after having heard that the stone underneath the most ancient of them,
which was brought from _Scotland_, was called _Jacob's
pillar_, sat himself down in the chair; and looking like the figure
of an old _Gothick_ king, asked our interpreter, what authority
they had to say that _Jacob_ had ever been in _Scotland_? The
fellow, instead of returning him an answer, told him, that he hoped his
honour would pay his forfeit. I could observe Sir ROGER a little ruffled
upon being thus trepanned; but our guide not insisting upon his demand,
the knight soon recovered his good-humour, and whispered in my ear, that
if WILL WIMBLE were with us, and saw those two chairs, it would go hard
but he would get a tobacco-stopper out of one or the other of them.
Sir ROGER, in the next place, laid his hand upon _Edward_ the
Third's sword, and leaning upon the pommel of it, gave us the whole
history of the _Black Prince_; concluding that, in Sir _Richard
Baker's_ opinion, _Edward_ the Third was one of the greatest
princes that ever sat upon the _English_ throne.
We were then shewn _Edward_ the Confessor's tomb; upon which Sir
ROGER acquainted us, that he was the first who touched for the evil; and
afterwards _Henry_ the Fourth's, upon which he shook his head, and
told us there was fine reading in the casualties of that reign.
Our conductor then pointed to that monument where there is the figure of
one of our _English_ kings without an head; and upon giving us to
know, that the head, which was of beaten silver, had been stolen away
several years since: 'Some Whig, I'll warrant you,' says Sir ROGER; 'you
ought to lock up your kings better; they will carry off the body too, if
you don't take care.'
The glorious names of _Henry_ the Fifth and Queen _Elizabeth_
gave the knight great opportunities of shining, and of doing justice to
Sir _Richard Baker_; who, as our Knight observed with some
surprise, had a great many kings in him, whose monuments he had not seen
in the Abbey.
For my own part, I could not but be pleased to see the Knight shew such
an honest passion for the glory of his country, and such a respectful
gratitude to the memory of its princes.
I must not omit, that the benevolence of my good old friend, which flows
out towards every one he converses with, made him very kind to our
interpreter, whom he looked upon as an extraordinary man; for which
reason he shook him by the hand at parting, telling him, that he should
be very glad to see him at his lodgings in _Norfolk-Buildings_, and
talk over these matters with him more at leisure.
NO. 335. TUESDAY, MARCH 25.
_Respicere exemplar vitae morumque jubebo
Doctum unitatorem, et veras hinc ducere voces._
HOR. Ars Poet. ver. 317.
Those are the likest copies, which are drawn
From the original of human life.
ROSCOMMON.
My friend Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY, when we last met together at the club,
told me that he had a great mind to see the new tragedy with me,
assuring me at the same time, that he had not been at a play these
twenty years. 'The last I saw,' said Sir ROGER, 'was the
_Committee_, which I should not have gone to neither, had not I
been told beforehand that it was a good church-of-_England_
comedy.' He then proceeded to inquire of me who this Distressed Mother
was; and upon hearing that she was _Hector's_ widow, he told me
that her husband was a brave man, and that when he was a school-boy he
had read his life at the end of the dictionary. My friend asked me, in
the next place, if there would not be some danger in coming home late,
in case the _Mohocks_ should be abroad. 'I assure you,' says he, 'I
thought I had fallen into their hands last night; for I observed two or
three lusty black men that followed me half way up _Fleet-Street_,
and mended their pace behind me, in proportion as I put on to get away
from them. You must know,' continued the Knight with a smile, 'I fancied
they had a mind to _hunt_ me; for I remember an honest gentleman in
my neighbourhood, who was served such a trick in King _Charles_ the
Second's time, for which reason he has not ventured himself in town ever
since. I might have shewn them very good sport, had this been their
design; for as I am an old fox-hunter, I should have turned and dogged,
and have played them a thousand tricks they had never seen in their
lives before.'
Sir ROGER added, that if these gentlemen had any such intention, they
did not succeed very well in it; 'for I threw them out,' says he, 'at
the end of _Norfolk-Street_, where I doubled the corner, and got
shelter in my lodgings before they could imagine what was become of me.
