He had not that application and fubmiffion, and reverence for the queen as might have been expected· from his wifdom and breeding; and often croffed her pretences and defires with more rudeness than was natural to him. Yet he was impertinently folicitous to know what her majefty faid of him in private, and what refentments fhe had towards him. And when by fome confidents, who had their ends upon him from thofe offices, he was informed of fome bitter ex• preffions fallen from her majefty, he was fo exceedingly afflicted and tormented with the fenfe of it, that fometimes by paffionate complaints and reprefentations to the King; fometimes by more dutiful addreffes and expoftulations with the queen in bewailing his miffortunes; he frequently expofed himself, and left his condition worse than it was before, and the eclairciffe ment commonly ended in the difcovery of the perfons from whom he had received his molt fecret intel i < gence. ་ C No 440 Friday, July 25. I Vivere fi rectè nefcis, difcede peritis. Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 2. v. 213. Learn to live well, or fairly make your will. РОРЕ. Have already given my reader an account of a set of merry fellows who are paffing their fummer together in the country, being provided of a great houfe where there is not only a convenient apartment for every particular perfon, but a large infirmary for the reception of fuch of them as are in any way indifpofed or out of humour. Having lately received a letter from the fecretary of the fociety, by order of the whole fraternity, which acquaints me with their behaviour during the laft week, 1 fhall here make a prefent of it to the public. Mr. Mr. SPECTATOR. WE E are glad to find that you approve the establishment which we have here made for the retrieving of good manners and agreeable converfation, and fhall ufe our beft endeavours to to improve ourselves in this our fummer retirement, that we may next winter ferve as patterns to the town. But to the end that this our inftitution may be no lefs advantageous to the public than to ourfelves, we fhall communicate to you one week of our proceedings, defiring you at the fame time, if you fee any thing faulty in them, to favour us with your admonitions. For you must know, Sir, that it has been propofed amongst us to choose you ⚫ for our vifitor; to which I must further add, that one of the college having declared last week, he did not like the Spectator of the day, and not being able to affign any just reafons for fuch his diflike, he was ⚫ fent to the infirmary Nemine Contradicente. ་ On Monday the affembly was in very good humour, having received fome recruits of French claret that morning: when unluckily, towards the middle of the dinner, one of the company fwore at his fervant in a very rough manner, for having put too much water in his wine. Upon which the prefident of the day, ⚫ who is always the mouth of the company, after having convinced him of the impertinence of his paffion, and the infult he had made upon the company, ordered his man to take him from the table and convey him to the infirmary. There was but one more fent away that day; this was a gentleman who is reckoned by ⚫ fome perfons, one of the greatest wits, and by others one of the greatest boobies about town. This you will fay is a strange character, but what makes it ftranger yet, is a very true one, for he is perpetually the reverfe of himself, being always merry or dulf to excefs. We brought him hither to divert us, which he did very well upon the road, having lavished away as much wit and laughter upon the hackney coachman as might have ferved him during his whole stay here, had it been duly managed. He had been lumpish for two or three days, but was fo far connived at, in H 3 ⚫ hopes hopes of recovery, that we difpatched one of the briskeft fellows among the brotherhood into the infirmary, for having told him at table he was not merry. But our prefident obferving that he indulged himself in this long fit of ftupidity, and conftruing it as a contempt of the college, ordered him to retire into the place prepared for fuch companions. He was no fooner got into ⚫ it, but his wit and mirth returned upon him in fo vio⚫lent a manner, that he hook the whole infirmary with the noise of it, and had so good an effect upon the reft of the patients, that he brought them all out to dinner • with him the next day. On Tuesday we were no fooner fat down, but one of the company complained that his head aked; upon which another asked him in an infolent manner, what ⚫ he did there then; this infenfibly grew into fome warm ⚫ words; so that the prefident, in order to keep the peace, gave directions to take them both from the table, and lodge them in the infirmary, Not long after, another of the company telling us, he knew by a pain in his fhoulder that we should have fome rain, the prefident ⚫ ordered him to be removed, and placed as a weatherglafs in the apartment above-mentioned. On Wednesday a gentleman having received a letter written in a woman's hand, and changing colour ⚫ twice or thrice as he read it, defired leave to retire into the infirmary. The prefident confented, but denied him the ufe of pen, ink, and paper, till fuch time as he had flept upon it. One of the company being feated at the lower end of the table, and discovering his fecret difcontent by finding fault with every dish that was ferved up, and refufing to laugh at any thing that was faid, the prefident told him, that he found he was in an uneafy feat, and defired him to accommodate himself better in the infirmary. After dinner a very ⚫ honeft fellow chanced to let a pun fall from him, his neighbour cried out, To the infirmary; at the fame time pretending to be fick at it, as having the fame ⚫ natural antipathy to a pun, which fome have to a · cat, This produced a long debate. Upon the whole, 'the punfter was acquitted, and his neighbour fent ‹ off. On Thursday there was but one delinquent. This was a gentleman of ftrong voice, but weak understanding. He had unluckily engaged himfelf in a difpute with a man of excellent fenfe, but of a modeft elocution. The man of heat replied to every anfwer of his antagonist with a louder voice than ordinary, • and only raised his voice when he should have enforced his argument. Finding himself at length driven to an abfurdity, he ftill reasoned in a more clamorous and • confufed manner, and to make the greater impreffion upon his hearers, concluded with a loud thump upon the table. The prefident immediately ordered him to be carried off, and dieted with water-gruel, till fuch time as he should be fufficiently weakened for • converfation. On Friday there paffed very little remarkable, faving only, that feveral petitions were read of the perfons in cuftody, defiring to be released from their confinement, and vouching for one another's good behaviour for the future. On Saturday we received many excufes from per The fons who had found themfelves in an unfociable temper, and had voluntarily fhut themfelves up. • infirmary was indeed never fo full as on this day, which I was at fome lofs to account for, till upon my going abroad I obferved that it was an easterly wind. The retirement of most of my friends has given me opportunity and leifure of writing you this letter, which I must not conclude without affuring you, that ⚫ all the members of our college, as well those who are • under confinement, as thofe who are at liberty, are your very humble fervants, tho' none more than, Should the whole frame of nature round him break He, unconcern'd, would hear the mighty crack, M ANON. AN, confidered in himself, is a very helpless and a very wretched being. He is fubject every moment to the greateft calamities and misfortunes. He is befet with dangers on all fides, and may become unhappy by numberlefs cafualties, which he could not forefee, nor have prevented had he foreseen them. It is our comfort, while we are obnoxious to so many accidents, that we are under the care of one who, directs contingencies, and has in his hands the management of every thing that is capable of annoying or offending us; who knows the affiftance we ftand in need of, and is always ready to bestow it on those who ask it of him. The natural homage which fuch a creature bears to fo infinitely wife and good a Being, is a firm reliance on him for the bleffings and conveniencies of life, and an habitual trust in him for deliverance out of all fuch dangers and difficulties as befal us. may The man who always lives in this difpofition of mind, has not the fame dark and melancholy views of human nature, as he who confiders himself abstractedly from this relation to the Supreme Being. At the fame time that he reflects upon his own weakness and imperfection, he comforts himself with the contemplation of thofe divine attributes, which are employed for his fafety and his welfare. He finds his want of forefight made up by the omniscience of him who is his fupport. H |