and asked him whether he had yet 60 married his eldest daughter? He told me, no. But pray,' says he, 'tell me sincerely, what are your thoughts of the King of Sweden?' For though his wife and children were starving, 65 I found his chief concern at present was for this great monarch. I told him that I looked upon him as one of the first heroes of the age. 'But pray,' says he, 'do you think there is 70 anything in the story of his wound?' And finding me surprised at the question, 'Nay,' says he, 'I only propose it to you.' I answered that I thought there was no reason to doubt 76 of it. But why in the heel,' says he, 'more than in any other part of the body?' 'Because,' said I, 'the bullet chanced to light there.'

This extraordinary dialogue was 80 no sooner ended, but he began to launch out into a long dissertation upon the affairs of the north; and after having spent some time on them, he told me he was in a great 85 perplexity how to reconcile the Supplement with the English Post, and had been just now examining what the other papers say upon the same subject. "The Daily Courant,' says he, 90 'has these words, "We have advices from very good hands that a certain prince has some matters of great importance under consideration." This is very mysterious; but the Postboy 95 leaves us more in the dark, for he tells us that "there are private intimations of measures taken by a certain prince, which time will bring to light." Now the Postman,' says he, 100 'who uses to be very clear, refers to the same news in these words, "The late conduct of a certain prince affords great matter of speculation." This certain prince,' says the upholst106 erer, 'whom they are all so cautious of naming, I take to be.' Upon which, though there was nobody near Herrig-Forster, British Authors.

The chief politician of the bench was a great asserter of paradoxes. He told us, with a seeming concern, that, by some news he had lately read from Muscovy, it appeared to 125 him that there was a storm gathering in the Black Sea, which might in time do hurt to the naval forces of this nation. To this he added that, for his part, he could not wish to 130 see the Turk driven out of Europe, which he believed could not but be prejudicial to our woollen manufacture. He then told us that he looked upon those extraordinary revolutions, 185 which had lately happened in those parts of the world, to have risen. chiefly from two persons who were not much talked of; 'and those,' says he, 'are Prince Menschikoff and the 140 Duchess of Mirandola.' He backed his assertions with so many broken hints, and such a shew of depth and wisdom, that we gave ourselves up to his opinions.

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The discourse at length fell upon a point which seldom escapes a knot of true-born Englishmen: whether, in case of a religious war, the Protestants would not be too strong for 150 the Papists? This we unanimously determined on the Protestant side. One who sat on my right hand, and, as I found by his discourse, had been in the West Indies, assured us 155 that it would be a very easy matter

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for the Protestants to beat the Pope at sea, and added that, whenever such a war does break out, it must 160 turn to the good of the Leeward Islands. Upon this, one who sat at the end of the bench, and, as I afterwards found, was the geographer of the company, said that, in case 165 the Papists should drive the Protestants from these parts of Europe, when the worst came to the worst, it would be impossible to beat them out of Norway and Greenland, provided 170 the northern crowns hold together, and the Czar of Muscovy stand neuter.

He further told us for our comfort that there were vast tracts of land about the pole, inhabited neither 175 by Protestants nor Papists, and of greater extent than all the Roman Catholic dominions in Europe.

When we had fully discussed this point, my friend the upholsterer began 180 to exert himself upon the present negociations of peace, in which he deposed princes, settled the bounds of kingdoms, and balanced the power of Europe with great justice and im185 partiality.

I at length took my leave of the company and was going away; but had not gone thirty yards, before the upholsterer hemmed again after

me.

Upon his advancing towards 190 me, with a whisper, I expected to hear some secret piece of news, which he had not thought fit to communicate to the bench; but instead of that, he desired me in my 195 ear to lend him half a crown. In compassion to so needy a statesman, and to dissipate the confusion I found he was in, I told him, if he pleased, I would give him five shill- 200 ings to receive five pounds of him when the great Turk was driven out of Constantinople; which he very readily accepted, but not before he had laid down to me the impos- 205 sibility of such an event, as the affairs of Europe now stand.

This paper I design for the particular benefit of those worthy citizens who live more in a coffee-house than 210 in their shops, and whose thoughts are so taken up with the affairs of the Allies, that they forget their customers.

