Chapter VII: Part II: | Indulgence (2)

I am the more at ease in Sir Roger's family because it (15)
consists of sober and staid persons; for, as the knight is
the best master in the world, he seldom changes his servants;
and as he is beloved by all about him, his servants
never care for leaving him; by this means his domestics
are all in years, and grown old with their master. You
would take his _valet de chambre_ for his brother, his butler
is gray-headed, his groom is one of the gravest men that
I have ever seen, and his coachman has the looks of a
privy counsellor. You see the goodness of the master (76: 5)
even in the old house dog, and in a gray pad[35] that is
kept in the stable with great care and tenderness out of
regard to his past services, though he has been useless
for several years.

[35] An easy-riding horse.

I could not but observe with a great deal of pleasure (10)
the joy that appeared in the countenances of these
ancient domestics upon my friend's arrival at his country
seat. Some of them could not refrain from tears at the
sight of their old master; every one of them pressed forward
to do something for him, and seemed discouraged (15)
if they were not employed. At the same time the good
old knight, with a mixture of the father and the master
of the family, tempered the inquiries after his own affairs
with several kind questions relating to themselves. This
humanity and good nature engages everybody to him, so (20)
that when he is pleasant upon any of them, all his family
are in good humour, and none so much as the person
whom he diverts himself with; on the contrary, if he
coughs, or betrays any infirmity of old age, it is easy for
a stander-by to observe a secret concern in the looks of (25)
all of his servants.

My worthy friend has put me under the particular care
of his butler, who is a very prudent man, and, as well as
the rest of his fellow-servants, wonderfully desirous of
pleasing me, because they have often heard their master
talk of me as of his particular friend.

My chief companion, when Sir Roger is diverting himself
in the woods or the fields, is a very venerable man
who is ever with Sir Roger, and has lived at his house in
the nature[36] of a chaplain above thirty years. This gentleman
is a person of good sense and some learning, of a
very regular life and obliging conversation; he heartily
loves Sir Roger, and knows that he is very much in the (10)
old knight's esteem, so that he lives in the family rather
as a relation than a dependant.

[36] In the capacity of a chaplain.

I have observed in several of my papers, that my friend
Sir Roger, amidst all his good qualities, is something of
an humorist,[37] and that his virtues as well as imperfections (15)
are, as it were, tinged by a certain extravagance which
makes them particularly _his_, and distinguishes them from
those of other men. This cast of mind, as it is generally
very innocent in itself, so it renders his conversation
highly agreeable, and more delightful than the same (20)
degree of sense and virtue would appear in their common
and ordinary colours. As I was walking with him last
night, he asked me how I liked the good man whom I
have just now mentioned; and without staying for my
answer, told me that he was afraid of being insulted with (25)
Latin and Greek at _his_ own table, for which reason he
desired a particular friend of his at the university to find
him out a clergyman, rather of plain sense than much
learning, of a good aspect, a clear voice, a sociable temper,
and, if possible, a man that understood a little of
backgammon. "My friend," says Sir Roger, "found (78: 5)
me out this gentleman, who, besides the endowments
required of him, is, they tell me, a good scholar, though
he does not show it. I have given him the parsonage
of the parish, and, because I know his value, have settled
upon him a good annuity for life. If he outlives me, he (10)
shall find that he was higher in my esteem than perhaps
he thinks he is. He has now been with me thirty years,
and though he does not know I have taken notice of it,
has never in all that time asked anything of me for himself,
though he is every day soliciting me for something (15)
in behalf of one or other of my tenants, his parishioners.
There has not been a lawsuit in the parish since he has
lived among them: if any dispute arises they apply themselves
to him for the decision; if they do not acquiesce
in his judgment,--which I think never happened above (20)
once or twice at most,--they appeal to me. At his first
settling with me, I made him a present of all the good
sermons which have been printed in English, and only
begged of him that every Sunday he would pronounce
one of them in the pulpit. Accordingly he has digested (25)
them into such a series that they follow one another
naturally, and make a continued system of practical
divinity."

[37] The earlier and more proper sense of the word--a person of
pleasing eccentricity.

As Sir Roger was going on in his story, the gentleman
we were talking of came up to us; and upon the knight's
asking him who preached to-morrow (for it was Saturday
night), told us the Bishop of St. Asaph in the morning
and Dr. South in the afternoon. He then showed us his
list of preachers for the whole year, where I saw, with (79: 5)
a great deal of pleasure, Archbishop Tillotson, Bishop
Saunderson, Dr. Barrow, Dr. Calamy, with several living
authors who have published discourses of practical divinity.
I no sooner saw this venerable man in the pulpit
but I very much approved of my friend's insisting upon (10)
the qualifications of a good aspect and a clear voice; for
I was so charmed with the gracefulness of his figure and
delivery, as well as with the discourses he pronounced,
that I think I never passed any time more to my satisfaction.
A sermon repeated after this manner is like the (15)
composition of a poet in the mouth of a graceful actor.
I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy
would follow this example; and instead of wasting their
spirits in laborious compositions of their own, would endeavor
after a handsome elocution, and all those other (20)
talents that are proper to enforce what has been penned
by greater masters. This would not only be more easy
to themselves, but more edifying to the people. L.

