" and I do assure you, the gentleman will mind your "reprehension, for he is, as I am, "SIR, "Your most humble "Servant and cousin, "DOROTHY DRUMSTICK." "I write this in a thin under-petticoat, and never did "or will wear a fardingal." I had no sooner read the just complaint of Mrs. Drumstick, but I received an urgent one from another of the fair sex, upon faults of more pernicious consequence. "MR. BICKERSTAFF, "OBSERVING that you are entered into a cor"respondence with Pasquin, who is, I suppose a Roman catholic, I beg of you to forbear giving him any "account of our religion or manners, till you have "rooted out certain misdemeanors even in our churches. Among others, that of bowing, saluting, taking snuff, "and other gestures. Lady Autumn made me a very "low courtesy the other day from the next pew, and "with the most courtly air imaginable, called herself, "miserable sinner. Her niece soon after, in saying, "forgive us our trespasses, courtesied with a gloting "look at my brother. He returned it, opening his "snuff-box, and repeating yet a more solemn expres"sion. I beg of you, good Mr. Censor, not to tell "Pasquin any thing of this kind, and to believe this "does not come from one of a morose temper, mean "birth, rigid education, narrow fortune, or bigotry in 66 opinion, or from one in whom time has worn out all "taste of pleasure. I assure you, it is far otherwise, " for I am possessed of all the contrary advantages; " and hope, wealth, good humour, and good breeding, 66 may be best employed in the service of religion and "virtue; and desire you would, as soon as possible, "remark upon the above-mentioned indecorums, that 66 we may not long transgress against the latter, to "preserve our reputation in the former. "Your humble servant, "LYDIA." The last letter I shall insert, is what follows. This is written by a very inquisitive lady; and I think, such interrogative gentlewomen are to be answered no other way than by interrogation. Her billet is this: "DEAR MR. BICKERSTAFF, "Are you quite as good as you seem to be? To which I can only answer: "DEAR CHLOE, "CHLOE." "Are you quite as ignorant as you seem to be? "I. B." No. CXLI. SATURDAY, MARCH 4. Sheer-lane, March 3. WHILE the attention of the town is drawn aside from the reading us writers of news, we all save ourselves against it is at more leisure. As for my own part, I shall still let the labouring oar be managed by my correspondents, and fill my paper with their sentiments, rather than my own, till I find my readers more disengaged than they are at present. When I came home this evening, I found several letters and petitions, which I shall insert with no other order, than as I accidentally opened them, as follows: “SIR, March 1, 1709-10. "HAVING a daughter about nine years of age, "I would endeavour she might have education: I mean such as may be useful, as working well, and "a good deportment. In order to it, I am persuaded "to place her at some boarding-school, situate in a "good air. My wife opposes it, and gives for her "greatest reason, that she is too much a woman, and "understands the formalities of visiting, and a tea"table so very nicely, that none, though much older, 66 can exceed her; and with all these perfections, the "girl can scarce thread a needle: but however, after ❝ several arguments, we have agreed to be decided by "judgment; and knowing your abilities, shall ma"nage our daughter exactly as you shall please to "direct. I am serious in my request, and hope you "will be so in your answer, which will lay a deep ob"ligation upon, "SIR, "Your humble servant, «T. T." "Sir, pray answer it in your Tatler, that it may be "serviceable to the public. I am as serious on this subject as my correspondent can be, and am of opinion, that the great happiness or misfortune of mankind depends upon the manner of educating and treating that sex. I have lately said, I design to turn my thoughts more particularly to them, and their service: I beg therefore a little time to give my opinion on so important a subject, and desire the young lady may fill tea one week longer, till I have considered whether she shall be removed or not. "MR. BICKERSTAFF, Chancery-lane, February 27. "YOUR notice in the advertisement in your Tat"ler of Saturday last about Whetters in and about the "Royal Exchange, is mightily taken notice of by gen"tlemen who use the coffee-houses near the Chancery"office, in Chancery-lane; and there being a particu"lar certain set of both young and old gentlemen that "belong to and near adjoining to the Chancery-office, "both in Chancery-lane and Bell-yard, that are not "only Whetters all the morning long, but very musi66 cally given about twelve at night, the same days, and "mightily taken with the union of the dulcimer, violin "and song; at which recreation they rejoice together "with perfect harmony, however their clients disagree: 66 you are humbly desired by several gentlemen to give "some regulation concerning them; in which you will " contribute to the repose of us, who are "Your very humble servants, "L. T. N. F. T. W." These Whetters are a people I have considered with much pains, and find them to differ from a sect I have hitherto spoken of, called Snuff-takers, only in the expedition they take in destroying their brains: the Whetter is obliged to refresh himself every moment with a liquor, as the Snuff-taker with a powder. As for their harmony in the evening, I have nothing to object, provided they remove to Wapping, or the Bridge-foot, where it is not to be supposed that their vociferations will annoy the studious, the busy, or the contemplative. I once had lodgings in Gray's Inn, where we had two hard students, who learned to play upon the hautboy; and I had a couple of chamber-fellows over my head not less diligent in the practice of back-sword and single-rapier. I remember these gentlemen were assigned by the benchers the two houses at the end of the terrace-walk, as the only places fit for their meditations. Such students as will let none improve but themselves ought indeed to have their proper distances from societies. The gentlemen of loud mirth above mentioned I take to be, in the quality of their crime, the same as eavesdroppers; for they who will be in your company whether you will or no, are to as great a degree offenders, as they who hearken to what passes, without being of your company at all. The ancient punishment for the latter, when I first came to this town, was the blanket, which, I humbly conceive, may be as justly applied to him that bawls, as to him that listens. It is therefore provided for the future, that (except in the long vacation) no retainers to the law, with dulcimer, violin, or any other instrument, in any tavern, within a furlong of an inn of court, shall sing any tune, or pretended tune whatsoever, upon pain of the blanket, to be administered according to the discretion of all such peaceable people as shall be within the annoyance. And it is further directed, that all clerks, who shall offend in this kind, shall forfeit their indentures, and be turned over as assistants to the clerks of parishes within the bills of mortality, who are hereby empowered to demand them accordingly. I am not to omit the receipt of the following letter, with a night-cap from my valentine; which night-cap, I find, was finished in the year 1588, and is too finely wrought to be of any modern stitching. Its antiquity will better appear by my valentine's own words. "SIR, "SINCE you are pleased to accept of so mean "a present as a night-cap from your valentine, I have "sent you one, which I do assure you has been very "much esteemed in our family; for my great grand"mother's daughter who worked it, was maid of ho"nour to Queen Elizabeth, and had the misfortune to "lose her life by pricking her finger in the making of |