Spectator Vol.8.) N.623) ༦༦ Q But first let yawing earth a passage rend SPECTATOR. VOLUME THE EIGHT H. LONDON: FRINTED FOR J. COOTE, No. 14. RED-LION-STREET, CLERKENWELL, BY VIRTUE OF A LATE DECISION IN THE HOUSE OF PEERS. MDCC LXXVIII. то WILLIAM HONEYCOMB. Esq. THE HE feven former volumes of the Spectator having been dedicated to fome of the most celebrated perfons of the age, I take leave to infcribe this eighth and laft to You, as to a gentleman who hath ever been ambitious of appearing in the beft company. You are now wholly retired from the bufy part of mankind, and at leisure to reflect upon your paft atchievements; for which reafon I look upon You as a perfon very well qualified for a Dedication. I may poffibly difappoint my readers, and yourfelf too, if I do not endeavour on this occafion to make the world acquainted with your virtues. virtues. And here, Sir, I fhall not compliment You upon your birth, perfon, or fortune; nor any other the like perfections, which you poffefs whether you will or no: But shall only touch upon thofe which are of your own acquiring, and in which every one must allow You have a real merit. Your janty air and eafy motion, the volubility of your difcourse, the fuddennefs of your laugh, the management of your fnuff-box, with the whitenefs of your hands and teeth, (which have juftly gained You the envy of the moft polite of the male world, and the love of the greatest beauties in the female) are entirely to be afcribed to your own perfonal genius and application. part You are formed for these accomplishments by a happy turn of nature, and have finished yourself in them by the utmost improvements of art. A man that is defective in either of thefe qualifications (whatever may be the fecret ambition of his heart) must never hope to make the figure You have done, among the fashionable part of his fpecies. It is therefore no, wonder, we fee fuch multitudes of afpiring young men fall short of You in all thefe beauties of your character, notwithftanding the ftudy and practice of them is the whole bufinefs of their lives. But I need not tell you that the free and difengaged behaviour of a fine gentleman makes as many aukward beaux, as the eafinefs of your favourite Waller hath made infipid poets. At At prefent You are content to aim all your charms at your own spouse, without farther thought of mischief to any others of the fex. I know You had formerly a very great contempt for that pedantic race of mortals, who call themselves philofophers; and yet, to your honour be it spoken, there is not a fage of them all could have better acted up to their precepts in one of the most important points of life: I mean in that generous disregard of popular opinion which You shewed fome years ago, when You chofe for your wife an obfcure young woman, who doth not indeed pretend to an ancient family, but has certainly as many forefathers as any lady in the land, if he could but reckon up their names. I must own I conceived very cxtraordinary hopes of You from the moment that you confeffed your age, and from eight and forty (where you had Buck to many years) very ingenioufly ftepped into your grand climacteric. Your deportment has fince been very venerable and becoming. If I am rightly informed, You make a regular appearance every quarterfeffions among your brothers of the quorum; and if things go on as they do, stand fair for being a colonel of the militia. I am told that your time paffes away as agreeably in the amusements of a country life, as it ever did in the gallantries of the town: and that You now take as much pleasure in the planting of young trees, as you did formerly in the cutting down of your old ones. In fhort, we hear from all hands that You are thoroughly reconciled to your dirty acres, and have not too much wit to look into your own eftate. After having spoken thus much of my patron, I must take the priviledge of an author in faying fomething of myself. I fhall therefore beg leave to add, that I have purposely omitted fetting thofe marks to the end of every paper, which appeared in my former volumes, that You may have an opportunity of fhewing Mrs. Honeycomb the fhrewdness of your conjectures, by afcribing every fpeculation to its proper author: though you know how often many profound critics in ftile and fentiments have very judiciously erred in this particular, before they were let into the fecret. I am, Sir, Your moft faithful humble servant, |
