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Women with than Men; and it would be as much Impertinence to go into a Shop of one of these young Women without buying, as into that of any other Trader. I shall end this Speculation with a Letter I have received from a pretty Milliner in the City.

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Mr. SPECTATOR,

Have read your Account of Beauties, and was not a

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I do affure you I have little elfe to do but to give Audience as I am fuch. Here are Merchants of no fmall Confideration, who call in as certainly as they go to 'Change, to fay fomething of my roguish Eye: And here is one ⚫ who makes me once or twice a Week tumble over all my Goods, and then owns it was only a Gallantry to fee me act with thefe pretty Hands; then lays out three Pence in a little Ribbon for his Wrift-bands, and thinks he is a Man of great Vivacity. There is an ugly thing not far off me, whofe Shop is frequented only by People of Bufinefs, that is all Day long as bufy as poffible. ⚫ Muft I that am a Beauty be treated with for nothing but my Beauty? Be pleased to affign Rates to my kind Glances, or make all pay who come to fee me, or I fhall be ⚫ undone by my Admirers for want of Cuftomers. Albacinda, Eudofia, and all the reft would be ufed just as we are, if they were in our Condition; therefore pray confider the Distress of us the lower Order of Beauties, and I fhall be

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I

Pulchrior multo

Hor.

Do not think any thing could make a pleasanter Enter tainment, than the Hiftory of the reigning Favourites among the Women from Time to Time about this Town: In fuch an Account we ought to have a faithful

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N° 156. Confeffion of each Lady for what he liked fuch and fuch a Man, and he ought to tell us by what particular Action or Drefs he believed he should be moft fuccefsful. Astor my Part, I have always made as eafy a Judgment whena Man dreffes for the Ladies, as when he is equipped for Hunting or Courfing. The Woman's Man is a Perfon in his Air and Behaviour quite different from the rest of our Species: His Garb is more loofe and negligent, his Manner more foft and indolent; that is to fay, in both thefe Cafes there is an apparent Endeavour to appear unconcerned and carelefs. In catching Birds the Fowlers have a Me thod of imitating their Voices to bring them to the Snare; and your Women's Men have always a Similitude of the Creature they hope to betray, in their own Conversation. A Woman's Man is very knowing in all that paffes from one Family to another, has little pretty Officioufnesses, is not at a Lofs what is good for a Cold, and it is not amiss if he has a Bottle of Spirits in his Pocket in cafe of any fudden Indifpofition.

CURIOSITY having been my prevailing Paffion, and indeed the fole Entertainment of my Life, I have fometimes made it my Bufinels to examine the Course of Intreagues, as well as the Manners and Accomplishments of fuch as have been moft fuccefsful that Way. In all my Obfervation, I never knew a Man of good Understanding a general Favourite; fome Singularity in his Behaviour, fome Whim in his Way of Life, and what would have made him ridiculous among the Men, has recommended him to the other Sex. I fhould be very forry to offend a People fo fortunate as thefe of whom I am fpeaking; but let any one look over the old Beaux, and he will find the Man of Succefs was remarkable for quarrelling impertinently for their Sakes, for dreffing unlike the reft of the Wold, or paffing his Days in an infipid Affiduity about the fair Sex, to gain the Figure he made amongst them. Add to this that he muft have the Reputation of being well with other Women,to please any one Woman of Gallantry; for you are to know, that there is a mighty Ambition among the light Part of the Sex to gain Slaves from the Dominion of others. My Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB fays it was a common Bite with him, to lay Sufpicions that he was fayoured by a Lady's Enemy, that is fome rival Beauty, to

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be well with her herself. A little Spite is natural to a great Beauty and it is ordinary to fnap up a difagreeable Fellow left another should have him. That impudent Toad Bareface fares well among all the Ladies he converfes with, for no other Reafon in the World but that he has the Skill to keep them from Explanation with one another. Did they know there is not one who likes him in her Heart, each would declare her Scorn of him the next Moment; but he is well received by them because it is the Fashion, and Oppofition to each other brings them infenfibly into an Imitation of each other. What adds to him the greatest Grace is, that the pleasant Thief, as they call him, is the most inconftant Creature living, has a wonderful deal of Wit and Humour, and never wants fomething to fay; befides all which, he has a moft fpiteful dangerous Tongue if you fhould provoke him.