VII. THE COVERLEY HOUSEHOLD

[No. 107. Tuesday, July 3, 1711. STEELE.]

Æsopo ingentem statuam posuere Attici
Servumque collocarunt aeterna in basi,
Patere honoris scirent ut cuncti viam.

PHAED.

The reception, manner of attendance, undisturbed freedom
and quiet, which I meet with here in the country,
has confirmed me in the opinion I always had, that the
general corruption of manners in servants is owing to the
conduct of masters. The aspect of every one in the family (80:5)
carries so much satisfaction that it appears he knows
the happy lot which has befallen him in being a member
of it. There is one particular which I have seldom seen
but at Sir Roger's: it is usual in all other places that
servants fly from the parts of the house through which (10)
their master is passing; on the contrary, here, they industriously
place themselves in his way; and it is on both
sides, as it were, understood as a visit, when the servants
appear without calling. This proceeds from the humane
and equal temper of the man of the house, who also perfectly (15)
well knows how to enjoy a great estate with such
economy as ever to be much beforehand. This makes
his own mind untroubled, and consequently unapt to
vent peevish expressions, or give passionate or inconsistent
orders to those about him. Thus respect and love
go together; and a certain cheerfulness in performance
of their duty is the particular distinction of the lower
part of this family. When a servant is called before his
master, he does not come with an expectation to hear (81: 5)
himself rated for some trivial fault, threatened to be
stripped,[38] or used with any other unbecoming language,
which mean masters often give to worthy servants: but
it is often to know what road he took that he came so
readily back according to order; whether he passed by (10)
such a ground; if the old man who rents it is in good
health; or whether he gave Sir Roger's love to him, or
the like.

[38] _I.e_. stripped of his livery, dismissed.

A man who preserves a respect founded on his benevolence
to his dependants lives rather like a prince than a (15)
master in his family; his orders are received as favours
rather than duties; and the distinction of approaching
him is part of the reward for executing what is commanded
by him.

There is another circumstance in which my friend excels (20)
in his management, which is the manner of rewarding
his servants. He has ever been of opinion that
giving his cast[39] clothes to be worn by valets has a very
ill effect upon little minds, and creates a silly sense of
equality between the parties, in persons affected only (25)
with outward things. I have heard him often pleasant
on this occasion,[40] and describe a young gentleman abusing
his man in that coat[41] which a month or two before
was the most pleasing distinction he was conscious of in
himself. He would turn his discourse still more pleasantly
upon the ladies' bounties of this kind; and I have
heard him say he knew a fine woman who distributed (82: 5)
rewards and punishments in giving becoming or unbecoming
dresses to her maids.

[39] Cast-off.

[40] _I.e_. humorous on this matter.

[41] _I.e_. while the man was wearing that coat.

But my good friend is above these little instances of
good-will, in bestowing only trifles on his servants; a
good servant to him is sure of having it in his choice very (10)
soon of being no servant at all. As I before observed,
he is so good an husband,[42] and knows so thoroughly that
the skill of the purse is the cardinal virtue of this life,--I
say, he knows so well that frugality is the support of
generosity, that he can often spare a large fine[43] when a (15)
tenement falls,[44] and give that settlement to a good servant
who has a mind to go into the world, or make a stranger
pay the fine to that servant, for his more comfortable
maintenance, if he stays in his service.

[42] Economist. The verb is still used in that sense.

[43] A fine, in English law, is a sum of money paid by a tenant at the
beginning of his tenancy, usually to reduce his rent.

[44] When the right to occupy a house or lands terminates, by
expiration of lease or otherwise. The usual term is "falls in."
The meaning of the whole passage is that when a tenement--house or
lands--is to be rented, Sir Roger often grants it to one of his
servants without requiring payment of the customary "fine" on taking
possession; or, if the servant choose to remain with Sir Roger, he may
have the fine paid by the "stranger" who leases the property.

A man of honour and generosity considers it would be
miserable to himself to have no will but that of another,
though it were of the best person breathing, and for that
reason goes on as fast as he is able to put his servants
into independent livelihoods. The greatest part of Sir (83: 5)
Roger's estate is tenanted by persons who have served
himself or his ancestors. It was to me extremely pleasant
to observe the visitants from several parts to welcome
his arrival into the country; and all the difference that I
could take notice of between the late[45] servants who came (10)
to see him and those who stayed in the family, was that
these latter were looked upon as finer gentlemen and
better courtiers.

[45] Recent, former.

