Cato: A Tragedy, and Selected Essays

Freeholder 34 (April 16, 1716)

1. “till jest, now growing cruel, turned to open frenzy—” Horace Epistles II.i.148–49. Freeholder, No. 34 Monday, April 16, 1716 ———Saevus apertam In rabiem coepit verti jocus——— Hor.1 It is very justly, as well as frequently observed, that if our nation be ever ruined, it must be by itself. The parties and divisions which reign among us may several ways bring destruction upon our country , at the same time that our united force would be sufficient to secure us against all the attempts of a foreign enemy. Whatever expedients therefore can be found to allay those heats and animosities, which break us into different factions and interests, cannot but be useful to the publick, and highly tend to its safety, strength, and reputation. This dangerous dissension among us discovers itself in all the most indifferent circumstances of life. We keep it up, and cherish it with as much pains, as if it were a kind of national blessing. It insinuates itself into all our discourses, mixes in our parties of pleasure, has a share in our diversions, and is an ingredient in most of our publick entertainments. I was not long ago at the Play called Sir Courtly Nice, where to the eternal reproach of good sense, I found the whole audience had very gravely ranged themselves into two parties, under Hot-head and Tes- 240 selected essays 2. Sir Courtly Nice; Or, It Cannot Be, a comedy by John Crowne, was first staged in 1685. Still popular during the publication of The Freeholder, it was produced three times in London during the 1715–16 season. By the early eighteenth century, Hothead and Testimony had become common political caricatures. 3. Charles II reigned 1660 –85. 4. Addison is referring to two actors, Henry Norris (1665–1731), commonly called “JubileeDicky ” and William Penkethman (or Pinkethman, d. 1725), nicknamed “Pinky.” A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers, and Other Stage Personnel in London (1660–1800), vol. 2, by Philip H. Highfill, Jr., Kalman A. Burnim, and Edward A. Langhans (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1987), 50 –53, 320 –29. 5. A standard character in Italian and French farce, the cowardly and boasting Scaramouch was constantly bludgeoned by Harlequin. timony.2 Hot-head was the applauded Hero of the Tories, and Testimony no less the favourite of the Whigs. Each party followed their champion. It was wonderful to see so polite an assembly distinguishing themselves by such extraordinary representatives, and avowing their principles as conformable either to the zeal of Hot-head, or the moderation ofTestimony. Thus the two parts which were designed to expose the faults of both sides, and were accordingly received by our ancestors in King Charles the Second’s reign,3 meet with a kind of sanction from the applauses which are respectively bestowed on them by their wise posterity. We seem to imagine that they were written as patterns for imitation, not as objects of ridicule. This humour runs so far, that most of our late Comedies owe their success to it. The audience listens after nothing else. I have seen little Dicky place himself with great approbation at the head of the Tories for five Acts together, and Pinky espouse the interest of the Whigs with no less success.4 I do not find that either party has yet thrown themselves under the patronage of Scaramouch, or that Harlequin5 has violated that neutrality, which, upon his late arrival in Great-Britain, he professed to both parties, and which it is thought he will punctually observe, being allowed on all sides to be a man of honour. It is true, that upon his first appearance, a violent Whig tradesman in the pit begun to compliment him with a clap, as overjoyed to see him mount a ladder, and fancying him to be dressed in a highland plad. I question not but my Readers will be surprized to find me animadverting on a practice that has been always favourable to the cause freeholder 34 241 6. Christopher Bullock’s A Woman’s Revenge; or, A Match in Newgate was published and first staged in October, 1715. Emmett L. Avery, ed. The London Stage, 1660–1800, part 2, vol. 1 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1960), 372. 7. One of James Stuart’s generals, Thomas Forster surrendered at Preston; he was imprisoned in and eventually escaped from Newgate. 8. William...