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ftances of my own Life, who am a Soldier, and expect every day to receive Orders; which will oblige me to leave behind me a Wife that is very dear to me, and ⚫ that very deservedly. She is, at prefent, I am fure, no way below your Afteria for Conjugal Affection: But I fee the Behaviour of fome Women fo little fuited to the 'Circumftances wherein my Wife and I fhall foon be, that it is with a Reluctance I never knew before, I am going to my Duty. What puts me to prefent Pain, is the Example of a young Lady, whofe Story you shall have as well as I can give it you. Hortenfius, an Officer ⚫ of good Rank in her Majefty's Service, happen'd in a ⚫ certain Part of England to be brought to a Country'Gentleman's Houle, where he was received with that more than ordinary Welcome, with which Men of do'mestick Lives entertain fuch few Soldiers whom a military Life, from the variety of Adventures, has not render'd over-bearing, but humane, eafy, and agreeable: Hortenfius ftay'd here fome time, and had eafy Access at all hours, as well as unavoidable Converfation at fome parts of the Day with the beautiful Sylvana, the Gen-tleman's Daughter. People who live in Cities are wonfully ftruck with every little Country Abode they fee when they take the air; and 'tis natural to fancy they could live in every neat Cottage (by which they pafs) • much happier than in their prefent Circumftances. The turbulent way of Life which Hortenfius was used to, • made him reflect with much Satisfaction on all the Advantages of a sweet Retreat one day; and among the reft, you'll think it not improbable, it might enter into his Thought, that fuch a Woman as Sylvana would confummate the Happiness. The World is fo debauched ⚫ with mean Confiderations, that Hortenfius knew it would ⚫ be receiv'd as an Act of Generofity, if he asked for a • Woman of the higheft Merit, without further Questiof a Parent who had nothing to add to her perfo⚫nal Qualifications. The Wedding was celebrated at her Father's Houfe: When that was over, the generous Huf• band did not proportion his Provifion for her to the Cir: cumftances of her Fortune, but confidered his Wife as his : Darling,

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⚫ons,

Darling, his Pride, and his Vanity, or rather that it was in the Woman he had chofen that a Man of Senfe could fhew Pride or Vanity with an Excufe, and therefore • adorned her with rich Habits and valuable Jewels. He did not however omit to admonifh her that he did his very ' utmost in this; that it was an Oftentation he could not bat be guilty of to a Woman he had fo much pleasure in, defiring her to confider it as fuch; and begged of her ⚫ alfo to take thefe Matters rightly, and believe the Gems, 'the Gowns, the Laces would ftill become her better, if her Air and Behaviour was fuch, that it might appear the dreffed thus rather in compliance to his Humour that way, than out of any value the her felf had for the Trifles. To this Lesson, too hard for Woman, Hertenfius added, that the muft te fure to ftay with her Friends in the Country till his return. As foon as Hor

tenfius departed, Sylvana faw in her Looking-glass that the Love he conceiv'd for her was wholly owing to the • Accident of feeing her: and fhe is convinced it was ・ only her Misfortune the rest of Mankind had not beheld her, or Men of much greater Quality and Merit had con⚫tended for one fo genteel, tho' bred in Obfcurity; fo very witty, tho' never acquainted with Court or Town. She ⚫ therefore refolved not to hide fo much Excellence from the World, but without any regard to the Abfence of the most generous Man alive, the is now the gayeft Lady about this Town, and has fhut out the Thoughts ' of her Husband by a conftant Retinue of the vaineft. young Fellows this Age has produced; to entertain whom, The fquanders away all Hortenfius is able to fupply her ' with, tho' that Supply is purchased with no lefs Difficulty than the Hazard of his Life.

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NOW, Mr. SPECTATOR, would it not be a Work ⚫ becoming your Office to treat this Criminal as the de'ferves? You should give it the feverest Reflections you. can: You fhould tell Women, that they are more ac-. countable for Behaviour in Abfence than after Death. The Dead are not difhonour'd by their Levities; the Living may return, and be laugh'd at by empty Fops, who will not fail to turn into ridicule the good Man who

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is fo unfeasonable as to be ftill alive, and come and fpoil good Company.

I am, Sir, your most obedient humble Servant.

