I am told that many virtuous Matrons, who formerly have been taught to believe that this artificial Spotting of the Face was unlawful, are now reconciled by a Zeal for their Caufe, to what they could not be prompted by a Concern for their Beauty. This way of declaring War upon one another, puts me in mind of what is reported of the Tygrefs, that feveral Spots rife in her Skin when she is angry, or as Mr. Cowley has imitated the Verfes that ftand as the Motto of this Paper,

She fwells with angry Pride,

And calls forth all her Spots on ev'ry Side.

WHEN I was in the Theatre the Time above-mentioned, I had the Curiofity to count the Patches on both Sides, and found the Tory Patches to be about Twenty ftronger than the Whig; but to make Amends for this fmall Inequality, I the next Morning found the whole Puppet-fhew filled with Faces fpotted after the Whiggifh Manner. Whether or no the Ladies had retreated hither in order to rally their Forces I cannot tell, but the next Night they came in fo great a Body to the Opera, that they out-numbered the Enemy.

THIS Account of Party-Patches will, I am afraid, appear improbable to thofe who live at a Distance from the fafhionable World: but as it is a Diftinction of a very fingular Nature, and what perhaps may never meet with a Parallel, I think I fhould not have difcharged the Office of a faithful SPECTATOR, had I not recorded it.

I have, in former Papers, endeavoured to expofe this Party-Rage in Women, as it only ferves to aggravate the Hatreds and Animofities that reign among Men, and in a great meafure deprives the Fair Sex of thofe peculiar, Charms with which Nature has endowed them."

WHEN the Romans and Sabines were at War, and just upon the Point of giving Battel, the Women, who were allied to both of them, interpofed with fo many Tears and Intreaties, that they prevented the mutual Slaughter which threatned both Parties, and united them together in a firm and lafting Peace.

I would recommend this noble Example to our British Ladies, at a Time when their Country is torn with fa many unnatural Divifions, that if they continue, it will

be a Misfortune to be born in it. The Greeks thought it fo improper for Women to intereft themfelves in Competitions and Contentions, that for this Reason, among others, they forbad them, under Pain of Death, to be prefent at the Olympick Games, notwithstanding these were the publick Diverfions of all Greece.

AS our English Women excel thofe of all Nations in Beauty, they should endeavour to outfhine them in all other Accomplishments proper to the Sex, and to diftinguifh themselves as tender Mothers, and faithful Wives, rather than as furious Partizans. Female Virtues are of a Domestick Turn. The Family is the proper Province for private Women to fhine in. If they must be fhewing their Zeal for the Publick, let it not be againft those who are perhaps of the fame Family, or at leaft of the fame Religion or Nation, but against thofe who are the open, profeffed, undoubted Enemies of their Faith, Liberty, and Country. When the Romans were preffed with a Foreign Enemy, the Ladies voluntarily contributed all their Rings and Jewels to affift the Government under a publick Exigence, which appeared fo laudable an Action in the Eyes of their Countrymen, that from thenceforth it was permitted by a Law to pronounce publick Orations at the Funeral of a Woman in Praife of the deceafed Perfon, which till that Time was peculiar to Men. Would our English Ladies, inftead of sticking on a Patch against those of their own Country, fhew themfelves fo truly publick-fpirited as to facrifice every one her Necklace against the Common Enemy, what Decrees ought not to be made in Favour of them?

SINCE I am recollecting upon this Subject fuch Paf, fages as occur to my Memory out of ancient Authors, I cannot omit a Sentence in the celebrated Funeral Oration of Pericles, which he made in Honour of those brave Athenians that were flain in a Fight with the Lacedemonians. After having addreffed himself to the feveral Ranks and Orders of his Countrymen, and fhewn them how they should behave themfelves in the Publick Caufe, he turns to the Female Part of his Audience; And as <for you (fays he) I fhall advise you in very few Words: Afpire only to thofe Virtues that are peculiar to your Sex; follow your natural Modefty, and think it your ⚫ greatest

greatest Commendation not to be talked of one way

or other,

N° 82.

P

Monday, June 4.

Caput domina venale fub hafta.

Juv.

