The Sir Roger de Coverley PapersSteele, Richard, Sir
General
The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers
Steele, Richard, Sir
English essays
pair were married, and half Eudoxus's estate settled upon
them. Leontine and Eudoxus passed the remainder of
their lives together; and received in the dutiful and affectionate
behaviour of Florio and Leonilla the just recompense,
as well as the natural effects, of that care which (25)
they had bestowed upon them in their education. L.
[115] Salutations.
[116] Disclosed.
XXI. WHIGS AND TORIES
[No. 125. Tuesday, July 24, 1711. ADDISON.]
Ne pueri, ne tanta animis assuescite bella:
Neu patriae validas in viscera vertite vires.
VIRG.
My worthy friend, Sir Roger, when we are talking of the
malice of parties, very frequently tells us an accident that
happened to him when he was a schoolboy, which was at a
time when the feuds ran high between the Roundheads
and Cavaliers. This worthy knight, being then but a stripling, (155: 5)
had occasion to inquire which was the way to St. Anne's
Lane; upon which the person whom he spoke to, instead
of answering his question, called him a young popish cur,
and asked him who had made Anne a saint! The boy,
being in some confusion, inquired of the next he met, (10)
which was the way to Anne's Lane; but was called a
prick-eared cur for his pains, and instead of being shown
the way, was told that she had been a saint before he was
born, and would be one after he was hanged. "Upon
this," says sir Roger, "I did not think fit to repeat the (15)
former question, but going into every lane of the neighbourhood,
asked what they called the name of that lane."
By which ingenious artifice, he found out the place he
inquired after without giving offence to any party. Sir
Roger generally closes this narrative with reflections on
the mischief that parties do in the country; how they spoil
good neighbourhood, and make honest gentlemen hate one
another; besides that they manifestly tend to the prejudice
of the land-tax, and the destruction of the game. (156: 5)
There cannot a greater judgment befall a country than
such a dreadful spirit of division as rends a government
into two distinct people, and makes them greater strangers
and more averse to one another than if they were
actually two different nations. The effects of such a division (10)
are pernicious to the last degree, not only with regard
to those advantages which they give the common enemy,
but to those private evils which they produce in the heart
of almost every particular person. This influence is very
fatal both to men's morals and their understandings; it (15)
sinks the virtue of a nation, and not only so, but destroys
even common sense.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account