brings a Man under an everlafting Jealoufie and Sufpicion, fo that he is not believed when he speaks Truth, nor trufted when perhaps he means honestly. When a Man hath once forfeited the Reputation of his Integrity, he is fet fast, and nothing will then ferve his Turn, neither Truth nor Falfhood.. R

N° 104.

I

Harpalyce

Friday, June 29.

Qualis equos Threiffa fatigat

Virg.

T would be a noble Improvement, or rather a Reco very of what we call good Breeding, if nothing were to pafs amongft is for agreeable which was the leaft Tranfgreffion against that Rule of Life called Decorum, or a Regard to Decency. This would command the Refpect of Mankind, because it carries in it Deference to their good Opinion, as Humility lodged in a worthy Mind, is always attended with a certain Homage, which no haughty Soul, with all the Arts imaginable, will ever be able to purchase. Tully fays, Virtue and Decency are fo nearly related, that it is difficult to feparate them from each other but in our Imagination. As the. Beauty of the Body always accompanies the Health of it, fo certainly is Decency concomitant to Virtue: As Beauty of Body, with an agreeable Carriage, pleases the Eye, and that Pleafure confifts in that we obferve all the Parts with a certain Elegance are proportioned to each other; fo does Decency of Behaviour which appears in our Lives, obtain the Approbation of all with whom we converse, from the Order, Confiftency, and Moderation of our Words and Actions. This flows from the Reverence we bear towards every good Man, and to the World in general; for to be negligent of what any one thinks of you, does not only fhew you arrogant but abandoned. In all these Confiderations we are to diftinguifh how one Virtue differs from another: As it is the Part of Justice never to do Violence, it is of Modefty never to commit Offence.

In this last Particular lies the whole Force of what is called Decency; to this Purpose that excellent Moralift above-mentioned talks of Decency; but this Quality is more eafily comprehended by an ordinary Capacity, than expreffed with all his Eloquence. This Decency of Behaviour is generally tranfgreffed among all Orders of Men; nay, the very Women, though themselves created it as it were for Ornament, are often very much mistaken in this ornamental Part of Life. It would methinks be a fhort Rule for Behaviour, if every young Lady in her Drefs, Words and Actions were only to recommend her felf as a Sister, Daughter or Wife, and make her felf the more esteemed in one of thofe Characters. The Care of themselves, with Regard to the Families in which Women are born, is the best Motive for their being courted to come into the Alliance of other Houfes.. Nothing can promote this End more than a ftrict Preservation of Decency. I fhould be glad if a certain Equestrian Order of Ladies, fome of whom one meets in an Evening at every Outlet of the Town, would take this Subject into their ferious Confideration: In order thereunto the following Letter may not be wholly unworthy their Perufal.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

6

OING lately to take the Air in one of the moft beautiful Evenings this Seafon has produced; as I was admiring the Serenity of the Sky, the lively Colours of the Fields, and the Variety of the Landskip every Way around me, my Eyes were fuddenly called off from these inanimate Objects by a little Party of Horfemen I faw paffing the Road. The greater Part of them efcaped my particular Obfervation, by reafon ⚫ that my whole Attention was fixed on a very fair Youth who rode in the midst of them, and feemed to have been dreffed by fome Defcription in a Romance. His Features, Complexion and Habit had a remarkable Effeminacy, and a certain languishing Vanity appeared in his Air: His Hair, well curl'd and powder'd, hung to a ⚫ confiderable Length on his Shoulders,and was wantonly ty'd, as if by the Hands of his Mistress, in a Scarlet Ribbon, which played like a Streamer behind him: He had a Coat and Waftecoat of blue Camlet trimmed and

eme

embroidered with Silver; a Cravat of the finest Lace; and wore, in a fmart Cock, a little Beaver Hat edged with Silver, and made more fprightly by a Feather. His Horfe too, which was a Pacer, was adorned after the fame airy manner, and feemed to fhare in the Vanity of the Rider. As I was pitying the Luxury of this young Perfon, who appeared to me to have been educated only as an Object of Sight, I perceived on my nearer Approach, and as I turned my Eyes downward, a Part of the Equipage I had not obferved before, which was a Petticoat of the fame with the Coat and Waftecoat. After this Difcovery, I looked again on the Face of the fair Amazon who had thus deceived me, and thought thofe Features which had before offended me by their Softnefs, were now ftrengthned into as im6 proper a Boldness; and tho' her Eyes, Nofe, and Mouth feemed to be formed with perfect Symmetry, I am not certain whether fhe, who in Appearance was a very handsome Youth, may not be in Reality a very indif ferent Woman.