However,' says the Knight, 'if Captain SENTRY will make one with us to-
morrow night, and if you will both of you call upon me about four
o'clock, that we may be at the house before it is full, I will have my
coach in readiness to attend you, for _John_ tells me he has got
the fore-wheels mended.'
The Captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the appointed hour,
bid Sir ROGER fear nothing, for that he had put on the same sword which
he made use of at the battle of _Steenkirk_. Sir ROGER'S servants,
and among the rest my old friend the butler, had, I found, provided
themselves with good oaken plants, to attend their master upon this
occasion. When we had placed him in his coach, with myself at his left-
hand, the Captain before him, and his butler at the head of his footmen
in the rear, we conveyed him in safety to the play-house, where after
having marched up the entry in good order, the Captain and I went in
with him, and seated him betwixt us in the pit. As soon as the house was
full, and the candles lighted, my old friend stood up and looked about
him with that pleasure, which a mind seasoned with humanity naturally
feels in itself, at the sight of a multitude of people who seemed
pleased with one another, and partake of the same common entertainment.
I could not but fancy to myself, as the old man stood up in the middle
of the pit, that he made a very proper center to a tragick audience.
Upon the entering of _Pyrrhus_, the Knight told me that he did not
believe the King of _France_ himself had a better strut. I was
indeed very attentive to my old friend's remarks, because I looked upon
them as a piece of natural criticism, and was well pleased to hear him,
at the conclusion of almost every scene, telling me that he could not
imagine how the play would end. One while he appeared much concerned for
_Andromache_; and a little while after as much for _Hermione_;
and was extremely puzzled to think what would become of _Pyrrhus_.
When Sir ROGER saw _Andromache's_ obstinate refusal to her lover's
importunities, he whispered me in the ear, that he was sure she would
never have him; to which he added, with a more than ordinary vehemence,
'You cannot imagine, Sir, what it is to have to do with a widow.' Upon
_Pyrrhus_ his threatening afterwards to leave her, the Knight shook
his head and muttered to himself, 'Ay, do if you can.' This part dwelt
so much upon my friend's imagination, that at the close of the third
act, as I was thinking of something else, he whispered me in the ear,
'These widows, Sir, are the most perverse creatures in the world. But
pray,' says he, 'you that are a critick, is the play according to your
dramatic rules, as you call them? Should your people in tragedy always
talk to be understood? Why, there is not a single sentence in this play
that I do not know the meaning of.'
The fourth act very luckily begun before I had time to give the old
gentleman an answer: 'Well,' says the Knight, sitting down with great
satisfaction,' I suppose we are now to see _Hector's_ ghost.' He
then renewed his attention, and, from time to time, fell a praising the
widow. He made, indeed, a little mistake as to one of her pages, whom at
his first entering he took for _Astyanax_; but quickly set himself
right in that particular, though, at the same time, he owned he should
have been very glad to have seen the little boy, 'who,' says he, 'must
needs be a very fine child by the account that is given of him.' Upon
_Hermione's_ going off with a menace to _Pyrrhus_, the
audience gave a loud clap, to which Sir ROGER added, 'On my word, a
notable young baggage!'
As there was a very remarkable silence and stillness in the audience
during the whole action, it was natural for them to take the opportunity
of the intervals between the acts, to express their opinion of the
players, and of their respective parts. Sir ROGER hearing a cluster of
them praise _Orestes_, struck in with them, and told them, that he
thought his friend _Pylades_ was a very sensible man; as they were
afterwards applauding _Pyrrhus_, Sir ROGER put in a second time:
'And let me tell you,' says he, 'though he speaks but little, I like the
old fellow in whiskers as well as any of them.' Captain SENTRY seeing
two or three wags, who sat near us, lean with an attentive ear towards
Sir ROGER, and fearing lest they should smoke the Knight, plucked him by
the elbow, and whispered something in his ear, that lasted till the
opening of the fifth act. The Knight was wonderfully attentive to the
account which _Orestes_ gives of _Pyrrhus_ his death, and at
the conclusion of it, told me it was such a bloody piece of work, that
he was glad it was not done upon the stage. Seeing afterwards
_Orestes_ in his raving fit, he grew more than ordinary serious,
and took occasion to moralize (in his way) upon an evil conscience,
adding, that _Orestes, in his madness, looked as if he saw
something_.