This manumission and placing them in a way of livelihood
I look upon as only what is due to a good servant, (15)
which encouragement will make his successor be as diligent,
as humble, and as ready as he was. There is something
wonderful in the narrowness of those minds which
can be pleased, and be barren of bounty to those who
please them. (20)

One might, on this occasion, recount the sense that
great persons in all ages have had of the merit of their
dependants, and the heroic services which men have done
their masters in the extremity of their fortunes, and shown
to their undone patrons that fortune was all the difference (25)
between them; but as I design this my speculation only
as a gentle admonition to thankless masters, I shall not
go out of the occurrences of common life, but assert it, as
a general observation, that I never saw, but in Sir Roger's
family and one or two more, good servants treated as
they ought to be. Sir Roger's kindness extends to their
children's children, and this very morning he sent his
coachman's grandson to prentice. I shall conclude (84: 5)
this paper with an account of a picture in his gallery,
where there are many which will deserve my future observation.

At the very upper end of this handsome structure I saw
the portraiture of two young men standing in a river,--the (10)
one naked, the other in a livery. The person supported
seemed half dead, but still so much alive as to
show in his face exquisite joy and love towards the other.
I thought the fainting figure resembled my friend Sir
Roger; and, looking at the butler, who stood by me, for (15)
an account of it, he informed me that the person in the
livery was a servant of Sir Roger's, who stood on the shore
while his master was swimming, and observing him taken
with some sudden illness, and sink under water, jumped
in and saved him.[46] He told me Sir Roger took off the (20)
dress he was in as soon as he came home, and by a great
bounty at that time, followed by his favour ever since, had
made him master of that pretty seat which we saw at a
distance as we came to this house. I remembered indeed
Sir Roger said there lived a very worthy gentleman, to (25)
whom he was highly obliged, without mentioning anything
further. Upon my looking a little dissatisfied at some
part of the picture, my attendant informed me that it was
against Sir Roger's will, and at the earnest request of the
gentleman himself, that he was drawn in the habit in
which he had saved his master. R.

[46] Can you criticise the use of pronouns in this sentence?

VIII. WILL WIMBLE

[No. 108. WEDNESDAY, July 4, 1711. ADDISON.]

Gratis anhelans, multa agendo nihil agens.

PHAED.

As I was yesterday morning walking with Sir Roger
before his house, a country fellow brought him a huge (85: 5)
fish, which, he told him, Mr. William Wimble had caught
that very morning; and that he presented it with his service
to him, and intended to come and dine with him.
At the same time he delivered a letter, which my friend
read to me as soon as the messenger left him. (10)

"Sir Roger,

"I desire you to accept of a jack,[47] which is the best I
have caught this season. I intend to come and stay with
you a week, and see how the perch bite in the Black
River. I observed with some concern, the last time I (15)
saw you upon the bowling green, that your whip wanted
a lash to it; I will bring half a dozen with me that I
twisted last week, which I hope will serve you all the time
you are in the country. I have not been out of the saddle
for six days last past, having been at Eton with Sir John's
eldest son. He takes to his learning hugely.

"I am, sir, your humble servant,

"WILL WIMBLE."

[47] A pickerel, or small pike.

This extraordinary letter, and message that accompanied (86: 5)
it, made me very curious to know the character
and quality[48] of the gentleman who sent them, which I
found to be as follows. Will Wimble is younger brother
to a baronet, and descended of the ancient family of the
Wimbles. He is now between forty and fifty, but, being (10)
bred to no business and born to no estate, he generally
lives with his elder brother as superintendent of his game.
He hunts[49] a pack of dogs better than any man in the
country, and is very famous for finding out a hare. He
is extremely well versed in all the little handicrafts of an (15)
idle man; he makes a may-fly[50] to a miracle, and furnishes
the whole country with angle-rods. As he is a good-natured,
officious fellow, and very much esteemed upon
account of his family, he is a welcome guest at every
house, and keeps up a good correspondence among all (20)
the gentlemen about him. He carries a tulip-root in his
pocket from one to another, or exchanges a puppy between
a couple of friends that live perhaps in the opposite
sides of the county. Will is a particular favourite of all the
young heirs, whom he frequently obliges with a net that (25)
he has weaved, or a setting-dog that he has made[51] himself.
He now and then presents a pair of garters of his own
knitting to their mothers or sisters, and raises a great
deal of mirth among them by inquiring, as often as he
meets them, how they wear. These gentleman-like manufactures
and obliging little humours make Will the darling (87: 5)
of the country.

[48] Rank.

[49] _I.e_. hunts with.

[50] An artificial fly for fishing.

[51] _I.e_. trained.

Sir Roger was proceeding in the character of him,
when he saw him make up to us with two or three hazel
twigs in his hand that he had cut in Sir Roger's woods, as
he came through them, in his way to the house. I was (10)
very much pleased to observe on one side the hearty and
sincere welcome with which Sir Roger received him, and
on the other, the secret joy which his guest discovered at
sight of the good old knight. After the first salutes were
over, Will desired Sir Roger to lend him one of his servants (15)
to carry a set of shuttlecocks he had with him in
a little box to a lady that lived about a mile off, to whom
it seems he had promised such a present for above this
half year. Sir Roger's back was no sooner turned but
honest Will began to tell me of a large cock-pheasant (20)
that he had sprung in one of the neighbouring woods, with
two or three other adventures of the same nature. Odd
and uncommon characters are the game that I look for
and most delight in; for which reason I was as much
pleased with the novelty of the person that talked to me as (25)
he could be for his life with the springing of a pheasant,
and therefore listened to him with more than ordinary
attention.

