of it, and fhall think my felf obliged, for the future, to fpeak always in Truth and Sincerity of Heart. While a Man is learning to fence, he practifes both on Friend and Foe; but when he is a Mafter in the Art, he never exerts it but on what he thinks the right Side. THAT this laft Allufion may not give my Reader a wrong Idea of my Defign in this Paper, I muft here inform him, that the Author of it is of no Faction, that he is a Friend to no Interefts but thofe of Truth and Virtue, nor a Foe to any but thofe of Vice and Folly. Though I make more Noife in the World than I afed to do, I am ftill refolved to act in it as an indifferent SPECTATOR. It is not my Ambition to encrease the Number either of Whigs or Tories, but of wife and good Men, and I could heartily with there were not Faults common to both Parties which afford me fufficient Matter to work upon, without defcending to those which are peculiar to either.

IF in a Multitude of Counsellors there is Safety, we ought to think our felves the fecureft Nation in the World. Moft of our Garrets are inhabited by Statefmen, who watch over the Liberties of their Country, and make a Shift to keep themfelves from starving, by. taking into their Care the Properties of their Fellow Subjects.

AS thefe Politicians of both Sides have already worked the Nation into a moft unnatural Ferment, I fhall be fo far from endeavouring to raise it to a greater Height, that on the contrary, it fhall be the chief Tendency of my Papers, to infpire my Countrymen with a mutual Good-will and Benevolence. Whatever Faults either Party may be guilty of, they are rather inflamed than cured by thofe Reproaches, which they caft upon one another. The most likely Method of rectifying any Man's Conduct, is, by recommending to him the Principles of Truth and Honour, Religion and Virtue, and fo long as he acts with an Eye to thefe Principles, whatever Party he is of, he cannot fail of being a good Englishman, and a Lover of his Country.

AS

AS for the Perfons concerned in this Work, the Names of all of them, or at leaft of fuch as defire it, fhall be published hereafter: Till which time I must entreat the courteous Reader to fufpend his Curiosity, and rather to confider what is written, than who they are that write it.

HAVING thus adjusted all neceffary Preliminaries with my Reader, I fhall not trouble him with any more prefatory Difcourfes, but proceed in my old Method, and entertain him with Speculations on every ufeful Subject that falls in my Way.

No

No 557.

Monday, June 21.

Quippe domum timet ambiguam, Tyriofque bilingues. Virg.

T

HERE is nothing, fays Plato, fo delightful, as the hearing or the fpeaking of Truth. For this Reafon there is no Converfation fo agreeable as that of the Man of Integrity, who hears without any Intention to betray, and fpeaks without any Intention to deceivė.

AMONG all the Accounts which are given of Cato, I do not remember one that more redounds to his Honour than the following Paffage related by Plu tarch. As an Advocate was pleading the Caufe of his Client before one of the Prætors, he could only produce a fingle Witnefs in a Point where the Law required the Teftimony of two Perfons; upon which the Advocate infifted on the Integrity of that Perfon whom he had produced: but the Prætor told him, That where the Law required two Witneffes he would not accept of one, tho' it were Cato himself. Such a Speech from a Perfon who fat at the Head of a Court of Justice, while Cato was still living, fhews us, more than a thoufand Examples, the high Reputation this great Man had gained among his Contemporaries upon the Account of his Sincerity.

WHEN:

WHEN fuch an inflexible Integrity is a little foftned and qualified by the Rules of Converfation and Good-breeding, there is not a more shining Virtue in the whole Catalogue of Social Duties. A Man however ought to take great Care not to polifh himself out of his Veracity, nor to refine his Behaviour to the Prejudice of his Virtue,

THIS Subject is exquifitely treated in the most elegant Sermon of the great British Preacher. I fhall beg Leave to transcribe out of it two or three Sentences, as a proper Introduction to a very curious Letter, which I fhall make the chief Entertainment of this Speculation.

THE old English Plainnefs and Sincerity, that generous Integrity of Nature, and Honefty of Difpofition, which always argues true Greatnefs of Mind, and is ufually accompanied with undaunted Courage and Refolution, is in a great Measure loft among us.