As we were the first that came into the house, so we were the last that
went out of it; being resolved to have a clear passage for our old
friend, whom we did not care to venture among the justling of the crowd.
Sir ROGER went out fully satisfied with his entertainment, and we
guarded him to his lodging in the same manner that we brought him to the
play-house; being highly pleased, for my own part, not only with the
performance of the excellent piece which had been presented, but with
the satisfaction which it had given to the old man. L.
No. 359. TUESDAY, APRIL 22.
_Torva leaena lupum sequitur, lupus ipse capellam;
Florentem cytisum sequitur lasciva capella._
VIRG. Eccl. ii. v. 63.
The greedy lioness the wolf pursues,
The wolf the kid, the wanton kid the browse.
DRYDEN.
As we were at the club last night, I observed my old friend Sir ROGER,
contrary to his usual custom, sat very silent, and instead of minding
what was said by the company, was whistling to himself in a very
thoughtful mood, and playing with a cork. I jogged Sir ANDREW FREEPORT
who sat between us; and as we were both observing him, we saw the Knight
shake his head, and heard him say to himself, '_A foolish woman! I
can't believe it_.' Sir ANDREW gave him a gentle pat upon the
shoulder, and offered to lay him a bottle of wine that he was thinking
of the widow. My old friend started, and recovering out of his brown
study, told Sir ANDREW, that once in his life he had been in the right.
In short, after some little hesitation, Sir ROGER told us in the fulness
of his heart that he had just received a letter from his steward, which
acquainted him that his old rival and antagonist in the country, Sir
_David Dundrum_, had been making a visit to the widow. However,
says Sir ROGER, I can never think that she will have a man that is half
a year older than I am, and a noted republican into the bargain.
WILL HONEYCOMB, who looks upon love as his particular province,
interrupting our friend with a jaunty laugh; 'I thought, Knight,' says
he, 'thou had'st lived long enough in the world, not to pin thy
happiness upon one that is a woman and a widow. I think that without
vanity, I may pretend to know as much of the female world as any man in
_Great Britain_, though the chief of my knowledge consists in this,
that they are not to be known.' WILL immediately, with his usual
fluency, rambled into an account of his own amours. 'I am now,' says he,
'upon the verge of fifty' (though by the way we all knew he was turned
of threescore). 'You may easily guess,' continued WILL, 'that I have not
lived so long in the world without having had some thoughts of
_settling_ in it, as the phrase is. To tell you truly, I have
several times tried my fortune that way, though I cannot much boast of
my success.
'I made my first addresses to a young lady in the country: but when I
thought things were pretty well drawing to a conclusion, her father
happening to hear that I had formerly boarded with a surgeon, the old
Put forbid me his house, and within a fortnight after married his
daughter to a fox-hunter in the neighbourhood.
'I made my next application to a widow, and attacked her so briskly,
that I thought myself within a fortnight of her. As I waited upon her
one morning, she told me, that she intended to keep her ready money and
jointure in her own hand, and desired me to call upon her attorney in
_Lion's-Inn_, who would adjust with me what it was proper for me to
add to it. I was so rebuffed by this overture, that I never inquired
either for her or her attorney afterwards.
'A few months after I addressed myself to a young lady, who was an only
daughter, and of a good family: I danced with her at several balls,
squeezed her by the hand, said soft things to her, and in short made no
doubt of her heart; and tho' my fortune was not equal to hers, I was in
hopes that her fond father would not deny her the man she had fixed her
affections upon. But as I went one day to the house in order to break
the matter to him, I found the whole family in confusion, and heard to
my unspeakable surprise, that Miss _Jenny_ was that morning run
away with the butler.
'I then courted a second widow, and am at a loss to this day how I came
to miss her, for she had often commended my person and behaviour. Her
maid indeed told me one day, that her mistress had said she never saw a
gentleman with such a spindle pair of legs as Mr. Honeycomb.
