will think fo difrefpectfully of their Great Grand-Mothers, that they made themselves Monftrous to appear < Amiable. WHEN I furvey this new-fashioned Rotonda in alk its Parts, I cannot but think of the old Philofopher, who after having entered into an Egyptian Temple, and look⚫ed about for the Idol of the Place, at length discovered a little Black Monkey enshrined in the midst of it, upon ⚫ which he could not forbear crying out, (to the great Scandal of the Worshippers) What a magnificent Palace is here for fuch a ridiculous Inhabitant? THOUGH you have taken a Refolution, in one of your Papers, to avoid defcending to Particularities of Dress, I believe you will not think it below you, on fo extraordinary an Occafion, to Unhoop the fair Sex, ⚫ and cure this fashionable Tympany that is got among them. I am apt to think the Petticoat will fhrink of its own Accord at your first coming to Town; at least a Touch of your Pen will make it contract it felf, like the Senfitive Plant, and by that Means oblige feveral who are either terrified or aftonifhed at this portentous Novelty, and among the rest, Your humble Servant, &c. W Friday, July 27. -Concordia difcors. Luc. OMEN in their Nature are much more gay and joyous than Men; whether it be that their Blood is more refined, their Fibres more delicate, and their animal Spirits more light and volatile; or whether, as fome have imagined, there may not be a kind of Sex in the very Soul, I fhall not pretend to determine. vacity is the Gift of Women, Gravity is that of Men. They fhould each of them therefore keep a Watch upon the particular Biafs which Nature has fixed in their Minds, that it may not draw too much, and lead them out of the H 3 As Vi Paths No 128. Paths of Reafon. This will certainly happen, if the one in every Word and Action affects the Character of being rigid and fevere, and the other of being brisk and airy. Men fhould beware of being captivated by a kind of favage Philofophy, Women by a thoughtlefs Gallantry. Where these Precautions are not obferved, the Man often degenerates into a Cynick, the Woman into a Coquet, the Man grows fullen and morofe, the Woman impertinent and fantastical, BY what I have faid, we may conclude, Men and Women mere made as Counterparts to one another, that the Pains and Anxieties of the Husband might be relieved by the Sprightlinefs and good Humour of the Wife. When thefe are rightly tempered, Care and Chearfulness go Hand in Hand, and the Family, like a Ship that is duly trimmed, wants neither Sail nor Ballast. NATURAL Hiftorians obferve, (for whilft I am in the Country I must fetch my Allufions from thence) That only the Male Birds have Voices, That their Songs begin a little before Breeding-time, and end a little after: That whilft the Hen is covering her Eggs, the Male generally sakes his Stand upon a neighbouring Bough within her Hearing, and by that means amufes and diverts her with his Songs during the whole Time of her Sitting. THIS Contra&t among Birds lasts no longer than till a Brood of young ones arifes from it; fo that in the feather'd Kind, the Cares and Fatigues of the married State, if I may fo call it,lie principally upon the Female. On the contrary, as in our Species the Man and the Woman are joined together for Life, and the main Burthen refts upon the former, Nature has given all the little Arts of Soothing and Blandishment to the Female, that she may chear and animate her Companion in a conftant and affiduous Application to the making a Provision for his Family, and the educating of their common Children. This however is not to be taken fo ftrictly, as if the fame Duties were not often reciprocal, and incumbent on both Parties; but only to fet forth what feems to have been the general Intention of Nature, in the different Inclinations and Endowments which are beftowed on the different Sexes. BUT whatever was the Reason that Man and Woman were made with this Variety of Temper, if we obferve the 4 the Conduct of the fair Sex, we find that they chuse rather to affociate themselves with a Person who resembles them in that light and volatile Humour which is natural to them, than to fuch as are qualified to moderate and counter-ballance it. It has been an old Complaint, That the Coxcomb carries it with them before the Man of Senfe. When we fee a Fellow loud and talkative, full of infipid Life and Laughter, we may venture to pronounce him a female Favourite: Noife and Flutter are fuch Accomplishments as they cannot withstand. To be short, the Paffion of an ordinary Woman for a Man is nothing elfe but Selflove diverted upon another Object: She would have the Lover a Woman in every thing but her Sex. I do not know a finer Piece of Satyr on this Part of Womankind, than thofe Lines of Mr. Dryden, Our thoughtless Sex is caught by outward Form THIS is a Source of infinite Calamities to the Sex, as it frequently joins them to Men who in their own Thoughts are as fine Creatures as themfelves; or if they chance to be good-humoured, ferve only to diffipate their Fortunes, inflame their Follies, and