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unbecoming their subject or character, all that they fay unfit for that place is very proper to be inferted here. Therefore from time to time, in all Writings which shall hereafter be published, you shall have from me extracts of all that shall appear not to the purpose; and for the benefit of the Gentle Reader, I will fhew what to turn over unread, and what to perufe. For this end I have a mathematical fieve preparing, in which I will fift every page and paragraph; and all that falls through I fhall make bold with for my own ufe. The fame thing will be as beneficial in fpeech; for all fuperfluous expreffions in talk fall to me alfo: As, when a pleader at the bar defigns to be extremely impertinent and troublesome, and cries," Under favour of the Court, With fub"miffion, my Lord-I humbly offer"and" I "think I have well confidered this matter; for I would "be very far from trifling with your Lordship's time, "or trefpaffing upon your patience-however, thus I "will venture to say- -" and fo forth. Or elfe, when a fufficient felf-conceited coxcomb is bringing out fomething in his own praife, and begins" Without vanity, "I must take this upon me to affert." There is also a trick which the Fair Sex have, that will greatly contribute to fwell my Volumes: As, when a woman is going to abuse her best friend, " Pray, fays fhe, have you "heard what is faid of Mrs. fuch a one? I am heartily

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forry to hear any thing of that kind of one I have 10 "great a value for; but they make no fcruple of telling "it; and it was not spoken of to me as a fecret, for now "the town rings of it." All fuch flowers in Rhetorick, and little refuges for malice, are to be noted, and naturally belong only to Tatlers. By this method you will immediately find Folio's contract themselves into Octavo's, and the labour of a fortnight got over in half a day.

St. James's Coffee-house, August 5.

Last night arrived a mail from Lisbon, which gives a very pleafing account of the pofture of affairs in that part of the world, the enemy having been neceffitated wholly to abandon the blockade of Olivenza. These advices fay, that Sir John Jennings is arrived at Lisbon.

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When that Gentleman left Barcelona, his Catholic Ma jefty was taking all poffible methods for carrying on an offenfive war. It is obferved with great fatisfaction in the Court of Spain, that there is a very good intelligence between the General officers: Count Staremberg and Mr. Stanhope acting in all things with fuch unanimity, that the public affairs receive great advantages from their perfonal friendship and efteem to each other, and mutual affistance in promoting the service of the common cause.

"This is to give notice, that if any able bodied Pa"latine will enter into bonds of matrimony with Betty Pepin, the faid Palatine fhall be fettled in freehold

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"of forty fhillings per Annum in the county of Middlesex.”

N° 52.

Tuesday, August 9, 1709.

White's Chocolate-houfe, Auguft 7.

Delamira refigns her Fan.

ONG had the croud, of the gay and young ftood in fufpence, as to their fate in their paffion to the beauteous Delamira; but all their hopes are lately vanished, by the declaration that fhe has made of her choice, to take the happy Archibald for her companion for life. Upon her making this known, the expence of fweet powder and jeffamine are confiderably abated; and the Mercers and Milleners complain of her want of public fpirit, in not concealing longer a fecret which was fo much the benefit of trade. But fo it happened; and no one was in confidence with her in carrying on this traaty, but the matchless Virgulta, whofe defpair of ever entering the matrimonial ftate made her, fome nights before Delamira's refolution was published to the world, address herself to her in the following manner:

Delamira!

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"Delamira! you are now going into that ftate of life, wherein the ufe of your charms is wholly to be applied to the pleafing only one man. That fwimming air of your body, that janty bearing of your "head over one shoulder, and that inexpreffible beauty "in your manner of playing your Fan, must be lowered "into a more confined behaviour; to fhew, that you "would rather fhun than receive addreffes for the future. "Therefore, dear Delamira, give me thofe excellencies you leave off, and acquaint me with your manner of "charming: For I take the liberty of our friendship to fay, that when I confider my own ftature, motion, complexion, wit, or breeding, I cannot think myself "any way your inferior; yet do I go through crouds "without wounding a man, and all my acquaintance marry round me, while I live a virgin unasked; and, "I think, unregarded."

