No. 371. Tuesday, May 6, 1712. Addison. ‘Jamne igitur laudas quod se sapientibus unus Ridebat?’ Juv. I shall communicate to my Reader the following Letter for the Entertainment of this Day. Sir, You know very well that our Nation is more famous for that sort of Men who are called Whims and Humourists, than any […]

No. 403Thursday, June 12, 1712. Addison. ‘Qui mores hominun multorum vidit?’ Hor. When I consider this great City in its several Quarters and Divisions, I look upon it as an Aggregate of various Nations distinguished from each other by their respective Customs, Manners and Interests. The Courts of two Countries do not so much differ […]

No. 396Wednesday, June 4, 1712. Henley. ‘Barbara, Celarent, Darii, Ferio, Baralipton.’ To Mr. SPECTATOR. [1] From St. John’s College Cambridge, Feb. 3, 1712. SIR, The Monopoly of Punns in this University has been an immemorial Privilege of the Johnians; and we can’t help resenting the late Invasion of our ancient Right as to that Particular, […]

No. 397Thursday, June 5, 1712. Addison. ‘–Dolor ipse disertum Fecerat–‘ Ovid. As the Stoick Philosophers discard all Passions in general, they will not allow a Wise Man so much as to pity the Afflictions of another. If thou seest thy Friend in Trouble, says Epictetus, thou mayst put on a Look of Sorrow, and condole […]

No. 399Saturday, June 7, 1712. Addison. ‘Ut nemo in sese tentat descendere!’ Pers. Hypocrisie, at the fashionable End of the Town, is very different from Hypocrisie in the City. The modish Hypocrite endeavours to appear more vicious than he really is, the other kind of Hypocrite more virtuous. The former is afraid of every thing […]

No. 393Saturday, May 31, 1712. Addison. ‘Nescio qua praeter solitum dulcedine laeti.’ Virg. Looking over the Letters that have been sent me, I chanced to find the following one, which I received about two years ago from an ingenious Friend, who was then in Denmark. Copenhagen, May 1, 1710. Dear Sir, The Spring with you […]

No. 388Monday, May 26, 1712. Barr? [1] ‘–Tibi res antiquae Laudis et Artis Ingredior; sanctos ausus recludere Fontes.’ Virg. Mr. SPECTATOR, It is my Custom, when I read your Papers, to read over the Quotations in the Authors from whence you take them: As you mentiond a Passage lately out of the second Chapter of […]

No. 391Thursday, May 29, 1712. Addison. ‘–Non tu prece poscis emaci,Qua nisi seductis nequeas committere Divis:At bona pars procerum tacita libabit acerra.Haud cuivis promptum est, murmurque humilesque susurrosTollere de Templis; et aperto vivere voto.Mens bona, fama, fides, haec clare, et ut audiat hospes.Illa sibi introrsum, et sub lingua immurmurat: O siEbullit patrui praeclarum funus! Et […]

No. 387 [1]Saturday, May 24, 1712. Addison. ‘Quid pure tranquillet–‘ Hor. In my last Saturday’s Paper I spoke of Chearfulness as it is a Moral Habit of the Mind, and accordingly mentioned such moral Motives as are apt to cherish and keep alive this happy Temper in the Soul of Man: I shall now consider […]

No. 381Saturday, May 17, 1712. Addison. ‘AEquam memento rebus in arduis, Servare mentem, non secus in bonis Ab insolenti temperatam Laetitia, moriture Deli.’ Hor. I have always preferred Chearfulness to Mirth. The latter, I consider as an Act, the former as an Habit of the Mind. Mirth is short and transient. Chearfulness fixed and permanent. […]

No. 383Tuesday, May 20, 1712. Addison. ‘Criminibus debent Hortos–‘ Hor. As I was sitting in my Chamber, and thinking on a Subject for my next Spectator, I heard two or three irregular Bounces at my Landlady’s Door, and upon the opening of it, a loud chearful Voice enquiring whether the Philosopher was at Home. The […]

No. 375Saturday, May 10, 1712. Hughes. ‘Non possidentem multa vocaverisRecte beatum: rectius occupatNomen beati, qui DeorumMuneribus sapienter uti,Duramque callet Pauperiem pati,Pejusque Letho flagitium timet.’ Hor. I have more than once had occasion to mention a noble Saying of Seneca the Philosopher, That a virtuous Person struggling with Misfortunes, and rising above them, is an Object […]

No. 377Tuesday, May 13, 1712. Addison. ‘Quid quisque vitet, nunquam homini satis Cautum est in horas–‘ Hor. Love was the Mother of Poetry, and still produces, among the most ignorant and barbarous, a thousand imaginary Distresses and Poetical Complaints. It makes a Footman talk like Oroondates, and converts a brutal Rustick into a gentle Swain. […]

No. 369Saturday, May 3, 1712. Addison. ‘Segnius irritant animos demissa per auresQuam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus–‘ Hor. Milton, after having represented in Vision the History of Mankind to the first great Period of Nature, dispatches the remaining part of it in Narration. He has devised a very handsome Reason for the Angels proceeding with […]

No. 367Thursday, May 1, 1712. Addison. ‘–Periturae parcite chartae.’ Juv. I have often pleased my self with considering the two kinds of Benefits which accrue to the Publick from these my Speculations, and which, were I to speak after the manner of Logicians, I would distinguish into the Material and the Formal. By the latter […]

No. 361Thursday, April 24, 1712. Addison. Tartaream intendit vocem, qua protinus omnis Contremuit domus– Virg. I have lately received the following Letter from a Country Gentleman. Mr. SPECTATOR, The Night before I left London I went to see a Play, called The Humorous Lieutenant. [1] Upon the Rising of the Curtain I was very much […]

No. 363Saturday, April 26, 1712. Addison. ‘–Crudelis ubique Luctus, ubique pavor, et plurima Mortis Imago.’ Virg. Milton has shewn a wonderful Art in describing that variety of Passions which arise in our first Parents upon the Breach of the Commandment that had been given them. We see them gradually passing from the Triumph of their […]

No. 355Thursday, April 17, 1712. Addison. Non ego mordaci distrinxi carmine [quenquam. Ovid. [1]] I have been very often tempted to write Invectives upon those who have detracted from my Works, or spoken in derogation of my Person; but I look upon it as a particular Happiness, that I have always hindred my Resentments from […]

No. 357Saturday, April 19, 1712. Addison. [Quis talia fando Temperet a lachrymis? Virg.] [1] The Tenth Book of Paradise Lost has a greater variety of Persons in it than any other in the whole Poem. The Author upon the winding up of his Action introduces all those who had any Concern in it, and shews […]

No. 349Thursday, April 10, 1712. Addison. Quos ille timorumMaximus haud urget lethi metus: inde ruendiIn ferrum mens prona viris, animaeque capacesMortis. Lucan. I am very much pleased with a Consolatory Letter of Phalaris, to one who had lost a Son that was a young Man of great Merit. The Thought with which he comforts the […]