In the midst of his discourse the bell rung to dinner,
where the gentleman I have been speaking of had the
pleasure of seeing the huge jack he had caught, served
up for the first dish in a most sumptuous manner. Upon
our sitting down to it, he gave us a long account how he
had hooked it, played with it, foiled it, and at length (88: 5)
drew it out upon the bank, with several other particulars
that lasted all the first course. A dish of wild fowl that
came afterwards furnished conversation for the rest of the
dinner, which concluded with a late invention of Will's
for improving the quail-pipe.[52] (10)

[52] A pipe to imitate the call of a quail.

Upon withdrawing into my room after dinner, I was
secretly touched with compassion towards the honest
gentleman that had dined with us, and could not but consider,
with a great deal of concern, how so good an heart
and such busy hands were wholly employed in trifles; (15)
that so much humanity should be so little beneficial to
others, and so much industry so little advantageous to himself.
The same temper of mind and application to affairs
might have recommended him to the public esteem, and
have raised his fortune in another station of life. What (20)
good to his country or himself might not a trader or
merchant have done with such useful though ordinary
qualifications?

Will Wimble's is the case of many a younger brother
of a great family, who had rather see their children starve (25)
like gentlemen than thrive in a trade or profession that is
beneath their quality. This humour fills several parts of
Europe with pride and beggary. It is the happiness of a
trading nation, like ours, that the younger sons, though
uncapable of any liberal art or profession, may be placed
in such a way of life as may perhaps enable them to vie
with the best of their family. Accordingly, we find several
citizens that were launched into the world with narrow (89: 5)
fortunes, rising by an honest industry to greater estates
than those of their elder brothers. It is not improbable
but Will was formerly tried at divinity, law, or physic;
and that finding his genius did not lie that way, his parents
gave him up at length to his own inventions. But (10)
certainly, however improper[53] he might have been for
studies of a higher nature, he was perfectly well turned
for the occupations of trade and commerce. As I think
this is a point which cannot be too much inculcated, I
shall desire my reader to compare what I have here written, (15)
with what I have said in my twenty-first speculation. L.

[53] Unfit.

IX. THE COVERLEY ANCESTRY

[No. 109. Thursday, July 5, 1711. STEELE.]

Abnormis sapiens.

HOR.

I was this morning walking in the gallery, when Sir
Roger entered at the end opposite to me, and, advancing
towards me, said he was glad to meet me among his relations,
the de Coverleys, and hoped I liked the conversation
of so much good company, who were as silent as myself.
I knew he alluded to the pictures; and, as he is a gentleman
who does not a little value himself upon his ancient
descent, I expected he would give me some account of (90: 5)
them. We were now arrived at the upper end of the gallery,
when the knight faced towards one of the pictures,
and, as we stood before it, he entered into the matter,
after his blunt way of saying things as they occur to his
imagination, without regular introduction or care to preserve (10)
the appearance of chain of thought.

"It is," said he, "worth while to consider the force of
dress, and how the persons of one age differ from those
of another merely by that only. One may observe, also,
that the general fashion of one age has been followed by (15)
one particular set of people in another, and by them preserved
from one generation to another. Thus, the vast
jetting coat and small bonnet, which was the habit[54] in
Harry the Seventh's time, is kept on in the yeomen of the
guard; not without a good and politic view, because they (20)
look a foot taller, and a foot and an half broader; besides
that the cap leaves the face expanded, and consequently
more terrible, and fitter to stand at the entrance of
palaces.

[54] Costume.

"This predecessor of ours, you see, is dressed after (25)
this manner, and his cheeks would be no larger than
mine, were he in a hat as I am. He was the last man
that won a prize in the Tilt-yard, which is now a common
street before Whitehall. You see the broken lance that
lies there by his right foot. He shivered that lance of his
adversary all to pieces; and, bearing himself--look you,
sir--in this manner, at the same time he came within
the target of the gentleman who rode against him, and (91: 5)
taking him with incredible force before him on the pommel
of his saddle, he in that manner rid the tournament
over, with an air that showed he did it rather to perform
the rule[55] of the lists than expose his enemy. However, it
appeared he knew how to make use of a victory; and, (10)
with a gentle trot, he marched up to a gallery where their
mistress sat,--for they were rivals,--and let him down
with laudable courtesy and pardonable insolence. I don't
know but it might be exactly where the coffee-house is
now. (15)

[55] The law of the tournament.

