’A man who has it in his Power to chuse his own Company, would certainly be much to blame should he not, to the best of his Judgment, take such as are of a Temper most suitable to his own; and where that Choice is wanting, or where a Man is mistaken in his Choice, and yet under a Necessity of continuing in the same Company, it will certainly be to his Interest to carry himself as easily as possible.

’In this I am sensible I do but repeat what has been said a thousand times, at which however I think no Body has any Title to take Exception, but they who never failed to put this in Practice—­Not to use any longer Preface, this being the Season of the Year in which great Numbers of all sorts of People retire from this Place of Business and Pleasure to Country Solitude, I think it not improper to advise them to take with them as great a Stock of Good-humour as they can; for tho’ a Country-Life is described as the most pleasant of all others, and though it may in Truth be so, yet it is so only to those who know how to enjoy Leisure and Retirement.

’As for those who can’t live without the constant helps of Business or Company, let them consider, that in the Country there is no Exchange, there are no Play-houses, no Variety of Coffee-houses, nor many of those other Amusements which serve here as so many Reliefs from the repeated Occurrences in their own Families; but that there the greatest Part of their Time must be spent within themselves, and consequently it behoves them to consider how agreeable it will be to them before they leave this dear Town.

’I remember, Mr. SPECTATOR, we were very well entertained last Year, with the Advices you gave us from Sir ROGER’S Country Seat; which I the rather mention, because ’tis almost impossible not to live pleasantly, where the Master of a Family is such a one as you there describe your Friend, who cannot therefore (I mean as to his domestick Character) be too often recommended to the Imitation of others.  How amiable is that Affability and Benevolence with which he treats his Neighbours, and every one, even the meanest of his own Family!  And yet how seldom imitated? instead of which we commonly meet with ill-natured Expostulations, Noise, and Chidings—­And this I hinted, because the Humour and Disposition of the Head, is what chiefly influences all the other Parts of a Family.

’An Agreement and kind Correspondence between Friends and Acquaintance, is the greatest Pleasure of Life.  This is an undoubted Truth, and yet any Man who judges from the Practice of the World, will be almost persuaded to believe the contrary; for how can we suppose People should be so industrious to make themselves uneasie?  What can engage them to entertain and foment Jealousies of one another upon every the least Occasion?  Yet so it is, there are People who (as it should seem) delight in being troublesome and vexatious, who (as Tully