SIR RICHARD STEELE. THE CLUB AT “THE TRUMPET." The Tatler was started in London by Steele, and ran from April 12, 1709, to Jan. 2, 1711, appearing on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. In the dedication Steele says: "The general purpose of this paper is to expose the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behavior." The essay given is No. 132, published on Feb. 11, 1710. 81.-1. "Habeo," etc." I am much beholden to old age, which has increased my eagerness for conversation, in proportion as it has lessened my appetites of hunger and thirst (translation in edition of 1764); the passage is from Marcus Tullius Cicero's De Senectute, XIV.-23. "The Trumpet": a public house in Sheer Lane, near Temple Bar. 82.-32. bencher of the neighboring inn: inns of courts are "incorporated legal societies in London, which have the exclusive privilege of calling candidates to the bar, and maintain instruction and examinations for that purpose (Century Dictionary); a bencher was one of the governing members of an inn of court.-33. ordinaries taverns.--Charing Cross: the site of an old market-cross, in the center of London; taverns and coffee-houses abounded there, the resorts of "men of the town.” -34. Jack Ogle: a famous gambler and man about town in the reign of Charles II.-35. Hudibras: a poem (1663-1678) by Samuel Butler, satirizing the Puritans. 83.-2. something somewhat.-8. in Holland: the new, or Gregorian, calendar was not adopted in England until 1752, long after it was in general use on the continent; it made a difference of eleven days.-18. "a stick " "ecclesiastic": Hudibras, I. 11-12: "And pulpit, drum ecclesiastic, Was beat with fist, instead of a stick." 19. a red petticoat: Ogle, when he belonged to the footguards, had pawned his trooper's cloak, and at a review carried instead his landlady's red petticoat, in a roll on the crupper; when the order was given "Cloak all!" he was detected, but not abashed, saying that, if he couldn't " cloak," he could " petticoat" with the best of them. 84.-34. an eloquent spirit: Belial; Paradise Lost, II. 112-113. JOSEPH ADDISON. A VERY PRETTY POET. The essay is No. 163, published April 25, 1710. 85.-1-7. "Idem," etc.-" Suffenus has no more wit than a mere clown when he attempts to write verses; and yet he is never happier than when he is scribbling, so much does he admire himself and his compositions. And, indeed, this is the foible of every one of us; for there is no man living who is not a Suffenus in one thing or other" (translation in edition of 1764).-9. Will's Coffee-house: the various coffee-houses in London were frequented by different classes of men; Will's was a favorite resort for poets and wits.-15. Mr. Bickerstaff: Steele had assumed as his pseudonym in The Tatler the name of Isaac Bickerstaff, which Swift had adopted (taking it from a streetsign) in his mirth-provoking controversy with Partridge, an almanac-maker, in 1708 and 1709; and all the Tatler papers were supposed to be written by Bickerstaff.-18. gazette: a military gazette, containing list of deaths, promotions, etc.-19. our armies: the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Marlborough won great laurels, was then raging on the continent.27. Waller: Edmund Waller (1606-1687), who did much to introduce a smooth regularity into English verse; see 44, 2-4, for Dryden's opinion of him. 66 86.-5. gothic: in Addison's day "gothic was a term of reproach nearly equivalent to "barbarous," uncultivated," rude northern art being contrasted with the finished southern art of ancient Greece and Rome.—14. sonnet: in the eighteenth century almost any short lyric poem might be called a sonnet.37. Roscommon's Translation: published in 1680, and much in favor with those who could not read the original. TRUE AND FALSE HUMOR. The Spectator appeared daily (Sunday excepted), and ran from March 1, 1711, to Dec. 6, 1712; Steele and Addison wrote most of the numbers. In 1714 a new series was begun by Addison, and ran from June 18, 1714, to Dec. 20, 1714, the paper appearing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This essay is No. 35, and was published April 10, 1711. 89.—1. “Risu," etc." Nothing so foolish as the laugh of fools" (translation in the edition of 1744); the quotation, although Addison attributes it to Martial, is really from Catullus (Carmen xxxix. 