Th[e ACADeNjY S6RieS OF 
 eNGLISH CLASSICS 
 
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 I3304- 
 
 Addison 
 De Coverley Papers 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
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 Cfje ^catiemg Series of Engltsf) Classits 
 
 ADDISON 
 
 De Coverley Papers 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 SAMUEL THURBER 
 
 Boston 
 
 ALLYN AND BACON 
 

 
 Copyright, 1892, 
 By SAMUEL THURBER. 
 
 \i^ Jc 
 
 XorbjootJ ^r£S8 : 
 
 J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 
 
 Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
PUBLISHEES' NOTE. 
 
 This book contains portions of a larger volume pre= 
 pared by the same editor. The page numbers have not 
 been changed, and the breaks in the paging occur where 
 matter of the larger volume has been omitted. 
 
 All the works in The Academy Series of English Classics 
 are given without abbreviation. 
 
THE DE COVERLET PAPERS. 
 
 Spectator No. I06. The Spectator's observations at Sir Roger's 
 
 country-house. 
 
 Having often received an invitation from my friend Sir 
 Eoger de Coverley to pass away a month, with him in the 
 country, I last week accompanied him thither, and am settled 
 with him for some time at his country-house, where I intend 
 to form several of my ensuing speculations. Sir Eoger, who 
 is very well acquainted with my humor, lets me rise and go 
 to bed when I please ; dine at his own table or in my chamber 
 as I think fit, sit still and say nothing without bidding me 
 be merry. When the gentlemen of the country come to see 
 him, he only shows me at a distance : as I have been walk- 
 ing in his fields I have observed them stealing a sight of me 
 over an hedge, and have heard the knight desiring them not 
 to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at. 
 
 I am the more at ease in Sir Eoger's family, because it 
 consists of sober and staid persons : for as the knight is the 
 best master in the world, he seldom changes his servants ; 
 and as he is beloved by all about him, his servants never 
 care for leaving him ; by this means his domestics are all in 
 years, and grown old with their master. You would take 
 his Valet-de-chambre for his brother, his butler is grey- 
 headed, his groom is one of the gravest men that I have 
 ever seen, and his coachman has the looks of a privy-coun- 
 sellor. You see the goodness of the master even in the old 
 house-dog, and in a grey pad that is kept in the stable with 
 great care and tenderness out of regard to his past services, 
 though he has been useless for several years. ^ 
 
 17 
 
18 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure the 
 joy that appeared in the countenance of these ancient do- 
 mestics upon my friend's arrival at his country-seat. Some 
 of them could not refrain from tears at the sight of their 
 old master ; every one of them pressed forward to do some- 
 thing for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not em- 
 ployed. At the same time the good old knight, with a 
 mixture of the father and the master of the family, tem- 
 pered the inquiries after his own affairs with several kind 
 questions relating to themselves. This humanity and good 
 nature engages everybody to him, so that when he is pleas- 
 ant upon any of them, all his family are in good humor, 
 and none so much as the person whom he diverts himself 
 with : on the contrary, if he coughs, or betrays any infirmity 
 of old age, it is easy for a stander by to observe a secret 
 concern in the looks of all his servants. 
 
 My worthy friend has put me under the particular care 
 of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as well as 
 the rest of his fellow-servants, wonderfully desirous of 
 pleasing me, because they have often heard their master 
 talk of me as of his particular friend. 
 
 My chief companion, when Sir Eoger is diverting him- 
 self in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man who 
 is ever with Sir Eoger, and has lived at his house in the 
 nature of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentleman 
 is a person of good sense and some learning, of a very regu- 
 lar life and obliging conversation: he heartily loves Sir 
 Eoger, and knows that he is very much in the old knight's 
 esteem, so that he lives in the family rather as a relation 
 than a dependent. 
 
 I have observed in several of my papers, that my friend 
 Sir Eoger, amidst all his good qualities, is something of an 
 humorist; and that his virtues, as well as imperfections, 
 are, as it were, tinged by a certain extravagance, which 
 makes them particularly his, and distinguishes them from 
 
The Spectator at Sir Roger's, 19 
 
 those of other men. This cast of mind, as it is generally 
 very innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation highly 
 agreeable, and more delightful than the same degree of 
 sense and virtue would appear in their common or ordinary 
 colors. As I was walking with him last night, he asked 
 me how I liked the good man whom I have just now men- 
 tioned; and, without staying for my answer, told me that 
 he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at 
 his own table; for which reason he desired a particular 
 friend of his at the university to find him out a clergyman 
 rather of plain sense than much learning, of a good aspect, 
 a clear voice, a sociable temper: and, if possible, a man 
 that understood a little of back-gammon. ^^My friend,'^ 
 says Sir Eoger, " found me out this gentleman, who, besides 
 the endowments required of him, is, they tell me, a good 
 scholar, though he does not show it : I have given him the 
 parsonage of the parish; and because I know his value, 
 have settled upon him a good annuity for life. If he out- 
 lives me, he shall find that he was higher in my esteem 
 than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me 
 thirty years ; and though he does not know I have taken 
 notice of it, has never in all that time asked anything of 
 me for himself, though he is every day soliciting me for 
 something in behalf of one or other of my tenants, his par- 
 ishioners. There has not been a law-suit in the parish 
 since he has lived among them ; if any dispute arises they 
 apply themselves to him for the decision ; if they do not 
 acquiesce in his judgment, which I think never happened 
 above once or twice at most, they appeal to me. At his 
 first settling with me, I made him a present of all the good 
 sermons which have been printed in English, and only 
 begged of him that every Sunday he would pronounce one 
 of them in the pulpit. Accordingly, he has digested them 
 into such a series, that they follow one another naturally, 
 and make a continued system of practical divinity.^' 
 
20 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 As Sir Eoger was going on in his story, the gentle- 
 man we were talking of came up to us ; and upon the 
 knight's asking him who preached to-morrow ( for it was 
 Saturday night ) told us, the Bishop of St. Asaph in the 
 morning, and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then showed 
 us his list of preachers for the whole year, where I saw 
 with a great deal of pleasure archbishop Tillotson, bishop 
 Saunderson, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with several living 
 authors who have published discourses of practical divinity. 
 I no sooner saw this venerable man in the pulpit, but I very 
 much approved of my friend's insisting upon the quali- 
 fications of a good aspect and a clear voice ; for I was so 
 charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and delivery, as 
 well as with the discourses he pronounced, that I think I 
 never passed any time more to my satisfaction. A sermon 
 repeated after this manner is like the composition of a poet 
 in the mouth of a graceful actor. 
 
 I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy 
 would follow this example ; and instead of wasting their 
 spirits in laborious compositions of their own, would 
 endeavor after a handsome elocution, and all those other 
 talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by 
 greater masters. This would not only be more easy to 
 themselves, but more edifying to the people. 
 
 Spectator No. 107. The Coverley household: Sir Roger's treat- 
 7nent of his servants. 
 
 The reception, manner of attendance, undisturbed free- 
 dom, and quiet, which I meet with here in the country, 
 has confirmed me in the opinion I always had, that the 
 general corruption of manners in servants is owing to 
 the conduct of masters. The aspect of every one in the 
 family carries so much satisfaction that it appears he 
 
Sh' Roger and His Dependents, 21 
 
 knows the happy lot which has befallen him in being a 
 member of it. There is one particular which I have 
 seldom seen but at Sir Soger's ; it is usual in all other 
 places, that servants fly from the parts of the house through 
 which their master is passing : on the contrary, here they 
 industriously place themselves in his way ; and it is on 
 both sides, as it were, understood as a visit, when the 
 servants appear without calling. This proceeds from the 
 humane and equal temper of the man of the house, who 
 also perfectly well knows how to enjoy a great estate with 
 such economy as ever to be much beforehand. This makes 
 his own mind untroubled, and consequently unapt to vent 
 peevish expressions, or give passionate or inconsistent 
 orders to those about him. Thus respect and love go 
 together, and a certain cheerfulness in performance of their 
 duty is the particular distinction of the lower part of this 
 family. When a servant is called before his master, he 
 does not come with an expectation to hear himself rated for 
 some trivial fault, threatened to be stripped, or used with 
 any other unbecoming language, which mean masters often 
 give to worthy servants ; but it is often to know what road 
 he took that he came so readily back according to order ; 
 whether he passed by such a ground ; if the old man who 
 rents it is in good health ; or whether he gave Sir Eoger's 
 love to him, or the like. 
 
 One might, on this occasion, recount the sense that great 
 persons in all ages have had of the merit of their depend- 
 ents, and the heroic services which men have done their 
 masters in the extremity of their fortunes ; and shown to 
 their undone patrons that fortune was all the difference 
 between them ; but as I design this my speculation only as 
 a gentle admonition to thankless masters, I shall not go out 
 of the occurrences of common life, but assert it as a general 
 observation, that I never saw, but in Sir Eoger's family, and 
 one or two more, good servants treated as they ought to be. 
 
22 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 Sir Eoger's kindness extends to their children's children, 
 and this very morning he sent his coachman's grandson to 
 prentice. I shall conclude this paper with an account of a 
 picture in his gallery, where there are many which will 
 deserve my future observation. 
 
 At the very upper end of this handsome structure I saw 
 the portraiture of two young men standing in a river, the 
 one naked, the other in a livery. The person supported 
 seemed half dead, but still so much alive as to show in his 
 face exquisite joy and love towards the other. I thought 
 the fainting figure resembled my friend Sir Eoger; and 
 looking at the butler, who stood by me, for an account of it, 
 he informed me that the person in the livery was a servant 
 of Sir Eoger's, who stood on the shore while his master 
 was swimming, and observing him taken with some sudden 
 illness, and sink under water, jumped in and saved him. 
 He told me Sir Eoger took off the dress he was in as soon 
 as he came home, and by a great bounty at that time, fol- 
 lowed by his favor ever since, had made him master of that 
 pretty seat which we saw at a distance as we came to this 
 house. I remembered indeed Sir Eoger said there lived a 
 very worthy gentleman, to whom he was highly obliged, 
 without mentioning anything further. Upon my looking a 
 little dissatisfied at some part of the picture, my attendant 
 informed me that it was against Sir Eoger's will, and at the 
 earnest request of the gentleman himself, that he was drawn 
 in the habit in which he had saved his master. — Steele, 
 
 Spectator No. I08. The Spectator describes Will Wirnhle, whom 
 he meets at Sir Roger's. 
 
 As I was yesterday morning walking with Sir Eoger be- 
 fore his house, a country fellow brought him a huge fish, 
 which, he told him, Mr. William Wimble had caught that 
 
Will Wimble. 23 
 
 very morning ; and that lie presented it, with his service to 
 him, and intended to come and dine with him. At the same 
 time he delivered a letter, which my friend read to me as 
 soon as the messenger left him. 
 
 Sir Koger, — I desire you to accept of a jack, which is the best 
 I have caught this season. I intend to come and stay with you a 
 week, and see how the perch bite in the Black River. I observed with 
 some concern, the last time I saw you upon the bowhng-green, that 
 your whip wanted a lash to it ; I will bring half a dozen with me 
 that I twisted last week, which I hope will serve you all the time you 
 are in the country. I have not been out of the saddle for six days 
 last past, having been at Eton with Sir John's eldest son. He takes 
 to his learning hugely. 
 
 I am, sir, your humble servant. 
 
 Will Wimble. 
 
 This extraordinary letter, and message that accompanied 
 it, made me very curious to know the character and quality 
 of the gentleman who sent them ; which I found to be as 
 follows. Will Wimble is younger brother to a baronet, and 
 descended of the ancient family of the Wimbles. He is now 
 between forty and fifty ; but being bred to no business and 
 born to no estate, he generally lives with his elder brother 
 as superintendent of his game. He hunts a pack of dogs 
 better than any man in the country, and is very famous for 
 finding out a hare. He is extremely well versed in all the 
 little handicrafts of an idle man : he makes a may-fly to a 
 miracle, and furnishes the whole country with angle-rods. 
 As he is a good-natured officious fellow, and very much es- 
 teemed upon account of his family, he is a welcome guest 
 at every house, and keeps up a good correspondence among 
 all the gentlemen about him. He carries a tulip-root in his 
 pocket from one to another, or exchanges a puppy between 
 a couple of friends that live perhaps in the opposite sides 
 of the county. Will is a particular favorite of all the young 
 heirS; whom he frequently obliges with a net that he has 
 
24 Select .Essays of Addison, 
 
 weaved, or a setting-dog that he has made himself. He now 
 and then presents a pair of garters of his own knitting to 
 their mothers or sisters ; and raises a great deal of mirth 
 among them, by inquiring as often as he meets them how 
 they wear. These gentleman-like manufactures and obliging 
 little humors make Will the darling of the country. 
 
 Sir Roger was proceeding in the character of him, when 
 we saw him make up to us with two or three hazel-twigs in 
 his hand that he had cut in Sir Roger's woods, as he came 
 through them, in his way to the house. I was very much 
 pleased to observe on one side the hearty and sincere wel- 
 come with which Sir Roger received him, and on the other, 
 the secret joy which his guest discovered at sight of the 
 good old Knight. After the first salutes were over. Will 
 desired Sir Roger to lend him one of his servants to carry 
 a set of shuttlecocks he had with him in a little box to a 
 lady that lived about a mile off, to whom it seems he had 
 promised such a present for above this half year. Sir Roger's 
 back was no sooner turned but honest Will began to tell me 
 of a large cock-pheasant that he had sprung in one of the 
 neighboring woods, with two or three other adventures of 
 the same nature. Odd and uncommon characters are the 
 game that I look for and most delight in ; for which reason 
 I was as much pleased with the novelty of the person that 
 talked to me, as he could be for his life with the springing 
 of a pheasant, and therefore listened to him with more than 
 ordinary attention. 
 
 In the midst of his discourse the bell rung to dinner, 
 where the gentleman I have been speaking of had the pleas- 
 ure of seeing the huge jack he had caught served up for the 
 first dish in a most sumptuous manner. Upon our sitting 
 down to it he gave us a long account how he had hooked it, 
 played with it, foiled it, and at length drew it out upon the 
 bank, with several other particulars that lasted all the first 
 course. A dish of wild fowl that came afterwards furnished 
 
Will Wimble. 25 
 
 conversation for the rest of the dinner, which concluded with 
 a late invention of Will's for improving the quail-pipe. 
 
 Upon withdrawing into my room after dinner, I was 
 secretly touched with compassion towards the honest gen- 
 tleman that had dined with us, and could not but consider, 
 with a great deal of concern, how so good an heart and such 
 busy hands were wholly employed in trifles ; that so much 
 humanity should be so little beneficial to others, and so 
 much industry so little advantageous to himself. The same 
 temper of mind and application to affairs might have rec- 
 ommended him to the public esteem, and have raised his 
 fortune in another station of life. What good to his coun- 
 try or himself might not a trader or a merchant have done 
 with such useful though ordinary qualifications ? 
 
 Will Wimble's is the case of many a younger brother of 
 a great family, who had rather see their children starve like 
 gentlemen than thrive in a trade or profession that is be- 
 neath their quality. This humor fills several parts of 
 Europe with pride and beggary. It is the happiness of a 
 trading nation, like ours, that the younger sons, though un- 
 capable of any liberal art or profession, may be placed in 
 such a way of life as may perhaps enable them to vie with 
 the best of their family. Accordingly, we find several citi- 
 zens that were launched into the world with narrow for- 
 tunes, rising by an honest industry to greater estates than 
 those of their elder brothers. It is not improbable but Will 
 was formerly tried at divinity, law, or physic; and that 
 finding his genius did not lie that way, his parents gave him 
 up at length to his own inventions. \ But certainly, however 
 improper he might have been for studies of a higher nature, 
 he was perfectly well turned for the occupations of trade 
 and commerce. \ As I think this is a point which cannot be 
 too much inculcated, I shall desire my reader to compare 
 what I have here written with what I have said in my 
 twenty-first speculation. 
 
26 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 Spectator No. 109. Sir Roger's account of his ancestors. 
 
 I was this morning walking in the gallery^ when Sir Koger 
 entered at the end opposite to me, and, advancing towards 
 me, said he was glad to meet me among his relations the 
 De Coverleys, and hoped I liked the conversation of so much 
 good company, who were as silent as myself. I knew he 
 alluded to the pictures ; and, as he is a gentleman who does 
 not a little value himself upon his ancient descent, I ex- 
 pected he would give me some account of them. TVe were 
 now arrived at the upper end of the gallery, when the Knight 
 faced towards one of the pictures, and. as we stood before 
 it, he entered into the matter, after his blunt way of saying 
 things as they occur to his imagination without regular in- 
 troduction or care to preserve the appearance of chain of 
 thought. 
 
