you, and takes no notice of your saluting him:
The Truth on’t is, his Eyes are open, but
he makes no use of them, and neither sees you, nor
any Man, nor any thing else: He came once from
his Country-house, and his own Footman undertook
to rob him, and succeeded: They held a Flambeau
to his Throat, and bid him deliver his Purse; he did
so, and coming home told his Friends he had been
robbed; they desired to know the Particulars, Ask
my Servants, says_ Menalcas, for they were with
me_.
[Footnote 1: Seneca ‘de Tranquill.
Anim.’ cap. xv.
‘Nullum magnum ingenium sine mixtura
dementiae’
Dryden’s lines are in Part I of ’Absalom
and Achitophel’.]
[Footnote 2: ‘Caracteres’, Chap.
xi. de l’Homme. La Bruyere’s Menalque
was identified with a M. de Brancas, brother of the
Duke de Villars. The adventure of the wig is
said really to have happened to him at a reception
by the Queen-Mother. He was said also on his wedding-day
to have forgotten that he had been married. He
went abroad as usual, and only remembered the ceremony
of the morning upon finding the changed state of his
household when, as usual, he came home in the evening.]
* * * *
*
No. 78. Wednesday, May 30, 1711.
Steele.
Cum Talis sis,
Utinam noster esses!
The following Letters are so pleasant, that I doubt
not but the Reader will be as much diverted with them
as I was. I have nothing to do in this Day’s
Entertainment, but taking the Sentence from the End
of the Cambridge Letter, and placing it at
the Front of my Paper; to shew the Author I wish him
my Companion with as much Earnestness as he invites
me to be his.
SIR,
’I Send you the inclosed, to be
inserted (if you think them worthy of it) in your
SPECTATORS; in which so surprizing a Genius appears,
that it is no Wonder if all Mankind endeavours to
get somewhat into a Paper which will always live.
As to the Cambridge Affair, the
Humour was really carried on in the Way I described
it. However, you have a full Commission to put
out or in, and to do whatever you think fit with
it. I have already had the Satisfaction of
seeing you take that Liberty with some things I have
before sent you. [1]
’Go on, Sir, and prosper. You
have the best Wishes of
SIR, Your very Affectionate,
and Obliged Humble Servant.’
Cambridge.
Mr, SPECTATOR,
