Book to _Augustus_.

'Si validus, si laetus erit, si denique poscet.'

'You never begin to talk, but when People are desirous to hear you;
and I defy any one to be out of humour till you leave off. But I am
led unawares into Reflections, foreign to the original Design of this
Epistle; which was to let you know, that some unfeigned Admirers of
your inimitable Papers, who could, without any Flattery, greet you
with the Salutation used to the Eastern Monarchs, viz. _O Spec, live
for ever_, have lately been under the same Apprehensions, with Mr.
_Philo-Spec_; that the haste you have made to dispatch your best
Friends portends no long Duration to your own short Visage. We could
not, indeed, find any just Grounds for Complaint in the Method you
took to dissolve that venerable Body: No, the World was not worthy of
your Divine. WILL. HONEYCOMB could not, with any Reputation, live
single any longer. It was high time for the TEMPLAR to turn himself to
_Coke_: And Sir ROGER's dying was the wisest thing he ever did in his
Life. It was, however, matter of great Grief to us, to think that we
were in danger of losing so Elegant and Valuable an Entertainment. And
we could not, without Sorrow, reflect that we were likely to have
nothing to interrupt our Sips in a Morning, and to suspend our Coffee
in mid-air, between our Lips and Right Ear, but the ordinary Trash of
News-Papers. We resolved, therefore, not to part with you so. But
since, to make use of your own Allusion, the Cherries began now to
crowd the Market, and their Season was almost over, we consulted our
future Enjoyments, and endeavoured to make the exquisite Pleasure that
delicious Fruit gave our Taste as lasting as we could, and by drying
them protract their stay beyond its natural Date. We own that thus
they have not a Flavour equal to that of their juicy Bloom; but yet,
under this Disadvantage, they pique the Palate, and become a Salver
better than any other Fruit at its first Appearance. To speak plain,
there are a Number of us who have begun your Works afresh, and meet
two Nights in the Week in order to give you a Rehearing. We never come
together without drinking your Health, and as seldom part without
general Expressions of Thanks to you for our Night's Improvement. This
we conceive to be a more useful Institution than any other Club
whatever, not excepting even that of _ugly Faces_. We have one