 " It is,'^ said h^ ^' worth while to consider the force of 
 dress, and how the persons of one age differ from those of 
 another merely by that only. One may observe, also, that 
 the general fashion of one age has been followed by one 
 particular set of people in another, and by them preserved 
 from one generation to another. Thus the vast jetting coat 
 and small bonnet, which was the habit in Harry the Seventh's 
 time, is kept on in the yeoman of the guard ; not without a 
 good and politic view, because they look a foot taller, and 
 a foot and a half broader : besides that the cap leaves the 
 face expanded, and consequently more terrible, and fitter to 
 stand at the entrances of palaces. 
 
 '' This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after this 
 manner, and his cheeks would be no larger than mine were 
 he in a hat as I am. He was the last man that won a prize 
 in the Tilt Yard (which is now a common street before 
 Whitehall). You see the broken lance that lies there by 
 his right foot : he shivered that lance of his adversary all 
 to pieces ; and, bearing himself, look you, sir, in this man- 
 
The Coverley Portrait Giallery. 27 
 
 ner, at the same time he came within the target of the 
 gentleman who rode against him, and taking him with 
 incredible force before him on the pommel of his saddle, 
 he in that manner rid the tournament over, with an air that 
 showed he did it rather to perform the rule of the lists 
 than expose his enemy : however, it appeared he knew how 
 to make use of a*victory, and, with a gentle trot, he marched 
 up to a gallery where their mistress sat (for they were ri- 
 vals) and let him down with laudable courtesy and pardon- 
 able insolence. I don't know but it might be exactly where 
 the coffee-house is now. 
 
 ^^You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a 
 military genius, but fit also for the arts of peace, for he 
 played on the bass-viol as well as any gentleman a,t court : 
 you see where his viol hangs by his basket-hilt sword. The 
 action at the Tilt Yard you may be sure won the fair lady, 
 who was a maid of honor, and the greatest beauty of her 
 time ; here she stands, the next picture. You see, sir, my 
 great-great-great-grandmother has on the new-fashioned 
 petticoat, except that the modern is gathered at the waist : 
 my grandmother appears as if she stood in a large drum, 
 whereas the ladies now walk as if they were in a go-cart. 
 For all this lady was bred at court, she became an excellent 
 country wife, she brought ten children, and, when I show 
 you the library, you shall see, in her own hand (allowing 
 for the difference of the language), the best receipt now in 
 England both for a hasty-pudding and a white-pot. 
 ^ ^^If you please to fall back a little, because 'tis necessary 
 to look at the three next pictures at one view ; these are 
 three sisters. She on the right hand, who is so very beau- 
 tiful, died a maid; the next to her, still handsomer, had 
 the same fate, against her will ; this homely thing in the 
 middle had both their portions added to her own, and was 
 stolen by a neighboring gentleman, a man of stratagem and 
 resolution, for he poisoned three mastiffs to come at her, 
 
28 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 and knocked down two deer-stealers in carrying her off. 
 Misfortunes happen in all families. The theft of this 
 romp and so much money, was no great matter to our es- 
 tate. ■ But the next heir that possessed it was this soft 
 gentleman, whom you see there : observe the small buttons, 
 the little boots, the laces, the slashes about his clothes, 
 and, above all, the posture he is drawn in (which to be sure 
 was his own choosing) ; you see he sits with one hand on 
 a desk writing and looking as it were another way, like an 
 easy writer, or a sonneteer. He was one of those that had 
 too much wit to know how to live in the world : he was a 
 man of no justice, but great good manners ; he ruined every- 
 body that had anything to do with him, but never said a 
 rude thing in his life ; the most indolent person in the 
 world, he would sign a deed that passed away half his es- 
 tate with his gloves on, but would not put on his hat before 
 a lady if it were to save his country. He is said to be the 
 first that made love by squeezing the hand. He left the 
 estate with ten thousand pounds debt upon it : but, how- 
 ever, by all hands I have been informed that he was every 
 way the finest gentleman in the world.^' 
 
 Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in the 
 following manner. " This man'' (pointing to him I looked 
 at) " I take to be the honor of our house, Sir Humphrey de 
 Coverley ; he was in his dealings as punctual as a trades- 
 man, and as generous as a gentleman. He would have 
 thought himself as much undone by breaking his word, as 
 if it were to be followed by bankruptcy. He served his 
 country as knight of this shire to his dying day. He found 
 it no easy matter to maintain an integrity in his words and 
 actions, even in things that regarded the offices which were 
 incumbent upon him, in the care of his own affairs and re- 
 lations of life, and therefore dreaded (though he had great 
 talents) to go into employments of state, where he must be 
 exposed to the snares of ambition. Innocence of life and 
 
Haunted Souses. 29 
 
 great ability were the distinguishing parts of his character ; 
 the latter, he had often observed, had led to the destruction 
 of the former, and used frequently to lament that great and 
 good had not the same signification. He was an excellent 
 husbandman, but had resolved not to exceed such a degree 
 of wealth : all above it he bestowed in secret bounties many 
 years after the sum he aimed at for his own use was at- 
 tained. Yet he did not slacken his industry, but to a 
 decent old age spent the life and fortune which was super- 
 fluous to himself in the service of his friends and neigh- 
 bors.'^ 
 
 Here we were called to dinner, and Sir Roger ended the 
 discourse of this gentleman by telling me, as we followed 
 the servant, that this his ancestor was a brave man, and 
 narrowly escaped being killed in the Civil Wars ; ^^ For," 
 said he, "he was sent .out of the field upon a private mes- 
 sage the day before the battle of Worcester." 
 
 The whim of narrowly escaping by having been within 
 a day of danger, with other matters above mentioned, 
 mixed with good sense, left me at a loss whether I was 
 more delighted with my friend's wisdom or simplicity. — 
 Steele. 
 
 Spectator No. no. Ghosts and haunted houses. 
 
 At a little distance from Sir Roger's house, among the 
 ruins of an old abbey, there is a long walk of aged elms ; 
 which are shot up so very high, that when one passes under 
 them, the rooks and crows that rest upon the tops of them, 
 seem to be cawing in another region. I am very much de- 
 lighted with this sort of noise, which I consider as a kind 
 of natural prayer to that Being who supplies the wants of 
 his whole creation, and who, in the beautiful language of 
 the Psalms, feedeth the young ravens that call upon him. 
 
30 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 I like this retirement the better^ because of an ill report it 
 lies under of being haunted ; for which reason, as I have 
 been told in the family, no living creature ever walks in it 
 besides the chaplain. My good friend the butler desired 
 me, with a very grave face, not to venture myself in it after 
 sunset, for that one of the footmen had been almost frighted 
 out of his wits by a spirit that appeared to him in the shape 
 of a black horse without an head ; to which he added, that 
 about a month ago, one of the maids coming home late that 
 way, with a pail of milk upon her head, heard such a rustling 
 among the bushes, that she let it fall. 
 
 I was taking a walk in this place last night between the 
 hours of nine and ten, and could not but fancy it one of the 
 most proper scenes in the world for a ghost to appear in. 
 The ruins of the abbey are scattered up and down on every 
 side, and half covered with ivy and elder bushes, the har- 
 bors of several solitary birds, which seldom make their 
 appearance till the dusk of the evening. The place was 
 formerly a churchyard, and has still several marks in it of 
 graves and burying-places. There is such an echo among 
 the old ruins and vaults, that if you stamp but a little 
 louder than ordinary, you hear the sound repeated. At the 
 same time the walk of elms, with the croaking of the ravens, 
 which from time to time are heard from the tops of them, 
 looks exceeding solemn and venerable. These objects natu- 
 rally raise seriousness and attention ; and when night height- 
 ens the awfulness of the place, and pours out her supernum- 
 erary horrors upon everything in it, I do not at all wonder 
 that weak minds fill it with spectres and apparitions. 
 
 Mr. Locke, in his chapter of the association of ideas, has 
 very curious remarks, to show how, by the prejudice of ed- 
 ucation, one idea often introduces into the mind a whole set 
 that bear no resemblance to one another in the nature of 
 things. Among several examples of this kind, he produces 
 the following instance : — 
 
Sunday in the Qountry. 31 
 
 The ideas of goblins and sprights have really no more to do with 
 darkness than light ; yet let but a foolish maid inculcate these often on 
 the mind of a child, and raise them there together, possibly he shall 
 never be able to separate them again so long as he lives ; but darkness 
 shall ever afterwards bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall 
 be so joined, that he can no more bear the one than the other. 
 
 As I was walking in this solitude, where the dusk of the 
 evening conspired with so many other occasions of terror, I 
 observed a cow grazing not far from me, which an imagina- 
 tion that was apt to startle might easily have construed into 
 a black horse without an head ; and I daresay the poor foot- 
 man lost his wits upon some such trivial occasion. 
 
 My friend Sir Eoger has often told me, with a good deal 
 of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate, he found 
 three parts of his house altogether useless; that the best 
 room in it had the reputation of being haunted, and by that 
 means was locked up ; that noises had been heard in his 
 long gallery, so that he could not get a servant to enter it 
 after eight o'clock at night; that the door of one of his 
 chambers was nailed up, because there went a story in the 
 family that a butler had formerly hanged himself in it ; and 
 that his mother, who lived to a great age, had shut up half 
 the rooms in the house, in which either her husband, a son, 
 or a daughter had died. The knight seeing his habitation 
 reduced to so small a compass, and himself in a manner 
 shut out of his own house, upon the death of his mother, 
 ordered all the apartments to be flung open, and exorcised 
 by his chaplain, who lay in every room one after another, 
 and by that means dissipated the fears which had so long 
 reigned in the family. 
 
 Spectator No. 112, Sunday in the country : Sir Roger at church* 
 
 I am always very well pleased with a country Sunday, and 
 think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a human 
 
32 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 institution, it would be the best method that could have 
 been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of mankind. 
 It is certain the country people would soon degenerate into 
 a kind of savages and barbarians, were there not such fre- 
 quent returns of a stated time in which the whole village 
 meet together with their best faces, and in their cleanliest 
 habits, to converse with one another upon indifferent sub- 
 jects, hear their duties explained to them, and join together 
 in adoration of the Supreme Being. Sunday clears away 
 the rust of the whole week, not only as it refreshes in their 
 minds the notions of religion, but as it puts both the se-xes 
 upon appearing in their most agreeable forms, and exerting 
 all such qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye 
 of the village. A country fellow distinguishes himself as 
 much in the churchyard, as a citizen does upon the Change, 
 the whole parish politics being generally discussed in that 
 place either after sermon or before the bell rings. 
 
 My friend Sir Eoger, being a good churchman, has beauti- 
 fied the inside of his church with several texts of his own 
 choosing; he has likewise given a handsome pulpit-cloth, 
 and railed in the communion table at his own expense. He 
 has often told me, that at his coming to his estate he found 
 his parishioners very irregular ; and that in order to make 
 them kneel and join in the responses, he gave every one of 
 them a hassock and a common-prayer book : and at the same 
 time employed an itinerant singing master, who goes about 
 the country for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the 
 tunes of the psalms ; upon which they now very much value 
 themselves, and indeed outdo most of the country churches 
 that I have ever heard. 
 
 As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he 
 keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody to 
 sleep in it besides himself ; for if by chance he has been 
 surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out 
 of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees any- 
 
Sunday in the Country. 3S 
 
 body else nodding, either wakes them himself, or sends his 
 servants to them. Several other of the old knight's partic- 
 ularities break out upon these occasions : sometimes he will 
 be lengthening out a verse in the singing-psalms, half a 
 minute after the rest of the congregation have done with it ; 
 sometimes, when he is pleased with the matter of his devo- 
 tion, he pronounces Amen three or four times to the same 
 prayer ; and sometimes stands up when everybody else is 
 upon their knees, to count the congregation, or see if any of 
 his tenants are missing. 
 
 I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old friend, 
 in the midst of the service, calling out to one John Matthews 
 to mind what he was about, and not disturb the congregation. 
 This John Matthews it seems is remarkable for being an 
 idle fellow, and at that time was kicking his heels for his 
 diversion. This authority of the knight, though exerted in 
 that odd manner which accompanies him in all circumstan- 
 ces of life, has a very good effect upon the parish, who are 
 not polite enough to see anything ridiculous in his behavior ; 
 besides that the general good sense and worthiness of his 
 character makes his friends observe these little singularities 
 as foils that rather set off than blemish his good qualities. 
 
 As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to 
 stir till Sir Eoger is gone out of the church. The knight 
 walks down from his seat in the chancel between a double 
 row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each side ; 
 and every now and then inquires how such an one's wife, or 
 mother, or son, or father do, whom he does not see at church ; 
 which is understood as a secret reprimand to the person that 
 is absent. 
 
 The chaplain has often told me, that upon a catechising 
 day, when Sir Roger has been pleased with a boy that an- 
 swers well, he has ordered a \)ible to be given him next day 
 for his encouragement ; and sometimes accompanies it with 
 a flitch of bacon for his mother. Sir Roger has likewise 
 
34 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 added five pounds a year to the clerk's place ; and that he 
 may encourage the young fellows to make themselves perfect 
 in the church service, has promised, upon the death of the 
 present incumbent, who is very old, to bestow it according 
 bo merit. 
 
 The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his chap- 
 lain, and their mutual concurrence in doing good, is the 
 more remarkable, because the very next village is famous 
 tor the differences and contentions that rise between the 
 parson and the 'squire, who live in a perpetual state of war. 
 The parson is always preaching at the 'squire, and the 
 'squire to be revenged on the parson never comes to church. 
 The 'squire has made all his tenants atheists and tithe-steal- 
 ers ; while the parson instructs them every Sunday in the 
 dignity of his order, and insinuates to them in almost every 
 sermon that he is a better man than his patron. In short 
 matters are come to such an extremity, that the 'squire has 
 not said his prayers either in public or private this half 
 year ; and that the parson threatens him, if he does not 
 mend his manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole 
 congregation. 
 
 Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the country, 
 are very fatal to the ordinary people ; who are so used to be 
 dazzled with riches, that they pay as much deference to the 
 understanding of a man of an estate, as of a man of learn- 
 ing : and are very hardly brought to regard any truth, how 
 important soever it may be, that is preached to them, when 
 they know there are several men of five hundred a year who 
 do not believe it. 
 
 Spectator No. 113. Sir Roger in love. 
 
