not much better to be let into the knowledge of one's self, than to hear what passes in Muscovy or Poland; and to amuse ourselves with such writings as tend to the wearing out of ignorance, passion, and prejudice, than such as naturally conduce to inflame hatreds, and make enmities irreconcilable. have often thought there has not been sufficient pains taken in finding out proper employments and diversions for the fair ones. Their amusements seem contrived for them, rather as they 5 are women, than as they are reasonable creatures, and are more adapted to the sex than to the species. The toilet is their great scene of business, and the right adjusting of their hair the principal employment of their lives. The sorting of a suit of ribbons is reckoned a very good morning's work; and if they make an excursion to a mercer's or a toy-shop,10 So great a fatigue makes them unfit for anything else all the day after. Their more serious In the next place, I would recommend this paper to the daily perusal of those gentlemen whom I cannot but consider as my good broth- 10 ers and allies, I mean the fraternity of spectators, who live in the world without having anything to do in it; and either by the affluence of their fortunes, or laziness of their dispositions, have no other business with the 15 occupations are sewing and embroidery, and 6 their greatest drudgery the preparation of jellies and sweet-meats. This I say, is the state of ordinary women; though I know there are multitudes of those of a more elevated rest of mankind but to look upon them. Under this class of men are comprehended all contemplative tradesmen, titular physicians, Fellows of the Royal Society, Templars that are not given to be contentious, and statesmen that 20 life and conversation, that move in an exalted are out of business; in short, every one that considers the world as a theatre, and desires to form a right judgment of those who are the actors on it. There is another set of men that I must like- 25 wise lay a claim to, whom I have lately called the blanks of society, as being altogether unfurnished with ideas, till the business and conversation of the day has supplied them. sphere of knowledge and virtue, that join all the beauties of the mind to the ornaments of dress, and inspire a kind of awe and respect, as well as love, into their male beholders. I hope to increase the number of these by publishing this daily paper, which I shall always endeavour to make an innocent, if not an improving entertainment, and by that means at least divert the minds of my female readers would fain give some finishing touches to those which are already the most beautiful pieces in human nature, I shall endeavour to point out all those imperfections that are the blemishes, I have often considered these poor souls with 30 from greater trifles. At the same time, as I an eye of great commiseration, when I have heard them asking the first man they have met with, whether there was any news stirring, and, by that means, gathering together materials for thinking. These needy persons do 35 as well as those virtues which are the embellishnot know what to talk of till about twelve o'clock in the morning; for, by that time, they are pretty good judges of the weather, know which way the wind sits, and whether the Dutch mails be come in. As they lie at the 40 mercy of the first man they meet, and are grave or impertinent all the day long, according to the notions which they have imbibed in the morning, I would earnestly entreat them not to stir out of their chambers till they 45 oblige myself to furnish every day: but to have read this paper, and do promise them that I will daily instil into them such sound and wholesome sentiments, as shall have a good effect on their conversation for the ensuing twelve hours. But there are none to whom this paper will be more useful than to the female world. I ments of the sex. In the meanwhile I hope these my gentle readers, who have so much time on their hands, will not grudge throwing away a quarter of an hour in a day on this paper, since they may do it without any hindrance to business. I know several of my friends and well-wishers are in great pain for me, lest I should not be able to keep up the spirit of a paper which I make them easy in this particular, I will promise them faithfully to give it over as soon as I grow dull. This I know will be a matter of great raillery to the small wits; who 50 will frequently put me in mind of my promise, desire me to keep my word, assure me that it is high time to give over, with many other little pleasantries of the like nature, which men of a little smart genius cannot forbear throwing out against their best friends, when they have such a handle given them of being A dealer in silks, or small wares. i. e.. lawyers without much practice. Lawyers were 55 called "Templars" because they lived in the "Temple," originally a lodge of the Knights Templar. In the spring of 1711 Marlborough had been sent to Flanders, and at the time this paper was written Englishmen were looking for news of a decisive victory over the French. 