Quality and Way of Life of the Perfons concerned. A • Man of Breeding fpeaks of even Misfortune among • Ladies without giving it the most terrible Afpect it can bear: And this Tenderness towards them, is much more to be preferved when you speak of Vices. All Mankind are fo far related, that care is to be taken, in things to which all are liable, you do not mention what concerns one in Terms which fhall disgust another. Thus to tell a rich Man of the Indigence of a Kinsman of his, or abruptly inform a virtuous Woman of the Lapfe of one 'who till then was in the fame Degree of Esteem with her ⚫ felf, is in a kind involving each of them in fome Participation of those Disadvantages. It is therefore expected from every Writer, to treat his Argument in ⚫ fuch a Manner, as is moft proper to entertain the fort of Readers to whom his Difcourfe is directed. It is not • neceffary when you write to the Tea-table, that you 'fhould draw Vices which carry all the Horror of Shame

and Contempt: If you paint an impertinent Self-love, "an artful Glance, an affumed Complexion, you say all ⚫ which you ought to fuppofe they can poffibly be guilty ⚫ of. When you talk with this Limitation, you behave your felf fo as that you may expect others in Converfation may fecond your Raillery; but when you do it in a Stile which every Body elfe forbears, in Respect to ⚫ their Quality, they have an eafy Remedy in forbearing to read you, and hearing no more of their Faults. A Man that is now and then guilty of Intemperance is not to be called a Drunkard; but the Rule of polite Raillery, is to fpeak of a Man's Faults as if you lov'd him. Of this Nature is what was faid by Cefar: When one was railing with an uncourtly Vehemence, and • broke out, What must we call him who was taken in an Intrigue with another Man's Wife? Cæfar answered very gravely, A careless Fellow. This was at once a Reprimand for fpeaking of a Crime which in thofe Days had not the Abhorrence attending it as it ought, as well as an Intimation that all intemperate Behaviour before Superiors lofes its aim, by accufing in a Method • unfit for the Audience. A Word to the Wife. All I • mean here to fay to you is, That the most free Perfon * of Quality can go no further than being a kind Wo

E 2

man;

man; and you fhould never fay of a Man of Figure worse, than that he knows the World.

I am, SIR,

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I

Your most humble Servant,

Francis Courtly,

Am a Woman of an unfpotted Reputation, and know nothing I have ever done which should encourage fuch Infolence; but here was one the other Day, and ' he was drefs'd like a Gentleman too, who took the Liberty to name the Words, Lufty Fellow, in my Prefence. ⚫ I doubt not but you will refent it in Behalf of,

SIR, Your humble Servant,
CELIA

Mr. SPECTATOR,

one

Y OU lately put out a dreadful Paper, wherein you promise a full Account of the State of criminal Love; and call all the Fair who have tranfgreffed in that kind by one very rude Name which I do not care to repeat: But I defire to know of you whether I am or I am not of those? My Cafe is as follows. I am kept by an old Batchelor, who took me fo young, that I knew not how he came by me: He is a Bencher of of the Inns of Court, a very gay healthy old Man; which is a very lucky thing for him, who has been, he tells me, a Scowrer, a Scamperer, a Breaker of Windows, an Invader of Conftables, in the Days of Yore, when all Dominion ended with the Day, and Males and Females met helter skelter, and the Scowrers drove before them all who pretended to keep up Order or Rule to the Interruption of Love and Honour. This is his way of Talk, for he is very gay when he vifits nie; but as his former Knowledge of the Town has alarmed him into an invincible Jealoufy, he keeps me in a pair of Slippers, neat Bodice, warm Petticoats, and my own Hair woven in Ringlets, after a Manner, he fays, he remembers. I am not Mistress of one Farthing of Money, but have all Neceffaries provided for me, under the Guard of one who procured for him while

he

he had any Defires to gratify. I know nothing of a • Wench's Life, but the Reputation of it: I have a natu ⚫ral Voice, and a pretty untaught Step in Dancing. His Manner is to bring an old Fellow who has been his Servant from his Youth, and is gray-headed: This Man makes on the Violin a certain Jiggish Noise to which I ⚫ dance, and when that is over I fing to him some loose 6 Air that has more Wantonness than Musick in it. You must have seen a strange window'd House near HydePark, which is fo built that no one can look out of any ⚫ of the Apartments; my Rooms are after that Manner, and I never fee Man, Woman or Child but in Company ' with the two Perfons above-mentioned. He fends me in all the Books, Pamphlets, Plays, Operas and Songs that come out ; and his utmoft Delight in me as a Woman, is to talk over all his old Amours in my Prefence, to play with my Neck, fay the Time was, give me a Kifs, and bid me be fure to follow the Directions of my 'Guardian, (the above-mentioned Lady) and I fhall ne6 ver want. The Truth of my Cafe is, I fuppofe, that I was educated for a Purpofe he did not know he should ⚫ be unfit for when I came to Years. Now, Sir, what I ask of you, as a Cafuift, is to tell me how far in these Circumftances I am innocent, though fubmiffive; he guilty, though impotent?

