No. 506. Friday, October 10. Candida perpetuo refide, concordia, lecto, TH man, Mart. HE following Effay is written by the Gentleto whom the World is oblig'd for those feveral excellent Difcourfes which have been marked with the Letter X. I HAVE fomewhere met with a Fable that made Wealth the Father of Love. It is certain a Mind ought, at least, to be free from the Apprehenfions of Want and Poverty, before it can fully attend to all the Softneffes and Endearments of this Paffion. Notwithstanding we fee Multitudes of married People, who are utter Strangers to this delightful Paffion amidft all the Affluence of the moft plentiful Fortunes. IT is not fufficient to make a Marriage happy, that the Humours of two People fhould be alike; I could inftance an hundred Pair, who have not the leaft Sentiment of Love remaining for one another, yet are so like in their Humours, that if they were not already married, the whole World would defign them for Man and Wife. THE Spirit of Love has fomething fo extremely fine in it, that it is very often difturbed and loft, by fome little Accidents which the Careless and Unpolite never attend to, till it is gone paft Recovery. NOTHING has more contributed to banish it from a married State, than too great a Familiarity, and laying afide the common Rules of Decency. Tho' I could give Inftances of this in feveral Particulars, I fhail only mention that of Drefs. The Beaus and Belles about Town, who drefs purely to catch one another, think there is no further Occafion for the Bait, when their firft Defign has fucceeded. But befides the too common Fault in Point of Neatness, there are feveral others which I do not remem ber ber to have seen touched upon, but in one of our modern Comedies, where a French Woman offered to undress and drefs herself before the Lover of the Play, and affuring his Mistress that it was very ufual in France, the Lady tells her that a Secret in Drefs fhe never knew before, and that she was fo unpolished an English Woman, as to refolve never to learn even to Drefs before.her Hufband. THERE is fomething fo grofs in the Carriage of fome Wives, that they lofe their Husbands Hearts for Faults, which, if a Man has either Good-nature or Goodbreeding he knows not how to tell them of. I am afraid, indeed, the Ladies are generally moft Faulty in this Particular; who, at their firft giving into Love, find the Way fo fmooth and pleafant, that they fancy 'tis fcarce poffible to be tired in it. - ་ THERE is so much Nicety and Difcretion requir'd to keep Love alive after Marriage, and make Conversation ftill new and agreeable after twenty or thirty Years, that I know nothing which feems readily to promife it, but an earneft Endeavour to pleafe on both Sides, and fuperior good Senfe on the Part of the Man. By a Man of Senfe, I mean one acquainted with Bufinefs and Letters. A Woman very much fettles her Efteem for a Man, according to the Figure he makes in the World, and the Character he bears among his own Sex. As Learning is the chief Advantage we have over them, it is, methinks, as fcandalous and inexcufable for a Man of Fortune to be illiterate, as for a Woman not to know how to behave her felf on the most ordinary Occafions. It is this which fets the two Sexes at the greatest Distance; a Woman is vexed and furpriz'd, to find nothing more in the Converfation of a Man, than in the common Tattle of her own Sex. SOME fmall Engagement at leaft in Bufinefs, not only fets a Man's Talents in the faireft Light, and allots him a Part to act, in which a Wife cannot well intermeddle; but gives frequent Occafions for thofe little Abfences, which, whatever feeming Uneafinefs they may give, are fome of the best Prefervatives of Love and Defire. THE Fair Sex are fo confcious to themfelves, that they have nothing in them which can deserve entirely to engrofs F 3 engrofs the whole Man, that they heartily defpife one, who, to use their own Expreffion, is always hanging at their Apron-Strings. LETITIA is pretty, modeft, tender, and has Sense enough; fhe married Eraftus, who is in a Poft of fome Bufinefs, and has a general Tafte in moft Parts of polite Learning. Lætitia, where-ever fhe vifits, has the Pleafure to hear of fomething which was handfomely faid or done by Erafius. Eraftus, fince his Marriage, is more gay in his Drefs than ever, and in all Companies is as complaifant to Lætitia as to any other Lady. I have feen him give her her Fan, when it has dropped, with all the Gallantry of a Lover. When they take the Air together, Eraftus is continually improving her Thoughts, and with a Turn of Wit and Spirit which is peculiar to him, giving her an Infight into things fhe had no Notions of before. Lætitia is tranfported at having a new World thus opened to her, and hangs upon the Man that gives her fuch agreeable Informations. Eraftus has carried this Point ftill further, as he makes her daily not only more fond of him, but infinitely more fatisfied with herfelf. Eraftus finds a Juftness or Beauty in whatever fhe fays or obferves, that Lætitia herself was not aware of; and, by