THERE is an Objection which naturally prefents it felf against these occafional Perplexities and Mixtures of Drefs, which is, that they feem to break in upon that Propriety and Diftinction of Appearance in which the Beauty of different Characters is preferved; and if they fhould be more frequent than they are at prefent, would look like turning our publick Affemblies into a general Mafquerade. The Model of this Amazonian Hunting Habit for Ladies, was, as I take it, first imported from France, and well enough expreffes the Gaiety of a People, who are taught to do any thing fo it be with an Affurance; but I cannot help thinking it fits aukwardly yet on our English Modefty. The Petticoat is a kind of Incumbrance upon it, and if the Amazons fhould think fit to go on in this Plunder of < our Sex's Ornaments, they ought to add to their Spoils, and compleat their Triumph over us, by wearing the Breeches.

6

IF it be natural to contract infenfibly the Manners of thofe we imitate, the Ladies who are pleafed with affuming our Dreffes will do us more Honour than we deferve, but they will do it at their own Expence

Why

Why should the lovely Camilla deceive us in more Shapes ❝ than her own, and affect to be reprefented in her Picture with a Gun and a Spaniel; while her elder Brother, the Heir of a worthy Family, is drawn in Silks like his Sifter? The Drefs and Air of a Man are not well to be divided; and thofe who would not be content with the Latter, ought never to think of affuming the Former. There is fo large a Portion of natural Agreeablenefs among the fair Sex of our Ifland, that they feem betrayed into thefe romantick Habits without having the fame Occafion for them with their Inventors: All that needs to be defired of them is, that they would be themselves, that is what Nature defigned them; and to see their Mistake when they depart from this, let them look upon a Man who affects the Softnefs and Effeminacy of a Woman, to learn how their Sex muft appear to us, when approaching to the Refemblance of a Man.

Ter. And..

Adprime in vita effe utile, ne quid nimis.

M

Y Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB values himself very much upon what he calls the Knowledge of Mankind, which has coft him many Difafters in his Youth; for WILL. reckons every Misfortune that he has met with among the Women, and every Rencounter among the Men, as Parts of his Education, and fancies he fhould never have been the Man he is, had not he broke Windows, knocked down Conftables, difturbed honest People with his Midnight Serenades, and beat up a lewd Woman's Quarters, when he was a young Fellow. The engaging in Adventures of this Nature WILL. calls the ftudying of Mankind; and terms this Knowledge of the Town, the Knowledge of the World. WILL, inge

nuoufly

nuously confeffes, that for half his Life his Head ached every Morning with reading of Men over-night; and at prefent comforts himself under certain Pains which he endures from time to time, that without them he could not have been acquainted with the Gallantries of the Age.. This WILL. looks upon as the Learning of a Gentleman, and regards all other kinds of Science as the Accomplish-. ments of one whom he calls a Scholar, a Bookish Man, or a Philofopher.

FOR thefe Reafons WILL. fhines in mixed Company, where he has the Difcretion not to go out of his Depth, and has often a certain way of making his real Ignorance appear a feeming one. Our Club however has frequently caught him tripping, at which times they never spare him. For as WILL. often infults us with the Knowledge of the Town, we fometimes take our Revenge upon him by our Knowledge of Books.

HE was laft Week producing two or three Letters which he writ in his Youth to a "Coquet Lady. The Raillery of them was natural, and well enough for a meer Man of the Town; but, very unluckily, feveral of the Words were wrong fpelt. WILL. laught this off at first as well as he could, but finding himself pufhed on all fides, and efpecially by the Templar, he told us, with a little Paffion, that he never liked Pedantry in Spelling, and that he fpelt like a Gentleman, and not like a Scholar: Upon this WILL, had recourfe to his old Topick of fhewing the narrow-Spiritedness, the Pride, and Ignorance of Pedants; which he carried fo far, that upon my retiring to my Lodgings, I could not forbear throwing together fuch Reflections as occurred to me upon that Subject.

A Man who has been brought up among Books, and is able to talk of nothing elfe, is a very indifferent Companion, and what we call a Pedant. But, methinks, we fhould enlarge the Title, and give it every one that does not know how to think out of his Profeffion and particular way of Life.

WHAT is a greater Pedant than a meer Man of the Town? Bar him the Play-houses, a Catalogue of the reigning Beauties, and an Account of a few fashionable Diftempers that have befallen him, and you ftrike him Dumb. How many a pretty Gentleman's Knowledge