Cæfar to be a great man, without derogating from Pompey; and celebrate the virtues of Cato, without detracting from those of Cæfar. Every one that has been long dead has a due proportion of praise allotted him, in which, whilst he lived, his friends were too profufe, and his enemies too fparing.

According to fir Ifaac Newton's calculations, the laft comet that made its appearance in 1680, imbibed fo much heat by its approaches to the fun, that it would have been two thousand times hotter than red hot iron, had it been a globe of that metal; and that fuppofing it as big as the earth, and at the fame distance from the fun, it would be fifty thousand years in cooling, before it recovered its natural temper. In the like manner, if an Englishman confiders the great ferment into which our political world is thrown at prefent, and how intensely it is heated in all its parts, he cannot fuppofe that it will cool again in less than three hundred years. In fuch a tract of time it is poffible that the heats of the present age may be extinguished, and our feveral claffes of great men represented under their proper characters. Some eminent hiftorian may then probably arise that will not write recentibus odiis (as Tacitus expreffes it) with the paffions and prejudices of a contemporary author, but make an impartial diftribution of fame among the great men of the prefent age.

I cannot forbear entertaining myself very often with the idea of fuch an imaginary historian defcribing the reign of Anne the firft, and introducing it with a preface to his reader, that he

is now entering upon the most shining part of the English story. The great rivals in fame will be then distinguished according to their refpective merits, and fhine in their proper points of light. Such an one (says the hiftorian) though variously represented by the writers of his own age, appears to have been a man of more than ordinary abilities, great application, and uncommon integrity: nor was fuch an one (though of an oppofite party and interest) inferior to him in any of these refpects. The feveral antagonists who now endeavour to depreciate one another, and are celebrated or traduced by different par ties, will then have the fame body of admirers, and appear illuftrious in the opinion of the whole British nation. The deferving man, who can now recommend himself to the esteem of but half his countrymen, will then receive the approbations and applauses of a whole age.

Among the feveral perfons that flourish in this glorious reign, there is no question but such a future hiftorian, as the person of whom I am fpeaking, will make mention of the men of genius and learning, who have now any figure in the British nation. For my own part, I often flatter myself with the honourable mention which will then be made of me; and have drawn up a paragraph in my own imagination, that I fancy will not be altogether unlike what will be found in fome page or other of this imaginary historian.

It was under this reign, fays he, that the Spectator published those little diurnal effays which are ftill extant. We know very little of

the name or perfon of this author, except only that he was a man of a very short face, extremely addicted to filence, and fo great a lover of knowledge, that he made a voyage to Grand Cairo for no other reason, but to take the meafure of a pyramid. His chief friend was one fir Roger de Coverley, a whimsical country knight, and a Templar whofe name he has not tranfmitted to us. He lived as a lodger at the house of a widow-woman, and was a great humorist in all parts of his life. This is all we can affirm with any certainty of his person and character. As for his fpeculations, notwithstanding the feveral obfolete words and obscure phrases of the age in which he lived, we still understand enough of them to fee the diverfions and characters of the English nation in his time: not but that we are to make allowance for the mirth and humour of the author, who has doubtless strained many reprefentations of things beyond the truth. For if we interpret his words in their literal meaning, we must suppose that women of the first quality used to pass away whole mornings at a puppet-show: that they attefted their principles by their patches': that an audience would fit out an evening to hear a dramatical performance written in a language which they did not understand: that chairs and flower-pots were introduced as actors upon the British ftage": that a promiscuous affembly of men and women were allowed to meet at midnight in masks within the verge of - N° 22, 36.

* See N° 14. s No 81. t N° 18.

the court"; with many improbabilities of the like nature. We must therefore in these and the like cafes fuppofe, that these remote hints and allufions aimed at fome certain follies which were then in vogue, and which at present we have not any notion of. We may guess by feveral paffages in the fpeculations, that there were writers who endeavoured to detract from the works of this author; but as nothing of this nature is come down to us, we cannot guess at any objections that could be made to his paper. If we confider his ftyle with that indulgence which we must fhew to old English writers, or if we look into the variety of his fubjects, with those several critical differtations, moral reflections,

The following part of the paragraph is fo much to my advantage, and beyond any thing I can pretend to, that I hope my reader will excufe me for not inserting it. L*.

w No 8. Public masquerades were introduced by the d. d'Aumont, after the peace of Utrecht, in Somerset-house. P. By Addison, London. See N° 334, ad finem, note on the fignature L; and No 221, note on Addifon's fignatures C, L, I, O.

X

*At Drury-lane, June 26, The Governor of Barcelona, or The Spanish Wives. Caft as mentioned before. June 2, revived, The Successful Strangers. Sylvio, Mr. Mills; Antonio, Mr. Booth; Don Carlos, Mr. Hufband; Don Lopez, Mr. Norris; Don Francifco, Mr. Bullock, fen.; Dorothea, Mrs. Porter; Feliciaña, Mrs. Bradshaw; and Formofa, Mrs. Powell. Spect. in folio. I

VOL. II.

N° 102.

Wednesday, June 27, 1711.

Lufus animo debent aliquando dari,

Ad cogitandum melior ut redeat fibi.

PHEDR. Fab. xiv. 3.

The mind ought fometimes to be diverted, that it may return the better to thinking.

I Do not know whether to call the following letter a fatire upon coquettes, or a reprefentation of their several fantastical accomplishments, or what other title to give it; but as it is I fhall communicate it to the public. It will fufficiently explain its own intentions, so that I shall give it my reader at length, without either preface or postscript.

· Mr. SPECTATOR,

'WOMEN are armed with fans as men with fwords, and fometimes do more execution with them. To the end therefore that ladies may be intire miftreffes of the weapon which they bear, I have erected an academy for the training up of young women in the exercise of the fan, according to the most fashionable airs and motions that are now practifed at court. The ladies who carry fans under me are drawn up twice a-day in my great hall, where they are inftructed in the use of their arms, and exercifed by the following words of command: Handle your fans, Unfurl your fans, Discharge your fans, Ground your fans, Recover your fans, Flutter your fans. By the right obfervavation of thefe few plain words of command, a