THE following Epiftle I find is from the Undertaker of the Mafquerade.

SIR,

I Have obferved the Rules of my Mafque fo careful.

ly, (in not enquiring into Persons) that I cannot tell whether you were one of the Company or not last Tuesday; but if you were not, and still design to come, I defire you would for your own Entertainment, please to admonish the Town, that all Perfons indifferently are not fit for this fort of Diverfion. I could wish, Sir, you could make them understand, that it is a kind of Acting to go in Masquerade, and a Man fhould be able to fay or do things proper for the Drefs in which he appears. We have now and then Rakes in the Habit of Roman Senators, and grave Politicians in the Dress • of Rakes. The Misfortune of the thing is, that People ⚫ drefs themfelves in what they have a Mind to be, and not what they are fit for. There is not a Girl in the • Town, but let her have her Will in going to a Masque and fhe fhall drefs as a Shepherdefs. But let me beg ⚫ of them to read the Arcadia, or fome other good Romance, before they appear in any fuch Character at my House. The laft Day we prefented, every Body was fo rafhly habited, that when they came to speak to each other, a Nymph with a Crook had not a Word to fay but in the pert Style of the Pit Bawdry; and a Man in the Habit of a Philofopher was fpeechlefs, till an Occafion offered of expreffing himself in the Refuse of the Tyring-Rooms. We had a Judge that danced a Minuet, with a Quaker for his Partner, while half a dozen Harlequins ftood by as Spectators: A Turk drank me off two Bottles of Wine, and a Jew eat me up half a Hain of Bacon. If I can bring my Defign to bear, and make the Mafquers preferve their Characters in my Affemblies, I hope you will allow there is a foundation laid for a more elegant and improving Gallantries than any the Town at prefent affords; and confequently, that you will give your Approbation to the Endeavours < of,

SIR,

Your most obedient humble Servant.

I

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I am very glad the following Epiftle obliges me to mention Mr. Powell a fecond Time in the fame Paper; for indeed there cannot be too great Encouragement given to his Skill in Motions, provided he is under proper Reftrictions,

SIR,

T

HE Opera at the Hay-Market, and that under the little Piazza in Covent-Garden, being at prefent ⚫ the two leading Diverfions of the Town, and Mr. Powell profeffing in his Advertisements to set up Whittington and his Cat against Rinaldo and Armida, my Curiofity led me the Beginning of last Week to view both thefe Performances, and make my Obfervations upon them.

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FIRST therefore, I cannot but obferve that Mr. Powell wifely forbearing to give his Company a Bill of Fare before-hand, every Scene is new and unexpected; ⚫ whereas it is certain, that the Undertakers of the HayMarket, having raised too great an Expectation in their printed Opera, very much disappoint their Audience on the Stage.

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THE King of Jerufalem is obliged to come from the City on foot, instead of being drawn in a triumphant Chariot by white Horfes, as my Opera-Book had promised me; and thus while I expected Armida's Dragons fhould rufh forward towards Argantes, I found the Hero was obliged to go to Armida, and hand her out of her Coach. We had alfo but a very fhort Allowance of Thunder and Lightning; tho' I cannot in this Place ⚫ omit doing Justice to the Boy who had the Direction of the Two painted Dragons, and made them fpit Fire and Smoke: He flafh'd out his Rosin in such just Proportions and in fuch due Time, that I could not forbear conceiving Hopes of his being one Day a moft excellent Player. Ifaw indeed but Two things wanting to render his whole Action compleat, I mean the keeping his Head a little lower, and hiding his Candle.

I obferve that Mr. Powell and the Undertakers had both the fame Thought, and I think much about the fame time, of introducing Animals on their feveral Stages, tho' indeed with very different Succefs. The

• Sparrows

Sparrows and Chaffinches at the Hay-Market fly as yet verry irregularly over the Stage; and inftead of perching on the Trees, and performing their Parts, these young Actors either get into the Galleries, or put out the Candles; whereas Mr. Powell has fo well difciplined his Pig, that in the firft Scene he and Punch dance a Minuet together. I am informed however, that Mr. • Powell refolves to excell his Adverfaries in their own Way; and introduce Larks in his next Opera of Susanna, or Innocence betrayed, which will be exhibited next • Week with a Pair of new Elders.

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THE Moral of Mr. Powell's Drama is violated, I confefs, by Punch's national Reflections on the French, and King Harry's laying his Leg upon the Queen's Lap in too ludicrous a manner before fo great an Affembly.

