against their temperance and sobriety. No, sir, I shall retain so much of the good sentiments for the conduct of life which we cultivated in each other at our club, as to contemn all inordinate pleasures; but particularly remember, with our beloved Tully, that the delight in food consists in desire, not satiety. 5 They who most passionately pursue pleasure, seldomest arrive at it. Now I am writing to a philosopher, I cannot forbear mentioning the satisfaction I took in the passage I read yesterday in the same Tully. A nobleman of Athens made a compliment to Plato the morning after he had supped at his house: 'Your 10 entertainments do not only please when you give them, but also the day after.'

"I am, my worthy friend,

"Your most obedient, humble servant,

NOTES.

I. THE SPECTATOR'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF.

1. Motto: "He plans no flash to end in smoke, but smoke breaking into flame, to light the further wonders of his show."- Horace: Ars Poet., 143 (Spectator, No. 1).

In No. 221 of the Spectator, Addison says: "The natural love to Latin which is so prevalent in our common people, makes me think that my speculations fare never the worse among them for that little scrap which appears at the head of them; and what the more encourages me in the use of quotations in an unknown tongue is, that I hear the ladies, whose approbation I value more than that of the whole learned world, declare themselves in a more particular manner pleased with my Greek mottoes."

13. Black, i.e. dark.

1 8. My following writings. The "writings" are, of course, the daily issues of the Spectator, not merely the selections included in this volume.

19. The several persons, etc. In the next paper, Steele gives an account of these persons. It is interesting to note the classes represented. 2 2. Depending, pending; rarely used now in this sense.

2 16. Parts, gifts, talents.

3 2. The measure of a pyramid. It is supposed that Addison alludes to John Greaves, an Oriental scholar, who visited Egypt, and measured the pyramids with mathematical instruments. In 1646 he published a work entitled Pyramidographia; or, a Discourse of the Pyramids in Egypt. In Addison's own day,—in 1706, a posthumous pamphlet appeared on the same subject.

3 6. In this city, i.e. London.

3. Coffee-houses. Will's Coffee-house, in Russell Street, formerly frequented by Dryden and his friends, was still a favorite resort for men of letters; Child's, in St. Paul's Churchyard, was the haunt of physicians, philosophers, and clergymen; St. James's, near St. James's

Palace, was the favorite meeting-place for Whig statesmen and members of Parliament, as well as for Whig officers of the Guards and men of fashion; the Grecian (so called because it was kept by a Greek), in Devereux Court, Strand, was patronized by lawyers and scholars; the Cocoa Tree, a chocolate-house in St. James's Street, was resorted to by Tory statesmen and men of fashion; and Jonathan's, in Change Alley, was a meeting-place for stock-jobbers. The coffee-houses of the eighteenth century formed a neutral meeting-ground for men of all conditions; no decently attired person was refused admittance, provided he laid down his penny at the bar. The excellent rules in force prevented any ill effects from this admixture of classes. 'If a man swore, he was fined I s.; and if he began a quarrel, he was fined 'dishes' round. Discussion on religion was prohibited, no card-playing or dicing was allowed, and no wager might be made exceeding 5s. These were the simple rules generally used, and, if they were only complied with, all must have felt the benefit of such a mild despotism."-Ashton: Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne, vol. i. chap. xviii.

66

Ashton quotes the following: “These houses, which are very numerous in London, are extremely convenient. You have all manner of news there; you have a good fire, which you may sit by as long as you please; you have a dish of coffee; you meet your friends for the transaction of business; and all for a penny, if you don't care to spend more." - Henri de Valbourg Misson: Memoires et observations faites par un voyageur en Angleterre (1698). The same, translated by M. Ozell (1719).

In No. 403 of the Spectator, Addison describes a visit to some of the principal coffee-houses of his day. He says: "When any public affair is upon the anvil, I love to hear the reflections that arise upon it in the several districts and parishes of London and Westminster, and to ramble up and down a whole day together, in order to make myself acquainted with the opinions of my ingenious countrymen, and as every coffee-house has some particular statesman belonging to it, who is the mouth of the street where he lives, I always take care to place myself near him, in order to know his judgment on the present posture of affairs." See also Spectator, No. 49.

3 16.

...

The Postman, "which John Dunton describes as 'the best for everything,' was edited by Fontive, a French Protestant." — Mr. Aitken's note.

3 22. Drury Lane and the Haymarket, the two theatres of Queen Anne's time, both of which are still in existence. In the days of the Spectator, the Haymarket was used for Italian opera.

4 1. Blots.

In backgammon, the exposure of a single man on a

point is called a blot.

4 4. Whigs and Tories. The term Whig was first applied to the Presbyterian zealots of Scotland, and the term Tory to certain bands of outlaws in Ireland. The words came into use in England as party names about 1679. When the terms were first used, the Whigs were maintainers of parliamentary power over the crown, and advocated toleration towards Dissenters; the Tories believed in the indefeasible rights of the wearers of the crown, and refused to tolerate Dissenters. As new questions arose, the objects of contention were no longer the

same.

4 28. Which I have not spoken to, i.e. which I have not treated of. 5 4. Several, various.

5 10. Discoveries, disclosures.

5 19.

At Mr. Buckley's in Little Britain. The Daily Courantthe first successful English daily newspaper- - in its issue for March 1, 1711, contains the following: "This day is published, a Paper entitled The Spectator, which will be continued every day. Printed for Sam. Buckley at the Dolphin, in Little Britain, and sold by A. Baldwin, in Warwick Lane." (There was no Spectator on Sundays.) Little Britain is a short street near Bartholomew's Hospital. Irving gives an interesting account of this section in his Sketch Book.

5. Signatures used by the writers of the Spectator. In signing his papers, Addison made use of the letters, C., L., I., and O. These letters, it will be observed, form the word Clio, the name of the Muse of History. Steele used the letters R. and T. In No. 221 of the Spectator, Addison says that the capital letters placed at the end of the papers "have afforded great matter of speculation to the curious." He says further: "They are, perhaps, little amulets or charms to preserve the paper against the fascination and malice of evil eyes; for which reason I would not have my reader surprised if hereafter he sees any of my papers marked with a Q, a Z, a Y, an &c., or with the word Abracadabra."

II. SIR ROGER AND THE CLUB.

5. Motto: "But other six and more shout with one voice.". Juvenal: Sat. vii. 167 (Spectator, No. 2).

5 25. Our society. No institutions are more characteristic of the reign of Queen Anne than the club and the coffee-house. The Kit-Cat Club, which was founded in the reign of James II. and dissolved about