THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
SIR ROGER L'ESTRANGE
_SELECTIONS FROM_
THE
OBSERVATOR
(1681-1687)
_Introduction by_ Violet Jordain
PUBLICATION NUMBER 141
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
University of California, Los Angeles
1970
GENERAL EDITORS
William E. Conway, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
George Robert Guffey, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
David S. Rodes, _University of California, Los Angeles_
ADVISORY EDITORS
Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_
James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_
Ralph Cohen, _University of Virginia_
Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_
Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_
Earl Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_
Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Lawrence Clark Powell, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
James Sutherland, _University College, London_
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_
Robert Vosper, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Edna C. Davis, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT
Roberta Medford, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
[Illustration: THE OBSERVATOR. =Numb. 1.= For text go to Page 9.]
INTRODUCTION
I fancy, _Trimmer_, that if You and I could but
get leave to peep out of our Graves again a matter
of a hundred and fifty year hence, we should find
these Papers in Bodlies Library, among the Memorialls
of State; and Celebrated for the Only Warrantable
Remains concerning this Juncture of Affairs.
(_Observator_ No. 259, 16 December 1682)
When the first of 931 single, folio sheets of the _Observator_ appeared
on 13 April 1681, the sixty-five-year-old Roger L'Estrange, their sole
author, had been a controversial London Royalist for over twenty years.
As Crown protégé, he had served intermittently as Surveyor of the Press,
Chief Licenser, and Justice of the King's Peace Commission; as a writer,
he had produced two newspapers, the _Intelligencer_ and the _Newes_
(1663-1666), dozens of political pamphlets, and seven translations from
Spanish, Latin, and French.[1] Rightly nicknamed "bloodhound of the
press," L'Estrange was notorious for his ruthless ferreting out of
illegal presses and seditious publishers, as well as for his tireless
warfare against the powerful Stationers' Company.[2] No less well known
were his intransigent reactionary views, for we can estimate that some
64,000 copies of pamphlets bearing his name were circulating in the City
during the two years preceding the _Observator_.[3] Thus the
_Observator_ papers represent not only the official propaganda of the
restored monarchy, but also the intellectual temper of a powerful,
influential man whose London fame was sufficiently demonstrated in the
winter of 1680, when he was publicly burned in effigy during that year's
Pope-burning festivities.
In the muddy torrent of "Intelligences," "Mercuries," "Courants,"
"Pacquets," and sundry newssheets, the _Observator_ marks the beginnings
of a new sort of journalism, one which was to shape the development of
the English periodical. Although _Heraclitus Ridens_ and its opponent
_Democritus Ridens_ initiated the dialogue form for the newspaper
seventy-two days before the _Observator_, their relatively short run
relegates these pioneers to a shadowy background, as it does the even
earlier trade paper in dialogue, the _City and Country Mercury_
(1667).[4] The eighty-two issues of _Heraclitus Ridens_ and thirteen of
_Democritus Ridens_ cannot be compared in quantity to the 931 issues of
the _Observator_ published three or four times a week from 13 April 1681
to 9 March 1687, nor can their stiff dialogues be compared in importance
to L'Estrange's much fuller exploitation of the form. Consequently, even
though he did not initiate the newspaper in dialogue form, L'Estrange is
unanimously given the honor of having popularized the form, or, in the
words of Richmond P. Bond, of having "borrowed the dialogue and fastened
it on English journalism for a generation as a factional procedure."[5]
Imitators did not wait long. Nine days after the first _Observator_,
L'Estrange's arch-enemy, Harry Care, changed to dialogue the _Popish
Courant_ section of his _Weekly Pacquet of Advice from Rome_,
relinquishing the expository format which he had followed since 1678.
Later, after the Glorious Revolution, the popularity of L'Estrange's
paper is evident in the spate of imitative "Observators" that ensued:
_The English Spy: Or, the Critical Observator_ (1693); _The Poetical
Observator_ (1702); Tutchin's _Observator_ (1702--a Whig organ) and
Leslie's _Observator_ (1704--a Tory organ); _The Comicall Observator_
(1704); _The Observator Reviv'd_ (1707), and more. As late as 1716 there
was created a _Weekly Observator_. By the turn of the century, the very
term "Observator" had come to signify a controversy _in dialogue_.[6]
Interestingly enough, even the typography of L'Estrange's _Observator_
may have left its mark on succeeding journals. A brief comparison of
Interregnum newspapers (such as _Newes Out of Ireland_ in 1642, _The
Scotch Mercury_ in 1643, _The Commonwealth Mercury_ in 1658) with John
Dunton's _The Athenian Mercury_ (1693) and Charles Leslie's _Observator_
(1704) reveals a marked difference in typography. In the earlier papers
the typography is generally uniform, with italics used for proper names
and quotations, whereas L'Estrange's and Leslie's papers exhibit the
whole range of typeface available to the seventeenth-century printer.
Dissenter Dunton's _Athenian Mercury_, on the other hand, shows much
less eccentricity in its typography, limiting itself to generous use of
italics only, while Defoe's _Review_ goes back to the earlier restraint
and presents a neat, uniform page. Whether these typographical
differences are attributable to particular political views or merely to
"schools" of printing is difficult to say.
In addition to this obvious sort of superficial imitation, there are
many indications that L'Estrange's _Observator_ had a more permanent
influence on posterity. It has been suggested that the periodical
specializing in query and answer between reader and editor, which was
initiated by John Dunton's _Athenian Mercury_ and which we still have
today, may have been inspired by the _Observator's_ habitual retorts to
opponents.[7] James Sutherland isolates in Defoe certain qualities of
prose style which he attributes to Defoe's extensive reading of
L'Estrange; and he sees L'Estrange's natural colloquial manner as
setting a pattern for journalists who followed him.[8] Far-fetched as it
may seem at first glance, even Addison's _Spectator_ shows a certain
similarity to the _Observator_. Although the manner, tone, language, and
political views of the two are antithetical, the _Spectator's_ peculiar
blend of moralizing and diversion is reminiscent of L'Estrange's work.