ALL Strictness of Behaviour is fo unmercifully laugh'd at in our Age, that the other much worse Extreme is the more common Folly. But let any Woman confider which of the two Offences an Husband would the more easily forgive, that of being lefs entertaining than fhe could to please Company, or raifing the Defires of the whole Room to his disadvantage; and the will eafily be able to form her Conduct. We have indeed carry'd Womens Characters too much into publick Life, and you shall see them now-adays affect a fort of Fame: but I cannot help venturing to difoblige them for their Service, by telling them, that the utmost of a Woman's Character is contain❜d in a domeftick Life; fhe is blameable or praife-worthy according as her Carriage affects the House of her Father or her Huf band. All fhe has to do in this World, is contain'd within the Duties of a Daughter, a Sifter, a Wife, and a Mother: All these may be well performed, tho' a Lady fhould not be the very fineft Woman at an Opera or an Affembly. They are likewise confiftent with a moderate fhare of Wit, a plain Drefs, and modest Air. But when

the very Brains of the Sex are turned, and they place their Ambition on Circumftances, wherein to excel is no addition to what is truly commendable, where can this end, but, as it frequently does, in their placing all their Industry, Pleasure and Ambition on things, which will naturally make the Gratifications of Life last, at beft, no longer than Youth and good Fortune? And when we confider the leaft ill Confequence, it can be no less than looking on their own Condition as years advance, with a dif relifh of Life, and falling into Contempt of their own Perfons, or being the Derision of others. But when they confider themselves as they ought, no other than an additional Part of the Species, (for their own Happiness and Comfort, as well as that of thofe for whom they were born) their Ambition to excel will be directed accordingly;

and

and they will in no part of their Lives want Opportunities of being fhining Ornaments to their Fathers, Husbands, Brothers, or Children.

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N° 343. Thurfday, April 3.

Errat et illinc

Huc venit, hinc illuc, et quoflibet occupat artus
Spiritus: éque feris humana in corpora tranfit,
Inque feras nofter

Pythag. ap. Ov.

W ILL. HONEYCOMB, who loves to fhew upon occafion all the little Learning he has picked up, told us yesterday at the Club, that he thought there might be a great deal faid for the Tranfmigration of Souls, and that the Eaftern Parts of the World believed in that DoEtrine to this day. Sir Paul Rycaut, fays he, gives us an account of feveral well-difpofed Mahometans that purchase the Freedom of any little Bird they fee confined to a Cage, and think they merit as much by it, as we fhould do here by ranfoming any of our Countrymen from their Captivity at Algiers. You must know, fays WILL, the Reafon is, because they confider every Animal as a Brother or a Sifter in difguife, and therefore think themselves obliged to extend their Charity to them, tho' under such mean Circumftances. They'll tell you, fays WILL, that the Soul of a Man, when he dies, immediately paffes into the Body of another Man, or of fome Brute, which he refembled in his Humour, or his Fortune, when he was one of us.

AS I was wondring what this Profufion of Learning would end in, WILL. told us that Jack Freelove, who was a Fellow of Whim, made Love to one of thofe Ladies who throw away all their Fondnefs on Parrots, Monkeys, and Lap-dogs. Upon going to pay her a vifit one Morn

ing,

ing, he writ a very pretty Epiftle upon this hint. Jack, fays he, was conducted into the Parlour, where he diverted himself for fome time with her favourite Monkey, which was chained in one of the Windows; till at length obferving a Pen and Ink lie by him, he writ the following Letter to his Miftrefs, in the Perfon of the Monkey; and upon her not coming down fo foon as he expected, left it in the Window, and went about his business.

THE Lady foon after coming into the Parlour, and feeing her Monkey look upon a Paper with great Earnestness, took it up, and to this day is in fome doubt, fays WILL, whether it was written by Jack or the Monkey.

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Madam,

'NOT

OT having the Gift of Speech, I have a long time 'waited in vain for an Opportunity of making ་ my felf known to you; and having at prefent the Conveniences of Pen, Ink, and Paper by me, I gladly take the occafion of giving you my History in Writing, which 'I could not do by word of Mouth. You must know, Madam, that about a thousand Years ago I was an In⚫dian Brachman, and verfed in all thofe myfterious Secrets which your European Philofopher, called Pythagoras, is faid to have learned from our Fraternity. I had fo ingratiated my felf by my great Skill in the occult Sciences with a Dæmon whom I ufed to converfe with, that he promifed to grant me whatever I fhould ask of him. • I defired that my Soul might never pass into the Body ⚫ of a Brute Creature; but this he told me was not in his • Power to grant me. I then begg'd that into whatever < Creature I should chance to tranfmigrate, I might still ⚫ retain my Memory, and be confcious that I was the fame • Perfon who lived in different Animals. This he told me C was within his Power, and accordingly promised on the word of a Dæmon that he would grant me what I de fired. From that time forth I lived fo very unblameably, that I was made Prefident of a College of Brachmans, an Office which I discharged with great Integrity till the Day of my Death,

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