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N the fix hundred and thirty-fecond SPECTATOR the reader will find an account of the rife of this eighth and last volume*.

I have not been able to prevail upon the several gentlemen who were concerned in this work to let me acquaint the world with their names.

Perhaps it will be unneceffary to inform the reader, that no other Papers which have appeared under the title of SPECTATOR, fince the closing of this eighth volume, were written by any of thofe gentlemen who had a hand in this or the former volumes.

*After the SPECTATOR had been laid down about a year and an half, in which interval The GUARDIAN, and its fequel The ENGLISHMAN, were published, " an attempt was made to re"vive it, at a time" [in the opinion of the writer whose words are her quoted] "by no means favourable to literature, when "the fucceffion of a new family to the throne filled the nation "with anxiety, discord, and confufion. Either the turbulence "of the times, or the fatiety of the readers, put a stop to the "publication after an experiment of eighty numbers, which "were afterwards collected into this 8th volume, perhaps more "valuable than any one of those that went before it.

"ADDISON produced more than a fourth part, and the other " contributors are by no means unworthy of appearing as his "affociates.

"The time that had paffed during the fufpenfion of the "SPECTATOR, though it had not leffened ADDISON's power "of humour, feems to have increafed his difpofition to fe"rioufnefs: the proportion of his religious to his comic Papers "is greater than in the former feries. The SPECTATOR, from "its recommencement, was published only three times a week, "and no difcriminative marks were added to the papers. To "ADDISON Mr. Tickell has afcribed 23; Nos. 556, 557, 558, "559, 561, 562, 565, 567, 568, 569, 571, 574, 575, 579, "580, 582, 583, 584, 585, 590, 591, 598, and 600." JOHNSON'S "Lives of English Poets," Vol. II. p. 380. Ed. 8vo. 1781.

THE

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THE

SPECTATOR.

N° 556. Friday, June 18, 1714.

Qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina paftus
Frigida fub terrâ tumidum quem bruma tegebat;
Nunc pofitis novus exuviis, nitidufque juventa,
Lubrica convolvit fublato pectore terga
Arduus ad folem, & linguis micat ore trifculcis.
VIRG. En. ii. 471.

So fhines, renew'd in youth, the crefted fnake,
Who flept the winter in a thorny brake:
And, cafting off his flough when spring returns,
'Now looks aloft, and with new glory burns:
Reftor'd with pois'nous herbs, his ardent fides.
Reflect the fun, and rais'd on spires he rides;
High o'er the grafs hiffing he rolls along,
And brandishes by fits his forky tongue.'
DRYDEN.

PON laying down the office of SPEC

UPO

TATOR, I acquainted the world with my defign of electing a new club, and of opening my mouth in it after a moft folemn manner. Both the election and the ceremony are now paft; but not finding it fo eafy, as I at firft imagined, to break through a fifty years filence, I would not B 3

venture

venture into the world under the character of a man who pretends to talk like other people, until I had arrived at a full freedom of fpeech.

I fhall referve for another time the history of fuch club or clubs of which I am now a talkative, but unworthy member; and shall here give an account of this furprising change which has been produced in me, and which I look upon to be as remarkable an accident as any recorded in hiftory, fince that which happened to the fon of Crœfus, after having been many years as much tonguetied as myfelf.

Upon the firft opening of my mouth I made afp e ec, confifting of about half a dozen wellturned periods; but grew fo very hoarfe upon it, that for three days together, inftead of finding the use of my tongue, I was afraid that I had quite loft it. Befides, the unufual extenfion of my muscles on this occafion made my face ache on both fides to fuch a degree, that nothing but an invincible refolution and perfeverance could have prevented me from falling back to my monofyllables.

I afterwards made feveral effays towards speaking; and that I might not be ftartled at my own voice, which has happened to me more than once, I used to read aloud in my chamber, and have often ftood in the middle of the street to call a coach, when I knew there was none within hearing.

When I was thus grown pretty well acquainted with my own voice, I laid hold of all opportunities to exert it. Not caring however

to

to speak much by myfelf, and to draw upon me the whole attention of thofe I converfed with, I ufed for fome time to walk every morning in the Mall, and talk in chorus with a parcel of Frenchmen. I found my modefty greatly relieved by the communicative temper of this nation, who are fo very fociable as to think they are never better company than when they are all opening at the fame time.

I then fancied I might receive great benefit from female converfation, and that I should have a convenience of talking with the greater freedom when I was not under any impediment of thinking: I therefore threw myself into an affembly of ladies, but could not for my life get in a word among them: and found that if I did not change my company I was in danger of being reduced to my primitive taciturnity.

The coffee-houfes have ever fince been my chief places of refort, where I have made the greateft improvements; in order to which I have taken a particular care never to be of the fame opinion with the man I converfed with. I was a tory at Button's, and a whig at Child's, a friend to the Englishman, or an advocate for the Examiner, as it beft ferved my turn: fome fancy me a great enemy to the French king, though in reality I only make ufe of him for a help to difcourfe. In fhort, I wrangle and difpute for exercife; and have carried this point so far, that I was once like to have been run through the body for making a little too free with my betters.

In a word, I am quite another man to what I was.

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HOR. I Sat. iii. 18.

Nothing was ever fo unlike itself.'

My old acquaintance fcarce know me; nay, I was afked the other day by a jew at Jonathan's whether I was not related to a dumb gentleman, who ufed to come to that coffee-houfe? But I think I never was better pleafed in my life than about a week ago, when, as I was battling it across the table with a young Templar, his companion gave him a pull by the fleeve, begging him to come away, for that the old prig would talk him to death.

Being now a very good proficient in difcourfe, I fhall appear in the world with this addition to my character, that my countrymen may reap the fruits of my new-acquired loquacity.

Those who have been prefent at public difputes in the univerfity know that it is ufual to maintain herefies for argument-fake. I have heard a man a moft impudent Socinian for half an hour, who has been an orthodox divine all his life after. I have taken the fame method to accomplish myself in the gift of utterance, having talked above a twelvemonth, not fo much for the benefit of my hearers, as of myfelf. But, fince I have now gained the faculty I have been fo long endeavouring after, I intend to make a right use of it, and shall think myself obliged for the future to speak always in truth and fincerity of heart. While a man is learning

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