AS to the Mechanism and Scenary, every thing indeed was uniform and of a Piece, and the Scenes were managed very dextroufly; which calls on me to take Notice, that at the Hay-Market the Undertakers forgetting to change their Side-Scenes, we were prefented with a Profpect of the Ocean in the midst of a delightful Grove; and tho' the Gentlemen on the Stage had very much contributed to the beauty of the Grove, by walking up and down between the Trees, I muft own I was not a little aftonished to fee a well-dreffed young Fellow, in a full-bottomed Wigg, appear in the midft of the Sea, and without any visible Concern taking • Snuff.

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I fhall only obferve one thing further, in which both Dramas agree; which is, that by the Squeak of their Voices the Heroes of each are Eunuchs; and as the Wit in both Pieces are equal, I must prefer the • Performance of Mr. Powell, because it is in our own • Language.

R

I am, &c..

Saturday,

N° 15.

Saturday, March 17.

Parva leves capiunt animos

W

Ovid.

THEN I was in France, I used to gaze with great Astonishment at the Splendid Equipages, and Party-coloured Habits, of that Fantaftick Nation. I was one Day in particular contemplating a Lady, that fate in a Coach adorned with gilded Cupids, and finely painted with the Loves of Venus and Adonis. The Coach was drawn by fix milk-white Horfes, and loaden behind with the fame Number of powdered Footmen. Juft before the Lady were a Couple of beautiful Pages, that were stuck among the Harnefs, and, by their gay Dreffes and fmiling Features, looked like the elder Brothers of the little Boys that were carved and painted in every corner of the Coach.

THE Lady was the unfortunate Cleanthe, who afterwards gave an Occafion to a pretty melancholy Novel. She had, for feveral Years, received the Addreffes of a Gentleman, whom after a long and intimate Acquain-tance fhe forfook, upon the Account of this fhining Equipage, which had been offered to her by one of Great Riches, but a Crazy Conftitution. The Circumstances. in which I faw her, were, it feems, the Difguifes only of a broken Heart, and a kind of Pageantry to cover Diftrefs; for in two Months after fhe was carried to her Grave with the fame Pomp and Magnificence; being feat thither partly by the Lofs of one Lover, and partly by the Poffeffion of another.

I have often reflected with my self on this unacccountable Humour in Woman-kind, of being smitten with eve-ry thing that is fhowy and fuperficial: and on the numberlefs Evils that befal the Sex, from this light, fantastical Difpofition. I my felf remember a young Lady, that was very warmly follicited by a Couple of importunate Rivals, who for feveral Months together, did all they could to recommend

commend themselves, by Complacency of Behaviour, and Agreeablenefs of Converfation. At length, when the Competition was doubtful, and the Lady undetermined in her Choice, one of the young Lovers very luckily bethought himself of adding a fupernumerary Lace to his Liveries, which had fo good an Effect, that he married her the very Week after.

THE ufual Converfation of ordinary Women very much cherishes this natural Weakness of being taken with Outfide and Appearance. Talk of a new-married Couple, and you immediately hear whether they keep their Coach and fix, or eat in Plate: Mention the Name of an abfent Lady, and it is ten to one but you learn fomething of her Gown and Petticoat. A Ball is a great Help to Difcourfe, and a Birth-Day furnishes Converfation for a Twelvemonth after. A Furbelow of precious Stones, an Hat buttoned with a Diamond, a Brocade Waftcoat or Petticoat, are standing Topicks. In fhort, they confider only the Drapery of the Species, and never caft away a Thought on thofe Ornaments of the Mind, that make Perfons Illuftrious in themselves, and Useful to others. When Women are thus perpetually dazling one another's Imaginations, and filling their Heads with nothing but Colours, it is no Wonder that they are more attentive to the superficial Parts of Life, than the folid and fubftantial Bleffings of it. A Girl, who has been trained up in this kind of Converfation, is in danger of every Embroidered Coat that comes in her Way. A Pair of fringed Gloves may be her Ruin. In a word, Lace and Ribbons, Silver and Gold Galloons, with the like glittering Gew-gaws, are fo many Lures to Women of weak Minds or low Educations, and, when artificially difplayed, are able to fetch down the most airy Coquet from the wildeft of her Flights and Rambles.

TRUE Happiness is of a retired Nature, and an Enemy to Pomp and Noife; it arifes, in the first place, from the Enjoyment of one's felf; and, in the next, from the Friendship and Converfation of a few felect Companions: It loves Shade and Solitude, and naturally haunts Groves and Fountains, Fields and Meadows: In fhort, it feels every thing it wants within it felf, and receives no Addition from Multitudes of Witneffes and Spectators. On

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