us out of it than by the Lofs of thy Innocence. Heaven preferve my dear Child. Thy Affectionate Mother THE Meffenger, notwithstanding he promised to deliver this Letter to Amanda, carry'd it first to his Master, who he imagined would be glad to have an opportunity of giving it into her hands himself. His Mafter was impatient to know the Success of his Propofal, and therefore broke open the Letter privately to fee the Contents. He was not a little moved at fo true a Picture of Virtue in Diftrefs: But at the fame time was infinitely furprised to find his Offers rejected. However he resolved not to fupprefs the Letter, but carefully fealed it up again, and carried it to Amanda. All his Endeavours to fee her were in vain, till she was affured he brought a Letter from her Mother. He would not part with it but upon condition that she should read it without leaving the Room. While fhe was perufing it, he fixed his Eyes on her Face with the deepest Attention: Her Concern gave a new Softness to her Beauty, and when she burst into Tears, he could no longer refrain from bearing a Part in her Sorrow, and telling her, that he too had read the Letter, and was refolv'd to make Reparation for having been the Occafion of it. My Reader will not be displeased to see the second Epistle which he now wrote to Amanda's Mother. MADAM, I Am full of Shame, and will never forgive my self, if I have not your Pardon for what I lately wrote. It was far from my Intention to add Trouble to the Afflicted; nor could any thing, but my being a Stranger to you, have betray'd me into a Fault, for which, if I live, I shall endeavour to make you amends, as a Son. You cannot be unhappy while Amanda is your Daughter nor fhall be, if any thing can prevent it, which is • in the power of, MADAM, Your moft Obedient, Humble Servant THIS Letter he fent by his Steward, and foon after went up to Town himself, to complete the generous Act he had now refolved on. By his Friendship and Affiftance Amanda's Father was quickly in a condition of retrieving his perplex'd Affairs. To conclude, he marry'd Amanda, and enjoy'd the double Satisfaction of having restored a worthy Family to their former Profperity, and of making himself happy by an Alliance to their Virtues. No 376. Monday, May 12. Pavone ex Pythagoreo: Mr. SPECTATOR, I Perf. ago Have obferved that the Officer you fome time appointed as Inspector of Signs, has not done his Duty fo well as to give you an account of very many ftrange Occurrences in the publick Streets which are worthy of, but have escaped your notice. Among all the Oddneffes which I have ever met with, that which I am now telling you gave me moft delight. You must have obferved that all the Criers in the Street attract the • Attention of the Paffengers, and of the Inhabitants in ⚫ the feveral Parts, by fomething very particular in their • Tone it felf, in the dwelling upon a Note, or elfe making ⚫ themselves wholly unintelligible by a Scream. The Perfon I am fo delighted with has nothing to fell, but very gravely receives the Bounty of the People, for no other Merit but the Homage they pay to his Manner ⚫ of fignifying to them that he wants a Subfidy. You must, fure, have heard speak of an old Man, who walks about the City, and that Part of the Suburbs which lies beyond the Tower, performing the Office of a DayWatchman, follow'd by a Goofe, which bears the bob ⚫ of his Ditty, and confirms what he fays with a Quack, Quack. I gave little heed to the mention of this known Circumftance, till being the other day in those Quarters, I paffed by a decrepid old Fellow with a Pole in K 5 his his Hand, who juft then was bawling out, half an hour after one o'clock, and immediately a dirty Goose behind him made her Response, Quack, Quack. I could not forbear attending this grave Proceffion for the length of half a Street, with no fmall Amazement to find the whole Place fo familiarly acquainted with a melancholy Midnight Voice at Noon-day, giving them the Hour, ⚫ and exhorting them of the Departure of Time, with a Bounce at their Doors. While I was full of this Novelty, I went into a Friend's Houfe, and told him ⚫ how I was diverted with their whimsical Monitor and his Equipage. My Friend gave me the History; and interrupted my Commendation of the Man, by telling me the Livelihood of these two Animals is purchased rather by the good Parts of the Goose, than of the Leader: For it seems the Peripatetick who walked before her was a Watchman in that Neighbourhood; and the • Goose of her felf by frequent hearing his Tone, out of ⚫ her natural Vigilance, not only observed, but answer'd ⚫ it very regularly from time to time. The Watchman was ⚫fo affected with it, that he bought her, and has taken ⚫ her in