AS to his Conceit of tacking a Tragick Head with a Comic Tail, in order to refresh the Audience, it is fuch a • piece of Jargon, that I don't know what to make of it. THE elegant Writer makes a very fudden Tranfi⚫tion from the Play-house to the Church, and from thence to the Gallows. AS for what relates to the Church, he is of opinion, that thefe Epilogues have given occafion to thofe merry Figs from the Organ-Loft, which have diffipated thofe good Thoughts and Difpofitions he has found in himself, and the rest of the Pew, upon the finging of two Staves cull'd out by the judicious and diligent Clerk. HE fetches his next Thought from Tyburn; and ⚫feems very apprehenfive left there should happen any In"novations in the Tragedies of his Friend Paul Lorrain. IN the mean time, Sir, this gloomy Writer, who is ⚫fo mightily fcandaliz'd at a gay Epilogue after a serious Play, fpeaking of the Fate of thofe unhappy Wretches who are condemned to fuffer an ignominious Death by the Juftice of our Laws, endeavours to make the Rea• der merry on fo improper an Occafion, by thofe poor • Burlesque Expreffions of Tragical Dramas, and Monthly • Performances. I am, Sir, with great Refpect, Your most obedient, most humble Servant, X Philomeides.. N° 342. Wednesday, April 2. Juftitiæ partes funt non violare homines: Verecundiæ non offendere. Tull. S Regard to Decency is a great Rule of Life in ge A especially to confulted by Female World, I cannot overlook the following Letter which defcribes an egregious Offender. Mr. Mr. SPECTATOR, :I Was this Day looking over your Papers, and reading in that of December the 6th with great delight, ⚫ the amiable Grief of Afteria for the Abfence of her Hufband, it threw me into a great deal of Reflection. I cannot say but this arose very much from the Circum⚫stances 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 Houfe, where he was receiv'd with that ⚫ more than ordinary Welcome, with which Men of do⚫meftick 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 ftaid here fome time, and had eafy Accefs at all Hours, as well as unavoidable Conversation at some parts of the Day with the beautiful Sylvana, the Gen⚫tleman's Daughter. People who live in Cities are wonderfully ftruck with every little Country Abode they fee ⚫ when they take the Air; and 'tis natural to fanfy they ⚫ could live in every neat Cottage (by which they pafs) ⚫ much happier than in their present Circumftances. The ⚫ turbulent way of Life which Hortenfius was used to, ⚫ made him reflect with much Satisfaction on all the Advantages of a fweet 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 Quefti ons, ons, of a Parent who had nothing to add to her perfo. 'nal Qualifications. The Wedding was celebrated at her Father's House: When that was over, the generous 'Husband did not proportion his Provifion for her to the 'Circumftances of her Fortune, but confidered his Wife as his Darling, his Pride, and his Vanity, or rather that "it was in the Woman he had chosen that a Man of Senfe 'could fhew Pride or Vanity with an Excufe, and there'fore adorned her with rich Habits and valuable Jewels. ་ He did not however omit to admonish her that he did ⚫his very utmost in this; that it was an Oftentation he ⚫ could not but 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 these 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 fhe dreffed thus rather in compliance to his Humour that way, than out of any Value the her felf had for ⚫ the Trifles. To this Leffon, too hard for a Woman, Hortenfius added, that fhe must be fure to ftay with her • Friends in the Country till his Return. As foon as Hortenfius 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 Ab⚫ fence of the most generous Man alive, fhe is now the gayeft Lady about this Town, and has shut out the Thoughts of her Husband by a constant 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. Now, Mr. SPECTATOR, Would it not be a Work ⚫ becoming your Office to treat this Criminal as the de⚫ ferves? You fhould give it the fevereft Reflexions you can: You fhould tell Women, that they are more ac⚫countable for Behaviour in Absence than after Death. The • The dead are not dishonour'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 is fo unfeasonable as to be ftill alive; and come and fpoil good Company. I am, Sir, your moft obedient humble Servant. ALL Strictness of Behaviour is fo unmercifully laugh'd at in our Age, that the other much worfe Extreme is the more common Folly. But let any Woman confider which of the two Offences an Husband would the more eafily forgive, that of being lefs entertaining than fhe could to please Company, or raising the Defires of the whole Room to his difadvantage; and fhe will easily be able to form her Conduct. We have indeed carry'd Womens Characters too much into publick Life, and you fhall fee them nowa-days affect a fort of Fame: but I cannot help venturing to disoblige them for their Service, by telling them, that the utmost of a Woman's Character is contain'd in domestick Life; she is blameable or praise-worthy according as her Carriage affects the Houfe of her Father or her Huf band. All he 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 finest Woman at an Opera or an Affembly. They are likewife confiftent with a moderate fhare of Wit, a plain Dress, and a 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 best 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 difrelifh of Life, and falling into Contempt of their own Perfons, or being the Derifion 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) born) their Ambition to excel will be directed accordingly; and they will in no part of their Lives want Opportunies of being fhining Ornaments to their Fathers, Husbands, Brothers, or Children. T N° 343. Thursday, April 3. Errat, et illinc Huc venit, bine illuc, et quoflibet occupat artus 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 Eastern Parts of the World believed in that Doctrine to this day. Sir Paul Rycout, says 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, says WILL, the Reafon is, because they confider every Animal as a Brother or Sifter in difguife, and therefore think themselves obliged to extend their Charity to them, tho' under fuch 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 resembled 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 those Ladies who throw away all their Fondness on Parrots, Monkeys, and Lap-dogs. Upon going to pay her a Vifit one Morning, he writ a very pretty Epiftle upon this Hint. Jack, fays |