The diction should be most laboured in the idle parts of the poem;
  those in which neither manners nor sentiments prevail; for the manners
  and the sentiments are only obscured by too splendid a diction.]

[Footnote 3:  [this great]]

[Footnote 4:  [shape]]

[Footnote 5:  [are]]

[Footnote 6:  notice by the way]

[Footnote 7:  [those]]

* * * * *

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THOMAS EARL OF WHARTON.[1]

My LORD,

The Author of the Spectator having prefixed before each of his Volumes the Name of some great Person to whom he has particular Obligations, lays his Claim to your Lordships Patronage upon the same Account.  I must confess, my Lord, had not I already received great Instances of your Favour, I should have been afraid of submitting a Work of this Nature to your Perusal.  You are so thoroughly acquainted with the Characters of Men, and all the Parts of human Life, that it is impossible for the least Misrepresentation of them to escape your Notice.  It is Your Lordships particular Distinction that you are Master of the whole Compass of Business, and have signalized Your Self in all the different Scenes of it.  We admire some for the Dignity, others for the Popularity of their Behaviour; some for their Clearness of Judgment, others for their Happiness of Expression; some for the laying of Schemes, and others for the putting of them in Execution:  It is Your Lordship only who enjoys these several Talents united, and that too in as great Perfection as others possess them singly.  Your Enemies acknowledge this great Extent in your Lordships Character, at the same time that they use their utmost Industry and Invention to derogate from it.  But it is for Your Honour that those who are now Your Enemies were always so.  You have acted in so much Consistency with Your Self, and promoted the Interests of your Country in so uniform a Manner, that even those who would misrepresent your Generous Designs for the Publick Good, cannot but approve the Steadiness and Intrepidity with which You pursue them.  It is a most sensible Pleasure to me that I have this Opportunity of professing my self one of your great Admirers, and, in a very particular Manner,

My LORD,
Your Lordships
Most Obliged,
And most Obedient,
Humble Servant,
THE SPECTATOR.

[Footnote 1:  This is the Thomas, Earl of Wharton, who in 1708 became Lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and took Addison for his Chief Secretary.  He was the son of Philip, Baron Wharton, a firm Presbyterian, sometimes called the good Lord Wharton, to distinguish him from his son and grandson.  Philip Wharton had been an opponent of Stuart encroachments, a friend of Algernon Sidney, and one of the first men to welcome William III. to England.  He died, very old, in 1694.  His son Thomas did not inherit the religious