
  of the finest Ladies in the Kingdom. By this Means, as I am informed,
  it is usual enough to meet with a German Count in foreign Countries,
  that shall make his Boasts of Favours he has received from Women of
  the highest Ranks, and the most unblemished Characters. Now, Sir, what
  Safety is there for a Woman's Reputation, when a Lady may be thus
  prostituted as it were by Proxy, and be reputed an unchaste Woman; as
  the Hero in the ninth Book of Dryden's Virgil is looked upon as a
  Coward, because the Phantom which appeared in his Likeness ran away
  from Turnus? You may depend upon what I relate to you to be Matter
  of Fact, and the Practice of more than one of these female Pandars. If
  you print this Letter, I may give you some further Accounts of this
  vicious Race of Women. 

Your humble Servant, 

Belvidera.


















  Mr. Spectator,



  'I am a Country Clergyman, and hope you will lend me your Assistance
  in ridiculing some little Indecencies which cannot so properly be
  exposed from the Pulpit.



  'A Widow Lady, who straggled this Summer from London into my Parish
  for the Benefit of the Air, as she says, appears every Sunday at
  Church with many fashionable Extravagancies, to the great Astonishment
  of my Congregation.



  'But what gives us the most Offence is her theatrical Manner of
  Singing the Psalms. She introduces above fifty Italian Airs into the
  hundredth Psalm, and whilst we begin All People in the old solemn
  Tune of our Forefathers, she in a quite different Key runs Divisions
  on the Vowels, and adorns them with the Graces of Nicolini; if she
  meets with Eke or Aye, which are frequent in the Metre of Hopkins
  and Sternhold4, we are certain to hear her quavering them half a
  Minute after us to some sprightly Airs of the Opera.



  'I am very far from being an Enemy to Church Musick; but fear this
  Abuse of it may make my Parish ridiculous, who already look on the
  Singing Psalms as an Entertainment, and no Part of their Devotion:
  Besides, I am apprehensive that the Infection may spread, for Squire
  Squeekum, who by his Voice seems (if I may use the Expression) to be
  cut out for an Italian Singer, was last Sunday practising the same
  Airs.



  'I know the Lady's Principles, and that she will plead the Toleration,
  which (as she fancies) allows her Non-Conformity in this Particular;
  but I beg you to acquaint her, That Singing the Psalms in a different
  Tune from the rest of the Congregation, is a Sort of Schism not
  tolerated by that Act.



  I am, Sir, 

Your very humble Servant, 

R. S.








Mr. Spectator,



  'In your Paper upon Temperance, you prescribe to us a Rule of
  drinking, out of Sir William Temple, in the following Words; The
  first Glass for myself, the second for my Friends, the third for
  Good-humour, and the fourth for mine Enemies. Now, Sir, you must
  know, that I have read this your Spectator, in a Club whereof I am a
  Member; when our President told us, there was certainly an Error in
  the Print, and that the Word Glass should be Bottle; and therefore
  has ordered me to inform you of this Mistake, and to desire you to
  publish the following Errata: In the Paper of Saturday, Octob.
  13, Col. 3. Line 11, for Glass read Bottle.



  L. Yours, Robin Good-fellow.












Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:



return






Contents










	
 No. 206

	
 Friday, October 26, 1711

	
 Steele









Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit,

A Diis plura feret—



Hor.








Cinna




Gloriana
Mirtilla
Chloe
Corinna
Roxana




Macbeth
He bore his Faculties so meekly




The
Sun-shiny
1






Lucceius



















Footnote 1:
Sun-shine



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 207

	
 Saturday, October 27, 1711

	
 Addison









Omnibus in terris, quœ sunt à Gadibus usque

Auroram et Gangem, pauci dignoscere possunt

Vera bona, atque illis multùm diversa, remotâ

Erroris nebulâ—



Juv.




Saturday's
Plato's
Alcibiades the Second
Juvenal's

Persius
Alcibiades the First




Socrates

Alcibiades







Socrates
Alcibiades
Œdipus
Alcibiades
Alcibiades
him
Socrates
receiving
1
ed
Alcibiades
Alcibiades




Greek
O
give us those Things
which are good for us, whether they are such Things as we pray for, or
such Things as we do not pray for: and remove from us those Things which
are hurtful, though they are such Things as we pray for.








Lacedemonians
to give them all good Things so long as they
were virtuous




Athenians
Lacedemonians
Jupiter Ammon
Lacedemonians
I am better pleased with the Prayer of
the
than with all the Oblations of the
As
Homer
2
Trojan
Priam




Socrates
Alcibiades
We must therefore
wait till such Time as we may learn how we ought to behave ourselves
towards the Gods, and towards Men
Alcibiades
It
Socrates
Homer
3
Minerva
Diomedes
Alcibiades
Socrates






Some
4




Plato's
Lacedemonians
that our Offences may be
forgiven, as we forgive those of others
Socrates
the coming of his
Kingdom, being solicitous for no other temporal Blessings but our daily
Sustenance
Evil
Socrates
his Will may be
done:
Nevertheless not my Will, but thine be done



















Footnote 1:
having received



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Iliad



return









Footnote 3:
Iliad



return









Footnote 4:
John



return






Contents










	
 No. 208

	
 Thursday, October 1, 1711

	
 Addison









—Veniunt spectentur ut ipsæ.



Ov.1




Shakespear
In
Macbeth
2




Examples















	Pray settle what is to be a proper Notification of a
    Person's being in Town, and how that differs according to People's
    Quality.
	Sir,

	

	  'As you are one that doth not only pretend to reform, but effects it
  amongst People of any Sense; makes me (who are one of the greatest of
  your Admirers) give you this Trouble to desire you will settle the
  Method of us Females knowing when one another is in Town: For they
  have now got a Trick of never sending to their Acquaintance when they
  first come; and if one does not visit them within the Week which they
  stay at home, it is a mortal Quarrel. Now, dear Mr. Spec, either
  command them to put it in the Advertisement of your Paper, which is
  generally read by our Sex, or else order them to breathe their saucy
  Footmen (who are good for nothing else) by sending them to tell all
  their Acquaintance. If you think to print this, pray put it into a
  better Style as to the spelling Part. The Town is now filling every
  Day, and it cannot be deferred, because People take Advantage of one
  another by this Means and break off Acquaintance, and are rude:
  Therefore pray put this in your Paper as soon as you can possibly, to
  prevent any future Miscarriages of this Nature. I am, as I ever shall
  be,



  Dear Spec,

  Your most obedient

  Humble Servant,

  Mary Meanwell.		













  Mr. Spectator,



  October the 20th.



  'I have been out of Town, so did not meet with your Paper dated
  September the 28th, wherein you, to my Heart's Desire, expose that
  cursed Vice of ensnaring poor young Girls, and drawing them from their
  Friends. I assure you without Flattery it has saved a Prentice of mine
  from Ruin; and in Token of Gratitude as well as for the Benefit of my
  Family, I have put it in a Frame and Glass, and hung it behind my
  Counter. I shall take Care to make my young ones read it every
  Morning, to fortify them against such pernicious Rascals. I know not
  whether what you writ was Matter of Fact, or your own Invention; but
  this I will take my Oath on, the first Part is so exactly like what
  happened to my Prentice, that had I read your Paper then, I should
  have taken your Method to have secured a Villain. Go on and prosper.



  Your most obliged Humble Servant,








  Mr. Spectator,



  'Without Raillery, I desire you to insert this Word for Word in your
  next, as you value a Lover's Prayers. You see it is an Hue and Cry
  after a stray Heart (with the Marks and Blemishes underwritten) which
  whoever shall bring to you, shall receive Satisfaction. Let me beg of
  you not to fail, as you remember the Passion you had for her to whom
  you lately ended a Paper.


Noble, Generous, Great, and Good,

But never to be understood;

Fickle as the Wind, still changing,

After every Female ranging,

Panting, trembling, sighing, dying,

But addicted much to Lying:

When the Siren Songs repeats,

Equal Measures still it beats;

Who-e'er shall wear it, it will smart her,

And who-e'er takes it, takes a Tartar. 















Footnote 1:
Spectaret Populum ludis attentius ipsis



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return






Contents










	
 No. 209

	
 Tuesday, October 30, 1711

	
 Addison









Greek: Gynaikòs oudi chraem' anaer laeízetai, Esthlaes ámeinon, oude rhígion kakaes.


















Simonides
1
Troy
French
bienséance
Simonides










In the Beginning God made the Souls of Womankind out of different
  Materials, and in a separate State from their Bodies.



  The Souls of one Kind of Women were formed out of those Ingredients
  which compose a Swine. A Woman of this Make is a Slut in her House and
  a Glutton at her Table. She is uncleanly in her Person, a Slattern in
  her Dress, and her Family is no better than a Dunghill.



  A Second Sort of Female Soul was formed out of the same Materials
  that enter into the Composition of a Fox. Such an one is what we call
  a notable discerning Woman, who has an Insight into every thing,
  whether it be good or bad. In this Species of Females there are some
  Virtuous and some Vicious.



  A Third Kind of Women were made up of Canine Particles. These are
  what we commonly call Scolds, who imitate the Animals of which they
  were taken, that are always busy and barking, that snarl at every one
  who comes in their Way, and live in perpetual Clamour.



  The Fourth Kind of Women were made out of the Earth. These are your
  Sluggards, who pass away their Time in Indolence and Ignorance, hover
  over the Fire a whole Winter, and apply themselves with Alacrity to no
  kind of Business but Eating.



  The Fifth Species of Females were made out of the Sea. These are
  Women of variable uneven Tempers, sometimes all Storm and Tempest,
  sometimes all Calm and Sunshine. The Stranger who sees one of these in
  her Smiles and Smoothness would cry her up for a Miracle of good
  Humour; but on a sudden her Looks and her Words are changed, she is
  nothing but Fury and Outrage, Noise and Hurricane.



  The Sixth Species were made up of the Ingredients which compose an
  Ass, or a Beast of Burden. These are naturally exceeding slothful,
  but, upon the Husband's exerting his Authority, will live upon hard
  Fare, and do every thing to please him. They are however far from
  being averse to Venereal Pleasure, and seldom refuse a Male
  Companion.



  The Cat furnished Materials for a Seventh Species of Women, who are
  of a melancholy, froward, unamiable Nature, and so repugnant to the
  Offers of Love, that they fly in the Face of their Husband when he
  approaches them with conjugal Endearments. This Species of Women are
  likewise subject to little Thefts, Cheats and Pilferings.



  The Mare with a flowing Mane, which was never broke to any servile
  Toil and Labour, composed an Eighth Species of Women. These are they
  who have little Regard for their Husbands, who pass away their Time in
  Dressing, Bathing, and Perfuming; who throw their Hair into the nicest
  Curls, and trick it up with the fairest Flowers and Garlands. A Woman
  of this Species is a very pretty Thing for a Stranger to look upon,
  but very detrimental to the Owner, unless it be a King or Prince who
  takes a Fancy to such a Toy.



  The Ninth Species of Females were taken out of the Ape. These are
  such as are both ugly and ill-natured, who have nothing beautiful in
  themselves, and endeavour to detract from or ridicule every thing
  which appears so in others.



  The Tenth and last Species of Women were made out of the Bee; and
  happy is the Man who gets such an one for his Wife. She is altogether
  faultless and unblameable; her Family flourishes and improves by her
  good Management. She loves her Husband, and is beloved by him. She
  brings him a Race of beautiful and virtuous Children. She
  distinguishes her self among her Sex. She is surrounded with Graces.
  She never sits among the loose Tribe of Women, nor passes away her
  Time with them in wanton Discourses. She is full of Virtue and
  Prudence, and is the best Wife that Jupiter can bestow on Man.







A Man cannot possess any Thing that is
better than a good Woman, nor any thing that is worse than a bad one




Juvenal
Boileau
French
The Satyr upon Man



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 210

	
 Wednesday, October 31, 1711

	
 John Hughes









Nescio quomodo inhæret in mentibus quasi seculorum quoddam augurium
  futurorum; idque in maximis ingeniis altissimisque animis et existit
  maxime et apparet facillime.



  Cic. Tusc. Quæst.








  To the Spectator.



  Sir,



  'I am fully persuaded that one of the best Springs of generous and
  worthy Actions, is the having generous and worthy Thoughts of our
  selves. Whoever has a mean Opinion of the Dignity of his Nature, will
  act in no higher a Rank than he has allotted himself in his own
  Estimation. If he considers his Being as circumscribed by the
  uncertain Term of a few Years, his Designs will be contracted into the
  same narrow Span he imagines is to bound his Existence. How can he
  exalt his Thoughts to any thing great and noble, who only believes
  that, after a short Turn on the Stage of this World, he is to sink
  into Oblivion, and to lose his Consciousness for ever?



  'For this Reason I am of Opinion, that so useful and elevated a
  Contemplation as that of the Soul's Immortality cannot be resumed
  too often. There is not a more improving Exercise to the human Mind,
  than to be frequently reviewing its own great Privileges and
  Endowments; nor a more effectual Means to awaken in us an Ambition
  raised above low Objects and little Pursuits, than to value our selves
  as Heirs of Eternity.



  'It is a very great Satisfaction to consider the best and wisest of
  Mankind in all Nations and Ages, asserting, as with one Voice, this
  their Birthright, and to find it ratify'd by an express Revelation. At
  the same time if we turn our Thoughts inward upon our selves, we may
  meet with a kind of secret Sense concurring with the Proofs of our own
  Immortality.



  'You have, in my Opinion, raised a good presumptive Argument from the
  increasing Appetite the Mind has to Knowledge, and to the extending
  its own Faculties, which cannot be accomplished, as the more
  restrained Perfection of lower Creatures may, in the Limits of a short
  Life. I think another probable Conjecture may be raised from our
  Appetite to Duration it self, and from a Reflection on our Progress
  through the several Stages of it: We are complaining, as you observe
  in a former Speculation, of the Shortness of Life, and yet are
  perpetually hurrying over the Parts of it, to arrive at certain little
  Settlements, or imaginary Points of Rest, which are dispersed up and
  down in it.



  'Now let us consider what happens to us when we arrive at these
  imaginary Points of Rest: Do we stop our Motion, and sit down
  satisfied in the Settlement we have gain'd? or are we not removing the
  Boundary, and marking out new Points of Rest, to which we press
  forward with the like Eagerness, and which cease to be such as fast as
  we attain them? Our Case is like that of a Traveller upon the Alps,
  who should fancy that the Top of the next Hill must end his Journey,
  because it terminates his Prospect; but he no sooner arrives as it,
  than he sees new Ground and other Hills beyond it, and continues to
  travel on as before1.



  'This is so plainly every Man's Condition in Life, that there is no
  one who has observed any thing, but may observe, that as fast as his
  Time wears away, his Appetite to something future remains. The Use
  therefore I would make of it is this, That since Nature (as some love
  to express it) does nothing in vain, or, to speak properly, since the
  Author of our Being has planted no wandering Passion in it, no Desire
  which has not its Object, Futurity is the proper Object of the Passion
  so constantly exercis'd about it; and this Restlessness in the
  present, this assigning our selves over to further Stages of Duration,
  this successive grasping at somewhat still to come, appears to me
  (whatever it may to others) as a kind of Instinct or natural Symptom
  which the Mind of Man has of its own Immortality.



  'I take it at the same time for granted, that the Immortality of the
  Soul is sufficiently established by other Arguments: And if so, this
  Appetite, which otherwise would be very unaccountable and absurd,
  seems very reasonable, and adds Strength to the Conclusion. But I am
  amazed when I consider there are Creatures capable of Thought, who, in
  spite of every Argument, can form to themselves a sullen Satisfaction
  in thinking otherwise. There is something so pitifully mean in the
  inverted Ambition of that Man who can hope for Annihilation, and
  please himself to think that his whole Fabrick shall one Day crumble
  into Dust, and mix with the Mass of inanimate Beings, that it equally
  deserves our Admiration and Pity. The Mystery of such Mens Unbelief is
  not hard to be penetrated; and indeed amounts to nothing more than a
  sordid Hope that they shall not be immortal, because they dare not be
  so.



  'This brings me back to my first Observation, and gives me Occasion to
  say further, That as worthy Actions spring from worthy Thoughts, so
  worthy Thoughts are likewise the Consequence of worthy Actions: But
  the Wretch who has degraded himself below the Character of
  Immortality, is very willing to resign his Pretensions to it, and to
  substitute in its Room a dark negative Happiness in the Extinction of
  his Being.



  'The admirable Shakespear has given us a strong Image of the
  unsupported Condition of such a Person in his last Minutes, in the
  second Part of King Henry the Sixth, where Cardinal Beaufort, who
  had been concerned in the Murder of the good Duke Humphrey, is
  represented on his Death-bed. After some short confused Speeches which
  shew an Imagination disturbed with Guilt, just as he is expiring, King
  Henry standing by him full of Compassion, says,


Lord Cardinal! if thou think'st on Heaven's Bliss,

    Hold up thy Hand, make Signal of that Hope!

    He dies, and makes no Sign!—


  'The Despair which is here shewn, without a Word or Action on the Part
  of the dying Person, is beyond what could be painted by the most
  forcible Expressions whatever.



  'I shall not pursue this Thought further, but only add, That as
  Annihilation is not to be had with a Wish, so it is the most abject
  Thing in the World to wish it. What are Honour, Fame, Wealth, or Power
  when compared with the generous Expectation of a Being without End,
  and a Happiness adequate to that Being?



  'I shall trouble you no further; but with a certain Gravity which
  these Thoughts have given me, I reflect upon some Things People say of
  you, (as they will of Men who distinguish themselves) which I hope are
  not true; and wish you as good a Man as you are an Author.



  I am, Sir, 

Your most obedient humble Servant, 

T. D.
















Footnote 1:
 'Hills peep o'er Hills, and Alps on Alps arise.' 
Essay on Criticism



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 211

	
 Thursday, November 1, 1711

	
 Addison









Fictis meminerit nos jocari Fabulis.



Phæd.




Horace
 
has
1
Prometheus




Simonides
Simonides
Dryden
Pythagoras
Ovid
Thus all things are but alter'd, nothing dies,

And here and there th' unbody'd Spirit flies:

By Time, or Force, or Sickness dispossess'd,

And lodges where it lights, in Bird or Beast,

Or hunts without till ready Limbs it find,

And actuates those according to their Kind:

From Tenement to Tenement is toss'd:

The Soul is still the same, the Figure only lost.

  Then let not Piety be put to Flight,

To please the Taste of Glutton-Appetite;

But suffer inmate Souls secure to dwell,

Lest from their Seats your Parents you expel;

With rabid Hunger feed upon your Kind,

Or from a Beast dislodge a Brother's Mind.



Plato
 
in
Erus
Armenian
Orpheus
Ajax
Agamemnon
Thersites
2






Mr
Congreve
3
Thus Aristotle's Soul of old that was,

May now be damn'd to animate an Ass;

Or in this very House, for ought we know,

Is doing painful Penance in some Beau.
Tuesday's










 From my House in the Strand, October 30, 1711.



  Mr. Spectator,



  'Upon reading your Tuesday's Paper, I find by several Symptoms in my
  Constitution that I am a Bee. My Shop, or, if you please to call it
  so, my Cell, is in that great Hive of Females which goes by the Name
  of The New Exchange; where I am daily employed in gathering together
  a little Stock of Gain from the finest Flowers about the Town, I mean
  the Ladies and the Beaus. I have a numerous Swarm of Children, to whom
  I give the best Education I am able: But, Sir, it is my Misfortune to
  be married to a Drone, who lives upon what I get, without bringing any
  thing into the common Stock. Now, Sir, as on the one hand I take care
  not to behave myself towards him like a Wasp, so likewise I would not
  have him look upon me as an Humble-Bee; for which Reason I do all I
  can to put him upon laying up Provisions for a bad Day, and frequently
  represent to him the fatal Effects his4 Sloth and Negligence may
  bring upon us in our old Age. I must beg that you will join with me in
  your good Advice upon this Occasion, and you will for ever oblige



  Your humble Servant,



  Melissa.








  Picadilly, October 31, 1711.



  Sir,



  'I am joined in Wedlock for my Sins to one of those Fillies who are
  described in the old Poet with that hard Name you gave us the other
  Day. She has a flowing Mane, and a Skin as soft as Silk: But, Sir, she
  passes half her Life at her Glass, and almost ruins me in Ribbons. For
  my own part, I am a plain handicraft Man, and in Danger of breaking by
  her Laziness and Expensiveness. Pray, Master, tell me in your next
  Paper, whether I may not expect of her so much Drudgery as to take
  care of her Family, and curry her Hide in case of Refusal.



  Your loving Friend,



  Barnaby Brittle.








  Cheapside, October 30.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I am mightily pleased with the Humour of the Cat, be so kind as to
  enlarge upon that Subject.



  Yours till Death,



  Josiah Henpeck.



  P. S. You must know I am married to a Grimalkin.








  Wapping, October 31, 1711.



  Sir,



  'Ever since your Spectator of Tuesday last came into our Family,
  my Husband is pleased to call me his Oceana, because the foolish old
  Poet that you have translated says, That the Souls of some Women are
  made of Sea-Water. This, it seems, has encouraged my Sauce-Box to be
  witty upon me. When I am angry, he cries Pr'ythee my Dear be calm;
  when I chide one of my Servants, Pr'ythee Child do not bluster. He
  had the Impudence about an Hour ago to tell me, That he was a
  Sea-faring Man, and must expect to divide his Life between Storm and
  Sunshine. When I bestir myself with any Spirit in my Family, it is
  high Sea in his House; and when I sit still without doing any thing,
  his Affairs forsooth are Wind-bound. When I ask him whether it
  rains, he makes Answer, It is no Matter, so that it be fair Weather
  within Doors. In short, Sir, I cannot speak my Mind freely to him, but
  I either swell or rage, or do something that is not fit for a
  civil Woman to hear. Pray, Mr. Spectator, since you are so sharp
  upon other Women, let us know what Materials your Wife is made of, if
  you have one. I suppose you would make us a Parcel of poor-spirited
  tame insipid Creatures; but, Sir, I would have you to know, we have as
  good Passions in us as your self, and that a Woman was never designed
  to be a Milk-Sop.



  Martha Tempest.















Footnote 1:
Odes



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Timæus



return









Footnote 3:
Love for Love.



return









Footnote 4:



return






Contents










	
 No. 212

	
 Friday, November 2, 1711

	
 Steele









—Eripe turpi

Colla jugo, liber, liber dic, sum age—



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'I Never look upon my dear Wife, but I think of the Happiness Sir
  Roger De Coverley enjoys, in having such a Friend as you to expose in
  proper Colours the Cruelty and Perverseness of his Mistress. I have
  very often wished you visited in our Family, and were acquainted with
  my Spouse; she would afford you for some Months at least Matter enough
  for one Spectator a Week. Since we are not so happy as to be of your
  Acquaintance, give me leave to represent to you our present
  Circumstances as well as I can in Writing. You are to know then that I
  am not of a very different Constitution from Nathaniel Henroost,
  whom you have lately recorded in your Speculations; and have a Wife
  who makes a more tyrannical Use of the Knowledge of my easy Temper
  than that Lady ever pretended to. We had not been a Month married,
  when she found in me a certain Pain to give Offence, and an Indolence
  that made me bear little Inconveniences rather than dispute about
  them. From this Observation it soon came to that pass, that if I
  offered to go abroad, she would get between me and the Door, kiss me,
  and say she could not part with me; and then down again I sat. In a
  Day or two after this first pleasant Step towards confining me, she
  declared to me, that I was all the World to her, and she thought she
  ought to be all the World to me. If, she said, my Dear loves me as
  much as I love him, he will never be tired of my Company. This
  Declaration was followed by my being denied to all my Acquaintance;
  and it very soon came to that pass, that to give an Answer at the Door
  before my Face, the Servants would ask her whether I was within or
  not; and she would answer No with great Fondness, and tell me I was a
  good Dear. I will not enumerate more little Circumstances to give you
  a livelier Sense of my Condition; but tell you in general, that from
  such Steps as these at first, I now live the Life of a Prisoner of
  State; my Letters are opened, and I have not the Use of Pen, Ink and
  Paper, but in her Presence. I never go abroad, except she sometimes
  takes me with her in her Coach to take the Air, if it may be called
  so, when we drive, as we generally do, with the Glasses up. I have
  overheard my Servants lament my Condition, but they dare not bring me
  Messages without her Knowledge, because they doubt my Resolution to
  stand by 'em. In the midst of this insipid Way of Life, an old
  Acquaintance of mine, Tom Meggot, who is a Favourite with her, and
  allowed to visit me in her Company because he sings prettily, has
  roused me to rebel, and conveyed his Intelligence to me in the
  following Manner. My Wife is a great Pretender to Musick, and very
  ignorant of it; but far gone in the Italian Taste. Tom goes to
  Armstrong, the famous fine Writer of Musick, and desires him to put
  this Sentence of Tully1 in the Scale of an Italian Air, and
  write it out for my Spouse from him.


An ille mihi liber cui mulier
  imperat? Cui leges imponit, præscribit, jubet, vetat quod videtur?
  Qui nihil imperanti negare, nihil recusare audet? Poscit? dandum est.
  Vocat? veniendum. Ejicit? abeundum. Minitatur? extimiscendum. 



Does he
  live like a Gentlemanwho is commanded by a Woman? He to whom she
  gives Law, grants and denies what she pleases? who can neither deny
  her any thing she asks, or refuse to do any thing she commands?


  'To be short, my Wife was extremely pleased with it; said the
  Italian was the only Language for Musick; and admired how
  wonderfully tender the Sentiment was, and how pretty the Accent is of
  that Language, with the rest that is said by Rote on that Occasion.
  Mr. Meggot is sent for to sing this Air, which he performs with
  mighty Applause; and my Wife is in Ecstasy on the Occasion, and glad
  to find, by my being so much pleased, that I was at last come into the
  Notion of the Italian; for, said she, it grows upon one when one
  once comes to know a little of the Language; and pray, Mr. Meggot,
  sing again those Notes, Nihil Imperanti negare, nihil recusare. You
  may believe I was not a little delighted with my Friend Tom's
  Expedient to alarm me, and in Obedience to his Summons I give all this
  Story thus at large; and I am resolved, when this appears in the
  Spectator, to declare for my self. The manner of the Insurrection I
  contrive by your Means, which shall be no other than that Tom
  Meggot, who is at our Tea-table every Morning, shall read it to us;
  and if my Dear can take the Hint, and say not one Word, but let this
  be the Beginning of a new Life without farther Explanation, it is very
  well; for as soon as the Spectator is read out, I shall, without
  more ado, call for the Coach, name the Hour when I shall be at home,
  if I come at all; if I do not, they may go to Dinner. If my Spouse
  only swells and says nothing, Tom and I go out together, and all is
  well, as I said before; but if she begins to command or expostulate,
  you shall in my next to you receive a full Account of her Resistance
  and Submission, for submit the dear thing must to,



  Sir,



  Your most obedient humble Servant,



  Anthony Freeman.



  P. S. I hope I need not tell you that I desire this may be in your
  very next.















Footnote 1:
Paradox



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 213

	
 Saturday, November 3, 1711

	
 Addison









—Mens sibi conscia recti.



Virg.
















shining
Sins
It
Sin exceeding sinful
1


















There
Acosta's
Limborch
2
Jewish
Jew






Monsieur
 
St. Evremond
3














It
holy Officiousness
whether we
eat or drink, or whatsoever we do.
4




He
Down-sitting and his Up-rising, who is about his Path, and about his
Bed, and spieth out all his Ways.
5
This
walked
with God?
6








Socrates
Erasmus




Whether or
no God will approve of my Actions, I know not; but this I am sure of,
that I have at all Times made it my Endeavour to please him, and I have
a good Hope that this my Endeavour will be accepted by him. 
Erasmus
Socrates
When I reflect on such a Speech pronounced by
such a Person, I can scarce forbear crying out, Sancte Socrates, ora
pro nobis: O holy Socrates, pray for us7.















Footnote 1:
Rom



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Arnica Collatio de Veritate Relig. Christ. cum Erudito
Judæo







return









Footnote 3:
Sur la Religion.



return









Footnote 4:
Cor



return









Footnote 5:
Psalm



return









Footnote 6:
Genesis



return









Footnote 7:



return






Contents










	
 No. 214

	
 Monday, November 5, 1711

	
 Steele









Perierunt tempora longi

Servitii



Juv. 1












Of
2














It
Tricks
3








Worthy
Plato's
Epicurus's
4















Footnote 1:
Dulcis inexperta cultura potentis amici,

Expertus metuit



Hor.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
Trick



return









Footnote 4:



return






Contents










	
 No. 215

	
 Tuesday, November 6, 1711

	
 Addison









—Ingenuas didicisse fideliter artes

Emollit mores, nec sinit esse feros.



Ov.








Aristotle




American




Christophers
British
England
















Phidias
Praxiteles














Contents










	
 No. 216

	
 Wednesday, November 7, 1711

	
 Steele









Siquidem hercle possis, nil prius, neque fortius:

Verum si incipies, neque perficies naviter,

Atque ubi pati non poteris, cum nemo expetet,

Infecta pace ultrò ad eam venies indicans

Te amare, et ferre non posse: Actum est, ilicet,

Perîsti: eludet ubi te victum senserit.



Ter.








  To Mr. Spectator,



  Sir,

  This is to inform you, that Mr. Freeman1 had no sooner taken Coach,
  but his Lady was taken with a terrible Fit of the Vapours, which,'tis
  feared will make her miscarry, if not endanger her Life; therefore,
  dear Sir, if you know of any Receipt that is good against this
  fashionable reigning Distemper, be pleased to communicate it for the
  Good of the Publick, and you will oblige



  Yours,



  A. Noewill.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'The Uproar was so great as soon as I had read the Spectator
  concerning Mrs. Freeman, that after many Revolutions in her Temper,
  of raging, swooning, railing, fainting, pitying herself, and reviling
  her Husband, upon an accidental coming in of a neighbouring Lady (who
  says she has writ to you also) she had nothing left for it but to fall
  in a Fit. I had the Honour to read the Paper to her, and have a pretty
  good Command of my Countenance and Temper on such Occasions; and soon
  found my historical Name to be Tom Meggot in your Writings, but
  concealed my self till I saw how it affected Mrs. Freeman. She looked
  frequently at her Husband, as often at me; and she did not tremble as
  she filled Tea, till she came to the Circumstance of Armstrong's
  writing out a Piece of Tully for an Opera Tune: Then she burst out,
  She was exposed, she was deceiv'd, she was wronged and abused. The
  Tea-cup was thrown in the Fire; and without taking Vengeance on her
  Spouse, she said of me, That I was a pretending Coxcomb, a Medler that
  knew not what it was to interpose in so nice an Affair as between a
  Man and his Wife. To which Mr. Freeman; Madam, were I less fond of
  you than I am, I should not have taken this Way of writing to the
  Spectator, to inform a Woman whom God and Nature has placed under my
  Direction with what I request of her; but since you are so indiscreet
  as not to take the Hint which I gave you in that Paper, I must tell
  you, Madam, in so many Words, that you have for a long and tedious
  Space of Time acted a Part unsuitable to the Sense you ought to have
  of the Subordination in which you are placed. And I must acquaint you
  once for all, that the Fellow without, ha Tom! (here the Footman
  entered and answered Madam) 'Sirrah don't you know my Voice; look upon
  me when I speak to you: I say, Madam, this Fellow here is to know of
  me my self, whether I am at Leisure to see Company or not. I am from
  this Hour Master of this House; and my Business in it, and every where
  else, is to behave my self in such a Manner, as it shall be hereafter
  an Honour to you to bear my Name; and your Pride, that you are the
  Delight, the Darling, and Ornament of a Man of Honour, useful and
  esteemed by his Friends; and I no longer one that has buried some
  Merit in the World, in Compliance to a froward Humour which has grown
  upon an agreeable Woman by his Indulgence. Mr. Freeman ended this
  with a Tenderness in his Aspect and a downcast Eye, which shewed he
  was extremely moved at the Anguish he saw her in; for she sat swelling
  with Passion, and her Eyes firmly fixed on the Fire; when I, fearing
  he would lose all again, took upon me to provoke her out of that
  amiable Sorrow she was in, to fall upon me; upon which I said very
  seasonably for my Friend, That indeed Mr. Freeman was become the
  common Talk of the Town; and that nothing was so much a Jest, as when
  it was said in Company Mr. Freeman had promised to come to such a
  Place. Upon which the good Lady turned her Softness into downright
  Rage, and threw the scalding Tea-Kettle upon your humble Servant; flew
  into the Middle of the Room, and cried out she was the unfortunatest
  of all Women: Others kept Family Dissatisfactions for Hours of Privacy
  and Retirement: No Apology was to be made to her, no Expedient to be
  found, no previous Manner of breaking what was amiss in her; but all
  the World was to be acquainted with her Errors, without the least
  Admonition. Mr. Freeman was going to make a soft'ning Speech, but I
  interposed; Look you, Madam, I have nothing to say to this Matter, but
  you ought to consider you are now past a Chicken; this Humour, which
  was well enough in a Girl, is insufferable in one of your Motherly
  Character. With that she lost all Patience, and flew directly at her
  Husband's Periwig. I got her in my Arms, and defended my Friend: He
  making Signs at the same time that it was too much; I beckoning,
  nodding, and frowning over her Shoulder, that he2 was
  lost if he did not persist. In this manner 3 flew round and round the Room in a Moment, 'till the
  Lady I spoke of above and Servants entered; upon which she fell on a
  Couch as breathless. I still kept up my Friend; but he, with a very
  silly Air, bid them bring the Coach to the Door, and we went off, I
  forced to bid the Coachman drive on. We were no sooner come to my
  Lodgings, but all his Wife's Relations came to enquire after him; and
  Mrs. Freeman's Mother writ a Note, wherein she thought never to have
  seen this Day, and so forth.



  In a word, Sir, I am afraid we are upon a thing we have no Talents
  for; and I can observe already, my Friend looks upon me rather as a
  Man that knows a Weakness of him that he is ashamed of, than one who
  has rescu'd him from Slavery. Mr. Spectator, I am but a young Fellow,
  and if Mr. Freeman submits, I shall be looked upon as an Incendiary,
  and never get a Wife as long as I breathe. He has indeed sent Word
  home he shall lie at Hampstead to-night; but I believe Fear of the
  first Onset after this Rupture has too great a Place in this
  Resolution. Mrs. Freeman has a very pretty Sister; suppose I
  delivered him up, and articled with the Mother for her for bringing
  him home. If he has not Courage to stand it, (you are a great Casuist)
  is it such an ill thing to bring my self off, as well as I can? What
  makes me doubt my Man, is, that I find he thinks it reasonable to
  expostulate at least with her; and Capt. SENTREY will tell you, if you
  let your Orders be disputed, you are no longer a Commander. I wish you
  could advise me how to get clear of this Business handsomely.



  Yours,



  Tom Meggot.















Footnote 1:
No. 212



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
we



return









Footnote 3:
he



return






Contents










	
 No. 217

	
 Thursday, November 1, 1711

	
 Budgell









—Tunc fœmina simplex,

Et pariter toto repetitur clamor ab antro.



Juv. Sat. 6.














  Mr. Spectator,



  'In some of your first Papers you were pleased to give the Publick a
  very diverting Account of several Clubs and nocturnal Assemblies; but
  I am a Member of a Society which has wholly escaped your Notice, I
  mean a Club of She-Romps. We take each a Hackney-Coach, and meet once
  a Week in a large upper Chamber, which we hire by the Year for that
  Purpose; our Landlord and his Family, who are quiet People, constantly
  contriving to be abroad on our Club-Night. We are no sooner come
  together than we throw off all that Modesty and Reservedness with
  which our Sex are obliged to disguise themselves in publick Places. I
  am not able to express the Pleasure we enjoy from Ten at Night 'till
  four in the Morning, in being as rude as you Men can be, for your
  Lives. As our Play runs high the Room is immediately filled with
  broken Fans, torn Petticoats, Lappets of Head-dresses, Flounces,
  Furbelows, Garters, and Working-Aprons. I had forgot to tell you at
  first, that besides the Coaches we come in our selves, there is one
  which stands always empty to carry off our dead Men, for so we call
  all those Fragments and Tatters with which the Room is strewed, and
  which we pack up together in Bundles and put into the aforesaid Coach.
  It is no small Diversion for us to meet the next Night at some
  Member's Chamber, where every one is to pick out what belonged to her
  from this confused Bundle of Silks, Stuffs, Laces, and Ribbons. I have
  hitherto given you an Account of our Diversion on ordinary
  Club-Nights; but must acquaint you farther, that once a Month we
  demolish a Prude, that is, we get some queer formal Creature in
  among us, and unrig her in an Instant. Our last Month's Prude was so
  armed and fortified in Whalebone and Buckram that we had much ado to
  come at her; but you would have died with laughing to have seen how
  the sober awkward Thing looked when she was forced out of her
  Intrenchments. In short, Sir,'tis impossible to give you a true Notion
  of our Sports, unless you would come one Night amongst us; and tho' it
  be directly against the Rules of our Society to admit a Male Visitant,
  we repose so much Confidence in your Silence and Taciturnity,
  that 'twas agreed by the whole Club, at our last Meeting, to give you
  Entrance for one Night as a Spectator.



  I am, Your Humble Servant,



  Kitty Termagant.



  P. S. We shall demolish a Prude next Thursday.








Kitty
Clodius
Bona Dea
Demolished
Prude




Spectator;










 Mr. Spectator,



  'It is my Misfortune to be in Love with a young Creature who is daily
  committing Faults, which though they give me the utmost Uneasiness, I
  know not how to reprove her for, or even acquaint her with. She is
  pretty, dresses well, is rich, and good-humour'd; but either wholly
  neglects, or has no Notion of that which Polite People have agreed to
  distinguish by the Name of Delicacy. After our Return from a Walk
  the other Day she threw her self into an Elbow-Chair, and professed
  before a large Company, that she was all over in a Sweat. She told
  me this Afternoon that her Stomach aked; and was complaining
  Yesterday at Dinner of something that stuck in her Teeth. I treated
  her with a Basket of Fruit last Summer, which she eat so very
  greedily, as almost made me resolve never to see her more. In short,
  Sir, I begin to tremble whenever I see her about to speak or move. As
  she does not want Sense, if she takes these Hints I am happy; if not,
  I am more than afraid, that these Things which shock me even in the
  Behaviour of a Mistress, will appear insupportable in that of a Wife.



  I am, Sir, Yours, &c.

















 
 Mr. Spectator,



  I am happily arrived at a State of Tranquillity, which few People
  envy, I mean that of an old Maid; therefore being wholly unconcerned
  in all that Medley of Follies which our Sex is apt to contract from
  their silly Fondness of yours, I read your Railleries on us without
  Provocation. I can say with Hamlet,


—Man delights not me,

Nor Woman neither—


  Therefore, dear Sir, as you never spare your own Sex, do not be afraid
  of reproving what is ridiculous in ours, and you will oblige at least
  one Woman, who is



  Your humble Servant, 

Susannah Frost.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am Wife to a Clergyman, and cannot help thinking that in your Tenth
  or Tithe-Character of Womankind1 you meant my self, therefore I
  have no Quarrel against you for the other Nine Characters.



  Your humble Servant, 

A.B.















Footnote 1:
No. 209.
 



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 218

	
 Friday, November 9, 1711

	
 Steele









Quid de quoque viro et cui dicas sæpe caveto.



Hor.




Spectator








Mr
Oh! do you leave your Money
at his Shop? Why, do you know Mr
He is indeed a general
Merchant


















Contents










	
 No. 219

	
 Saturday, November 10, 1711

	
 Addison









Vix ea nostra voco—



Ov.








































Strangers
Sojourners
Earth
Pilgrimage






Epictetus
If
cast
1








The Wisdom of
Then shall the righteous Man stand in great
Boldness before the Face of such as have afflicted him, and made no
Account of his Labours. When they see it, they shall be troubled with
terrible Fear, and shall be amazed at the Strangeness of his Salvation,
so far beyond all that they looked for. And they repenting and groaning
for Anguish of Spirit, shall say within themselves; This was he whom we
had sometime in Derision, and a Proverb of Reproach. We Fools accounted
his Life Madness, and his End to be without Honour. How is he numbered
among the Children of God, and his Lot is among the Saints!
2






If
3



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents










	
 No. 220

	
 Monday, November 12, 1711

	
 Steele









Rumoresque serit varios



Virg.1









Sir,



  'Why will you apply to my Father for my Love? I cannot help it if he
  will give you my Person; but I assure you it is not in his Power, nor
  even in my own, to give you my Heart. Dear Sir, do but consider the
  ill Consequence of such a Match; you are Fifty-five, I Twenty-one. You
  are a Man of Business, and mightily conversant in Arithmetick and
  making Calculations; be pleased therefore to consider what Proportion
  your Spirits bear to mine; and when you have made a just Estimate of
  the necessary Decay on one Side, and the Redundance on the other, you
  will act accordingly. This perhaps is such Language as you may not
  expect from a young Lady; but my Happiness is at Stake, and I must
  talk plainly. I mortally hate you; and so, as you and my Father agree,
  you may take me or leave me: But if you will be so good as never to
  see me more, you will for ever oblige,



  Sir, 

  Your most humble Servant,

  Henrietta.








  Mr. Spectator2,



  'There are so many Artifices and Modes of false Wit, and such a
  Variety of Humour discovers it self among its Votaries, that it would
  be impossible to exhaust so fertile a Subject, if you would think fit
  to resume it. The following Instances may, if you think fit, be added
  by Way of Appendix to your Discourses on that Subject.



  'That Feat of Poetical Activity mentioned by Horace, of an Author
  who could compose two hundred Verses while he stood upon one Leg3,
  has been imitated (as I have heard) by a modern Writer; who priding
  himself on the Hurry of his Invention, thought it no small Addition to
  his Fame to have each Piece minuted with the exact Number of Hours or
  Days it cost him in the Composition. He could taste no Praise till he
  had acquainted you in how short Space of Time he had deserved it; and
  was not so much led to an Ostentation of his Art, as of his Dispatch.


—Accipe si vis,

Accipe jam tabulas; detur nobis locus, hora,

Custodes: videamus uter plus scribere possit.



Hor.


  'This was the whole of his Ambition; and therefore I cannot but think
  the Flights of this rapid Author very proper to be opposed to those
  laborious Nothings which you have observed were the Delight of the
  German Wits, and in which they so happily got rid of such a tedious
  Quantity of their Time.



  'I have known a Gentleman of another Turn of Humour, who, despising
  the Name of an Author, never printed his Works, but contracted his
  Talent, and by the help of a very fine Diamond which he wore on his
  little Finger, was a considerable Poet upon Glass. He had a very good
  Epigrammatick Wit; and there was not a Parlour or Tavern Window where
  he visited or dined for some Years, which did not receive some
  Sketches or Memorials of it. It was his Misfortune at last to lose his
  Genius and his Ring to a Sharper at Play; and he has not attempted to
  make a Verse since.



  'But of all Contractions or Expedients for Wit, I admire that of an
  ingenious Projector whose Book I have seen4. This Virtuoso being a
  Mathematician, has, according to his Taste, thrown the Art of Poetry
  into a short Problem, and contrived Tables by which any one without
  knowing a Word of Grammar or Sense, may, to his great Comfort, be able
  to compose or rather to erect Latin Verses. His Tables are a kind of
  Poetical Logarithms, which being divided into several Squares, and all
  inscribed with so many incoherent Words, appear to the Eye somewhat
  like a Fortune-telling Screen. What a Joy must it be to the unlearned
  Operator to find that these Words, being carefully collected and writ
  down in Order according to the Problem, start of themselves into
  Hexameter and Pentameter Verses? A Friend of mine, who is a Student in
  Astrology, meeting with this Book, performed the Operation, by the
  Rules there set down; he shewed his Verses to the next of his
  Acquaintance, who happened to understand Latin; and being informed
  they described a Tempest of Wind, very luckily prefixed them, together
  with a Translation, to an Almanack he was just then printing, and was
  supposed to have foretold the last great Storm5.



  'I think the only Improvement beyond this, would be that which the
  late Duke of Buckingham mentioned to a stupid Pretender to Poetry,
  as the Project of a Dutch Mechanick, viz. a Mill to make Verses.
  This being the most compendious Method of all which have yet been
  proposed, may deserve the Thoughts of our modern Virtuosi who are
  employed in new Discoveries for the publick Good: and it may be worth
  the while to consider, whether in an Island where few are content
  without being thought Wits, it will not be a common Benefit, that Wit
  as well as Labour should be made cheap.



  I am, Sir, Your humble Servant, &c.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'I often dine at a Gentleman's House, where there are two young
  Ladies, in themselves very agreeable, but very cold in their
  Behaviour, because they understand me for a Person that is to break my
  Mind, as the Phrase is, very suddenly to one of them. But I take this
  Way to acquaint them, that I am not in Love with either of them, in
  Hopes they will use me with that agreeable Freedom and Indifference
  which they do all the rest of the World, and not to drink to one
  another only, but sometimes cast a kind Look, with their Service to,



  Sir, Your humble Servant.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'I am a young Gentleman, and take it for a Piece of Good-breeding to
  pull off my Hat when I see any thing particularly charming in any
  Woman, whether I know her or not. I take care that there is nothing
  ludicrous or arch in my Manner, as if I were to betray a Woman into a
  Salutation by Way of Jest or Humour; and yet except I am acquainted
  with her, I find she ever takes it for a Rule, that she is to look
  upon this Civility and Homage I pay to her supposed Merit, as an
  Impertinence or Forwardness which she is to observe and neglect. I
  wish, Sir, you would settle the Business of salutation; and please to
  inform me how I shall resist the sudden Impulse I have to be civil to
  what gives an Idea of Merit; or tell these Creatures how to behave
  themselves in Return to the Esteem I have for them. My Affairs are
  such, that your Decision will be a Favour to me, if it be only to save
  the unnecessary Expence of wearing out my Hat so fast as I do at
  present.



  'There are some that do know me, and won't bow to me.



  I am, Sir, 

Yours, 

T.D.

















Footnote 1:
—Aliena negotia centum

Per caput, et circa saliunt latus.



Hor.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
—in hora saepe ducentos,

Ut magnum, versus dictabat stans pede in uno.



Sat



return









Footnote 4:
Artificial Versifying, a New Way
to make Latin Verses.



return









Footnote 5:



return






Contents










	
 No. 221

	
 Tuesday, November 13, 1711

	
 Addison









—Ab Ovo

Usque ad Mala—



Hor.














It
1




a Word to the Wise
Spectator
That good Wine needs no Bush




have
Latin
Sunday
Latin
As in præsenti
2




Latin
Greek




Roger
Xenophon
Xerxes




Answer
I cover it,
on purpose that you should not know
Abracadabra
3




Those
Tetrachtys
4
Ten




England
Essex
Elizabeth's
Cambridge
First
First
First
Chronicles
Adam, Sheth, Enosh
The
Alabaster
Fuller's
English
5



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Quæ Genus
As in Præsenti



return









Footnote 3:
Abracadabra

  Abracadabr

  Abracadab

  Abracada
History of the Plague.



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:



return






Contents










	
 No. 222

	
 Wednesday, November 14, 1711

	
 Steele









Cur alter fratrum cessare, et ludere, et ungi,

Præferat Herodis palmetis pinguibus



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'There is one thing I have often look'd for in your Papers, and have
  as often wondered to find my self disappointed; the rather, because I
  think it a Subject every way agreeable to your Design, and by being
  left unattempted by others, seems reserved as a proper Employment for
  you; I mean a Disquisition, from whence it proceeds, that Men of the
  brightest Parts, and most comprehensive Genius, compleatly furnished
  with Talents for any Province in humane Affairs; such as by their wise
  Lessons of Œconomy to others have made it evident, that they have the
  justest Notions of Life and of true Sense in the Conduct of it—: from
  what unhappy contradictious Cause it proceeds, that Persons thus
  finished by Nature and by Art, should so often fail in the Management
  of that which they so well understand, and want the Address to make a
  right Application of their own Rules. This is certainly a prodigious
  Inconsistency in Behaviour, and makes much such a Figure in Morals as
  a monstrous Birth in Naturals, with this Difference only, which
  greatly aggravates the Wonder, that it happens much more frequently;
  and what a Blemish does it cast upon Wit and Learning in the general
  Account of the World? And in how disadvantageous a Light does it
  expose them to the busy Class of Mankind, that there should be so many
  Instances of Persons who have so conducted their Lives in spite of
  these transcendent Advantages, as neither to be happy in themselves,
  nor useful to their Friends; when every Body sees it was entirely in
  their own Power to be eminent in both these Characters? For my part, I
  think there is no Reflection more astonishing, than to consider one of
  these Gentlemen spending a fair Fortune, running in every Body's Debt
  without the least Apprehension of a future Reckoning, and at last
  leaving not only his own Children, but possibly those of other People,
  by his Means, in starving Circumstances; while a Fellow, whom one
  would scarce suspect to have a humane Soul, shall perhaps raise a vast
  Estate out of Nothing, and be the Founder of a Family capable of being
  very considerable in their Country, and doing many illustrious
  Services to it. That this Observation is just, Experience has put
  beyond all Dispute. But though the Fact be so evident and glaring, yet
  the Causes of it are still in the Dark; which makes me persuade my
  self, that it would be no unacceptable Piece of Entertainment to the
  Town, to inquire into the hidden Sources of so unaccountable an Evil.
  I am, 

Sir, 

Your most Humble Servant.









Horace
Tigellius
Mr
Dryden
Zimri
1
A Man so various, that he seem'd to be

Not one, but all Mankind's Epitome.

Stiff in Opinion, always in the Wrong,

Was every Thing by Starts, and Nothing long;

But in the Course of one revolving Moon,

Was Chymist, Fidler, Statesman, and Buffoon.

Then all for Women, Painting, Rhiming, Drinking,

Besides ten thousand Freaks that died in thinking;

Blest Madman, who could every Hour employ

In something new to wish or to enjoy!

In squandering Wealth was his peculiar Art,

Nothing went unrewarded but Desert.
Tully








s
No Thanks to him; if he had no Business, he would have nothing to do.
















Footnote 1:
i. e.
Absalom and Achitophel.



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 223

	
 Thursday, November 15, 1711

	
 Addison









O suavis Anima! qualem te dicam bonam

Antehac fuisse, tales cùm sint reliquiæ!



Phæd.




Greece
Italy
Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto.
Sappho
Plutarch
Cacus
Vulcan




Phaon
Sicily
Venus
Phaon
Sappho






There
Acarnania
Leucrate
1
despairing
The Lover's Leap
Sappho






After
Sappho
Winter-Piece
2
Dacier
English
Sappho
Sappho













An Hymn to Venus










	I
	O Venus, Beauty of the Skies,

To whom a Thousand Temples rise,

Gayly false in gentle Smiles,

Full of Love's perplexing Wiles;

O Goddess! from my Heart remove

The wasting Cares and Pains of Love.		




	II
	If ever thou hast kindly heard

A Song in soft Distress preferr'd,

Propitious to my tuneful Vow,

O gentle Goddess! hear me now.

Descend, thou bright, immortal Guest,

In all thy radiant Charms confest.		




	III
	Thou once didst leave Almighty Jove,

And all the Golden Roofs above:

The Carr thy wanton Sparrows drew;

Hov'ring in Air they lightly flew,

As to my Bower they wing'd their Way:

I saw their quiv'ring Pinions play.		




	IV
	The Birds dismist (while you remain)

Bore back their empty Carr again:

Then You, with Looks divinely mild,

In ev'ry heav'nly Feature smil'd,

And ask'd what new Complaints I made,

And why I call'd you to my Aid?		




	V
	What Phrenzy in my Bosom rag'd,

And by what Care to be asswag'd?

What gentle Youth I could allure,

Whom in my artful Toiles secure?

Who does thy tender Heart subdue,

Tell me, my Sappho, tell me Who?		




	VI
	Tho' now he Shuns thy longing Arms,

He soon shall court thy slighted Charms;

Tho' now thy Off'rings he despise,

He soon to thee shall Sacrifice;

Tho' now he freeze, he soon shall burn,

And be thy Victim in his turn.		




	VII
	Celestial Visitant, once more

Thy needful Presence I implore!

In Pity come and ease my Grief,

Bring my distemper'd Soul Relief;

Favour thy Suppliant's hidden Fires,

And give me All my Heart desires.		













Dacier
Venus
Sappho's
This
Greek
3






Longinus



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Tatler
Guardian
Guardian
Spectator
 When simple Macer, now of high renown,

  First sought a Poet's fortune in the town,

  'Twas all the ambition his high soul could feel,

  To wear red stockings, and to dine with Steele.


return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents










	
 No. 224

	
 Friday, November 16, 1711

	
 Hughes









—Fulgente trahit constrictos Gloria curru

Non minus ignotos generosis



Hor. Sat. 6.














This
ingenuous
1




Tis
Waller's
Julius Cæsar
Roman
Great Julius on the Mountains bred,

A Flock perhaps or Herd had led;

He that the World subdued, had been

But the best Wrestler on the Green.2








A covetous Man will call
himself poor, that you may sooth his Vanity by contradicting him




Domitian
Roman































Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
To Zelinda.



return






Contents










	
 No. 225

	
 Saturday, November 17, 1711

	
 Addison









Nullum numen abest si sit Prudentia



Juv.




Reveries
thinking aloud






Tully
Sirach












Polyphemus
















speak
Saturday's
Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away,
yet she is easily seen of them that love her, and found of such as seek
her. She preventeth them that desire her, in making herself first known
unto them. He that seeketh her early, shall have no great Travel: for he
shall find her sitting at his Doors. To think therefore upon her is
Perfection of Wisdom, and whoso watcheth for her shall quickly be
without Care. For she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her,
sheweth her self favourably unto them in the Ways, and meeteth them in
every Thought1.















Footnote 1:
Wisdom



return to footnote mark






Contents










	
 No. 226

	
 Monday, November 19, 17111

	
 Steele









—Mutum est pictura poema.



Hor. 2




Venus
Bacchanal
Cupids
Polyphemes
Hampton—Court
Raphael
Paul
Athenians
Present
Divine
3
Peter
 
receives
4
s
Thomas
Raphael




These
Dorigny
5
Raphael








Boul
Wednesday
Shandois-street



















Footnote 1:
'Do you ever read the SpectatorS? I never do; they never come in my
  way; I go to no coffee-houses. They say abundance of them are very
  pretty; they are going to be printed in small volumes; I'll bring them
  over with me.'



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 Pictura Poesis erit.



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








Advertisement






                  There is arrived from Italy 

                          a Painter 

    who acknowledges himself the greatest Person of the Age in that Art, 

            and is willing to be as renowned in this Island 

               as he declares he is in Foreign Parts.



               The Doctor paints the Poor for nothing. 

















	
 No. 227

	
 Tuesday, November 20, 1711

	
 Addison









Greek: 'Ô moi egô tí páthô; ti ho dússuos; ouch hypakoúeis; Tàn Baítan apodùs eis kúmata tàena aleumai Hômer tôs thúnnôs skopiázetai Olpis ho gripéus. Káeka màe pothánô, tó ge màn teòn hadù tétuktai.'  Theoc.




Thursday's
The
Lover's Leap
Leucas
This
 
Leucas
Acarnania
joined to
1
Leucas
Ionian
Leucate
Leucas
Mauro
Leucate
The Cape of St.




Theocritus
Alas! What will become of me! Wretch that I am! Will
you not hear me? I'll throw off my Cloaths, and take a Leap into that
Part of the Sea which is so much frequented by Olphis the Fisherman.
And tho' I should escape with my Life, I know you will be pleased with
it.
Leucate
cannot
Life
2














  Mr. Spectator,



  'The Lover's Leap, which you mention in your 223d Paper, was
  generally, I believe, a very effectual Cure for Love, and not only for
  Love, but for all other Evils. In short, Sir, I am afraid it was such
  a Leap as that which Hero took to get rid of her Passion for
  Leander. A Man is in no Danger of breaking his Heart, who breaks his
  Neck to prevent it. I know very well the Wonders which ancient Authors
  relate concerning this Leap; and in particular, that very many Persons
  who tried it, escaped not only with their Lives but their Limbs. If by
  this Means they got rid of their Love, tho' it may in part be ascribed
  to the Reasons you give for it; why may not we suppose that the cold
  Bath into which they plunged themselves, had also some Share in their
  Cure? A Leap into the Sea or into any Creek of Salt Waters, very often
  gives a new Motion to the Spirits, and a new Turn to the Blood; for
  which Reason we prescribe it in Distempers which no other Medicine
  will reach. I could produce a Quotation out of a very venerable
  Author, in which the Frenzy produced by Love, is compared to that
  which is produced by the Biting of a mad Dog. But as this Comparison
  is a little too coarse for your Paper, and might look as if it were
  cited to ridicule the Author who has made use of it; I shall only hint
  at it, and desire you to consider whether, if the Frenzy produced by
  these two different Causes be of the same Nature, it may not very
  properly be cured by the same Means.



  I am, Sir,



  Your most humble Servant, and Well-wisher,



  Esculapius.'








  Mr. Spectator,



  'I am a young Woman crossed in Love. My Story is very long and
  melancholy. To give you the heads of it: A young Gentleman, after
  having made his Applications to me for three Years together, and
  filled my Head with a thousand Dreams of Happiness, some few Days
  since married another. Pray tell me in what Part of the World your
  Promontory lies, which you call The Lover's Leap, and whether one
  may go to it by Land? But, alas, I am afraid it has lost its Virtue,
  and that a Woman of our Times would find no more Relief in taking such
  a Leap, than in singing an Hymn to Venus. So that I must cry out
  with Dido in Dryden's Virgil,


  Ah! cruel Heaven, that made no Cure for Love!


  Your disconsolate Servant,



  Athenais.'








  Mister Spictatur,



  ' My Heart is so full of Lofes and Passions for Mrs. Gwinifrid, and
  she is so pettish and overrun with Cholers against me, that if I had
  the good Happiness to have my Dwelling (which is placed by my
  Creat-Cranfather upon the Pottom of an Hill) no farther Distance but
  twenty Mile from the Lofer's Leap, I would indeed indeafour to preak
  my Neck upon it on Purpose. Now, good Mister Spictatur of Crete
  Prittain, you must know it there is in Caernaruanshire a fery pig
  Mountain, the Glory of all Wales, which is named Penmainmaure, and
  you must also know, it iss no great Journey on Foot from me; but the
  Road is stony and bad for Shooes. Now, there is upon the Forehead of
  this Mountain a very high Rock, (like a Parish Steeple) that cometh a
  huge deal over the Sea; so when I am in my Melancholies, and I do
  throw myself from it, I do desire my fery good Friend to tell me in
  his Spictatur, if I shall be cure of my grefous Lofes; for there is
  the Sea clear as Glass, and as creen as the Leek: Then likewise if I
  be drown, and preak my Neck, if Mrs. Gwinifrid will not lose me
  afterwards. Pray be speedy in your Answers, for I am in crete Haste,
  and it is my Tesires to do my Pusiness without Loss of Time. I remain
  with cordial Affections, your ever lofing Friend, 



Davyth ap
  Shenkyn.'



  P. S. 'My Law-suits have brought me to London, but I have lost my
  Causes; and so have made my Resolutions to go down and leap before the
  Frosts begin; for I am apt to take Colds.'








Hudibras
Don Quixote
Greek
Apollo
Leucate
Grecian
speak
3



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
227
234
237
247
248
certainly
be ready









	pointing hand
	There is now Printing by Subscription two Volumes of the SpectatorS on
  a large Character in Octavo; the Price of the two Vols. well Bound and
  Gilt two Guineas. Those who are inclined to Subscribe, are desired to
  make their first Payments to Jacob Tonson, Bookseller in the Strand,
  the Books being so near finished, that they will be ready for the
  Subscribers at or before Christmas next.



  The Third and Fourth Volumes of the Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff,
  Esq., are ready to be delivered at the same Place.



  N .B. The Author desires that such Gentlemen who have not received
  their Books for which they have Subscribed, would be pleased to
  signify the same to Mr. Tonson.		





return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 228

	
 Wednesday, November 21, 1711

	
 Steele









Percunctatorem fugito, nam Garrulus idem est.



Hor.








Indian
European




verbatim








This
wants Confirmation, This occasions many Speculations
Time will
discover the Event














  Mr. Spectator,



  'Plutarch tells us, that Caius Gracchus, the Roman, was
  frequently hurried by his Passion into so loud and tumultuous a way of
  Speaking, and so strained his Voice as not to be able to proceed. To
  remedy this Excess, he had an ingenious Servant, by Name Licinius,
  always attended him with a Pitch-pipe, or Instrument to regulate the
  Voice; who, whenever he heard his Master begin to be high, immediately
  touched a soft Note; at which,'tis said, Caius would presently abate
  and grow calm.



  'Upon recollecting this Story, I have frequently wondered that this
  useful Instrument should have been so long discontinued; especially
  since we find that this good Office of Licinius has preserved his
  Memory for many hundred Years, which, methinks, should have encouraged
  some one to have revived it, if not for the publick Good, yet for his
  own Credit. It may be objected, that our loud Talkers are so fond of
  their own Noise, that they would not take it well to be check'd by
  their Servants: But granting this to be true, surely any of their
  Hearers have a very good Title to play a soft Note in their own
  Defence. To be short, no Licinius appearing and the Noise
  increasing, I was resolved to give this late long Vacation to the Good
  of my Country; and I have at length, by the Assistance of an ingenious
  Artist, (who works to the Royal Society) almost compleated my Design,
  and shall be ready in a short Time to furnish the Publick with what
  Number of these Instruments they please, either to lodge at
  Coffee-houses, or carry for their own private Use. In the mean time I
  shall pay that Respect to several Gentlemen, who I know will be in
  Danger of offending against this Instrument, to give them notice of it
  by private Letters, in which I shall only write, Get a Licinius.



  'I should now trouble you no longer, but that I must not conclude
  without desiring you to accept one of these Pipes, which shall be left
  for you with Buckley; and which I hope will be serviceable to you,
  since as you are silent yourself you are most open to the Insults of
  the Noisy.



  I am, Sir, &c.



  W. B.



  'I had almost forgot to inform you, that as an Improvement in this
  Instrument, there will be a particular Note, which I call a Hush-Note;
  and this is to be made use of against a long Story, Swearing,
  Obsceneness, and the like.






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 229

	
 Thursday, November 22, 1711

	
 Addison









—Spirat adhuc amor,

Vivuntque commissi calores

Æoliæ fidibus puellæ.



Hor.







Among
Rome
1
Michael Angelo
Gusto
Italian
Michael Angelo's




Fragment
Sappho
2
Dryden




Catullus
Boileau
Hymn to Venus












Ad Lesbiam






Ille mî par esse deo videtur,

Ille, si fas est, superare divos,

Qui sedens adversus identidem te,

     Spectat, et audit.



Dulce ridentem, misero quod omnis

Eripit sensus mihi: nam simul te,

Lesbia, adspexi, nihil est super mî

     Quod loquar amens.



Lingua sed torpet, tenuis sub artus

Flamnia dimanat, sonitu suopte

Tinniunt aures, gemina teguntur

     Lumina nocte.











My
Roman
3
Greek
Sapphick
Dacier
Sappho
Longinus




Boileau










Heureux! qui prés de toi, pour toi seule soûpire:

Qui jouït du plaisir de t'entendre parler:

Qui te voit quelquefois doucement lui soûrire.

Les Dieux, dans son bonheur, peuvent-ils l'égaler?



Je sens de veine en veine une subtile flamme

Courir par tout mon corps, si-tost que je te vois:

Et dans les doux transports, où s'egare mon ame,

Je ne sçaurois trouver de langue, ni de voix.



Un nuage confus se répand sùr ma vuë,

Je n'entens plus, je tombe en de douces langueurs;

Et pâle, sans haleine, interdite, esperduë,

Un frisson me saisit, je tremble, je me meurs.








Boileau
English













	I
	Blest as th'immortal Gods is he,

The Youth who fondly sits by thee,

And hears and sees thee all the while

Softly speak and sweetly smile.		




	II
	'Twas this deprived my Soul of Rest,

And raised such Tumults in my Breast;

For while I gaz'd, in Transport tost,

My Breath was gone, my Voice was lost:		




	III
	My Bosom glowed; the subtle Flame

Ran quick through all my vital Frame;

O'er my dim Eyes a Darkness hung;

My Ears with hollow Murmurs rung.		




	IV
	In dewy Damps my Limbs were chil'd;

My Blood with gentle Horrors thrill'd;

My feeble Pulse forgot to play;

I fainted, sunk, and dy'd away.		













Longinus
Sappho
Greek






Longinus
Sappho




Plutarch
That
Antiochus
Stratonice
Erasistratus
Sappho's
4
Stratonice
Sappho
Antiochus



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
223



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
Life of Demetrius.


  
'When others entered Antiochus was entirely unaffected. But when
  Stratonice came in, as she often did, he shewed all the symptoms
  described by Sappho, the faltering voice, the burning blush, the
  languid eye, the sudden sweat, the tumultuous pulse; and at length,
  the passion overcoming his spirits, a swoon and mortal paleness.'


return









Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 230

	
 Friday, November 23, 1711

	
 Steele









Homines ad Deos nullâ re propiùs accedunt, quam salutem Hominibus dando.



Tull.




But
each
1
Pliny










To MAXIMUS.



  What I should gladly do for any Friend of yours, I think I may now
  with Confidence request for a Friend of mine. Arrianus Maturius is
  the most considerable Man of his Country; when I call him so, I do not
  speak with Relation to his Fortune, though that is very plentiful, but
  to his Integrity, Justice, Gravity, and Prudence; his Advice is useful
  to me in Business, and his Judgment in Matters of Learning: His
  Fidelity, Truth, and good Understanding, are very great; besides this,
  he loves me as you do, than which I cannot say any thing that
  signifies a warmer Affection. He has nothing that's aspiring; and
  though he might rise to the highest Order of Nobility, he keeps
  himself in an inferior Rank; yet I think my self bound to use my
  Endeavours to serve and promote him; and would therefore find the
  Means of adding something to his Honours while he neither expects nor
  knows it, nay, though he should refuse it. Something, in short, I
  would have for him that may be honourable, but not troublesome; and I
  entreat that you will procure him the first thing of this kind that
  offers, by which you will not only oblige me, but him also; for though
  he does not covet it, I know he will be as grateful in acknowledging
  your Favour as if he had asked it2.











  Mr. Spectator,



  The Reflections in some of your Papers on the servile manner of
  Education now in Use, have given Birth to an Ambition, which, unless
  you discountenance it, will, I doubt, engage me in a very difficult,
  tho not ungrateful Adventure. I am about to undertake, for the sake of
  the British Youth, to instruct them in such a manner, that the most
  dangerous Page in Virgil or Homer may be read by them with much
  Pleasure, and with perfect Safety to their Persons.



  Could I prevail so far as to be honoured with the Protection of some
  few of them, (for I am not Hero enough to rescue many) my Design is to
  retire with them to an agreeable Solitude; though within the
  Neighbourhood of a City, for the Convenience of their being instructed
  in Musick, Dancing, Drawing, Designing, or any other such
  Accomplishments, which it is conceived may make as proper Diversions
  for them, and almost as pleasant, as the little sordid Games which
  dirty School-boys are so much delighted with. It may easily be
  imagined, how such a pretty Society, conversing with none beneath
  themselves, and sometimes admitted as perhaps not unentertaining
  Parties amongst better Company, commended and caressed for their
  little Performances, and turned by such Conversations to a certain
  Gallantry of Soul, might be brought early acquainted with some of the
  most polite English Writers. This having given them some tolerable
  Taste of Books, they would make themselves Masters of the Latin
  Tongue by Methods far easier than those in Lilly, with as little
  Difficulty or Reluctance as young Ladies learn to speak French, or
  to sing Italian Operas. When they had advanced thus far, it would be
  time to form their Taste something more exactly: One that had any true
  Relish of fine Writing, might, with great Pleasure both to himself and
  them, run over together with them the best Roman Historians, Poets,
  and Orators, and point out their more remarkable Beauties; give them a
  short Scheme of Chronology, a little View of Geography, Medals,
  Astronomy, or what else might best feed the busy inquisitive Humour so
  natural to that Age. Such of them as had the least Spark of Genius,
  when it was once awakened by the shining Thoughts and great Sentiments
  of those admired Writers, could not, I believe, be easily withheld
  from attempting that more difficult Sister Language, whose exalted
  Beauties they would have heard so often celebrated as the Pride and
  Wonder of the whole Learned World. In the mean while, it would be
  requisite to exercise their Style in Writing any light Pieces that ask
  more of Fancy than of Judgment: and that frequently in their Native
  Language, which every one methinks should be most concerned to
  cultivate, especially Letters, in which a Gentleman must have so
  frequent Occasions to distinguish himself. A Set of genteel
  good-natured Youths fallen into such a Manner of Life, would form
  almost a little Academy, and doubtless prove no such contemptible
  Companions, as might not often tempt a wiser Man to mingle himself in
  their Diversions, and draw them into such serious Sports as might
  prove nothing less instructing than the gravest Lessons. I doubt not
  but it might be made some of their Favourite Plays, to contend which
  of them should recite a beautiful Part of a Poem or Oration most
  gracefully, or sometimes to join in acting a Scene of Terence,
  Sophocles, or our own Shakespear. The Cause of Milo might again
  be pleaded before more favourable Judges, Cæsar a second time be
  taught to tremble, and another Race of Athenians be afresh enraged
  at the Ambition of another Philip. Amidst these noble Amusements, we
  could hope to see the early Dawnings of their Imagination daily
  brighten into Sense, their Innocence improve into Virtue, and their
  unexperienced Good-nature directed to a generous Love of their
  Country.



  I am, &c.













Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 231

	
 Saturday, November 24, 1711

	
 Addison









O Pudor! O Pietas!



Mart.














  Mr. Spectator1,



  You, who are no Stranger to Publick Assemblies, cannot but have
  observed the Awe they often strike on such as are obliged to exert any
  Talent before them. This is a sort of elegant Distress, to which
  ingenuous Minds are the most liable, and may therefore deserve some
  remarks in your Paper. Many a brave Fellow, who has put his Enemy to
  Flight in the Field, has been in the utmost Disorder upon making a
  Speech before a Body of his Friends at home: One would think there was
  some kind of Fascination in the Eyes of a large Circle of People, when
  darting altogether upon one Person. I have seen a new Actor in a
  Tragedy so bound up by it as to be scarce able to speak or move, and
  have expected he would have died above three Acts before the Dagger or
  Cup of Poison were brought in. It would not be amiss, if such an one
  were at first introduced as a Ghost or a Statue, till he recovered his
  Spirits, and grew fit for some living Part.



  As this sudden Desertion of one's self shews a Diffidence, which is not
  displeasing, it implies at the same time the greatest Respect to an
  Audience that can be. It is a sort of mute Eloquence, which pleads for
  their Favour much better than Words could do; and we find their
  Generosity naturally moved to support those who are in so much
  Perplexity to entertain them. I was extremely pleased with a late
  Instance of this Kind at the Opera of Almahide, in the Encouragement
  given to a young Singer2, whose more than ordinary Concern on her
  first Appearance, recommended her no less than her agreeable Voice,
  and just Performance. Meer Bashfulness without Merit is awkward; and
  Merit without Modesty, insolent. But modest Merit has a double Claim
  to Acceptance, and generally meets with as many Patrons as Beholders.




  I am, &c.








the Lips




Cicero
—Linguá melior, sedfrigida bello

Dextera—
bold
Drances
Virgil
Homer
3








Feeling




Greece










Seneca
Cato








Cæsar



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
Iliad



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 232

	
 Monday, November 26, 1711

	
 Hughes1









Nihil largiundo gloriam adeptus est.



Sallust.




Andrew Freeport
Andrew




  'Well then', says Sir Andrew, 'we go off with the Prayers and good
  Wishes of the Beggars, and perhaps too our Healths will be drunk at
  the next Ale-house: So all we shall be able to value ourselves upon,
  is, that we have promoted the Trade of the Victualler and the Excises
  of the Government. But how few Ounces of Wooll do we see upon the
  Backs of those poor Creatures? And when they shall next fall in our
  Way, they will hardly be better dressd; they must always live in Rags
  to look like Objects of Compassion. If their Families too are such as
  they are represented, tis certain they cannot be better clothed, and
  must be a great deal worse fed: One would think Potatoes should be all
  their Bread, and their Drink the pure Element; and then what goodly
  Customers are the Farmers like to have for their Wooll, Corn and
  Cattle? Such Customers, and such a Consumption, cannot choose but
  advance the landed Interest, and hold up the Rents of the Gentlemen.



  'But of all Men living, we Merchants, who live by Buying and Selling,
  ought never to encourage Beggars. The Goods which we export are indeed
  the Product of the lands, but much the greatest Part of their Value is
  the Labour of the People: but how much of these People's Labour shall
  we export whilst we hire them to sit still? The very Alms they receive
  from us, are the Wages of Idleness. I have often thought that no Man
  should be permitted to take Relief from the Parish, or to ask it in
  the Street, till he has first purchased as much as possible of his own
  Livelihood by the Labour of his own Hands; and then the Publick ought
  only to be taxed to make good the Deficiency. If this Rule was
  strictly observed, we should see every where such a Multitude of new
  Labourers, as would in all probability reduce the Prices of all our
  Manufactures. It is the very Life of Merchandise to buy cheap and sell
  dear. The Merchant ought to make his Outset as cheap as possible, that
  he may find the greater Profit upon his Returns; and nothing will
  enable him to do this like the Reduction of the Price of Labour upon
  all our Manufactures. This too would be the ready Way to increase the
  Number of our Foreign Markets: The Abatement of the Price of the
  Manufacture would pay for the Carriage of it to more distant
  Countries; and this Consequence would be equally beneficial both to
  the Landed and Trading Interests. As so great an Addition of labouring
  Hands would produce this happy Consequence both to the Merchant and
  the Gentle man; our Liberality to common Beggars, and every other
  Obstruction to the Increase of Labourers, must be equally pernicious
  to both.
Andrew
'It
may seem, says he, a Paradox, that the Price of Labour should be reduced
without an Abatement of Wages, or that Wages can be abated without any
Inconvenience to the Labourer, and yet nothing is more certain than that
both those Things may happen. The Wages of the Labourers make the
greatest Part of the Price of every Thing that is useful; and if in
Proportion with the Wages the Prices of all other Things should be
abated, every Labourer with less Wages would be still able to purchase
as many Necessaries of Life; where then would be the Inconvenience? But
the Price of Labour may be reduced by the Addition of more Hands to a
Manufacture, and yet the Wages of Persons remain as high as ever. The
admirable Sir William Petty2 has given Examples of
this in some of his Writings: One of them, as I remember, is that of a
Watch, which I shall endeavour to explain so as shall suit my present
Purpose. It is certain that a single Watch could not be made so cheap in
Proportion by one only Man, as a hundred Watches by a hundred; for as
there is vast Variety in the Work, no one Person could equally suit
himself to all the Parts of it; the Manufacture would be tedious, and at
last but clumsily performed: But if an hundred Watches were to be made
by a hundred Men, the Cases may be assigned to one, the Dials to
another, the Wheels to another, the Springs to another, and every other
Part to a proper Artist; as there would be no need of perplexing any one
Person with too much Variety, every one would be able to perform his
single Part with greater Skill and Expedition; and the hundred Watches
would be finished in one fourth Part of the Time of the first one, and
every one of them at one fourth Part of the Cost, tho' the Wages of
every Man were equal. The Reduction of the Price of the Manufacture
would increase the Demand of it, all the same Hands would be still
employed and as well paid. The same Rule will hold in the Clothing, the
Shipping, and all the other Trades whatsoever. And thus an Addition of
Hands to our Manufactures will only reduce the Price of them; the
Labourer will still have as much Wages, and will consequently be enabled
to purchase more Conveniencies of Life; so that every Interest in the
Nation would receive a Benefit from the Increase of our Working People.



  Besides, I see no Occasion for this Charity to common Beggars, since
  every Beggar is an Inhabitant of a Parish, and every Parish is taxed
  to the Maintenance of their own Poor3.



  For my own part, I cannot be mightily pleased with the Laws which have
  done this, which have provided better to feed than employ the Poor. We
  have a Tradition from our Forefathers, that after the first of those
  Laws was made, they were insulted with that famous Song;


Hang Sorrow, and cast away Care,

The Parish is bound to find us, &c.


  And if we will be so good-natured as to maintain them without Work,
  they can do no less in Return than sing us The Merry Beggars.



  What then? Am I against all Acts of Charity? God forbid! I know of no
  Virtue in the Gospel that is in more pathetical Expressions
  recommended to our Practice.


I was hungry and ye4 gave me no
  Meat, thirsty and ye gave me no Drink, naked and ye clothed me not, a
  Stranger and ye took me not in, sick and in prison and ye visited me
  not.


Our Blessed Saviour treats the Exercise or Neglect of Charity
  towards a poor Man, as the Performance or Breach of this Duty towards
  himself. I shall endeavour to obey the Will of my Lord and Master: And
  therefore if an industrious Man shall submit to the hardest Labour and
  coarsest Fare, rather than endure the Shame of taking Relief from the
  Parish, or asking it in the Street, this is the Hungry, the Thirsty,
  the Naked; and I ought to believe, if any Man is come hither for
  Shelter against Persecution or Oppression, this is the Stranger, and I
  ought to take him in. If any Countryman of our own is fallen into the
  Hands of Infidels, and lives in a State of miserable Captivity, this
  is the Man in Prison, and I should contribute to his Ransom. I ought
  to give to an Hospital of Invalids, to recover as many useful Subjects
  as I can; but I shall bestow none of my Bounties upon an Alms-house of
  idle People; and for the same Reason I should not think it a Reproach
  to me if I had withheld my Charity from those common Beggars. But we
  prescribe better Rules than we are able to practise; we are ashamed
  not to give into the mistaken Customs of our Country: But at the same
  time, I cannot but think it a Reproach worse than that of common
  Swearing, that the Idle and the Abandoned are suffered in the Name of
  Heaven and all that is sacred, to extort from Christian and tender
  Minds a Supply to a profligate Way of Life, that is always to be
  supported, but never relieved.


  
Z
5














Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Discourse of Taxes



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
you



return









Footnote 5:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 233

	
 Tuesday, November 27, 1711

	
 Addison









—Tanquam hec sint nostri medicina furoris,

Aut Deus ille malis hominum mitescere discat.

Virg.




Greek
Apollo
Leucate
An Account of Persons Male and Female, who offered up their Vows in the
Temple of the
in the Forty sixth Olympiad, and leaped
from the Promontory of
into the
in order to cure
themselves of the Passion of Love




  Battus, the Son of Menalcas the Sicilian, leaped for Bombyca
  the Musician: Got rid of his Passion with the Loss of his Right Leg
  and Arm, which were broken in the Fall.



  Melissa, in Love with Daphnis, very much bruised, but escaped with
  Life.



  Cynisca, the Wife of Æschines, being in Love with Lycus; and
  Æschines her Husband being in Love with Eurilla; (which had made
  this married Couple very uneasy to one another for several Years) both
  the Husband and the Wife took the Leap by Consent; they both of them
  escaped, and have lived very happily together ever since.



  Larissa, a Virgin of Thessaly, deserted by Plexippus, after a
  Courtship of three Years; she stood upon the Brow of the Promontory
  for some time, and after having thrown down a Ring, a Bracelet, and a
  little Picture, with other Presents which she had received from
  Plexippus, she threw her self into the Sea, and was taken up alive.



  N. B. Larissa, before she leaped, made an Offering of a Silver
  Cupid in the Temple of Apollo.



  Simaetha, in Love with Daphnis the Myndian, perished in the
  Fall.



  Charixus, the Brother of Sappho, in Love with Rhodope the
  Courtesan, having spent his whole Estate upon her, was advised by his
  Sister to leap in the Beginning of his Amour, but would not hearken to
  her till he was reduced to his last Talent; being forsaken by
  Rhodope, at length resolved to take the Leap. Perished in it.



  Aridæus, a beautiful Youth of Epirus, in Love with Praxinoe,
  the Wife of Thespis, escaped without Damage, saving only that two of
  his Fore-Teeth were struck out and his Nose a little flatted.



  Cleora, a Widow of Ephesus, being inconsolable for the Death of
  her Husband, was resolved to take this Leap in order to get rid of her
  Passion for his Memory; but being arrived at the Promontory, she there
  met with Dimmachus the Miletian, and after a short Conversation
  with him, laid aside the Thoughts of her Leap, and married him in the
  Temple of Apollo.



  N. B. Her Widow's Weeds are still to be seen hanging up in the
  Western Corner of the Temple.



  Olphis, the Fisherman, having received a Box on the Ear from
  Thestylis the Day before, and being determined to have no more to do
  with her, leaped, and escaped with Life.



  Atalanta, an old Maid, whose Cruelty had several Years before driven
  two or three despairing Lovers to this Leap; being now in the fifty
  fifth Year of her Age, and in Love with an Officer of Sparta, broke
  her Neck in the Fall.



  Hipparchus being passionately fond of his own Wife who was enamoured
  of Bathyllus, leaped, and died of his Fall; upon which his Wife
  married her Gallant.



  Tettyx, the Dancing-Master, in Love with Olympia an Athenian
  Matron, threw himself from the Rock with great Agility, but was
  crippled in the Fall.



  Diagoras, the Usurer, in Love with his Cook-Maid; he peeped several
  times over the Precipice, but his Heart misgiving him, he went back,
  and married her that Evening.



  Cinædus, after having entered his own Name in the Pythian Records,
  being asked the Name of the Person whom he leaped for, and being
  ashamed to discover it, he was set aside, and not suffered to leap.



  Eunica, a Maid of Paphos, aged Nineteen, in Love with Eurybates.
  Hurt in the Fall, but recovered.



  N. B. This was her second Time of Leaping.



  Hesperus, a young Man of Tarentum, in Love with his Master's
  Daughter. Drowned, the Boats not coming in soon enough to his Relief.



  Sappho, the Lesbian, in Love with Phaon, arrived at the Temple
  of Apollo, habited like a Bride in Garments as white as Snow. She
  wore a Garland of Myrtle on her Head, and carried in her Hand the
  little Musical Instrument of her own Invention. After having sung an
  Hymn to Apollo, she hung up her Garland on one Side of his Altar,
  and her Harp on the other. She then tuck'd up her Vestments, like a
  Spartan Virgin, and amidst thousands of Spectators, who were anxious
  for her Safety, and offered up Vows for her Deliverance, marched1
  directly forwards to the utmost Summit of the Promontory, where after
  having repeated a Stanza of her own Verses, which we could not hear,
  she threw herself off the Rock with such an Intrepidity as was never
  before observed in any who had attempted that dangerous Leap. Many who
  were present related, that they saw her fall into the Sea, from whence
  she never rose again; tho' there were others who affirmed, that she
  never came to the Bottom of her Leap, but that she was changed into a
  Swan as she fell, and that they saw her hovering in the Air under that
  Shape. But whether or no the Whiteness and Fluttering of her Garments
  might not deceive those who looked upon her, or whether she might not
  really be metamorphosed into that musical and melancholy Bird, is
  still a Doubt among the Lesbians.



  Alcæus, the famous Lyrick Poet, who had for some time been
  passionately in Love with Sappho, arrived at the Promontory of
  Leucate that very Evening, in order to take the Leap upon her
  Account; but hearing that Sappho had been there before him, and that
  her Body could be no where found, he very generously lamented her
  Fall, and is said to have written his hundred and twenty fifth Ode
  upon that Occasion.







	Leaped in this Olympiad
	
	
	2502




	
	Males
	124
	




	
	Females
	126
	




	Cured
	
	
	1203




	
	Males
	51
	




	
	Females
	69
	




















Footnote 1:
she marched



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
350



return









Footnote 3:
150



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 234

	
 Wednesday, November 28, 1711

	
 Steele









Vellum in amicitia erraremus.



Hor.1




Athenians
O Athenians!
Plato
He
thing
2
England










  To the Spectator.



  Devonshire, Nov. 14, 1711.



  Sir,



  There arrived in this Neighbourhood two Days ago one of your gay
  Gentlemen of the Town, who being attended at his Entry with a Servant
  of his own, besides a Countryman he had taken up for a Guide, excited
  the Curiosity of the Village to learn whence and what he might be. The
  Countryman (to whom they applied as most easy of Access) knew little
  more than that the Gentleman came from London to travel and see
  Fashions, and was, as he heard say, a Free-thinker: What Religion that
  might be, he could not tell; and for his own Part, if they had not
  told him the Man was a Free-thinker, he should have guessed, by his
  way of talking, he was little better than a Heathen; excepting only
  that he had been a good Gentleman to him, and made him drunk twice in
  one Day, over and above what they had bargained for.



  I do not look upon the Simplicity of this, and several odd Inquiries
  with which I shall not trouble you to be wondered at, much less can I
  think that our Youths of fine Wit, and enlarged Understandings, have
  any Reason to laugh. There is no Necessity that every Squire in Great
  Britain should know what the Word Free-thinker stands for; but it
  were much to be wished, that they who value themselves upon that
  conceited Title were a little better instructed in what it ought to
  stand for; and that they would not perswade themselves a Man is really
  and truly a Free-thinker in any tolerable Sense, meerly by virtue of
  his being an Atheist, or an Infidel of any other Distinction. It may
  be doubted, with good Reason, whether there ever was in Nature a more
  abject, slavish, and bigotted Generation than the Tribe of Beaux
  Esprits, at present so prevailing in this Island. Their Pretension to
  be Free-thinkers, is no other than Rakes have to be Free-livers, and
  Savages to be Free-men, that is, they can think whatever they have a
  Mind to, and give themselves up to whatever Conceit the Extravagancy
  of their Inclination, or their Fancy, shall suggest; they can think as
  wildly as they talk and act, and will not endure that their Wit should
  be controuled by such formal Things as Decency and common Sense:
  Deduction, Coherence, Consistency, and all the Rules of Reason they
  accordingly disdain, as too precise and mechanical for Men of a
  liberal Education.



  This, as far as I could ever learn from their Writings, or my own
  Observation, is a true Account of the British Free-thinker. Our
  Visitant here, who gave occasion to this Paper, has brought with him a
  new System of common Sense, the Particulars of which I am not yet
  acquainted with, but will lose no Opportunity of informing my self
  whether it contain any thing3 worth Mr. Spectator'S Notice. In
  the mean time, Sir, I cannot but think it would be for the good of
  Mankind, if you would take this Subject into your own Consideration,
  and convince the hopeful Youth of our Nation, that Licentiousness is
  not Freedom; or, if such a Paradox will not be understood, that a
  Prejudice towards Atheism is not Impartiality.



  I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant,



  Philonous.













Footnote 1:
Splendide mendax.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 235

	
 Thursday, November 29, 1711

	
 Addison









Populares

Vincentum strepitus

Hor.








Trunk-maker in the upper Gallery
Hamlet
















Nicolini's
He
Dogget
1
Shakespear








mean
Virgils
2




Brutum fulmen
Head
The
3




Horace's
Hercules
Apollo



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Æneid



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 236

	
 Friday, November 30, 1711

	
 Steele









—Dare Jura maritis.



Hor.








 Mr. Spectator,



  'You have not spoken in so direct a manner upon the Subject of
  Marriage as that important Case deserves. It would not be improper to
  observe upon the Peculiarity in the Youth of Great Britain, of
  railing and laughing at that Institution; and when they fall into it,
  from a profligate Habit of Mind, being insensible of the Satisfaction1 in that Way of Life, and treating their Wives with the most
  barbarous Disrespect.



  'Particular Circumstances and Cast of Temper, must teach a Man the
  Probability of mighty Uneasinesses in that State, (for unquestionably
  some there are whose very Dispositions are strangely averse to
  conjugal Friendship;) but no one, I believe, is by his own natural
  Complexion prompted to teaze and torment another for no Reason but
  being nearly allied to him: And can there be any thing more base, or
  serve to sink a Man so much below his own distinguishing
  Characteristick, (I mean Reason) than returning Evil for Good in so
  open a Manner, as that of treating an helpless Creature with
  Unkindness, who has had so good an Opinion of him as to believe what
  he said relating to one of the greatest Concerns of Life, by
  delivering her Happiness in this World to his Care and Protection?
  Must not that Man be abandoned even to all manner of Humanity, who can
  deceive a Woman with Appearances of Affection and Kindness, for no
  other End but to torment her with more Ease and Authority? Is any
  Thing more unlike a Gentleman, than when his Honour is engaged for the
  performing his Promises, because nothing but that can oblige him to
  it, to become afterwards false to his Word, and be alone the Occasion
  of Misery to one whose Happiness he but lately pretended was dearer to
  him than his own? Ought such a one to be trusted in his common
  Affairs? or treated but as one whose Honesty consisted only in his
  Incapacity of being otherwise?



  'There is one Cause of this Usage no less absurd than common, which
  takes place among the more unthinking Men: and that is the Desire to
  appear to their Friends free and at Liberty, and without those
  Trammels they have so much ridiculed. To avoid2 this they fly
  into the other Extream, and grow Tyrants that they may seem Masters.
  Because an uncontroulable Command of their own Actions is a certain
  Sign of entire Dominion, they won't so much as recede from the
  Government even in one Muscle, of their Faces. A kind Look they
  believe would be fawning, and a civil Answer yielding the Superiority.
  To this must we attribute an Austerity they betray in every Action:
  What but this can put a Man out of Humour in his Wife's Company, tho'
  he is so distinguishingly pleasant every where else? The Bitterness of
  his Replies, and the Severity of his Frowns to the tenderest of Wives,
  clearly demonstrate, that an ill-grounded Fear of being thought too
  submissive, is at the Bottom of this, as I am willing to call it,
  affected Moroseness; but if it be such only, put on to convince his
  Acquaintance of his entire Dominion, let him take Care of the
  Consequence, which will be certain, and worse than the present Evil;
  his seeming Indifference will by Degrees grow into real Contempt, and
  if it doth not wholly alienate the Affections of his Wife for ever
  from him, make both him and her more miserable than if it really did
  so.



  However inconsistent it may appear, to be thought a well-bred Person
  has no small Share in this clownish Behaviour: A Discourse therefore
  relating to good Breeding towards a loving and a tender Wife, would be
  of great Use to this Sort of Gentlemen. Could you but once convince
  them, that to be civil at least is not beneath the Character of a
  Gentleman, nor even tender Affection towards one who would make it
  reciprocal, betrays any Softness or Effeminacy that the most masculine
  Disposition need be ashamed of; could you satisfy them of the
  Generosity of voluntary Civility, and the Greatness of Soul that is
  conspicuous in Benevolence without immediate Obligations; could you
  recommend to People's Practice the Saying of the Gentleman quoted in
  one of your Speculations, That he thought it incumbent upon him to
  make the Inclinations of a Woman of Merit go along with her Duty:
  Could you, I say, perswade these Men of the Beauty and Reasonableness
  of this Sort of Behaviour, I have so much Charity for some of them at
  least, to believe you would convince them of a Thing they are only
  ashamed to allow: Besides, you would recommend that State in its
  truest, and consequently its most agreeable Colours; and the Gentlemen
  who have for any Time been such professed Enemies to it, when Occasion
  should serve, would return you their Thanks for assisting their
  Interest in prevailing over their Prejudices. Marriage in general
  would by this Means be a more easy and comfortable Condition; the
  Husband would be no where so well satisfied as in his own Parlour, nor
  the Wife so pleasant as in the Company of her Husband: A Desire of
  being agreeable in the Lover would be increased in the Husband, and
  the Mistress be more amiable by becoming the Wife. Besides all which,
  I am apt to believe we should find the Race of Men grow wiser as their
  Progenitors grew kinder, and the Affection of the Parents would be
  conspicuous in the Wisdom of their Children; in short, Men would in
  general be much better humoured than they are, did not they so
  frequently exercise the worst Turns of their Temper where they ought
  to exert the best.








  MR. Spectator,



  I am a Woman who left the Admiration of this whole Town, to throw
  myself (for3 Love of Wealth) into the Arms of a Fool. When I
  married him, I could have had any one of several Men of Sense who
  languished for me; but my Case is just. I believed my superior
  Understanding would form him into a tractable Creature. But, alas, my
  Spouse has Cunning and Suspicion, the inseparable Companions of little
  Minds; and every Attempt I make to divert, by putting on an agreeable
  Air, a sudden Chearfulness, or kind Behaviour, he looks upon as the
  first Act towards an Insurrection against his undeserved Dominion over
  me. Let every one who is still to chuse, and hopes to govern a Fool,
  remember



  Tristissa.








