Idler No. 9. Saturday, June 10, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, I have read you; that is a favour few authors can boast of having received from me besides yourself. My intention in telling you of it is to inform you, that you have both pleased and angered me. Never did writer appear so delightful […]

Idler No. 10. Saturday, June 17, 1758. Credulity, or confidence of opinion too great for the evidence from which opinion is derived, we find to be a general weakness imputed by every sect and party to all others, and indeed by every man to every other man. Of all kinds of credulity, the most obstinate […]

Idler No. 11. Saturday, June 24, 1758. — Nec te quaesiveris extra.PERS. It is commonly observed, that when two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather; they are in haste to tell each other, what each must already know, that it is hot or cold, bright or cloudy, windy or calm. There are, […]

Idler No. 12. Saturday, July 1, 1758. That every man is important in his own eyes, is a position of which we all either voluntarily or unwarily at least once an hour confess the truth; and it will unavoidably follow, that every man believes himself important to the publick. The right which this importance gives […]

Idler No. 13. Saturday, July 8, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Dear Mr. Idler, Though few men of prudence are much inclined to interpose in disputes between man and wife, who commonly make peace at the expense of the arbitrator; yet I will venture to lay before you a controversy, by which the quiet of my […]

Idler No 14. Saturday, July, 1758. When Diogenes received a visit in his tub from Alexander the Great, and was asked, according to the ancient forms of royal courtesy, what petition he had to offer; “I have nothing,” said he, “to ask, but that you would remove to the other side, that you may not, […]

Idler No. 15. Saturday, July 22, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, I have the misfortune to be a man of business; that, you will say, is a most grievous one; but what makes it the more so to me, is, that my wife has nothing to do: at least she had too good an education, […]

Idler No. 1. Saturday, April 15, 1758. –Vacui sub umbraLusimus.–Hor. Lib. i. Ode xxxii. 1. Those who attempt periodical essays seem to be often stopped in the beginning, by the difficulty of finding a proper title. Two writers, since the time of the Spectator, have assumed his name[1] without any pretensions to lawful inheritance; an […]

Idler No. 2. Saturday, April 22, 1758. –Toto non quater annoMembranam.–HOR. Lib. ii. Sat. iii. 1. Many positions are often on the tongue, and seldom in the mind; there are many truths which every human being acknowledges and forgets. It is generally known, that he who expects much will be often disappointed; yet disappointment seldom […]

Idler No. 3. Saturday, April 29, 1758. –Otia vitaeSolamur cantu.STAT. It has long been the complaint of those who frequent the theatres, that all the dramatick art has been long exhausted, and that the vicissitudes of fortune, and accidents of life, have been shown in every possible combination, till the first scene informs us of […]

Idler No. 4. Saturday, May 6, 1758. [Greek: Pantas gar phileeske.]HOM. Charity, or tenderness for the poor, which is now justly considered, by a great part of mankind, as inseparable from piety, and in which almost all the goodness of the present age consists, is, I think, known only to those who enjoy, either immediately […]

Idler No. 5. Saturday, May 13, 1758. –[Greek: KallosAnt egcheon hapantonAnt aspidon hapason].ANAC. Our military operations are at last begun; our troops are marching in all the pomp of war, and a camp is marked out on the Isle of Wight; the heart of every Englishman now swells with confidence, though somewhat softened by generous […]

Idler No. 6. Saturday, May 20, 1758. [Greek: Tameion aretaes gennaia gynae].GR. PRO. The lady who had undertaken to ride on one horse a thousand miles in a thousand hours, has completed her journey in little more than two-thirds of the time stipulated, and was conducted through the last mile with triumphal honours. Acclamation shouted […]

Idler No. 7. Saturday, May 27, 1758. One of the principal amusements of the Idler is to read the works of those minute historians the writers of news, who, though contemptuously overlooked by the composers of bulky volumes, are yet necessary in a nation where much wealth produces much leisure, and one part of the […]

Idler No. 8. Saturday, June 3, 1758. TO THE IDLER. Sir, In the time of publick danger, it is every man’s duty to withdraw his thoughts in some measure from his private interest, and employ part of his time for the general welfare. National conduct ought to be the result of national wisdom, a plan […]

Adventurer No. 119. Tuesday, December 25, 1753. Latius regnes, avidum domandoSpiritum, quam si Libyam remotisGadibus jungas, et uterque PoenusServiat uni.Hor. Lib. ii. Ode ii. 9. By virtue’s precepts to controulThe thirsty cravings of the soul,Is over wider realms to reignUnenvied monarch, than if SpainYou could to distant Lybia join,And both the Carthages were thine.FRANCIS. When […]

Adventurer No. 120. Saturday, December 29, 1753. –Ultima semperExpectanda dies homini: dicique beatusAnte obitum nemo supremaque funera debet.OVID. Met. Lib. iii. 135. But no frail man, however great or high,Can be concluded blest before he die.ADDISON. The numerous miseries of human life have extorted in all ages an universal complaint. The wisest of men terminated […]

Adventurer No. 126. Saturday, January 19, 175. –Steriles nec legit arenasUt caner et paucis, mersitque hoc pulvere verum.LUCAN. Canst thou believe the vast eternal Mind Was e’er to Syrts and Lybian sands confin’d? That he would choose this waste, this barren ground, To teach the thin inhabitants around, And leave his truth in wilds and […]

Adventurer No. 128. Saturday, January 26, 1754. Ille sinistrorsum, hic dextrorsum abit; unus utriqueError, sed variis illudit partibus.–HOR. Lib. ii. Sat. iii. 50. When in a wood we leave the certain way,One error fools us, though we various stray,Some to the left, and some to t’other side.FRANCIS. It is common among all the classes of […]

Adventurer No. 131. Tuesday, February 5, 1754. —MisceErgo aliquid nostris de moribus.JUV. Sat. iv. 322. And mingle something of our times to please.DRYDEN, Jun. Fontanelle, in his panegyrick on Sir Isaac Newton, closes a long enumeration of that great philosopher’s virtues and attainments, with an observation, that “he was not distinguished from other men, by […]