Figure too as Times go: But the Misfortune is, that four of the five are profeffed Followers of the Mode. They would face me down, that all Women of good Senfe ever were, and ever will be, Latitudinarians in Wedlock; and always did, and will, give and take what they profanely term Conjugal Liberty of Confcience. THE two firft of them, a Captain and a Merchant, ⚫to ftrengthen their Argument, pretend to repeat after a Couple, a Brace of Ladies of Quality and Wit, That Venus was always kind to Mars ; and what Soul that has the leaft Spark of Generofity, can deny a Man of Bravery any Thing? And how pitiful a Trader that whom no • Woman but his own Wife will have Correfpondence and Dealings with? Thus thefe; whilft the third, the Country Squire, confeffed, That indeed he was furprifed ⚫ into good-breeding, and entered into the Knowledge of ⚫ the World unawares. That dining t'other Day at a Ğen• tleman's Houfe, the Perfon who entertained was obliged to leave him with his Wife and Nieces; where they fpoke with fo much Contempt of an abfent Gentleman for being flow at a Hint, that he refolved never to ⚫ be droufy, unmannerly, or ftupid for the future at a • Friend's Houfe; and on a hunting Morning, not to pur• fue the Game either with the Husband abroad, or with the Wife at home. • The next that came was a Tradefman, no lefs full of the Age than the former; for he had the Galantry to tell me, that at a late Junket which he was invited to, the Motion being made, and the Question being put, 'twas by Maid, Wife and Widow refolved, nemine contradicente,That a young fprightly Journeyman is abfolutely neceffary in their way of Bufinefs: To which they had the Affent and Concurrence of the Husbands prefent. I dropped him a Curtfy, and gave him to underftand that was his Audience of Leave. I am reckoned pretty, and have had very many Advances befides thefe; but have been very averfe to hear any of them, from my Obfervation on these above-mentioned, 'till I hoped fome Good from the Character of my prefent admirer, a Clergyman. But I find even amongst them there are indirect Practices in relation to Love, and ourTreaty is at prefent a little in Sufpence, till • fome • fome Circumftances are cleared. There is a Charge ⚫ against him among the Women, and the Cafe is this: It is alledged, That a certain endowed Female would have · appropriated herself to and confolidated herself with a • Church, which my Divine now enjoys; (or, which is the fame thing, did prostitute herfelf to her Friend's doing this for her :) That my Ecclefiaftick, to obtain the one, did engage himself to take off the other that lay on Hand; but that on his Success in the Spiritual, ⚫he again renounced the Carnal. · I put this closely to him, and taxed him with Difin'genuity. He to clear himself made the fubfequent Defence, and that in the most folemn manner poffible. That he was applied to and inftigated to accept of a Be-nefice: That a conditional Offer thereof was indeed • made him at first, but with Disdain by him rejected: 'That when nothing (as they eafily perceived) of this nature could bring him to their Purpole, Affurance of his being intirely unengaged beforehand, and fafe from all their After-expectations (the only Stratagem left to draw him in) was given him: That pursuant to this ⚫ the Donation it felf was without Delay, before feveral reputable Witneffes, tendered to him gratis, with the open Profeffion of not the leaft Referve, or most mi⚫nute Condition; but that yet immediately after Induction, his infidious Introducer (or her crafty Procurer, ⚫ which you will) induftriously spread the Report which had reached my Ears, not only in the Neighbourhood of that faid Church, but in London, in the Univerfity, in mine and his own Country, and wherever elfe it might probably obviate his Application to any other Woman, and fo confine him to this alone: And in a word, That as he never did make any previous Offer of his Service, or the leaft Step to her Affection; fo on his Discovery ⚫ of these Designs thus laid to trick him, he could not but afterwards, in Juftice to himself, vindicate both his Innocence and Freedom by keeeping his proper Distance. THIS is his Apology, and I think I fhall be fatisfied ' with it. But I cannot conclude my tedious Epiftle, without recommending to you not only to refume your former Chastisement, but to add to your Criminals the Simoniacal Ladies, who feduce the facred Order into the • Difficulty Difficulty of either breaking a mercenary Troth made to them whom they ought not to deceive, or by breaking or keeping it offending against him whom they cannot deceive. Your Affiftance and Labours of this fort would ⚫ be of great Benefit, and your speedy Thoughts on this Subject would be very feasonable to, T SIR, Your most obedient Servant, Chastity Loveworth. N° 299. I Tuesday, February 12. Malo Venufinam, quàm te, Cornelia, Mater T is obferved, that a Man improves more by reading the Story of a Perfon eminent for Prudence and Virtue, than by the finest Rules and Precepts of Morality. In the fame manner a Representation of thofe Calamities and Misfortunes which a weak Man fuffers from