reflected on in the coldness of philosophy, but ought to sink us into the lowest prostration before him, who is so astonishingly great, wonderful, and holy.” No. 581. MONDAY, August 16, 1714. I From the letter-box. Sunt bona, sunt quædam mediocria, sunt mala plura Quæ legis MART. Epig. 17. 1. 1. Some good, more bad, some neither one nor t'other. AM at present setting with a heap of letters before me which I have received under the character. of Spectator; I have complaints from lovers, schemes from projectors, scandal from ladies, congratulations, compliments, and advice in abundance. I have not been thus long an author, to be insensible of the natural fondness every person must have for their own productions; and I begin to think I have treated my correspondents a little too uncivilly in stringing them all together on a file, and letting them lie so long unregarded. I shall therefore, for the future, think myself at least obliged to take some notice of such letters as I receive, and may possibly do it at the end of every month. In the mean time, I intend my present paper as a short answer to most of those which have been already sent me. The public, however, is not to expect I should let them into all my secrets; and though I appear ab struse to most people, it is sufficient if I am understood by my particular correspondents. My well-wisher, Van Nath, is very arch, but not quite enough so to appear in print. Philadelphus will, in a little time, see his query fully answered by a treatise which is now in the press. It was very improper at that time to comply with Mr. G. Miss Kitty must excuse me. The gentleman who sent me a copy of verses on his mistress's dancing, is, I believe, too thoroughly in love to compose correctly. I have too great a respect for both the universitie to praise one at the expense of the other. Tom Nimble is a very honest fellow, and I desire him to present my humble service to his cousin Fill Bumper. I am obliged for the letter upon Prejudice. I may, in due time, animadvert on the case of Grace Grumble. The petition of P. S. granted.. That of Sarah Loveit, refused. I thank Aristippus for his kind invitation. My friend at Woodstock is a bold man, to undertake for all within ten miles of him. I am afraid the entertainment of Tom Turnover will hardly be relished by the good cities of London and Westminster. I must consider farther of it, before I indulge W. F. in those freedoms he takes with the ladies stockings. I am obliged to the ingenious gentleman who sent me an ode on the subject of the late Spectator, and shall take particular notice of his last letter. When the lady who wrote me a letter, dated July the 20th, in relation to some passages in a lover, will be more particular in her directions, I shall be so in my answer. The poor gentleman, who fancies my writings could reclaim an husband who can abuse such a wife as he describes, has, I am afraid, too great an opinion of my skill. Philanthropos is, I dare say, a very well-meaning man, but a little too prolix in his compositions. Constantius himself must be the best judge in the affair he mentions. The letter dated from Lincoln is received. Arethusa and her friend may hear farther from me. Celia is a little too hasty. Harriot is a good girl; but must not courtesy to folks she does not know. I must ingenuously confess my friend Sampson Bentstaff has quite puzzled me, and writ me a long letter which I cannot comprehend one word of. Collidan must also explain what he means by his drigelling. I think it beneath my Spectatorial dignity to concern myself in the affair of the boiled dumpling. I shall consult some Literati on the project sent me for the discovery of the longitude. I know not how to conclude this paper better, than by inserting a couple of letters which are really genuine, and which I look upon to be two of the smartest pieces I have received from my corresponclents of either sex. "BROTHER SPEC, "WHILE you are surveying every object that falls in your way, I am wholly taken up with one. Had that sage, who demanded what beauty was, lived to see the dear angel I love, he would not have asked such a question. Had another seen her, he would himself have loved the person in whom Heaven has made virtue visible; and, were you yourself to be in her company, you could never, with all your loquacity, say enough of her good-humor and sense. I send you the outlines of a picture, which I can no more finish than I can sufficiently admire the dear original. I am, "Your most affectionate brother, "Good Mr. Pert, "I WILL allow you nothing till you resolve me the following question. Pray, what's the reason that, while you only talk now upon Wednesdays, Fridays, and Mondays, you pretend to be a greater tatler than when you spoke every day, as you formerly used to do? If this be your plunging out of your taciturnity, pray let the length of your speeches compensate for the scarceness of them. "I am, "Good Mr. Pert, "Your admirer, "If you will be long enough for me, "AMANDA LOVELENGTH." THERE CHARLES DRYDEN. HERE is a certain distemper, which is mentioned neither by Galen nor Hippocrates, nor to be met with in the London Dispensatory. Juvenal, in the motto of my paper, terms it a cacoethes ; which is a hard word for a disease, called in plain English, the itch of writing. This cacoethes is as epidemical as the small-pox, there being very few who are not seized with it some time or other in their lives. There is, however, this difference in these two distempers, that the first, after having indisposed you for a time, never returns again; whereas this I am speaking of, when it is once got into the blood, seldom comes out of it. The British nation is very much afflicted with this malady; and though very many remedies have been applied to persons infected with it, few of them have ever proved successful. Some have been cauterized with satires and lampoons, but have received little or no benefit from them; others have had their heads fastened for an hour together between the cleft board, which is made use of as a cure for the disease when it appears in its greatest malignity. There is indeed one kind of this malady which has |