No. 18Wednesday, March 21, 1711. Addison. Equitis quoque jam migravit ab aure voluptas Omnis ad incertos oculos et gaudia vana. Hor. It is my Design in this Paper to deliver down to Posterity a faithful Account of the Italian Opera, and of the gradual Progress which it has made upon the English Stage: For there […]

No. 10Monday, March 12, 1711. Addison. ‘Non aliter quam qui adverso vix flumine lembumRemigiis subigit: si brachia forte remisit,Atque illum in praeceps prono rapit alveus amni.’ Virg. It is with much Satisfaction that I hear this great City inquiring Day by Day after these my Papers, and receiving my Morning Lectures with a becoming Seriousness […]

No. 12Wednesday, March 14, 1711. Addison. … Veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello. Per. At my coming to London, it was some time before I could settle my self in a House to my likeing. I was forced to quit my first Lodgings, by reason of an officious Land-lady, that would be asking every Morning […]

No. 13Thursday, March 15, 1711. Addison. ‘Dic mi hi si fueris tu leo qualis eris?’ Mart. There is nothing that of late Years has afforded Matter of greater Amusement to the Town than Signior Nicolini’s Combat with a Lion in the Hay-Market [1] which has been very often exhibited to the general Satisfaction of most […]

No. 7Thursday, March 8, 1711. Addison. ‘Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, Sagas,Nocturnos lemures, portentaque Thessala rides?’ Hor. Going Yesterday to Dine with an old Acquaintance, I had the Misfortune to find his whole Family very much dejected. Upon asking him the Occasion of it, he told me that his Wife had dreamt a strange Dream the […]

No. 8Friday, March 9, 1711. Addison. ‘At Venus obscuro gradientes aere sepsit,Et multo Nebulae circum Dea fudit amictu,Cernere ne quis eos …’ Virg. I shall here communicate to the World a couple of Letters, which I believe will give the Reader as good an Entertainment as any that I am able to furnish [him [1]] […]

No. 9Saturday, March 10, 1711. Addison. Tigris agit rabida cum tigride pacemPerpetuam, saevis inter se convenit ursis. Juv. Man is said to be a Sociable Animal, and, as an Instance of it, we may observe, that we take all Occasions and Pretences of forming ourselves into those little Nocturnal Assemblies, which are commonly known by […]

No. 3Saturday, March 3, 1711. Addison. ‘Quoi quisque fere studio devinctus adhaeret:Aut quibus in rebus multum sumus ante morati:Atque in qua ratione fuit contenta magis mens;In somnis eadem plerumque videmur obire.’ Lucr. L. 4. In one of my late Rambles, or rather Speculations, I looked into the great Hall where the Bank [1] is kept, […]

No. 5Tuesday, March 6, 1711. Addison. ‘Spectatum admissi risum teneatis?’ Hor. An Opera may be allowed to be extravagantly lavish in its Decorations, as its only Design is to gratify the Senses, and keep up an indolent Attention in the Audience. Common Sense however requires that there should be nothing in the Scenes and Machines […]

No. 414Wednesday, June 25, 1712. Addison. –Alterius sic Altera poscit opem res et conjurat amice. Hor. If we consider the Works of Nature and Art, as they are qualified to entertain the Imagination, we shall find the last very defective, in Comparison of the former; for though they may sometimes appear as Beautiful or Strange, […]

No. 415Thursday, June 26, 1712. Addison. ‘Adde tot egregias urbes, operumque laborem.’ Virg. Having already shewn how the Fancy is affected by the Works of Nature, and afterwards considered in general both the Works of Nature and of Art, how they mutually assist and compleat each other, in forming such Scenes and Prospects as are […]

No. 416Friday, June 27, 1712. Addison. ‘Quatenus hoc simile est oculis, quod mente videmus.’ Lucr. I at first divided the Pleasures of the Imagination, into such as arise from Objects that are actually before our Eyes, or that once entered in at our Eyes, and are afterwards called up into the Mind either barely by […]

No. 1Thursday, March 1, 1711. Addison. ‘Non fumum ex fulgore, sed ex fumo dare lucemCogitat, ut speciosa dehinc miracula promat.’ Hor. I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure ’till he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or a fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married […]

No. 409Thursday, June 19, 1712. Addison. ‘Musaeo contingere cuncta lepore.’ Lucr. Gratian very often recommends the Fine Taste, [1] as the utmost Perfection of an accomplished Man. As this Word arises very often in Conversation, I shall endeavour to give some Account of it, and to lay down Rules how we may know whether we […]

No. 410Friday, June 20, 1712. Tickell. ‘Dum foris sunt, nihil videtur Mundius,Nec magis compositum quidquam, nec magis elegans:Quae, cum amatore suo cum coenant, Liguriunt,Harum videre ingluviem, sordes, inopiam:Quam inhonestae solae sint domi, atque avidae cibi,Quo pacto ex Jure Hesterno panem atrum varent.Nosse omnia haec, salus est adolescentulis.’ Ter. WILL. HONEYCOMB, who disguises his present Decay […]

No. 411Saturday, June 21, 1712. Addison. ‘Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius anteTrita solo; juvat integros accedere fonteis;Atque haurire:–‘ Lucr. Our Sight is the most perfect and most delightful of all our Senses. It fills the Mind with the largest Variety of Ideas, converses with its Objects at the greatest Distance, and continues the longest in […]

No. 412Monday, June 23, 1712. Addison. ‘–Divisum sic breve fiet Opus.’ Mart. I shall first consider those Pleasures of the Imagination, which arise from the actual View and Survey of outward Objects: And these, I think, all proceed from the Sight of what is Great, Uncommon, or Beautiful. There may, indeed, be something so terrible […]

No. 413Tuesday, June 24, 1712. Addison. ‘–Causa latet, vis est notissima–‘ Ovid. Though in Yesterday’s Paper we considered how every thing that is Great, New, or Beautiful, is apt to affect the Imagination with Pleasure, we must own that it is impossible for us to assign the necessary Cause of this Pleasure, because we know […]

No. 405Saturday, June 14, 1712. Addison. [Greek:Oi de panaemerioi molpae theon hilaskonto,Kalon aeidontes paiaeona kouroi Achaion,Melpontes Ekaergon. Ho de phrena terpet akouon.] Hom. I am very sorry to find, by the Opera Bills for this Day, that we are likely to lose the greatest Performer in Dramatick Musick that is now living, or that perhaps […]

No. 407Tuesday, June 17, 1712. Addison. ‘–abest facundis Gratia dictis.’ Ovid. Most Foreign Writers who have given any Character of the English Nation, whatever Vices they ascribe to it, allow in general, that the People are naturally Modest. It proceeds perhaps from this our National Virtue, that our Orators are observed to make use of […]