way -He turned his head thoughtful | The word was but one half of it proabout, and looked wiftfully the oppofite nounced, like the abbefs of Andouillets (fo there was no fin in it)-when a perfon I understand thee perfectly, answered I-coming in, let fall a thundering baftinado if thou takeft a wrong ftep in this affair, upon the poor devil's crupper, which put he will cudgel thee to death-- -Well! an end to the ceremony. 4 minute is but a minute, and if it faves a fellow-creature a drubbing, it shall not be fer down as ill (pent. Out upon it! cried I--but the interjection was equivocal--and, I think, wrong placed toofor the end of an ofier, which had started out from the contexture of the afs's pannier, had caught hold of my breeches pocket as he rufhed by me, and rent it in the most difaftrous direction you can imagine-fo that the Out upon it! in my opinion, should have Sterne. He was eating the stem of an artichoke as this difcourfe went on, and in the little peevish contentions of nature betwixt hunger and unfavourinefs, had dropt it out of his mouth half a dozen times, and pick'd it up again.God help thee, Jack! said I, thou haft a bitter breakfast on't-and many a bitter day's labour-and many a bitter blow, I fear for its wages-'tis all-all bitterness § 25. An Enumeration of Superftitions ob come in here. Jerved in the Cauntry. to thee, whatever life is to others.And now thy mouth, if one knew the truth You must know, Mr. Town, that I am of it, is as bitter, I dare fay, as foot- juft returned from a vifit of a fortnight to (for he had caft afide the ftem) and thou haft an old aunt in the North: where I was not a friend perhaps in all this world, that mightily diverted with the traditional fuperwill give thee a macaroon. -In faying ftitions, which are most religiously preferved this, I pulled out a paper of them, which in the family, as they have been delivered I had just purchased, and gave him one-down (time out of mind) from their fagaand at this moment that I am telling it, my cious grandmothers. hst fmites me, that there was more of pleafantry in the conceit, of feeing how an afs would eat a macaroon-than of benevolence in giving him one, which prefided in the act. When the afs had eaten his macaroon, I prefs'd him to come in-the poor beaft was heavy loaded-his legs feem'd to tremble under him-he hung rather backwards, and, as I pulled at his halter, it broke fhort in my hand-he look'd up penfive in my face "Don't thrash me with it--but if you will, you may."--If I do, faid 1, I'll be dd. When I arrived, I found the mistress of the houfe very bufily employed, with her two daughters, in nailing an horfefhoc to the threshold of the door. This, they told me, was to guard against the spiteful designs of an old woman, who was a witch, and had threatened to do the family a mischief, becaufe one of my young coufins laid two ftraws across, to fee if the old hag could walk over them. The young lady affured me, that the had feveral times heard Goody Cripple mutter to herfelf; and to be fure the was faying the Lord's Prayer backwards. Befides the old woman had very often asked 03 them them for a pin: but they took care never up with him, heard a bell toll at the top of to give her any thing that was fharp, because the ftairs, the very moment the breath went The fhould not bewitch them. They after- out of his body. During this discourse, I wards told me many other particulars of this overheard one of my coufins whifper the kind, the same that are mentioned with infi- | other, that she was afraid their mamma would nite humour by the SPECTATOR: and to not live long; for the smelt an ugly fmeli, confirm them, they affured me, that the eldest like a dead carcafe. They had a dairy-maid, mifs, when the was little, used to have fits, who died the very week after an hearse had till the mother flung a knife at another old ftopt at the door in its way to church; and witch (whom the devil had carried off in the eldest mifs, when fhe was but thirteen, an highwind), and fetched blood from her. faw her own brother's ghoft (who was gone When I was to go to bed, my aunt made a to the Weft Indies) walking in the garden; thoufand apologies for not putting me in the and to be furc, nine months after, they had an beft room in the house; which (the faid) had account; that he died on board the thip, never been lain in fince the death of an the very fame day, and hour of the day, that old washerwoman, who walked every night, mifs faw his apparition, and haunted that room in particular. They -fancied that the old woman had hid money fomewhere, and could not reft till he had told fomebody; and my coufin affured me, that he might have had it all to herfelf; for the fpirit came one night to her bed-fide, and wanted to tell her, but the had not courage to speak to it. I learned alfo, that they had a footman once, who hanged himself for love; and he walked for a great while, till they got the parfon to lay him in the Red Sea. I had not been here long, when an accident happened, which very much alarmed the whole family. Towzer one night howled moft terribly; which was a fure fign, that fomebody belonging to them would die. The youngest mifs declared, that the had heard the hen crow that morning; which was another fatal prognoftic. They told me, that, juft before uncle died, Towzer howled fo for feveral nights together, that they could not quiet him; and my aunt heard the deathwatch tick as plainly as if there had been a clock in the room: the maid too, who fat I need not mention to you the common incidents, which were accounted by