[Footnote 1: in]
[Footnote 2: that]
[Footnote 3: that]
[Footnote 4: above mentioned]
* * * * *
No. 106. Monday, July 2, 1711. Addison.
'... Hinc tibi Copia
Manabit ad plenum, benigno
Ruris honorum opulenta cornu.'
Hor.
Having often received an Invitation from my Friend Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY
to pass away a Month with him in the Country, I last Week accompanied
him thither, and am settled with him for some time at his Country-house,
where I intend to form several of my ensuing Speculations. Sir ROGER,
who is very well acquainted with my Humour, lets me rise and go to Bed
when I please, dine at his own Table or in my Chamber as I think fit,
sit still and say nothing without bidding me be merry. When the
Gentlemen of the Country come to see him, he only shews me at a
Distance: As I have been walking in his Fields I have observed them
stealing a Sight of me over an Hedge, and have heard the Knight desiring
them not to let me see them, for that I hated to be stared at.
I am the more at Ease in Sir ROGER'S Family, because it consists of
sober and staid Persons; for as the Knight is the best Master in the
World, he seldom changes his Servants; and as he is beloved by all about
him, his Servants never care for leaving him; by this means his
Domesticks are all in Years, and grown old with their Master. You would
take his Valet de Chambre for his Brother, his Butler is grey-headed,
his Groom is one of the gravest Men that I have ever seen, and his
Coachman has the Looks of a Privy-Counsellor. You see the Goodness of
the Master even in the old House-dog, and in a grey Pad that is kept in
the Stable with great Care and Tenderness out of Regard to his past
Services, tho' he has been useless for several Years.
I could not but observe with a great deal of Pleasure the Joy that
appeared in the Countenances of these ancient Domesticks upon my
Friend's Arrival at his Country-Seat. Some of them could not refrain
from Tears at the Sight of their old Master; every one of them press'd
forward to do something for him, and seemed discouraged if they were not
employed. At the same time the good old Knight, with a Mixture of the
Father and the Master of the Family, tempered the Enquiries after his
own Affairs with several kind Questions relating to themselves. This
Humanity and good Nature engages every Body to him, so that when he is
pleasant upon any of them, all his Family are in good Humour, and none
so much as the Person whom he diverts himself with: On the contrary, if
he coughs, or betrays any Infirmity of old Age, it is easy for a
Stander-by to observe a secret Concern in the Looks of all his Servants.
[1]
My worthy Friend has put me under the particular Care of his Butler, who
is a very prudent Man, and, as well as the rest of his Fellow-Servants,
wonderfully desirous of pleasing me, because they have often heard their
Master talk of me as of his particular Friend.
My chief Companion, when Sir ROGER is diverting himself in the Woods or
the Fields, is a very venerable Man who is ever with Sir ROGER, and has
lived at his House in the Nature of a Chaplain above thirty Years. This
Gentleman is a Person of good Sense and some Learning, of a very regular
Life and obliging Conversation: He heartily loves Sir ROGER, and knows
that he is very much in the old Knight's Esteem, so that he lives in the
Family rather as a Relation than a Dependant.
I have observed in several of my Papers, that my Friend Sir ROGER,
amidst all his good Qualities, is something of an Humourist; and that
his Virtues, as well as Imperfections, are as it were tinged by a
certain Extravagance, which makes them particularly _his_, and
distinguishes them from those of other Men. This Cast of Mind, as it is
generally very innocent in it self, so it renders his Conversation
highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same Degree of Sense and
Virtue would appear in their common and ordinary Colours. As I was
walking with him last Night, he asked me how I liked the good Man whom I
have just now mentioned? and without staying for my Answer told me, That
he was afraid of being insulted with Latin and Greek at his own Table;
for which Reason he desired a particular Friend of his at the University
to find him out a Clergyman rather of plain Sense than much Learning, of
a good Aspect, a clear Voice, a sociable Temper, and, if possible, a Man
that understood a little of Back-Gammon.
My Friend, says Sir ROGER, found me out this Gentleman, who, besides
the Endowments [required [2]] of him, is, they tell me, a good
Scholar, tho' he does not shew it. I have given him the Parsonage of
the Parish; and because I know his Value have settled upon him a good
Annuity for Life. If he outlives me, he shall find that he was higher
in my Esteem than perhaps he thinks he is. He has now been with me
thirty Years; and tho' he does not know I have taken Notice of it, has
never in all that time asked anything of me for himself, tho' he is
every Day solliciting me for something in behalf of one or other of my
Tenants his Parishioners. There has not been a Law-suit in the Parish
since he has liv'd among them: If any Dispute arises they apply
themselves to him for the Decision; if they do not acquiesce in his
Judgment, which I think never happened above once or twice at most,
they appeal to me. At his first settling with me, I made him a Present
of all the good Sermons [which [3]] have been printed in
_English_, and only begg'd of him that every _Sunday_ he
would pronounce one of them in the Pulpit. Accordingly, he has
digested them into such a Series, that they follov one another
naturally, and make a continued System of practical Divinity.
As Sir ROGER was going on in his Story, the Gentleman we were talking of
came up to us; and upon the Knight's asking him who preached to morrow
(for it was _Saturday_ Night) told us, the Bishop of St. _Asaph_ in the
Morning, and Dr. _South_ in the Afternoon. He then shewed us his List of
Preachers for the whole Year, where I saw with a great deal of Pleasure
Archbishop _Tillotson_, Bishop _Saunderson_, Doctor _Barrow_, Doctor
_Calamy_, [4] with several living Authors who have published Discourses
of Practical Divinity. I no sooner saw this venerable Man in the Pulpit,
but I very much approved of my Friend's insisting upon the
Qualifications of a good Aspect and a clear Voice; for I was so charmed
with the Gracefulness of his Figure and Delivery, as well as with the
Discourses he pronounced, that I think I never passed any Time more to
my Satisfaction. A Sermon repeated after this Manner, is like the
Composition of a Poet in the Mouth of a graceful Actor.
I could heartily wish that more of our Country Clergy would follow this
Example; and instead of wasting their Spirits in laborious Compositions
of their own, would endeavour after a handsome Elocution, and all those
other Talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned by greater
Masters. This would not only be more easy to themselves, but more
edifying to the People.