Cf. Mme de Sévigné's Letters, ed. Monmerqué (Les Grands Écrivains de la France, ed. Regnier), Paris: Hachette, 1862–66, V, 229 (Letter 628): "Je crois, ma fille, que je serais fort de votre avis sur le poëme epique: le clinquant du Tasse m'a charmée." See also Boileau, L'Art Poétique, iii, 205, Réflexions sur Longin, ii; Voltaire's Works, ed. Benchot, Paris, 1826-40, XII, 509. Cf. also Spect. 279, 369. 69 14 Clinquant: Bishop Hurd (Works, London, 1811, IV, 314) in his Letters on Chivalry and Romance (1762) says: "A lucky word in a verse, which sounds well and every body gets by heart, goes further than a volume of just criticism. In short, the exact, but cold Boileau happened to say something of the clinquant of Tasso; and the magic of this word, like the report of Astolfo's horn in Ariosto, overturned at once the solid and well-built reputation of the Italian poetry. It is not perhaps strange that this potent word should do its business in France. What was less to be expected, it put us into a fright on this side the water. Mr. Addison, who gave the law in taste here, took it up, and sent it about the kingdom in his polite and popular essays. It became a sort of watchword among the critics; and, on the sudden, nothing was heard, on all sides, but the clinquant of Tasso." 69 23 Whittington and his Cat: For the legend about Whittington, see Clouston, Popular Tales and Fictions, II, 65-78; Joseph Jacobs, English Fairy Tales (3d ed., London, 1898, p. 167); Harper's Magazine, August, 1901 (CIII, 459 ff.). Powell seems to have taken the hint: in Les Soupirs de la Grand Britaigne: Or, The Groans of Great Britain, Being the Second Part to the Groans of Europe (London, 1713), which is generally ascribed to Defoe, we find (pp. 73-74): "I was the other Day at a Coffee-House, when the following Advertisement was thrown in . . . At Punche's Theatre, in the Little Piazza Covent-Garden; this present Evening, will be perform'd an Entertainment, call'd the History of Sir Richard Whittington, showing his Rise from a Scullion to be Lord-Mayor of London, with the Comical Humours of Old Madge the Jolly Chamber Maid, and the Representation of the Sea, and the Court of Great Britain, concluding with the Court of Aldermen, and Whittington, Lord-Mayor; honour'd with the Presence of King Henry VIII and his Queen Anna Bullen; with other diverting Decorations proper to the Play, beginning at Six of the Clock. Note, No Money to be return'd after the Entertainment is begun. VIVAT REGINA. Boxes Two Shillings. Pit One. “On Enquiring into the matter, I find this has long been a Noble Diversion of our Quality and Gentry, and that Mr. Powel by Subscriptions and full House has gather'd such Wealth as is ten times sufficient to buy all the Poets in England." 69 33 Pied Piper: It is unnecessary to speak of Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin," which has brought this old story into English nursery legend; on earlier versions, see Baring Gould, Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, Philadelphia, 1869, pp. 417 ff. 70 4 London and Wise: the royal gardeners; see Mr. Gregory Smith's valuable note in his edition of the Spectator; also Lecky, I, 523 ff., and the Honorable Alicia Amherst, A History of Gardening in England, pp. 217-218. 70 8 Undertakers: managers, promoters. See Greenough and Kittredge, Words and Their Ways, pp. 252-253 70 Motto: Horace, Epist., ii, 208-209: Visions and magic spells can you despise, And laugh at witches, ghosts, and prodigies? 70 20-21 Stranger in the candle: Sir Thomas Browne (Vulgar Errors, ed. 1672, p. 317) esteems this phenomenon of "low consideration." It is due, he says, to "the fungous parcels about the wicks of candles which only signifieth a moist and pluvious ayr about them, hindering the avolation of the light and favillous particles: whereupon they are forced to settle upon the Snaft." The "fungous parcels," it seems, were actually called "strangers." See Brand's Pop. Antiq., ed. 1803, II, 503 (ed. Hazlitt, III, 181). 