The thick-sprung reeds which watery marshes yield The stag in limpid currents, with surprise, Is; The spreading oak, the beech, and towering pine, From my own Apartment, May 6. THERE has a mail this day arrived from Holland; but the matter of the advices importing rather what gives us great expectations, than any positive assurances, I shall, for this time, decline giving you what I know; and apply the following verses of Mr. Dryden, in the second part of Almanzor, to the present circumstances of things, without discovering what my knowledge in astronomy suggests to me: 10 Almanzor and Almahide; or, The Conquest of Grenada, Act I, Scene 1. When Empire in its childhood first appears, A watchful Fate o'ersees its tender years: Till, grown more strong, it thrusts and stretches out, The place thus made for its first breathing free, Till swelling by degrees it has possest The greater space, and now crowds up the rest. And pushes on its now unwieldy fate : Then down the precipice of time it goes, N° 13. TUESDAY, MAY 10, 1709. Quicquid agunt homines nostri est farrago libelli. JUV. Sat. i. 85, 86. Whatever good is done, whatever ill- From my own Apartment, May 8. MUCH hurry and business has to-day perplexed me into a mood too thoughtful for going into company; for which reason, instead of the tavern, I went into Lincoln's-inn walks; and, having taken a round or two, I sat down, according to the allowed familiarity of these places, on a bench; at the other end of which sat a venerable gentleman, who speaking with a very affable air, Mr. Bickerstaff,' said he, I take it for a very great piece of good fortune that you have found me out.'-'Sir,' said I, I had never, that I That,' know of, the honour of seeing you before.' replied he, is what I have often lamented; but, I assure you, I have for many years done you good offices, without being observed by you; or else, when you had any little glimpse of my being concerned in an affair, you have fled from me, and shunned me like an enemy; but, however, the part I am to act in the world is such, that I am to go on in doing good, though I meet with never so many repulses, even from those I oblige.' This, thought I, shews a great good-nature, but little judgment in the persons upon whom he confers his favours. He immediately took notice to me, that he observed by my countenance I thought him indiscreet in his beneficence, and proceeded to tell me his quality in the following manner : I know thee, Isaac', to be so well versed in the occult sciences, that I need not much preface, or make long preparations to gain your faith that there are airy beings, who are employed in the care and attendance of men, as nurses are to infants, until they come to an age in which they can act of themselves. These beings are usually called amongst men, Guardian Angels; and, Mr. Bickerstaff, I am to acquaint you, that I am to be yours for some time to come; it being our orders to vary our stations, and sometimes to have one patient under our protection, and sometimes another, with a power of assuming what shape we please, to ensnare our wards into their own good. I have of late been upon such hard duty, and know you have so much work for me, that I think fit to appear to you face to face, to desire you will give me as little occasion for vigilante as you can.'-'Sir,' said I, it will be a great instruction to me in my behaviour, if you please to give me some account of your late employments, and what hardships or satisfactions you have had in them, that I may govern myself accordingly.' He answered, To give you an example of the drudgery we go through, I will entertain you only with my three last stations: I was on the first of April last put to mortify a great Beauty, with whom I was a week; from her I went to a common Swearer, and have been last with a Gamester. When I first came to my lady, I found my great work was to guard well her eyes and ears; but her flatterers were so numerous, and the house, after the modern way, so full of lookingglasses, that I seldom had her safe but in her sleep. Whenever we went abroad, we were surrounded by an army of enemies: when a well-made man appeared, he was sure to have a side-glance of observation : if a disagreeable fellow, he had a full face, out of mere inclination to conquests. But at the close of the evening, on the sixth of the last month, my ward was sitting on a couch, reading Ovid's Epistles; and as she came to this line of Helen to Paris, • She half consents who silently denies, "to entered Philander, who is the most skilful of all men in an address to women. He is arrived at the perfection of that art which gains them, which is, talk like a very miserable man, but look like a very happy one." I saw Dictinna blush at his entrance, which gave me the alarm; but he immediately said something so agreeably on her being at study, and the novelty of finding a lady employed in so grave a manner, that he on a sudden became very familiarly a man of no consequence; and in an instant laid all her suspicions of his skill asleep, as he had almost done mine, until I observed him very dangerously turn his discourse upon the elegance of her dress, and her judgment in the choice of that very pretty mourning. Having had women before under my care, I trembled at the apprehension of a man of sense who could talk upon trifles, and resolved to stick to my post with all the circumspection imaginable. In short, I prepossessed her against all he could say to the advantage of her dress and person; but he turned again the discourse, where I found I had no power over her, on the abusing her friends and acquaintance. He allowed indeed that Flora had a little beauty, and a great deal of wit; but that she was so ungainly in her behaviour, and such a laughing hoyden!-Pastorella 2 had with him the allowance of being blameless: but what was that towards being praiseworthy? To be only innocent, is not to be virtuous 3 ! He afterwards spoke so much against Mrs. Dipple's forehead, Mrs. Prim's mouth, Mrs. Dentifrice's teeth, and Mrs. Fidget's cheeks, that she grew downright * NO 9. 3 See No 10. 4 In the Original Letters to the Tat. and Spec. printed by Charles Lillie, there is a Table of the titles and distinctions of women, from which we select what follows: 'Let all country-gentlewomen, without regard to more or less fortune, content themselves with being addressed by the style of Mrs. 'Let Madam govern independently in the city, &c. 'Let no woman assume the title of Lady, without adding her name, to prove her right to it. Titles flowing from real honour support themselves. Let no woman after the known age of 21, presume to admit of her being called Miss, unless she can fairly prove she is not out of her sampler. Let every common maid-servant be plain Jane, Doll or Sue, and let the better-born and higher-placed be distinguished by Mrs. Patience, Mrs, Prue, or Mrs. Abigail.' |