visn'd him from the Company of the Muses, are at an End.

It has been this Friend of mine, who has been your Rival all this while. I had a great deal of Time to get up after so tedious a Recefs; and fuch a Chain of entertaining Difcourses interven'd, that I cou'd not think of miffing any one of them, till the whole Subject was exhausted. But before I introduce you into this Assembly, I think Fought to let you know the Characters of the chief, at least, of those who compose it.

I shall begin with the principal: This extraordinary Friend of mine, whom I shall distinguish by the Name of Laudon, that the cenforious, ill-natur'd, and envious Part of the Town, the Little-wits, the Verfifiers, and Pretenders, may not accuse me of facrificing more to Flattery, than to Defert. This Name does indeed include his own, which really fignifying the Hill, or Mountain of Praise, I have compounded this of two old English Words, which have the very fame Meaning: That is, Laud, Praise; and Don, Down, or Hill.

Laudon has indeed ow'd to Chance, a Name, which expresses those Excellencies that Nature has bestow'd upon him; For even in his Youth, he has won fo much juft Praise to hiinfelf, by his fine Parts, Application, and Largeness of Soul, that it is scarce a Metaphor to call it a Mountain, and fuch a Mountain, as with Olympus of old, reaches up to the very Skies themselves.

The Person of Laudon is extremely graceful, and his Address engages the Heart before the Force of his Reafon, the Penetration of his Judgment, and the Brillant of his wit can appear from his Di courfe: But when once those exert themselves in their native Vigour, you must be the most inexenfas bly obstinate Creature in the World, not to be of his Opinion. But if he chance at any time to deviate a

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Jittle in a Point, which he has not throughly confi der'd (which is extreamly seldom) no Man, who is Master of such Abilities to defend an Error, is so litle tenacious of it; for the Pleasure of being rightly informed in any Particular, takes away all Regret of yielding himself vanquished by the Reafons of his Opponent.

His Temper is neither profuse, nor penurious; he steers most judiciously between those two Shelves of Reputation, in the middle Stream of a just Generofity. He first chuses an Object worthy of the Benefit, and then he never forfakes it: Whereas most of our great Men that are called Patrons, do by those who shelter themselves, or their Works under their Names, as Men do with Street Beggars, when they give an Alms: For as they never faw them before, so they never think of them afterwards. They are indeed a Sort of Quacks in Liberality; they never make a Cure of the Wounds and Maladies of Fortune, but think they do enough, by a poor palliating Medicine, to put off the evil Day, and remove the Pains for a while; but they return foon after with greater Force on the miferable Patient. Laudon, on the contrary, when he has once thought a Person worthy of his Bounty, believes him entailed on his Care, till the Cure be perfected.

This is enough to let you see how valuable a Perfon Laudon is; and I shall reserve a more perfect Character of him to another Time and Place: For of Laudon the World is like to hear of me as long as Providence shall allow me Life, Health, and Vigour.

This Gentleman has the good Fortune (if I may call the Effect of his Judgment by such a Name) to be married to a young Lady worthy of fuch a Husband.

There is nothing requires a more delicate Hand, than the Character of a Lady. It is not every Painter's Talent to draw the Pictures of that Sex: For tho a Painter may discover himself a great Artist in the PorPortraicts of Men, yet he must be a Zeuxis, Antimachus, Nicias, or a Dahl, to touch the foft Graces of the fair Sex. I own my Inability; and should I attempt it, it would be but a hafty Sketch of a first Sitting, and very much to the Prejudice of the Original.

Cicero tells us, that could we fee the Person of Wisdom with our Eyes, she would raise in us wonderful Defires; but in Morifina (the Lady under our Confideration) you fee the perfect Image of Modefty, the Characteristick of Womanhood: So that whilft her Charms excite our Admiration, Her Modesty awes our Defires, and gives us a Sort of Taste of a celeftial Converfation, where the Beauty of the Objects shall transport us, and yet never be injurious to Innocence and Vertue. If the be not talkative, it is nor, that she ever fails of pleasing, when she speaks; but that Diffidence, which is always the Companion of good Senfe, confines her admirable Notions to her own Mind, which utter'd, wou'd improve the Hearers. In short, let Morifina speak for her felf; and if there be any Defect in what I thus convey to you, affure your self, it is mine, and not the Lady's.