66 I 70 23 Join-hand: connected writing, to be entered upon only after one has learned to form the letters separately. In Dekker and Webster's Westward Hoe, act ii, scene 1, the writing-master says: trust, ere few days be at an end, to have her fall to her joining, for she has her letters ad unguem." 70 25 Childermas-day: The popular name for Holy Innocents Day, which falls on the twenty-eighth of December and commemorates the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem by order of Herod (Matthew ii. 16-18). But in this case the meaning is obviously that of "the day of the week throughout the year, answering to the day in which the feast of the Holy Innocents is solemnized" (Johnson). This explains the phrase "a day in every week." Cf. in Swift's Directions to Servants the "Advice to the Cook." 711 Salt: Sir Thomas Browne says in his Vulgar Errors, 1646 (bk. 5, chap. xx, § 3): "The falling of Salt is an authenticke presagement of ill lucke, nor can every temper contemne it, from whence notwithstanding nothing can be naturally feared: nor was the same a generall prognosticke of future evil among the ancients, but a particular omination concerning the breach of friendship: for salt as incorruptible, was the Simbole of friendship, and before the other service was offered unto their guests; which if it casually fell was accounted ominous, and their amitie of no duration." See also Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, III, 164-165; Bishop Hall's "Superstitious Man" in his Characters of Virtues and Vices; Congreve's Love for Love, act iii, scene 9, where Sir Sampson says, "Ha! thou'rt . . . as melancholic as if thou hadst spilt the salt, or pared thy nails on a Sunday." 71 16-17 Battle of Almanza: April 25, 1707, a victory of the French and Spanish over the allies, which established Philip V on the Spanish throne. 71 20 Knife and Fork: On this superstition, see Brand's Popular Antiquities, II, 222. It is to be noted that the superstition has become a bit of popular manners. 71 32 Aspect: here probably colored by the earlier sense of the word, which was astrological: see Greenough and Kittredge, Words and Their Ways, pp. 33-34. 727 On superstitions connected with shooting stars, see Brand, ed. Hazlitt, III, 214. 729 Merry-thought: wishbone. In the British Apollo of Nov. 26– Dec. 1, 1708 (vol. I, No. 84, Q. 6), we have the question, "For what Reason is the Bone next the Breast of a Fowl, &c. Called the Merrythought. And when was it first Called so." The answer is " The Original of that Name was doubtless from the Pleasant Fancies, that commonly arise upon the Breaking of that Bone, and 't was then certainly call'd so, when those merry Notions were first started." Johnson finds the word used in Eachard's Contempt of the Clergy, 1670. 729 A Screech-owl: Sir Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errors, bk. v, chap. 23, treats "Of the ominous Appearing of Owls and Ravens"; The Athenian Mercury, vol. I, No. 22, Q. I, discusses "Why Rats, Toads, Ravens, Screech-Owls, &c. are Ominous; and how come they to foreknow fatal Events." See also Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, III, 194–196. 72 11 ff. Cricket, thirteen, death-watches: On superstitions about crickets, see Brand, London, 1813, II, 510–512; on the number thirteen, supposed to have had its origin in the circumstances of the Paschal Supper and therefore especially applicable to companies at table together, see Brand's Popular Antiquities, ed. Hazlitt, III, 232. On the death-watch, Sir Thomas Browne, at the beginning of the seventh chapter in his second book of Vulgar Errors, observes: "Few ears have escaped the noise of the death-watch, that is, the little clickling sound heard often in many rooms, somewhat resembling that of a watch; and this is conceived to be an evil omen or prediction of some person's death: wherein notwithstanding there is nothing of rational presage or just cause of terror unto melancholy and meticulous heads. For this noise is made by a little sheathwinged grey insect, found often in wainscot benches and wood-work in the summer." Cf. the British Apollo, vol. III, No. 49, Q. 4. 