Do you think a man unfit "for studies of a higher nature" and "uncapable of any liberal art or profession," likely to succeed "in the occupations of trade and commerce"? (See Paper VIII.) Discuss the wisdom of a liberal education for boys who expect to be business men.
Do you suppose the observance of the Sabbath was more necessary, as Addison seems to imply, for country people than for people in London? (Paper XI.)
Which do you think Addison preferred, the city or the country? Give evidence.
Make a list of the eighteenth-century customs and manners referred to in these papers.
Write an account of the Spectator and Sir Roger at Button's or Will's.
Recast or modernize Paper XIV on Labour and Exercise in such a way as to adapt its argument to the support of school and college athletics.
What types of character or classes of men are represented by persons in these papers? Which, if any, do not seem like real persons? Do they develop, or do they remain throughout as they are first represented? By what means does the author make us acquainted with them,—by what he says of them, by what they say themselves, or by what others say of them?
Do the whimsicalities of Sir Roger make him ridiculous or lessen our respect for him?
What qualities would such a man find to admire in the "perverse widow"?
Write a paper entitled "Sir Roger at the Play" modeled upon Addison's paper, but suppose Sir Roger to have seen, instead of The Distressed Mother, Shakespeare's Macbeth.