In both papers we notice a serious didactic purpose tempered by literary
techniques and imaginative handling of material. Decades before
Addison's famous credo--"to make their Instruction Agreeable, and their
Diversion useful ... to enliven Morality with Wit, and to temper Wit
with Morality"[9]--L'Estrange had formulated a similar theory:
_Obs._: Where there has been Any thing of That which you
call Raillery, or Farce; It has amounted to no more then
a Speaking to the Common People in their Own Way....
He that Talks Dry Reason to them, does as good as treat
'em in an Unknown Tongue; and there's no Other way of
Conveying the True Sense, & Notion of Things, either to
their Affections, or to their Understandings, then by the
Palate....
(II, No. 15)
And as a link between L'Estrange and Addison we have Defoe's analogous
promise in "the Introduction" to the _Review_: "After our Serious
Matters are over, we shall at the end of every Paper, Present you with a
little Diversion, as any thing occurs to make the World Merry."[10]
These notions rest, of course, on the ancient _dulce et utile_, though
modified in various ways in each of the three papers to suit the
temperaments of their writers, the tastes of their mass-audiences, and
different times. It is perhaps not irresponsible, then, to say that the
synonymous titles of Addison's and L'Estrange's periodicals symbolize an
affinity of purpose and technique. Indeed, the _Observator_ can, in many
ways, be considered a rather crude and primitive ancestor of the
_Spectator_.[11]
The purpose of the _Observator_ and its main targets are clearly
formulated in _Observator_ No. 1, as well as in the prefatory "To the
Reader," which was written in 1683 for the publication of Volume 1 of
the collected papers. The "faction" which L'Estrange proposes to reprove
consists at first (1681-1682) of Shaftesbury's republican-minded
followers and of the perpetrators of the Popish Plot. In his evaluation
of the Plot, L'Estrange agrees with some modern historians,[12] for he
never doubted that it was a Whig fabrication, an invented cause around
which the party members could rally and which neatly veiled the
parliamentary power-struggle behind the scenes. Titus Oates is
consequently the _Observator's_ _bête noire_, and Andrew Marvell's
pamphlet, _The Growth of Popery_, is for L'Estrange the odious origin of
the Plot:
_Obs._: I do not know Any man throughout the whole Tract
of the Controversy that has held a Candle to the Devil
with a Better Grace then the Author of that Pamphlet ...
that Furnishes so Clear a Light toward the Opening of
the Roots, Springs, and Causes of our Late Miserable
Disorders, and Confusions.... Prethee let Otes'es
Popish Plot, Stand, or Fall, to it's Own Master; provided
that Marvels may be Allow'd to be the Elder Brother....
(II, No. 16)
Toward the end of 1682, when the Whigs had ceased being an imminent
threat to the government and all but one of the Whig newspapers had been
silenced, L'Estrange turned his attack against the more moderate
Trimmers, as illustrated in _Observator_ III, No. 88. But whether the
offensive is against Whigs or Trimmers, Dissenters and advocates of
toleration are always in the line of L'Estrange's fire as chief
subverters of absolute monarchy and of the Church of England, as is
evident in the satire of _Observator_ Nos. 13 and 110. On the eve of the
Glorious Revolution, this rigid stand lost him the support of both the
Anglican clergy and the universities, support of which he was so proud
in his "To the Reader." Finally, _Observator_ No. 1 singles out the Whig
press as one of its chief targets. The "Smith" referred to in that first
number is Anabaptist Francis "Elephant" Smith, publisher of the
outrageous _Mirabilis Annus_ books, the inflammatory pamphlet _Vox
Populi_, and the offensive paper _Smith's Protestant Intelligence_;
"Harris" is Benjamin Harris, publisher of the Whig paper, _Domestic
Intelligence_. These, together with Harry Care (_Weekly Pacquet of
Advice from Rome_ and _Popish Courant_), Richard Janeway (_Impartial
Protestant Mercury_), Langley Curtis (_The Protestant Mercury_), and
hordes of anti-Royalist authors or publications are habitually quoted or
referred to in L'Estrange's counterpropaganda. His untiring countering
of Whig publications earned him Nahum Tate's hyperbolic praise in _The
Second Part of Absalom and Achitophel_:
Than _Sheva_, none more loyal Zeal have shown,
Wakefull, as _Judah's_ Lion for the Crown,
Who for that Cause still combats in his Age,
For which his Youth with danger did engage.
In vain our factious Priests the Cant revive,
In vain seditious Scribes with Libels strive
T'enflame the Crow'd, while He with watchfull Eye
Observes, and shoots their Treasons as they fly.
Their weekly Frauds his keen Replies detect,
He undeceives more fast than they infect.
So _Moses_ when the Pest on _Legions_ prey'd,
Advanc'd his Signal and the Plague was stay'd.[13]
Parochial as these concerns seem today, the _Observator_ in its totality
goes far beyond the Harry Cares and "Elephant" Smiths in its exhortation
to greater rationality in areas ancillary to but transcending politics
proper. Its assiduous ridicule of Enthusiasm, following in the steps of
Meric Casaubon and Henry More,[14] its analyses of political
manipulation of the naive populace, its explanations of psychological
appeals, its Orwellian warnings against the snares of loaded diction and
the dangers of affective political rhetoric--all these efforts evident
in the few _Observators_ represented here are an important step in the
direction of a less superstitious, less hysterical century.
Paradoxically, L'Estrange mobilized progressive ideas in the service of
an archaic political and religious administration, thereby familiarizing
the man on the street with notions and attitudes commonly known as
Enlightened.
The sugar coating in the _Observator_ is, however, as significant as the
pill, and distinguishes L'Estrange's journalism from his predecessors'.