I have observed that a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure 'till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or a fair man, of a 5 mild or choleric disposition, married or a bachelor, with other particulars of the like nature that conduce very much to the right understanding of an author. To gratify this curiosity, 10 which is so natural to a reader, I design this paper and my next as prefatory discourses to my following writings, and shall give some account in them of the several persons that

are engaged in this work. As the 15 chief trouble of compiling, digesting, and correcting will fall to my share, I must do myself the justice to open the work with my own history.

I was born to a small hereditary 20 estate, which, according to the tradition of the village where it lies, was bounded by the same hedges and ditches in William the Conqueror's time that it is at present, 25 and has been delivered down from father to son whole and entire, without the loss or acquisition of a single

field or meadow, during the space of 30 six hundred years. There runs a story in the family that once my mother dreamt I should become a judge. Whether this might proceed from a law-suit which was then depending 85 in the family, or my father's being a justice of the peace, I cannot determine; for I am not so vain as to think it presaged any dignity that I should arrive at in my future life, 40 though that was the interpretation which the neighbourhood put upon it. The gravity of my behaviour at my very first appearance in the world, and all the time that I sucked, seemed 45 to favour my mother's dream; for, as she has often told me, I threw away my rattle before I was two months old, and would not make use of my coral till they had taken 50 away the bells from it.

As for the rest of my infancy, there being nothing in it remarkable, I shall pass it over in silence. I find that during my nonage I had 55 the reputation of a very sullen youth, but was always a favourite of my schoolmaster, who used to say 'that my parts were solid, and would wear well.' I had not been long at the 60 University before I distinguished myself by a most profound silence; for, during the space of eight years, excepting in the public exercises of the college, I scarce uttered the 65 quantity of an hundred words; and, indeed, do not remember that I ever spoke three sentences together in my whole life. Whilst I was in this learned body, I applied myself with 70 so much diligence to my studies, that there are very few celebrated books, either in the learned or the modern tongues, which I am not acquainted with.

75 Upon the death of my father, I was resolved to travel into foreign countries, and therefore left the Uni

versity, with the character of an odd, unaccountable fellow, that had a great deal of learning, if I would but show 80 it. An insatiable thirst after knowledge carried me into all the countries of Europe in which there was anything new or strange to be seen; nay, to such a degree was my curiosity 85 raised, that, having read the controversies of some great men concerning the antiquities of Egypt, I made a voyage to Grand Cairo on purpose to take the measure of a pyramid; 90 and, as soon as I had set myself right in that particular, returned to my native country with great satisfaction.

I have passed my latter years in .95 this city, where I am frequently seen in most public places, though there are not above half a dozen of my select friends that know me; of whom my next paper shall give a more 100 particular account. There is no place of general resort wherein I do not often make my appearance. Sometimes I am seen thrusting my head into a round of politicians at Will's, 105 and listening with great attention to the narratives that are made in those little circular audiences. Sometimes I smoke a pipe at Child's; and, while I seem attentive to nothing 110 but the Postman, overhear the conversation of every table in the room. I appear on Sunday nights at St. James's coffee-house, and sometimes join the little committee of 115 politics in the inner room, as one who comes there to hear and improve. My face is likewise very well known at the Grecian, the Cocoatree, and in the theatres, both of 120 Drury Lane and the Haymarket. I have been taken for a merchant upon the Exchange for above these ten years, and sometimes pass for a Jew in the assembly of stock-jobbers 125 at Jonathan's. In short, wherever I

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see a cluster of people, I always mix with them, though I never open my lips but in my own club.

Thus I live in the world, rather as a spectator of mankind than as one of the species; by which means I have made myself a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, and ar135 tisan, without ever meddling with any practical part in life. I am very well versed in the theory of an husband, or a father, and can discern the errors in the economy, business, 140 and diversion of others better than those who are engaged in them; as standers-by discover blots which are apt to escape those who are in the game. I never espoused any party 145 with violence, and am resolved to observe an exact neutrality between the Whigs and Tories, unless I shall be forced to declare myself by the hostilities of either side. In short, I 150 have acted in all the parts of my life

as a looker-on, which is the character I intend to preserve in this paper.

