The knight then asked me if I had seen Prince Eugenio, and made me promise to get him a stand in some convenient place, where he might have a full sight of that {[5]} extraordinary man, whose presence does so much honour to the British nation. He dwelt very long on the praises of this great general, and I found that, since I was with him in the country, he had drawn many observations together out of his reading in Baker's Chronicle, and {10} other authors who always lie in his hall window, which very much redound to the honour of this prince.
Having passed away the greatest part of the morning in hearing the knight's reflections,[141] which were partly private and partly political, he asked me if I would smoke {15} a pipe with him over a dish of coffee at Squire's. As I love the old man, I take delight in complying with everything that is agreeable to him, and accordingly waited on him to the coffee-house, where his venerable figure drew upon us the eyes of the whole room. He had no sooner {20} seated himself at the upper end of the high table, but he called for a clean pipe, a paper of tobacco, a dish of coffee, a wax candle, and the Supplement, with such an air of cheerfulness and good humour that all the boys in the coffee-room—who seemed to take pleasure in serving {25} him—were at once employed on his several errands; insomuch that nobody else could come at a dish of tea till the knight had got all his conveniences about him.
L.
[XXVIII. SIR ROGER IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY]
[No. 329. Tuesday, March 18, 1712. Addison.]
Ire tamen restat Numa quo devenit et Ancus.
Hor.
My friend Sir Roger de Coverley told me t'other night, that he had been reading my paper upon Westminster Abbey, "in which," says he, "there are a great many ingenious fancies." He told me, at the same time, that he observed I had promised another paper upon the {[5]} tombs, and that he should be glad to go and see them with me, not having visited them since he had read history. I could not at first imagine how this came into the knight's head, till I recollected that he had been very busy all last summer upon Baker's Chronicle which he {10} has quoted several times in his disputes with Sir Andrew Freeport since his last coming to town. Accordingly, I promised to call upon him the next morning, that we might go together to the Abbey.