his Affiftance, fhe has discovered an hundred good Qualities and Accomplishments in herself, which the never before once dreamed of. Eraftus, with the moft artful Complaifance in the World, by feveral remote Hints, finds the Means to make her fay or propofe almoft whatever he has a mind to, which he always receives as her own Discovery, and gives her all the Reputation of it. ERASTUS has a perfect Tafte in Painting, and carried Lætitia with him the other Day to fee a Collection of Pictures. I fometimes vifit this happy Couple. As we were laft Week walking in the long Gallery before Dinner, I have lately laid out fome Money in Paintings, fays Eraftus; I bought that Venus and Adonis purely upon Lætitia's Judgment; it coft me threefcore Guineas, and I was this Morning offer'd an hundred for it. I turned to. wards Letitia, and faw her Cheeks glow with Pleasure, while at the fame time fhe caft a Look upon Eraftus, the most tender and affectionate I ever beheld. FLA ་ FLAVILLA married Tom Tawdry; fhe was taken with his laced Coat and rich Sword-knot; fhe has the Mortification to see Tom defpifed by all the worthy Part of his own Sex. Tom has nothing to do after Dinner, but to determine whether he will pare his Nails at St. James's, White's, or his own Houfe. He has faid nothing to Flavilla fince they were married, which fhe might not have heard as well from her own Woman. He however takes great care to keep up the faucy ill-natur'd Authority of a Hufband. Whatever Flavilla happens to affert, Tom immediately contradicts with an Oath, by Way of Preface and, My dear, I must tell you, you talk moft confoundedly filly. Flavilla had a Heart naturally as well difpofed for all the Tenderness of Love as that of Lætitia; but as Love feldom continues long after Edeem, it is difficult to determine, at prefent, whether the unhappy Flavilla. hates or defpifes the Perfon moft, whom he is obliged to lead her whoie Life with: X Defendit numerus, jun&tæque umbone Plalanges. Jav. HERE is fomething very fublime, tho' very fanciful, in Plato's Defcription of the Supreme Being, That Truth is his Body and Light his Shadow. According to this Definition, there is nothing fo contradictory to his Nature, as Error and Falfhood. The Platonifts have fo juft a Notion of the Almighty's Averfion to every thing which is falfe and erroneous, than they looked upon Truth as no lefs neceffary that Virtue, to qualify a human Soul for the Enjoyment of a feparate State. For this Reafon as they recommended moral Duties to qualify and feafon the Will for a future Life, fo they prescribed several Contemplations and Sciences to rectify the Understanding. Thus Plato has called mathematical Demonftrations the Catharticks or Purgatives of the Soul, as being the most proper means to cleanfe it from ErF 4 ror, ror, and to give it a Relish of Truth; which is the natnral Food and Nourishment of the Understanding, as Virtue is the Perfection and Happiness of the Will. THERE are many Authors who have fhewn wherein the Malignity of a Lye confifts, and fet forth in proper Colours, the Heinoufnefs of the Offence. I fhall here confider one particular kind of this Crime, which has not been fo much spoken to ; I mean that abominable Practice of Party-lying. This Vice is fo very predominant among us at prefent, that a Man is thought of no Principles, who does not propagate a certain Syftem of Lies. 'The Coffee-Houfes are fupported by them, the Prefs is choak'd with them, eminent Authors live upon them. Our BottleConverfation is fo infected with them, that a Party-Lye is grown as fashionable an Entertainment, as a lively Catch or a merry Story: The Truth of it is, half the great Talkers in the Nation would be ftruck dumb, were this Fountain of Difcourfe dried up. There is however one Advantage refulting from this deteftable Practice; the very Appearances of Truth are fo little regarded, that Lies are at present discharg❜d in the Air, and begin to hurt no body. When we hear a Party-ftory from a Stranger, we confider whether he is a Whig or a Tory that relates it, and immediately conclude they are Words of Course, in which the honeft Gentleman defigns to recommend his Zeal, without any Concern for his Veracity. A Man is looked upon as bereft of common Sense, that gives Credit to the Relations of Party-Writers; nay his own Friends shake their Heads at him, and confider him in no other Light than as an officious Tool or a wellmeaning Idiot. When it was formerly the Fashion to husband a Lie, and trump it up in fome extraordinary Emergency, it generally did Execution, and was not a little ferviceable to the Faction that made use of it; but at present every Man is upon his guard, the Artifice has been too often repeated to take effect. I have frequently wonder'd to fee Men of Probity, who would fcorn to utter a Falfhood for their own paticular Advantage, give fo readily into a Lie when it is become the Voice of their Faction, notwithstanding they are thoroughly fenfible of it as fuch. How is it poffible for those who are Men of Honour in their Perfons, thus ta |