Partner, only altering their Hours of Duty from Night to Day. The Town has come into it, and they live very comfortably. This is the Matter of Fact: Now I defire you, who are a profound Philofopher, to confider this Alliance of Inftinct and Reafon; your Speculation may turn very naturally upon the Force the fuperior Part of Mankind may have upon the Spirits of fuch as, like this Watchman, may be very near the Standard of Geefe. And you may add to this practical Obfervation, how in all Ages and Times the World has been carry'd away by odd unaccountable things, which one would think would pass upon no Creature which • had Reason; and, under the Symbol of this Goose, you may enter into the Manner and Method of leading Creatures, with their Eyes open, thro' thick and thin, for they know not what, they know not why. ་ · ÁLL which is humbly fubmitted to your Spectatorial Wisdom, by, SIR, Your moft bumble Servant, Michael Gander. Mr. SPECTATOR, Have for feveral Years had under my Care the Government and Education of young Ladies, which Truft I have endeavour'd to discharge with due regard to their several Capacities and Fortunes: I have left no⚫ thing undone to imprint in every one of them an hum⚫ble courteous Mind, accompanied with a graceful becoming Mien, and have made them pretty much acquaint⚫ed with the Houfhold Part of Family- Affairs; but still I find there is fomething very much wanting in the Air of my Ladies different from what I obferve in those that are efteemed your fine-bred Women. Now, Sir, I 'must own to you, I never fuffered my Girls to learn to dance; but fince I have read your Difcourfe of Dancing, where you have described the Beauty and Spirit there is in regular Motion, I own my felf your Convert, and ⚫ refolve for the future to give my young Ladies that Accomplishment. But upon imparting my Defign to ⚫ their Parents, I have been made very uneafy, for fome ⚫ time, because several of them have declared, that if I did not make use of the Mafter they recommended, they • would take away their Children. There was Colonel Jumper's Lady, a Colonel of the Train-bands, that has • a great Intereft in her Parish; fhe recommends Mr. Trott for the prettieft Mafter in Town, that no Man teaches a Jig like him, that she has seen him rise fix or feven Capers together with the greatest ease imaginable, • and that his Scholars twift themselves more ways than the Scholars of any Mafter in Town: befides there is • Madam Prim, an Alderman's Lady, recommends a • Master of her own Name, but the declares he is not ⚫ of their Family, yet a very extraordinary Man in his way; for befides a very foft Air he has in dancing, he gives them a particular Behaviour at a Tea-Table, and in prefenting their Snuff-Box, to twirl, flip, or flirt a Fan, ⚫ and how to place Patches to the best advantage, either ⚫ for fat or lean, long or oval Faces: for my Lady fays there is more in these things than the World imagines. • But I must confefs the major Part of those I am con'cern'd with leave it to me. I defire therefore, according ⚫ to the inclosed Direction, you would fend your Corre⚫ fpondent T fpondent who has writ to you on that Subject to my House. If proper Application this way can give Innocence new Charms, and make Virtue legible in the Countenance, I shall spare no Charge to make my Scholars in their very Features and Limbs bear Witness how careful I have been in the other Parts of their Education. · I am, SIR, Your most humble Servant, Rachael Watchful. N° 377. Tuesday, May 13. Quid quifque vitet, nunquam homini fatis L Hor. OVE was the Mother of Poetry, and ftill produces, among the most ignorant and barbarous, a thousand imaginary Diftreffes and Poetical Complaints. It makes a Footman talk like Oroondates, and converts a brutal Ruftick into a gentle Swain. The most ordinary Plebeian or Mechanick in Love, bleeds and pines away. with a certain Elegance and Tenderness of Sentiments which this Paffion naturally infpires. THESE inward Languishings of a Mind infected with this Softness, have given birth to a Phrase which is made ufe of by all the melting Tribe, from the highest to the loweft, I mean that of dying for Love. ROMANCES, which owe their very Being to this Paffion, are full of these metaphorical Deaths. Heroes and Heroines, Knights, Squires, and Damfels, are all of them in a dying Condition. There is the fame kind of Mortality in our modern Tragedies, where every one gafps, faints, bleeds and dies. Many of the Poets, to defcribe the Execution which is done by this Paffion, reprefent the Fair Sex as Bafilisks that deftroy with their Eyes; but I think Mr. Cowley has with great Juftness of Thought compared a beautiful Woman to a Porcupine, that fends an Arrow from every Part. |