Explanation: Thus I live in the world, rather as a spectator of mankind, than as one of the species, by which means I have made myself a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, and artisan without even meddling with any practical part in life. 

Answer: These memorable and noteworthy lines have been extracted from the famous essay “The spectator’s Account of Himself’ by Addison who is a pioneer of English novels. Here the writer suggests his function and his motto. He also represents himself as a spectator.

The writer is going on with the description of his nature. He does the function of a spectator in his essays. He as a spectator observes the intrigues and manners of mankind. He is well acquainted with the principles of soldiers, merchants, and artisans. The poet does not take part in the activities of the cluster of people. Whenever he finds a gathering he goes in close to the gathering and observes their activities and discourse. He does never open his lips but only gathers experience. Thus consequently he has become a wine spectator. He writes down his experience and supplies the papers to the readers at their tea table.

Actually here Addison’s mild tone of satire is remarkable. In his latter essays, we shall find that he has depicted the deformities and absurdities of 18th-century English society so subtly that they mirror the pointed weaknesses vividly and lends weight to the view that Addison is an accurate spectator of the human way of life.