74 Motto: Virgil, Georg., i, 201: So the boat's brawny crew the current stem, Then down the flood with headlong haste they drive. — DRYDen. 744 Publisher tells me, etc.: On the circulation of the Spectator, see Aitken, Steele, I, 318-320. From its beginning until No. 446 (August 1, 1712), which was the first number published after the stamp-tax came into force, the circulation of the Spectator steadily increased. In No. 262 (31 December, 1711) Addison wrote: "I find that the demand of my papers has increased every month since their first appearance in the world." The stamp-tax, which as we saw from Swift's letter (p. 280, above) played such havoc with the other papers, reduced the circulation of the Spectator by more than one half. Thus reduced, it still had a daily circulation of more than 1600 copies, as we see from Steele's closing paper (No. 555), in which he sets the average amount paid each week in taxes above £20. These estimates are strangely at variance with Dr. Fleetwood's letter, dated June 17, 1712, which puts the daily circulation of the Spectator at that time as high as 14,000 copies. Then, too, the Spectator in volumes sold largely. In No. 488 Addison wrote, "My bookseller has now about ten thousand of the third and fourth Volumes, having already disposed of as large an edition both of the first and second Volumes," and by December 6, 1712, when No. 555 appeared, Steele was able to report that "an edition of the former volumes of Spectators of above nine thousand each book is already sold off." 74 22 It was said of Socrates: Cicero, Tusc. Quæst., v, 10: "Socrates autem primus philosophiam devocavit e caelo, et in urbibus collocavit, et in domos etiam introduxit," etc. 75 5 Sir Francis Bacon: Advancement of Learning, bk. ii, Introduction, § 14 (Works, ed. Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, IV, 290). 75 12 What passes in Muscovy, etc.: cf. Spect. 105: "The state pedant is wrapt up in news, and lost in politics. If you mention either of the kings of Spain or Poland, he talks very notably; but if you go out of the Gazette, you drop him." 75 24 Royal-society: Both Addison and Steele are inclined to make fun of the Royal Society. The author of Tat. 221, probably Addison, writes of a certain gentleman that he was chosen "a Fellow of the Royal Society, from which time I do not remember ever to have heard him speak as other people did, or talk in a manner that any of his family could understand"; and in Tat. 236 Steele says, "When I meet with a young fellow that is an humble admirer of these Sciences, but more dull than the rest of the Company, I conclude him to be a Fellow of the Royal Society." Cf. Tat. 7, 119, 200, 216. 75 29 Another set of men: cf. the political upholsterer of Tat. 155. 78 Motto: Horace, Odes, i, 4, 13–17: With equal foot, rich friend, impartial fate To storied ghosts, and Pluto's house below. - Creech. 78 2 Westminster Abby: In general connection with this paper one may read Goldsmith's Citizen of the World, Letter xiii; Washington Irving's "Westminster Abbey" in his Sketch Book; and Charles Lamb's "The Tombs in the Abbey" in Last Essays of Elig. 78 22 Homer: Iliad, xvii, 216. 78 23 Virgil: Æneid, vi, 483. 78 24 In Holy Writ: Wisdom of Solomon, v, 12-13: (12) "Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through, (13) Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to show; but were consumed in our own wickedness." These verses form a portion of the morning lesson for the day which celebrates the conversion of St. Paul, and of the evening lesson for All Saints' Day. From this and from the fact that Addison quotes the passage incorrectly, it seems probable that he relied upon his memory of it as he had heard it read in church. 791 Entertained my self with: occupied my time (by watching). Cf. I play the noble housewife with the time, To entertain't so merrily with a fool.-All's Well, ii, 2, 62–63. 79 22 In Greek or Hebrew: Sir Samuel Morland, 1625-1695, "a person," according to Coombe, "of extensive erudition, and particularly |