Idler No. 60. Saturday, June 9, 1759. Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at a very small expense. The power of invention has been conferred by nature upon few, and the labour of learning those sciences, which may by mere labour be obtained, is too great to be willingly endured; […]

Idler No. 46. Saturday, March 3, 1759. Fugit ad salices, sed, se cupit ante videri.VIRGIL. Mr. Idler, I am encouraged, by the notice you have taken of Betty Broom, to represent the miseries which I suffer from a species of tyranny, which, I believe, is not very uncommon, though perhaps it may have escaped the […]

Idler No. 47. Saturday, March 10, 1759. TO THE IDLER. Mr. Idler, I am the unfortunate wife of a city wit, and cannot but think that my case may deserve equal compassion with any of those which have been represented in your paper. I married my husband within three months after the expiration of his […]

Idler No. 59. Saturday, June 2, 1759. In the common enjoyments of life, we cannot very liberally indulge the present hour, but by anticipating part of the pleasure which might have relieved the tediousness of another day; and any uncommon exertion of strength, or perseverance in labour, is succeeded by a long interval of languor […]

Idler No. 48. Saturday, March 17, 1759. There is no kind of idleness, by which we are so easily seduced, as that which dignifies itself by the appearance of business; and, by making the loiterer imagine that he has something to do which must not be neglected, keeps him in perpetual agitation, and hurries him […]

Idler No. 49. Saturday, March 24, 1759. I supped three nights ago with my friend Will Marvel. His affairs obliged him lately to take a journey into Devonshire, from which he has just returned. He knows me to be a very patient hearer, and was glad of my company, as it gave him an opportunity […]

Idler No. 50. Saturday, March 31, 1759. The character of Mr. Marvel has raised the merriment of some and the contempt of others, who do not sufficiently consider how often they hear and practise the same arts of exaggerated narration. There is not, perhaps, among the multitudes of all conditions that swarm upon the earth, […]

Idler No. 51. Saturday, April 7, 1759. It has been commonly remarked, that eminent men are least eminent at home, that bright characters lose much of their splendour at a nearer view, and many, who fill the world with their fame, excite very little reverence among those that surround them in their domestick privacies. To […]

Idler No 52. Saturday, April 14, 1759. Responsare cupidinibus.–HOR. Lib. ii. Sat. vii. 85. The practice of self-denial, or the forbearance of lawful pleasure, has been considered by almost every nation, from the remotest ages, as the highest exaltation of human virtue; and all have agreed to pay respect and veneration to those who abstained […]

Idler No. 53. Saturday, April 21, 1759. TO THE IDL Idler ER. Sir, I have a wife that keeps good company. You know that the word good varies its meaning according to the value set upon different qualities in different places. To be a good man in a college, is to be learned; in a […]

Idler No. 39. Saturday, January 13, 1759. Nec genus ornatus unun est: quod quamque decebit,Eligat–OVID. Ars. Am. iii. 135. TO THE IDLER. Sir, As none look more diligently about them than those who have nothing to do, or who do nothing, I suppose it has not escaped your observation, that the bracelet, an ornament of […]

Idler No. 40. Saturday, January 20, 1759. The practice of appending to the narratives of publick transactions more minute and domestick intelligence, and filling the newspapers with advertisements, has grown up by slow degrees to its present state. Genius is shown only by invention. The man who first took advantage of the general curiosity that […]

Idler No. 41. Saturday, January 27, 1759. The following letter relates to an affliction perhaps not necessary to be imparted to the publick; but I could not persuade myself to suppress it, because I think, I know the sentiments to be sincere, and I feel no disposition to provide for this day any other entertainment. […]

Idler No. 42. Saturday, February 1759. The subject of the following letter is not wholly unmentioned by the Rambler. The Spectator has also a letter containing a case not much different. I hope my correspondent’s performance is more an effort of genius, than an effusion of the passions; and that she hath rather attempted to […]

Idler No. 44. Saturday, February 17, 1759. Memory is, among the faculties of the human mind, that of which we make the most frequent use, or rather that of which the agency is incessant, or perpetual. Memory is the primary and fundamental power, without which there could be no other intellectual operation. Judgment and ratiocination […]

Idler No. 45. Saturday, February 24, 1759. There is in many minds a kind of vanity exerted to the disadvantage of themselves; a desire to be praised for superior acuteness discovered only in the degradation of their species, or censure of their country. Defamation is sufficiently copious. The general lampooner of mankind may find long […]

Idler No. 31. Saturday, November 18, 1758. Many moralists have remarked, that pride has of all human vices the widest dominion, appears in the greatest multiplicity of forms, and lies hid under the greatest variety of disguises; of disguises, which, like the moon’s veil of brightness, are both its lustre and its shade, and betray […]

Idler No. 43. Saturday, February 10, 1759. The natural advantages which arise from the position of the earth which we inhabit with respect to the other planets, afford much employment to mathematical speculation; by which it has been discovered, that no other conformation of the system could have given such commodious distributions of light and […]

Idler No. 32. Saturday, November 25, 1758. Among the innumerable mortifications that waylay human arrogance on every side, may well be reckoned our ignorance of the most common objects and effects, a defect of which we become more sensible, by every attempt to supply it. Vulgar and inactive minds confound familiarity with knowledge, and conceive […]

Idler No. 33. Saturday, December 2, 1758. [I hope the author of the following letter[1] will excuse the omission of some parts, and allow me to remark, that the Journal of the Citizen in the Spectator has almost precluded the attempt of any future writer.] —Non ita Romuli Praescriptum, et intonsi CatonisAuspiciis, veterumque norma. HOR. […]