  St. Martins, November 25.



  Mr. Spectator,



  This is to complain of an evil Practice which I think very well
  deserves a Redress, though you have not as yet taken any Notice of it:
  If you mention it in your Paper, it may perhaps have a very good
  Effect. What I mean is the Disturbance some People give to others at
  Church, by their Repetition of the Prayers after the Minister, and
  that not only in the Prayers, but also the Absolution and the
  Commandments fare no better, winch are in a particular Manner the
  Priest's Office: This I have known done in so audible a manner, that
  sometimes their Voices have been as loud as his. As little as you
  would think it, this is frequently done by People seemingly devout.
  This irreligious Inadvertency is a Thing extremely offensive: But I do
  not recommend it as a Thing I give you Liberty to ridicule, but hope
  it may be amended by the bare Mention.



  Sir, Your very humble Servant, 



T. S.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
For this Reason should they appear the least like what
they were so much used to laugh at, they would become the Jest of
themselves, and the Object of that Raillery they formerly bestowed on
others. To avoid &c.



return









Footnote 3:
by



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 237

	
 Saturday, December 1, 1711

	
 Addison









Visu carentem magna pars veri latet.



Senec. in Œdip.








Milton
Others apart sate on a Hill retired,

In Thoughts more elevate, and reason'd high

Of Providence, Foreknowledge, Will, and Fate,

First Fate, Freewill, Foreknowledge absolute,

And found no End in wandring Mazes lost.1




From
2






Plato
Seneca
 
has
3
Stoicks
Demetrius
nothing would be more unhappy than
a Man who had never known Affliction
Jupiter
Cato








We see but in part, and as in a Glass darkly
It is to be considered, that Providence
4
so that
Past, Present
To come




shall
Jewish
Moses
5
In
Colloquy
6
The
Moses
Moses
7















Footnote 1:
Paradise Lost



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
for
read
238



return









Footnote 3:
De Constantia Sapientis



return









Footnote 4:
Since Providence, therefore



return









Footnote 5:
Divine Dialogues



return









Footnote 6:
Conference



return









Footnote 7:
Works
Poems



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 238

	
 Monday, December 3, 1711

	
 Steele









Nequicquam populo bibulas donaveris Aures;

Respue quod non es



Persius, Sat. 4.




So softens and disarms the Mind,

That not one Arrow can Resistance find.




A
Manly
1








Germanicus
Tacitus




Malvolio
Malvolio




good
2










  Mr. Spectator,



  'The Translations which you have lately given us from the Greek, in
  some of your last Papers, have been the Occasion of my looking into
  some of those Authors; among whom I chanced on a Collection of Letters
  which pass under the Name of Aristænetus. Of all the Remains of
  Antiquity, I believe there can be Nothing produc'd of an Air so
  gallant and polite; each Letter contains a little Novel or Adventure,
  which is told with all the Beauties of Language and heightened with a
  Luxuriance of Wit. There are several of them translated3, but with
  such wide Deviations from the Original, and in a Style so far
  differing from the Authors, that the Translator seems rather to have
  taken Hints for the expressing his own Sense and Thoughts, than to
  have endeavoured to render those of Aristænetus. In the following
  Translation, I have kept as near the Meaning of the Greek as I
  could, and have only added a few Words to make the Sentences in
  English fit together a little better than they would otherwise have
  done. The Story seems to be taken from that of Pygmalion and the
  Statue in Ovid: Some of the Thoughts are of the same Turn, and the
  whole is written in a kind of Poetical Prose.




Philopinax to Chromation.



    "Never was Man more overcome with so fantastical a Passion as mine.
    I have painted a beautiful Woman, and am despairing, dying for the
    Picture. My own Skill has undone me; 'tis not the Dart of Venus,
    but my own Pencil has thus wounded me. Ah me! with what Anxiety am I
    necessitated to adore my own Idol? How miserable am I, whilst every
    one must as much pity the Painter as he praises the Picture, and own
    my Torment more than equal to my Art. But why do I thus complain?
    Have there not been more unhappy and unnatural Passions than mine?
    Yes, I have seen the Representations of Phædra, Narcissus, and
    Pasiphæ. Phædra was unhappy in her Love; that of Pasiphæ was
    monstrous; and whilst the other caught at his beloved Likeness, he
    destroyed the watery Image, which ever eluded his Embraces. The
    Fountain represented Narcissus to himself, and the Picture both
    that and him, thirsting after his adored Image. But I am yet less
    unhappy, I enjoy her Presence continually, and if I touch her, I
    destroy not the beauteous Form, but she looks pleased, and a sweet
    Smile sits in the charming Space which divides her Lips. One would
    swear that Voice and Speech were issuing out, and that one's Ears
    felt the melodious Sound. How often have I, deceived by a Lover's
    Credulity, hearkned if she had not something to whisper me? and when
    frustrated of my Hopes, how often have I taken my Revenge in Kisses
    from her Cheeks and Eyes, and softly wooed her to my Embrace, whilst
    she (as to me it seem'd) only withheld her Tongue the more to
    inflame me. But, Madman that I am, shall I be thus taken with the
    Representation only of a beauteous Face, and flowing Hair, and thus
    waste myself and melt to Tears for a Shadow? Ah, sure 'tis something
    more, 'tis a Reality! for see her Beauties shine out with new
    Lustre, and she seems to upbraid me with such unkind Reproaches. Oh
    may I have a living Mistress of this Form, that when I shall compare
    the Work of Nature with that of Art, I may be still at a loss which
    to choose, and be long perplex'd with the pleasing Uncertainty.















Footnote 1:
Plain Dealer



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Eccles



return









Footnote 3:
Letters on Wit, Politicks, and
Morality,
Letters
of Love and Gallantry, written in Greek by Aristænetus.
Spectator



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 239

	
 Tuesday, December 4, 1711

	
 Addison









Bella, horrida bella!



Virg.














Socrates






Aristotle
Socratick
Aristotelick
Socrates
Aristotle




Europe




Aristotle
Argumentum Basilinum
Bacilinum
Baculinum
English
Club-Law
There
Oxford
Defile
1
Logic-Lane
have
Scotists,
2
Smiglesians
3
High-street






This
Erasmus's
4
Greek
Europe
Greeks
Trojans
Grecians
Erasmus
Trojans




A
5
Ratio ultima
Regum, The Logick of Kings
one
Roman
6
I am never asham'd
to be confuted by one who is Master of fifty Legions




shall
Hudibras
7




Arguing by Torture
This
Mary
Bayle
8
England
Smithfield
These
Sorites
9




Philip of Macedon
Athens




Spectator



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
Epist

return









Footnote 5:



return









Footnote 6:
Apophthegms



return









Footnote 7:
note
No. 145



return









Footnote 8:
Life



return









Footnote 9:
Greek: sôrós



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 240

	
 Wednesday, December 5, 1711

	
 Steele









—Aliter not fit, Avite, liber.



Mart.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am of one of the most genteel Trades in the City, and understand
  thus much of liberal Education, as to have an ardent Ambition of being
  useful to Mankind, and to think That the chief End of Being as to this
  Life. I had these good Impressions given me from the handsome
  Behaviour of a learned, generous, and wealthy Man towards me when I
  first began the World. Some Dissatisfaction between me and my Parents
  made me enter into it with less Relish of Business than I ought; and
  to turn off this Uneasiness I gave my self to criminal Pleasures, some
  Excesses, and a general loose Conduct. I know not what the excellent
  Man above-mentioned saw in me, but he descended from the Superiority
  of his Wisdom and Merit, to throw himself frequently into my Company.
  This made me soon hope that I had something in me worth cultivating,
  and his Conversation made me sensible of Satisfactions in a regular
  Way, which I had never before imagined. When he was grown familiar
  with me, he opened himself like a good Angel, and told me, he had long
  laboured to ripen me into a Preparation to receive his Friendship and
  Advice, both which I should daily command, and the Use of any Part of
  his Fortune, to apply the Measures he should propose to me, for the
  Improvement of my own. I assure you, I cannot recollect the Goodness
  and Confusion of the good Man when he spoke to this Purpose to me,
  without melting into Tears; but in a word, Sir, I must hasten to tell
  you, that my Heart burns with Gratitude towards him, and he is so
  happy a Man, that it can never be in my Power to return him his
  Favours in Kind, but I am sure I have made him the most agreeable
  Satisfaction I could possibly, in being ready to serve others to my
  utmost Ability, as far as is consistent with the Prudence he
  prescribes to me. Dear Mr. Spectator, I do not owe to him only the
  good Will and Esteem of my own Relations, (who are People of
  Distinction) the present Ease and Plenty of my Circumstances, but also
  the Government of my Passions, and Regulation of my Desires. I doubt
  not, Sir, but in your Imagination such Virtues as these of my worthy
  Friend, bear as great a Figure as Actions which are more glittering in
  the common Estimation. What I would ask of you, is to give us a whole
  Spectator upon Heroick Virtue in common Life, which may incite Men
  to the same generous Inclinations, as have by this admirable Person
  been shewn to, and rais'd in,



  Sir, Your most humble Servant.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am a Country Gentleman, of a good plentiful Estate, and live as the
  rest of my Neighbours with great Hospitality. I have been ever
  reckoned among the Ladies the best Company in the World, and have
  Access as a sort of Favourite. I never came in Publick but I saluted
  them, tho' in great Assemblies, all round, where it was seen how
  genteelly I avoided hampering my Spurs in their Petticoats, while I
  moved amongst them; and on the other side how prettily they curtsied
  and received me, standing in proper Rows, and advancing as fast as
  they saw their Elders, or their Betters, dispatch'd by me. But so it
  is, Mr. Spectator, that all our good Breeding is of late lost by the
  unhappy Arrival of a Courtier, or Town Gentleman, who came lately
  among us: This Person where-ever he came into a Room made a profound
  Bow, and fell back, then recovered with a soft Air, and made a Bow to
  the next, and so to one or two more, and then took the Gross of the
  Room, by passing by them in a continued Bow till he arrived at the
  Person he thought proper particularly to entertain. This he did with
  so good a Grace and Assurance, that it is taken for the present
  Fashion; and there is no young Gentlewoman within several Miles of
  this Place has been kissed ever since his first Appearance among us.
  We Country Gentlemen cannot begin again and learn these fine and
  reserved Airs; and our Conversation is at a Stand, till we have your
  Judgment for or against Kissing, by way of Civility or Salutation;
  which is impatiently expected by your Friends of both Sexes, but by
  none so much as



  Your humble Servant,



  Rustick Sprightly.








December 3, 1711.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I was the other Night at Philaster1, where I expected to hear your
  famous Trunk-maker, but was happily disappointed of his Company, and
  saw another Person who had the like Ambition to distinguish himself in
  a noisy manner, partly by Vociferation or talking loud, and partly by
  his bodily Agility. This was a very lusty Fellow, but withal a sort of
  Beau, who getting into one of the Side-boxes on the Stage before the
  Curtain drew, was disposed to shew the whole Audience his Activity by
  leaping over the Spikes; he pass'd from thence to one of the entering
  Doors, where he took Snuff with a tolerable good Grace, display'd his
  fine Cloaths, made two or three feint Passes at the Curtain with his
  Cane, then faced about and appear'd at t'other Door: Here he affected
  to survey the whole House, bow'd and smil'd at random, and then shew'd
  his Teeth, which were some of them indeed very white: After this he
  retired behind the Curtain, and obliged us with several Views of his
  Person from every Opening.



  During the Time of Acting, he appear'd frequently in the Prince's
  Apartment, made one at the Hunting-match, and was very forward in the
  Rebellion. If there were no Injunctions to the contrary, yet this
  Practice must be confess'd to diminish the Pleasure of the Audience,
  and for that Reason presumptuous and unwarrantable: But since her
  Majesty's late Command has made it criminal2, you have Authority to
  take Notice of it. 



  Sir, Your humble Servant,



  Charles Easy.















Footnote 1:
Philaster



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 By her Majesty's Command no Person is to be admitted behind the
  Scenes.



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 241

	
 Thursday, December 6, 1711

	
 Addison









—Semperque relinqui

Sola sibi, semper longam incomitata videtur

Ire viam—



Virg.








  Mr. Spectator,



  Though you have considered virtuous Love inmost of its Distresses, I
  do not remember that you have given us any Dissertation upon the
  Absence of Lovers, or laid down any Methods how they should support
  themselves under those long Separations which they are sometimes
  forced to undergo. I am at present in this unhappy Circumstance,
  having parted with the best of Husbands, who is abroad in the Service
  of his Country, and may not possibly return for some Years. His warm
  and generous Affection while we were together, with the Tenderness
  which he expressed to me at parting, make his Absence almost
  insupportable. I think of him every Moment of the Day, and meet him
  every Night in my Dreams. Every thing I see puts me in mind of him. I
  apply myself with more than ordinary Diligence to the Care of his
  Family and his Estate; but this, instead of relieving me, gives me but
  so many Occasions of wishing for his Return. I frequent the Rooms
  where I used to converse with him, and not meeting him there, sit down
  in his Chair, and fall a weeping. I love to read the Books he
  delighted in, and to converse with the Persons whom he esteemed. I
  visit his Picture a hundred times a Day, and place myself over-against
  it whole Hours together. I pass a great part of my Time in the Walks
  where I used to lean upon his Arm, and recollect in my Mind the
  Discourses which have there passed between us: I look over the several
  Prospects and Points of View which we used to survey together, fix my
  Eye upon the Objects which he has made me take notice of, and call to
  mind a thousand [agreeable] Remarks which he has made on those
  Occasions. I write to him by every Conveyance, and contrary to other
  People, am always in good Humour when an East-Wind blows, because it
  seldom fails of bringing me a Letter from him. Let me entreat you,
  Sir, to give me your Advice upon this Occasion, and to let me know how
  I may relieve my self in this my Widowhood.



  I am, Sir, Your most humble Servant,



  Asteria.








Ovid's
them
Otway's
Monimia
1
It was not kind

To leave me like a Turtle, here alone,

To droop and mourn the Absence of my Mate.

When thou art from me, every Place is desert:

And I, methinks, am savage and forlorn.

Thy Presence only 'tis can make me blest,

Heal my unquiet Mind, and tune my Soul.
Asteria




Scudery's










Strada, in one of his Prolusions,
2
which
began
3




Scudery




Flames,
Darts, Die, Language, Absence, Cupid, Heart, Eyes, Hang, Drown



















Footnote 1:
Orphan



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Footnote 2:
In one of Strada's Prolusions he



return









Footnote 3:
begun



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Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 242

	
 Friday, December 7, 1711

	
 Steele









Creditur, ex medio quia res arcessit, habere

Sudoris minimum—



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  Your Speculations do not so generally prevail over Men's Manners as I
  could wish. A former Paper of yours1 concerning the Misbehaviour of
  People, who are necessarily in each other's Company in travelling,
  ought to have been a lasting Admonition against Transgressions of that
  Kind: But I had the Fate of your Quaker, in meeting with a rude Fellow
  in a Stage-Coach, who entertained two or three Women of us (for there
  was no Man besides himself) with Language as indecent as was ever
  heard upon the Water. The impertinent Observations which the Coxcomb
  made upon our Shame and Confusion were such, that it is an unspeakable
  Grief to reflect upon them. As much as you have declaimed against
  Duelling, I hope you will do us the Justice to declare, that if the
  Brute has Courage enough to send to the Place where he saw us all
  alight together to get rid of him, there is not one of us but has a
  Lover who shall avenge the Insult. It would certainly be worth your
  Consideration, to look into the frequent Misfortunes of this kind, to
  which the Modest and Innocent are exposed, by the licentious Behaviour
  of such as are as much Strangers to good Breeding as to Virtue. Could
  we avoid hearing what we do not approve, as easily as we can seeing
  what is disagreeable, there were some Consolation; but since in a Box
  at a Play,2 in an Assembly of Ladies, or even in a Pew at Church,
  it is in the Power of a gross Coxcomb to utter what a Woman cannot
  avoid hearing, how miserable is her Condition who comes within the
  Power of such Impertinents? And how necessary is it to repeat
  Invectives against such a Behaviour? If the Licentious had not utterly
  forgot what it is to be modest, they would know that offended Modesty
  labours under one of the greatest Sufferings to which human Life can
  be exposed. If one of these Brutes could reflect thus much, tho' they
  want Shame, they would be moved, by their Pity, to abhor an impudent
  Behaviour in the Presence of the Chaste and Innocent. If you will
  oblige us with a Spectator on this Subject, and procure it to be
  pasted against every Stage-Coach in Great-Britain, as the Law of the
  Journey, you will highly oblige the whole Sex, for which you have
  professed so great an Esteem; and in particular, the two Ladies my
  late Fellow-Sufferers, and,



  Sir, Your most humble Servant,



  Rebecca Ridinghood.








  Mr. Spectator,



  The Matter which I am now going to send you, is an unhappy Story in
  low Life, and will recommend it self, so that you must excuse the
  Manner of expressing it. A poor idle drunken Weaver in
  Spittle-Fields has a faithful laborious Wife, who by her Frugality
  and Industry had laid by her as much Money as purchased her a Ticket
  in the present Lottery. She had hid this very privately in the Bottom
  of a Trunk, and had given her Number to a Friend and Confident, who
  had promised to keep the Secret, and bring her News of the Success.
  The poor Adventurer was one Day gone abroad, when her careless
  Husband, suspecting she had saved some Money, searches every Corner,
  till at length he finds this same Ticket; which he immediately carries
  abroad, sells, and squanders away the Money without the Wife's
  suspecting any thing of the Matter. A Day or two after this, this
  Friend, who was a Woman, comes and brings the Wife word, that she had
  a Benefit of Five Hundred Pounds. The poor Creature over-joyed, flies
  up Stairs to her Husband, who was then at Work, and desires him to
  leave his Loom for that Evening, and come and drink with a Friend of
  his and hers below. The Man received this chearful Invitation as bad
  Husbands sometimes do, and after a cross Word or two told her he
  wou'dn't come. His Wife with Tenderness renewed her Importunity, and
  at length said to him, My Love! I have within these few Months,
  unknown to you, scraped together as much Money as has bought us a
  Ticket in the Lottery, and now here is Mrs. Quick come3 to tell
  me, that 'tis come up this Morning a Five hundred Pound Prize. The
  Husband replies immediately, You lye, you Slut, you have no Ticket,
  for I have sold it. The poor Woman upon this Faints away in a Fit,
  recovers, and is now run distracted. As she had no Design to defraud
  her Husband, but was willing only to participate in his good Fortune,
  every one pities her, but thinks her Husband's Punishment but just.
  This, Sir, is Matter of Fact, and would, if the Persons and
  Circumstances were greater, in a well-wrought Play be called
  Beautiful Distress. I have only sketched it out with Chalk, and know
  a good Hand can make a moving Picture with worse Materials.



  Sir, &c.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am what the World calls a warm Fellow, and by good Success in Trade
  I have raised myself to a Capacity of making some Figure in the World;
  but no matter for that. I have now under my Guardianship a couple of
  Nieces, who will certainly make me run mad; which you will not wonder
  at, when I tell you they are Female Virtuosos, and during the three
  Years and a half that I have had them under my Care, they never in the
  least inclined their Thoughts towards any one single Part of the
  Character of a notable Woman. Whilst they should have been considering
  the proper Ingredients for a Sack-posset, you should hear a Dispute
  concerning the magnetick4, Virtue of the
  Loadstone, or perhaps the Pressure of the Atmosphere: Their Language
  is peculiar to themselves, and they scorn to express themselves on the
  meanest Trifle with Words that are not of a Latin Derivation. But
  this were supportable still, would they suffer me to enjoy an
  uninterrupted Ignorance; but, unless I fall in with their abstracted
  Idea of Things (as they call them) I must not expect to smoak one Pipe
  in Quiet. In a late Fit of the Gout I complained of the Pain of that
  Distemper when my Niece Kitty begged Leave to assure me, that
  whatever I might think, several great Philosophers, both ancient and
  modern, were of Opinion, that both Pleasure and Pain were imaginary
  Distinctions5, and that there was no such thing as either in
  rerum Natura. I have often heard them affirm that the Fire was not
  hot; and one Day when I, with the Authority of an old Fellow, desired
  one of them to put my blue Cloak on my Knees; she answered, Sir, I
  will reach the Cloak; but take notice, I do not do it as allowing your
  Description; for it might as well be called Yellow as Blue; for Colour
  is nothing but the various Infractions of the Rays of the Sun. Miss
  Molly told me one Day; That to say Snow was white, is allowing a
  vulgar Error; for as it contains a great Quantity of nitrous
  Particles, it might more reasonably be supposed to6 be black. In
  short, the young Husseys would persuade me, that to believe one's Eyes
  is a sure way to be deceived; and have often advised me, by no means,
  to trust any thing so fallible as my Senses. What I have to beg of you
  now is, to turn one Speculation to the due Regulation of Female
  Literature, so far at least, as to make it consistent with the Quiet
  of such whose Fate it is to be liable to its Insults; and to tell us
  the Difference between a Gentleman that should make Cheesecakes and
  raise Paste, and a Lady that reads Locke, and understands the
  Mathematicks. In which you will extreamly oblige



  Your hearty Friend and humble Servant,



  Abraham Thrifty.















Footnote 1:
 No. 132



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Footnote 2:
at a Box in a Play,



return









Footnote 3:
comes



return









Footnote 4:
magnetical



return









Footnote 5:
Distractions



return









Footnote 6:
may more seasonably



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Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 243

	
 Saturday, December 8, 1711

	
 Addison









Formam quidem ipsam, Marce fili, et tanquam faciem Honesti vides: quæ si
oculis cerneretur, mirabiles amores (ut ait Plato) excitaret Sapientiæ.—




Tull. Offic.












Hierodes






Tully
Pyrrhus
Tully
Hannibal




Accordingly


Cato
1
Tully
Cato




















Tully























Footnote 1:
Cato



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Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 244

	
 Monday, December 10, 1711

	
 Steele









—Judex et callidus audis.



Hor.








  Covent-Garden, Dec. 7.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I cannot, without a double Injustice, forbear expressing to you the
  Satisfaction which a whole Clan of Virtuosos have received from those
  Hints which you have lately given the Town on the Cartons of the
  inimitable Raphael. It1 should be methinks the Business of a
  Spectator to improve the Pleasures of Sight, and there cannot be a
  more immediate Way to it than recommending the Study and Observation
  of excellent Drawings and Pictures. When I first went to view those of
  Raphael which you have celebrated, I must confess 1 was but barely
  pleased; the next time I liked them better, but at last as I grew
  better acquainted with them, I fell deeply in love with them, like
  wise Speeches they sunk deep into my Heart; for you know, Mr.
  Spectator, that a Man of Wit may extreamly affect one for the Present,
  but if he has not Discretion, his Merit soon vanishes away, while a
  Wise Man that has not so great a Stock of Wit, shall nevertheless give
  you a far greater and more lasting Satisfaction: Just so it is in a
  Picture that is smartly touched but not well studied; one may call it
  a witty Picture, tho' the Painter in the mean time may be in Danger of
  being called a Fool. On the other hand, a Picture that is thoroughly
  understood in the Whole, and well performed in the Particulars, that
  is begun on the Foundation of Geometry, carried on by the Rules of
  Perspective, Architecture, and Anatomy, and perfected by a good
  Harmony, a just and natural Colouring, and such Passions and
  Expressions of the Mind as are almost peculiar to Raphael; this is
  what you may justly style a wise Picture, and which seldom fails to
  strike us Dumb, till we can assemble all our Faculties to make but a
  tolerable Judgment upon it. Other Pictures are made for the Eyes only,
  as Rattles are made for Childrens Ears; and certainly that Picture
  that only pleases the Eye, without representing some well-chosen Part
  of Nature or other, does but shew what fine Colours are to be sold at
  the Colour-shop, and mocks the Works of the Creator. If the best
  Imitator of Nature is not to be esteemed the best Painter, but he that
  makes the greatest Show and Glare of Colours; it will necessarily
  follow, that he who can array himself in the most gaudy Draperies is
  best drest, and he that can speak loudest the best Orator. Every Man
  when he looks on a Picture should examine it according to that share
  of Reason he is Master of, or he will be in Danger of making a wrong
  Judgment. If Men as they walk abroad would make more frequent
  Observations on those Beauties of Nature which every Moment present
  themselves to their View, they would be better Judges when they saw
  her well imitated at home: This would help to correct those Errors
  which most Pretenders fall into, who are over hasty in their
  Judgments, and will not stay to let Reason come in for a share in the
  Decision. 'Tis for want of this that Men mistake in this Case, and in
  common Life, a wild extravagant Pencil for one that is truly bold and
  great, an impudent Fellow for a Man of true Courage and Bravery, hasty
  and unreasonable Actions for Enterprizes of Spirit and Resolution,
  gaudy Colouring for that which is truly beautiful, a false and
  insinuating Discourse for simple Truth elegantly recommended. The
  Parallel will hold through all the Parts of Life and Painting too; and
  the Virtuosos above-mentioned will be glad to see you draw it with
  your Terms of Art. As the Shadows in Picture represent the serious or
  melancholy, so the Lights do the bright and lively Thoughts: As there
  should be but one forcible Light in a Picture which should catch the
  Eye and fall on the Hero, so there should be but one Object of our
  Love, even the Author of Nature. These and the like Reflections well
  improved, might very much contribute to open the Beauty of that Art,
  and prevent young People from being poisoned by the ill Gusto of an
  extravagant Workman that should be imposed upon us. 

I am, Sir, 

Your
  most humble Servant.








  Mr. Spectator,



  Though I am a Woman, yet I am one of those who confess themselves
  highly pleased with a Speculation you obliged the World with some time
  ago2, from an old Greek Poet you call Simonides, in relation to
  the several Natures and Distinctions of our own Sex. I could not but
  admire how justly the Characters of Women in this Age, fall in with
  the Times of Simonides, there being no one of those Sorts I have not
  at some time or other of my Life met with a Sample of. But, Sir, the
  Subject of this present Address, are a Set of Women comprehended, I
  think, in the Ninth Specie of that Speculation, called the Apes; the
  Description of whom I find to be, "That they are such as are both ugly
  and ill-natured, who have nothing beautiful themselves, and endeavour
  to detract from or ridicule every thing that appears so in others."
  Now, Sir, this Sect, as I have been told, is very frequent in the
  great Town where you live; but as my Circumstance of Life obliges me
  to reside altogether in the Country, though not many Miles from
  London, I can't have met with a great Number of 'em, nor indeed is
  it a desirable Acquaintance, as I have lately found by Experience. You
  must know, Sir, that at the Beginning of this Summer a Family of these
  Apes came and settled for the Season not far from the Place where I
  live. As they were Strangers in the Country, they were visited by the
  Ladies about 'em, of whom I was, with an Humanity usual in those that
  pass most of their Time in Solitude. The Apes lived with us very
  agreeably our own Way till towards the End of the Summer, when they
  began to bethink themselves of returning to Town; then it was, Mr.
  Spectator, that they began to set themselves about the proper and
  distinguishing Business of their Character; and, as 'tis said of evil
  Spirits, that they are apt to carry away a Piece of the House they are
  about to leave, the Apes, without Regard to common Mercy, Civility, or
  Gratitude, thought fit to mimick and fall foul on the Faces, Dress,
  and Behaviour of their innocent Neighbours, bestowing abominable
  Censures and disgraceful Appellations, commonly called Nicknames, on
  all of them; and in short, like true fine Ladies, made their honest
  Plainness and Sincerity Matter of Ridicule. I could not but acquaint
  you with these Grievances, as well at the Desire of all the Parties
  injur'd, as from my own Inclination. I hope, Sir, if you can't propose
  entirely to reform this Evil, you will take such Notice of it in some
  of your future Speculations, as may put the deserving Part of our Sex
  on their Guard against these Creatures; and at the same time the Apes
  may be sensible, that this sort of Mirth is so far from an innocent
  Diversion, that it is in the highest Degree that Vice which is said to
  comprehend all others3.  



I am, Sir, Your humble Servant,



  Constantia Field.















Footnote 1:
205
206
207
208
210



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Footnote 2:
209



return









Footnote 3:
Ingratum si dixeris, omnia dixeris.



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Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 245

	
 Tuesday, December 11, 1711

	
 Addison









Ficta Voluptatis causâ sint proxima Veris.



Hor.




Cordeliers
Francis
Shakespear
hackney'd in the Ways of Men




Timothy Doodle
Doodle












  Sir,



  I could heartily wish that you would let us know your Opinion upon
  several innocent Diversions which are in use among us, and which are
  very proper to pass away a Winter Night for those who do not care to
  throw away their Time at an Opera, or at the Play-house. I would
  gladly know in particular, what Notion you have of Hot-Cockles; as
  also whether you think that Questions and Commands, Mottoes, Similes,
  and Cross-Purposes have not more Mirth and Wit in them, than those
  publick Diversions which are grown so very fashionable among us. If
  you would recommend to our Wives and Daughters, who read your Papers
  with a great deal of Pleasure, some of those Sports and Pastimes that
  may be practised within Doors, and by the Fire-side, we who are
  Masters of Families should be hugely obliged to you. I need not tell
  you that I would have these Sports and Pastimes not only merry but
  innocent, for which Reason I have not mentioned either Whisk or
  Lanterloo, nor indeed so much as One and Thirty. After having
  communicated to you my Request upon this Subject, I will be so free as
  to tell you how my Wife and I pass away these tedious Winter Evenings
  with a great deal of Pleasure. Tho' she be young and handsome, and
  good-humoured to a Miracle, she does not care for gadding abroad like
  others of her Sex. There is a very friendly Man, a Colonel in the
  Army, whom I am mightily obliged to for his Civilities, that comes to
  see me almost every Night; for he is not one of those giddy young
  Fellows that cannot live out of a Play-house. When we are together, we
  very often make a Party at Blind-Man's Buff, which is a Sport that I
  like the better, because there is a good deal of Exercise in it. The
  Colonel and I are blinded by Turns, and you would laugh your Heart out
  to see what Pains my Dear takes to hoodwink us, so that it is
  impossible for us to see the least Glimpse of Light. The poor Colonel
  sometimes hits his Nose against a Post, and makes us die with
  laughing. I have generally the good Luck not to hurt myself, but am
  very often above half an Hour before I can catch either of them; for
  you must know we hide ourselves up and down in Corners, that we may
  have the more Sport. I only give you this Hint as a Sample of such
  Innocent Diversions as I would have you recommend; and am,

 Most
  esteemed Sir, your ever loving Friend, 

Timothy Doodle.







Thursday's









  Sir,



  Among the several Ways of Consolation which absent Lovers make use of
  while their Souls are in that State of Departure, which you say is
  Death in Love, there are some very material ones that have escaped
  your Notice. Among these, the first and most received is a crooked
  Shilling, which has administered great Comfort to our Forefathers, and
  is still made use of on this Occasion with very good Effect in most
  Parts of Her Majesty's Dominions. There are some, I know, who think a
  Crown-Piece cut into two equal Parts, and preserved by the distant
  Lovers, is of more sovereign Virtue than the former. But since
  Opinions are divided in this Particular, why may not the same Persons
  make use of both? The Figure of a Heart, whether cut in Stone or cast
  in Metal, whether bleeding upon an Altar, stuck with Darts, or held in
  the Hand of a Cupid, has always been looked upon as Talismanick in
  Distresses of this Nature. I am acquainted with many a brave Fellow,
  who carries his Mistress in the Lid of his Snuff-box, and by that
  Expedient has supported himself under the Absence of a whole Campaign.
  For my own Part, I have tried all these Remedies, but never found so
  much Benefit from any as from a Ring, in which my Mistress's Hair is
  platted together very artificially in a kind of True-Lover's Knot. As
  I have received great Benefit from this Secret, I think myself obliged
  to communicate it to the Publick, for the Good of my Fellow-Subjects.
  I desire you will add this Letter as an Appendix to your Consolations
  upon Absence, and am,
Your very humble Servant, 

T. B.








Tuesday's
Greeks
Trojans










  Sir,

  This will give you to understand, that there is at present in the
  Society, whereof I am a Member, a very considerable Body of Trojans,
  who, upon a proper Occasion, would not fail to declare ourselves. In
  the mean while we do all we can to annoy our Enemies by Stratagem, and
  are resolved by the first Opportunity to attack Mr. Joshua Barnes1, whom we look upon as the Achilles of the opposite Party. As for
  myself, I have had the Reputation ever since I came from School, of
  being a trusty Trojan, and am resolved never to give Quarter to the
  smallest Particle of Greek, where-ever I chance to meet it. It is
  for this Reason I take it very ill of you, that you sometimes hang out
  Greek Colours at the Head of your Paper, and sometimes give a Word
  of the Enemy even in the Body of it. When I meet with any thing of
  this nature, I throw down your Speculations upon the Table, with that
  Form of Words which we make use of when we declare War upon an Author.

Græcum est, non potest legi.2

  I give you this Hint, that you may for the future abstain from any
  such Hostilities at your Peril.



  Troilus.
















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
It is Greek. It cannot be read. 
Græcum est, nec potest legi



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Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 246

	
 Wednesday, December 12, 1711

	
 Steele









Greek: Ouch ara soi ge patàer aen ippóra Paeleùs Oudè Thétis máetaer, glaukàe dè d' étikte thálassa Pétrai t' aelíbatoi, hóti toi nóos estìn apaenàes.








  Mr. Spectator,



  As your Paper is Part of the Equipage of the Tea-Table, I conjure you
  to print what I now write to you; for I have no other Way to
  communicate what I have to say to the fair Sex on the most important
  Circumstance of Life, even the Care of Children. I do not understand
  that you profess your Paper is always to consist of Matters which are
  only to entertain the Learned and Polite, but that it may agree with
  your Design to publish some which may tend to the Information of
  Mankind in general; and when it does so, you do more than writing Wit
  and Humour. Give me leave then to tell you, that of all the Abuses
  that ever you have as yet endeavoured to reform, certainly not one
  wanted so much your Assistance as the Abuse in nursing1 Children.
  It is unmerciful to see, that a Woman endowed with all the Perfections
  and Blessings of Nature, can, as soon as she is delivered, turn off
  her innocent, tender, and helpless Infant, and give it up to a Woman
  that is (ten thousand to one) neither in Health nor good Condition,
  neither sound in Mind nor Body, that has neither Honour nor
  Reputation, neither Love nor Pity for the poor Babe, but more Regard
  for the Money than for the whole Child, and never will take further
  Care of it than what by all the Encouragement of Money and Presents
  she is forced to; like Æsop's Earth, which would not nurse the Plant
  of another Ground, altho' never so much improved, by reason that Plant
  was not of its own Production. And since another's Child is no more
  natural to a Nurse than a Plant to a strange and different Ground, how
  can it be supposed that the Child should thrive? and if it thrives,
  must it not imbibe the gross Humours and Qualities of the Nurse, like
  a Plant in a different Ground, or like a Graft upon a different Stock?
  Do not we observe, that a Lamb sucking a Goat changes very much its
  Nature, nay even its Skin and Wooll into the Goat Kind? The Power of a
  Nurse over a Child, by infusing into it, with her Milk, her Qualities
  and Disposition, is sufficiently and daily observed: Hence came that
  old Saying concerning an ill-natured and malicious Fellow, that he had
  imbibed his Malice with his Nurse's Milk, or that some Brute or other
  had been his Nurse. Hence Romulus and Remus were said to have been
  nursed by a Wolf, Telephus the Son of Hercules by a Hind, Pelias
  the Son of Neptune by a Mare, and Ægisthus by a Goat; not that
  they had actually suck'd such Creatures, as some Simpletons have
  imagin'd, but that their Nurses had been of such a Nature and Temper,
  and infused such into them.



  'Many Instances may be produced from good Authorities and daily
  Experience, that Children actually suck in the several Passions and
  depraved Inclinations of their Nurses, as Anger, Malice, Fear,
  Melancholy, Sadness, Desire, and Aversion. This Diodorus, lib. 2,
  witnesses, when he speaks, saying, That Nero the Emperor's Nurse had
  been very much addicted to Drinking; which Habit Nero received from
  his Nurse, and was so very particular in this, that the People took so
  much notice of it, as instead of Tiberius Nero, they call'd him
  Biberius Mero. The same Diodorus also relates of Caligula,
  Predecessor to Nero, that his Nurse used to moisten the Nipples of
  her Breast frequently with Blood, to make Caligula take the better
  Hold of them; which, says Diodorus, was the Cause that made him so
  blood-thirsty and cruel all his Life-time after, that he not only
  committed frequent Murder by his own Hand, but likewise wished that
  all human Kind wore but one Neck, that he might have the Pleasure to
  cut it off. Such like Degeneracies astonish the Parents, who not
  knowing after whom the Child can take, see2 one to incline to
  Stealing, another to Drinking, Cruelty, Stupidity; yet all these are
  not minded. Nay it is easy to demonstrate, that a Child, although it
  be born from the best of Parents, may be corrupted by an ill-tempered
  Nurse. How many Children do we see daily brought into Fits,
  Consumptions, Rickets, &c., merely by sucking their Nurses when in a
  Passion or Fury? But indeed almost any Disorder of the Nurse is a
  Disorder to the Child, and few Nurses can be found in this Town but
  what labour under some Distemper or other. The first Question that is
  generally asked a young Woman that wants to be a Nurse, Why3 she
  should be a Nurse to other People's Children; is answered, by her
  having an ill Husband, and that she must make Shift to live. I think
  now this very Answer is enough to give any Body a Shock if duly
  considered; for an ill Husband may, or ten to one if he does not,
  bring home to his Wife an ill Distemper, or at least Vexation and
  Disturbance. Besides as she takes the Child out of meer Necessity, her
  Food will be accordingly, or else very coarse at best; whence proceeds
  an ill-concocted and coarse Food for the Child; for as the Blood, so
  is the Milk; and hence I am very well assured proceeds the Scurvy, the
  Evil, and many other Distempers. I beg of you, for the Sake of the
  many poor Infants that may and will be saved, by weighing this Case
  seriously, to exhort the People with the utmost Vehemence to let the
  Children suck their own Mothers4, both for the Benefit of Mother
  and Child. For the general Argument, that a Mother is weakned by
  giving suck to her Children, is vain and simple; I will maintain that
  the Mother grows stronger by it, and will have her Health better than
  she would have otherwise: She will find it the greatest Cure and
  Preservative for the Vapours and future Miscarriages, much beyond any
  other Remedy whatsoever: Her Children will be like Giants, whereas
  otherwise they are but living Shadows and like unripe Fruit; and
  certainly if a Woman is strong enough to bring forth a Child, she is
  beyond all Doubt strong enough to nurse it afterwards. It grieves me
  to observe and consider how many poor Children are daily ruin'd by
  careless Nurses; and yet how tender ought they to be of a poor Infant,
  since the least Hurt or Blow, especially upon the Head, may make it
  senseless, stupid, or otherwise miserable for ever?



  'But I cannot well leave this Subject as yet; for it seems to me very
  unnatural, that a Woman that has fed a Child as Part of her self for
  nine Months, should have no Desire to nurse it farther, when brought
  to Light and before her Eyes, and when by its Cry it implores her
  Assistance and the Office of a Mother. Do not the very cruellest of
  Brutes tend their young ones with all the Care and Delight imaginable?
  For how can she be call'd a Mother that will not nurse her young ones?
  The Earth is called the Mother of all Things, not because she
  produces, but because she maintains and nurses what she produces. The
  Generation of the Infant is the Effect of Desire, but the Care of it
  argues Virtue and Choice. I am not ignorant but that there are some
  Cases of Necessity where a Mother cannot give Suck, and then out of
  two Evils the least must be chosen; but there are so very few, that I
  am sure in a Thousand there is hardly one real Instance; for if a
  Woman does but know that her Husband can spare about three or six
  Shillings a Week extraordinary, (altho' this is but seldom considered)
  she certainly, with the Assistance of her Gossips, will soon perswade
  the good Man to send the Child to Nurse, and easily impose upon him by
  pretending In-disposition. This Cruelty is supported by Fashion, and
  Nature gives Place to Custom. 

Sir, Your humble Servant. 















Footnote 1:
nursing of



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
seeing



return









Footnote 3:
 is, why



return









Footnote 4:
Mother



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 247

	
 Thursday, December 13, 1711

	
 Addison









Greek: —Tôn d' akámatos rhéei audàe Ek stomátôn haedeia—Hes.




Socrates
Aspasia








any
of the
1
 
British




Socrates








Gossips
Fiddle Faddle












and
Cartesians
Doctrine
2
order
or
3
Hudibras




Irishman's




The Wanton Wife of Bath
I think, quoth Thomas, Womens Tongues
  Of Aspen Leaves are made.
Ovid
—Comprensam forcipe linguam

Abstulit ense fero. Radix micat ultima linguæ,

Ipsa jacet, terræque tremens immurmurat atræ;

Utque salire solet mutilatæ cauda colubræ

Palpitat:—4`























Footnote 1:
 that belong to our
 



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Opinion



return









Footnote 3:
and



return









Footnote 4:
Met



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 248

	
 Friday, December 14, 1711

	
 Steele









Hoc maximè Officii est, ut quisque maximè opis indigeat, ita ei
  potissimùm opitulari.



Tull.




Men
a
1
Lapirius
Lapirius
Honoured Brother,



I enclose to you the Deeds whereby my Father gave me
this House and Land: Had he lived 'till now, he would not
have bestowed it in that Manner; he took it from the Man
you were, and I restore it to the Man you are. I am,



Sir,

Your affectionate Brother,
and humble Servant, 

P. T.
Merchant
Strepkon
Phillis
Sir,



'I Have heard of the Casualties which have involved you
in extreme Distress at this Time; and knowing you to be a
Man of great Good-Nature, Industry and Probity, have resolved
to stand by you. Be of good Chear, the Bearer brings with
him five thousand Pounds, and has my Order to answer your
drawing as much more on my Account. I did this in Haste,
for fear I should come too late for your Relief; but you may
value your self with me to the Sum of fifty thousand Pounds;
for I can very chearfully run the Hazard of being so much
less rich than I am now, to save an honest Man whom
I love.



Your Friend and Servant, 

W. S.2
Montaigne
Europe
Temple
incog









	For making a Man happy:
	£
	s.
	d.




	
	10
	0
	0






















Footnote 1:
an



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
W. P. 
152



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 249

	
 Saturday, December 15, 1711

	
 Addison









Greek: Gélôs akairos en brotois deinòn kakòn.








a




have
Forty-seventh Paper
1




Rome
I said of Laughter, it is mad; and of Mirth,
what does it?
Adam
























Don Quixote
Lucian's
Dispute
Dispensary;
2
Hudibras




Hudibras




Venus
Greek: Philomeídaes
Waller
Horace
Milton
in
3
His
set
4
the
Passage
But come thou Goddess fair and free,

In Heaven yeleped Euphrosyne,

And by Men, heart-easing Mirth,

Whom lovely Venus at a Birth,

With two Sister Graces more,

To Ivy-crowned Bacchus bore:

Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee

Jest and youthful jollity,

Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,

Nods, and Becks, and wreathed Smiles,

Such as hang on Hebe's Cheek,

And love to live in Dimple sleek:

Sport that wrinkled Care derides,

And Laughter holding both his Sides.

Come, and trip it, as you go,

On the light fantastick Toe:

And in thy right Hand lead with thee

The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty;

And if I give thee Honour due,

Mirth, admit me of thy Crew,

To live with her, and live with thee,

In unreproved Pleasures free.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
the Dispensary
The piercing Caustics ply their spiteful Pow'r; 

  Emetics ranch, and been Cathartics sour. 

  The deadly Drugs in double Doses fly; 

  And Pestles peal a martial Symphony.



return









Footnote 3:
L'Allegro



return









Footnote 4:
 set it



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 250

	
 Monday, December 17, 1711

	








Disce docendus adhuc, quæ censet amiculus, ut si

  Cæcus iter monstrare velit; tamen aspice si quid

  Et nos, quod cures proprium fecisse, loquamur.



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'You see the Nature of my Request by the Latin Motto which I address
  to you. I am very sensible I ought not to use many Words to you, who
  are one of but few; but the following Piece, as it relates to
  Speculation in Propriety of Speech, being a Curiosity in its Kind,
  begs your Patience. It was found in a Poetical Virtuoso's Closet among
  his Rarities; and since the several Treatises of Thumbs, Ears, and
  Noses, have obliged the World, this of Eyes is at your Service.



  'The first Eye of Consequence (under the invisible Author of all) is
  the visible Luminary of the Universe. This glorious Spectator is said
  never to open his Eyes at his Rising in a Morning, without having a
  whole Kingdom of Adorers in Persian Silk waiting at his Levée.
  Millions of Creatures derive their Sight from this Original, who,
  besides his being the great Director of Opticks, is the surest Test
  whether Eyes be of the same Species with that of an Eagle, or that of
  an Owl: The one he emboldens with a manly Assurance to look, speak,
  act or plead before the Faces of a numerous Assembly; the other he
  dazzles out of Countenance into a sheepish Dejectedness. The Sun-Proof
  Eye dares lead up a Dance in a full Court; and without blinking at the
  Lustre of Beauty, can distribute an Eye of proper Complaisance to a
  Room crowded with Company, each of which deserves particular Regard;
  while the other sneaks from Conversation, like a fearful Debtor, who
  never dares to look out, but when he can see no body, and no body
  him.



  The next Instance of Opticks is the famous Argus, who (to  speak in
  the Language of Cambridge) was one of an Hundred; and being used as
  a Spy in the Affairs of Jealousy, was obliged to have all his Eyes
  about him. We have no Account of the particular Colours, Casts and
  Turns of this Body of Eyes; but as he was Pimp for his Mistress
  Juno, 'tis probable he used all the modern Leers, sly Glances, and
  other ocular Activities to serve his Purpose. Some look upon him as
  the then King at Arms to the Heathenish Deities; and make no more of
  his Eyes than as so many Spangles of his Herald's Coat.



  The next upon the Optick List is old Janus, who stood in a
  double-sighted Capacity, like a Person placed betwixt two opposite
  Looking-Glasses, and so took a sort of retrospective Cast at one View.
  Copies of this double-faced Way are not yet out of Fashion with many
  Professions, and the ingenious Artists pretend to keep up this Species
  by double-headed Canes and Spoons1; but there is no Mark of this
  Faculty, except in the emblematical Way of a wise General having an
  Eye to both Front and Rear, or a pious Man taking a Review and
  Prospect of his past and future State at the same Time.



  I must own, that the Names, Colours, Qualities, and Turns of Eyes vary
  almost in every Head; for, not to mention the common Appellations of
  the Black, the Blue, the White, the Gray, and the like; the most
  remarkable are those that borrow their Titles from Animals, by
  Vertue of some particular Quality or Resemblance they bear to the Eyes
  of the respective Creatures; as that of a greedy rapacious Aspect
  takes its Name from the Cat, that of a sharp piercing Nature from the
  Hawk, those of an amorous roguish Look derive their Title even from
  the Sheep, and we say such an one has a Sheep's Eye, not so much to
  denote the Innocence as the simple Slyness of the Cast: Nor is this
  metaphorical Inoculation a modern Invention, for we find Homer
  taking the Freedom to place the Eye of an Ox, Bull, or Cow in one of
  his principal Goddesses, by that frequent Expression of


Greek: Boôpis pótnia haerae


Now as to the peculiar Qualities of the Eye, that fine Part of our
Constitution seems as much the Receptacle and Seat of our Passions,
Appetites and Inclinations as the Mind it self; and at least it is the
outward Portal to introduce them to the House within, or rather the
common Thorough-fare to let our Affections pass in and out. Love, Anger, Pride, and Avarice, all visibly
move in those little Orbs. I know a young Lady that can't see a certain
Gentleman pass by without shewing a secret Desire of seeing him again by
a Dance in her Eye-balls; nay, she can't for the Heart of her help
looking Half a Street's Length after any Man in a gay Dress. You can't
behold a covetous Spirit walk by a Goldsmith's Shop without casting a
wistful Eye at the Heaps upon the Counter. Does not a haughty Person
shew the Temper of his Soul in the supercilious Rowl of his Eye? and how
frequently in the Height of Passion does that moving Picture in our Head
start and stare, gather a Redness and quick Flashes of Lightning, and
make all its Humours sparkle with Fire, as Virgil finely describes it.


—Ardentis ab ore

Scintillæ absistunt: oculis micat acribus ignis.3


  As for the various Turns of the Eye-sight, such as the voluntary or
  involuntary, the half or the whole Leer, I shall not enter into a very
  particular Account of them; but let me observe, that oblique Vision,
  when natural, was anciently the Mark of Bewitchery and magical
  Fascination, and to this Day 'tis a malignant ill Look; but when 'tis
  forced and affected it carries a wanton Design, and in Play-houses,
  and other publick Places, this ocular Intimation is often an
  Assignation for bad Practices: But this Irregularity in Vision,
  together with such Enormities as Tipping the Wink, the Circumspective
  Rowl, the Side-peep through a thin Hood or Fan, must be put in the
  Class of Heteropticks, as all wrong Notions of Religion are ranked
  under the general Name of Heterodox. All the pernicious Applications
  of Sight are more immediately under the Direction of a Spectator; and
  I hope you will arm your Readers against the Mischiefs which are daily
  done by killing Eyes, in which you will highly oblige your wounded
  unknown Friend, 

T. B.








  Mr. Spectator,



  You professed in several Papers your particular Endeavours in the
  Province of Spectator, to correct the Offences committed by Starers,
  who disturb whole Assemblies without any Regard to Time, Place or
  Modesty. You complained also, that a Starer is not usually a Person to
  be convinced by Reason of the Thing, nor so easily rebuked, as to
  amend by Admonitions. I thought therefore fit to acquaint you with a
  convenient Mechanical Way, which may easily prevent or correct
  Staring, by an Optical Contrivance of new Perspective-Glasses, short
  and commodious like Opera Glasses, fit for short-sighted People as
  well as others, these Glasses making the Objects appear, either as
  they are seen by the naked Eye, or more distinct, though somewhat less
  than Life, or bigger and nearer. A Person may, by the Help of this
  Invention, take a View of another without the Impertinence of Staring;
  at the same Time it shall not be possible to know whom or what he is
  looking at. One may look towards his Right or Left Hand, when he is
  supposed to look forwards: This is set forth at large in the printed
  Proposals for the Sale of these Glasses, to be had at Mr. Dillon's
  in Long-Acre, next Door to the White-Hart. Now, Sir, as your
  Spectator has occasioned the Publishing of this Invention for the
  Benefit of modest Spectators, the Inventor desires your Admonitions
  concerning the decent Use of it; and hopes, by your Recommendation,
  that for the future Beauty may be beheld without the Torture and
  Confusion which it suffers from the Insolence of Starers. By this
  means you will relieve the Innocent from an Insult which there is no
  Law to punish, tho' it is a greater Offence than many which are within
  the Cognizance of Justice.



I am, Sir,



  Your most humble Servant,



  Abraham Spy.
















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 251

	
 Tuesday, December 18, 1711

	
 Addison









Lingua centum sunt, oraque centum.

Ferrea Vox.



Virgil.




Cries of London
Roger
Will.
Honeycomb
Ramage de la Ville










  Sir,



  "I am a Man of all Business, and would willingly turn my Head to any
  thing for an honest Livelihood. I have invented several Projects for
  raising many Millions of Money without burthening the Subject, but I
  cannot get the Parliament to listen to me, who look upon me, forsooth,
  as a Crack, and a Projector; so that despairing to enrich either my
  self or my Country by this Publick-spiritedness, I would make some
  Proposals to you relating to a Design which I have very much at Heart,
  and which may procure me a1 handsome Subsistence, if you will be
  pleased to recommend it to the Cities of Londonand Westminster.



  The Post I would aim at, is to be Comptroller-General of the London
  Cries, which are at present under no manner of Rules or Discipline. I
  think I am pretty well qualified for this Place, as being a Man of
  very strong Lungs, of great Insight into all the Branches of our
  BritishTrades and Manufactures, and of a competent Skill in Musick.



  The Cries of Londonmay be divided into Vocal and Instrumental. As
  for the latter they are at present under a very great Disorder. A
  Freeman of Londonhas the Privilege of disturbing a whole Street for
  an Hour together, with the Twanking of a Brass-Kettle or a Frying-Pan.
  The Watchman's Thump at Midnight startles us in our Beds, as much as
  the Breaking in of a Thief. The Sowgelder's Horn has indeed something
  musical in it, but this is seldom heard within the Liberties. I would
  therefore propose, that no Instrument of this Nature should be made
  use of, which I have not tuned and licensed, after having carefully
  examined in what manner it may affect the Ears of her Majesty's liege
  Subjects.



  Vocal Cries are of a much larger Extent, and indeed so full of
  Incongruities and Barbarisms, that we appear a distracted City to
  Foreigners, who do not comprehend the Meaning of such enormous
  Outcries. Milk is generally sold in a note above Ela, and in Sounds
  so exceeding2 shrill, that it often sets our Teeth on3 Edge.
  The Chimney-sweeper is confined4 to no certain
  Pitch; he sometimes utters himself in the deepest Base, and sometimes
  in the sharpest Treble; sometimes in the highest, and sometimes in the
  lowest Note of the Gamut. The same Observation might be made on the
  Retailers of Small-coal, not to mention broken Glasses or Brick-dust.
  In these therefore, and the like Cases, it should be my Care to
  sweeten and mellow the Voices of these itinerant Tradesmen, before
  they make their Appearance in our Streets; as also to accommodate
  their Cries to their respective Wares; and to take care in particular,
  that those may not make the most Noise who have the least to sell,
  which is very observable in the Venders of Card-matches, to whom I
  cannot but apply that old Proverb of Much Cry but little Wool.



  'Some of these last mentioned Musicians are so very loud in the Sale
  of these trifling Manufactures, that an honest Splenetick Gentleman of
  my Acquaintance bargained with one of them never to come into the
  Street where he lived: But what was the Effect of this Contract? Why,
  the whole Tribe of Card-match-makers which frequent that Quarter,
  passed by his Door the very next Day, in hopes of being bought off
  after the same manner.



  'It is another great Imperfection in our LondonCries, that there is
  no just Time nor Measure observed in them. Our News should indeed be
  published in a very quick Time, because it is a Commodity that will
  not keep cold. It should not, however, be cried with the same
  Precipitation as Fire: Yet this is generally the Case. A Bloody Battle
  alarms the Town from one End to another in an Instant. Every Motion of
  the Frenchis Published in so great a Hurry, that one would think
  the Enemy were at our Gates. This likewise I would take upon me to
  regulate in such a manner, that there should be some Distinction made
  between the spreading of a Victory, a March, or an Incampment, a
  Dutch, a Portugalor a SpanishMail. Nor must I omit under this
  Head, those excessive Alarms with which several boisterous Rusticks
  infest our Streets in Turnip Season; and which are more inexcusable,
  because these are Wares which are in no Danger of Cooling upon their
  Hands.



  'There are others who affect a very slow Time, and are, in my Opinion,
  much more tuneable than the former; the Cooper in particular swells
  his last Note in an hollow Voice, that is not without its Harmony; nor
  can I forbear being inspired with a most agreeable Melancholy, when I
  hear that sad and solemn Air with which the Public are very often
  asked, if they have any Chairs to mend? Your own Memory may suggest to
  you many other lamentable Ditties of the same Nature, in which the
  Musick is wonderfully languishing and melodious.



  'I am always pleased with that particular Time of the Year which is
  proper for the pickling of Dill and Cucumbers; but alas, this Cry,
  like the Song of the Nightingale5, is not heard above two Months.
  It would therefore be worth while to consider, whether the same Air
  might not in some Cases be adapted to other Words.



  'It might likewise deserve our most serious Consideration, how far, in
  a well-regulated City, those Humourists are to be tolerated, who, not
  contented with the traditional Cries of their Forefathers, have
  invented particular Songs and Tunes of their own: Such as was, not
  many Years since, the Pastryman, commonly known by the Name of the
  Colly-Molly-Puff; and such as is at this Day the Vender of Powder and
  Wash-balls, who, if I am rightly informed, goes under the Name of
  Powder-Watt.



  'I must not here omit one particular Absurdity which runs through this
  whole vociferous Generation, and which renders their Cries very often
  not only incommodious, but altogether useless to the Publick; I mean,
  that idle Accomplishment which they all of them aim at, of Crying so
  as not to be understood. Whether or no they have learned this from
  several of our affected Singers, I will not take upon me to say; but
  most certain it is, that People know the Wares they deal in rather by
  their Tunes than by their Words; insomuch that I have sometimes seen a
  Country Boy run out to buy Apples of a Bellows-mender, and Gingerbread
  from a Grinder of Knives and Scissars. Nay so strangely infatuated are
  some very eminent Artists of this particular Grace in a Cry, that none
  but then Acquaintance are able to guess at their Profession; for who
  else can know, that Work if I had it, should be the Signification of
  a Corn-Cutter?



  'Forasmuch therefore as Persons of this Rank are seldom Men of Genius
  or Capacity, I think it would be very proper, that some Man of good
  Sense and sound Judgment should preside over these Publick Cries, who
  should permit none to lift up their Voices in our Streets, that have
  not tuneable Throats, and are not only able to overcome the Noise of
  the Croud, and the Rattling of Coaches, but also to vend their
  respective Merchandizes in apt Phrases, and in the most distinct and
  agreeable Sounds. I do therefore humbly recommend my self as a Person
  rightly qualified for this Post; and if I meet with fitting
  Encouragement, shall communicate some other Projects which I have by
  me, that may no less conduce to the Emolument of the Public.'



  I am



  Sir, &c.,



  Ralph Crotchet.













Footnote 1:
an



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
exceedingly



return









Footnote 3:
an



return









Footnote 4:
contained



return









Footnote 5:
Nightingales



return






Contents

Contents, p.2






Dedication of the Fourth Volume of The Spectator




To The Duke of Marlborough1.






My








Marlborough








France






You
2
Mindleheim








He
His




Lord



Your Grace's

Most Obedient,

Most Devoted

Humble Servant



The
 
Spectator















Footnote 1:




Spectator



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Julius Cæsar



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 252

	
 Wednesday, December 19, 1711

	
 Steele









Erranti, passimque oculos per cuncta ferenti.



Virgil1








  Mr. Spectator,



  'I am very sorry to find by your Discourse upon the Eye, 1 that you
  have not thoroughly studied the Nature and Force of that Part of a
  beauteous Face. Had you ever been in Love, you would have said ten
  thousand things, which it seems did not occur to you: Do but reflect
  upon the Nonsense it makes Men talk, the Flames which it is said to
  kindle, the Transport it raises, the Dejection it causes in the
  bravest Men; and if you do believe those things are expressed 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
  Strength of the Mind is sometimes seated there; that a kind Look
  imparts all, that a Year's Discourse could give you, in one Moment.
  What matters it what she says to you, see how she looks, is the
  Language of all who know what Love is. When the Mind is thus summed up
  and expressed in a Glance, did you never observe a sudden Joy arise in
  the Countenance of a Lover? Did you never see the Attendance of Years
  paid, over-paid in an Instant? 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 falsify the Heart, and act a Part of
  continual Constraint, while Nature has preserved the Eyes to her self,
  that she may not be disguised or misrepresented. The poor Bride can
  give her Hand, and say, I do, with a languishing Air, to the Man she
  is obliged by cruel Parents to take for mercenary Reasons, but at the
  same Time she cannot look as if she loved; her Eye is full of Sorrow,
  and Reluctance sits 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 distinguish between the Eyes of those who go to see,
  from those who come to be seen? I am a Woman turned of Thirty, and am
  on the Observation a little; therefore if you or your Correspondent
  had consulted me in your Discourse on the Eye, I could have told you
  that the Eye of Leonora is slyly watchful while it looks negligent:
  she looks round her without the Help of the Glasses you speak of, and
  yet seems to be employed on Objects directly before her. This Eye is
  what affects Chance-medley, and on a sudden, as if it attended to
  another thing, turns all its Charms against an Ogler. The Eye of
  Lusitania is an Instrument of premeditated Murder; but the Design
  being visible, destroys the Execution of it; and with much more Beauty
  than that of Leonora, it is not half so mischievous. 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 Assent, an
  enraged Eye makes Beauty deformed. This little Member gives Life to
  every other Part about us, and I believe the Story of Argus implies
  no more than that the Eye is in every Part, that is to say, every
  other Part would be mutilated, were not its Force represented more by
  the Eye than even by it self. But this is Heathen Greek to those who
  have not conversed by Glances. This, Sir, is a Language in which there
  can be no Deceit, nor can a Skilful Observer be imposed upon by Looks
  even among Politicians and Courtiers. If you do me the Honour to print
  this among your Speculations, I shall in my next make you a Present of
  Secret History, by Translating all the Looks of the next Assembly of
  Ladies and Gentlemen into Words, to adorn some future Paper. 

I am,
  Sir, 

Your faithful Friend, 

Mary Heartfree.








Dear Mr. Spectator, 

  I have a Sot of a Husband that lives a very scandalous Life, and
  wastes away his Body and Fortune in Debaucheries; and is immoveable to
  all the Arguments I can urge to him. I would gladly know whether in
  some Cases a Cudgel may not be allowed as a good Figure of Speech, and
  whether it may not be lawfully used by a Female Orator. 

  Your humble Servant, 

  Barbara Crabtree.








Mr. Spectator2,



  Though I am a Practitioner in the Law of some standing, and have heard
  many eminent Pleaders in my Time, as well as other eloquent Speakers
  of both Universities, yet I agree with you, that Women are better
  qualified to succeed in Oratory than the Men, and believe this is to
  be resolved into natural Causes. You have mentioned only the
  Volubility of their Tongue; but what do you think of the silent
  Flattery of their pretty Faces, and the Perswasion which even an
  insipid Discourse carries with it when flowing from beautiful Lips, to
  which it would be cruel to deny any thing? It is certain too, that
  they are possessed of some Springs of Rhetorick which Men want, such
  as Tears, fainting Fits, and the like, which I have seen employed upon
  Occasion with good Success. You must know I am a plain Man and love my
  Money; yet I have a Spouse who is so great an Orator in this Way, that
  she draws from me what Sum she pleases. Every Room in my House is
  furnished with Trophies of her Eloquence, rich Cabinets, Piles of
  China, Japan Screens, and costly Jars; and if you were to come into my
  great Parlour, you would fancy your self in an India Ware-house:
  Besides this she keeps a Squirrel, and I am doubly taxed to pay for
  the China he breaks. She is seized with periodical Fits about the Time
  of the Subscriptions to a new Opera, and is drowned in Tears after
  having seen any Woman there in finer Cloaths than herself: These are
  Arts of Perswasion purely Feminine, and which a tender Heart cannot
  resist. What I would therefore desire of you, is, to prevail with your
  Friend who has promised to dissect a Female Tongue, that he would at
  the same time give us the Anatomy of a Female Eye, and explain the
  Springs and Sluices which feed it with such ready Supplies of
  Moisture; and likewise shew by what means, if possible, they may be
  stopped at a reasonable Expence: Or, indeed, since there is something
  so moving in the very Image of weeping Beauty, it would be worthy his
  Art to provide, that these eloquent Drops may no more be lavished on
  Trifles, or employed as Servants to their wayward Wills; but reserved
  for serious Occasions in Life, to adorn generous Pity, true Penitence,
  or real Sorrow. 

I am, &c.















Footnote 1:
quis Temeros oculus mihi fascinat Agnos



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 253

	
 Thursday, December 20, 1711

	
 Addison









Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia crasse

Compositum, illepideve putetur, sed quia nuper.



Hor.












greatest
sole Wonder
1
Augustus
Virgil
Horace
Virgil
Gallus, Propertius, Horace, Varius, Tucca
Ovid
Bavius
Maevius




John Denham
Fletcher's
But whither am I strayed? I need not raise

Trophies to thee from other Mens Dispraise:

Nor is thy Fame on lesser Ruins built,

Nor needs thy juster Title the foul Guilt

Of Eastern Kings, who, to secure their Reign,

Must have their Brothers, Sons, and Kindred slain.
sorry
The Art of Criticism
2
Horace's Art of Poetry
Boileau
t
Horace's Art of Poetry
Aristotle
Augustan




Latin
Horace, Petronius,
Quintilian
Longinus




Longinus
English
These Equal Syllables alone require,

Tho' oft the Ear the open Vowels tire,

While Expletives their feeble Aid do join,

And ten low Words oft creep in one dull Line.
do
A needless Alexandrine ends the Song,

That like a wounded Snake, drags its slow Length along.
'Tis not enough no Harshness gives Offence,

The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.

Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,

And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;

But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,

The hoarse rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar.

When Ajax strives some Rock's vast Weight to throw,

The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;

Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,

Flies o'er th' unbending Corn, and skims along the Main.
beautiful
Ajax
Homer's
3
Sisyphus
Spondees
Dactyls
Greek: Kaì màen Sisyphon eiseidon, kratér' alge' échonta,   Laan Bastázonta pelôrion amphotéraesin.   Aetoi ho mèn skaeriptómenos chersín te posín te,   Laan anô ôtheske potì lóphon, all' hote mélloi   Akron hyperbaléein, tot' apostrépsaske krataiis,   Autis épeita pédonde kylíndeto laas anaidáes.
Virgil




cannot
4
5















Footnote 1:
single Product



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 'Though it be the highest satisfaction to find myself commended by a
  Writer whom all the world commends, yet I am not more obliged to you
  for that than for your candour and frankness in acquainting me with
  the error I have been guilty of in speaking too freely of my brother
  moderns.'
The
Narrative of Dr. Robert Norris
upon the Frenzy J. D
Blest with each talent and each art to please,
  And born to live, converse, and write with ease,
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,

  Just hint the fault and hesitate dislike,

  Who when two wits on rival themes contest,

  Approves of both, but likes the worse the best:

  Like Cato, give his little Senate laws,

  And sits attentive to his own applause;

  While wits and templars every sentence raise:

  And wonder with a foolish face of praise:

  Who would not laugh if such a man there be?

  Who would not weep if Addison were he?
Spectator
Essay on Criticism



return









Footnote 3:
Odyssey



return









Footnote 4:
in all Charles's days

  Roscommon only boasts unspotted lays,
Immodest words admit of no Defence:

  For Want of Decency is Want of Sense.


return









Footnote 5:
Spectator
Rehearsal
Spectator
Essay on Poetry
A faultless monster which the world ne'er saw.
Read Homer once, and you can read no more;

  For all books else appear so mean, so poor,

  Verse will seem Prose; but still persist to read,

  And Homer will be all the Books you need.
Who durst assert the juster ancient Cause

  And have restored Wit's Fundamental Laws.

  Such was the Muse, whose Rules and Practice tell,

  Nature's chief Masterpiece is writing well.
Essay on
Poetry



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 254

	
 Friday, December 21, 1711

	
 Steele









Greek: Semnòs érôs aretaes, ho dè kyprídos áchos ophéllei.














My dear Harriot,



  If thou art she, but oh how fallen, how changed, what an Apostate! how
  lost to all that's gay and agreeable! To be married I find is to be
  buried alive; I can't conceive it more dismal to be shut up in a Vault
  to converse with the Shades of my Ancestors, than to be carried down
  to an old Manor-House in the Country, and confined to the Conversation
  of a sober Husband and an awkward Chamber-maid. For Variety I suppose
  you may entertain yourself with Madam in her Grogram Gown, the Spouse
  of your Parish Vicar, who has by this time I am sure well furnished
  you with Receipts for making Salves and Possets, distilling Cordial
  Waters, making Syrups, and applying Poultices.



  Blest Solitude! I wish thee Joy, my Dear, of thy loved Retirement,
  which indeed you would perswade me is very agreeable, and different
  enough from what I have here described: But, Child, I am afraid thy
  Brains are a little disordered with Romances and Novels: After six
  Months Marriage to hear thee talk of Love, and paint the Country
  Scenes so softly, is a little extravagant; one would think you lived
  the Lives of Sylvan Deities, or roved among the Walks of Paradise,
  like the first happy Pair. But pr'ythee leave these Whimsies, and come
  to Town in order to live and talk like other Mortals. However, as I am
  extremely interested in your Reputation, I would willingly give you a
  little good Advice at your first Appearance under the Character of a
  married Woman: 'Tis a little Insolence in me perhaps, to advise a
  Matron; but I am so afraid you'll make so silly a Figure as a fond
  Wife, that I cannot help warning you not to appear in any publick
  Places with your Husband, and never to saunter about St. James's
  Park together: If you presume to enter the Ring at Hide-Park
  together, you are ruined for ever; nor must you take the least notice
  of one another at the Play-house or Opera, unless you would be laughed
  at for a very loving Couple most happily paired in the Yoke of
  Wedlock. I would recommend the Example of an Acquaintance of ours to
  your Imitation; she is the most negligent and fashionable Wife in the
  World; she is hardly ever seen in the same Place with her Husband, and
  if they happen to meet, you would think them perfect Strangers: She
  never was heard to name him in his Absence, and takes care he shall
  never be the Subject of any Discourse that she has a Share in. I hope
  you'll propose this Lady as a Pattern, tho' I am very much afraid
  you'll be so silly to think Portia, &c. Sabine and Roman Wives
  much brighter Examples. I wish it may never come into your Head to
  imitate those antiquated Creatures so far, as to come into Publick in
  the Habit as well as Air of a Roman Matron. You make already the
  Entertainment at Mrs. Modish's Tea-Table; she says, she always
  thought you a discreet Person, and qualified to manage a Family with
  admirable Prudence: she dies to see what demure and serious Airs
  Wedlock has given you, but she says she shall never forgive your
  Choice of so gallant a Man as Bellamour to transform him to a meer
  sober Husband; 'twas unpardonable: You see, my Dear, we all envy your
  Happiness, and no Person more than 

Your humble Servant, 

Lydia.









  Be not in pain, good Madam, for my Appearance in Town; I shall
  frequent no publick Places, or make any Visits where the Character of
  a modest Wife is ridiculous. As for your wild Raillery on Matrimony,
  'tis all Hypocrisy; you, and all the handsome young Women of our
  Acquaintance, shew yourselves to no other Purpose than to gain a
  Conquest over some Man of Worth, in order to bestow your Charms and
  Fortune on him. There's no Indecency in the Confession, the Design is
  modest and honourable, and all your Affectation can't disguise it.



  I am married, and have no other Concern but to please the Man I Love;
  he's the End of every Care I have; if I dress, 'tis for him; if I read
  a Poem or a Play, 'tis to qualify myself for a Conversation agreeable
  to his Taste: He's almost the End of my Devotions; half my Prayers are
  for his Happiness. I love to talk of him, and never hear him named but
  with Pleasure and Emotion. I am your Friend, and wish your Happiness,
  but am sorry to see by the Air of your Letter that there are a Set of
  Women who are got into the Common-Place Raillery of every Thing that
  is sober, decent, and proper: Matrimony and the Clergy are the Topicks
  of People of little Wit and no Understanding. I own to you, I have
  learned of the Vicar's Wife all you tax me with: She is a discreet,
  ingenious, pleasant, pious Woman; I wish she had the handling of you
  and Mrs. Modish; you would find, if you were too free with her, she
  would soon make you as charming as ever you were, she would make you
  blush as much as if you had never been fine Ladies. The Vicar, Madam,
  is so kind as to visit my Husband, and his agreeable Conversation has
  brought him to enjoy many sober happy Hours when even I am shut out,
  and my dear Master is entertained only with his own Thoughts. These
  Things, dear Madam, will be lasting Satisfactions, when the fine
  Ladies, and the Coxcombs by whom they form themselves, are irreparably
  ridiculous, ridiculous in old Age. 

I am, Madam, your most humble
  Servant, 

Mary Home.








Dear Mr. Spectator, 



  You have no Goodness in the World, and are not in earnest in any thing
  you say that is serious, if you do not send me a plain Answer to this:
  I happened some Days past to be at the Play, where during the Time of
  Performance, I could not keep my Eyes off from a beautiful young
  Creature who sat just before me, and who I have been since informed
  has no Fortune. It would utterly ruin my Reputation for Discretion to
  marry such a one, and by what I can learn she has a Character of great
  Modesty, so that there is nothing to be thought on any other Way. My
  Mind has ever since been so wholly bent on her, that I am much in
  danger of doing something very extravagant without your speedy Advice
  to,



  Sir, Your most humble Servant.






  Dear Correspondent, Would you marry to please other People, or your
  self?







Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 255

	
 Saturday, December 22, 1711

	
 Addison









Laudis amore tumes? sunt certa piacula, quæ te

Ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.



Hor.








And
great
1
that
 a Man's Sense of his own
2
him
3
he has
4
his
5
his Soul
6
him
7
himself
8












is
 
Salust's
Cato
9














Besides
and
10




Fame
or
11























Footnote 1:
 all great



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 the Sense of their own



return









Footnote 3:
them



return









Footnote 4:
 they have



return









Footnote 5:
their



return









Footnote 6:
their Souls



return









Footnote 7:
them



return









Footnote 8:
themselves



return









Footnote 9:
Bell. Catil



return









Footnote 10:
and an



return









Footnote 11:
and



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 256

	
 Monday, December 24, 1711

	
 Addison









Greek: Pháelae gár te kakàe péletai koúphae mèn aeirai Reia mál,   argalén de phérein.












because
Part
1








even
Person
2
his








There
Cæsar's
Cicero
3
That he was satisfied with his Share of
Life and Fame, Se satis vel ad Naturam, vel ad Gloriam vixisse












We
4



















Footnote 1:
Parts



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Name



return









Footnote 3:
Oratio pro M. Marcello



return









Footnote 4:
I shall conclude this Subject in my next Paper.



return






Contents

Contents, p.2








	
 No. 257

	
 Tuesday, December 25, 17111

	
 Addison









Greek: Ouch' ehudei Diòs           Ophthalmós eggùs d' ésti kaì parôn pónô.—Incert. ex Stob.














First






Secondly






Thirdly












therefore
He












Well done, thou good and
faithful Servant, enter thou into thy Master's Joy



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 258

	
 Wednesday, December 26, 1711

	
 Steele









Divide et Impera.














Mr. Spectator,



  'I am considerably obliged to you for your speedy Publication of my
  last in yours of the 18th Instant, and am in no small Hopes of being
  settled in the Post of Comptroller of the Cries. Of all the
  Objections I have hearkened after in publick Coffee-houses there is
  but one that seems to carry any Weight with it, viz. That such a
  Post would come too near the Nature of a Monopoly. Now, Sir, because I
  would have all Sorts of People made easy, and being willing to have
  more Strings than one to my Bow; in case that of Comptroller should
  fail me, I have since formed another Project, which, being grounded on
  the dividing a present Monopoly, I hope will give the Publick an
  Equivalent to their full Content. You know, Sir, it is allowed that
  the Business of the Stage is, as the Latin has it, Jucunda et
  Idonea dicere Vitæ. Now there being but one Dramatick Theatre
  licensed for the Delight and Profit of this extensive Metropolis, I do
  humbly propose, for the Convenience of such of its Inhabitants as are
  too distant from Covent-Garden, that another Theatre of Ease may
  be erected in some spacious Part of the City; and that the Direction
  thereof may be made a Franchise in Fee to me, and my Heirs for ever.
  And that the Town may have no Jealousy of my ever coming to an Union
  with the Set of Actors now in being, I do further propose to
  constitute for my Deputy my near Kinsman and Adventurer, Kit
  Crotchet1, whose long Experience and Improvements in those Affairs
  need no Recommendation. 'Twas obvious to every Spectator what a quite
  different Foot the Stage was upon during his Government; and had he
  not been bolted out of his Trap-Doors, his Garrison might have held
  out for ever, he having by long Pains and Perseverance arriv'd at the
  Art of making his Army fight without Pay or Provisions. I must confess
  it, with a melancholy Amazement, I see so wonderful a Genius laid
  aside, and the late Slaves of the Stage now become its Masters, Dunces
  that will be sure to suppress all Theatrical Entertainments and
  Activities that they are not able themselves to shine in!



  Every Man that goes to a Play is not obliged to have either Wit or
  Understanding; and I insist upon it, that all who go there should see
  something which may improve them in a Way of which they are capable.
  In short, Sir, I would have something done as well as said on the
  Stage. A Man may have an active Body, though he has not a quick
  Conception; for the Imitation therefore of such as are, as I may so
  speak, corporeal Wits or nimble Fellows, I would fain ask any of the
  present Mismanagers, Why should not Rope-dancers, Vaulters, Tumblers,
  Ladder-walkers, and Posture-makers appear again on our Stage? After
  such a Representation, a Five-bar Gate would be leaped with a better
  Grace next Time any of the Audience went a Hunting. Sir, these Things
  cry loud for Reformation and fall properly under the Province of
  Spectator General; but how indeed should it be otherwise, while
  Fellows (that for Twenty Years together were never paid but as their
  Master was in the Humour) now presume to pay others more than ever
  they had in their Lives; and in Contempt of the Practice of Persons of
  Condition, have the Insolence to owe no Tradesman a Farthing at the
  End of the Week. Sir, all I propose is the publick Good; for no one
  can imagine I shall ever get a private Shilling by it: Therefore I
  hope you will recommend this Matter in one of your this Week's Papers,
  and desire when my House opens you will accept the Liberty of it for
  the Trouble you have receiv'd from, 

Sir, 

Your Humble Servant,

  Ralph Crotchet.



  P. S. I have Assurances that the Trunk-maker will declare for us. 








  Mr. Spectator,



  "We whose Names are subscribed2, think you the properest Person to
  signify what we have to offer the Town in Behalf of our selves, and
  the Art which we profess, Musick. We conceive Hopes of your Favour
  from the Speculations on the Mistakes which the Town run into with
  Regard to their Pleasure of this Kind; and believing your Method of
  judging is, that you consider Musick only valuable, as it is agreeable
  to, and heightens the Purpose of Poetry, we consent that That is not
  only the true Way of relishing that Pleasure, but also, that without
  it a Composure of Musick is the same thing as a Poem, where all the
  Rules of Poetical Numbers are observed, tho' the Words have no Sense
  or Meaning; to say it shorter, meer musical Sounds are in our Art no
  other than nonsense Verses are in Poetry. Musick therefore is to
  aggravate what is intended by Poetry; it must always have some Passion
  or Sentiment to express, or else Violins, Voices, or any other Organs
  of Sound, afford an Entertainment very little above the Rattles of
  Children. It was from this Opinion of the Matter, that when Mr.
  Clayton had finished his Studies in Italy, and brought over the
  Opera of Arsinoe, that Mr. Haym and Mr. Dieupart, who had the
  Honour to be well known and received among the Nobility and Gentry,
  were zealously inclined to assist, by their Solicitations, in
  introducing so elegant an Entertainment as the Italian Musick
  grafted upon English Poetry. For this End Mr. Dieupart and Mr.
  Haym, according to their several Opportunities, promoted the
  Introduction of Arsinoe, and did it to the best Advantage so great a
  Novelty would allow. It is not proper to trouble you with Particulars
  of the just Complaints we all of us have to make; but so it is, that
  without Regard to our obliging Pains, we are all equally set aside in
  the present Opera. Our Application therefore to you is only to insert
  this Letter, in your Papers, that the Town may know we have all Three
  joined together to make Entertainments of Musick for the future at Mr.
  Clayton's House in York-buildings. What we promise ourselves, is,
  to make a Subscription of two Guineas, for eight Times; and that the
  Entertainment, with the Names of the Authors of the Poetry, may be
  printed, to be sold in the House, with an Account of the several
  Authors of the Vocal as well as the Instrumental Musick for each
  Night; the Money to be paid at the Receipt of the Tickets, at Mr.
  Charles Lillie's. It will, we hope, Sir, be easily allowed, that we
  are capable of undertaking to exhibit by our joint Force and different
  Qualifications all that can be done in Musick; but lest you should
  think so dry a thing as an Account of our Proposal should be a Matter
  unworthy your Paper, which generally contains something of publick
  Use; give us leave to say, that favouring our Design is no less than
  reviving an Art, which runs to ruin by the utmost Barbarism under an
  Affectation of Knowledge. We aim at establishing some settled Notion
  of what is Musick, as recovering from Neglect and Want very many
  Families who depend upon it, at making all Foreigners who pretend to
  succeed in England to learn the Language of it as we our selves have
  done, and not be so insolent as to expect a whole Nation, a refined
  and learned Nation, should submit to learn them. In a word, Mr.
  Spectator, with all Deference and Humility, we hope to behave
  ourselves in this Undertaking in such a Manner, that all English Men
  who have any Skill in Musick may be furthered in it for their Profit
  or Diversion by what new Things we shall produce; never pretending to
  surpass others, or asserting that any Thing which is a Science is not
  attainable by all Men of all Nations who have proper Genius for it: We
  say, Sir, what we hope for is not expected will arrive to us by
  contemning others, but through the utmost Diligence recommending
  ourselves.

We are, Sir,

Your most humble Servants,

Thomas Clayton,

Nicolino Haym,

Charles Dieupart.












Footnote 1:
Tatler
'has a perfect art in being unintelligible in discourse and
  uncomeatable in business. But he, having no understanding in his
  polite way, brought in upon us, to get in his money, ladder-dancers,
  rope-dancers, jugglers, and mountebanks, to strut in the place of
  Shakespeare's heroes and Jonson's humorists.'


return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Alexander's Feast
Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus
Camilla
Rosamond
Rinaldo
History
of Music




Arsinoe



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 259

	
 Thursday, December 27, 1711

	
 Steele









Quod decet honestum est, et quod honestum est decet.



Tull.




English




of
who
England
Anabaptist
eldest
1















Footnote 1:
elder



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 260

	
 Friday, December 28, 1711

	
 Steele









Singula de nobis anni prædantur euntes.



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am now in the Sixty fifth Year of my Age, and having been the
  greater Part of my Days a Man of Pleasure, the Decay of my Faculties
  is a Stagnation of my Life. But how is it, Sir, that my Appetites are
  increased upon me with the Loss of Power to gratify them? I write
  this, like a Criminal, to warn People to enter upon what Reformation
  they may please to make in themselves in their Youth, and not expect
  they shall be capable of it from a fond Opinion some have often in
  their Mouths, that if we do not leave our Desires they will leave us.
  It is far otherwise; I am now as vain in my Dress, and as flippant if
  I see a pretty Woman, as when in my Youth I stood upon a Bench in the
  Pit to survey the whole Circle of Beauties. The Folly is so
  extravagant with me, and I went on with so little Check of my Desires,
  or Resignation of them, that I can assure you, I very often meerly to
  entertain my own Thoughts, sit with my Spectacles on, writing
  Love-Letters to the Beauties that have been long since in their
  Graves. This is to warm my Heart with the faint Memory of Delights
  which were once agreeable to me; but how much happier would my Life
  have been now, if I could have looked back on any worthy Action done
  for my Country? If I had laid out that which I profused in Luxury and
  Wantonness, in Acts of Generosity or Charity? I have lived a Batchelor
  to this Day; and instead of a numerous Offspring, with which, in the
  regular Ways of Life, I might possibly have delighted my self, I have
  only to amuse my self with the Repetition of Old Stories and Intrigues
  which no one will believe I ever was concerned in. I do not know
  whether you have ever treated of it or not; but you cannot fall on a
  better Subject, than that of the Art of growing old. In such a Lecture
  you must propose, that no one set his Heart upon what is transient;
  the Beauty grows wrinkled while we are yet gazing at her. The witty
  Man sinks into a Humourist imperceptibly, for want of reflecting that
  all Things around him are in a Flux, and continually changing: Thus he
  is in the Space of ten or fifteen Years surrounded by a new Set of
  People whose Manners are as natural to them as his Delights, Method of
  Thinking, and Mode of Living, were formerly to him and his Friends.
  But the Mischief is, he looks upon the same kind of Errors which he
  himself was guilty of with an Eye of Scorn, and with that sort of
  Ill-will which Men entertain against each other for different
  Opinions: Thus a crasie Constitution, and an uneasie Mind is fretted
  with vexatious Passions for young Mens doing foolishly what it is
  Folly to do at all. Dear Sir, this is my present State of Mind; I hate
  those I should laugh at, and envy those I contemn. The Time of Youth
  and vigorous Manhood passed the Way in which I have disposed of it, is
  attended with these Consequences; but to those who live and pass away
  Life as they ought, all Parts of it are equally pleasant; only the
  Memory of good and worthy Actions is a Feast which must give a quicker
  Relish to the Soul than ever it could possibly taste in the highest
  Enjoyments or Jollities of Youth. As for me, if I sit down in my great
  Chair and begin to ponder, the Vagaries of a Child are not more
  ridiculous than the Circumstances which are heaped up in my Memory.
  Fine Gowns, Country Dances, Ends of Tunes, interrupted Conversations,
  and midnight Quarrels, are what must necessarily compose my Soliloquy.
  I beg of you to print this, that some Ladies of my Acquaintance, and
  my Years, may be perswaded to wear warm Night-caps this cold Season:
  and that my old Friend Jack Tawdery may buy him a Cane, and not
  creep with the Air of a Strut. I must add to all this, that if it were
  not for one Pleasure, which I thought a very mean one 'till of very
  late Years, I should have no one great Satisfaction left; but if I
  live to the 10th of March, 1714, and all my Securities are good, I
  shall be worth Fifty thousand Pound.



  I am, Sir, 

Your most humble Servant, 

Jack Afterday.








Mr. Spectator,



  You will infinitely oblige a distressed Lover, if you will insert in
  your very next Paper, the following Letter to my Mistress. You must
  know, I am not a Person apt to despair, but she has got an odd Humour
  of stopping short unaccountably, and, as she her self told a Confident
  of hers, she has cold Fits. These Fits shall last her a Month or six
  Weeks together; and as she falls into them without Provocation, so it
  is to be hoped she will return from them without the Merit of new
  Services. But Life and Love will not admit of such Intervals,
  therefore pray let her be admonished as follows.


    Madam,



    I Love you, and I honour you: therefore pray do not tell me of
    waiting till Decencies, till Forms, till Humours are consulted and
    gratified. If you have that happy Constitution as to be indolent for
    ten Weeks together, you should consider that all that while I burn
    in Impatiences and Fevers; but still you say it will be Time enough,
    tho' I and you too grow older while we are yet talking. Which do you
    think the more reasonable, that you should alter a State of
    Indifference for Happiness, and that to oblige me, or I live in
    Torment, and that to lay no Manner of Obligation upon you? While I
    indulge your Insensibility I am doing nothing; if you favour my
    Passion, you are bestowing bright Desires, gay Hopes, generous
    Cares, noble Resolutions and transporting Raptures upon, Madam,



    Your most devoted humble Servant.








  Mr. Spectator,



  Here's a Gentlewoman lodges in the same House with me, that I never
  did any Injury to in my whole Life; and she is always railing at me to
  those that she knows will tell me of it. Don't you think she is in
  Love with me? or would you have me break my Mind yet or not? 

Your
  Servant, 

T. B.








Mr. Spectator,



  I am a Footman in a great Family, and am in Love with the House-maid.
  We were all at Hot-cockles last Night in the Hall these Holidays; when
  I lay down and was blinded, she pulled off her Shoe, and hit me with
  the Heel such a Rap, as almost broke my Head to Pieces. Pray, Sir, was
  this Love or Spite? 

  






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 261

	
 Saturday, December 29, 1711

	
 Addison









Greek: Gámos gàr anphrôpoisin euktaion kakón—Frag. Vet. Poet.




























you
would
1




s








Nothing
which
2















Footnote 1:
will



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
that



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 262

	
 Monday, December 31, 1711

	
 Steele









Nulla venenato Littera mista Joco est.



Ovid.




Seasonings












But
not
1
No
Aptness
2








would
3
This
4




For
Reason
5








English
Milton
Paradise Lost
Saturday
Horace
—Si quid novisti rectius istis,

  Candidus imperti; si non, his utere mecum,



  'If you have made any better Remarks of your own, communicate them
  with Candour; if not, make use of these I present you with.'
















Footnote 1:
not to



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 Aptness in them



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:
Reasons



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 263

	
 Tuesday, January 1, 1712

	
 Steele









Gratulor quod eum quem necesse erat diligere, qualiscunque esset, talem
habemus ut libenter quoque diligamus.



Trebonius apud Tull.








  Mr, Spectator,



  I am the happy Father of a very towardly Son, in whom I do not only
  see my Life, but also my Manner of Life, renewed. It would be
  extremely beneficial to Society, if you would frequently resume
  Subjects which serve to bind these sort of Relations faster, and
  endear the Ties of Blood with those of Good-will, Protection,
  Observance, Indulgence, and Veneration. I would, methinks, have this
  done after an uncommon Method, and do not think any one, who is not
  capable of writing a good Play, fit to undertake a Work wherein there
  will necessarily occur so many secret Instincts, and Biasses of human
  Nature which would pass unobserved by common Eyes. I thank Heaven I
  have no outrageous Offence against my own excellent Parents to answer
  for; but when I am now and then alone, and look back upon my past
  Life, from my earliest Infancy to this Time, there are many Faults
  which I committed that did not appear to me, even till I my self
  became a Father. I had not till then a Notion of the Earnings of
  Heart, which a Man has when he sees his Child do a laudable Thing, or
  the sudden Damp which seizes him when he fears he will act something
  unworthy. It is not to be imagined, what a Remorse touched me for a
  long Train of childish Negligencies of my Mother, when I saw my Wife
  the other Day look out of the Window, and turn as pale as Ashes upon
  seeing my younger Boy sliding upon the Ice. These slight Intimations
  will give you to understand, that there are numberless little Crimes
  which Children take no notice of while they are doing, which upon
  Reflection, when they shall themselves become Fathers, they will look
  upon with the utmost Sorrow and Contrition, that they did not regard,
  before those whom they offended were to be no more seen. How many
  thousand Things do I remember, which would have highly pleased my
  Father, and I omitted for no other Reason, but that I thought what he
  proposed the Effect of Humour and old Age, which I am now convinced
  had Reason and good Sense in it. I cannot now go into the Parlour to
  him, and make his Heart glad with an Account of a Matter which was of
  no Consequence, but that I told it, and acted in it. The good Man and
  Woman are long since in their Graves, who used to sit and plot the
  Welfare of us their Children, while, perhaps, we were sometimes
  laughing at the old Folks at another End of the House. The Truth of it
  is, were we merely to follow Nature in these great Duties of Life,
  tho' we have a strong Instinct towards the performing of them, we
  should be on both Sides very deficient. Age is so unwelcome to the
  Generality of Mankind, and Growth towards Manhood so desirable to all,
  that Resignation to Decay is too difficult a Task in the Father; and
  Deference, amidst the Impulse of gay Desires, appears unreasonable to
  the Son. There are so few who can grow old with a good Grace, and yet
  fewer who can come slow enough into the World, that a Father, were he
  to be actuated by his Desires, and a Son, were he to consult himself
  only, could neither of them behave himself as he ought to the other.
  But when Reason interposes against Instinct, where it would carry
  either out of the Interests of the other, there arises that happiest
  Intercourse of good Offices between those dearest Relations of human
  Life. The Father, according to the Opportunities which are offered to
  him, is throwing down Blessings on the Son, and the Son endeavouring
  to appear the worthy Offspring of such a Father. It is after this
  manner that Camillus and his firstborn dwell together. Camillus
  enjoys a pleasing and indolent old Age, in which Passion is subdued,
  and Reason exalted. He waits the Day of his Dissolution with a
  Resignation mixed with Delight, and the Son fears the Accession of his
  Father's Fortune with Diffidence, lest he should not enjoy or become
  it as well as his Predecessor. Add to this, that the Father knows he
  leaves a Friend to the Children of his Friends, an easie Landlord to
  his Tenants, and an agreeable Companion to his Acquaintance. He
  believes his Son's Behaviour will make him frequently remembered, but
  never wanted. This Commerce is so well cemented, that without the Pomp
  of saying, Son, be a Friend to such a one when I am gone; Camillus
  knows, being in his Favour, is Direction enough to the grateful Youth
  who is to succeed him, without the Admonition of his mentioning it.
  These Gentlemen are honoured in all their Neighbourhood, and the same
  Effect which the Court has on the Manner of a Kingdom, their
  Characters have on all who live within the Influence of them.



