him know that the letters C, L, and X, are cabalistical, and carry more in them than it is proper for the world to be acquainted with. Those who are versed in the philosophy of Pythagoras, and swear by the Tetrachtys, that is, the number four, will know very well that the number ten, which is signified by the letter X, and which has so much perplexed the town, has in it many particular powers; that it is called by Platonic writers the compleat number; that one, two, three, and four put together make up the number ten; and that ten is all. But these 10 are not mysteries for ordinary readers to be let into. A man must have spent many years in hard study before he can arrive at the knowledge of them. 20 We had a rabbinical divine in England, who was chaplain to the Earl of Essex in Queen Elizabeth's time, that had an admirable head for secrets of this nature. Upon his taking the doctor of divinity's degree, he preached before the university of Cambridge, upon the first verse of the first chapter of the first book of Chronicles, in which, says he, you have the three following words, Adam, Sheth, Enosh. He divided this short text into many parts, and by discovering several mysteries in each word, made a most learned and elaborate discourse. The name of this profound preacher was Doctor Alabastern; of whom the reader may find a more particular account in Doctor Fuller's book of English worthies. This instance will, I hope, convince my readers, that there may be a great deal of fine writing in the capital letters which bring up the rear of my paper, and give them some satisfaction in that particular. But as for the full explication of these matters, I 30 must refer them to time, which discovers all things.-C. No. 262. The Spectator is grateful to the public for the support which he has received; has carefully abstained from personalities; intends to publish a criticism of the Paradise Lost. Nulla venenato littera mista joco est. OVID. Trist. ii. 566. I think myself highly obliged to the public for their kind acceptance of a paper which visits them every morning, and ΙΟ INCREASED CIRCULATION. 95 has in it none of those seasonings that recommend so many of the writings which are in vogue among us. As, on the one side, my paper has not in it a single word of news, a reflexion in politics, nor a stroke of party; so on the other, there are no fashionable touches of infidelity, no obscene ideas nor satires upon priesthood, marriage, and the like popular topics of ridicule; no private scandal, nor anything that may tend to the defamation of particular persons, families, or societies. There is not one of these above-mentioned subjects that would not sell a very indifferent paper, could I think of gratifying the public by such mean and base methods. But notwithstanding I have rejected every thing that savours of party, every thing that is loose and immoral, and every thing that might create uneasiness in the minds of particular persons, I find that the demand for my papers has increased every month since their first appearance in the world. This does not perhaps reflect so much honour upon myself, as on my readers, who give a much greater attention to discourses of virtue and morality, than ever 20 I expected, or indeed could hope. When I broke loose from that great body of writers who have employed their wit and parts in propagating vice and irreligion, I did not question but I should be treated as an odd kind of fellow that had a mind to appear singular in my way of writing: but the general reception I have found, convinces me that the world is not so corrupt as we are apt to imagine; and that if those men of parts, who have been employed in vitiating the age, had endeavoured to rectify and amend it, they needed not have sacrificed their good sense and virtue to their fame and 30 reputation. No man is so sunk in vice and ignorance, but there are still some hidden seeds of goodness and knowledge in him, which give him a relish of such reflexions and speculations as have an aptness to improve the mind, and make the heart better. I have shewn in a former paper, with how much care I have avoided all such thoughts as are loose, obscene, or immoral; and I believe my reader would still think the better of me, if he knew the pains I am at in qualifying what I write after such a manner, that nothing may be interpreted as aimed at private 40 persons. For this reason, when I draw any faulty character, I consider all those persons to whom the malice of the world may possibly apply it, and take care to dash it with such particular circumstances as may prevent all such ill-natured applications. If I write anything on a black man, I run over in my mind all the eminent persons in the nation who are of that complexion: when I place an imaginary name at the head of a character, I examine every syllable and letter of it, that it may not bear any resemblance to one that is real. I know very well the value which every man sets upon his reputation, and how painful it ro is to be exposed to the mirth and derision of the public, and should therefore scorn to divert my reader at the expence of any private man. As I have been thus tender of every particular person's reputation, so I have taken more than ordinary care not to give offence to those who appear in the higher figures of life. I would not make myself merry even with a piece of pasteboard that is invested with a public character; for which reason I have never glanced upon the late designed procession of his Holiness and his attendants, notwithstanding it might have 20 afforded matter to many ludicrous speculations. Among those advantages which the public may reap from this paper, it is not the least that it draws men's minds off from the bitterness of party, and furnishes them with subjects of discourse that may be treated without warmth or passion. This is said to have been the first design of those gentlemen who set on foot the Royal Society, and had then a very good effect, as it turned many of the greatest geniuses of that age to the disquisitions of natural knowledge, who, if they had engaged in politics with the same parts and application, might have set their country in a flame. 