bafe Style a Tongue-Pad. Old True Penny bid me advife her to keep her Wit till fhe comes to Town again, and admonish her, that both Wit and Breeding are local; for a fine Court. Lady is as awkward among Country Housewives, as one of them would appear in a Drawing Room. 'Tis therefore the most ufeful Knowledge one can attain at, to understand among what Sort of Men we make the best Figure; for if there be a Place where the beauteous and accomplish'd Emilia is unacceptable, it is certainly a vain Endeavour to Attempt pleating in all Converfations. Here is Will. Ubi, who is fo thirsty after the Reputation of a Companion, that his Company is for any Body that will accept of it; and for want of knowing whom to chufe for himself, is never chofen by others. There is a certain Chastity of Behaviour, which makes a Man defirable, and which, if he tranfgreffes, his Wit will have the fame Fate with Delia's Beauty, which no one regards, because all know it is within their Power. The beft Course Emilia can take, is, to have lefs Humility; for if she could have as good an Opinion of herself for having every Quality, as fome of her Neighbours have of themselves with one, fhe would infpire even them with a Senfe of her Merit, and make that Carriage (which is now the Subject of their Derifion) the fole Object of their Imitation. Till fhe has arrived at this Value of herself, fhe must be contented with the Fate of that uncommon Creature, a Woman too humble.

White's Chocolate-boufe, August 19.

SINCE my last, I have received a Letter from Tom Trump, to defire that I would do the Fraternity of Gamefters the Juftice to own, that there are notorious Sharpers, who are not of their Clafs. Among others, he prefented me with the Picture of Harry Copperfmith, in Little, who (he fays) is at this Day worth Half a Plumb, by Means much more indirect than by falfe Dice. I must confefs, there appeared fome Reafon in what he afferted; and he met me fince, and accofted me in the following Manner: It is wonderful to me, Mr. Bickerstaff, that you can pretend to be a Man of Penetration, and fall upon us Knights

" of the Industry as the wickedeft of Mortals, when there are so many who live in the conftant Practice of bafer Methods unobferved. You cannot (tho you know the Story of myself and the North Briton) but allow I am an honefter Man than Will. Copperfmith, for all his great Credit among the Lombards. I get my Money by Mens Follies, and he gets his by their Diftreffes. The declining Merchant communicates his Griefs to him, and he augments them by Extortion. If therefore Regard is to be had to the Merit of the Perfons we injure, who is the more blameable, he that oppreffes an unhappy Man, or he that cheats a foolish one? All Mankind are indifferently liable to adverse Strokes of Fortune; and he who adds to them, when he might relieve them, is certainly a worse Subject, than he who unburdens a Man whose Profperity is unwieldy to him. Befides all which, he that borrows of Copperfmith, does it out of Neceffity; he that plays with me, does it out of Choice.

6.

I allow'd Trump there are Men as bad as himself, which is the Height of his Pretenfions; and must confefs, that Coppersmith is the most wicked and impudent of all Sharpers: A Creature that cheats with Credit, and is a Robber in the Habit of a Friend The Contemplation of this worthy Perfon made me reflect on the wonderful Succeffes I have obferved Men of the meaneft Capacities meet with in the World, and recollected an Obfervation I once heard a fage Man make; which was, That he had obferved, that in fome Profeffions, the lower the Underftanding, the greater the Capacity. I remember, he inftanced that of a Banker, and faid, That the fewer Appetites, Paffions, and Idea's a Man had, he was the better for his Bufinefs.

THERE is little Sir Triftram, without Connexion, in his Speech, or fo much as common Senfe, has arrived by his own natural Parts at one of the greatest Eftates amongst us. But honeft Sir Triftram knows himfelf to be but a Repofitory for Cafh: He is jusb fuch an Utenfil as his Iron Cheft, and may rather be

d to, hold Money, than. poffefs it. There is nothing

fo pleasant as to be in the Converfation of thefe wealthy Proficients. I had lately the Honour to drink Half a Pint with Sir Triftram, Harry Coppersmith, and Giles Twofboes. Thefe Wags give one another Credit in Difcourse, according to their Purfes; they jeft by the Pound, and make Answers as they honour Bills. Without Vanity, I thought myself the prettiest Fellow of the Company; but I had no manner of Power over one Muscle in their Faces, though they fneer'd at every Word. fpoken by each other. Sir Triftram call'd for a Pipe of Tobacco; and telling us Tobacco was a Potherb, bid the Drawer bring him t'other Half Pint. Twofhoes laughed at the Knight's Wit without Moderation, I took the Liberty to fay, it was but a Pun. A Pun! fays Copper/mith; you yould be a better Man by 10,000l. if you could pun like Sir Triftram. With that they all burst out together. The Queer Curs maintained this Style of Dialogue till we had drank our Quarts a-piece by Half-Pints. All I could bring away with me, is That Twofboes is not worth twenty thoufand Pounds; for his Mirth, tho' he was as infipid as either of the others, had no more Effect upon the Company, than if he had been a Bankrupt.

