the Character of SPECTATOR, not only the Part of a Looker-on, but an Overfeer of their Actions ; and when• ever fuch Enormities as this infeft the Town, we immediately fly to you for Redrefs. I have reafon to believe, that fome thoughtless Youngsters, out of a falfe No⚫tion of Bravery, and an immoderate Fondness to be diftinguifhed for Fellows of Fire, are infenfibly hurry'd ⚫ into this fenfelefs fcandalous Project: Such will probably • ftand corrected by your Reproofs, especially if you inform them, that it is not Courage for half a fcore Fellows, • mad with Wine and Luft, to fet upon two or three foberer than themselves; and that the Manners of In"dian Savages are no becoming Accomplishments to an English fine Gentleman. Such of them as have been • Bullies and Scowrers of a long standing, and are grown • Veterans in this kind of Service, are, I fear, too hardned to receive any Impreffions from your Admonitions. But I beg you would recommend to their Perufal your ninth Speculation: They may there be taught to take warning from the Club of Duelifts; and be put in mind, that the common Fate of thofe Men of Honour was to be hang'd. THE following Letter is of a quite contrary nature; but I add it here, that the Reader may obferve at the fame View, how amiable Ignorance may be when it is fhewn in its Simplicities, and how deteftable in Barbarities. It is written by an honeft Countryman to his Miftrefs, and came to the hands of a Lady of good Senfe wrapped about a Thread-Paper, who has long kept it by her as an Image of artless Love. To her I very much respect, Mrs. Margaret Clark. 'L OVELY, and oh that I could write loving Mrs. Margaret Clark, I pray you let Affection excufe Prefumption. Having been fo happy as to enjoy the Sight of your sweet Countenance and comely Body, ⚫ fometimes when I had occafion to buy Treacle or Liquorish Powder at the Apothecary's Shop, I am fo enamoured with you, that I can no more keep close my flaming Defire to become your Servant. And I am the more bold now to write to your fweet felf, because I am now my own Man, and may match where I please ; for my Father is taken away, and now I am come to my Living, which is Ten Yard Land, and a House; and there is never a Yard of Land in our Field but is as well worth ten Pound a Year, as a Thief is worth a Halter; ⚫ and all my Brothers and Sifters are provided for: Befides I have good Houfhold-stuff, though I fay it, both Brafs ⚫ and Pewter, Linnens and Woollens; and though my House be thatched, yet, if you and I match, it fhall go hard but I will have one half of it flated. If you think well of this Motion, I will wait upon you as foon as my new Clothes is made and Hay-Harveft is in. I could, though I fay it, have good The reft is torn off; and Pofterity must be contented to know, that Mrs. Margaret Clark was very pretty, but are left in the dark as to the Name of her Lover. T N° 325. Thursday, March 13. Quid fruftra Simulacra fugacia captas ? W Ovid. ILL. HONEYCOMB diverted us laft Night with an Account of a young Fellow's firft difcovering his Paffion to his Mistress. The young Lady was one, it feems, who had long before conceived a favourable Opinion of him, and was ftill in hopes that he As he would fome time or other make his Advances. was one day talking with her in Company of her two Sifters, the Conversation happening to turn upon Love, each of the young Ladies was, by way of Rallery, recommending a Wife to him; when, to the no fmall furprize of her who languished for him in fecret, he told them with a more than ordinary Serioufnefs, that his Heart had been long engaged to one whofe Name he thought himself obliged in Honour to conceal; but that he could fhew her Picture in the Lid of his Snuff-Box. The young Lady, who found herself the most fenfibly touched by this Confeffion, took the first Opportunity that offered of fnatching his Box out of his Hand. He feemed defirous of recovering it, but finding her refolved to look into the Lid, begged her, that if he should happen to know the Perfon, fhe would not reveal her Name, Upon carrying it to the Window, fhe was very agreeably furprized to find there was nothing within the Lid but a little Looking-Glafs, in which, after he had view'd her own Face with more. Pleasure than fhe had ever done before, fhe returned the. Box with a Smile, telling him, he could not but admire. at his Choice. WILL WILL. fancying that his Story took, immediately fell into a Differtation on the Ufefulness of LookingGlaffes; and applying himself to me, asked, if there were any Looking-Glaffes in the Times of the Greeks and Romans; for that he had often observed in the Translations of Poems out of thofe Languages, that People generally talked of feeing themfelves in Wells, Fountains, Lakes, and Rivers: Nay, fays he, I remember Mr. Dryden in his Ovid tells us of a fwinging Fellow, called Polypheme, that made ufe of the Sea for his LookingGlafs, and could never drefs himself to Advantage but in a Calm. MY Friend WILL. to fhew us the whole Compafs of his Learning upon this Subject, further informed us, that there were ftill feveral Nations in the World fo very barbarous as not to have any Looking-Glaffes among them; and that he had lately read a Voyage to the South-Sea, in which it is faid, that the Ladies of Chili always dress their Heads over a Bafon of Water. I am the more particular in my Account of WILL's laft Night's Lecture on thefe natural Mirrors, as it feems to bear fome Relation to the following Letter, which I received the Day before. 6 SIR, I Have read your laft Saturday's Obfervations on the Fourth Book of Milton with great Satisfaction, and am particularly pleased with the hidden Mo• ral, which you have taken notice of in feveral Parts of ⚫ the Poem, The Defign of this Letter is to defire your Thoughts, whether there may not alfo be fome • Moral couched under that Place in the fame Book where the Poet lets us know, that the firft Woman imme diately after her Creation, ran to a Looking Glafs, and • became fo enamoured of her own Face, that she had ⚫ never removed to view any of the other Works of Nature, had not the been led off to a Man. If you think fit to fet down the whole Paffage from Milton, your Readers will be able to judge for themselves, ⚫ and 4 and the Quotation will not a little contribute to the fil ling up of your Paper. Your humble Servant, R. T. THE laft Confideration urged by my Querift is fo ftrong, that I cannot forbear clofing with it. The Paffage he alludes to, is part of Eve's Speech to Adam, and one of the most beautiful Paffages in the whole Poem. That Day I oft remember, when from fleep Bader |