Apart from the traditional satiric blend of verbal banter and polemic,
which has received ample commentary,[15] his use of established literary
modes further enhances the colloquies, making them especially diverting
for his audience and interesting for us. As dialogues, the papers belong
to a genre whose popularity has remained constant from Plato onward. The
appeal of the form lies in its pleasurable verisimilitude, immediacy,
adaptability to differing points of view, and, especially after the
Restoration, in its potentiality for humorous repartee.[16] As
_satiric_ dialogues, L'Estrange's sheets satisfy what seems to be a
universal love of ridicule, an innate trait of the human mind, although
there is no agreement among students of satire as to its exact
psychological operations. In addition to adopting this form, which
belongs to imaginative literature rather than to journalism, L'Estrange
spices his _Observator_ with a number of other devices designed to
provide variety, change in speed, and amusement for his reader, who is
in turn bullied, joshed, castigated, reasoned, or laughed into accepting
L'Estrange's views.
Frequently, for example, the dialogue gives way to a pointed anecdote
(old or current, invented or factual), such as the story of Jack of
Leyden in _Observator_ No. 1, or the following from a later dialogue,
humorously satirizing the dour William Prynne and the Puritans' strange
concepts of sin:
_Trimmer_: A Gentleman that had Cut-off his own hair on
the Saturday, came the next day to Church in his first Perriwig.
The Parson (that was already Enter'd into his Sermon)
turn'd his Discourse presently, from his Text in the
Holy Bible, to the Subject of Prynnes _Unloveliness of
Lovelocks_; and Thrash'd for a matter of a Quarter of an
hour, upon the Mortal Sin of Wearing False Hair. The
Gentleman, finding that he would never give him over,
'till he had Preach'd him into a Flat State of Reprobation,
fairly took off his Perriwig, and Clapt it upon One of the
Buttons at the Corner of the Pew. The Poor Man had not
One word more to say to the Perriwig; and was run so far
from his Text, that he could not for his heart find the way
home again: So that to make short on't; He gave the
People his Blessing, and Dismiss'd the Congregation.
(II, No. 21)
Frequently, also, L'Estrange satirizes by means of parody or ludicrous
examples of his enemies' rhetoric or behavior, as in the case of the
"Dissenting Academies" in _Observator_ No. 110. But most important of
the techniques for entertaining are his creation of carefully delineated
speaker-_personae_ and his "Characters," again both borrowed from the
literary tradition.
After the first twenty-nine _Observators_, which are experimental in
that "Q" and "A" have shifting personalities (as in Nos. 1 and 13),
L'Estrange manipulates "Whig" and "Tory" for 171 papers, changes to
"Whig" and "Observator" for 33 papers, briefly (six papers) shifts to
"Whig" and "Courantier," and finally settles down to "Trimmer" and
"Observator" for the remaining 692 papers. In all these, the Tory
satirist (whether he be "Tory" or "Observator") is presented as the
conventional "snarling dog" described by Robert C. Elliott,[17] with
appropriate outbursts of polemic, invective, bitter irony, and railing
humor. Even the traditional crudity is there, although compared to, say,
the _Popish Courant_, L'Estrange manifests a Victorian restraint.
"Whig," on the other hand, is presented as a naive, credulous,
not-too-bright individual whose main fault is not so much that he is a
Whig but that he is a Whig because he has no mental capacity for
discrimination. The "A" speaker of No. 13 (apparently a humorous thrust
at John Eachard, author of _Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the
Clergy_) with his preference for Prynne, Baxter, and Smith over Tacitus,
Livy, and Caesar, is typical of the later "Whig" _persona_. Humorless,
misguided, and chronically given to believing even the most outrageous
gossip, "Whig" cuts a foolish and therefore amusing figure when pitted
against the sophisticated, trenchant-minded "Tory." "Trimmer" is quite
different. L'Estrange here creates a much more intelligent opponent, one
who is given the liberty of satirizing "Observator" himself and even
patronizing him with the nickname "Nobs." Instead of naivete and obvious
stupidity, "Trimmer" has the guile and surface morality of the perfect
hypocrite, a "pretending friend" as "Observator" notes in _Observator_
III, Nos. 88 and 202. The humor in these later dialogues does not emerge
from the "Trimmer" personality but from the frequent self-satire and
criticism on the part of L'Estrange. "Trimmer," for example, is allowed
to mock the prose style, figures of speech, stubbornness and
repetitiveness of "Observator," as "Trimmer's" chiding tone in
_Observator_ III, No. 88 suggests. To borrow a term from Robert C.
Elliott, the entertainment of these later colloquies resides primarily
in the technique of the "satirist satirized."[18] L'Estrange, in short,
creates both _adversariuses_ as _dramatis personae_ rather than as
simple straw men, a departure from the run-of-the-mill Restoration
dialogue evident in the following interruption of his artfully built
illusion:
_Obs._: For Varieties sake then, we'le to work another way.
Do You keep up your Part of Trimmer still: Do Just as
you use to do; and be sure to maintain your Character;
Leave the Whig and the Tory to Me.
_Trimmer_: For the Dialogue sake it shall be done.
_Obs._: But then you must Consider that there are Severall
sort of Trimmers: as your State-Trimmer, Your Law-Trimmer....
_Trimmer_: And You shall Suppose Mee to be a Statesman.
_Obs._: But of what Magnitude? A Lord? A Knight?...
_Trimmer_: Why truly Nobs, if they be all of a Price, I
don't care if I be a Lord.
_Obs._: We are over that Point then; And so I am your
Lordships most Humble Servant.
But this role playing within role playing is discarded at the end of the
paper, the role of Lord being apparently too cumbersome:
_Trimmer_: No more of your Lordships, as you love me,
Nobs; for I am e'en as weary as a Dog of my Dignity.
(No. 242)
The "Character," however, is not only L'Estrange's favorite satiric tool
but perhaps the literary form most frequently used in the _Observator_.
L'Estrange himself attests to his partiality in his parting comment at
the close of the _Observator_:
_Obs._: For my Fancy lyes more to Character, then to
Dialogue; and whoever will be so Kind as to Furnish me
with Spitefull Materials, shall get his Own again with
Interest, in an Essay upon Humane Nature.