About a Month ago, I went to dine with Laudon; but tho' I came when Dinner was near over, yet, to my Satisfaction, found such Company, as few Tables now-a-days can farm. There I found Eufoba, a Lady of exemplary Life, and who set ashamed of beingreligious even in so abandoned an Age; nor thinks it any Scandal to her Understanding, to be out of the Mode, when Vanity, Lightness, or Vice, are in Fashion, or any thing that carries the Face and Appearance of either of them. She is not above Six and Twenty; and tho she has read much, and lizsa fine Collection of Books, yer all you not find either a Novel, or Romance among them.

Madam La Mode came in, whilst I was there the second Day. This Lady, I confefs, is liable to Cenfure, on Account of her Affectation; but yet that

cannot extinguish her Merit. She has Wit, she has Youth, she has Beauty, she is Gay, and gives into all the harmless Gallantry of the Age; by this Means her Acquaintance is large, and by Consequence not extreamly well chosen. But, Crites, it is no Wonder to find a young Lady carry'd away with the Opinion of the Town in Matters of Wit and Poetry; fince we meet with some of our greatest Dons, and mighty Pretenders to Judgment in those Matters, as entire Slaves to Kogue, as this young Lady, notwithstanding those Helps of a Mafculine Education, which the Women have not the Happiness to be admit ted to.

Madam La Mode is therefore a Lady, who akvays > professes herself an admirer of every Play, Song or Poem that happens to take with the Town, be it good or bad; and as freely declares her utmost Contempt of whatever in that kind does not meet with vulgar Success.

ISachar. La Mode is her Husband, and always with her in all her Vifits and other Promenades. He is a Person who has noExcuse for labouring under the fame false Sentiment, but that the Fondness of a Husband makes him doat so on his wife, as to be transported with every Thing that pleasee her. When ever she praises a Poem, he finds a Thousand Beauties in it, that no Body else cou'd ever discover, and the Vanity of the Author himself could not afure to. Yet has he had an University Education; has not only read the Antients, but repeats perpetually (out of his Lady's Company) Virgil and Horace. But the fame is the Fate of several of our Acquaintance, whomay justly be placed in the Number of the Ignorant, though they are perfect Masters of both the Greek and the Latin; for they have not so natural a Plea for their ill Taste, as our worthy Wachar La Mode.

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The fame Day came in Tyro, a young Poet, who has not been many Years from Cambridge. Till this Conversation, he was like the rest of our Town Wits, ameer Rimester, or at most, a good Versifyers Smoothness of Verse is now become so common, that it loses the Name of a diftinguishing Perfection; for 'tis a difficult Matter to find an Ear so unharmoni ous, as not to fall into Sounds that flow into eafie Numbers. And yet this is a Quality that gives the glorious Name of Poets to Fellows without Warmth, without Judgment, without Imagination. But Tyro, before he left us, was fatisfy'd that there was fomething else required to that Character, much beyond so worthless an Accomplishment, if I may give it that Title.

I shall only take Notice of one Character more, and that is of Manilia. She is a Woman of a great deal of Fire, Fancy and Life; and as she has an In chination to the Muses, so she has, in her Perfor---mances, no fmall Force of nnaisted Nature. For as fhe is thoroughly acquainted with no Language-but her own, so she has never thought of the Duties and Guides of Judgment in her Poetical-Essays. Yer being Mistress of a large Share of good Senfe and Reafon, she was easily convinced that the had known but half the Qualities of a just Poet

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These were most of our Company, and of their Sentiments you must expect your coming Entertain ment to be compos'd.

As foon as Laudon faty me enter the Room, he cry'd out, Gamaliel, I am glad you are come, to pitt: an End to these Melancholy Narrations, we have had of Plots, Conspiracies, and Invasions. Come, Ladies, no more of your Political News, this Ger tleman will bring us fomething more pacifick and agreeable from the Republick of Letters. What new Songs, new Satires, or new Plays have the Mufes be

stowed upon us of late, For Business has made m fuck

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