[Footnote 1: ‘Poetics’, Part II.
Sec. 13.]
* * * *
*
No. 43. Thursday, April 19, 1711.
Steele.
’Ha tibi
erunt artes; pacisque imponere morem,
Parcere Subjectis,
et debellare Superbos.’
Virg.
There are Crowds of Men, whose great Misfortune it
is that they were not bound to Mechanick Arts or Trades;
it being absolutely necessary for them to be led by
some continual Task or Employment. These are such
as we commonly call dull Fellows; Persons, who for
want of something to do, out of a certain Vacancy
of Thought, rather than Curiosity, are ever meddling
with things for which they are unfit. I cannot
give you a Notion of them better than by presenting
you with a Letter from a Gentleman, who belongs to
a Society of this Order of Men, residing at Oxford.
Oxford, April 13, 1711. Four a Clock
in the Morning.
SIR,
’In some of your late Speculations,
I find some Sketches towards an History of Clubs:
But you seem to me to shew them in somewhat too ludicrous
a Light. I have well weighed that Matter, and
think, that the most important Negotiations may
best be carried on in such Assemblies. I shall
therefore, for the Good of Mankind, (which, I trust,
you and I are equally concerned for) propose an Institution
of that Nature for Example sake.
I must confess, the Design and Transactions
of too many Clubs are trifling, and manifestly of
no consequence to the Nation or Publick Weal:
Those I’ll give you up. But you must do
me then the Justice to own, that nothing can be
more useful or laudable than the Scheme we go upon.
To avoid Nicknames and Witticisms, we call ourselves
The Hebdomadal Meeting: Our President continues
for a Year at least, and sometimes four or five:
We are all Grave, Serious, Designing Men, in our
Way: We think it our Duty, as far as in us lies,
to take care the Constitution receives no Harm,—Ne
quid detrimenti Res capiat publica—To
censure Doctrines or Facts, Persons or Things, which
we don’t like; To settle the Nation at home,
and to carry on the War abroad, where and in what
manner we see fit: If other People are not of
our Opinion, we can’t help that. ’Twere
better they were. Moreover, we now and then
condescend to direct, in some measure, the little
Affairs of our own University.
Verily, Mr. SPECTATOR, we
are much offended at the Act for importing French
Wines: [1] A Bottle or two of good solid Edifying
Port, at honest George’s, made a Night
chearful, and threw off Reserve. But this plaguy
French Claret will not only cost us more Mony,
but do us less Good: Had we been aware of it,
before it had gone too far, I must tell you, we
would have petitioned to be heard upon that Subject.