 In my first description of the company in which I pass 
 most of my time it may be remembered that I mentioned 
 a great affliction which my friend Sir Roger had met with 
 
Sir Roger in Love, 35 
 
 in his youth : which was no less than a disappointment 
 in love. It happened this evening that we fell into a very 
 pleasing walk at a distance from his house : as soon as 
 we came into it, " It is, ^^ quoth the good old man, looking 
 round him with a smile, ^^very hard, that any part of my 
 land should be settled upon one who has used me so ill as 
 the perverse Widow did ; and yet I am sure I could not see 
 a sprig of any bough of this whole walk of trees, but I 
 should reflect upon her and her severity. She has certainly 
 the finest hand of any woman in the world. You are to 
 know this was the place wherein I used to muse upon her ; 
 and by that custom I can never come into it, but the same 
 tender sentiments revive in my mind as if I had actually 
 walked with that beautiful creature under these shades. 
 I have been fool enough to carve her name on the bark 
 of several of these trees ; so unhappy is the condition of 
 men in love to attempt the removing of their passion by 
 the methods which serve only to imprint it deeper. She 
 has certainly the finest hand of any woman in the world. ^' 
 
 Here followed a profound silence ; and I was not dis- 
 pleased to observe my friend falling so naturally into a 
 discourse which I had ever before taken notice he industri- 
 ously avoided. After a very long pause he entered upon 
 an account of this great circumstance in his life, with an 
 air which I thought raised my idea of him above what 
 I had ever had before ; and gave me the picture of that 
 cheerful mind of his, before it received that stroke which 
 has ever since affected his words and actions. But he went 
 on as follows : — 
 
 '' I came to my estate in my twenty-second year, and re- 
 solved to follow the steps of the most worthy of my ances- 
 tors who have inhabited this spot of earth before me, in all 
 the methods of hospitality and good neighborhood, for the 
 sake of my fame, and in country sports and recreations, for 
 the sake of my health. In my twenty-third year I was 
 
36 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 obliged to serve as sheriff of the county ; and in my ser- 
 vants, officers, and whole equipage, indulged the pleasure of 
 a young man (who did not think ill of his own person) in 
 taking that public occasion of showing my figure and behav- 
 ior to advantage. You may easily imagine to yourself what 
 appearance I made, who am pretty tall, rid well, and was 
 very well dressed, at the head of a whole county, with music 
 before me, a feather in my hat, and my horse well bitted. 
 I Can assure you I was not a little pleased with the kind 
 looks and glances I had from all the balconies and windows 
 as I rode to the hall where the assizes were held. But 
 when I came there, a beautiful creature in a widow's habit 
 sat in court, to hear the event of a cause concerning her 
 dower. This commanding creature (who was born for the 
 destruction of all who behold her) put on such a resigna- 
 tion in her countenance, and bore the whispers of all around 
 the court, with such a pretty uneasiness, I warrant you, 
 and then recovered herself from one eye to another, till 
 she was perfectly confused by meeting something so wistful 
 in all she encountered, that at last, with a murrain to her, 
 she cast her bewitching eye upon me. I no sooner met 
 it but I bowed like a great surprised booby ; and knowing 
 her cause to be the first which came on, I cried, like a 
 captivated calf as I was, ^Make way for the defendant's 
 witnesses.' This sudden partiality made all the county 
 immediately see the sheriff also was become a slave to 
 the fine widow. During the time her cause was upon trial, 
 she behaved herself, I warrant you, with such a deep atten- 
 ' tion to her business, took opportunities to have little billets 
 handed to her counsel, then would be in such a pretty con- 
 fusion, occasioned, you must know, by acting before so much 
 company, that not only T but the whole court was prejudiced 
 in her favor ; and all that the next heir to her husband had to 
 urge was thought so groundless and frivolous, that when it 
 came to her counsel to reply, there was not half so much 
 
Sir Roger in Love. 37 
 
 said as every one besides in the court thought he could 
 
 have urged to her advantage. You must understand, sir, 
 
 this perverse woman is one of those unaccountable creatures, 
 
 that secretly rejoice in the admiration of men, but indulge 
 
 themselves in no further consequences. Hence it is that 
 
 she has ever had a train of admirers, and she removes from 
 
 her slaves in town to those in the country, according to the 
 
 seasons of the year. She is a reading lady, and far gone 
 
 in the pleasures of friendship : she is always accompanied 
 
 by a confidante, who is witness to her daily protestations 
 
 against our sex, and consequently a bar to her first steps 
 
 towards love, upon the strength of her own maxims and x"^ 
 
 declarations. 
 
 " She is such a desperate scholar, that no country gentle- 
 man can approach her without being a jest. As I was going 
 to tell you, when I came to her house I was admitted to 
 her presence with great civility ; at the same time she 
 placed herself to be first seen by me in such an attitude, 
 as I think you call the posture of a picture, that she discov- 
 ered new charms, and I at last came towards her with such 
 an awe as made me speechless. This she no sooner observed 
 but she made her advantage of it, and began a discourse to 
 me concerning love and honor, as they both are followed by 
 pretenders, and the real votaries to them. When she dis- 
 cussed these points in a discourse, which I verily believe , 
 was as learned as the best philosopher in Europe could 
 possibly make, she asked me whether she was so happy 
 as to fall in with my sentiments on these important partic- 
 ulars. Her confidante sat by her, and upon my being in 
 the last confusion and silence, this malicious aid of hers 
 turning to her says, ' I am very glad to observe Sir Eoger 
 pauses upon this subject, and seems resolved to deliver all 
 his sentiments upon the matter when he pleases to speak.' 
 They both kept their countenances, and after I had sat half 
 an hour meditating how to behave before such profound 
 
38 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 casuists, T rose up and took my leave. Chance has since 
 that time thrown me very often in her way, and she as 
 often has directed a discourse to me which I do not under- 
 stand. This barbarity has kept me ever at a distance from 
 the most beautiful object my eyes ever beheld. It is thus 
 also she deals with all mankind, and you must make love 
 to her, as you would conquer the sphinx, by posing her. 
 But were she like other women, and that there were any 
 talking to her, how constant must the pleasure of that man 
 
 be, who could converse with a creature But, after all, 
 
 you may be sure her heart is fixed on some one or other; 
 and yet I have been credibly informed — but who can believe 
 half that is said ? '' 
 
 I found my friend begin to rave, and insensibly led him 
 towards the house, that we might be joined by some other 
 company ; and am convinced that the Widow is the secret 
 cause of all that inconsistency which appears in some parts 
 of my friend's discourse ; though he has so much command 
 of himself as not directly to mention her, yet according to 
 that passage of Martial, which one knows not how to 
 render into English, Dum tacet lianc loquitur. — Steele. 
 
 Spectator No. 115. Exercise the best means of preserving health: 
 Sir Roger as a hunter. 
 
 Bodily labor is of two kinds, either that which a man 
 submits to for his livelihood, or that which he undergoes 
 for his pleasure. The latter of them generally changes the 
 name of labor for that of exercise, but differs only from 
 ordinary labor as it rises from another motive. 
 
 That we might not want inducements to engage us in such 
 an exercise of the body as is proper for its welfare, it is so 
 ordered, that nothing valuable can be procured without it. 
 Not to mention riches and honor, even food and raiment are 
 
Hunting as an Zeroise. S9 
 
 not to be come at without the toil of the hands and sweat 
 of the brows. Providence furnishes materials, but expects 
 that we should work them up ourselves. The earth must 
 be labored before it gives its increase, and when it is forced 
 into its several products, how many hands must they pass 
 through before they are fit for use ? Manufactures, trade 
 and agriculture, naturally employ more than nineteen parts 
 of the species in twenty; and as for those who are not 
 obliged to labor, by the condition in which they are born, 
 they are more miserable than the rest of mankind, unless 
 they indulge themselves in that voluntary labor which goes 
 by the name of exercise. 
 
 My friend Sir Koger has been an indefatigable man in bus- 
 iness of this kind, and has hung several parts of his house 
 with the trophies of his former labors. The walls of his 
 great hall are covered with the horns of several kinds of 
 deer that he has killed in the chase, which he thinks the 
 most valuable furniture of his house, as they afford him fre- 
 quent topics of discourse, and show that he has not been 
 idle. At the lower end of the hall is a large otter's skin 
 stuffed with hay, which his mother ordered to be hung up 
 in that manner, and the knight looks upon it with great 
 satisfaction, because it seems he was but nine years old 
 when his dog killed him. A little room adjoining to the 
 hall is a kind of arsenal filled with guns of several sizes 
 and inventions, with which the knight has made great 
 havoc in the woods, and destroyed many thousands of 
 pheasants, partridges, and woodcocks. His stable doors 
 are patched with noses that belonged to foxes of the 
 knight's own hunting down. Sir Eoger showed me one of 
 them, that for distinction's sake has a brass nail struck 
 through it, which cost him about fifteen hours' riding, car- 
 ried him through half a dozen counties, killed him a brace 
 of horses, and lost above half his dogs. This the knight 
 looks upon as one of the greatest exploits of his life. The 
 
40 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 perverse widow, whom I have given some accoimt of, was 
 the death of several foxes ; for Sir Eoger has told me, that in 
 the course of his amours he patched the western door of his 
 stable. Whenever the widow was cruel, the foxes were sure 
 to pay for it. In proportion as his passion for the widow 
 abated, and old age came on, he left off fox-hunting ; but a 
 hare is not yet safe that sits within ten miles of his house. 
 -^ There is no kind of exercise which I would so recommend 
 to my readers of both sexes as this of riding, as there is 
 none which so much conduces to health, and is every way 
 accommodated to the body, according to the idea which I 
 have given of it. For my own part, when I am in town, 
 for want of these opportunities, I exercise myself an hour 
 every morning upon a dumb bell that is placed in a corner 
 of my room, and pleases me the more, because it does every- 
 thing I require of it in the most profound silence. My 
 landlady and her daughters are so well acquainted with my 
 hours of exercise, that they never come into my room to 
 disturb me whilst I am ringing. 
 
 When I was some years younger than I am at present, I 
 used to employ myself in a more laborious diversion, which 1 
 learned from a Latin treatise of exercises, that is written with 
 great erudition: it is there called the o-Kto/xaxict, or the fighting 
 with a man's own shadow, and consists in the brandishing 
 of two short sticks grasped in each hand, and loaden with 
 plugs of lead at either end. Tj^is opens the chest, exercises 
 the limbs, and gives a man all the pleasure of boxing with- 
 out the blows. I could wish that several learned men 
 would lay out that time which they employ in controversies 
 and disputes about nothing, in this method of fighting with 
 their own shadows. It might conduce very much to evapo- 
 rate the spleen, which makes them uneasy to the public 
 as well as to themselves. 
 
 To conclude, as I am a compound of soul and body, I con- 
 sider myself as obliged to a double scheme of duties ; and 
 
The Spectator in the Hunting-field, 41 
 
 think I have not fulfilled the business of the day, when I 
 do not thus employ the one in labor and exercise, as well 
 as the other in study and contemplation. 
 
 Spectator No. Ii6. The Spectator accompanies Sir Roger to the 
 
 hunting-field. 
 
 Those who have searched into human nature observe that 
 nothing so much shows the nobleness of the soul, as that 
 its felicity consists in action. Every man has such an 
 active principle in him, that he will find out something to 
 employ himself upon, in whatever place or state of life he 
 is posted. I have heard of a gentleman who was under 
 close confinement in the Bastile seven years ; during which 
 time he amused himself in scattering a few small pins about 
 his chamber, gathering them up again, and placing them in 
 different figures on the arm of a great chair. He often 
 told his friends afterwards, that unless he had found out 
 this piece of exercise, he verily believed he should have lost 
 his senses. 
 
 After what has been said, I need not inform my readers, 
 that Sir Eoger, with whose character I hope they are at 
 present pretty well acquainted, has in his youth gone 
 through the whole course of those rural diversions which 
 the country abounds in ; and which seem to be extremely 
 well suited to that laborious industry a man may observe 
 here in a far greater degree than in towns and cities. I 
 have before hinted at some of my friend's exploits : he has 
 in his youthful days taken forty coveys of partridges in a 
 season ; and tired many a salmon with a line consisting but 
 of a single hair. The constant thanks and good wishes of 
 the neighborhood always attended him on account of his 
 remarkable enmity towards foxes ; having destroyed more 
 of these vermin in one year than it was thought the whole 
 
42 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 country could have produced. Indeed, the knight does not 
 scruple to own among his most intimate friends, that in 
 order to establish his reputation this way, he has secretly 
 sent for great numbers of them out of other counties, which 
 he used to turn loose about the country by night, that he 
 might the better signalize himself in their destruction the 
 next day. His hunting horses were the finest and best 
 managed in all these parts : his tenants are still full of the 
 praises of a gray stone horse that unhappily staked himself 
 several years since, and was buried with great solemnity in 
 the orchard. 
 
 Sir Eoger, being at present too old for fox-hunting, to 
 keep himself in action, has disposed of his beagles and 
 got a pack of stop-hounds. What these want in speed he 
 endeavors to make amends for by the deepness of their 
 mouths and the variety of their notes, which are suited 
 in such manner to each other that the whole cry makes 
 up a complete concert. He is so nice in this particular, 
 that a gentleman having made him a present of a very fine 
 hound the other day, the knight returned it by the servant 
 with a great many expressions of civility ; but desired him 
 to tell his master that the dog he had sent was indeed a 
 most excellent bass, but that at present he only wanted 
 a counter-tenor. Could I believe my friend had ever read 
 Shakespeare I should certainly conclude he had taken the 
 hint from Theseus in the Midsummer Night's Dream. 
 
 My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
 So flu'd, so sanded ; and their heads are hung 
 With ears that sweep away the morning dew ; 
 Crook-kneed and dew-lap'd like Thessalian bulls ; 
 Slow in pursuit, but match' d in mouths like bells, 
 Each under each : a cry more tunable 
 Was never holla' d to, nor cheer'd with horn. 
 
 Sir Roger is so keen at this sport that he has been out 
 almost every day since I came down; and upon the 
 
The Spectator in the Hunting-field, 43 
 
 chaplain's offering to lend me his easy pad, I was pre- 
 vailed on yesterday morning to make one of the company. 
 I was extremely pleased, as we rid along, to observe the 
 general benevolence of all the neighborhood towards my 
 friend. The farmer's sons thought themselves happy if 
 they could open a gate for the good old Knight as he 
 passed by ; which he generally requited with a nod or a 
 smile, and a kind inquiry after their fathers and uncles. 
 
 After we had rid about a mile from home, we came upon 
 a large heath, and the sportsmen began to beat. They had 
 done so for some time, when, as I was at a little distance 
 from the rest of the company, I saw a hare pop out from a 
 small furze-brake almost under my horse's feet. I marked 
 the way she took, which I endeavored to make the company 
 sensible of by extending my arm ; but to no purpose, till 
 Sir Eoger, who knows that none of my extraordinary mo- 
 tions are insignificant, rode up to me, and asked me if puss 
 was gone that way. Upon my answ^ering "Yes," he im- 
 mediately called in the dogs and put them upon the scent. 
 As they were going off, I heard one of the country -fellows 
 muttering to his companion that 'twas a wonder they had 
 not lost all their sport, for want of the silent gentleman's 
 crying " Stole away ! " 
 
 This, with my aversion to leaping hedges, made me with- 
 draw to a rising ground, from whence I could have the pic- 
 ture of the whole chase, without the fatigue of keeping in 
 with the hounds. The hare immediately threw them above 
 a mile behind her : but I was pleased to find that instead 
 of running straight forward, or in hunter's language, " fly- 
 ing the country," as I was afraid she might have done, she 
 wheeled about, and described a sort of circle round the hill 
 where I had taken my station, in such a manner as gave me 
 a very distinct view of the sport. I could see her first pass 
 by, and the dogs some time afterwards unravelling the 
 whole track she had made, and following her through all 
 
44 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 her doubles. I was at the same time delighted in observing 
 that deference which the rest of the pack paid to each par- 
 ticular hound, according to the character he had acquired 
 amongst them : if they were at fault, and an old hound of 
 reputation opened but once, he was immediately followed 
 by the whole cry ; while a raw dog, or one who was a noted 
 liar, might have yelped his heart out, without being taken 
 notice of. 
 
 The hare now, after having squatted two or three times, 
 and been put up again as often, came still nearer to the 
 place where she was at first started. The dogs pursued her, 
 and these were followed by the jolly Knight, who rode upon 
 a white horse, encompassed by his tenants and servants, 
 and cheering his hounds with all the gaiety of five-and- 
 twenty. One of the sportsmen rode up to me, and told me 
 that he was sure the chase was almost at an end, because 
 the old dogs, which had hitherto lain behind, now headed 
 the pack. The fellow was in the right. Our hare took a 
 large field just under us, followed by the full cry " In view." 
 I must confess the brightness of the weather, the cheerful- 
 ness of every thing around me, the chiding of the hounds, 
 which was returned upon us in a double echo from two 
 neighboring hills, with the hollowing of the sportsmen, and 
 the sounding of the horn, lifted my spirits into a most lively 
 pleasure, which I freely indulged because I was sure it was 
 innocent. If I was under any concern, it was on the ac- 
 count of the poor hare, that was now quite spent, and almost 
 within the reach of her enemies ; when the huntsman, get- 
 ting forward, threw down his pole before the dogs. They 
 were now within eight yards of that game which they had 
 been pursuing for almost as many hours ; yet on the signal 
 before-mentioned they all made a sudden stand, and though 
 they continued opening as much as before, durst not once 
 attempt to pass beyond the pole. At the same time Sir 
 Eoger rode forward, and alighting, took up the hare in his 
 
Moll White, the Witch. 45 
 
 arms ; which he soon delivered up to one of his servants 
 with an order, if she could be kept alive, to let her go in 
 his great orchard : where it seems he has several of these 
 prisoners of war, who live together in a very comfortable 
 captivity. I was highly pleased to see the discipline of the 
 pack, and the good-nature of the Knight, who could not find 
 in his heart to murder a creature that had given him so 
 much diversion. 
 
 For my own part I intend to hunt twice a week during 
 my stay with Sir Koger ; and shall prescribe the moderate 
 use of this exercise to all my country friends, as the best 
 kind of physic for mending a bad constitution, and preserv- 
 ing a good one. 
 
 I cannot do this better than in the following lines out 
 of Mr. Dryden : — 
 
 The first physicians by debauch were made ; 
 Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade. 
 By chase our long-hved fathers earned their food ; 
 ' Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood ; 
 But we their sons, a pamper' d race of men. 
 Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten. 
 Better to hunt in fields for health unbought 
 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 
 The wise for cure on exercise depend : 
 God never made His work for man to mend. — Budgell. 
 
 Spectator No. 117. The Spectator discusses witchcraft: with Sir 
 Roger he visits Moll White. 
 
