The Club of which I am a Member is very luckily composed of such
Persons as are engaged in different Ways of Life, and deputed as it
were out of the most conspicuous Classes of Mankind: By this Means I
am furnished with the greatest Variety of Hints and Materials, and
know every thing that passes in the different Quarters and Divisions,
not only of this great City, but of the whole Kingdom. My Readers too
have the Satisfaction to find, that there is no rank or Degree among
them who have not their Representative in this Club, and that there is
always some Body present who will take Care of their respective
Interests, that nothing may be written or published to the Prejudice
or Infringement of their just Rights and Privileges.
I last Night sat very late in Company with this select Body of
Friends, who entertained me with several Remarks which they and others
had made upon these my Speculations, as also with the various Success
which they had met with among their several Ranks and Degrees of
Readers. WILL. HONEYCOMB told me, in the softest manner he could, that
there were some Ladies (but for your Comfort, says Will., they are not
those of the most Wit) that were offended at the Liberties I had taken
with the Opera and the Puppet-Show: That some of them were likewise
very much surprised, that I should think such serious Points as the
Dress and Equipage of Persons of Quality, proper Subjects for
Raillery.
He was going on, when Sir ANDREW FREEPORT took him up short, and told
him, that the Papers he hinted at had done great Good in the City, and
that all their Wives and Daughters were the better for them: And
further added, that the whole City thought themselves very much
obliged to me for declaring my generous Intentions to scourge Vice and
Folly as they appear in a Multitude, without condescending to be a
Publisher of particular Intreagues and Cuckoldoms. In short, says Sir
Andrew, if you avoid that foolish beaten Road of falling upon Aldermen
and Citizens, and employ your Pen upon the Vanity and Luxury of
Courts, your Paper must needs be of general Use.
Upon this my Friend the TEMPLER told Sir Andrew, That he wondered to
hear a Man of his Sense talk after that manner; that the City had
always been the Province for Satyr; and that the Wits of King
_Charles's_ Time jested upon nothing else during his whole Reign. He
then shewed, by the Examples of _Horace_, _Juvenal_, _Boileau_, and
the best Writers of every age, that the Follies of the Stage and Court
had never been accounted too sacred for Ridicule, how great soever the
Persons might be that patroniz'd them. But after all, says he, I think
your Raillery has made too great an Excursion, in attacking several
Persons of the Inns of Court; and I do not believe you can shew me any
Precedent for your Behaviour in that Particular.
My good friend Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY, who had said nothing all this
while, began his Speech with a Pish! and told us, That he wondered to
see so many Men of Sense so very serious upon Fooleries. Let our good
Friend, says he, attack every one that deserves it: I would only
advise you, Mr. SPECTATOR, applying himself to me, to take care how
you meddle with Country Squires: they are the Ornaments of the
_English_ Nation; Men of Good Heads and sound Bodies! and let me tell
you, some of them take it ill of you, that you mention Fox-hunters
with so little Respect.
Captain Sentry spoke very sparingly on this Occasion. What he said was
only to commend my Prudence in not touching upon the Army, and advised
me to continue to act discreetly in that Point.
By this time I found every subject of my Speculations was taken away
from me, by one or other of the Club; and began to think my self in
the Condition of the good Man that had one Wife who took a Dislike to
his grey Hairs, and another to his black, till by their picking out
what each of them had an Aversion to, they left his Head altogether
bald and naked.
While I was thus musing with my self, my worthy Friend the Clergyman,
who, very luckily for me, was at the Club that Night, undertook my
Cause. He told us, that he wondered any Order of Persons should think
themselves too considerable to be advis'd: That it was not Quality,
but Innocence, which exempted Men from Reproof: That Vice and Folly
ought to be attacked wherever they could be met with, and especially
when they were placed in high and conspicuous Stations of Life. He
further added, That my Paper would only serve to aggravate the Pains
of Poverty, if it chiefly exposed those who are already depress'd, and
in some measure turned into Ridicule, by the Meanness of their
Conditions and Circumstances. He afterwards proceeded to take Notice
of the great Use this paper might be of to the Publick, by
reprehending those Vices which are too trivial for the Chastisement of
the Law, and too fantastical for the Cognizance of the Pulpit. He then
advised me to prosecute my Undertaking with Chearfulness; and assured
me, that whoever might be displeased with me, I should be approved by
all those whose Praises do Honour to the Persons on whom they are
bestowed.
The whole Club pays a particular Deference to the Discourse of this
Gentleman, and are drawn into what he says, as much by the candid
ingenuous Manner with which he delivers himself, as by the Strength of
Argument and Force of Reason which he makes use of. Will. Honeycomb
Immediately Agreed, That What He Had Said Was right; and that for his
Part, he would not insist upon the Quarter which he had demanded for
the Ladies. Sir Andrew gave up the City with the same Frankness. The
Templer would not stand out; and was followed by Sir Roger and the
Captain: Who all agreed that I should be at Liberty to carry the War
into what Quarter I pleased; provided I continued to combat with
Criminals in a Body, and to assault the Vice without hurting the
Person.
This Debate, which was held for the Good of Mankind, put me in mind of
that which the _Roman_ Triumvirate were formerly engaged in, for their
Destruction. Every Man at first stood hard for his Friend, till they
found that by this Means they should spoil their Proscription: And at
length, making a Sacrifice of all their Acquaintance and Relations,
furnished out a very decent Execution.
Having thus taken my Resolutions to march on boldly in the Cause of
Virtue and good Sense, and to annoy their Adversaries in whatever
Degree or Rank of Men they may be found: I shall be deaf for the
future to all the Remonstrances that shall be made to me on this
Account. If _Punch_ grows extravagant, I shall reprimand him very
freely: If the Stage becomes a Nursery of Folly and Impertinence, I
shall not be afraid to animadvert upon it. In short, If I meet with
any thing in City, Court, or Country, that shocks Modesty or good
Manners, I shall use my utmost Endeavours to make an Example of it. I
must however intreat every particular Person, who does me the Honour
to be a Reader of this Paper, never to think himself, or any one of
his Friends or Enemies, aimed at in what is said: For I promise him,
never to draw a faulty Character which does not fit at least a
Thousand People; or to publish a single Paper, that is not written in
the Spirit of Benevolence, and with a love to Mankind.
_Addison._