NO. 402. Letters from Sylvia, complaining of an unnatural 403. Speculations of Coffee-house Politicians on the STEELE ADDISON ..... UNKNOWN 404. On the Misapplication of Nature's Gifts.. 407. Character of English Oratory-Use of proper Gestures ADDISON STEELE ADDISON 408. On the Study of human Nature--the Passions . UNKNOWN 410. Adventures of Sir Roger de Coverley with a Wo- and probably. 411-421. Essays on the Pleasures of the Imagina- tion 422. On Raillery-Characters of Callisthenes, Acetuf, and Minutius 423. Advice to Gloriana respecting the studied Ad- ADDISON STEELE TICKELL ADDISON STEELE ..... UNKNOWN ...... 426. Story of Basilius Valentine and his Son.. 430. Increase of Beggars-Impostors-improper free- 431. Negligence of Parents-Letters of Richard and 432. On Prejudice and Emulation-a sulky Wife 433. Advantages of the Sexes associating-History of a male Republic.. 434. History of a female Republic. 435. Female Dress-Mixture of the Sexes in one Per- son -Female Equestrians... ADDISON 456. A Visit to the Bear Garden.. 437. Character of Sempronia, a Match-maker-Letter 438. On a passionate Temper-the angry Bookseller 439. The manners of Courts-The Spy and the Car- dinal... ..... STEELE ADDISON 443. Letters from an English singer at Venice-Ad- 445. On the new Stamp-Success of the Spectator. 447. Influence of Custom-Moral deducted from it.. 452. On News-writers and Readers-Specimen of a 453. On pious Gratitude-Poem on it.. 454. Advantages of being so easily pleased-different STEELE Characters in a Tour through the Metropolis.. STEELE 457. Proposal for a Newspaper of Whispers.. 459. On religious Faith and Practice.. 460. Paradise of Fools, a Vision. ADDISON .. PARNELL Letter on Bowing and Curtsying at Church.. STEEI L 461. Version of the CXIVth Psalm... .... WATTS Complimentary Letter to the Spectator...... STEELE 463. Weight of Wisdom and Riches, a Vision.... .. ADDISON THE SPECTATOR. No. 385. THURSDAY, MAY 22, 1712. -Thesea pectora juncta fide. OVID. TRIST. i. 3. 66. Breasts that with sympathizing ardour glow'd I INTEND the paper for this day as a loose essay upon friendship, in which I shall throw my observations together without any set form, that I may avoid repeating what has been often said on this subject. Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two persons to promote the good and happiness of one another. Though the pleasures and advantages of friendship have been largely celebrated by the best moral writers, and are considered by all as great ingredients of human happiness, we very rarely meet with the practice of this virtue in the world. Every man is ready to give in a long catalogue of those virtues and good qualities he expects to find in the person of a friend, but very few of us are careful to cultivate them in ourselves. Love and esteem are the first principles of friendship, which always is imperfect where either of these two is wanting. As, on the one hand, we are soon ashamed of loving a man whom we cannot esteem; so, on the other, though we are truly sensible of a man's abilities, we can never raise ourselves to the warmths of friendship, without an affectionate good-will towards his person. Friendship immediately banishes envy under all its disguises. A man who can once doubt whether he should rejoice in his friend's being happier than himself, may depend upon it that he is an utter stranger to its virtue. There is something in friendship so very great and noble, that in those fictitious stories which are invented to the honour of any particular person, the authors have thought it as necessary to make their hero a friend as a lover. Achilles has his Patroclus, and Æneas his Achates. In the first of these instances we may observe, for the reputation of the subject I am treating of, that Greece was almost ruined by the hero's love, but was preserved by his friendship. The character of Achates suggests to us an observation we may often make on the intimacies of great men, who frequently choose their companions rather for the qualities of the heart than those of the head, and prefer fidelity in an easy, inoffensive, complying, temper, to those endowments which make a much greater figure among mankind. I do not remember that Achates, who is represented as the first favourite, either gives his advice, or strikes a blow, through the whole Æneid. A friendship which makes the least noise is very often most useful: for which reason I should prefer a prudent friend to a zealous one. Atticus, one of the best men of ancient Rome, was a very remarkable instance of what I am here speaking. This extraordinary person, amidst the civil wars of his country, when he saw the designs of |