I am, SIR,

Your confiant Reader,

PUCELLA.

To the Man called the SPECTATOR.

Friend,

Fa

ORASMUCH as at the Birth of thy Labour, thou didft promife upon thy Word, that letting alone the Vanities that do abound, thou would only endeavour to ftrengthen the crooked Moral of this our Babylon, I gave Credit to thy fair Speeches, and admit⚫ted one of thy Papers, every Day fave Sunday, into my Houfe; for the Edification of my Daughter Tabitha, and to the end that Susannah the Wife of my Bofom ⚫ might profit thereby. But alas ! my Friend, I find that E. 3 thou

thou art a Liar, and that the Truth is not in thee; elfe • why didit thou in a Paper which thou didst lately puť forth, make mention of thofe vain Coverings for the • Heads of our Females, which thou loveft to liken unto Tulips, and which are lately fprung up among us? Nay · why didft thou make mention of them in fuch a feeming, as if thou didst approve the Invention, infomuch that my Daughter Tabitha beginneth to wax wanton, ⚫ and to luft after these foolish Vanities? Surely thou dost fee with the Eyes of the Flesh. Verily therefore, unless ⚫ thou doft speedily amend and leave off following thine • own Imaginations, I will leave off thee.

T

Thy Friend as hereafter thou doft demean thy felf,
Hezekiah Broadbrim,

N° 277. Thursday, January 17.

· fas eft & ab hofte doceri.

Virg.

2

Prefume I need not inform the Polite Part of my Readers, that before our Correfpondence with France was unhappily interrupted by the War, our Ladies had all their Fafnions from thence; which the Milliners took care to furnish them with by means of a Jointed Baby, that came regularly over, once a Month, habited after the manner of the moft eminent Toasts in Paris.

I am credibly informed, that even in the hottest time of the War, the Sex made feveral Efforts, and raised large Contributions towards the Importation of this Wooden Madamoiselle.

WHETHER the Veffel they fet out was loft or taken, or whether its Cargo was feized on by the Officers of the Custom houfe as a piece of Contraband Goods, I have not yet been able to learn; it is, however, certain their firft Attempts were without Succefs, to the no fmall Difappointment of our whole Female World; but as their Conftancy and Application, in a matter of fo great Importance, can never be sufficiently commended,

I

I am glad to find, that in spite of all Oppofition, they have at length carried their Point, of which I received Advice by the two following Letters.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I Am fo great a Lover of whatever is French, that I lately difcarded an humble Admirer, because he neither spoke that Tongue, nor drank Claret. I have long bewailed, in fecret, the Calamities of my Sex during the War, in all which time we have laboured under the infupportable Inventions of English Tire-Women, who, tho' they fometimes copy indifferently well, can never compofe with that Gout they do in France.

I was almoft in Defpair of ever more feeing a Model from that dear Country, when laft Sunday I over-heard a Lady, in the next Pew to me, whisper another, that at the Seven Stars in King-ftreet Covent-Garden, there was ⚫a Madamoifelle completely dreffed just come from Paris. I was in the utmost Impatience during the remaining part of the Service, and as foon as ever it was over, having learnt the Milliner's Addreffe, I went directly to ⚫ her House in King-freet, but was told that the French Lady was at a Perfon of Quality's in Pall-mall, and ⚫ would not be back again 'till very late that Night. I was therefore obliged to renew my Vifit early this ⚫ Morning, and had then a full View of the dear Moppet • from Head to Foot.

YOU cannot imagine, worthy Sir, how ridicu ⚫ loufly I find we have all been truffed up during the ⚫ War, and how infinitely the French Drefs excels ours.

THE Mantua has no Leads in the Sleeves, and I hope we are not lighter than the French Ladies, fo as to want that kind of Ballaft; the Petticoat has no Whalebone, but fits with an Air altogether galant and degagé: the Coiffure is inexpreffibly pretty, and in fhort, the ⚫ whole Drefs has a thousand Beauties in it, which I ⚫ would not have as yet made too publick.

I thought fit, however, to give this Notice, that you may not be furprised at my appearing a la mode de • Paris on the next Birth-night.

I am, SIR, your humble Servant,

E 4

Teraminta.

WITH