THAT.’
* * * *
*
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
CHARLES LORD HALLIFAX. [1]
My LORD,
Similitude of Manners and Studies is usually mentioned
as one of the strongest motives to Affection and Esteem;
but the passionate Veneration I have for your Lordship,
I think, flows from an Admiration of Qualities in
You, of which, in the whole course of these Papers
I have acknowledged myself incapable. While I
busy myself as a Stranger upon Earth, and can pretend
to no other than being a Looker-on, You are conspicuous
in the Busy and Polite world, both in the World of
Men, and that of Letters; While I am silent and unobserv’d
in publick Meetings, You are admired by all that approach
You as the Life and Genius of the Conversation.
What an happy Conjunction of different Talents meets
in him whose whole Discourse is at once animated by
the Strength and Force of Reason, and adorned with
all the Graces and Embellishments of Wit: When
Learning irradiates common Life, it is then in its
highest Use and Perfection; and it is to such as Your
Lordship, that the Sciences owe the Esteem which they
have with the active Part of Mankind. Knowledge
of Books in recluse Men, is like that sort of Lanthorn
which hides him who carries it, and serves only to
pass through secret and gloomy Paths of his own; but
in the Possession of a Man of Business, it is as a
Torch in the Hand of one who is willing and able to
shew those, who are bewildered, the Way which leads
to their Prosperity and Welfare. A generous Concern
for your Country, and a Passion for every thing which
is truly Great and Noble, are what actuate all Your
Life and Actions; and I hope You will forgive me that
I have an Ambition this Book may be placed in the
Library of so good a Judge of what is valuable, in
that Library where the Choice is such, that it will
not be a Disparagement to be the meanest Author in
it. Forgive me, my Lord, for taking this Occasion
of telling all the World how ardently I Love and Honour
You; and that I am, with the utmost Gratitude for
all Your Favours,
My Lord,
Your Lordship’s
Most Obliged,
Most Obedient, and
Most Humble Servant,
THE SPECTATOR.
[Footnote 1: When the ‘Spectators’
were reissued in volumes, Vol. I. ended with
No. 80, and to the second volume, containing the next
89 numbers, this Dedication was prefixed.
Charles Montague, at the time of the dedication fifty
years old, and within four years of the end of his
life, was born, in 1661, at Horton, in Northamptonshire.
His father was a younger son of the first Earl of
Manchester. He was educated at Westminster School
and at Trinity College, Cambridge.
