The De Coverley Papers | Page 7

life
has furnished him with many adventures, in the relation of which he is
very agreeable to the company; for he is never overbearing, though
accustomed to command men in the utmost degree below him; nor ever
too obsequious, from an habit of obeying men highly above him.
But that our society may not appear a set of humorists[29],
unacquainted with the gallantries and pleasures of the age, we have
among us the gallant Will Honeycomb, a gentleman who, according to
his years, should be in the decline of his life, but having ever been very
careful of his person, and always had a very easy fortune, time has
made but a very little impression, either by wrinkles on his forehead, or
traces in his brain. His person is well turned[30], of a good height. He
is very ready at that sort of discourse with which men usually entertain
women. He has all his life dressed very well, and remembers habits[31]
as others do men. He can smile when one speaks to him, and laughs
easily. He knows the history of every mode, and can inform you from

which of the French ladies our wives and daughters had this manner of
curling their hair, that way of placing their hoods, and whose vanity to
show her foot made that part of the dress so short in such a year. In a
word, all his conversation and knowledge have been in the female
world: as other men of his age will take notice to you what such a
minister said upon such and such an occasion, he will tell you when the
Duke of Monmouth danced at court, such a woman was then smitten,
another was taken with him at the head of his troop in the Park. In all
these important relations, he has ever about the same time received a
kind glance or a blow of a fan from some celebrated beauty, mother of
the present Lord Such-a-one. This way of talking of his very much
enlivens the conversation among us of a more sedate turn; and I find
there is not one of the company, but myself, who rarely speak at all, but
speaks of him as of that sort of man who is usually called a well-bred
Fine Gentleman. To conclude his character, where women are not
concerned, he is an honest worthy man.
I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom I am next to speak of,
as one of our company; for he visits us but seldom, but, when he does,
it adds to every man else a new enjoyment of himself. He is a
clergyman, a very philosophic man, of general learning, great sanctity
of life, and the most exact good breeding. He has the misfortune to be
of a very weak constitution, and consequently cannot accept of such
cares and business as preferments in his function would oblige him to:
he is therefore among divines what a chamber-counsellor[32] is among
lawyers. The probity of his mind, and the integrity of his life, create
him followers, as being eloquent or loud advances others. He seldom
introduces the subject he speaks upon; but we are so far gone in years,
that he observes when he is among us, an earnestness to have him fall
on some divine topic[33], which he always treats with much authority,
as one who has no interests in this world, as one who is hastening to the
object of all his wishes, and conceives hope from his decays and
infirmities. These are my ordinary companions.
R.
FOOTNOTES:

[15] Lord Rochester and Sir George Etherege. Well-known leaders of
fashion and dissipation.
[16] Bully Dawson. A notorious swaggerer and sharper.
[17] Dressed. I.e., fashionably.
[18] Quorum. Panel of magistrates.
[19] Game Act. Laws dating from very early times and regulating the
licence to kill game.
[20] Humoursome. Capricious.
[21] Aristotle and Longinus. Aristotle's Poetics and Longinus on the
Sublime are classics of literary criticism.
[22] Littleton or Coke. Famous writers on law.
[23] Demosthenes and Tully. Demosthenes and M. Tullius Cicero, the
great orators of Athens and Rome respectively.
[24] Wit. Cleverness.
[25] The Rose. The Rose tavern was frequented by actors.
[26] The world. I.e., of public life.
[27] Own vindication. Self-assertion.
[28] Civil. Civilian.
[29] Humorists. Eccentrics.
[30] Turned. Shaped.
[31] Habits. Clothes; i.e., fashions.
[32] Chamber-counsellor. Barrister whose practice is confined to

consultations.
[33] Divine topic. Topic of divinity.

NO. 106. MONDAY, JULY 2
Hinc tibi copia Manabit ad plenum, benigno Ruris honorum opulenta
cornu.
HOR. Od. xvii. l. i. ver. 14.
Here to thee shall plenty flow, And all her riches show. To raise the
honour of the quiet plain.
CREECH.
Having often received an invitation from my friend Sir Roger de
Coverley to pass away a month with