10 A shop for the sale of millinery "ribbons, brocades, embroidery," etc. 11 All the rest of the day. witty. But let them remember that I do hereby enter my caveat12 against this piece of raillery. THOUGHTS IN WESTMINSTER (The Spectator, No. 26, March 30, 1711) in every shovelful of it that was thrown up, the fragment of a bone or skull intermixed with a kind of fresh mouldering earth, that some time or other had a place in the composi5 tion of a human body. Upon this I began to consider with myself what innumerable multitudes of people lay confused together under the pavement of that ancient cathedral; how men and women, friends and enemies, priests Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas 10 and soldiers, monks and prebendaries,2 were Regumque turres. O beate sexti, Vita summa brevis spem nos vetat inchoare longam. Jam te premet nox, fabulæque manes, Et domus exilis Plutonia HOR. With equal foot, rich friend, impartial fate crumbled amongst one another, and blended together in the same common mass; how beauty, strength, and youth, with old age, weakness, and deformity, lay undistinguished 15 in the same promiscuous heap of matter. After having thus surveyed this great magazine of mortality, as it were in the lump, I examined it more particularly by the accounts which I found on several of the monuments 20 which are raised in every quarter of that ancient fabric. Some of them were covered with such extravagant epitaphs, that, if it were possible for the dead person to be acquainted with them, he would blush at the praises which his friends have bestowed upon him. There are others so excessively modest, that they deliver the character of the person departed in Greek or Hebrew, and by that means are not understood once in a twelvemonth. In the poetical quarter,3 I found there were poets who had no monuments, and monuments which had no poets. I observed indeed, that the present war had filled the church with many of these uninhabited monuments, When I am in a serious humour, I very often walk by myself in Westminster Abbey; where 25 the gloominess of the place, and the use to which it is applied, with the solemnity of the building, and the condition of the people who lie in it, are apt to fill the mind with a kind of melancholy, or rather thoughtfulness, that 30 is not disagreeable. I yesterday passed a whole afternoon in the churchyard, the cloisters, and the church, amusing myself with the tombstones and inscriptions that I met with in those several regions of the dead. Most 35 which had been erected to the memory of perof them recorded nothing else of the buried person, but that he was born upon one day, and died upon another: the whole history of his life being comprehended in those two circumstances, that are common to all mankind. 40 I could not but look upon these registers of existence, whether of brass or marble, as a kind of satire upon the departed persons; who had left no other memorial of them but that they were born and that they died. They 45 politeness of a nation, from the turn of their put me in mind of several persons mentioned Upon my going into the church, I entertained myself with the digging of a grave; and saw 12 Warning. In law a "caveat" is a notice filed in a public office, which prevents proceedings being instituted in a given case, without warning to the filer of the caveat. 1 Wisdom of Solomon, v, 12. 55 sons whose bodies were perhaps buried in the plains of Blenheim, or in the bosom of the ocean. 5 I could not but be very delighted with several modern epitaphs, which are written with great elegance of expression and justness of thought, and therefore do honour to the living as well as to the dead. As a foreigner is very apt to conceive an idea of the ignorance or the public monuments and inscriptions, they should be submitted to the perusal of men of learning and genius, before they are put in execution. Sir Cloudesly Shovel's monument has very often given me great offence: instead A prebend is one who receives an allotted stipend (or income) from the revenues of a cathedral or collegiate church for the performance of certain ecclesiastical duties. The "poets' corner" in the south transept of the Abbey, where Chaucer, Spenser, Ben Jonson, and other great poets are buried. The "War of the Spanish Succession," which was begun in the year of Queen Anne's accession (1702) and lasted practically through the whole of her reign. A little village in Bavaria, near which Marlborough won the most famous of his series of victories in 1704. • V. note on Admiral Shovel, p. 322. all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together. THE FINE LADY'S JOURNAL (The Spectator, No. 322, March 11, 1712) . . . Modo vir, modo fœmina. VIRG. Sometimes a man, sometimes a woman. of the brave rough English Admiral, which was the distinguishing character of that plain gallant man, he is represented on his tomb by the figure of a beau, dressed in a long periwig, and reposing himself upon velvet cushions 5 under a canopy of state. The inscription is answerable to the monument; for instead of celebrating the many remarkable actions he had performed in the service of his country, it acquaints us only with the manner of his 10 death, in which it was impossible for him to reap any honour. The Dutch, whom we are