 There are some opinions in which a man should stand 
 neuter, without engaging his assent to one side or the other. 
 Such a hovering faith as this, which refuses to settle upon 
 any determination, is absolutely necessary to a mind that is 
 careful to avoid errors and prepossessions. When the argu- 
 ments press equally on both sides in matters that are indif- 
 
46 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 ferent to us, the safest method is to give up ourselves to 
 neither. 
 
 It is with this temper of mind that I consider the subject 
 of witchcraft. When I hear the relations that are made 
 from all parts of the world, not only from Norway and Lap- 
 land, from the East and West Indies, but from every par- 
 ticular nation in Europe, I cannot forbear thinking that 
 there is such an intercourse and commerce with evil spirits, 
 as that which we express by the name of witchcraft. But 
 when I consider that the ignorant and credulous parts of 
 the world abound most in these relations, and that the per- 
 sons among us who are supposed to engage in such an in- 
 fernal commerce are people of a weak understanding and a 
 crazed imagination, and at the same time reflect upon the 
 many impostures and delusions of this nature that have 
 been detected in all ages, I endeavor to suspend my belief 
 till I hear more certain accounts than any which have yet 
 come to my knowledge. In short, when I consider the ques- 
 tion, whether there are such persons in the world as those 
 we call witches, my mind is divided between the two oppo- 
 site opinions : or rather (to speak my thoughts freely) I 
 believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing 
 as witchcraft ; but at the same time can give no credit to 
 any particular instance of it. 
 
 I am engaged in this speculation by some occurrences 
 that I met with yesterday, which I shall give my reader 
 an account of at large. As I was walking with my friend 
 Sir Eoger by the side of one of his woods, an old woman 
 applied herself to me for charity. The Knight told me that 
 this old woman had the reputation of a witch all over the 
 country, that her lips were observed to be always in motion, 
 and that there was not a switch about her house which her 
 neighbors did not believe had carried her several hundreds 
 of miles. If she chanced to stumble, they always found 
 sticks or straws that lay in the figure of a cross before her. 
 
Moll White, the Witch. 47 
 
 If she made any mistake at church, and cried Amen in a 
 wrong place, they never failed to conclude that she was say- 
 ing her prayers backwards. There was not a maid in the 
 parish that would take a pin of her, though she would offer 
 a bag of money with it. She goes by the name of Moll 
 White, and has made the country ring with several imagi- 
 nary exploits which are palmed upon her. If the dairy maid 
 does not make her butter come as soon as she should have 
 it, Moll White is at the bottom of the churn. If a horse 
 sweats in the stable, Moll White has been upon his back. 
 If a hare makes an unexpected escape from the hounds, the 
 huntsman curses Moll White. "Nay" (says Sir Eoger), 
 " I have known the master of the pack upon such an occa- 
 sion, send one of his servants to see if Moll White had been 
 out that morning.'' 
 
 This account raised my curiosity so far, that I begged my 
 friend Sir Roger to go with me into her hovel, which stood 
 in a solitary corner under the side of the wood. Upon our 
 first entering Sir Eoger winked to me, and pointed at some- 
 thing that stood behind the door, which, upon looking that 
 way, I found to be an old broomstaff. At the same time he 
 whispered me in the ear to take notice of a tabby cat that 
 sat in the chimney corner, which, as the old Knight told me, 
 lay under as bad a report as Moll White herself ; for besides 
 that Moll is said often to accompany her in the same shape, 
 the cat is reported to have spoken twice or thrice in her life, 
 and to have played several pranks above the capacity of an 
 ordinary cat. 
 
 I was secretly concerned to see human nature in so much 
 wretchedness and disgrace, but at the same time could not 
 forbear smiling to hear Sir Roger, who is a little puzzled 
 about the old woman, advising her as a justice of peace to 
 avoid all communication with the devil, and never to hurt 
 any of her neighbors' cattle. We concluded our visit with 
 a bounty, which was very acceptable. 
 
48 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 In our return home, Sir Eoger told me that old Moll had 
 been often brought before him for making children spit pins, 
 and giving maids the night-mare ; and that the country 
 people would be tossing her into a pond and trying experi- 
 ments with her every day, if it was not for him and his 
 chaplain. 
 
 I have since found upon inquiry that Sir Eoger was 
 several times staggered with the reports that had been 
 brought him concerning this old woman, and would fre- 
 quently have bound her over to the county sessions had not 
 his chaplain with much ado persuaded him to the contrary. 
 
 I have been the more particular in this account, because 
 I hear there is scarce a village in England that has not a 
 Moll White in it. When an old woman begins to dote, and 
 grow chargeable to a parish, she is generally turned into a 
 witch, and fills the whole country with extravagant fancies, 
 imaginary distempers and terrifying dreams. In the mean 
 time, the poor wretch that is the innocent occasion of so 
 many evils begins to be frightened at herself, and sometimes 
 confesses secret commerce and familiarities that her imagi- 
 nation forms in a delirious old age. This frequently cuts 
 off charity from the greatest objects of compassion, and 
 inspires people with a malevolence towards those poor 
 decrepit parts of our species, in whom human nature is 
 defaced by infirmity and dotage. 
 
 Spectator No. 122. Sir Roger at the assizes. 
 
 A man's first care should be to avoid the reproaches of 
 his own heart; the next to escape the censures of the 
 world. If the last interferes with the former, it ought to 
 be entirely neglected ; but otherwise there cannot be a 
 greater satisfaction to an honest mind than to see those 
 approbations which it gives itself seconded by the applauses 
 
Sir Roger at the Assizes. 49 
 
 of the public. A man is more sure of his conduct when the 
 verdict which he passes upon his own behavior is thus war- 
 ranted and confirmed by the opinion of all that know him. 
 
 My worthy friend Sir Eoger is one of those who is not 
 only at peace within himself but beloved and esteemed by 
 all about him. He receives a suitable tribute for his univer- 
 sal benevolence to mankind in the returns of affection and 
 goodwill which are paid him by every one that lives within 
 his neighborhood. I lately met with two or three odd 
 instances of that general respect which is shown to the good 
 old Knight. He would needs carry Will Wimble and myself 
 with him to the county assizes. As we were upon the road, 
 Will Wimble joined a couple of plain men who rid before us, 
 and conversed with them for some time ; during which my 
 friend Sir Eoger acquainted me with their characters. 
 
 "The first of them/' says he, "that has a spaniel by his 
 side, is a yeoman of about an hundred pounds a year, an 
 honest man. He is just within the Game Act, and qual- 
 ified to kill a hare or a pheasant. He knocks down a din- 
 ner with his gun twice or thrice a week ; and by that means 
 lives much cheaper than those, who have not so good an 
 estate as himself. He would be a good neighbor if he did 
 not destroy so many partridges ; in short, he is a very sen- 
 sible man, shoots flying, and has been several times foreman 
 of the petty jury. 
 
 " The other that rides along with him is Tom Touchy, a 
 fellow famous for taking the law of every body. There is 
 not one in the town where he lives that he has not sued at 
 a quarter sessions. The rogue had once the impudence to 
 go to law with the Widow. His head is full of costs, dam- 
 ages, and ejectments ; he plagued a couple of honest gentle- 
 men so long for a trespass in breaking one of his hedges, till 
 he was forced to sell the ground it enclosed to defray the 
 charges of the prosecution. His father left him four-score 
 pounds a year, but he has cast, and been cast so often, that 
 
50 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 he is not now worth thirty. I suppose he is going upon the 
 old business of the willow tree/^ 
 
 As Sir Eoger was giving me this account of Tom Touchy, 
 Will Wimble and his two companions stopped short till we 
 came up to them. After having paid their respects to Sir 
 Eoger, Will told them that Mr. Touchy and he must appeal 
 to him upon a dispute that arose between them. Will, it 
 seems, had been giving his fellow travellers an account of 
 his angling one day in such a hole ; when Tom Touchy, 
 instead of hearing out his story, told him that Mr. Such-an- 
 one, if he pleased, might take the law of him for fishing in 
 that part of the river. My friend Sir Eoger heard them 
 both, upon a round trot; and, after having paused some 
 time, told them, with the air of a man who would not give 
 his judgment rashly, that much might be said on both sides. 
 They were neither of them dissatisfied with the Knight's 
 determination, because neither of them found himself in the 
 wrong by it. Upon which we made the best of our way to 
 the assizes. 
 
 The court was sat before Sir Eoger came; but notwith- 
 standing all the justices had taken their places upon the 
 bench, they made room for the old Knight at the head of 
 them ; who, for his reputation in the country, took occasion 
 to whisper in the judge's ear, that he was glad his lordship 
 had met with so much good weather in his circuit. . I was 
 listening to the proceeding of the court with much atten- 
 tion, and infinitely pleased with that great appearance and 
 solemnity which so properly accompanies such a public 
 administration of our laws ; when, after about an hour's sit- 
 ting, I observed, to my great surprise, in the midst of a trial, 
 that my friend Sir Eoger was getting up to speak. I was 
 in some pain for him, till I found he had acquitted himself 
 of two or three sentences, with a look of much business and 
 great intrepidity. 
 
 Upon his first rising the court was hushed, and a general 
 
Si?' Roger at the Assizes. 51 
 
 whisper ran among the country people that Sir Eoger was 
 up. The speech he made was so little to the purpose, that 
 I shall not trouble my readers with an account of it ; and I 
 believe was not so much designed by the Knight himself to 
 inform the court, as to give him a figure in my eye, and 
 keep up his credit in the country. 
 
 I was highly delighted, when the court rose, to see the 
 gentlemen of the country gathering about my old friend, 
 and striving who should compliment him most ; at the same 
 time that the ordinary people gazed upon him at a distance, 
 not a little admiring his courage, that was not afraid to 
 speak to the judge. 
 
 In our return home we met with a very odd accident, 
 which I cannot forbear relating, because it shows how desir- 
 ous all who know Sir Eoger are of giving him marks of 
 their esteem. When we were arrived upon the verge of his 
 estate, we stopped at a little inn to rest ourselves and our 
 horses. The man of the house had, it seems, been formerly 
 a servant in the Knight's family ; and, to do honor to his 
 old master, had some time since, unknown to Sir Eoger, put 
 him up in a sign-post before the door ; so that the Knight's 
 head had hung out upon the road about a week before he him- 
 self knew anything of the matter. As soon as Sir Eoger was 
 acquainted with it, finding that his servant's indiscretion 
 proceeded wholly from affection and goodwill, he only told 
 him that he had made him too high a compliment ; and 
 when the fellow seemed to think that could hardly be, added, 
 with a more decisive look, that it was too great an honor for 
 any man under a duke ; but told him at the same time that 
 it might be altered with a very few touches, and that he 
 himself would be at the charge of it. Accordingly they 
 got a painter, by the Knight's directions, to add a pair of 
 whiskers to the face, and by a little aggravation of the feat- 
 ures to change it into the Saracen's Head. I should not 
 have known this story had not the inn-keeper, upon Sir 
 
52 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 Eoger's alighting^ told liim in my hearing, that his honor's 
 head was brought back last night with the alterations that 
 he had ordered to be made in it. Upon this, my friend, 
 with his usual cheerfulness, related the particulars above 
 mentioned, and ordered the head to be brought into the 
 room. I could not forbear discovering greater expressions 
 of mirth than ordinary upon the appearance of this mon- 
 strous face, under which, notwithstanding it was made 
 to frown and stare in a most extraordinary manner, I could 
 still discover a distant resemblance of my old friend. Sir 
 Koger, upon seeing me laugh, desired me to tell him truly 
 if I thought it possible for people to know him in that 
 disguise. I at first kept my usual silence; but upon the 
 Knight's conjuring me to tell him whether it was not still 
 more like himself than a Saracen, I composed my counte- 
 nance in the best manner I could, and replied that much 
 might be said on both sides. 
 
 These several adventures, with the Knight's behavior in 
 them, gave me as pleasant a day as ever I met with in any 
 of my travels. 
 
 Spectator No. 125. Sir Roger tells a story of his boyhood, which 
 leads the Spectator to discuss the evils of party- spirit. 
 
 My worthy friend Sir Eoger, when we are talking of the 
 malice of parties, very frequently tells us an accident that 
 happened to him when he was a school-boy, which was at a 
 time when the feuds ran high between the round-heads and 
 cavaliers. This worthy knight, being then but a stripling, 
 had occasion to inquire which was the way to St. Anne's 
 lane ; upon which the person whom he spoke to, instead of 
 answering his question, called him a young Popish cur, and 
 asked him who had made Anne a saint ! The boy, being in 
 some confusion, inquired of the next he met, which was the 
 way to Anne's lane ; but was called a prick-eared cur for 
 
Party-Spirit. 63 
 
 his pains, and instead of being shown the way, was told, 
 that she had been a saint before he was born, and would be 
 one after he was hanged. Upon this, says Sir P^oger, I did 
 not think fit to repeat the former question, but going into 
 every lane of the neighborhood, asked what they called the 
 name of that lane. By which ingenious artifice he found 
 out the place he inquired after, without giving offence to 
 any party. Sir Eoger generally closes this narrative with 
 reflections on the mischief that parties do in the country ; 
 how they spoil good neighborhood, and make honest gentle- 
 men hate one another ; besides that they manifestly tend to 
 the prejudice of the land-tax, and the destruction of the 
 game. 
 
 There cannot a greater judgment befall a country than 
 such a dreadful spirit of division as rends a government into 
 two distinct people, and makes them greater strangers and 
 more averse to one another, than if they were actually two 
 different nations. The effects of such a division are perni- 
 cious to the last degree, not only with regard to those advan- 
 tages which they give the common enemy, but to those 
 private evils which they produce in the heart of almost 
 every particular person. This influence is very fatal both 
 to men's morals and their understandings ; it sinks the 
 virtue of a nation, and not only so, but destroys even com- 
 mon sense. 
 
 A furious party-spirit, when it rages in its full violence, 
 exerts itself in civil war and bloodshed; and, when it is 
 under its greatest restraints, naturally breaks out in false- 
 hood, detraction, calumny, and a partial administration of 
 justice. In a word, it fills a nation with spleen and rancor, 
 and extinguishes all the seeds of good-nature, compassion, 
 and humanity. 
 
 Plutarch says very finely, that a man should not allow 
 himself to hate even his enemies, because, says he, '' if you 
 indulge this passion on some occasions, it will rise of itself 
 
54 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 in others ; if you hate your enemies, you will contract such 
 a vicious habit of mind, as by degrees will break out upon 
 those who are your friends, or those who are indifferent to 
 you/^ I might here observe how admirably this precept of 
 morality (which derives the malignity of hatred from the 
 passion itself, and not from its object) answers to that 
 great rule Avhich was dictated to the world about an hun- 
 dred years before this philosopher wrote ; but instead of 
 that, I shall only take notice, with a real grief of heart, 
 that the minds of many good men among us appear soured 
 with party-principles, and alienated from one another in 
 such a manner, as seems to me altogether inconsistent with 
 the dictates either of reason or religion. Zeal for a public 
 cause is apt to breed passions in the hearts of virtuous per- 
 sons, to which the regard of their own private interest would 
 never have betrayed them. 
 
 If this party-spirit has so ill an effect on our morals, it 
 has likewise a very great one upon our judgments. We 
 often hear a poor insipid paper or pamphlet cried up, and 
 sometimes a noble piece depreciated, by those who are of a 
 different principle from the author. One who is actuated 
 by this spirit is almost under an incapacity of discerning 
 either real blemishes or beauties. A man of merit in a dif- 
 ferent principle, is like an object seen in two different 
 mediums, that appears crooked or broken, however straight 
 and entire it may be in itself. For this reason there is 
 scarce a person of any figure in England who does not go 
 by two contrary characters, as opposite to one another as 
 light and darkness. Knowledge and learning suffer in a 
 particular manner from this strange prejudice, which at 
 present prevails amongst all ranks and degrees in the Brit- 
 ish nation. As men formerly became eminent in learned 
 societies by their parts and acquisitions, they now dis- 
 tinguish themselves by the warmth and violence with which 
 they espouse their respective parties. Books are valued 
 
Party-Spirit 55 
 
 upon the like considerations : an abusive scurrilous style 
 passes for satire, and a dull scheme of party notions is 
 called fine writing. 
 
 There is one piece of sophistry practised by both sides, 
 and that is the taking any scandalous story, that has been 
 ever whispered or invented of a private man, for a known 
 undoubted truth, and raising suitable speculations upon it. 
 Calumnies that have been never proved, or have been often 
 refuted, are the ordinary postulatums of these infamous 
 scribblers, upon which they proceed as upon first principles 
 granted by all men, though in their hearts they know they 
 are false, or at best very doubtful. When they have 
 laid these foundations of scurrility, it is no wonder that 
 their superstructure is every way answerable to them. If 
 this shameless practice of the present age endures much 
 longer, praise and reproach will cease to be motives of 
 action in good men. 
 
