I hope to others. I am here forced to use a great deal of diligence before I can spring anything to my mind; whereas in town, whilst I am following one character, it is ten to one but I am crossed in my way by another. 5 and put up such a variety of odd creatures in both sexes that they foil the scent of one another, and puzzle the chase. My greatest difficulty in the country is to find sport, and, in town, to choose it. In the meantime, as I have given a whole month's rest to the cities of Lon10 don and Westminster, I promise myself abundance of new game upon my return thither.

It is indeed high time for me to leave the country, since I find the whole neighborhood begin to grow very inquisitive after my name and character; my love of 15 solitude, taciturnity, and particular way of life, having raised a great curiosity in all these parts.

The notions which have been framed of me are various; some look upon me as very proud, and some as very melancholy. Will Wimble, as my friend the 20 butler tells me, observing me very much alone, and extremely silent when I am in company, is afraid I have killed a man. The country people seem to suspect me for a conjuror; and, some of them hearing of the visit which I made to Moll White, will needs have 25 it that Sir Roger has brought down a cunning man with him, to cure the old woman and free the country from her charms. So that the character which I go under in part of the neighborhood, is what they call here a "White Witch.

A justice of peace, who lives about five miles off,

and is not of Sir Roger's party, has, it seems, said twice or thrice at his table that he wishes* Sir Roger does not harbor a Jesuit in his house, and that he thinks the gentlemen of the country would do very 5 well to make me give some account of myself.

On the other side, some of Sir Roger's friends are afraid the old knight is imposed upon by a designing fellow, and as they have heard that he converses very promiscuously, when he is in town, do not know but he 10 has brought down with him some discarded Whig, that is sullen and says nothing because he is out of place.

Such is the variety of opinions that are here entertained of me, so that I pass among some for a disaffected person, and among others for a popish priest; 15 among some for a wizard, and among others for a

murderer; and all this for no other reason, that I can imagine, but because I do not hoot and hollow and make a noise. It is true my friend Sir Roger tells them, that it is my way, and that I am only a philoso20 pher; but that will not satisfy them. They think there is more in me than he discovers, and that I do not hold my tongue for nothing.

For these and other reasons I shall set out for London tomorrow, having found by experience that the 25 country is not a place for a person of my temper, who does not love jollity, and what they call good neighborhood. A man that is out of humor when an unexpected guest breaks in upon him, and does not care for sacrificing an afternoon to every chance-comer; 30 that will be the master of his own time, and the pur

suer of his own inclinations makes but a very unsociable figure in this kind of life. I shall therefore retire into the town, if I may make use of that phrase, and get into the crowd again as fast as I can, in order 5 to be alone. I can there raise what speculations I please upon others, without being observed myself, and at the same time enjoy all the advantages of company with all the privileges of solitude. In the meanwhile, to finish the month, and conclude these my rural 10 speculations, I shall here insert a letter from my friend Will Honeycomb, who has not lived a month for these forty years out of the smoke of London, and rallies me after his way upon my country life.

"Dear Spec.

15 "I suppose this letter will find thee picking of daisies, or smelling to a lock of hay, or passing away thy time in some innocent country diversion of the like nature. I have, however, orders from the club to summon thee up to town, being all of us cursedly 20 afraid thou wilt not be able to relish our company after thy conversations with Moll White and Will Wimble. Pr'ythee don't send us up any more stories* of a cock and a bull, nor frighten the town with spirits and witches. Thy speculations begin to smell con25 foundedly of woods and meadows. If thou dost not come up quickly, we shall conclude that thou art in love with one of Sir Roger's dairy-maids. Service to the knight. Sir Andrew has grown the cock of the club since he left us, and if he does not return quickly 30 will make every mother's son of us Commonwealth's

men.

"Dear Spec.,
"Thine Eternally,

"WILL HONEYCOMB."

XXVI

THE COACH TO LONDON

[No. 132. Steele. Wednesday, August 1.]

Qui aut tempus quid postulet non videt, aut plura loquitur aut se ostentat, aut eorum quibuscum est rationem non habet, is ineptus esse dicitur.1-Tully.

Having notified to my good friend Sir Roger that I should set out for London the next day, his horses were ready at the appointed hour in the evening; and attended by one of his grooms, I arrived at the county 5 town at twilight, in order to be ready for the stagecoach the day following. As soon as we arrived at the inn, the servant who waited upon me, inquired of the chamberlain, in my hearing, what company he had for the coach. The fellow answered, "Mrs.* Betty Arable, 10 the great fortune, and the widow, her mother; a recruiting officer (who took a place because they were to go); young Squire Quickset, her cousin (that her mother wished her to be married to); Ephraim the Quaker, her guardian; and a gentleman that had 20 studied himself dumb from Sir Roger de Coverley's." I observed, by what he said of myself, that according to his office, he dealt much in intelligence ;* and doubted not but there was some foundation for his reports of

1 He is said to be inept who does not see that he is taking up the time, or talking too much, or obtrudes himself, or has no regard for those he is with.

the rest of the company, as well as for the whimsical account he gave of me.

The next morning at daybreak we were all called; and I, who know my own natural shyness, and en5 deavor to be as little liable to be disputed with as possible, dressed immediately, that I might make no one wait. The first preparation for our setting out was, that the captain's half pike was placed near the coachman, and a drum behind the coach. In the meantime 10 the drummer, the captain's equipage, was very loud that none of the captain's things should be placed so as to be spoiled; upon which his cloak bag was fixed in the seat of the coach: And the captain himself, according to a frequent though invidious behavior of 15 military men, ordered his man to look sharp that none but one of the ladies should have the place he had taken fronting to the coach-box.

We were in some little time fixed in our seats, and sat with that dislike which people not too good-natured 20 usually conceive of each other at first sight. The coach jumbled us insensibly into some sort of familiarity, and we had not moved above two miles when the widow asked the captain what success he had in his recruiting. The officer, with a frankness he believed 25 very graceful, told her that indeed he had but very little luck, and had suffered much by desertion, therefore should be glad to end his warfare in the service of her or her fair daughter. "In a word," continued he,

I am a soldier, and. to be plain is my character; you 30 see me, Madam, young, sound, and impudent; take me