death, which has afflicted the whole country, as well as his poor servants, who loved him, I may say, better than we did our lives. I am afraid he caught his death the last county sessions, where he would go to see justice done to a poor widow woman and her fatherless children, that had been 5 wronged by a neighboring gentleman; for you know, sir, my good master was always the poor man's friend. Upon his coming home, the first complaint he made was that he had lost his roast beef stomach, not being able to touch a sirloin, which was served up according to custom; and you know he 10 used to take great delight in it. From that time forward he grew worse and worse, but still kept a good heart to the last. Indeed, we were once in great hope of his recovery, upon a kind message that was sent him from the widow lady whom he had made love to the forty last years of his life; but this 15 only proved a light'ning before death. He has bequeathed to this lady, as a token of his love, a great pearl necklace, and a couple of silver bracelets set with jewels, which belonged to my good old lady his mother. He has bequeathed the fine white gelding, that he used to ride a hunting upon, to his 20 chaplain, because he thought he would be kind to him, and has left you all his books. He has, moreover, bequeathed to the chaplain a very pretty tenement with good lands about it. It being a very cold day when he made his will, he left for mourning to every man in the parish a great frieze coat, 25 and to every woman a black riding-hood. It was a most moving sight to see him take leave of his poor servants, commending us all for our fidelity, whilst we were not able to speak a word for weeping. As we most of us are grown gray-headed in our dear master's service, he has left us 30 pensions and legacies, which we may live very comfortably upon the remaining part of our days. He has bequeathed a great deal more in charity, which is not yet come to my knowledge, and it is peremptorily said in the parish that he has left money to build a steeple to the church; for he was 35 heard to say some time ago that if he lived two years longer, Coverley Church should have a steeple to it. The chaplain tells everybody that he made a very good end, and never speaks of him without tears. He was buried according to his own directions among the family of the Coverleys, on the 40 left hand of his father, Sir Arthur. The coffin was carried by six of his tenants, and the pall held up by six of the quorum. The whole parish followed the corpse with heavy hearts, and in their mourning suits, the men in frieze, and the women in riding-hoods. Captain Sentry, my master's nephew, has taken possession of the hall house and the whole estate. 5 When my old master saw him a little before his death, he shook him by the hand, and wished him joy of the estate which was falling to him, desiring him only to make good use of it, and to pay the several legacies, and the gifts of charity which he told him he had left as quit-rents upon the estate. The 10 captain truly seems a courteous man, though he says but little. He makes much of those whom my master loved, and shows great kindness to the old house dog, that you know my poor master was so fond of. It would have gone to your heart to have heard the moans the dumb creature made on the day of 15 my master's death. He has ne'er joyed himself since; no more has any of us. 'Twas the melancholiest day for the poor people that ever happend in Worcestershire. This being all from, 20 Honored sir, your most sorrowful servant, Edward Biscuit." "P. S. My master desired, some weeks before he died, that a book which comes up to you by the carrier should be given to Sir Andrew Freeport in his name." This letter, notwithstanding the poor butler's manner 25 of writing it, gave us such an idea of our good old friend, that upon the reading of it there was not a dry eye in the club. Sir Andrew, opening the book, found it to be a collection of Acts of Parliament. There was in particular the Act of Uniformity, with some passages in it 30 marked by Sir Roger's own hand. Sir Andrew found that they related to two or three points which he had disputed with Sir Roger the last time he appeared at the club. Sir Andrew, who would have been merry at such an incident on another occasion, at the sight of the old 35 man's handwriting burst into tears, and put the book into his pocket. Captain Sentry informs me that the knight has left rings and mourning for every one in the club. O. NOTES AND COMMENT [Heavy numerals refer to page; light ones to line] I. MR. SPECTATOR In this first Sir Roger de Coverley paper, Addison introduces Mr. Spectator to the reader. In his representation of that gentleman, Addison frequently appears to be drawing a portrait of himself. Mr. Spectator's bashfulness, his love of reading and of foreign travel, his distaste for party controversy, and his character as a disinterested observer of mankind are all traits that belong equally to Addison. It is not possible, however, to press these resemblances to a point of complete identification between the two. It is only in inward traits of temperament that they resemble one another; in outward circumstances of life they differ. Thus Addison was not, like Mr. Spectator, "born to a small hereditary estate" (3, 13); his father had never been "justice of the peace" (4, 2-3); nor had he ever visited Egypt (5, 1-2). Moreover it is a significant fact that Mr. Spectator never "gratifies the curiosity " of the reader with regard to his complexion, disposition, or state as a married or single man (3, 3-4), and never divulges his 66 name," "age," and "lodgings" (6, 30). By thus allowing Mr. Spectator only a partial likeness to himself, Addison has succeeded admirably in imparting to that gentleman the mystery proper to an imaginary person. (Motto). "One with a flash begins and ends in smoke; HORACE, Ars Poetica, verses 143-144. 3, 3. Black: of dark complexion. 3, 9. The several persons are, of course, the several members of Mr. Spectator's Club; viz., Mr. Spectator himself, described in the present paper, and the remaining members of the club, described in the next paper. 141 |