'After this I laid siege to four heiresses successively, and being a
handsome young dog in those days, quickly made a breach in their hearts;
but I do not know how it came to pass, though I seldom failed of getting
the daughter's consent, I could never in my life get the old people on
my side.
'I could give you an account of a thousand other unsuccessful attempts,
particularly of one which I made some years since upon an old woman,
whom I had certainly borne away with flying colours, if her relations
had not come pouring in to her assistance from all parts of
_England_; nay, I believe I should have got her at last, had not
she been carried off by a hard frost.'
As Will's transitions are extremely quick, he turned from Sir ROGER, and
applying himself to me, told me there was a passage in the book I had
considered last _Saturday_, which deserved to be writ in letters of
gold; and taking out a Pocket-Milton, read the following lines, which
are part of one of Adam's speeches to Eve after the fall.
_Oh! why did God,
Creator wise! that peopled highest heav'n
With spirits masculine, create at last
This novelty on earth, this fair defect
Of nature? and not fill the world at once
With men, as angels, without feminine?
Or find some other way to generate Mankind?
This mischief had not then befallen,
And more that shall befall, innumerable
Disturbances on earth through female snares,
And strait conjunction with this sex: For either
He never shall find out fit mate, but such
As some misfortune brings him, or mistake;
Or, whom he wishes most, shall seldom gain
Through her perverseness; but shall see her gain'd
By a far worse; or if she love, withheld
By parents; or his happiest choice too late
Shall meet already link'd, and wedlock-bound
To a fell adversary, his hate or shame;
Which infinite calamity shall cause
To human life, and household peace confound._
Sir ROGER listened to this passage with great attention, and desiring
Mr. Honeycomb to fold down a leaf at the place, and lend him his book,
the Knight put it up in his pocket, and told us that he would read over
those verses again before he went to bed. X.
No. 383. TUESDAY, MAY 20.
_Criminibus debent hortos._
Juv. Sat. i. ver. 75.
A beauteous garden, but by vice maintain'd.
As I was sitting in my chamber and thinking on a subject for my next
_Spectator_, I heard two or three irregular bounces at my
landlady's door, and upon the opening of it, a loud cheerful voice
enquiring whether the Philosopher was at home. The child who went to the
door answered very innocently, that he did not lodge there. I
immediately recollected that it was my good friend Sir ROGER's voice;
and that I had promised to go with him on the water to _Spring-
Garden_, in case it proved a good evening. The Knight put me in mind
of my promise from the bottom of the staircase, but told me that if I
was speculating he would stay below till I had done.
Upon my coming down I found all the children of the family got about my
old friend, and my landlady herself, who is a notable prating gossip,
engaged in a conference with him; being mightily pleased with his
stroking her little boy upon the head, and bidding him be a good child,
and mind his book.
We were no sooner come to the _Temple_ Stairs, but we were
surrounded with a crowd of watermen offering us their respective
services. Sir ROGER, after having looked about him very attentively,
spied one with a wooden leg and immediately gave him orders to get his
boat ready. As we were walking towards it, _You must know_, says
Sir ROGER, _I never make use of any body to row me, that has not
either lost a leg or an arm. I would rather bate him a few strokes of
his oar than not employ an honest man that has been wounded in the
Queen's service. If I was a lord or a bishop, and kept a barge, I would
not put a fellow in my livery that had not a wooden leg._
My old friend, after having seated himself, and trimmed the boat with
his coachman, who, being a very sober man, always serves for ballast on
these occasions, we made the best of our way for _Faux-Hall_. Sir
ROGER obliged the waterman to give us the history of his right leg, and
hearing that he had left it at _La Hogue_, with many particulars
which passed in that glorious action, the Knight in the triumph of his
heart made several reflections on the greatness of the _British_
nation; as, that one _Englishman_ could beat three
_Frenchmen_; that we could never be in danger of Popery so long as
we took care of our fleet; that the _Thames_ was the noblest river
in Europe, that _London Bridge_ was a greater piece of work, than
any of the seven wonders of the world; with many other honest prejudices
which naturally cleave to the heart of a true _Englishman._
