It is with much satisfaction that I hear this great city inquiring day by day after these my papers, and receiving my morning lectures with a becoming seriousness and attention. My publisher tells me, that there are already three thousand of them distributed every day: so that if I allow twenty readers to every paper, which I look upon as a modest computation, I may reckon about threescore thousand disciples in London and Westminster, who I hope will take care to distinguish themselves from the thoughtless herd of their ignorant and unattentive brethren. Since I have raised to myself so great an audience, I shall spare no pains to make their instruction agreeable, and their diversion useful. For which reasons I shall endeavour to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality, that my readers may, if possible, both ways find their account in the speculation of the day. And to the end that their virtue and discretion may not be short, transient, intermitting starts of thought, I have resolved to refresh their memories from day to day, till I have recovered them out of that desperate state of vice and folly into which the age is fallen. The mind that lies fallow but a single day, sprouts up in follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous culture. It was said of Socrates that he brought Philosophy down from heaven, to inhabit among men; and I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought Philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and in coffee-houses. ("Uses of The Spectator," March 12th, 1711)

Basic Set Up:

In this excerpt from an early essay in The Spectator, Addison lays out the goals and aims of the new journal.

Addison shows us what a booming business journalism had become during the Augustan age. According to his publisher, 3,000 copies of The Spectator were being distributed every day. That's a whole lot of copies, especially if you consider how new print technology was at the time, and how many people could actually read.

Addison also explains to his readers what the purpose of the periodical is. As he famously states, the purpose is to "enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality." For Addison, it's not enough just to be moral; you have to be witty and moral.

Addison's language is clear and accessible in this excerpt. And it makes sense that he goes for such a style; he's trying to reach a wide audience of readers, after all. He's being witty, too—even his statement about wit and morality is witty. You've gotta practice what you preach, right?