The spectator: cultural observation and social commentary

¶ … Spectator, No. 69, Saturday May 19, 1711 by Addison [the Royal Exchange

Review and Discussion of "The Spectator, No. 69," Saturday May 19, 1711 by Addison [the Royal Exchange]

In a series of essays in "The Spectator," Addison provided some contemporary commentary on the life and times of the English. This paper provides a discussion concerning the author's attitude toward his subject matter as evinced in his essay in "The Spectator," No. 69, on the subject of "The Royal Exchange" to determine how and whether modern attitudes might differ from their early 18th century counterpart. A summary of the research will be provided in the conclusion.

The Royal Exchange was a famous financial institution that was formerly in the City of London (Royal Exchange 2006). Before the exchange was closed in 1939, it was an important forum for the various business dealings of London merchants and traders who had previously conducted their transaction right in the street or in crowded stores and shops (Royal Exchange 2). The latest Royal Exchange, though, was actually the third such incarnation with the first exchange being officially opened in 1570; this complex was burned to the ground in the Great Fire of London in 1666 (Royal Exchange 2-3). The second Royal Exchange was opened in 1669 and was the subject of the essay by Addison; many of the offices located in this complex were rented to private companies, and its basement vaults were used for the storage of pepper from the East India Company (Royal Exchange 3); this building was also destroyed by fire in 1838 (Royal Exchange 3).

With such a colorful history and representing such a center of social and business goings-on, it is little wonder that Addison found such amusement in his visits there. According to Beljame, Dobree, and Lorimer (1948), "Addison certainly wrote for the boudoir as much as for the coffee-house: a paper has to be bought to be read in the home, and this may partly account for Addison's enormous sales" (xix). In his numbered series of essays in "The Spectator," Addison describes some vivid scenes from everyday life in London: "Coffee-house life with its debates, news-sheets, clubs of common interests (even the common interests of oddities), and indeed its whole routine (Sir Roger sits down to 'a clean pipe, a paper of tobacco, a dish of coffee, and the supplement [of Defoe Review]'). We observe street-scenes, commercial houses (No. 69 creates a splendid pattern of Royal-Exchange activity and the romance behind the process of trade), moneyed and trading interests" (Humphreys 31).

In his introduction to "The Royal Exchange" essay, Addison makes his opinion about the institution clear and enthuses: "There is no Place in the Town which I so much love to frequent as the Royal-Exchange. It gives me a secret Satisfaction, and in some measure, gratifies my Vanity, as I am an Englishman, to see so rich an Assembly of Countrymen and Foreigners consulting together upon the private Business of Mankind, and making this Metropolis a kind of Emporium for the whole Earth" (Addison 1). Indeed, Addison likens the multitudes that gather at the exchange to a modern United Nations and Wall Street rolled into one giant cornucopia of mankind, made all the more interesting by the fact that average Londoners can stroll by and witness these important international business transactions being consummated for themselves. Developing the concept of competitive advantage well before modern economists conceived of it, Addison reports that merchandise of all types can be found being traded at the Royal Exchange from countries where it is best produced: "Nature seems to have taken a particular Care to disseminate her Blessings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourse and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the several Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance upon one another, and be united together by their common Interest. Almost every Degree produced something peculiar to it" (Addison 5).

The fact that London has been developed into the center of international trade in the early 18th century and that the Royal Exchange represents the focal point of this multicultural commerce makes this institution highly appealing as a window on the world for Addison and his peers. This appeal is made all the more compelling for Addison because 18th century England, like 20th century Japan, lacked abundant natural resources and had only financial acumen and expertise to offer. In this regard, Addison points out that, "If we consider our own Country in its natural Prospect, without any of the Benefits and Advantages of Commerce, what a barren uncomfortable Spot of Earth falls to our Share Natural Historians tell us, that no Fruit grows Originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig-Nutts, with other Delicates of the like Nature; That our Climate of itself, and without the Assistances of Art, can make no further Advances towards a Plumb than to a Sloe, and carries an Apple to no greater a Perfection than a Crab"; nevertheless, "Our Ships are laden with the Harvest of every Climate: Our Tables are stored with Spices, and Oils, and Wines: Our Rooms are filled with Pyramids of China, and adorned with the Workmanship of Japan: Our Morning's Draught comes to us from the remotest Corners of the Earth: We repair our Bodies by the Drugs of America, and repose ourselves under Indian Canopies" (Addison 6).

Also echoing the future predictions of modern economists that would suggest if countries are engaged in trade, they will be too busy to fight, Addison observed that the international trade that was taking place at the Royal Exchange was not only fun and interesting to watch because of all of the colorful characters that were encountered there, the trade was good for the international community as well:

For these Reasons there are no more useful Members in a Commonwealth than Merchants. They knit Mankind together in a mutual Intercourse of good Offices, distribute the Gifts of Nature, find Work for the Poor, add Wealth to the Rich, and Magnificence to the Great. Our English Merchant converts the Tin of his own Country into Gold, and exchanges his Wool for Rubies. The Mahometans are clothed in our British Manufacture, and the Inhabitants of the frozen Zone warmed with the Fleeces of our Sheep. (Addison 6)