[Footnote 1: just before]
[Footnote 2: This letter is ascribed to Laurence Eusden.]
* * * * *
_ADVERTISEMENT_.
_This to give Notice,
That the three Criticks
who last_ Sunday _settled the Characters
of my Lord_ Rochester _and_ Boileau,
_in the Yard of a Coffee House in_ Fuller's Rents,
_will meet this next_ Sunday _at the same Time and Place,
to finish the Merits of several Dramatick Writers:
And will also make an End of_ the Nature of True Sublime.
* * * * *
No. 88. Monday, June 11, 1711. Steele.
'Quid Domini facient, audent cum tulia Fures?'
Virg.
May 30, 1711.
Mr. SPECTATOR,
I have no small Value for your Endeavours to lay before the World what
may escape their Observation, and yet highly conduces to their
Service. You have, I think, succeeded very well on many Subjects; and
seem to have been conversant in very different Scenes of Life. But in
the Considerations of Mankind, as a SPECTATOR, you should not omit
Circumstances which relate to the inferior Part of the World, any more
than those which concern the greater. There is one thing in particular
which I wonder you have not touched upon, and that is the general
Corruption of Manners in the Servants of _Great Britain_. I am a Man
that have travelled and seen many Nations, but have for seven Years
last past resided constantly in _London_, or within twenty Miles of
it: In this Time I have contracted a numerous Acquaintance among the
best Sort of People, and have hardly found one of them happy in their
Servants. This is matter of great Astonishment to Foreigners, and all
such as have visited Foreign Countries; especially since we cannot but
observe, That there is no Part of the World where Servants have those
Privileges and Advantages as in _England:_ They have no where else
such plentiful Diet, large Wages, or indulgent Liberty: There is no
Place wherein they labour less, and yet where they are so little
respectful, more wasteful, more negligent, or where they so frequently
change their Masters. To this I attribute, in a great measure, the
frequent Robberies and Losses which we suffer on the high Road and in
our own Houses. That indeed which gives me the present Thought of this
kind, is, that a careless Groom of mine has spoiled me the prettiest
Pad in the World with only riding him ten Miles, and I assure you, if
I were to make a Register of all the Horses I have known thus abused
by Negligence of Servants, the Number would mount a Regiment. I wish
you would give us your Observations, that we may know how to treat
these Rogues, or that we Masters may enter into Measures to reform
them. Pray give us a Speculation in general about Servants, and you
make me
Pray do not omit the Mention
of Grooms in particular.
_Yours_,