...characterize most media reportage on the arts. Joseph Addison wrote in The Spectator of March 1,1711, I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book...Writer of it be a black or a fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of the like nature, that conduce...

...Horace. I remember so well loving Addison's use of capital letters for nouns. He writes under this date: "I have observed that a Reader seldom peruses a Book...'till he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of the...

...his spectator provide autobiographical information in the first essay (Tuesday, 1 March 1711) because "I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book...Man, of a mild or choleric Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of the like nature, that conduce very much to the right Understanding...

...caustic jab at an innocent public: As to the personal side, the Spectator for March 1st 1710 begins, "I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book...till he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other particulars of the...

...essay of The Spectator, a periodical he wrote with Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), with the observation that "a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure,...Writer of it be a black or a fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of the like nature, that conduce...

...apparent from the outset of the Silence Dogood essays. In Addison's first Spectator essay, he wrote: "I have observed, that a reader seldom peruses a book...mild or choleric disposition, married or a bachelor ..." Franklin likewise began his first Dogood essay by justifying an autobiographical introduction...

...mind. The echoes of Addison are apparent from the outset. In Addison's first Spectator essay, he wrote, "I have observed that a reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure 'til he knows whether the writer of it be a black or a fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition,...

...the essays are positioned not simply as objects of a regulating gaze, but as spectators themselves: "I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book...Writer of it be a black or a fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other Particulars of the like Nature, that conduce...

...humour, is true in fac~l : — " I have obferved that a reader feldom perufes a book with pleafure, 'till he knows whether the writer of it be a black or fair man, of a mild or cholerick difpofition, married or a batchelor." I will add, at the hazard of...

...Joseph Addison ( 1 6 7 2- 1 7 1 9) wrote on the first page of the first issue of The Spectator in 1711: I have observed that a reader seldom peruses a book...disposition, married or a bachelor, with other particulars of a like nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an author. And Jonathan Richardson...