I have given the reader just so much of my history and character 155 as to let him see I am not altogether unqualified for the business I have undertaken. As for other particulars in my life and adventures, I shall insert them in the following 160 papers, as I shall see occasion. In

the meantime, when I consider how much I have seen, read, and heard, I begin to blame my own taciturnity; and since I have neither time nor 165 inclination to communicate the fulness of my heart in speech, I am resolved to do it in writing, and to print myself out, if possible, before I die. I have been often told by my friends 170 that it is pity so many useful discoveries which I have made, should be in the possession of a silent man. For this reason, therefore, I shall publish a sheetful of thoughts every 175 morning for the benefit of my con

temporaries; and if I can anyway contribute to the diversion or improvement of the country in which I live, I shall leave it, when I am summoned out of it, with the secret 180 satisfaction of thinking that I have not lived in vain.

There are three very material points which I have not spoken to in this paper, and which, for several im- 185 portant reasons, I must keep to myself, at least for some time: I mean an account of my name, my age, and my lodgings. I must confess I would gratify my reader in any- 190 thing that is reasonable; but, as for these three particulars, though I am sensible they might tend very much to the embellishment of my paper, I cannot yet come to a resolution of 195 communicating them to the public. They would indeed draw me out of that obscurity which I have enjoyed for many years, and expose me in public places to several salutes and 200 civilities, which have been always very disagreeable to me; for the greatest pain I can suffer is the being talked to, and being stared at. It is for this reason, likewise, that I keep my 205 complexion and dress as very great secrets; though it is not impossible but I may make discoveries of both in the progress of the work I have undertaken.

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After having been thus particular upon myself, I shall in to-morrow's paper give an account of those gentlemen who are concerned with me in this work; for, as I have before in- 215 timated, a plan of it is laid and concerted, as all other matters of importance are, in a club. However, as my friends have engaged me to stand in the front, those who have 220 a mind to correspond with me, may direct their letters To the Spectator, at Mr. Buckley's, in Little Britain.' For I must further acquaint the

226 reader that, though our club meets only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, we have appointed a committee to

sit every night for the inspection of all such papers as may contribute to the advancement of the public weal. 230

My friend Sir Roger de Coverley told me t'other night that he had been reading my paper upon Westminster Abbey, in which, says he, 5 there are a great many ingenious fancies. He told me at the same time that he observed I had promised another paper upon the tombs, and that he should be glad to go and 10 see them with me, not having visited them since he had read history. I could not at first imagine how this came into the knight's head, till I recollected that he had been very 15 busy all last summer upon Baker's Chronicle, which he has quoted several times in his disputes with Sir Andrew Freeport since his last coming to town. Accordingly I promised to call 20 upon him the next morning, that we might go together to the Abbey.

I found the knight under his butler's hands, who always shaves him. He was no sooner dressed, than he 25 called for a glass of the widow Trueby's water, which he told me he always drank before he went abroad. He recommended me to a dram of it at the same time, with 30 so much heartiness, that I could not forbear drinking it. As soon as I had got it down, I found it very unpalatable; upon which the knight, observing that I had made several 35 wry faces, told me that he knew I should not like it at first, but that it was the best thing in the world against the stone or gravel.

I could have wished, indeed, that 40 he had acquainted me with the vir

tues of it sooner; but it was too late to complain, and I knew what he had done was out of good-will. Sir Roger told me further that he looked upon it to be very good for a man 45 whilst he staid in town, to keep off infection, and that he got together a quantity of it upon the first news of the sickness being at Dantzic: when, of a sudden, turning short to 50 one of his servants, who stood behind him, he bid him call a hackneycoach, and take care it was an elderly man that drove it.

He then resumed his discourse 55 upon Mrs. Trueby's water, telling me that the widow Trueby was one who did more good than all the doctors and apothecaries in the country; that she distilled every poppy that grew 60 within five miles of her; that she distributed her water gratis among all sorts of people; to which the knight added that she had a very great jointure, and that the whole 65 country would fain have it a match between him and her; 'and truly,' says Sir Roger, if I had not been engaged, perhaps I could not have done better.'

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