wrong Measures, and ill-concerted Schemes of Life, is apt to make a deeper Impreffion upon our Minds, than the wifeft Maxims and Inftructions that can be given us, for avoiding the like Follies and Indifcretions in our own private Conduct. It is for this Reason that I lay before my Reader the following Letter, and leave it with him to make his own use of it, without adding any Reflexions of my own upon the Subject Matter. Mr. SPECTATOR, HAVING carefully perufed a Letter fent you by Fribble, Efq; with your fubsequent Difcourfe upon Pin-money, I do prefume to trouble you ⚫ with an Account of my own Cafe, which I look upon to be no less deplorable than that of Squire Fribble. I ⚫ am a Perfon of no Extraction, having begun the World • with 6 6 with a small parcel of Rufty Iron, and was for fome Years commonly known by the Name of Jack Anvil. I have naturally a very happy Genius for getting Money, infomuch that by the Age of five and twenty I had fcraped together four thousand two hundred Pounds, five Shillings and a few odd Pence. I then lanched out into confiderable Business, and became a bold Trader both by Sea and Land, which in a few Years raised me a very confiderable Fortune. For these my good Services I was knighted in the thirty fifth Year of my Age, and lived with great Dignity among my City Neighbours by the Name of Sir John Anvil. Being in my Temper very ambitious, I was now bent upon making a Family, and accordingly refolved that my Defcendents should have a Dash of good Blood 6 in their Veins. In order to this I made love to the Lady Mary Oddly, an indigent young Woman of Quality. To cut fhort the Marriage Treaty, I threw her a Charte Blanche, as our News-Papers call it, defiring her to write upon it her own Terms. She was very concife in her Demands, infifting only that the Difpofal of my Fortune, and the Regulation of my Family should be intirely in her Hands. Her Father and Brothers appeared exceedingly averfe to this Match, and would not fee me for fome time; but at prefent are fo well reconciled, that they dine with me almost every Day, and have borrowed confiderable Sums of me; which my Lady Mary very often twits me with, when fhe would fhew me how kind her Relations are to me. She had no Portion, as I told you before, but what she wanted in Fortune, she makes up in Spirit. She at first changed my Name to Sir John Envil, and at prefent writes herself Mary Enville. I have had fome Children by her, whom she has chriftened with the Sirnames of her Family, in order as fhe tells me, to wear out the Homeliness of their Parentage by the Father's Side. Our eldest Son is the Honourable Oddly Enville, Efq; and our ⚫ eldest Daughter Harriot Enville. Upon her firft coming ' into my Family, fhe turned off a parcel of very careful Servants, who had been long with me, and introduced ⚫ in their stead a couple of Black-a-moors, and three or 6 four very genteel Fellows in laced Liveries, befides her • French 6 6 6 ་ Frenchwoman, who is perpetually making a noife in the House in a Language which no body understands, except my Lady Mary. She next fet herself to reform every Room of my Houfe, having glazed all my Chimney-pieces with Looking-glafs, and planted every Corner with fuch Heaps of China, that I am obliged to move about my own House with the greatest Caution and Circumfpection, for fear of hurting fome of our brittle Furniture. She makes an Illumination once a Week with Wax-candles in one of the largest Rooms, in order, as the phrafes it, to fee Company. At which time fhe always defires me to be Abroad, or to confine my felf to the Cock-loft, that I may not disgrace her among her Vifitants of Quality. Her Footmen, as I told you before, are fuch Beaus that I do not much care for asking them Questions; when I do, they answer me with a faucy Frown, and fay that every thing which I find fault with, was done by my Lady Mary's Order. She tells me that fhe intends they fhall wear Swords with their next Liveries, having lately obferved the Footmen of two or three Perfons of Quality hanging behind the Coach with Swords by their Sides. As foon as the firft Honey-moon was over, I reprefented to her the Unreasonableness of thofe daily Innovations which she made in my Family, but fhe told me I was no longer to confider my felf as Sir John Anvil, but as her Husband; and added with a Frown, that I did not seem to know who the was. I was furprised to be treated thus, after fuch Familiarities as had paffed between us. But she has fince given me to know, that whatever Freedoms fhe may fometimes indulge me in, fhe expects in general to be treated with the Refpect that is due to her Birth and Quality. Our Children have been trained up from their Infancy with fo many Accounts of their Mother's Family, that they know the Stories of all the great Men and Women it has pro· duced. Their Mother tells them, that such an one commanded in fuch a Sea Engagement, that their Great Grandfather had a Horfe fhot under him at Edge-bill, that their Uncle was at the Siege of Buda, and that 6 her Mother danced in a Ball at Court with the Duke of Monmouth; with abundance of Fiddle-faddle of the • fame |