  My Son and I are not of Fortune to communicate our good Actions or
  Intentions to so many as these Gentlemen do; but I will be bold to
  say, my Son has, by the Applause and Approbation which his Behaviour
  towards me has gained him, occasioned that many an old Man, besides my
  self, has rejoiced. Other Men's Children follow the Example of mine,
  and I have the inexpressible Happiness of overhearing our Neighbours,
  as we ride by, point to their Children, and say, with a Voice of Joy,
  There they go.



  'You cannot, Mr. Spectator, pass your time better than insinuating
  the Delights which these Relations well regarded bestow upon each
  other. Ordinary Passions are no longer such, but mutual Love gives an
  Importance to the most indifferent things, and a Merit to Actions the
  most insignificant. When we look round the World, and observe the many
  Misunderstandings which are created by the Malice and Insinuation of
  the meanest Servants between People thus related, how necessary will
  it appear that it were inculcated that Men would be upon their Guard
  to support a Constancy of Affection, and that grounded upon the
  Principles of Reason, not the Impulses of Instinct.



  It is from the common Prejudices which Men receive from their Parents,
  that Hatreds are kept alive from one Generation to another; and when
  Men act by Instinct, Hatreds will descend when good Offices are
  forgotten. For the Degeneracy of human Life is such, that our Anger is
  more easily transferred to our Children than our Love. Love always
  gives something to the Object it delights in, and Anger spoils the
  Person against whom it is moved of something laudable in him. From
  this Degeneracy therefore, and a sort of Self-Love, we are more prone
  to take up the Ill-will of our Parents, than to follow them in their
  Friendships.



  One would think there should need no more to make Men keep up this
  sort of Relation with the utmost Sanctity, than to examine their own
  Hearts. If every Father remembered his own Thoughts and Inclinations
  when he was a Son, and every Son remembered what he expected from his
  Father, when he himself was in a State of Dependance, this one
  Reflection would preserve Men from being dissolute or rigid in these
  several Capacities. The Power and Subjection between them, when
  broken, make them more emphatically Tyrants and Rebels against each
  other, with greater Cruelty of Heart, than the Disruption of States
  and Empires can possibly produce. I shall end this Application to you
  with two Letters which passed between a Mother and Son very lately,
  and are as follows.


    Dear FRANK,



    If the Pleasures, which I have the Grief to hear you pursue in Town,
    do not take up all your Time, do not deny your Mother so much of it,
    as to read seriously this Letter. You said before Mr. Letacre,
    that an old Woman might live very well in the Country upon half my
    Jointure, and that your Father was a fond Fool to give me a
    Rent-Charge of Eight hundred a Year to the Prejudice of his Son.
    What Letacre said to you upon that Occasion, you ought to have
    born with more Decency, as he was your Father's well-beloved
    Servant, than to have called him Country-put. In the first place,
    Frank, I must tell you, I will have my Rent duly paid, for I will
    make up to your Sisters for the Partiality I was guilty of, in
    making your Father do so much as he has done for you. I may, it
    seems, live upon half my Jointure! I lived upon much less, Frank,
    when I carried you from Place to Place in these Arms, and could
    neither eat, dress, or mind any thing for feeding and tending you a
    weakly Child, and shedding Tears when the Convulsions you were then
    troubled with returned upon you. By my Care you outgrew them, to
    throw away the Vigour of your Youth in the Arms of Harlots, and deny
    your Mother what is not yours to detain. Both your Sisters are
    crying to see the Passion which I smother; but if you please to go
    on thus like a Gentleman of the Town, and forget all Regards to your
    self and Family, I shall immediately enter upon your Estate for the
    Arrear due to me, and without one Tear more contemn you for
    forgetting the Fondness of your Mother, as much as you have the
    Example of your Father. O Frank, do I live to omit writing myself,

    Your Affectionate Mother, A.T.





MADAM,

    I will come down to-morrow and pay the Money on my Knees. Pray write
    so no more. I will take care you never shall, for I will be for ever
    hereafter, 

Your most dutiful Son, 

F.T.



    I will bring down new Heads for my Sisters. Pray let all be
    forgotten. 






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 264

	
 Wednesday, January 2, 1712

	
 Steele









—Secretum iter et fallentis Semita vitæ.



Hor.




Irus
Irus
Irus
Irus
Irus
John Street
Irus
Irus




Roger











Mr. Spectator,



  Having observed in Lilly's Grammar how sweetly Bacchus and
  Apollo run in a Verse: I have (to preserve the Amity between them)
  call'd in Bacchus to the Aid of my Profession of the Theatre. So
  that while some People of Quality are bespeaking Plays of me to be
  acted upon such a Day, and others, Hogsheads for their Houses against
  such a Time; I am wholly employ'd in the agreeable Service of Wit and
  Wine: Sir, I have sent you Sir Roger de Coverley's Letter to me,
  which pray comply with in Favour of the Bumper Tavern. Be kind, for
  you know a Player's utmost Pride is the Approbation of the Spectator.



  I am your Admirer, tho' unknown,

   Richard Estcourt1








To Mr. Estcourt at his House in Covent-Garden.

  Coverley, December the 18th, 1711.



  Old Comical Ones,



  The Hogsheads of Neat Port came safe, and have gotten thee good
  Reputation in these Parts; and I am glad to hear, that a Fellow who
  has been laying out his Money ever since he was born, for the meer
  Pleasure of Wine, has bethought himself of joining Profit and Pleasure
  together. Our Sexton (poor Man) having received Strength from thy Wine
  since his fit of the Gout, is hugely taken with it: He says it is
  given by Nature for the Use of Families, that no Steward's Table can
  be without it, that it strengthens Digestion, excludes Surfeits,
  Fevers and Physick; which green Wines of any kind can't do. Pray get a
  pure snug Room, and I hope next Term to help fill your Bumper with our
  People of the Club; but you must have no Bells stirring when the
  Spectator comes; I forbore ringing to Dinner while he was down with
  me in the Country. Thank you for the little Hams and Portugal
  Onions; pray keep some always by you. You know my Supper is only good
  Cheshire Cheese, best Mustard, a golden Pippin, attended with a Pipe
  of John Sly's Best. Sir Harry has stoln all your Songs, and tells
  the Story of the 5th of November to Perfection.



  Yours to serve you,

  Roger de Coverley.



  We've lost old John since you were here.' 















Footnote 1:
Alexander the
Great
Providore
Spectator's
Prunella
Spectator
 'neat natural wines, fresh and in perfection; being bought by Brooke
  and Hellier, by whom the said Tavern will from time to time be
  supplied with the best growths that shall be imported; to be sold by
  wholesale as well as retail, with the utmost fidelity by his old
  servant, trusty Anthony, who has so often adorned both the theatres in
  England and Ireland; and as he is a person altogether unknowing in the
  wine trade, it cannot be doubted but that he will deliver the wine in
  the same natural purity that he receives it from the said merchants;
  and on these assurances he hopes that all his friends and acquaintance
  will become his customers, desiring a continuance of their favours no
  longer than they shall find themselves well served.'
Spectator



return to footnote mark



cross-reference: return to Footnote 3 of No. 358






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 265

	
 Thursday, January 3, 1712

	
 Addison









Dixerit e multis aliquis, quid virus in angues

  Adjicis? et rabidæ tradis ovile lupæ?



Ov.




Greek: xôon philokôsmon
 
an Animal that delights in Finery








Pinacle
As
Nature on the contrary
1
British




moulting Season




One
2
Indian
English




Will. Honeycomb
Iris
Dryden's Virgil




Will
Morocco
Melesinda




Cornelia




Honeycomb's
Ovid
Will
Ovid
Ovid
Aurora










As
3
British
Greek
Greek: Gynaikì kósmos ho trópos, k' ou chrysía.



4















Footnote 1:
On the contrary as Nature



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Feuille mort



return









Footnote 3:
'I will not meddle with the Spectator. Let him fair-sex it to the
  world's end.'



return









Footnote 4:
T
268



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 266

	
 Friday, January 4, 1712

	
 Steele









Id vero est, quod ego mihi puto palmarium,

Me reperisse, quomodo adolescentulus

Meretricum ingenia et mores possit noscere:

Mature ut cum cognórit perpetuo oderit.



Ter. Eun. Act. 5, Sc. 4.




s
Will. Honeycomb




Covent-Garden
James-street
Bumper
This
under
1
newly come upon the Town
Fletcher's
The
Humorous Lieutenant. Leucippe
C
Her Maidenhead will yield me; let me see now;

She is not Fifteen they say: For her Complexion—-

Cloe, Cloe, Cloe, here I have her,

Cloe, the Daughter of a Country Gentleman;

Here Age upon Fifteen. Now her Complexion,

A lovely brown; here 'tis; Eyes black and rolling,

The Body neatly built; she strikes a Lute well,

Sings most enticingly: These Helps consider'd,

Her Maidenhead will amount to some three hundred,

Or three hundred and fifty Crowns, 'twill bear it handsomly.

Her Father's poor, some little Share deducted,

To buy him a Hunting Nag—
As
 
Cloe
350
2
Leucippe's




Whether she was well educated, could forbear
playing the Wanton with Servants, and idle fellows, of which this Town
is too full
Whether she knew enough of
Breeding, as that if a Squire or a Gentleman, or one that was her
Betters, should give her a civil Salute, she should curtsy and be
humble, nevertheless.
forsooths, yes's, and't please
you's, and she would do her Endeavour
his
and
, these
3
Plain-Dealer
4
Will



















Footnote 1:
under in



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
. These



return









Footnote 4:
Plain-Dealer
billet doux



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 267

	
 Saturday, January 5, 1712

	
 Addison









Cedite Romani Scriptores, cedite Graii.1



Propert







There
more irksome than
2
Milton's Paradise Lost
Divine
Poem
will
alledge
3
Adam
Æneas
Eve


Helen




Iliad
Æneid
The
4
should
5
Iliad
Æneid
Paradise Lost
Homer
 
to
Horace
6
gone
Leda's Egg
Helen
Troy
artfully
7
material
them
8
Æneas
Tyrrhene
Italy
Latium
Troy
Virgil
Æneid
Milton
Paradise Lost






Aristotle
 
himself
Homer
9
Greek
Some
Æneid
 
also labours
10
On
Incidents
11
Simplicity; uniform in its Nature, tho' diversified in the Execution.
12




Virgil
Roman
Carthaginian
Milton
Fall of Man
short
The Spanish Frier
The Double Discovery
13




entire
Aristotle
Achilles
Æneas's
Italy
Milton
The
Order
14




Greatness
Achilles
Greece
Troy
Æneas's
Italy
Cæsars
Roman
Milton's




will
Æneid
Iliad
Virgil's
15
kind
16
Iliad
derogating from
17
Paradise Lost




Aristotle
just
18
Homer
 
and


Virgil
Iliad
Æneid
Invention
19
Episodes
Milton's
Iliad
Æneid
Fall of Man
Homer
Virgil
Milton




Iliad
Æneid
Milton's






This Piece of Criticism on
shall be carried on
in the following
 
Saturdays
 
Papers



















Footnote 1:
'Give place to him, Writers of Rome and Greece.'
Spectator's
Tatler
Paradise
Lost
Tatlers
Spectators
'Whate'er his pen describes I more than see,

  Whilst ev'ry verse, array'd in majesty,

  Bold and sublime, my whole attention draws,

  And seems above the critics' nicer laws.'
Spectator
Juvenal
Persius
 "As for Mr. Milton, whom we all admire with so much Justice, his
  Subject, is not that of an Heroick Poem, properly so call'd: His
  Design is the Losing of our Happiness; his Event is not prosperous,
  like that of all other Epique Works" (Dryden's French spelling of
  the word Epic is suggestive. For this new critical Mode was one of the
  fashions that had been imported from Paris); "His Heavenly Machines
  are many, and his Human Persons are but two. But I will not take Mr.
  Rymer's work out of his Hands: He has promised the World a Critique
  on that Author; wherein, tho' he will not allow his Poem for Heroick,
  I hope he will grant us, that his Thoughts are elevated, his Words
  sounding, and that no Man has so happily copy'd the manner of Homer;
  or so copiously translated his Grecisms and the Latin Elegancies of
  Virgil. 'Tis true he runs into a Flat of Thought, sometimes for a
  Hundred Lines together, but 'tis when he is got into a Track of
  Scripture ... Neither will I justify Milton for his Blank Verse,
  tho' I may excuse him, by the Example of Hanabal Caro and other
  Italians who have used it: For whatever Causes he alledges for the
  abolishing of Rhime (which I have not now the leisure to examine), his
  own particular Reason is plainly this, that Rhime was not his Talent;
  he had neither the Ease of doing it, nor the Graces of it."
The
Tragedies of the Last Age consider'd and examined by the Practice of the
Ancients and by the Common Sense of all Ages, in a letter to Fleetwold
Shepheard, Esq
Spectator
"With the remaining Tragedies I
shall also send you some reflections on that Paradise Lost of
Milton's, which some are pleased to call a Poem, and assert Rhime
against the slender Sophistry wherewith he attaques it." 
Juvenal
Persius
Reflections on Aristotle's Poesie
Gondibert
Davideis
Paradise Lost
'There is no arriving at Perfection but by these Rules, and they
  certainly go astray that take a different course.... And if a Poem
  made by these Rules fails of success, the fault lies not in the Art,
  but in the Artist; all who have writ of this Art, have followed no
  other Idea but that of Aristotle.'
'to say the truth, what is good on this subject is all taken from
  Aristotle, who is the only source whence good sense is to be drawn,
  when one goes about to write.'
the Laws of
Poetry
'Mr. Addison in the Spectators, in his criticisms upon Milton, seems
  to have mistaken the matter, in endeavouring to bring that poem to the
  rules of the epopœia, which cannot be done ... It is not an Heroic
  Poem, but a Divine one, and indeed of a new species. It is plain that
  the proposition of all the heroic poems of the ancients mentions some
  one person as the subject of their poem... But Milton begins his poem
  of things, and not of men.'
Vom Wunderbaren
in der Poesie
Spectator
Paradise Lost



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
so irksom as



return









Footnote 3:
say



return









Footnote 4:
Poetics
'with respect to that species of Poetry which imitates by Narration
  ... it is obvious, that the Fable ought to be dramatically
  constructed, like that of Tragedy, and that it should have for its
  Subject one entire and perfect action, having a beginning, a middle,
  and an end;'



return









Footnote 5:
Poetics
 'Epic Poetry agrees so far with Tragic as it is an imitation of great
  characters and actions.'
 'all the parts of the Epic poem are to be found in Tragedy, not all
  those of Tragedy in the Epic poem.'


return









Footnote 6:
Nec reditum Diomedis ab interitu Meleagri,

  Nec gemino bellum Trojanum orditur ab ovo,

  Semper ad eventum festinat, et in medias res,

  Non secus ac notas, auditorem rapit—



De Arte Poet.



return









Footnote 7:
with great Art



return









Footnote 8:
the Story



return









Footnote 9:
Poetics
'there is less Unity in all Epic imitation; as appears from this—that
  any Epic Poem will furnish matter for several Tragedies ... The
  Iliad, for example, and the Odyssey, contain many such subordinate
  parts, each of which has a certain Magnitude and Unity of its own; yet
  is the construction of those Poems as perfect, and as nearly
  approaching to the imitation of a single action, as possible.'


return









Footnote 10:
labours also



return









Footnote 11:
Circumstances



return









Footnote 12:
Simplicity



return









Footnote 13:
Spanish Friar
Works
'the felicity does not consist in the ingenuity of his original
  conception, but in the minutely artificial strokes by which the reader
  is perpetually reminded of the dependence of the one part of the Play
  on the other. These are so frequent, and appear so very natural, that
  the comic plot, instead of diverting our attention from the tragic
  business, recalls it to our mind by constant and unaffected allusion.
  No great event happens in the higher region of the camp or court that
  has not some indirect influence upon the intrigues of Lorenzo and
  Elvira; and the part which the gallant is called upon to act in the
  revolution that winds up the tragic interest, while it is highly in
  character, serves to bring the catastrophe of both parts of the play
  under the eye of the spectator, at one and the same time.'


return









Footnote 14:



return









Footnote 15:
Æneid
'And as young striplings whip the top for sport,

  On the smooth pavement of an empty court,

  The wooden engine files and whirls about,

  Admir'd, with clamours, of the beardless rout;

  They lash aloud, each other they provoke,

  And lend their little souls at every stroke:

  Thus fares the Queen, and thus her fury blows

  Amidst the crowds, and trundles as she goes.'


return









Footnote 16:
nature



return









Footnote 17:
 offence to



return









Footnote 18:
Poetics



return









Footnote 19:
Intervention



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 268

	
 Monday, January 7, 1712

	
 Steele









—Minus aptus acutis

Naribus Horum Hominum.



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator1,



  'As you are Spectator-General, I apply myself to you in the
  following Case; viz. I do not wear a Sword, but I often divert my self
  at the Theatre, where I frequently see a Set of Fellows pull plain
  People, by way of Humour and2 Frolick, by the Nose, upon
  frivolous or no Occasions. A Friend of mine the other Night applauding
  what a graceful Exit Mr. Wilks made, one of these Nose-wringers
  overhearing him, pinched him by the nose. I was in the Pit the other
  Night, (when it was very much crowded) a Gentleman leaning upon me,
  and very heavily, I very civilly requested him to remove his Hand; for
  which he pulled me by the Nose. I would not resent it in so publick a
  Place, because I was unwilling to create a Disturbance; but have since
  reflected upon it as a thing that is unmanly and disingenuous, renders
  the Nose-puller odious, and makes the Person pulled by the Nose look
  little and contemptible. This Grievance I humbly request you would
  endeavour to redress.



  I am your Admirer, &c.



  James Easy.








  Mr. Spectator,



  Your Discourse of the 29th of December on Love and Marriage is of so
  useful a Kind, that I cannot forbear adding my Thoughts to yours on
  that Subject. Methinks it is a Misfortune, that the Marriage State,
  which in its own Nature is adapted to give us the compleatest
  Happiness this Life is capable of, should be so uncomfortable a one to
  so many as it daily proves. But the Mischief generally proceeds from
  the unwise Choice People make for themselves, and Expectation of
  Happiness from Things not capable of giving it. Nothing but the good
  Qualities of the Person beloved can be a Foundation for a Love of
  Judgment and Discretion; and whoever expects Happiness from any Thing
  but Virtue, Wisdom, Good-humour, and a Similitude of Manners, will
  find themselves widely mistaken. But how few are there who seek after
  these things, and do not rather make Riches their chief if not their
  only Aim? How rare is it for a Man, when he engages himself in the
  Thoughts of Marriage, to place his Hopes of having in such a Woman a
  constant, agreeable Companion? One who will divide his Cares and
  double his Joys? Who will manage that Share of his Estate he intrusts
  to her Conduct with Prudence and Frugality, govern his House with
  Œconomy and Discretion, and be an Ornament to himself and Family?
  Where shall we find the Man who looks out for one who places her chief
  Happiness in the Practice of Virtue, and makes her Duty her continual
  Pleasure? No: Men rather seek for Money as the Complement of all their
  Desires; and regardless of what kind of Wives they take, they think
  Riches will be a Minister to all kind of Pleasures, and enable them to
  keep Mistresses, Horses, Hounds, to drink, feast, and game with their
  Companions, pay their Debts contracted by former Extravagancies, or
  some such vile and unworthy End; and indulge themselves in Pleasures
  which are a Shame and Scandal to humane Nature. Now as for the Women;
  how few of them are there who place the Happiness of their Marriage in
  the having a wise and virtuous Friend? one who will be faithful and
  just to all, and constant and loving to them? who with Care and
  Diligence will look after and improve the Estate, and without grudging
  allow whatever is prudent and convenient? Rather, how few are there
  who do not place their Happiness in outshining others in Pomp and
  Show? and that do not think within themselves when they have married
  such a rich Person, that none of their Acquaintance shall appear so
  fine in their Equipage, so adorned in their Persons, or so magnificent
  in their Furniture as themselves? Thus their Heads are filled with
  vain Ideas; and I heartily wish I could say that Equipage and Show
  were not the Chief Good of so many Women as I fear it is.



  After this Manner do both Sexes deceive themselves, and bring
  Reflections and Disgrace upon the most happy and most honourable State
  of Life; whereas if they would but correct their depraved Taste,
  moderate their Ambition, and place their Happiness upon proper
  Objects, we should not find Felicity in the Marriage State such a
  Wonder in the World as it now is.



  Sir, if you think these Thoughts worth inserting among3 your own,
  be pleased to give them a better Dress, and let them pass abroad; and
  you will oblige Your Admirer,



  A. B.








  Mr. Spectator,



  As I was this Day walking in the Street, there happened to pass by on
  the other Side of the Way a Beauty, whose Charms were so attracting
  that it drew my Eyes wholly on that Side, insomuch that I neglected my
  own Way, and chanced to run my Nose directly against a Post; which the
  Lady no sooner perceived, but fell out into a Fit of Laughter, though
  at the same time she was sensible that her self was the Cause of my
  Misfortune, which in my Opinion was the greater Aggravation of her
  Crime. I being busy wiping off the Blood which trickled down my Face,
  had not Time to acquaint her with her Barbarity, as also with my
  Resolution, viz. never to look out of my Way for one of her Sex
  more: Therefore, that your humble Servant may be revenged, he desires
  you to insert this in one of your next Papers, which he hopes will be
  a Warning to all the rest of the Women Gazers, as well as to poor



  Anthony Gape.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I desire to know in your next, if the merry Game of The Parson has
  lost his Cloak, is not mightily in Vogue amongst the fine Ladies this
  Christmas; because I see they wear Hoods of all Colours, which I
  suppose is for that Purpose: If it is, and you think it proper, I will
  carry some of those Hoods with me to our Ladies in Yorkshire;
  because they enjoyned me to bring them something from London that
  was very New. If you can tell any Thing in which I can obey their
  Commands more agreeably, be pleased to inform me, and you will
  extremely oblige



  Your humble Servant








  Oxford, Dec. 29.



  Mr. Spectator,



  Since you appear inclined to be a Friend to the Distressed, I beg you
  would assist me in an Affair under which I have suffered very much.
  The reigning Toast of this Place is Patetia; I have pursued her with
  the utmost Diligence this Twelve-month, and find nothing stands in my
  Way but one who flatters her more than I can. Pride is her Favourite
  Passion; therefore if you would be so far my Friend as to make a
  favourable Mention of her in one of your Papers, I believe I should
  not fail in my Addresses. The Scholars stand in Rows, as they did to
  be sure in your Time, at her Pew-door: and she has all the Devotion
  paid to her by a Crowd of Youths who are unacquainted with the Sex,
  and have Inexperience added to their Passion: However, if it succeeds
  according to my Vows, you will make me the happiest Man in the World,
  and the most obliged amongst all



  Your humble Servants.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I came to4 my Mistress's Toilet this Morning, for I am admitted
  when her Face is stark naked: She frowned, and cryed Pish when I said
  a thing that I stole; and I will be judged by you whether it was not
  very pretty. Madam, said I, you shall5 forbear that Part of your
  Dress; it may be well in others, but you cannot place a Patch where it
  does not hide a Beauty.

















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
amongst



return









Footnote 4:
at



return









Footnote 5:
should



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 269

	
 Tuesday, January 8, 1712

	
 Addison









—Ævo rarissima nostro

Simplicitas—



Ovid.




Roger De Coverley
Gray's-Inn
As
Roger
Eugene
1




Eugenio
Scanderbeg




Grays-Inn Walks








Sunday
Barrow




Will Wimble
Upon
Will
made
2
Will
Tom Touchy




Moll White
Roger




Roger
Christmas
Roger
Christmas
is
Poverty and Cold
3
Christmas
Will Wimble




then
4
England
Christmas




Roger
Andrew Freeport
Andrew
Andrew




Eugenio
British
dwelt
Baker's
who
5




Squire's
Supplement



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
had made



return









Footnote 3:
Cold and Poverty



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:
that



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 270

	
 Wednesday, January 9, 1712

	
 Steele









Discit enim citius, meminitque libentius illud,

Quod quis deridet, quam quod probat.



Hor.




do
The Scornful
Lady
1




Roger
Welford
as one sent four
or five Miles in a Morning on Foot for Eggs.
Roger
Roger



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 271

	
 Thursday, January 10, 1712

	
 Addison









Mille trahens varios adverso sole colores.



Virg.






















  Sir,



  'I was last Thursday in an Assembly of Ladies, where there were
  Thirteen different coloured Hoods. Your Spectator of that Day lying
  upon the Table, they ordered me to read it to them, which I did with a
  very clear Voice, 'till I came to the Greek Verse at the End of it.
  I must confess I was a little startled at its popping upon me so
  unexpectedly. However, I covered my Confusion as well as I could, and
  after having mutter'd two or three hard Words to my self, laugh'd
  heartily, and cried, A very good Jest, Faith. The Ladies desired me
  to explain it to them; but I begged their pardon for that, and told
  them, that if it had been proper for them to hear, they may be sure
  the Author would not have wrapp'd it up in Greek. I then let drop
  several Expressions, as if there was something in it that was not fit
  to be spoken before a Company of Ladies. Upon which the Matron of the
  Assembly, who was dressed in a Cherry-coloured Hood, commended the
  Discretion of the Writer for having thrown his filthy Thoughts into
  Greek, which was likely to corrupt but few of his Readers. At the
  same time she declared herself very well pleased, that he had not
  given a decisive Opinion upon the new-fashioned Hoods; for to tell you
  truly, says she, I was afraid he would have made us ashamed to shew
  our Heads. Now, Sir, you must know, since this unlucky Accident
  happened to me in a Company of Ladies, among whom I passed for a most
  ingenious Man, I have consulted one who is well versed in the Greek
  Language, and he assures me upon his Word, that your late Quotation
  means no more, than that Manners and not Dress are the Ornaments of a
  Woman. If this comes to the Knowledge of my Female Admirers, I shall
  be very hard put to it to bring my self off handsomely. In the mean
  while I give you this Account, that you may take care hereafter not to
  betray any of your Well-wishers into the like Inconveniencies. It is
  in the Number of these that I beg leave to subscribe my self,



  Tom Trippit.








Mr. Spectator,



  ' Your Readers are so well pleased with your Character of Sir Roger De
  Coverley, that there appeared a sensible Joy in every Coffee-house,
  upon hearing the old Knight was come to Town. I am now with a Knot of
  his Admirers, who make it their joint Request to you, that you would
  give us publick Notice of the Window or Balcony where the Knight
  intends to make his Appearance. He has already given great
  Satisfaction to several who have seen him at Squire's Coffee-house.
  If you think fit to place your short Face at Sir Roger's Left Elbow,
  we shall take the Hint, and gratefully acknowledge so great a Favour.



  I am, Sir,

  Your most Devoted

  Humble Servant,

  C. D.








Sir,



  ' Knowing that you are very Inquisitive after every thing that is
  Curious in Nature, I will wait on you if you please in the Dusk of the
  Evening, with my Show upon my Back, which I carry about with me in a
  Box, as only consisting of a Man, a Woman, and an Horse. The two first
  are married, in which State the little Cavalier has so well acquitted
  himself, that his Lady is with Child. The big-bellied Woman, and her
  Husband, with their whimsical Palfry, are so very light, that when
  they are put together into a Scale, an ordinary Man may weigh down the
  whole Family. The little Man is a Bully in his Nature; but when he
  grows cholerick I confine him to his Box till his Wrath is over, by
  which Means I have hitherto prevented him from doing Mischief. His
  Horse is likewise very vicious, for which Reason I am forced to tie
  him close to his Manger with a Pack-thread. The Woman is a Coquet. She
  struts as much as it is possible for a Lady of two Foot high, and
  would ruin me in Silks, were not the Quantity that goes to a large
  Pin-Cushion sufficient to make her a Gown and Petticoat. She told me
  the other Day, that she heard the Ladies wore coloured Hoods, and
  ordered me to get her one of the finest Blue. I am forced to comply
  with her Demands while she is in her present Condition, being very
  willing to have more of the same Breed. I do not know what she may
  produce me, but provided it be a Show I shall be very well
  satisfied. Such Novelties should not, I think, be concealed from the
  British Spectator; for which Reason I hope you will excuse this
  Presumption in



  Your most Dutiful,

  most Obedient,

  and most Humble Servant,

  S. T.






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 272

	
 Friday, January 11, 1712

	
 Steele









Longa est injuria, longæ

Ambages



Virg.1









Mr. Spectator,



  The Occasion of this Letter is of so great Importance, and the
  Circumstances of it such, that I know you will but think it just to
  insert it, in Preference of all other Matters that can present
  themselves to your Consideration. I need not, after I have said this,
  tell you that I am in Love. The Circumstances of my Passion I shall
  let you understand as well as a disordered Mind will admit. That
  cursed Pickthank Mrs. Jane! Alas, I am railing at one to you by her
  Name as familiarly as if you were acquainted with her as well as my
  self: But I will tell you all, as fast as the alternate Interruptions
  of Love and Anger will give me Leave. There is a most agreeable young
  Woman in the World whom I am passionately in Love with, and from whom
  I have for some space of Time received as great Marks of Favour as
  were fit for her to give, or me to desire. The successful Progress of
  the Affair of all others the most essential towards a Man's Happiness,
  gave a new Life and Spirit not only to my Behaviour and Discourse, but
  also a certain Grace to all my Actions in the Commerce of Life in all
  Things tho' never so remote from Love. You know the predominant
  Passion spreads its self thro' all a Man's Transactions, and exalts or
  depresses him2 according to the Nature of such Passion. But alas,
  I have not yet begun my Story, and what is making Sentences and
  Observations when a Man is pleading for his Life? To begin then: This
  Lady has corresponded with me under the Names of Love, she my
  Belinda, I her Cleanthes. Tho' I am thus well got into the Account
  of my Affair, I cannot keep in the Thread of it so much as to give you
  the Character of Mrs. Jane, whom I will not hide under a borrowed
  Name; but let you know that this Creature has been since I knew her
  very handsome, (tho' I will not allow her even she has been for the
  future) and during the Time of her Bloom and Beauty was so great a
  Tyrant to her Lovers, so over-valued her self and under-rated all her
  Pretenders, that they have deserted her to a Man; and she knows no
  Comfort but that common one to all in her Condition, the Pleasure of
  interrupting the Amours of others. It is impossible but you must have
  seen several of these Volunteers in Malice, who pass their whole Time
  in the most labourous Way of Life in getting Intelligence, running
  from Place to Place with new Whispers, without reaping any other
  Benefit but the Hopes of making others as unhappy as themselves. Mrs.
  Jane happened to be at a Place where I, with many others well
  acquainted with my Passion for Belinda, passed a Christmas
  Evening. There was among the rest a young Lady so free in Mirth, so
  amiable in a just Reserve that accompanied it; I wrong her to call it
  a Reserve, but there appeared in her a Mirth or Chearfulness which was
  not a Forbearance of more immoderate Joy, but the natural Appearance
  of all which could flow from a Mind possessed of an Habit of Innocence
  and Purity. I must have utterly forgot Belinda to have taken no
  Notice of one who was growing up to the same womanly Virtues which
  shine to Perfection in her, had I not distinguished one who seemed to
  promise to the World the same Life and Conduct with my faithful and
  lovely Belinda. When the Company broke up, the fine young Thing
  permitted me to take Care of her Home. Mrs. Jane saw my particular
  Regard to her, and was informed of my attending her to her Father's
  House. She came early to Belinda the next Morning, and asked her if
  Mrs. Such-a-one had been with her? No. If Mr. Such-a-one's Lady?
  No. Nor your Cousin Such-a-one? No. Lord, says Mrs. Jane, what is
  the Friendship of Woman?—Nay, they may laugh at it. And did no one
  tell you any thing of the Behaviour of your Lover Mr. What d'ye call
  last Night? But perhaps it is nothing to you that he is to be married
  to young Mrs.—on Tuesday next? Belinda was here ready to die with
  Rage and Jealousy. Then Mrs. Jane goes on: I have a young Kinsman
  who is Clerk to a Great Conveyancer, who shall shew you the rough
  Draught of the Marriage Settlement. The World says her Father gives
  him Two Thousand Pounds more than he could have with you. I went
  innocently to wait on Belinda as usual, but was not admitted; I writ
  to her, and my Letter was sent back unopened. Poor Betty her Maid,
  who is on my Side, has been here just now blubbering, and told me the
  whole Matter. She says she did not think I could be so base; and that
  she is now odious to her Mistress for having so often spoke well of
  me, that she dare not mention me more. All our Hopes are placed in
  having these Circumstances fairly represented in the Spectator, which
  Betty says she dare not but bring up as soon as it is brought in;
  and has promised when you have broke the Ice to own this was laid
  between us: And when I can come to an Hearing, the young Lady will
  support what we say by her Testimony, that I never saw her but that
  once in my whole Life. Dear Sir, do not omit this true Relation, nor
  think it too particular; for there are Crowds of forlorn Coquets who
  intermingle themselves with other Ladies, and contract Familiarities
  out of Malice, and with no other Design but to blast the Hopes of
  Lovers, the Expectation of Parents, and the Benevolence of Kindred. I
  doubt not but I shall be,

  Sir,

  Your most obliged

  humble Servant,

  Cleanthes.








Will's Coffee-house, Jan. 10.



  Sir,

  The other Day entering a Room adorned with the Fair Sex, I offered,
  after the usual Manner, to each of them a Kiss; but one, more scornful
  than the rest, turned her Cheek. I did not think it proper to take any
  Notice of it till I had asked your Advice. 

  Your humble Servant,
  E. S.



























Footnote 1:
Ubi visus eris nostra medicabilis arte
  Fac monitis fugias otia prima meis.
Rem. Am



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 it



return






Contents

Contents, p.3





Advertisement






                 From the Parish-Vestry, January 9.



          All Ladies who come to Church in the New-fashioned Hoods,

             are desired to be there before Divine Service begins, 

             lest they divert the Attention of the Congregation.



                                  Ralph. 


















	
 No. 273

	
 Saturday, January 12, 1712

	
 Addison









Notandi sunt tibi Mores.



Hor.




Paradise Lost
This is Aristotle's Method of considering, first the Fable, and secondly
1
English






Homer
Iliad






Homer
Grecian
Theseus, Hercules, Polyphemus
His
Son
2
Offspring of other Deities, who have
3
Trojan
Homer
Vulcan
Thersites






Virgil
Homer
Æneas
Achates
Gyas
Mnesteus
Sergestus
Cloanthus
Fortemque Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum.
Ascanius
Dido
Turnus
Pallas
Evander
remote
Hector
Priam
Lausus
Mezentius
Pallas
Evander
Nisus
Eurialus
We must not forget the Parts
of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, which are fine Improvements
on the Greek Poet.
Æneid
Iliad




we
Milton
his Fable
4
The
5
Virgil
Homer






Milton
 
was
Sin
Death
6
wrought into
7
as I
shall shew more at large hereafter






Virgil
Æneid
find
Dispensary
Lutrin
8
and
such
9




Part
Ulysses
Homer's Odyssey
Aristotle
10
Ulysses








Raphael
The Angels
are indeed as much diversified in Milton, and distinguished by their
proper Parts, as the Gods are in Homer or Virgil. The Reader will
find nothing ascribed to Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, or Raphael, which
is not in a particular manner suitable to their respective Characters.




is
Iliad
Æneid
peculiar
11
Achilles
Æneas
Rome
Roman
Æneas
Greek
Achilles






Milton's




Aristotle
'If a Man of perfect and consummate Virtue falls into a Misfortune, it
  raises our Pity, but not our Terror, because we do not fear that it
  may be our own Case, who do not resemble the Suffering Person. But as
  that great Philosopher adds, If we see a Man of Virtue mixt with
  Infirmities, fall into any Misfortune, it does not only raise our Pity
  but our Terror; because we are afraid that the like Misfortunes may
  happen to our selves, who resemble the Character of the Suffering
  Person.'
take
Aristotle
12




and
Aristotle's
Homer
still have been
13
Æneid






In my next, I shall go through other Parts of
Poem;
and hope that what I shall there advance, as well as what I have
already written, will not only serve as a Comment upon
but upon



















Footnote 1:
These are what Aristotle means by the Fable and &c.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Offspring



return









Footnote 3:
Son of Aurora who has



return










Footnote 4:
that his Poem



return










Footnote 5:
Paradise Lost
 'one of the greatest and most daring Genius's that has appear'd in the
  World, and who has made his country a glorious present of the most
  lofty, but most irregular Poem, that has been produc'd by the Mind of
  Man. That great Man had a desire to give the World something like an
  Epick Poem; but he resolv'd at the same time to break thro' the Rules
  of Aristotle. Not that he was ignorant of them, or contemned them....
  Milton was the first who in the space of almost 4000 years resolv'd
  for his Country's Honour and his own, to present the World with an
  Original Poem; that is to say, a Poem that should have his own
  thoughts, his own images, and his own spirit. In order to this he was
  resolved to write a Poem, that, by virtue of its extraordinary
  Subject, cannot so properly be said to be against the Rules as it may
  be affirmed to be above them all ... We shall now shew for what
  Reasons the choice of Milton's Subject, as it set him free from the
  obligation which he lay under to the Poetical Laws, so it necessarily
  threw him upon new Thoughts, new Images, and an Original Spirit. In
  the next place we shall shew that his Thoughts, his Images, and by
  consequence too, his Spirit are actually new, and different from those
  of Homer and Virgil. Thirdly, we shall shew, that besides their
  Newness, they have vastly the Advantage of Homer and Virgil.']


return









Footnote 6:
Paradise Lost



return









Footnote 7:
interwoven in



return










Footnote 8:
Dispensary
Lutrin
 'Shrill Colon's person took, 

  In morals loose, but most precise in look.'


return









Footnote 9:
that such



return









Footnote 10:
Poetics



return









Footnote 11:
particular



return









Footnote 12:
Poetics
'this is neither terrible nor piteous, but Greek: miaron
  shocking. Then he adds that our pity is excited by undeserved
  misfortune, and our terror by some resemblance between the sufferer
  and ourselves.'


return









Footnote 13:
have been still



return













Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 274

	
 Monday, January 14, 1712

	
 Steele









Audire est operæ pretium, procedere recte

Qui mœchis non vultis.



Hor.




She has,
I assure you, seen none but old Mr. Such-a-one
Spectator










January 5, 1711.



Mr. Spectator, 



  'The Subject of your Yesterday's Paper is of so great Importance, and
  the thorough handling of it may be so very useful to the Preservation
  of many an innocent young Creature, that I think every one is obliged
  to furnish you with what Lights he can, to expose the pernicious Arts
  and Practices of those unnatural Women called Bawds. In order to this
  the enclosed is sent you, which is verbatim the Copy of a Letter
  written by a Bawd of Figure in this Town to a noble Lord. I have
  concealed the Names of both, my Intention being not to expose the
  Persons but the Thing.

  I am,

  Sir,

  Your humble Servant
My Lord,

    'I having a great Esteem for your Honour, and a better Opinion of
    you than of any of the Quality, makes me acquaint you of an Affair
    that I hope will oblige you to know. I have a Niece that came to
    Town about a Fortnight ago. Her Parents being lately dead she came
    to me, expecting to a found me in so good a Condition as to a set
    her up in a Milliner's Shop. Her Father gave Fourscore Pounds with
    her for five Years: Her Time is out, and she is not Sixteen; as
    pretty a black Gentlewoman as ever you saw, a little Woman, which I
    know your Lordship likes: well shaped, and as fine a Complection for
    Red and White as ever I saw; I doubt not but your Lordship will be
    of the same Opinion. She designs to go down about a Month hence
    except I can provide for her, which I cannot at present. Her Father
    was one with whom all he had died with him, so there is four
    Children left destitute; so if your Lordship thinks fit to make an
    Appointment where I shall wait on you with my Niece, by a Line or
    two, I stay for your Answer; for I have no Place fitted up since I
    left my House, fit to entertain your Honour. I told her she should
    go with me to see a Gentleman a very good Friend of mine; so I
    desire you to take no Notice of my Letter by reason she is ignorant
    of the Ways of the Town. My Lord, I desire if you meet us to come
    alone; for upon my Word and Honour you are the first that ever I
    mentioned her to. So I remain,



    Your Lordship's

    Most humble Servant to Command.


    'I beg of you to burn it when you've read it.  








Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 275

	
 Tuesday, January 15, 1712

	
 Addison









—tribus Anticyris caput insanabile—



Juv.












Beau's Head
Coquet's Heart
Homer




Pineal Gland




Antrum
Sinciput
Antrums
Spanish




Duct
Duct
French
Galimatias
English








Os Cribriforme
Latin




Musculi Amatorii
English
Ogling Muscles
Elevator




a
Man




prepared




Coquet's Heart










Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 276

	
 Wednesday, January 16, 1712

	
 Steele









Errori nomen virtus posuisset honestum.



Hor.








Mr. Spectator,

  'I hope you have Philosophy enough to be capable of bearing the
  Mention of your Faults. Your Papers which regard the fallen Part of
  the Fair Sex, are, I think, written with an Indelicacy, which makes
  them unworthy to be inserted in the Writings of a Moralist who knows
  the World. I cannot allow that you are at Liberty to observe upon the
  Actions of Mankind with the Freedom which you seem to resolve upon; at
  least if you do, you should take along with you the Distinction of
  Manners of the World, according to the Quality and Way of Life of the
  Persons concerned. A Man of Breeding speaks of even Misfortune among
  Ladies without giving it the most terrible Aspect it can bear: And
  this Tenderness towards them, is much more to be preserved when you
  speak of Vices. All Mankind are so far related, that Care is to be
  taken, in things to which all are liable, you do not mention what
  concerns one in Terms which shall disgust another. Thus to tell a rich
  Man of the Indigence of a Kinsman of his, or abruptly inform a
  virtuous Woman of the Lapse of one who till then was in the same
  degree of Esteem with her self, is in a kind involving each of them in
  some Participation of those Disadvantages. It is therefore expected
  from every Writer, to treat his Argument in such a Manner, as is most
  proper to entertain the sort of Readers to whom his Discourse is
  directed. It is not necessary when you write to the Tea-table, that
  you should draw Vices which carry all the Horror of Shame and
  Contempt: If you paint an impertinent Self-love, an artful Glance, an
  assumed Complection, you say all which you ought to suppose they can
  possibly be guilty of. When you talk with this Limitation, you behave
  your self so as that you may expect others in Conversation may second
  your Raillery; but when you do it in a Stile which every body else
  forbears in Respect to their Quality, they have an easy Remedy in
  forbearing to read you, and hearing no more of their Faults. A Man
  that is now and then guilty of an Intemperance is not to be called a
  Drunkard; but the Rule of polite Raillery, is to speak of a Man's
  Faults as if you loved him. Of this Nature is what was said by
  Cæsar: When one was railing with an uncourtly Vehemence, and broke
  out, What must we call him who was taken in an Intrigue with another
  Man's Wife? Cæsar answered very gravely, A careless Fellow. This was
  at once a Reprimand for speaking of a Crime which in those Days had
  not the Abhorrence attending it as it ought, as well as an Intimation
  that all intemperate Behaviour before Superiors loses its Aim, by
  accusing in a Method unfit for the Audience. A Word to the Wise. All I
  mean here to say to you is, That the most free Person of Quality can
  go no further than being a kind Woman1; and you should never say
  of a Man of Figure worse, than that he knows the World.



  I am, Sir,

  Your most humble Servant,

  Francis Courtly.








Mr. Spectator,

  'I am a Woman of an unspotted Reputation, and know nothing I have ever
  done which should encourage such Insolence; but here was one the other
  Day, and he was dressed like a Gentleman too, who took the Liberty to
  name the Words Lusty Fellow in my Presence. I doubt not but you will
  resent it in Behalf of,



  Sir,

  Your Humble Servant,

  Celia.








Mr. Spectator,

  'You lately put out a dreadful Paper, wherein you promise a full
  Account of the State of criminal Love; and call all the Fair who have
  transgressed in that Kind by one very rude Name which I do not care to
  repeat: But 1 desire to know of you whether I am or I am not of those?
  My Case is as follows. I am kept by an old Batchelour, who took me so
  young, that I knew not how he came by me: He is a Bencher of one of
  the Inns of Court, a very gay healthy old Man; which is a lucky thing
  for him, who has been, he tells me, a Scowrer, a Scamperer, a Breaker
  of Windows, an Invader of Constables, in the Days of Yore when all
  Dominion ended with the Day, and Males and Females met helter skelter,
  and the Scowrers drove before them all who pretended to keep up Order
  or Rule to the Interruption of Love and Honour. This is his way of
  Talk, for he is very gay when he visits me; but as his former
  Knowledge of the Town has alarmed him into an invincible Jealousy, he
  keeps me in a pair of Slippers, neat Bodice, warm Petticoats, and my
  own Hair woven in Ringlets, after a Manner, he says, he remembers. I
  am not Mistress of one Farthing of Money, but have all Necessaries
  provided for me, under the Guard of one who procured for him while he
  had any Desires to gratify. I know nothing of a Wench's Life, but the
  Reputation of it: I have a natural Voice, and a pretty untaught Step
  in Dancing. His Manner is to bring an old Fellow who has been his
  Servant from his Youth, and is gray-headed: This Man makes on the
  Violin a certain Jiggish Noise to which I dance, and when that is over
  I sing to him some loose Air, that has more Wantonness than Musick in
  it. You must have seen a strange window'd House near Hide-Park,
  which is so built that no one can look out of any of the Apartments;
  my Rooms are after that manner, and I never see Man, Woman, or Child,
  but in Company with the two Persons above-mentioned. He sends me in
  all the Books, Pamphlets, Plays, Operas and Songs that come out; and
  his utmost Delight in me as a Woman, is to talk over old Amours in my
  Presence, to play with my Neck, say the Time was, give me a Kiss,
  and bid me be sure to follow the Directions of my Guardian (the
  above-mentioned Lady) and I shall never want. The Truth of my Case is,
  I suppose, that I was educated for a Purpose he did not know he should
  be unfit for when I came to Years. Now, Sir, what I ask of you, as a
  Casuist, is to tell me how far in these Circumstances I am innocent,
  though submissive; he guilty, though impotent?

  I am,

  Sir,

  Your constant Reader,

  Pucella.








To the Man called the Spectator.



  Friend,

  'Forasmuch as at the Birth of thy Labour, thou didst promise upon thy
  Word, that letting alone the Vanities that do abound, thou wouldst
  only endeavour to strengthen the crooked Morals of this our Babylon,
  I gave Credit to thy fair Speeches, and admitted one of thy Papers,
  every Day save Sunday, into my House; for the Edification of my
  Daughter Tabitha, and to the end that Susannah the Wife of my Bosom
  might profit thereby. But alas, my Friend, I find that thou art a
  Liar, and that the Truth is not in thee; else why didst thou in a
  Paper which thou didst lately put forth, make mention of those vain
  Coverings for the Heads of our Females, which thou lovest to liken
  unto Tulips, and which are lately sprung up amongst us? Nay why didst
  thou make mention of them in such a seeming, as if thou didst approve
  the Invention, insomuch that my Daughter Tabitha beginneth to wax
  wanton, and to lust after these foolish Vanities? Surely thou dost see
  with the Eyes of the Flesh. Verily therefore, unless thou dost
  speedily amend and leave off following thine own Imaginations, I will
  leave off thee.



  Thy Friend as hereafter thou dost demean thyself,

  Hezekiah Broadbrim.















Footnote 1:
an unkind



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 277

	
 Thursday, January 17, 1712

	
 Budgell









—fas est et ab hoste doceri.

Virg.








Mr. Spectator,

  'I am so great a Lover of whatever is French, that I lately
  discarded an humble Admirer, because he neither spoke that Tongue, nor
  drank Claret. I have long bewailed, in secret, the Calamities of my
  Sex during the War, in all which time we have laboured under the
  insupportable Inventions of English Tire-Women, who, tho' they
  sometimes copy indifferently well, can never compose with that Goût
  they do in France.



  I was almost in Despair of ever more seeing a Model from that dear
  Country, when last Sunday I over-heard a Lady, in the next Pew to me,
  whisper another, that at the Seven Stars in King-street
  Covent-garden, there was a Madamoiselle compleatly dressed just
  come from Paris.



  I was in the utmost Impatience during the remaining part of the
  Service, and as soon as ever it was over, having learnt the Milleners
  Addresse, I went directly to her House in King-street, but was
  told that the French Lady was at a Person of Qualitys in
  Pall-mall, and would not be back again till very late that Night. I
  was therefore obliged to renew my Visit very early this Morning, and
  had then a full View of the dear Moppet from Head to Foot.



  You cannot imagine, worthy Sir, how ridiculously I find we have all
  been trussed up during the War, and how infinitely the French Dress
  excels ours.



  The Mantua has no Leads in the Sleeves, and I hope we are not lighter
  than the French Ladies, so as to want that kind of Ballast; the
  Petticoat has no Whale-bone; but fits with an Air altogether galant
  and degagé: the Coiffeure is inexpressibly pretty, and in short,
  the whole Dress has a thousand Beauties in it, which I would not have
  as yet made too publick.



  I thought fit, however, to give this Notice, that you may not be
  surprized at my appearing à la mode de Paris on the next
  Birth-Night. I am, Sir,

  Your humble Servant,

  Teraminta.


















Sir,

  'On Saturday last, being the 12th Instant, there arrived at my House
  in King-street, Covent-Garden, a French Baby for the Year 1712. I
  have taken the utmost Care to have her dressed by the most celebrated
  Tyre-women and Mantua-makers in Paris, and do not find that I have
  any Reason to be sorry for the Expence I have been at in her Cloaths
  and Importation: However, as I know no Person who is so good a Judge
  of Dress as your self, if you please to call at my House in your Way
  to the City, and take a View of her, I promise to amend whatever you
  shall disapprove in your next Paper, before I exhibit her as a Pattern
  to the Publick.

  I am, Sir,

  Your most humble Admirer,

  and most obedient Servant,

  Betty Cross-stitch.








Cross-stitch




Paris




British




Mademoiselle








Powell
Paris
France




extempore
Will. Honeycomb's










Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 278

	
 Friday, January 18, 1712

	
 Steele









Sermones ego mallem

Repentes per humum.



Hor.








Mr. Spectator,

  Sir,



  Your having done considerable Service in this great City, by
  rectifying the Disorders of Families, and several Wives having
  preferred your Advice and Directions to those of their Husbands,
  emboldens me to apply to you at this Time. I am a Shop-keeper, and tho
  but a young Man, I find by Experience that nothing but the utmost
  Diligence both of Husband and Wife (among trading People) can keep
  Affairs in any tolerable Order. My Wife at the Beginning of our
  Establishment shewed her self very assisting to me in my Business as
  much as could lie in her Way, and I have Reason to believe twas with
  her Inclination; but of late she has got acquainted with a Schoolman,
  who values himself for his great Knowledge in the Greek Tongue. He
  entertains her frequently in the Shop with Discourses of the Beauties
  and Excellencies of that Language; and repeats to her several Passages
  out of the Greek Poets, wherein he tells her there is unspeakable
  Harmony and agreeable Sounds that all other Languages are wholly
  unacquainted with. He has so infatuated her with his Jargon, that
  instead of using her former Diligence in the Shop, she now neglects
  the Affairs of the House, and is wholly taken up with her Tutor in
  learning by Heart Scraps of Greek, which she vents upon all
  Occasions. She told me some Days ago, that whereas I use some Latin
  Inscriptions in my Shop, she advised me with a great deal of Concern
  to have them changed into Greek; it being a Language less
  understood, would be more conformable to the Mystery of my Profession;
  that our good Friend would be assisting to us in this Work; and that a
  certain Faculty of Gentlemen would find themselves so much obliged to
  me, that they would infallibly make my Fortune: In short her frequent
  Importunities upon this and other Impertinences of the like Nature
  make me very uneasy; and if your Remonstrances have no more Effect
  upon her than mine, I am afraid I shall be obliged to ruin my self to
  procure her a Settlement at Oxford with her Tutor, for she's already
  too mad for Bedlam. Now, Sir, you see the Danger my Family is
  exposed to, and the Likelihood of my Wife's becoming both troublesome
  and useless, unless her reading her self in your Paper may make her
  reflect. She is so very learned that I cannot pretend by Word of Mouth
  to argue with her. She laughed out at your ending a Paper in Greek,
  and said 'twas a Hint to Women of Literature, and very civil not to
  translate it to expose them to the Vulgar. You see how it is with,



  Sir,

  Your humble Servant.








 Mr. Spectator,

  If you have that Humanity and Compassion in your Nature that you take
  such Pains to make one think you have, you will not deny your Advice
  to a distressed Damsel, who intends to be determined by your Judgment
  in a Matter of great Importance to her. You must know then, There is
  an agreeable young Fellow, to whose Person, Wit, and Humour no body
  makes any Objection, that pretends to have been long in Love with me.
  To this I must add, (whether it proceeds from the Vanity of my Nature,
  or the seeming Sincerity of my Lover, I won't pretend to say) that I
  verily believe he has a real Value for me; which if true, you'll allow
  may justly augment his Merit for his Mistress. In short, I am so
  sensible of his good Qualities, and what I owe to his Passion, that I
  think I could sooner resolve to give up my Liberty to him than any
  body else, were there not an Objection to be made to his Fortunes, in
  regard they don't answer the utmost mine may expect, and are not
  sufficient to secure me from undergoing the reproachful Phrase so
  commonly used, That she has played the Fool. Now, tho' I am one of
  those few who heartily despise Equipage, Diamonds, and a Coxcomb, yet
  since such opposite Notions from mine prevail in the World, even
  amongst the best, and such as are esteemed the most prudent People, I
  can't find in my Heart to resolve upon incurring the Censure of those
  wise Folks, which I am conscious I shall do, if when I enter into a
  married State, I discover a Thought beyond that of equalling, if not
  advancing my Fortunes. Under this Difficulty I now labour, not being
  in the least determined whether I shall be governed by the vain World,
  and the frequent Examples I meet with, or hearken to the Voice of my
  Lover, and the Motions I find in my Heart in favour of him. Sir, Your
  Opinion and Advice in this Affair, is the only thing I know can turn
  the Ballance; and which I earnestly intreat I may receive soon; for
  till I have your Thoughts upon it, I am engaged not to give my Swain a
  final Discharge.



  Besides the particular Obligation you will lay on me, by giving this
  Subject Room in one of your Papers, tis possible it may be of use to
  some others of my Sex, who will be as grateful for the Favour as,

  Sir,

  Your Humble Servant,

  Florinda.


  P. S. To tell you the Truth I am Married to Him already, but pray say
  something to justify me.








Mr. Spectator,

  You will forgive Us Professors of Musick if We make a second
  Application to You, in order to promote our Design of exhibiting
  Entertainments of Musick in York-Buildings. It is industriously
  insinuated that Our Intention is to destroy Operas in General, but we
  beg of you to insert this plain Explanation of our selves in your
  Paper. Our Purpose is only to improve our Circumstances, by improving
  the Art which we profess. We see it utterly destroyed at present; and
  as we were the Persons who introduced Operas, we think it a groundless
  Imputation that we should set up against the Opera in it self. What we
  pretend to assert is, That the Songs of different Authors
  injudiciously put together, and a Foreign Tone and Manner which are
  expected in every thing now performed among us, has put Musick it self
  to a stand; insomuch that the Ears of the People cannot now be
  entertained with any thing but what has an impertinent Gayety, without
  any just Spirit, or a Languishment of Notes, without any Passion or
  common Sense. We hope those Persons of Sense and Quality who have done
  us the Honour to subscribe, will not be ashamed of their Patronage
  towards us, and not receive Impressions that patronising us is being
  for or against the Opera, but truly promoting their own Diversions in
  a more just and elegant Manner than has been hitherto performed. We
  are, Sir,

  Your most humble Servants,

  Thomas Clayton.

  Nicolino Haym.

  Charles Dieupart1.









There will be no Performances in
till after that
of the Subscription.



















Footnote 1:
No. 258.



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 279

	
 Saturday, January 19, 1712

	
 Addison









Reddere personæ scit convenientia cuique.



Hor.




Milton's Paradise Lost
The
Aristotle's
Sentiments
Language
1








just
Things
Persons
in
endeavours to argue or explain, to magnify or diminish, to raise
2
those
3
Homer
censured
Iliad
Odyssey
4
Homer
Virgil
Milton
Homer
Virgil
Milton's
Shakespear
Calyban,
Hotspur
Julius Cæsar:
Homer
Grecian
Milton
Dido
Æneas
Adam
Eve
none
so many apt
5




Natural
Sublime
Homer
Virgil
Iliad
Homer






Milton's
Homer
second
s
Let
Longinus
6
Homer
Paradise Lost




Virgil:
 
He
trifling
7
Ovid
Lucan
Statins
Claudian
Tasso
His
affect it
8




Dryden
Virgil's
Æneid
Homer
Milton




since
mean
9
Homer
Zoilus
10
Perrault
11
Virgil
a




shall
Thought
12
Homer
Virgil
Milton
Homer
Vulcan
13
Thersites
14
Mars
Venus
15
Irus
16
Monætes
Paradise Lost
—Satan beheld their Plight,

And to his Mates thus in Derision call'd.

O Friends, why come not on those Victors proud?

Ere-while they fierce were coming, and when we,

To entertain them fair with open Front,

And Breast, (what could we more?) propounded terms

Of Composition, straight they chang'd their Minds,*

Flew off, and into strange Vagaries fell

As they would dance: yet for a Dance they seem'd

Somewhat extravagant, and wild; perhaps

For Joy of offer'd Peace; but I suppose

If our Proposals once again were heard,

We should compel them to a quick Result.

To whom thus Belial in like gamesome Mood:

Leader, the Terms we sent were Terms of Weight,

Of hard Contents, and full of force urg'd home;

Such as we might perceive amus'd them all,

And stumbled many: who receives them right,

Had need, from Head to Foot, will understand;

Not understood, this Gift they have besides,

They shew us when our Foes walk not upright.

Thus they among themselves in pleasant vein

Stood scoffing17——















Footnote 1:
Poetics
'I mean the contexture of incidents, or the Plot. By Manners, I mean,
  whatever marks the Character of the Persons. By Sentiments, whatever
  they say, whether proving any thing, or delivering a general
  sentiment, &c.'



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
argues or explains, magnifies or diminishes, raises



return










Footnote 3:
these



return










Footnote 4:
 'What is base and ignoble at one time and in one country, is not
  always so in others. We are apt to smile at Homer's comparing Ajax to
  an Ass in his Iliad. Such a comparison now-a-days would be indecent
  and ridiculous; because it would be indecent and ridiculous for a
  person of quality to ride upon such a steed. But heretofore this
  Animal was in better repute: Kings and princes did not disdain the
  best so much as mere tradesman do in our time. 'Tis just the same with
  many other smiles which in Homer's time were allowable. We should now
  pity a Poet that should be so silly and ridiculous as to compare a
  Hero to a piece of Fat. Yet Homer does it in a comparison he makes of
  Ulysses... The reason is that in these Primitive Times, wherein the
  Sacrifices ... were living creatures, the Blood and the Fat were the
  most noble, the most august, and the most holy things.'


return









Footnote 5:
such Beautiful



return









Footnote 6:
While scarce the skies her horrid head can bound, 

  She stalks on earth. 



   (Iliad iv.)
Far as a shepherd from some spot on high 

  O'er the wide main extends his boundless eye, 

  Through such a space of air, with thund'ring sound, 

  At one long leap th' immortal coursers bound.

  

  (Iliad v.)
Iliad
Iliad
Iliad



return









Footnote 7:
little



return










Footnote 8:
affect it. I remember but one line in him which has been
objected against, by the Criticks, as a point of Wit. It is in his ninth
Book, where Juno, speaking of the Trojans, how they survived the
Ruins of their City, expresses her self in the following words;



  Num copti potuere copi, num incense cremorunt Pergama?



Were the Trojans taken even after they were Captives, or did Troy burn
even when it was in Flames?



return










Footnote 9:
low



return










Footnote 10:



return









Footnote 11:
Critical Reflections on Longinus



return









Footnote 12:
Sentiments



return










Footnote 13:
Iliad



return









Footnote 14:
Iliad



return









Footnote 15:



return









Footnote 16:
Odyssey



return









Footnote 17:
 Paradise Lost



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 280

	
 Monday, January 21, 1712

	
 Steele









Principibus Placuisse viris non ultima I laus est.



Hor.




What
the
1
Polycarpus
Polycarpus




Augustus




Horace




Irus




be a fine Gentleman



















Footnote 1:
that



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 281

	
 Tuesday, January 22, 1712

	
 Addison









Pectoribus inhians spirantia consulit exta.



Virg.
















Pericardium




Pericardium








Pericardium
Mufro
















Rosamond's




Tuesday's








Phœnomenon










Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 282

	
 Wednesday, January 23, 1712

	
 Steele









Spes incerta futuri.



Virg.1




That
Delusions
2
Will. Honeycomb
Will.




per Annum
per
Annum









	Father's
	£800→
	£16000
	




	Uncle's
	£400→
	£8000
	




	Aunts'
	£10000
	
	




	
	+£6000→
	£16000
	




	Grandmother
	£900→
	£18000
	




	Own each
	£1000→
	£3000
	




	
	Total
	£61000
	This equally divided between us three, amounts to £20000; and, allowance being given for Enlargement upon common Fame, we may lawfully pass for £30000 Fortunes.







mark the End:
by


















January the 14th, 1712.



Mr. Spectator, 



  I am a young Woman and have my Fortune to make; for which Reason I
  come constantly to Church to hear Divine Service, and make Conquests:
  But one great Hindrance in this my Design, is, that our Clerk, who was
  once a Gardener, has this Christmas so over-deckt the Church with
  Greens, that he has quite spoilt my Prospect, insomuch that I have
  scarce seen the young Baronet I dress at these three Weeks, though we
  have both been very constant at our Devotions, and don't sit above
  three Pews off. The Church, as it is now equipt, looks more like a
  Green-house than a Place of Worship: The middle Isle is a very pretty
  shady Walk, and the Pews look like so many Arbours of each Side of it.
  The Pulpit itself has such Clusters of Ivy, Holly, and Rosemary about
  it, that a light Fellow in our Pew took occasion to say, that the
  Congregation heard the Word out of a Bush, like Moses. Sir Anthony
  Love's Pew in particular is so well hedged, that all my Batteries have
  no Effect. I am obliged to shoot at random among the Boughs, without
  taking any manner of Aim. Mr. Spectator, unless youll give Orders
  for removing these Greens, I shall grow a very awkward Creature at
  Church, and soon have little else to do there but to say my Prayers. I
  am in haste,



  Dear Sir,

  Your most Obedient Servant,

  Jenny Simper.















Footnote 1:
Et nulli rei nisi Pœnitentiæ natus.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Pollutions



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 283

	
 Thursday, January 24, 1712

	
 Budgell









Magister artis et largitor ingeni

Venter



Pers.






1
Riches
real Goods












Cataline's
they had nothing to hope for but a Civil War




The Ways to
raise a Man's Fortune
The Art of growing Rich.




Thrift:
Diligence
Thrift:
Italian
Never do that by Proxy which you can do yourself.

Never defer that 'till To-morrow which you can do To-day.

Never neglect small Matters and Expences.
Method in Business




De Wit
one thing at once
























Scaramouch
Paris
Tabac de mille fleures
Snuff of a thousand Flowers
Swiss








Rabelais
Paris
Poyson for Monsieur
Poyson for the Dauphin
Poyson for the
King
France




Rabelais
Drole




Doily
have
able
2




Spectator
Change
Whitehall
James's




Maxim
Saving
Thrift
Ambition
be
3




Longinus




Genius's



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
able so well



return










Footnote 3:
descend to and be



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 284

	
 Thursday, January 1, 1712

	
 Addison









Posthabui tamen illorum mea seria Ludo.



Virg.1




I am the carelessest Creature in the World,
I have certainly the worst Memory of any Man living
think




These
let
2










Sir,

  The Post is just going out, and I have many other Letters of very
  great Importance to write this Evening, but I could not omit making my
  Compliments to you for your Civilities to me when I was last in Town.
  It is my Misfortune to be so full of Business, that I cannot tell you
  a Thousand Things which I have to say to you. I must desire you to
  communicate the Contents of this to no one living; but believe me to
  be, with the greatest Fidelity,

  Sir,

  Your most Obedient,

  Humble Servant,

  Stephen Courier.








Madam,



  I hate Writing, of all Things in the World; however, though I have
  drunk the Waters, and am told I ought not to use my Eyes so much, I
  cannot forbear writing to you, to tell you I have been to the last
  Degree hipped since I saw you. How could you entertain such a Thought,
  as that I should hear of that silly Fellow with Patience? Take my Word
  for it, there is nothing in it; and you may believe it when so lazy a
  Creature as I am undergo the Pains to assure you of it by taking Pen,
  Ink, and Paper in my Hand. Forgive this, you know I shall not often
  offend in this Kind. I am very much
  Your Servant,

   Bridget Eitherdown.



  The Fellow is of your Country, pr'ythee send me Word how ever whether
  he has so great an Estate.









Jan. 24, 1712.



Mr. Spectator, 



  'I am Clerk of the Parish from whence Mrs. Simper sends her
  Complaint, in your Yesterday's Spectator. I must beg of you to
  publish this as a publick Admonition to the aforesaid Mrs. Simper,
  otherwise all my honest Care in the Disposition of the Greens in the
  Church will have no Effect: I shall therefore with your Leave lay
  before you the whole Matter. I was formerly, as she charges me, for
  several Years a Gardener in the County of Kent: But I must
  absolutely deny, that 'tis out of any Affection I retain for my old
  Employment that I have placed my Greens so liberally about the Church,
  but out of a particular Spleen I conceived against Mrs. Simper (and
  others of the same Sisterhood) some time ago. As to herself, I had one
  Day set the Hundredth Psalm, and was singing the first Line in order
  to put the Congregation into the Tune, she was all the while curtsying
  to Sir Anthony in so affected and indecent a manner, that the
  Indignation I conceived at it made me forget my self so far, as from
  the Tune of that Psalm to wander into Southwell Tune, and from
  thence into Windsor Tune, still unable to recover my self till I had
  with the utmost Confusion set a new one. Nay, I have often seen her
  rise up and smile and curtsy to one at the lower End of the Church in
  the midst of a Gloria Patri; and when I have spoke the Assent to a
  Prayer with a long Amen uttered with decent Gravity, she has been
  rolling her Eyes around about in such a Manner, as plainly shewed,
  however she was moved, it was not towards an Heavenly Object. In fine,
  she extended her Conquests so far over the Males, and raised such Envy
  in the Females, that what between Love of those and the Jealousy of
  these, I was almost the only Person that looked in the Prayer-Book all
  Church-time. I had several Projects in my Head to put a Stop to this
  growing Mischief; but as I have long lived in Kent, and there often
  heard how the Kentish Men evaded the Conqueror, by carrying green
  Boughs over their Heads, it put me in mind of practising this Device
  against Mrs. Simper. I find I have preserved many a young Man from
  her Eye-shot by this Means; therefore humbly pray the Boughs may be
  fixed, till she shall give Security for her peaceable Intentions.



  Your Humble Servant,



  Francis Sternhold.















Footnote 1:
Strenua nos exercet inertia.



Hor.



return to footnote mark










Footnote 2:
but



return







Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 285

	
 Saturday, January 26, 1712

	
 Addison









Ne, quicunque Deus, quicunque adhibebitur heros,

Regali conspectus in auro nuper et ostro,

Migret in Obscuras humili sermone tabernas:

Aut, dum vitat humum, nubes et inania captet.



Hor.




Paradise Lost




is
1
—God and his Son except,

Created thing nought valu'd he nor shunn'd.
Adam the goodliest Man of Men since born

His Sons, the fairest of her Daughters Eve.
Such
2




Milton
3
Embrios and Idiots, Eremites and Fryars,

White, Black, and Grey,—with all their Trumpery,

Here Pilgrims roam—



—A while discourse they hold,

No fear lest Dinner cool;—when thus began

Our Author—



Who of all Ages to succeed, but feeling

The Evil on him brought by me, will curse

My Head, ill fare our Ancestor impure,

For this we may thank Adam—










Aristotle
4






First
by
: Such are those of Milton.
5



Imparadised in one another's Arms.



—And in his Hand a Reed

Stood waving tipt with Fire.—



The grassie Clods now calv'd,—



Spangled with Eyes—
so
which
6




Nor did they not perceive the evil Plight

In which they were, or the fierce Pains not feel,

Yet to their Gen'ral's Voice they soon obey'd.—



—Who shall tempt with wand'ring Feet

The dark unbottom'd Infinite Abyss,

And through the palpable Obscure find out

His uncouth way, or spread his airy Flight

Upborn with indefatigable Wings

Over the vast Abrupt!



—So both ascend

In the Visions of God—         Book 2.




for








the
7
















who
8
these
9




should
10



















Footnote 1:
Poetics
'The excellence of Diction consists in being perspicuous without being
  mean.'


return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Verum ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis

  Offendar maculis, quas aut incuria fudit,

  Aut humana parum cavit natura.



De Ar. Poet.



return









Footnote 3:
see an Instance or two



return










Footnote 4:
Poetics



return









Footnote 5:
,like those in Milton



return










Footnote 6:
'That language is elevated and remote from the vulgar idiom which
  employs unusual words: by unusual, I mean foreign,
  metaphorical, extended—all, in short, that are not common words. Yet,
  should a poet compose his Diction entirely of such words, the result
  would be either an enigma or a barbarous jargon: an enigma if composed
  of metaphors, a barbarous jargon if composed of foreign words. For the
  essence of an enigma consists in putting together things apparently
  inconsistent and impossible, and at the same time saying nothing but
  what is true. Now this cannot be effected by the mere arrangement of
  words; by the metaphorical use of them it may.'


return









Footnote 7:
On Life and Poetry of Homer



return









Footnote 8:
Poetics
'A judicious intermixture is requisite ... It is without reason,
  therefore, that some critics have censured these modes of speech, and
  ridiculed the poet for the use of them; as old Euclid did, objecting
  that versification would be an easy business, if it were permitted to
  lengthen words at pleasure, and then giving a burlesque example of
  that sort of diction... In the employment of all the species of
  unusual words, moderation is necessary: for metaphors, foreign words,
  or any of the others improperly used, and with a design to be
  ridiculous, would produce the same effect. But how great a difference
  is made by a proper and temperate use of such words may be seen in
  heroic verse. Let any one put common words in the place of the
  metaphorical, the foreign, and others of the same kind, and he will be
  convinced of the truth of what I say.'
 'the same Iambic verse occurs in Æschylus and Euripides; but by means
  of a single alteration—the substitution of a foreign for a common and
  usual word—one of these verses appears beautiful, the other ordinary.
  For Æschylus in his Philoctetes says, "The poisonous wound that eats
  my flesh." But Euripides for Greek: esthiei "eats" says Greek:   thoinatai "banquets on."'


return









Footnote 9:
this



return










Footnote 10:
P. L.
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song.
That to the height of this great argument

  I may assert Eternal Providence.
Stirr'd up with envy and revenge.
 To set himself in glory above his peers,
 Against the throne and monarchy of God.
 That were an ignominy and shame beneath

  This downfall.
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of heaven.
         the excess

  Of Glory obscured: as when the sun, new ris'n,

  Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Death as oft accused

  Of tardy execution, since denounc'd

  The day of his offence.



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 286

	
 Monday, January 28, 1712

	
 Steele









Nomina Honesta prætenduntur vitiis.



Tacit.








York, Jan. 18, 1712.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I pretend not to inform a Gentleman of so just a Taste, whenever he
  pleases to use it; but it may not be amiss to inform your Readers,
  that there is a false Delicacy as well as a true one. True Delicacy,
  as I take it, consists in Exactness of Judgment and Dignity of
  Sentiment, or if you will, Purity of Affection, as this is opposed to
  Corruption and Grossness. There are Pedants in Breeding as well as in
  Learning. The Eye that cannot bear the Light is not delicate but sore.
  A good Constitution appears in the Soundness and Vigour of the Parts,
  not in the Squeamishness of the Stomach; And a false Delicacy is
  Affectation, not Politeness. What then can be the Standard of Delicacy
  but Truth and Virtue? Virtue, which, as the Satyrist long since
  observed, is real Honour; whereas the other Distinctions among Mankind
  are meerly titular. Judging by that Rule, in my Opinion, and in that
  of many of your virtuous Female Readers, you are so far from deserving
  Mr. Courtly's Accusation, that you seem too gentle, and to allow too
  many Excuses for an enormous Crime, which is the Reproach of the Age,
  and is in all its Branches and Degrees expresly forbidden by that
  Religion we pretend to profess; and whose Laws, in a Nation that calls
  it self Christian, one would think should take Place of those Rules
  which Men of corrupt Minds, and those of weak Understandings follow. I
  know not any thing more pernicious to good Manners, than the giving
  fair Names to foul Actions; for this confounds Vice and Virtue, and
  takes off that natural Horrour we have to Evil. An innocent Creature,
  who would start at the Name of Strumpet, may think it pretty to be
  called a Mistress, especially if her Seducer has taken care to inform
  her, that a Union of Hearts is the principal Matter in the Sight of
  Heaven, and that the Business at Church is a meer idle Ceremony. Who
  knows not that the Difference between obscene and modest Words
  expressing the same Action, consists only in the accessary Idea, for
  there is nothing immodest in Letters and Syllables. Fornication and
  Adultery are modest Words: because they express an Evil Action as
  criminal, and so as to excite Horrour and Aversion: Whereas Words
  representing the Pleasure rather than the Sin, are for this Reason
  indecent and dishonest. Your Papers would be chargeable with something
  worse than Indelicacy, they would be Immoral, did you treat the
  detestable Sins of Uncleanness in the same manner as you rally an
  impertinent Self-love and an artful Glance; as those Laws would be
  very unjust, that should chastise Murder and Petty Larceny with the
  same Punishment. Even Delicacy requires that the Pity shewn to
  distressed indigent Wickedness, first betrayed into, and then expelled
  the Harbours of the Brothel, should be changed to Detestation, when we
  consider pampered Vice in the Habitations of the Wealthy. The most
  free Person of Quality, in Mr. Courtly's Phrase, that is, to speak
  properly, a Woman of Figure who has forgot her Birth and Breeding,
  dishonoured her Relations and her self, abandoned her Virtue and
  Reputation, together with the natural Modesty of her Sex, and risqued
  her very Soul, is so far from deserving to be treated with no worse
  Character than that of a kind Woman, (which is doubtless Mr. Courtly's
  Meaning, if he has any,) that one can scarce be too severe on her, in
  as much as she sins against greater Restraints, is less exposed, and
  liable to fewer Temptations, than Beauty in Poverty and Distress. It
  is hoped therefore, Sir, that you will not lay aside your generous
  Design of exposing that monstrous Wickedness of the Town, whereby a
  Multitude of Innocents are sacrificed in a more barbarous Manner than
  those who were offered to Moloch. The Unchaste are provoked to see
  their Vice exposed, and the Chaste cannot rake into such Filth without
  Danger of Defilement; but a meer Spectator may look into the Bottom,
  and come off without partaking in the Guilt. The doing so will
  convince us you pursue publick Good, and not meerly your own
  Advantage: But if your Zeal slackens, how can one help thinking that
  Mr. Courtly's Letter is but a Feint to get off from a Subject, in
  which either your own, or the private and base Ends of others to whom
  you are partial, or those of whom you are afraid, would not endure a
  Reformation?



  I am, Sir, your humble Servant and Admirer, so long as you tread in
  the Paths of Truth, Virtue, and Honour.








  Mr. Spectator,



  Trin. Coll. Cantab. Jan. 12, 1711-12.



  It is my Fortune to have a Chamber-Fellow, with whom, tho' I agree
  very well in many Sentiments, yet there is one in which we are as
  contrary as Light and Darkness. We are both in Love: his Mistress is a
  lovely Fair, and mine a lovely Brown. Now as the Praise of our
  Mistresses Beauty employs much of our Time, we have frequent Quarrels
  in entering upon that Subject, while each says all he can to defend
  his Choice. For my own part, I have racked my Fancy to the utmost; and
  sometimes, with the greatest Warmth of Imagination, have told him,
  That Night was made before Day, and many more fine Things, tho'
  without any effect: Nay, last Night I could not forbear saying with
  more Heat than Judgment, that the Devil ought to be painted white. Now
  my Desire is, Sir, that you would be pleased to give us in Black and
  White your Opinion in the Matter of Dispute between us; which will
  either furnish me with fresh and prevailing Arguments to maintain my
  own Taste, or make me with less Repining allow that of my
  Chamber-Fellow. I know very well that I have Jack Cleveland1 and
  Bond's Horace on my Side; but then he has such a Band of Rhymers and
  Romance-Writers, with which he opposes me, and is so continually
  chiming to the Tune of Golden Tresses, yellow Locks, Milk, Marble,
  Ivory, Silver, Swan, Snow, Daisies, Doves, and the Lord knows what;
  which he is always sounding with so much Vehemence in my Ears, that he
  often puts me into a brown Study how to answer him; and I find that I
  am in a fair Way to be quite confounded, without your timely
  Assistance afforded to,



  Sir,



  Your humble Servant,



  Philobrune.



T.
2















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Z.



return







Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 287

	
 Tuesday, January 29, 1712

	
 Addison









Greek: Ô philtátae gae maeter, hos semnòn sphódr' ei Tois noun echousi ktaema—Menand.




















Look
History
1












As
who
2



























Footnote 1:
Historian



return to footnote mark










Footnote 2:
that



return






Contents

Contents, p.3








	
 No. 288

	
 Wednesday, January 30, 1712

	
 Steele









—Pavor est utrique molestus.



Hor.








Mr. Spectator,



  'When you spoke of the Jilts and Coquets, you then promised to be very
  impartial, and not to spare even your own Sex, should any of their
  secret or open Faults come under your Cognizance; which has given me
  Encouragement to describe a certain Species of Mankind under the
  Denomination of Male Jilts. They are Gentlemen who do not design to
  marry, yet, that they may appear to have some Sense of Gallantry,
  think they must pay their Devoirs to one particular Fair; in order to
  which they single out from amongst the Herd of Females her to whom
  they design to make their fruitless Addresses. This done, they first
  take every Opportunity of being in her Company, and then never fail
  upon all Occasions to be particular to her, laying themselves at her
  Feet, protesting the Reality of their Passion with a thousand Oaths,
  solliciting a Return, and saying as many fine Things as their Stock of
  Wit will allow; and if they are not deficient that way, generally
  speak so as to admit of a double Interpretation; which the credulous
  Fair is apt to turn to her own Advantage, since it frequently happens
  to be a raw, innocent, young Creature, who thinks all the World as
  sincere as her self, and so her unwary Heart becomes an easy Prey to
  those deceitful Monsters, who no sooner perceive it, but immediately
  they grow cool, and shun her whom they before seemed so much to
  admire, and proceed to act the same common-place Villany towards
  another. A Coxcomb flushed with many of these infamous Victories shall
  say he is sorry for the poor Fools, protest and vow he never thought
  of Matrimony, and wonder talking civilly can be so strangely
  misinterpreted. Now, Mr. Spectator, you that are a professed Friend to
  Love, will, I hope, observe upon those who abuse that noble Passion,
  and raise it in innocent Minds by a deceitful Affectation of it, after
  which they desert the Enamoured. Pray bestow a little of your Counsel
  to those fond believing Females who already have or are in Danger of
  broken Hearts; in which you will oblige a great Part of this Town, but
  in a particular Manner,



  Sir Your (yet Heart-whole) Admirer,

  and devoted humble Servant,

  Melainia.


















To the Spectator.



  Sir1,

  'Since so many Dealers turn Authors, and write quaint Advertisements
  in praise of their Wares, one who from an Author turn'd Dealer may be
  allowed for the Advancement of Trade to turn Author again. I will not
  however set up like some of 'em, for selling cheaper than the most
  able honest Tradesman can; nor do I send this to be better known for
  Choice and Cheapness of China and Japan Wares, Tea, Fans, Muslins,
  Pictures, Arrack, and other Indian Goods. Placed as I am in
  Leadenhall-street, near the India-Company, and the Centre of that
  Trade, Thanks to my fair Customers, my Warehouse is graced as well as
  the Benefit Days of my Plays and Operas; and the foreign Goods I sell
  seem no less acceptable than the foreign Books I translated, Rabelais
  and Don Quixote: This the Criticks allow me, and while they like my
  Wares they may dispraise my Writing. But as 'tis not so well known yet
  that I frequently cross the Seas of late, and speaking Dutch and
  French, besides other Languages, I have the Conveniency of buying and
  importing rich Brocades, Dutch Atlasses, with Gold and Silver, or
  without, and other foreign Silks of the newest Modes and best
  Fabricks, fine Flanders Lace, Linnens, and Pictures, at the best Hand:
  This my new way of Trade I have fallen into I cannot better publish
  than by an Application to you. My Wares are fit only for such as your
  Readers; and I would beg of you to print this Address in your Paper,
  that those whose Minds you adorn may take the Ornaments for their
  Persons and Houses from me. This, Sir, if I may presume to beg it,
  will be the greater Favour, as I have lately received rich Silks and
  fine Lace to a considerable Value, which will be sold cheap for a
  quick Return, and as I have also a large Stock of other Goods. Indian
  Silks were formerly a great Branch of our Trade; and since we must not
  sell 'em, we must seek Amends by dealing in others. This I hope will
  plead for one who would lessen the Number of Teazers of the Muses, and
  who, suiting his Spirit to his Circumstances, humbles the Poet to
  exalt the Citizen. Like a true Tradesman, I hardly ever look into any
  Books but those of Accompts. To say the Truth, I cannot, I think, give
  you a better Idea of my being a downright Man of Traffick, than by
  acknowledging I oftener read the Advertisements, than the Matter of
  even your Paper. I am under a great Temptation to take this
  Opportunity of admonishing other Writers to follow my Example, and
  trouble the Town no more; but as it is my present Business to increase
  the Number of Buyers rather than Sellers, I hasten to tell you that I
  am,

  Sir, Your most humble,

  and most obedient Servant,

  Peter Motteux.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 289

	
 Thursday, January 31, 1712

	
 Addison









Vitæ summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam.



Hor.








A
1
populus virorum












perhaps
written
2








Be
. They
3




which
4























Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
which have been written



return









Footnote 3:
; for they



return









Footnote 4:



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 290

	
 Friday, February 1, 1712

	
 Steele









Projicit ampullas et sesquipedalia verba.



Hor.1




They
Will. Honeycomb
2
Will Honeycomb
s










Mr. Spectator,



  I am appointed to act a Part in the new Tragedy called The Distressed
  Mother: It is the celebrated Grief of Orestes which I am to personate;
  but I shall not act it as I ought, for I shall feel it too intimately
  to be able to utter it. I was last Night repeating a Paragraph to my
  self, which I took to be an Expression of Rage, and in the middle of
  the Sentence there was a Stroke of Self-pity which quite unmanned me.
  Be pleased, Sir, to print this Letter, that when I am oppressed in
  this manner at such an Interval, a certain Part of the Audience may
  not think I am out; and I hope with this Allowance to do it to
  Satisfaction. I am, Sir,

  Your most humble Servant,

  George Powell.








Mr. Spectator,



  'As I was walking t'other Day in the Park, I saw a Gentleman with a
  very short Face; I desire to know whether it was you. Pray inform me
  as soon as you can, lest I become the most heroick Hecatissa's Rival.



  Your humble Servant to command,



  Sophia.



















Spectator






















Footnote 1:
Spirat Tragicum satis, et fœliciter Audet.



Hor.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Andromaque



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 291

	
 Saturday, February 2, 1712

	
 Addison









Ubi plura nitent in carmine, non ego paucis

Offendor maculis, quas aut Incuria fudit,

Aut Humana parum cavit Natura.



Hor.




Paradise Lost














Mr
Essay on Human Understanding
1




few
2




This
Errors, like Straws, upon the Surface flow;

He who would search for Pearls must dive below3.
Tully
Verbum ardens
4








Paradise
Lost
must
5




shall
6
The
7



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Whole Critical Works
'he has long dictated in this part of letters. He is acknowledged as
  the great arbitrator between the merits of the best writers; and
  during the course of almost thirty years there have been few appeals
  from his sentence.'
Footnote 3
No. 44
Footnote 4
No. 62
Poetics



return









Footnote 3:
Annus Mirabilis,



return









Footnote 4:
Ad Brutum
'Facile est enim verbum aliquod ardens (ut ita dicam) notare, idque
  restinctis jam animorum incendiis, irridere.'


return









Footnote 5:
On the Sublime



return









Footnote 6:
Spectator



return









Footnote 7:
Spectator
Spectator



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 292

	
 Monday, February 4, 1712

	
 Addison









Illam, quicquid agit, quoquo Vestigia flectit,

  Componit furlim, subsequiturque decor.



Tibull. L. 4.




















It
1
Pliny to Quintilian.



  Tho I am fully acquainted with the Contentment and just Moderation of
  your Mind, and the Conformity the Education you have given your
  Daughter bears to your own Character; yet since she is suddenly to be
  married to a Person of Distinction, whose Figure in the World makes it
  necessary for her to be at a more than ordinary Expence in Cloaths and
  Equipage suitable to her Husbands Quality; by which, tho her
  intrinsick Worth be not augmented, yet will it receive both Ornament
  and Lustre: And knowing your Estate to be as moderate as the Riches of
  your Mind are abundant, I must challenge to my self some part of the
  Burthen; and as a Parent of your Child. I present her with Twelve
  hundred and fifty Crowns towards these Expences; which Sum had been
  much larger, had I not feared the Smallness of it would be the
  greatest Inducement with you to accept of it. Farewell.








In
So spake the Cherub, and his grave Rebuke,

Severe in youthful Beauty, added Grace

Invincible: Abash'd the Devil stood,

And felt how awful Goodness is, and saw

Virtue in her own Shape ho'w lovely I saw, and pin'd

His Loss2.
and
Ne non procumbat honeste

Extrema hæc etiam cura, cadentis erat3.



'Twas her last Thought, How decently to fall.










Mr. Spectator, 

  I am a young Woman without a Fortune; but of a very high Mind: That
  is, Good Sir, I am to the last degree Proud and Vain. I am ever
  railing at the Rich, for doing Things, which, upon Search into my
  Heart, I find I am only angry because I cannot do the same my self. I
  wear the hooped Petticoat, and am all in Callicoes when the finest are
  in Silks. It is a dreadful thing to be poor and proud; therefore if
  you please, a Lecture on that Subject for the Satisfaction of 

  Your Uneasy Humble Servant, 

  JEZEBEL.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Par. L.



return









Footnote 3:
Fast



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 293

	
 Tuesday, February 5, 1712

	
 Addison









Greek: Pasin gàr euphronousi summachei túchae.







The
1




















Queen
2
has
represented
Afflavit Deus et dissipantur.




is
3




s




Drop
insignificant
4
Concern
5
It
its
6



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark



cross-reference: return to Footnote 3 of No. 379









Footnote 2:
erratum
you see in
has represented



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
erratum
inconsiderable



return









Footnote 5:
significancy



return









Footnote 6:
his



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 294

	
 Wednesday, February 6, 1712

	
 Steele









  Difficile est plurimum virtutem revereri qui semper secunda fortuna
  sit usus.



Tull. ad Herennium.




The
1
Bride's
Sunday
Snape's
The wise Providence has amply compensated the Disadvantages of the Poor
and Indigent, in wanting many of the Conveniencies of this Life, by a
more abundant Provision for their Happiness in the next. Had they been
higher born, or more richly endowed, they would have wanted this Manner
of Education, of which those only enjoy the Benefit, who are low enough
to submit to it; where they have such Advantages without Money, and
without Price, as the Rich cannot purchase with it. The Learning which
is given, is generally more edifying to them, than that which is sold to
others: Thus do they become more exalted in Goodness, by being depressed
in Fortune, and their Poverty is, in Reality, their Preferment2.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
 'Just Published.



  'A very neat Pocket Edition of the Spectator, in two volumes 12mo.
  Printed for S. Buckley, at the Dolphin, in Little Britain, and J.
  Tonson, at Shakespear's Head, over-against Catherine-Street in the
  Strand.'


return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 295

	
 Thursday, February 7, 1712

	
 Addison









Prodiga non sentit pereuntem fæmina censum:

At velut exhaustâ redivivus pullulet arcâ

Nummus, et è pleno semper tollatur acervo,

Non unquam reputat quanti sibi gandia constent.



Juv.








Mr. Spectator,



  I am turned of my great Climacteric, and am naturally a Man of a meek
  Temper. About a dozen Years ago I was married, for my Sins, to a young
  Woman of a good Family, and of an high Spirit; but could not bring her
  to close with me, before I had entered into a Treaty with her longer
  than that of the Grand Alliance. Among other Articles, it was therein
  stipulated, that she should have £400 a Year for Pin-money, which I
  obliged my self to pay Quarterly into the hands of one who had acted
  as her Plenipotentiary in that Affair. I have ever since religiously
  observed my part in this solemn Agreement. Now, Sir, so it is, that
  the Lady has had several Children since I married her; to which, if I
  should credit our malicious Neighbours, her Pin-money has not a little
  contributed. The Education of these my Children, who, contrary to my
  Expectation, are born to me every Year, streightens me so much, that I
  have begged their Mother to free me from the Obligation of the
  above-mentioned Pin-money, that it may go towards making a Provision
  for her Family. This Proposal makes her noble Blood swell in her
  Veins, insomuch that finding me a little tardy in her last Quarter's
  Payment, she threatens me every Day to arrest me; and proceeds so far
  as to tell me, that if I do not do her Justice, I shall die in a Jayl.
  To this she adds, when her Passion will let her argue calmly, that she
  has several Play-Debts on her Hand, which must be discharged very
  suddenly, and that she cannot lose her Money as becomes a Woman of her
  Fashion, if she makes me any Abatements in this Article. I hope, Sir,
  you will take an Occasion from hence to give your Opinion upon a
  Subject which you have not yet touched, and inform us if there are any
  Precedents for this Usage among our Ancestors; or whether you find any
  mention of Pin-money in Grotius, Puffendorf, or any other of the
  Civilians.



  I am ever

  the humblest of your Admirers,

  Josiah Fribble, Esq.








































remember
Roger
for her
1
Roger



















Footnote 1:
to keep her in



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 296

	
 Friday, February 8, 1712

	
 Steele









Nugis addere pondus.



Hor.








Dear Spec.



  Having lately conversed much with the Fair Sex on the Subject of your
  Speculations, (which since their Appearance in Publick, have been the
  chief Exercise of the Female loquacious Faculty) I found the fair Ones
  possess'd with a Dissatisfaction at your prefixing Greek Motto's to
  the Frontispiece of your late Papers; and, as a Man of Gallantry, I
  thought it a Duty incumbent on me to impart it to you, in Hopes of a
  Reformation, which is only to be effected by a Restoration of the
  Latin to the usual Dignity in your Papers, which of late, the Greek,
  to the great Displeasure of your Female Readers, has usurp'd; for tho'
  the Latin has the Recommendation of being as unintelligible to them as
  the Greek, yet being written of the same Character with their
  Mother-Tongue, by the Assistance of a Spelling-Book it's legible;
  which Quality the Greek wants: And since the Introduction of Operas
  into this Nation, the Ladies are so charmed with Sounds abstracted
  from their Ideas, that they adore and honour the Sound of Latin as it
  is old Italian. I am a Sollicitor for the Fair Sex, and therefore
  think my self in that Character more likely to be prevalent in this
  Request, than if I should subscribe myself by my proper Name.

  J.M.



  I desire you may insert this in one of your Speculations, to shew my
  Zeal for removing the Dissatisfaction of the Fair Sex, and restoring
  you to their Favour.








Sir,



  I was some time since in Company with a young Officer, who entertained
  us with the Conquest he had made over a Female Neighbour of his; when
  a Gentleman who stood by, as I suppose, envying the Captain's good
  Fortune, asked him what Reason he had to believe the Lady admired him?
  Why, says he, my Lodgings are opposite to hers, and she is continually
  at her Window either at Work, Reading, taking Snuff, or putting her
  self in some toying Posture on purpose to draw my Eyes that Way. The
  Confession of this vain Soldier made me reflect on some of my own
  Actions; for you must know, Sir, I am often at a Window which fronts
  the Apartments of several Gentlemen, who I doubt not have the same
  Opinion of me. I must own I love to look at them all, one for being
  well dressed, a second for his fine Eye, and one particular one,
  because he is the least Man I ever saw; but there is something so
  easie and pleasant in the Manner of my little Man, that I observe he
  is a Favourite of all his Acquaintance. I could go on to tell you of
  many others that I believe think I have encouraged them from my
  Window: But pray let me have your Opinion of the Use of the Window in
  a beautiful Lady: and how often she may look out at the same Man,
  without being supposed to have a Mind to jump out to him. Yours,

  Aurelia Careless.'


















