It was in these stormy years that _The Spectator_ appeared. In the tumult of partisan controversy Addison succeeded in keeping his paper out of the strife. He was a pronounced Whig himself, and his preferences are plainly enough to be seen even in these papers; but he sincerely deprecated the rancorous tone of party writing, and he wisely refused to allow _The Spectator_ to become the organ of a party. Steele had more difficulty in restraining his pen, and finally retired from _The Spectator_ rather than remain quiet on public questions.
=155=: 4. =Roundheads and Cavaliers.= The Puritans, during the term of the Civil War, were nicknamed Roundheads because they wore their hair short (as everybody does now), instead of allowing it to fall over their shoulders as was the fashion with the Royalists or Cavaliers.
=155=: 6. =St. Anne's Lane.= Probably the lane of that name in Westminster, near the Abbey.
=155=: 12. =Prick-eared cur.= A dog with pointed ears. The epithet was applied to the Puritans, because they wore their hair short, and their ears were not covered by long locks.
=156=: 4. =Tend to the prejudice of the land-tax.= Sir Roger naturally finds the mischiefs of parties to come mostly from the Whigs, who support the war, and so raise the land tax.
=156=: 25. =Plutarch.= The Greek historian and moralist, born about 46 A.D. His _Lives_ are perhaps the most interesting work of biography in the world. The quotation in the text is from his other principal work, the _Morals_.
=157=: 5. =That great rule.= _Luke_ vi. 27-29.
=157=: 8. =Many good men ... alienated from one another.= It is probable Addison had especially in mind his own old friendship with Swift, which had grown very chill of late on account of their political differences. As early as December 14, 1710, when he began to be intimate with the new Tory ministry, Swift writes in the _Journal to Stella_, "Mr. Addison and I are as different as black and white, and I believe our friendship will go off by this damned business of party." A month later, January 14, 1711, he says, "At the coffee-house talked coldly awhile with Mr. Addison; all our friendship and dearness are off; we are civil acquaintances, talk words, of course, of when we shall meet, and that is all."