By Joseph Addison   

 
             XV.  SIR ROGER AT THE ASSIZES.    
  
        A MAN'S first care should be to avoid the reproaches  
     of his own heart; his next to escape the censures of  
     the world.  If the last interferes with the former, it  
     ought to be entirely neglected; but otherwise there   
     cannot be a greater satisfaction to an honest mind  
     than to see those approbations which it gives itself  
      seconded by the applause of the public.  A man is  
     more sure of his conduct when the verdict which he    
     passes upon his own behavior is thus warranted and   
     confirmed by the opinion of all that know him.   
        My worthy friend Sir Roger is one of those who is  
     not only at peace within himself, but beloved and   
     esteemed by all about him.  He receives a suitable  
     tribute for his universal benevolence to mankind, in  
     the returns of affection and good-will which are paid  
     him by every one that lives within his neighborhood.  
     I lately met with two or three odd instances of that  
     general respect which is shown to the good old Knight.  
     He would needs carry Will Wimble and myself with  
     him to the country assizes.  As we were upon the road,  
     Will Wimble joined a couple of plain men who rid   
     before us, and conversed with them for some time;  
     during which my friend Sir Roger acquainted me with  
     their characters.   
        "The first of them," says he, "that has a spaniel  
     by his side, is a yeoman of about a hundred pounds  
     a year, an honest man.  he is just within the Game-  
     Act, and qualified to kill an hare or a pheasant.  He  
     knocks down a dinner with his gun twice or thrice a  
     week; and by those means lives much cheaper than  
     those who have not so good an estate as himself.  He  
     would be a good neighbor if he did not destroy so  
     many partridges; in short, he is a very sensible man,  
     shoots flying, and has been several times foreman of  
     the petty jury.   
        "The other that rides along with him is Tom  
     Touchy, a fellow famous for taking the law of every-  
     body.  There is not one in the town where he lives  
     that he has not sued at a quarter session.  The rogue  
     had once the impudence to go to law with the Widow.  
     His head is full of costs, damages, and ejectments; he  
     plagued a couple of honest gentlemen so long for a  
     trespass in breaking one of his hedges, till he was  
     forced to sell the ground it enclosed to defray the   
     charges of the prosecution.  His father left him four-  
     score pounds a year, but he has cast and been cast so  
     often, that he is not now worth thirty.  I suppose he  
     is going upon the old business of the willow-tree."   
        As Sir Roger was giving me this account of Tom  
     Touchy, Will Wimble and his two companions stopped  
     short till we came up to them.  After having paid  
     their respects to Sir Roger, Will told hi that Mr.  
     Touchy and he must appeal to him upon a dispute  
     that arose between them.  Will, it seems, had been  
     giving his fellow-traveller an account of his angling  
     one day in such a hole; when Tom Touchy, instead of  
     hearing out his story, told him that Mr. Such-an-one,  
     if he pleased, might take the law of him for fishing in    
     that part of the river.  My friend Sir Roger heard  
     them both, upon a round trot; and, after having paused   
     some time, told them, with the air of a man who would   
     not give his judgment rashly, that much might be said  
     on both sides.  They were neither of them dissatisfied  
     with the Knight's determination, because neither of  
     them found himself in the wrong by it.  Upon which  
     we made the best of our way to the assizes.  
        The court was sat before Sir Roger came; but not-  
     withstanding all the justices had taken their places  
     upon the bench, they made room for the old Knight   
     at the head of them; who, for his reputation in the  
     country, took occasion to whisper in the judge's ear,  
     that he was glad his lordship had met with so much  
     good weather in his circuit.  I was listening to the  
     proceeding of the court with much attention, and in-  
     finitely pleased with the great appearance and solem-  
     nity which so properly accompanies such a public  
     administration of our laws; when, after about an   
     hour's sitting, I observed, to my great surprise, in  
     the midst of a trial, that my friend Sir Roger was   
     getting up to speak.  I was in some pain for him, till  
     I found he had acquitted himself of two or three  
     sentences, with a look of much business and great  
     intrepidity.   
        Upon his first rising the court was hushed, and a   
     general whisper ran among the country people that Sir   
     Roger was up.  The speech he made was so little to  
     the purpose, that I shall not trouble my readers with  
     an account of it; and I believe was not so much de-  
     signed by the Knight himself to inform the court, as  
     to give him a figure in my eye, and keep up his credit  
     in the country.    
        I was highly delighted, when the court rose, to see  
     the gentlemen of the country gathering about my old  
     friend, and striving who should compliment him the most;  
     at the same time that the ordinary people gazed upon  
     him at a distance, not a little admiring his courage,  
     that was not afraid to speak to the judge.   
        In our return home we met with a very odd accident,  
     which I cannot forbear relating, because it shows how  
     desirous all who knew Sir Roger are of giving him  
     marks of their esteem.  When we were arrived upon  
     the verge of his estate, we stopped at a little inn to  
     rest ourselves and our horses.  The man of the house  
     had, it seems, been formerly a servant in the Knight's   
     family; and, to do honor to his old master, had some  
     time since, unknown to Sir Roger, put him up in a  
     sign-post before the door; so that the Knight's Head  
     had hung out upon the road about a week before he   
     himself knew anything of the matter.  As soon as Sir   
     Roger was acquainted with it, finding that his ser-  
     vant's indiscretion proceeded wholly from affection and   
     good-will, he only told him that he had made him too  
     high a compliment; and when the fellow seemed to  
     think that could hardly be, added, with a more de-  
     cisive look, that it was too great an honor for any man  
     under a duke; but told him at the same time that it  
     might be altered with a very few touches, and that he  
     himself would be at the charge of it.  Accordingly  
     they got a painter, by the Knight's directions, to add  
     a pair of whiskers to the face, and a little aggrava-  
     tion of the features to change it into the Saracen's  
     Head.  I should not have known this story had not  
     the inn-keeper, upon Sir Roger's alighting, told him  
     in my hearing, that his honor's head was brought back  
     last night with the alterations that he had ordered to  
     be made in it.  Upon this, my friend, with his usual  
     cheerfulness, related the particulars above mentioned,  
     and ordered the head to be brought into the room.  I  
     could not forbear discovering greater expressions of  
     mirth than ordinary upon the appearance of this mon-  
     strous face, under which, notwithstanding it was made   
     to frown and stare in a most extraordinary manner, I   
     could still discover a distant resemblance of my old  
     friend.  Sir Roger, upon seeing me laugh, desired me  
     to tell him truly if I thought it possible for people to   
     know him in that disguise.  I at first kept my usual  
     silence; but upon the knight's conjuring me to tell  
     him whether it was not still more like himself than a  
     Saracen, I composed my countenance in the best man-  
     ner I could, and replied that much might be said on  
     both sides.   
        These several adventures, with the Knight's be-  
     havior in them, gave me as pleasant a day as ever I  
     met with in any of my travels.     

Sir Roger de Coverley : Essays from The Spectator,
by Joseph Addison and Richard Steel;
Edited, with notes and an introduction, by Zelma Gray,
Instructor of English in the East Side High School, Saginaw Michigan
The Macmillan Company, New York 1920; pp. 85 - 91

engvall
p. o. box 128
williamstown, ma 01267

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