(III, No. 246)
The Character was, of course, still highly popular in the latter half
of the century, as Chester Noyes Greenough's listings show,[19] so that
in indulging his own taste, L'Estrange was also catering to the tastes
of his public. Of whatever other value the _Observator_ may be to the
modern student, it is invaluable as a fine example of the
state-of-the-Character toward the end of the century. Practically every
type of Character analyzed by Benjamin Boyce in his two studies can be
found repeatedly in L'Estrange's dialogues:[20] the earlier imitations
of Theophrastan Characters, with their parallelisms and antitheses; the
Overburian Character, with its extravagant metaphors; the externally
dramatized; the subjective; the sprung. There are Characters of
ideologies, of political parties, of virtues, of vices, of Whigs and
Dissenters (vices), of Tories and Anglicans (virtues). There are several
"Credo-Characters" (confessions or manifestoes), and finally there is
the habitually dramatized self-exposing Character which becomes
indistinguishable from the _dramatis persona_, as is the Character of
the Modern Whig in Nos. 13 and 110. Among the _Observators_ included
here, the definition of "Dissenter" in No. 1 is based on Character
techniques, as is the conceit of the Protestant as "Adjective
Noun-Substantive" in the same number. So is also the lengthy exposure of
"Leaders" in III, No. 202, beginning with "They Talk, to the Ears, and
to the Passions of their Hearers."
A final comment about L'Estrange's prose, which has been variously
labeled "colloquial," "idiomatic," "vulgar," "coarse"--all vaguely
descriptive terms suggesting value judgment, and none precise enough to
give an intelligible account of what L'Estrange actually does. In
addition to the obvious device of choppy syntax and deliberately
careless constructions simulating extemporaneous speech, L'Estrange's
figures and proverbial material demonstrate his meticulous shaping of an
"applied prose"[21] particularly suitable for the audience whose
opinions he tried to sway. His metaphors and analogies tend to rely on
commonly known objects or experiences, and because of rhetorical
necessity they are almost always unpleasantly graphic. A random sampling
yielded the following results: about twenty-five percent of the figures
in the _Observator_ deal with some specific part of the human body
(nails, spleen, mouth, eyes, ears, knees, heels, flesh, guts, belly) or
physiological processes (ulcerating, itching, chewing, digesting,
spitting, reeking, seeing, crouching, sweating, gobbling). There is no
euphemistic delicacy in these figures; L'Estrange carefully selects the
most earthy, common vehicles, thus achieving what James Sutherland has
termed "racy" and "vigorous" prose.[22] Another twenty-four percent of
the figures are based on common occupations, daily activities, or
objects familiar to the simpler citizen of London. These figures
ordinarily pivot on barter or trade (horse traders, hagglers, fishwives,
car men); on activities such as cooking, gambling, or glass-making; and
on such objects as clothing, bagpipes, paper-pellets, bonnets, and
chamber-pots. The rest derive from the animal kingdom, the Scriptures,
street-entertainment (jugglers, puppets, high-rope walkers) and folk
medicine (glysters and plasters). It is obvious that these
figures--their concreteness, sensuousness, and closeness to the daily
experience of the ordinary reader--are a main ingredient in the richly
colloquial texture of L'Estrange's prose, as is the proverbial material
which he incorporates unsparingly.
In L'Estrange's language the law of the land cannot be misunderstood,
for it calls _a spade a spade_ (No. 106; T-S699).[23] The factions win
their objectives _by hook or crook_ (No. 100; T-H588) even though they
are as _mad as March Hares_ (No. 15; T-H148) and _as Blind as Beetles_
(No. 15; T-B219). Certain things are _as clear as the Day_ (No. 25;
T-D56) or _as plain as the nose o'my face_ (No. 40; T-N215), whereas
others are so confused that one can _make neither Head nor tayl on't_
(No. 35; T-H258). When _noses are put out of joint_ (No. 38; T-N219) and
Tories are given a _bone to pick_ (No. 55; T-B522), there will obviously
be _no love lost betwixt_ Whigs and Tories (No. 97; T-L544).
Thus L'Estrange's Characters, together with the fanciful anecdotes,
self-satire, parodies, and _personae_, provide the satire and humor in
the _Observator_, the whole being couched in familiar, pungent language.
As L'Estrange counters the faction, propagandizes, and exhorts to
rational behavior, he also amuses and delights, always hoping that the
laughter provoked by his satiric treatment will cure what he saw as
follies of his age, always appealing to the common reader whose sense of
humor, he believed, was probably more developed than his sense.
California State College,
Dominguez Hills
NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
1: The translations before 1681 are _The Visions of Dom Francisco de
Quevedo_ (1667); _A Guide to Eternity_ (1672); _Five Love-letters
from a Nun_ (1677); _The Gentleman-Apothecary_ (1678); _Seneca's
Morals_ (1678); _Twenty Select Colloquies of Erasmus_ (1679); and
_Tully's Offices_ (1680).
2: Various perspectives on L'Estrange's life and works can be found
in the following: George Kitchin, _Sir Roger L'Estrange_ (London,
1913) for L'Estrange's life and impact on the Restoration press; J.
G. Muddiman, _The King's Journalist_ (London, 1923) for L'Estrange's
rivalry with Henry Muddiman, editor of the _Oxford [London]
Gazette_; David J. Littlefield, "The Polemic Art of Sir Roger
L'Estrange: A Study of His Political Writings, 1659-1688"
(Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, Yale University, 1961) for an
overview of L'Estrange as a political pamphleteer.
3: In 1679 L'Estrange wrote six new pamphlets and reprinted three
old ones; in 1680 eleven new and seventeen old; at the start of
1681, ten new and seventeen old. A probable norm of 1000-1500 copies
per pamphlet edition has been estimated by Joseph Frank, _The
Beginnings of the English Newspaper, 1620-1660_ (Cambridge, Mass.,
1961), p. 314; two orders of 1500 pamphlets each were given to the
Restoration printer Nathaniel Thompson, as noted by Leona
Rostenberg, "Nathaniel Thompson, Catholic Printer and Publisher of
the Restoration," _The Library_, 3rd ser., X (1955), 195.
4: _Heraclitus Ridens_ was considered by generations of historians
as the first newspaper in dialogue; most recently, James Sutherland
(_English Literature of the Late Seventeenth Century_, Oxford, 1969,
p. 241) has given precedence to _The City and Country Mercury_.