Mr. Spectator,



  'I have for some Time made Love to a Lady, who received it with all
  the kind Returns I ought to expect. But without any Provocation, that
  I know of, she has of late shunned me with the utmost Abhorrence,
  insomuch that she went out of Church last Sunday in the midst of
  Divine Service, upon my coming into the same Pew. Pray, Sir, what must
  I do in this Business? 

  Your Servant, 

  Euphues.'



















York, Jan. 20, 1711-12.



  Mr. Spectator, 



  'We have in this Town a sort of People who pretend to Wit and write
  Lampoons: I have lately been the Subject of one of them. The Scribler
  had not Genius enough in Verse to turn my Age, as indeed I am an old
  Maid, into Raillery, for affecting a youthier Turn than is consistent
  with my Time of Day; and therefore he makes the Title to his Madrigal,
  The Character of Mrs. Judith Lovebane, born in the Year 16801.
  What I desire of you is, That you disallow that a Coxcomb who pretends
  to write Verse, should put the most malicious Thing he can say in
  Prose. This I humbly conceive will disable our Country Wits, who
  indeed take a great deal of Pains to say any thing in Rhyme, tho' they
  say it very ill. 

  I am, Sir, 

  Your Humble Servant, 

  Susanna Lovebane.'








Mr. Spectator,

  'We are several of us, Gentlemen and Ladies, who Board in the same
  House, and after Dinner one of our Company (an agreeable Man enough
  otherwise) stands up and reads your Paper to us all. We are the
  civillest People in the World to one another, and therefore I am
  forced to this way of desiring our Reader, when he is doing this
  Office, not to stand afore the Fire. This will be a general Good to
  our Family this cold Weather. He will, I know, take it to be our
  common Request when he comes to these Words, Pray, Sir, sit down;
  which I desire you to insert, and you will particularly oblige

  Your Daily Reader,

  Charity Frost.'








Sir,



  I am a great Lover of Dancing, but cannot perform so well as some
  others; however, by my Out-of-the-Way Capers, and some original
  Grimaces, I don't fail to divert the Company, particularly the Ladies,
  who laugh immoderately all the Time. Some, who pretend to be my
  Friends, tell me they do it in Derision, and would advise me to leave
  it off, withal that I make my self ridiculous. I don't know what to do
  in this Affair, but I am resolved not to give over upon any
  Account, 'till I have the Opinion of the Spectator.

  Your humble Servant,

  John Trott.'









Spectator



















Footnote 1:
1750



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 297

	
 Saturday, February 9, 1712

	
 Addison









—velut si

  Egregio inspersos reprendas corpore nævos.



Hor.




Paradise Lost






The
1




In
Story of Ulysses
2




particularly
3




as
 a,
4




Paradise Lost
This
5




Paradise
Lost
or a
and
but
6
tis
chief Episodes
7
Whether
sublimer
8
Paradise Lost








finely
9




Tully
10








Lucan
11
Milton's
for
12




Paradise
Lost




—The small Infantry

  Warrdon by Cranes—



Another
that
13








Riget
ejus oratio, nihil in eâ placidum nihil lene




And brought into the World a World of Woe.



—Begirt th' Almighty throne

Beseeching or besieging—



This tempted our attempt—



At one slight bound high overleapt all bound.
know
14




is
of
15
Tack to the Larboard, and stand off to Sea.

  Veer Star-board Sea and Land.




shall
Papers
16



















Footnote 1:
Poetics
Greek: haploì
Greek: peplegménoi



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Stories of Achilles, Ulysses, and Æneas.



return










Footnote 3:
Poetics



return









Footnote 4:
that



return










Footnote 5:
'Spencer has a better for his "Fairy Queen" had his action been
  finished, or been one; and Milton if the Devil had not been his hero,
  instead of Adam; if the giant had not foiled the knight, and driven
  him out of his stronghold, to wander through the world with his
  lady-errant; and if there had not been more machining persons that
  human in his poem.'


return









Footnote 6:
or



return









Footnote 7:
Episode



return









Footnote 8:
greater



return









Footnote 9:
Poetics
'ambitious to figure throughout themselves, imitate but little and
  seldom. Homer, after a few preparatory lines, immediately introduces a
  man or woman or some other character, for all have their character.'
'No Heroic Poem raises such admiration of the Poet, as his hath done,
  though not so great admiration of the persons he introduceth.'


return









Footnote 10:
Letters to Atticus



return









Footnote 11:
Poetices



return









Footnote 12:
of



return









Footnote 13:
which



return










Footnote 14:
Rhetoric
Greek: pérsai
Greek: archàe
Greek: archàe
Paradise Lost
'rhetoric taught out of the rules of Plato, Aristotle, Phalereus,
  Cicero, Hermogenes, Longinus. To which poetry would be made
  subsequent, or, indeed, rather precedent, as being less subtile and
  fine, but more simple, sensuous, and passionate. I mean not here the
  prosody of a verse, which they could not but have hit on before among
  the rudiments of grammar; but that sublime art which in Aristotle's
  Poetics, in Horace, and the Italian commentaries of Castelvetro,
  Tasso, Mazzoni, and others, teaches what the laws are of a true epic
  poem, what of a dramatic, what of a lyric, what decorum is, which is
  the grand masterpiece to observe. This would make them soon perceive
  what despicable creatures our common rhymers and play-writers be; and
  show them what religious, what glorious and magnificent use might be
  made of poetry, both in divine and human things.'


return









Footnote 15:
in



return









Footnote 16:
Saturday's Paper



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 298

	
 Monday, February 11, 1712

	
 Steele









Nusquam Tuta fides.



Virg.








  'I am a Virgin, and in no Case despicable; but yet such as I am I must
  remain, or else become, 'tis to be feared, less happy: for I find not
  the least good Effect from the just Correction you some time since
  gave, that too free, that looser Part of our Sex which spoils the Men;
  the same Connivance at the Vices, the same easie Admittance of
  Addresses, the same vitiated Relish of the Conversation of the
  greatest of Rakes (or in a more fashionable Way of expressing one's
  self, of such as have seen the World most) still abounds, increases,
  multiplies.



  'The humble Petition therefore of many of the most strictly virtuous,
  and of my self, is, That you'll once more exert your Authority, and
  that according to your late Promise, your full, your impartial
  Authority, on this sillier Branch of our Kind: For why should they be
  the uncontroulable Mistresses of our Fate? Why should they with
  Impunity indulge the Males in Licentiousness whilst single, and we
  have the dismal Hazard and Plague of reforming them when married?
  Strike home, Sir, then, and spare not, or all our maiden Hopes, our
  gilded Hopes of nuptial Felicity are frustrated, are vanished, and you
  your self, as well as Mr. Courtly, will, by smoothing over immodest
  Practices with the Gloss of soft and harmless Names, for ever forfeit
  our Esteem. Nor think that I'm herein more severe than need be: If I
  have not reason more than enough, do you and the World judge from this
  ensuing Account, which, I think, will prove the Evil to be universal.



  'You must know then, that since your Reprehension of this Female
  Degeneracy came out, I've had a Tender of Respects from no less than
  five Persons, of tolerable Figure too as Times go: But the Misfortune
  is, that four of the five are professed Followers of the Mode. They
  would face me down, that all Women of good Sense ever were, and ever
  will be, Latitudinarians in Wedlock; and always did, and will, give
  and take what they profanely term Conjugal Liberty of Conscience.



  'The two first of them, a Captain and a Merchant, to strengthen their
  Argument, pretend to repeat after a Couple, a Brace of Ladies of
  Quality and Wit, That Venus was always kind to Mars; and what Soul
  that has the least spark of Generosity, can deny a Man of Bravery any
  thing? And how pitiful a Trader that, whom no Woman but his own Wife
  will have Correspondence and Dealings with? Thus these; whilst the
  third, the Country Squire, confessed, That indeed he was surprized
  into good Breeding, and entered into the Knowledge of the World
  unawares. That dining t'other Day at a Gentleman's House, the Person
  who entertained was obliged to leave him with his Wife and Nieces;
  where they spoke with so much Contempt of an absent Gentleman for
  being slow at a Hint, that he had resolved never to be drowsy,
  unmannerly, or stupid for the future at a Friend's House; and on a
  hunting Morning, not to pursue the Game either with the Husband
  abroad, or with the Wife at home.



  'The next that came was a Tradesman, no1 less full of the Age
  than the former; for he had the Gallantry to tell me, that at a late
  Junket which he was invited to, the Motion being made, and the
  Question being put, 'twas by Maid, Wife and Widow resolved nemine
  contradicente, That a young sprightly Journeyman is absolutely
  necessary in their Way of Business: To which they had the Assent and
  Concurrence of the Husbands present. I dropped him a Curtsy, and gave
  him to understand that was his Audience of Leave.



  'I am reckoned pretty, and have had very many Advances besides these;
  but have been very averse to hear any of them, from my Observation on
  these above-mentioned, 'till I hoped some Good from the Character of
  my present Admirer, a Clergyman. But I find even amongst them there
  are indirect Practices in relation to Love, and our Treaty is at
  present a little in Suspence, 'till some Circumstances are cleared.
  There is a Charge against him among the Women, and the Case is this:
  It is alledged, That a certain endowed Female would have appropriated
  her self to and consolidated her self with a Church, which my Divine
  now enjoys; (or, which is the same thing, did prostitute her self to
  her Friend's doing this for her): That my Ecclesiastick, to obtain the
  one, did engage himself to take off the other that lay on Hand; but
  that on his Success in the Spiritual, he again renounced the Carnal.



  I put this closely to him, and taxed him with Disingenuity. He to
  clear himself made the subsequent Defence, and that in the most solemn
  Manner possible: That he was applied to and instigated to accept of a
  Benefice: That a conditional Offer thereof was indeed made him at
  first, but with Disdain by him rejected: That when nothing (as they
  easily perceived) of this Nature could bring him to their Purpose,
  Assurance of his being entirely unengaged before-hand, and safe from
  all their After-Expectations (the only Stratagem left to draw him in)
  was given him: That pursuant to this the Donation it self was without
  Delay, before several reputable Witnesses, tendered to him gratis,
  with the open Profession of not the least Reserve, or most minute
  Condition; but that yet immediately after Induction, his insidious
  Introducer (or her crafty Procurer, which you will) industriously
  spread the Report, which had reached my Ears, not only in the
  Neighbourhood of that said Church, but in London, in the University,
  in mine and his own County, and where-ever else it might probably
  obviate his Application to any other Woman, and so confine him to this
  alone: And, in a Word, That as he never did make any previous Offer of
  his Service, or the least Step to her Affection; so on his Discovery
  of these Designs thus laid to trick him, he could not but afterwards,
  in Justice to himself, vindicate both his Innocence and Freedom by
  keeping his proper Distance.



  'This is his Apology, and I think I shall be satisfied with it. But I
  cannot conclude my tedious Epistle, without recommending to you not
  only to resume your former Chastisement, but to add to your Criminals
  the Simoniacal Ladies, who seduce the sacred Order into the Difficulty
  of either breaking a mercenary Troth made to them whom they ought not
  to deceive, or by breaking or keeping it offending against him whom
  they cannot deceive. Your Assistance and Labours of this sort would be
  of great Benefit, and your speedy Thoughts on this Subject would be
  very seasonable to,



Sir, Your most obedient Servant,

  Chastity Loveworth.'















Footnote 1:
nor



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 299

	
 Tuesday, February 12, 1712

	
 Addison









Malo Venusinam, quam te, Cornelia, Mater

  Gracchorum, si cum magnis virtutibus affers

  Grande supercilium, et numeras in dote triumphos.

  Tolle tuum precor Annibalem victumque Syphacem

  In castris, et cum totâ Carthagine migra.



Juv.














  Mr. Spectator,



  'Having carefully perused a Letter sent you by Josiah Fribble, Esq.,
  with your subsequent Discourse upon Pin-Money, I do presume to trouble
  you with an Account of my own Case, which I look upon to be no less
  deplorable than that of Squire Fribble. I am a Person of no
  Extraction, having begun the World with a small parcel of Rusty Iron,
  and was for some Years commonly known by the Name of Jack Anvil1. I
  have naturally a very happy Genius for getting Money, insomuch that by
  the Age of Five and twenty I had scraped together Four thousand two
  hundred Pounds Five Shillings, and a few odd Pence. I then launched
  out into considerable Business, and became a bold Trader both by Sea
  and Land, which in a few Years raised me a very great2 Fortune.
  For these my Good Services I was Knighted in the thirty fifth Year of
  my Age, and lived with great Dignity among my City-Neighbours by the
  Name of Sir John Anvil. Being in my Temper very Ambitious, I was now
  bent upon making a Family, and accordingly resolved that my
  Descendants should have a Dash of Good Blood in their Veins. In order
  to this, I made Love to the Lady Mary Oddly, an Indigent young Woman
  of Quality. To cut short the Marriage Treaty, I threw her a Charte
  Blanche, as our News Papers call it, desiring her to write upon it her
  own Terms. She was very concise in her Demands, insisting only that
  the Disposal of my Fortune, and the Regulation of my Family, should be
  entirely in her Hands. Her Father and Brothers appeared exceedingly
  averse to this Match, and would not see me for some time; but at
  present are so well reconciled, that they Dine with me almost every
  Day, and have borrowed considerable Sums of me; which my Lady Mary
  very often twits me with, when she would shew me how kind her
  Relations are to me. She had no Portion, as I told you before, but
  what she wanted in Fortune, she makes up in Spirit. She at first
  changed my Name to Sir John Envil, and at present writes her self Mary
  Enville. I have had some Children by her, whom she has Christened with
  the Sirnames of her Family, in order, as she tells me, to wear out the
  Homeliness of their Parentage by the Father's Side. Our eldest Son is
  the Honourable Oddly Enville, Esq., and our eldest Daughter Harriot
  Enville. Upon her first coming into my Family, she turned off a parcel
  of very careful Servants, who had been long with me, and introduced in
  their stead a couple of Black-a-moors, and three or four very genteel
  Fellows in Laced Liveries, besides her French woman, who is
  perpetually making a Noise in the House in a Language which no body
  understands, except my Lady Mary. She next set her self to reform
  every Room of my House, having glazed all my Chimney-pieces with
  Looking-glass, and planted every Corner with such heaps of China, that
  I am obliged to move about my own House with the greatest Caution and
  Circumspection, for fear of hurting some of our Brittle Furniture. She
  makes an Illumination once a Week with Wax-Candles in one of the
  largest Rooms, in order, as she phrases it, to see Company. At which
  time she always desires me to be Abroad, or to confine my self to the
  Cock-loft, that I may not disgrace her among her Visitants of Quality.
  Her Footmen, as I told you before, are such Beaus that I do not much
  care for asking them Questions; when I do, they answer me with a sawcy
  Frown, and say that every thing, which I find Fault with, was done by
  my Lady Mary's Order. She tells me that she intends they shall wear
  Swords with their next Liveries, having lately observed the Footmen of
  two or three Persons of Quality hanging behind the Coach with Swords
  by their Sides. As soon as the first Honey-Moon was over, I
  represented to her the Unreasonableness of those daily Innovations
  which she made in my Family, but she told me I was no longer to
  consider my self as Sir John Anvil, but as her Husband; and added,
  with a Frown, that I did not seem to know who she was. I was surprized
  to be treated thus, after such Familiarities as had passed between us.
  But she has since given me to know, that whatever Freedoms she may
  sometimes indulge me in, she expects in general to be treated with the
  Respect that is due to her Birth and Quality. Our Children have been
  trained up from their Infancy with so many Accounts of their Mother's
  Family, that they know the Stories of all the great Men and Women it
  has produced. Their Mother tells them, that such an one commanded in
  such a Sea Engagement, that their Great Grandfather had a Horse shot
  under him at Edge-hill, that their Uncle was at the Siege of Buda, and
  that her Mother danced in a Ball at Court with the Duke of Monmouth;
  with abundance of Fiddle-faddle of the same Nature. I was, the other
  Day, a little out of Countenance at a Question of my little Daughter
  Harriot, who asked me, with a great deal of Innocence, why I never
  told them of the Generals and Admirals that had been in my Family. As
  for my Eldest Son Oddly, he has been so spirited up by his Mother,
  that if he does not mend his Manners I shall go near to disinherit
  him. He drew his Sword upon me before he was nine years old, and told
  me, that he expected to be used like a Gentleman; upon my offering to
  correct him for his Insolence, my Lady Mary stept in between us, and
  told me, that I ought to consider there was some Difference between
  his Mother and mine. She is perpetually finding out the Features of
  her own Relations in every one of my Children, tho', by the way, I
  have a little Chubfaced Boy as like me as he can stare, if I durst say
  so; but what most angers me, when she sees me playing with any of them
  upon my Knee, she has begged me more than once to converse with the
  Children as little as possibly, that they may not learn any of my
  awkward Tricks.



  'You must farther know, since I am opening my Heart to you, that she
  thinks her self my Superior in Sense, as much as she is in Quality,
  and therefore treats me like a plain well-meaning Man, who does not
  know the World. She dictates to me in my own Business, sets me right
  in Point of Trade, and if I disagree with her about any of my Ships at
  Sea, wonders that I will dispute with her, when I know very well that
  her Great Grandfather was a Flag Officer.



  'To compleat my Sufferings, she has teazed me for this Quarter of a3 Year last past, to remove into one of the Squares at the other
  End of the Town, promising for my Encouragement, that I shall have as
  good a Cock-loft as any Gentleman in the Square; to which the
  Honourable Oddly Enville, Esq., always adds, like a Jack-a-napes as he
  is, that he hopes 'twill be as near the Court as possible.



  'In short, Mr. Spectator, I am so much out of my natural Element, that
  to recover my old Way of Life I would be content to begin the World
  again, and be plain Jack Anvil; but alas! I am in for Life, and am
  bound to subscribe my self, with great Sorrow of Heart,



  Your humble Servant,



  John Enville, Knt.'















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
considerable
erratum
No. 301



return









Footnote 3:
an



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 300

	
 Wednesday, February 13, 1712

	
 Steele









Diversum vitio vitium prope majus.



Hor.








 Mr. Spectator,



  'When you talk of the Subject of Love, and the Relations arising from
  it, methinks you should take Care to leave no Fault unobserved which
  concerns the State of Marriage. The great Vexation that I have
  observed in it, is, that the wedded Couple seem to want Opportunities
  of being often enough alone together, and are forced to quarrel and be
  fond before Company. Mr. Hotspur and his Lady, in a Room full of their
  Friends, are ever saying something so smart to each other, and that
  but just within Rules, that the whole Company stand in the utmost
  Anxiety and Suspence for fear of their falling into Extremities which
  they could not be present at. On the other Side, Tom Faddle and his
  pretty Spouse where-ever they come are billing at such a Rate, as they
  think must do our Hearts good who behold 'em. Cannot you possibly
  propose a Mean between being Wasps and Doves in Publick? I should
  think if you advised to hate or love sincerely it would be better: For
  if they would be so discreet as to hate from the very Bottom of their
  Hearts, their Aversion would be too strong for little Gibes every
  Moment; and if they loved with that calm and noble Value which dwells
  in the Heart, with a Warmth like that of Life-Blood, they would not be
  so impatient of their Passion as to fall into observable Fondness.
  This Method, in each Case, would save Appearances; but as those who
  offend on the fond Side are by much the fewer, I would have you begin
  with them, and go on to take Notice of a most impertinent Licence
  married Women take, not only to be very loving to their Spouses in
  Publick, but also make nauseous Allusions to private Familiarities,
  and the like. Lucina is a Lady of the greatest Discretion, you must
  know, in the World; and withal very much a Physician: Upon the
  Strength of these two Qualities there is nothing she will not speak of
  before us Virgins; and she every Day talks with a very grave Air in
  such a Manner, as is very improper so much as to be hinted at but to
  obviate the greatest Extremity. Those whom they call good Bodies,
  notable People, hearty Neighbours, and the purest goodest Company in
  the World, are the great Offenders in this Kind. Here I think I have
  laid before you an open Field for Pleasantry; and hope you will shew
  these People that at least they are not witty: In which you will save
  from many a Blush a daily Sufferer, who is very much



  Your most humble Servant,

  Susanna Loveworth.'








  Mr. Spectator,



  'In yours of Wednesday the 30th past, you and your Correspondent are
  very severe on a sort of Men, whom you call Male Coquets; but without
  any other Reason, in my Apprehension, than that of paying a shallow
  Compliment to the fair Sex, by accusing some Men of imaginary Faults,
  that the Women may not seem to be the more faulty Sex; though at the
  same time you suppose there are some so weak as to be imposed upon by
  fine Things and false Addresses. I can't persuade my self that your
  Design is to debar the Sexes the Benefit of each other's Conversation
  within the Rules of Honour; nor will you, I dare say, recommend to
  'em, or encourage the common Tea-Table Talk, much less that of
  Politicks and Matters of State: And if these are forbidden Subjects of
  Discourse, then, as long as there are any Women in the World who take
  a Pleasure in hearing themselves praised, and can bear the Sight of a
  Man prostrate at their Feet, so long I shall make no Wonder that there
  are those of the other Sex who will pay them those impertinent
  Humiliations. We should have few People such Fools as to practise
  Flattery, if all were so wise as to despise it. I don't deny but you
  would do a meritorious Act, if you could prevent all Impositions on
  the Simplicity of young Women; but I must confess I don't apprehend
  you have laid the Fault on the proper Person, and if I trouble you
  with my Thoughts upon it I promise my self your Pardon. Such of the
  Sex as are raw and innocent, and most exposed to these Attacks, have,
  or their Parents are much to blame if they have not, one to advise and
  guard 'em, and are obliged themselves to take Care of 'em: but if
  these, who ought to hinder Men from all Opportunities of this sort of
  Conversation, instead of that encourage and promote it, the Suspicion
  is very just that there are some private Reasons for it; and I'll
  leave it to you to determine on which Side a Part is then acted. Some
  Women there are who are arrived at Years of Discretion, I mean are got
  out of the Hands of their Parents and Governours, and are set up for
  themselves, who yet are liable to these Attempts; but if these are
  prevailed upon, you must excuse me if I lay the Fault upon them, that
  their Wisdom is not grown with their Years. My Client, Mr. Strephon,
  whom you summoned to declare himself, gives you Thanks however for
  your Warning, and begs the Favour only to inlarge his Time for a Week,
  or to the last Day of the Term, and then he'll appear gratis, and pray
  no Day over.

Yours,

  Philanthropes.'








Mr. Spectator,



  'I was last Night to visit a Lady who I much esteem, and always took
  for my Friend; but met with so very different a Reception from what I
  expected, that I cannot help applying my self to you on this Occasion.
  In the room of that Civility and Familiarity I used to be treated with
  by her, an affected Strangeness in her Looks, and Coldness in her
  Behaviour, plainly told me I was not the welcome Guest which the
  Regard and Tenderness she has often expressed for me gave me Reason to
  flatter my self to think I was. Sir, this is certainly a great Fault,
  and I assure you a very common one; therefore I hope you will think it
  a fit Subject for some Part of a Spectator. Be pleased to acquaint us
  how we must behave our selves towards this valetudinary Friendship,
  subject to so many Heats and Colds, and you will oblige,

  Sir, Your humble Servant,

  Miranda.'








Sir,



  'I cannot forbear acknowledging the Delight your late Spectators on
  Saturdays have given me; for it is writ in the honest Spirit of
  Criticism, and called to my Mind the following four Lines I had read
  long since in a Prologue to a Play called Julius Cæsar1 which has
  deserved a better Fate. The Verses are addressed to the little
  Criticks.

   
 Shew your small Talent, and let that suffice ye;

    But grow not vain upon it, I advise ye.

    For every Fop can find out Faults in Plays:

    You'll ne'er arrive at Knowing when to praise.


  Yours, D. G.'















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 301

	
 Thursday, February 14, 1712

	
 Budgell









Possint ut Juvenes visere fervidi

  Multo non sine risu,

  Dilapsam in cineres facem.



Hor.














Will. Honeycomb
Will's










To Cloe.

  Madam,



  'Since my waking Thoughts have never been able to influence you in my
  Favour, I am resolved to try whether my Dreams can make any Impression
  on you. To this end I shall give you an Account of a very odd one
  which my Fancy presented to me last Night, within a few Hours after I
  left you.



  'Methought I was unaccountably conveyed into the most delicious Place
  mine Eyes ever beheld, it was a large Valley divided by a River of the
  purest Water I had ever seen. The Ground on each Side of it rose by an
  easie Ascent, and was covered with Flowers of an infinite Variety,
  which as they were reflected in the Water doubled the Beauties of the
  Place, or rather formed an Imaginary Scene more beautiful than the
  real. On each Side of the River was a Range of lofty Trees, whose
  Boughs were loaden with almost as many Birds as Leaves. Every Tree was
  full of Harmony.



  'I had not gone far in this pleasant Valley, when I perceived that it
  was terminated by a most magnificent Temple. The Structure was
  ancient, and regular. On the Top of it was figured the God Saturn, in
  the same Shape and Dress that the Poets usually represent Time.



  'As I was advancing to satisfie my Curiosity by a nearer View, I was
  stopped by an Object far more beautiful than any I had before
  discovered in the whole Place. I fancy, Madam, you will easily guess
  that this could hardly be any thing but your self; in reality it was
  so; you lay extended on the Flowers by the side of the River, so that
  your Hands which were thrown in a negligent Posture, almost touched
  the Water. Your Eyes were closed; but if your Sleep deprived me of the
  Satisfaction of seeing them, it left me at leisure to contemplate
  several other Charms, which disappear when your Eyes are open. I could
  not but admire the Tranquility you slept in, especially when I
  considered the Uneasiness you produce in so many others.



  'While I was wholly taken up in these Reflections, the Doors of the
  Temple flew open, with a very great Noise; and lifting up my Eyes, I
  saw two Figures, in human Shape, coming into the Valley. Upon a nearer
  Survey, I found them to be Youth and Love. The first was encircled
  with a kind of Purple Light, that spread a Glory over all the Place;
  the other held a flaming Torch in his Hand. I could observe, that all
  the way as they came towards us, the Colours of the Flowers appeared
  more lively, the Trees shot out in Blossoms, the Birds threw
  themselves into Pairs, and Serenaded them as they passed: The whole
  Face of Nature glowed with new Beauties. They were no sooner arrived
  at the Place where you lay, when they seated themselves on each Side
  of you. On their Approach, methought I saw a new Bloom arise in your
  Face, and new Charms diffuse themselves over your whole Person. You
  appeared more than Mortal; but, to my great Surprise, continued fast
  asleep, tho' the two Deities made several gentle Efforts to awaken
  you.



  'After a short Time, Youth (displaying a Pair of Wings, which I had
  not before taken notice of) flew off. Love still remained, and holding
  the Torch which he had in his Hand before your Face, you still
  appeared as beautiful as ever. The glaring of the Light in your Eyes
  at length awakened you; when, to my great Surprise, instead of
  acknowledging the Favour of the Deity, you frowned upon him, and
  struck the Torch out of his Hand into the River. The God after having
  regarded you with a Look that spoke at once1 his Pity and
  Displeasure, flew away. Immediately a kind of Gloom overspread the
  whole Place. At the same time I saw an hideous Spectre enter at one
  end of the Valley. His Eyes were sunk into his Head, his Face was pale
  and withered, and his Skin puckered up in Wrinkles. As he walked on
  the sides of the Bank the River froze, the Flowers faded, the Trees
  shed their Blossoms, the Birds dropped from off the Boughs, and fell
  dead at his Feet. By these Marks I knew him to be Old-age. You were
  seized with the utmost Horror and Amazement at his Approach. You
  endeavoured to have fled, but the Phantome caught you in his Arms. You
  may easily guess at the Change you suffered in this Embrace. For my
  own Part, though I am still too full of the frightful2 Idea, I
  will not shock you with a Description of it. I was so startled at the
  Sight that my Sleep immediately left me, and I found my self awake, at
  leisure to consider of a Dream which seems too extraordinary to be
  without a Meaning. I am, Madam, with the greatest Passion, 

  Your most Obedient,

  most Humble Servant, &c.'















Footnote 1:
the same time



return










Footnote 2:
dreadful



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 302

	
 Friday, February 15, 1712

	
 Steele









Lachrymæque decoræ,

  Gratior et pulchro veniens in corpore Virtus.



Vir. Æn. 5.














Mr. Spectator1,



  If this Paper has the good Fortune to be honoured with a Place in your
  Writings, I shall be the more pleased, because the Character of Emilia
  is not an imaginary but a real one. I have industriously obscured the
  whole by the Addition of one or two Circumstances of no Consequence,
  that the Person it is drawn from might still be concealed; and that
  the Writer of it might not be in the least suspected, and for other2 Reasons, I chuse not to give it the Form of a Letter: But if,
  besides the Faults of the Composition, there be any thing in it more
  proper for a Correspondent than the Spectator himself to write, I
  submit it to your better Judgment, to receive any other Model you
  think fit.

  I am, Sir,

  Your very humble Servant.'


 There is nothing which gives one so pleasing a Prospect of human
    Nature, as the Contemplation of Wisdom and Beauty: The latter is the
    peculiar Portion of that Sex which is therefore called Fair; but the
    happy Concurrence of both these Excellencies in the same Person, is
    a Character too celestial to be frequently met with. Beauty is an
    over-weaning self-sufficient thing, careless of providing it self
    any more substantial Ornaments; nay so little does it consult its
    own Interests, that it too often defeats it self by betraying that
    Innocence which renders it lovely and desirable. As therefore Virtue
    makes a beautiful Woman appear more beautiful, so Beauty makes a
    virtuous Woman really more virtuous. Whilst I am considering these
    two Perfections gloriously united in one Person, I cannot help
    representing to my Mind the Image of Emilia.



    Who ever beheld the charming Emilia, without feeling in his Breast
    at once the Glow of Love and the Tenderness of virtuous Friendship?
    The unstudied Graces of her Behaviour, and the pleasing Accents of
    her Tongue, insensibly draw you on to wish for a nearer Enjoyment of
    them; but even her Smiles carry in them a silent Reproof to the
    Impulses of licentious Love. Thus, tho' the Attractives of her
    Beauty play almost irresistibly upon you and create Desire, you
    immediately stand corrected not by the Severity but the Decency of
    her Virtue. That Sweetness and Good-humour which is so visible in
    her Face, naturally diffuses it self into every Word and Action: A
    Man must be a Savage, who at the Sight of Emilia, is not more
    inclined to do her Good than gratifie himself. Her Person, as it is
    thus studiously embellished by Nature, thus adorned with
    unpremeditated Graces, is a fit Lodging for a Mind so fair and
    lovely; there dwell rational Piety, modest Hope, and chearful
    Resignation.



    Many of the prevailing Passions of Mankind do undeservedly pass
    under the Name of Religion; which is thus made to express itself in
    Action, according to the Nature of the Constitution in which it
    resides: So that were we to make a Judgment from Appearances, one
    would imagine Religion in some is little better than Sullenness and
    Reserve, in many Fear, in others the Despondings of a melancholly
    Complexion, in others the Formality of insignificant unaffecting
    Observances, in others Severity, in others Ostentation. In Emilia it
    is a Principle founded in Reason and enlivened with Hope; it does
    not break forth into irregular Fits and Sallies of Devotion, but is
    an uniform and consistent Tenour of Action; It is strict without
    Severity, compassionate without Weakness; it is the Perfection of
    that good Humour which proceeds from the Understanding, not the
    Effect of an easy Constitution.



    By a generous Sympathy in Nature, we feel our selves disposed to
    mourn when any of our Fellow-Creatures are afflicted; but injured
    Innocence and Beauty in Distresses an Object that carries in it
    something inexpressibly moving: It softens the most manly Heart with
    the tenderest Sensations of Love and Compassion, till at length it
    confesses its Humanity, and flows out into Tears.



    Were I to relate that part of Emilia's Life which has given her an
    Opportunity of exerting the Heroism of Christianity, it would make
    too sad, too tender a Story: But when I consider her alone in the
    midst of her Distresses, looking beyond this gloomy Vale of
    Affliction and Sorrow into the Joys of Heaven and Immortality, and
    when I see her in Conversation thoughtless and easie as if she were
    the most happy Creature in the World, I am transported with
    Admiration. Surely never did such a Philosophic Soul inhabit such a
    beauteous Form! For Beauty is often made a Privilege against Thought
    and Reflection; it laughs at Wisdom, and will not abide the Gravity
    of its Instructions.



    Were I able to represent Emilia's Virtues in their proper Colours
    and their due Proportions, Love or Flattery might perhaps be thought
    to have drawn the Picture larger than Life; but as this is but an
    imperfect Draught of so excellent a Character, and as I cannot, will
    not hope to have any Interest in her Person, all that I can say of
    her is but impartial Praise extorted from me by the prevailing
    Brightness of her Virtues. So rare a Pattern of Female Excellence
    ought not to be concealed, but should be set out to the View and
    Imitation of the World; for how amiable does Virtue appear thus as
    it were made visible to us in so fair an Example!



    Honoria's Disposition is of a very different Turn: Her Thoughts are
    wholly bent upon Conquest and arbitrary Power. That she has some Wit
    and Beauty no Body denies, and therefore has the Esteem of all her
    Acquaintance as a Woman of an agreeable Person and Conversation; but
    (whatever her Husband may think of it) that is not sufficient for
    Honoria: She waves that Title to Respect as a mean Acquisition, and
    demands Veneration in the Right of an Idol; for this Reason her
    natural Desire of Life is continually checked with an inconsistent
    Fear of Wrinkles and old Age.



    Emilia cannot be supposed ignorant of her personal Charms, tho' she
    seems to be so; but she will not hold her Happiness upon so
    precarious a Tenure, whilst her Mind is adorned with Beauties of a
    more exalted and lasting Nature. When in the full Bloom of Youth and
    Beauty we saw her surrounded with a Crowd of Adorers, she took no
    Pleasure in Slaughter and Destruction, gave no false deluding Hopes
    which might encrease the Torments of her disappointed Lovers; but
    having for some Time given to the Decency of a Virgin Coyness, and
    examined the Merit of their several Pretensions, she at length
    gratified her own, by resigning herself to the ardent Passion of
    Bromius. Bromius was then Master of many good Qualities and a
    moderate Fortune, which was soon after unexpectedly encreased to a
    plentiful Estate. This for a good while proved his Misfortune, as it
    furnished his unexperienced Age with the Opportunities of Evil
    Company and a sensual Life. He might have longer wandered in the
    Labyrinths of Vice and Folly, had not Emilia's prudent Conduct won
    him over to the Government of his Reason. Her Ingenuity has been
    constantly employed in humanizing his Passions and refining his
    Pleasures. She shewed him by her own Example, that Virtue is
    consistent with decent Freedoms and good Humour, or rather, that it
    cannot subsist without 'em. Her good Sense readily instructed her,
    that a silent Example and an easie unrepining Behaviour, will always
    be more perswasive than the Severity of Lectures and Admonitions;
    and that there is so much Pride interwoven into the Make of human
    Nature, that an obstinate Man must only take the Hint from another,
    and then be left to advise and correct himself. Thus by an artful
    Train of Management and unseen Perswasions, having at first brought
    him not to dislike, and at length to be pleased with that which
    otherwise he would not have bore to hear of, she then knew how to
    press and secure this Advantage, by approving it as his Thoughts,
    and seconding it as his Proposal. By this Means she has gained an
    Interest in some of his leading Passions, and made them accessary to
    his Reformation.



    There is another Particular of Emilia's Conduct which I can't
    forbear mentioning: To some perhaps it may at first Sight appear but
    a trifling inconsiderable Circumstance but for my Part, I think it
    highly worthy of Observation, and to be recommended to the
    Consideration of the fair Sex. I have often thought wrapping Gowns
    and dirty Linnen, with all that huddled Œconomy of Dress which
    passes under the general Name of a Mob, the Bane of conjugal Love,
    and one of the readiest Means imaginable to alienate the Affection
    of an Husband, especially a fond one. I have heard some Ladies, who
    have been surprized by Company in such a Deshabille, apologize for
    it after this Manner; Truly I am ashamed to be caught in this
    Pickle; but my Husband and I were sitting all alone by our selves,
    and I did not expect to see such good Company —This by the way is a
    fine Compliment to the good Man, which 'tis ten to one but he
    returns in dogged Answers and a churlish Behaviour, without knowing
    what it is that puts him out of Humour.



    Emilia's Observation teaches her, that as little Inadvertencies and
    Neglects cast a Blemish upon a great Character; so the Neglect of
    Apparel, even among the most intimate Friends, does insensibly
    lessen their Regards to each other, by creating a Familiarity too
    low and contemptible. She understands the Importance of those Things
    which the Generality account Trifles; and considers every thing as a
    Matter of Consequence, that has the least Tendency towards keeping
    up or abating the Affection of her Husband; him she esteems as a fit
    Object to employ her Ingenuity in pleasing, because he is to be
    pleased for Life.



    By the Help of these, and a thousand other nameless Arts, which 'tis
    easier for her to practise than for another to express, by the
    Obstinacy of her Goodness and unprovoked Submission, in spight of
    all her Afflictions and ill Usage, Bromius is become a Man of Sense
    and a kind Husband, and Emilia a happy Wife.



    Ye guardian Angels to whose Care Heaven has entrusted its dear
    Emilia, guide her still forward in the Paths of Virtue, defend her
    from the Insolence and Wrongs of this undiscerning World; at length
    when we must no more converse with such Purity on Earth, lead her
    gently hence innocent and unreprovable to a better Place, where by
    an easie Transition from what she now is, she may shine forth an
    Angel of Light.















Footnote 1:
Letters of John Hughes



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
some other



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 303

	
 Saturday, February 16, 1712

	
 Addison









—volet hæc sub luce videri,

  Judicis argulum quæ non formidat acumen.



Hor.




Paradise
Lost
Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste

Brought Death into the World and all our woe,

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the blisful Seat,

Sing Heavenly Muse—












Thus Satan talking to his nearest Mate,

With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes

That sparkling blazed, his other parts beside

Prone on the Flood, extended long and large,

Lay floating many a rood—



Forthwith upright he rears from off the pool

His mighty Stature; on each hand the flames

Driv'n backward slope their pointing Spires, and roared

In Billows, leave i'th' midst a horrid vale.

Then with expanded wings he steers his flight

Aloft, incumbent on the dusky Air

That felt unusual weight—



—His pondrous Shield

Ethereal temper, massie, large and round,

Behind him cast; the broad circumference

Hung on his Shoulders like the Moon, whose orb

Thro' Optick Glass the Tuscan Artist views

At Ev'ning, from the top of Fesole,

Or in Valdarno, to descry new Lands,

Rivers, or Mountains, on her spotted Globe.

His Spear (to equal which the tallest pine

Hewn on Norwegian Hills to be the Mast

Of some great Admiral, were but a wand)

He walk'd with, to support uneasie Steps

Over the burning Marl—
He call'd so loud, that all the hollow deep

Of Hell resounded—
—He, above the rest

In shape and gesture proudly eminent

Stood like a Tower, &c.
—Hail Horrors! hail

Infernal World! and thou profoundest Hell

Receive thy new Possessor, one who brings

A mind not to be changed by place or time.
—Here at least

We shall be free; th'Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

Here we may reign secure; and in my choice

To reign is worth Ambition, tho' in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n.




—He now prepared

To speak; whereat their doubled ranks they bend

From wing to wing, and half enclose him round

With all his Peers: Attention held them mute.

Thrice he assayed, and thrice in spite of Scorn

Tears such as Angels weep, burst forth—



The
its
1
—Thammuz came next behind.

Whose annual Wound in Lebanon allured

The Syrian Damsels to lament his fate,

In amorous Ditties all a Summer's day,

While smooth Adonis from his native Rock

Ran purple to the Sea, supposed with Blood

Of Thammuz yearly wounded: the Love tale

Infected Zion's Daughters with like Heat,

Whose wanton Passions in the sacred Porch

Ezekiel saw, when by the Vision led

His Eye survey'd the dark Idolatries

Of alienated Judah.—
Reader
2
'We came to a fair large River—doubtless the Ancient
River Adonis, so famous for the Idolatrous Rites performed here in
Lamentation of Adonis. We had the Fortune to see what may be supposed to
be the Occasion of that Opinion which Lucian relates, concerning this
River, viz. That this Stream, at certain Seasons of the Year, especially
about the Feast of Adonis, is of a bloody Colour; which the Heathens
looked upon as proceeding from a kind of Sympathy in the River for the
Death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild Boar in the Mountains, out of
which this Stream rises. Something like this we saw actually come to
pass; for the Water was stain'd to a surprizing Redness; and, as we
observ'd in Travelling, had discolour'd the Sea a great way into a
reddish Hue, occasion'd doubtless by a sort of Minium, or red Earth,
washed into the River by the Violence of the Rain, and not by any Stain
from Adonis's Blood.'
Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest Forms

Reduced their Shapes immense, and were at large,

Though without Number, still amidst the Hall

Of that Infernal Court. But far within,

And in their own Dimensions like themselves,

The great Seraphick Lords and Cherubim,

In close recess and secret conclave sate,

A thousand Demy-Gods on Golden Seats,

Frequent and full—




The Seat of Desolation, void of Light,

Save what the glimm'ring of those livid Flames

Casts pale and dreadful—
—The universal Host up sent

A Shout that tore Hell's Concave, and beyond

Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night.
—He thro' the armed files

Darts his experienc'd eye, and soon traverse

The whole Battalion mews, their Order due,

Their Visages and Stature as of Gods.

Their Number last he sums; and now his Heart

Distends with Pride, and hard'ning in his strength

Glories—
He spake: and to confirm his words outflew

Millions of flaming Swords, drawn from the thighs

Of mighty Cherubim; the sudden Blaze

Far round illumin'd Hell—
Anon out of the Earth a Fabrick huge

Rose like an Exhalation, with the Sound

Of dulcet Symphonies and Voices sweet.
—From the arched Roof

Pendent by subtle Magick, many a Row

Of Starry Lamps and blazing Crescets, fed

With Naphtha and Asphaltus, yielded Light

As from a Sky—
Monsieur
Comparisons a longue queue
3
 'Comparisons,
says he, in Odes and Epic Poems, are not introduced only to illustrate
and embellish the Discourse, but to amuse and relax the Mind of the
Reader, by frequently disengaging him from too painful an Attention to
the Principal Subject, and by leading him into other agreeable Images.
Homer, says he, excelled in this Particular, whose Comparisons abound
with such Images of Nature as are proper to relieve and diversifie his
Subjects. He continually instructs the Reader, and makes him take
notice, even in Objects which are every Day before our Eyes, of such
Circumstances as we should not otherwise have observed.' 
 'That it is not necessary in
Poetry for the Points of the Comparison to correspond with one another
exactly, but that a general Resemblance is sufficient, and that too much
Nicety in this Particular favours of the Rhetorician and Epigrammatist.'



















Footnote :
his



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 304

	
 Monday, February 18, 1712

	
 Steele









Vulnus alit venis et cæco carpitur igni.



Virg.














Mr. Spectator,



  I have for some Years indulged a Passion for a young Lady of Age and
  Quality suitable to my own, but very much superior in Fortune. It is
  the Fashion with Parents (how justly I leave you to judge) to make all
  Regards give way to the Article of Wealth. From this one Consideration
  it is that I have concealed the ardent Love I have for her; but I am
  beholden to the Force of my Love for many Advantages which I reaped
  from it towards the better Conduct of my Life. A certain Complacency
  to all the World, a strong Desire to oblige where-ever it lay in my
  Power, and a circumspect Behaviour in all my Words and Actions, have
  rendered me more particularly acceptable to all my Friends and
  Acquaintance. Love has had the same good Effect upon my Fortune; and I
  have encreased in Riches in proportion to my Advancement in those Arts
  which make a man agreeable and amiable. There is a certain Sympathy
  which will tell my Mistress from these Circumstances, that it is I who
  writ this for her Reading, if you will please to insert it. There is
  not a downright Enmity, but a great Coldness between our Parents; so
  that if either of us declared any kind Sentiment for each other, her
  Friends would be very backward to lay an Obligation upon our Family,
  and mine to receive it from hers. Under these delicate Circumstances
  it is no easie Matter to act with Safety. I have no Reason to fancy my
  Mistress has any Regard for me, but from a very disinterested Value
  which I have for her. If from any Hint in any future Paper of yours
  she gives me the least Encouragement, I doubt not but I shall surmount
  all other Difficulties; and inspired by so noble a Motive for the Care
  of my Fortune, as the Belief she is to be concerned in it, I will not
  despair of receiving her one Day from her Father's own Hand.



  I am, Sir,

  Your most obedient humble Servant,

  Clytander.








To his Worship the Spectator,



  The humble Petition of Anthony Title-Page, Stationer, in the Centre of
  Lincolns-Inn-Fields,



  Sheweth,

  That your Petitioner and his Fore-Fathers have been Sellers of Books
  for Time immemorial; That your Petitioner's Ancestor, Crouchback
  Title-Page, was the first of that Vocation in Britain; who keeping his
  Station (in fair Weather) at the Corner of Lothbury, was by way of
  Eminency called the Stationer, a Name which from him all succeeding
  Booksellers have affected to bear: That the Station of your Petitioner
  and his Father has been in the Place of his present Settlement ever
  since that Square has been built: That your Petitioner has formerly
  had the Honour of your Worship's Custom, and hopes you never had
  Reason to complain of your Penny-worths; that particularly he sold you
  your first Lilly's Grammar, and at the same Time a Wit's Commonwealth
  almost as good as new: Moreover, that your first rudimental Essays in
  Spectatorship were made in your Petitioner's Shop, where you often
  practised for Hours together, sometimes on his Books upon the Rails,
  sometimes on the little Hieroglyphicks either gilt, silvered, or
  plain, which the Egyptian Woman on the other Side of the Shop had
  wrought in Gingerbread, and sometimes on the English Youth, who in
  sundry Places there were exercising themselves in the traditional
  Sports of the Field.



  From these Considerations it is, that your Petitioner is encouraged to
  apply himself to you, and to proceed humbly to acquaint your Worship,
  That he has certain Intelligence that you receive great Numbers of
  defamatory Letters designed by their Authors to be published, which
  you throw aside and totally neglect: Your Petitioner therefore prays,
  that you will please to bestow on him those Refuse Letters, and he
  hopes by printing them to get a more plentiful Provision for his
  Family; or at the worst, he may be allowed to sell them by the Pound
  Weight to his good Customers the Pastry-Cooks of London and
  Westminster. And your Petitioner shall ever pray, &c.








 To the Spectator,



  The humble Petition of Bartholomew Ladylove, of Round-Court in the
  Parish of St. Martins in the Fields, in Behalf of himself and
  Neighbours,



  Sheweth,



  That your Petitioners have with great Industry and Application arrived
  at the most exact Art of Invitation or Entreaty: That by a beseeching
  Air and perswasive Address, they have for many Years last past
  peaceably drawn in every tenth Passenger, whether they intended or not
  to call at their Shops, to come in and buy; and from that Softness of
  Behaviour, have arrived among Tradesmen at the gentle Appellation of
  the Fawners.



  That there have of late set up amongst us certain Persons of
  Monmouth-street and Long-lane, who by the Strength of their Arms, and
  Loudness of their Throats, draw off the Regard of all Passengers from
  your said Petitioners; from which Violence they are distinguished by
  the Name of the Worriers.



  That while your Petitioners stand ready to receive Passengers with a
  submissive Bow, and repeat with a gentle Voice, Ladies, what do you
  want? pray look in here; the Worriers reach out their Hands at
  Pistol-shot, and seize the Customers at Arms Length.



  That while the Fawners strain and relax the Muscles of their Faces in
  making Distinction between a Spinster in a coloured Scarf and an
  Handmaid in a Straw-Hat, the Worriers use the same Roughness to both,
  and prevail upon the Easiness of the Passengers, to the Impoverishment
  of your Petitioners.



  Your Petitioners therefore most humbly pray, that the Worriers may not
  be permitted to inhabit the politer Parts of the Town; and that
  Round-Court may remain a Receptacle for Buyers of a more soft
  Education.



  And your Petitioners, &c.


















Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 305

	
 Tuesday, February 19, 1712

	
 Addison









Non tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis

  Tempus eget.



Virg.




Paris, February 12. 

  ''Tis confirmed that the King has resolved to establish a new Academy
  for Politicks, of which the Marquis de Torcy, Minister and Secretary
  of State, is to be Protector. Six Academicians are to be chosen,
  endowed with proper Talents, for beginning to form this Academy, into
  which no Person is to be admitted under Twenty-five Years of Age: They
  must likewise each have an Estate of Two thousand Livres a Year,
  either in Possession, or to come to 'em by Inheritance. The King will
  allow to each a Pension of a Thousand Livres. They are likewise to
  have able Masters to teach 'em the necessary Sciences, and to instruct
  them in all the Treaties of Peace, Alliance, and others, which have
  been made in several Ages past. These Members are to meet twice a Week
  at the Louvre. From this Seminary are to be chosen Secretaries to
  Ambassies, who by degrees may advance to higher Employments.
















































jeux d'esprit




Nothing










Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 306

	
 Wednesday, February 20, 1712

	
 Steele









Quæ forma, ut se tibi semper

  Imputet?



Juv.








Mr. Spectator1,



  'I write this to communicate to you a Misfortune which frequently
  happens, and therefore deserves a consolatory Discourse on the
  Subject. I was within this Half-Year in the Possession of as much
  Beauty and as many Lovers as any young Lady in England. But my
  Admirers have left me, and I cannot complain of their Behaviour. I
  have within that Time had the Small-Pox; and this Face, which
  (according to many amorous Epistles which I have by me) was the Seat
  of all that is beautiful in Woman, is now disfigured with Scars. It
  goes to the very Soul of me to speak what I really think of my Face;
  and tho' I think I did not over-rate my Beauty while I had it, it has
  extremely advanc'd in its value with me now it is lost. There is one
  Circumstance which makes my Case very particular; the ugliest Fellow
  that ever pretended to me, was and is most in my Favour, and he treats
  me at present the most unreasonably. If you could make him return an
  Obligation which he owes me, in liking a Person that is not
  amiable;—But there is, I fear, no Possibility of making Passion move
  by the Rules of Reason and Gratitude. But say what you can to one who
  has survived her self, and knows not how to act in a new Being. My
  Lovers are at the Feet of my Rivals, my Rivals are every Day bewailing
  me, and I cannot enjoy what I am, by reason of the distracting
  Reflection upon what I was. Consider the Woman I was did not die of
  old Age, but I was taken off in the Prime of my Youth, and according
  to the Course of Nature may have Forty Years After-Life to come. I
  have nothing of my self left which I like, but that

  I am, Sir, 

  Your most humble Servant, 

  Parthenissa.'







Sir,

  'If you flattered me before I had this terrible Malady, pray come and
  see me now: But if you sincerely liked me, stay away; for I am not the
  same

  Corinna.'
Madam,

  'I am not obliged, since you are not the same Woman, to let you know
  whether I flattered you or not; but I assure you, I do not, when I
  tell you I now like you above all your Sex, and hope you will bear
  what may befall me when we are both one, as well as you do what
  happens to your self now you are single; therefore I am ready to take
  such a Spirit for my Companion as soon as you please.

  Amilcar.'


















P. S.






Spectator



















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 307

	
 Thursday, February 21, 1712

	
 Budgell









—Versate diu quid ferre recusent

  Quid valeant humeri—



Hor.














Sir,

  'Though I believe none of your Readers more admire your agreeable
  manner of working up Trifles than my self, yet as your Speculations
  are now swelling into Volumes, and will in all Probability pass down
  to future Ages, methinks I would have no single Subject in them,
  wherein the general Good of Mankind is concern'd, left unfinished.



  'I have a long time expected with great Impatience that you would
  enlarge upon the ordinary Mistakes which are committed in the
  Education of our Children. I the more easily flattered my self that
  you would one time or other resume this Consideration, because you
  tell us that your  [Volume 1 link:168th Paper] was only composed of a few broken Hints;
  but finding myself hitherto disappointed, I have ventur'd to send you
  my own Thoughts on this Subject.



  'I remember Pericles in his famous Oration at the Funeral of those
  Athenian young Men who perished in the Samian Expedition, has a
  Thought very much celebrated by several Ancient Criticks, namely, That
  the Loss which the Commonwealth suffered by the Destruction of its
  Youth, was like the Loss which the Year would suffer by the
  Destruction of the Spring. The Prejudice which the Publick sustains
  from a wrong Education of Children, is an Evil of the same Nature, as
  it in a manner starves Posterity, and defrauds our Country of those
  Persons who, with due Care, might make an eminent Figure in their
  respective Posts of Life.



  'I have seen a Book written by Juan Huartes1, a Spanish Physician,
  entitled Examen de Ingenios, wherein he lays it down as one of his
  first Positions, that Nothing but Nature can qualifie a Man for
  Learning; and that without a proper Temperament for the particular Art
  or Science which he studies, his utmost Pains and Application,
  assisted by the ablest Masters, will be to no purpose.



  'He illustrates this by the Example of Tully's Son Marcus.



  'Cicero, in order to accomplish his Son in that sort of Learning which
  he designed him for, sent him to Athens, the most celebrated Academy
  at that time in the World, and where a vast Concourse, out of the most
  Polite Nations, could not but furnish a young Gentleman with a
  Multitude of great Examples, and Accidents that might insensibly have
  instructed him in his designed Studies: He placed him under the Care
  of Cratippus, who was one of the greatest Philosophers of the Age,
  and, as if all the Books which were at that time written had not been
  sufficient for his Use, he composed others on purpose for him:
  Notwithstanding all this, History informs us, that Marcus proved a
  meer Blockhead, and that Nature, (who it seems was even with the Son
  for her Prodigality to the Father) rendered him incapable of improving
  by all the Rules of Eloquence, the Precepts of Philosophy, his own
  Endeavours, and the most refined Conversation in Athens. This Author
  therefore proposes, that there should be certain Tryers or Examiners
  appointed by the State to inspect the Genius of every particular Boy,
  and to allot him the Part that is most suitable to his natural
  Talents.



  'Plato in one of his Dialogues tells us, that Socrates, who was the
  Son of a Midwife, used to say, that as his Mother, tho' she was very
  skilful in her Profession, could not deliver a Woman, unless she was
  first with Child; so neither could he himself raise Knowledge out of a
  Mind, where Nature had not planted it.



  'Accordingly the Method this Philosopher took, of instructing his
  Scholars by several Interrogatories or Questions, was only helping the
  Birth, and bringing their own Thoughts to Light.



  'The Spanish Doctor above mentioned, as his Speculations grow more
  refined, asserts that every kind of Wit has a particular Science
  corresponding to it, and in which alone it can be truly Excellent. As
  to those Genius's, which may seem to have an equal Aptitude for
  several things, he regards them as so many unfinished Pieces of Nature
  wrought off in haste.



  'There are, indeed, but very few to whom Nature has been so unkind,
  that they are not capable of shining in some Science or other. There
  is a certain Byass towards Knowledge in every Mind, which may be
  strengthened and improved by proper Applications.



  'The Story of Clavius2 is very well known; he was entered in a
  College of Jesuits, and after having been tryed at several Parts of
  Learning, was upon the Point of being dismissed as an hopeless
  Blockhead, 'till one of the Fathers took it into his Head to make an
  assay of his Parts in Geometry, which it seems hit his Genius so
  luckily that he afterwards became one of the greatest Mathematicians
  of the Age. It is commonly thought that the Sagacity of these Fathers,
  in discovering the Talent of a young Student, has not a little
  contributed to the Figure which their Order has made in the World.



  'How different from this manner of Education is that which prevails in
  our own Country? Where nothing is more usual than to see forty or
  fifty Boys of several Ages, Tempers and Inclinations, ranged together
  in the same Class, employed upon the same Authors, and enjoyned the
  same Tasks? Whatever their natural Genius may be, they are all to be
  made Poets, Historians, and Orators alike. They are all obliged to
  have the same Capacity, to bring in the same Tale of Verse, and to
  furnish out the same Portion of Prose. Every Boy is bound to have as
  good a Memory as the Captain of the Form. To be brief, instead of
  adapting Studies to the particular Genius of a Youth, we expect from
  the young Man, that he should adapt his Genius to his Studies. This, I
  must confess, is not so much to be imputed to the Instructor, as to
  the Parent, who will never be brought to believe, that his Son is not
  capable of performing as much as his Neighbour's, and that he may not
  make him whatever he has a Mind to.



  'If the present Age is more laudable than those which have gone before
  it in any single Particular, it is in that generous Care which several
  well-disposed Persons have taken in the Education of poor Children;
  and as in these Charity-Schools there is no Place left for the
  over-weening Fondness of a Parent, the Directors of them would make
  them beneficial to the Publick, if they considered the Precept which I
  have been thus long inculcating. They might easily, by well examining
  the Parts of those under their Inspection, make a just Distribution of
  them into proper Classes and Divisions, and allot to them this or that
  particular Study, as their Genius qualifies them for Professions,
  Trades, Handicrafts, or Service by Sea or Land.



  'How is this kind of Regulation wanting in the three great
  Professions!



  'Dr. South complaining of Persons who took upon them Holy Orders, tho'
  altogether unqualified for the Sacred Function, says somewhere, that
  many a Man runs his Head against a Pulpit, who might have done his
  Country excellent Service at a Plough-tail.



  'In like manner many a Lawyer, who makes but an indifferent Figure at
  the Bar, might have made a very elegant Waterman, and have shined at
  the Temple Stairs, tho' he can get no Business in the House.



  'I have known a Corn-cutter, who with a right Education would have
  been an excellent Physician.



  'To descend lower, are not our Streets filled with sagacious Draymen,
  and Politicians in Liveries? We have several Taylors of six Foot high,
  and meet with many a broad pair of Shoulders that are thrown away upon
  a Barber, when perhaps at the same time we see a pigmy Porter reeling
  under a Burthen, who might have managed a Needle with much Dexterity,
  or have snapped his Fingers with great Ease to himself, and Advantage
  to the Publick.



  'The Spartans, tho' they acted with the Spirit which I am here
  speaking of, carried it much farther than what I propose: Among them
  it was not lawful for the Father himself to bring up his Children
  after his own Fancy. As soon as they were seven Years old they were
  all listed in several Companies, and disciplined by the Publick. The
  old Men were Spectators of their Performances, who often raised
  Quarrels among them, and set them at Strife with one another, that by
  those early Discoveries they might see how their several Talents lay,
  and without any regard to their Quality, dispose of them accordingly
  for the Service of the Commonwealth. By this Means Sparta soon became
  the Mistress of Greece, and famous through the whole World for her
  Civil and Military Discipline.



  'If you think this Letter deserves a place among your Speculations, I
  may perhaps trouble you with some other Thoughts on the same Subject.

  I am, &c.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 308

	
 Friday, February 22, 1712

	
 Steele









Jam proterva

  Fronte petet Lalage maritum.



Hor.








Mr. Spectator,



  'I give you this Trouble in order to propose my self to you as an
  Assistant in the weighty Cares which you have thought fit to undergo
  for the publick Good. I am a very great Lover of Women, that is to say
  honestly, and as it is natural to study what one likes, I have
  industriously applied my self to understand them. The present
  Circumstance relating to them, is, that I think there wants under you,
  as Spectator, a Person to be distinguished and vested in the Power and
  Quality of a Censor on Marriages. I lodge at the Temple, and know, by
  seeing Women come hither, and afterwards observing them conducted by
  their Council to Judges Chambers, that there is a Custom in Case of
  making Conveyance of a Wife's Estate, that she is carried to a Judge's
  Apartment and left alone with him, to be examined in private whether
  she has not been frightened or sweetned by her Spouse into the Act she
  is going to do, or whether it is of her own free Will. Now if this be
  a Method founded upon Reason and Equity, why should there not be also
  a proper Officer for examining such as are entring into the State of
  Matrimony, whether they are forced by Parents on one Side, or moved by
  Interest only on the other, to come together, and bring forth such
  awkward Heirs as are the Product of half Love and constrained
  Compliances? There is no Body, though I say it my self, would be
  fitter for this Office than I am: For I am an ugly Fellow of great Wit
  and Sagacity. My Father was an hail Country-'Squire, my Mother a witty
  Beauty of no Fortune: The Match was made by Consent of my Mother's
  Parents against her own: and I am the Child of a Rape on the
  Wedding-Night; so that I am as healthy and as homely as my Father, but
  as sprightly and agreeable as my Mother. It would be of great Ease to
  you if you would use me under you, that Matches might be better
  regulated for the future, and we might have no more Children of
  Squabbles. I shall not reveal all my Pretensions till I receive your
  Answer; and am, Sir,

  Your most humble Servant,

  Mules Palfrey.








Mr. Spectator,



  I am one of those unfortunate Men within the City-Walls, who am
  married to a Woman of Quality, but her Temper is something different
  from that of Lady Anvil. My Lady's whole Time and Thoughts are spent
  in keeping up to the Mode both in Apparel and Furniture. All the Goods
  in my House have been changed three times in seven Years. I have had
  seven Children by her; and by our Marriage Articles she was to have
  her Apartment new furnished as often as she lay in. Nothing in our
  House is useful but that which is fashionable; my Pewter holds out
  generally half a Year, my Plate a full Twelvemonth; Chairs are not fit
  to sit in that were made two Years since, nor Beds fit for any thing
  but to sleep in that have stood up above that Time. My Dear is of
  Opinion that an old-fashioned Grate consumes Coals, but gives no Heat:
  If she drinks out of Glasses of last Year, she cannot distinguish Wine
  from Small-Beer. Oh dear Sir you may guess all the rest. Yours.



  P. S. I could bear even all this, if I were not obliged also to eat
  fashionably. I have a plain Stomach, and have a constant Loathing of
  whatever comes to my own Table; for which Reason I dine at the
  Chop-House three Days a Week: Where the good Company wonders they
  never see you of late. I am sure by your unprejudiced Discourses you
  love Broth better than Soup.








Will's, Feb. 19.



  Mr. Spectator, 

  You may believe you are a Person as much talked of as any Man in Town.
  I am one of your best Friends in this House, and have laid a Wager you
  are so candid a Man and so honest a Fellow, that you will print this
  Letter, tho' it is in Recommendation of a new Paper called The
  Historian1. I have read it carefully, and find it written with
  Skill, good Sense, Modesty, and Fire. You must allow the Town is
  kinder to you than you deserve; and I doubt not but you have so much
  Sense of the World, Change of Humour, and instability of all humane
  Things, as to understand, that the only Way to preserve Favour, is to
  communicate it to others with Good-Nature and Judgment. You are so
  generally read, that what you speak of will be read. This with Men of
  Sense and Taste is all that is wanting to recommend The Historian.

  I am, Sir,

  Your daily Advocate,

  Reader Gentle.


















Mr. Spectator,
  The Privilege you have indulged John Trot has proved of very bad
  Consequence to our illustrious Assembly, which, besides the many
  excellent Maxims it is founded upon, is remarkable for the
  extraordinary Decorum always observed in it. One Instance of which is
  that the Carders, (who are always of the first Quality) never begin to
  play till the French-Dances are finished, and the Country-Dances
  begin: But John Trot having now got your Commission in his Pocket,
  (which every one here has a profound Respect for) has the Assurance to
  set up for a Minuit-Dancer. Not only so, but he has brought down upon
  us the whole Body of the Trots, which are very numerous, with their
  Auxiliaries the Hobblers and the Skippers, by which Means the Time is
  so much wasted, that unless we break all Rules of Government, it must
  redound to the utter Subversion of the Brag-Table, the discreet
  Members of which value Time as Fribble's Wife does her Pin-Money. We
  are pretty well assured that your Indulgence to Trot was only in
  relation to Country-Dances; however we have deferred the issuing an
  Order of Council upon the Premisses, hoping to get you to join with
  us, that Trot, nor any of his Clan, presume for the future to dance
  any but Country-Dances, unless a Horn-Pipe upon a Festival-Day. If you
  will do this you will oblige a great many Ladies, and particularly
  Your most humble Servant,

  Eliz. Sweepstakes.

  York, Feb. 16. 


























Footnote 1:
Historian
 Rhapsody, Observator, Moderator, Growler, Censor, Hermit,
Surprize, Silent Monitor, Inquisitor, Pilgrim, Restorer, Instructor,
Grumbler
Rambler
Rambler



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 309

	
 Saturday, February 23, 1712

	
 Addison









Dî, quibus imperium est animarum, umbræque silentes,

Et Chaos, et Phlegethon, loca nocte silentia late;

Sit mihi fas audita loqui! sit numine vestro

Pandere res alta terra et caligine mersas.



Virg.




Satan was now at hand, and from his Seat

The Monster moving onward came as fast

With horrid strides, Hell trembled as he strode,

Th' undaunted Fiend what this might be admir'd,

Admired, not fear'd—




 —Where the might of Gabriel fought,

  And with fierce Ensigns pierc'd the deep array

  Of Moloc, furious King, who him defy'd,

  And at his chariot wheels to drag him bound

  Threatened, nor from the Holy one of Heav'n

  Refrain'd his tongue blasphemous; but anon

  Down cloven to the waste, with shatter'd arms

  And uncouth pain fled bellowing.—
—No, let us rather chuse,

Arm'd with Hell flames and fury, all at once

O'er Heavens high tow'rs to force resistless way,

Turning our tortures into horrid arms

Against the Torturer; when to meet the Noise

Of his almighty Engine he shall hear

Infernal Thunder, and for Lightning see

Black fire and horror shot with equal rage

Among his Angels; and his throne it self

Mixt with Tartarean Sulphur, and strange Fire,

His own invented Torments—








—This deep World

Of Darkness do we dread? How oft amidst 

Thick cloud and dark doth Heav'ns all-ruling Sire

Chuse to reside, his Glory unobscured,

And with the Majesty of Darkness round

Covers his Throne; from whence deep Thunders roar

Mustering their Rage, and Heav'n resembles Hell?

As he our Darkness, cannot we his Light

Imitate when we please? This desart Soil

Wants not her hidden Lustre, Gems and Gold;

Nor want we Skill or Art, from whence to raise

Magnificence; and what can Heav'n shew more?
Space may produce new Worlds, whereof so rife

There went a Fame in Heav'n, that he erelong

Intended to create, and therein plant

A Generation, whom his choice Regard

Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven:

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps

Our first Eruption, thither or elsewhere:

For this Infernal Pit shall never hold

Celestial Spirits in Bondage, nor th' Abyss

Long under Darkness cover. But these Thoughts

Full Counsel must mature:—
—What if we find

Some easier Enterprise? There is a Place

(If ancient and prophetick Fame in Heav'n

Err not) another World, the happy Seat

Of some new Race call'd Man, about this Time

To be created like to us, though less

In Power and Excellence, but favoured more

Of him who rules above; so was his Will

Pronounc'd among the Gods, and by an Oath,

That shook Heav'n's whole Circumference, confirm'd.








Their rising all at once was as the Sound

Of Thunder heard remote—
Others with vast Typhæan rage more fell

Rend up both Rocks and Hills, and ride the Air

In Whirlwind; Hell scarce holds the wild Uproar. 




—Nature breeds,

Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious Things,

Abominable, inutterable, and worse

Than Fables yet have feign'd, or Fear conceiv'd,

Gorgon's, and Hydra's, and Chimera's dire.




Before mine Eyes in Opposition sits

Grim Death my Son and Foe, who sets them on,

And me his Parent would full soon devour

For want of other Prey, but that he knows

His End with mine involv'd—




the Regal Crown upon his Head,
—On a sudden open fly

With impetuous Recoil and jarring Sound

Th' infernal Doors, and on their Hinges grate

Harsh Thunder, that the lowest Bottom shook

Of Erebus. She open'd, but to shut

Excell'd her Pow'r; the Gates wide open stood,

That with extended Wings a banner'd Host

Under spread Ensigns marching might pass through

With Horse and Chariots rank'd in loose Array;

So wide they stood, and like a Furnace Mouth

Cast forth redounding Smoak and ruddy Flame.
The Womb of Nature, and perhaps her Grave.










Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 310

	
 Monday, February 25, 1712

	
 Steele









Connubio Jungam stabili—



Virg.








Mr. Spectator,



  'I am a certain young Woman that love a certain young Man very
  heartily; and my Father and Mother were for it a great while, but now
  they say I can do better, but I think I cannot. They bid me love him,
  and I cannot unlove him. What must I do? speak quickly.



  Biddy Dow-bake.








Dear Spec, 



  Feb. 19, 1712.



  'I have lov'd a Lady entirely for this Year and Half, tho' for a great
  Part of the Time (which has contributed not a little to my Pain) I
  have been debarred the Liberty of conversing with her. The Grounds of
  our Difference was this; that when we had enquired into each other's
  Circumstances, we found that at our first setting out into the World,
  we should owe five hundred Pounds more than her Fortune would pay off.
  My Estate is seven hundred Pounds a Year, besides the benefit of
  Tin-Mines. Now, dear Spec, upon this State of the Case, and the Lady's
  positive Declaration that there is still no other Objection, I beg
  you'll not fail to insert this, with your Opinion as soon as possible,
  whether this ought to be esteemed a just Cause or Impediment why we
  should not be join'd, and you will for ever oblige



  Yours sincerely,

  Dick Lovesick.



  P. S. Sir, if I marry this Lady by the Assistance of your Opinion, you
  may expect a Favour for it.








Mr. Spectator,



  I have the misfortune to be one of those unhappy Men who are
  distinguished by the Name of discarded Lovers; but I am the less
  mortified at my Disgrace, because the young Lady is one of those
  Creatures who set up for Negligence of Men, are forsooth the most
  rigidly Virtuous in the World, and yet their Nicety will permit them,
  at the Command of Parents, to go to Bed to the most utter Stranger
  that can be proposed to them. As to me my self, I was introduced by
  the Father of my Mistress; but find I owe my being at first received
  to a Comparison of my Estate with that of a former Lover, and that I
  am now in like manner turned off, to give Way to an humble Servant
  still richer than I am. What makes this Treatment the more extravagant
  is, that the young Lady is in the Management of this way of Fraud, and
  obeys her Father's Orders on these Occasions without any Manner of
  Reluctance, and does it with the same Air that one of your Men of the
  World would signifie the Necessity of Affairs for turning another out
  of Office. When I came home last Night I found this Letter from my
  Mistress.

Sir,



    I hope you will not think it is any manner of Disrespect to your
    Person or Merit, that the intended Nuptials between us are
    interrupted. My Father says he has a much better Offer for me than
    you can make, and has ordered me to break off the Treaty between us.
    If it had proceeded, I should have behaved my self with all suitable
    Regard to you, but as it is, I beg we may be Strangers for the
    Future. Adieu.



    Lydia.


  This great Indifference on this Subject, and the mercenary Motives for
  making Alliances, is what I think lies naturally before you, and I beg
  of you to give me your Thoughts upon it. My Answer to Lydia was as
  follows, which I hope you will approve; for you are to know the
  Woman's Family affect a wonderful Ease on these Occasions, tho' they
  expect it should be painfully received on the Man's Side.


Madam,



    "I have received yours, and knew the Prudence of your House so well,
    that I always took Care to be ready to obey your Commands, tho' they
    should be to see you no more. Pray give my Service to all the good
    Family.



    Adieu,



    The Opera Subscription is full.      



    Clitophon."

















Mr. Spectator,



  There is an elderly Person, lately left off Business and settled in
  our Town, in order, as he thinks, to retire from the World; but he has
  brought with him such an Inclination to Talebearing, that he disturbs
  both himself and all our Neighbourhood. Notwithstanding this Frailty,
  the honest Gentleman is so happy as to have no Enemy: At the same time
  he has not one Friend who will venture to acquaint him with his
  Weakness. It is not to be doubted but if this Failing were set in a
  proper Light, he would quickly perceive the Indecency and evil
  Consequences of it. Now, Sir, this being an Infirmity which I hope may
  be corrected, and knowing that he pays much Deference to you, I beg
  that when you are at Leisure to give us a Speculation on Gossiping,
  you would think of my Neighbour: You will hereby oblige several who
  will be glad to find a Reformation in their gray-hair'd Friend: And
  how becoming will it be for him, instead of pouring forth Words at all
  Adventures to set a Watch before the Door of his Mouth, to refrain his
  Tongue, to check its Impetuosity, and guard against the Sallies of
  that little, pert, forward, busie Person; which, under a sober
  Conduct, might prove a useful Member of a Society. In Compliance with
  whose Intimations, I have taken the Liberty to make this Address to
  you.



  I am, Sir,



  Your most obscure Servant



  Philanthropos.








Mr. Spectator,    



            Feb. 16, 1712.



  'This is to Petition you in Behalf of my self and many more of your
  gentle Readers, that at any time when you have private Reasons against
  letting us know what you think your self, you would be pleased to
  pardon us such Letters of your Correspondents as seem to be of no use
  but to the Printer.



  'It is further our humble Request, that you would substitute
  Advertisements in the Place of such Epistles; and that in order
  hereunto Mr. Buckley may be authorized to take up of your zealous
  Friend Mr. Charles Lillie, any Quantity of Words he shall from time to
  time have occasion for.



  'The many useful parts of Knowledge which may be communicated to the
  Publick this Way, will, we hope, be a Consideration in favour of your
  Petitioners.'



  And your Petitioners, &c.









Note
1



















Footnote 1:
No. 134



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 311

	
 Tuesday, February 26, 1712

	
 Addison









Nec Veneris pharetris macer est; aut lampade fervet:

  Inde faces ardent, veniunt a dote sagittæ.



Juv.








Mr. Spectator,



  'I am amazed that among all the Variety of Characters, with which you
  have enriched your Speculations, you have never given us a Picture of
  those audacious young Fellows among us, who commonly go by the Name of
  Fortune-Stealers. You must know, Sir, I am one who live in a continual
  Apprehension of this sort of People that lye in wait, Day and Night,
  for our Children, and may be considered as a kind of Kidnappers within
  the Law. I am the Father of a Young Heiress, whom I begin to look upon
  as Marriageable, and who has looked upon her self as such for above
  these Six Years. She is now in the Eighteenth Year of her Age. The
  Fortune-hunters have already cast their Eyes upon her, and take care
  to plant themselves in her View whenever she appears in any Publick
  Assembly. I have my self caught a young Jackanapes with a pair of
  Silver Fringed Gloves, in the very Fact. You must know, Sir, I have
  kept her as a Prisoner of State ever since she was in her Teens. Her
  Chamber Windows are cross-barred, she is not permitted to go out of
  the House but with her Keeper, who is a stay'd Relation of my own; I
  have likewise forbid her the use of Pen and Ink for this Twelve-Month
  last past, and do not suffer a Ban-box to be carried into her Room
  before it has been searched. Notwithstanding these Precautions, I am
  at my Wits End for fear of any sudden Surprize. There were, two or
  three Nights ago, some Fiddles heard in the Street, which I am afraid
  portend me no Good; not to mention a tall Irish-Man, that has been
  seen walking before my House more than once this Winter. My Kinswoman
  likewise informs me, that the Girl has talked to her twice or thrice
  of a Gentleman in a Fair Wig, and that she loves to go to Church more
  than ever she did in her Life. She gave me the slip about a Week ago,
  upon which my whole House was in Alarm. I immediately dispatched a Hue
  and Cry after her to the Change, to her Mantua-maker, and to the young
  Ladies that Visit her; but after above an Hour's search she returned
  of herself, having been taking a Walk, as she told me, by Rosamond's
  Pond. I have hereupon turned off her Woman, doubled her Guards, and
  given new Instructions to my Relation, who, to give her her due, keeps
  a watchful Eye over all her Motions. This, Sir, keeps me in a
  perpetual Anxiety, and makes me very often watch when my Daughter
  sleeps, as I am afraid she is even with me in her turn. Now, Sir, what
  I would desire of you is, to represent to this fluttering Tribe of
  young Fellows, who are for making their Fortunes by these indirect
  Means, that stealing a Man's Daughter for the sake of her Portion, is
  but a kind of Tolerated Robbery; and that they make but a poor Amends
  to the Father, whom they plunder after this Manner, by going to bed
  with his Child. Dear Sir, be speedy in your Thoughts on this Subject,
  that, if possible, they may appear before the Disbanding of the Army.



  I am, Sir,



  Your most humble Servant,



  Tim. Watchwell.




















Honeycomb
When
Will
her
1




who



—took his Stand

Upon a Widow's Jointure Land2,



















Footnote 1:
them



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 312

	
 Wednesday, February 27, 1712

	
 Steele









Quod huic Officium, quæ laus, quod Decus erit tanti, quod adipisci cum
colore Corporis velit, qui dolorem summum malum sibi persuaserit? Quam
porro quis ignominiam, quam turpitudinem non pertulerit, ut effugiat
dolorem, si id summum malum esse decrevit?



Tull. de Dolore tolerando.








Horace
Delius
Tully
Pompey
Pompey
Rhodes
Possidonius










Mr. Spectator,
  Having seen in several of your Papers, a Concern for the Honour of the
  Clergy, and their doing every thing as becomes their Character, and
  particularly performing the publick Service with a due Zeal and
  Devotion; I am the more encouraged to lay before them, by your Means,
  several Expressions used by some of them in their Prayers before
  Sermon, which I am not well satisfied in: As their giving some Titles
  and Epithets to great Men, which are indeed due to them in their
  several Ranks and Stations, but not properly used, I think, in our
  Prayers. Is it not Contradiction to say, Illustrious, Right, Reverend,
  and Right Honourable poor Sinners? These Distinctions are suited only
  to our State here, and have no place in Heaven: We see they are
  omitted in the Liturgy; which I think the Clergy should take for their
  Pattern in their own Forms of Devotion1. There is another
  Expression which I would not mention, but that I have heard it several
  times before a learned Congregation, to bring in the last Petition of
  the Prayer in these Words, O let not the Lord be angry and I will speak
  but this once; as if there was no Difference between Abraham's
  interceding for Sodom, for which he had no Warrant as we can find, and
  our asking those Things which we are required to pray for; they would
  therefore have much more Reason to fear his Anger if they did not make
  such Petitions to him. There is another pretty Fancy: When a young Man
  has a Mind to let us know who gave him his Scarf, he speaks a
  Parenthesis to the Almighty, Bless, as I am in Duty bound to pray, the
  right honourable the Countess; is not that as much as to say, Bless
  her, for thou knowest I am her Chaplain?



  Your humble Servant,



  J. O.
















Footnote 1:
Devotion. Another Expression which I take to be improper,
is this, the whole Race of Mankind, when they pray for all Men; for Race
signifies Lineage or Descent; and if the Race of Mankind may be used for
the present generation, (though I think not very fitly) the whole Race
takes in all from the Beginning to the End of the World. I don't
remember to have met with that Expression in their sense anywhere but in
the old Version of Psal. 14, which those Men, I suppose, have but little
Esteem for. And some, when they have prayed for all Schools and Nurserys
of good Learning and True Religion, especially the two Universities, add
these Words, Grant that from them and all other Places dedicated to thy
Worship and Service, may come forth such Persons. But what do they mean
by all other Places? It seems to me that this is either a Tautology, as
being the same with all Schools and Nurserys before expressed, or else
it runs too far; for there are general Places dedicated to the Divine
Service which cannot properly be intended here.



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 313

	
 Thursday, February 28, 1712

	
 Budgell









Exigite ut mores teneros ceu pollice ducat,

  Ut si quis cerâ vultum facit.



Juv.




Thursday










Sir,



  'I send you, according to my Promise, some farther Thoughts on the
  Education of Youth, in which I intend to discuss that famous Question,
  whether the Education at a Publick School, or under a private Tutor,
  is to be preferred?



  'As some of the greatest Men in most Ages have been of very different
  Opinions in this Matter, i shall give a short Account of what i think
  may be best urged on both sides, and afterwards leave every Person to
  determine for himself.



  'It is certain from Suetonius, that the Romans thought the Education
  of their Children a business properly belonging to the Parents
  themselves; and Plutarch, in the Life of Marcus Cato, tells us, that
  as soon as his Son was capable of Learning, Cato would suffer no Body
  to Teach him but himself, tho' he had a Servant named Chilo, who was
  an excellent Grammarian, and who taught a great many other Youths.



  'On the contrary, the Greeks seemed more inclined to Publick Schools
  and Seminaries.



  ' A private Education promises in the first place Virtue and
  Good-Breeding; a publick School Manly Assurance, and an early
  Knowledge in the Ways of the World.



  ' Mr. Locke in his celebrated Treatise of Education1, confesses
  that there are Inconveniencies to be feared on both sides; If, says
  he,  I keep my Son at Home, he is in danger of becoming my young
  Master; If I send him Abroad, it is scarce possible to keep him from
  the reigning Contagion of Rudeness and Vice. He will perhaps be more
  Innocent at Home, but more ignorant of the World, and more sheepish
  when he comes Abroad.  However, as this learned Author asserts, That
  Virtue is much more difficult to be attained than Knowledge of the
  World; and that Vice is a more stubborn, as well as a more dangerous
  Fault than Sheepishness, he is altogether for a private Education; and
  the more so, because he does not see why a Youth, with right
  Management, might not attain the same Assurance in his Father's House,
  as at a publick School. To this end he advises Parents to accustom
  their Sons to whatever strange Faces come to the House; to take them
  with them when they Visit their Neighbours, and to engage them in
  Conversation with Men of Parts and Breeding.



  'It may be objected to this Method, that Conversation is not the only
  thing necessary, but that unless it be a Conversation with such as are
  in some measure their Equals in Parts and Years, there can be no room
  for Emulation, Contention, and several of the most lively Passions of
  the Mind; which, without being sometimes moved by these means, may
  possibly contract a Dulness and Insensibility.



  'One of the greatest Writers our Nation ever produced observes, That a
  Boy who forms Parties, and makes himself Popular in a School or a
  College, would act the same Part with equal ease in a Senate or a
  Privy Council; and Mr. Osborn speaking like a Man versed in the Ways
  of the World, affirms, that the well laying and carrying on of a design to rob an
  Orchard, trains up a Youth insensibly to Caution, Secrecy and
  Circumspection, and fits him for Matters of greater Importance.



  'In short, a private Education seems the most natural Method for the
  forming of a virtuous Man; a Publick Education for making a Man of
  Business. The first would furnish out a good Subject for Plato's
  Republick, the latter a Member for a Community over-run with Artifice
  and Corruption.



  'It must however be confessed, that a Person at the head of a publick
  School has sometimes so many Boys under his Direction, that it is
  impossible he should extend a due proportion of his Care to each of
  them. This is, however, in reality, the Fault of the Age, in which we
  often see twenty Parents, who tho' each expects his Son should be made
  a Scholar, are not contented altogether to make it worth while for any
  Man of a liberal Education to take upon him the Care of their
  Instruction.



  'In our great Schools indeed this Fault has been of late Years
  rectified, so that we have at present not only Ingenious Men for the
  chief Masters, but such as have proper Ushers and Assistants under
  them; I must nevertheless own, that for want of the same Encouragement
  in the Country, we have many a promising Genius spoiled and abused in
  those Seminaries.



  'I am the more inclined to this Opinion, having my self experienced the
  Usage of two Rural Masters, each of them very unfit for the Trust they
  took upon them to discharge. The first imposed much more upon me than
  my Parts, tho' none of the weakest, could endure; and used me
  barbarously for not performing Impossibilities. The latter was of
  quite another Temper; and a Boy, who would run upon his Errands, wash
  his Coffee-pot, or ring the Bell, might have as little Conversation
  with any of the Classicks as he thought fit. I have known a Lad at
  this Place excused his Exercise for assisting the Cook-maid; and
  remember a Neighbouring Gentleman's Son was among us five Years, most
  of which time he employed in airing and watering our Master's grey
  Pad. I scorned to Compound for my Faults, by doing any of these
  Elegant Offices, and was accordingly the best Scholar, and the worst
  used of any Boy in the School.



'I shall conclude this Discourse with an Advantage mentioned by
  Quintilian, as accompanying a Publick way of Education, which I have
  not yet taken notice of; namely, That we very often contract such
  Friendships at School, as are a Service to us all the following Part
  of our Lives.



  'I shall give you, under this Head, a Story very well known to several
  Persons, and which you may depend upon as a real Truth.



  'Every one, who is acquainted with Westminster-School, knows that
  there is a Curtain which used to be drawn a-cross the Room, to
  separate the upper School from the lower. A Youth happened, by some
  Mischance, to tear the above-mentioned Curtain: The Severity of the
  Master2 was too well known for the Criminal to expect any Pardon for
  such a Fault; so that the Boy, who was of a meek Temper, was terrified
  to Death at the Thoughts of his Appearance, when his Friend, who sat
  next to him, bad him be of good Cheer, for that he would take the
  Fault on himself. He kept his word accordingly. As soon as they were
  grown up to be Men the Civil War broke out, in which our two Friends
  took the opposite Sides, one of them followed the Parliament, the
  other the Royal Party.



  'As their Tempers were different, the Youth, who had torn the Curtain,
  endeavoured to raise himself on the Civil List, and the other, who had
  born the Blame of it, on the Military: The first succeeded so well,
  that he was in a short time made a Judge under the Protector. The
  other was engaged in the unhappy Enterprize of Penruddock and Groves
  in the West. I suppose, Sir, I need not acquaint you with the Event of
  that Undertaking. Every one knows that the Royal Party was routed, and
  all the Heads of them, among whom was the Curtain Champion, imprisoned
  at Exeter. It happened to be his Friend's Lot at that time to go to
  the Western Circuit: The Tryal of the Rebels, as they were then
  called, was very short, and nothing now remained but to pass Sentence
  on them; when the Judge hearing the Name of his old Friend, and
  observing his Face more attentively, which he had not seen for many
  Years, asked him, if he was not formerly a Westminster-Scholar; by the
  Answer, he was soon convinced that it was his former generous Friend;
  and, without saying any thing more at that time, made the best of his
  Way to London, where employing all his Power and Interest with the
  Protector, he saved his Friend from the Fate of his unhappy
  Associates.



  'The Gentleman, whose Life was thus preserv'd by the Gratitude of his
  School-Fellow, was afterwards the Father of a Son, whom he lived to
  see promoted in the Church, and who still deservedly fills one of the
  highest Stations in it3.
















Footnote 1:
Some Thoughts concerning Education
Life of Cato



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 314

	
 Friday, February 29, 1712

	
 Steele









Tandem desine Matrem

  Tempestiva sequi viro.



Hor. Od. 23.








Feb. 7, 1711-12.



  Mr. Spectator,    



   I am a young Man about eighteen Years of Age, and have been in Love
  with a young Woman of the same Age about this half Year. I go to see
  her six Days in the Week, but never could have the Happiness of being
  with her alone. If any of her Friends are at home, she will see me in
  their Company; but if they be not in the Way, she flies to her
  Chamber. I can discover no Signs of her Aversion; but either a Fear of
  falling into the Toils of Matrimony, or a childish Timidity, deprives
  us of an Interview apart, and drives us upon the Difficulty of
  languishing out our Lives in fruitless Expectation. Now, Mr.
  Spectator, if you think us ripe for Œconomy, perswade the dear
  Creature, that to pine away into Barrenness and Deformity under a
  Mother's Shade, is not so honourable, nor does she appear so amiable,
  as she would in full Bloom. [There is a great deal left out before he
  concludes] Mr. Spectator,

  Your humble Servant,

  Bob Harmless.







Spectator














  Mr. Spectator,



  I shall ever own my self your obliged humble Servant for the Advice
  you gave me concerning my Dancing; which unluckily came too late: For,
  as I said, I would not leave off Capering till I had your Opinion of
  the Matter; was at our famous Assembly the Day before I received your
  Papers, and there was observed by an old Gentleman, who was informed I
  had a Respect for his Daughter; told me I was an insignificant little
  Fellow, and said that for the future he would take Care of his Child;
  so that he did not doubt but to crosse my amorous Inclinations. The
  Lady is confined to her Chamber, and for my Part, am ready to hang my
  self with the Thoughts that I have danced my self out of Favour with
  her Father. I hope you will pardon the Trouble I give; but shall take
  it for a mighty Favour, if you will give me a little more of your
  Advice to put me in a write Way to cheat the old Dragon and obtain my
  Mistress. I am once more,



  Sir,



  Your obliged humble Servant, John Trott.



  York, Feb. 23, 1711-12.



  Let me desire you to make what Alterations you please, and insert this
  as soon as possible. Pardon Mistake by Haste.








Spectator












  Feb. 27, 1711-12.



  Sir,



  Pray be so kind as to let me know what you esteem to be the chief
  Qualification of a good Poet, especially of one who writes Plays; and
  you will very much oblige,



  Sir, Your very humble Servant, N. B.







Spectator










Mr. Spectator,



  You are to know that I am naturally Brave, and love Fighting as well
  as any Man in England. This gallant Temper of mine makes me extremely
  delighted with Battles on the Stage. I give you this Trouble to
  complain to you, that Nicolini refused to gratifie me in that Part of
  the Opera for which I have most Taste. I observe it's become a Custom,
  that whenever any Gentlemen are particularly pleased with a Song, at
  their crying out Encore or Altro Volto, the Performer is so obliging
  as to sing it over again. I was at the Opera the last time Hydaspes
  was performed. At that Part of it where the Heroe engages with the
  Lion, the graceful Manner with which he put that terrible Monster to
  Death gave me so great a Pleasure, and at the same time so just a
  Sense of that Gentleman's Intrepidity and Conduct, that I could not
  forbear desiring a Repetition of it, by crying out Altro Volto in a
  very audible Voice; and my Friends flatter me, that I pronounced those
  Words with a tolerable good Accent, considering that was but the third
  Opera I had ever seen in my Life. Yet, notwithstanding all this, there
  was so little Regard had to me, that the Lion was carried off, and
  went to Bed, without being killed any more that Night. Now, Sir, pray
  consider that I did not understand a Word of what Mr. Nicolini said to
  this cruel Creature; besides, I have no Ear for Musick; so that during
  the long Dispute between 'em, the whole Entertainment I had was from
  my Eye; Why then have not I as much Right to have a graceful Action
  repeated as another has a pleasing Sound, since he only hears as I
  only see, and we neither of us know that there is any reasonable thing
  a doing? Pray, Sir, settle the Business of this Claim in the Audience,
  and let us know when we may cry Altro Volto, Anglicè, again, again,
  for the Future. I am an Englishman, and expect some Reason or other to
  be given me, and perhaps an ordinary one may serve; but I expect your
  Answer.



  I am, Sir,

  Your most humble Servant,

  Toby Rentfree.








Nov. 29.



  Mr. Spectator,



  You must give me Leave, amongst the rest of your Female
  Correspondents, to address you about an Affair which has already given
  you many a Speculation; and which, I know, I need not tell you have
  had a very happy Influence over the adult Part of our Sex: But as many
  of us are either too old to learn, or too obstinate in the Pursuit of
  the Vanities which have been bred up with us from our Infancy, and all
  of us quitting the Stage whilst you are prompting us to act our Part
  well; you ought, methinks, rather to turn your Instructions for the
  Benefit of that Part of our Sex, who are yet in their native
  Innocence, and ignorant of the Vices and that Variety of Unhappinesses
  that reign amongst us.



  I must tell you, Mr. Spectator, that it is as much a Part of your
  Office to oversee the Education of the female Part of the Nation, as
  well as of the Male; and to convince the World you are not partial,
  pray proceed to detect the Male Administration of Governesses as
  successfully as you have exposed that of Pedagogues; and rescue our
  Sex from the Prejudice and Tyranny of Education as well as that of
  your own, who without your seasonable Interposition are like to
  improve upon the Vices that are now in vogue.



  I who know the Dignity of your Post, as Spectator, and the Authority a
  skilful Eye ought to bear in the Female World, could not forbear
  consulting you, and beg your Advice in so critical a Point, as is that
  of the Education of young Gentlewomen. Having already provided myself
  with a very convenient House in a good Air, I'm not without Hope but
  that you will promote this generous Design. I must farther tell you,
  Sir, that all who shall be committed to my Conduct, beside the usual
  Accomplishments of the Needle, Dancing, and the French Tongue, shall
  not fail to be your constant Readers. It is therefore my humble
  Petition, that you will entertain the Town on this important Subject,
  and so far oblige a Stranger, as to raise a Curiosity and Enquiry in
  my Behalf, by publishing the following Advertisement.