16).-28. Mr. Shadwell: Thomas Shadwell (1642?-1692), playwright and poet laureate; Dryden satirized him unmercifully in MacFlecknoe, but he was not wholly lacking in wit and humor, as Addison testifies. 90.-16. habit-dress.-18. merry-andrew clown. 91.-31. unlucky-mischievous. THE VISION OF MIRZAH. This paper is No. 159, and appeared Sept. 1, 1711. 92.-19. "Omnem," etc. Æneid, II. 604-606; translated in the edition of 1744 as follows: "The cloud, which, intercepting the clear light, Hangs o'er thy eyes, and blunts thy mortal sight, DISSECTION OF A COQUET'S HEART. This paper is No. 281, and appeared Jan. 22, 1712. 97.-7. Pectoribus, etc.: Eneid, IV. 64; translated in the edition of 1744 as follows: "Anxious the reeking entrails he consults." 99.-13. Rosamond's Bower: there is a tradition that Henry II. built a labyrinth in which to conceal his mistress, Rosamond Clifford, from his queen, Elinor. 100.-9. admiring-wondering at. DANIEL DEFOE. AN ACADEMY FOR WOMEN. 66 An Essay upon Projects, from which this plan for an academy for women is taken, shows the restlessness and versatility of Defoe's intellect. It is an essay," or attempt, to win public favor for various projects or reforms-concerning banks, highways, insurance, fools, seamen, etc., and at many points is surprisingly modern, as in the thoughts on the education of women. 102.-35. persons of quality=the nobility or gentry. 103.-3. coin-corner.-30. without clergy (=“ without benefit of clergy"): “originally the privilege of exemption from trial by a secular court, allowed to, or claimed by, clergymen arraigned for felony; in later times the privilege of exemption from the sentence, which, in the case of certain offences, might be pleaded on his first conviction by every one who could read " (A New English Dictionary). SAMUEL JOHNSON. SHAKESPEARE. Johnson brought out an edition of Shakespeare's works in 1765, with a preface, from which the passages here printed are taken. 109.-22. fable: what is now usually called the story or plot.24. Hierocles: a Neo-Platonist of the fifth century A. D., to whom used to be attributed a work called 'Aσreîa, a collection of ludicrous tales and anecdotes, like the one mentioned by Johnson; it was really the work of some unknown person of later date. 110.-15. every other stage: Johnson apparently is referring to modern plays only, for he must have known that in Greek tragedy "the universal agent" is not love; in lines 4-9 the same limitation should doubtless be understood.-30. as according as. -31. exorbitant-out of its orbit; in contrast to " regular." 111.-32. Dennis and Rymer: John Dennis (1657-1734) and Thomas Rymer (1641-1713), small critics.-34. Menenius: a character in Coriolanus.-36. the Danish usurper: the king Claudius, in Hamlet. 113.-14-16. Pope . . . interpolators: "For whatever had been added... by the actors, or had stolen from their mouths into the written parts, were from thence conveyed into the printed text, and all stand charged upon the author" (Pope's Preface to the Works of Shakespeare, 1725).-16-17. Hector quoting Aristotle: Troilus and Cressida, II. ii. 163-167: "Paris and Troilus, you have both said well, Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought Aristotle (384-322 B. C.) lived some eight centuries after the latest date assigned to the Trojan War.-17. Theseus and Hippolyta: in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Theseus, the ancient Greek hero, and Hippolyta, queen of the fabulous Amazons, are made contemporaries with Oberon, Titania, and Robin Goodfellow, of English fairy-lore.-21-22. pastoral . . . feudal times: the former in Greek Arcadia, the latter in the Middle Ages. 116.-14. Corneille: Pierre Corneille (1606-1684), the greatest French dramatist; his early plays being severely criticised by the French Academy for irregularity of form, in his later works he conformed more closely to the "unities," which thereby gained in popular favor.-31. dragons of Medea: Medea, daughter of the king of Colchis, was a sorceress, and in Euripides's play of Medea she appears borne through the air in a chariot drawn by winged dragons.-35. Thebes: the capital of Boeotia, in Greece.-Persepolis: an ancient capital of Persia, far inland; Johnson selects two places a long way apart. 117.-14. palace of the Ptolemies: the residence of Cleopatra, last of the royal family of Ptolemy, in Alexandria, Egypt.