 For my own part, I could heartily wish that all honest 
 men would enter into an association, for the support of one 
 another against the endeavors of those whom they ought to 
 look upon as their common enemies, whatsoever side they 
 may belong to. Were there such an honest body of neutral 
 forces, we should never see the worst of men in great 
 figures of life, because they are useful to a party ; nor the 
 best unregarded, because they are above practising those 
 methods which would be grateful to their faction. We 
 should then single every criminal out of the herd, and hunt 
 him down, however formidable and overgrown he might 
 appear : on the contrary, we should shelter distressed inno- 
 cence, and defend virtue, however beset with contempt or 
 ridicule, envy or defamation. In short, we should not any 
 longer regard our felloAv-subjects as Whigs or Tories., but 
 should make the man of merit our friend, and the villain 
 our enemy. 
 
56 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 Spectator No. 126. Strictures on party-spirit continued. 
 
 In my yesterday^s paper I proposed, that the honest men 
 of all parties should enter into a kind of association for the 
 defence of one another, and the confusion of their common 
 enemies. As it is designed this neutral body should act 
 with a regard to nothing but truth and equity, and divest 
 themselves of the little heats and prepossessions that cleave 
 to parties of all kinds, I have prepared for them the follow- 
 ing form of an association, which may express their inten- 
 tions in the most plain and simple manner. 
 
 We whose names are hereunto subscribed, do solemnly declare, 
 that we do in our consciences believe two and two make four ; and 
 that we shall adjudge any man whatsoever to be our enemy who 
 endeavors to persuade us to the contrary. We are likewise ready to 
 maintain with the hazard of all that is near and dear to us, that six 
 is less than seven in all times and all places ; and that ten will not 
 be more three years hence than it is at present. We do also firmly 
 declare, that it is our resolution as long as we live to call black black, 
 and white white. And we shall upon all occasions oppose such per- 
 sons that upon any day of the year shall call black white, or white 
 black, with the utmost peril of our lives and fortunes. 
 
 Were there such a combination of honest men, who with- 
 out any regard to places would endeavor to extirpate all 
 such furious zealots as would sacrifice one-half of their 
 country to the passion and interest of the other ; as also 
 such infamous hypocrites, that are for promoting their own 
 advantage under color of the public good ; with all the prof- 
 ligate immoral retainers to each side, that have nothing 
 to recommend them but an implicit submission to their 
 leaders ; we should soon see that furious party-spirit extin- 
 guished, which may in time expose us to the derision and 
 contempt of all the nations about us. 
 
 A member of this society, that would thus carefully 
 employ himself in making room for merit, by throwing 
 down the worthless and depraved part of mankind from 
 
Party-Spirit. 57 
 
 those conspicuous stations of life to which they have been 
 sometimes advanced, and all this without any regard to his 
 private interest, would be no small benefactor to his coun- 
 try. 
 
 I remember to have read in Diodorus Siculus an account 
 of a very active little animal, which I think he calls ichneu- 
 mon, that makes it the whole business of his life to break 
 the eggs af the crocodile, which he is always in search after. 
 This instinct is the more remarkable, because the ichneumon 
 never feeds upon the eggs he has broken, nor any other 
 way finds his account in them. Were it not for the inces- 
 sant labors of this industrious animal, Egypt, says the his- 
 torian, would be over-run with crocodiles ; for the Egyptians 
 are so far from destroying those pernicious creatures, that 
 they worship them as gods. 
 
 If we look into the behavior of ordinary partisans, wc 
 shall find them far from resembling this disinterested ani- 
 mal ; and rather acting after the example of the wild Tar- 
 tars, who are ambitious of destroying a man of the most 
 extraordinary parts and accomplishments, as thinking that 
 upon his decease, the same talents, whatever posts they 
 qualified him for, enter of course into his destroyer. 
 
 I do not know whether T have observed in any of my for- 
 mer papers, that my friends Sir Eoger de Coverley and Sir 
 Andrew Freeport are of different principles, the first of 
 them inclined to the landed and the other to the monied 
 interest. This humor is so moderate in each of them, that 
 it proceeds no farther than to an agreeable raillery, which 
 very often diverts the rest of the club. I find, however, 
 that the Knight is a much stronger Tory in the country than 
 in the town, which, as he has told me in my ear, is absolutely 
 necessary for the keeping up his interest. In all our jour- 
 ney from London to his house we did not so much as bait at 
 a Whig inn : or if by chance the coach-man stopped at a 
 wrong place, one of Sir Eoger's servants would ride up to 
 
68 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 his master full speed, and whisper to him that the master 
 of the house was against such a one in the last election. 
 This often betrayed us into hard beds and bad cheer ; for 
 we were not so inquisitive about the inn as the inn-keeper ; 
 and provided our landlord's principles were sound, did not 
 take any notice of the staleness of his provisions. This I 
 found still the more inconvenient, because the better the 
 host was, the worse generally were his accommodations ; the 
 fellow knowing very well that those who were his friends 
 would take up with coarse diet and hard lodging. For these 
 reasons, all the while I was upon the road I dreaded enter- 
 ing into an house of any one that Sir Eoger had applauded 
 for an honest man. 
 
 Since my stay at Sir Eoger's in the country, I daily find 
 more instances of this narrow party-humor. Being upon a 
 bowling-green at a neighboring market-town the other day 
 (for that is the place where the gentlemen of one side meet 
 once a week), I observed a stranger among them of a better 
 presence and genteeler behavior than ordinary; but was 
 much surprised, that notwithstanding he was a very fair 
 better, nobody would take him up. But upon inquiry I 
 found, that he was one who had given a disagreeable vote 
 in a former parliament, for which reason there was not a 
 man upon that bowling-green who would have so much cor- 
 respondence with him as to win his money of him. 
 
 Among other instances of this nature, I must not omit 
 one which concerns myself. Will Wimble was the other 
 day relating several strange stories that he had picked up, 
 nobody knows where, of a certain great man ; and upon my 
 staring at him, as one that was surprised to hear such 
 things in the country, which had never been so much as 
 whispered in the town. Will stopped short in the thread of 
 his discourse, and after dinner asked my friend Sir Eoger 
 in his ear, if he were sure that I was not a fanatic. 
 
 It gives me a serious concern to see such a spirit of dissen- 
 
Sir Roger and the Grypsies. 59 
 
 sion in the country ; not only as it destroys virtue and com- 
 mon sense, and renders us in a manner barbarians towards 
 one another, but as it perpetuates our animosities, widens 
 our breaches, and transmits our present passions and preju- 
 dices to our posterity. For my own part, I am sometimes 
 afraid that I discover the seeds of a civil war in these our 
 divisions ; and therefore cannot but bewail, as in their first 
 principles, the miseries and calamities of our children. 
 
 Spectator No. 130. Sir Roger and the gypsies. 
 
 As I was yesterday riding out in the fields with my friend 
 Sir Eoger, we saw at a little distance from us a troop of 
 gypsies. Upon the first discovering of them, my friend was 
 in some doubt whether he should not exert the Justice of the 
 peace upon such a band of lawless vagrants ; but not having 
 his clerk with him, who is a necessary counsellor on those 
 occasions, and fearing that his poultry might fare the worse 
 for it, he let the thought drop : but at the same time gave 
 me a particular account of the mischiefs they do in the 
 country, in stealing people's goods and spoiling their ser- 
 vants. ^^If a stray piece of linen hangs upon an hedge," 
 says Sir Eoger, " they are sure to have it ; if a hog loses his 
 way in the fields, it is ten to one but he becomes their prey ; 
 our geese cannot live in peace for them : if a man prosecutes 
 them with severity, his henroost is sure to pay for it. They 
 generally straggle into these parts about this time of the 
 year ; and set the heads of our servant-maids so agog for 
 husbands, that we do not expect to have any business done 
 as it should be whilst they are in the country. I have an 
 honest dairy-maid who crosses their hands with a piece of 
 silver every summer, and never fails being promised the 
 handsomest young fellow in the parish for her pains. Your 
 friend the butler has been fool enough to be seduced by 
 
60 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 them ; and, though he is sure to lose a knife, a fork, or a 
 spoon every time his fortune is told him, generally shuts 
 himself up in the pantry with an old gypsy for above half 
 an hour once in a twelvemonth. Sweet-hearts are the things 
 they live upon, which they bestow very plentifully upon all 
 those that apply themselves to them. You see now and then 
 some handsome young jades among them : the girls have 
 very often white teeth and black eyes.^^ 
 
 Sir Eoger observing that I listened with great attention 
 to his account of a people who were so entirely new to me, 
 told me, that if I would they should tell us our fortunes. 
 
 As I was very well pleased with the Knight's proposal, 
 we rid up and communicated our hands to them. A Cas- 
 sandra of the crew, after having examined my lines very 
 diligently, told me, that I was a good woman's man, with 
 some other particulars which I do not think proper to relate. 
 My friend Sir Eoger alighted from his horse, and exposing 
 his palm to two or three of them that stood by him, they 
 crumpled it into all shapes, and diligently scanned every 
 wrinkle that could be made in it ; when one of them who 
 was elder and more sun-burnt than the rest, told him, that 
 he had a widow in his line of life ; upon which the Knight 
 cried, '' G-o, go, you are an idle baggage '' ; and at the same 
 time smiled upon me. The gypsy finding he was not dis- 
 pleased in his heart, told him after a farther inquiry into 
 his hand, that his true love was constant, and that she 
 should dream of him to-night : my old friend cried, '' Pish," 
 and bid her go on. The gypsy told him that he was a 
 bachelor, but would not be so long; and that he was dearer 
 to somebody than he thought ; the Knight still repeated that 
 she was an idle baggage, and bid her go on. '' Ah master," 
 says the gypsy, "that roguish leer of yours makes a pretty 
 woman's heart ache ; you han't that simper about the mouth 
 for nothing." The uncouth gibberish with which all this 
 was uttered, like the darkness of an oracle, made us the 
 
The Spectator returns to London. 61 
 
 more attentive to it. To be short, the Knight left the money 
 with her that he had crossed her hand with, and got up 
 again on his horse. 
 
 As we were riding away, Sir Eoger told me, that he knew 
 several sensible people who believed these gypsies now and 
 then foretold very strange things ; and for half an hour 
 together appeared more jocund than ordinary. In the 
 height of his good humor, meeting a common beggar upon 
 the road who was no conjuror, as he went to relieve him, 
 he found his pocket was picked; that being a kind of 
 palmistry at which this race of vermin are very dexterous. 
 
 Spectator No. 131. T'he Spectator sees reasons why he had better 
 
 return to town. 
 
 It is usual for a man who loves country sports to preserve 
 the game in his own grounds, and divert himself upon those 
 that belong to his neighbor. My friend Sir Eoger generally 
 goes two or three miles from his house, and gets into the 
 frontiers of his estate, before he beats about in search of a 
 hare or partridge, on purpose to spare his own fields, where 
 he is always sure of finding diversion when the worst comes 
 to the worst. By this means the breed about his house has 
 time to increase and multiply ; besides that the sport is the 
 more agreeable where the game is the harder to come at, 
 and where it does not lie so thick as to produce any per- 
 plexity or confusion in the pursuit. For these reasons the 
 country gentleman, like the fox, seldom preys near his own 
 home. 
 
 In the same manner I have made a month's excursion out 
 of the town, which is the great field of game for sportsmen 
 of my species, to try my fortune in the country, where I 
 have started several subjects, and hunted them down, with 
 some pleasure to myself, and I hope to others. I am here 
 
62 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 forced to use a great deal of diligence before I can spring 
 anything to my mind ; whereas in town, whilst I am follow- 
 ing one character, it is ten to one but I am crossed in my 
 way by another, and put up such a variety of odd creatures 
 in both sexes, that they foil the scent of one another, and 
 puzzle the chase. My greatest difficulty in the country is 
 to find sport, and, in town, to choose it. In the meantime, 
 as I have given a whole month's rest to the cities of London 
 and Westminster, I promise myself abundance of new game 
 upon my return thither. 
 
 It is indeed high time for me to leave the country, since 
 I find the whole neighborhood begin to grow very inquisi- 
 tive after my name and character ; my love of solitude, 
 taciturnity, and particular way of life having raised a great 
 curiosity in all these parts. 
 
 The notions which have been framed of me are various : 
 some look upon me as very proud, some as very modest, 
 and some as very melancholy. Will Wimble, as my friend 
 the butler tells me, observing me very much alone, and 
 extremely silent when I am in company, is afraid I have 
 killed a man. The country people seem to suspect me 
 for a conjuror; and, some of them hearing of the visit 
 which I made to Moll White, will needs have it that Sir 
 Roger has brought down a cunning man with him, to cure 
 the old woman, and free the country from her charms. So 
 that the character which I go under in part of the neighbor- 
 hood, is what they here call a '' white witch.'' 
 
 A justice of peace, who lives about five miles off, and is 
 not of Sir Eoger's party, has, it seems, said twice or thrice 
 at his table, that he wishes Sir Roger does not harbor a 
 Jesuit in his house, and that he thinks the gentlemen of 
 the country would do very well to make me give some 
 account of myself. 
 
 On the other side, some of Sir Roger's friends are afraid 
 the old Knight is imposed upon by a designing fellow, and 
 
Sir Roger in Town. 63 
 
 as they have heard that he converses very promiscuously, 
 when he is in town, do not know but he has brought down 
 with him some discarded Whig, that is sullen and says 
 nothing because he is out of place. 
 
 Such is the variety of opinions which are here enter- 
 tained of me, so that I pass among some for a disaffected 
 person, among some for a wizard, and among others for 
 a murderer ; and all this for no other reason, that I can 
 imagine, but because I do not hoot and holloa and make a 
 noise. It is true, my friend Sir Eoger tells them, that it is 
 my luay, and that I am only a philosopher ; but this will 
 not satisfy them. They think there is more in me than he 
 discovers, and that I do not hold my tongue for nothing. 
 
 For these and other reasons I shall set out for London 
 to-morrow, having found by experience that the country 
 is not a place for a person of my temper, who does not 
 love jollity, and what they call good neighborhood. A man 
 that is out of humor when an unexpected guest breaks in 
 upon him, and does not care for sacrificing an afternoon to 
 every chance-comer, that will be the master of his own 
 time, and the pursuer of his own inclinations, makes but a 
 very unsociable figure in this kind of life. I shall therefore 
 retire into the town, if I may make use of that phrase, and 
 get into the crowd again as fast as I can, in order to be 
 alone. I can there raise what speculations I please upon 
 others, without being observed myself, and at the same 
 time enjoy all the advantages of company with all the 
 privileges of solitude. 
 
 Spectator No. 269. Su^ Roger in town. 
 
 I was this morning surprised with a great knocking at the 
 door, when my landlady's daughter came up to me, and 
 told me that there was a man below desired to speak with 
 
64 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 me. Upon my asking her who it was, she told me it was 
 a very grave elderly person, but that she did not know his 
 name. I immediately went down to him, and found him to 
 be the coachman of my worthy friend Sir Eoger de Coverley. 
 He told me that his master came to town last night, and 
 would be glad to take a turn with me in Gray's Inn Walks. 
 As I was wondering in myself what had brought Sir Eoger 
 to town, not having lately received any letter from him, he 
 told me that his master was come up to get a sight of 
 Prince Eugene, and that he desired I would immediately 
 meet him. 
 
 I was not a little pleased with the curiosity of the old 
 Knight, though I did not much wonder at it, having heard 
 him say more than once in private discourse, that he looked 
 upon Prince Eugenio (for so the Knight always calls him) 
 to be a greater man than Scanderbeg. 
 
 I was no sooner come into Gray's Inn Walks, but I heard 
 my friend upon the terrace hemming twice or thrice to 
 himself with great vigor, for he loves to clear his pipes in 
 good air (to make use of his own phrase), and is not a lit- 
 tle pleased with any one who takes notice of the strength 
 which he still exerts in his morning hems. 
 
 I was touched with a secret joy at the sight of the good 
 old man, who before he saw me was engaged in conversation 
 with a beggar-man that had asked an alms of him. I could 
 hear my friend chide him for not finding out some work ; 
 but at the same time saw him put his hand in his pocket 
 and give him six-pence. 
 