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Delamira heard her with great attention, and, with that dexterity which is natural to her, told her, that all "fhe had above the reft of her Sex and contemporary Beauties was wholly owing to a Fan, (that was left her by her mother, and had been long in the family) which whoever had in poffeffion, and used with skill, fhould command the hearts of all her beholders: And fince, faid he fmiling, I have no more to do with extending my conquefts or triumphs, I will make you a prefent of this inestimable rarity. Virgulta made her expreffions of the highest gratitude for fo uncommon a confidence in her, and defired fhe would fhew her what was peculiar in the management of that utenfil, which rendered it of fuch general force while she was miftrefs of it. Delamira replied, you fee, Madam, Cupid is the principal figure painted on it; and the fkill in playing this Fan is, in your feveral motions of it, to let him appear as little as poffible; for honourable Lovers fly all endeavours to enfnare them; and your Cupid muft hide his bow and arrow, or he will never be fure of his game. You may obferve, continued fhe, that in all public affemblies, the Sexes feem to feparate themselves, and draw up to attack each other with eye-fhot: That is the time when the Fan, which is all the armour of a woman, is of most use

in our defence; for our minds are conftrued by the waving of that little inftrument, and our thoughts appear in compofure or agitation according to the motion of it. You may obferve, when Will Peregrine comes into the fide-box, Mifs Gatty flutters her Fan as a fly does its wings round a candle; while her elder fifter, who is as much in love with him as fhe is, is as grave as a Vestal' at his entrance, and the confequence is accordingly. He watches half the Play for a glance from her fifter, while Gatty is overlooked and neglected. I wish you heartily as much fuccefs in the management of it as I have had : If you think fit to go on where I left off, I will give you a fhort account of the execution. I have made with it.

Cimon, who is the dulleft of mortals, and though a wonderful great scholar, does not only pause, but seems to take a nap with his eyes open between every other fentence in his difcourfe: Him have I made a leader in affemblies; and one blow on the fhoulder as I paffed by him has raised him to a downright impertinent in all converfations. The airy Will Sampler is become as lethargic by this my wand, as Cimon is fprightly. Take it, good girl, and ufe it without mercy; for the reign of beauty never lafted full three years, but it ended in marriage, or condemnation to virginity. As you fear therefore the one, and hope for the other, I expect an hourly journal of your triumphs; for I have it by certain tradition, that it was given to the first who wore it, by an inchantress, with this remarkable power, that it beflows a husband in half a year on her who does not overlook her proper minute; but affigns to a long defpair the woman who is well offered, and neglects that propofal. May occafion attend your charms, and your charms flip no occafion. Give me, I fay, an account of the progress of your forces at our next meeting; and you fhall hear what I think of my new condition. I shall meet my future fpoufe this moment. Farewel. Live in juft terror of the dreadful words," She was.”

From my own Apartment, August 8.

I had the the honour this evening to vifit fome ladies, where the subject of the converfation was Modesty;

which they commended as a quality quite as becoming in men as in women. I took the liberty to fay, it might be as beautiful in our behaviour as in theirs, yet it could not be faid, it was as fuccefsful in life; for as it was the only recommendation in them, fo it was the greatest obftacle to us both in Love and Bufinefs. A Gentleman prefent was of my mind, and faid, that we must describe the difference between the Modefty of women and that of men, or we should be confounded in our reasonings upon it; for this virtue is to be regarded with respect to our different ways of life. The Woman's province is to be careful in her economy, and chafte in her affections The Man's to be active in the improvement of his fortune, and ready to undertake whatever is confiftent with his reputation for that end. Modefty therefore in a woman has a certain agreeable fear in all the enters upon; and in men it is compofed of a right judgment of what is proper for them to attempt. From hence it is, that a difcreet man is always a modeft one. It is to be noted, that Modesty in a man is never to be allowed as a good quality, but a weaknefs, if it fuppreffes his virtue, and hides it from the world, when he has at the fame time a' mind to exert himself. A French autho fays very justly, that Modefty is to the other virtues in a man, what fhade in a picture is to the parts of the thing reprefented. It makes all the other beauties confpicuous, which would otherwise be but a wild heap of colours. This fhade in our actions must therefore be very juftly applied; for if there be too much, it hides our good qualities, instead of fhewing them to advantage.

Neftor in Athens was an unhappy inftance of this truth; for he was not only in his profeffion the greatest man of that age, but had given more proofs of it than any other man ever did; yet for want of that natural freedom and audacity which is neceffary in commerce: with men, his perfonal modefty overthrew all his public actions. Neftor was in thofe days a fkilful Architect, and in a manner the inventor of the ufe of mechanic powers; which he brought to fo great perfection, that he knew to an atom what foundation would bear fuch a fuperftructure: And they record of him, that he was fo prodigiously exact, that for the experiment's fake, be

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