"You are to know this my ancestor was not only of a
military genius, but fit also for the arts of peace; for he
played on the bass viol as well as any gentleman at
court. You see where his viol hangs by his basket-hilt
sword. The action at the Tilt-yard you may be sure won (20)
the fair lady, who was a maid of honour, and the greatest
beauty of her time. Here she stands, the next picture.
You see, sir, my great-great-great-grandmother has on the
new-fashioned petticoat, except that the modern is gathered
at the waist: my grandmother appears as if she (25)
stood in a large drum, whereas the ladies now walk as
if they were in a go-cart. For all this lady was bred at
court, she became an excellent country wife; she brought
ten children; and, when I show you the library, you shall
see, in her own hand, allowing for the difference of the
language, the best receipt now in England both for an
hasty-pudding and a white-pot.

"If you please to fall back a little,--because 'tis necessary (92: 5)
to look at the three next pictures at one view,--these
are three sisters. She on the right hand, who is so very
beautiful, died a maid; the next to her, still handsomer,
had the same fate, against her will; this homely thing in
the middle had both their portions added to her own, and (10)
was stolen by a neighbouring gentleman, a man of stratagem
and resolution, for he poisoned three mastiffs to come
at her, and knocked down two deer-stealers in carrying
her off. Misfortunes happen in all families. The theft
of this romp and so much money was no great matter to (15)
our estate. But the next heir that possessed it[56] was this
soft gentleman, whom you see there; observe the small
buttons, the little boots, the laces, the slashes about his
clothes, and, above all, the posture he is drawn in,--which
to be sure was his own choosing. You see he sits (20)
with one hand on a desk, writing and looking as it were
another way, like an easy writer or a sonneteer. He was
one of those that had too much wit to know how to live in
the world: he was a man of no justice, but great good
manners; he ruined everybody that had anything to do (25)
with him, but never said a rude thing in his life; the
most indolent person in the world, he would sign a deed
that passed away half his estate, with his gloves on, but
would not put on his hat before a lady if it were to save
his country. He is said to be the first that made love
by squeezing the hand. He left the estate with ten thousand
pounds' debt upon it; but, however, by all hands I
have been informed that he was every way the finest (93: 5)
gentleman in the world. That debt lay heavy on our
house for one generation; but it was retrieved by a gift
from that honest man you see there, a citizen of our
name, but nothing at all akin to us. I know Sir Andrew
Freeport has said behind my back that this man was (10)
descended from one of the ten children of the maid of
honour I showed you above; but it was never made out.
We winked at the thing, indeed, because money was
wanting at that time."

[56] The estate.

Here I saw my friend a little embarrassed, and turned (15)
my face to the next portraiture.

Sir Roger went on with his account of the gallery in
the following manner: "This man"--pointing to him I
looked at--"I take to be the honour of our house, Sir
Humphrey de Coverley. He was, in his dealings, as (20)
punctual as a tradesman and as generous as a gentleman.
He would have thought himself as much undone by breaking
his word as if it were to be followed by bankruptcy.
He served his country as knight of this shire[57] to his dying
day. He found it no easy matter to maintain an integrity (25)
in his words and actions, even in things that regarded the
offices which were incumbent upon him in the care of his
own affairs and relations of life, and therefore dreaded,
though he had great talents, to go into employments of
state, where he must be exposed to the snares of ambition.
Innocence of life and great ability were the distinguishing
parts of his character; the latter, he had often
observed, had led to the destruction of the former, and (94: 5)
used frequently to lament that _great_ and _good_ had not
the same signification. He was an excellent husbandman,[58]
but had resolved not to exceed such a degree of
wealth; all above it he bestowed in secret bounties many
years after the sum he aimed at for his own use was attained. (10)
Yet he did not slacken his industry, but to a
decent old age spent the life and fortune which was
superfluous to himself, in the service of his friends and
neighbours."

[57] Representative of the shire in Parliament.

[58] Economist.

Here we were called to dinner; and Sir Roger ended (15)
the discourse of this gentleman by telling me, as we followed
the servant, that this his ancestor was a brave man,
and narrowly escaped being killed in the Civil Wars;
"for," said he, "he was sent out of the field upon a
private message the day before the battle of Worcester." (20)

The whim of narrowly escaping by having been within
a day of danger, with other matters above mentioned,
mixed with good sense, left me at a loss whether I was
more delighted with my friend's wisdom or simplicity.
R. (25)

X. THE COVERLEY GHOST

[No. 110. Friday, July 6, 1711. ADDISON.]

Horror ubique animos, simul ipsa silentia terrent.

VIRG.

At a little distance from Sir Roger's house, among the
ruins of an old abbey, there is a long walk of aged elms,
which are shot up so very high that, when one passes
under them, the rooks and crows that rest upon the tops
of them seem to be cawing in another region. I am very (95: 5)
much delighted with this sort of noise, which I consider
as a kind of natural prayer to that Being who supplies
the wants of His whole creation, and who, in the beautiful
language of the Psalms, feedeth the young ravens that
call upon Him. I like this retirement the better, because (10)
of an ill report it lies under of being haunted; for which
reason, as I have been told in the family, no living creature
ever walks in it besides the chaplain. My good
friend the butler desired me, with a very grave face, not
to venture myself in it after sunset, for that one of the (15)
footmen had been almost frighted out of his wits by a
spirit that appeared to him in the shape of a black horse
without an head; to which he added, that about a month
ago one of the maids coming home late that way, with a
pail of milk upon her head, heard such a rustling among (20)
the bushes that she let it fall.

