[Footnote 1: Ecclesiasticus vii. 5, 6.]
[Footnote 2: Eccles. vi. 7, and following verses.]
[Footnote 3: Eccles. vi. 15-18.]
[Footnote 4: Eccles. ix. 10.]
[Footnote 5: Eccles. ix, 20-22.]
[Footnote 6: Eccles. xxvii. 16, &c.]
[Footnote 7: Cicero ‘de Amicitia’,
and in the ‘De Officiis’ he says (Bk.
II.),
’difficile dicta est, quantopere
conciliet animos hominum comitas,
affabilitasque sermonia.’]
* * * *
*
No. 69. Saturday, May 19, 1711.
Addison.
’Hic segetes,
illic veniunt felicius uvae:
Arborei foetus
alibi, atque injussa virescunt
Gramina.
Nonne vides, croceos ut Tmolus odores,
India mittit ebur,
molles sua thura Sabaei?
At Chalybes nudi
ferrum, virosaque Pontus
Castorea, Eliadum
palmas Epirus equarum?
Continuo has leges
aeternaque foedera certis
Imposuit Natura
locis ...’
Virg.
There is no Place in the Town which I so much love
to frequent as the Royal-Exchange. It
gives me a secret Satisfaction, and in some measure,
gratifies my Vanity, as I am an Englishman,
to see so rich an Assembly of Countrymen and Foreigners
consulting together upon the private Business of Mankind,
and making this Metropolis a kind of Emporium
for the whole Earth. I must confess I look upon
High-Change to be a great Council, in which all considerable
Nations have their Representatives. Factors in
the Trading World are what Ambassadors are in the
Politick World; they negotiate Affairs, conclude Treaties,
and maintain a good Correspondence between those wealthy
Societies of Men that are divided from one another
by Seas and Oceans, or live on the different Extremities
of a Continent. I have often been pleased to hear
Disputes adjusted between an Inhabitant of Japan
and an Alderman of London, or to see a Subject
of the Great Mogul entering into a League with
one of the Czar of Muscovy. I am infinitely
delighted in mixing with these several Ministers of
Commerce, as they are distinguished by their different
Walks and different Languages: Sometimes I am
justled among a Body of Armenians; Sometimes
I am lost in a Crowd of Jews; and sometimes
make one in a Groupe of Dutchmen. I am
a Dane, Swede, or Frenchman at
different times; or rather fancy my self like the
old Philosopher, who upon being asked what Countryman
he was, replied, That he was a Citizen of the World.
Though I very frequently visit this busie Multitude
of People, I am known to no Body there but my Friend,
Sir ANDREW, who often smiles upon me as he sees me
bustling in the Crowd, but at the same time connives
at my Presence without taking any further Notice of
me. There is indeed a Merchant of Egypt,
who just knows me by sight, having formerly remitted
me some Mony to Grand Cairo; [1] but as I am
not versed in the Modern Coptick, our Conferences
go no further than a Bow and a Grimace.
