THE SPECTATOR WITH INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY GEORGE A. AITKEN AUTHOR OF THE LIFE OF RICHARD STEELE," ETC. WITH EIGHT ORIGINAL PORTRAITS AND EIGHT VIGNETTES IN EIGHT VOLUMES VOLUME THE FIFTH LONDON JOHN C. NIMMO NEW YORK: LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. MDCCCXCVIII Md. RR 2 72 6-21-43 471828 TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THOMAS, EARL OF WHARTON.' MY LORD, HE 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 Lordship's 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. 1 Thomas Wharton, born in 1640, was appointed by William III. Comptroller of the Household and a justice in Eyre. In 1706 he was created Viscount Winchendon and Earl of Wharton, and in 1708 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland (when Addison became Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant). In 1714, after the accession of George I., Lord Wharton was made Lord Privy Seal, and given the titles of Marquis of Wharton and Malmesbury, in England, and Earl of Rathfarnham and Marquis Catherlough, in Ireland. He died in 1715, when he was succeeded by his son Philip, afterwards Duke of Wharton. Lord Wharton was a clever politician and a man of wit, but lacked the moral character of his Presbyterian father, the good |