THE Dialect of Converfation is now-a-days fo. fwelled with Vanity and Compliment, and fo furfeited (as I may fay) of Expreffions of Kindness and Refpect, that if a Man that lived an Age or two ago 'fhould return into the World again, he would really want a Dictionary to help him to understand his own Language, and to know the true intrinfick Value of the Phrase in fashion; and would hardly, at first, believe at what a low Rate the highest Strains and Expreffions of Kindness imaginable do commonly pass in current Payment; and when he fhould come to understand it, it would be a great while before he could bring himself with a good Countenance and a good Confcience, to converfe with Men upon equal Terms and in their own Way.

I have by me a Letter which I look upon as a great Curiofity, and which may ferve as an Exemplification to the foregoing Paffage, cited out of this most excellent Prelate. It is faid to have been written in King Charles 11's Reign by the Ambaffador of Bantam, a little after his Arrival in England.

Mafter

Mafter,

"THE Hearts than from London to HE People, where I now am, have Tongues

Bantam, and thou knoweft the Inhabitants of one of thefe Places does not know what is done in the other. They call thee and thy Subjects Barbarians, because we speak what we mean; and account themselves a civilized People, becaufe they fpeak one thing and mean another: Truth they call Barbarity, and Falfehood Politeness. Upon my firft landing, one who was • fent from the King of this Place to meet me told me, • That he was extremely forry for the Storm I had met with just before my Arrival. I was troubled to hear him grieve and afflict himself upon my Account; but in lefs than a Quarter of an Hour he fmiled, and was as merry as if nothing had happened. Another who came with him told me by my Interpreter, He should be glad to do me any Service that lay in his Power. Upon which I defir'd him to carry one of my Portmantuas for me, but inftead of ferving me according to his Promife, he laughed, and bid another do it. I lodged, the firft Week, at the Houfe of one, who defired me to think my self at home, and to confider his • House as my own. Accordingly, I the next Morning began to knock down one of the Walls of it, in order to let in the fresh Air, and had packed up fome of the Houfhold-Goods, of which I intended to have made thee a Prefent: But the falfe Varlet no fooner faw me falling to Work, but he fent Word to defire me to give over, for that he would have no fuch Doings in his Houfe. I had not been long in this Nation, before I was told by one, for whom I had asked a certain Favour from the Chief of the King's Servants, whom they here call the Lord-Treafurer, That I had eternally obliged him. I was fo furpriz'd at his Gratitude, that I could not forbear faying, What Service is there which one Man can do for another, that can oblige him to all Eternity! However I only asked him, for my Reward, that he would lend me his eldeft Daughter during my Stay in this Country; but I 6. quickly

quickly found that he was as treacherous as the rest of his Countrymen.

AT. my firft going to Court, one of the great Men almoft put me out of Countenance, by asking ten thousand Pardons of me for only treading by Accident upon my Toe. They call this kind of Lye a Compliment; for when they are Civil to a great Man, they tell him Untruths, for which thou wouldst or der any of thy Officers of State to receive a hundred Blows upon his Foot. I do not know how I fhall negociate any thing with this People, fince there is fo little Credit to be given to them. When I go to fee the King's Scribe, I am generally told that he is not at home, tho' perhaps I faw him go into his Houfe almoft the very Moment before. Thou would eft fancy that the whole Nation are Phyficians, for the firft Queftion they always ask me, is, How I do : I have this Queftion put to me above a hundred times a Day. Nay, they are not only thus inquifitive after my Health, but wifh it in a more folemn Manner, with a full Glafs in their Hands, every time I fit with them at Table, tho' at the fame time they would per fwade me to drink their Liquors in fuch Quantities as I have found by Experience will make me fick. They often pretend to pray for thy Health alfo in the fame Manner; but I have more Reafon to expect it from the Goodness of thy Conftitution, than the Sincerity of their Wishes. May thy Slave efcape in Safety from this doubled-tongued Race of Men, and live to lay himself once more at thy Feet in thy Royal City of Bantam.

Wednesday,