5: _Studies in the Early English Periodical_ (Chapel Hill, 1957), p.
38.
6: Ibid., pp. 38-39.
7: Walter Graham, _English Literary Periodicals_ (New York, 1930),
pp. 38, 63, 168.
8: _On English Prose_ (Toronto, 1965), pp. 72-74.
9: _The Spectator_, No. 10, ed. Donald F. Bond (Oxford, 1965), I,
44.
10: _The Review_, ed. Arthur Wellesley Secord (Facsimile Text
Society, New York, 1938), I, 4.
11: Several of the literary techniques in the _Spectator_ had been
introduced into journalism by L'Estrange. _Spectator_ No. 1, for
example, presents a _persona_ in the character of "Mr. Spectator";
No. 2 contains a dream-allegory; Nos. 11 and 34 present indirect
discourse between _dramatis personae_; No. 19 sketches a Character
of the Envious Man--all literary modes abundant in the _Observator_.
12: See especially J. R. Jones, _The First Whigs; The Politics of
the Exclusion Crisis, 1678-1683_ (London, 1961), pp. 20, 24, 50-51,
56, 94, 112, 123-124.
13: For attribution and identification of Sheva, see G. R. Noyes,
ed., _The Poetical Works of John Dryden_ (Boston, 1909), pp. 137,
966.
14: The works that are echoed in the Observator are Meric Casaubon,
_A Treatise Concerning Enthusiasme ..._ (London, 1655) and Henry
More, _Enthusiasmus Triumphatus ..._ (London, 1656).
15: The mixture of tones is discussed in Alvin Kernan, _The Cankered
Muse_ (New Haven, 1959), pp. 68, 76; Leonard Feinberg, _Introduction
to Satire_ (Ames, Iowa, 1967), pp. 124-125; Gilbert Highet, _The
Anatomy of Satire_ (Princeton, 1962), p. 18.
16: Hugh Macdonald, "Banter in English Controversial Prose After the
Restoration," _Essays and Studies by Members of the English
Association_, XXXII (1946), 22, 26, 38.
17: _The Power of Satire: Magic, Ritual, Art_ (Princeton, 1960), pp.
133-136, 164-165.
18: Ibid., pp. 130-222 (_passim_).
19: _A Bibliography of the Theophrastan Character in English, With
Several Portrait Characters_ (Cambridge, Mass., 1947).
20: _The Theophrastan Character in England to 1642_ (Cambridge,
Mass., 1947) and _The Polemic Character, 1640-1661_ (Lincoln, Neb.,
1955).
21: The term is suggested by Ian Gordon (_The Movement of English
Prose_, London, 1966, p. 136) in his discussion of the simple,
clear, journalistic style practiced by L'Estrange, Defoe, and Swift
in their political writings.
22: _On English Prose_, p. 70.
23: The symbol "T" and accompanying numbers refer to the entries in
Morris Palmer Tilley, _A Dictionary of the Proverb in England in the
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries_ (Ann Arbor, 1950).
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
The sources for the parts of the _Observator_ in _Dialogue_
reprinted here are Volume I of the first collected edition published
in 1684, and Volume III, published and bound together with Volume II
in 1687, both in the collection of the William Andrews Clark
Memorial Library. The pieces reprinted from Volume I consist of the
prefatory "To the Reader," and _Observator_ Nos. 1, 13, and 110; the
papers reprinted from Volume III consist of _Observator_ Nos. 88 and
202. In this edition the following editorial changes have been made:
black letter type is indicated by underlining; inverted letters have
been corrected; obvious compositor's errors have been corrected; and
inconsistencies in font due to compositors' carelessness have been
normalized. The frontispiece to this facsimile reprint is reproduced
from the Clark copy and measures approximately 13-7/16" x 8-5/8" in
the original.
THE OBSERVATOR
To the _READER_.
Most _Prefaces_ are, (Effectually) _Apologies_; and neither the _Book_,
nor the _Author_, one Jot the _Better_ for them. If the _Book_ be
_Good_, it will not _Need_ an _Apology_; If _Bad_, it will not _Bear_
One: For where a man thinks, by _Calling_ himself _Noddy_, in the
_Epistle_, to _Atone_, for _Shewing_ himself to be one, in the _Text_;
He does (with Respect to the Dignity of an _Author_) but _Bind up Two
Fools_ in _One Cover_: But there's no more Trusting some People with
_Pen, Ink, and Paper_, then the Maddest Extravagants in _Bedlam_, with
_Fire_, _Sword_, or _Poyson_. He that _Writes Ill_, and _Sees_ it, why
does he _Write on_? And, with a kind of _Malice Prepense, Murder_ the
_Ingenious_ part of _Mankind_? He that _Really Believes_ he Writes
_Well_; why does he pretend to _Think_ Otherwise? Now take it which way
you please, a man runs a Risque of his _Reputation_, for want, either of
_Skill_, and _Judgment_, the _One_ way; Or of _Good Faith_, and _Candor_
the _Other_. Beside a Mighty Oversight, in _Imagining_ to bring himself
off, from an _Ill_ Thing, _Done_, or _Said_, by Telling the World that
he did it for _This_ or _That Reason_. When a Book has once past the
_Press_ into the _Publique_; there's no more _Recalling_ of it, then of
a _Word Spoken_, out of the _Air_ again. And a man may as well hope to
Reverse the _Decree_ of his _Mortality_, as the _Fate_ of his
_Writings_. In short: When the _Dice_ are _Cast_, the _Author_ must
stand his _Chance_.
