s the Authority of _Horace_, who perfectly understood
how to live with great Men, may have a good Effect towards amending this
Facility in People of Condition, and the Confidence of those who apply
to them without Merit, I have translated the Epistle. [1]

_To_ CLAUDIUS NERO.

_SIR_,

'_Septimus_, who waits upon you with this, is very well acquainted
with the place you are pleased to allow me in your Friendship. For
when he beseeches me to recommend him to your Notice, in such a manner
as to be received by you, who are delicate in the choice of your
Friends and Domesticks, he knows our Intimacy, and understands my
Ability to serve him better than I do myself. I have defended my self
against his Ambition to be yours, as long as I possibly could; but
fearing the Imputation of hiding my Power in you out of mean and
selfish Considerations, I am at last prevailed upon to give you this
Trouble. Thus, to avoid the Appearance of a greater Fault, I have put
on this Confidence. If you can forgive this Transgression of Modesty
in behalf of a Friend, receive this Gentleman into your Interests and
Friendship, and take it from me that he is an honest and brave Man.

T.

[Footnote 1: This is a translation from Horace of the verse of No. 9 in
Book I. of his Epistles; showing how it would read in the customary
prose form of a letter of introduction.]

* * * * *

No. 494. Friday, September 26, 1712. Addison.

'AEgritudinem laudare, unam rem maxime detestabilem, quorum est tandem
Philosophorum?'

Cic.

About an Age ago it was the fashion in _England_, for every one that
would be thought religious, to throw as much Sanctity as possible into
his Face, and in particular to abstain from all Appearances of Mirth and
Pleasantry, which were looked upon as the Marks of a Carnal Mind. The
Saint was of a sorrowful Countenance, and generally eaten up with Spleen
and Melancholy. A Gentleman, who was lately a great Ornament to the
Learned World, [1] has diverted me more than once with an Account of the
Reception which he met with from a very famous Independent Minister, who
was Head of a College in those times. [2] This Gentleman was then a
young Adventurer in the Republick of Letters, and just fitted out for
the University with a good Cargo of _Latin_ and _Greek_. His Friends
were resolved that he should try his Fortune