  I am, Sir,

  Your constant Admirer,

  M. W.






Contents

Contents, p.4





Advertisement






The Boarding-School for young Gentlewomen, which was formerly kept on
Mile-End-Green, being laid down, there is now one set up almost opposite
to it at the two Golden-Balls, and much more convenient in every
Respect; where, beside the common Instructions given to young
Gentlewomen, they will be taught the whole Art of Paistrey and
Preserving, with whatever may render them accomplished. Those who please
to make Tryal of the Vigilance and Ability of the Persons concerned may
enquire at the two Golden-Balls on Mile-End-Green near Stepney, where
they will receive further Satisfaction.



This is to give Notice, that the Spectator has taken upon him to be
Visitant of all Boarding-Schools, where young Women are educated; and
designs to proceed in the said Office after the same Manner that the
Visitants of Colleges do in the two famous Universities of this Land.



All Lovers who write to the Spectator, are desired to forbear one
Expression which is in most of the Letters to him, either out of
Laziness, or want of Invention, and is true of not above two thousand
Women in the whole World; viz.



                  


















	
 No. 315

	
 Saturday, March 1, 1712

	
 Addison









Nec deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus

  Inciderit.



Hor.







Horace
1
Milton
Chaos








Milton's




Virgil
Jupiter
Now had th' Almighty Father from above,

(From the pure Empyrean where he sits

High thron'd above all height) bent down his Eye,

His own Works and their Works at once to view.

About him all the Sanctities of Heav'n

Stood thick as Stars, and from his Sight received

Beatitude past utt'rance: On his right

The radiant Image of his Glory sat,

His only Son. On earth he first beheld

Our two first Parents, yet the only two

Of Mankind, in the happy garden plac'd,

Reaping immortal fruits of Joy and Love;

Uninterrupted Joy, unrival'd Love

In blissful Solitude. He then surveyed

Hell and the Gulph between, and Satan there

Coasting the Wall of Heaven on this side Night,

In the dun air sublime; and ready now

To stoop with wearied wings, and willing feel

On the bare outside of this world, that seem'd

Firm land imbosom'd without firmament;

Uncertain which, in Ocean or in Air.

Him God beholding from his prospect high,

Wherein past, present, future he beholds,

Thus to his only Son foreseeing spake.



Satan's
Thus while God spake, ambrosial fragrance fill'd

  All Heav'n, and in the blessed Spirits elect

  Sense of new Joy ineffable diffus'd.

  Beyond compare the Son of God was seen

  Most glorious, in him all his Father shone

  Substantially expressed, and in his face

  Divine Compassion visibly appeared,

  Love without end, and without measure Grace.
No sooner had th' Almighty ceas'd, but all

The multitudes of Angels with a shout

(Loud as from numbers without number, sweet

As from blest Voices) utt'ring Joy, Heav'n rung

With Jubilee, and loud Hosanna's fill'd

Th' eternal regions; &c. &c.--



Satan's
Limbo of Vanity,






Aristotle
2
French
Aristotle's








Ulysses's
Æneas's
Homer
Virgil
Æneid
Æneas
Polydorus
Milton's
Limbo of
Vanity
Sin
Death
Chaos
Circe
Polypheme
Sirens
Odyssey
Iliad
Aristotle






Satan




I saw when at his Word the formless Mass,

This World's material Mould, came to a Heap:

Confusion heard his Voice, and wild Uproar

Stood rul'd, stood vast Infinitude confin'd.

Till at his second Bidding Darkness fled,

Light shon, &c.
Look downward on the Globe whose hither Side

With Light from hence, tho but reflected, shines;

That place is Earth, the Seat of Man, that Light

His Day, &c.
Paradise
Lost
Milton



















Footnote 1:
De Arte Poetica



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Poetics
 'The surprising is necessary in tragedy; but the Epic Poem goes
  farther, and admits even the improbable and incredible, from which the
  highest degree of the surprising results, because there the action is
  not seen.'


return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 316

	
 Monday, March 3, 1712

	
 John Hughes









Libertas; quæ sera tamen respexit Inertem.



Virg. Ecl. I.








  'Mr. Spectator,



  'If you ever read a Letter which is sent with the more Pleasure for
  the Reality of its Complaints, this may have Reason to hope for a
  favourable Acceptance; and if Time be the most irretrievable Loss, the
  Regrets which follow will be thought, I hope, the most justifiable.
  The regaining of my Liberty from a long State of Indolence and
  Inactivity, and the Desire of resisting the further Encroachments of
  Idleness, make me apply to you; and the Uneasiness with which I I
  recollect the past Years, and the Apprehensions with which I expect
  the Future, soon determined me to it.



  'Idleness is so general a Distemper that I cannot but imagine a
  Speculation on this Subject will be of universal Use. There is hardly
  any one Person without some Allay of it; and thousands besides my self
  spend more Time in an idle Uncertainty which to begin first of two
  Affairs, that would have been sufficient to have ended them both. The
  Occasion of this seems to be the Want of some necessary Employment, to
  put the Spirits in Motion, and awaken them out of their Lethargy. If I
  had less Leisure, I should have more; for I should then find my Time
  distinguished into Portions, some for Business, and others for the
  indulging of Pleasures: But now one Face of Indolence overspreads the
  whole, and I have no Land-mark to direct my self by. Were one's Time a
  little straitned by Business, like Water inclosed in its Banks, it
  would have some determined Course; but unless it be put into some
  Channel it has no Current, but becomes a Deluge without either Use or
  Motion.



  'When Scanderbeg Prince of Epirus was dead, the Turks, who had but too
  often felt the Force of his Arm in the Battels he had won from them,
  imagined that by wearing a piece of his Bones near their Heart, they
  should be animated with a Vigour and Force like to that which inspired
  him when living. As I am like to be but of little use whilst I live, I
  am resolved to do what Good I can after my Decease; and have
  accordingly ordered my Bones to be disposed of in this Manner for the
  Good of my Countrymen, who are troubled with too exorbitant a Degree
  of Fire. All Fox-hunters upon wearing me, would in a short Time be
  brought to endure their Beds in a Morning, and perhaps even quit them
  with Regret at Ten: Instead of hurrying away to teaze a poor Animal,
  and run away from their own Thoughts, a Chair or a Chariot would be
  thought the most desirable Means of performing a Remove from one Place
  to another. I should be a Cure for the unnatural Desire of John Trott
  for Dancing, and a Specifick to lessen the Inclination Mrs. Fidget has
  to Motion, and cause her always to give her Approbation to the present
  Place she is in. In fine, no Egyptian Mummy was ever half so useful in
  Physick, as I should be to these feaverish Constitutions, to repress
  the violent Sallies of Youth, and give each Action its proper Weight
  and Repose.



  'I can stifle any violent Inclination, and oppose a Torrent of Anger,
  or the Sollicitations of Revenge, with Success. But Indolence is a
  Stream which flows slowly on, but yet undermines the Foundation of
  every Virtue. A Vice of a more lively Nature were a more desirable
  Tyrant than this Rust of the Mind, which gives a Tincture of its
  Nature to every Action of ones Life. It were as little Hazard to be
  lost in a Storm, as to lye thus perpetually becalmed: And it is to no
  Purpose to have within one the Seeds of a thousand good Qualities, if
  we want the Vigour and Resolution necessary for the exerting them.
  Death brings all Persons back to an Equality; and this Image of it,
  this Slumber of the Mind, leaves no Difference between the greatest
  Genius and the meanest Understanding: A Faculty of doing things
  remarkably praise-worthy thus concealed, is of no more use to the
  Owner, than a Heap of Gold to the Man who dares not use it.



  'To-Morrow is still the fatal Time when all is to be rectified:
  To-Morrow comes, it goes, and still I please my self with the Shadow,
  whilst I lose the Reality; unmindful that the present Time alone is
  ours, the future is yet unborn, and the past is dead, and can only
  live (as Parents in their Children) in the Actions it has produced.



  'The Time we live ought not to be computed by the Numbers of Years,
  but by the Use has been made of it; thus 'tis not the Extent of
  Ground, but the yearly Rent which gives the Value to the Estate.
  Wretched and thoughtless Creatures, in the only Place where
  Covetousness were a Virtue we turn Prodigals! Nothing lies upon our
  Hands with such Uneasiness, nor has there been so many Devices for any
  one Thing, as to make it slide away imperceptibly and to no purpose. A
  Shilling shall be hoarded up with Care, whilst that which is above the
  Price of an Estate, is flung away with Disregard and Contempt. There
  is nothing now-a-days so much avoided, as a sollicitous Improvement of
  every part of Time; 'tis a Report must be shunned as one tenders the
  Name of a Wit and a fine Genius, and as one fears the Dreadful
  Character of a laborious Plodder: But notwithstanding this, the
  greatest Wits any Age has produced thought far otherwise; for who can
  think either Socrates or Demosthenes lost any Reputation, by their
  continual Pains both in overcoming the Defects and improving the Gifts
  of Nature. All are acquainted with the Labour and Assiduity with which
  Tully acquired his Eloquence.



  'Seneca in his Letters to Lucelius1 assures him, there was not a Day
  in which he did not either write something, or read and epitomize some
  good Author; and I remember Pliny in one of his Letters, where he
  gives an Account of the various Methods he used to fill up every
  Vacancy of Time, after several Imployments which he enumerates;
  sometimes, says he, I hunt; but even then I carry with me a
  Pocket-Book, that whilst my Servants are busied in disposing of the
  Nets and other Matters I may be employed in something that may be
  useful to me in my Studies; and that if I miss of my Game, I may at
  the least bring home some of my own Thoughts with me, and not have the
  Mortification of having caught nothing all Day2.



  'Thus, Sir, you see how many Examples I recall to Mind, and what
  Arguments I use with my self, to regain my Liberty: But as I am afraid
  'tis no Ordinary Perswasion that will be of Service, I shall expect
  your Thoughts on this Subject, with the greatest Impatience,
  especially since the Good will not be confined to me alone, but will
  be of Universal Use. For there is no Hopes of Amendment where Men are
  pleased with their Ruin, and whilst they think Laziness is a desirable
  Character: Whether it be that they like the State it self, or that
  they think it gives them a new Lustre when they do exert themselves,
  seemingly to be able to do that without Labour and Application, which
  others attain to but with the greatest Diligence.



  I am, Sir, 

Your most obliged humble Servant, 

Samuel Slack.








Clytander to Cleone.



  'Madam,

  Permission to love you is all I desire, to conquer all the
  Difficulties those about you place in my Way, to surmount and acquire
  all those Qualifications you expect in him who pretends to the Honour
  of being,



  'Madam,

  Your most humble Servant,

  'Clytander.















Footnote 1:
Ep



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Ep



return






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 317

	
 Tuesday, March 4, 1712

	
 Addison









—fruges consumere nati.



Hor.




Let me
then, says he, go off the Stage with your Applause
Exit




n




Andrew Freeport
Andrew
Since
1









	Monday
	Eight-a-Clock
	I put on my Cloaths and walked into the Parlour.




	
	Nine a-Clock
	ditto. Tied my Knee-strings, and washed my Hands.




	
	Hours Ten, Eleven and Twelve.
	Smoaked three Pipes of Virginia. Read
  the Supplement and Daily Courant. Things go ill in the North. Mr.
  Nisby's Opinion thereupon.




	
	One a-Clock in the Afternoon.
	Chid Ralph for mislaying my Tobacco-Box.




	
	Two a-Clock.
	Sate down to Dinner. Mem. Too many Plumbs, and no Sewet.




	
	From Three to Four.
	Took my Afternoon's Nap.




	
	From Four to Six.
	Walked into the Fields. Wind, S. S. E.




	
	From Six to Ten.
	At the Club. Mr. Nisby's Opinion about the Peace.




	
	Ten a-Clock.
	Went to Bed, slept sound.




	Tuesday, Being Holiday,
	Eight a-Clock.
	Rose as usual.




	
	Nine a-Clock.
	Washed Hands and Face, shaved, put on my double-soaled
  Shoes.




	
	Ten, Eleven, Twelve.
	Took a Walk to Islington.




	
	One.
	Took a Pot of Mother Cob's Mild.




	
	Between Two and Three.
	Return'd, dined on a Knuckle of Veal and Bacon.
  Mem. Sprouts wanting.




	
	Three.
	Nap as usual.




	
	From Four to Six.
	Coffee-house. Read the News. A Dish of Twist. Grand
  Vizier strangled.




	
	From Six to Ten.
	At the Club. Mr. Nisby's Account of the Great Turk.




	
	Ten.
	Dream of the Grand Vizier. Broken Sleep.




	Wednesday
	Eight a-Clock.
	Tongue of my Shooe-Buckle broke. Hands but
  not Face.




	
	Nine.
	Paid off the Butcher's Bill. Mem. To be allowed for the last Leg
  of Mutton.




	
	Ten, Eleven.
	At the Coffee-house. More Work in the North. Stranger in
  a black Wigg asked me how Stocks went.




	
	From Twelve to One.
	Walked in the Fields. Wind to the South.




	
	From One to Two.
	Smoaked a Pipe and an half.




	
	Two.
	Dined as usual. Stomach good.




	
	Three.
	Nap broke by the falling of a Pewter Dish. Mem. Cook-maid in
  Love, and grown careless.




	
	From Four to Six.
	At the Coffee-house. Advice from Smyrna, that the
  Grand Vizier was first of all strangled, and afterwards beheaded.




	
	Six a-Clock in the Evening.
	Was half an Hour in the Club before any
  Body else came. Mr. Nisby of Opinion that the Grand Vizier was not
  strangled the Sixth Instant.




	
	Ten at Night.
	Went to Bed. Slept without waking till Nine next
  Morning.




	Thursday
	Nine a-Clock.
	Staid within till Two a-Clock for Sir Timothy;
  who did not bring me my Annuity according to his Promise.




	
	Two in the Afternoon.
	Sate down to Dinner. Loss of Appetite. Small
  Beer sour. Beef over-corned.




	
	Three.
	Gave Ralph a box on the Ear. Turned off my Cookmaid.
  Sent a Message to Sir Timothy. Mem. I did not go to the Club to-night.
  Went to Bed at Nine a-Clock.




	Friday
	
	Passed the Morning in Meditation upon Sir Timothy, who was
  with me a Quarter before Twelve.




	
	Twelve a-Clock.
	Bought a new Head to my Cane, and a Tongue to my
  Buckle. Drank a Glass of Purl to recover Appetite.




	
	Two and Three.
	Dined, and Slept well.




	
	From Four to Six.
	Went to the Coffee-house. Met Mr. Nisby there.
  Smoaked several Pipes. Mr. Nisby of opinion that laced Coffee is bad
  for the Head.




	
	Six a-Clock.
	At the Club as Steward. Sate late.




	
	Twelve a-Clock.
	Went to Bed, dreamt that I drank Small Beer with the
  Grand Vizier.




	Saturday
	
	Waked at Eleven, walked in the Fields. Wind N. E.




	
	Twelve.
	Caught in a Shower.




	
	One in the Afternoon.
	Returned home, and dryed my self.




	
	Two.
	Mr. Nisby dined with me. First Course Marrow-bones, Second
  Ox-Cheek, with a Bottle of Brooks and Hellier.




	
	Three a-Clock.
	Overslept my self.




	
	Six.
	Went to the Club. Like to have faln into a Gutter. Grand Vizier
  certainly Dead. etc.


























Footnote 1:
As



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 318

	
 Wednesday, March 5, 1712

	
 Steele









—non omnia possumus omnes.



Virg.1








  Mr. Spectator,



  A certain Vice which you have lately attacked, has not yet been
  considered by you as growing so deep in the Heart of Man, that the
  Affectation outlives the Practice of it. You must have observed that
  Men who have been bred in Arms preserve to the most extreme and feeble
  old Age a certain Daring in their Aspect: In like manner, they who
  have pass'd their Time in Gallantry and Adventure, keep up, as well as
  they can, the Appearance of it, and carry a petulant Inclination to
  their last Moments. Let this serve for a Preface to a Relation I am
  going to give you of an old Beau in Town, that has not only been
  amorous, and a Follower of Women in general, but also, in Spite of the
  Admonition of grey Hairs, been from his sixty-third Year to his
  present seventieth, in an actual Pursuit of a young Lady, the Wife of
  his Friend, and a Man of Merit. The gay old Escalus has Wit, good
  Health, and is perfectly well bred; but from the Fashion and Manners
  of the Court when he was in his Bloom, has such a natural Tendency to
  amorous Adventure, that he thought it would be an endless Reproach to
  him to make no use of a Familiarity he was allowed at a Gentleman's
  House, whose good Humour and Confidence exposed his Wife to the
  Addresses of any who should take it in their Head to do him the good
  Office. It is not impossible that Escalus might also resent that the
  Husband was particularly negligent of him; and tho' he gave many
  Intimations of a Passion towards the Wife, the Husband either did not
  see them, or put him to the Contempt of over-looking them. In the mean
  time Isabella, for so we shall call our Heroine, saw his Passion, and
  rejoiced in it as a Foundation for much Diversion, and an Opportunity
  of indulging her self in the dear Delight of being admired, addressed
  to, and flattered, with no ill Consequence to her Reputation. This
  Lady is of a free and disengaged Behaviour, ever in good Humour, such
  as is the Image of Innocence with those who are innocent, and an
  Encouragement to Vice with those who are abandoned. From this Kind of
  Carriage, and an apparent Approbation of his Gallantry, Escalus had
  frequent Opportunities of laying amorous Epistles in her Way, of
  fixing his Eyes attentively upon her Action, of performing a thousand
  little Offices which are neglected by the Unconcerned, but are so many
  Approaches towards Happiness with the Enamoured. It was now, as is
  above hinted, almost the End of the seventh Year of his Passion, when
  Escalus from general Terms, and the ambiguous Respect which criminal
  Lovers retain in their Addresses, began to bewail that his Passion
  grew too violent for him to answer any longer for his Behaviour
  towards her; and that he hoped she would have Consideration for his
  long and patient Respect, to excuse the Motions of a Heart now no
  longer under the Direction of the unhappy Owner of it. Such for some
  Months had been the Language of Escalus both in his Talk and his
  Letters to Isabella; who returned all the Profusion of kind Things
  which had been the Collection of fifty Years with I must not hear you;
  you will make me forget that y'ou are a Gentleman, I would not
  willingly lose you as a Friend; and the like Expressions, which the
  Skilful interpret to their own Advantage, as well knowing that a
  feeble Denial is a modest Assent. I should have told you, that
  Isabella, during the whole Progress of this Amour, communicated it to
  her Husband; and that an Account of Escalus's Love was their usual
  Entertainment after half a Day's Absence: Isabella therefore, upon her
  Lover's late more open Assaults, with a Smile told her Husband she
  could hold out no longer, but that his Fate was now come to a Crisis.
  After she had explained her self a little farther, with her Husband's
  Approbation she proceeded in the following Manner. The next Time that
  Escalus was alone with her, and repeated his Importunity, the crafty
  Isabella looked on her Fan with an Air of great Attention, as
  considering of what Importance such a Secret was to her; and upon the
  Repetition of a warm Expression, she looked at him with an Eye of
  Fondness, and told him he was past that Time of Life which could make
  her fear he would boast of a Lady's Favour; then turned away her Head
  with a very well-acted Confusion, which favoured the Escape of the
  aged Escalus. This Adventure was Matter of great Pleasantry to
  Isabella and her Spouse; and they had enjoyed it two Days before
  Escalus could recollect himself enough to form the following Letter.


Madam,



    "What happened the other Day, gives me a lively Image of the
    Inconsistency of human Passions and Inclinations. We pursue what we
    are denied, and place our Affections on what is absent, tho' we
    neglected it when present. As long as you refused my Love, your
    Refusal did so strongly excite my Passion, that I had not once the
    Leisure to think of recalling my Reason to aid me against the Design
    upon your Virtue. But when that Virtue began to comply in my Favour,
    my Reason made an Effort over my Love, and let me see the Baseness
    of my Behaviour in attempting a Woman of Honour. I own to you, it
    was not without the most violent Struggle that I gained this Victory
    over my self; nay, I will confess my Shame, and acknowledge I could
    not have prevailed but by Flight. However, Madam, I beg that you
    will believe a Moment's Weakness has not destroyed the Esteem I had
    for you, which was confirmed by so many Years of Obstinate Virtue.
    You have Reason to rejoice that this did not happen within the
    Observation of one of the young Fellows, who would have exposed your
    Weakness, and gloried in his own Brutish Inclinations.

    I am, Madam,

    Your most devoted Humble Servant."


Isabella, with the Help of her Husband, returned the following Answer.


Sir,



    "I cannot but account my self a very happy Woman, in having a Man
    for a Lover that can write so well, and give so good a Turn to a
    Disappointment. Another Excellence you have above all other
    Pretenders I ever heard of; on Occasions where the most reasonable
    Men lose all their Reason, you have yours most powerful. We are each
    of us to thank our Genius, that the Passion of one abated in
    Proportion as that of the other grew violent. Does it not yet come
    into your Head, to imagine that I knew my Compliance was the
    greatest Cruelty I could be guilty of towards you? In Return for
    your long and faithful Passion, I must let you know that you are old
    enough to become a little more Gravity; but if you will leave me and
    coquet it any where else, may your Mistress yield.



    Isabella."'















Footnote 1:
'Rideat et pulset Lasciva decentius Ætas.'



Hor.



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 319

	
 Thursday, March 6, 1712

	
 Budgell









Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo?



Hor.
















  Mr. Spectator,



  'I always make one among a Company of young Females, who peruse your
  Speculations every Morning. I am at present Commissioned, by our whole
  Assembly, to let you know, that we fear you are a little enclined to
  be partial towards your own Sex. We must however acknowledge, with all
  due Gratitude, that in some Cases you have given us our Revenge on the
  Men, and done us Justice. We could not easily have forgiven you
  several Strokes in the Dissection of the Coquets Heart, if you had
  not, much about the same time, made a Sacrifice to us of a Beau's
  Scull.



  'You may, however, Sir, please to remember, that long since you
  attacked our Hoods and Commodes in such manner, as, to use your own
  Expression, made very many of us ashamed to shew our Heads. We must,
  therefore, beg leave to represent to you, that we are in Hopes, if you
  would please to make a due Enquiry, the Men in all Ages would be found
  to have been little less whimsical in adorning that Part, than our
  selves. The different Forms of their Wiggs, together with the various
  Cocks of their Hats, all flatter us in this Opinion.



  'I had an humble Servant last Summer, who the first time he declared
  himself, was in a Full-Bottom'd Wigg; but the Day after, to my no
  small Surprize, he accosted me in a thin Natural one. I received him,
  at this our second Interview, as a perfect Stranger, but was extreamly
  confounded, when his Speech discovered who he was. I resolved,
  therefore, to fix his Face in my Memory for the future; but as I was
  walking in the Park the same Evening, he appeared to me in one of
  those Wiggs that I think you call a Night-cap, which had altered him
  more effectually than before. He afterwards played a Couple of Black
  Riding Wiggs upon me, with the same Success; and, in short, assumed a
  new Face almost every Day in the first Month of his Courtship.



  'I observed afterwards, that the Variety of Cocks into which he
  moulded his Hat, had not a little contributed to his Impositions upon
  me.



  'Yet, as if all these ways were not sufficient to distinguish their
  Heads, you must, doubtless, Sir, have observed, that great Numbers of
  young Fellows have, for several Months last past, taken upon them to
  wear Feathers.



  'We hope, therefore, that these may, with as much Justice, be called
  Indian Princes, as you have styled a Woman in a coloured Hood an
  Indian Queen; and that you will, in due time, take these airy
  Gentlemen into Consideration.



  'We the more earnestly beg that you would put a Stop to this Practice,
  since it has already lost us one of the most agreeable Members of our
  Society, who after having refused several good Estates, and two
  Titles, was lured from us last Week by a mixed Feather.



  'I am ordered to present you the Respects of our whole Company, and
  am, Sir, 

Your very humble Servant, 

Dorinda.



  Note, The Person wearing the Feather, tho' our Friend took him for an
  Officer in the Guards, has proved to be an arrant Linnen-Draper1.'


















Sir,

  'I presume I need not inform you, that among Men of Dress it is a
  common Phrase to say Mr. Such an one has struck a bold Stroke; by
  which we understand, that he is the first Man who has had Courage
  enough to lead up a Fashion. Accordingly, when our Taylors take
  Measure of us, they always demand whether we will have a plain Suit,
  or strike a bold Stroke. 1 think I may without Vanity say, that I have
  struck some of the boldest and most successful Strokes of any Man in
  Great Britain. I was the first that struck the Long Pocket about two
  Years since: I was likewise the Author of the Frosted Button, which
  when I saw the Town came readily into, being resolved to strike while
  the Iron was hot, I produced much about the same time the Scallop
  Flap, the knotted Cravat, and made a fair Push for the Silver-clocked
  Stocking.



  'A few Months after I brought up the modish Jacket, or the Coat with
  close Sleeves. I struck this at first in a plain Doily; but that
  failing, I struck it a second time in blue Camlet; and repeated the
  Stroke in several kinds of Cloth, till at last it took effect. There
  are two or three young Fellows at the other End of the Town, who have
  always their Eye upon me, and answer me Stroke for Stroke. I was once
  so unwary as to mention my Fancy in relation to the new-fashioned
  Surtout before one of these Gentlemen, who was disingenuous enough to
  steal my Thought, and by that means prevented my intended Stroke.



  'I have a Design this Spring to make very considerable Innovations in
  the Wastcoat, and have already begun with a Coup d'essai upon the
  Sleeves, which has succeeded very well.



  'I must further inform you, if you will promise to encourage or at
  least to connive at me, that it is my Design to strike such a Stroke
  the Beginning of the next Month, as shall surprise the whole Town.



  'I do not think it prudent to acquaint you with all the Particulars of
  my intended Dress; but will only tell you, as a Sample of it, that I
  shall very speedily appear at White's in a Cherry-coloured Hat. I took
  this Hint from the Ladies Hoods, which I look upon as the boldest
  Stroke that Sex has struck for these hundred Years last past.



  I am, Sir,



  Your most Obedient, most Humble Servant,



  Will. Sprightly.'









I have not Time at present to make any Reflections on this Letter, but
must not however omit that having shewn it to Will. Honeycomb, he
desires to be acquainted with the Gentleman who writ it.



















Footnote 1:
 only an Ensign in the Train Bands.



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.4








	
 No. 320

	
 Friday, March 7, 1712

	
 Steele









'—non pronuba Juno,

  Non Hymenæus adest, non illi Gratia lecto,

  Eumenides stravere torum.'



Ovid1. 








  Mr. Spectator,



  'You have given many Hints in your Papers to the Disadvantage of
  Persons of your own Sex, who lay Plots upon Women. Among other hard
  Words you have published the Term Male-Coquets, and been very severe
  upon such as give themselves the Liberty of a little Dalliance of
  Heart, and playing fast and loose, between Love and Indifference, till
  perhaps an easie young Girl is reduced to Sighs, Dreams and Tears; and
  languishes away her Life for a careless Coxcomb, who looks astonished,
  and wonders at such an Effect from what in him was all but common
  Civility. Thus you have treated the Men who are irresolute in
  Marriage; but if you design to be impartial, pray be so honest as to
  print the Information I now give you, of a certain Set of Women who
  never Coquet for the Matter, but with an high Hand marry whom they
  please to whom they please. As for my Part, I should not have
  concerned my self with them, but that I understand I am pitched upon
  by them, to be married, against my Will, to one I never saw in my
  Life. It has been my Misfortune, Sir, very innocently, to rejoice in a
  plentiful Fortune, of which I am Master, to bespeak a fine Chariot, to
  give Direction for two or three handsome Snuff-Boxes, and as many
  Suits of fine Cloaths; but before any of these were ready, I heard
  Reports of my being to be married to two or three different young
  Women. Upon my taking Notice of it to a young Gentleman who is often
  in my Company he told me smiling, I was in the Inquisition. You may
  believe I was not a little startled at what he meant, and more so when
  he asked me if I had bespoke any thing of late that was fine. I told
  him several; upon which he produced a Description of my Person from
  the Tradesmen whom I had employed, and told me that they had certainly
  informed against me. Mr. Spectator, Whatever the World may think of
  me, I am more Coxcomb than Fool, and I grew very inquisitive upon this
  Head, not a little pleased with the Novelty. My Friend told me there
  were a certain Set of Women of Fashion whereof the Number of Six made
  a Committee, who sat thrice a Week, under the Title of the Inquisition
  on Maids and Batchelors. It seems, whenever there comes such an
  unthinking gay Thing as my self to Town, he must want all Manner of
  Necessaries, or be put into the Inquisition by the first Tradesman he
  employs. They have constant Intelligence with Cane-Shops, Perfumers,
  Toymen, Coach-makers, and China-houses. From these several Places,
  these Undertakers for Marriages have as constant and regular
  Correspondence, as the Funeral-men have with Vintners and
  Apothecaries. All Batchelors are under their immediate Inspection, and
  my Friend produced to me a Report given into their Board, wherein an
  old Unkle of mine, who came to Town with me, and my self, were
  inserted, and we stood thus; the Unkle smoaky, rotten, poor; the
  Nephew raw, but no Fool, sound at present, very rich. My Information
  did not end here, but my Friend's Advices are so good, that he could
  shew me a Copy of the Letter sent to the young Lady who is to have me
  which I enclose to you.


Madam,

    'This is to let you know, that you are to be Married to a Beau that
    comes out on Thursday Six in the Evening. Be at the Park. You cannot
    but know a Virgin Fop; they have a Mind to look saucy, but are out
    of Countenance. The Board has denied him to several good Families. I
    wish you Joy.

    Corinna.'





















Temple, March 3, 1711.



  Sir, 

  Your Speculation this Day on the Subject of Idleness, has employed me,
  ever since I read it, in sorrowful Reflections on my having loitered
  away the Term (or rather the Vacation) of ten Years in this Place, and
  unhappily suffered a good Chamber and Study to lie idle as long. My
  Books (except those I have taken to sleep upon) have been totally
  neglected, and my Lord Coke and other venerable Authors were never so
  slighted in their Lives. I spent most of the Day at a Neighbouring
  Coffee-House, where we have what I may call a lazy Club. We generally
  come in Night-Gowns, with our Stockings about our Heels, and sometimes
  but one on. Our Salutation at Entrance is a Yawn and a Stretch, and
  then without more Ceremony we take our Place at the Lolling Table;
  where our Discourse is, what I fear you would not read out, therefore
  shall not insert. But I assure you, Sir, I heartily lament this Loss
  of Time, and am now resolved (if possible, with double Diligence) to
  retrieve it, being effectually awakened by the Arguments of Mr. Slack
  out of the Senseless Stupidity that has so long possessed me. And to
  demonstrate that Penitence accompanies my Confession, and Constancy my
  Resolutions, I have locked my Door for a Year, and desire you would
  let my Companions know I am not within. I am with great Respect,



  Sir, Your most obedient Servant,



  N. B.















Footnote 1:
 Hæ sunt qui tenui sudant in Cyclade. 



Hor.



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
No. 3211

	
 Saturday, March 8, 1712

	
 Addison









Nec satis est pulchra esse poemata, dulcia sunto.



Hor.




Homer
Virgil
Milton
Paradise Lost
Odyssey
Iliad
Æneid
Milton




Adam's
Adam
Eve




the
Aristotle's
2
Milton's




Adam
Eve




Satan
O thou that with surpassing Glory crown'd,

Look'st from thy sole Dominion like the God

Of this new World; at whose Sight all the Stars

Hide their diminish'd Heads; to thee I call,

But with no friendly Voice, and add thy name,

O Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams,

That bring to my Remembrance from what State

I fell, how glorious once above thy Sphere.
are
this
3




Satan's
Iliad






His
Eve
form
4
His
is
5
Know ye not then, said Satan, fll'd with Scorn,

Know ye not Me? ye knew me once no mate

For you, there sitting where you durst not soar;

Not to know Me argues your selves unknown,

The lowest of your throng;—



Zephon's
Satan
Satan
Gabriel
Gabriel's
O Friends, I hear the tread of nimble Feet

Hasting this Way, and now by glimps discern

Ithuriel and Zephon through the shade;

And with them comes a third of Regal Port,

But faded splendor wan; who by his gait

And fierce demeanor seems the Prince of Hell;

Not likely to part hence without contest:

Stand firm, for in his look defiance lours.
Gabriel
Satan
Satan
Homer's
Longinus
Virgil
While thus he spake, th' Angelic Squadron bright

Turn'd fiery red, sharpning in mooned Horns

Their Phalanx, and began to hem him round

With ported Spears, &c.



—On the other side Satan alarm'd,

Collecting all his might dilated stood

Like Teneriff, or Atlas, unremov'd.

His Stature reached the Sky, and on his Crest

Sat horror plum'd;—
must
notice
6
Milton
Greek
Latin




Gabriel
Satan
Homer's
Hector
Achilles
Jupiter
Iliad






Virgil
Jupiter
Turnus
Æneas
Milton
Iliad
Æneid
To this we may further
add, that Milton is the more justified in this Passage, as we find the
same noble Allegory in Holy Writ, where a wicked Prince, some few Hours
before he was assaulted and slain, is said to have been weighed in the
Scales, and to have been found wanting.




Uriel's
Milton
So saying, on he led his radiant files,

Dazling the Moon;—




Adam
Eve
Satan
Two of far nobler Shape erect and tall,

God-like erect! with native honour clad

In naked Majesty, seem'd lords of all;

And worthy seem'd: for in their looks divine

The image of their glorious Maker shon,

Truth, Wisdom, Sanctitude severe and pure;

Severe, but in true filial freedom plac'd:

For contemplation he and valour form'd,

For softness she and sweet attractive grace;

He for God only, she for God in him.

His fair large front, and eye sublime, declar'd

Absolute rule; and Hyacinthin Locks

Round from his parted forelock manly hung

Clustring, but not beneath his Shoulders broad.

She, as a Veil, down to her slender waste

Her unadorned golden tresses wore

Dis-shevel'd, but in wanton ringlets wav'd.

So pass'd they naked on, nor shun'd the Sight

Of God or Angel, for they thought no ill:

So hand in hand they passed, the loveliest pair

That ever since in love's embraces met.




—When Adam first of Men—



Sole partner and sole part of all these joys,

Dearer thy self than all;—



But let us ever praise him, and extol

His bounty, following our delightful Task,

To prune these growing plants, and tend these flow'rs;

Which were it toilsome, yet with thee were sweet.

To whom thus Eve reply'd. O thou for whom,

And from whom I was form'd, flesh of thy flesh,

And without whom am to no end, my Guide

And Head, what thou hast said is just and right.

For we to him indeed all praises owe.

And daily thanks; I chiefly, who enjoy

So far the happier Lot, enjoying thee

Preeminent by so much odds, while thou

Like consort to thy self canst no where find, &c.
Eve's
Adam
Milton
That Day I oft remember, when from Sleep, &c.
Poet
these
7
So spake our general Mother, and with eyes

Of Conjugal attraction unreproved,

And meek surrender, half embracing lean'd

On our first father; half her swelling breast

Naked met his under the flowing Gold

Of her loose tresses hid: he in delight

Both of her beauty and submissive charms

Smil'd with superior Love.—




Eve




Thus at their shady Lodge arriv'd, both stood,

Both turn'd, and under open Sky, ador'd

The God that made both Sky, Air, Earth and Heaven,

Which they beheld, the Moon's resplendent Globe,

And Starry Pole: Thou also mad'st the Night,

Maker Omnipotent, and thou the Day, &c.
Homer
Longinus



















Footnote 1:
Spectator



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Poetics
 'The diction should be most laboured in the idle parts of the poem;
  those in which neither manners nor sentiments prevail; for the manners
  and the sentiments are only obscured by too splendid a diction.'


return









Footnote 3:
this great



return









Footnote 4:
shape



return









Footnote 5:
are



return









Footnote 6:
notice by the way



return









Footnote 7:
those



return






Contents

Contents, p.5





Dedication of the Fifth Volume of The Spectator




To The Right Honourable Thomas Earl of Wharton1.






My
 
Lord




Spectator




Lord





Spectator















Footnote 1:
Spectator



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 322

	
 Monday, March 10, 1712

	
 Steele









Ad humum mærore gravi deducit et angit.



Hor.














Mr. Spectator,

  'Some Years ago it happened that I lived in the same House with a
  young Gentleman of Merit; with whose good Qualities I was so much
  taken, as to make it my Endeavour to shew as many as I was able in my
  self. Familiar Converse improved general Civilities into an unfeigned
  Passion on both Sides. He watched an Opportunity to declare himself to
  me; and I, who could not expect a Man of so great an Estate as his,
  received his Addresses in such Terms, as gave him no reason to believe
  I was displeased by them, tho' I did nothing to make him think me more
  easy than was decent. His Father was a very hard worldly Man, and
  proud; so that there was no reason to believe he would easily be
  brought to think there was any thing in any Woman's Person or
  Character that could ballance the Disadvantage of an unequal Fortune.
  In the mean time the Son continued his Application to me, and omitted
  no Occasion of demonstrating the most disinterested Passion imaginable
  to me; and in plain direct Terms offer'd to marry me privately, and
  keep it so till he should be so happy as to gain his Father's
  Approbation, or become possessed of his Estate. I passionately loved
  him, and you will believe I did not deny such a one what was my
  Interest also to grant. However I was not so young, as not to take the
  Precaution of carrying with me a faithful Servant, who had been also
  my Mother's Maid, to be present at the Ceremony. When that was over I
  demanded a Certificate, signed by the Minister, my Husband, and the
  Servant I just now spoke of. After our Nuptials, we conversed together
  very familiarly in the same House; but the Restraints we were
  generally under, and the Interviews we had, being stolen and
  interrupted, made our Behaviour to each other have rather the
  impatient Fondness which is visible in Lovers, than the regular and
  gratified Affection which is to be observed in Man and Wife. This
  Observation made the Father very anxious for his Son, and press him to
  a Match he had in his Eye for him. To relieve my Husband from this
  Importunity, and conceal the Secret of our Marriage, which I had
  reason to know would not be long in my power in Town, it was resolved
  that I should retire into a remote Place in the Country, and converse
  under feigned Names by Letter. We long continued this Way of Commerce;
  and I with my Needle, a few Books, and reading over and over my
  Husband's Letters, passed my Time in a resigned Expectation of better
  Days. Be pleased to take notice, that within four Months after I left
  my Husband I was delivered of a Daughter, who died within few Hours
  after her Birth. This Accident, and the retired Manner of Life I led,
  gave criminal Hopes to a neighbouring Brute of a Country Gentle-man,
  whose Folly was the Source of all my Affliction. This Rustick is one
  of those rich Clowns, who supply the Want of all manner of Breeding by
  the Neglect of it, and with noisy Mirth, half Understanding, and ample
  Fortune, force themselves upon Persons and Things, without any Sense
  of Time and Place. The poor ignorant People where I lay conceal'd, and
  now passed for a Widow, wondered I could be so shy and strange, as
  they called it, to the Squire; and were bribed by him to admit him
  whenever he thought fit. I happened to be sitting in a little Parlour
  which belonged to my own Part of the House, and musing over one of the
  fondest of my Husband's Letters, in which I always kept the
  Certificate of my Marriage, when this rude Fellow came in, and with
  the nauseous Familiarity of such unbred Brutes, snatched the Papers
  out of my Hand. I was immediately under so great a Concern, that I
  threw my self at his Feet, and begged of him to return them. He with
  the same odious Pretence to Freedom and Gaiety, swore he would read
  them. I grew more importunate, he more curious, till at last, with an
  Indignation arising from a Passion I then first discovered in him, he
  threw the Papers into the Fire, swearing that since he was not to read
  them, the Man who writ them should never be so happy as to have me
  read them over again. It is insignificant to tell you my Tears and
  Reproaches made the boisterous Calf leave the Room ashamed and out of
  Countenance, when I had leisure to ruminate on this Accident with more
  than ordinary Sorrow: However, such was then my Confidence in my
  Husband, that I writ to him the Misfortune, and desired another Paper
  of the same kind. He deferred writing two or three Posts, and at last
  answered me in general, That he could not then send me what I asked
  for, but when he could find a proper Conveyance, I should be sure to
  have it. From this time his Letters were more cold every Day than the
  other, and as he grew indifferent I grew jealous. This has at last
  brought me to Town, where I find both the Witnesses of my Marriage
  dead, and that my Husband, after three Months Cohabitation, has buried
  a young Lady whom he married in Obedience to his Father. In a word, he
  shuns and disowns me. Should I come to the House and confront him, the
  Father would join in supporting him against me, though he believed my
  Story; should I talk it to the World, what Reparation can I expect for
  an Injury I cannot make out? I believe he means to bring me, through
  Necessity, to resign my Pretentions to him for some Provision for my
  Life; but I will die first. Pray bid him remember what he said, and
  how he was charmed when he laughed at the heedless Discovery I often
  made of my self; let him remember how awkward he was in my dissembled
  Indifference towards him before Company; ask him how I, who could
  never conceal my Love for him, at his own Request, can part with him
  for ever? Oh, Mr. Spectator, sensible Spirits know no Indifference in
  Marriage; what then do you think is my piercing Affliction?—- I
  leave you to represent my Distress your own way, in which I desire you
  to be speedy, if you have Compassion for Innocence exposed to Infamy.

  Octavia.






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 323

	
 Tuesday, March 11, 1712

	
 Addison









Modo Vir, modo Fœmina.



Virg.1




Rake's Journal,
Sot's Journal,
Whoremaster's Journal,
The Journal of a Mohock




Clarinda









Dear Mr. Spectator,

  'You having set your Readers an Exercise in one of your last Week's
  Papers, I have perform'd mine according to your Orders, and herewith
  send it you enclosed. You must know, Mr. Spectator, that I am a Maiden
  Lady of a good Fortune, who have had several Matches offered me for
  these ten Years last past, and have at present warm Applications made
  to me by a very pretty Fellow. As I am at my own Disposal, I come up
  to Town every Winter, and pass my Time in it after the manner you will
  find in the following Journal, which I begun to write upon the very
  Day after your Spectator upon that Subject.









	Tuesday
	Night.
	Could not go to sleep till one in the Morning for
    thinking of my Journal.




	Wednesday
	From Eight 'till Ten
	Drank two Dishes of Chocolate in
    Bed, and fell asleep after 'em.




	
	From Ten to Eleven.
	Eat a Slice of Bread and Butter, drank a Dish of
    Bohea, read the Spectator.




	
	From Eleven to One.
	At my Toilet, try'd a new Head. Gave Orders for
    Veny to be combed and washed. Mem. I look best in Blue.




	
	From One till Half an Hour after Two.
	Drove to the Change. Cheapned
    a Couple of Fans.




	
	Till Four.
	At Dinner. Mem. Mr. Froth passed by in his new Liveries.




	
	From Four to Six.
	Dressed, paid a Visit to old Lady Blithe and her
    Sister, having before heard they were gone out of Town that Day.




	
	From Six to Eleven.
	At Basset. Mem. Never set again upon the Ace of
    Diamonds.




	Thursday
	From Eleven at Night to Eight in the Morning.
	Dream'd that
    I punted to Mr. Froth.




	
	From Eight to Ten.
	Chocolate. Read two Acts in Aurenzebe2 abed.




	
	From Ten to Eleven.
	Tea-Table. Sent to borrow Lady Faddle's Cupid
    for Veny. Read the Play-Bills. Received a Letter from Mr. Froth.
    Mem. locked it up in my strong Box.




	
	Rest of the Morning.
	Fontange, the Tire-woman, her Account of my
    Lady Blithe's Wash. Broke a Tooth in my little Tortoise-shell Comb.
    Sent Frank to know how my Lady Hectick rested after her Monky's
    leaping out at Window. Looked pale. Fontange tells me my Glass is
    not true. Dressed by Three.




	
	From Three to Four.
	Dinner cold before I sat down.




	
	From Four to Eleven.
	Saw Company. Mr. Froth's Opinion of Milton. His
    Account of the Mohocks. His Fancy for a Pin-cushion. Picture in the
    Lid of his Snuff-box. Old Lady Faddle promises me her Woman to cut
    my Hair. Lost five Guineas at Crimp.




	
	Twelve a-Clock at Night. 
	Went to Bed.




	Friday
	Eight in the Morning.
	Abed. Read over all Mr. Froth's
    Letters. Cupid and Veny.




	
	Ten a-Clock.
	Stay'd within all day, not at home.




	
	From Ten to Twelve.
	In Conference with my Mantua-Maker. Sorted a
    Suit of Ribbands. Broke my Blue China Cup.




	
	From Twelve to One. 
	Shut my self up in my Chamber, practised Lady
    Betty Modely's Skuttle.




	
	One in the Afternoon.
	Called for my flowered Handkerchief. Worked
    half a Violet-Leaf in it. Eyes aked and Head out of Order. Threw by
    my Work, and read over the remaining Part of Aurenzebe.




	
	From Three to Four.
	Dined.




	
	From Four to Twelve.
	Changed my Mind, dressed, went abroad, and
    play'd at Crimp till Midnight. Found Mrs. Spitely at home.
    Conversation: Mrs. Brilliant's Necklace false Stones. Old Lady
    Loveday going to be married to a young Fellow that is not worth a
    Groat. Miss Prue gone into the Country. Tom Townley has red Hair.
    Mem. Mrs. Spitely whispered in my Ear that she had something to tell
    me about Mr. Froth, I am sure it is not true.




	
	Between Twelve and One.
	Dreamed that Mr. Froth lay at my Feet, and
    called me Indamora3.




	Saturday
	
	Rose at Eight a-Clock in the Morning. Sate down to my
    Toilet.




	
	From Eight to Nine.
	Shifted a Patch for Half an Hour before I could
    determine it. Fixed it above my left Eye-brow.




	
	From Nine to Twelve.
	Drank my Tea, and dressed.




	
	From Twelve to Two.
	At Chappel. A great deal of good Company. Mem.
    The third Air in the new Opera. Lady Blithe dressed frightfully.




	
	From Three to Four.
	Dined. Miss Kitty called upon me to go to the
    Opera before I was risen from Table.




	
	From Dinner to Six.
	Drank Tea. Turned off a Footman for being rude
    to Veny.




	
	Six a-Clock.
	Went to the Opera. I did not see Mr. Froth till the
    beginning of the second Act. Mr. Froth talked to a Gentleman in a
    black Wig. Bowed to a Lady in the front Box. Mr. Froth and his
    Friend clapp'd Nicolini in the third Act. Mr. Froth cried out
    Ancora. Mr. Froth led me to my Chair. I think he squeezed my Hand.




	
	Eleven at Night.
	Went to Bed. Melancholy Dreams. Methought Nicolini
    said he was Mr. Froth.




	Sunday
	
	Indisposed.




	Monday
	Eight a-Clock. 
	Waked by Miss Kitty. Aurenzebe lay upon the
    Chair by me. Kitty repeated without Book the Eight best Lines in the
    Play. Went in our Mobbs to the dumb Man4, according to
    Appointment. Told me that my Lover's Name began with a G.  Mem. The
    Conjurer was within a Letter of Mr. Froth's Name, &c.







Upon looking back into this my Journal, I find that I am at a loss to
  know whether I pass my Time well or ill; and indeed never thought of
  considering how I did it before I perused your Speculation upon that
  Subject. I scarce find a single Action in these five Days that I can
  thoroughly approve of, except the working upon the Violet-Leaf, which
  I am resolved to finish the first Day I am at leisure. As for Mr.
  Froth and Veny I did not think they took up so much of my Time and
  Thoughts, as I find they do upon my Journal. The latter of them I will
  turn off, if you insist upon it; and if Mr. Froth does not bring
  Matters to a Conclusion very suddenly, I will not let my Life run away
  in a Dream. 

  Your humble Servant, 

  Clarinda.







shall
5
On the Countess Dowager of Pembroke.

Underneath this Marble Hearse

Lies the Subject of all Verse,

Sidney's Sister, Pembroke's Mother:

Death, ere thou hast kil'd another,

Fair, and learn'd, and good as she,

Time shall throw a Dart at thee.














Footnote 1:
Æn



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
Aurengzebe



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 324

	
 Wednesday, March 12, 1712

	
 Steele









O curvæ in terris animæ, et cœlestium inanes.



Pers. 1








  Mr. Spectator,



  The  Materials you have collected together towards a general History
  of Clubs, make so bright a Part of your Speculations, that I think it
  is but a Justice we all owe the learned World to furnish you with such
  Assistances as may promote that useful Work. For this Reason I could
  not forbear communicating to you some imperfect Informations of a Set
  of Men (if you will allow them a place in that Species of Being) who
  have lately erected themselves into a Nocturnal Fraternity, under the
  Title of the Mohock Club, a Name borrowed it seems from a sort of
  Cannibals in India, who subsist by plundering and devouring all the
  Nations about them. The President is styled Emperor of the Mohocks;
  and his Arms are a Turkish Crescent, which his Imperial Majesty bears
  at present in a very extraordinary manner engraven upon his Forehead.
  Agreeable to their Name, the avowed design of their Institution is
  Mischief; and upon this Foundation all their Rules and Orders are
  framed. An outrageous Ambition of doing all possible hurt to their
  Fellow-Creatures, is the great Cement of their Assembly, and the only
  Qualification required in the Members. In order to exert this
  Principle in its full Strength and Perfection, they take care to drink
  themselves to a pitch, that is, beyond the Possibility of attending to
  any Motions of Reason and Humanity; then make a general Sally, and
  attack all that are so unfortunate as to walk the Streets through
  which they patrole. Some are knock'd down, others stabb'd, others cut
  and carbonado'd. To put the Watch to a total Rout, and mortify some of
  those inoffensive Militia, is reckon'd a Coup d'éclat. The particular
  Talents by which these Misanthropes are distinguished from one
  another, consist in the various kinds of Barbarities which they
  execute upon their Prisoners. Some are celebrated for a happy
  Dexterity in tipping the Lion upon them; which is performed by
  squeezing the Nose flat to the Face, and boring out the Eyes with
  their Fingers: Others are called the Dancing-Masters, and teach their
  Scholars to cut Capers by running Swords thro' their Legs; a new
  Invention, whether originally French I cannot tell: A third sort are
  the Tumblers, whose office it is to set Women on their Heads, and
  commit certain Indecencies, or rather Barbarities, on the Limbs which
  they expose. But these I forbear to mention, because they can't but be
  very shocking to the Reader as well as the Spectator. In this manner
  they carry on a War against Mankind; and by the standing Maxims of
  their Policy, are to enter into no Alliances but one, and that is
  Offensive and Defensive with all Bawdy-Houses in general, of which
  they have declared themselves Protectors and Guarantees2.



  'I must own, Sir, these are only broken incoherent Memoirs of this
  wonderful Society, but they are the best I have been yet able to
  procure; for being but of late Establishment, it is not ripe for a
  just History; And to be serious, the chief Design of this Trouble is
  to hinder it from ever being so. You have been pleas'd, out of a
  concern for the good of your Countrymen, to act under the Character of
  Spectator, not only the Part of a Looker-on, but an Overseer of their
  Actions; and whenever such Enormities as this infest the Town, we
  immediately fly to you for Redress. I have reason to believe, that
  some thoughtless Youngsters, out of a false Notion of Bravery, and an
  immoderate Fondness to be distinguished for Fellows of Fire, are
  insensibly hurry'd into this senseless scandalous Project: Such will
  probably stand corrected by your Reproofs, especially if you inform
  them, that it is not Courage for half a score Fellows, mad with Wine
  and Lust, to set upon two or three soberer than themselves; and that
  the Manners of Indian Savages are no becoming Accomplishments to an
  English fine Gentleman. Such of them as have been Bullies and Scowrers
  of a long standing, and are grown Veterans in this kind of Service,
  are, I fear, too hardned to receive any Impressions from your
  Admonitions. But I beg you would recommend to their Perusal your  [Volume 1 link:ninth]
  Speculation: They may there be taught to take warning from the Club of
  Duellists; and be put in mind, that the common Fate of those Men of
  Honour was to be hang'd.



  I am, Sir,



  Your most humble Servant,



  Philanthropos



March the 10th, 1711-12. 

















  To her I very much respect, Mrs. Margaret Clark.



  'Lovely, and oh that I could write loving Mrs. Margaret Clark, I pray
  you let Affection excuse Presumption. Having been so happy as to enjoy
  the Sight of your sweet Countenance and comely Body, sometimes when I
  had occasion to buy Treacle or Liquorish Powder at the Apothecary's
  Shop, I am so enamoured with you, that I can no more keep close my
  flaming Desire to become your Servant. And I am the more bold now to
  write to your sweet self, because I am now my own Man, and may match
  where I please; for my Father is taken away, and now I am come to my
  Living, which is Ten Yard Land, and a House; and there is never a Yard
  of Land in our Field but it is as well worth ten Pound a Year, as a
  Thief is worth a Halter; and all my Brothers and Sisters are provided
  for: Besides I have good Houshold-stuff, though I say it, both Brass
  and Pewter, Linnens and Woollens; and though my House be thatched,
  yet, if you and I match, it shall go hard but I will have one half of
  it slated. If you think well of this Motion, I will wait upon you as
  soon as my new Cloaths is made and Hay Harvest is in. I could, 'though
  I say it, have good—' 









The
3



















Footnote 1:
'Sævis inter se convenit Ursis.'



Juv.



return









Footnote 2:
'Grub-street papers about them fly like lightning, and a list printed
  of near eighty put into several prisons, and all a lie, and I begin to
  think there is no truth, or very little, in the whole story.'



return









Footnote 3:
No. 328



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 325

	
 Thursday, March 13, 1712

	
 Budgell









Quid frustra Simulacra fugacia captas? 

Quod petis, est nusquam: quod amas avertere, perdes.

Ista repercussæ quam cernis imaginis umbra est,

Nil habet ista sui; tecum venitque, manetque,

Tecum discedet si tu discedere possis.



Ovid.







Will. Honeycomb






Will
Dryden
Ovid
Polypheme




Will




Will.'s










Sir,



  'I have read your last Saturday's Observations on the Fourth Book of
  Milton with great Satisfaction, and am particularly pleased with the
  hidden Moral, which you have taken notice of in several Parts of the
  Poem. The Design of this Letter is to desire your Thoughts, whether
  there may not also be some Moral couched under that Place in the same
  Book where the Poet lets us know, that the first Woman immediately
  after her Creation ran to a Looking-Glass, and became so enamoured of
  her own Face, that she had never removed to view any of the other
  Works of Nature, had not she been led off to a Man. If you think fit
  to set down the whole Passage from Milton, your Readers will be able
  to judge for themselves, and the Quotation will not a little
  contribute to the filling up of your Paper. 

  Your humble Servant, 

  R. T.'







Eve's
Adam
That Day I oft remember, when from sleep

I first awaked, and found my self repos d

Under a shade of flow'rs, much wondering where

And what I was, whence thither brought, and how.

Not distant far from thence a murmuring Sound

Of Waters issu'd from a Cave, and spread

Into a liquid Plain, then stood unmoved

Pure as th' Expanse of Heav'n: I thither went

With unexperienced Thought, and laid me down

On the green Bank, to look into the clear

Smooth Lake, that to me seemed another Sky.

As I bent down to look, just opposite,

A Shape within the watry Gleam appeared

Bending to look on me; I started back,

It started back; but pleas'd I soon returned,

Pleas'd it return'd as soon with answering Looks

Of Sympathy and Love; there I had fix d

Mine Eyes till now, and pined with vain Desire,

Had not a Voice thus warn'd me, What thou seest,

What there thou seest, fair Creature, is thy self,

With thee it came and goes: but follow me,

And I will bring thee where no Shadow stays

Thy coming, and thy soft Embraces, he

Whose Image thou art, him thou shalt enjoy

Inseparably thine, to him shalt bear

Multitudes like thy self, and thence be call'd

Mother of Human Race. What could I do,

But follow streight, invisibly thus led?

Till I espy'd thee, fair indeed and tall,

Under a Platan, yet methought less fair,

Less winning soft, less amiably mild,

Than that smooth watry Image: back I turn'd,

Thou following cry'dst aloud, Return fair Eve,

Whom fly'st thou? whom thou fly'st, of him thou art,

His Flesh, his Bone; to give thee Being, I lent

Out of my Side to thee, nearest my Heart,

Substantial Life, to have thee by my side

Henceforth an individual Solace dear.

Part of my Soul I seek thee, and thee claim

My other half!—-With that thy gentle hand

Seized mine, I yielded, and from that time see

How Beauty is excell'd by manly Grace,

And Wisdom, which alone is truly fair.

  So spake our general Mother,—






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 326

	
 Friday, March 14, 1712

	
 Steele









Inclusam Danaen turris ahenea

Robustæque fores, et vigilum canum

Tristes exubiæ, munierant satis

Nocturnis ab adulteris;

Si non—



Hor.








Mr. Spectator,



  'Your Correspondent's Letter relating to Fortune-Hunters, and your
  subsequent Discourse upon it, have given me Encouragement to send you
  a State of my Case, by which you will see, that the Matter complained
  of is a common Grievance both to City and Country.



  'I am a Country Gentleman of between five and six thousand a Year. It
  is my Misfortune to have a very fine Park and an only Daughter; upon
  which account I have been so plagu'd with Deer-Stealers and Fops, that
  for these four Years past I have scarce enjoy'd a Moment's Rest. I
  look upon my self to be in a State of War, and am forc'd to keep as
  constant watch in my Seat, as a Governour would do that commanded a
  Town on the Frontier of an Enemy's Country. I have indeed pretty well
  secur'd my Park, having for this purpose provided my self of four
  Keepers, who are Left-handed, and handle a Quarter-Staff beyond any
  other Fellow in the Country. And for the Guard of my House, besides a
  Band of Pensioner-Matrons and an old Maiden Relation, whom I keep on
  constant Duty, I have Blunderbusses always charged, and Fox-Gins
  planted in private Places about my Garden, of which I have given
  frequent Notice in the Neighbourhood; yet so it is, that in spite of
  all my Care, I shall every now and then have a saucy Rascal ride by
  reconnoitring (as I think you call it) under my Windows, as sprucely
  drest as if he were going to a Ball. I am aware of this way of
  attacking a Mistress on Horseback, having heard that it is a common
  Practice in Spain; and have therefore taken care to remove my Daughter
  from the Road-side of the House, and to lodge her next the Garden. But
  to cut short my Story; what can a Man do after all? I durst not stand
  for Member of Parliament last Election, for fear of some ill
  Consequence from my being off of my Post. What I would therefore
  desire of you, is, to promote a Project I have set on foot; and upon
  which I have writ to some of my Friends; and that is, that care may be
  taken to secure our Daughters by Law, as well as our Deer; and that
  some honest Gentleman of a publick Spirit, would move for Leave to
  bring in a Bill For the better preserving of the Female Game. 

  I am, Sir, 

  Your humble Servant.








Mile-End-Green, March 6, 1711-12.



  Mr. Spectator, 



  Here is a young Man walks by our Door every Day about the Dusk of the
  Evening. He looks up at my Window, as if to see me; and if I steal
  towards it to peep at him, he turns another way, and looks frightened
  at finding what he was looking for. The Air is very cold; and pray let
  him know that if he knocks at the Door, he will be carry'd to the
  Parlour Fire; and I will come down soon after, and give him an
  Opportunity to break his Mind. 

  I am, Sir, 

  Your humble Servant, 

  Mary Comfitt.



  If I observe he cannot speak, I'll give him time to recover himself,
  and ask him how he does.








 Dear Sir,

  I beg you to print this without Delay, and by the first Opportunity
  give us the natural Causes of Longing in Women; or put me out of Fear
  that my Wife will one time or other be delivered of something as
  monstrous as any thing that has yet appeared to the World; for they
  say the Child is to bear a Resemblance of what was desird by the
  Mother. I have been marryd upwards of six Years, have had four
  Children, and my Wife is now big with the fifth. The Expences she has
  put me to in procuring what she has longed for during her Pregnancy
  with them, would not only have handsomely defrayd the Charges of the
  Month, but of their Education too; her Fancy being so exorbitant for
  the first Year or two, as not to confine it self to the usual Objects
  of Eatables and Drinkables, but running out after Equipage and
  Furniture, and the like Extravagancies. To trouble you only with a few
  of them: When she was with Child of Tom, my eldest Son, she came home
  one day just fainting, and told me she had been visiting a Relation,
  whose Husband had made her a Present of a Chariot and a stately pair
  of Horses; and that she was positive she could not breathe a Week
  longer, unless she took the Air in the Fellow to it of her own within
  that time: This, rather than lose an Heir, I readily complyd with.
  Then the Furniture of her best Room must be instantly changed, or she
  should mark the Child with some of the frightful Figures in the
  old-fashion'd Tapestry. Well, the Upholsterer was called, and her
  Longing sav'd that bout. When she went with Molly, she had fix'd her
  Mind upon a new Set of Plate, and as much China as would have
  furnished an India Shop: These also I chearfully granted, for fear of
  being Father to an Indian Pagod. Hitherto I found her Demands rose
  upon every Concession; and had she gone on, I had been ruined: But by
  good Fortune, with her third, which was Peggy, the Height of her
  Imagination came down to the Corner of a Venison Pasty, and brought
  her once even upon her Knees to gnaw off the Ears of a Pig from the
  Spit. The Gratifications of her Palate were easily preferred to those
  of her Vanity; and sometimes a Partridge or a Quail, a Wheat-Ear or
  the Pestle of a Lark, were chearfully purchased; nay, I could be
  contented tho' I were to feed her with green Pease in April, or
  Cherries in May. But with the Babe she now goes, she is turned Girl
  again, and fallen to eating of Chalk, pretending 'twill make the
  Child's Skin white; and nothing will serve her but I must bear her
  Company, to prevent its having a Shade of my Brown: In this however I
  have ventur'd to deny her. No longer ago than yesterday, as we were
  coming to Town, she saw a parcel of Crows so heartily at Break-fast
  upon a piece of Horse-flesh, that she had an invincible Desire to
  partake with them, and (to my infinite Surprize) begged the Coachman
  to cut her off a Slice as if 'twere for himself, which the Fellow did;
  and as soon as she came home she fell to it with such an Appetite,
  that she seemed rather to devour than eat it. What her next Sally will
  be, I cannot guess: but in the mean time my Request to you is, that if
  there be any way to come at these wild unaccountable Rovings of
  Imagination by Reason and Argument, you'd speedily afford us your
  Assistance. This exceeds the Grievance of Pin-Money, and I think in
  every Settlement there ought to be a Clause inserted, that the Father
  should be answerable for the Longings of his Daughter. But I shall
  impatiently expect your Thoughts in this Matter and am

  Sir,

  Your most Obliged, and

  most Faithful Humble Servant,

  T.B.



  Let me know whether you think the next Child will love Horses as much
  as Molly does China-Ware.






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 327

	
 Saturday, March 15, 1712

	
 Addison









Major rerum mihi nascitur ordo.



Virg.




Eve
Adam
Eve
His wonder was, to find unwaken'd Eve

With Tresses discompos'd, and glowing Cheek,

As through unquiet Rest: he on his side

Leaning half-rais'd, with Looks of cordial Love

Hung over her enamour'd, and beheld

Beauty, which whether waking or asleep,

Shot forth peculiar Graces: then, with Voice

Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes,

Her Hand soft touching, whisper'd thus: Awake

My Fairest, my Espous'd, my latest found,

Heav'n's last best Gift, my ever new Delight!

Awake: the Morning shines, and the fresh Field

Calls us, we lose the Prime, to mark how spring

Our tended Plants, how blows the Citron Grove,

What drops the Myrrh, and what the balmy Reed,

How Nature paints her Colours, how the Bee

Sits on the Bloom, extracting liquid Sweets.



Such whispering wak'd her, but with startled Eye

On Adam, whom embracing, thus she spake:



O Sole, in whom my Thoughts find all Repose,

My Glory, my Perfection! glad I see

Thy Face, and Morn return'd—
Milton
Adam
Eve
Book of Canticles
Homer
Solomon
  My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my Love, my Fair one, and
  come away; for lo the Winter is past, the Rain is over and gone, the
  Flowers appear on the Earth, the Time of the singing of Birds is come,
  and the Voice of the Turtle is heard in our Land. The Fig-tree putteth
  forth her green Figs, and the Vines with the tender Grape give a good
  Smell. Arise my Love, my Fair-one and come away.



  Come, my Beloved, let us go forth into the Field; let us get up early
  to the Vineyards, let us see if the Vine flourish, whether the tender
  Grape appear, and the Pomegranates bud forth.
 —Where the Sapient King

  Held Dalliance with his fair Egyptian Spouse,






Eve's
high Conceits engendring Pride
Adam
Why sleep'st thou Eve? now is the pleasant Time,

The cool, the silent, save where Silence yields

To the night-warbling Bird, that now awake

Tunes sweetest his love-labour'd Song; now reigns

Full orb'd the Moon, and with more pleasing1 Light

Shadowy sets off the Face of things: In vain,

If none regard. Heav'n wakes with all his Eyes,

Whom to behold but thee, Nature's Desire,

In whose sight all things joy, with Ravishment,

Attracted by thy Beauty still to gaze!
Adam
Milton's Adam
Eve
Adam
Eve
So chear'd he his fair Spouse, and she was chear'd,

But silently a gentle Tear let fall

From either Eye, and wiped them with her hair;

Two other precious Drops, that ready stood

Each in their chrystal Sluice, he ere they fell

Kiss'd, as the gracious Sign of sweet Remorse

And pious Awe, that fear'd to have offended.
Morning Hymn
Psalms
Psalmist
Hymn




already
gives
2
Raphael
Milton
'Till at the Gate

Of Heav'n arriv'd, the Gate self-open'd wide,

On golden Hinges turning, as by Work

Divine, the Sovereign Architect had framed.
Iliad
Vulcan
Homer
Homer
Homer
Milton's
Tripodes




Milton
Messiah
living
Ezekiel's
—Forth rush'd with Whirlwind sound

The Chariot of paternal Deity

Flashing thick flames?, Wheel within Wheel undrawn,

Itself instinct with Spirit—
Bossu
Daciers
Homer
Vulcan's Tripodes
Ezekiel's






Raphael's
French, Italian
English
Milton
—Like Maia's Son he stood,

And shook his Plumes, that Heavnly Fragrance fill'd

The Circuit wide.—



Raphael's
Adam
Eve
So saying, with dispatchful Looks in haste

She turns, on hospitable Thoughts intent,

What Choice to chuse for Delicacy best,

What order, so contrived, as not to mix

Tastes, not well join'd, inelegant, but bring

Taste after Taste; upheld with kindliest Change;

Bestirs her then, &c.—




Adam
Eve






Raphael's
Adam
Adam




Bossu's
Milton
Paradise Lost
Raphael's
Æneid
Æneid
Milton's
Milton




Homer
At length into the Limits of the North

They came, and Satan took his Royal Seat

High on a Hill, far blazing, as a Mount

Rais'd on a Mount, with Pyramids and Tow'rs

From Diamond Quarries hewn, and Rocks of Gold,

The Palace of great Lucifer, (so call

That Structure in the Dialect of Men

Interpreted)—



Homer
Milton
Abdiel
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found

Among the faithless, faithful only he;

Among innumerable false, unmov'd,

Unshaken, unseduc'd, unterrify'd;

His Loyalty he kept, his Love, his Zeal:

Nor Number, nor Example with him wrought

To swerve from truth, or change his constant Mind,

Though single. From amidst them forth he pass'd,

Long way through hostile Scorn, which he sustain'd

Superior, nor of Violence fear'd ought;

And, with retorted Scorn, his Back he turn'd

On those proud Tow'rs to swift Destruction doom'd.















Footnote 1:
pleasant



return









Footnote 2:
gives us



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
No. 3281

	
 Monday, March 17, 1712

	
 Steele









Delectata illa urbanitate tam stulta.



Petron. Arb.
















March 13, 1712.



  Sir, 

  'Upon reading your Paper of yesterday2, I took the Pains to look
  out a Copy I had formerly taken, and remembered to be very like your
  last Letter: Comparing them, I found they were the very same, and
  have, underwritten, sent you that Part of it which you say was torn
  off. I hope you will insert it, that Posterity may know 'twas Gabriel
  Bullock that made Love in that natural Stile of which you seem to be
  fond. But, to let you see I have other Manuscripts in the same Way, I
  have sent you Enclosed three Copies, faithfully taken by my own Hand
  from the Originals, which were writ by a Yorkshire gentleman of a good
  estate to Madam Mary, and an Uncle of hers, a Knight very well known
  by the most ancient Gentry in that and several other Counties of Great
  Britain. I have exactly followed the Form and Spelling. I have been
  credibly informed that Mr. William Bullock, the famous Comedian, is
  the descendant of this Gabriel, who begot Mr. William Bullock's great
  grandfather on the Body of the above-mentioned Mrs. Margaret Clark.
  But neither Speed, nor Baker, nor Selden, taking notice of it, I will
  not pretend to be positive; but desire that the letter may be
  reprinted, and what is here recovered may be in Italic.

  I am, Sir,

  Your daily Reader.


To her I very much respect, Mrs. Margaret Clark.



    Lovely, and oh that I could write loving Mrs. Margaret Clark, I pray
    you let Affection excuse Presumption. Having been so happy as to
    enjoy the Sight of your sweet Countenance and comely Body, sometimes
    when I had occasion to buy Treacle or Liquorish Power at the
    apothecary's shop, I am so enamoured with you, that I can no more
    keep close my flaming Desire to become your Servant. And I am the
    more bold now to write to your sweet self, because I am now my own
    Man, and may match where I please; for my Father is taken away; and
    now I am come to my Living, which is ten yard Land, and a House; and
    there is never a Yard Land3 in our Field but is as well worth ten
    Pound a Year, as a Thief's worth a Halter; and all my Brothers and
    Sisters are provided for: besides I have good Household Stuff,
    though I say it, both Brass and Pewter, Linnens and Woollens; and
    though my House be thatched, yet if you and I match, it shall go
    hard but I will have one half of it slated. If you shall think well
    of this Motion, I will wait upon you as soon as my new Cloaths is
    made, and Hay-Harvest is in. I could, though I say it, have good
    Matches in our Town; but my Mother (God's Peace be with her) charged
    me upon her Death-Bed to marry a Gentlewoman, one who had been well
    trained up in Sowing and Cookery. I do not think but that if you and
    I can agree to marry, and lay our Means together, I shall be made
    grand Jury-man e'er two or three Years come about, and that will be
    a great Credit to us. If I could have got a Messenger for Sixpence,
    I would have sent one on Purpose, and some Trifle or other for a
    Token of my Love; but I hope there is nothing lost for that neither.
    So hoping you will take this Letter in good Part, and answer it with
    what Care and Speed you can, I rest and remain,

    Yours, if my own, Mr. Gabriel Bullock,

    now my father is dead.

    Swepston, Leicestershire.



    When the Coal Carts come, I shall send oftener; and may come in one
    of them my self.








For sir William to go to london at westminster, remember a
    parlement.



    Sir William, i hope that you are well. i write to let you know that
    i am in troubel abbut a lady you nease; and I do desire that you
    will be my frend; for when i did com to see her at your hall, i was
    mighty Abuesed. i would fain a see you at topecliff, and thay would
    not let me go to you; but i desire that you will be our frends, for
    it is no dishonor neither for you nor she, for God did make us all.
    i wish that i might see you, for thay say that you are a good man:
    and many doth wounder at it, but madam norton is abuesed and ceated
    two i beleive. i might a had many a lady, but i con have none but
    her with a good consons, for there is a God that know our harts, if
    you and madam norton will come to York, there i shill meet you if
    God be willing and if you pleased, so be not angterie till you know
    the trutes of things.



    George Nelon    I give my to me lady, and to Mr. Aysenby, and to
    madam norton March, the 19th; 1706.








    This is for madam mary norton disforth Lady she went to York.



    Madam Mary. Deare loving sweet lady, i hope you are well. Do not go
    to london, for they will put you in the nunnery; and heed not Mrs.
    Lucy what she saith to you, for she will ly and ceat you. go from to
    another Place, and we will gate wed so with speed, mind what i write
    to you, for if they gate you to london they will keep you there; and
    so let us gate wed, and we will both go. so if you go to london, you
    rueing your self, so heed not what none of them saith to you. let us
    gate wed, and we shall lie to gader any time. i will do any thing
    for you to my poore. i hope the devill will faile them all, for a
    hellish Company there be. from there cursed trick and mischiefus
    ways good lord bless and deliver both you and me.



    I think to be at york the 24 day.








    This is for madam mary norton to go to london for a lady that
    belongs to dishforth.



    Madam Mary, i hope you are well, i am soary that you went away from
    York, deare loving sweet lady, i writt to let you know that i do
    remain faithful; and if can let me know where i can meet you, i will
    wed you, and I will do any thing to my poor; for you are a good
    woman, and will be a loving Misteris. i am in troubel for you, so if
    you will come to york i will wed you. so with speed come, and i will
    have none but you. so, sweet love, heed not what to say to me, and
    with speed come: heed not what none of them say to you; your Maid
    makes you believe ought.



    So deare love think of Mr. george Nillson with speed; i sent you 2
    or 3 letters before.



    I gave misteris elcock some nots, and thay put me in pruson all the
    night for me pains, and non new whear i was, and i did gat cold.



    But it is for mrs. Lucy to go a good way from home, for in york and
    round about she is known; to writ any more her deeds, the same will
    tell hor soul is black within, hor corkis stinks of hell.

March 19th, 1706.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
No. 324



return









Footnote 3:



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 328 (b)

	
 Monday, March 17, 1712

	
 Addison









Nullum me a labore reclinat otium.



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  As I believe this is the first Complaint that ever was made to you of
  this nature, so you are the first Person I ever could prevail upon my
  self to lay it before. When I tell you I have a healthy vigorous
  Constitution, a plentiful Estate, no inordinate Desires, and am
  married to a virtuous lovely Woman, who neither wants Wit nor
  Good-Nature, and by whom I have a numerous Offspring to perpetuate my
  Family, you will naturally conclude me a happy Man. But,
  notwithstanding these promising Appearances, I am so far from it, that
  the prospect of being ruind and undone, by a sort of Extravagance
  which of late Years is in a less degree crept into every fashionable
  Family, deprives me of all the Comforts of my Life, and renders me the
  most anxious miserable Man on Earth. My Wife, who was the only Child
  and darling Care of an indulgent Mother, employd her early Years in
  learning all those Accomplishments we generally understand by good
  Breeding and polite Education. She sings, dances, plays on the Lute
  and Harpsicord, paints prettily, is a perfect Mistress of the French
  Tongue, and has made a considerable Progress in Italian. She is
  besides excellently skilld in all domestick Sciences, as Preserving,
  Pickling, Pastry, making Wines of Fruits of our own Growth,
  Embroydering, and Needleworks of every Kind. Hitherto you will be apt
  to think there is very little Cause of Complaint; but suspend your
  Opinion till I have further explain'd my self, and then I make no
  question you will come over to mine. You are not to imagine I find
  fault that she either possesses or takes delight in the Exercise of
  those Qualifications I just now mention'd; 'tis the immoderate
  Fondness she has to them that I lament, and that what is only design'd
  for the innocent Amusement and Recreation of Life, is become the whole
  Business and Study of her's. The six Months we are in Town (for the
  Year is equally divided between that and the Country) from almost
  Break of Day till Noon, the whole Morning is laid out in practising
  with her several Masters; and to make up the Losses occasion'd by her
  Absence in Summer, every Day in the Week their Attendance is requir'd;
  and as they all are People eminent in their Professions, their Skill
  and Time must be recompensed accordingly: So how far these Articles
  extend, I leave you to judge. Limning, one would think, is no
  expensive Diversion, but as she manages the Matter, 'tis a very
  considerable Addition to her Disbursements; Which you will easily
  believe, when you know she paints Fans for all her Female
  Acquaintance, and draws all her Relations Pictures in Miniature; the
  first must be mounted by no body but Colmar, and the other set by no
  body but Charles Mather. What follows, is still much worse than the
  former; for, as I told you, she is a great Artist at her Needle, 'tis
  incredible what Sums she expends in Embroidery; For besides what is
  appropriated to her personal Use, as Mantua's, Petticoats, Stomachers,
  Handkerchiefs, Purses, Pin-cushions, and Working Aprons, she keeps
  four French Protestants continually employ'd in making divers Pieces
  of superfluous Furniture, as Quilts, Toilets, Hangings for Closets,
  Beds, Window-Curtains, easy Chairs, and Tabourets: Nor have I any
  hopes of ever reclaiming her from this Extravagance, while she
  obstinately persists in thinking it a notable piece of good
  Housewifry, because they are made at home, and she has had some share
  in the Performance. There would be no end of relating to you the
  Particulars of the annual Charge, in furnishing her Store-Room with a
  Profusion of Pickles and Preserves; for she is not contented with
  having every thing, unless it be done every way, in which she consults
  an Hereditary Book of Receipts; for her female Ancestors have been
  always fam'd for good Housewifry, one of whom is made immortal, by
  giving her Name to an Eye-Water and two sorts of Puddings. I cannot
  undertake to recite all her medicinal Preparations, as Salves,
  Cerecloths, Powders, Confects, Cordials, Ratafia, Persico,
  Orange-flower, and Cherry-Brandy, together with innumerable sorts of
  Simple Waters. But there is nothing I lay so much to Heart, as that
  detestable Catalogue of counterfeit Wines, which derive their Names
  from the Fruits, Herbs, or Trees of whose Juices they are chiefly
  compounded: They are loathsome to the Taste, and pernicious to the
  Health; and as they seldom survive the Year, and then are thrown away,
  under a false Pretence of Frugality, I may affirm they stand me in
  more than if I entertaind all our Visiters with the best Burgundy and
  Champaign. Coffee, Chocolate, Green, Imperial, Peco, and Bohea-Tea
  seem to be Trifles; but when the proper Appurtenances of the Tea-Table
  are added, they swell the Account higher than one would imagine. I
  cannot conclude without doing her Justice in one Article; where her
  Frugality is so remarkable, I must not deny her the Merit of it, and
  that is in relation to her Children, who are all confind, both Boys
  and Girls, to one large Room in the remotest Part of the House, with
  Bolts on the Doors and Bars to the Windows, under the Care and Tuition
  of an old Woman, who had been dry Nurse to her Grandmother. This is
  their Residence all the Year round; and as they are never allowd to
  appear, she prudently thinks it needless to be at any Expence in
  Apparel or Learning. Her eldest Daughter to this day would have
  neither read nor writ, if it had not been for the Butler, who being
  the Son of a Country Attorney, has taught her such a Hand as is
  generally used for engrossing Bills in Chancery. By this time I have
  sufficiently tired your Patience with my domestick Grievances; which I
  hope you will agree could not well be containd in a narrower Compass,
  when you consider what a Paradox I undertook to maintain in the
  Beginning of my Epistle, and which manifestly appears to be but too
  melancholy a Truth. And now I heartily wish the Relation I have given
  of my Misfortunes may be of Use and Benefit to the Publick. By the
  Example I have set before them, the truly virtuous Wives may learn to
  avoid those Errors which have so unhappily mis-led mine, and which are
  visibly these three. First, in mistaking the proper Objects of her
  Esteem, and fixing her Affections upon such things as are only the
  Trappings and Decorations of her Sex. Secondly, In not distinguishing
  what becomes the different Stages of Life. And, Lastly, The Abuse and
  Corruption of some excellent Qualities, which, if circumscribd within
  just Bounds, would have been the Blessing and Prosperity of her
  Family, but by a vicious Extreme are like to be the Bane and
  Destruction of it.






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 329

	
 Tuesday, March 18, 1712

	
 Addison









Ire tamen restat, Numa quo devenit et Ancus.



Hor.




Roger De Coverley
Westminster Abby
Tombs
Baker's Chronicle
Andrew Freeport 
Abby




Trueby's
had




Roger
Dautzick
When
a
1




Trueby's
Trueby
Roger








Roger
Abby








Roger
Morocco's
Chronicle




Jacob's Pillar
Gothick
Jacob
Roger
Will. Wimble




Roger
Edward the Third's




Edward the Confessor's
Roger
Henry the Fourth's




Roger




Henry the Fifth
Queen Elizabeth
Abby



























Footnote :
an



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 330

	
 Wednesday, March 19, 1712

	
 Steele









Maxima debetur pueris reverentia.



Juv.
















Sir,

  'I have long expected, that in the Course of your Observations upon
  the several Parts of human Life, you would one time or other fall upon
  a Subject, which, since you have not, I take the liberty to recommend
  to you. What I mean, is the Patronage of young modest Men to such as
  are able to countenance and introduce them into the World. For want of
  such Assistances, a Youth of Merit languishes in Obscurity or Poverty,
  when his Circumstances are low, and runs into Riot and Excess when his
  Fortunes are plentiful. I cannot make my self better understood, than
  by sending you an History of my self, which I shall desire you to
  insert in your Paper, it being the only Way I have of expressing my
  Gratitude for the highest Obligations imaginable.



  I am the Son of a Merchant of the City of London, who, by many Losses,
  was reduced from a very luxuriant Trade and Credit to very narrow
  Circumstances, in Comparison to that his former Abundance. This took
  away the Vigour of his Mind, and all manner of Attention to a Fortune,
  which he now thought desperate; insomuch that he died without a Will,
  having before buried my Mother in the midst of his other Misfortunes.
  I was sixteen Years of Age when I lost my Father; and an Estate of
  £200 a Year came into my Possession, without Friend or Guardian to
  instruct me in the Management or Enjoyment of it. The natural
  Consequence of this was, (though I wanted no Director, and soon had
  Fellows who found me out for a smart young Gentleman, and led me into
  all the Debaucheries of which I was capable) that my Companions and I
  could not well be supplied without my running in Debt, which I did
  very frankly, till I was arrested, and conveyed with a Guard strong
  enough for the most desperate Assassine, to a Bayliff's House, where I
  lay four Days, surrounded with very merry, but not very agreeable
  Company. As soon as I had extricated my self from this shameful
  Confinement, I reflected upon it with so much Horror, that I deserted
  all my old Acquaintance, and took Chambers in an Inn of Court, with a
  Resolution to study the Law with all possible Application. But I
  trifled away a whole Year in looking over a thousand Intricacies,
  without Friend to apply to in any Case of Doubt; so that I only lived
  there among Men, as little Children are sent to School before they are
  capable of Improvement, only to be out of harm's way. In the midst of
  this State of Suspence, not knowing how to dispose of my self, I was
  sought for by a Relation of mine, who, upon observing a good
  Inclination in me, used me with great Familiarity, and carried me to
  his Seat in the Country. When I came there, he introduced me to all
  the good Company in the County; and the great Obligation I have to him
  for this kind Notice and Residence with him ever since, has made so
  strong an Impression upon me, that he has an Authority of a Father
  over me, founded upon the Love of a Brother. I have a good Study of
  Books, a good Stable of Horses always at my command; and tho' I am not
  now quite eighteen Years of Age, familiar Converse on his Part, and a
  strong Inclination to exert my self on mine, have had an effect upon
  me that makes me acceptable wherever I go. Thus, Mr. Spectator, by
  this Gentleman's Favour and Patronage, it is my own fault if I am not
  wiser and richer every day I live. I speak this as well by subscribing
  the initial Letters of my Name to thank him, as to incite others to an
  Imitation of his Virtue. It would be a worthy Work to shew what great
  Charities are to be done without Expence, and how many noble Actions
  are lost, out of Inadvertency in Persons capable of performing them,
  if they were put in mind of it. If a Gentleman of Figure in a County
  would make his Family a Pattern of Sobriety, good Sense, and Breeding,
  and would kindly endeavour to influence the Education and growing
  Prospects of the younger Gentry about him, I am apt to believe it
  would save him a great deal of stale Beer on a publick Occasion, and
  render him the Leader of his Country from their Gratitude to him,
  instead of being a Slave to their Riots and Tumults in order to be
  made their Representative. The same thing might be recommended to all
  who have made any Progress in any Parts of Knowledge, or arrived at
  any Degree in a Profession; others may gain Preferments and Fortunes
  from their Patrons, but I have, I hope, receiv'd from mine good Habits
  and Virtues. I repeat to you, Sir, my Request to print this, in return
  for all the Evil an helpless Orphan shall ever escape, and all the
  Good he shall receive in this Life; both which are wholly owing to
  this Gentleman's Favour to,



  Sir, 

  Your most obedient humble Servant, 

  S. P.








Mr. Spectator,

  'I am a Lad of about fourteen. I find a mighty Pleasure in Learning. I
  have been at the Latin School four Years. I don't know I ever play'd
  truant1, or neglected any Task my Master set me in my Life. I
  think on what I read in School as I go home at noon and night, and so
  intently, that I have often gone half a mile out of my way, not
  minding whither I went. Our Maid tells me, she often hears me talk
  Latin in my sleep. And I dream two or three Nights in the Week I am
  reading Juvenal and Homer. My Master seems as well pleased with my
  Performances as any Boy's in the same Class. I think, if I know my own
  Mind, I would chuse rather to be a Scholar, than a Prince without
  Learning. I have a very good2 affectionate Father; but tho' very
  rich, yet so mighty near, that he thinks much of the Charges of my
  Education. He often tells me, he believes my Schooling will ruin him;
  that I cost him God-knows what in Books. I tremble to tell him I want
  one. I am forced to keep my Pocket-Mony, and lay it out for a Book,
  now and then, that he don't know of. He has order'd my Master to buy
  no more Books for me, but says he will buy them himself. I asked him
  for Horace t'other Day, and he told me in a Passion, he did not
  believe I was fit for it, but only my Master had a Mind to make him
  think I had got a great way in my Learning. I am sometimes a Month
  behind other Boys in getting the Books my Master gives Orders for. All
  the Boys in the School, but I, have the Classick Authors in usum
  Delphini, gilt and letter'd on the Back. My Father is often reckoning
  up how long I have been at School, and tells me he fears I do little
  good. My Father's Carriage so discourages me, that he makes me grow
  dull and melancholy. My Master wonders what is the matter with me; I
  am afraid to tell him; for he is a Man that loves to encourage
  Learning, and would be apt to chide my Father, and, not knowing my
  Father's Temper, may make him worse. Sir, if you have any Love for
  Learning, I beg you would give me some Instructions in this case, and
  persuade Parents to encourage their Children when they find them
  diligent and desirous of Learning. I have heard some Parents say, they
  would do any thing for their Children, if they would but mind their
  Learning: I would be glad to be in their place. Dear Sir, pardon my
  Boldness. If you will but consider and pity my case, I will pray for
  your Prosperity as long as I live.

  London, March 2,1711. 

  Your humble Servant,

James Discipulus.








March the 18th.



Mr. Spectator, 



  The ostentation you showed yesterday would have been pardonable had
  you provided better for the two Extremities of your Paper, and placed
  in one the letter R., in the other Nescio quid meditans nugarum, et
  lotus in illis. A Word to the wise.



  I am your most humble Servant,
  T. Trash.









According
3



















Footnote 1:
at truant



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
loving



return









Footnote 3:
No. 134



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 331

	
 Thursday, March 20, 1712

	
 Budgell









Stolidam praebet tibi vellere barbam.



Pers.




Roger
Westminster-Abby
Abrahams
Isaacs
Jacobs








Roger
Lucian






Ælian
Zoilus
Homer
Plato
Zoilus












Spaniards






Don Quevedo
Vision on the Last Judgment




Saxon
Norman
Queen Mary's
Cardinal Poole
Bishop Gardiner;




King James
the First.




Hudibras
Butler
His tawny Beard was th' equal Grace

Both of his Wisdom, and his Face;

In Cut and Dye so like a Tyle,

A sudden View it would beguile:

The upper Part thereof was Whey,

The nether Orange mixt with Grey.




Roger's
Roger
Æsculapius


















Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 332

	
 Friday, March 21, 1712

	
 Steele









Minus aptus acutis

Naribus horum hominum



Hor.








  Dear Short-Face,



  'In your Speculation of Wednesday last, you have given us some Account
  of that worthy Society of Brutes the Mohocks; wherein you have
  particularly specify'd the ingenious Performance of the Lion-Tippers,
  the Dancing-Masters, and the Tumblers: But as you acknowledge you had
  not then a perfect History of the whole Club, you might very easily
  omit one of the most notable Species of it, the Sweaters, which may be
  reckon'd a sort of Dancing-Masters too. It is it seems the Custom for
  half a dozen, or more, of these well-dispos'd Savages, as soon as
  they have inclos'd the Person upon whom they design the Favour of a
  Sweat, to whip out their Swords, and holding them parallel to the
  Horizon, they describe a sort of Magick Circle round about him with
  the Points. As soon as this Piece of Conjuration is perform'd, and the
  Patient without doubt already beginning to wax warm, to forward the
  Operation, that Member of the Circle towards whom he is so rude as to
  turn his Back first, runs his Sword directly into that Part of the
  Patient wherein School-boys are punished; and, as it is very natural
  to imagine this will soon make him tack about to some other Point,
  every Gentleman does himself the same Justice as often as he receives
  the Affront. After this Jig has gone two or three times round, and the
  Patient is thought to have sweat sufficiently, he is very handsomly
  rubb'd down by some Attendants, who carry with them Instruments for
  that purpose, and so discharged. This Relation I had from a Friend of
  mine, who has lately been under this Discipline. He tells me he had
  the Honour to dance before the Emperor himself, not without the
  Applause and Acclamations both of his Imperial Majesty, and the whole
  Ring; tho' I dare say, neither I or any of his Acquaintance ever
  dreamt he would have merited any Reputation by his Activity.



  'I can assure you, Mr. SPEC, I was very near being qualify'd to have
  given you a faithful and painful Account of this walking Bagnio, if I
  may so call it, my self: For going the other night along Fleet-street,
  and having, out of curiosity, just enter'd into Discourse with a
  wandring Female who was travelling the same Way, a couple of Fellows
  advanced towards us, drew their Swords, and cry'd out to each other, A
  Sweat! a Sweat! Whereupon suspecting they were some of the Ringleaders
  of the Bagnio, I also drew my Sword, and demanded a Parly; but finding
  none would be granted me, and perceiving others behind them filing off
  with great diligence to take me in Flank, I began to sweat for fear of
  being forced to it: but very luckily betaking my self to a Pair of
  Heels, which I had good Reason to believe would do me justice, I
  instantly got possession of a very snug Corner in a neighbouring Alley
  that lay in my Rear; which Post I maintain'd for above half an hour
  with great Firmness and Resolution, tho' not letting this Success so
  far overcome me, as to make me unmindful of the Circumspection that
  was necessary to be observ'd upon my advancing again towards the
  Street; by which Prudence and good Management I made a handsome and
  orderly Retreat, having suffer'd no other Damage in this Action than
  the Loss of my Baggage, and the Dislocation of one of my Shoe-heels,
  which last I am just now inform'd is in a fair way of Recovery. These
  Sweaters, by what I can learn from my Friend, and by as near a View as
  I was able to take of them myself, seem to me to have at present but
  a rude kind of Discipline amongst them. It is probable, if you would
  take a little Pains with them, they might be brought into better
  order. But I'll leave this to your own Discretion; and will only add,
  that if you think it worth while to insert this by way of Caution to
  those who have a mind to preserve their Skins whole from this sort of
  Cupping, and tell them at the same time the Hazard of treating with
  Night-Walkers, you will perhaps oblige others, as well as



  Your very humble Servant,



  Jack Lightfoot.



  'P. S. My Friend will have me acquaint you, That though he would not
  willingly detract from the Merit of that extra-ordinary Strokes-Man
  Mr. Sprightly, yet it is his real Opinion, that some of those Fellows,
  who are employ'd as Rubbers to this new-fashioned Bagnio, have struck
  as bold Strokes as ever he did in his Life.



  'I had sent this four and twenty Hours sooner, if I had not had the
  Misfortune of being in a great doubt about the Orthography of the word
  Bagnio. I consulted several Dictionaries, but found no relief; at last
  having recourse both to the Bagnio in Newgate-street, and to that in
  Chancery lane, and finding the original Manuscripts upon the
  Sign-posts of each to agree literally with my own Spelling, I returned
  home, full of Satisfaction, in order to dispatch this Epistle.'








