=Motto.= "Simplicity, in our age most rare."
--Ovid, _Ars Amoris_, i. 241.
=185=: 15. =Gray's Inn Walks.= The walks and gardens of Gray's Inn (see
note, p. 221) were a favourite resort.
=185=: 18. =Prince Eugene.= Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736), a famous
Austrian general. He had fought side by side with Marlborough through
several campaigns in the great War of the Spanish Succession that
was now drawing to a close. At this time Marlborough had just been
dismissed from his command in the army (see p. 244), and the English
Tory ministry were making negotiations for a peace. Prince Eugene
visited London to urge the continuance of the war and the restoration
of Marlborough, but his mission was futile.
=186=: 5. =Scanderbeg.= Corrupt form of Iskander (Alexander) Bey; a
noted Albanian chief, whose name was George Castriota, born 1404. He
won many victories against the Turks.
=186=: 24. =Out of Dr. Barrow.= See VI, p. 79. Dr. Isaac Barrow
(1630-1677) was one of the most eloquent divines of his age.
=187=: 1. =Tobacco stopper.= A small plug, made of wood or bone, to
pack the tobacco in the bowl of a pipe.
=188=: 14. =The late Act of Parliament=, the _Act to repress Occasional
Conformity_, passed 1710. By the Test Act of 1673 it was required
of every person filling any civil office that he should take the
sacrament, at certain times, according to the forms of the Church of
England. The object, of course, was to exclude all Romanists and all
Dissenters from office. But it was found that many Dissenters did
not feel themselves forbidden by conscience to take the sacrament
occasionally from the hands of a priest of the Church of England,
if only so they could qualify for office. A bill to prevent this
"Occasional Conformity" was warmly urged through all the earlier years
of the reign of Anne; but so long as the Whigs were in power, it was
impossible to pass it. When the Tories came in, in 1710, they naturally
passed it at once.
=188=: 19. =Plum-porridge.= Extreme Dissenters looked with disfavour
upon all Christmas festivities as savouring of Romish observance.
=188=: 28. =The Pope's Procession.= November 17, the anniversary of
the accession of Queen Elizabeth, was long celebrated by parades and
processions in which the pope and Catholic traditions were turned into
ridicule. These parades were often the occasion of popular tumult; but,
in 1711, some of the more violent Whigs planned an especially offensive
demonstration, which had to be suppressed by the authorities. Swift
writes on the evening of the day: "This is Queen Elizabeth's birth-day"
[he was in error there; it was not her birth, but her accession, that
was celebrated], "usually kept in this town by apprentices, etc.; but
the Whigs designed a mighty procession by midnight, and had laid out
a thousand pounds to dress up the pope, devil, cardinals, Sacheverel,
etc., and carry them with torches about, and burn them.... But they
were seized last night, by order of the secretary; you will have an
account of it, for they bawl it about the streets already. They had
some very foolish and mischievous designs; and it was thought they
would have put the rabble upon assaulting my lord treasurer's house,
and the secretary's; and other violences. The militia was raised to
prevent it, and now, I suppose, all will be quiet."--_Journal to
Stella_, November 17, 1711.
Addison naturally rather minimizes the disturbance by the absurd
question of Sir Roger.
=189=: 10. =Baker's Chronicle.= See note, p. 226. The _Chronicle_ was
a favourite authority with Sir Roger; in the next paper we find him
quoting it at length.
=189=: 16. =Squire's.= A coffee-house in Holborn, near Gray's Inn,
specially frequented by the benchers of the inn.
=189=: 23. =The Supplement.= A newspaper of the time, issued on
Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.