30 The air pump, the barometer, the quadrant, and the like inventions, were thrown out to those busy spirits, as tubs and barrels are to a whale ", that he may let the ship sail on without disturbance, while he diverts himself with those innocent amusements. I have been so very scrupulous in this particular of not hurting any man's reputation, that I have forborne mentioning even such authors as I could not name with honour. This I must confess to have been a piece of very great self-denial: for as the public relishes nothing better than the ridicule which turns upon a writer of eminence, so there is nothing which a man that has but THE SPECTATOR AS CRITIC. 97 a very ordinary talent in ridicule may execute with greater ease, One might raise laughter for a quarter of a year together upon the works of a person who has published but a very few volumes. For which reason I am astonished, that those who have appeared against this paper have made so very little of it. The criticisms which I have hitherto published have been made with an intention rather to discover beauties and excellencies in the writers of my own time, than to publish any of their faults and imperfections. In the mean while I should 10 take it for a very great favour from some of my underhand detractors, if they would break all measure's with me so far, as to give me a pretence for examining their performances with an impartial eye: nor shall I look upon it as any breach of charity to criticise the author, so long as I keep clear of the person. In the mean while, till I am provoked to such hostilities, I shall from time to time endeavour to do justice to those who have distinguished themselves in the politer parts of learning, and to point out such beauties in their works as may have escaped the observation of others. 20 As the first place among our English poets is due to Milton, and as I have drawn more quotations out of him than from any other, I shall enter into a regular criticism upon his Paradise Lost, which I shall publish every Saturday, till I have given my thoughts upon that poem. I shall not however presume to impose upon others my own particular judgment on this author, but only deliver it as my private opinion. Criticism is of a very large extent, and every particular master in this art has his favourite passages in an author, which do not equally strike the best judges. It will be sufficient for me if I discover many beauties or imperfections 30 which others have not attended to, and I should be very glad to see any of our eminent writers publish their discoveries on the same subject. In short, I would always be understood to write my papers of criticism in the spirit which Horace has expressed in those two famous lines: -Si quid novisti rectius istis, EPIST. 1. 6. 68. 'If you have made any better remarks of your own, communicate them with candour, if not, make use of these I present you with.' H No. 445. The penny stamp just imposed obliges the Spectator to raise his price. He has been charged with making political attacks through his paper, but his ridicule has never been directed except against the vicious. Tanti non es, ais. Sapis Luperce. MART. Epig. 11. 118. You say, Lupercus, what I write I'n't worth so much: you're in the right. This is the day on which many eminent authors will probably publish their last words. I am afraid that few of our weekly historians, who are men that above all others delight in war, will be able to subsist under the weight of a stamp, and an approaching peace". A sheet of blank paper that must have this new imprimatur clapt upon it, before it is qualified to communicate any thing to the public, will make its way in the world very heavily. In short, the necessity of carrying a stamp, and the improbability of notifying a bloody battle, will, I am afraid, both concur to the 10 sinking of those thin folios, which have every other day retailed to us the history of Europe for several years last past. A facetious friend of mine, who loves a pun, calls this present mortality among authors, The fall of the leaf. I remember, upon Mr. Baxter's" death, there was published a sheet of very good sayings, inscribed, The last words of Mr. Baxter. The title sold so great a number of these papers, that about a week after there came out a second sheet, inscribed, More last words of Mr. Baxter. In the same manner, I have reason to think, that several ingenious writers, who have taken their leave 20 of the public, in farewell papers, will not give over so, but intend to appear again, though perhaps under another form, and with a different title. Be that as it will, it is my business in this place to give an account of my own intentions, and to acquaint my reader with the motives by which I act in this great crisis of the republic of letters. I have been long debating in my own heart, whether I should throw up my pen, as an author that is cashiered by the act of parliament ", which is to operate within these four and twenty hours, or whether I should still persist in laying my speculations 30 from day to day before the public. The argument which prevails with me most on the first side of the question is, that I am |