I do allow the allegations of this petition to be just, and forbid all persons but the petitioners, or those who shall purchase from them, to wear the said garment after the date hereof.
FOOTNOTES:
[107] Nichols suggests that this paper may be by Addison, and it is certainly not unlikely that he was the author of the "History of Tom Varnish."
No. 137.
[Steele.
Tuesday, Feb. 21, to Thursday, Feb. 23, 1709-10.
Ter centum tonat ore deos, Erebumque, Chaosque,
Tergeminamque Hecaten.—Virg., Æn. iv. 510.
Sheer Lane, February 22.
Dick Reptile and I sat this evening later than the rest of the club; and as some men are better company when only with one friend, others when there is a large number, I found Dick to be of the former kind. He was bewailing to me in very just terms, the offences which he frequently met with in the abuse of speech: some use ten times more words than they need, some put in words quite foreign to their purpose, and others adorn their discourses with oaths and blasphemies by way of tropes and figures. What my good friend started, dwelt upon me after I came home this evening, and led me into an inquiry with myself, whence should arise such strange excrescences in discourse? Whereas it must be obvious to all reasonable beings, that the sooner a man speaks his mind, the more complaisant he is to the man with whom he talks: but upon mature deliberation, I am come to this resolution, that for one man who speaks to be understood, there are ten who talk only to be admired.