Now that I may not be thought to Enterfere with my self, by _Declaiming_
against _One Preface_ in _Another_: I do here previously Renounce to All
the Little Arts and Forms of Bespeaking the _Good Will_ of the _Reader_;
As a _Practice_, not only _Mean_, _Light_, and _Unprofitable_; but
wholly _Contrary_ to the _Bent_ of _My Inclination_; as well as
_Inconsistent_ with the very _Drift_, and _Quality_ of my _Design_. For
These _Papers_ were _Written_, Indifferently, for the _Enformation_ of
the _Multitude_; and for the _Reproof_ of a _Faction_: _Two Interests_
that I am not much _Sollicitous_, or _Ambitious_, to _Oblige_: And upon
_This Consideration_ it is, that I have _Address'd_ them to the _Reader_
in _Generall_; as a _Calculation_ that will serve for _All Meridians_:
But if I could have Resolved upon a _Dedication_, with any _Particular
Mark_, or _Epithete_ of _Distinction_; it should have been, _To the
IGNORANT, the SEDITIOUS_, or _the SCHISMATICAL Reader_; for _There_,
properly, lies _my Bus'ness_.
The Reader will find in the _First Number_ of This Collection, the _True
Intent_, and _Design_ of the _Undertaking_; And he will likewise find,
in the very _Date_ of it, (April 13. 1681.) the _Absolute Necessity_ of
some Such _Application_, to Encounter the _Notorious Falshoods_; the
_Malicious Scandals_, and the _Poysonous Doctrines_ of _That Season_.
Whether I had Sufficient _Ground_, or _Reason_, for the Warmth I have
Exprest in These Papers, upon Several Occasions, (out of an Affectionate
Sense of my _Duty_, and a _Zeal_ for the _Peace_, _Welfare_, and
_Safety_ of my _Country_;) I _Dare_, and I _Do Appeal_ to the _King_,
and his _Ministers_; to the _Consciences_ of as many of his Majesties
_Subjects_, as are not _Stark Blind_ because they _WILL_ not _See_; and
to the Justice of the Nation. I do _Appeal_, I say, to his Majesties
_Proclamations_; to his _Royal Declaration_; Several _Orders_ of
_Councel_; the _Examinations_, and _Confessions_ of _Unquestionable
Witnesses_; The _Solemnity_ of so many _Tryals_, _Sentences_, and
_Executions_; and the _Criminals_, Every Man of 'em, Either
_Acknowledging_ the _Crime_, or _Justifying_ the _Treason_: But the
_FACT_, however made as _Clear_ as the _Day_. There's the _Flight_ of
the _Conspirators_; Their _Arms Seiz'd_; Their _Councels Laid Open_;
_Men Listed_; The _Methods_ of the _Confederacy Detected_, to the very
_Time_, and _Place_ for the _Perpetration_ of the _Villany_; to the very
_Circumstance_ of the _Providential Fire_ at _Newmarket_, that
_Disappointed_ it. I have All These _Demonstrative Proofs_, and
_Convincing Evidences_, to _Warrant_ me in the most _Violent
Presumptions_ of a _Rebellion_ in _Agitation_: And the _Phanatiques
Themselves_ made good the _Worst_ Things that ever I said of the
_Party_: In _Vindication_ of the _Importunity_ of All my _Foreboding_,
if not _Prophetical Suspicions_: Nay, they were come to the very
_Point_, and _Crisis_ of the _Operation_, of That _Unaccountable_, and
_Amazing Vote_. [_If his Majesty shall come by Any Violent Death (which
God Forbid) it shall_ be _Reveng'd to the Utmost upon the Papists_.] The
_King_, and the _Duke_ were to be _Murder'd_ by _Republican_, and
_Fanatical Rebells_: _There's_ your _VIOLENT DEATH_. And _Then_,
[Reuenge it upon the Papists:] For [_the Thing_ (says _Keeling_) _was to
be laid upon the Papists as a Branch of the Popish Plot_. Walcots Tryal.
Fol.9.] And the _Next_ Step was, for the _Traytors_ to _Unriddle_ the
_Mystery_, and to _Expound_, Who were the _Papists_. [_The Lord Mayor,
and the Sheriffs_] _were Three_ of 'em. _They_, were to be Kill'd; And
[_as many of the_ Lieutenancy _as they could get; And the Principal
Ministers of State; My Lord_ Halifax, _My Lord_ Rochester, _and my_ Lord
Keeper: (_They_ were _Three Papists more_.) _My Lord_ Keeper _was to
have been_ Hang'd _upon the same Post that_ College _had hung. Sir_ John
Moor _to be_ Hung-up _in_ Guildhall, _as a Betrayer of the Rights and
Liberties of the City. And the Judges Lordships to be_ Flay'd, _and_
Stuff'd, _and_ Hung-up _in_ Westminster Hall: _And a great many of the_
Pensionary Parliament Hang'd-up, _as Betrayers of the Rights of the
People_. Walcots Tryal, p. 15.] You have here, a _Practical Explanation_
of the _True-Protestant Way_, (in case of _the King's Violent Death_)
_of Revenging it to the Utmost upon the Papists_. And This Intended
_Assassination_ (says _Ferguson_ (in the same Page)) [_Is a Glorious
Action, and such an Action as_ I HOPE TO SEE PUBLIQUELY GRATIFY'D BY
PARLIAMENT; _And Question not but you will be Fam'd for it, and_ Statues
_Erected for you, with the Title of_ LIBERATORES PATRIAE. _Ibid._] Now
when Matters were come to _This Pass_ once, I think it was High Time to
Write _Observators_.
I might Enlarge my self, upon the _Inducements_ that Mov'd me to Enter
upon This _Province_; The _Needfullness_ of some _Popular Medium_ for
the _Rectifying_ of _Vulgar Mistakes,_ and for _Instilling_ of
_Dutyfull_, and _Honest Principles_ into the _Common People_, upon That
_Turbulent_, and _Seditious Juncture_: But I am not Willing to _Clogg_
my _Preface_, with the _Repetition_ of what I have spoken so _Expressly_
to, in the _Book_.
I am now to Advertise the _Reader_, in the next Place; That as I have
not Strain'd, so much as _One Syllable_, in the _Whole Course_ of _These
Papers_, beyond the _Line_ of _Truth_, Nor let fall _One Word, Contrary_
to my _Conscience_; Nor _Layd-on_ so much as _One False Colour_, for a
_Blind_, or a _Disguise_: As I have not done any Thing of All This, I
say; Nor _Gratify'd_ so much as _One Passion_ to the Prejudice, of any
_MAN_, or _THING_; or of _Common Justice it Self_: So neither, on the
_Other_ hand, was I less _Cautious_, and _Considerate_, in the
_Undertaking_ of This _Duty_, then I have been _Clear_, and _Impartial_,
in the _Discharge_, and _Manage_ of it.