-15. Actium: on the northwestern coast of Greece, where Octavianus and Antony fought the decisive naval battle for the headship of the Roman Empire, in 31 B. C.-19. Pharsalia: in Thessaly, Greece, where Cæsar defeated Pompey in 48 B. C.Granicus: a small river in Asia Minor, on the banks of which Alexander the Great won his first victory over the Persians in 334 B. C. 118.-2. Mithridates: king of Pontus; in the Romans' third war against him he was defeated by Lucullus in 69 B. C.— 17. moves affects [the audience]. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. BEAU TIBBS, A CHARACTER. In Goldsmith's Essays, published in 1765, he reprinted, with some revisions, articles that had already appeared anonymously in various London periodicals. Beau Tibbs had come out in 1762, as Letters LIV. and LV. of The Citizen of the World, a series of papers in The Public Ledger. 123.-5-6. temple spectacles: spectacles having bars on the ends of the bows, to secure a firmer hold by pressure on the temples.-37. Countess of Shoreditch: Shoreditch is a district of London; in Goldsmith's day it was on the outskirts of the city, and for many years a great dunghill stood near; the name of the countess is meant to be suggestive of her character and her husband's. 125.-27. Grisoni: a Florentine painter (1700-1769), particularly skillful in portraits.-29. an hundred, i. e., an hundred pounds.-30. mechanical: like a mechanic or artisan, who works for money; hence low, vulgar.—35. Vauxhall Gardens: a popular resort in London, the scene of many assignations; cf. the double entendre in "horns," 1. 36. EDMUND BURKE. ENGLAND AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. "It may not be unnecessary to inform the reader that the following reflections had their origin in a correspondence between the author and a very young gentleman at Paris, who did him the honor of desiring his opinion upon the important transactions [the meeting of the States-General, storming of the Bastile, abolition of the privileges of the nobility and clergy, etc.] which then and ever since have so much occupied the attention of all men. An answer was written some time in the month of October, 1789; but it was kept back upon prudential considerations. This letter is alluded to in the beginning of the following sheets. It has since been forwarded to the person to whom it was addressed. The reasons for the delay in sending it were assigned in a short letter to the same gentleman. This produced on his part a new and pressing application for the author's sentiments. The author began a second and more full discussion on the subject."-From Burke's Preface. 127.-7. attention to you: the letter, if opened by the revolutionary authorities, might have endangered the recipient.-28. the glorious Revolution: that of 1688, by which William and Mary were seated on the throne of Great Britain, after the flight of James II. 132.-2-3. Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance: Don Quixote, in Cervantes's novel of that title (1605, 1615); in Part I., Book III. Chap. 8, the cracked knight freed from their chains a gang of criminals condemned to the galleys, thinking that he was doing a good deed; they turned upon their deliverer, stoned and stripped him, and fled. 133.-3-4. the Duke de Rochefoucault's and the Archbishop of Aix's letter: the duke's letter was a personal one to Dr. Price, occasioned by his sermon; the archbishop, as president of the National Assembly, wrote to Lord Stanhope, president of the Revolution Society, acknowledging the receipt of the society's resolution. 134.-17. Machiavellian: The Prince, by Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), Italian statesman and writer, has made the author's name synonymous with shrewd and unscrupulous statecraft. -22. Old Jewry: a street in the centre or London; so named from a synagogue which formerly stood there. 135.-5. philippizes: Demosthenes accused the priestess at Delphi of "philippizing," because she gave oracles in favor of Philip of Macedon, who was threatening the liberties of Greece; Burke says that Dr. Price, similarly, is merely the mouth-piece of the politicians.-12. the saints: the Puritans, in the time of Cromwell, who next year executed Charles I.-17. your league: the Holy League (1576-1596), formed by the Roman Catholics |