aggravate their Indifcretions. THE fame female Levity is no lefs fatal to them after Marriage than before: It reprefents to their Imaginations the faithful prudent Husband as an honest, tractable and domestic Animal; and turns their Thoughts upon the fine gay Gentleman that laughs, fings, and dreffes fo much more agreeably. AS this irregular Vivacity of Temper leads aftray the Hearts of ordinary Women in the Choice of their Lovers and the Treatment of their Husbands, it operates with the fame pernicious Influence towards their Children, who are taught to accomplish themselves in all thofe fublime Perfections that appear captivating in the Eye of their Mother. She admires in her Son what fhe loved in her Gallant; and by that means contributes all she can to perpetuate her felf in a worthlefs Progeny. The younger Fauftina was a lively Inftance of this fort of Women. Notwithstanding fhe was married to Marcus Aurelius, one of the greatest, wifeft, and beft of the Roman H 4 Empe Emperors, the thought a common Gladiator much the prettier Gentleman; and had taken fuch Care to accomplish her Son Commodus according to her own Notions of a fine Man, that when he afcended the Throne of his Father, he became the moft foolish and abandoned Tyrant that was ever placed at the Head of the Roman Empire, fignalizing himself in nothing but the fighting of Prizes, and knocking out Mens Brains. As he had no Tafte of true Glory, we fee him in feveral Medals and Statues which are ftill exant of him, equipped like an Hercules with a Club and a Lion's Skin. I have been led into this Speculation by the Characters I have heard of a Country-Gentleman and his Lady, who do not live many Miles from Sir ROGER. The Wife is an old Coquet, that is always hankering after the Diverfions of the Town; the Husband a morofe Ruftick, that frowns and frets at the Name of it. The Wife is over-run with Affectation, the Husband funk into Brutality: The Lady cannot bear the Noife of the Larks and Nightingales, hates your tedious Summer-Days, and is fick at the Sight of fhady Woods and purling Streams; the Husband wonders how any one can be pleased with the Fooleries of Plays and Operas, and rails from Morning to Night at effenced Fops and tawdry Courtiers. The Children are educated in thefe different Notions of their Parents. The Sons follow the Father about his Grounds, while the Daughters read Volumes of Love-Letters and Romances to their Mother. By this means it comes to pafs, that the Girls look upon their Father as a Clown, and the Boys think their Mother no better than fhe fhould be. HOW different are the Lives of Ariftus and Afpatia? the innocent Vivacity of the one is tempered and compofed by the chearful Gravity of the other. The Wife grows wife by the Difcourfes of the Husband, and the Husband good-humour'd by the Converfations of the Wife. Ariftus would not be fo amiable were it not for his Afpatia, nor Afpatia fo much efteemed were it not for her Ariftus. Their Virtues are blended in their Children, and diffuse through the whole Family a perpetual Spirit of Benevolence, Complacency, and Satisfaction. C Saturday, N° 129. Saturday, July 28. Vertentem fefe fruftra feltabere canthum Cum rota pofterior curras & in axe fecundo. Perf. REAT Masters in Painting never care for drawing People in the Fashion; as very well knowing that the Head-drefs, or Perriwig, that now prevails, and gives a Grace to their Portraitures at prefent, will make a very odd Figure, and perhaps look monftrous in the Eyes of Pofterity. For this Reafon they often represent an illustrious Perfon in a Roman Habit, or in fome other Dress that never varies. I could wifh, for the fake of my Country Friends, that there was fuch a kind of everlasting. Drapery to be made ufe of by all who live at a certain diftance from the Town, and that they would agree upon. fuch Fashions as should never be liable to Changes and Innovations. For want of this Standing Drefs, a Man who takes a Journey into the Country is as much furprized, as one who walks in a Gallery of old Family Pictures; and finds as great a Variety of Garbs and Habits in the Perfons he converfes with. Did they keep to one conftant Dress they would fometimes be in the Fashion, which they never are as Matters are managed at prefent. If inftead of running after the Mode, they would continue fixed in one certain Habit, the Mode would fome time or other overtake them, as a Clock that ftands ftill is fure to point right once in twelve Hours: In thiş Cafe therefore I would advife them, as a Gentleman did his Friend who was hunting about the whole Town after a rambling Fellow, If you follow him you will never find him, but if you plant your felf at the Corner of any one Street, I'll engage it will not be long before you see him. I have already touched upon this Subject, in a Speculation which fhews how cruelly the Country are led aftray in following the Town; and equipped in a ridiculous Habit, when they fancy themselves in the height of the Mode. Since that Speculation I have received a Letter (which I H 5 there |