I was taking a walk in this place last night between the
hours of nine and ten, and could not but fancy it one
of the most proper scenes in the world for a ghost to
appear in. The ruins of the abbey are scattered up and
down on every side, and half covered with ivy and elder (96: 5)
bushes, the harbours of several solitary birds which seldom
make their appearance till the dusk of the evening. The
place was formerly a church-yard, and has still several
marks in it of graves and burying-places. There is such
an echo among the old ruins and vaults that, if you stamp (10)
but a little louder than ordinary, you hear the sound repeated.
At the same time the walk of elms, with the
croaking of the ravens which from time to time are heard
from the tops of them, looks exceeding solemn and venerable.
These objects naturally raise seriousness and (15)
attention; and when night heightens the awfulness of the
place, and pours out her supernumerary horrors upon
everything in it, I do not at all wonder that weak minds
fill it with spectres and apparitions.

Mr. Locke, in his chapter of the Association of Ideas, (20)
has very curious remarks to show how, by the prejudice
of education, one idea often introduces into the mind a
whole set that bear no resemblance to one another in the
nature of things.[59] Among several examples of this kind,
he produces the following instance: "The ideas of goblins (25)
and sprites have really no more to do with darkness
than light; yet, let but a foolish maid inculcate these
often on the mind of a child, and raise them there together,
possibly he shall never be able to separate them
again so long as he lives, but darkness shall ever afterwards
bring with it those frightful ideas, and they shall
be so joined that he can no more bear the one than the
other." (97: 5)

[59] Is the thought expressed with precision?

As I was walking in this solitude, where the dusk of
the evening conspired with so many other occasions of
terror, I observed a cow grazing not far from me, which
an imagination that is apt to startle might easily have
construed into a black horse without an head; and I dare (10)
say the poor footman lost his wits upon some such trivial
occasion.

My friend Sir Roger has often told me, with a great
deal of mirth, that at his first coming to his estate, he
found three parts of his house altogether useless: that (15)
the best room in it had the reputation of being haunted,
and by that means was locked up; that noises had been
heard in his long gallery, so that he could not get a servant
to enter it after eight o'clock at night; that the door
of one of his chambers was nailed up, because there went (20)
a story in the family that a butler had formerly hanged
himself in it; and that his mother, who lived to a great
age, had shut up half the rooms in the house, in which
either her husband, a son, or daughter had died. The
knight, seeing his habitation reduced to so small a (25)
compass and himself in a manner shut out of his own
house, upon the death of his mother ordered all the apartments
to be flung open and exorcised by his chaplain,
who lay in every room one after another, and by that
means dissipated the fears which had so long reigned in
the family.

I should not have been thus particular upon these ridiculous
horrors, did not I find them so very much prevail in
all parts of the country. At the same time, I think a person (98: 5)
who is thus terrified with the imagination of ghosts
and spectres much more reasonable than one who, contrary
to the reports of all historians, sacred and profane,
ancient and modern, and to the traditions of all nations,
thinks the appearance of spirits fabulous and groundless. (10)
Could not I give myself up to this general testimony of
mankind, I should to the relations of particular persons
who are now living, and whom I cannot distrust in other
matters of fact. I might here add, that not only the historians,
to whom we may join the poets, but likewise (15)
the philosophers of antiquity have favoured this opinion.
Lucretius himself, though by the course of his philosophy
he was obliged to maintain that the soul did not exist
separate from the body, makes no doubt of the reality of
apparitions, and that men have often appeared after their (20)
death. This I think very remarkable: he was so pressed
with the matter of fact which he could not have the confidence
to deny, that he was forced to account for it by
one of the most absurd unphilosophical notions that was
ever started. He tells us that the surfaces of all bodies (25)
are perpetually flying off from their respective bodies one
after another; and that these surfaces or thin cases that
included each other, whilst they were joined in the body,
like the coats of an onion, are sometimes seen entire when
they are separated from it; by which means we often
behold the shapes and shadows of persons who are either
dead or absent.

I shall dismiss this paper with a story out of Josephus,
not so much for the sake of the story itself as for the (99: 5)
moral reflections with which the author concludes it, and
which I shall here set down in his own words:

"Glaphyra, the daughter of King Archelaus, after the
death of her two first husbands,--being married to a
third, who was brother to her first husband, and so passionately (10)
in love with her that he turned off his former
wife to make room for this marriage,--had a very odd
kind of dream. She fancied that she saw her first husband
coming towards her, and that she embraced him with
great tenderness; when in the midst of the pleasure which (15)
she expressed at the sight of him, he reproached her after
the following manner:

"'Glaphyra,' says he, 'thou hast made good the old
saying that women are not to be trusted. Was not I the
husband of thy virginity? Have I not children by thee? (20)
How couldst thou forget our loves so far as to enter
into a second marriage, and after that into a third?...
However, for the sake of our past loves I shall free
thee from thy present reproach, and make thee mine
for ever.' (25)

"Glaphyra told this dream to several women of her
acquaintance, and died soon after.