TO make a Woman's Man, he must not be a Man of Senfe, or a Fool; the Eufinefs is to entertain, and it is much better to have a Faculty of arguing than a Capacity of judging right. But the pleasanteft of all the Womens Equipage are your regular Vifitants; thefe are Volunteers in their Service, without Hopes of Pay or Preferment: It is enough that they can lead out from a publick Place, that they are admitted on a publick Day, and can be allowed to pafs away Part of that heavy Load, their Time, in the Company of the Fair. But commend me above all others to those who are known for your Ruiners of Ladies; these are the choiceft Spirits which our Age produces. We have feveral of thefe irrefiftible Gentlemen among us when the Company is in Town. Thefe Fellows are accomplished with the Knowledge of the ordinary Occurrences about Court and Town, have that fort of good Breeding which is exclufive of all Morality, and confifts only in being publickly decent, privately diffolute.

IT is wonderful how far a fond Opinion of herself can carry a Woman, to make her have the leaft Regard to a profeffed known Woman's Man: But as fcarce one ofal the Women who are in the Tour of Gallantries ever hears any thing of what is the common Senfe of fober Minds, but are entertained with a continual Round of Flatteries, they cannot be Miftreffes of themfelve enough to make Arguments for their own Conduct from the Behaviour of

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these Men to others. It is fo far otherwise, that a general Fame for Falfhood in this kind, is a Recommendation; and the Coxcomb, loaded with the Favours of many others, is received like a Victor that difdains his Trophies, to be a Victim to the prefent Charmer.

IF you fee a Man more full of Gefture than ordinary in a publick Affembly, if loud upon no Occafion, if negligent of the Company round him, and yet laying wait for deftroying by that Negligence, you may take it for granted that he has ruined many a Fair One. The Woman's Man expreffes himself wholly in that Motion which we call Strutting: An elevated Cheft, a pinched Hat, a meafurable Step, and a fly furveying Eye, are the Marks of him. Now and then you fee a Gentleman with all these Accomplishments; but alas any one of them is enough to undo Thousands: When a Gentleman with such Perfections adds to it fuitable Learning, there fhould be publick Warning of his Refidence in Town, that we may remove our Wives and Daughters. It happens fometimes that fuch a fine Man has read all the Mifcellany Poems, a few of our Comedies, and has the Tranflation of Ovid's Epiftles by Heart. if it were poffible that fuch a one could be as true as he is charming but that is too much, the Women will share Such a dear falfe Man: A little Gallantry to hear him. Talk one would indulge one's felf in, let him reckon the Sticks of one's Fan, fay fomething of the Cupids in it, and then call one fo many foft Names which a Man of his Learning has at his Finger's Ends. There fure is fome Excufe for Frailty, when attacked by fuch Force against a Weak Woman.' Such is the Soliloquy of many a Lady one might name, at the Sight of one of thefe who makes it no Iniquity to go on from Day to Day in the Sin of Woman-Slaughter.

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IT is certain that People are got into a Way of Affectation, with a manner of over-looking the moft folid Virtues, and admiring the most trivial Excellencies. The Woman is fo far from expecting to be contemned for being a very injudicious filly Animal, that while fhe can preferve her Features and her Mein fhe knows fhe is ftill the Object of Defire; and there is a fort of fecret Ambition, from reading frivolous Books, and keeping as frivolous Company,

each

each fide to be amiable in Imperfection, and arrive at the Characters of the Dear Deceiver and the Perjured Fair. T

N° 157.

I

Thursday, Auguft 30.

Genius natale comes qui temperat astrum Natura Deus humana Mortalis in unum Quodque caput

Hor..

Am very much at a Lofs to exprefs by any Word that Occurs to me in our Language that which is underftood by Indoles in Latin. The natural Difpofition to any particular Art, Science, Profeffion, or Trade, is very much to be confulted in the Care of Youth, and studied by Men for their own Conduct when they form to themfelves any Scheme of Life. It is wonderfully hard indeed. for a Man to judge of his own Capacity impartially, that may look great to me which may appear little to another, and I may be carried by Fondnefs towards my felf so far, as to attempt Things too high for my Talents and Accomplishments: But it is not methinks fo very difficult a Matter to make a Judgment of the Abilities of others,. efpecially of those who are in their Infancy. My Common-place Book directs me on this Occafion to mention the Dawning of Greatnefs in Alexander, who being asked in his Youth to contend for a Prize in the Olympick Games, answered he would, if he had Kings to run against him. Caffius, who was one of the Confpiratorsagainst Cafar, gave as great a Proof of his Temper, when in his Childhood he ftruck a Play-Fellow, the Son of Sylla, for faying his Father was Mafter of the Roman People. Scipio is reported to have anfwered, (when fome Flatterers at Supper were asking him what the Romans fhould do for a General after his Death) Take Marius Marius was then a very Boy, and had given no Inftances of his Valour; but it was vifible to Scipio from the Manners of the Youth, that he had a Soul formed for the Attempt and Execution of great Undertakings. I muft confefs

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