may tell her to the contrary, that her most 'fect features are uninformed and dead. per 'I cannot better close this moral, than by a 'fhort epitaph written by Ben Jonson, with a fpirit which nothing could inspire but such an object as I have been defcribing: "Underneath this ftone doth lie R*. 'I am, SIR, • Your most humble fervant, R. B." N° 34. Monday, April 9, 1711. -parcit Cognatis maculis fimilis fera- Juv. Sat. xv. 159. From spotted skins the leopard does refrain. TH TATE HE Club of which I am a member, is very luckily compofed of fuch perfons as are engaged in different ways of life, and deputed as it were out of the most confpicuous claffes of mankind. By this means I am furnished with the greateft variety of hints and By STEELE. See final Notes to N° 5; and to N° 324, on STIELE'S Signatures R, and T. materials, materials, and know every thing that paffes in the different quarters and divifions, not only of this great city, but of the whole kingdom. My readers too have the fatisfaction to find that there is no rank or degree among them who have not their representative in this Club, and that there is always fomebody present who will take care of their refpective interefts, that nothing may be written or published to the prejudice or infringement of their just rights and privileges. I last night fat very late in company with this select body of friends, who entertained me with feveral remarks which they and others had made upon these my SPECULATIONS, as also with the various fuccefs which they had met with among their several ranks and degrees of readers. WILL HONEYCOMB told me, in the fofteft manner he could, That there were fome ladies (but for your comfort, fays WILL, they are not those of the most wit) that were offended at the liberties I had taken with the opera and the puppetfhow; that some of them were likewife very much furprised, that I fhould think fuch ferious points as the dress and equipage of perfons of quality, proper fubjects for raillery. He was going on, when Sir ANDREW FREEPORT took him up fhort, and told him, That the Papers he hinted at, had done great good in the city, and that all their wives and daughters were the better for them; and further added, that the whole city thought themselves very much obliged to me for declaring my generous 02 intentions intentions to fcourge vice and folly as they appear in a multitude, without condefcending to be a publisher of particular intrigues and cuckoldoms. In fhort, fays Sir ANDREW, if you avoid that foolish beaten road of falling upon aldermen and citizens, and employ your pen upon the vanity and luxury of courts, your Paper muft needs be of general ufe. Upon this my friend the TEMPLAR told Sir ANDREW, That he wondered to hear a man of his fenfe talk after that manner; that the city had always been the province for fatire; and that the wits of King Charles's time jested upon nothing elfe during his whole reign. He then fhewed, by the examples of Horace, Juvenal, Boileau, and the beft writers of every age, that the follies of the ftage and court had never been accounted too facred for ridicule, how great foever the perfons might be that patronized them. But after all, fays he, I think your raillery has made too great an excurfion, in attacking feveral perfons of the inns of court; and I do not believe you can fhew me any precedent for your behaviour in that particular. My good friend Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY, who had faid nothing all this while, began his speech with a Pish! and told us, That he wondered to fee fo many men of fenfe fo very serious upon foolerics. Let our good friend, fays he, attack every one that deferves it: I would only advife you, Mr. SPECTATOR, applying himfelf to me, to take care how you meddle with country-fquires. They are the ornaments of the the English nation; men of good heads, and found bodies! and, let me tell you, fome of them take it ill of you, that you mention foxhunters with fo little respect. Captain SENTRY fpoke very fparingly on this occafion. What he faid was only to commend my prudence in not touching upon the army, and advised me to continue to act difcreetly in that point. By this time I found every subject of my SPECULATIONS was taken away from me, by one or other of the Club; and began to think myself in the condition of the good man that had one wife who took a diflike to his grey hairs, and another to his black, till by their picking out what each of them had an averfion to, they left his head altogether bald and naked. While I was thus mufing with myself, my worthy friend the CLERGYMAN, who, very luckily for me, was at the club that night, undertook my caufe. He told us, That he wondered any order of perfons should think themfelves too confiderable to be advised. That it was not quality, but innocence, which exempted men from reproof. That vice and folly ought to be attacked wherever they could be met with, and especially when they were placed in high and confpicuous ftations of life.. He further added, that my Paper would only ferve to aggravate the pains of poverty, if it chiefly expofed those who are already depressed, and in fome measure turned into ridicule, by the meannefs of their conditions and circumstances. He afterward 03 afterward proceeded to take notice of the great ufe this Paper might be of to the public, by reprehending thofe vices which are too trivial for the chaftifement of the law, and too fantaftical for the cognizance of the pulpit. He then advised me to profecute my undertaking with chearfulness, and affured me, that whoever might be difpleased with me, I fhould be approved by all those whose praises do honour to perfons on whom they are beftowed. The whole Club pays a particular deference to the discourse of this gentleman, and are drawn into what he fays, as much by the candid ingenuous manner with which he delivers himself, as by the strength of argument and force of reafon which he makes ufe of. WILL HONEYCOMB immediately agreed, that what he had faid was right; and that for his part, he would not infift upon the quarter which he had demanded for the ladies. Sir ANDREW gave up the city with the fame frankness. The TEMPLAR would not ftand out, and was followed by Sir ROGER and the CAPTAIN: who all agreed that I fhould be at liberty to carry the war into what quarter I pleased; provided I continued to combat with criminals in a body, and to affault the vice without hurting the person. This debate, which was held for the good of mankind, put me in mind of that which the Roman TRIUMVIRATE were formerly engaged in, for their deftruction. Every man at first stood hard for his friend, till they found that by this means they should spoil their Profcription: and at length, |