From my own Apartment, Auguft 19.

I have heard, it has been advised by a Diocesan to his inferior Clergy, that instead of broaching Opinions of their own, and uttering Doctrines which may lead themfelves and Hearers into Error, they would read fome of the most celebrated Sermons, printed by others for the Instruction of their Congregations. In Imitation of fuch Preachers at Second-hand, I shall transcribe from Bruyere one of the most elegant Pieces of Raillery and Satire which I have ever read. He defcribes the French, as if fpeaking of a People not yet difcovered, in the Air and Stile of a Traveller.

6

I have heard talk of a Country where the old Men are Gallant, Polite and Civil: The young Men, on the contrary, Stubborn, Wild, without either Manners or Civility. They are free from Paffion for Womer at that Age when in other Countries they begin to fo

it; and prefer Beafts, Victuals, and ridiculous Amours ⚫ before them. Amongst these People, he is fober who is never drunk with any Thing but Wine; the too frequent Use of it has render'd it flat and infipid to them: They Endeavour by Brandy, and other ftrong Liquors, to quicken their Tafle, already extinguished, ⚫ and want nothing to compleat their Debauches, but to • drink Aqua Fortis. The Women of that Country haften the Decay of their Beauty, by their Artifices to preferve it: They paint their Cheeks, Eyebrows and • Shoulders, which they lay open, together with their • Breasts, Arms and Ears, as if they were afraid to hide thofe Places which they think will please, and never think they fhew enough of them. The Phyfiognomies of the People of that Country are not at all neat, • but confused and embarrass'd with a Bundle of strange Hair, which they prefer before their natural: With ⚫ this they weave fomething to cover their Heads, which ⚫ defcends down half way their Bodies, hides their Features, and hinders you from knowing Men by their • Faces. This Nation has, befides this, their God and their King. The Grandees go every Day, at a certain Hour, to a Temple they call a Church: At the upper • End of that Temple there ftands an Altar confecrated to their God, where the Priest celebrates fome My'fteries which they call holy, facred, and tremendous. • The great Men make a vaft Circle at the Foot of the Altar, ftanding with their Backs to the Priests and the Holy Myfteries, and their Faces erected towards their ་ King, who is feen on his Knees upon a Throne, and to whom they feem to direct the Defires of their Hearts, and all their Devotion. However, in this Cuftom there is to be remarked a Sort of Subordination; for the People appear adoring their Prince, and their ⚫ • Prince adoring God. The Inhabitants of this Region • call it 'Tis from Forty-eight Degrees of Latitude, • and more than Eleven hundred Leagues by Sea, from the Iroquois and Hurons.

LETTERS from Hampstead fay, There is a Coxarrived there, of a Kind which is utterly new.

ow has Courage, which he takes himself to be

obliged

obliged to give Proofs of every Hour he lives. He is ever fighting with the Men, and contradicting the Women. A Lady, who fent him to me, fuperfcribed him with this Description out of Suckling ;

I am a Man of War and Might,

And know thus much that I can fight,
Whether I am i' th' Wrong or Right,
Devoutly.

No Woman under Heaven I fear,
New Oaths I can exactly fwear;
And forty Healths my Brain will bear,
Moft ftoutly.

No 58.

Tuesday, August 23, 1709.

White's Chocolate-bouse, August 22.

OOR Cynthio (who does me the Honour to talk to me now and then very freely of his moft fecret Thoughts, and tells me his moft private Frailties) owned to me, that though he is in his very Prime of Life, Love had killed all his Defires, and, he was now as much to be trufted with a fine Lady, as if he were eighty. That one Paffion for Clariffa has taken up (faid he) my whole Soul, and all my idle Flames are extinguifhed, as you may observe, ordinary Fires are often put out by the Sunshine.

THIS was a Declaration not to be made but upon the highest Opinion of a Man's Sincerity; yet as much a Subject of Raillery as fuch a Speech would be, it is certain, that Chastity is a nobler Quality, and as much to be valued in Men as in Women. The mighty Scipio, who (as Bluffe fays in the Comedy) was a Pretty Fellow