Mr. Spectator,

  As you have taken most of the Circumstances of human Life into your
  Consideration, we, the under-written, thought it not improper for us
  also to represent to you our Condition. We are three Ladies who live
  in the Country, and the greatest Improvements we make is by reading.
  We have taken a small Journal of our Lives, and find it extremely
  opposite to your last Tuesday's Speculation. We rise by seven, and
  pass the beginning of each Day in Devotion, and looking into those
  Affairs that fall within the Occurrences of a retired Life; in the
  Afternoon we sometimes enjoy the Company of some Friend or Neighbour,
  or else work or read; at Night we retire to our Chambers, and take
  Leave of each other for the whole Night at Ten of Clock. We take
  particular Care never to be sick of a Sunday. Mr. Spectator, We are
  all very good Maids, but are ambitious of Characters which we think
  more laudable, that of being very good Wives. If any of your
  Correspondents enquire for a Spouse for an honest Country Gentleman,
  whose Estate is not dipped, and wants a Wife that can save half his
  Revenue, and yet make a better Figure than any of his Neighbours of
  the same Estate, with finer bred Women, you shall have further notice
  from,

  Sir,

  Your courteous Readers,

  Martha Busie.

  Deborah Thrifty.

  Alice Early1.












Footnote 1:
Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff
'render them accomplish'd
No.
314.



return to footnote mark









Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 333

	
 Saturday, March 22, 1712

	
 Addison









—vocat in Certamina Divos.



Virg.




Paradise Lost
Satan
—Him the Almighty Power

Hurl'd headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Sky,

With hideous ruin and combustion, down

To bottomless Perdition, there to dwell

In Adamantine Chains and penal Fire,

Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to Arms.
O Prince! O Chief of many throned Powers,

That led th' imbattel'd Seraphim to War,

Too well I see and rue the dire Event,

That with sad Overthrow and foul Defeat

Hath lost us Heav'n, and all this mighty Host

In horrible Destruction laid thus low.

But see I the angry Victor has recalled

His Ministers of Vengeance and Pursuit,

Back to the Gates of Heav'n: The sulphurous Hail

Shot after us in Storm, overblown, hath laid

The fiery Surge, that from the Precipice

Of Heaven receiv'd us falling: and the Thunder,

Winged with red Lightning and impetuous Rage,

Perhaps hath spent his Shafts, and ceases now

To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep.
What when we fled amain, pursued and strook

With Heav'n's afflicting Thunder, and besought

The Deep to shelter us; this Hell then seem'd

A Refuge from those Wounds—
Thus Satan; and him thus the Anarch old

With faultring Speech, and Visage incompos'd,

Answer'd, I know thee, Stranger, who thou art,

That mighty leading Angel, who of late

Made Head against Heaven's King, tho' overthrown.

I saw and heard, for such a numerous Host

Fled not in silence through the frighted Deep

With Ruin upon Ruin, Rout on Rout,

Confusion worse confounded; and Heav'n's Gates

Pour'd out by Millions her victorious Bands

Pursuing—
Homer
Iliad
Milton's
Messiah








Homer
still
and gave birth to the
sublimest Description in Hesiod's Works was
1




Latin
Greek
Homer
Longinus
Virgil
Ovid
Ossa
Olympus
Pelion
Ossa
Pelion
 
Greek: einosíphullon
Greeks
Milton's
Claudian
Lemnos
Vulcan's Shop 
Mount Ida
River Enipeus
Milton
From their Foundations loos'ning to and fro,

They pluck'd the seated Hills, with all their Land,

Rocks, Waters, Woods; and by the shaggy Tops

Up-lifting bore them in their Hands—
Homer
Claudian




Lord
Roscommon's Essay on Translated Poetry
Paradise Lost






Milton
The
Michael
a
2
—But the Sword

Of Michael from the Armory of God

Was given him tempered so, that neither keen

Nor solid might resist that Edge: It met

The Sword of Satan, with steep Force to smite

Descending, and in half cut sheer—
Virgil
Æneas
Turnus
Eastern
Jewish
Book of
Maccabees
Prophet Jeremiah
Satan
Michael
Homer
The griding Sword with discontinuous Wound

Passed through him; butt the Ethereal Substance closed

Not long divisible; and from the Gash

A Stream of Nectarous Humour issuing flowed

Sanguine, (such as celestial Spirits may bleed)

And all his Armour stained—



Homer
Diomedes




Milton
Moloch
Mars
Iliad
Homer
Greeks
Trojans
Milton
—Where the Might of Gabriel fought,

And with fierce Ensigns pierc'd the deep Array

Of Moloch, furious King! who him defy'd,

And at his Chariot-wheels to drag him bound

Threaten'd, nor from the Holy One of Heav'n

Refrained his Tongue blasphemous: but anon

Down cloven to the Waste, with shattered Arms

And uncouth Pain fled bellowing.—



Milton
Messiah's
Ezekiel
Grotius
Homer's




Messiah
Psalms
Go then thou Mightiest in thy Father's Might!

Ascend my Chariot, guide the rapid Wheels

That shake Heav'n's Basis; bring forth all my War,

My Bow, my Thunder, my Almighty Arms,

Gird on thy Sword on thy puissant Thigh.




Milton
Homer
Homer
Mars
Jupiter
Neptune
Pluto
Homer
Vulcan
Xanthus
Minerva
Mars




Homer
Milton
All Heaven resounded, and had Earth been then,

All Earth had to its Center shook—
Messiah's
Throne of God
—Under his burning Wheels

The stedfast Empyrean shook throughout,

All but the Throne it self of God—
Messiah
Yet half his Strength he put not forth, but checkt

His Thunder in mid Volley; for he meant

Not to destroy, but root them out of Heaven.
Milton's
As
he knew it was necessary to give
3
therefore
the
4



















Footnote 1:
is



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
an



return









Footnote 3:
had he not given



return









Footnote 4:
his



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 334

	
 Monday, March 24, 1712

	
 Steele









  Voluisti in suo Genere, unumquemque nostrum quasi quendam esse
  Roscium, dixistique non tam ea quæ recta essent probari, quam quæ
  prava sunt fastidiis adhærescere.



Cicero de Gestu.




Booth
Pyrrhus
Orestes
This
1










Mr. Spectator,

  'Since there are scarce any of the Arts or Sciences that have not been
  recommended to the World by the Pens of some of the Professors,
  Masters, or Lovers of them, whereby the Usefulness, Excellence, and
  Benefit arising from them, both as to the Speculative and practical
  Part, have been made publick, to the great Advantage and Improvement
  of such Arts and Sciences; why should Dancing, an Art celebrated by
  the Ancients in so extraordinary a Manner, be totally neglected by the
  Moderns, and left destitute of any Pen to recommend its various
  Excellencies and substantial Merit to Mankind?



  'The low Ebb to which Dancing is now fallen, is altogether owing to
  this Silence. The Art is esteem'd only as an amusing Trifle; it lies
  altogether uncultivated, and is unhappily fallen under the Imputation
  of Illiterate and Mechanick: And as Terence in one of his Prologues,
  complains of the Rope-dancers drawing all the Spectators from his
  Play, so may we well say, that Capering and Tumbling is now preferred
  to, and supplies the Place of just and regular Dancing on our
  Theatres. It is therefore, in my opinion, high time that some one
  should come in to its Assistance, and relieve it from the many gross
  and growing Errors that have crept into it, and over-cast its real
  Beauties; and to set Dancing in its true light, would shew the
  Usefulness and Elegancy of it, with the Pleasure and Instruction
  produc'd from it; and also lay down some fundamental Rules, that might
  so tend to the Improvement of its Professors, and Information of the
  Spectators, that the first might be the better enabled to perform, and
  the latter render'd more capable of judging, what is (if there be any
  thing) valuable in this Art.



  'To encourage therefore some ingenious Pen capable of so generous an
  Undertaking, and in some measure to relieve Dancing from the
  Disadvantages it at present lies under, I, who teach to dance, have
  attempted a small Treatise as an Essay towards an History of Dancing;
  in which I have enquired into its Antiquity, Original, and Use, and
  shewn what Esteem the Ancients had for it: I have likewise considered
  the Nature and Perfection of all its several Parts, and how beneficial
  and delightful it is, both as a Qualification and an Exercise; and
  endeavoured to answer all Objections that have been maliciously rais'd
  against it. I have proceeded to give an Account of the particular
  Dances of the Greeks and Romans, whether religious, warlike, or civil;
  and taken particular notice of that Part of Dancing relating to the
  ancient Stage, and in which the Pantomimes had so great a share: Nor
  have I been wanting in giving an historical Account of some particular
  Masters excellent in that surprising Art. After which, I have advanced
  some Observations on the modern Dancing, both as to the Stage, and
  that Part of it so absolutely necessary for the Qualification of
  Gentlemen and Ladies; and have concluded with some short Remarks on
  the Origin and Progress of the Character by which Dances are writ
  down, and communicated to one Master from another. If some great
  Genius after this would arise, and advance this Art to that Perfection
  it seems capable of receiving, what might not be expected from it? For
  if we consider the Origin of Arts and Sciences, we shall find that
  some of them took rise from Beginnings so mean and unpromising, that
  it is very wonderful to think that ever such surprizing Structures
  should have been raised upon such ordinary Foundations. But what
  cannot a great Genius effect? Who would have thought that the
  clangorous Noise of a Smith's Hammers should have given the first rise
  to Musick? Yet Macrobius in his second Book relates, that Pythagoras,
  in passing by a Smith's Shop, found that the Sounds proceeding from
  the Hammers were either more grave or acute, according to the
  different Weights of the Hammers. The Philosopher, to improve this
  Hint, suspends different Weights by Strings of the same Bigness, and
  found in like manner that the Sounds answered to the Weights. This
  being discover'd, he finds out those Numbers which produc'd Sounds
  that were Consonants: As, that two Strings of the same Substance and
  Tension, the one being double the Length, of the other, give that
  Interval which is called Diapason, or an Eighth; the same was also
  effected from two Strings of the same Length and Size, the one having
  four times the Tension of the other. By these Steps, from so mean a
  Beginning, did this great Man reduce, what was only before Noise, to
  one of the most delightful Sciences, by marrying it to the
  Mathematicks; and by that means caused it to be one of the most
  abstract and demonstrative of Sciences. Who knows therefore but
  Motion, whether Decorous or Representative, may not (as it seems
  highly probable it may) be taken into consideration by some Person
  capable of reducing it into a regular Science, tho' not so
  demonstrative as that proceeding from Sounds, yet sufficient to
  entitle it to a Place among the magnify'd Arts.



  'Now, Mr. Spectator, as you have declared your self Visitor of
  Dancing-Schools, and this being an Undertaking which more immediately
  respects them, I think my self indispensably obliged, before I proceed
  to the Publication of this my Essay, to ask your Advice, and hold it
  absolutely necessary to have your Approbation; and in order to
  recommend my Treatise to the Perusal of the Parents of such as learn
  to dance, as well as to the young Ladies, to whom, as Visitor, you
  ought to be Guardian.



  I am, Sir,



  Your most humble Servant.



  Salop, March 19, 1711-12.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 335

	
 Tuesday, March 25, 1712

	
 Addison









Respicere exemplar vitæ morumque jubebo
  Doctum imitatorem, et veras hinc ducere voces.



Hor.







My
Roger De Coverley
1
last
Roger
Committee
2
Distrest Mother 
Hector's
Roger
Sentry




Roger
Steenkirk
Roger's
Pyrrhus
France
Andromache
Hermione
Pyrrhus




Roger
Andromache's
Widow
Pyrrhus




Hector's
Astyanax
Hermione's
Pyrrhus
Roger




Roger
Orestes
Pylades
Pyrrhus
Roger
Sentry
Roger
Orestes
Pyrrhus
Orestes
Orestes




Roger



















Footnote 1:
223
229
290
packing a house
Andromaque



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Committee
Faithful Irishman,
Committee



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 336

	
 Wednesday, March 26, 1712

	
 Steele









—Clament periisse pudorem 

Cuncti penè patres, ea cum reprehendere coner,

Quæ gravis Æsopus, quæ doctus Roscius egit:

Vel quia nil rectum, nisi quod placuit sibi, ducunt;

Vel quia turpe putant parere minoribus, et, quæ

Imberbes didicere, senes perdenda fateri.



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'As you are the daily Endeavourer to promote Learning and good Sense,
  I think myself obliged to suggest to your Consideration whatever may
  promote or prejudice them.. There is an Evil which has prevailed from
  Generation to Generation, which grey Hairs and tyrannical Custom
  continue to support; I hope your Spectatorial Authority will give a
  seasonable Check to the Spread of the Infection; I mean old Men's
  overbearing the strongest Sense of their Juniors by the mere Force of
  Seniority; so that for a young Man in the Bloom of Life and Vigour of
  Age to give a reasonable Contradiction to his Elders, is esteemed an
  unpardonable Insolence, and regarded as a reversing the Decrees of
  Nature. I am a young Man, I confess, yet I honour the grey Head as
  much as any one; however, when in Company with old Men, I hear them
  speak obscurely, or reason preposterously (into which Absurdities,
  Prejudice, Pride, or Interest, will sometimes throw the wisest) I
  count it no Crime to rectifie their Reasoning, unless Conscience must
  truckle to Ceremony, and Truth fall a Sacrifice to Complaisance. The
  strongest Arguments are enervated, and the brightest Evidence
  disappears, before those tremendous Reasonings and dazling Discoveries
  of venerable old Age: You are young giddy-headed Fellows, you have not
  yet had Experience of the World. Thus we young Folks find our Ambition
  cramp'd, and our Laziness indulged, since, while young, we have little
  room to display our selves; and, when old, the Weakness of Nature must
  pass for Strength of Sense, and we hope that hoary Heads will raise us
  above the Attacks of Contradiction. Now, Sir, as you would enliven our
  Activity in the pursuit of Learning, take our Case into Consideration;
  and, with a Gloss on brave Elihu's Sentiments, assert the Rights of
  Youth, and prevent the pernicious Incroachments of Age. The generous
  Reasonings of that gallant Youth would adorn your Paper; and I beg you
  would insert them, not doubting but that they will give good
  Entertainment to the most intelligent of your Readers.

  
'So these three Men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in
  his own Eyes. Then was kindled the Wrath of Elihu the Son of Barachel
  the Buzite, of the Kindred of Ram: Against Job was his Wrath kindled,
  because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three
  Friends was his Wrath kindled, because they had found no Answer, and
  yet had condemned Job. Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken,
  because they were elder than he. When Elihu saw there was no Answer in
  the Mouth of these three Men, then his Wrath was kindled. And Elihu
  the Son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye
  are very old, wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine
  Opinion. I said, Days should speak, and Multitude of Years should
  teach Wisdom. But there is a Spirit in Man; and the Inspiration of the
  Almighty giveth them Understanding. Great Men are not always wise:
  Neither do the Aged understand Judgment. Therefore I said, hearken to
  me, I also will shew mine Opinion. Behold, I waited for your Words; I
  gave ear to your Reasons, whilst you searched out what to say. Yea, I
  attended unto you: And behold there was none of you that convinced
  Job, or that answered his Words; lest ye should say, we have found out
  Wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not Man. Now he hath not directed his
  Words against me: Neither will I answer him with your Speeches. They
  were amazed, they answered no more: They left off speaking. When I had
  waited (for they spake not, but stood still and answered no more) I
  said, I will answer also my Part, I also will shew mine Opinion. For I
  am full of Matter, the Spirit within me constraineth me. Behold my
  Belly is as Wine which hath no vent, it is ready to burst like new
  Bottles. I will speak that I may be refreshed: I will open my Lips,
  and answer. Let me not, I pray you, accept any Man's Person, neither
  let me give flattering Titles unto Man. For I know not to give
  flattering Titles; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away1.






  Mr. Spectator,



  'I have formerly read with great Satisfaction your Papers about Idols,
  and the Behaviour of Gentlemen in those Coffee-houses  where Women
  officiate, and impatiently waited to see you take India and China
  Shops into Consideration: But since you have pass'd us over in
  silence, either that you have not as yet thought us worth your Notice,
  or that the Grievances we lie under have escaped your discerning Eye,
  I must make my Complaints to you, and am encouraged to do it because
  you seem a little at leisure at this present Writing. I am, dear Sir,
  one of the top China-Women about Town; and though I say it, keep as
  good Things, and receive as fine Company as any o' this End of the
  Town, let the other be who she will: In short, I am in a fair Way to
  be easy, were it not for a Club of Female Rakes, who under pretence of
  taking their innocent Rambles, forsooth, and diverting the Spleen,
  seldom fail to plague me twice or thrice a-day to cheapen Tea, or buy
  a Skreen; What else should they mean? as they often repeat it. These
  Rakes are your idle Ladies of Fashion, who having nothing to do,
  employ themselves in tumbling over my Ware. One of these No-Customers
  (for by the way they seldom or never buy any thing) calls for a Set of
  Tea-Dishes, another for a Bason, a third for my best Green-Tea, and
  even to the Punch Bowl, there's scarce a piece in my Shop but must be
  displaced, and the whole agreeable Architecture disordered; so that I
  can compare 'em to nothing but to the Night-Goblins that take a
  Pleasure to over-turn the Disposition of Plates and Dishes in the
  Kitchens of your housewifely Maids. Well, after all this Racket and
  Clutter, this is too dear, that is their Aversion; another thing is
  charming, but not wanted: The Ladies are cured of the Spleen, but I am
  not a Shilling the better for it. Lord! what signifies one poor Pot of
  Tea, considering the Trouble they put me to? Vapours, Mr. Spectator,
  are terrible Things; for though I am not possess'd by them my self, I
  suffer more from 'em than if I were. Now I must beg you to admonish
  all such Day-Goblins to make fewer Visits, or to be less troublesome
  when they come to one's Shop; and to convince 'em, that we honest
  Shop-keepers have something better to do, than to cure Folks of the
  Vapours gratis. A young Son of mine, a School-Boy, is my Secretary, so
  I hope you'll make Allowances. I am, Sir, 

Your constant Reader, and
  very humble Servant, 

Rebecca the Distress'd.



  March the 22nd. 















Footnote 1:
Job



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 337

	
 Thursday, March 27, 1712

	
 Budgell









Fingit equum tenerâ docilem cervice Magister,

  Ire viam quam monstrat eques—



Hor.














  Sir,



  If I had not been hindered by some extraordinary Business, I should
  have sent you sooner my further Thoughts upon Education. You may
  please to remember, that in my last Letter I endeavoured to give the
  best Reasons that could be urged in favour of a private or publick
  Education. Upon the whole it may perhaps be thought that I seemed
  rather enclined to the latter, though at the same time I confessed
  that Virtue, which ought to be our first and principal Care, was more
  usually acquired in the former.



  I intend therefore, in this Letter, to offer at Methods, by which I
  conceive Boys might be made to improve in Virtue, as they advance in
  Letters.



  I know that in most of our public Schools Vice is punished and
  discouraged whenever it is found out; but this is far from being
  sufficient, unless our Youth are at the same time taught to form a
  right Judgment of Things, and to know what is properly Virtue.



  To this end, whenever they read the Lives and Actions of such Men as
  have been famous in their Generation, it should not be thought enough
  to make them barely understand so many Greek or Latin Sentences, but
  they should be asked their Opinion of such an Action or Saying, and
  obliged to give their Reasons why they take it to be good or bad. By
  this means they would insensibly arrive at proper Notions of Courage,
  Temperance, Honour and Justice.



  There must be great Care taken how the Example of any particular
  Person is recommended to them in gross; instead of which, they ought
  to be taught wherein such a Man, though great in some respects, was
  weak and faulty in others. For want of this Caution, a Boy is often so
  dazzled with the Lustre of a great Character, that he confounds its
  Beauties with its Blemishes, and looks even upon the faulty Parts of
  it with an Eye of Admiration.



  I have often wondered how Alexander, who was naturally of a generous
  and merciful Disposition, came to be guilty of so barbarous an Action
  as that of dragging the Governour of a Town after his Chariot. I know
  this is generally ascribed to his Passion for Homer; but I lately met
  with a Passage in Plutarch, which, if I am not very much mistaken,
  still gives us a clearer Light into the Motives of this Action.
  Plutarch tells us, that Alexander in his Youth had a Master named
  Lysimachus, who, tho' he was a Man destitute of all Politeness,
  ingratiated himself both with Philip and his Pupil, and became the
  second Man at Court, by calling the King Peleus, the Prince Achilles,
  and himself Phœnix. It is no wonder if Alexander having been thus used
  not only to admire, but to personate Achilles, should think it
  glorious to imitate him in this piece of Cruelty and Extravagance.



  To carry this Thought yet further, I shall submit it to your
  Consideration, whether instead of a Theme or Copy of Verses, which are
  the usual Exercises, as they are called in the School-phrase, it
  would not be more proper that a Boy should be tasked once or twice a
  Week to write down his Opinion of such Persons and Things as occur to
  him in his Reading; that he should descant upon the Actions of Turnus
  and Æneas, shew wherein they excelled or were defective, censure or
  approve any particular Action, observe how it might have been carried
  to a greater Degree of Perfection, and how it exceeded or fell short
  of another. He might at the same time mark what was moral in any
  Speech, and how far it agreed with the Character of the Person
  speaking. This Exercise would soon strengthen his Judgment in what is
  blameable or praiseworthy, and give him an early Seasoning of
  Morality.



  Next to those Examples which may be met with in Books, I very much
  approve Horace's Way of setting before Youth the infamous or
  honourable Characters of their Contemporaries: That Poet tells us,
  this was the Method his Father made use of to incline him to any
  particular Virtue, or give him an Aversion to any particular Vice. If,
  says Horace, my Father advised me to live within Bounds, and be
  contented with the Fortune he should leave me; Do not you see (says
  he) the miserable Condition of Burrus, and the Son of Albus? Let the
  Misfortunes of those two Wretches teach you to avoid Luxury and
  Extravagance. If he would inspire me with an Abhorrence to Debauchery,
  do not (says he) make your self like Sectanus, when you may be happy
  in the Enjoyment of lawful Pleasures. How scandalous (says he) is the
  Character of Trebonius, who was lately caught in Bed with another
  Man's Wife? To illustrate the Force of this Method, the Poet adds,
  That as a headstrong Patient, who will not at first follow his
  Physician's Prescriptions, grows orderly when he hears that his
  Neighbours die all about him; so Youth is often frighted from Vice, by
  hearing the ill Report it brings upon others.



  'Xenophon's Schools of Equity, in his Life of Cyrus the Great, are
  sufficiently famous: He tells us, that the Persian Children went to
  School, and employed their Time as diligently in learning the
  Principles of Justice and Sobriety, as the Youth in other Countries
  did to acquire the most difficult Arts and Sciences: their Governors
  spent most part of the Day in hearing their mutual Accusations one
  against the other, whether for Violence, Cheating, Slander, or
  Ingratitude; and taught them how to give Judgment against those who
  were found to be any ways guilty of these Crimes. I omit the Story of
  the long and short Coat, for which Cyrus himself was punished, as a
  Case equally known with any in Littleton.



  'The Method, which Apuleius tells us the Indian Gymnosophists took to
  educate their Disciples, is still more curious and remarkable. His
  Words are as follow: When their Dinner is ready, before it is served
  up, the Masters enquire of every particular Scholar how he has
  employed his Time since Sun-rising; some of them answer, that having
  been chosen as Arbiters between two Persons they have composed their
  Differences, and made them Friends; some, that they have been
  executing the Orders of their Parents; and others, that they have
  either found out something new by their own Application, or learnt it
  from the Instruction of their Fellows: But if there happens to be any
  one among them, who cannot make it appear that he has employed the
  Morning to advantage, he is immediately excluded from the Company, and
  obliged to work, while the rest are at Dinner.



  'It is not impossible, that from these several Ways of producing
  Virtue in the Minds of Boys, some general Method might be invented.
  What I would endeavour to inculcate, is, that our Youth cannot be too
  soon taught the Principles of Virtue, seeing the first Impressions
  which are made on the Mind are always the strongest.



  'The Archbishop of Cambray makes Telemachus say, that though he was
  young in Years, he was old in the Art of knowing how to keep both his
  own and his Friend's Secrets. When my Father, says the Prince, went to
  the Siege of Troy, he took me on his Knees, and after having embraced
  and blessed me, as he was surrounded by the Nobles of Ithaca, O my
  Friends, says he, into your Hands I commit the Education of my Son; if
  ever you lovd his Father, shew it in your Care towards him; but above
  all, do not omit to form him just, sincere, and faithful in keeping a
  Secret. These Words of my Father, says Telemachus, were continually
  repeated to me by his Friends in his Absence; who made no scruple of
  communicating to me in their Uneasiness to see my Mother surrounded
  with Lovers, and the Measures they designed to take on that Occasion.
  He adds, that he was so ravished at being thus treated like a Man, and
  at the Confidence reposed in him, that he never once abused it; nor
  could all the Insinuations of his Fathers Rivals ever get him to
  betray what was committed to him under the Seal of Secrecy.



  There is hardly any Virtue which a Lad might not thus learn by
  Practice and Example.



  I have heard of a good Man, who used at certain times to give his
  Scholars Six Pence apiece, that they might tell him the next day how
  they had employd it. The third part was always to be laid out in
  Charity, and every Boy was blamed or commended as he could make it
  appear that he had chosen a fit Object.



  In short, nothing is more wanting to our publick Schools, than that
  the Masters of them should use the same care in fashioning the Manners
  of their Scholars, as in forming their Tongues to the learned
  Languages. Where-ever the former is omitted, I cannot help agreeing
  with Mr. Locke, That a Man must have a very strange Value for Words,
  when preferring the Languages of the Greeks and Romans to that which
  made them such brave Men, he can think it worth while to hazard the
  Innocence and Virtue of his Son for a little Greek and Latin.



  As the Subject of this Essay is of the highest Importance, and what I
  do not remember to have yet seen treated by any Author, I have sent
  you what occurrd to me on it from my own Observation or Reading, and
  which you may either suppress or publish as you think fit.



 I am, Sir, Yours, &c.






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 338

	
 Friday, March 28, 1712

	








—Nil fuit unquam

  Tam dispar sibi.



Hor.1




Distrest Mother
The
2










Mr. Spectator,

  I had the Happiness the other Night of sitting very near you, and your
  worthy Friend Sir Roger, at the acting of the new Tragedy, which you
  have in a late Paper or two so justly recommended. I was highly
  pleased with the advantageous Situation Fortune had given me in
  placing me so near two Gentlemen, from one of which I was sure to hear
  such Reflections on the several Incidents of the Play, as pure Nature
  suggested, and from the other such as flowed from the exactest Art and
  Judgment: Tho I must confess that my Curiosity led me so much to
  observe the Knight's Reflections, that I was not so well at leisure to
  improve my self by yours. Nature, I found, play'd her Part in the
  Knight pretty well, till at the last concluding Lines she entirely
  forsook him. You must know, Sir, that it is always my Custom, when I
  have been well entertained at a new Tragedy, to make my Retreat before
  the facetious Epilogue enters; not but that those Pieces are often
  very well writ, but having paid down my Half Crown, and made a fair
  Purchase of as much of the pleasing Melancholy as the Poet's Art can
  afford me, or my own Nature admit of, I am willing to carry some of it
  home with me; and can't endure to be at once trick'd out of all, tho'
  by the wittiest Dexterity in the World. However, I kept my Seat
  t'other Night, in hopes of finding my own Sentiments of this Matter
  favour'd by your Friend's; when, to my great Surprize, I found the
  Knight entering with equal Pleasure into both Parts, and as much
  satisfied with Mrs. Oldfield's Gaiety, as he had been before with
  Andromache's Greatness. Whether this were no other than an Effect of
  the Knight's peculiar Humanity, pleas'd to find at last, that after
  all the tragical Doings every thing was safe and well, I don't know.
  But for my own part, I must confess, I was so dissatisfied, that I was
  sorry the Poet had saved Andromache, and could heartily have wished
  that he had left her stone-dead upon the Stage. For you cannot
  imagine, Mr. Spectator, the Mischief she was reserv'd to do me. I
  found my Soul, during the Action, gradually work'd up to the highest
  Pitch; and felt the exalted Passion which all generous Minds conceive
  at the Sight of Virtue in Distress. The Impression, believe me, Sir,
  was so strong upon me, that I am persuaded, if I had been let alone in
  it, I could at an Extremity have ventured to defend your self and Sir
  ROGER against half a Score of the fiercest Mohocks: But the ludicrous
  Epilogue in the Close extinguish'd all my Ardour, and made me look
  upon all such noble Atchievements, as downright silly and romantick.
  What the rest of the Audience felt, I can't so well tell: For my self,
  I must declare, that at the end of the Play I found my Soul uniform,
  and all of a Piece; but at the End of the Epilogue it was so jumbled
  together, and divided between Jest and Earnest, that if you will
  forgive me an extravagant Fancy, I will here set it down. I could not
  but fancy, if my Soul had at that Moment quitted my Body, and
  descended to the poetical Shades in the Posture it was then in, what a
  strange Figure it would have made among them. They would not have
  known what to have made of my motley Spectre, half Comick and half
  Tragick, all over resembling a ridiculous Face, that at the same time
  laughs on one side and cries o' t'other. The only Defence, I think, I
  have ever heard made for this, as it seems to me, most unnatural Tack
  of the Comick Tail to the Tragick Head, is this, that the Minds of the
  Audience must be refreshed, and Gentlemen and Ladies not sent away to
  their own Homes with too dismal and melancholy Thoughts about them:
  For who knows the Consequence of this? We are much obliged indeed to
  the Poets for the great Tenderness they express for the Safety of our
  Persons, and heartily thank them for it. But if that be all, pray,
  good Sir, assure them, that we are none of us like to come to any
  great Harm; and that, let them do their best, we shall in all
  probability live out the Length of our Days, and frequent the Theatres
  more than ever. What makes me more desirous to have some Reformation
  of this matter, is because of an ill Consequence or two attending it:
  For a great many of our Church-Musicians being related to the Theatre,
  they have, in Imitation of these Epilogues, introduced in their
  farewell Voluntaries a sort of Musick quite foreign to the design of
  Church-Services, to the great Prejudice of well-disposed People. Those
  fingering Gentlemen should be informed, that they ought to suit their
  Airs to the Place and Business; and that the Musician is obliged to
  keep to the Text as much as the Preacher. For want of this, I have
  found by Experience a great deal of Mischief: For when the Preacher
  has often, with great Piety and Art enough, handled his Subject, and
  the judicious Clark has with utmost Diligence culled out two Staves
  proper to the Discourse, and I have found in my self and in the rest
  of the Pew good Thoughts and Dispositions, they have been all in a
  moment dissipated by a merry Jigg from the Organ-Loft. One knows not
  what further ill Effects the Epilogues I have been speaking of may in
  time produce: But this I am credibly informed of, that Paul Lorrain3—has resolv'd upon a very sudden Reformation in his tragical
  Dramas; and that at the next monthly Performance, he designs, instead
  of a Penitential Psalm, to dismiss his Audience with an excellent new
  Ballad of his own composing. Pray, Sir, do what you can to put a stop
  to those growing Evils, and you will very much oblige 

  Your Humble Servant, 

  Physibulus.












Footnote 1:
Servetur ad imum

  Qualis ab incepto processerit, et sibi constet.



Hor.



return









Footnote 2:
'It was known in Tonson's family and told to Garrick, that Addison was
  himself the author of it, and that when it had been at first printed
  with his name, he came early in the morning, before the copies were
  distributed, and ordered it to be given to Budgell, that it might add
  weight to the solicitation which he was then making for a place.'
 'the most successful Epilogue that was ever yet spoken on the English
  theatre.'
No. 341



return









Footnote 3:
Tatler
Paul Lorrain's Saints



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 339

	
 Saturday, March 29, 1712

	
 Addison









—Ut his exordia primis

Omnia, et ipse tener Mundi concreverit orbis.

Tum durare solum et discludere Nerea ponto

Coeperit, et rerum pauliatim sumere formas.



Virg.1







Longinus
2
Milton




Critick
3
Homer
Virgil
Homer






Milton
Longinus




have
Jews
Genesis
4
Milton






Adam's
And the great Light of Day yet wants to run

Much of his Race, though steep, suspense in Heav'n

Held by thy Voice; thy potent Voice he hears,

And longer will delay, to hear thee tell

His Generation, &c.
s
Messiah
comes
appears
5
And
6
About his Chariot numberless were pour'd

Cherub and Seraph, Potentates and Thrones,

And Virtues, winged Spirits, and Chariots wing'd,

From th' Armoury of Gold, where stand of old

Myriads between two brazen Mountains lodg'd

Against a solemn Day, harness'd at hand;

Celestial Equipage! and now came forth

Spontaneous, for within them Spirit liv'd,

Attendant on their Lord: Heav'n open'd wide

Her ever-during Gates, Harmonious Sound!

On golden Hinges moving—
Homer




Messiah
On Heavenly Ground they stood, and from the Shore

They view'd the vast immeasurable Abyss,

Outrageous as a Sea, dark, wasteful, wild;

Up from the bottom turned by furious Winds

And surging Waves, as Mountains to assault

Heaven's height, and with the Center mix the Pole.



Silence, ye troubled Waves, and thou Deep, Peace!

Said then th' Omnific Word, your Discord end:



Nor staid; but, on the Wings of Cherubim

Up-lifted, in Paternal Glory rode

Far into Chaos, and the World unborn;

For Chaos heard his Voice. Him all His Train

Follow'd in bright Procession, to behold

Creation, and the Wonders, of his Might.

Then staid the fervid Wheels, and in his Hand

He took the Golden Compasses, prepar'd

In God's eternal Store, to circumscribe

This Universe, and all created Things:

One Foot he center'd, and the other turn'd

Round, through the vast Profundity obscure;

And said, Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds,

This be thy just Circumference, O World!
Homer's
Homer
Minerva's
Plato
Milton
And Earth self-ballanc'd on her Center hung.
—Thus was the first Day Ev'n and Morn

Nor past uncelebrated nor unsung

By the Celestial Quires, when Orient Light

Exhaling first from Darkness they beheld;

Birth-day of Heav'n and Earth! with Joy and Shout

The hollow universal Orb they fill'd.
Immediately the Mountains huge appear

Emergent, and their broad bare Backs up-heave

Into the Clouds, their Tops ascend the Sky:

So high as heav'd the tumid Hills, so low

Down sunk a hollow Bottom, broad and deep,

Capacious Bed of Waters—




First in his East the glorious Lamp was seen,

Regent of Day; and all th' Horizon round

Invested with bright Rays, jocund to round

His Longitude through Heav'ns high Road: the gray

Dawn, and the Pleiades before him danced,

Shedding sweet Influence. Less bright the Moon,

But opposite in level'd West was set,

His Mirror, with full face borrowing her Light

From him, for other Lights she needed none

In that aspect, and still that distance keeps

Till Night; then in the East her turn she shines,

Revolv'd on Heav'n's great Axle, and her Reign

With thousand lesser Lights dividual holds,

With thousand thousand Stars! that then appear'd

Spangling the Hemisphere—
As
the
7
Adam




Messiah
Messiah
So Ev'n and Morn accomplished the sixth Day:

Yet not 'till the Creator from his Work

Desisting, tho' unwearied, up return'd,

Up to the Heav'n of Heav'ns, his high Abode;

Thence to behold this new created World,

Th' Addition of his Empire, how it shewed

In prospect from his Throne, how good, how fair,

Answering his great Idea: Up he rode,

Follow'd with Acclamation, and the Sound

Symphonious of ten thousand Harps, that tuned

Angelick Harmonies; the Earth, the Air

Resounding (thou remember'st, for thou heard'sf)

The Heavens and all the Constellations rung;

The Planets in their Station listning stood,

While the bright Pomp ascended jubilant.

Open, ye everlasting Gates, they sung,

Open, ye Heavens, your living Doors; let in

The great Creator from his Work return'd

Magnificent, his six Days Work, a World!
cannot
8
Sirach



















Footnote 1:
Ovid



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
On the Sublime



return
  









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
"So likewise the Jewish legislator, no ordinary person, having
  conceived a just idea of the power of God, has nobly expressed it in
  the beginning of his law. 'And God said,'—What? 'Let there be Light,
  and there was Light. Let the Earth be, and the Earth was.'" 


return









Footnote 5:
looks like



return









Footnote 6:
Zechariah



return









Footnote 7:
this



return









Footnote 8:
Creation
had written nothing else it would have transmitted him to posterity
  among the first favourites of the English muse.'
The Sea does next demand our View; and there

  No less the Marks of perfect skill appear.

  When first the Atoms to the Congress came,

  And by their Concourse form'd the mighty Frame,

  What did the Liquid to th' Assembly call

  To give their Aid to form the ponderous Ball?

  First, tell us, why did any come? next, why

  In such a disproportion to the Dry!

  Why were the Moist in Number so outdone,

  That to a Thousand Dry, they are but one,



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 340

	
 Monday, March 31, 1712

	
 Steele









Quis novus hic nostris successit sedibus Hospes?

Quem sese Ore ferens! quam forti Pectore et Armis!



Virg.




Whether
 a
yearning
1
have
2
Cremona
Turin
Alexander
Cæsar
Eugene
Eugene
This
3



















Footnote 1:
an earning



return









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:

return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 341

	
 Tuesday, April 1, 1712

	
 Budgell1









—Revocate animos mœstumque timorem Mittite—



Virg.




Physibulus










  Sir,



  I am amazed to find an Epilogue attacked in your last Friday's Paper,
  which has been so generally applauded by the Town, and receiv'd such
  Honours as were never before given to any in an English Theatre.



  The Audience would not permit Mrs. Oldfield to go off the Stage the
  first Night, till she had repeated it twice; the second Night the
  Noise of Ancoras was as loud as before, and she was again obliged to
  speak it twice: the third Night it was still called for a second time;
  and, in short, contrary to all other Epilogues, which are dropt after
  the third Representation of the Play, this has already been repeated
  nine times.



  I must own I am the more surprized to find this Censure in Opposition
  to the whole Town, in a Paper which has hitherto been famous for the
  Candour of its Criticisms.



  I can by no means allow your melancholy Correspondent, that the new
  Epilogue is unnatural because it is gay. If I had a mind to be
  learned, I could tell him that the Prologue and Epilogue were real
  Parts of the ancient Tragedy; but every one knows that on the British
  Stage they are distinct Performances by themselves, Pieces entirely
  detached from the Play, and no way essential to it.



  The moment the Play ends, Mrs. Oldfield is no more Andromache, but
  Mrs. Oldfield; and tho' the Poet had left Andromache stone-dead upon
  the Stage, as your ingenious Correspondent phrases it, Mrs. Oldfield
  might still have spoke a merry Epilogue. We have an Instance of this
  in a Tragedy2 where there is not only a Death but a Martyrdom. St.
  Catherine was there personated by Nell Gwin; she lies stone dead upon
  the Stage, but upon those Gentlemen's offering to remove her Body,
  whose Business it is to carry off the Slain in our English Tragedies,
  she breaks out into that abrupt Beginning of what was a very
  ludicrous, but at the same time thought a very good Epilogue.


Hold, are you mad? you damn'd confounded Dog,

I am to rise and speak the Epilogue.


  This diverting Manner was always practised by Mr. Dryden, who if he
  was not the best Writer of Tragedies in his time, was allowed by every
  one to have the happiest Turn for a Prologue or an Epilogue. The
  Epilogues to Cleomenes, Don Sebastian, The Duke of Guise, Aurengzebe,
  and Love Triumphant, are all Precedents of this Nature.



  I might further justify this Practice by that excellent Epilogue which
  was spoken a few Years since, after the Tragedy of Phædra and
  Hippolitus; with a great many others, in which the Authors have
  endeavour'd to make the Audience merry. If they have not all succeeded
  so well as the Writer of this, they have however shewn that it was not
  for want of Good-will.



  I must further observe, that the Gaiety of it may be still the more
  proper, as it is at the end of a French Play; since every one knows
  that Nation, who are generally esteem'd to have as polite a Taste as
  any in Europe, always close their Tragick Entertainments with what
  they call a Petite Piece, which is purposely design'd to raise Mirth,
  and send away the Audience well pleased. The same Person who has
  supported the chief Character in the Tragedy, very often plays the
  principal Part in the Petite Piece; so that I have my self seen at
  Paris, Orestes and Lubin acted the same Night by the same Man.



  Tragi-Comedy, indeed, you have your self in a former Speculation found
  fault with very justly, because it breaks the Tide of the Passions
  while they are yet flowing; but this is nothing at all to the present
  Case, where they have already had their full Course.



  As the new Epilogue is written conformable to the Practice of our best
  Poets, so it is not such an one which, as the Duke of Buckingham says
  in his Rehearsal, might serve for any other Play; but wholly rises out
  of the Occurrences of the Piece it was composed for.



  The only Reason your mournful Correspondent gives against this
  Facetious Epilogue, as he calls it, is, that he has mind to go home
  melancholy. I wish the Gentleman may not be more Grave than Wise. For
  my own part, I must confess I think it very sufficient to have the
  Anguish of a fictitious Piece remain upon me while it is representing,
  but I love to be sent home to bed in a good humour. If Physibulus is
  however resolv'd to be inconsolable, and not to have his Tears dried
  up, he need only continue his old Custom, and when he has had his half
  Crown's worth of Sorrow, slink out before the Epilogue begins.



  It is pleasant enough to hear this Tragical Genius complaining of the
  great Mischief Andromache had done him: What was that? Why, she made
  him laugh. The poor Gentleman's Sufferings put me in mind of Harlequin's
  Case, who was tickled to Death. He tells us soon after, thro' a small
  Mistake of Sorrow for Rage, that during the whole Action he was so
  very sorry, that he thinks he could have attack'd half a score of the
  fiercest Mohocks in the Excess of his Grief. I cannot but look upon it
  as an happy Accident, that a Man who is so bloody-minded in his
  Affliction, was diverted from this Fit of outragious Melancholy. The
  Valour of this Gentleman in his Distress, brings to one's memory the
  Knight of the sorrowful Countenance, who lays about him at such an
  unmerciful rate in an old Romance. I shall readily grant him that his
  Soul, as he himself says, would have made a very ridiculous Figure,
  had it quitted the Body, and descended to the Poetical Shades, in such
  an Encounter.



  As to his Conceit of tacking a Tragic Head with a Comic Tail, in order
  to refresh the Audience, it is such a piece of Jargon, that I dont
  know what to make of it.



  The elegant Writer makes a very sudden Transition from the Play-house
  to the Church, and from thence, to the Gallows.



  As for what relates to the Church, he is of Opinion, that these
  Epilogues have given occasion to those merry Jiggs from the Organ-Loft
  which have dissipated those good Thoughts, and Dispositions he has
  found in himself, and the rest of the Pew, upon the singing of two
  Staves culld out by the judicious and diligent Clark.



He fetches his next Thought from Tyburn; and seems very apprehensive
  lest there should happen any Innovations in the Tragedies of his
  Friend Paul Lorrain.



  In the mean time, Sir, this gloomy Writer, who is so mightily
  scandaliz'd at a gay Epilogue after a serious Play, speaking of the
  Fate of those unhappy Wretches who are condemned to suffer an
  ignominious Death by the Justice of our Laws, endeavours to make the
  Reader merry on so improper an occasion, by those poor Burlesque
  Expressions of Tragical Dramas, and Monthly Performances.



  I am, Sir, with great Respect, 

  Your most obedient, most humble Servant,



  Philomeides.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Maximin



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 342

	
 Wednesday, April 2, 1712

	
 Steele









Justitiæ partes sunt non violare homines: Verecundiæ non offendere.



Tull.














  'Mr. Spectator,



  'I was this Day looking over your Papers, and reading in that of
  December the 6th with great delight, the amiable Grief of Asteria for
  the Absence of her Husband, it threw me into a great deal of
  Reflection. I cannot say but this arose very much from the
  Circumstances of my own Life, who am a Soldier, and expect every Day
  to receive Orders; which will oblige me to leave behind me a Wife that
  is very dear to me, and that very deservedly. She is, at present, I am
  sure, no way below your Asteria for Conjugal Affection: But I see the
  Behaviour of some Women so little suited to the Circumstances wherein
  my Wife and I shall soon be, that it is with a Reluctance I never knew
  before, I am going to my Duty. What puts me to present Pain, is the
  Example of a young Lady, whose Story you shall have as well as I can
  give it you. Hortensius, an Officer of good Rank in her Majesty's
  Service, happen'd in a certain Part of England to be brought to a
  Country-Gentleman's House, where he was receiv'd with that more than
  ordinary Welcome, with which Men of domestick Lives entertain such few
  Soldiers whom a military Life, from the variety of Adventures, has not
  render'd over-bearing, but humane, easy, and agreeable: Hortensius
  stay'd here some time, and had easy Access at all hours, as well as
  unavoidable Conversation at some parts of the Day with the beautiful
  Sylvana, the Gentleman's Daughter. People who live in Cities are
  wonderfully struck with every little Country Abode they see when they
  take the Air; and 'tis natural to fancy they could live in every neat
  Cottage (by which they pass) much happier than in their present
  Circumstances. The turbulent way of Life which Hortensius was used to,
  made him reflect with much Satisfaction on all the Advantages of a
  sweet Retreat one day; and among the rest, you'll think it not
  improbable, it might enter into his Thought, that such a Woman as
  Sylvana would consummate the Happiness. The World is so debauched with
  mean Considerations, that Hortensius knew it would be receiv'd as an
  Act of Generosity, if he asked for a Woman of the Highest Merit,
  without further Questions, of a Parent who had nothing to add to her
  personal Qualifications. The Wedding was celebrated at her Father's
  House: When that was over, the generous Husband did not proportion his
  Provision for her to the Circumstances of her Fortune, but considered
  his Wife as his Darling, his Pride, and his Vanity, or rather that it
  was in the Woman he had chosen that a Man of Sense could shew Pride or
  Vanity with an Excuse, and therefore adorned her with rich Habits and
  valuable Jewels. He did not however omit to admonish her that he did
  his very utmost in this; that it was an Ostentation he could not but
  be guilty of to a Woman he had so much Pleasure in, desiring her to
  consider it as such; and begged of her also to take these Matters
  rightly, and believe the Gems, the Gowns, the Laces would still become
  her better, if her Air and Behaviour was such, that it might appear
  she dressed thus rather in Compliance to his Humour that Way, than out
  of any Value she her self had for the Trifles. To this Lesson, too
  hard for Woman, Hortensius added, that she must be sure to stay with
  her Friends in the Country till his Return. As soon as Hortensius
  departed, Sylvana saw in her Looking-glass that the Love he conceiv'd
  for her was wholly owing to the Accident of seeing her: and she is
  convinced it was only her Misfortune the rest of Mankind had not
  beheld her, or Men of much greater Quality and Merit had contended for
  one so genteel, tho' bred in Obscurity; so very witty, tho' never
  acquainted with Court or Town. She therefore resolved not to hide so
  much Excellence from the World, but without any Regard to the Absence
  of the most generous Man alive, she is now the gayest Lady about this
  Town, and has shut out the Thoughts of her Husband by a constant
  Retinue of the vainest young Fellows this Age has produced: to
  entertain whom, she squanders away all Hortensius is able to supply
  her with, tho' that Supply is purchased with no less Difficulty than
  the Hazard of his Life.



  'Now, Mr. Spectator, would it not be a Work becoming your Office to
  treat this Criminal as she deserves? You should give it the severest
  Reflections you can: You should tell Women, that they are more
  accountable for Behaviour in Absence than after Death. The Dead are
  not dishonour'd by their Levities; the Living may return, and be
  laugh'd at by empty Fops, who will not fail to turn into Ridicule the
  good Man who is so unseasonable as to be still alive, and come and
  spoil good Company.



  I am, Sir, 

your most Obedient Humble Servant.

















Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 343

	
 Thursday, April 3, 1712

	
 Addison









—Errat et illinc

Huc venit, hinc illuc, et quoslibet occupat artus

Spiritus: éque feris humana in corpora transit,

Inque feras noster—



Pythag. ap. Ov







Will. Honeycomb
Sir


Paul Rycaut
1
Mahometans
Algiers
Will
Will




Will
told
Jack Freelove
on
2




Will
Jack
Madam,

  Not having the Gift of Speech, I have a long time waited in vain for
  an Opportunity of making myself known to you; and having at present
  the Conveniences of Pen, Ink, and Paper by me, I gladly take the
  occasion of giving you my History in Writing, which I could not do by
  word of Mouth. You must know, Madam, that about a thousand Years ago I
  was an Indian Brachman, and versed in all those mysterious Secrets
  which your European Philosopher, called Pythagoras, is said to have
  learned from our Fraternity. I had so ingratiated my self by my great
  Skill in the occult Sciences with a Daemon whom I used to converse
  with, that he promised to grant me whatever I should ask of him. I
  desired that my Soul might never pass into the Body of a brute
  Creature; but this he told me was not in his Power to grant me. I then
  begg'd that into whatever Creature I should chance to Transmigrate, I
  might still retain my Memory, and be conscious that I was the same
  Person who lived in different Animals. This he told me was within his
  Power, and accordingly promised on the word of a Daemon that he would
  grant me what I desired. From that time forth I lived so very
  unblameably, that I was made President of a College of Brachmans, an
  Office which I discharged with great Integrity till the day of my
  Death. I was then shuffled into another Human Body, and acted my Part
  so very well in it, that I became first Minister to a Prince who
  reigned upon the Banks of the Ganges. I here lived in great Honour for
  several Years, but by degrees lost all the Innocence of the Brachman,
  being obliged to rifle and oppress the People to enrich my Sovereign;
  till at length I became so odious that my Master, to recover his
  Credit with his Subjects, shot me thro' the Heart with an Arrow, as I
  was one day addressing my self to him at the Head of his Army.



  Upon my next remove I found my self in the Woods, under the shape of a
  Jack-call, and soon listed my self in the Service of a Lion. I used to
  yelp near his Den about midnight, which was his time of rouzing and
  seeking after his Prey. He always followed me in the Rear, and when I
  had run down a fat Buck, a wild Goat, or an Hare, after he had feasted
  very plentifully upon it himself, would now and then throw me a Bone
  that was but half picked for my Encouragement; but upon my Being
  unsuccessful in two or three Chaces, he gave me such a confounded
  Gripe in his Anger, that I died of it.



  In my next Transmigration I was again set upon two Legs, and became an
  Indian Tax-gatherer; but having been guilty of great Extravagances,
  and being marry'd to an expensive Jade of a Wife, I ran so cursedly in
  debt, that I durst not shew my Head. I could no sooner step out of my
  House, but I was arrested by some body or other that lay in wait for
  me. As I ventur'd abroad one Night in the Dusk of the Evening, I was
  taken up and hurry'd into a Dungeon, where I died a few Months after.



  My Soul then enter'd into a Flying-Fish, and in that State led a most
  melancholy Life for the space of six Years. Several Fishes of Prey
  pursued me when I was in the Water, and if I betook my self to my
  Wings, it was ten to one but I had a flock of Birds aiming at me. As I
  was one day flying amidst a fleet of English Ships, I observed a huge
  Sea-Gull whetting his Bill and hovering just over my Head: Upon my
  dipping into the Water to avoid him, I fell into the Mouth of a
  monstrous Shark that swallow'd me down in an instant.



  I was some Years afterwards, to my great surprize, an eminent Banker
  in Lombard-street; and remembring how I had formerly suffered for want
  of Money, became so very sordid and avaritious, that the whole Town
  cried shame of me. I was a miserable little old Fellow to look upon,
  for I had in a manner starved my self, and was nothing but Skin and
  Bone when I died.



  I was afterwards very much troubled and amazed to find my self
  dwindled into an Emmet. I was heartily concerned to make so
  insignificant a Figure, and did not know but some time or other I
  might be reduced to a Mite if I did not mend my Manners. I therefore
  applied my self with great diligence to the Offices that were allotted
  me, and was generally look'd upon as the notablest Ant in the whole
  Molehill. I was at last picked up, as I was groaning under a Burden,
  by an unlucky Cock-Sparrow that lived in the Neighbourhood, and had
  before made great depredations upon our Commonwealth.



  I then better'd my Condition a little, and lived a whole Summer in the
  Shape of a Bee; but being tired with the painful and penurious Life I
  had undergone in my two last Transmigrations, I fell into the other
  Extream, and turned Drone. As I one day headed a Party to plunder an
  Hive, we were received so warmly by the Swarm which defended it, that
  we were most of us left dead upon the Spot.



  I might tell you of many other Transmigrations which I went thro': how
  I was a Town-Rake, and afterwards did Penance in a Bay Gelding for ten
  Years; as also how I was a Taylor, a Shrimp, and a Tom-tit. In the
  last of these my Shapes I was shot in the Christmas Holidays by a
  young Jack-a-napes, who would needs try his new Gun upon me.



  But I shall pass over these and other several Stages of Life, to
  remind you of the young Beau who made love to you about Six Years
  since. You may remember, Madam, how he masked, and danced, and sung,
  and play'd a thousand Tricks to gain you; and how he was at last
  carry'd off by a Cold that he got under your Window one Night in a
  Serenade. I was that unfortunate young Fellow, whom you were then so
  cruel to. Not long after my shifting that unlucky Body, I found myself
  upon a Hill in Æthiopia, where I lived in my present Grotesque Shape,
  till I was caught by a Servant of the English Factory, and sent over
  into Great Britain: I need not inform you how I came into your Hands.
  You see, Madam, this is not the first time that you have had me in a
  Chain: I am, however, very happy in this my Captivity, as you often
  bestow on me those Kisses and Caresses which I would have given the
  World for, when I was a Man. I hope this Discovery of my Person will
  not tend to my Disadvantage, but that you will still continue your
  accustomed Favours to

Your most Devoted

Humble Servant,

Pugg.



  P. S. I would advise your little Shock-dog to keep out of my way; for
  as I look upon him to be the most formidable of my Rivals, I may
  chance one time or other to give him such a Snap as he won't like.
















Footnote 1:
Present State of
the Ottoman Empire
A Particular Description of the Mahometan Religion, the Seraglio, the
Maritime and Land Forces of Turkey
History of the Turks
 The Present State of the Greek and American Churches
History of the Turks
Lives of the
Popes
History of Peru



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
upon



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 344

	
 Friday, April 4, 1712

	
 Steele









In solo vivendi causa palato est.



Juv.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I think it has not yet fallen into your Way to discourse on little
  Ambition, or the many whimsical Ways Men fall into, to distinguish
  themselves among their Acquaintance: Such Observations, well pursued,
  would make a pretty History of low Life. I my self am got into a great
  Reputation, which arose (as most extraordinary Occurrences in a Man's
  Life seem to do) from a mere Accident. I was some Days ago
  unfortunately engaged among a Set of Gentlemen, who esteem a Man
  according to the Quantity of Food he throws down at a Meal. Now I, who
  am ever for distinguishing my self according to the Notions of
  Superiority which the rest of the Company entertain, ate so
  immoderately for their Applause, as had like to have cost me my Life.
  What added to my Misfortune was, that having naturally a good Stomach,
  and having lived soberly for some time, my Body was as well prepared
  for this Contention as if it had been by Appointment. I had quickly
  vanquished every Glutton in Company but one, who was such a Prodigy in
  his Way, and withal so very merry during the whole Entertainment, that
  he insensibly betrayed me to continue his Competitor, which in a
  little time concluded in a compleat Victory over my Rival; after
  which, by Way of Insult, I ate a considerable Proportion beyond what
  the Spectators thought me obliged in Honour to do. The Effect however
  of this Engagement, has made me resolve never to eat more for Renown;
  and I have, pursuant to this Resolution, compounded three Wagers I had
  depending on the Strength of my Stomach; which happened very luckily,
  because it was stipulated in our Articles either to play or pay. How a
  Man of common Sense could be thus engaged, is hard to determine; but
  the Occasion of this, is to desire you to inform several Gluttons of
  my Acquaintance, who look on me with Envy, that they had best moderate
  their Ambition in time, lest Infamy or Death attend their Success. I
  forgot to tell you, Sir, with what unspeakable Pleasure I received the
  Acclamations and Applause of the whole Board, when I had almost eat my
  Antagonist into Convulsions: It was then that I returned his Mirth
  upon him with such success as he was hardly able to swallow, though
  prompted by a Desire of Fame, and a passionate Fondness for
  Distinction: I had not endeavoured to excel so far, had not the
  Company been so loud in their Approbation of my Victory. I don't
  question but the same Thirst after Glory has often caused a Man to
  drink Quarts without taking Breath, and prompted Men to many other
  difficult Enterprizes; which if otherwise pursued, might turn very
  much to a Man's Advantage. This Ambition of mine was indeed
  extravagantly pursued; however I can't help observing, that you hardly
  ever see a Man commended for a good Stomach, but he immediately falls
  to eating more (tho' he had before dined) as well to confirm the
  Person that commended him in his good Opinion of him, as to convince
  any other at the Table, who may have been unattentive enough not to
  have done Justice to his Character.

I am, Sir,

Your most humble Servant,

Epicure Mammon.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I have writ to you three or four times, to desire you would take
  notice of an impertinent Custom the Women, the fine Women, have lately
  fallen into, of taking Snuff1. This silly Trick is attended with
  such a Coquet Air in some Ladies, and such a sedate masculine one in
  others, that I cannot tell which most to complain of; but they are to
  me equally disagreeable. Mrs. Saunter is so impatient of being without
  it, that she takes it as often as she does Salt at Meals; and as she
  affects a wonderful Ease and Negligence in all her manner, an upper
  Lip mixed with Snuff and the Sauce, is what is presented to the
  Observation of all who have the honour to eat with her. The pretty
  Creature her Neice does all she can to be as disagreeable as her Aunt;
  and if she is not as offensive to the Eye, she is quite as much to the
  Ear, and makes up all she wants in a confident Air, by a nauseous
  Rattle of the Nose, when the Snuff is delivered, and the Fingers make
  the Stops and Closes on the Nostrils. This, perhaps, is not a very
  courtly Image in speaking of Ladies; that is very true: but where
  arises the Offence? Is it in those who commit, or those who observe
  it? As for my part, I have been so extremely disgusted with this
  filthy Physick hanging on the Lip, that the most agreeable
  Conversation, or Person, has not been able to make up for it. As to
  those who take it for no other end but to give themselves Occasion for
  pretty Action, or to fill up little Intervals of Discourse, I can bear
  with them; but then they must not use it when another is speaking, who
  ought to be heard with too much respect, to admit of offering at that
  time from Hand to Hand the Snuff-Box. But Flavilla is so far taken
  with her Behaviour in this kind, that she pulls out her Box (which is
  indeed full of good Brazile) in the middle of the Sermon; and to shew
  she has the Audacity of a well-bred Woman, she offers it the Men as
  well as the Women who sit near her: But since by this Time all the
  World knows she has a fine Hand, I am in hopes she may give her self
  no further Trouble in this matter. On Sunday was sennight, when they
  came about for the Offering, she gave her Charity with a very good
  Air, but at the same Time asked the Churchwarden if he would take a
  Pinch. Pray, Sir, think of these things in time, and you will oblige,



  Sir,



  Your most humble servant.















Footnote 1:
The British Perfumer,
Snuff Manufacturer, and Colourman's Guide
Snuffs



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 345

	
 Saturday, April 5, 1712

	
 Addison









Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius altæ

Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in cœtera posset,

Natus homo est.



Ov. Met.




Raphael




s
Adam
Eve
Adam's
Eve
So spake our Sire, and by his Countenance seem'd

Entring on studious Thoughts abstruse: which Eve

Perceiving, where she sat retired in sight,

With lowliness majestick, from her Seat,

And Grace, that won who saw to wish her Stay,

Rose; and went forth among her Fruits and Flowers

To visit how they prosper'd, Bud and Bloom,

Her Nursery: they at her coming sprung,

And touch'd by her fair Tendance gladlier grew.

Yet went she not, as not with such Discourse

Delighted, or not capable her Ear

Of what was high: Such Pleasure she reserved,

Adam relating, she sole Auditress;

Her Husband the Relater she preferr'd

Before the Angel, and of him to ask

Chose rather: he, she knew, would intermix

Grateful Digressions, and solve high Dispute

With conjugal Caresses; from his Lip

Not Words alone pleas'd her. O when meet now

Such Pairs, in Love and mutual Honour join'd!
Adam's
Ptolemaick
Copernican






Adam
Eve
Adam
For while I sit with thee, I seem in Heav'n,

And sweeter thy Discourse is to my Ear

Than Fruits of Palm-tree (pleasantest to Thirst

And Hunger both from Labour) at the hour

Of sweet Repast: they satiate, and soon fill,

Tho' pleasant; but thy Words with Grace divine

Imbu'd, bring to their Sweetness no Satiety.
Adam
For I that day was absent, as befel,

Bound on a Voyage uncouth and obscure;

Far on Excursion towards the Gates of Hell,

Squar'd in full Legion such Command we had

To see that none thence issued forth a Spy,

Or Enemy; while God was in his Work,

Lest he, incens'd at such Eruption bold,

Destruction with Creation might have mix'd.
Virgil's
Æneas
Sibyl
—Fast we found, fast shut

The dismal Gates, and barricado'd strong;

But long ere our Approaching heard within

Noise, other than the Sound of Dance or Song,

Torment, and loud Lament, and furious Rage.



Adam
—As new waked from soundest Sleep,

Soft on the flow'ry Herb I found me laid

In balmy Sweat, which with his Beams the Sun

Soon dried, and on the reaking Moisture fed.

Streight towards Heav'n my wond'ring Eyes I turn'd,

And gazed awhile the ample Sky, till rais'd

By quick instinctive Motion, up I sprung,

As thitherward endeavouring, and upright

Stood on my Feet: About me round I saw

Hill, Dale, and shady Woods, and sunny Plains,

And liquid lapse of murmuring Streams; by these

Creatures that liv'd, and mov'd, and walked, or flew,

Birds on the Branches warbling; all things smil'd:

With Fragrance, and with Joy my Heart o'erflow'd.



Adam
—Thou Sun, said I, fair Light,

And thou enlighten'd Earth, so fresh and gay,

Ye Hills and Dales, ye Rivers, Woods and Plains,

And ye that live and move, fair Creatures tell,

Tell if you saw, how came I thus, how here?








—Each Bird and Beast behold

Approaching two and two, these cowring low

With Blandishment; each Bird stoop'd on his Wing:

I nam'd them as they pass'd—



Adam
Adam
Thus I presumptuous; and the Vision bright,

As with a Smile more bright-tied, thus reply'd, &c.



—I, with leave of Speech implor'd

And humble Deprecation, thus reply d:

Let not my Words offend thee, Heav'nly Power,

My Maker, be propitious while I speak, &c.



Adam
Eve
Under his forming Hands a Creature grew,

Manlike, but different Sex: so lovely fair,

That what seem'd fair in all the World, seemed now

Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contained,

And in her Looks; which from that time infused

Sweetness info my Heart, unfelt before:

And into all things from her Air inspired

The Spirit of Love and amorous Delight.



Adam's




Adam
Eve
Dryden
Milton
Adam
Thus have I told thee all my State, and brought

My Story to the sum of earthly Bliss,

Which I enjoy; and must confess to find

In all things else Delight indeed, but such

As us'd or not, works in the Mind no Change

Nor vehement Desire; these Delicacies

I mean of Taste, Sight, Smell, Herbs, Fruits, and Flowers,

Walks, and the Melody of Birds: but here

Far otherwise, transported I behold,

Transported touch; here Passion first I felt,

Commotion strange! in all Enjoyments else

Superiour and unmov'd, here only weak

Against the Charms of Beauty's powerful Glance.

Or Nature fail'd in me, and left some Part

Not Proof enough such Object to sustain;

Or from my Side subducting, took perhaps

More than enough; at least on her bestowed

Too much of Ornament in outward shew

Elaborate, of inward less exact.



—When I approach

Her Loveliness, so absolute she seems

And in herself compleat, so well to know

Her own, that what she wills to do or say

Seems wisest, vertuousest, discreetest, best:

All higher Knowledge in her Presence falls

Degraded: Wisdom in discourse with her

Loses discountenanced, and like Folly shews;

Authority and Reason on her wait,

As one intended first, not after made

Occasionally: and to consummate all,

Greatness of Mind, and Nobleness their Seat

Build in her loveliest, and create an Awe

About her, as a Guard angelick plac'd.
Adam
Adam
Neither her outside Form so fair, nor aught

In Procreation common to all kinds,

(Tho' higher of the genial Bed by far,

And with mysterious Reverence I deem)

So much delights me, as those graceful Acts,

Those thousand Decencies that daily flow

From all her Words and Actions, mixt with Love

And sweet Compliance, which declare unfeign'd

Union of Mind, or in us both one Soul;

Harmony to behold in—wedded Pair!



Adam's










Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 346

	
 Monday, April 7, 1712

	
 Steele









Consuetudinem benignitatis largitioni Munerum longe antepono. Hæc est
Gravium hominum atque Magnorum; Illa quasi assentatorum populi,
multitudinis levitatem voluptate quasi titillantium.



Tull.




Tom
Tom
Tory
Whig




Spectator
Edward Keen
George Powell
Alexander, Timon, Lear
Orestes
Jack
Falstaffe.










Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 347

	
 Tuesday, April 8, 1712

	
 Budgell









Quis furor ô Cives! quæ tanta licentia ferri!



Lucan.




























To the Spectator.



  Sir,



  "Finding that our earnest Endeavours for the Good of Mankind have been
  basely and maliciously represented to the World, we send you enclosed
  our Imperial Manifesto, which it is our Will and Pleasure that you
  forthwith communicate to the Publick, by inserting it in your next
  daily Paper. We do not doubt of your ready Compliance in this
  Particular, and therefore bid you heartily Farewell."



  Sign'd,

  Taw Waw Eben Zan Kaladar,

  Emperor of the Mohocks.


    The Manifesto of Taw Waw Eben Zan Kaladar, Emperor of the Mohocks.



    "Whereas we have received Information from sundry Quarters of this
    great and populous City, of several Outrages committed on the Legs,
    Arms, Noses, and other Parts of the good People of England, by such
    as have styled themselves our Subjects; in order to vindicate our
    Imperial Dignity from those false Aspersions which have been cast on
    it, as if we our selves might have encouraged or abetted any such
    Practices; we have, by these Presents, thought fit to signify our
    utmost Abhorrence and Detestation of all such tumultuous and
    irregular Proceedings: and do hereby further give notice, that if
    any Person or Persons has or have suffered any Wound, Hurt, Damage
    or Detriment in his or their Limb or Limbs, otherwise than shall be
    hereafter specified, the said Person or Persons, upon applying
    themselves to such as we shall appoint for the Inspection and
    Redress of the Grievances aforesaid, shall be forthwith committed to
    the Care of our principal Surgeon, and be cured at our own Expence,
    in some one or other of those Hospitals which we are now erecting
    for that purpose.



    "And to the end that no one may, either through Ignorance or
    Inadvertency, incur those Penalties which we have thought fit to
    inflict on Persons of loose and dissolute Lives, we do hereby
    notifie to the Publick, that if any Man be knocked down or assaulted
    while he is employed in his lawful Business, at proper Hours, that
    it is not done by our Order; and we do hereby permit and allow any
    such person so knocked down or assaulted, to rise again, and defend
    himself in the best manner that he is able.



    "We do also command all and every our good Subjects, that they do
    not presume, upon any Pretext whatsoever, to issue and sally forth
    from their respective Quarters till between the Hours of Eleven and
    Twelve. That they never Tip the Lion upon Man, Woman or Child, till
    the Clock at St. Dunstan's shall have struck One.



    "That the Sweat be never given but between the Hours of One and Two;
    always provided, that our Hunters may begin to Hunt a little after
    the Close of the Evening, any thing to the contrary herein
    notwithstanding. Provided also, that if ever they are reduced to the
    Necessity of Pinking, it shall always be in the most fleshy Parts,
    and such as are least exposed to view.



    "It is also our Imperial Will and Pleasure, that our good Subjects
    the Sweaters do establish their Hummums1 in such close Places,
    Alleys, Nooks, and Corners, that the Patient or Patients may not be
    in danger of catching Cold.



    "That the Tumblers, to whose Care we chiefly commit the Female Sex,
    confine themselves to Drury-Lane and the Purlieus of the Temple; and
    that every other Party and Division of our Subjects do each of them
    keep within the respective Quarters we have allotted to them.
    Provided nevertheless, that nothing herein contained shall in any
    wise be construed to extend to the Hunters, who have our full
    Licence and Permission to enter into any Part of the Town where-ever
    their Game shall lead them.



    "And whereas we have nothing more at our Imperial Heart than the
    Reformation of the Cities of London and Westminster, which to our
    unspeakable Satisfaction we have in some measure already effected,
    we do hereby earnestly pray and exhort all Husbands, Fathers,
    Housekeepers and Masters of Families, in either of the aforesaid
    Cities, not only to repair themselves to their respective
    Habitations at early and seasonable Hours; but also to keep their
    Wives and Daughters, Sons, Servants, and Apprentices, from appearing
    in the Streets at those Times and Seasons which may expose them to a
    military Discipline, as it is practised by our good Subjects the
    Mohocks: and we do further promise, on our Imperial Word, that as
    soon as the Reformation aforesaid shall be brought about, we will
    forthwith cause all Hostilities to cease.



    "Given from our Court at the Devil-Tavern, 

March 15, 1712."















Footnote 1:
Hummums
bagnios



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 348

	
 Wednesday, April 9, 1712

	
 Steele









Invidiam placare paras virtute relicta?



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'I have not seen you lately at any of the Places where I visit, so
  that I am afraid you are wholly unacquainted with what passes among my
  part of the World, who are, tho' I say it, without Controversy, the
  most accomplished and best bred of the Town. Give me leave to tell
  you, that I am extremely discomposed when I hear Scandal, and am an
  utter Enemy to all manner of Detraction, and think it the greatest
  Meanness that People of Distinction can be guilty of: However, it is
  hardly possible to come into Company, where you do not find them
  pulling one another to pieces, and that from no other Provocation but
  that of hearing any one commended. Merit, both as to Wit and Beauty,
  is become no other than the Possession of a few trifling People's
  Favour, which you cannot possibly arrive at, if you have really any
  thing in you that is deserving. What they would bring to pass, is, to
  make all Good and Evil consist in Report, and with Whispers, Calumnies
  and Impertinencies, to have the Conduct of those Reports. By this
  means Innocents are blasted upon their first Appearance in Town; and
  there is nothing more required to make a young Woman the object of
  Envy and Hatred, than to deserve Love and Admiration. This abominable
  Endeavour to suppress or lessen every thing that is praise-worthy, is
  as frequent among the Men as the Women. If I can remember what passed
  at a Visit last Night, it will serve as an Instance that the Sexes are
  equally inclined to Defamation, with equal Malice, with equal
  Impotence. Jack Triplett came into my Lady Airy's about Eight of the
  Clock. You know the manner we sit at a Visit, and I need not describe
  the Circle; but Mr. Triplett came in, introduced by two Tapers
  supported by a spruce Servant, whose Hair is under a Cap till my
  Lady's Candles are all lighted up, and the Hour of Ceremony begins: I
  say, Jack Triplett came in, and singing (for he is really good
  Company) 'Every Feature, Charming Creature,—he went on, It is a
  most unreasonable thing that People cannot go peaceably to see their
  Friends, but these Murderers are let loose. Such a Shape! such an Air!
  what a Glance was that as her Chariot pass'd by mine—My Lady
  herself interrupted him; Pray who is this fine Thing—I warrant, says
  another, 'tis the Creature I was telling your Ladyship of just now.
  You were telling of? says Jack; I wish I had been so happy as to have
  come in and heard you, for I have not Words to say what she is: But if
  an agreeable Height, a modest Air, a Virgin Shame, and Impatience of
  being beheld, amidst a Blaze of ten thousand Charms—The whole Room
  flew out—Oh Mr. Triplett!—When Mrs. Lofty, a known Prude, said
  she believed she knew whom the Gentleman meant; but she was indeed, as
  he civilly represented her, impatient of being beheld —- Then turning
  to the Lady next to her—The most unbred Creature you ever saw.
  Another pursued the Discourse: As unbred, Madam, as you may think her,
  she is extremely bely'd if she is the Novice she appears; she was last
  Week at a Ball till two in the Morning; Mr. Triplett knows whether he
  was the happy Man that took Care of her home; but—This was followed
  by some particular Exception that each Woman in the Room made to some
  peculiar Grace or Advantage so that Mr. Triplett was beaten from one
  Limb and Feature to another, till he was forced to resign the whole
  Woman. In the end I took notice Triplett recorded all this Malice in
  his Heart; and saw in his Countenance, and a certain waggish Shrug,
  that he design'd to repeat the Conversation: I therefore let the
  Discourse die, and soon after took an Occasion to commend a certain
  Gentleman of my Acquaintance for a Person of singular Modesty,
  Courage, Integrity, and withal as a Man of an entertaining
  Conversation, to which Advantages he had a Shape and Manner peculiarly
  graceful. Mr. Triplett, who is a Woman's Man, seem'd to hear me with
  Patience enough commend the Qualities of his Mind: He never heard
  indeed but that he was a very honest Man, and no Fool; but for a fine
  Gentleman, he must ask Pardon. Upon no other Foundation than this, Mr.
  Triplett took occasion to give the Gentleman's Pedigree, by what
  Methods some part of the Estate was acquired, how much it was beholden
  to a Marriage for the present Circumstances of it: After all, he could
  see nothing but a common Man in his Person, his Breeding or
  Understanding.



Thus, Mr. Spectator, this impertinent Humour of diminishing every one
  who is produced in Conversation to their Advantage, runs thro the
  World; and I am, I confess, so fearful of the Force of ill Tongues,
  that I have begged of all those who are my Well-wishers never to
  commend me, for it will but bring my Frailties into Examination, and I
  had rather be unobserved, than conspicuous for disputed Perfections. I
  am confident a thousand young People, who would have been Ornaments to
  Society, have, from Fear of Scandal, never dared to exert themselves
  in the polite Arts of Life. Their Lives have passed away in an odious
  Rusticity, in spite of great Advantages of Person, Genius and Fortune.
  There is a vicious Terror of being blamed in some well-inclin'd
  People, and a wicked Pleasure in suppressing them in others; both
  which I recommend to your Spectatorial Wisdom to animadvert upon; and
  if you can be successful in it, I need not say how much you will
  deserve of the Town; but new Toasts will owe to you their Beauty, and
  new Wits their Fame. I am,

Sir,

Your most Obedient

Humble Servant,

Mary."






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 349

	
 Thursday, April 10, 1712

	
 Addison









Quos ille timorum

Maximus haud urget lethi metus: inde ruendi

In ferrum mens prona viris, animæque capaces

Mortis.



Lucan.




Phalaris








upon
Epaminondas
Chabrias
Iphicrates
1








Grecian
Roman
Monsieur de
St. Evremont
Petronius Arbiter
Seneca, Cato
Socrates
Petronius's
Socrates
Sir Thomas More.




Erasmus
Epistle Dedicatory
Democritus












Greeks
Romans
met
History of the Revolutions
in Portugal
Abbot de Vertot
2




Don Sebastian
Muly Moluc
Moluc



















Footnote 1:
Life of Epaminondas.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Spectator's
History of the Revolutions of Portugal,



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 350

	
 Friday, April 11, 1712

	
 Steele









Ea animi elatio quæ cernitur in periculis, si Justitia
vacat pugnatque pro suis commodis, in vitio est.



Tull.







Captain Sentrey
Ipswich
Spectator
Dominick Pottiere
Goodwin
Englishman
French
Englishman
Ipswich
Englishman
Pottiere
Goodwin
Calais
Pottiere
Goodwin




Sentrey




Turnus
Æneas
Æneas
Turnus
Æneas
Æneas
Æneas
Turnus










Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 351

	
 Saturday, April 12, 1712

	
 Addison









In te omnis domus inclinata recumbit.



Virg.




Homer
Trojan
Greeks
Achilles
Ulysses




Æneas
Virgil
Romans
Æneas
Italy
The
Dionysius Halicarnasseus
1




Virgil's
Æneas
Æneas
Virgil
Æneas
Harpyes
Trojans
Romans
Æneas
Æneas
Westward
Italy
We are eating our Tables
Virgil
Æneas
Prophetess
Harpy
Ascanius
2
Heus etiam mensas consumimus, inquit Inlus!
Trojan
Æneid
Virgil
Æneas
Ovid




Æneid




Milton's
Iliad
Æneid
Adam
Milton
Satan's
examined
issued
3
Homer
So saying, through each Thicket Dank or Dry,

Like a black Mist, low creeping, he held on

His Midnight Search, where soonest he might find

The Serpent: him fast sleeping soon he found

In Labyrinth of many a Round self-roll'd,

His Head the midst, well stor'd with subtle Wiles.
Adam
Eve
Now when as sacred Light began to dawn

In Eden on the humid Flowers, that breathed

Their Morning Incense, when all things that breathe

From th' Earth's great Altar send up silent Praise

To the Creator, and his Nostrils fill

With grateful Smell; forth came the human Pair,

And join'd their vocal Worship to the Choir

Of Creatures wanting Voice—
Dispute
proceeds
4
Adam's
Eve
Her long with ardent Look his Eye pursued 

Delighted, but desiring more her stay: 

Oft he to her his Charge of quick return 

Repeated; she to him as oft engaged 

To be return'd by noon amid the Bower.
—Adam the while,

Waiting desirous her return, had wove

Of choicest Flowers a Garland, to adorn

Her Tresses, and her rural Labours crown:

As Reapers oft are wont their Harvest Queen.

Great Joy he promised to his thoughts, and new

Solace in her return, so long delay'd.
—Some cursed Fraud

Or Enemy hath beguil'd thee, yet unknown,

And me with thee hath ruin'd; for with thee

Certain my Resolution is to die!

How can I live without thee; how forego

Thy sweet Converse and Love so dearly join'd,

To live again in these wild Woods forlorn?

Should God create another Eve, and I

Another Rib afford, yet loss of thee

Would never from my Heart! no, no! I feel

The Link of Nature draw me: Flesh of Flesh,

Bone of my Bone thou art, and from thy State

Mine never shall be parted, Bliss or Woe!




Eve




Eve
Adam
—Hope elevates, and Joy

Brightens his Crest; as when a wandering Fire,

Compact of unctuous Vapour, which the Night

Condenses, and the Cold invirons round,

Kindled through Agitation to a Flame,

(Which oft, they say, some evil Spirit attends)

Hovering and blazing with delusive Light,

Misleads th' amaz'd Night-wanderer from his Way

To Bogs and Mires, and oft through Pond or Pool,

There swallowed up and lost, from succour far.
secret
those
5




Dido
Æneid
Virgil
Milton
Eve's
So saying, her rash Hand in evil hour

Forth reaching to the Fruit, she pluckt, she eat:

Earth felt the wound, and Nature from her Seat

Sighing, through all her Works gave signs of Woe

That all was lost—
—He scrupled not to eat

Against his better knowledge; not deceiv'd,

But fondly overcome with female Charm.

Earth trembled from her Entrails, as again

In Pangs, and Nature gave a second Groan,

Sky lowred, and muttering Thunder, some sad Drops

Wept at compleating of the mortal Sin—






Adam's
Eve
Jupiter
Juno
Iliad
Juno
 
there
Jupiter
Venus
6
Ida




Milton
Adam's
Eve
For never did thy Beauty, since the Day

I saw thee first and wedded thee, adorn'd

With all Perfections, so enflame my Sense

With ardor to enjoy thee, fairer now

Than ever, Bounty of this virtuous Tree.

So said he, and forbore not Glance or Toy

Of amorous Intent, well understood

Of Eve, whose Eye darted contagious Fire.

Her hand he seiz'd, and to a shady Bank

Thick over-head with verdant Roof embower'd,

He led her nothing loth: Flow'rs were the Couch,

Pansies, and Violets, and Asphodel,

And Hyacinth, Earth's freshest softest Lap.

There they their fill of Love, and Love's disport,

Took largely, of their mutual Guilt the Seal,

The Solace of their Sin, till dewy Sleep

Oppress'd them—
Homer
Milton
Greek
Homer















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
run



return









Footnote 4:
arises



return









Footnote 5:
that



return









Footnote 6:
ever had



return






Contents

Contents, p.5








	
 No. 352

	
 Monday, April 14, 1712

	
 Steele









Si ad honestatem nati sumus, ea aut sola expetenda est, aut certe omni
pondere gravior est habenda quam reliqua omnia.



Tull.






Will. Honeycomb
Will
Will
Charles's
shall
1











































Footnote 1:
Sermons



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 353

	
 Tuesday, April 15, 1712

	
 Budgell









—In tenui labor—



Virg.
















  Sir,



  I take the Liberty to send you a fourth Letter upon the Education of
  Youth: In my last I gave you my Thoughts about some particular Tasks
  which I conceivd it might not be amiss to use with their usual
  Exercises, in order to give them an early Seasoning of Virtue; I shall
  in this propose some others, which I fancy might contribute to give
  them a right turn for the World, and enable them to make their way in
  it.



  The Design of Learning is, as I take it, either to render a Man an
  agreeable Companion to himself, and teach him to support Solitude with
  Pleasure, or if he is not born to an Estate, to supply that Defect,
  and furnish him with the means of acquiring one. A Person who applies
  himself to Learning with the first of these Views may be said to study
  for Ornament, as he who proposes to himself the second, properly
  studies for Use. The one does it to raise himself a Fortune, the other
  to set off that which he is already possessed of. But as far the
  greater part of Mankind are included in the latter Class, I shall only
  propose some Methods at present for the Service of such who expect to
  advance themselves in the World by their Learning: In order to which,
  I shall premise, that many more Estates have been acquird by little
  Accomplishments than by extraordinary ones; those Qualities which make
  the greatest Figure in the Eye of the World, not being always the most
  useful in themselves, or the most advantageous to their Owners.



  The Posts which require Men of shining and uncommon Parts to discharge
  them, are so very few, that many a great Genius goes out of the World
  without ever having had an opportunity to exert it self; whereas
  Persons of ordinary Endowments meet with Occasions fitted to their
  Parts and Capacities every day in the common Occurrences of Life.'



  'I am acquainted with two Persons who were formerly School-fellows1,
  and have been good Friends ever since. One of them was not only
  thought an impenetrable Block-head at School, but still maintain'd his
  Reputation at the University; the other was the Pride of his Master,
  and the most celebrated Person in the College of which he was a
  Member. The Man of Genius is at present buried in a Country Parsonage
  of eightscore Pounds a year; while the other, with the bare Abilities
  of a common Scrivener, has got an Estate of above an hundred thousand
  Pounds.'



  'I fancy from what I have said it will almost appear a doubtful Case
  to many a wealthy Citizen, whether or no he ought to wish his Son
  should be a great Genius; but this I am sure of, that nothing is more
  absurd than to give a Lad the Education of one, whom Nature has not
  favour'd with any particular Marks of Distinction.'



  'The fault therefore of our Grammar-Schools is, that every Boy is
  pushed on to Works of Genius; whereas it would be far more
  advantageous for the greatest part of them to be taught such little
  practical Arts and Sciences as do not require any great share of Parts
  to be Master of them, and yet may come often into play during the
  course of a Man's Life.'



  'Such are all the Parts of Practical Geometry. I have known a Man
  contract a Friendship with a Minister of State, upon cutting a Dial in
  his Window; and remember a Clergyman who got one of the best Benefices
  in the West of England, by setting a Country Gentleman's Affairs in
  some Method, and giving him an exact Survey of his Estate.'



  'While I am upon this Subject, I cannot forbear mentioning a
  Particular which is of use in every Station of Life, and which
  methinks every Master should teach his Scholars. I mean the writing of
  English Letters. To this End, instead of perplexing them with Latin
  Epistles, Themes and Verses, there might be a punctual Correspondence
  established between two Boys, who might act in any imaginary Parts of
  Business, or be allowd sometimes to give a range to their own Fancies,
  and communicate to each other whatever Trifles they thought fit,
  provided neither of them ever fail'd at the appointed time to answer
  his Correspondent's Letter.



  I believe I may venture to affirm, that the generality of Boys would
  find themselves more advantaged by this Custom, when they come to be
  Men, than by all the Greek and Latin their Masters can teach them in
  seven or eight Years.



  The want of it is very visible in many learned Persons, who, while
  they are admiring the Styles of Demosthenes or Cicero, want Phrases to
  express themselves on the most common Occasions. I have seen a Letter
  from one of these Latin Orators, which would have been deservedly
  laughd at by a common Attorney.



  Under this Head of Writing I cannot omit Accounts and Short-hand,
  which are learned with little pains, and very properly come into the
  number of such Arts as I have been here recommending.



  You must doubtless, Sir, observe that I have hitherto chiefly insisted
  upon these things for such Boys as do not appear to have any thing
  extraordinary in their natural Talents, and consequently are not
  qualified for the finer Parts of Learning; yet I believe I might carry
  this Matter still further, and venture to assert that a Lad of Genius
  has sometimes occasion for these little Acquirements, to be as it were
  the forerunners of his Parts, and to introduce him2 into the
  World.



  History is full of Examples of Persons, who tho they have had the
  largest Abilities, have been obliged to insinuate themselves into the
  Favour of great Men by these trivial Accomplishments; as the compleat
  Gentleman, in some of our modern Comedies, makes his first Advances to
  his Mistress under the disguise of a Painter or a Dancing-Master.



  The Difference is, that in a Lad of Genius these are only so many
  Accomplishments, which in another are Essentials; the one diverts
  himself with them, the other works at them. In short, I look upon a
  great Genius, with these little Additions, in the same Light as I
  regard the Grand Signior, who is obliged, by an express Command in the
  Alcoran, to learn and practise some Handycraft Trade. Tho' I need not
  have gone for my Instance farther than Germany, where several Emperors
  have voluntarily done the same thing. Leopold the last3, worked in
  Wood; and I have heard there are several handycraft Works of his
  making to be seen at Vienna so neatly turned, that the best Joiner in
  Europe might safely own them, without any disgrace to his Profession.



  I would not be thought, by any thing I have said, to be against
  improving a Boy's Genius to the utmost pitch it can be carried. What I
  would endeavour to shew in this Essay is, that there may be Methods
  taken, to make Learning advantageous even to the meanest Capacities.



  I am, Sir, 

Yours, &c.















Footnote 1:
'Stratford is worth a plumb, and is now lending the Government
  £40,000; yet we were educated together at the same school and
  university.'



Journal



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
them



return









Footnote 3:
Spectator



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 354

	
 Wednesday, April 16, 1712

	
 Steele









—Cum magnis virtutibus affers

  Grande supercilium—



Juv.









  Mr. Spectator,



  You have in some of your Discourses describ'd most sorts of Women in
  their distinct and proper Classes, as the Ape, the Coquet, and many
  others; but I think you have never yet said anything of a Devotée. A
  Devotée is one of those who disparage Religion by their indiscreet and
  unseasonable introduction of the Mention of Virtue on all Occasions:
  She professes she is what nobody ought to doubt she is; and betrays
  the Labour she is put to, to be what she ought to be with Chearfulness
  and Alacrity. She lives in the World, and denies her self none of the
  Diversions of it, with a constant Declaration how insipid all things
  in it are to her. She is never her self but at Church; there she
  displays her Virtue, and is so fervent in her Devotions, that I have
  frequently seen her Pray her self out of Breath. While other young
  Ladies in the House are dancing, or playing at Questions and Commands,
  she reads aloud in her Closet. She says all Love is ridiculous, except
  it be Celestial; but she speaks of the Passion of one Mortal to
  another with too much Bitterness, for one that had no Jealousy mixed
  with her Contempt of it. If at any time she sees a Man warm in his
  Addresses to his Mistress, she will lift up her Eyes to Heaven, and
  cry, What Nonsense is that Fool talking? Will the Bell never ring for
  Prayers? We have an eminent Lady of this Stamp in our Country, who
  pretends to Amusements very much above the rest of her Sex. She never
  carries a white Shock-dog with Bells under her Arm, nor a Squirrel or
  Dormouse in her Pocket, but always an abridg'd Piece of Morality to
  steal out when she is sure of being observ'd. When she went to the
  famous Ass-Race (which I must confess was but an odd Diversion to be
  encouraged by People of Rank and Figure) it was not, like other
  Ladies, to hear those poor Animals bray, nor to see Fellows run naked,
  or to hear Country Squires in bob Wigs and white Girdles make love at
  the side of a Coach, and cry, Madam, this is dainty Weather. Thus she
  described the Diversion; for she went only to pray heartily that no
  body might be hurt in the Crowd, and to see if the poor Fellow's Face,
  which was distorted with grinning, might any way be brought to it self
  again. She never chats over her Tea, but covers her Face, and is
  supposed in an Ejaculation before she tastes a Sup. This
  ostentatious Behaviour is such an Offence to true Sanctity, that it
  disparages it, and makes Virtue not only unamiable, but also
  ridiculous. The Sacred Writings are full of Reflections which abhor
  this kind of Conduct; and a Devotée is so far from promoting Goodness,
  that she deters others by her Example. Folly and Vanity in one of
  these Ladies, is like Vice in a Clergyman; it does not only debase
  him, but makes the inconsiderate Part of the World think the worse of
  Religion.



  I am, Sir,



  Your Humble Servant,



  Hotspur.








  Mr. Spectator,



  'Xenophon, in his short Account of the Spartan Commonwealth1,
  speaking of the Behavior of their young Men in the Streets, says,
  There was so much Modesty in their Looks, that you might as soon have
  turned the eyes of a Marble Statue upon you as theirs; and that in all
  their Behaviour they were more modest than a Bride when put to bed
  upon her Wedding-Night: This Virtue, which is always join'd to
  Magnanimity, had such an influence upon their Courage, that in Battel
  an Enemy could not look them in the Face, and they durst not but Die
  for their Country.



  'Whenever I walk into the Streets of London and Westminster, the
  Countenances of all the young Fellows that pass by me, make me wish my
  self in Sparta; I meet with such blustering Airs, big Looks, and bold
  Fronts, that to a superficial Observer would bespeak a Courage above
  those Grecians. I am arrived to that Perfection in Speculation, that I
  understand the Language of the Eyes, which would be a great misfortune
  to me, had I not corrected the Testiness of old Age by Philosophy.
  There is scarce a Man in a red Coat who does not tell me, with a full
  Stare, he's a bold Man: I see several swear inwardly at me, without
  any Offence of mine, but the Oddness of my Person: I meet Contempt in
  every Street, express'd in different Manners, by the scornful Look,
  the elevated Eye-brow, and the swelling Nostrils of the Proud and
  Prosperous. The Prentice speaks his Disrespect by an extended Finger,
  and the Porter by stealing out his Tongue. If a Country Gentleman
  appears a little curious in observing the Edifices, Signs, Clocks,
  Coaches, and Dials, it is not to be imagined how the Polite Rabble of
  this Town, who are acquainted with these Objects, ridicule his
  Rusticity. I have known a Fellow with a Burden on his Head steal a
  Hand down from his Load, and slily twirle the Cock of a Squire's Hat
  behind him; while the Offended Person is swearing, or out of
  Countenance, all the Wagg-Wits in the High-way are grinning in
  applause of the ingenious Rogue that gave him the Tip, and the Folly
  of him who had not Eyes all round his Head to prevent receiving it.
  These things arise from a general Affectation of Smartness, Wit, and
  Courage. Wycherly somewhere2 rallies the Pretensions this Way, by
  making a Fellow say, Red Breeches are a certain Sign of Valour; and
  Otway makes a Man, to boast his Agility, trip up a Beggar on
  Crutches3. From such Hints I beg a Speculation on this Subject; in the
  mean time I shall do all in the Power of a weak old Fellow in my own
  Defence: for as Diogenes, being in quest of an honest Man, sought for
  him when it was broad Day-light with a Lanthorn and Candle, so I
  intend for the future to walk the Streets with a dark Lanthorn, which
  has a convex Chrystal in it; and if any Man stares at me, I give fair
  Warning that I'll direct the Light full into his Eyes. Thus despairing
  to find Men Modest, I hope by this Means to evade their Impudence,



I am, Sir, 

  Your most humble Servant, 

  Sophrosunius.















Footnote 1:
The Polity of Lacedæmon
the Polity of Athens
 the Polity of Lacedæmon
Critical History of the Language and Literature of Ancient Greece
 'indiscriminately held up to admiration as superior in all respects to
  all others. Some of its more offensive features, such as the Cryptia,
  child murder, and more glaring atrocities of the Helot system, are
  suppressed; while the legalized thieving, adultery, and other
  unnatural practices, are placed in the most favourable or least odious
  light.'


return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Plain Dealer









	Novel

	(a pert railing coxcomb)		
	These sea captains make nothing of
         dressing. But let me tell you, sir, a man by his dress, as much
         as by anything, shows his wit and judgment; nay, and his
         courage too.