I was no sooner Possess't, of the _Reason_, and the _Expedience_ of
the _Thing_; but I fell presently to _Deliberate_ upon the
_Invidious Difficulties_; The _Scandals_, _Reproches_, and a
Thousand Other _Mischiefs_, and _Inconveniencies_, that would
probably _Attend_ it. I laid them All _before_ me; And upon a _Full
Computation_ of the _Matter, Pro_ and _Con_; I Resolv'd, at last, to
Put _pen to paper_; not without some _Vanity_ perhaps, in
_Affecting_ the _Honour_ of being _Revil'd_, by the _Blasphemers_ of
_God_, and the _King_. I shall say Nothing of the _Traytors_; The
_Papists_; The _Fidlers_; The _All-manner-of-Rogues_, and
_Debauchees_ that they have _made_ me: For their _Cause_ is
_Founded_ upon a _Sacrilegious Hypocrisy; Maintain'd_ by _Fraud_,
_Scandal_, and _Imposture_. And when they have a mind to _Blacken_
a man, 'tis not a _Straw_ matter, for any _Foundation_ of _Fact_, or
_History_: But _Paint_ him as like the _Devil_ as they _Can_; and to
make short Work on't, _One Fanatique_ Sits to _Another_, for the
_Picture_. But _These Scurrilities_ have more of _Noise_ in 'em,
then of _Weight_: And Those People that had the face to _Calumniate
Charles the First_, for a _TYRANT_, and a _PAPIST_; And the
_Confidence_, at This very day, to do as much for _Charles the
Second_; They that _Preach REBELLION_ out of the _GOSPEL_; Give it
the _Name_ of _GOD'S TRUTH, GOD'S CAUSE_; And offer up the _Bloud_
of _Kings_ as an _Acceptable Sacrifice_ to _Jesus Christ_: What
_Christian_ will not _Value_ himself, upon the _Reputation_ of lying
under the _Scourge_ of _Those Tongues_, and _Pens_, that Offer these
_Outrages_ to their _Maker_, and their _Saviour_? So that these
_Clamours_, and _Maledictions_, I look upon, as Matter, rather of
_Advantage_, then _Discredit_; Where _Loyalty_ to the _King_, and to
the _Church_, is made the _Crime_: But yet I must Confess, I had
_Some Other Mortifications_ in my _Thought_, that went a little
_Nearer_ me.
As first, the _Indecency_ of a _Gentlemans_ Entring into a
_Street-Brawl_, (and _Bare-fac'd_ too) with the _Sink_ of _Mankind_,
both for _Quality_, and _Wickedness_. 21y. The _Disproportion_, and the
_Indecorum_ of the Thing, for an _Old Fellow_ that now Writes _Sixty
Eight_, to run about, a _Masquerading_, and _Dialoguing_ of it, in
_Twenty Fantastical Shapes_, only to furnish a _Popular Entertainment_,
and _Diversion_. 31y. The _Scandalous Appearance_ of it, for Me to take
up the _Profession_, and _Bus'ness_ of a _Pamphleteer_; And (almost) to
Lose the _Name_ of my _Family_, by it, in _Exchange_ for That of the
_Observator_. 41y. I had This Prospect before me too. What
_Construction_ would be made upon't; (If I may speak it with _Modesty_)
even to the _Lessening_ of my _Character_; And Consequently, to my
Detriment, Every way, as well in Respect of _Fortune_, as _Esteem_: For
men are apt, in such Cases as This, to _Mistake_, the _Intent_, as well
as the _Reason_ of the _Office_; and to Impute the most _Sacred_, and
_Consciencious Zeal_ of an _Upright Heart_, in the performance of the
most _Important_, and _Necessary Duty_, only to a _Levity_ of _Mind_,
perchance; Or in Other Terms; to an Over _Officious_, and _Pragmatical
Itch of Medling_: It makes a man to be lookt upon, as if a _Pamphlet_
were his _Masterpiece_; and when he's once _Nail'd_ to _That Post_, he
may reckon upon't, that he's at the _Top_ of his _Preferment_. Upon
These _Four Difficulties_, I Reason'd with my self, after This Manner.
To the _First_; What do I care, for having so much _Dirt_ Thrown at me,
that will _Wash off_ again? And at the worst, the Engaging with such a
_Rabble_ of _Contaminated Varlets_, is no more then _Leaping_ into the
_Mud_ to help my _Father. Secondly. 'Tis not for a man in years_, to do
so and so. Well! And here's a _Reputative Circumstance_, on the _One_
hand, against an _Indispensable Duty_, on the _Other_. The _Common
people_ are _Poyson'd_, and will run _Stark Mad_, if they be not
_Cur'd_: Offer them _Reason_, without _Fooling_, and it will never
_Down_ with them: And give them _Fooling_, without _Argument_, they're
never the _Better_ for't. Let 'em _Alone_, and All's _Lost_. So that the
_Mixture_ is become as _Necessary_, as the _Office_; And it has been _My
Part_, only to _Season_ the _One_ with the _Other. Thirdly_, I must Set
the _Conscience_ of the Action, against the _Reproch_. And _Lastly; 'Tis
nothing to me what Other People_ Think, _so long as I am Conscious to my
Self that I Do what I_ Ought.
All This I Computed upon, _before-hand_; And thus far, I have not been
_Deceiv'd_ in my _Account_. I have been _Baited_ with _Thousands_ upon
_Thousands_ of _Libells_. I have Created _Enemies_ that do me the
_Honour_ to _Hate_ me, perhaps, next to the _King Himself_ (God Bless
him) and the _Royal Family_. Their _Scandals_ are _Blown over_: Their
_Malice, Defeated_, And whenever _my Hour comes_, I am ready to Deliver
up my _Soul_, with the _Conscience_ of an _Honest Man_, as to what I
have done, in _This Particular_: And I do here Declare, in the
_Presence_ of an _All-Seeing_, and an _All-Knowing God_, That as I have
never yet receiv'd any _Answer_, more then _Cavil_, and _Shuffling_, to
the _Doctrine_, and _Reasoning_ of _These Papers_: So I never _made use_
of Any _Sophism_, or _Double Meaning_, in Defence of the _Cause_ that I
have here taken upon me to _Assert_: But have dealt _Plainly_, and
_Above-Bord_, without either _Fallacy_, or _Collusion_.
