furprising Change which has been produced in me, and which I look upon to be as remarkable an Accident as any recorded in Hiftory, fince that which happened to the Son of Crafus, after having been many Years as much Tongue-tied as my self.

UPON the firft opening of my Mouth, I made a Speech confifting of about half a Dozen well-turned Periods; but grew fo very hoarfe upon it, that for three Days together, inftead of finding the ufe of my Tongue, I was afraid that I had quite loft it. Befides, the unusual Extenfion of my Mufcles on this Occafion, made my Face ake on both Sides to fuch a Degree, that nothing but an invincible Refolution and Perfeverance could have prevented me from falling back to my Monofyllables.

I afterwards made feveral Effays towards fpeaking; and that I might not be startled at my own Voice, which has happen'd to me more than once, I used to read aloud in my Chamber, and have often ftood in the Middle of the Street to call a Coach, when I knew there was none within hearing.

WHEN I was thus grown pretty well acquainted with my own Voice, I laid hold of all Opportunities to exert it. Not caring however to fpeak much by my felf, and to draw upon me the whole Attention of those I converfed with, I used, for fome time, to walk every Morning in the Mall, and talk in Chorus with a Parcel of Frenchmen. I found my Modefty greatly relieved by the communicative Temper of this Nation, who are fo very fociable, as to think they are never better Company, than when they are all opening at the fame time.

I then fancied I might receive great Benefit from Female Conversation, and that I should have a Convenience of talking with the greater Freedom, when I was not under any Impediment of thinking: I therefore threw my self into an Affembly of Ladies, but could not for my Life get in a Word among them; and found that if I did not change my Company, I was in Danger of being reduced to my primitive Taciturnity.

THE

THE Coffee-houfes have ever fince been my chief Places of Refort, where I have made the greatest Improvements; in order to which I have taken a particular Care never to be of the fame Opinion with the Man I converfed with. I was a Tory at Button's, and a Whig at Child's; a Friend to the Englishman, or an Advocate for the Examiner, as it beft ferved my Turn; fome fancy me a great Enemy to the French King, though, in reality, I only make ufe of him for a Help to Difcourfe. In fhort, I wrangle and difpute for Exercife; and have carried this Point fo far that I was once like to have been run through the Body for making a little too free with my Betters.

IN a Word, I am quite another Man to what I was.

MY old Acquaintance fcarce know me; nay I was asked the other Day by a Jew at Jonathan's, whether I was not related to a dumb Gentleman, who used to come to that Coffee-houfe? But I think I never was better pleafed in my Life than about a Week ago, when, as I was battling it acrofs the Table with a young Templar, his Companion gave him a Pull by the Sleeve, begging him to come away, for that the old Prig would talk him to Death.

BEING now a very good Proficient in Difcourse, I fhall appear in the World with this Addition to my Character, that my Countrymen may reap the Fruits of my new-acquired Loquacity.

THOSE who have been prefent at publick Difputes in the University, know that it is ufual to maintain Herefies for Argument's fake. I have heard a Man a most impudent Socinian for Half an Hour, who has been an Orthodox Divine all his Life after. I have taken the fame Method to accomplish my felf in the Gift of Utterance, having talked above a Twelve-month, not fo much for the Benefit of my Hearers, as of my felf. But fince I have now gained the Faculty, I have been fo long endeavouring after, I intend to make a right Ufe

of

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 practises 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 ufed to do, I am still refolved to act in it as an indifferent SPECTATOR. It is not my Ambition to increase the Number either of Whigs or Tories, but of wife and good Men, and I could heartily wish there were not Faults commn to both Parties, which afford me fufficient Matter to work upon, without defcending to those which are peculiar to either.

I F 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 Statef men, 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 FellowSubjects.

What

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. ever 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 least of such as defire it, shall be published hereafter: 'Till which time I must intreat 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 Speculations on every ufeful Subject that falls in my Way.

No

557. Monday, June 21.

Quippe domum timet ambiguam, Tyriofque bilingues. Virg.'

HERE is nothing, fays Plato, fo delightful, as the

or

there is no Conversation fo agreeable as that of the Man of Integrity, who hears without any Intention to betray, and speaks without any Intention to deceive.

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 Witness 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 Juftice, while Cato was ftill 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

WHEN fuch an inflexible Integrity is a little foftned and qualified by the Rules of Converfation 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 moft elegant Sermon of the great British Preacher. I fhall beg Leave to tranfcribe out of it two or three Sertences, as a proper Introduction to a very curious Letter, which I fhall make the chief Entertainment of this Speculation.

6

THE old English Plainnefs 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 Refelution, 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 firft, believe at what a low Rate the highest Strains and Ex' preffions of Kindness imaginable do commonly pafs 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.

6

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 II's Reign by the Ambaffador of Bantam, a little after his Arrival in England.

Mafter,