into Confideration the many Incidents which affect the Education of Youth. SIR, HAVE long expected, that in the Courfe of your you would one time or other fall upon a Subject, ⚫ which, fince you have not, I take the liberty to recom⚫mend to you. What I mean, is the Patronage of young ⚫ modeft Men to fuch as are able to countenance and in⚫troduce them into the World. For want of fuch Affiftances, a Youth of Merit languishes in Obfcurity or Po< verty, when his Circumftances are low, and runs into • Riot and Excefs when his Fortunes are plentiful. I cannot make my self better understood, than by fending you an Hiftory of my felf, which I fhall defire you to infert in your Paper, it being the only Way I have of expreffing my Gratitude for the highest Obligations imaginable. ་ I am the Son of a Merchant of the City of London, who, by many Loffes, was reduced from a very luxuriant Trade and Credit to very narrow Circumftances, in ⚫ comparison to that of his former Abundance. This took away the Vigour of his Mind, and all manner of Attenti on to a Fortune, which he now thought defperate; in"fomuch that he died without a Will, having before buried my Mother in the midft of his other Misfortunes. I was fixteen Years of Age when I loft my Father; and an 'Eftate of 200 l. a Year came into my Poffeffion, without Friend or Guardian to inftru&t me in the Management or Enjoyment of it. The natural Confequence of this was, (though I wanted no Director, and foon had Fellows who found me out for a fmart young Gentleman, and led me into all the Debaucheries of which I was capable) that my Companions and I could not well te fupplied without running into Debt, which I did very frankly, till I was arrested, and conveyed with a Guard ftrong enough for the most defperate Affaffine, to a Bayliff's Houfe, where I lay four Days, furrounded with very merry, but not very agreeable Company. As foon : as T as I had extricated my felf from this fhameful Confinement, I reflected upon it with so much Horror, that L deferted all my old Acquaintance, and took Chambers in an Inn of Court, with a Refolution to ftudy the Law with all poffible application. But I trifled away a whole • Year in looking over a thousand Intricacies, without Friend to apply to in any Cafe of Doubt; fo that I only lived there among Men, as little Children are fent to • School before they are capable of Improvement, only to < be out of harm's way. In the midst of this State of fufC pence, not knowing how to difpofe of my felf, I was fought for by a Relation of mine, who, upon obferving a good Inclination in me, ufed me with great Familiarity, and carried me to his Seat in the Country. When I came there, he introduc'd me to all the good Company in the Country; and the great Obligation I have to him. for this kind Notice and Refidence with him ever fince, has made fo ftrong an Impreffion upon me, that he has an Authority of a Father over me, founded upon the Love of a Brother. I have a good Study of Books, a good Stable of Horfes always at my command; and tho' I am not now quite eighteen Years of Age, familiar Converfe on his part, and a ftrong Inclination to exert my felf on mine, have had an effect upon me that makes me acceptable wherever I go. Thus, Mr. SPECTATOR, by this Gentleman's Favour and Patronage, it is my own fault if I am not wifer and richer every day I live. I fpeak this, as well by fubfcribing the initial Letters of my Name to thank him, as to incite others to an Imitation of his Virtue. It would be a worthy Work to fhew what great Charities are to be done without Expence, and how many noble Actions are loft, out of inadvertency in Perfons capable of performing them, if they were put in mind of it. If a Gentleman of Figure in a County would make his Family a Pattern of Sobriety, good Senfe, and Breeding, and would kindly endeavour to influence the Education and growing Profpects of the younger Gentry about him, I am apt to believe it would fave him a great deal of ftale Beer on a publick Occafion, and render him the Leader of his Country from their Gra 'Gratitude to him, instead of being a Slave to their Riots ⚫ and Tumults in order to be made their Representative. The fame thing might be recommended to all who have ⚫ made a Progrefs in any Parts of Knowledge, or arrived at any Degree in a Profeffion; others may gain Preferment and Fortunes from their Patrons, but I have, I hope, receiv'd from mine good Habits and Virtues. [ repeat to you, Sir, my Request to print this, in return for all the Evil an helpless Orphan fhall ever efcape, and all the Good he fhall receive in this Life; both which are wholly owing to this Gentleman's Favour to, SIR, Your moft obedient Servant, S. P. ་ Mr. SPECTATOR, 'I AM a Lad of about fourteen. I find a mighty Plea'fure in Learning. I have been at the Latin School ⚫ four Years. I don't know I ever play'd truant, or neglected any Task my Mafter fet me in my Life. I think on what I read in School as I go home at noon and night, and fo intently, that I have often gone half a mile out of my way, not minding whither I went. Our Maid tells me, fhe often hears me talk Latin in my fleep. And I dream two or three Nights in the Week I am reading Juvenal and Homer. My Mafter feems as well pleafed with my Performances as any Boy's in the fame Clafs. I think, if I know my own Mind, I would chuse • rather to be a Scholar, than a Prince without Learning. I have a very good affectionate Father; but tho' very rich, yet fo mighty near, that he thinks much of the Charges of my Education. He often tells me, he believes my Schooling will ruin him; that I coft him God⚫ knows-what in Books. I tremble to tell him I want one. I am forced to keep my Pocket-Mony, and lay it out for a Book, now and then, that he don't know of. He has order'd my Mafter to buy no more Books for me, but fays he will buy them himself. I asked him for Horace t'other Day, and he told me in a Paffion, he did not be• lieve I was fit for it, but only my Master had a mind to 'make • make him think I had got a great way in my Learning, I am fometimes a month behind other Boys in getting ⚫ the Books my Mafter gives orders for. All the Boys in ⚫ the School, but I, have the Claffick Authors in ufum Dei phini, gilt and letter'd on the Back. My Father is often reckoning up how long I have been at School, and tells me he fears I do little good. My Father's Carriage fo difcourages me, that he makes me grow dull and melancholy. My Mafter wonders what is the matter with " me; I am afraid to tell him; for he is a Man that loves to encourage Learning, and would be apt to chide my Father, and, not knowing my Father's Temper, may make him worfe. Sir, if you have any love for Learn ing, I beg you would give me fome Inftructions in this cafe, and perfuade Parents to encourage their Children when they find them diligent and defirous of Learning. I have heard fome Parents fay, they would do any thing for their Children, if they would but mind their Learning: I would be glad to be in their place. Dear Sir, pardon my Boldness. If you will but confider and pity my cafe, I will pray for your Profperity as long as I live. T London, March 2, 1711. Your humble Servant, Thursday's N° 331. Thurfday, March 20. W -Stolidam prabet tibi vellere barbam. Perf. HEN I was laft with my Friend Sir ROGER in Westminster Abby, I obferved that he stood longer than ordinary before the Buft of a venerable old Man. I was at a lofs to guefs the reafon of it, when after fome time he pointed to the Figure, and asked me if I did not think that our Forefathes looked much wifer in their Beards than we do without them. For my part, fays he, when I am walking in my Gallery in the Country, and fee my Ancestors, who many of them died before they were of my Age, I cannot forbear regarding them as fo many old Patriarchs, and at the fame time looking upon myself as an idle fmock-fac'd young Fellow. I love to fee your Abrahams, your Ifaacs, and your Jacobs, as we have them in old Pieces of Tapestry, with Beards below their Girdles, that cover half the Hangings. The Knight added, if I would recommend Beards in one of my Papers, and endeavour to restore human Faces to their antient Dignity, that upon a Month's warning he would undertake to lead up the Fafhion himself in a pair of Whiskers. I fmiled at my Friend's Fancy; but after we parted, could not forbear reflecting on the Metamorphofes our Faces have undergone in this Particular. THE Beard, conformable to the Notion of my Friend Sir ROGER, was for many Ages look'd upon as the Type of Wisdom. Lucian more than once rallies the Philofophers of his Time, who endeavour'd to rival one another in Beards; and reprefents a learned Man who ftood for a Profefforship in Philofophy, as unqualify'd for it by the Shortness of his Beard. ÆLIAN, in his Account of Zoilus, the pretended Critick, who wrote against Homer and Plato, and thought bimfelf |