apt to despise for want of genius, show an infinitely greater taste of antiquity and politeness in their buildings and works of this na- 15 lives cast into that form. I have the Rake's ture, than what we meet with in those of our own country. The monuments of their admirals, which have been erected at the public expense, represent them like themselves; and are adorned with rostral crowns and naval 20 ornaments, with beautiful festoons of seaweed, shells, and coral. The journal with which I presented my reader on Tuesday last,1 has brought me in several letters, with accounts of many private Journal, the Sot's Journal, and among several others a very curious piece, entitled "The Journal of a Mohock." By these instances I find that the intention of my last Tuesday's paper has been mistaken by many of my readers. I did not design so much to expose vice as idleness, and aimed at those persons who pass away their time rather in trifle and impertinence, than in crimes and immoralities. with, or treated in so ludicrous a manner. In short, my journal only holds up folly to the light, and shews the disagreeableness of such actions as are indifferent in themselves, and blamable only as they proceed from creatures endowed with reason. But to return to our subject. I have left the repository of our English kings for the contemplation of another day, when I shall 25 Offences of this latter kind are not to be dallied find my mind disposed for so serious an amusement. I know that entertainments of this nature are apt to raise dark and dismal thoughts in timorous minds and gloomy imaginations; but for my own part, though I am always 30 serious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy; and can therefore take a view of nature in her deep and solemn scenes, with the same pleasure as in her most gay and delightful ones. By this means I can improve myself 35 with those objects which others consider with terror. When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with 40 the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow; when I see kings lying by 45 those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and as- You having set your readers an exercise in tonishment on the little competitions, fac- 50 one of your last week's papers, I have per tions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates on the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great day when we shall 7 i. e., culture, good taste, elegance. Cf. the expression "polite learning." si. e., crowns adorned with figures of prows of ships (Lat. rostrum, a beak, a prow), like those conferred by the Romans for a naval victory. (V. Stanley's Memorials of Westminster Abbey, II, 108, for comment on this "plaintive wish" of Addison's. My following correspondent, who calls herself Clarinda, is such a journalist as I require: she seems by her letter to be placed in a modish state of indifference between vice and virtue, and to be susceptible of either, were there proper pains taken with her. Had her journal been filled with gallantries, or such occurrences as had shewn her wholly divested of her natural innocence, notwithstanding it might have been more pleasing to the generality of readers, I should not have published it; but as it is only the picture of a life filled with a fashionable kind of gaiety and laziness, I shall set down five days of it, as I have received it from the hand of my fair correspondent. Dear Mr. Spectator, formed mine according to your orders, and herewith send it you enclosed. You must know, Mr. Spectator, that I am a maiden lady of a 1 The paper referred to (No. 317) contains some specimen passages from the Journal of a typical man-abouttown, "of greater consequence in his own eyes than in the eyes of the world." The Mohocks were bands of aristocratic ruffians, who called themselves after the Mohawk tribe of Indians. They infested the streets of London after nightfall, and played cruel and barbarous tricks upon the passers by. good fortune, who have had several matches Faddle promises me her woman to cut my hair. Twelve o'clock at night. Went to bed. Ten o'clock. Staid within all day, not at From ten to twelve. Tuesday night. Could not go to sleep till 10 Broke my blue china cup. one in the morning for thinking of my journal. Wednesday. From eight till ten. Drank two dishes of chocolate in bed, and fell asleep after them. From ten to eleven. Eat a slice of bread and butter, drank a dish of bohea,3 read the Spectator. From twelve to one. Shut myself up in my chamber, practised Lady Betty Modely's skuttle."1 One in the afternoon. Called for my flow15 ered handkerchief. Worked half a violet-leaf in it. Eyes ached and head out of order. Threw by my work, and read over the remaining part of Aurengzebe. From eleven to one. At my toilette, tried a new head. Gave orders for Veny to be 20 combed and washed. Mem. I look best in blue. From one till half an hour after two. Drove to the Change. Cheapened a couple of fans. Till four. At dinner. Mem. Mr. Froth 25 to a young fellow that is not worth a groat.12 passed by in his new liveries. From four to six. Dressed, paid a visit to old Lady Blithe and her sister, having before heard they were