he alfo told me, upon farther Difcourfe with him, that two or three noify Country-Squires, who were fettled there the Year before, had confiderably funk the Price of House-Rent; and that the Club (to prevent the like Inconveniencies for the future) had Thoughts of taking every House that became vacant into their own Hands, till they had found a Tenant for it, of a fociable Nature and good Converfation. THE Hum-Drum Club, of which I was formerly an unworthy Member, was made up of very honeft Gentlemen, of peaceable Difpofitions, that used to fit together, fmoke their Pipes, and fay nothing till Midnight. The Mum Club (as I am informed) is an Inftitution of the fame Nature, and as great an Enemy to Noife. AFTER these two innocent Societies, I cannot forbear mentioning a very mifchievous one, that was erected in the Reign of King Charles the Second: I mean the Club of Duellifts, in which none was to be admitted that had not fought his Man. The Prefident of it was faid to have killed half a dozen in fingle Combat; and as for the other Members, they took their Seats according to the Number of their Slain. There was likewife a SideTable, for fuch as had only drawn Blood, and fhewn a laudable Ambition of taking the first Opportunity to qualify themselves for the firft Table. This Club confifting only of Men of Honour, did not continue long, most of the Members of it being put to the Sword, or hanged, a little after its Inftitution. OUR Modern celebrated Clubs are founded upon Eating and Drinking, which are Points wherein most Men agree, and in which the Learned and Illiterate, the Dull and the Airy, the Philofopher and the Buffoon, can all of them bear a Part. The Kit-Cat it felf is faid to have taken its Original from a Mutton-Pye. The BeefSteak, and October Clubs, are neither of them averse to Fating and Drinking, if we may form a Judgment of them from their respective Titles. WHEN Men are thus knit together, by a Love of Society, not a Spirit of Faction, and don't meet to cenfure or annoy thofe that are abfent, but to enjoy one another; When they are thus combined for their own Improvement, or for the Good of others, or at least to relax them themselves from the Business of the Day, by an innocent and chearful Converfation, there may be fomething very ufeful in these little Inftitutions and Establishments. I canot forbear concluding this Paper with a Scheme of Laws that I met with upon a Wall in a little Alehoufe: How I came thither I may inform my Reader at a more convenient time. These Laws were enacted by a Knot of Artifans and Mechanicks, who used to meet every Night; and as there is something in them which gives us a pretty Picture of low Life, I fhall transcribe them Word for Word. RULES to be obferved in the Two-Peny Club, erected in this Place, for the Prefervation of Friendship and good Neighbourhood. I. EVERY Member at his first coming in fhall lay down his Two-Pence. II. EVERY Member fhall fill his Pipe out of his own Box. III. IF any Member absents himself he fhall forfeit a Peny for the Ufe of the Club, unless in case of Sickness or Imprisonment. IV. IF any Member fwears or curfes, his Neighbour may give him a Kick upon the Shins. V. IF any Member tells Stories in the Club that are not true, he shall forfeit for every third Lye an Halfpeny. VI. IF any Member ftrikes another wrongfully, he fhall pay his Club for him. VII. If any Member brings his Wife into the Club, he fhall pay for whatever fhe drinks or fmokes. VIII. If any Member's Wife comes to fetch him home from the Club, she shall speak to him without the .Door. IX. IF any Member calls another Cuckold, he shall be turned out of the Club. X. NONE fhall be admitted into the Club that is of the fame Trade with any Member of it. XI. NONE of the Club fhall have his Clothes or Shoes made or monded, but by a Brother-Member. XII. No XII. NO Non-juror fhall be capable of being a Member. THE Morality of this little Club is guarded by fuch wholfom Laws and Penalties, that I queition not but my Reader will be as well pleafed with them, as he would have been with the Leges Convivales of Ben. Johnson, the Regulations of an old Roman Club cited by Lipfius, or the Rules of a Symposium in an ancient Greek Author. с No 10. Monday, March 12. I Non aliter quàm qui adverfo vix flumine lembum Atque illum in præceps prono rapit alveus amni. Virg. T is with much Satisfaction that I hear this great City inquiring Day by Day after these my Papers, and receiving my Morning Lectures with a becoming Serioufnefs and Attention. My Publisher tells me, that there are already Three Thoufand of them diftributed every Day: So that if I allow Twenty Readers to every Paper, which I look upon as a modest Computation, I may reckon about Threefcore Thousand Difciples in London and Westminster, who I hope will take care to diftinguish themselves from the thoughtless Herd of their ignorant and unattentive Brethren. Since I have raised to my felf fo great an Audience, I fhall fpare no Pains to make their Inftruction