After some short pause, the old knight turning about his head twice or
thrice, to take a survey of this great metropolis, bid me observe how
thick the city was set with churches, and that there was scarce a single
steeple on this side _Temple-Bar_. _A most heathenish sight!_
says Sir Roger: _There is no religion at this end of the town. The
fifty new churches will very much mend the prospect; but church-work is
slow, church-work is slow!_
I do not remember I have any where mentioned in Sir Roger's character,
his custom of saluting every body that passes by him with a good-morrow
or a good-night. This the old man does out of the overflowings of his
humanity, though at the same time it renders him so popular among all
his country neighbours, that it is thought to have gone a good way in
making him once or twice Knight of the shire. He cannot forbear this
exercise of benevolence even in town, when he meets with any one in his
morning or evening walk. It broke from him to several boats that passed
by us upon the water; but to the Knight's great surprise, as he gave the
good-night to two or three young fellows a little before our landing,
one of them, instead of returning the civility, asked us, what queer old
put we had in the boat? with a great deal of the like _Thames_
ribaldry. Sir Roger seemed a little shocked at first, but at length
assuming a face of magistracy, told us, _That if he were a_
Middlesex _justice, he would make such vagrants know that her
Majesty's subjects were no more to be abused by water than by land._
We were now arrived at _Spring-Garden_, which is exquisitely
pleasant at this time of the year. When I considered the fragrancy of
the walks and bowers, with the choirs of birds that sung upon the trees,
and the loose tribe of people that walked under their shades, I could
not but look upon the place as a kind of _Mahometan_ paradise. Sir
Roger told me it put him in mind of a little coppice by his house in the
country, which his chaplain used to call an aviary of nightingales.
_You must understand,_ says the Knight, _there is nothing in the
world that pleases a man in love so much as your nightingale. Ah, Mr.
SPECTATOR! the many moonlight nights that I have walked by myself, and
thought on the widow by the musick of the nightingale!_ He here
fetched a deep sigh, and was falling into a fit of musing, when a mask,
who came behind him, gave him a gentle tap upon the shoulder, and asked
him if he would drink a bottle of mead with her? But the Knight, being
startled at so unexpected a familiarity, and displeased to be
interrupted in his thoughts of the widow, told her, _She was a wanton
baggage_, and bid her go about her business.
We concluded our walk with a glass of _Burton_ ale, and a slice of
hung beef. When we had done eating ourselves, the Knight called a waiter
to him, and bid him carry the remainder to the waterman that had but one
leg. I perceived the fellow stared upon him at the oddness of the
message, and was going to be saucy; upon which I ratified the Knight's
commands with a peremptory look.
As we were going out of the garden, my old friend thinking himself
obliged, as a member of the _Quorum_, to animadvert upon the morals
of the place, told the mistress of the house, who sat at the bar, that
he should be a better customer to her garden, if there were more
nightingales, and fewer strumpets.
No. 517. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23.
_Heu pietas! heu prisca fides!_
VIRG. AEn. vi. ver. 878.
Mirrour of ancient faith!
Undaunted worth! Inviolable truth!
DRYDEN.
We last night received a piece of ill news at our club, which very
sensibly afflicted every one of us. I question not but my readers
themselves will be troubled at the hearing of it. To keep them no longer
in suspense, Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY _is dead_. He departed this life
at his house in the country, after a few weeks sickness. Sir ANDREW
FREEPORT has a letter from one of his correspondents in those parts,
that informs him the old man caught a cold at the country-sessions, as
he was very warmly promoting an address of his own penning, in which he
succeeded according to his wishes. But this particular comes from a whig
justice of peace, who was always Sir ROGER'S enemy and antagonist. I
have letters both from the Chaplain and Captain SENTRY, which mention
nothing of it, but are filled with many particulars to the honour of the
good old man. I have likewise a letter from the butler, who took so much
care of me last summer when I was at the Knight's house. As my friend
the butler mentions, in the simplicity of his heart, several
circumstances the others have passed over in silence, I shall give my
reader a copy of his letter, without any alteration or diminution.
'HONOURED SIR,