"I thought this story might not be impertinent in this
place wherein I speak of those kings. Besides that, the
example deserves to be taken notice of, as it contains a
most certain proof of the immortality of the soul, and of
divine providence. If any man thinks these facts incredible,
let him enjoy his own opinion to himself, but let him
not endeavour to disturb the belief of others, who by (100: 5)
instances of this nature are excited to the study of
virtue." L.

XI. SUNDAY WITH SIR ROGER

[No. 112. Monday, July 9, 1711. ADDISON.]
Ἀθανάτους μὲν πρῶτα θεοὺς, νόμῳ ὡς διάκειται,
Τίμα.

PYTH.

I am always very well pleased with a country Sunday,
and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a
human institution, it would be the best method that could (10)
have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of
mankind. It is certain the country people would soon
degenerate into a kind of savages and barbarians were
there not such frequent returns of a stated time, in which
the whole village meet together with their best faces, and (15)
in their cleanliest habits, to converse with one another
upon indifferent[60] subjects, hear their duties explained to
them, and join together in adoration of the Supreme
Being. Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week,
not only as it refreshes in their minds the notions
of religion, but as it puts both the sexes upon appearing
in their most agreeable forms, and exerting all such
qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye of
the village. A country fellow distinguishes himself as (101: 5)
much in the church-yard as a citizen does upon the
Change,[61] the whole parish politics being generally discussed
at that place, either after sermon or before the
bell rings.

[60] What is the meaning of the word here?

[61] Short for "Exchange."

My friend Sir Roger, being a good churchman, has (10)
beautified the inside of his church with several texts of
his own choosing; he has likewise given a handsome
pulpit cloth, and railed in the communion table at his
own expense. He has often told me that, at his coming
to his estate, he found his parishioners very irregular; (15)
and that in order to make them kneel and join in the
responses, he gave every one of them a hassock and a
Common Prayer Book, and at the same time employed
an itinerant singing-master, who goes about the country
for that purpose, to instruct them rightly in the tunes of (20)
the Psalms; upon which they now very much value themselves,
and indeed outdo most of the country churches
that I have ever heard.

As Sir Roger is landlord to the whole congregation, he
keeps them in very good order, and will suffer nobody to (25)
sleep in it besides himself; for, if by chance he has been
surprised into a short nap at sermon, upon recovering out
of it he stands up and looks about him, and, if he sees
anybody else nodding, either wakes them himself, or
sends his servant to them. Several other of the old
knight's particularities[62] break out upon these occasions:
sometimes he will be lengthening out a verse in the singing (102: 5)
Psalms half a minute after the rest of the congregation
have done with it; sometimes, when he is pleased
with the matter of his devotion, he pronounces "Amen"
three or four times to the same prayer; and sometimes
stands up when everybody else is upon their[63] knees, to
count the congregation, or see if any of his tenants are (10)
missing.

[62] Peculiarities.

[63] Correct the English.

I was yesterday very much surprised to hear my old
friend, in the midst of the service, calling out to one
John Matthews to mind what he was about, and not disturb
the congregation. This John Matthews, it seems, is (15)
remarkable for being an idle fellow, and at that time was
kicking his heels for his diversion. This authority of the
knight, though exerted in that odd manner which accompanies
him in all circumstances of life, has a very good
effect upon the parish, who are not polite enough to see (20)
anything ridiculous in his behaviour; besides that the general
good sense and worthiness of his character makes his
friends observe these little singularities as foils that rather
set off than blemish his good qualities.

As soon as the sermon is finished, nobody presumes to (25)
stir till Sir Roger is gone out of the church. The knight
walks down from his seat in the chancel between a double
row of his tenants, that stand bowing to him on each
side, and every now and then inquires how such an one's
wife, or mother, or son, or father do, whom he does not
see at church,--which is understood as a secret reprimand
to the person that is absent.

The chaplain has often told me that, upon a catechizing (103: 5)
day, when Sir Roger had been pleased with a boy that
answers well, he has ordered a Bible to be given him
next day for his encouragement, and sometimes accompanies
it with a flitch of bacon to his mother. Sir Roger
has likewise added five pounds a year to the clerk's (10)
place; and, that he may encourage the young fellows to
make themselves perfect in the church service, has promised,
upon the death of the present incumbent, who is
very old, to bestow it according to merit.

The fair understanding between Sir Roger and his (15)
chaplain and their mutual concurrence in doing good, is
the more remarkable because the very next village is
famous for the differences and contentions that rise between
the parson and the squire, who live in a perpetual
state of war. The parson is always preaching at the (20)
squire, and the squire, to be revenged on the parson,
never comes to church. The squire has made all his
tenants atheists and tithe stealers; while the parson instructs
them every Sunday in the dignity of his order,
and insinuates to them in almost every sermon that he is (25)
a better man than his patron. In short, matters are come
to such an extremity that the squire has not said his
prayers either in public or private this half year; and
that the parson threatens him, if he does not mend his
manners, to pray for him in the face of the whole
congregation.