	Freeman
	How, his courage, Mr. Novel?




	Novel
	Why, for example, by red breeches, tucked-up hair, or peruke, a
         greasy broad belt, and now-a-days a short sword.






return









Footnote 3:
Friendship in Fashion









	Malagene
	I tell you what I did t'other Day: Faith't is as good a Jest
           as ever you heard.




	Valentine
	Pray, sir, do.




	Malagene
	Why, walking alone, a lame Fellow follow'd me and ask'd my
           Charity (which by the way was a pretty Proposition to me).
           Being in one of my witty, merry Fits, I ask'd him how long he
           had been in that Condition? The poor Fellow shook his Head,
           and told me he was born so. But how d'ye think I served him?




	Valentine
	Nay, the Devil knows.




	Malagene
	I show'd my Parts, I think; for I tripp'd up both his Wooden
           Legs, and walk'd off gravely about my Business.




	Valentine
	And this you say is your way of Wit?




	Malagene
	Ay, altogether, this and Mimickry. I'm a very good Mimick; I
           can act Punchinello, Scaramoucho, Harlequin, Prince
           Prettyman, or anything. I can act the rumbling of a
           Wheel-barrow.




	Valentine
	The rumbling of a Wheelbarrow!




	Malagene
	Ay, the rumbling of a Wheelbarrow, so I say. Nay, more than
           that, I can act a Sow and Pigs, Sausages a broiling, a
           Shoulder of Mutton a roasting: I can act a Fly in a
           Honey-pot.




	Valentine
	That indeed must be the effect of very curious Observation.




	Malagene
	No, hang it, I never make it my Business to observe anything,
           that is Mechanick.






return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 355

	
 Thursday, April 17, 1712

	
 Addison









Non ego mordaci distrinxi carmine quenquam.



Ovid.1 








met
Epictetus
2










The
Balzac
France
3




Eastern








Boccalini's



















Footnote 1:
quenquam, Nulla venenata littera mista joco est.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Enchiridion



return









Footnote 3:
Letters and Remains



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 356

	
 Friday1, April 18, 1712

	
 Steele









Aptissima quæque dabunt Dii,

  Charior est illis homo quam sibi.



Juv.
















took
2
they
3
He
4




But
God
5




for
6




Jerusalem
Hosannah
David
Hosannah
Shall
Nazarene
Israel
David
7
Their
8
Peter
Peter























Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Christian Hero
C.
H.
Tatler



return









Footnote 3:
'—wiser than they: Is not this the Carpenter's Son, is not his Mother
  called Mary, his Brethren, James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? They could
  not—'



Christian Hero.



return









Footnote 4:
'He had compassion on 'em, commanded 'em to be seated, and with Seven
  Loaves, and a few little Fishes, Fed four thousand Men, besides Women
  and Children: Oh, the Ecstatic—'



Christian Hero.



return









Footnote 5:
Good God
Christian Hero



return









Footnote 6:
Christian Hero
'become a Secular Prince, or in a Forcible or Miraculous Manner to
  cast off the Roman Yoke they were under, and restore again those
  Disgraced Favourites of Heav'n, to its former Indulgence, yet had not
  hitherto the Apostles themselves (so deep set is our Natural Pride)
  any other than hopes of worldly Power, Preferment, Riches and Pomp:
  For Peter, who it seems ever since he left his Net and his Skiff,
  Dreamt of nothing but being a great Man, was utterly undone to hear
  our Saviour explain to 'em that his Kingdom was not of this World; and
  was so scandalized—'


return









Footnote 7:
'Throne of David? Such were the unpleasant Forms that ran in the
  Thoughts of the then Powerful in Jerusalem, upon the most Truly
  Glorious Entry that ever Prince made; for there was not one that
  followed him who was not in his Interest; their Proud—' 



Christian Hero



return









Footnote 8:
'Putrified with the—'



Christian Hero.



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 357

	
 Saturday, April 19, 1712

	
 Addison









Quis talia fando

Temperet à lachrymis?



Virg.1




Paradise Lost








Up into Heaven from Paradise in haste

Th' Angelick Guards ascended, mute and sad

For Man; for of his State by this they knew:

Much wondering how the subtle Fiend had stol'n

Entrance unseen. Soon as th' unwelcome News

From Earth arriv'd at Heaven-Gate, displeased

All were who heard: dim Sadness did not spare

That time Celestial Visages; yet mixt

With Pity, violated not their Bliss.

About the new-arriv'd, in multitudes

Th' Ethereal People ran, to hear and know

How all befel: They tow'rds the Throne supreme

Accountable made haste to make appear

With righteous Plea, their utmost vigilance,

And easily approved; when the Most High

Eternal Father, from his secret cloud,

Amidst in thunder utter'd thus his voice.
Adam
Eve
Sin
Death
See! with what heat these Dogs of Hell advance,

  To waste and havock yonder World, which I

  So fair and good created; &c.
Hallelujahs
He ended, and the Heavenly Audience loud

Sung Hallelujah, as the sound of Seas,

Through Multitude that sung: Just are thy Ways,

Righteous are thy Decrees in all thy Works,

Who can extenuate thee?—
Sin
Death
—Behind her Death

Close following pace for pace, not mounted yet

On his pale Horse—
 
And I look'd, and behold a pale Horse,
and his Name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him: and
Power was given unto them over the fourth Part of the Earth, to kill
with Sword, and with Hunger, and with Sickness, and with the Beasts of
the Earth.
2
Some say he bid his Angels turn ascanse

The Poles of Earth twice ten Degrees and more

From the Sun's Axle; they with Labour push'd

Oblique the Centrick Globe—
Milton
Virgil's
Asia, Africk
Europe
Milton's
Satan




Satan
Ovid's
Milton
Satan




Adam
Eve
Milton's
Adam
Eve
Adam
Milton






Adam
Eve
Adam
Did I request thee, Maker, from my Clay

To mould me Man? did I sollicite thee

From Darkness to promote me? or here place

In this delicious Garden? As my Will

Concurr'd not to my Being, 'twere but right

And equal to reduce me to my Dust,

Desirous to resign, and render back

All I received—
—Why delays

His Hand to execute, what his Decree

Fix'd on this day? Why do I overlive?

Why am I mock'd with Death, and lengthened out

To deathless Pain? how gladly would I meet

Mortality my Sentence, and be Earth

Insensible! how glad would lay me down,

As in my Mother's Lap? there should I rest

And sleep secure; his dreadful Voice no more

Would thunder in my Ears: no fear of worse

To me and to my Offspring, would torment me

With cruel Expectation—
—Hide me from the Face

Of God, whom to behold was then my heighth

Of Happiness! yet well, if here would end

The Misery, I deserved it, and would bear

My own Deservings: but this will not serve;

All that I eat, or drink, or shall beget

Is propagated Curse. O Voice once heard

Delightfully, Increase and Multiply;

Now Death to hear!—



—In me all

Posterity stands curst! Fair Patrimony,

That I must leave ye, Sons! O were I able

To waste it all my self, and leave you none!

So disinherited, how would you bless

Me, now your Curse! Ah, why should all Mankind,

For one Man's Fault, thus guiltless be condemn'd,

If guiltless? But from me what can proceed

But all corrupt—
Thus Adam to himself lamented loud,

Thro' the still Night; not now, (as ere Man fell)

Wholesome, and cool, and mild, but with black Air

Accompanied, with Damps and dreadful Gloom;

Which to his evil Conscience represented

All things with double Terror. On the Ground

Outstretched he lay; on the cold Ground! and oft

Curs'd his Creation; Death as oft accus'd

Of tardy Execution—
Eve
Adam
He added not, and from her turned: But Eve

  Not so repulst, with Tears that ceas'd not flowing,

  And Tresses all disorder'd, at his feet

  Fell humble; and embracing them, besought

  His Peace, and thus proceeding in her Plaint.

    Forsake me not thus, Adam! Witness Heav'n

  What Love sincere, and Reverence in my Heart

  I bear thee, and unweeting have offended,

  Unhappily deceived! Thy Suppliant

  I beg, and clasp thy Knees; bereave me not

  (Whereon I live!) thy gentle Looks, thy Aid,

  Thy Counsel, in this uttermost Distress,

  My only Strength, and Stay! Forlorn of thee,

  Whither shall I betake me, where subsist?

  While yet we live, (scarce one short Hour perhaps)

  Between us two let there be Peace, &c.



Adam's
Eve
Eve
Adam




in
Death and Sin
3
Sin
Death
English
s
Death
Milton




Homer
Virgil
Homer
 
indeed
Sleep
Iliad
4
Homer
Flight
Fear
Apollo
Hours
Minerva's
Terror, Rout, Discord, Fury, Pursuit, Massacre
Death
Victory
Diomedes; Discord 
Funerals
Mourning
Venus
Graces
Bellona
Terror
Consternation
Homer
Virgil
Milton
Victory
Messiah
Hours
Discord
Sin
Silence
Messiah's
Peace
Confusion
Sin
Death
Strength
Necessity
one
Æschylus
Prometheus
5
describing
Pestilence
6
Fever
Pain
Phrenzy
Death
Infection



















Footnote 1:
 'Reddere personæ scit convenientia cuique.'



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Revelation



return









Footnote 3:
Sin and Death



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:
Prometheus Bound
 Now let the shrivelling flame at me be driven,

  Let him, with flaky snowstorms and the crash

  Of subterraneous thunders, into ruins

  And wild confusion hurl and mingle all:

  For nought of these will bend me that I speak

  Who is foredoomed to cast him from his throne.



return









Footnote 6:
Habakkuk



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 358

	
 Monday, April 21, 1712

	
 Steele









Desipere in loco.











Charles Lillie
 
attended
Stunsfield
Woodstock
1
Lillie
The
2
Covent-Garden




best
Estcourt
3
Estcourt
Love for Love















Footnote 1:
No. 353
Spectator
 'Whereas about nine weeks since there was accidentally discovered by
  an Husbandman, at Stunsfield, near Woodstock, in Oxfordshire, (a large
  Pavement of rich Mosaick Work of the Ancient Romans, which is adorn'd
  with several Figures alluding to Mirth and Concord, in particular that
  of Bacchus seated on a Panther.) This is to give Notice the Exact
  Delineation of the same is Engraven and Imprinted on a large Elephant
  sheet of Paper, which are to be sold at Mr. Charles Lillie's,
  Perfumer, at the corner of Beauford Buildings, in the Strand, at 1s.
  N. B. There are to be had, at the same Place, at one Guinea each, on
  superfine Atlas Paper, some painted with the same variety of Colours
  that the said Pavement is beautified with; this piece of Antiquity is
  esteemed by the Learned to be the most considerable ever found in
  Britain.' 



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return









Footnote 3:
Footnote 1
No. 264
Love for Love



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 359

	
 Tuesday, April 22, 1712

	
 Budgell









Torva leæna lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam;

Florentem cytisum sequitur lusciva capella.



Virg.




Roger
Andrew Freeport
Andrew
Andrew
Roger
Roger






Will. Honeycomb
Will
Will
















Honeycomb












Will's
Roger
and
Pocket-Milton
Adam's
Eve
—O! why did our

  Creator wise! that peopled highest Heav'n

  With Spirits masculine, create at last

  This Novelty on Earth, this fair Defect

  Of Nature? and not fill the World at once

  With Men, as Angels, without Feminine?

  Or find some other way to generate

  Mankind? This Mischief had not then befall'n,

  And more that shall befall; innumerable

  Disturbances on Earth through Female Snares,

  And strait Conjunction with this Sex: for either

  He never shall find out fit Mate, but such

  As some misfortune brings him, or mistake;

  Or, whom he wishes most, shall seldom gain

  Through her perverseness; but shall see her gain'd

  By a far worse; or if she love, with-held

  By Parents; or his happiest Choice too late

  Shall meet already link'd, and Wedlock bound

  To a fell Adversary, his Hate or Shame;

  Which infinite Calamity shall cause

  To human Life, and Household Peace confound1.
Roger
Honeycomb



















Footnote 1:
Paradise Lost,



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 360

	
 Wednesday, April 23, 1712

	
 Steele









—De paupertate tacentes

  Plus poscente ferent.



Hor.




Latin










  Mr. Spectator,



  'There is an Evil under the Sun which has not yet come within your
  Speculation; and is, the Censure, Disesteem, and Contempt which some
  young Fellows meet with from particular Persons, for the reasonable
  Methods they take to avoid them in general. This is by appearing in a
  better Dress, than may seem to a Relation regularly consistent with a
  small Fortune; and therefore may occasion a Judgment of a suitable
  Extravagance in other Particulars: But the Disadvantage with which the
  Man of narrow Circumstances acts and speaks, is so feelingly set forth
  in a little Book called the Christian Hero1, that the appearing to
  be otherwise is not only pardonable but necessary. Every one knows the
  hurry of Conclusions that are made in contempt of a Person that
  appears to be calamitous, which makes it very excusable to prepare
  one's self for the Company of those that are of a superior Quality and
  Fortune, by appearing to be in a better Condition than one is, so far
  as such Appearance shall not make us really of worse.



  It is a Justice due to the Character of one who suffers hard
  Reflections from any particular Person upon this Account, that such
  Persons would enquire into his manner of spending his Time; of which,
  tho' no further Information can be had than that he remains so many
  Hours in his Chamber, yet if this is cleared, to imagine that a
  reasonable Creature wrung with a narrow Fortune does not make the best
  use of this Retirement, would be a Conclusion extremely uncharitable.
  From what has, or will be said, I hope no Consequence can be extorted,
  implying, that I would have any young Fellow spend more Time than the
  common Leisure which his Studies require, or more Money than his
  Fortune or Allowance may admit of, in the pursuit of an Acquaintance
  with his Betters: For as to his Time, the gross of that ought to be
  sacred to more substantial Acquisitions; for each irrevocable Moment
  of which he ought to believe he stands religiously Accountable. And as
  to his Dress, I shall engage myself no further than in the modest
  Defence of two plain Suits a Year: For being perfectly satisfied in
  Eutrapelus's Contrivance of making a Mohock of a Man, by presenting
  him with lac'd and embroider'd Suits, I would by no means be thought
  to controvert that Conceit, by insinuating the Advantages of Foppery.
  It is an Assertion which admits of much Proof, that a Stranger of
  tolerable Sense dress'd like a Gentleman, will be better received by
  those of Quality above him, than one of much better Parts, whose Dress
  is regulated by the rigid Notions of Frugality. A Man's Appearance
  falls within the Censure of every one that sees him; his Parts and
  Learning very few are Judges of; and even upon these few, they can't
  at first be well intruded; for Policy and good Breeding will counsel
  him to be reserv'd among Strangers, and to support himself only by the
  common Spirit of Conversation. Indeed among the Injudicious, the Words
  Delicacy, Idiom, fine Images, Structure of Periods, Genius, Fire, and
  the rest, made use of with a frugal and comely Gravity, will maintain
  the Figure of immense Reading, and Depth of Criticism.



  'All Gentlemen of Fortune, at least the young and middle-aged, are apt
  to pride themselves a little too much upon their Dress, and
  consequently to value others in some measure upon the same
  Consideration. With what Confusion is a Man of Figure obliged to
  return the Civilities of the Hat to a Person whose Air and Attire
  hardly entitle him to it? For whom nevertheless the other has a
  particular Esteem, tho' he is ashamed to have it challenged in so
  publick a Manner. It must be allowed, that any young Fellow that
  affects to dress and appear genteelly, might with artificial
  Management save ten Pound a Year; as instead of fine Holland he might
  mourn in Sackcloth, and in other Particulars be proportionably shabby:
  But of what great Service would this Sum be to avert any Misfortune,
  whilst it would leave him deserted by the little good Acquaintance he
  has, and prevent his gaining any other? As the Appearance of an easy
  Fortune is necessary towards making one, I don't know but it might be
  of advantage sometimes to throw into ones Discourse certain
  Exclamations about Bank-Stock, and to shew a marvellous Surprize upon
  its Fall, as well as the most affected Triumph upon its Rise. The
  Veneration and Respect which the Practice of all Ages has preserved to
  Appearances, without doubt suggested to our Tradesmen that wise and
  Politick Custom, to apply and recommend themselves to the publick by
  all those Decorations upon their Sign-posts and Houses, which the most
  eminent Hands in the Neighbourhood can furnish them with. What can be
  more attractive to a Man of Letters, than that immense Erudition of
  all Ages and Languages which a skilful Bookseller, in conjunction with
  a Painter, shall image upon his Column and the Extremities of his
  Shop? The same Spirit of maintaining a handsome Appearance reigns
  among the grave and solid Apprentices of the Law (here I could be
  particularly dull in proving2 the Word Apprentice to be
  significant of a Barrister) and you may easily distinguish who has
  most lately made his Pretensions to Business, by the whitest and most
  ornamental Frame of his Window: If indeed the Chamber is a
  Ground-Room, and has Rails before it, the Finery is of Necessity more
  extended, and the Pomp of Business better maintain'd. And what can be
  a greater Indication of the Dignity of Dress, than that burdensome
  Finery which is the regular Habit of our Judges, Nobles, and Bishops,
  with which upon certain Days we see them incumbered? And though it may
  be said this is awful, and necessary for the Dignity of the State, yet
  the wisest of them have been remarkable, before they arrived at their
  present Stations, for being very well dressed Persons. As to my own
  Part, I am near Thirty; and since I left School have not been idle,
  which is a modern Phrase for having studied hard. I brought off a
  clean System of Moral Philosophy, and a tolerable Jargon of
  Metaphysicks from the University; since that, I have been engaged in
  the clearing Part of the perplex'd Style and Matter of the Law, which
  so hereditarily descends to all its Professors: To all which severe
  Studies I have thrown in, at proper Interims, the pretty Learning of
  the Classicks. Notwithstanding which, I am what Shakespear calls A
  Fellow of no Mark or Likelihood3; which makes me understand the
  more fully, that since the regular Methods of making Friends and a
  Fortune by the mere Force of a Profession is so very slow and
  uncertain, a Man should take all reasonable Opportunities, by
  enlarging a good Acquaintance, to court that Time and Chance which is
  said to happen to every Man. 












Footnote 1:
 'It is in every body's observation with what disadvantage a Poor Man
  enters upon the most ordinary affairs,' &c.


return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
clearing



return










Footnote 3:
Henry IV



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 361

	
 Thursday, April 24, 1712

	
 Addison









Tartaream intendit vocem, quâ protinus omnis

  Contremuit domus—



Virg.














  Mr. Spectator,



  'The Night before I left London I went to see a Play, called The
  Humorous Lieutenant1. Upon the Rising of the Curtain I was very
  much surprized with the great Consort of Cat-calls which was exhibited
  that Evening, and began to think with myself that I had made a
  Mistake, and gone to a Musick-Meeting, instead of the Play-house. It
  appeared indeed a little odd to me to see so many Persons of Quality
  of both Sexes assembled together at a kind of Catterwawling; for I
  cannot look upon that Performance to have been any thing better,
  whatever the Musicians themselves might think of it. As I had no
  Acquaintance in the House to ask Questions of, and was forced to go
  out of Town early the next Morning, I could not learn the Secret of
  this Matter. What I would therefore desire of you, is, to give some
  account of this strange Instrument, which I found the Company called a
  Cat-call; and particularly to let me know whether it be a piece of
  Musick lately come from Italy. For my own part, to be free with you, I
  would rather hear an English Fiddle; though I durst not shew my
  Dislike whilst I was in the Play-House, it being my Chance to sit the
  very next Man to one of the Performers. I am, Sir,

Your most affectionate Friend

          and Servant,

                 John Shallow, Esq.







Shallow's
Jubal




Thespis
Momus




Orpheus




English
British
heard
the
2
Drury-Lane




British
Italian










Collier
Essay upon Musick
3
I believe 'tis possible to invent an Instrument that shall have a quite
contrary Effect to those Martial ones now in use: An Instrument that
shall sink the Spirits, and shake the Nerves, and curdle the Blood, and
inspire Despair, and Cowardice and Consternation, at a surprizing rate.
'Tis probable the Roaring of Lions, the Warbling of Cats and
Scritch-Owls, together with a Mixture of the Howling of Dogs,
judiciously imitated and compounded, might go a great way in this
Invention. Whether such Anti-Musick as this might not be of Service in a
Camp, I shall leave to the Military Men to consider.
Humorous Lieutenant
Almanzor














L.
4












Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
that



return









Footnote 3:
Essays upon several Moral Subjects
Essays
Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English
Stage



return









Footnote 4:
Not being yet determined with whose Name to fill up the
Gap in this Dissertation which is marked with ——, I shall defer it
till this Paper appears with others in a Volume.  L.



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 362

	
 Friday, April 25, 1712

	
 Steele









Laudibus arguitur Vini vinosus—



Hor.









  Temple, Apr. 24.



  Mr. Spectator,



  Several of my Friends were this Morning got together over a Dish of
  Tea in very good Health, though we had celebrated Yesterday with more
  Glasses than we could have dispensed with, had we not been beholden to
  Brooke and Hillier. In Gratitude therefore to those good Citizens, I
  am, in the Name of the Company, to accuse you of great Negligence in
  overlooking their Merit, who have imported true and generous Wine, and
  taken care that it should not be adulterated by the Retailers before
  it comes to the Tables of private Families, or the Clubs of honest
  Fellows. I cannot imagine how a Spectator can be supposed to do his
  Duty, without frequent Resumption of such Subjects as concern our
  Health, the first thing to be regarded, if we have a mind to relish
  anything else. It would therefore very well become your Spectatorial
  Vigilance, to give it in Orders to your Officer for inspecting Signs,
  that in his March he would look into the Itinerants who deal in
  Provisions, and enquire where they buy their several Wares. Ever since
  the Decease of Cully1-Mully-Puff2 of agreeable and noisy
  Memory, I cannot say I have observed any thing sold in Carts, or
  carried by Horse or Ass, or in fine, in any moving Market, which is
  not perished or putrified; witness the Wheel-barrows of rotten
  Raisins, Almonds, Figs, and Currants, which you see vended by a
  Merchant dressed in a second-hand Suit of a Foot Soldier. You should
  consider that a Child may be poisoned for the Worth of a Farthing; but
  except his poor Parents send to one certain Doctor in Town3, they
  can have no advice for him under a Guinea. When Poisons are thus
  cheap, and Medicines thus dear, how can you be negligent in inspecting
  what we eat and drink, or take no Notice of such as the
  above-mentioned Citizens, who have been so serviceable to us of late
  in that particular? It was a Custom among the old Romans, to do him
  particular Honours who had saved the Life of a Citizen, how much more
  does the World owe to those who prevent the Death of Multitudes? As
  these Men deserve well of your Office, so such as act to the Detriment
  of our Health, you ought to represent to themselves and their
  Fellow-Subjects in the Colours which they deserve to wear. I think it
  would be for the publick Good, that all who vend Wines should be under
  oaths in that behalf. The Chairman at a Quarter Sessions should inform
  the Country, that the Vintner who mixes Wine to his Customers, shall
  (upon proof that the Drinker thereof died within a Year and a Day
  after taking it) be deemed guilty of Wilful Murder: and the Jury shall
  be instructed to enquire and present such Delinquents accordingly. It
  is no Mitigation of the Crime, nor will it be conceived that it can be
  brought in Chance-Medley or Man-Slaughter, upon Proof that it shall
  appear Wine joined to Wine, or right Herefordshire poured into Port O
  Port; but his selling it for one thing, knowing it to be another, must
  justly bear the foresaid Guilt of wilful Murder: For that he, the said
  Vintner, did an unlawful Act willingly in the false Mixture; and is
  therefore with Equity liable to all the Pains to which a Man would be,
  if it were proved he designed only to run a Man through the Arm, whom
  he whipped through the Lungs. This is my third Year at the Temple, and
  this is or should be Law. An ill Intention well proved should meet
  with no Alleviation, because it out-ran4 it self. There cannot be
  too great Severity used against the Injustice as well as Cruelty of
  those who play with Mens Lives, by preparing Liquors, whose Nature,
  for ought they know, may be noxious when mixed, tho innocent when
  apart: And Brooke and Hillier5, who have ensured our Safety at our
  Meals, and driven Jealousy from our Cups in Conversation, deserve the
  Custom and Thanks of the whole Town; and it is your Duty to remind
  them of the Obligation. I am, Sir,

Your Humble Servant,

Tom. Pottle.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am a Person who was long immured in a College, read much, saw
  little; so that I knew no more of the World than what a Lecture or a
  View of the Map taught me. By this means I improved in my Study, but
  became unpleasant in Conversation. By conversing generally with the
  Dead, I grew almost unfit for the Society of the Living; so by a long
  Confinement I contracted an ungainly Aversion to Conversation, and
  ever discoursed with Pain to my self, and little Entertainment to
  others. At last I was in some measure made sensible of my failing, and
  the Mortification of never being spoke to, or speaking, unless the
  Discourse ran upon Books, put me upon forcing my self amongst Men. I
  immediately affected the politest Company, by the frequent use of
  which I hoped to wear off the Rust I had contracted; but by an uncouth
  Imitation of Men used to act in publick, I got no further than to
  discover I had a Mind to appear a finer thing than I really was.



  Such I was, and such was my Condition, when I became an ardent Lover,
  and passionate Admirer of the beauteous Belinda: Then it was that I
  really began to improve. This Passion changed all my Fears and
  Diffidences in my general Behaviour, to the sole Concern of pleasing
  her. I had not now to study the Action of a Gentleman, but Love
  possessing all my Thoughts, made me truly be the thing I had a Mind to
  appear. My Thoughts grew free and generous, and the Ambition to be
  agreeable to her I admired, produced in my Carriage a faint Similitude
  of that disengaged Manner of my Belinda. The way we are in at present
  is, that she sees my Passion, and sees I at present forbear speaking
  of it through prudential Regards. This Respect to her she returns with
  much Civility, and makes my Value for her as little a Misfortune to
  me, as is consistent with Discretion. She sings very charmingly, and
  is readier to do so at my Request, because she knows I love her: She
  will dance with me rather than another, for the same Reason. My
  Fortune must alter from what it is, before I can speak my Heart to
  her; and her Circumstances are not considerable enough to make up for
  the Narrowness of mine. But I write to you now, only to give you the
  Character of Belinda, as a Woman that has Address enough to
  demonstrate a Gratitude to her Lover, without giving him Hopes of
  Success in his Passion. Belinda has from a great Wit, governed by as
  great Prudence, and both adorned with Innocence, the Happiness of
  always being ready to discover her real Thoughts. She has many of us,
  who now are her Admirers; but her Treatment of us is so just and
  proportioned to our Merit towards her, and what we are in our selves,
  that I protest to you I have neither Jealousy nor Hatred toward my
  Rivals. Such is her Goodness, and the Acknowledgment of every Man who
  admires her, that he thinks he ought to believe she will take him who
  best deserves her. I will not say that this Peace among us is not
  owing to Self-love, which prompts each to think himself the best
  Deserver: I think there is something uncommon and worthy of Imitation
  in this Lady's Character. If you will please to Print my Letter, you
  will oblige the little Fraternity of happy Rivals, and in a more
  particular Manner,

Sir,

Your most humble Servant,

Will. Cymon.















Footnote 1:
Mully



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
No. 251
Biographical History of England.



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
out-run



return









Footnote 5:
 'This is to give Notice, That Brooke and Hellier have not all the New
  Port Wines this Year, nor above one half, the Vintners having bought
  130 Pipes of Mr. Thomas Barlow and others, which are all natural, and
  shall remain Genuine, on which all Gentlemen and others may depend.
  Note.—Altho' Brooke and Hellier have asserted in several Papers that
  they had 140 Pipes of New Oporto Wines coming from Bristol, it now
  appears, since their landing, that they have only 133 Pipes, I Hhd. of
  the said Wines, which shews plainly how little what they say is to be
  credited.'



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 363

	
 Saturday, April 26, 1712

	
 Addison









—Crudelis ubique

Luctus, ubique pavor, et plurima Mortis

Imago.



Virg.







Milton
—They forthwith to the place

Repairing where he judg'd them, prostrate fell

Before him Reverent, and both confess'd

Humbly their Faults, and Pardon begg'd, with Tears

Watering the Ground—



There is a Beauty of the same kind in a Tragedy of Sophocles, where
Œdipus, after having put out his own Eyes, instead of breaking his Neck
from the Palace-Battlements (which furnishes so elegant an Entertainment
for our English Audience) desires that he may be conducted to Mount
Cithoeron, in order to end his Life in that very Place where he was
exposed in his Infancy, and where he should then have died, had the Will
of his Parents been executed.




—To Heavn their Prayers

Flew up, nor miss'd the Way, by envious Winds

Blown vagabond or frustrate: in they pass'd

Dimensionless through heavnly Doors, then clad

With Incense, where the Golden Altar fumed,

By their great Intercessor, came in sight

Before the Father's Throne—
Messiah




Milton
Ezekiel
—The Cohort bright

Of watchful Cherubims, four Faces each

Had like a double Janus, all their Shape

Spangled with Eyes—
Michael
—Yet lest they faint

At the sad Sentence rigorously urg'd,

For I behold them softned, and with Tears

Bewailing their Excess, all Terror hide,
Adam
Eve
—Why in the East

Darkness ere Days mid-course, and morning Light

More orient in that Western Cloud that draws

O'er the blue Firmament a radiant White,

And slow descends, with something Heavnly fraught?

  He err'd not, for by this the heavenly Bands

Down from a Sky of Jasper lighted now

In Paradise, and on a Hill made halt;

A glorious Apparition—
Michael
Raphael
—Th' Archangel soon drew nigh,

Not in his Shape Celestial; but as Man

Clad to meet Man: over his lucid Arms

A Military Vest of Purple flow'd,

Livelier than Meliboean, or the Grain

Of Sarra, worn by Kings and Heroes old,

In time of Truce: Iris had dipt the Wooff:

His starry Helm, unbuckled, shew'd him prime

In Manhood where Youth ended; by his side,

As in a glistring Zodiack, hung the Sword,

Satan's dire dread, and in his Hand the Spear.

Adam bow'd low, he Kingly from his State

Inclined not, but his coming thus declared.



Eve's
Must I then leave thee, Paradise? Thus leave

Thee, native Soil, these happy Walks and Shades,

Fit haunt of Gods? Where I had hope to spend

Quiet, though sad, the respite of that Day

That must be mortal to us both. O Flowrs,

That never will in other Climate grow,

My early Visitation, and my last

At Even, which I bred up with tender Hand

From the first opening Bud, and gave you Names;

Who now shall rear you to the Sun, or rank

Your Tribes, and water from th' ambrosial Fount?

Thee, lastly, nuptial Bower, by me adorn'd

With what to Sight or Smell was sweet; from thee

How shall I part, and whither wander down

Into a lower World, to this obscure

And wild? how shall we breathe in other Air

Less pure, accustomd to immortal Fruits?



Adam's
This most afflicts me, that departing hence

As from his Face I shall be hid, deprived

His blessed Countnance: here I could frequent,

With Worship, place by place where he vouchsaf'd

Presence Divine; and to my Sons relate,

On this Mount he appear'd, under this Tree

Stood visible, among these Pines his Voice

I heard, here with him at this Fountain talk'd;

So many grateful Altars I would rear

Of grassy Turf, and pile up every Stone

Of lustre from the Brook, in memory

Or monument to Ages, and thereon

Offer sweet-smelling Gums and Fruits and Flowers.

In yonder nether World—where shall I seek

His bright Appearances, or Footsteps trace?

For though I fled him angry, yet recalled

To Life prolonged and promised Race, I now

Gladly behold though but his utmost Skirts

Of Glory, and far off his Steps adore.
Adam
Milton's
Iliad
Æneid
Virgil's
Æneid
Milton
Adam's




Adam
Cain
Abel
Adam
But have I now seen Death? is this the way

I must return to native Dust? O Sight

Of Terror foul, and ugly to behold,

Horrid to think, how horrible to feel!
Dire was the tossing, deep the Groans. Despair

Tended the Sick, busy from Couch to Couch;

And over them triumphant Death his Dart

Shook, but delayed to strike, though oft invoked

With Vows, as their chief Good and final Hope.
Sight so deform, what Heart of Rock could long

Dry-eyed behold? Adam could not, but wept,

Tho' not of Woman born; Compassion quell'd

His best of Man, and gave him up to Tears.
Adam




Adam's
For that fair female Troop thou sawst, that seemed

Of Goddesses, so Blithe, so Smooth, so Gay,

Yet empty of all Good wherein consists

Woman's domestick Honour and chief Praise;

Bred only and compleated to the taste

Of lustful Appetence, to sing, to dance,

To dress, and troule the Tongue, and roll the Eye:

To these that sober Race of Men, whose Lives

Religious titled them the Sons of God,

Shall yield up all their Virtue, all their Fame

Ignobly, to the Trains and to the Smiles

Of those fair Atheists—
Adam
—O what are these!

Death's Ministers, not Men, who thus deal Death

Inhumanly to Men, and multiply

Ten Thousandfold the Sin of him who slew

His Brother: for of whom such Massacre

Make they but of their Brethren, Men of Men?



Milton




Ovid's
Latin
We
Seneca
1
the
2
Ovid
Ovid
Milton
Jamque mare et tellus nullum discrimen habebant,

Nil nisi pontus erat, deerant quoque littora ponto.



(Ovid)



—Sea cover'd Sea,

Sea without Shore—



(Milton.)
Milton
English
—And in their Palaces

Where Luxury late reign'd, Sea-Monsters whelp'd

And stabled—
Ovid
Latin
English
—Then shall this Mount

Of Paradise by might of Waves be mov'd

Out of his Place, pushed by the horned Flood

With all his Verdure spoil'd, and Trees adrift

Down the great River to the opning Gulf,

And there take root, an Island salt and bare,

The haunt of Seals and Orcs and Sea-Mews clang.
Adam
Virgil
Ovid
How didst thou grieve then, Adam, to behold

The End of all thy Offspring, End so sad,

Depopulation! thee another Flood

Of Tears and Sorrow, a Flood thee also drowned,

And sunk thee as thy Sons; till gently rear'd

By th' Angel, on thy Feet thou stoodst at last,

Tho' comfortless, as when a Father mourns

His Children, all in view destroyed at once.
Paradise Lost,
Milton



















Footnote 3:
Nat. Quaest



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
this



return









Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 364

	
 Monday, April 28, 1712

	
 Steele









—Navibus1 atque

Quadrigis petimus bene vivere.



Hor.








  Mr. Spectator2,



  A Lady of my Acquaintance, for whom I have too much Respect to be easy
  while she is doing an indiscreet Action, has given occasion to this
  Trouble: She is a Widow, to whom the Indulgence of a tender Husband
  has entrusted the Management of a very great Fortune, and a Son about
  sixteen, both which she is extremely fond of. The Boy has Parts of the
  middle Size, neither shining nor despicable, and has passed the common
  Exercises of his Years with tolerable Advantage; but is withal what
  you would call a forward Youth: By the Help of this last
  Qualification, which serves as a Varnish to all the rest, he is
  enabled to make the best Use of his Learning, and display it at full
  length upon all Occasions. Last Summer he distinguished himself two or
  three times very remarkably, by puzzling the Vicar before an Assembly
  of most of the Ladies in the Neighbourhood; and from such weighty
  Considerations as these, as it too often unfortunately falls out, the
  Mother is become invincibly persuaded that her Son is a great Scholar;
  and that to chain him down to the ordinary Methods of Education with
  others of his Age, would be to cramp his Faculties, and do an
  irreparable Injury to his wonderful Capacity.



  I happened to visit at the House last Week, and missing the young
  Gentleman at the Tea-Table, where he seldom fails to officiate, could
  not upon so extraordinary a Circumstance avoid inquiring after him. My
  Lady told me, he was gone out with her Woman, in order to make some
  Preparations for their Equipage; for that she intended very speedily
  to carry him to travel. The Oddness of the Expression shock'd me a
  little; however, I soon recovered my self enough to let her know, that
  all I was willing to understand by it was, that she designed this
  Summer to shew her Son his Estate in a distant County, in which he has
  never yet been: But she soon took care to rob me of that agreeable
  Mistake, and let me into the whole Affair. She enlarged upon young
  Master's prodigious Improvements, and his comprehensive Knowledge of
  all Book-Learning; concluding, that it was now high time he should be
  made acquainted with Men and Things; that she had resolved he should
  make the Tour of France and Italy, but could not bear to have him out
  of her Sight, and therefore intended to go along with him.



  I was going to rally her for so extravagant a Resolution, but found my
  self not in fit Humour to meddle with a Subject that demanded the most
  soft and delicate Touch imaginable. I was afraid of dropping something
  that might seem to bear hard either upon the Son's Abilities, or the
  Mother's Discretion; being sensible that in both these Cases, tho'
  supported with all the Powers of Reason, I should, instead of gaining
  her Ladyship over to my Opinion, only expose my self to her Disesteem:
  I therefore immediately determined to refer the whole Matter to the
  Spectator.



  When I came to reflect at Night, as my Custom is, upon the Occurrences
  of the Day, I could not but believe that this Humour of carrying a Boy
  to travel in his Mother's Lap, and that upon pretence of learning Men
  and Things, is a Case of an extraordinary Nature, and carries on it a
  particular Stamp of Folly. I did not remember to have met with its
  Parallel within the Compass of my Observation, tho' I could call to
  mind some not extremely unlike it. From hence my Thoughts took
  Occasion to ramble into the general Notion of Travelling, as it is now
  made a Part of Education. Nothing is more frequent than to take a Lad
  from Grammar and Taw, and under the Tuition of some poor Scholar, who
  is willing to be banished for thirty Pounds a Year, and a little
  Victuals, send him crying and snivelling into foreign Countries. Thus
  he spends his time as Children do at Puppet-Shows, and with much the
  same Advantage, in staring and gaping at an amazing Variety of strange
  things: strange indeed to one who is not prepared to comprehend the
  Reasons and Meaning of them; whilst he should be laying the solid
  Foundations of Knowledge in his Mind, and furnishing it with just
  Rules to direct his future Progress in Life under some skilful Master
  of the Art of Instruction.



  Can there be a more astonishing Thought in Nature, than to consider
  how Men should fall into so palpable a Mistake? It is a large Field,
  and may very well exercise a sprightly Genius; but I don't remember
  you have yet taken a Turn in it. I wish, Sir, you would make People
  understand, that Travel is really the last Step to be taken in the
  Institution of Youth; and to set out with it, is to begin where they
  should end.



  Certainly the true End of visiting Foreign Parts, is to look into
  their Customs and Policies, and observe in what Particulars they excel
  or come short of our own; to unlearn some odd Peculiarities in our
  Manners, and wear off such awkward Stiffnesses and Affectations in our
  Behaviour, as may possibly have been contracted from constantly
  associating with one Nation of Men, by a more free, general, and mixed
  Conversation. But how can any of these Advantages be attained by one
  who is a mere Stranger to the Custom sand Policies of his native
  Country, and has not yet fixed in his Mind the first Principles of
  Manners and Behaviour? To endeavour it, is to build a gawdy Structure
  without any Foundation; or, if I may be allow'd the Expression, to
  work a rich Embroidery upon a Cobweb.



  Another End of travelling which deserves to be considerd, is the
  Improving our Taste of the best Authors of Antiquity, by seeing the
  Places where they lived, and of which they wrote; to compare the
  natural Face of the Country with the Descriptions they have given us,
  and observe how well the Picture agrees with the Original. This must
  certainly be a most charming Exercise to the Mind that is rightly
  turned for it; besides that it may in a good measure be made
  subservient to Morality, if the Person is capable of drawing just
  Conclusions concerning the Uncertainty of human things, from the
  ruinous Alterations Time and Barbarity have brought upon so many
  Palaces, Cities and whole Countries, which make the most illustrious
  Figures in History. And this Hint may be not a little improved by
  examining every Spot of Ground that we find celebrated as the Scene of
  some famous Action, or retaining any Footsteps of a Cato, Cicero or
  Brutus, or some such great virtuous Man. A nearer View of any such
  Particular, tho really little and trifling in it self, may serve the
  more powerfully to warm a generous Mind to an Emulation of their
  Virtues, and a greater Ardency of Ambition to imitate their bright
  Examples, if it comes duly temper'd and prepar'd for the Impression.
  But this I believe you'll hardly think those to be, who are so far
  from ent'ring into the Sense and Spirit of the Ancients, that they
  don't yet understand their Language with any Exactness3.



  But I have wander'd from my Purpose, which was only to desire you to
  save, if possible, a fond English Mother, and Mother's own Son, from
  being shewn a ridiculous Spectacle thro' the most polite Part of
  Europe, Pray tell them, that though to be Sea-sick, or jumbled in an
  outlandish Stage-Coach, may perhaps be healthful for the Constitution
  of the Body, yet it is apt to cause such a Dizziness in young empty
  Heads, as too often lasts their Life-time.

I am, Sir,

Your most Humble Servant,

Philip Homebred.








  Birchan-Lane.



  Sir,



  I was marry'd on Sunday last, and went peaceably to bed; but, to my
  Surprize, was awakend the next Morning by the Thunder of a Set of
  Drums. These warlike Sounds (methinks) are very improper in a
  Marriage-Consort, and give great Offence; they seem to insinuate, that
  the Joys of this State are short, and that Jars and Discord soon
  ensue. I fear they have been ominous to many Matches, and sometimes
  proved a Prelude to a Battel in the Honey-Moon. A Nod from you may
  hush them; therefore pray, Sir, let them be silenced, that for the
  future none but soft Airs may usher in the Morning of a Bridal Night,
  which will be a Favour not only to those who come after, but to me,
  who can still subscribe my self,

Your most humble

and most obedient Servant,

Robin Bridegroom.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am one of that sort of Women whom the gayer Part of our Sex are apt
  to call a Prude. But to shew them that I have very little Regard to
  their Raillery, I shall be glad to see them all at The Amorous Widow,
  or the Wanton Wife, which is to be acted, for the Benefit of Mrs.
  Porter, on Monday the 28th Instant. I assure you I can laugh at an
  Amorous Widow, or Wanton Wife, with as little Temptation to imitate
  them, as I could at any other vicious Character. Mrs. Porter obliged
  me so very much in the exquisite Sense she seemed to have of the
  honourable Sentiments and noble Passions in the Character of Hermione,
  that I shall appear in her behalf at a Comedy, tho I have not great
  Relish for any Entertainments where the Mirth is not seasond with a
  certain Severity, which ought to recommend it to People who pretend to
  keep Reason and Authority over all their Actions.

I am, Sir,

Your frequent Reader,

Altamira.















Footnote 1:
Strenua nos exercet inertia: Navibus...



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Spectator



return









Footnote 3:
Exactness.



I cant quit this head without paying my Acknowledgments to one of the
most entertaining Pieces this Age has produc'd, for the Pleasure it gave
me. You will easily guess, that the Book I have in my head is Mr. A——'s
Remarks upon Italy. That Ingenious gentleman has with so much Art and
Judgment applied his exact Knowledge of all the Parts of Classical
Learning to illustrate the several occurrences of his Travels, that his
Work alone is a pregnant Proof of what I have said. No Body that has a
Taste this way, can read him going from Rome to Naples, and making
Horace and Silius Italicus  his Chart, but he must feel some Uneasiness
in himself to Reflect that he was not in his Retinue. I am sure I wish'd
it Ten Times in every Page, and that not without a secret Vanity to
think in what State I should have Travelled the Appian Road with Horace
for a Guide, and in company with a Countryman of my own, who of all Men
living knows best how to follow his Steps.



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 365

	
 Tuesday, April 29, 1712

	
 Budgell









Vere magis, quia vere calor redit ossibus—



Virg.




Menagiana
May
May
April




France
British
French




Winter
However
are
1




Tarpeia








Dryden
Month
For thee, sweet Month, the Groves green Livries wear,

If not the first, the fairest of the Year;

For thee the Graces lead the dancing Hours,

And Nature's ready Pencil paints the Flow'rs.

The sprightly May commands our Youth to keep

The Vigils of her Night, and breaks their Sleep;

Each gentle Breast with kindly Warmth she moves,

Inspires new Flames, revives extinguish'd Loves2.
Cupids
Zephirs




Yorkshire
Zelinda
May








Proserpine
a Maying
Milton
mentions



—That fair Field

Of Enna, where Proserpine gathering Flowers,

Herself a fairer Flower, by gloomy Dis

Was gathered—3
Virgil's
 Snake in the Grass












Gemini




May
December



















Footnote 1:
is



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Knights Tale
Palamon and Arcite



return









Footnote 3:
Paradise Lost



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 366

	
 Wednesday, April 30, 1712

	
 Steele









Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis

Arbor æstiva recreatur aura,

Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo,

Dulce loquentem.



Hor.














  Mr. Spectator,



  The following Verses are a Translation of a Lapland Love-Song, which I
  met with in Scheffer's History of that Country1. I was agreeably
  surprized to find a Spirit of Tenderness and Poetry in a Region which
  I never suspected for Delicacy. In hotter Climates, tho' altogether
  uncivilized, I had not wonder'd if I had found some sweet wild Notes
  among the Natives, where they live in Groves of Oranges, and hear the
  Melody of Birds about them: But a Lapland Lyric, breathing Sentiments
  of Love and Poetry, not unworthy old Greece or Rome; a regular Ode
  from a Climate pinched with Frost, and cursed with Darkness so great a
  Part of the Year; where 'tis amazing that the poor Natives should get
  Food, or be tempted to propagate their Species: this, I confess,
  seemed a greater Miracle to me, than the famous Stories of their
  Drums, their Winds and Inchantments.



  I am the bolder in commending this Northern Song, because I have
  faithfully kept to the Sentiments, without adding or diminishing; and
  pretend to no greater Praise from my Translation, than they who smooth
  and clean the Furs of that Country which have suffered by Carriage.
  The Numbers in the Original are as loose and unequal, as those in
  which the British Ladies sport their Pindaricks; and perhaps the
  fairest of them might not think it a disagreeable Present from a
  Lover: But I have ventured to bind it in stricter Measures, as being
  more proper for our Tongue, tho perhaps wilder Graces may better suit
  the Genius of the Laponian Language.



  It will be necessary to imagine, that the Author of this Song, not
  having the Liberty of visiting his Mistress at her Father's House, was
  in hopes of spying her at a Distance in the Fields.





	I
	Thou rising Sun, whose gladsome Ray

Invites my Fair to Rural Play,

Dispel the Mist, and clear the Skies,

And bring my Orra to my Eyes.		




	II
	Oh! were I sure my Dear to view,

I'd climb that Pine-Trees topmost Bough,

Aloft in Air that quivering plays,

And round and round for ever gaze.		




	III
	My Orra Moor, where art thou laid?

What Wood conceals my sleeping Maid?

Fast by the Roots enrag'd I'll tear

The Trees that hide my promised Fair.





	IV
	Oh! I cou'd ride the Clouds and Skies,

Or on the Raven's Pinions rise:

Ye Storks, ye Swans, a moment stay,

And waft a Lover on his Way.		




	V
	My Bliss too long my Bride denies,

Apace the wasting Summer flies:

Nor yet the wintry Blasts I fear,

Not Storms or Night shall keep me here.		




	VI
	What may for Strength with Steel compare?

Oh! Love has Fetters stronger far:

By Bolts of Steel are Limbs confin'd,

But cruel Love enchains the Mind. 		




	VII
	No longer then perplex thy Breast,

When Thoughts torment, the first are best;

'Tis mad to go, 'tis Death to stay,

Away to Orra, haste away.		












  April the 10th.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I am one of those despicable Creatures called a Chamber-Maid, and have
  lived with a Mistress for some time, whom I love as my Life, which has
  made my Duty and Pleasure inseparable. My greatest Delight has been in
  being imploy'd about her Person; and indeed she is very seldom out of
  Humour for a Woman of her Quality: But here lies my Complaint, Sir; To
  bear with me is all the Encouragement she is pleased to bestow upon
  me; for she gives her cast-off Cloaths from me to others: some she is
  pleased to bestow in the House to those that neither wants nor wears
  them, and some to Hangers-on, that frequents the House daily, who
  comes dressed out in them. This, Sir, is a very mortifying Sight to
  me, who am a little necessitous for Cloaths, and loves to appear what
  I am, and causes an Uneasiness, so that I can't serve with that
  Chearfulness as formerly; which my Mistress takes notice of, and calls
  Envy and Ill-Temper at seeing others preferred before me. My Mistress
  has a younger Sister lives in the House with her, that is some
  Thousands below her in Estate, who is continually heaping her Favours
  on her Maid; so that she can appear every Sunday, for the first
  Quarter, in a fresh Suit of Cloaths of her Mistress's giving, with all
  other things suitable: All this I see without envying, but not without
  wishing my Mistress would a little consider what a Discouragement it
  is to me to have my Perquisites divided between Fawners and Jobbers,
  which others enjoy intire to themselves. I have spoke to my Mistress,
  but to little Purpose; I have desired to be discharged (for indeed I
  fret my self to nothing) but that she answers with Silence. I beg,
  Sir, your Direction what to do, for I am fully resolved to follow your
  Counsel; who am 

Your Admirer and humble Servant,

Constantia Comb-brush.



  I beg that you would put it in a better Dress, and let it come abroad;
  that my Mistress, who is an Admirer of your Speculations, may see it.
















Footnote 1:
Lapponia
Spectator
With brightest beams let the Sun shine

  On Orra Moor.

  Could I be sure

  That from the top o' th' lofty Pine

  I Orra Moor might see,

  I to his highest Bough would climb,

  And with industrious Labour try

  Thence to descry

  My Mistress if that there she be.

  Could I but know amidst what Flowers

  Or in what Shade she stays,

  The gaudy Bowers,

  With all their verdant Pride,

  Their Blossoms and their Sprays,

  Which make my Mistress disappear;

  And her in envious Darkness hide,

  I from the Roots and Beds of Earth would tear.
No. 406
Spectator



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 367

	
 Thursday, May 1, 1712

	
 Addison









—Perituræ parcite chartæ.



Juv.












Post-Men,
Post-Boys, Daily-Courants, Reviews, Medleys
Examiners
Spectators
Spectator




Spectators




s-




France
Louvre
Holland
Venice
Elziver
Aldus




England
Edition
Cæsar's
English
1
British























Footnote 1:
Being and
Attributes of God and the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion
Optics
Cæsar
Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 368

	
 Friday, May 2, 1712

	
 Steele









Nos decebat  

Lugere ubi esset aliquis in lucem editus

Humanæ vitæ varia reputantes mala;

At qui labores morte finisset graves 

Omnes amices laude et lætitia exequi.



Eurip. apud Tull. 














  Paris, April 18, 1712.



  Sir,



  It is so many Years since you left your native Country, that I am to
  tell you the Characters of your nearest Relations as much as if you
  were an utter Stranger to them. The Occasion of this is to give you an
  account of the Death of Madam de Villacerfe, whose Departure out of
  this Life I know not whether a Man of your Philosophy will call
  unfortunate or not, since it was attended with some Circumstances as
  much to be desired as to be lamented. She was her whole Life happy in
  an uninterrupted Health, and was always honoured for an Evenness of
  Temper and Greatness of Mind. On the 10th instant that Lady was taken
  with an Indisposition which confined her to her Chamber, but was such
  as was too slight to make her take a sick Bed, and yet too grievous to
  admit of any Satisfaction in being out of it. It is notoriously known,
  that some Years ago Monsieur Festeau, one of the most considerable
  Surgeons in Paris, was desperately in love with this Lady: Her Quality
  placed her above any Application to her on the account of his Passion;
  but as a Woman always has some regard to the Person whom she believes
  to be her real Admirer, she now took it in her head (upon Advice of
  her Physicians to lose some of her Blood) to send for Monsieur Festeau
  on that occasion. I happened to be there at that time, and my near
  Relation gave me the Privilege to be present. As soon as her Arm was
  stripped bare, and he began to press it in order to raise the Vein,
  his Colour changed, and I observed him seized with a sudden Tremor,
  which made me take the liberty to speak of it to my Cousin with some
  Apprehension: She smiled, and said she knew Mr. Festeau had no
  Inclination to do her Injury. He seemed to recover himself, and
  smiling also proceeded in his Work. Immediately after the Operation he
  cried out, that he was the most unfortunate of all Men, for that he
  had open'd an Artery instead of a Vein. It is as impossible to express
  the Artist's Distraction as the Patient's Composure. I will not dwell
  on little Circumstances, but go on to inform you, that within three
  days time it was thought necessary to take off her Arm. She was so far
  from using Festeau as it would be natural to one of a lower Spirit to
  treat him, that she would not let him be absent from any Consultation
  about her present Condition, and on every occasion asked whether he
  was satisfy'd in the Measures that were taken about her. Before this
  last Operation she ordered her Will to be drawn, and after having been
  about a quarter of an hour alone, she bid the Surgeons, of whom poor
  Festeau was one, go on in their Work. I know not how to give you the
  Terms of Art, but there appeared such Symptoms after the Amputation of
  her Arm, that it was visible she could not live four and twenty hours.
  Her Behaviour was so magnanimous throughout this whole Affair, that I
  was particularly curious in taking Notice of what passed as her Fate
  approached nearer and nearer, and took Notes of what she said to all
  about her, particularly Word for Word what she spoke to Mr. Festeau,
  which was as follows.


    "Sir, you give me inexpressible Sorrow for the Anguish with which I
    see you overwhelmed. I am removed to all Intents and Purposes from
    the Interests of human Life, therefore I am to begin to think like
    one wholly unconcerned in it. I do not consider you as one by whose
    Error I have lost my Life; no, you are my Benefactor, as you have
    hasten'd my Entrance into a happy Immortality. This is my Sense of
    this Accident; but the World in which you live may have Thoughts of
    it to your Disadvantage, I have therefore taken Care to provide for
    you in my Will, and have placed you above what you have to fear from
    their Ill-Nature."


While this excellent Woman spoke these Words, Festeau looked as if he
  received a Condemnation to die, instead of a Pension for his Life.
  Madam de Villacerfe lived till Eight of the Clock the next Night;
  and tho she must have laboured under the most exquisite Torments, she
  possessed her Mind with so wonderful a Patience, that one may rather
  say she ceased to breathe than she died at that hour. You who had not
  the happiness to be personally known to this Lady, have nothing but to
  rejoyce in the Honour you had of being related to so great Merit; but
  we who have lost her Conversation, cannot so easily resign our own
  Happiness by Reflection upon hers. 

  I am, Sir, 

  Your affectionate Kinsman, 

  and most obedient humble Servant, 

  Paul Regnaud.


















Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 369

	
 Saturday, May 3, 1712

	
 Addison









Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures

Quam quæ sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus—



Hor.







Milton
Adam
Milton's
Babel
Egypt
—Thus with ten Wounds 

The River-Dragon tamed at length submits

To let his Sojourners depart, and oft

Humbles his stubborn Heart; but still as Ice

More harden'd after Thaw, till in his Rage

Pursuing whom he late dismissed, the Sea 

Swallows him with his Host, but them lets pass

As on dry Land between two Chrystal Walls,

Aw'd by the Rod of Moses so to stand

Divided—
Nile
Egypt
Ezekiel
Thus saith the Lord God, behold I am
against thee, Pharaoh King of Egypt, the great Dragon that lieth in the
midst of his Rivers, which hath said, my River is mine own, and I have
made it for my self.
 
Milton
Moses
All Night he will pursue, but his Approach

Darkness defends between till morning Watch;

Then through the fiery Pillar and the Cloud

God looking forth, will trouble all his Host,

And craze their Chariot Wheels: when by command

Moses once more his potent Rod extends

Over the Sea: the Sea his Rod obeys:

On their embattell'd Ranks the Waves return

And overwhelm their War—
Adam
Abraham
Messiah
Patriarch
I see him, but thou canst not, with what Faith

He leaves his Gods, his Friends, his Native Soil, 

Ur of Chaldæa, passing now the Ford

To Haran, after him a cumbrous Train

Of Herds and Flocks, and numerous Servitude,

Not wand'ring poor, but trusting all his Wealth

With God, who call'd him, in a Land unknown.

Canaan he now attains, I see his Tents

Pitch'd about Sechem, and the neighbouring Plain

Of Moreh, there by Promise he receives

Gifts to his Progeny of all that Land,

From Hamath Northward to the Desart South.

(Things by their Names I call, though yet unnamed.)
Virgil's
Æneid
Milton
Anchises
Hæc tum nomina erunt, nunc sunt sine nomine terræ. 
Adam
Messiah
O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense!

That all this Good of Evil shall produce, &c. 
Milton
Milton's
Satan
Adam






Milton's
Adam
Eve
Whence thou return'st, and whither went'st, I know;

For God is also in Sleep, and Dreams advise,

Which he hath sent propitious, some great Good

Presaging, since with Sorrow and Heart's Distress

Wearied I fell asleep: but now lead on;

In me is no delay: with thee to go,

Is to stay here; without thee here to stay,

Is to go hence unwilling: thou to me

Art all things under Heav'n, all Places thou,

Who for my wilful Crime art banish'd hence. 

This farther Consolation yet secure

I carry hence; though all by me is lost,

Such Favour, I unworthy, am vouchsafed,

By me the promised Seed shall all restore.






Heliodorus
Æthiopicks
Milton
So spake our Mother Eve, and Adam heard

Well pleas'd, but answered not; for now too nigh

Th' Archangel stood, and from the other Hill

To their fix'd Station, all in bright Array

The Cherubim descended; on the Ground

Gliding meteorous, as evening Mist

Ris'n from a River, o'er the Marish glides,

And gathers ground fast at the Lab'rer's Heel

Homeward returning. High in Front advanced,

The brandishd Sword of God before them blaz'd

Fierce as a Comet—
Lot
In either Hand the hast'ning Angel caught

Our ling'ring Parents, and to th' Eastern Gate

Led them direct; and down the Cliff as fast

To the subjected Plain; then disappear'd.

They looking back, &c. 



The
1
They looking back, all th' Eastern side beheld

Of Paradise, so late their happy Seat,

Wav'd over by that flaming Brand, the Gate

With dreadful Faces throng'd and fiery Arms:

Some natural Tears they dropped, but wiped them soon;

The World was all before them, where to chuse

Their Place of Rest, and Providence their Guide.
They hand in hand, with wandering Steps and slow,

Through Eden took their solitary Way.
The world was all before them, where to chuse

Their Place of Rest, and Providence their Guide.
Paradise Lost
Æneid
Virgil




Bossu
Paradise Lost
Milton
Adam
Eve




Odyssey
Iliad
Æneid
Milton
Adam's




English
the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Language
Paradise
Lost,
Paper
prove
2
Homer
Virgil
inserted
Tasso
has
3
Tasso
Italian
English



















Footnote 1:
Prospect



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
shew



return









Footnote 3:
has likewise



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 370

	
 Monday, May 5, 1712

	
 Steele









Totus Mundus agit Histrionem.




Latin
Drury-Lane
Spectator
Mackbeth
Harry the Fourth
of
Trip to the
Jubilee,
1
Fox
2
Wilks
Estcourt
one
Lord Foppington
3
Cibber
the
Dogget
Johnson
Corbacchio
4
The
Mr. William Penkethman
Fop's Fortune
5
Don Cholerick Snap Shorto de Testy
Penkethman
have
Penkethman
6




Mrs. Bicknell
Bicknell



















Footnote 1:
Farquhar's Constant Couple, or A Trip to the Jubilee



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Volpone



return









Footnote 3:
Careless Husband.



return
 









Footnote 4:
Volpone



return









Footnote 5:
Love makes a Man, or The Fop's Fortune



return









Footnote 6:
For the Benefit of Mr. Penkethman. At the Desire of Several
Ladies of Quality. By Her Majesty's Company of Comedians. At the Theatre
Royal in Drury Lane, this present Monday, being the 5th of May, will be
presented a Comedy called Love makes a Man, or The Fop's Fortune. The
Part of Don Lewis, alias Don Choleric Snap Shorto de Testy, by Mr.
Penkethman; Carlos, Mr. Wilks; Clodio, alias Don Dismallo Thick-Scullo
de Half Witto, Mr. Cibber; and all the other Parts to the best
Advantage. With a new Epilogue, spoken by Mr. Penkethman, riding on an
Ass. By her Majesty's Command no Persons are to be admitted behind the
Scenes. And To-Morrow, being Tuesday, will be presented, A Comedy call'd
The Constant Couple, or A Trip to the Jubilee. For the Benefit of Mrs.
Bicknell. 
Essay



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 371

	
 Tuesday, May 6, 1712

	
 Addison









Jamne igitur laudas quod se sapientibus unus

  Ridebat?



Juv.














  Sir,



  You know very well that our Nation is more famous for that sort of Men
  who are called Whims and Humourists, than any other Country in the
  World; for which reason it is observed that our English Comedy excells
  that of all other Nations in the Novelty and Variety of its
  Characters.



  Among those innumerable Setts of Whims which our Country produces,
  there are none whom I have regarded with more Curiosity than those who
  have invented any particular kind of Diversion for the Entertainment
  of themselves or their Friends. My Letter shall single out those who
  take delight in sorting a Company that has something of Burlesque and
  Ridicule in its Appearance. I shall make my self understood by the
  following Example. One of the Wits of the last Age, who was a Man of a
  good Estate1, thought he never laid out his Money better than in a
  Jest. As he was one Year at the Bath, observing that in the great
  Confluence of fine People, there were several among them with long
  Chins, a part of the Visage by which he himself was very much
  distinguished, he invited to dinner half a Score of these remarkable
  Persons who had their Mouths in the Middle of their Faces. They had no
  sooner placed themselves about the Table, but they began to stare upon
  one another, not being able to imagine what had brought them together.
  Our English Proverb says,


Tis merry in the Hall,

When Beards wag all.


  It proved so in the Assembly I am now speaking of, who seeing so many
  Peaks of Faces agitated with Eating, Drinking, and Discourse, and
  observing all the Chins that were present meeting together very often
  over the Center of the Table, every one grew sensible of the Jest, and
  came into it with so much Good-Humour, that they lived in strict
  Friendship and Alliance from that Day forward.



  The same Gentleman some time after packed together a Set of Oglers, as
  he called them, consisting of such as had an unlucky Cast in their
  Eyes. His Diversion on this Occasion was to see the cross Bows,
  mistaken Signs, and wrong Connivances that passed amidst so many
  broken and refracted Rays of Sight.



  The third Feast which this merry Gentleman exhibited was to the
  Stammerers, whom he got together in a sufficient Body to fill his
  Table. He had ordered one of his Servants, who was placed behind a
  Skreen, to write down their Table-Talk, which was very easie to be
  done without the help of Short-hand. It appears by the Notes which
  were taken, that tho' their Conversation never fell, there were not
  above twenty Words spoken during the first Course; that upon serving
  up the second, one of the Company was a quarter of an Hour in telling
  them, that the Ducklins and Asparagus2 were very good; and that
  another took up the same time in declaring himself of the same
  Opinion. This Jest did not, however, go off so well as the former; for
  one of the Guests being a brave Man, and fuller of Resentment than he
  knew how to express, went out of the Room, and sent the facetious
  Inviter a Challenge in Writing, which though it was afterwards dropp'd
  by the Interposition of Friends, put a Stop to these ludicrous
  Entertainments.



  Now, Sir, I dare say you will agree with me, that as there is no Moral
  in these Jests, they ought to be discouraged, and looked upon rather
  as pieces of Unluckiness than Wit. However, as it is natural for one
  Man to refine upon the Thought of another, and impossible for any
  single Person, how great soever his Parts may be, to invent an Art,
  and bring it to its utmost Perfection; I shall here give you an
  account of an honest Gentleman of my Acquaintance who upon hearing the
  Character of the Wit above mentioned, has himself assumed it, and
  endeavoured to convert it to the Benefit of Mankind. He invited half a
  dozen of his Friends one day to Dinner, who were each of them famous
  for inserting several redundant Phrases in their Discourse, as d'y
  hear me, d'ye see, that is, and so Sir. Each of the Guests making
  frequent use of his particular Elegance, appeared so ridiculous to his
  Neighbour, that he could not but reflect upon himself as appearing
  equally ridiculous to the rest of the Company: By this means, before
  they had sat long together, every one talking with the greatest
  Circumspection, and carefully avoiding his favourite Expletive, the
  Conversation was cleared of its Redundancies, and had a greater
  Quantity of Sense, tho' less of Sound in it.



  The same well-meaning Gentleman took occasion, at another time, to
  bring together such of his Friends as were addicted to a foolish
  habitual Custom of Swearing. In order to shew the Absurdity of the
  Practice, he had recourse to the Invention above mentioned, having
  placed an Amanuensis in a private part of the Room. After the second
  Bottle, when Men open their Minds without Reserve, my honest Friend
  began to take notice of the many sonorous but unnecessary Words that
  had passed in his House since their sitting down at Table, and how
  much good Conversation they had lost by giving way to such superfluous
  Phrases. What a Tax, says he, would they have raised for the Poor, had
  we put the Laws in Execution upon one another? Every one of them took
  this gentle Reproof in good part: Upon which he told them, that
  knowing their Conversation would have no Secrets in it, he had ordered
  it to be taken down in Writing, and for the humour sake would read it
  to them, if they pleased. There were ten Sheets of it, which might
  have been reduced to two, had there not been those abominable
  Interpolations I have before mentioned. Upon the reading of it in cold
  Blood, it looked rather like a Conference of Fiends than of Men. In
  short, every one trembled at himself upon hearing calmly what he had
  pronounced amidst the Heat and Inadvertency of Discourse.



  I shall only mention another Occasion wherein he made use of the same
  Invention to cure a different kind of Men, who are the Pests of all
  polite Conversation, and murder Time as much as either of the two
  former, though they do it more innocently; I mean that dull Generation
  of Story-tellers. My Friend got together about half a dozen of his
  Acquaintance, who were infected with this strange Malady. The first
  Day one of them sitting down, entered upon the Siege of Namur, which
  lasted till four a-clock, their time of parting. The second Day a
  North-Britain took possession of the Discourse, which it was
  impossible to get out of his Hands so long as the Company staid
  together. The third Day was engrossed after the same manner by a Story
  of the same length. They at last began to reflect upon this barbarous
  way of treating one another, and by this means awakened out of that
  Lethargy with which each of them had been seized for several Years.



  As you have somewhere declared, that extraordinary and uncommon
  Characters of Mankind are the Game which you delight in, and as I look
  upon you to be the greatest Sportsman, or, if you please, the Nimrod
  among this Species of Writers, I thought this Discovery would not be
  unacceptable to you.



  I am,



  Sir, &c.















Footnote 1:
Zimri
Rehearsal



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Sparrow-grass



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 372

	
 Wednesday, May 7, 1712

	
 Steele









Pudet hæc opprobria nobis

Et dici potuisse et non potuisse refelli.



Ovid.








  May 6, 1712.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I am Sexton of the Parish of Covent-Garden, and complained to you some
  time ago, that as I was tolling in to Prayers at Eleven in the
  Morning, Crowds of People of Quality hastened to assemble at a
  Puppet-Show on the other Side of the Garden. I had at the same time a
  very great Disesteem for Mr. Powell and his little thoughtless
  Commonwealth, as if they had enticed the Gentry into those Wandrings:
  But let that be as it will, I now am convinced of the honest
  Intentions of the said Mr. Powell and Company; and send this to
  acquaint you, that he has given all the Profits which shall arise
  to-morrow Night by his Play to the use of the poor Charity-Children of
  this Parish. I have been informed, Sir, that in Holland all Persons
  who set up any Show, or act any Stage-Play, be the Actors either of
  Wood and Wire, or Flesh and Blood, are obliged to pay out of their
  Gain such a Proportion to the honest and industrious Poor in the
  Neighbourhood: By this means they make Diversion and Pleasure pay a
  Tax to Labour and Industry. I have been told also, that all the time
  of Lent, in Roman Catholick Countries, the Persons of Condition
  administred to the Necessities of the Poor, and attended the Beds of
  Lazars and diseased Persons. Our Protestant Ladies and Gentlemen are
  so much to seek for proper ways of passing Time, that they are obliged
  to Punchinello for knowing what to do with themselves. Since the Case
  is so, I desire only you would intreat our People of Quality, who are
  not to be interrupted in their Pleasure to think of the Practice of
  any moral Duty, that they would at least fine for their Sins, and give
  something to these poor Children; a little out of their Luxury and
  Superfluity, would attone, in some measure, for the wanton Use of the
  rest of their Fortunes. It would not, methinks, be amiss, if the
  Ladies who haunt the Cloysters and Passages of the Play-house, were
  upon every Offence obliged to pay to this excellent Institution of
  Schools of Charity: This Method would make Offenders themselves do
  Service to the Publick. But in the mean time I desire you would
  publish this voluntary Reparation which Mr. Powell does our Parish,
  for the Noise he has made in it by the constant rattling of Coaches,
  Drums, Trumpets, Triumphs, and Battels. The Destruction of Troy
  adorned with Highland Dances, are to make up the Entertainment of all
  who are so well disposed as not to forbear a light Entertainment, for
  no other Reason but that it is to do a good Action.

I am, Sir,

Your most humble Servant,

Ralph Bellfry.



  I am credibly informed, that all the Insinuations which a certain
  Writer made against Mr. Powell at the Bath, are false and groundless.








  Mr. Spectator,



  My Employment, which is that of a Broker, leading me often into
  Taverns about the Exchange, has given me occasion to observe a certain
  Enormity, which I shall here submit to your Animadversion. In three or
  four of these Taverns, I have, at different times, taken notice of a
  precise Set of People with grave Countenances, short Wiggs, black
  Cloaths, or dark Camlet trimmd with Black, and mourning Gloves and
  Hatbands, who meet on certain Days at each Tavern successively, and
  keep a sort of moving Club. Having often met with their Faces, and
  observed a certain slinking Way in their dropping in one after
  another, I had the Curiosity to enquire into their Characters, being
  the rather moved to it by their agreeing in the Singularity of their
  Dress; and I find upon due Examination they are a Knot of
  Parish-Clarks, who have taken a fancy to one another, and perhaps
  settle the Bills of Mortality over their Half-pints. I have so great a
  Value and Veneration for any who have but even an assenting Amen in
  the Service of Religion, that I am afraid lest these Persons should
  incur some Scandal by this Practice; and would therefore have them,
  without Raillery, advised to send the Florence and Pullets home to
  their own Houses, and not pretend to live as well as the Overseers of
  the Poor.

I am, Sir,

Your most humble Servant,

Humphry Transfer.








  May 6.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I was last Wednesday Night at a Tavern in the City, among a Set of Men
  who call themselves the Lawyer's Club. You must know, Sir, this Club
  consists only of Attorneys; and at this Meeting every one proposes the
  Cause he has then in hand to the Board, upon which each Member gives
  his Judgment according to the Experience he has met with. If it
  happens that any one puts a Case of which they have had no Precedent,
  it is noted down by their Clerk Will. Goosequill, (who registers all
  their Proceedings) that one of them may go the next Day with it to a
  Counsel. This indeed is commendable, and ought to be the principal End
  of their Meeting; but had you been there to have heard them relate
  their Methods of managing a Cause, their Manner of drawing out their
  Bills, and, in short, their Arguments upon the several ways of abusing
  their Clients, with the Applause that is given to him who has done it
  most artfully, you would before now have given your Remarks on them.
  They are so conscious that their Discourses ought to be kept secret,
  that they are very cautious of admitting any Person who is not of
  their Profession. When any who are not of the Law are let in, the
  Person who introduces him, says, he is a very honest Gentleman, and he
  is taken in, as their Cant is, to pay Costs. I am admitted upon the
  Recommendation of one of their Principals, as a very honest
  good-natured Fellow that will never be in a Plot, and only desires to
  drink his Bottle and smoke his Pipe. You have formerly remarked upon
  several Sorts of Clubs; and as the Tendency of this is only to
  increase Fraud and Deceit, I hope you will please to take Notice of it.

I am (with Respect)

Your humble Servant,

H. R.






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 373

	
 Thursday, May 8, 1712

	
 Budgell









Fallit enim Vitium specie virtutis et umbra.



Juv.1







Locke
Treatise of Human Understanding
2
The first and most palpable Abuse
of Words
is, when they are used without clear and distinct
Ideas: The second, when we are so inconstant and unsteady in the
Application of them, that we sometimes use them to signify one Idea,
sometimes another.
A Definition
 is the only way whereby the precise Meaning of
Moral Words can be known.




Modesty
Assurance








Modesty
Sheepishness
Impudence
Assurance




Modesty
The Reflection of an
Ingenuous Mind








Romans
Senate
Rome
Senate




Assurance
Faculty of possessing a Man's self
of
saying and doing indifferent things without any Uneasiness or Emotion in
the Mind.




Modesty
Assurance




Assurance
Modesty
Honour
Virtue




Assurance
Modesty




Modesty
Assurance
modest Assurance
Bashfulness
Impudence




Modest
Assured
Impudent
Bashful












That the
Practice of Virtue is the most proper Method to give a Man a becoming
Assurance in his Words and Actions. 



















Footnote 1:
—Strabonem

  Appellat pætumm pater; et pullum, male parvus

  Si cui filius est; ut abortivus fuit olim

  Sisyphus: hunc varum, distortis cruribus; illum

  Balbutit scaurum, pravis fullum malè talis.



return









Footnote 2:



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 374

	
 Friday, May 9, 1712

	
 Steele









Nil actum reputans si quid superesset agendum.



Luc.




Cæsar
Pharsalia
  My Part is now but begun, and my Glory must be sustained by the Use I
  make of this Victory; otherwise my Loss will be greater than that of
  Pompey. Our personal Reputation will rise or fall as we bear our
  respective Fortunes. All my private Enemies among the Prisoners shall
  be spared. I will forget this, in order to obtain such another Day.
  Trebutius is ashamed to see me: I will go to his Tent, and be
  reconciled in private. Give all the Men of Honour, who take part with
  me, the Terms I offered before the Battel. Let them owe this to their
  Friends who have been long in my Interests. Power is weakened by the
  full Use of it, but extended by Moderation. Galbinius is proud, and
  will be servile in his present Fortune; let him wait. Send for
  Stertinius: He is modest, and his Virtue is worth gaining. I have
  cooled my Heart with Reflection; and am fit to rejoice with the Army
  to-morrow. He is a popular General who can expose himself like a
  private Man during a Battel; but he is more popular who can rejoice
  but like a private Man after a Victory.
Calphurnia's
  Be it so then1. If I am to die to-Morrow, that is what I am to do
  to-Morrow: It will not be then, because I am willing it should be
  then; nor shall I escape it, because I am unwilling. It is in the Gods
  when, but in my self how I shall die. If Calphurnia's Dreams are Fumes
  of Indigestion, how shall I behold the Day after to-morrow? If they
  are from the Gods, their Admonition is not to prepare me to escape
  from their Decree, but to meet it. I have lived to a Fulness of Days
  and of Glory; what is there that Cæsar has not done with as much
  Honour as antient Heroes? Cæsar has not yet died; Cæsar is prepared to
  die. 















Footnote 1:
than



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 375

	
 Saturday, May 10, 1712

	
 Hughes









Non possidentem multa vocaveris

  Rectè beatum: rectiùs occupat

    Nomen beati, qui Deorum

      Muneribus sapienter uti,

  Duramque callet Pauperiem pati,

  Pejusque Letho flagitium timet.



Hor.




Seneca
That a virtuous Person struggling with Misfortunes, and
rising above them, is an Object on which the Gods themselves may look
down with Delight
1




Amanda
Amanda
Amanda's
Amanda's
   Sir,



   I have heard of your Misfortune, and have offer'd your Daughter, if
   she will live with me, to settle on her Four hundred Pounds a year,
   and to lay down the Sum for which you are now distressed. I will be
   so ingenuous as to tell you that I do not intend Marriage: But if you
   are wise, you will use your Authority with her not to be too nice,
   when she has an opportunity of saving you and your Family, and of
   making her self happy.



I am, &c.
Dearest Child,



  Your Father and I have just now receiv'd a Letter from a Gentleman who
  pretends Love to you, with a Proposal that insults our Misfortunes,
  and would throw us to a lower Degree of Misery than any thing which is
  come upon us. How could this barbarous Man think, that the tenderest
  of Parents would be tempted to supply their Wants by giving up the
  best of Children to Infamy and Ruin? It is a mean and cruel Artifice
  to make this Proposal at a time when he thinks our Necessities must
  compel us to any thing; but we will not eat the Bread of Shame; and
  therefore we charge thee not to think of us, but to avoid the Snare
  which is laid for thy Virtue. Beware of pitying us: It is not so bad
  as you have perhaps been told. All things will yet be well, and I
  shall write my Child better News.



  I have been interrupted. I know not how I was moved to say things
  would mend. As I was going on I was startled by a Noise of one that
  knocked at the Door, and hath brought us an unexpected Supply of a
  Debt which had long been owing. Oh! I will now tell thee all. It is
  some days I have lived almost without Support, having conveyd what
  little Money I could raise to your poor Father—Thou wilt weep to
  think where he is, yet be assured he will be soon at Liberty. That
  cruel Letter would have broke his Heart, but I have concealed it from
  him. I have no Companion at present besides little Fanny, who stands
  watching my Looks as I write, and is crying for her Sister. She says
  she is sure you are not well, having discover'd that my present
  Trouble is about you. But do not think I would thus repeat my Sorrows,
  to grieve thee: No, it is to intreat thee not to make them
  insupportable, by adding what would be worse than all. Let us bear
  chearfully an Affliction, which we have not brought on our selves, and
  remember there is a Power who can better deliver us out of it than by
  the Loss of thy Innocence. Heaven preserve my dear Child.



Your  Affectionate Mother ——
Amanda
Amanda
Amanda's
  Madam,



  I am full of Shame, and will never forgive my self, if I have not your
  Pardon for what I lately wrote. It was far from my Intention to add
  Trouble to the Afflicted; nor could any thing, but my being a Stranger
  to you, have betray'd me into a Fault, for which, if I live, I shall
  endeavour to make you amends, as a Son. You cannot be unhappy while
  Amanda is your Daughter: nor shall be, if any thing can prevent it,
  which is in the power of, Madam,



Your most obedient

Humble Servant ——
Amanda's
Amanda















Footnote 1:
Footnote 1
No. 39



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 376

	
 Monday, May 12, 1712

	
 Steele









—Pavone ex Pythagoreo—



Persius.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I have observed that the Officer you some time ago appointed as
  Inspector of Signs, has not done his Duty so well as to give you an
  Account of very many strange Occurrences in the publick Streets, which
  are worthy of, but have escaped your Notice. Among all the Oddnesses
  which I have ever met with, that which I am now telling you of gave me
  most Delight. You must have observed that all the Criers in the Street
  attract the Attention of the Passengers, and of the Inhabitants in the
  several Parts, by something very particular in their Tone it self, in
  the dwelling upon a Note, or else making themselves wholly
  unintelligible by a Scream. The Person I am so delighted with has
  nothing to sell, but very gravely receives the Bounty of the People,
  for no other Merit but the Homage they pay to his Manner of signifying
  to them that he wants a Subsidy. You must, sure, have heard speak of
  an old Man, who walks about the City, and that part of the Suburbs
  which lies beyond the Tower, performing the Office of a Day-Watchman,
  followed by a Goose, which bears the Bob of his Ditty, and confirms
  what he says with a Quack, Quack. I gave little heed to the mention of
  this known Circumstance, till, being the other day in those Quarters,
  I passed by a decrepit old Fellow with a Pole in his Hand, who just
  then was bawling out, Half an Hour after one a-Clock, and immediately
  a dirty Goose behind him made her Response, Quack, Quack. I could not
  forbear attending this grave Procession for the length of half a
  Street, with no small amazement to find the whole Place so familiarly
  acquainted with a melancholy Mid-night Voice at Noon-day, giving them
  the Hour, and exhorting them of the Departure of Time, with a Bounce
  at their Doors. While I was full of this Novelty, I went into a
  Friend's House, and told him how I was diverted with their whimsical
  Monitor and his Equipage. My Friend gave me the History; and
  interrupted my Commendation of the Man, by telling me the Livelihood
  of these two Animals is purchased rather by the good Parts of the
  Goose, than of the Leader: For it seems the Peripatetick who walked
  before her was a Watchman in that Neighbourhood; and the Goose of her
  self by frequent hearing his Tone, out of her natural Vigilance, not
  only observed, but answer'd it very regularly from Time to Time. The
  Watchman was so affected with it, that he bought her, and has taken
  her in Partner, only altering their Hours of Duty from Night to Day.
  The Town has come into it, and they live very comfortably. This is the
  Matter of Fact: Now I desire you, who are a profound Philosopher, to
  consider this Alliance of Instinct and Reason; your Speculation may
  turn very naturally upon the Force the superior Part of Mankind may
  have upon the Spirits of such as, like this Watchman, may be very near
  the Standard of Geese. And you may add to this practical Observation,
  how in all Ages and Times the World has been carry'd away by odd
  unaccountable things, which one would think would pass upon no
  Creature which had Reason; and, under the Symbol of this Goose, you
  may enter into the Manner and Method of leading Creatures, with their
  Eyes open, thro' thick and thin, for they know not what, they know not
  why.



  All which is humbly submitted to your Spectatorial Wisdom by,

Sir,

Your most humble Servant,

Michael Gander.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I have for several Years had under my Care the Government and
  Education of young Ladies, which Trust I have endeavour'd to discharge
  with due regard to their several Capacities and Fortunes: I have left
  nothing undone to imprint in every one of them an humble courteous
  Mind, accompanied with a graceful becoming Mein, and have made them
  pretty much acquainted with the Houshold Part of Family-Affairs; but
  still I find there is something very much wanting in the Air of my
  Ladies, different from what I observe in those that are esteemed your
  fine bred Women. Now, Sir, I must own to you, I never suffered my
  Girls to learn to Dance; but since I have read your Discourse of
  Dancing, where you have described the Beauty and Spirit there is in
  regular Motion, I own my self your Convert, and resolve for the future
  to give my young Ladies that Accomplishment. But upon imparting my
  Design to their Parents, I have been made very uneasy, for some Time,
  because several of them have declared, that if I did not make use of
  the Master they recommended, they would take away their Children.
  There was Colonel Jumper's Lady, a Colonel of the Train-Bands, that
  has a great Interest in her Parish; she recommends Mr. Trott for the
  prettiest Master in Town, that no Man teaches a  Jigg like him, that
  she has seen him rise six or seven Capers together with the greatest
  Ease imaginable, and that his Scholars twist themselves more ways than
  the Scholars of any Master in Town: besides there is Madam Prim, an
  Alderman's Lady, recommends a Master of her own Name, but she declares
  he is not of their Family, yet a very extraordinary Man in his way;
  for besides a very soft Air he has in Dancing, he gives them a
  particular Behaviour at a Tea-Table, and in presenting their
  Snuff-Box, to twirl, flip, or flirt a Fan, and how to place Patches to
  the best advantage, either for Fat or Lean, Long or Oval Faces: for my
  Lady says there is more in these Things than the World Imagines. But I
  must confess the major Part of those I am concern'd with leave it to
  me. I desire therefore, according to the inclosed Direction, you would
  send your Correspondent who has writ to you on that Subject to my
  House. If proper Application this way can give Innocence new Charms,
  and make Virtue legible in the Countenance, I shall spare no Charge to
  make my Scholars in their very Features and Limbs bear witness how
  careful I have been in the other Parts of their Education.

I am, Sir, 

  Your most humble Servant,

  Rachael Watchful







Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 377

	
 Tuesday, May 13, 1712

	
 Addison









Quid quisque vitet, nunquam homini satis

  Cautum est in horas—



Hor.







Love
Poetry
Oroondates




dying for Love




but
Cowley
a Porcupine, that sends an Arrow from
every Part
1

















	Lysander
	slain at a Puppet-show on the third of September.




	Thirsis
	shot from a Casement in Pickadilly.




	T. S.
	wounded by Zehinda's Scarlet Stocking, as she was
stepping out of a Coach.




	Will. Simple
	smitten at the Opera by the Glance of an Eye that was
  aimed at one who stood by him.




	Tho. Vainlove
	lost his Life at a Ball.




	Tim. Tattle
	kill'd by the Tap of a Fan on his left Shoulder
by Coquetilla, as he was talking carelessly with her in a
Bow-window.




	Sir Simon Softly
	murder'd at the Play-house in Drury-lane by a Frown.




	Philander
	mortally wounded by Cleora, as she was adjusting her Tucker.




	Ralph Gapely, Esq.
	hit by a random Shot at the Ring.




	F. R.
	caught his Death upon the Water, April the 31st.




	W. W.
	killed by an unknown Hand, that was playing with the Glove off
  upon the Side of the Front-Box in Drury-Lane.




	Sir Christopher Crazy, Bart.
	hurt by the Brush of a Whalebone
  Petticoat.




	Sylvius
	shot through the Sticks of a Fan at St. James's Church.




	Damon
	struck thro' the Heart by a Diamond Necklace.




	Thomas Trusty

	Francis Goosequill

	William Meanwell

	Edward Callow, Esqrs.		
	

	

	

	

	

	

	standing in a Row, fell all four at the
same time, by an Ogle of the Widow Trapland.		




	Tom. Rattle
	chancing to tread upon a Lady's Tail as he came out of
  the Play-house, she turned full upon him, and laid him dead upon the
  Spot.




	Dick Tastewell
	slain by a Blush from the Queen's Box in the
third Act of the Trip to the Jubilee.




	Samuel Felt, Haberdasher
	               wounded in his Walk to Islington by Mrs. Susannah
               Crossstich, as she was clambering over a Stile.




	R. F., 

  T. W., 

  S. I., 

  M. P., &c.		
	

	

	

	put to Death in the last Birth-Day Massacre.		




	Roger Blinko
	cut off in the Twenty-first Year of his Age by a
  White-wash.




	Musidorus
	slain by an Arrow that flew out of a Dimple in Belinda's
  Left Cheek.




	Ned Courtly
	presenting Flavia with her Glove (which she had dropped
  on purpose) she receivd it, and took away his Life with a Curtsie.




	John Gosselin
	having received a slight Hurt from a Pair of blue Eyes,
  as he was making his Escape was dispatch'd by a Smile.




	Strephon
	killed by Clarinda as she looked down into the Pit.




	Charles Careless
	shot flying by a Girl of Fifteen, who unexpectedly popped
               her Head upon him out of a Coach.




	Josiah Wither
	aged threescore and three, sent to his long home by
  Elizabeth Jet-well, Spinster.




	Jack Freelove
	murderd by Melissa in her Hair.




	William Wiseaker, Gent.
	drown'd in a Flood of Tears by Moll Common.




	John Pleadwell, Esq.
	of the Middle Temple, Barrister at Law,
  assassinated in his Chambers the sixth Instant by Kitty Sly, who
  pretended to come to him for his Advice. 






















Footnote 1:
They are all weapon, and they dart

  Like Porcupines from every Part.



Anacreontics



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 378

	
 Wednesday, May 14, 1712

	
 Pope









Aggredere, O magnos, aderit jam tempus, honores.



Virg.




make
1












Messiah




Isaiah the Prophet.




Virgil's
 
Pollio









	
	Ye Nymphs of Solyma! begin the Song:

  To heav'nly Themes sublimer Strains belong.

  The Mossy Fountains, and the Sylvan Shades,

  The Dreams of Pindus and th' Aonian Maids,

  Delight no more—O Thou my Voice inspire,

  Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd2 Lips with Fire!

    Rapt into future Times, the Bard begun;

  A Virgin shall conceive, a Virgin bear a Son!		




	Isaiah,
Cap. II.
v. 1.
	From Jesse's Root behold a Branch arise,

  Whose sacred Flow'r with Fragrance fills the Skies.

  Th' Æthereal Spirit o'er its Leaves shall move,

  And on its Top descends the Mystick Dove.		




	Cap. 45. v. 8.
	Ye Heav'ns! from high the dewy Nectar pour,

  And in soft Silence shed the kindly Show'r!		




	Cap. 25. v. 4.
	The Sick and Weak, the healing Plant shall aid,

  From Storms a Shelter, and from Heat a Shade.

  All Crimes shall cease, and ancient Fraud shall fail;		




	Cap. 9. v. 7.
	Returning Justice lift aloft her Scale;

  Peace o'er the World her Olive Wand extend,

  And white-rob'd Innocence from Heav'n descend.

  Swift fly the Years, and rise th' expected Morn!

  Oh spring to Light, Auspicious Babe, be born!

  See Nature hastes her earliest Wreaths to bring,

  With all the Incense of the breathing Spring:		




	Cap. 35. v. 2.
	See lofty Lebanon his Head advance,

  See nodding Forests on the Mountains dance,

  See spicy Clouds from lowly Sharon rise,

  And Carmels flow'ry Top perfumes the Skies!		




	Cap. 40. v. 3, 4.
	Hark! a glad Voice the lonely Desart chears;

  Prepare the Way! a God, a God appears:

  A God! a God! the vocal Hills reply,

  The Rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.

  Lo Earth receives him from the bending Skies!

  Sink down ye Mountains, and ye Vallies rise!

  With Heads declin'd, ye Cedars, Homage pay!

  Be smooth ye Rocks, ye rapid Floods give way!

  The Saviour comes! by ancient Bards foretold;		




	Cap. 42. v. 18.
	Hear him, ye Deaf, and all ye Blind behold!




	Cap. 35. v. 5, 6.
	He from thick Films shall purge the visual Ray,

  And on the sightless Eye-ball pour the Day.

  'Tis he th' obstructed Paths of Sound shall clear,

  And bid new Musick charm th' unfolding Ear,

  The Dumb shall sing, the Lame his Crutch forego,

  And leap exulting like the bounding Roe;

  No Sigh, no Murmur the wide World shall hear,

  From ev'ry Face he wipes off ev'ry Tear.		




	Cap. 25. v. 8.
	In Adamantine Chains shall Death be bound,

  And Hell's grim Tyrant feel th' eternal Wound. 3		




	Cap. 30. v. xx.
	As the good Shepherd tends his fleecy Care,

Seeks freshest Pastures and the purest Air,

Explores the lost, the wand'ring Sheep directs,

By day o'ersees them, and by night protects;

The tender Lambs he raises in his Arms,

Feeds from his Hand, and in his Bosom warms:

Mankind shall thus his Guardian Care engage,

The promis'd Father of the future Age4.

No more shall Nation against Nation rise5,

No ardent Warriors meet with hateful Eyes,

Nor Fields with gleaming Steel be coverd o'er,

The Brazen Trumpets kindle Rage no more;

But useless Lances into Scythes shall bend,

And the broad Falchion in a Plow-share end.

Then Palaces shall rise; the joyful Son6     

Shall finish what his short-liv'd Sire begun;

Their Vines a Shadow to their Race shall yield,

And the same Hand that sow'd shall reap the Field.

The Swain in barren Desarts with Surprize7

Sees Lillies spring, and sudden Verdure rise;

And Starts, amidst the thirsty Wilds, to hear,

New Falls of Water murmuring in his Ear:

On rifted Rocks, the Dragon's late Abodes,

The green Reed trembles, and the Bulrush nods.

Waste sandy Vallies, once perplexd with Thorn8,

The spiry Fir and shapely Box adorn:

To leafless Shrubs the flow'ring Palms succeed,

And od'rous Myrtle to the noisome Weed.

The Lambs with Wolves shall graze the verdant Mead9

And Boys in flow'ry Bands the Tyger lead;

The Steer and Lion at one Crib shall meet,

And harmless Serpents Lick the Pilgrim's Feet.

The smiling Infant in his Hand shall take

The crested Basilisk and speckled Snake;

Pleas'd, the green Lustre of the Scales survey,

And with their forky Tongue and pointless Sting shall play.

Rise, crown'd with Light, imperial Salem rise!10

Exalt thy tow'ry Head, and lift thy Eyes!

See, a long Race thy spacious Courts adorn;11       

See future Sons and Daughters yet unborn

In crowding Ranks on ev'ry side arise,

Demanding Life, impatient for the Skies!

See barb'rous Nations at thy Gates attend,12      

Walk in thy Light, and in thy Temple bend.

See thy bright Altars throng'd with prostrate Kings,

And heap'd with Products of Sabæan Springs!13 

For thee Idume's spicy Forests blow;

And seeds of Gold in Ophir's Mountains glow.

See Heav'n its sparkling Portals wide display,

And break upon thee in a Flood of Day!

