No. 71Tuesday, May 22, 1711. ‘… Scribere jussit Amor.’ Ovid. The entire Conquest of our Passions is so difficult a Work, that they who despair of it should think of a less difficult Task, and only attempt to Regulate them. But there is a third thing which may contribute not only to the Ease, but […]

No. 75Saturday, May 26, 1711. ‘Omnis Aristippum decuit color, et status, et res.’ Hor. It was with some Mortification that I suffered the Raillery of a Fine Lady of my Acquaintance, for calling, in one of my Papers, Dorimant a Clown. She was so unmerciful as to take Advantage of my invincible Taciturnity, and on […]

No. 64Monday, May 14, 1711. ‘… Hic vivimus Ambitiosa Paupertate omnes …’ Juv. The most improper things we commit in the Conduct of our Lives, we are led into by the Force of Fashion. Instances might be given, in which a prevailing Custom makes us act against the Rules of Nature, Law and common Sense: […]

No. 65Tuesday, May 15, 1711. ‘… Demetri teque Tigelli Discipularum inter jubeo plorare cathedras.’ Hor. After having at large explained what Wit is, and described the false Appearances of it, all that Labour seems but an useless Enquiry, without some Time be spent in considering the Application of it. The Seat of Wit, when one […]

No. 66Wednesday, May 16, 1711. ‘Motus doceri gaudet IonicosMatura Virgo, et fingitur artubusJam nunc, et incestos amoresDe Tenero meditatur Ungui.’ Hor. The two following Letters are upon a Subject of very great Importance, tho’ expressed without an Air of Gravity. To the SPECTATOR. SIR, I Take the Freedom of asking your Advice in behalf of […]

No. 51Saturday, April 28, 1711. ‘Torquet ab Obscenis jam nunc Sermonibus Aurem.’ Hor. Mr. Spectator, ‘My Fortune, Quality, and Person are such as render me as Conspicuous as any Young Woman in Town. It is in my Power to enjoy it in all its Vanities, but I have, from a very careful Education, contracted a […]

No. 52Monday, April 30, 1711. ‘Omnes ut Tecum meritis pro Talibus annos Exigat, et pulchra faciat Te prole parentem.’ Virg. An ingenious Correspondent, like a sprightly Wife, will always have the last Word. I did not think my last Letter to the deformed Fraternity would have occasioned any Answer, especially since I had promised them […]

No. 53Tuesday, May 1, 1711. … Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus. Hor. My Correspondents grow so numerous, that I cannot avoid frequently inserting their Applications to me. Mr SPECTATOR, ‘I am glad I can inform you, that your Endeavours to adorn that Sex, which is the fairest Part of the visible Creation, are well received, and […]

No. 54Wednesday, May 2, 1711. ‘… Sirenua nos exercet inertia.’ Hor. The following Letter being the first that I have received from the learned University of Cambridge, I could not but do my self the Honour of publishing it. It gives an Account of a new Sect of Philosophers which has arose in that famous […]

No. 048Wednesday, April 25, 1711. Steele. … Per multas aditum sibi saepe figuras Repperit … Ovid My Correspondents take it ill if I do not, from Time to Time let them know I have received their Letters. The most effectual Way will be to publish some of them that are upon important Subjects; which I […]

No. 49Thursday, April 26, 1711. Steele. … Hominem pagina nostra sapit. Mart. It is very natural for a Man who is not turned for Mirthful Meetings of Men, or Assemblies of the fair Sex, to delight in that sort of Conversation which we find in Coffee-houses. Here a Man, of my Temper, is in his […]

No. 43Thursday, April 19, 1711. Steele. ‘Ha tibi erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,Parcere Subjectis, et debellare Superbos.’ Virg. There are Crowds of Men, whose great Misfortune it is that they were not bound to Mechanick Arts or Trades; it being absolutely necessary for them to be led by some continual Task or Employment. These are […]

No. 38Friday, April 13, 1711. Steele. ‘Cupias non placuisse nimis.’ Mart. A Late Conversation which I fell into, gave me an Opportunity of observing a great deal of Beauty in a very handsome Woman, and as much Wit in an ingenious Man, turned into Deformity in the one, and Absurdity in the other, by the […]

No. 36Wednesday, April 11, 1711. Steele. ‘… Immania monstraPerferimus …’ Virg. I shall not put my self to any further Pains for this Day’s Entertainment, than barely to publish the Letters and Titles of Petitions from the Play-house, with the Minutes I have made upon the Latter for my Conduct in relation to them. Drury-Lane, […]

No. 32Friday, April 6, 1711. Steele. ‘Nil illi larva aut tragicis opus esse Cothurnis.’ Hor. The late Discourse concerning the Statutes of the Ugly-Club, having been so well received at Oxford, that, contrary to the strict Rules of the Society, they have been so partial as to take my own Testimonial, and admit me into […]

No. 33Saturday, April 7, 1711. Steele. ‘Fervidus tecum Puer, et solutisGratiae zonis, properentque Nymphae,Et parum comis sine te Juventas,Mercuriusque.’ Hor. ‘ad Venerem.’ A friend of mine has two Daughters, whom I will call Laetitia and Daphne; The Former is one of the Greatest Beauties of the Age in which she lives, the Latter no way […]

No. 27Saturday, March 31, 1711. Steele. ‘Ut nox longa, quibus Mentitur arnica, diesqueLonga videtur opus debentibus, ut piger AnnusPupillis, quos dura premit Custodia matrum,Sic mihi Tarda fluunt ingrataque Tempora, quae spemConsiliumque morantur agendi Gnaviter, id quodAEque pauperibus prodest, Locupletibus aque,AEque neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit.’ Hor. There is scarce a thinking Man in the World, who […]

No. 30. [1]Wednesday, April 4, 1711. Steele. ‘Si, Mimnermus uti censet, sine amore FocisqueNil est Jucundum; vivas in amore Jocisque.’ Hor. One common Calamity makes Men extremely affect each other, tho’ they differ in every other Particular. The Passion of Love is the most general Concern among Men; and I am glad to hear by […]

No. 24Wednesday, March 28, 1711. Steele. Accurrit quidam notus mihi nomine tantum;Arreptaque manu, Quid agis dulcissime rerum? Hor. There are in this Town a great Number of insignificant People, who are by no means fit for the better sort of Conversation, and yet have an impertinent Ambition of appearing with those to whom they are […]

No. 19Thursday, March 22, 1711. Steele. ‘Dii benefecerunt, inopis me quodque pusilliFinxerunt animi, rari et perpauca loquentis.’ Hor. Observing one Person behold another, who was an utter Stranger to him, with a Cast of his Eye which, methought, expressed an Emotion of Heart very different from what could be raised by an Object so agreeable […]