The club of which I am a member is very luckily composed
of such persons as are engaged in different ways (10)
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
everything that passes in the different quarters and divisions,
not only of this great city, but of the whole kingdom. (15)
My readers, too, have the satisfaction to find that
there is no rank or degree among them who have not
their[28] representative in this club, and that there is always
somebody 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.
[28] Correct the bad grammar.
I last night sat very late in company with this select
body of friends, who entertained me with several remarks (65: 5)
which they and others had made upon these my speculations,
as also with the various success which they[29] 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 (10)
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 (15)
persons of quality proper subjects for raillery.
[29] What is the antecedent?
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[30] wives and
daughters were the better for them; and further added, (20)
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 intrigues. "In
short," says Sir Andrew, "if you avoid that foolish beaten (25)
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."
[30] Whose?
Upon this my friend the Templar 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
satire; and that the wits of King Charles's time jested
upon nothing else during his whole reign. He then (66: 5)
showed, 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 patronized
them. "But after all," says he, "I think your (10)
raillery has made too great an excursion, in attacking
several persons of the Inns of Court; and I do not
believe you can show me any precedent for your behaviour
in that particular."
My good friend Sir Roger de Coverley, who had said (15)
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 (20)
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." (25)
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 myself in the condition of the good man
that had one wife who took a dislike to his gray hairs, and
another to his black, till by their picking out what each (67: 5)
of them had an aversion to, they left his head altogether
bald and naked.
While I was thus musing with myself, 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 (10)
any order of persons should think themselves too
considerable to be advised. 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 (15)
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 depressed,
and in some measure turned into ridicule, by the meanness
of their conditions and circumstances. He afterwards (20)
proceeded to take notice of the great use this
paper might be of to the public, 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 (25)
cheerfulness, 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 (68: 5)
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 Templar would
not stand out, and was followed by Sir Roger and the (10)
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, (15)
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, (20)
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 (25)
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 anything 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, (69: 5)
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. (10)