After This _View_ of the _Worst side_ of my _Case_; (And (in truth) a
kind of _Abstract_ of it, in _Minutes_) I should be Extremely wanting,
both to _God_ and _Man_, in not taking _This Occasion_, of making
_known_ to the _world_, the _Many Generous Instances_ of _Affection_,
and _Respect_, which I have received, not only from the most
_Considerable_ Part of his Majesties _Loyal Subjects_ of _All
Qualities_, and _Degrees_; But _Particularly_ from the _Two Famous
Universities Themselves_: And, in short, from the most _Eminent Persons_
of the _Long Robe_, in their _Several Professions_: In _Testimony_ of
their _Favourable Acceptance_ of my _Honest Endeavours_ toward the
Service, both of the _Church_, & the _State_. And This I am Obliged to
leave behind me, upon _Record_; out of a _Double Right_, & _Regard_, as
well to my _Friends_, as to my _Self_: For I reckon upon it, as an
_Accumulation_ of _Honour_, to _Me_, to be _Rescu'd_ out of the hands of
_Publique Enemies_, and _Apostates_, by Men of the Clear _Contrary
Character_; That is to say; by Men of _Unquestionable Integrity_, and of
_Unspotted Faith_.
My _Back Friends_ are as _Merry_, now, as _a Laugh on One side of the
Mouth_ can Make 'em; at the _Conceit_ of calling the several _Presents_
which have been made me (and they are very _Considerable_) by the name
of a _Gathering_; and they do not Stick to put it about, That I was my
_Own Sollicitor_ for the _Begging_ of it. I have been Told of One, that
_said_ as much; _for whose sake_, I would Advise _All Parents_ to take
it for a _Warning_, not to _Stuff_ their _Childrens Heads_ so Damnably,
with _Greek and Latin_, as to leave no _Room_ for _Brains_, and _Good
Manners_. But what if it _be a Gathering_? Are not All _Publique
Benevolences; Publique Works; Publique Acknowledgments_; the _same
Thing_? Neither do I find any more _Scandal_, in receiving a _Reward_
for a _Service_ in a _Common Cause_, then in a _Lawyers_ taking a _Fee_,
in a _Private_ One: But be it what it _will_: I shall Transmit the
_Acknowledgment_ of it, with This Paper, as the _Glory of my Life_: And
Value my self Incomparably more upon so _Eminent_ a _Mark_ of a _General
Esteem_; then upon the _Advantage_ of _Ten times a Greater Sum_, by _Any
Other way_. But _Gatherings_, with some People, are only _Honourable_,
when they are Apply'd to the _Maintaining_ of _Conspirators_, and
_Affidavit-Men_: And they Account _Money_ much better _Bestow'd_ upon
the _Subversion_ of the _Government_, then toward the _Defending_ of it:
But _That Orange is Squeez'd as far as 'twill Drop, already_.
Now to the _Calumny_ of _My Setting This Bus'ness afoot; First_, I thank
God, that neither my _Mind_, nor my _Condition_ were ever Sunk _so_ Low,
yet, as to _Descend_ to _That way of Application_. 21y, As I hope to be
Sav'd, the Matter was Proceeded upon, in _Several Places_, and a _Long
Time_, before ever I had the Least _Inkling_, or _Imagination_ of it;
And when it was so far _Advanc'd, without my Privity_, I must Certainly
have been both a Great _Fool_, and a Great _Clown_, either to have
_Oppos'd_, or _Refus'd_, a Token of so _Obliging_, and so _Generous_ a
_Respect_. To Conclude; If any man has been so _Misled_, as to _Intend_
That for a _Personal Charity_; which I cannot _Honourably_ Own the
_Receiving_ of, under _That Notion_; I am ready to Return him his
Proportion, with a Thousand Acknowledgments: But This shall not Hinder
me yet, from _Cherishing_ in my _Thoughts_, the _Remembrance_ of what
_Honour_ soever has been done me for the sake of the _Publique_.
The Reflexions that have been Pass'd upon my _Quality_, and
_Conversation_, need no Further Answer, then to Appeal to my very
_Name_, and my _Acquaintance_: But for the _Charge_ of being a _Papist_,
it is as _False_, as it is _Malicious_.
I am to say One Word more now, concerning my _L. Shaftsbury_; whose
_Name_, and _Title_, I have often Occasion to make mention of, in This
Book. The _Reader_ is to take Notice, that it is Intended of the _Late
Earl of Shaftsbury_, who Dy'd at _Amsterdam, Jan. 168-2/3. The Surviving
Heir of That Honour, and Family, having ever Demean'd himself with a
Remarkable Loyalty, and Respect, toward the King, and his Government_.
=Numb. 1.=
THE OBSERVATOR.
In _QUESTION_ and _ANSWER_.
=WEDNESDAY=, April 13. 1681.
_Q. WEll! They are so. But do you think now to bring'um to their Wits
again with a_ Pamphlet?
_A._ Come, Come; 'Tis the _Press_ that has made'um _Mad_, and the
_Press_ must set'um _Right_ again. The Distemper is _Epidemical_; and
there's no way in the world, but by _Printing_, to convey the _Remedy_
to the _Disease_.
_Q. But what is it that you call a_ Remedy?
_A._ The _Removing_ of the _Cause_. That is to say, the _Undeceiving_ of
the _People_: for they are well enough Disposed, of themselves, to be
Orderly, and Obedient; if they were not misled by _Ill Principles_, and
Hair'd and Juggled out of their Senses with so many Frightful _Stories_
and _Impostures_.