 Our salutations were very hearty on both sides, consist- 
 ing of many kind shakes of the hand, and several affection- 
 ate looks which we cast upon one another. After which 
 the Knight told me my good friend his chaplain was very 
 well, and much at my service, and that the Sunday before 
 he had made a most incomparable sermon out of Doctor 
 Barrow. ^^I have left,'' says he, ^^all my affairs in his 
 
Sir Roger in Town. 65 
 
 hands, and being willing to lay an obligation upon him, 
 have deposited with him thirty marks, to be distributed 
 among his poor parishioners.'' 
 
 He then proceeded to acquaint me with the welfare of 
 Will Wimble. Upon which he put his hand into his fob 
 and presented me in his name with a tobacco- stopper, tell- 
 ing me that Will had been busy all the beginning of the 
 winter, in turning great quantities of them ; and that he 
 made a present of one to every gentleman in the country 
 who has good principles, and smokes. He added, that poor 
 Will was at present under great tribulation, for that Tom 
 Touchy had taken the law of him for cutting some hazel 
 sticks out of one of his hedges. 
 
 Among other pieces of news which the Knight brought 
 from his country seat, he informed me that Moll White 
 was dead; and that about a month after her death the 
 wind was so very high, that it blew down the end of one of 
 his barns. " But for my own part,'' says Sir Koger, " I do 
 not think that the old woman had any hand in it." 
 
 He afterwards fell into an account of the diversions 
 which had passed in his house during the holidays ; for Sir 
 Eoger, after the laudable custom of his ancestors, always 
 keeps open house at Christmas. I learned from him that 
 he had killed eight fat hogs for this season, that he had 
 dealt about his chines very liberally amongst his neighbors, 
 and that in particular he had sent a string of hogs-puddings 
 with a pack of cards to every poor family in the parish. 
 "I have often thought," says Sir Eoger, ^^it happens very 
 well that Christmas should fall out in the middle of winter. 
 It is the most dead uncomfortable time of the year, when 
 the poor people would suffer very much from their poverty 
 and cold, if they had not good cheer, warm fires, and Christ- 
 mas gambols to support them. I love to rejoice their poor 
 hearts at this season, and to see the whole village merry in 
 my great hall. I allow a double quantity of malt to my 
 
66 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 small beer, and set it a running for twelve days to every one 
 that calls for it. I have always a piece of cold beef and a 
 mince-pie upon the table, and am wonderfully pleased to 
 see my tenants pass away a whole evening in playing their 
 innocent tricks, and smutting one another. Our friend 
 Will Wimble is as merry as any of them, and shows a thou- 
 sand roguish tricks upon these occasions.^' 
 
 I was very much delighted with the reflection of my old 
 friend, w^hich carried so much goodness in it. He then 
 launched out into the praise of the late Act of Parliament 
 for securing the Church of England, and told me, wdth great 
 satisfaction, that he believed it already began to take effect, 
 for that a rigid Dissenter, who chanced to dine at his house 
 on Christmas day, had been observed to eat very plentifully 
 of his plum-porridge. 
 
 After having dispatched all our country matters, Sir 
 Roger made several inquiries concerning the club, and par- 
 ticularly of his old antagonist. Sir Andrew Freeport. He 
 asked me with a kind of a smile whether Sir Andrew had 
 not taken the advantage of his absence to vent among them 
 some of his republican doctrines ; but soon after, gathering 
 up his countenance into a more than ordinary seriousness, 
 ^^Tell me truly,^' says he, ^- don't you think Sir Andrew had 
 a hand in the Pope's Procession ? " — but without giving 
 me time to answer him, *^Well, well,'^ says he, "I know 
 you are a wary man, and do not care to talk of public 
 matters.'' 
 
 The Knight then asked me if I had seen Prince Eugenio, 
 and made me promise to get him a stand in some convenient 
 place where he might have a full sight of that extraordi- 
 nary man, whose presence does so much honor to the Brit- 
 ish nation. He dwelt very long on the praises of this 
 great general, and I found that, since I was with him in 
 the country, he had drawn many observations together out 
 of his reading in Baker's Chronicle, and other authors, who 
 
Sir Roger in Westminster Ahhey, 67 
 
 always lie in his hall window, which very much redound to 
 the honor of this prince. 
 
 Having passed away the greatest part of the morning in 
 hearing the Knight's reflections, which were partly private, 
 and partly political, he asked me if I would smoke a pipe 
 with him over a dish of coffee at Squire's. As I love the 
 old man, I take delight in complying with every thing that 
 is agreeable to him, and accordingly waited on him to the 
 coffee-house, where his venerable figure drew upon us the 
 eyes of the whole room. He had no sooner seated himself 
 at the upper end of the high table, but he called for a clean 
 pipe, a paper of tobacco, a dish of coffee, a wax-candle, and 
 the Supplement, with such an air of cheerfulness and good- 
 humor, that all the boys in the coffee-room (who seemed to 
 take pleasure in serving him) were at once employed on his 
 several errands, insomuch that nobody else could come at a 
 dish of tea, till the Knight had got all his conveniences 
 about him. 
 
 Spectator No. 329. Sir Roger visits Westminster Abbey, 
 
 My friend Sir Eoger de Coverley told me t'other night 
 that he had been reading my paper upon Westminster 
 Abbe}^, in which, says he, there are a great many ingenious 
 fancies. He told me, at the same time, that he observed I 
 had promised another paper upon the tombs, and that he 
 should be glad to go and see them with me, not having vis- 
 ited them since he had read history. I could not at first 
 imagine how this came into the Knight's head, till I recol- 
 lected that he had been very busy all last summer upon 
 Baker's Chronicle, which he has quoted several times in his 
 disputes with Sir Andrew Freeport since his last coming to 
 town. Accordingly, I promised to call upon him the next 
 morning, that we might go together to the Abbey. 
 
 I found the Knight under his butler's hands, who always 
 
68 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 shaves him. He was no sooner dressed than he called for 
 a glass of the Widow Trueby's water, which he told me he 
 always drank before he went abroad. He recommended to 
 me a dram of it at the same time with so much heartiness, 
 that I could not forbear drinking it. As soon as I had got 
 it down, I found it very unpalatable ; upon which the 
 Knight, observing that I had made several wry faces, told 
 me that he knew I should not like it at first, but that it 
 was the best thing in the world against the stone or gravel. 
 
 I could have wished, indeed, that he had acquainted me 
 with the virtues of it sooner ; but it was too late to com- 
 plain, and I knew what he had done was out of good will. 
 Sir Eoger told me, further, that he looked upon it to be 
 very good for a man whilst he stayed in town, to keep off 
 infection ; and that he got together a quantity of it upon 
 the first news of the sickness being at Dantzic. When of a 
 sudden turning short to one of his servants, who stood be- 
 hind him, he bade him call a hackney-coach, and take care 
 it was an elderly man that drove it. 
 
 He then resumed his discourse upon Mrs. Trueby's water, 
 telling me that the Widow Trueby was one who did more 
 good than all the doctors and apothecaries in the country; 
 that she distilled every poppy that grew within five miles 
 of her; that she distributed her water gratis among all 
 sorts of people : to which the Knight added, that she had a 
 very great jointure, and that the whole country would fain 
 have it a match between him and her ; " And truly," said 
 Sir Eoger, '' if I had not been engaged, perhaps I could not 
 have done better.'' 
 
 His discourse was broken off by his man telling him he 
 had called a coach. Upon our going to it, after having cast 
 his eye upon the wheels, he asked the coachman if his axle- 
 tree was good ; upon the fellow telling him he would war- 
 rant it, the Knight turned to me, told me he looked like an 
 honest man, and went in without further ceremony. 
 
Si7' .Roger in Westminster Abbey. 69 
 
 We had not gone far, when Sir Eoger, popping out his 
 head, called the coachman down from his box, and upon 
 his presenting himself at the window, asked him if he 
 smoked : as I was considering what this would end in, he 
 bade him stop by the way at any good tobacconist's, and 
 take in a roll of their best Virginia. Nothing material hap- 
 pened in the remaining part of our journey till we were set 
 down at the west end of the Abbey. 
 
 As we went up the body of the church, the Knight pointed 
 at the trophies upon one of the new monuments, and cried 
 out, ^^A brave man, I warrant him!'' Passing afterwards 
 by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, he flung his hand that way, and 
 cried, " Sir Cloudesley Shovel, a very gallant man ! '' As 
 we stood before Busby's tomb, the Knight uttered himself 
 again after the same manner, — "Dr. Busby — a great man ! 
 he whipped my grandfather — a very great man! I should 
 have gone to him myself if I had not been a blockhead- — a 
 very great man ! " 
 
 We were immediately conducted into the little chapel on 
 the right hand. Sir Roger, planting himself at our histo- 
 rian's elbow, was very attentive to every thing he said, par- 
 ticularly to the account he gave us of the lord who had cut 
 off the King of Morocco's head. Among several other 
 figures, he was very well pleased to see the statesman Cecil 
 upon his knees ; and, concluding them all to be great men, 
 was conducted to the" figure which represents that martyr to 
 good housewifery, who died by the prick of a needle. Upon 
 our interpreter telling us that she was a maid of honor to 
 Queen Elizabeth, the Knight was very inquisitive into her 
 name and family ; and, after having regarded her finger for 
 some time, " I wonder," says he, " that Sir Richard Baker 
 has said nothing of her in his Chronicle." 
 
 We were then conveyed to the two coronation chairs, 
 where my old friend, after having heard that the stone 
 underneath the most ancient of them, which was brought 
 
70 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 from Scotland, was called Jacob's Pillar, sat himself down 
 in the chair ; and, looking like the figure of an old Gothic 
 king, asked our interpreter what authority they had to say 
 that Jacob had ever been in Scotland. The fellow, instead 
 of returning him an answer, told him that he hoped his 
 honor would pay his forfeit. I could observe Sir Eoger a 
 little ruffled upon being thus trepanned ; but, our guide not 
 insisting upon his demand, the Knight soon recovered his 
 good humor, and whispered in my ear that if Will Wimble 
 were with us, and saw those two chairs, it would go hard 
 but he would get a tobacco-stopper out of one or t'other of 
 them. 
 
 Sir Eoger, in the next place, laid his hand upon Edward 
 the Third's sword, and, leaning upon the pommel of it, gave 
 us the whole history of the Black Prince ; concluding that, 
 in Sir Richard Baker's opinion, Edward the Third was one 
 of the greatest princes that ever sat upon the English 
 throne. 
 
 We were then shown Edward the Confessor's tomb, upon 
 which Sir Eoger acquainted us that he was the first who 
 touched for the evil, and afterwards Henry the Fourth's, 
 upon which he shook his head, and told us that there was 
 fine reading in the casualties of that reign. 
 
 Our conductor then pointed to that monument where 
 there is the figure of one of our English kings without a 
 head; and upon giving us to know that the head, which 
 was of beaten silver, had been stolen away several years 
 since, " Some Whig, PU warrant you," says Sir Eoger : " you 
 ought to lock up your kings better ; they will carry off the 
 body too if you don't take care." 
 
 The glorious names of Henry the Fifth and Queen Eliza- 
 oeth gave the Knight great opportunities of shining and of 
 doing justice to Sir Eichard Baker, who, as our Knight ob- 
 served with some surprise, had a great many kings in him 
 whose monuments he had not seen in the Abbey. 
 
Sir Roger at the Theatre, 71 
 
 For my own part, I could not but be pleased to see the 
 Knight show such an honest passion for the glory of his 
 country, and such a respectful gratitude to the memory of 
 its princes. 
 
 I must not omit that the benevolence of my good old 
 friend, which flows out towards every one he converses 
 with, made him very kind to our interpreter, whom he 
 looked upon as an extraordinary man; for which reason 
 he shook him by the hand at parting, telling him that he 
 should be very glad to see him at his lodgings in Norfolk 
 Buildings, and talk over these matters with him more at 
 leisure. 
 
 Spectator No. 335. Sir Roger goes to the play. 
 
 My friend Sir Eoger de Coverley, when we last met to- 
 gether at the club, told me that he had a great mind to see 
 the new tragedy with me, assuring me, at the same time, 
 that he had not been at a play these twenty years. " The 
 last I saw," said Sir Eoger, ^^ was the ^ Committee,' which I 
 should not have gone to neither, had not I been told before- 
 hand that it was a good Church of England comedy." He 
 then proceeded to inquire of me who this distressed mother 
 was, and, upon hearing that she was Hector's widow, he 
 told me that her husband was a brave man, and that when 
 he was a school-boy, he had read his life at the end of the 
 dictionary. My friend asked me, in the next place, if there 
 would not be some danger in coming home late, in case the 
 Mohocks should be abroad. ^•"' I assure you," says he, " I 
 thought I had fallen into their hands last night, for I ob- 
 served two or three lusty black men that followed me half 
 way up Fleet Street, and mended their pace behind me in 
 proportion as I put on to get away from them. You must 
 know," continued the Knight with a smile, " I fancied they 
 had a mind to hunt me, for I remember an honest gentleman 
 
72 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 ill my neighborhood who was served such a trick in King 
 Charles the Second's time ; for which reason he has not ven- 
 tured himself in town ever since. I might have shown them 
 very good sport had this been their design ; for, as I am an 
 old fox-hunter, I should have turned and dodged, and have 
 played them a thousand tricks they had never seen in their 
 lives before/' Sir Koger added that if these gentlemen 
 had any such intention they did not succeed very well in 
 it ; " for I threw them out/' says he, " at the end of Norfolk 
 Street, where I doubled the corner and got shelter in my 
 lodgings before they could imagine what was become of me. 
 However," says the Knight, '' if Captain Sentry will make 
 one with us to-morrow night, and if you will both of you 
 call upon me about four o'clock, that we may be at the 
 house before it is full, I will have my own coach in readi- 
 ness to attend you, for John tells me he has got the fore 
 wheels mended." 
 
 The captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the 
 appointed hour, bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he had 
 put on the same sword which he made use of at the battle 
 of Steenkirk. Sir Soger's servants, and among the rest my 
 old friend the butler, had, I found, provided themselves 
 with good oaken plants to attend their master upon this 
 occasion. When we had placed him in his coach, with my- 
 self at his left hand, the captain before him, and his butler 
 at the head of his footmen in the rear, we convoyed him 
 in safety to the playhouse, where, after having marched up 
 the entry in good order, the captain and I went in with him, 
 and seated him betwixt us in the pit. As soon as the house 
 was full, and the candles lighted, my old friend stood up 
 and looked about him with that pleasure which a mind 
 seasoned with humanity naturally feels at the sight of a 
 multitude of people who seem pleased with one another, 
 and partake of the same common entertainment. I could 
 not but fancy to myself, as the old man stood up in the 
 
Sir Roger at the Theatre. 73 
 
 middle of the pit, that he made a very proper centre to a 
 tragic audience. Upon the entering of Pyrrhus, the Knight 
 told me that he did not believe the King of France himself 
 had a better strut. I was, indeed, very attentive to my old 
 friend's remarks, because I looked upon them as a piece of 
 natural criticism ; and was well pleased to hear him, at the 
 conclusion of almost every scene, telling me that he could 
 not imagine how the play would end. One while he ap- 
 peared much concerned for Andromache ; and a little while 
 after as much for Hermione ; and was extremely puzzled to 
 think what would become of Pyrrhus. 
 
 When Sir Roger saw Andromache's obstinate refusal to 
 her lover's importunities, he whispered me in the ear, that 
 he was sure she would never have him ; to which he added, 
 with a more than ordinary vehemence, '" You can't imagine. 
 Sir, what 'tis to have to do with a widow." Upon Pyrrhus's 
 threatening afterwards to leave her, the Knight shook his 
 head, and muttered to himself, " Ay, do if you can." This 
 part dwelt so much upon my friend's imagination, that at 
 the close of the third act, as I was thinking of something 
 else, he whispered me in my ear, '' These widows. Sir, are 
 the most perverse creatures in the world. But pray," says he, 
 ^^you that are a critic, is the play according to your dramatic 
 rules, as you call them ? Should your people in tragedy 
 always talk to be understood ? Why, there is not a single 
 sentence in this play that I do not know the meaning of." 
 