ASSING under Ludgate the other Day, 1 heard a Voice bawling for Charity, which I thought I had fomewhere heard before. Coming near to the Grate, the Prifoner called me by my Name, and defired I would throw fomething into the Box: I was out of Countenance for him, and did as he bid me, by putting in half-a-Crown. I went away reflecting upon the ftrange Conftitution of fome Men, and how meanly they behave themfelves in all Sorts of Conditions. The Per fon who begged of me is now, as I take it, Fifty: I was well acquainted with him till about the Age of Twentyfive; at which Time a good Eftate fell to him by the Death of a Relation. Upon coming to this unexpected good Fortune, he ran into all the Extravagancies imaginable; was frequently in drunken Difputes, broke Drawers Heads, talked and fwore loud, was unmannerly to thofe above him, and infolent to thofe below him. I could not but remark, that it was the fame Bafenefs of Spirit which worked in his Behaviour in both Fortunes: The fame little Mind was infolent in Riches, and fhameless in Poverty. This Accident made me mufe upon the Circumftance of being in Debt in general, and folve in my Mind what Tempers were moft apt to fall into this Error of Life, as well as the Misfortune it must needs be to languif under fuch Preffures. As for my felf, my natural Averfion to that fort of Converfation which makes a Figure with the Generality of Mankind, exempts me from any Temptations to Expence, and all my Bufinefs lies within a very narrow Compafs, which is only to give an honeft Man who takes care of my Eftate, proper Vouchers for his quarterly Payments to me, and obferve

what

what Linnen my Laundrefs brings and takes away with her once a Week: My Steward brings his Receipt ready for my Signing, and I have a pretty Implement with the refpective Names of Shirts, Cravats, Handkerchiefs and Stockings, with proper Numbers to know how to reckon with my Laundrefs. This being almost all the Business I have in the World for the Care of my own Affairs, I am at full Leifure to obferve upon what others do, with relation to their Equipage and Oeconomy.

When I walk the Street, and obferve the Hurry about me in this Town,

Where with like Hafte, tho' different Ways, they runs Some to undo, and some to be undone ;

One

I fay, when I behold this vaft Variety of Perfons and Humours, with the Pains they both take for the Accomplishment of the Ends mentioned in the above Verfes of Denham, I cannot much wonder at the Endeavour after Gain, but am extreamly astonished that Men can be fo infenfible of the Danger of running into Debt. would think it impoffible a Man who is given to contract Debts fhould know, that his Creditor has from that Moment in which he tranfgreffes Payment, fo much as that Demand comes to in his Debtor's Honour, Liberty and Fortune. One would think he did not know, that his Creditor can fay the worst Thing imaginable of him, to wit, That he is unjust, without Defamation; and can feize his Perfon, without being guilty of an Affault. Yet fuch is the loofe and abandoned Turn of fome Mens Minds, that they can live under thefe conftant Apprehenfions, and still go on to encrease the Cause of them. Can there be a more low and fervile Condition, than to be ashamed, or afraid, to fee any one Man breathing? Yet he that is much in Debt, is in that Condition with relation to twenty different People. There are indeed Circumstances wherein Men of honeft Natures may be come liable to Debts, by fome unadvised Behaviour in any great Point of their Life, or mortgaging a Man's Honefty as a Security for that of another, and the like; but thefe Inftances are so particular and circumftantiated, that they cannot come within general Confiderations:

For one fuch Cafe as one of thefe, there are ten, where a Man, to keep up a Farce of Retinue and Grandeur within his own Houfe, fhall fhrink at the Expectation of furly Demands at his Doors. The Debtor is the Creditor's Criminal, and all the Officers of Power and State, whom we behold make fo great a Figure, are no other than fo many Perfons in Authority to make good his Charge against him. Human Society depends upon his having the Vengeance Law allots him; and the Debtor owes his Liberty to his Neighbour, as much as the Murderer does his Life to his Prince.

OUR Gentry are, generally speaking, in Debt; and many Families have put it into a Kind of Method of being fo from Generation to Generation. The Father mortgages when his Son is very young: and the Boy is to marry as foon as he is at Age to redeem it, and find Portions for his Sifters. This, forfooth, is no great Inconvenience to him; for he may Wench, keep a publick Table, or feed Dogs, like a worthy English Gen tleman, till he has out-run half his Eftate, and leave the fame Incumbrance upon his Firft-born, and fo on, till one Man of more Vigour than ordinary goes quite through the Estate, or fome Man of Senfe comes into it, and fcorns to have an Eftate in Partnership, that is to fay, liable to the Demand or Infult of any Man living, There is my Friend Sir ANDREW, tho' for many Years a great and general Trader, was never the Defendant in a Law-Suit, in all the Perplexity of Bufinefs, and the Iniquity of Mankind at prefent: No one had any Co lour for the leaft Complaint against his Dealings with him. This is certainly as uncommon, and in its Proportion as laudable in a Citizen, as it is in a General never to have fuffered a Difadvantage in Fight. How different from this Gentleman is Jack Truepenny, who has been an old Acquaintance of Sir ANDREW and my felf from Boys, but could never learn our Caution. Jack has a whorish unrefifting good Nature, which makes him incapable of having a Property in any Thing. His Fortune, his Reputation, his Time and his Capacity, are at any Man's Service that comes firft. When he was at School, he was whipped thrice a Week for Faults he took upon him to excufe others; fince he

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