I pronounced these Words with such a languishing
Air, that I had some Reason to conclude I had made
a Conquest. She told me that she hoped my Face
was not akin to my Tongue; and looking upon her Watch,
I accidentally discovered the Figure of a Coronet
on the back Part of it. I was so transported
with the Thought of such an Amour, that I plied
her from one Room to another with all the Gallantries
I could invent; and at length brought things to
so happy an Issue, that she gave me a private Meeting
the next Day, without Page or Footman, Coach or
Equipage. My Heart danced in Raptures; but I had
not lived in this golden Dream above three Days,
before I found good Reason to wish that I had continued
true to my Landress. I have since heard by a very
great Accident, that this fine Lady does not live
far from Covent-Garden, and that I am not
the first Cully whom she has passed herself upon
for a Countess.
Thus, Sir, you see how I have mistaken
a Cloud for a Juno; and if you can
make any use of this Adventure for the Benefit of those
who may possibly be as vain young Coxcombs as my
self, I do most heartily give you Leave.’
I am,
Sir,
Your most humble admirer,
B. L.
I design to visit the next Masquerade my self, in
the same Habit I wore at Grand Cairo; [2] and
till then shall suspend my Judgment of this Midnight
Entertainment.
[Footnote 1: them]
[Footnote 2: See [Spectator] No. 1.]
* * * *
*
No. 9. Saturday, March 10, 1711.
Addison.
Tigris agit rabida
cum tigride pacem
Perpetuam, saevis
inter se convenit ursis.
Juv.
Man is said to be a Sociable Animal, and, as an Instance
of it, we may observe, that we take all Occasions
and Pretences of forming ourselves into those little
Nocturnal Assemblies, which are commonly known by the
name of ‘Clubs’. When a Sett of Men
find themselves agree in any Particular, tho’
never so trivial, they establish themselves into a
kind of Fraternity, and meet once or twice a Week,
upon the Account of such a Fantastick-Resemblance.
I know a considerable Market-town, in which there
was a Club of Fat-Men, that did not come together (as
you may well suppose) to entertain one another with
Sprightliness and Wit, but to keep one another in
Countenance: The Room, where the Club met, was
something of the largest, and had two Entrances, the
one by a Door of a moderate Size, and the other by
a Pair of Folding-Doors. If a Candidate for this
Corpulent Club could make his Entrance through the
first he was looked upon as unqualified; but if he
stuck in the Passage, and could not force his Way
through it, the Folding-Doors were immediately thrown
open for his Reception, and he was saluted as a Brother.
I have heard that this Club, though it consisted but
of fifteen Persons, weighed above three Tun.