them no lefs prophetic. It a cinder popped from the fire, they were in hafte to examine whether it was a purfe or a coffin. They were aware of my coming long before I arrived, because they had feen a ftranger on the grate. The youngest mifs will let nobody ufe the poker but herfelf; because when the firs the fire, it always burns bright, which is a fign the will have a brisk husband: and the is no lefs fure of a good one, because the generally has ill luck at cards. Nor is the candle lefs oracular than the fire: for the 'fquire of the parish came one night to pay them a vifit, when the tallow winding-heet pointed towards him; and he broke his neck foon after in a fox-chafe. My aunt one night obferved with great pleasure a letter in the candle; and the very next day one came from her fon in London. We knew when a fpirit was in the room, by the candle burning blue: but poor coufin Nancy was ready to cry one time, when the fnuffed it out, and could not blow it in again; though her fifter did it at a whiff, and confequently triumphed in her fuperior virtue. corn. We had no occafion for an almanack or the weather-glafs, to let us know whether it would rain or shine. One evening I propofed to ride out with my cousins the next day to fee a gentleman's houfe in the neighbourhood; but my aunt affured us it would be wet, the knew very well, from the fhooting of her Befides there was a great fpider crawling up the chimney, and the blackbird in the kitchen began to fing; which were both of them as certain forerunners of rain. But the moft to be depended on in thefe cafes is a tabby cat, which ufually lies basking on the parlour hearth. If the cat turned her tail to the fire, we were to have an hard frolt; if the cat licked her tail, rain would certainly enfue. They wondered what ftranger they thould fee; becaufe pufs washed her face over her left ear. The old lady complained of a cold, and her eldest daughter remarked, it would go through the family for the obferved that poor Tab had fneezed feveral times. Poor Tab, however, once flew at one of my coufins for which the had like to have been deftroyed, as the whole family began to think fhe was no other than a witch. It is impoffible to tell you the feveral tokens by which they know whether good or ill luck will happen to them. Spilling the falt, or laying knives acrofs, are every where accounted ill omens; but a pin with the head turned towards you, or to be followed by a ftrange dog, I found were very unlucky. I heard one of my coufins tell the cook-maid, that the boiled away all her fweethearts, becaufe the had let her difh-water boil over. The fame young lady one morning came down to breakfast with her cap the wrong fide out; which the mother obferving, charged her not to alter it all day, for fear the thould turn luck. But, above all, I could not help remarking the various prognoftics which the old lady and her daughters used to collect from almoft every part of the body. A white fpeck upon the nails, made them as fure of a gift as if they had it already in their pockets. The elder After is to have one hufband more than the youngeft, because the has one wrinkle more in her forehead; but the other will have the advantage of her in the number of children, as was plainly proved by inapping their finger-joints. It would take up too much room to fet down every circumftance which I obferved of this fort during my ftay with them. I fhall therefore conclude my letter with the feveral remarks on other parts of the body, as far as I could learn them from this prophetic family for, as I was a relation, you know, they had lefs referve. If the head itches, it is a fign of rain. If the head aches, it is a profitable pain. If you have the tooth-ache, you don't love true. If your eye-brow itches, you will fee a ftranger. If your right eye itches, you will cry, if your left, you will laugh: but left or right is good at night. If your nofe itches, you will thake hands with, or kifs a fool, drink a glass of wine, run against a cuckold's door, or mifs them all four. If your right ear or cheek burns, your left friends are talking of you; if your left, your right friends are talking of you. If your elbow itches, you will change your bed-fel low. If your right hand itches, you will pay away money; if your left, you will receive. If your ftomach itches, you will eat pudding. If your back itches, butter will be cheap when grafs grows there. If your fide itches, forebody PROSE fomebody is wishing for you. If your gartering-place itches, you will go to a ftrange place. If your foot itches, you will tread upon ftrange ground. Laftly, If you shiver, fomebody is walking over your grave. Connoiffeur. $26. Painting difagreeable in Women. A lady's face, like the coat in the Tale of a Tub, if left alone, will wear well; but if you offer to load it with foreign ornaments, you deftroy the original ground. (as Hamlet fays) "God had given them one face, and they had made themselves another." I have mentioned the accident of my carrying off half a lady's face by a falute, that your courtly dames may learn to put on their faces a little tighter; but as for my own daughters, while fuch fathions prevail, they shall still remain in Yorkshire. There, I think, they are pretty fafe; for this unnatural fashion will hardly make its way into the country, as this vamped complexion would not stand against the rays of the fun, and would inevitably melt away in a countrydance. The ladies have, indeed, been always the greatest enemies to their own beauty, and feem to have a defign against their own faces. At