gone out of town that day. From six to eleven. At Basset.7 Mem. Never set again upon the ace of diamonds. Thursday. From eleven at night to eight in the morning. Dreamed that I punted to Mr. Froth. From eight to ten. Chocolate. Read two acts in Aurengzebe9 a-bed. From ten to eleven. Tea-table. Read the playbills. Received a letter from Mr. Froth. Mem. Locked it up in my strong box. Miss Prue gone into the country. Tom Townley has red hair. Mem. Mrs. Spitely whispered in my ear that she had something to tell me about Mr. Froth, I am sure it is not 30 true. Between twelve and one. Dreamed that Mr. Froth lay at my feet, and called me Indamora.13 Saturday. Rose at eight o'clock in the 35 morning. Sat down to my toilette. From eight to nine. Shifted a patch for half an hour before I could determine it. Fixed it above my left eyebrow. From nine to twelve. Drank my tea, and 40 dressed. Rest of the morning. Fontange, the tirewoman, her account of my Lady Blithe's wash. Broke a tooth in my little tortoise shell comb. Sent Frank to know how my Lady Hectic rested after her monkey's leaping out at win- 45 dow. Looked pale. Fontagne tells me my glass is not true. Dressed by three. From three to four. Dinner cold before I From twelve to two. At chapel. A great deal of good company. Mem. The third air in the new opera. Lady Blithe dressed frightfully. From three to four. Dined. Miss Kitty called upon me to go to the opera, before I was risen from table. From dinner to six. Drank tea. Turned off a footman for being rude to Veny. Six o'clock. Went to the opera. I did not see Mr. Froth till the beginning of the second act. Mr. Froth talked to a gentleman in a black wig. Bowed to a lady in the front box. Mr. Froth and his friend clapped Nicolini14 in the third act. Mr. Froth cried out Ancora. 15 Mr. Froth led me to my chair. I think he squeezed my hand. Eleven at night. Went to bed. Melancholy dreams. Methought Nicolini said he was Mr. Froth. Sunday. Indisposed. SIR ROGER AT CHURCH (The Spectator, No. 112, Monday, July 9, 1711) I am always very well pleased with a coun5 try Sunday, and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a human 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 Monday. Eight o'clock. Waked by Miss Kitty. Aurengzebe lay upon the chair by me. Kitty repeated without book the eight best 10 would soon degenerate into a kind of savages lines in the play. Went in our mobs to the dumb man" according to appointment. Told me that my lover's name began with a G. Mem. The conjurer was within a letter of Mr. Froth's name, &c. and barbarians, were there not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which the whole village meet together with their best faces, and in their cleanliest habits, to converse with 15 one another upon indifferent subjects, 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 Upon looking back into this my journal, I find that I am at a loss to know whether I pass my time well or ill; and indeed never thought of considering how I did it before I perused your speculation upon that subject. 20 of religion, but as it puts both the sexes upon I scarce find a single action in these five days that I can thoroughly approve of, except the working upon the violet-leaf, which I am resolved to finish the first day I am at leisure. As for Mr. Froth and Veny, I did not think 25 in the churchyard, as a citizen does upon the they took up so much of my time and thoughts 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 Change, the whole parish politics being generally discussed in that place either after sermon or before the bell rings. My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman, has beautified 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 com To resume one of the morals of my first paper, and to confirm Clarinda in her good 35 ing to his estate he found his parishioners very inclinations, I would have her consider what 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 a pretty figure she would make among posterity, were the history of her whole life published like these five days of it. I shall conclude my paper with an epitaph written by an 40 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 uncertain author18 on Sir Philip Sidney's sister, ON THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF PEMBROKE Underneath this marble hearse 15 The Italian form of "Encore." 17 Duncan Campbell, a fortune-teller, said to be deaf and dumb, and supposed to have the gift of second sight. 18 This epitaph, formerly ascribed to Ben Jonson, is now believed to have been written by William Browne. (V. Schelling's Elizabethan Lyrics, note, p. 294). 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 50 into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out of it he stands up and looks about him, and if he sees anybody else nodding, either wakes them himself, or sends his servants to them. Several other of the old knight's particularities 55 break out upon these occasions: sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the singingpsalms, half a minute after the rest of the congregation have done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased with the matter of his |