Feuds of this nature, though too frequent in the country,
are very fatal to the ordinary people, who are so used
to be dazzled with riches that they pay as much deference (104: 5)
to the understanding of a man of an estate as of a man
of learning; and are very hardly brought to regard any
truth, how important soever it may be, that is preached
to them, when they know there are several men of five
hundred a year[64] who do not believe it. L. (10)

[64] _I.e_. who have an income of five hundred pounds a year.

XII. SIR ROGER IN LOVE

[No. 113. Tuesday, July 10, 1711. STEELE.]

Haerent infixi pectore vultus.

VIRG.

In my first description of the company in which I pass
most of my time, it may be remembered that I mentioned
a great affliction which my friend Sir Roger had met with
in his youth,--which was no less than a disappointment
in love. It happened this evening that we fell into a very (15)
pleasing walk at a distance from his house. As soon as
we came into it, "It is," quoth the good old man, looking
round him with a smile, "very hard that any part of my
land should be settled upon one who has used me so ill
as the perverse widow did; and yet I am sure I could
not see a sprig of any bough of this whole walk of trees
but I should reflect upon her and her severity. She has
certainly the finest hand of any woman in the world.
You are to know this was the place wherein I used to (105: 5)
muse upon her; and by that custom I can never come
into it but the same tender sentiments revive in my mind,
as if I had actually walked with that beautiful creature
under these shades. I have been fool enough to carve
her name on the bark of several of these trees; so unhappy (10)
is the condition of men in love to attempt the removing
of their passion by the methods which serve only
to imprint it deeper. She has certainly the finest hand
of any woman in the world."

Here followed a profound silence; and I was not displeased (15)
to observe my friend falling so naturally into a
discourse which I had ever before taken notice he industriously
avoided. After a very long pause, he entered
upon an account of this great circumstance in his life,
with an air which I thought raised my idea of him above (20)
what I had ever had before; and gave me the picture of
that cheerful mind of his before it received that stroke
which has ever since affected his words and actions. But
he went on as follows:

"I came to my estate in my twenty-second year, and (25)
resolved to follow the steps of the most worthy of my
ancestors who have inhabited this spot of earth before
me, in all the methods of hospitality and good neighbourhood,
for the sake of my fame, and in country sports and
recreations, for the sake of my health. In my twenty-third
year I was obliged to serve as sheriff of the county;
and in my servants, officers, and whole equipage, indulged
the pleasure of a young man, who did not think ill of his
own person, in taking that public occasion of showing my (106: 5)
figure and behaviour to advantage. You may easily imagine
to yourself what appearance I made, who am pretty tall,
rid well, and was very well dressed, at the head of a whole
county, with music before me, a feather in my hat, and
my horse well bitted. I can assure you I was not a little (10)
pleased with the kind looks and glances I had from all
the balconies and windows, as I rode to the hall where
the assizes were held. But when I came there, a beautiful
creature in a widow's habit sat in court, to hear the
event[65] of a cause concerning her dower. This commanding (15)
creature (who was born for destruction of all who behold
her) put on such a resignation in her countenance,
and bore the whispers of all around the court with such
a pretty uneasiness, I warrant you, and then recovered
herself from one eye to another, till she was perfectly confused (20)
by meeting something so wistful in all she encountered,
that at last, with a murrain to her,[66] she cast her
bewitching eye upon me. I no sooner met it but I bowed
like a great surprised booby; and, knowing her cause to
be the first which came on, I cried, like a captivated calf (25)
as I was, 'Make way for the defendant's witnesses!' This
sudden partiality made all the county immediately see the
sheriff also was become a slave to the fine widow. During
the time her cause was upon trial, she behaved herself,
I warrant you, with such a deep attention to her
business, took opportunities to have little billets handed
to her counsel, then would be in such a pretty confusion, (107: 5)
occasioned, you must know, by acting before so much
company, that not only I but the whole court was prejudiced
in her favour; and all that the next heir to her husband
had to urge was thought so groundless and frivolous
that, when it came to her counsel to reply, there was not (10)
half so much said as every one besides in the court
thought he could have urged to her advantage. You
must understand, sir, this perverse woman is one of those
unaccountable creatures that secretly rejoice in the admiration
of men, but indulge themselves in no further (15)
consequences. Hence it is that she has ever had a train
of admirers, and she removes from her slaves in town to
those in the country according to the seasons of the year.
She is a reading lady, and far gone in the pleasures of
friendship; she is always accompanied by a confidante, (20)
who is witness to her daily protestations against our sex,
and consequently a bar to her first steps towards love,
upon the strength of her own maxims and declarations.

[65] Outcome, issue. Notice the etymology of the word.

[66] With a plague upon her!