No more the rising Sun shall gild the Morn,14

Nor Evening Cynthia fill her silver Horn,

But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior Rays;

One Tide of Glory, one unclouded Blaze

O'erflow thy Courts: The Light Himself shall shine

Reveal'd; and God's eternal Day be thine!

The Seas shall waste, the Skies in Smoke decay;15

Rocks fall to Dust, and Mountains melt away; 

But fix'd His Word, His saving Pow'r remains:

Thy Realm for ever lasts! thy own Messiah reigns. 		






















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
hollow'd



return









Footnote 3:
Before him Death, the grisly Tyrant, flies;

  He wipes the Tears for ever from our Eyes.
 I have turned to every verse and chapter, and think you have preserved
  the sublime, heavenly spirit throughout the whole, especially at "Hark
  a glad voice," and "The lamb with wolves shall graze." There is but
  one line which I think is below the original:

    
He wipes the tears for ever from our eyes.


  You have expressed it with a good and pious but not so exalted and
  poetical a spirit as the prophet: The Lord God shall wipe away tears
  from off all faces. If you agree with me in this, alter it by way of
  paraphrase or otherwise, that when it comes into a volume it may be
  amended.


return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:



return









Footnote 6:



return









Footnote 7:



return









Footnote 8:



return









Footnote 9:



return









Footnote 10:



return









Footnote 11:



return









Footnote 12:



return









Footnote 13:



return









Footnote 14:



return









Footnote 15:



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 379

	
 Thursday, May 15, 1712

	
 Budgell









Scire tuum nihil est nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.



Pers.




and
Latin
 A Man's Knowledge is worth nothing, if he
communicates what he knows to any one besides.
1








still
Alexander the Great 
Aristotle
2






Luisa de Padilla
Lady
Aranda
Gratian
3
Treatise of the Discrete










Persius
Latin
Cowley
You
 tell me, that you do not know whether 
 be
a good Poet or no, because you cannot understand him; for which very
Reason I affirm that he is not so.








Egyptians
Hieroglyphicks




 Rosicrucius's Sepulchre.
need
Rosicrusian
4














Rosicrucius



















Footnote 1:
Nil proprium ducas quod mutarier potest.


return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Noct. Att.



return









Footnote 3:
Discreto
Spectator
Footnote 1
No. 293
cultismo
Art of Poetry
Criticon
Discreto



return



cross-reference: return to Footnote 1 of No. 409









Footnote 4:
Comte de Gabalis
Spectators
Brotherhood of the
Honourable Order of the Rosy Cross
Comte de Gabalis
Rape of the Lock



return






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 380

	
 Friday, May 16, 1712

	
 Steele









Rivalem patienter habe—



Ovid.








  Thursday, May 8, 1712.



  Sir,



  The Character you have in the World of being the Lady's Philosopher,
  and the pretty Advice I have seen you give to others in your Papers,
  make me address my self to you in this abrupt Manner, and to desire
  your Opinion what in this Age a Woman may call a Lover. I have lately
  had a Gentleman that I thought made Pretensions to me, insomuch that
  most of my Friends took Notice of it and thought we were really
  married; which I did not take much Pains to undeceive them, and
  especially a young Gentlewoman of my particular Acquaintance which was
  then in the Country. She coming to Town, and seeing our Intimacy so
  great, she gave her self the Liberty of taking me to task concerning
  it: I ingenuously told her we were not married, but I did not know
  what might the Event. She soon got acquainted with the Gentleman, and
  was pleased to take upon her to examine him about it. Now whether a
  new Face had made a greater Conquest than the old, I'll leave you to
  judge: But I am informd that he utterly deny'd all Pretensions to
  Courtship, but withal profess'd a sincere Friendship for me; but
  whether Marriages are propos'd by way of Friendship or not, is what I
  desire to know, and what I may really call a Lover. There are so many
  who talk in a Language fit only for that Character, and yet guard
  themselves against speaking in direct Terms to the Point, that it is
  impossible to distinguish between Courtship and Conversation. I hope
  you will do me Justice both upon my Lover and my Friend, if they
  provoke me further: In the mean time I carry it with so equal a
  Behaviour, that the Nymph and the Swain too are mighty at a loss; each
  believes I, who know them both well, think my self revenged in their
  Love to one another, which creates an irreconcileable Jealousy. If all
  comes right again, you shall hear further from,



Sir,

Your most obedient Servant,

Mirtilla.








  April 28, 1712.



  Mr. Spectator,



  Your Observations on Persons that have behaved themselves irreverently
  at Church, I doubt not have had a good Effect on some that have read
  them: But there is another Fault which has hitherto escaped your
  Notice, I mean of such Persons as are very zealous and punctual to
  perform an Ejaculation that is only preparatory to the Service of the
  Church, and yet neglect to join in the Service it self. There is an
  Instance of this in a Friend of Will. Honeycomb's, who sits opposite to
  me: He seldom comes in till the Prayers are about half over, and when
  he has enter'd his Seat (instead of joining with the Congregation) he
  devoutly holds his Hat before his Face for three or four Moments, then
  bows to all his Acquaintance, sits down, takes a Pinch of Snuff, (if
  it be Evening Service perhaps a Nap) and spends the remaining Time in
  surveying the Congregation. Now, Sir, what I would desire, is, that
  you will animadvert a little on this Gentleman's Practice. In my
  Opinion, this Gentleman's Devotion, Cap-in-Hand, is only a Compliance
  to the Custom of the Place, and goes no further than a little
  ecclesiastical Good-Breeding. If you will not pretend to tell us the
  Motives that bring such Triflers to solemn Assemblies, yet let me
  desire that you will give this Letter a Place in your Paper, and I
  shall remain,



Sir,

  Your obliged humble Servant,

  J. S.








  May the 5th.



  Mr. Spectator,



  The Conversation at a Club, of which I am a Member, last Night falling
  upon Vanity and the Desire of being admired, put me in mind of
  relating how agreeably I was entertained at my own Door last Thursday
  by a clean fresh-colour'd Girl, under the most elegant and the best
  furnished Milk-Pail I had ever observed. I was glad of such an
  Opportunity of seeing the Behaviour of a Coquet in low Life, and how
  she received the extraordinary Notice that was taken of her; which I
  found had affected every Muscle of her Face in the same manner as it
  does the Feature of a first-rate Toast at a Play, or in an Assembly.
  This Hint of mine made the Discourse turn upon the Sense of Pleasure;
  which ended in a general Resolution, that the Milk-Maid enjoys her
  Vanity as exquisitely as the Woman of Quality. I think it would not be
  an improper Subject for you to examine this Frailty, and trace it to
  all Conditions of Life; which is recommended to you as an Occasion of
  obliging many of your Readers, among the rest,



Your most humble Servant, 

T. B.








  Sir,



  Coming last Week into a Coffee-house not far from the Exchange with my
  Basket under my Arm, a Jew of considerable Note, as I am informed,
  takes half a Dozen Oranges of me, and at the same time slides a Guinea
  into my Hand; I made him a Curtsy, and went my Way: He follow'd me,
  and finding I was going about my Business, he came up with me, and
  told me plainly, that he gave me the Guinea with no other Intent but
  to purchase my Person for an Hour. Did you so, Sir? says I: You gave
  it me then to make me be wicked, I'll keep it to make me honest.
  However, not to be in the least ungrateful, I promise you Ill lay it
  out in a couple of Rings, and wear them for your Sake. I am so just,
  Sir, besides, as to give every Body that asks how I came by my Rings
  this Account of my Benefactor; but to save me the Trouble of telling
  my Tale over and over again, I humbly beg the favour of you so to tell
  it once for all, and you will extremely oblige,



Your humble Servant,

  Betty Lemon.



  May 12,  1712.  








  St. Bride's, May 15, 1712.



  Sir,



  'Tis a great deal of Pleasure to me, and I dare say will be no less
  Satisfaction to you, that I have an Opportunity of informing you, that
  the Gentlemen and others of the Parish of St. Bride's, have raised a
  Charity-School of fifty Girls, as before of fifty Boys. You were so
  kind to recommend the Boys to the charitable World, and the other Sex
  hope you will do them the same Favour in Friday's Spectator for Sunday
  next, when they are to appear with their humble Airs at the Parish
  Church of St. Bride's. Sir, the Mention of this may possibly be
  serviceable to the Children; and sure no one will omit a good Action
  attended with no Expence.



I am, Sir, Your very humble Servant,

  The Sexton.






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 381

	
 Saturday, May 17, 1712

	
 Addison









Æquam memento rebus in arduis,

Servare mentem, non secùs in bonis

Ab insolenti temperatam

Lætitiâ, moriture Deli.



Hor.




Chearfulness
Mirth








Christians


















































Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 382

	
 Monday, May 19, 1712

	
 Steele









Habes confitentem reum.



Tull.




Dauphin
France
King












Spectator














Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 383

	
 Tuesday, May 20, 1712

	
 Addison









Criminibus debent Hortos—



Hor.




Roger's
be a good Child and mind his Book




Roger
You must know
Roger
I never make use
of any body to row me, that has not either lost a Leg or an Arm. I would
rather bate him a few Strokes of his Oar, than not employ an honest Man
that has been wounded in the Queen's Service. If I was a Lord or a
Bishop, and kept a Barge, I would not put a Fellow in my Livery that had
not a Wooden-Leg.




Roger


obliged
at La Hogue
1
British
Englishman
Frenchmen
Thames
Europe
London Bridge
Englishman




A most Heathenish Sight! 
Roger
There is no Religion at this End of the Town. The fifty new
Churches will very much mend the Prospect; but Church-work is slow,
Church-work is slow!




Roger's
Knight of the Shire
what queer old
Put we had in the Boat, and whether he was not ashamed to go a Wenching
at his Years?
Thames-Ribaldry
That if he were a Middlesex Justice, he would make
such Vagrants know that Her Majesty's Subjects were no more to be abused
by Water than by Land.




Spring-Garden
Mahometan
Roger
an Aviary of Nightingales
You must understand,
there is nothing in the World that pleases a Man in
Love so much as your Nightingale. Ah, Mr. Spectator! the many Moon-light
Nights that I have walked by my self, and thought on the Widow by the
Musek of the Nightingales!
Masque
if he would drink a Bottle
of Mead with her?
She was a wanton Baggage, and bid her go about her
Business.




Burton-Ale
Hung-Beef
carry the remainder to the Waterman that had
but one Leg.




That he
should be a better Customer to her Garden, if there were more
Nightingales, and fewer Strumpets.















Footnote 1:
 in Bantry Bay



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.6








	
 No. 384

	
 Wednesday, May 21, 1712

	
 Steele









Hague, May 24. N. S. 



  The same Republican Hands, who have so often since the Chevalier de
  St. George's Recovery killed him in our publick Prints, have now
  reduced the young Dauphin of France to that desperate Condition of
  Weakness, and Death it self, that it is hard to conjecture what Method
  they will take to bring him to Life again. Mean time we are assured by
  a very good Hand from Paris, That on the 20th Instant, this young
  Prince was as well as ever he was known to be since the Day of his
  Birth. As for the other, they are now sending his Ghost, we suppose,
  (for they never had the Modesty to contradict their Assertions of his
  Death) to Commerci in Lorrain, attended only by four Gentlemen, and a
  few Domesticks of little Consideration. The Baron de Bothmar having
  delivered in his Credentials to qualify him as an Ambassador to this
  State, (an Office to which his greatest Enemies will acknowledge him
  to be equal) is gone to Utrecht, whence he will proceed to Hanover,
  but not stay long at that Court, for fear the Peace should be made
  during his lamented Absence.



  Post-Boy, May 20.




My Lord Bishop of St.
Asaph
Sermons
Preface
1
Christian
Christianity
Post-Boy
Preface
Lord of St. Asaph
Post-Boy
Republicans
Bothmar
Hanover
England











  The publishing a few Sermons, whilst I live, the latest of which was
  preached about eight Years since, and the first above seventeen, will
  make it very natural for People to enquire into the Occasion of doing
  so; And to such I do very willingly assign these following Reasons.



  First, From the Observations I have been able to make, for these many
  Years last past, upon our publick Affairs, and from the natural
  Tendency of several Principles and Practices, that have of late been
  studiously revived, and from what has followed thereupon, I could not
  help both fearing and presaging, that these Nations would some time or
  other, if ever we should have an enterprising Prince upon the Throne,
  of more Ambition than Virtue, Justice, and true Honour, fall into the
  way of all other Nations, and lose their Liberty.



  Nor could I help foreseeing to whose Charge a great deal of this
  dreadful Mischief, whenever it should happen, would be laid, whether
  justly or unjustly, was not my Business to determine; but I resolved
  for my own particular part, to deliver my self, as well as I could,
  from the Reproaches and the Curses of Posterity, by publickly
  declaring to all the World, That although in the constant Course of my
  Ministry, I have never failed, on proper Occasions, to recommend,
  urge, and insist upon the loving, honouring, and the reverencing the
  Prince's Person, and holding it, according to the Laws, inviolable and
  sacred; and paying all Obedience and Submission to the Laws, though
  never so hard and inconvenient to private People: Yet did I never
  think my self at liberty, or authorized to tell the People, that
  either Christ, St. Peter, or St. Paul, or any other Holy Writer, had
  by any Doctrine delivered by them, subverted the Laws and
  Constitutions of the Country in which they lived, or put them in a
  worse Condition, with respect to their Civil Liberties, than they
  would have been had they not been Christians. I ever thought it a most
  impious Blasphemy against that holy Religion, to father any thing upon
  it that might encourage Tyranny, Oppression, or Injustice in a Prince,
  or that easily tended to make a free and happy People Slaves and
  Miserable. No: People may make themselves as wretched as they will,
  but let not God be called into that wicked Party. When Force and
  Violence, and hard Necessity have brought the Yoak of Servitude upon a
  People's Neck, Religion will supply them with a patient and submissive
  Spirit under it till they can innocently shake it off; but certainly
  Religion never puts it on. This always was, and this at present is, my
  Judgment of these Matters: And I would be transmitted to Posterity
  (for the little Share of Time such Names as mine can live) under the
  Character of one who lov'd his Country, and would be thought a good
  Englishman, as well as a good Clergyman.



  This Character I thought would be transmitted by the following
  Sermons, which were made for, and preached in a private Audience, when
  I could think of nothing else but doing my Duty on the Occasions that
  were then offered by God's Providence, without any manner of design of
  making them publick: And for that reason I give them now as they were
  then delivered; by which I hope to satisfie those People who have
  objected a Change of Principles to me, as if I were not now the same
  Man I formerly was. I never had but one Opinion of these Matters; and
  that I think is so reasonable and well-grounded, that I believe I
  never can have any other. Another Reason of my publishing these
  Sermons at this time, is, that I have a mind to do my self some
  Honour, by doing what Honour I could to the Memory of two most
  excellent Princes, and who have very highly deserved at the hands of
  all the People of these Dominions, who have any true Value for the
  Protestant Religion, and the Constitution of the English Government,
  of which they were the great Deliverers and Defenders. I have lived to
  see their illustrious Names very rudely handled, and the great
  Benefits they did this Nation treated slightly and contemptuously. I
  have lived to see our Deliverance from Arbitrary Power and Popery,
  traduced and vilified by some who formerly thought it was their
  greatest Merit, and made it part of their Boast and Glory, to have had
  a little hand and share in bringing it about; and others who, without
  it, must have liv'd in Exile, Poverty, and Misery, meanly disclaiming
  it, and using ill the glorious Instruments thereof. Who could expect
  such a Requital of such Merit? I have, I own it, an Ambition of
  exempting my self from the Number of unthankful People: And as I loved
  and honoured those great Princes living, and lamented over them when
  dead, so I would gladly raise them up a Monument of Praise as lasting
  as any thing of mine can be; and I chuse to do it at this time, when
  it is so unfashionable a thing to speak honourably of them.



  The Sermon that was preached upon the Duke of Gloucester's Death was
  printed quickly after, and is now, because the Subject was so
  suitable, join'd to the others. The Loss of that most promising and
  hopeful Prince was, at that time, I saw, unspeakably great; and many
  Accidents since have convinced us, that it could not have been
  over-valued. That precious Life, had it pleased God to have prolonged
  it the usual Space, had saved us many Fears and Jealousies, and dark
  Distrusts, and prevented many Alarms, that have long kept us, and will
  keep us still, waking and uneasy. Nothing remained to comfort and
  support us under this heavy Stroke, but the Necessity it brought the
  King and Nation under, of settling the Succession in the House of
  Hannover, and giving it an Hereditary Right, by Act of Parliament, as
  long as it continues Protestant. So much good did God, in his merciful
  Providence, produce from a Misfortune, which we could never otherwise
  have sufficiently deplored.



  The fourth Sermon was preached upon the Queen's Accession to the
  Throne, and the first Year in which that Day was solemnly observed,
  (for, by some Accident or other, it had been overlook'd the Year
  before;) and every one will see, without the date of it, that it was
  preached very early in this Reign, since I was able only to promise
  and presage its future Glories and Successes, from the good
  Appearances of things, and the happy Turn our Affairs began to take;
  and could not then count up the Victories and Triumphs that, for seven
  Years after, made it, in the Prophet's Language, a Name and a Praise
  among all the People of the Earth. Never did seven such Years together
  pass over the head of any English Monarch, nor cover it with so much
  Honour: The Crown and Sceptre seemed to be the Queen's least
  Ornaments; those, other Princes wore in common with her, and her great
  personal Virtues were the same before and since; but such was the Fame
  of her Administration of Affairs at home, such was the Reputation of
  her Wisdom and Felicity in chusing Ministers, and such was then
  esteemed their Faithfulness and Zeal, their Diligence and great
  Abilities in executing her Commands; to such a height of military
  Glory did her great General and her Armies carry the British Name
  abroad; such was the Harmony and Concord betwixt her and her Allies,
  and such was the Blessing of God upon all her Counsels and
  Undertakings, that I am as sure as History can make me, no Prince of
  ours was ever yet so prosperous and successful, so beloved, esteemed,
  and honoured by their Subjects and their Friends, nor near so
  formidable to their Enemies. We were, as all the World imagined then,
  just ent'ring on the ways that promised to lead to such a Peace, as
  would have answered all the Prayers of our religious Queen, the Care
  and Vigilance of a most able Ministry, the Payments of a willing and
  obedient People, as well as all the glorious Toils and Hazards of the
  Soldiery; when God, for our Sins, permitted the Spirit of Discord to
  go forth, and, by troubling sore the Camp, the City, and the Country,
  (and oh that it had altogether spared the Places sacred to his
  Worship!) to spoil, for a time, this beautiful and pleasing Prospect,
  and give us, in its stead, I know not what — Our Enemies will tell
  the rest with Pleasure. It will become me better to pray to God to
  restore us to the Power of obtaining such a Peace, as will be to his
  Glory, the Safety, Honour, and the Welfare of the Queen and her
  Dominions, and the general Satisfaction of all her High and Mighty
  Allies.



  May 2, 1712.   















Footnote 1:
    

  1. On the death of Queen Mary, 1694. 
    2. 

  2. On the death of the Duke of Gloucester, 1700. 
    3. 

  3. On the death of King William, 1701. 
    4. 

  4. On the Queen's Accession to the Throne, in 1702, 
    5. 





Spectator







return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 385

	
 Thursday, May 22, 1712

	
 Budgell









Theseâ pectora juncta fide.



Ovid.










Friendship is a strong and habitual Inclination in two Persons to
promote the Good and Happiness of one another. 










Love
Esteem








Envy




Achilles
Patroclus
Æneas
Achates
Greece




Achates
Achates
Æneid










Atticus
Rome
Marius
Sylla's




Cæsar
Pompey
Cæsar
Brutus
Antony's
Antony
Augustus
Atticus
Cornelius Nepos
Rome


































Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 386

	
 Friday, May 23, 1712

	
 Steele









Cum Tristibus severe, cum Remissis jucunde, cum Senibus graviter, cum
Juventute comiter vivere.



Tull.




Latin
Cicero
Catiline
lived with the Sad severely, with the Chearful agreeably, with the Old
gravely, with the Young pleasantly; he added, with the Wicked boldly,
with the Wanton lasciviously. 
all
a
1




Acasto
Acasto
Acasto
Acasto








Tully
Anthony
 in eo
facetiæ erant, quæ nulla arte tradi possunt: He had a witty Mirth, which
could be acquired by no Art.























Footnote 1:
an



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
No. 3871

	
 Saturday, May 24, 1712

	
 Addison









Quid purè tranquillet—



Hor.




Saturday's
Chearfulness
a Moral
Habit of the Mind




English
















famous
2
All Colours that are more luminous, overpower and dissipate the animal
Spirits which are employd in Sight; on the contrary, those that are more
obscure do not give the animal Spirits a sufficient Exercise; whereas
the Rays that produce in us the Idea of Green, fall upon the Eye in such
a due proportion, that they give the animal Spirits their proper Play,
and by keeping up the struggle in a just Ballance, excite a very
pleasing and agreeable Sensation




















French
In the gloomy
Month of November, when the People of England hang and drown themselves,
a disconsolate Lover walked out into the Fields, &c.




Locke
Essay on Human Understanding
Beyond all this, we may find another Reason why God hath scattered up
  and down several Degrees of Pleasure and Pain, in all the things that
  environ and affect us, and blended them together, in almost all that
  our Thoughts and Senses have to do with; that we finding Imperfection,
  Dissatisfaction, and Want of compleat Happiness in all the Enjoyments
  which the Creatures can afford us, might be led to seek it in the
  Enjoyment of him, with whom there is Fulness of Joy, and at whose
  Right Hand are Pleasures for evermore.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 388

	
 Monday, May 26, 1712

	
 Barr?1









—Tibi res antiquæ Laudis et Artis

Ingredior; sanctos ausus recludere Fontes.



Virg.








  Mr. Spectator,



  It is my Custom, when I read your Papers, to read over the Quotations
  in the Authors from whence you take them: As you mentiond a Passage
  lately out of the second Chapter of Solomon's Song, it occasion'd my
  looking into it; and upon reading it I thought the Ideas so
  exquisitely soft and tender, that I could not help making this
  Paraphrase of it; which, now it is done, I can as little forbear
  sending to you. Some Marks of your Approbation, which I have already
  receiv'd, have given me so sensible a Taste of them, that I cannot
  forbear endeavouring after them as often as I can with any Appearance
  of Success.



I am, Sir,

  Your most obedient2 humble Servant.








	I
	As when in Sharon's Field the blushing Rose

  Does its chaste Bosom to the Morn disclose,

  Whilst all around the Zephyrs bear

  The fragrant Odours thro' the Air:

  Or as the Lilly in the shady Vale,

  Does o'er each Flower with beauteous Pride prevail,

  And stands with Dews and kindest Sun-shine blest,

  In fair Pre-eminence, superior to the rest:

  So if my Love, with happy Influence, shed

  His Eyes bright Sun-shine on his Lover's Head,

  Then shall the Rose of Sharon's Field,

  And whitest Lillies to my Beauties yield.

  Then fairest Flowers with studious Art combine,

  The Roses with the Lillies join,

  And their united Charms are3 less than mine.		




	II
	As much as fairest Lillies can surpass

  A Thorn in Beauty, or in Height the Grass;

  So does my Love among the Virgins shine,

  Adorn'd with Graces more than half Divine;

  Or as a Tree, that, glorious to behold,

  Is hung with Apples all of ruddy Gold,

  Hesperian Fruit! and beautifully high,

  Extends its Branches to the Sky;

  So does my Love the Virgin's Eyes invite:

  'Tis he alone can fix their wand'ring Sight,

  Among4 ten thousand eminently bright.		




	III
	Beneath this pleasing Shade

  My weaned Limbs at Ease I laid,

  And on his fragrant Boughs reclined my Head.

  I pull'd the Golden Fruit with eager haste;

  Sweet was the Fruit, and pleasing to the Taste:

  With sparkling Wine he crown'd the Bowl,

  With gentle Ecstacies he fill'd my Soul;

  Joyous we sate beneath the shady Grove,

  And o'er my Head he hung the Banners of his Love.		




	IV
	I faint; I die! my labouring Breast

      Is with the mighty Weight of Love opprest:

      I feel the Fire possess my Heart,

      And pain conveyed to every Part.

      Thro' all my Veins the Passion flies,

      My feeble Soul forsakes its Place,

      A trembling Faintness seals my Eyes,

      And Paleness dwells upon my Face;

      Oh! let my Love with pow'rful Odours stay

      My fainting lovesick Soul that dies away;

      One Hand beneath me let him place,

      With t'other press me in a chaste Embrace.		




	V
	I charge you, Nymphs of Sion, as you go

  Arm'd with the sounding Quiver and the Bow,

  Whilst thro' the lonesome Woods you rove,

  You ne'er disturb my sleeping Love,

    Be only gentle Zephyrs there,

    With downy Wings to fan the Air;

    Let sacred Silence dwell around,

    To keep off each intruding Sound:

  And when the balmy Slumber leaves his Eyes,

  May he to Joys, unknown till then, arise.		




	VI
	But see! he comes! with what majestick Gate

  He onward bears his lovely State!

    Now thro' the Lattice he appears,

    With softest Words dispels my Fears,

    Arise, my Fair-One, and receive

    All the Pleasures Love can give.

    For now the sullen Winters past,

    No more we fear the Northern Blast:

    No Storms nor threatning Clouds appear,

    No falling Rains deform the Year.

    My Love admits of no delay,

    Arise, my Fair, and come away.		




	VII
	Already, see! the teeming Earth

    Brings forth the Flow'rs, her beauteous Birth.

    The Dews, and soft-descending Showers,

    Nurse the new-born tender Flow'rs.

    Hark! the Birds melodious sing,

    And sweetly usher in the Spring.

    Close by his Fellow sits the Dove,

    And billing whispers her his Love.

    The spreading Vines with Blossoms swell,

    Diffusing round a grateful Smell,

    Arise, my Fair-One, and receive

    All the Blessings Love can give:

    For Love admits of no delay,

    Arise, my Fair, and come away.		




	VIII
	As to its Mate the constant Dove

  Flies thro' the Covert of the spicy Grove,

  So let us hasten to some lonely Shade,

  There let me safe in thy lov'd Arms be laid,

  Where no intruding hateful Noise

  Shall damp the Sound of thy melodious Voice;

  Where I may gaze, and mark each beauteous Grace;

  For sweet thy Voice, and lovely is thy Face.		


	IX
	As all of me, my Love, is thine,

  Let all of thee be ever mine.

  Among the Lillies we will play,

  Fairer, my Love, thou art than they,

  Till the purple Morn arise,

  And balmy Sleep forsake thine Eyes;

  Till the gladsome Beams of Day

  Remove the Shades of Night away;

  Then when soft Sleep shall from thy Eyes depart,

  Rise like the bounding Roe, or lusty Hart,

  Glad to behold the Light again

  From Bether's Mountains darting o'er the Plain.   		


















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
obliged



return









Footnote 3:
Beauties shall be



return









Footnote 4:
And stands among



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 389

	
 Tuesday, May 27, 1712

	
 Budgell









Meliora pii docuere parentes.



Hor.







Nothing
England
Spaccio della Bestia triom fante
1
This
thirty
2
Jordanus Brunus








Jupiter
Momus
Jupiter












Platos
Ciceros
Bacons
Boyles
Lockes








Hottentots




having
Gabble
3








Socrates
Seneca
Hottentots


















The
4




was
Casimir Liszynski
Poland
5
Tartary




England
British
Poland




Tartary
 Cape of Good Hope
Hottentots




enough




Demi-culverin



























Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Fifty



return









Footnote 3:
Gabling



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 390

	
 Wednesday, May 28, 1712

	
 Steele









Non pudendo sed non faciendo id quod non decet impudentiæ nomen
  effugere debemus.



Tull.




Orbicilla
Spencer
his
 
Fairy Queen
'The best, said he, that I can you advise,

    Is to avoid th' Occasion of the Ill;

  For when the Cause, whence Evil doth arise,

    Removed is, th' Effect surceaseth still.

  Abstain from Pleasure, and restrain your Will,

    Subdue Desire, and bridle loose Delight:

  Use scanted Diet, and forbear your Fill;

    Shun Secrecy, and talk in open sight:

  So shall you soon repair your present evil Plight1.'
Queen Bess's




Spectator




She is the laziest Creature in the
World, but I must confess strictly Virtuous: The peevishest Hussy
breathing, but as to her Virtue she is without Blemish: She has not the
least Charity for any of her Acquaintance, but I must allow rigidly
Virtuous. 
Virtuous



















Footnote 1:
F. Q. 



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 391

	
 Thursday, May 29, 1712

	
 Addison









—Non tu prece poscis emaci,

  Qua nisi seductis nequeas committere Divis:

  At bona pars procerum tacitâ libabit acerrâ.

  Haud cuivis promptum est, murmurque humilesque susurros

  Tollere de Templis; et aperto vivere voto.

  Mens bona, fama, fides, hæc clarè, et ut audiat hospes.

  Illa sibi introrsum, et sub lingua immurmurat: O si

  Ebullit patrui præclarum funus! Et O si

  Sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria dextro

  Hercule! pupillumve utinam, quem proximus hæres

  Impello, expungam!—



Pers.







Where
 
Homer
1
Phœnix
Achilles
The Gods
suffer themselves to be prevailed upon
by Entreaties. When Mortals have offended them by their Transgressions,
they appease them by Vows and Sacrifices. You must know, Achilles, that


Prayers
 
are the Daughters of 
They are crippled by frequent
Kneeling, have their Faces full of Cares and Wrinkles, and their Eyes
always cast towards Heaven. They are constant Attendants on the Goddess


Ate
and march behind her. This Goddess walks forward with a bold and
haughty Air, and being very light of foot, runs thro' the whole Earth,
grieving and afflicting the Sons of Men. She gets the start of
 
Prayers
who always follow her, in, order to heal those Persons whom she wounds.
He who honours these Daughters of
when they draw near to him,
receives great Benefit from them; but as for him who rejects them, they
intreat their Father to give his Orders to the Goddess
 
Ate
 
to punish him
for his Hardness of Heart.
Ate
Injury
Guilt
 divine Justice,




Lucian












Menippus
2
Jupiter
Jupiter
Menippus
Jove
Athens
Jupiter
Menippus
Licander
Jupiter
Jupiter
Ephesian
Jupiter
then
Menippus
Jove
Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter
Ionian
Jupiter
Zephirs
Menippus
Jupiter
Paphos
Western
Jupiter










Socrates
Plato
Juvenal
Persius



















Footnote 1:
Iliad



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Satiræ Menippeæ.



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 392

	
 Friday, May 30, 1712

	
 Steele









Per Ambages et Ministeria Deorum

  Præcipitandus est liber Spiritus.



Pet.








  To the Spectator.



  The Transformation of Fidelio into a Looking-Glass.



  I was lately at a Tea-Table, where some young Ladies entertained the
  Company with a Relation of a Coquet in the Neighbourhood, who had been
  discovered practising before her Glass. To turn the Discourse, which
  from being witty grew to be malicious, the Matron of the Family took
  occasion, from the Subject, to wish that there were to be found
  amongst Men such faithful Monitors to dress the Mind by, as we consult
  to adorn the Body. She added, that if a sincere Friend were
  miraculously changed into a Looking-Glass, she should not be ashamed
  to ask its Advice very often. This whimsical Thought worked so much
  upon my Fancy the whole Evening, that it produced a very odd Dream1.



  Methought, that as I stood before my Glass, the Image of a Youth, of
  an open ingenuous Aspect, appeared in it; who with a small shrill
  Voice spoke in the following manner.


    The Looking-Glass, you see, was heretofore a Man, even I, the
    unfortunate Fidelio. I had two Brothers, whose Deformity in Shape
    was made out by the Clearness of their Understanding: It must be
    owned however, that (as it generally happens) they had each a
    Perverseness of Humour suitable to their Distortion of Body. The
    eldest, whose Belly sunk in monstrously, was a great Coward; and
    tho' his splenetick contracted Temper made him take fire
    immediately, he made Objects that beset him appear greater than they
    were. The second, whose Breast swelled into a bold Relievo, on the
    contrary, took great pleasure in lessening every thing, and was
    perfectly the Reverse of his Brother. These Oddnesses pleased
    Company once or twice, but disgusted when often seen; for which
    reason the young Gentlemen were sent from Court to study
    Mathematicks at the University.



    I need not acquaint you, that I was very well made, and reckoned a
    bright polite Gentleman. I was the Confident and Darling of all the
    Fair; and if the Old and Ugly spoke ill of me, all the World knew it
    was because I scorned to flatter them. No Ball, no Assembly was
    attended till I had been consulted. Flavia colour'd her Hair before
    me, Celia shew'd me her Teeth, Panthea heaved her Bosom, Cleora
    brandished her Diamonds; I have seen Cloe's Foot, and tied
    artificially the Garters of Rhodope.



    'Tis a general Maxim, that those who doat upon themselves, can have
    no violent Affection for another: But on the contrary, I found that
    the Women's Passion for me rose in proportion to the Love they bare
    to themselves. This was verify'd in my Amour with Narcissa, who was
    so constant to me, that it was pleasantly said, had I been little
    enough, she would have hung me at her Girdle. The most dangerous
    Rival I had, was a gay empty Fellow, who by the Strength of a long
    Intercourse with Narcissa, joined to his natural Endowments, had
    formed himself into a perfect Resemblance with her. I had been
    discarded, had she not observed that he frequently asked my Opinion
    about Matters of the last Consequence: This made me still more
    considerable in her Eye.



    Tho' I was eternally caressed by the Ladies, such was their Opinion
    of my Honour, that I was never envy'd by the Men. A jealous Lover of
    Narcissa one day thought he had caught her in an Amorous
    Conversation; for tho' he was at such a Distance that he could hear
    nothing, he imagined strange things from her Airs and Gestures.
    Sometimes with a serene Look she stepped back in a listning Posture,
    and brightened into an innocent Smile. Quickly after she swelled
    into an Air of Majesty and Disdain, then kept her Eyes half shut
    after a languishing Manner, then covered her Blushes with her Hand,
    breathed a Sigh, and seemd ready to sink down. In rushed the furious
    Lover; but how great was his Surprize to see no one there but the
    innocent Fidelio, with his Back against the Wall betwixt two
    Windows?



    It were endless to recount all my Adventures. Let me hasten to that
    which cost me my Life, and Narcissa her Happiness.



    She had the misfortune to have the Small-Pox, upon which I was
    expressly forbid her Sight, it being apprehended that it would
    increase her Distemper, and that I should infallibly catch it at the
    first Look. As soon as she was suffered to leave her Bed, she stole
    out of her Chamber, and found me all alone in an adjoining
    Apartment. She ran with Transport to her Darling, and without
    Mixture of Fear, lest I should dislike her. But, oh me! what was her
    Fury when she heard me say, I was afraid and shock'd at so loathsome
    a Spectacle. She stepped back, swollen with Rage, to see if I had
    the Insolence to repeat it. I did, with this Addition, that her
    ill-timed Passion had increased her Ugliness. Enraged, inflamed,
    distracted, she snatched a Bodkin, and with all her Force stabbed me
    to the Heart. Dying, I preserv'd my Sincerity, and expressed the
    Truth, tho' in broken Words; and by reproachful Grimaces to the last
    I mimick'd the Deformity of my Murderess.



    Cupid, who always attends the Fair, and pity'd the Fate of so useful
    a Servant as I was, obtained of the Destinies, that my Body should
    be made incorruptible, and retain the Qualities my Mind had
    possessed. I immediately lost the Figure of a Man, and became
    smooth, polished, and bright, and to this day am the first Favourite
    of the Ladies.  















Footnote 1:
 so odd a Dream, that no one but the Spectator could
believe that the Brain, clogged in Sleep, could furnish out such a
regular Wildness of Imagination.



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 393

	
 Saturday, May 31, 1712

	
 Addison









Nescio quâ præter solitum dulcedine læti.



Virg.




Denmark










  Copenhagen, May 1, 1710.



  Dear Sir,



  The Spring with you has already taken Possession of the Fields and
  Woods: Now is the Season of Solitude, and of moving Complaints upon
  trivial Sufferings: Now the Griefs of Lovers begin to flow, and their
  Wounds to bleed afresh. I too, at this Distance from the softer
  Climates, am not without my Discontents at present. You perhaps may
  laugh at me for a most Romantick Wretch, when I have disclosed to you
  the Occasion of my Uneasiness; and yet I cannot help thinking my
  Unhappiness real, in being confined to a Region, which is the very
  Reverse of Paradise. The Seasons here are all of them unpleasant, and
  the Country quite Destitute of Rural Charms. I have not heard a Bird
  sing, nor a Brook murmur, nor a Breeze whisper, neither have I been
  blest with the Sight of a flow'ry Meadow these two years. Every Wind
  here is a Tempest, and every Water a turbulent Ocean. I hope, when you
  reflect a little, you will not think the Grounds of my Complaint in
  the least frivolous and unbecoming a Man of serious Thought; since the
  Love of Woods, of Fields and Flowers, of Rivers and Fountains, seems
  to be a Passion implanted in our Natures the most early of any, even
  before the Fair Sex had a Being.



  I am, Sir, &c.







Spain
Italy
England
France
English
Europe




Milton
surveying
Paradise Lost,
Blossoms and Fruits at once of golden hue

  Appear'd, with gay enamel'd Colours mixt:

  On which the Sun more glad impress'd his Beams

  Than in fair evening Cloud, or humid Bow,

  When God hath shower'd the Earth; so lovely seem'd

  That Landskip: And of pure now purer Air

  Meets his approach, and to the Heart inspires

  Vernal Delight, and Joy able to drive

  All Sadness but Despair, &c.1
Saturday's
Psalmist












Milton
Christian
Apostle
those who are sad to pray, and those who are merry to sing
Psalms



















Footnote 1:
Paradise Lost,



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 394

	
 Monday, June 2, 1712

	
 Steele









  Bene colligitur hæc Pueris et Mulierculis et Servis et Servorum
  simillimis Liberis esse grata. Gravi vero homini et ea quæ fiunt
  Judicio certo ponderanti probari posse nullo modo.



Tull.




Spain
Latin
Spain
 the King
knows I understand Latin better than he does.




Trick-track
Baggammon
making one's Court
Present
Bribe
Billet-doux
that one part of Matter asks one thing, and another another, to
make it fluent; but there is nothing but may be dissolved by a proper
Mean
Barbadoes
Great-Britain














Contents

Contents, p.7





Dedication of the Sixth Volume of The Spectator




To The Right Honorable Charles, Earl of Sunderland1.






My
 
Lord




Spectator
Europe
Great-Britain






The
 
Spectator














 
Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark








Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 395

	
 Tuesday, June 3, 1712

	
 Budgell









Quod nunc ratio est, Impetus ante fuit.



Ovid.







Beware of the Ides of March
Roman
Julius Cæsar
Beware of the Month of May
British Spectator
Cæsar's




Roger








Forewarned forearm'd




May
June






Thyrsis
Sylvia
Spectator




Mat Meager,
May




Caveat
Congratulation




Ordeal Tryal.
Milton




Trojans
Grecians
Will. Honeycomb 




Chamont
Sister
—Long she flourish'd,

Grew sweet to Sense, and lovely to the Eye;

Till at the last a cruel Spoiler came,

Cropt this fair Rose, and rifled all its Sweetness;

Then cast it like a loathsome Weed away.1
June
May




Virtue
Modesty




London
Westminster



















Footnote 1:
Orphan



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 396

	
 Wednesday, June 4, 1712

	
 Henley









Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferio, Baralipton.




Cambridge
Peter
de Quir










To Mr. Spectator1.



From St. John's College Cambridge, Feb. 3, 1712.



Sir,



The Monopoly of Punns in this University has been an immemorial
Privilege of the Johnians; and we can't help resenting the late Invasion
of our ancient Right as to that Particular, by a little Pretender to
Clenching in a neighbouring College, who in an Application to you by way
of Letter, a while ago, styled himself Philobrune. Dear Sir, as you are
by Character a profest Well-wisher to Speculation, you will excuse a
Remark which this Gentleman's Passion for the Brunette has suggested to
a Brother Theorist; 'tis an Offer towards a mechanical Account of his
Lapse to Punning, for he belongs to a Set of Mortals who value
themselves upon an uncommon Mastery in the more humane and polite Part
of Letters. A Conquest by one of this Species of Females gives a very
odd Turn to the Intellectuals of the captivated Person, and very
different from that way of thinking which a Triumph from the Eyes of
another more emphatically of the fair Sex, does generally occasion. It
fills the Imagination with an Assemblage of such Ideas and Pictures as
are hardly any thing but Shade, such as Night, the Devil, &c. These
Portraitures very near over-power the Light of the Understanding, almost
benight the Faculties, and give that melancholy Tincture to the most
sanguine Complexion, which this Gentleman calls an Inclination to be in
a Brown-study, and is usually attended with worse Consequences in case
of a Repulse. During this Twilight of Intellects, the Patient is
extremely apt, as Love is the most witty Passion in Nature, to offer at
some pert Sallies now and then, by way of Flourish, upon the amiable
Enchantress, and unfortunately stumbles upon that Mongrel miscreated (to
speak in Miltonic) kind of Wit, vulgarly termed, the Punn. It would not
be much amiss to consult Dr. T—W—2 (who is certainly a very able
Projector, and whose system of Divinity and spiritual Mechanicks obtains
very much among the better Part of our Under-Graduates) whether a
general Intermarriage, enjoyned by Parliament, between this Sisterhood
of the Olive Beauties, and the Fraternity of the People call'd Quakers,
would not be a very serviceable Expedient, and abate that Overflow of
Light which shines within them so powerfully, that it dazzles their
Eyes, and dances them into a thousand Vagaries of Error and Enthusiasm.
These Reflections may impart some Light towards a Discovery of the
Origin of Punning among us, and the Foundation of its prevailing so long
in this famous Body. Tis notorious from the Instance under
Consideration, that it must be owing chiefly to the use of brown Juggs,
muddy Belch, and the Fumes of a certain memorable Place of Rendezvous
with us at Meals, known by the Name of Staincoat Hole: For the
Atmosphere of the Kitchen, like the Tail of a Comet, predominates least
about the Fire, but resides behind and fills the fragrant Receptacle
above-mentioned. Besides, 'tis farther observable that the delicate
Spirits among us, who declare against these nauseous proceedings, sip
Tea, and put up for Critic and Amour, profess likewise an equal
Abhorrency for Punning, the ancient innocent Diversion of this Society.
After all, Sir, tho' it may appear something absurd, that I seem to
approach you with the Air of an Advocate for Punning, (you who have
justified your Censures of the Practice in a set Dissertation upon that
Subject;) yet, I'm confident, you'll think it abundantly atoned for by
observing, that this humbler Exercise may be as instrumental in
diverting us from any innovating Schemes and Hypothesis in Wit. as
dwelling upon honest Orthodox Logic would be in securing us from Heresie
in Religion. Had Mr. W—n's3 Researches been confined within the
Bounds of Ramus or Crackanthorp, that learned News-monger might have
acquiesced in what the holy Oracles pronounce upon the Deluge, like
other Christians; and had the surprising Mr. L—y4 been content with
the Employment of refining upon Shakespear's Points and Quibbles, (for
which he must be allowed to have a superlative Genius) and now and then
penning a Catch or a Ditty, instead of inditing Odes, and Sonnets, the
Gentlemen of the Bon Goust in the Pit would never have been put to all
that Grimace in damning the Frippery of State, the Poverty and Languor
of Thought, the unnatural Wit, and inartificial Structure of his Dramas.



I am, Sir,

Your very humble Servant,

Peter de Quir.












Footnote 1:
Esther
Dunciad
Hip Doctor,



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
The Old Apology for the Truth against the Jews and
Gentiles Revived



return









Footnote 3:
New Theory of the Earth,
Sacred Theory of the Earth



return









Footnote 4:
Taming of the Shrew
 Then will I say, swelled with poetic rage,

  That I, John Lacy, have reformed the age.


return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 397

	
 Thursday, June 5, 1712

	
 Addison









—Dolor ipse disertum

Fecerat—



Ovid.







As
If
thou seest thy Friend in Trouble
Epictetus
thou mayst put on a
Look of Sorrow, and condole with him, but take care that thy Sorrow be
not real
1
What is that to me? 
All this may be true, but
what is it to me?












Ann of Bologne
King Henry the Eighth
Queen Elizabeth
Cotton Library,






Shakespear
Jane Seymour
Ann of Bologne.










  Queen Ann Boleyn's last Letter to King Henry.



  [Cotton Libr. Otho C. 10.]



  Sir,



  Your Grace's Displeasure, and my Imprisonment, are Things so strange
  unto me, as what to write, or what to excuse, I am altogether
  ignorant. Whereas you send unto me (willing me to confess a Truth, and
  so obtain your Favour) by such an one, whom you know to be mine
  ancient professed Enemy, I no sooner received this Message by him,
  than I rightly conceived your Meaning; and if, as you say, confessing
  a Truth indeed may procure my Safety, I shall with all Willingness and
  Duty perform your Command.



  But let not your Grace ever imagine, that your poor Wife will ever be
  brought to acknowledge a Fault, where not so much as a Thought thereof
  preceded. And to speak a Truth, never Prince had Wife more Loyal in
  all Duty, and in all true Affection, than you have ever found in Ann
  Boleyn: with which Name and Place I could willingly have contented my
  self, if God and your Grace's Pleasure had been so pleased. Neither
  did I at any time so far forget my self in my Exaltation, or received
  Queenship, but that I always looked for such an Alteration as now I
  find; for the Ground of my Preferment being on no surer Foundation
  than your Grace's Fancy, the least Alteration I knew was fit and
  sufficient to draw that Fancy to some other Object2. You have
  chosen me, from a low Estate, to be your Queen and Companion, far
  beyond my Desert or Desire. If then you found me worthy of such
  Honour, good your Grace let not any light Fancy, or bad Counsel of
  mine Enemies, withdraw your Princely Favour from me; neither let that
  Stain, that unworthy Stain, of a Disloyal Heart towards your good
  Grace, ever cast so foul a Blot on your most Dutiful Wife, and the
  Infant-Princess your Daughter. Try me, good King, but let me have a
  lawful Tryal, and let not my sworn Enemies sit as my Accusers and
  Judges; Yea let me receive an open Tryal, for my Truth shall fear no
  open Shame; then shall you see either mine Innocence cleared, your
  Suspicion and Conscience satisfied, the Ignominy and Slander of the
  World stopped, or my Guilt openly declared. So that whatsoever God or
  you may determine of me, your Grace may be freed from an open Censure,
  and mine Offence being so lawfully proved, your Grace is at liberty,
  both before God and Man, not only to Execute worthy Punishment on me
  as an unlawful Wife, but to follow your Affection, already settled on
  that Party, for whose sake I am now as I am, whose Name I could some
  good while since have pointed unto, your Grace being not ignorant of
  my Suspicion therein.



  But if you have already determined of me, and that not only my Death,
  but an Infamous Slander must bring you the enjoying of your desired
  Happiness; then I desire of God, that he will pardon your great Sin
  therein, and likewise mine Enemies, the Instruments thereof; and that
  he will not call you to a strict Account for your unprincely and cruel
  Usage of me, at his general Judgment Seat, where both you and my self
  must shortly appear, and in whose Judgment I doubt not (whatsoever the
  World may think of me) mine Innocence shall be openly known, and
  sufficiently cleared.



  My last and only Request shall be, that my self may only bear the
  Burthen of your Grace's Displeasure, and that it may not touch the
  innocent Souls of those poor Gentlemen, who (as I understand) are
  likewise in strait Imprisonment for my sake. If ever I have found
  Favour in your Sight, if ever the Name of Ann Boleyn hath been
  pleasing in your Ears, then let me obtain this Request, and I will so
  leave to trouble your Grace any further, with mine earnest Prayers to
  the Trinity to have your Grace in his good Keeping, and to direct you
  in all your Actions. From my doleful Prison in the Tower, this sixth
  of May;



Your most Loyal,

And ever Faithful Wife,

Ann Boleyn.












Footnote 1:
When you see a Neighbour in Tears, and hear him lament the Absence of
  his Son, the Hazards of his Voyage into some remote Part of the World,
  or the Loss of his Estate; keep upon your Guard, for fear lest some
  false Ideas that may rise upon these Occasions, surprise you into a
  Mistake, as if this Man were really miserable, upon the Account of
  these outward Accidents. But be sure to distinguish wisely, and tell
  your self immediately, that the Thing which really afflicts this
  Person is not really the Accident it self, (for other People, under
  his Circumstances, are not equally afflicted with it) but merely the
  Opinion which he hath formed to himself concerning this Accident.
  Notwithstanding all which, you may be allowed, as far as Expressions
  and outward Behaviour go, to comply with him; and if Occasion require,
  to bear a part in his Sighs, and Tears too; but then you must be sure
  to take care, that this Compliance does not infect your Mind, nor
  betray you to an inward and real Sorrow, upon any such
  Account.



Epictetus his Morals, with Simplicius his Comment.







return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Subject



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 398

	
 Friday, June 6, 1712

	
 Steele









Insanire pares certa ratione modoque.



Hor.







Cynthio
Flavia
Cecilia
Cynthio
Lætitia
Cynthio
Flavia
Flavia
Cynthio
Piazza
Covent-Garden
Flavia
It is an Infirmity that I am not constant to
but it would be
still a greater Crime, since I cannot continue to love her, to profess
that I do. To marry a Woman with the Coldness that usually indeed comes
on after Marriage, is ruining one's self with one's Eyes open; besides
it is really doing her an Injury.
Robin the Porter
Will's Coffee-House
Robin
Cynthio's
Flavia
Flavia
Robin
Cynthio
Flavia's
Cynthio
Cynthio
Robin
Flavia's
Robin
Flavia's
Cynthio
Robin
Flavia
Robin
Wills'



June 4, 1712.



  Sir,



  It is in vain to deny it, basest, falsest of Mankind; my Maid, as well
  as the Bearer, saw you.



  The injur'd Flavia.
Cynthio
Robin
Robin






Cynthio
  June 4, Three Afternoon, 1712.



  Madam,



  That your Maid and the Bearer has seen me very often is very certain;
  but I desire to know, being engaged at Picket, what your Letter means
  by 'tis in vain to deny it. I shall stay here all the Evening.



Your amazed Cynthio.
Robin
Flavia
  Dear Cynthio,



  I have walked a Turn or two in my Anti-Chamber since I writ to you,
  and have recovered my self from an impertinent Fit which you ought to
  forgive me, and desire you would come to me immediately to laugh off a
  Jealousy that you and a Creature of the Town went by in an
  Hackney-Coach an Hour ago. I am Your most humble Servant,



Flavia



  I will not open the Letter which my Cynthio writ, upon the
  Misapprehension you must have been under when you writ, for want of
  hearing the whole Circumstance.



Robin
Cynthio
  Half Hour, six Minutes after Three,



  June 4. Will's Coffee-house.



  Madam, It is certain I went by your Lodgings with a Gentlewoman to
  whom I have the Honour to be known, she is indeed my Relation, and a
  pretty sort of Woman. But your starting Manner of Writing, and owning
  you have not done me the Honour so much as to open my Letter, has in
  it something very unaccountable, and alarms one that has had Thoughts
  of passing his Days with you. But I am born to admire you with all
  your little Imperfections.



  Cynthio.



Robin
  Exact Sir, that are at Will's Coffee-house six Minutes after Three,
  June 4; one that has had Thoughts and all my little Imperfections.
  Sir, come to me immediately, or I shall determine what may perhaps not
  be very pleasing to you.



Flavia



Robin
Cynthio




Cynthio
Madam,

  I have that Prejudice in Favour of all you do, that it is not possible
  for you to determine upon what will not be very pleasing to Your
  Obedient Servant,

  Cynthio.
Sir,

  Is it come to this? You never loved me; and the Creature you were with
  is the properest Person for your Associate. I despise you, and hope I
  shall soon hate you as a Villain to 

  The Credulous Flavia.
Madam,

  Your Credulity when you are to gain your Point, and Suspicion when you
  fear to lose it make it a very hard Part to behave as becomes Your
  humble Slave,

  Cynthio.
Mr. Wellford,

  Flavia and Cynthio are no more. I relieve you from the hard Part of
  which you complain, and banish you from my Sight for ever. 

  Ann Heart.



Robin
Cecilia
Flavia










Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 399

	
 Saturday, June 7, 1712

	
 Addison









Ut nemo in sese tentat descendere!



Pers.







Hypocrisie




is
Who can understand his Errors? cleanse thou me
from secret Faults
1












Plutarch
2












without
besides
3








the hundred and thirty ninth Psalm
Try me, O God, and seek the ground
of my heart; prove me, and examine my Thoughts. Look well if there be
any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.



















Footnote 1:
Psalm



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Footnote 1
No. 125



return









Footnote 3:
more than



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 400

	
 Monday, June 9, 1712

	
 Steele









—Latet Anguis in Herba.



Virg.




of
{Sedley has that prevailing gentle Art,

{Which, can with a resistless Charm impart

{The loosest Wishes to the chastest Heart;

Raise such a Conflict, kindle such a Fire,

Between declining Virtue and Desire,

That the poor vanquished Maid dissolves away

In Dreams all Night, in Sighs and Tears all Day1.
this
Antony
Dolabella
Cleopatra
Her Galley down the Silver Cydnos row'd;

The Tackling Silk, the Streamers wav'd with Gold;

The gentle Winds were lodg'd in purple Sails:

Her Nymphs, like Nereids, round her Couch were placed,

Where she, another Sea-born Venus, lay;

She lay, and lean'd her Cheek upon her Hand,

And cast a Look so languishingly sweet,

As if, secure of all Beholders Hearts,

Neglecting she could take 'em. Boys like Cupids

Stood fanning with their painted Wings the Winds

That play'd about her Face; but if she smil'd,

A darting Glory seemed to blaze abroad,

That Men's desiring Eyes were never weary'd,

But hung upon the Object. To soft Flutes

The Silver Oars kept Time; and while they play'd,

The Hearing gave new Pleasure to the Sight,

And both to Thought2—
like
Philip's
 
Pastorals
3
Breathe soft ye Winds, ye Waters gently flow,

Shield her ye Trees, ye Flowers around her grow,

Ye Swains, I beg you, pass in Silence by,

My Love in yonder Vale asleep does lie.
you
Pylades
Orestes
When Lucy decks with Flowers her swelling Breast,

And on her Elbow leans, dissembling Rest,

Unable to refrain my madding Mind,

Nor Sleep nor Pasture worth my Care I find.



Once Delia slept, on easie Moss reclin'd,

Her lovely Limbs half bare, and rude the Wind;

I smoothed her Coats, and stole a silent Kiss:

Condemn me Shepherds if I did amiss4.




Welford
Hardy
But
very often
5




Platonick
Platonist



















Footnote 1:
Allusion to the 10th Satire of the 1st Book of Horace.



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
All for Love



return









Footnote 3:



return









Footnote 4:
Pastoral



return









Footnote 5:
(, for want of other Amusement, often study Anatomy
together; and what is worse than happens in any other Friendship, they)



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 401

	
 Tuesday, June 10, 1712

	
 Budgell









In amore hæc omnia insunt vitia: Injuriæ,

Suspiciones, Inimicitiæ, Induciæ,

Bellum, pax rursum:



Ter.














  Mr. Spectator,



  Since you have often confess'd that you are not displeased your Paper
  should sometimes convey the Complaints of distressed Lovers to each
  other, I am in Hopes you will favour one who gives you an undoubted
  Instance of her Reformation, and at the same time a convincing Proof
  of the happy Influence your Labours have had over the most
  Incorrigible Part of the most Incorrigible Sex. You must know, Sir, I
  am one of that Species of Women, whom you have often Characteriz'd
  under the Name of Jilts, and that I send you these Lines, as well to
  do Publick Penance for having so long continued in a known Error, as
  to beg Pardon of the Party offended. I the rather chuse this way,
  because it in some measure answers the Terms on which he intimated the
  Breach between us might possibly be made up, as you will see by the
  Letter he sent me the next Day after I had discarded him; which I
  thought fit to send you a Copy of, that you might the better know the
  whole Case.



  I must further acquaint you, that before I Jilted him, there had been
  the greatest Intimacy between us for an Year and half together, during
  all which time I cherished his Hopes, and indulged his Flame. I leave
  you to guess after this what must be his Surprize, when upon his
  pressing for my full Consent one Day, I told him I wondered what could
  make him fancy he had ever any Place in my Affections. His own Sex
  allow him Sense, and all ours Good-Breeding. His Person is such as
  might, without Vanity, make him believe himself not incapable to be
  beloved. Our Fortunes indeed, weighed in the nice Scale of Interest,
  are not exactly equal, which by the way was the true Case of my
  Jilting him, and I had the Assurance to acquaint him with the
  following Maxim, That I should always believe that Man's Passion to be
  the most Violent, who could offer me the largest Settlement. I have
  since changed my Opinion, and have endeavoured to let him know so much
  by several Letters, but the barbarous Man has refused them all; so
  that I have no way left of writing to him, but by your Assistance. If
  we can bring him about once more, I promise to send you all Gloves and
  Favours, and shall desire the Favour of Sir Roger and your self to
  stand as God-Fathers to my first Boy.



I am, Sir,

Your most Obedient

most Humble Servant,

Amoret.


Philander to Amoret.



    Madam,



    I am so surprised at the Question you were pleased to ask me
    Yesterday, that I am still at a loss what to say to it. At least my
    Answer would be too long to trouble you with, as it would come from
    a Person, who, it seems, is so very indifferent to you. Instead of
    it, I shall only recommend to your Consideration the Opinion of one
    whose Sentiments on these matters I have often heard you say are
    extremely just. A generous and Constant Passion, says your favourite
    Author, in an agreeable Lover, where there is not too great a
    Disparity in their Circumstances, is the greatest Blessing that can
    befal a Person beloved; and if overlook'd in one, may perhaps never
    be found in another.



    I do not, however, at all despair of being very shortly much better
    beloved by you than Antenor is at present; since whenever my Fortune
    shall exceed his, you were pleased to intimate your Passion would
    encrease accordingly.



    The World has seen me shamefully lose that Time to please a fickle
    Woman, which might have been employed much more to my Credit and
    Advantage in other Pursuits. I shall therefore take the Liberty to
    acquaint you, however harsh it may sound in a Lady's Ears, that tho
    your Love-Fit should happen to return, unless you could contrive a
    way to make your Recantation as well known to the Publick, as they
    are already apprised of the manner with which you have treated me,
    you shall never more see Philander.








    Amoret to Philander.



    Sir,



    Upon Reflection, I find the Injury I have done both to you and my
    self to be so great, that though the Part I now act may appear
    contrary to that Decorum usually observed by our Sex, yet I
    purposely break through all Rules, that my Repentance may in some
    measure equal my Crime. I assure you that in my present Hopes of
    recovering you, I look upon Antenor's Estate with Contempt. The Fop
    was here Yesterday in a gilt Chariot and new Liveries, but I refused
    to see him. Tho' I dread to meet your Eyes after what has pass'd, I
    flatter my self, that amidst all their Confusion you will discover
    such a Tenderness in mine, as none can imitate but those who Love. I
    shall be all this Month at Lady D—'s in the Country; but the Woods,
    the Fields and Gardens, without Philander, afford no Pleasures to
    the unhappy Amoret.


  I must desire you, dear Mr. Spectator, to publish this my Letter to
  Philander as soon as possible, and to assure him that I know nothing
  at all of the Death of his rich Uncle in Gloucestershire.






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 402

	
 Wednesday, June 11, 1712

	
 Steele









—quæ

Spectator tradit sibi—



Hor.1




s










  Mr. Spectator,



  I am a young Woman of Beauty and Quality, and suitably married to a
  Gentleman who doats on me. But this Person of mine is the Object of an
  unjust Passion in a Nobleman who is very intimate with my Husband.
  This Friendship gives him very easie Access, and frequent
  Opportunities of entertaining me apart. My Heart is in the utmost
  Anguish, and my Face is covered over with Confusion, when I impart to
  you another Circumstance, which is, that my Mother, the most mercenary
  of all Women, is gained by this false Friend of my Husband to sollicit
  me for him. I am frequently chid by the poor believing Man my Husband,
  for shewing an Impatience of his Friend's Company; and I am never
  alone with my Mother, but she tells me Stories of the discretionary
  Part of the World, and such a one, and such a one who are guilty of as
  much as she advises me to. She laughs at my Astonishment; and seems to
  hint to me, that as virtuous as she has always appeared, I am not the
  Daughter of her Husband. It is possible that printing this Letter may
  relieve me from the unnatural Importunity of my Mother, and the
  perfidious Courtship of my Husband's Friend. I have an unfeigned Love
  of Virtue, and am resolved to preserve my Innocence. The only Way I
  can think of to avoid the fatal Consequences of the Discovery of this
  Matter, is to fly away for ever; which I must do to avoid my Husband's
  fatal Resentment against the Man who attempts to abuse him, and the
  Shame of exposing the Parent to Infamy. The Persons concerned will
  know these Circumstances relate to 'em; and though the Regard to
  Virtue is dead in them, I have some Hopes from their Fear of Shame
  upon reading this in your Paper; which I conjure you to do, if you
  have any Compassion for Injured Virtue.



  Sylvia.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I am the Husband of a Woman of Merit, but am fallen in Love, as they
  call it, with a Lady of her Acquaintance, who is going to be married
  to a Gentleman who deserves her. I am in a Trust relating to this
  Lady's Fortune, which makes my Concurrence in this Matter necessary;
  but I have so irresistible a Rage and Envy rise in me when I consider
  his future Happiness, that against all Reason, Equity, and common
  Justice, I am ever playing mean Tricks to suspend the Nuptials. I have
  no manner of Hopes for my self; Emilia, for so I'll call her, is a
  Woman of the most strict Virtue; her Lover is a Gentleman who of all
  others I could wish my Friend; but Envy and Jealousie, though placed
  so unjustly, waste my very Being, and with the Torment and Sense of a
  Daemon, I am ever cursing what I cannot but approve. I wish it were
  the Beginning of Repentance, that I sit down and describe my present
  Disposition with so hellish an Aspect; but at present the Destruction
  of these two excellent Persons would be more welcome to me than their
  Happiness. Mr. Spectator, pray let me have a Paper on these terrible
  groundless Sufferings, and do all you can to exorcise Crowds who are
  in some Degree possessed as I am.



  Canniball.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I have no other Means but this to express my Thanks to one Man, and my
  Resentment against another. My Circumstances are as follows. I have
  been for five Years last past courted by a Gentleman of greater
  Fortune than I ought to expect, as the Market for Women goes. You must
  to be sure have observed People who live in that sort of Way, as all
  their Friends reckon it will be a Match, and are marked out by all the
  World for each other. In this View we have been regarded for some
  Time, and I have above these three Years loved him tenderly. As he is
  very careful of his Fortune, I always thought he lived in a near
  Manner to lay up what he thought was wanting in my Fortune to make up
  what he might expect in another. Within few Months I have observed his
  Carriage very much altered, and he has affected a certain Air of
  getting me alone, and talking with a mighty Profusion of passionate
  Words, How I am not to be resisted longer, how irresistible his Wishes
  are, and the like. As long as I have been acquainted with him, I could
  not on such Occasions say down-right to him, You know you may make me
  yours when you please. But the other Night he with great Frankness and
  Impudence explained to me, that he thought of me only as a Mistress. I
  answered this Declaration as it deserv'd; upon which he only doubled
  the Terms on which he proposed my yielding. When my Anger heightned
  upon him, he told me he was sorry he had made so little Use of the
  unguarded Hours we had been together so remote from Company, as
  indeed, continued he, so we are at present. I flew from him to a
  neighbouring Gentlewoman's House, and tho' her Husband was in the
  Room, threw my self on a Couch, and burst into a Passion of Tears. My
  Friend desired her Husband to leave the Room. But, said he, there is
  something so extraordinary in this, that I will partake in the
  Affliction; and be it what it will, she is so much your Friend, that
  she knows she may command what Services I can do her. The Man sate
  down by me, and spoke so like a Brother, that I told him my whole
  Affliction. He spoke of the Injury done me with so much Indignation,
  and animated me against the Love he said he saw I had for the Wretch
  who would have betrayed me, with so much Reason and Humanity to my
  Weakness, that I doubt not of my Perseverance. His Wife and he are my
  Comforters, and I am under no more Restraint in their Company than if
  I were alone; and I doubt not but in a small time Contempt and Hatred
  will take Place of the Remains of Affection to a Rascal.



  I am



  Sir,



  Your affectionate Reader,



  Dorinda.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I had the Misfortune to be an Uncle before I knew my Nephews from my
  Nieces, and now we are grown up to better Acquaintance they deny me
  the Respect they owe. One upbraids me with being their Familiar,
  another will hardly be perswaded that I am an Uncle, a third calls me
  Little Uncle, and a fourth tells me there is no Duty at all due to an
  Uncle. I have a Brother-in-law whose Son will win all my Affection,
  unless you shall think this worthy of your Cognizance, and will be
  pleased to prescribe some Rules for our future reciprocal Behaviour.
  It will be worthy the Particularity of your Genius to lay down Rules
  for his Conduct who was as it were born an old Man, in which you will
  much oblige,



  Sir,



  Your most obedient Servant,



  Cornelius Nepos.















Footnote 1:



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 403

	
 Thursday, June 12, 1712

	
 Addison









Qui mores hominun multorum vidit?



Hor.




St. James's
Cheapside
Temple
Smithfield




London
Westminster
France's
Europe
British




St James's,
Spanish
Bourbon




Giles's
French
Grand Monarque
Whig
Gallies




 Jenny Man's
Well, Jack, the old
Prig is dead at last. Sharp's the Word. Now or never, Boy. Up to the
Walls of Paris directly.




Charing-Cross
Covent-Garden
Wills
Monsieur
Boileau, Racine, Corneile,




Temple
Spanish
Duke of Anjou
Imperial Majesty
Paul's
Church-Yard,
France
Fish-street
France




French
Augustus Cæsar,
Nero
Cheapside




French
French
Garraway's
France
This
much
1



















Footnote 1:
great



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 404

	
 Friday, June 13, 1712

	
 Budgell









—Non omnia possumus omnes.



Virg.1




 the Creator of the Universe










Cleanthes
Cleanthes
Cleanthes
Cleanthes
Valerio
Valerio
Valerio
Valerio
Valerio




Tully
Virgil
Cæsar
Cicero's
Virgil's
Virgil
Tully's








Cælia
Iras
Cælia
Iras
Cælia
Iras
Cælia's
Iras
Cælia
Iras
Iras
Cælia
Cælia
Iras




Semanthe
the Olive Beauty
Semanthe
the Lady that paints
so well.
Follow Nature
Tully
a
direct Opposition to the Disposition of Providence
Tully
an actual Rebellion against
Heaven.



















Footnote 1:
Continuo has leges æternaque fœdera certis

  Imposuit natura locis.



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 405

	
 Saturday, June 14, 1712

	
 Addison









Greek: Oi dè panaemérioi molpàe theòn hiláskonto, Kalòn aeídontes paiáeona kouroi Achaiôn, Mélpontes Ekáergon. Ho dè phréna térpet akoúôn. Hom.




need
Signior Nicolini.
1
Italian








European
Oriental
Hebrew
English
Hebraisms
Holy
Writ
Plato's
Holy Scriptures.




Hebrew
English
Book of Psalms,
Horace
Pindar








Songs of Sion
Eastern
Psalms
Poetry
Grecian
Tabernacle










Homer
Hesiod
Jupiter























Footnote 1:
Footnote 1
No. 13
Antiochus



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 406

	
 Monday, June 16, 1712

	
 Steele









Hæc studia Adolescentiam alunt, Senectutem oblectant, secundas res
  ornant, adversis solatium et perfugium præbet delectant domi, non
  impediunt foris; Pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur.



Tull.




the
Lapland
Scheffer's
1










  Dear Sir,



  You have obliged me with a very kind Letter; by which I find you shift
  the Scene of your Life from the Town to the Country, and enjoy that
  mixt State which wise Men both delight in, and are qualified for.
  Methinks most of the Philosophers and Moralists have run too much into
  Extreams, in praising entirely either Solitude or publick Life; in the
  former Men generally grow useless by too much Rest, and in the latter
  are destroyed by too much Precipitation: As Waters lying still,
  putrifie and are good for nothing; and running violently on, do but
  the more Mischief in their Passage to others, and are swallowed up and
  lost the sooner themselves. Those who, like you, can make themselves
  useful to all States, should be like gentle Streams, that not only
  glide through lonely Vales and Forests amidst the Flocks and
  Shepherds, but visit populous Towns in their Course, and are at once
  of Ornament and Service to them. But there is another sort of People
  who seem designed for Solitude, those I mean who have more to hide
  than to shew: As for my own Part, I am one of those of whom Seneca
  says, Tum Umbratiles sunt, ut putent in turbido esse quicquid in luce
  est. Some Men, like Pictures, are fitter for a Corner than a full
  Light; and I believe such as have a natural Bent to Solitude, are like
  Waters which may be forced into Fountains, and exalted to a great
  Height, may make a much nobler Figure, and a much louder Noise, but
  after all run more smoothly, equally and plentifully, in their own
  natural Course upon the Ground. The Consideration of this would make
  me very well contented with the Possession only of that Quiet which
  Cowley calls the Companion of Obscurity; but whoever has the Muses too
  for his Companions, can never be idle enough to be uneasie. Thus, Sir,
  you see I would flatter my self into a good Opinion of my own Way of
  Living; Plutarch just now told me, that 'tis in human Life as in a
  Game at Tables, one may wish he had the highest Cast, but if his
  Chance be otherwise, he is even to play it as well as he can, and make
  the best of it.



  I am, Sir,

Your most obliged,

  and most humble Servant. 








  Mr. Spectator,



  The Town being so well pleased with the fine Picture of artless Love,
  which Nature inspired the Laplander to paint in the Ode you lately
  printed; we were in Hopes that the ingenious Translator would have
  obliged it with the other also which Scheffer has given us; but since
  he has not, a much inferior Hand has ventured to send you this.



  It is a Custom with the Northern Lovers to divert themselves with a
  Song, whilst they Journey through the fenny Moors to pay a visit to
  their Mistresses. This is addressed by the Lover to his Rain-Deer,
  which is the Creature that in that Country supplies the Want of
  Horses. The Circumstances which successively present themselves to him
  in his Way, are, I believe you will think, naturally interwoven. The
  Anxiety of Absence, the Gloominess of the Roads, and his Resolution of
  frequenting only those, since those only can carry him to the Object
  of his Desires; the Dissatisfaction he expresses even at the greatest
  Swiftness with which he is carried, and his joyful Surprize at an
  unexpected Sight of his Mistress as she is bathing, seems beautifully
  described in the Original.



  If all those pretty Images of Rural Nature are lost in the Imitation,
  yet possibly you may think fit to let this supply the Place of a long
  Letter, when Want of Leisure or Indisposition for Writing will not
  permit our being entertained by your own Hand. I propose such a Time,
  because tho' it is natural to have a Fondness for what one does ones
  self, yet I assure you I would not have any thing of mine displace a
  single Line of yours.












	I
	Haste, my Rain-Deer, and let us nimbly go

  Our am'rous Journey through this dreery Waste;

Haste, my Rain-Deer! still still thou art too slow;

  Impetuous Love demands the Lightning's Haste.		




	II
	Around us far the Rushy Moors are spread:

  Soon will the Sun withdraw her chearful Ray:

Darkling and tir'd we shall the Marshes tread,

  No Lay unsung to cheat the tedious Way.		




	III
	The wat'ry Length of these unjoyous Moors

  Does all the flow'ry Meadow's Pride excel,

Through these I fly to her my Soul adores;

  Ye flowery Meadows, empty Pride, Farewel.		





	IV
	Each Moment from the Charmer I'm confin'd,

  My Breast is tortur'd with impatient Fires;

Fly, my Rain-Deer, fly swifter than the Wind,

  Thy tardy Feet wing with my fierce Desires.		




	V
	Our pleasing Toil will then be soon o'erpaid,

  And thou, in Wonder lost, shalt view my Fair,

Admire each Feature of the lovely Maid,

  Her artless Charms, her Bloom, her sprightly Air,		




	VI
	But lo! with graceful Motion there she swims,

  Gently moving each ambitious Wave;

The crowding Waves transported clasp her Limbs:

  When, when, oh when, shall I such Freedoms have!		




	VII
	In vain, you envious Streams, so fast you flow,

  To hide her from a Lover's ardent Gaze:

From ev'ry Touch you more transparent grow,

  And all reveal'd the beauteous Wanton plays.   		


















Footnote 1:
No. 366
note



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 407

	
 Tuesday, June 17, 1712

	
 Addison









—abest facundis Gratia dictis.



Ovid.




English
Modest
Greece
Rome
Italy
Englishman
Italian
Italian
Raphael's
 St. Paul
Athens
Apostle




England








Latin
 laterum contentio,
Greek
Athens
if they were so much affected by the bare reading of it, how much
more they would have been alarmed, had they heard him actually throwing
out such a Storm of Eloquence?




British
English
British
Westminster-Hall
the Thread of his Discourse














Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 408

	
 Wednesday, June 18, 1712

	
 Pope









Decet affectus animi neque se nimium erigere, nec subjacere
  serviliter.



Tull.








  Mr. Spectator,



  I have always been a very great Lover of your Speculations, as well in
  Regard to the Subject, as to your Manner of Treating it. Human Nature
  I always thought the most useful Object of human Reason, and to make
  the Consideration of it pleasant and entertaining, I always thought
  the best Employment of human Wit: Other Parts of Philosophy may
  perhaps make us wiser, but this not only answers that End, but makes
  us better too. Hence it was that the Oracle pronounced Socrates the
  wisest of all Men living, because he judiciously made Choice of human
  Nature for the Object of his Thoughts; an Enquiry into which as much
  exceeds all other Learning, as it is of more Consequence to adjust the
  true Nature and Measures of Right and Wrong, than to settle the
  Distance of the Planets, and compute the Times of their
  Circumvolutions.



  One good Effect that will immediately arise from a near Observation of
  human Nature, is, that we shall cease to wonder at those Actions which
  Men are used to reckon wholly unaccountable; for as nothing is
  produced without a Cause, so by observing the Nature and Course of the
  Passions, we shall be able to trace every Action from its first
  Conception to its Death; We shall no more admire at the Proceedings of
  Catiline or Tiberius, when we know the one was actuated by a cruel
  Jealousie, the other by a furious Ambition; for the Actions of Men
  follow their Passions as naturally as Light does Heat, or as any other
  Effect flows from its Cause; Reason must be employed in adjusting the
  Passions, but they must ever remain the Principles of Action.



  The strange and absurd Variety that is so apparent in Men's Actions,
  shews plainly they can never proceed immediately from Reason; so pure
  a Fountain emits no such troubled Waters: They must necessarily arise
  from the Passions, which are to the Mind as the Winds to a Ship, they
  only can move it, and they too often destroy it; if fair and gentle,
  they guide it into the Harbour; if contrary and furious, they overset
  it in the Waves: In the same manner is the Mind assisted or endangered
  by the Passions; Reason must then take the Place of Pilot, and can
  never fail of securing her Charge if she be not wanting to her self:
  The Strength of the Passions will never be accepted as an Excuse for
  complying with them, they were designed for Subjection, and if a Man
  suffers them to get the upper Hand, he then betrays the Liberty of his
  own Soul.



  As Nature has framed the several Species of Beings as it were in a
  Chain, so Man seems to be placed as the middle Link between Angels and
  Brutes: Hence he participates both of Flesh and Spirit by an admirable
  Tie, which in him occasions perpetual War of Passions; and as a Man
  inclines to the angelick or brute Part of his Constitution, he is then
  denominated good or bad, virtuous or wicked; if Love, Mercy, and
  Good-nature prevail, they speak him of the Angel; if Hatred, Cruelty,
  and Envy predominate, they declare his Kindred to the Brute. Hence it
  was that some of the Ancients imagined, that as Men in this Life
  inclined more to the Angel or Brute, so after their Death they should
  transmigrate into the one or the other: and it would be no unpleasant
  Notion, to consider the several Species of Brutes, into which we may
  imagine that Tyrants, Misers, the Proud, Malicious, and Ill-natured
  might be changed.



  As a Consequence of this Original, all Passions are in all Men, but
  all appear not in all; Constitution, Education, Custom of the Country,
  Reason, and the like Causes, may improve or abate the Strength of
  them, but still the Seeds remain, which are ever ready to sprout forth
  upon the least Encouragement. I have heard a Story of a good religious
  Man, who, having been bred with the Milk of a Goat, was very modest in
  Publick by a careful Reflection he made on his Actions, but he
  frequently had an Hour in Secret, wherein he had his Frisks and
  Capers; and if we had an Opportunity of examining the Retirement of
  the strictest Philosophers, no doubt but we should find perpetual
  Returns of those Passions they so artfully conceal from the Publick. I
  remember Matchiavel observes, that every State should entertain a
  perpetual jealousie of its Neighbours, that so it should never be
  unprovided when an Emergency happens1; in like manner should the
  Reason be perpetually on its Guard against the Passions, and never
  suffer them to carry on any Design that may be destructive of its
  Security; yet at the same Time it must be careful, that it don't so
  far break their Strength as to render them contemptible, and
  consequently it self unguarded.



  The Understanding being of its self too slow and lazy to exert it self
  into Action, its necessary it should be put in Motion by the gentle
  Gales of the Passions, which may preserve it from stagnating and
  Corruption; for they are as necessary to the Health of the Mind, as
  the Circulation of the animal Spirits is to the Health of the Body;
  they keep it in Life, and Strength, and Vigour; nor is it possible for
  the Mind to perform its Offices without their Assistance: These
  Motions are given us with our Being, they are little Spirits that are
  born and dye with us; to some they are mild, easie, and gentle, to
  others wayward and unruly, yet never too strong for the Reins of
  Reason and the Guidance of Judgment.



  We may generally observe a pretty nice Proportion between the Strength
  of Reason and Passion; the greatest Genius's have commonly the
  strongest Affections, as on the other hand, the weaker Understandings
  have generally the weaker Passions; and 'tis fit the Fury of the
  Coursers should not be too great for the Strength of the Charioteer.
  Young Men whose Passions are not a little unruly, give small Hopes of
  their ever being considerable; the Fire of Youth will of course abate,
  and is a Fault, if it be a Fault, that mends every Day; but surely
  unless a Man has Fire in Youth, he can hardly have Warmth in Old Age.
  We must therefore be very cautious, lest while we think to regulate
  the Passions, we should quite extinguish them, which is putting out
  the Light of the Soul: for to be without Passion, or to be hurried
  away with it, makes a Man equally blind. The extraordinary Severity
  used in most of our Schools has this fatal Effect, it breaks the
  Spring of the Mind, and most certainly destroys more good Genius's
  than it can possibly improve. And surely 'tis a mighty Mistake that
  the Passions should be so intirely subdued; for little Irregularities
  are sometimes not only to be borne with, but to be cultivated too,
  since they are frequently attended with the greatest Perfections. All
  great Geniuss have Faults mixed with their Virtues, and resemble the
  flaming Bush which has Thorns amongst Lights.



  Since, therefore the Passions are the Principles of human Actions, we
  must endeavour to manage them so as to retain their Vigour, yet keep
  them under strict Command; we must govern them rather like free
  Subjects than Slaves, lest while we intend to make them obedient, they
  become abject, and unfit for those great Purposes to which they were
  designed. For my Part I must confess, I could never have any Regard to
  that Sect of Philosophers, who so much insisted upon an absolute
  Indifference and Vacancy from all Passion; for it seems to me a Thing
  very inconsistent for a Man to divest himself of Humanity, in order to
  acquire Tranquility of Mind, and to eradicate the very Principles of
  Action, because its possible they may produce ill Effects.



  I am, Sir,



  Your Affectionate Admirer,



  T. B.















Footnote 1:
The Prince



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 409

	
 Thursday, June 19, 1712

	
 Addison









Musæo contingere cuncta lepore.



Lucr.







Gratian
Fine Taste,
1
















Livy
Sallust
Tacitus




Cicero's




Virgil
Æneas








Rome
Augustus
Greece
Socrates
Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau, la Fontaine, Bruyere, Bossu
Daciers




Longinus




England
Gothic
Essay upon Wit,



















Footnote 1:
Footnote 3
No. 379
cultismo



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 410

	
 Friday, June 20, 1712

	
 Tickell









Dum foris sunt, nihil videtur Mundius,

Nec magis compositum quidquam, nec magis elegans:

Quæ, cum amatore suo cum coenant, Liguriunt,

Harum videre ingluviem, sordes, inopiam:

Quam inhonestæ solæ sint domi, atque avidæ cibi,

Quo pacto ex Jure Hesterno panem atrum varent.

Nosse omnia hæc, salus est adolescentulis.



Tert.







Will. Honeycomb
Roger De Coverly
Will
Roger De Coverly
Roger's
Madam the
same at your Service
Your
Friend, Mr. Honeycomb, is a little surprized to see a Woman here alone
and unattended; but I dismissed my Coach at the Gate, and tripped it
down to my Council's Chambers, for Lawyer's Fees take up too much of a
small disputed Joynture to admit any other Expence but meer Necessaries.
Honeycomb
Roger's
Honeycomb
Honeycomb
Roger
Will. Honeycomb




the Old Man's Wish
Roger
Will. Honeycomb. Will
 Andrew Freeport
  Madam,



  I am not so meer a Country-Gentleman, but I can guess at the
  Law-Business you had at the Temple. If you would go down to the
  Country and leave off all your Vanities but your Singing, let me know
  at my Lodgings in Bow-street Covent-Garden, and you shall be
  encouraged by



  Your humble Servant,

  Roger De Coverly.
Will. Honeycomb 
  Mr. Spectator,



  Having seen a Translation of one of the Chapters in the Canticles into
  English Verse inserted among your late Papers, I have ventured to send
  you the 7th Chapter of the Proverbs in a poetical Dress. If you think
  it worthy appearing among your Speculations, it will be a sufficient
  Reward for the Trouble of



  Your constant Reader,



  A. B.








My Son, th' Instruction that my Words impart,

Grave on the Living Tablet of thy Heart;

And all the wholesome Precepts that I give,

Observe with strictest Reverence, and live.

  Let all thy Homage be to Wisdom paid,

Seek her Protection and implore her Aid;

That she may keep thy Soul from Harm secure,

And turn thy Footsteps from the Harlot's Door,

Who with curs'd Charms lures the Unwary in,

And sooths with Flattery their Souls to Sin.

  Once from my Window as I cast mine Eye

On those that pass'd in giddy Numbers by,

A Youth among the foolish Youths I spy'd,

Who took not sacred Wisdom for his Guide.

  Just as the Sun withdrew his cooler Light,

And Evening soft led on the Shades of Night,

He stole in covert Twilight to his Fate,

And pass'd the Corner near the Harlot's Gate

When, lo, a Woman comes!—

Loose her Attire, and such her glaring Dress,

As aptly did the Harlot's Mind express:

Subtle she is, and practisd in the Arts,

By which the Wanton conquer heedless Hearts:

Stubborn and loud she is; she hates her Home,

Varying her Place and Form; she loves to roam;

Now she's within, now in the Street does stray;

Now at each Corner stands, and waits her Prey.

The Youth she seiz'd; and laying now aside

All Modesty, the Female's justest Pride,

She said, with an Embrace, Here at my House

Peace-offerings are, this Day I paid my Vows.

I therefore came abroad to meet my Dear,

And, Lo, in Happy Hour I find thee here.

  My Chamber I've adornd, and o'er my Bed

Are cov'rings of the richest Tapstry spread,

With Linnen it is deck'd from Egypt brought,

And Carvings by the Curious Artist wrought,

It wants no Glad Perfume Arabia yields

In all her Citron Groves, and spicy Fields;

Here all her store of richest Odours meets,

Ill lay thee in a Wilderness of Sweets.

Whatever to the Sense can grateful be

I have collected there—I want but Thee.

My Husband's gone a Journey far away,         }

Much Gold he took abroad, and long will stay, }

He nam'd for his return a distant Day.        }

  Upon her Tongue did such smooth Mischief dwell,

And from her Lips such welcome Flatt'ry fell,

Th' unguarded Youth, in Silken Fetters ty'd,

Resign'd his Reason, and with Ease comply'd.

Thus does the Ox to his own Slaughter go,

And thus is senseless of th' impending Blow.

Thus flies the simple Bird into the Snare,

That skilful Fowlers for his Life prepare.

But let my Sons attend, Attend may they

Whom Youthful Vigour may to Sin betray;

Let them false Charmers fly, and guard their Hearts

Against the wily Wanton's pleasing Arts,

With Care direct their Steps, nor turn astray,

To tread the Paths of her deceitful Way;

Lest they too late of Her fell Power complain,

And fall, where many mightier have been Slain.






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 411

	
 Saturday, June 21, 1712

	
 Addison









Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante

Trita solo; juvat integros accedere fonteis;

Atque haurire:—



Lucr.












which
before our
1
s




Homer
Aristotle












Sir Francis Bacon
Essay upon Health




shall
2



















Footnote 1:
present to the



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
Essay on
Jealousy
No. 176
No. 255
No. 171
Ode
Imagination
Rhetoric
Examination of the Style of Mr. Addison
411
412
413
414
Spectator
Pleasures of the Imagination



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 412

	
 Monday, June 23, 1712

	
 Addison









—Divisum sic breve fiet Opus.



Mart.












and
please
1




Scit thalamo servare fidem, sanctasque veretur

Connubii leges, non illum in pectore candor

Sollicitat niveus; neque pravum accendit amorem

Splendida Lanugo, vel honesta in vertice crista,

Purpureusve nitor pennarum; ast agmina latè

Fœminea explorat cautus, maculasque requirit

Cognatas, paribusque interlita corpora guttis:

Ni faceret, pictis sylvam circum undique monstris

Confusam aspiceres vulgò, partusque biformes,

Et genus ambiguum, et Veneris monumenta nefandæ.

Hinc merula in nigro se oblectat nigra marito,

Hinc socium lasciva petit Philomela canorum,

Agnoscitque pares sonitus, hinc Noctua tetram

Canitiem alarum, et glaucos miratur ocellos.

Nempe sibi semper constat, crescitque quotannis

Lucida progenies, castos confessa parentes;

Dum virides inter saltus lucosque sonoros

Vere novo exultat, plumasque decora Juventus

Explicat ad solem, patriisque coloribus ardet2



















Footnote 1:
to please



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
note
No. 411
Scintillat solitis
Ostentat solitas
Explicat ad solem.



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 413

	
 Tuesday, June 24, 1712

	
 Addison









—Causa latet, vis est notissima—



Ovid.




























Lock's Essay on Human Understanding











  June 24, 1712.



  Mr. Spectator,



  I would not divert the Course of your Discourses, when you seem bent
  upon obliging the World with a train of Thinking, which, rightly
  attended to, may render the Life of every Man who reads it, more easy
  and happy for the future. The Pleasures of the Imagination are what
  bewilder Life, when Reason and Judgment do not interpose; It is
  therefore a worthy Action in you to look carefully into the Powers of
  Fancy, that other Men, from the Knowledge of them, may improve their
  Joys and allay their Griefs, by a just use of that Faculty: I say,
  Sir, I would not interrupt you in the progress of this Discourse; but
  if you will do me the Favour of inserting this Letter in your next
  Paper, you will do some Service to the Public, though not in so noble
  a way of Obliging, as that of improving their Minds. Allow me, Sir, to
  acquaint you with a Design (of which I am partly Author), though it
  tends to no greater a Good than that of getting Money. I should not
  hope for the Favour of a Philosopher in this Matter, if it were not
  attempted under all the Restrictions which you Sages put upon private
  Acquisitions.



  The first Purpose which every good Man is to propose to himself, is
  the Service of his Prince and Country; after that is done, he cannot
  add to himself, but he must also be beneficial to them. This Scheme of
  Gain is not only consistent with that End, but has its very Being in
  Subordination to it; for no Man can be a Gainer here but at the same
  time he himself, or some other, must succeed in their Dealings with
  the Government. It is called the Multiplication Table, and is so far
  calculated for the immediate Service of Her Majesty, that the same
  Person who is fortunate in the Lottery of the State, may receive yet
  further Advantage in this Table. And I am sure nothing can be more
  pleasing to Her gracious Temper than to find out additional Methods of
  increasing their good Fortune who adventure anything in Her Service,
  or laying Occasions for others to become capable of serving their
  Country who are at present in too low Circumstances to exert
  themselves. The manner of executing the Design is, by giving out
  Receipts for half Guineas received, which shall entitle the fortunate
  Bearer to certain Sums in the Table, as is set forth at large in the
  Proposals Printed the 23rd instant. There is another Circumstance in
  this Design, which gives me hopes of your Favour to it, and that is
  what Tully advises, to wit, that the Benefit is made as diffusive as
  possible. Every one that has half a Guinea is put into a possibility,
  from that small Sum, to raise himself an easy Fortune; when these
  little parcels of Wealth are, as it were, thus thrown back again into
  the Redonation of Providence, we are to expect that some who live
  under Hardship or Obscurity, may be produced to the World in the
  Figure they deserve by this means. I doubt not but this last Argument
  will have Force with you, and I cannot add another to it, but what
  your Severity will, I fear, very little regard; which is, that



  I am, Sir, Your greatest Admirer,

  Richard Steele.






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 414

	
 Wednesday, June 25, 1712

	
 Addison









—Alterius sic

Altera poscit opem res et conjurat amicè.



Hor.




Scriptorum chorus omnis amat nemus et fugit Urbes.



Hor.





Hic Secura quies, et nescia fallere vita,

Dives opum variarum; hic latis otia fundis,

Speluncæ, vivique lacus, hic frigida Tempe,

Mugitusque boum, mollesque sub arbore somni.br>


Virg.








English
France
Italy




China
Europeans
British
cannot
more
1



















Footnote 1:
most



return to footnote mark






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 415

	
 Thursday, June 26, 1712

	
 Addison









Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem.



Virg.








Eastern




Tower of Babel,
Walls of Babylon
hanging Gardens,
Temple to Jupiter Belus
Babylonian Observatory;
Semiramis
Euphrates
are
Grand
1
As
Semiramis
three
2
Northern
Bitumen
Holy Writ
Babel




Egypt
Pyramids
Labyrinth




Wall of China
Eastern








would
Lysippus's
3
Alexander
than
Mount Athos
Phidias
4




Pantheon
Rome
Gothick




French
Monsieur Freart's Parallel of the Ancient
and Modern Architecture.
I am observing
a thing which,
in my Opinion, is very curious, whence it proceeds, that in the same
Quantity of Superficies, the one Manner seems great and magnificent, and
the other poor and trifling; the Reason is fine and uncommon. I say
then, that to introduce into Architecture this Grandeur of Manner, we
ought so to proceed, that the Division of the Principal Members of the
Order may consist but of few Parts, that they be all great and of a bold
and ample Relievo, and Swelling; and that the Eye, beholding nothing
little and mean, the Imagination may be more vigorously touched and
affected with the Work that stands before it. For example; In a Cornice,
if the Gola or Cynatium of the Corona, the Coping, the Modillions or
Dentelli, make a noble Show by their graceful Projections, if we see
none of that ordinary Confusion which is the Result of those little
Cavities, Quarter Rounds of the Astragal and I know not how many other
intermingled Particulars, which produce no Effect in great and massy
Works, and which very unprofitably take up place to the Prejudice of the
Principal Member, it is most certain that this Manner will appear Solemn
and Great; as on the contrary, that it will have but a poor and mean
Effect, where there is a Redundancy of those smaller Ornaments, which
divide and scatter the Angles of the Sight into such a Multitude of
Rays, so pressed together that the whole will appear but a Confusion.




Concave
Convex
China
by
Sirach
Look upon the
Rainbow and praise him that made it; very beautiful it is in its
Brightness; it encompasses the Heavens with a glorious Circle, and the
Hands of the most High5 have bended it.























Footnote 1:
Grounds



return to footnote mark









Footnote 2:
two



return









Footnote 3:
Protogenes's



return









Footnote 4:



return









Footnote 5:
Almighty



return






Contents

Contents, p.7








	
 No. 416

	
 Friday, June 27, 1712

	
 Addison









Quatenûs hoc simile est oculis, quod mente videmus.



Lucr.








America
Spaniards
 Emperor of Mexico










But
which
1



























Footnote 1:
that



return to footnote mark










end of Volume 2.















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