 The fourth act very luckily began before I had time 
 to give the old gentleman an answer : " Well," says the 
 Knight, sitting down with great satisfaction, "• I suppose 
 we are now to see Hector's ghost." He then renewed his 
 attention, and, from time to time, fell a praising the widow. 
 He made, indeed, a little mistake as to one of her pages, 
 whom at his first entering he took for Astyanax ; but 
 quickly set himself right in that particular, though, at the 
 same time, he owned he should have been very glad to have 
 
74 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 seen the little hoj, ^^ who/^ says he, "must needs be a very 
 fine child by the account that is given of him/' Upon 
 Hermione's going off with a menace to Pj^rrhus, the audience 
 gave a loud clap, to which Sir Eoger added, " On my word, 
 a notable young baggage ! '' 
 
 As there was a very remarkable silence and stiffness in 
 the audience during the whole action, it was natural for 
 them to take the opportunity of these intervals between 
 the acts to express their opinion of the players and of their 
 respective parts. Sir Eoger hearing a cluster of them praise 
 Orestes, struck in with them, and told them that he thought 
 his friend Py lades was a very sensible man ; as they were 
 afterwards applauding Pyrrhus, Sir Eoger put in a second 
 time : "And let me tell you,'' says he, "though he speaks 
 but little, I like the old fellow in whiskers as well as any 
 of them." Captain Sentry seeing two or three wags, who 
 sat near us, lean with an attentive ear towards Sir Eoger, 
 and fearing lest they should smoke the Knight, plucked 
 him by the elbow, and whispered something in his ear, that 
 lasted till the opening of the fifth act. The Knight was 
 wonderfully attentive to the account which Orestes gives 
 of Pyrrhus's death, and at the conclusion of it, told me 
 it was such a bloody piece of work that he was glad it was 
 not done upon the stage. Seeing afterwards Orestes in his 
 raving fit, he grew more than ordinary serious, and took 
 occasion to moralize (in his wa}^) upon an evil conscience, 
 adding, that Orestes, in his madness, looked as if he saw 
 something. 
 
 As we were the first that came into the house, so we were 
 the last that went out of it ; being resolved to have a clear 
 passage for our old friend, whom we did not care to venture 
 among the jostling of the crowd. Sir Eoger went out fully 
 satisfied with his entertainment, and we guarded him to his 
 lodging in the same manner that we brought him to the 
 playhouse ; being highly pleased, for my own part, not only 
 
Sir Roger at Vauxhall Grardens, lb 
 
 with the performance of the excellent piece which had been 
 presented, but with the satisfaction which it had given to 
 the old man. 
 
 Spectator No. 383. Sir Roger and the Spectator go hy ivater to 
 Vauxhall Gardens, 
 
 As I was sitting in my chamber and thinking on a sub- 
 ject for my next Spectator, I heard two or three irregu- 
 lar bounces at my landlady's door, and upon the opening of 
 it, a loud cheerful voice inquiring whether the philosopher 
 was at home. The child who went to the door answered 
 very innocently, that he did not lodge there. I immediately 
 recollected that it was my good friend Sir Eoger's voice ; 
 and that I had promised to go with him on the water to 
 Spring Gardens, in case it proved a good evening. The 
 Knight put me in mind of my promise from the bottom of 
 the stair-case, but told me that if I was speculating he 
 would stay below till I had done. Upon my coming 
 down, I found all the children of the family got about my 
 old friend, and my landlady herself, who is a notable 
 prating gossip, engaged in a conference with him, being 
 mightily pleased with his stroking her little boy upon the 
 head, and bidding him be a good child, and mind his book. 
 
 We were no sooner come to the Temple Stairs, but we 
 were surrounded with a crowd of watermen, offering us 
 their respective services. Sir Eoger, after having looked 
 about him very attentively, spied one with a wooden leg, 
 and immediately gave him orders to get his boat ready. 
 As we were walking towards it, ^^You must know,'' says 
 Sir Eoger, ^^ 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 
 
76 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 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.'^ 
 
 My old friend, after having seated himself, and trimmed 
 the boat with his coachman, who being a very sober man, 
 always serves for ballast on these occasions, we made the 
 best of our way for Vauxhall. Sir Eoger obliged the water- 
 man to give us the history of his right leg, and hearing that 
 he had left it at La Hogue, with many particulars which 
 passed in that glorious action, the Knight, in the triumph of 
 his heart, made several reflections on the greatness of the 
 British nation; as, that one Englishman could beat three 
 Frenchmen; that the Thames was the noblest river in 
 Europe; that London Bridge was a greater piece of work 
 than any of the seven wonders of the world ; with many 
 other honest prejudices which naturally cleave to the heart 
 of a true Englishman. 
 
 After some short pause, the old Knight turning about his 
 head twice or thrice, to take a survey of this great Metrop- 
 olis, bid me observe how thick the city was set with 
 churches, and that there was scarce a single steeple on this 
 side Temple Bar. '' A most heathenish sight ! ^' says Sir 
 Eoger ; ^' 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 ! '^ 
 
 I do not remember I have any where mentioned, in Sir 
 Soger's character, his custom of saluting every body that 
 passes by him with a good-morrow or a good-night. This 
 the old man does out of the overflowings of his humanity, 
 though at the same time it renders him so popular among 
 all his country neighbors, that it is thought to have gone a 
 good way in making him once or twice knight of the shire. 
 He cannot forbear this exercise of benevolence even in town, 
 when he meets with any one in his morning or evening 
 walk. It broke from him to several boats that passed by us 
 upon the water ; but to the Knight's great surprise, as he 
 
Sir Roger at Vauxhall Grardens. 77 
 
 gave the good-night to two or three young fellows a little 
 before our landing, one of them, instead of returning the 
 civility, asked us, what queer old put we had in the boat, 
 with a great deal of the like Thames ribaldry. Sir Roger 
 seemed a little shocked at first, but at length, assuming a 
 face of magistracy, told us that if he were a Middlesex jus- 
 tice, he would make such vagrants know that Her Majesty's 
 subjects were no more to be abused by water than by land. 
 
 We were now arrived at Spring Gardens, which is exquis- 
 itely pleasant at this time of the year. When I considered 
 the fragrancy of the walks and bowers, with the choirs of 
 birds that sang upon the trees, and the loose tribe of people 
 that walked under their shades, I could not but look upon the 
 place as a kind of Mahometan paradise. Sir Eoger told me 
 it put him in mind of a little coppice by his house in the 
 country, which his chaplain used to call an aviary of night- 
 ingales. "You must understand," says the Knight, "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 myself, and thought on 
 the Widow by the music of the nightingale ! '^ He here 
 fetched a deep sigh, and was falling into a fit of musing, 
 when a mask, who came behind him, gave him a gentle tap 
 upon the shoulder, and asked him if he would drink a bot- 
 tle of mead with her. But the Knight being startled at so 
 unexpected a familiarity, and displeased to be interrupted 
 in his thoughts of the Widow, told her she was a wanton 
 baggage, and bid her go about her business. 
 
 We concluded our walk with a glass of Burton ale, and a 
 slice of hung beef. When we had done eating ourselves, 
 the Knight called a waiter to him, and bid him carry the 
 remainder to the waterman that had but one leg. I per- 
 ceived the fellow stared upon him at the oddness of the 
 message, and was going to be saucy ; upon which I ratified 
 the Knight's commands with a peremptory look. 
 
78 Select Essays of Addison. 
 
 Spectator No. 517. The death of Sir Roger, 
 
 We last night received a piece of ill news at our club, 
 which very sensibly afflicted every one of us. I question 
 not but my readers themselves will be troubled at the hear- 
 ing of it. To keep them no longer in suspense, Sir Eoger 
 de Coverley is dead. He departed this life at his house in 
 the country, after a few weeks' sickness. Sir Andrew Free- 
 port has a letter from one of his correspondents in those 
 parts, that informs him the old man caught a cold at the 
 county-sessions, a's he was very warmly promoting an ad- 
 dress of his own penning, in which he succeeded according 
 to his wishes. But this particular comes from a Whig jus- 
 tice of peace, who was always Sir Eoger's enemy and antag- 
 onist. I have letters both from the chaplain and Captain 
 Sentry w^hich mention nothing of it, but are filled with 
 many particulars to the honor of the good old man. I 
 have likewise a letter from the butler, who took so much 
 care of me last summer when I was at the Knight's house. 
 As my friend the butler mentions, in the simplicity of his 
 heart, several circumstances the others have passed over in 
 silence, I shall give my reader a copy of his letter, without 
 any alteration or diminution. 
 
 Honored Sir, 
 
 Knowing that you was my old master's good friend, I could not 
 forbear sending you the melancholy news of h^s death, which has 
 afflicted the whole country, as well as his poor servants, who loved 
 him, I may say, better than we did our lives. I am afraid he caught 
 his death the last county-sessions, where he would go to'see justice 
 done to a poor widow woman and her fatherless children, that had 
 been wronged by a neighboring gentleman ; for you know. Sir, my 
 good master was always the poor man's friend. Upon his coming 
 home, the first complaint he made was, that he had lost his roast-beef 
 stomach, not being able to touch a sirloiD, which was served up ac- 
 cording to custom ; and you know he used to take great delight in it. 
 From that time forward he grew worse and worse, but still kept a 
 
The Death of Sir Roger, 79 
 
 good heart to the last. Indeed we were once in great hope of his 
 recovery, upon a kind message that was sent him from the widow 
 lady whom he had made love to the forty last years of his life ; but 
 this only proved a lightning before death. He has bequeathed to this 
 lady, as a token of his love, a great pearl necklace, and a couple of sil- 
 ver bracelets set with jewels, which belonged to my good old lady his 
 mother; he has bequeathed the fine white gelding, that he used to 
 ride a hunting upon, to his chaplain, because he thought he would be 
 kind to him, and has left you all his books. He has, moreover, be- 
 queathed to the chaplain a very pretty tenement with good lands about 
 it. It being a very cold day when he made his will, he left for mourn- 
 ing, to every man in the parish, a great frieze coat, and to every 
 woman a black riding-hood. It was a most moving sight to see him 
 take leave of his poor servants, commending us all for our fidelity, 
 whilst we were not able to speak a word for weeping. As we most 
 of us are grown gray-headed in our dear master's service, he has left 
 us pensions and legacies, which we may live very comfortably upon, 
 the remaining part of our days. He has bequeathed a great deal more 
 in charity, which is not yet come to my knowledge, and it is peremp- 
 torily said in the parish that he has left money to build a steeple to 
 the church ; for he was heard to say some time ago, that if he lived 
 two years longer, Coverley Church should have a steeple to it. The 
 chaplain tells everybody that he made a very good end, and never 
 speaks of him without tears. He was buried, according to his own 
 directions, among the family of the Coverleys, on the left hand of his 
 father. Sir Arthur. The coffin was carried by six of his tenants, and 
 the pall held up by six of the quorum : the whole parish followed the 
 corpse with heavy hearts, and in their mourning suits, the men in 
 frieze, and the women in riding-hoods. Captain Sentry, my master's 
 nephew, has taken possession of the hall-house and the whole estate. 
 When my old master saw him a little before his death he shook him 
 by the hand, and wished him joy of the estate which was falling to 
 him, desiring him only to make a good use of it, and to pay the several 
 legacies, and the gifts of charity which he told him he had left as quit- 
 rents upon the estate. The captain truly seems a courteous man, 
 though he says but little. He makes much of those whom my master 
 loved, and shows great kindnesses to the old house-dog, that you know 
 my poor master was so fond of. It would have gone to j^our heart to 
 have heard the moans the dumb creature made on the day of my mas- 
 ter's death. He has never joyed himself since ; no more has any of 
 
80 Select Essays of Addison, 
 
 us. 'Twas the melanclioliest day for the poor people that ever hap- 
 pened in Worcestershire. This is all from, 
 
 Honored Sir, your most sorrowful Servant, 
 
 Edward Biscuit. 
 
 P.S. My master desired, some weeks before he died, that a book 
 which comes up to you by the carrier should be given to Sir Andrew 
 Freeport, in his name. 
 
 This letter, notwithstanding the poor butler's manner of 
 writing it, gave us such an idea of our good old friend, that 
 upon the reading of it there was not a dry eye in the club. 
 Sir Andrew opening the book, found it to be a collection of 
 Acts of Parliament. There was in particular the Act of 
 Uniformity, with some passages in it marked by Sir Eoger's 
 own hand. Sir Andrew found that they related to two or 
 three points, which he had disputed with Sir Eoger the last 
 time he appeared at the club. Sir Andrew, who would have 
 been merry at such an incident on another occasion, at the 
 sight of the old man's handwriting burst into tears and 
 put the book into his pocket. Captain Sentry informs us, 
 that the Knight has left rings and mourning for every one 
 in the club. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 P. 18. he is pleasant upon any of them. The meaning of 
 '' pleasant '' as here used is not given in Webster, but may- 
 be easily inferred. Consider the noun, 2^^^^^<^'^i'^y' 
 
 P. 19. This cast of mind, etc. The young reader must 
 learn betimes to make his account with the peculiarities of 
 the Addisonian syntax, and must recognize that in many 
 points usage has changed since the early years of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 P. 22. took off the dress he was in; i.e., raised him from 
 the condition of servant. 
 
 P. 24. discovered. Do not misinterpret this word. It is 
 no longer used in just this sense. 
 
 P. 41. Spectator No. 116, though written by Budgell, is 
 wholly in the Addisonian vein. Budgell had successfully 
 caught the style of his master. Boswell reports Johnson as 
 saying that '^Addison wrote BudgelPs papers, or at least 
 mended them so much that he made them almost his own.'^ 
 
 P. 46. I believe in general, etc. Bemember it is the Spec- 
 tator, and not Addison, that is speaking. Addison chooses 
 not to let the Spectator boldly disavow a belief in witch- 
 craft. Addison's own disbelief in it is abundantly inferable 
 from the spiiit of this very paper. It becomes interesting 
 to consider whether in 1711 belief in witchcraft was gener- 
 ally entertained by educated men. Eecall the date of the 
 latest outbreak of the delusion in ISTew England. Ascertain 
 from any history of witchcraft, or from the article on this 
 subject in the Encyclo. Brit., when the last witch-trials 
 were held in England. See Knight's Popular History, 
 Vol. v., p. 430. 
 
 P. 49. a yeoman. It is impossible for an American to 
 appreciate fully the connotations of this purely English 
 word without considerable reading. Besides looking up 
 the definitions in the dictionaries, read, also, the chapter 
 on the Yeomen, in Boutmy's English Constitution. 
 
 within the Game Act. A little reading will explain this. 
 
 81 
 
82 Notes, 
 
 See, e.g., the last paragraph of Chap. IV., Vol. YIII., of 
 Knight's History, and the passage from Blackstone there 
 quoted. 
 
 P. 57. I remember to have read. Look up the facts about 
 the ichneumon, and see if he is as disinterested an animal 
 as Diodorus represents him. 
 
 P. 59. Spectator No. 130. The authorits^ on the Gypsies 
 is George Borrow, whose books are all pecidiarly interest- 
 ing. In the introduction to his Gypsies of Spain is a short, 
 readable account of the English Gypsies. 
 
 P. 63. discovers. See note to p. 24. 
 
 P. 6-4. Prince Eugene. See Knight's History, opening of 
 Chap. XXV.. Vol. V. 
 
 P. 66. smutting one another. See The Deserted Village, 
 line 27. 
 
 the late Act of Parliament. This was the law against Oc- 
 casional Conformitv. passed in 1711. See the histories, or 
 Encyclo. Brit., VoL VIIL, pp. 353, 354. 
 
 the Pope's Procession. See Knight's History, Vol. V., 
 p. 377. 
 
 Baker's Chronicle. See article on Sir Kichard Baker, in 
 Encyclo. Brit. 
 
 P. 69. the lord -who had cut off, etc. ; that martyr to good 
 housewifery, etc. See Hare's Walks in London, II., 257. 
 
 the two coronation chairs, ^ee Hare, II., 303. 
 
 P. 70. one of our English kings without a head. See Hare, 
 XL, pp. 300-302. 
 
 P. 71. 'the Committee,' a play by Sir Eobert HoTvard, one 
 of the minor comic dramatists of the Kestoration. 
 
 this distressed mother. The Distressed Mother was a play 
 by Ambrose Philips, founded on Kacine's tragedy of Andro- 
 maque. 
 
 the Mohocks. See Ashton's Social Life in the Eeign of 
 Queen Anne. 
 
 P. 75. Vauxhall Gardens. See Hare's Walks, II., 422. 
 
 P. 76. La Hogue. See Macaulay's History, Chap. XVIII. 
 
 The fifty new churches. Parliament had just voted to 
 build fifty churches in the city. 
 
ENGLISH. 
 
 Orations and Arguments 
 
 Edited by Professor C. B. Bradley, University of California. i2mo, 
 cloth, 385 pages. Price, ^i.oo. 
 
 The following speeches are contained in the book : — 
 Burke : Webster : 
 
 On Conciliation with the Col- The Reply to Hayne. 
 
 onies, and Speech before the Elec- Macaulay • 
 tors at Bristol. q„ ^^^ '^^^^^^ g;jl ^^ ^g 
 
 Chatham: Calhoun: 
 
 On American Affairs. r\ ^.-u c^ r\ *.• 
 
 On the Slavery Question. 
 Erskine: c: ,„. 
 
