THAT this laft Allufion may not give my Reader a wrong Idea of my Defign in this Paper, I must here inform him, that the Author of it is of no Faction, that he is a Friend to no Inte refts but those of Truth and Virtue, nor a Foe to any but those of Vice and Folly. Though I make more Noife. in the World than I used 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 wish 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. Most of our Garrets are inhabited by Statesmen, who watch over the Liberties of their Country, and make a shift to keep themselves from ftarving, by taking into their Care the Properties of their Fellow-Subjects.

into a

AS thefe Politicians of both Sides have already worked the Nation moft unnatural Ferment, I fhall

be fo

far

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

HAVING thus adjufted 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

Specu

Speculations on every useful Subject that falls in my Way.

N° 557.

Monday, June 21.

Quippe domum timet ambiguam, Tyriofque bi

lingues.

T

Virg.

HERE is nothing, fays Plato, fo delightful, as the bearTing or the fpeaking of Truth. For this Reason there is no Conversation fo agreeable as

that of the Man of Integrity, who hears without any Intention to betray, and fpeaks without any Intention to de

ceive.

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 Plutarch. As an Advocate was pleading the Cause 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 Advo

cate

cate infifted on the Integrity of that Person 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 thousand Examples, the high Reputation this great Man had gained among his Contemporaries upon the Account of his Sincerity.

WHEN fuch an inflexible Integrity is a little foftned and qualified by the Rules of Conversation and Good-breeding, there is not a more fhining Virtue in the whole Catalogue of Social Duties. A Man however ought to take great Care not to polish 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

THE old English Plainness and 'Sincerity, that generous Integrity of Nature, and Honefty of Difpofition, which always argues true Greatness ❝ 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 Respect, 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 un-, derftand 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 pafs it 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 Conscience, to converse with Men upon equal Terms and in their • own Way.

I have by me a Letter which I look

upon

2