one time the whole countenance was eclipfed in a black velvet mask; at another it was blotted with patches; and at prefent it is crufted over with plaifter of Paris. In those battered belles, who still aim at conqueft, this practice is in fome fort excufable; but it is furely as ridiculous in a young lady to give up beauty for paint, as it would be to draw a good fet of teeth merely to fill their places with a row of ivory. Among other matter of wonder, on my firft coming to town, I was much furprised at the general appearance of youth among the ladies. At prefent there is no diftinction in their complexions, between a beauty in her teens and a lady in her grand climacteric; yet at the fame time, I could not but take notice of the wonderful variety in the face of the fame Jady. I have known an olive beauty on Monday grow very ruddy and blooming on Tuesday; turn pale on Wednesday; come round on the olive hue again on Thursday; and in a word, change her complexion as often as her gown. I was amazed to find no old aunts in this town, except a few un- Indeed, fo common is this fashion among fashionable people, whom no body knows; the young as well as the old, that when I am the reft ftill continuing in the zenith of their in a group of beauties, I confider them as fo youth and health, and falling off, like timely many pretty pictures; looking about me with fruit, without any previous decay. All this as little emotion as I do at Hudfon's: and if was a mystery that I could not unriddle, till, any thing fills me with admiration, it is the on being introduced to fome ladies, I un- judicious arrangement of the tints, and deluckily improved the hue of my lips at the licate touches of the painter. Art very often expence of a fair-one, who unthinkingly had feems almost to vie with nature: but my turned her cheek, and found that my kiffes attention is too frequently diverted by con were given (as is obferved in the epigram) fidering the texture and hue of the skin be like thofe of Pyramus, through a wall. Ineath; and the picture fails to charm, while then discovered, that this furprifing youth my thoughts are engroffed by the wood and and beauty was all counterfeit; and that canvaís. Connoiffeur lightful. 27. The Study of Aftronomy peculiarly de-in a planet; that the fun is feveral thoufand times bigger than the earth; and that there are feveral other worlds within our view, greater and more glorious than our own! "Ay, but," fays fome illiterate fellow, "I enjoy the world, and leave it to others to contemplate it." Yes, you eat, and drink, and run about upon it; that is, you enjoy as a brute: but to enjoy as a rational being, is to know it, to be fenfible of its greatnefs and beauty, to be delighted with its harmony, and by these reflections to obtain juft fentiments of the almighty mind that framed it. In fair weather, when my heart is cheared, and I feel that exaltation of fpirits which refults from light and warmth, joined with a beautiful profpect of nature, I regard myself as one placed by the hand of God in the midft of an ample theatre, in which the fun, moon, and stars, the fruits allo, and vegetables of the earth, perpetually changing their positions or their afpects, exhibit an elegant entertainment to the understanding, as well as to the eye. Thunder and lightning, rain and hail, the painted bow and the glaring comet, are decorations of this mighty theatre; and the fable hemifphere ftudded with fpangles, the blue vault at noon, the glorious gildings and the rich colours in the horizon, I look on as fo many fucceffive scenes. When I confider things in this light, methinks it is a fort of impiety to have no attention to the courfe of nature, and the revolution of the heavenly bodies. To be regardless of thofe phænomena that are placed within our view, on purpose to entertain our faculties, and difplay the wisdom and power of our Creator, is an affront to Providence of the fame kind (I hope it was not impious to make fuch a fimile) as it would be to a good poet to fit out his play without minding the plot or beauties of it. And yet how few are there who attend to the drama of nature, its artificial structure, and thofe admirable fcenes whereby the paffions of a philofopher are gratefully agitated, and his foul affected with the fweet emotions of joy and furprife! How many fox-hunters and rural fquires are to be found all over Great Britain, who are ignorant that they have lived all this time The man who, unembarraffed with vulgar cares, leifurely attends to the flux of things in heaven and things on earth, and obferves the laws by which they are governed, hath fecured to himself an eafy and convenient feat, where he beholds with pleasure all that paffes on the ftage of nature, while thofe about him are, fome faft afleep, and others ftruggling for the highest places, or turning their eyes from the entertainment prepared by Providence, to play at pufh-pin with one another. Within this ample circumference of the world, the glorious lights that are hung on high, the meteors in the middle region, the various livery of the earth, and the profufion of good things that diftinguish the feafons, yields a profpect which annihilates all human grandeur. Tatler. § 28. The Character of Toby Bumper. It is one of the greatest advantages of education, that it encourages an ingenious fpirit, and cultivates a liberal difpofition. We do not wonder that a lad who has ever been fent to fchool, and whofe faculties have been fuffered to ruft at the hall-houfe, thould form too clofe an intimacy with his best friends, the 05 groon |