agreeable, and their Diverfion ufeful. For which Reasons I fhall endeavour to enliven Morality with Wit, and to temper Wit with Morality, that my Readers may, if poffible, both Ways find their Account in the Speculation of the Day. And to the end that their Virtue and Difcretion may not be fhort tranfient intermitting Starts of Thought, I have refolved to refresh their Memories from Day to Day, till I have recovered them out of that defperate State of Vice and Folly into which the Age is fallen. The Mind that lies fallow but a fingle Day, Day, fprouts up in Follies that are only to be killed by a conftant and affiduous Culture. It was faid of Socrates, that he brought Philosophy down from Heaven, to inhabit among Men; and I fhall be ambitious to have it faid of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of Clofets and Libraries, Schools and Colleges, to dwell in Clubs and Affemblies, at Tea-Tables and in Coffee-Houfes. I would therefore in a very particular Manner recommend these my Speculations to all well-regulated Families, that fet apart an Hour in every Morning for Tea and Bread and Butter; and would earnestly advise them for their Good to order this Paper to be punctually ferved up, and to be looked upon as a Part of the Tea-Equipage. SIR Francis Bacon obferves, that a well-written Book, compared with its Rivals and Antagonists, is like Mofes's Serpent, that immediately fwallowed up and devoured thofe of the Egyptians. I shall not be fo vain as to think, that where the SPECTATOR appears, the other publick Prints will vanish; but fhall leave it to my Reader's Confideration, whether, Is it not much better to be let into the Knowledge of ones felf, than to hear what paffes in Mofcovy or Poland; and to amuse our felves with fuch Writings as tend to the wearing out of Ignorance, Paffion, and Prejudice, than fuch as naturally conduce to inflame Hatreds, and make Enmities irreconcileable? IN the next Place I would recommend this Paper to the daily Perufal of thofe Gentlemen whom I cannot but confider as my good Brothers and Allies, I mean the Fra ternity of Spectators, who live in the World without hav-Hazlitt ing any thing to do in it; and either by the Affluence of their Fortunes, or Lazinefs of their Difpofitions, have no other Business with the rest of Mankind, but to look upon them. Under this Clafs of Men are comprehended all contemplative Tradefmen, titular Phyficians, Fellows of the Royal Society, Templers that are not given to be contentious, and Statesmen that are out of Bufinefs; in. fhort, every one that confiders the World as a Theatre, and defires to form a right Judgment of those who are the Actors on it. THERE is another Set of Men that I muft likewise lay a Claim to, whom I have lately called the Blanks of Society, Society, as being altogether unfurnished with Ideas, till the Bufinefs and Converfation of the Day has fupplied them. I have often confidered thefe poor Souls with an Eye of great Commiferation, when I have heard them asking the first Man they have met with, whether there was any News ftirring? and by that Means ga thering together Materials for Thinking. These needy Perfons do not know what to talk of, 'till about Twelve o'Clock in the Morning; for by that Time they are pretty good Judges of the Weather, know which Way the Wind fits, and whether the Dutch Mail be come in. As they lie at the Mercy of the first Man they meet, and are grave or impertinent all the Day long, according to the Notions which they have imbibed in the Morning, I would earnestly intreat them not to ftir out of their Chambers till they have read this Paper, and do promise them that I will daily inftil into them fuch found and wholfom Sentiments, as fhall have a good Effect on their Converfation for the enfuing twelve Hours. BUT there are none to whom this Paper will be more useful, than to the Female World. I have often thought there has not been fufficient Pains taken in finding out proper Employments and Diverfions for the Fair ones. Their Amusements feem contrived for them, rather as they are Women, than as they are reasonable Creatures; and are more adapted to the Sex than to the Species. The Toilet is their great Scene of Bufiness, and the right adjusting of their Hair the principal Employment of their Lives. The forting of a Suit of Ribbons, is reckon'd a very good Morning's Work; and if they make an Excurfion to a Mercer's or a Toy-fhop, fo great a Fatigue makes them unfit for any thing else all the Day after. Their more ferious Occupations are Sewing and Embroidery, and their fweeteft Drudgery the Preparation of Jellies and Sweet-meats. This, I fay, is the State of ordinary Women; tho' I know there are f Multitudes of thofe of a more elevated Life and Converfation, that move in an exalted Sphere of Knowledge and Virtue, that join all the Beauties of the Mind to the Ornaments of Drefs, and infpire a kind of Awe and Refpect, as well as Love, into their Male-Beholders. I hope to increase the Number of these by Publishing this daily Paper, |