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Pure as th' expanse of heav'n: I thither went
With unexperienc'd thought, and laid me down
On the green bank, to look into the clear
Smooth lake, that to me seem'd another sky.
As I bent down to look, just opposite,
A shape within the wat'ry gleam appear'd,
Bending to look on me; I started back,

It started back; but pleas'd I soon return'd,
Pleas'd it return'd as soon with answering looks
Of sympathy and love. There I had fix'd
Mine eyes till now, and pin'd with vain desire,
Had not a voice thus warn'd me, 'What thou seest,
What there thou seest, fair creature, is thyself,
With thee it came and goes; but follow me,
And I will bring thee where no shadow stays
Thy coming and thy soft embraces; he
Whose image thou art, him thou shalt enjoy
Inseparably thine, to him shall bear
Multitudes like thyself, and thence be call'd
Mother of human race.' " What could I do,
But follow straight, invisibly thus led??
Till I espy'd thee, fair indeed, and tall,
Under a plaintain; yet methought less fair,
Less winning soft, less amiably mild,

Than that smooth watʼry image; back I turn'd; Thou following, cry'dst aloud,- Return, fair Eve; Whom fly'st thou? Whom thou fly'st, of him thou art His flesh, his bone; to give thee being, I lent Out of my side to thee, nearest my heart, Substantial life, to have thee by my side Henceforth an individual solace dear: Part of my soul I seek thee, and thee claim, My other half!'-With that thy gentle hand Seiz'd mine, I yielded; and from that time see How beauty is excell'd by manly grace And wisdom, which alone is truly fair. So spake our general motherBUDGELL.

X.

No. 326. FRIDAY, MARCH 14.

Inclusam Danaën turris ahenea,
Robustæque fores, et vigilum canum
Tristes excubia, munierant satis
Nocturnis ab adulteris;

Si non

HOR.

A tow'r of brass, one would have said,
And locks, and bolts, and iron bars,

Might have preserv'd one innocent maidenhead;
But Venus laugh'd, &c.

'MR. SPECTATOR,

COWLEY.

YOUR correspondent's letter relating to fortune-hunters, and your subsequent discourse upon it (No. 311) have given me encouragement to send you a state of my case; by which you will see, that the matter complained of is a common grievance both to city and country.

'I am a country gentleman of between five and six thousand a year. It is my misfortune to have a very fine park and an only daughter; upon which account I have been so plagued with deerstealers and fops, that for these four years past I have scarce enjoyed a moment's rest.

I look

upon myself to be in a state of war; and am forced to keep as constant watch in my seat, as a governor would do that commanded a town on the frontier of an enemy's country. I have indeed pretty well secured my park, having for this purpose, provided myself of four keepers, who are lefthanded, and handle a quarter-staff beyond any other fellows in the country. And for the guard of my house, besides a band of pensioner-matrons and an old maiden relation, whom I keep on con

stant duty, I have blunderbusses always charged, and fox-gins planted in private places about my garden, of which I have given frequent notice in the neighbourhood; yet so it is, that in spite of all my care, I shall every now and then have a saucy rascal ride by reconnoitering (as I think you call it) under my windows, as sprucely dressed as if he were going to a ball. I am aware of this way of attacking a mistress on horseback, having heard that it is a common practice in Spain; and have, therefore, taken care to remove my daughter from the road-side of the house, and to lodge her next the garden. But, to cut short my story, what can a man do after all? I durst not stand for member of parliament last election, for fear of some ill consequence from my being off my post. What I would therefore desire of you is, to mote a project I have set on foot, and upon which I have written to some of my friends; and that is, that care may be taken to secure our daughters by law, as well as our deer; and that some honest gentleman of a public spirit would move for leave to bring in a bill for the better preserving of the female game. sir,

I am,

Your humble servant."

pro

Mile-End-Green, March 6, 1711-12.

MR. SPECTATOR,

'Here is a young man walks by our door every day about the dusk of the evening. He looks up at my window, as if to see me; and if I steal to wards it to peep at him, he turns another way, and looks frightened at finding what he was looking for. The air is very cold; and pray let him know, that if he knocks at the door he will be

carried to the parlour fire; and I will come down soon after, and give him an opportunity to break his mind. I am, sir, yours, &c.

'MARY COMFIT.'

'If I observe he can not speak, I will give him time to recover himself, and ask him how he does.'

'DEAR SIR,

'I beg you to print this without delay, and by the first opportunity give us the natural causes of longing in women; or put me out of fear that my wife will one time or other be delivered of something as monstrous as any thing that has yet appeared to the world; for they say the child is to bear a resemblance of what is desired by the mother. I have been married upwards of six years, have had four children, and my wife is now big with the fifth. The expenses she has put me to in procuring what she has longed for during her pregnancy with them, would not only have handsomely defrayed the charges of the month, but of their education too; her fancy being so exorbitant for the first year or two, as not to confine itself to the usual objects of eatables and drinkables, but running out after equipages and furniture, and the like extravagances. To trouble you only with a few of them; when she was with child of Tom, my eldest son, she came home one day just fainting, and told me she had been visiting a relation, whose husband had made her a present of a chariot and a stately pair of horses; and that she was positive she could not breathe a week longer, unless she took the air in the fellow

to it of her own within that time; this, rather than lose an heir, I readily complied with. Then the furniture of her best room must be instantly changed, or she should mark the child with some of the frightful figures in the old-fashioned tapestry. Well, the upholsterer was called, and her longing saved that bout. When she went with Molly, she had fixed her mind upon a new set of plate, and as much china as would have furnished an India shop: these also I cheerfully granted, for fear of being father to an Indian pagod. Hitherto I found her demands rose upon every concession; and had she gone on, I had been ruined; but, by good fortune, with her third, which was Peggy, the height of her imagination came down to the corner of a venison pasty, and brought her once even upon her knees to gnaw off the ears of a pig from the spit. The gratifications of her palate were easily preferred to those of her vanity; and sometimes a partridge or a quail, a wheat ear, or the pestle of a lark, were cheerfully purchased; nay, I could be contented though I were to feed her with green peas in April, or cherries in May. But with the babe she now goes, she is turned girl again, and fallen to eating of chalk, pretending it will make the child's skin white, and nothing will serve her but I must bear her company, to prevent its having a shade of my brown: in this, however, I have ventured to deny her. No longer ago than yesterday, as we were coming to town, she saw a parcel of crows so heartily at breakfast upon a piece of horse-flesh, that she had an invincible desire to partake with them; and (to my infinite surprise) begged the coachman to cut her off a

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