 Seward : 
 In the Stockdale Case. r\ ^u j -ui r- a- ^ 
 
 On the Irrepressible Conflict. 
 Lincoln : 
 
 The Gettysburg Address. 
 
 IN making this selection, the test applied to each speech was 
 that it should be in itself memorable, attaining its distinc- 
 tion through the essential qualities of nobility and force of ideas, 
 and that it should be, in topic, so related to the great thoughts, 
 memories, or problems of our own time as to have for us still an 
 inherent and vital interest. 
 
 The speeches thus chosen have been printed from the best 
 available texts, without change, save that the spelling has been 
 made uniform throughout, and that three of the speeches — 
 those of Webster, Calhoun, and Seward — have been shortened 
 somewhat by the omission of matters of merely temporal or 
 local interest. The omitted portions have been summarized for 
 the reader, whenever they bear upon the main argument. 
 
 The Notes aim to furnish the reader with whatever help is 
 necessary to the proper appreciation of the speeches ; to avoid 
 bewildering him with mere subtleties and display of erudition ; 
 and to encourage in him habits of self-help and familiarity wdth 
 sources of information. 
 
 A special feature of this part of the work is a sketch of the 
 English Constitution and Government, intended as a general 
 introduction to the English speeches. 
 
 The collection includes material enough to permit of a varied 
 selection for the use of successive classes in the schools. 
 
ENGLISH. 
 
 Studies in English Composition 
 
 By Harriet C. Keeler, High School, Cleveland. Ohio, and Emma 
 C. Davis, Cleveland, Ohio. i2mo, cloth, 210 pages. Price, 80 cents. 
 
 THIS book is the outgrowth of experience in teaching compo- 
 sition, and the lessons which it contains have all borne the 
 actual test of the class-room. Intended to meet the wants of 
 those schools which have composition as a weekly exercise in 
 their course of study, it contains an orderly succession of topics 
 adapted to the age and development of high school pupils, to- 
 gether with such lessons in language and rhetoric as are of con- 
 stant application in class exercises. 
 
 The authors believe that too much attention cannot be given 
 to supplying young writers with good models, which not only 
 indicate what is expected, and serve as an ideal toward which 
 to work, but stimulate and encourage the learner in his first 
 efforts. For this reason numerous examples of good writing 
 have been given, and many more have been suggested. 
 
 The primal idea of the book is that the pupil learns to wTite 
 by writing ; and therefore that it is of more importance to get 
 him to write than to prevent his making mistakes in writing. 
 Consequently, the pupil is set to writing at the very outset ; the 
 idea of producing something is kept constantly uppermost, and 
 the function of criticism is reserved until after something has 
 been done which may be criticised. 
 
 J. W. Steams, Professor of Pedagogy, University of Wisconsin: It strikes 
 me that the author of your "Studies in English Composition" touches 
 the gravest defect in school composition v^'ork when she writes in her pref- 
 ace : " One may as well grasp a sea-anemone, and expect it to show its 
 beauty, as ask a child to write from his own experience when he expects 
 every sentence to be dislocated in order to be improved." In order to 
 improve the beauty of the body, we drive out the soul m our extreme for- 
 mal criticisms of school compositions. She has made a book which 
 teaches children to write by getting them to WTite often and freely ; and if 
 used with the spirit which has presided over the making of it. it will prove 
 a most effective instrument for the reform of school composition work. 
 
 Albert G. Owen, Superintendent, Afton, Iowa: It is an excellent text. I 
 am highly pleased with it. The best of the kind I have yet seen. 
 
ENGLISH. 
 
 DeQuincey's Essays on Style, Rhetoric, 
 and Language 
 
 Edited by Professor Fred N. Scott, University of Michigan. i2mo, 
 276 pages. Price, 60 cents. 
 
 THE essays selected are those which deal directly with the 
 theory of literature. The appendix contains such passages 
 from DeQuincey's other writings as will be of most assistance 
 to the student. The introduction and notes are intended to 
 re-enforce, not to forestall, research. 
 
 Principles of Success in Literature 
 
 By George Henry Lewes. Edited with Introduction and Notes by 
 Professor Fred N. Scott. i2mo, 159 pages. Price, 50 cents. 
 
 THE object of reprinting this admirable little treatise on Ht- 
 erature is to make it available for classes in rhetoric and 
 literary criticism. Scarcely any other work will be found so 
 thoroughly sound in principles, and so suggestive and inspiring. 
 The value of the present edition is greatly increased by the 
 excellent introduction by Professor Scott, and by a full index, 
 which adds much to its convenience. 
 
 Professor 0. B. Clarke, Indiana University. Blooyniyigton : Your reprint of 
 Lewes's articles on " The Principles of Success in Literature *' puts an- 
 other sharp and serviceable tool into the hands of the teacher and student 
 of the art of composition. Professor Scott, as well as yourselves, deserves 
 the thanks of all who car€ for truth and force in working. 
 
 Spencer's Pliilosophy of Style ^"^ Wrighfs 
 Essay on Style 
 
 Edited by Professor Fred N. Scott. i2mo, 92 pages. Price, 45 cents. 
 
 THE plan has been followed of providing a biographical and 
 critical introduction, an index, and a few notes, — the latter 
 designed to provoke discussion or to furnish clews for further 
 investigation. 
 
ENGLISH. 
 
 From Milton to Tennyson 
 
 Masterpieces of English Poetry. Edited by L. Du Pont Syle, Uni- 
 versity of California. i2mo, cloth, 480 pages. Price, $1.00. 
 
 IN this work the editor has endeavored to bring together within 
 the compass of a moderate-sized volume as much narrative, 
 descriptive, and lyric verse as a student may reasonably be re- 
 quired to read critically for entrance to college. From the 
 nineteen poets represented, only such masterpieces have been 
 selected as are within the range of the understanding and the 
 sympathy of the high school student. Each masterpiece is 
 given complete, except for pedagogical reasons in the cases of 
 Thomson, Cowper, Byron, and Browning. Exigencies of space 
 have compelled the editor reluctantly to omit Scott from this 
 volume. The copyright laws, of course, exclude American poets 
 from the scope of this work. 
 
 The low price of the book, together with its strong and attrac- 
 tive binding, make it especially desirable for those teachers who 
 read with their classes even a small part of the poems it contains. 
 
 President D. S. Jordan, Leland Stanford, Jr., University, Cal. : I have re- 
 ceived the copy of Mr. Syle's book, " From Milton to Tennyson," and have 
 looked it over with a great deal of interest. It seems to be an excellent 
 work for the purpose. The selections seem well adapted to high school 
 use, and the notes are wisely chosen and well stated. 
 
 Professor Henry A. Beers, Yale University : The notes are helpful and 
 suggestive. What is more, — and what is unusual in text-book annota-' 
 tions, — they are interesting and make very good reading ; not at all school- 
 masterish, but really literary in their taste and discernment of nice points. 
 
 Professor Elmer E. Wentworth, Vassar College: It is a most attractive 
 book in appearance outward and inward, the selections, satisfactory and 
 just, the notes excellent. In schools where less time is given than in ours, 
 no other book known to me, me jtidice, will be so good. I wish to com- 
 mend the notes again. 
 
 Wm. E. Griffis, Ithaca, N.Y. • The whole work shows independent research 
 as well as refined taste and a repose of judgment tnat is admirable. The 
 selected pieces are not overburdened with critical notes, while the sugges- 
 tions for comparison and criticism, to be made by the student himself, are 
 very valuable. 
 
10 ENGLISH. 
 
 Select Essays of Macaulay 
 
 Edited by Samuel Thurber, Girls' High School, Boston. i2mo, 
 205 pages ; cloth, 70 cents ; boards, 50 cents. 
 
 THIS selection comprises the essays on Milton, Bunyan, 
 Johnson, Goldsmith, and Madame D'Arblay, thus giv- 
 ing illustrations both of Macaulay's earlier and of his later 
 style. It aims to put into the hands of high school pupils speci- 
 mens of English prose that shall be eminently interesting to 
 read and study in class, and which shall serve as models of clear 
 and vigorous writing. 
 
 The subjects of the essays are such as to bring them into 
 close relation with the study of general English literature. 
 
 The annotation is intended to serve as a guide and stimulus to 
 research rather than as a substitute for research. The notes, 
 therefore, are few in number. Only when an allusion of Macau- 
 lay is decidedly difficult to verify does the editor give the result 
 of his own investigations. In all other cases he leads the pupil 
 to make investigation for himself, believing that a good method 
 in English, as in other studies, should leave as much free play 
 as possible to the activity of the learner. 
 
 Historical Essays of Macaulay 
 
 Edited by Samuel Thurber. i2mo, cloth, 394 pages. Price, 80 cents. 
 
 THIS selection includes the essays on Lord Clive, Warren 
 Hastings, and both those on the Earl of Chatham. The 
 text in each case is given entire. A map of India, giving the 
 location of places named in the essays, iS included. 
 
 The notes are intended to help the pupil to help himself. 
 They do not attempt to take the place of dictionary, encyclo- 
 paedia, and such histories as are within the reach of ordinary 
 students in academies or high schools. When an allusion is not 
 easily understood, a note briefly explains it, or at least indicates 
 where an explanation may be found. In other cases the pupil 
 is expected to rely on his own efforts, and on such assistance as 
 his teacher may think wise to give. 
 
ENGLISH. 11 
 
 Select Essays of Addison 
 
 With Macaulay's Essay on Addison. Edited by Samuel Thurber, 
 i2mo, 320 pages ; cloth, 80 cents ; boards, 50 cents. 
 
 THE purpose of this selection is to interest young students in 
 Addison as a moral teacher, a painter of character, a hu- 
 morist, and as a writer of elegant English. Hence the editor 
 has aimed to bring together such papers from the Spectator, the 
 Tatler, the Guardia7i, and the Freeholder as will prove most 
 readable to youth of high school age, and at the same time give 
 something like an adequate idea of the richness of Addison's 
 vein. The De Coverley papers are of course all included. 
 Papers describing eighteenth-century life and manners, espe- 
 cially such as best exhibit the writer in his mood of playful satire, 
 have been drawn upon as peculiarly illustrating the Addisonian 
 humor. The tales and allegories, as well as the graver moraliz- 
 ings, have due representation, and the beautiful hyiniis are all 
 given. 
 
 Professor Henry S. Pancoast, Philadelphia : I am dehghted to find that 
 you are continuing the work so well begun in the Macaulay. I read the 
 Introduction with much interest, and with a fresh sense of the importance 
 and value of the method of teaching you are working to advance. 
 
 William C. Collar, Principal of Latin School^ Roxbury^ Mass. : I suppose 
 the best thing I can say is that your book will go into our list of books to 
 be read, and that it will have a permanent place in my school. I believe 
 with all my heart in your principles of annotation, and think you are doing 
 a great work for the schools. 
 
 Macaulay's Essays on Milton and Addi- 
 son 
 
 i2mo, boards. Price, 30 cents. 
 
 THESE are reprinted from Mr. Thurber's Select Essays of 
 Macaulay and Select Essays of Addison, without any 
 change in the numbering of the pages. Strongly and attrac- 
 tively bound, and printed on good paper, this book forms the 
 cheapest and best edition of these two essays for school use. 
 
12 ENGLISH. 
 
 Irving's Sketch-Book 
 
 With notes by Professor Elmer E. Wentworth, Vassar College. 
 i2mo, cloth, 426 pages. Price, 60 cents. 
 
 THIS is the best and cheapest edition of the complete Sketch- 
 Book now before the public. The paper and press-work 
 are excellent, and the binding is strong and handsome. In his 
 notes the editor has endeavored to stimulate, not supersede, 
 thought on the part of the pupil, and so to prepare him to read 
 with profit and enjoyment other literary masterpieces. What 
 success has been attained in this direction may be estimated 
 from the following extracts from letters recently received from 
 those who have examined the book. 
 
 Professor Wm. Lyon Phelps, New Havr.n, Conn. : Please accept my 
 thanks for your handsome edition of the Sketch-Book, which seems to 
 me surprisingly cheap in price for such a book. 
 
 Professor Chas. F. Richardson, Dartmouth College^ Hanover, N.H. : 
 I thank you for sending me Mr. Wentworth's well-annotated edition of 
 Irving's Sketch-Book, a pleasure to the eye and the hand, and sure to 
 aid in the enjoyment of an American classic. 
 
 Professor Wm. H. Brown, Johns Hopkins University : I have to thank you 
 for a copy of your very neat edition of Irving's classic Sketch-Book. I 
 shall call the attention of my classes to it and its exceeding cheapness. 
 
 Irving H. Upton, Principal of High School, Portsmouth, N.H. : I examined 
 it with a great deal of pleasure arising from two points in particular. 
 First, from the remarkable execution of the book mechanically and typo- 
 graphically; and, secondly, because of the judicious absence of useless notes. 
 
 Professor T. W. Hunt, Princeton College, N.J. : Thanks for Wentworth's 
 neat and convenient edition of the Sketch-Book. Had I seen it earlier, I 
 should have inserted it in our catalogue for 1 803-1 894. 
 
 Professor Wm. E. Smyser, De Pauw University, Greencastle, Ind.: I am 
 very much pleased with the book in every particular. 
 
 Professor Edward A. Allen, University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.: 
 Please accept my thanks for a copy of Wentworth's Irving's Sketch- 
 Book, which strikes me as the best school edition I have seen. 
 
 Professor 0. B. Clark, Rip07i College, Ripon, Wis. : Permit me to congratu- 
 late you on the beauty of the volume, on its cheapness, and, above all, on 
 the scholarly taste, modest reserve, and encouraging suggestiveness of the 
 notes. Reading and study are made to beget reading and study, and the 
 appetite will surely grow with what it feeds on. 
 
ENGLISH. 13 
 
 A Drill Book in English 
 
 Compiled by George E. Gay, Principal of High School, Maiden, Mass. 
 i2mo, boards. Price, 45 cents. 
 
 THIS book is designed for the use of such pupils as have pre- 
 viously learned the substance of the rules which it contains. 
 It does not aim to give all the principles of the language, but 
 emphasizes those which are most frequently violated. It will be 
 warmly w^elcomed by those teachers who are endeavoring in a 
 practical way to teach their pupils the use of correct English. 
 Such teachers recognize the fact that pupils use many incorrect 
 forms of expression, both in speaking and in writing, and they 
 have learned by experience that the way to make the vices of a 
 language hateful is to place them side by side with their con- 
 trasting virtues. It contains, in brief form, rules for spelling, 
 punctuation, capitalization, and the more important principles 
 of grammar and rhetoric. Abundant exercises for practice are 
 given ; and these are arranged on pages with wide margin, so 
 that the w^ork of correction can be done with the least expendi- 
 ture of time and labor. 
 
 A separate edition, which serves as a key to the exercises, is 
 published for the use of teachers. 
 
 J. G. Croswell, Principal of the Brearley School^ New York City : I have 
 examined Gay's Drill Book in English, and have ordered it at once. It is 
 a very valuable addition to the apparatus of the teacher. 
 
 Edwin H. Cutler, Classical School^ Newtoji. Mass. : There is great occasion 
 in our schools for a book of this kind ; and I am satisfied from an exam- 
 ination of the work that it will prove highly serviceable. 
 
 William E. Frost, Principal of Westford Academy^ Westford, Mass. : I like 
 it very much, for it supplies material with which a practical teacher can 
 really drill classes effectually in the niceties of English expression. 
 
 Daniel E. Owen, Thornto7i Academy^ Saco, Me.: It is the best thing in its 
 line that I have ever seen. 
 
 J. P. Marston, Principal of High School. Biddeford, Me. : Its plan is ad- 
 mirable for obtaining good results in teaching English language. The 
 principles are stated in such a form that pupils will forever hold them. 
 
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 its examples are well selected, and there is an abundance of them. 
 
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 Burke. 
 
 On Conciliation with the Colonies. 
 
 C. B. Bradley. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 Reply to Hayne. 
 
 
 
 C. B. Bradley. 
 
 Addison. 
 
 De Coverley Papers. 
 
 
 
 S. Thurber 
 
 Carlyle. 
 
 Essay on Bums. 
 
 
 
 H. W. Boynton 
 
 Macaulay 
 
 Essay on Addison. 
 Essay on Milton. 
 Essay on Johnson. 
 Essay on Chatham. 
 Essay on Clive. 
 
 
 
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 Essay on Warren Hastings. 
 
 
 
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