Note, THAT particular Regard be had to this Peti tion; and the Papers marked Letter R may be carefully examined for the future. T N° 311. Tuesday, February 26. Nec Veneris pharetris macer eft; aut lampade fervet: Inde faces ardent, veniunt à dote fagitta. Mr. SPECTATOR, I Juv. AM amaz'd that among all the Variety of Charac ters, with which you have enrich'd your Speculations, you have never given us a Picture of those audacious young Fellow's among us, who commonly go by the Name of Fortune-Stealers. You must know, Sir, I am one who live in a continual Apprehenfion of this fort of People that lie in wait, Day and Night, for our Children, and may be confidered as a kind of Kidnappers within the Law. I am the Father of a young Heirefs, whom I begin to look upon as Marriageable, and who has looked upon her felf as 'fuch for above thefe Six Years. She is now in the Eighteenth Year of her Age. The Fortune hunters have already caft their Eyes upon her, and take care to plant themselves in her View whenever the appears in any publick Affembly. I have my felf caught a young Jackanapes with a pair of Silver Fringed Gloves in the very Fact. You must know, Sir, I have kept her as a Prifoner of State ever fince fhe was in her Teens. Her Chamber Windows are cross-barred, fhe is not permitted to go out of the Houfe but with her Keeper, who is a ftayed Relation of my own; I • have likewife forbid her the ufe of Pen and Ink, for this • Twelve-month last past, and do not fuffer a Ban-box to ⚫ be carried into her Room before it has been fearched. • Notwithstanding thefe Precautions, I am at my Wits • End for fear of any fudden Surprise. There were, two or three Nights ago, fome Fiddles heard in the Street, VOL. IV. L ⚫ which which I am afraid portend me no Good; not to mention a tall Irish Man, that has been seen walking before my House more than once this Winter. My Kinfwoman likewife informs me, that the Girl has talked to her twice or thrice of a Gentleman in a fair Wig, and that fhe loves to go to Church more than ever she did in her Life. She gave me the flip about a Week ago, upon which my whole Houfe was in Alarm. I immediately dispatch'd a Hue and Cry after her to the Change, to her Mantua-maker, and to the young Ladies that vifit her; but after above an Hour's fearch fhe return'd of her felf, having been taking a walk, as fhe told me, by Rofamond's Pond. I have hereupon turn'd off her • Woman, doubled her Guards, and given new Inftructions to my Relation, who, to give her her due, keeps a watchful Eye over all her Motions. This, Sir, keeps me in a perpetual Anxiety, and makes me very often watch when my Daughter fleeps, as I am afraid she is even with me in her Turn. Now, Sir, what I would defire of you is, to represent to this fluttering Tribe of young Fellows, who are for making their Fortunes by thefe indirect Means, that ftealing a Man's Daughter for the Sake of her Portion, is but a kind of a Tolerated Robbery; and that they make but a poor Amends to the Father, whom they plunder after this manner, by going to Bed with his Child. Dear Sir, be speedy in your Thoughts on this Subject, that, if poffible, they may appear before the Disbanding of the Army. I am, SIR, Your most bumble Servant, THEMISTOCLES, the great Athenian General, being ask'd whether he would choose to marry his Daughter to an Indigent Man of Merit, or to a worthlefs Man of an Eftate, replied, That he fhould prefer a Man without an Eftate, to an Estate without a Man. The worst of it is, our Modern Fortune-hunters are thofe who turn their Heads that way, because they are good for nothing else. If a young Fellow finds he can make nothing of Coke and Littleton, he provides himself with a Ladder of Ropes, and by that means very often enters upon the Premises. THE THE fame Art of Scaling has likewife been practifed, with good Succefs by many military Ingineers. Stratagems of this Nature make Parts and Industry fuperfluous, and cut fhort the way to Riches. NOR is Vanity a lefs Motive than Idleness to this kind of Mercenary Purfuit. A Fop who admires his perfon in a Glafs, foon enters into a Refolution of making his Fortune by it, not questioning but every Woman that falls in his way will do him as much Juftice as he does himfelf. When an Heiress fees a Man throwing particu lar Graces into his Ogle, or talking loud within her Hearing, the ought to look to herfelf; but if withal she obferves a pair of red Heels, a Patch or any other particularity in his Dress, she cannot take too much care of her Perfon. These are Baits not to be trifled with, Charms that have done a world of Execution, and made their way into Hearts which have been thought impregnable. The Force of a Man with thefe Qualifications is fo well known, that I am credibly informed there are feveral Female Undertakers about the Change, who upon the Arrival of a likely Man out of a neighbouring Kingdom, will furnish him with proper Drefs from Head to Foot, to be paid for at a double Price on the Day of Marriage. WE must however diftinguish between Fortune-hunters and Fortune-ftealers. The first are thofe affiduous Gentlemen who employ their whole Lives in the Chace, without ever coming at the Quarry. Suffenus has combed and powdered at the Ladies for thirty Years together, and 'taken his Stand in a Side Box, 'till he is grown wrinkled under their Eyes. He is now laying the fame Snares for the prefent Generation of Beauties, which he practis'd on their Mothers. Cottilus, after having made his Applications to more than you meet with in Mr. Cowley's Ballad, of Mistreffes, was at laft fmitten with a City Lady of 20000 %. Sterling; but died of old Age before he could bring Matters to bear. Nor muft I here omit my worthy Friend Mr. HoNEYCOMB, who has often told us in the Club, that for twenty years fucceffively, upon the death of a Childless rich Man, he immediately drew on his Boots, called for his Horfe, and made up to the Widow. When he is rallied upon his Success, WILL. with his ufual Gaiety tells us, that he always found her Pre-engaged. WIDOW'S L 2 WIDOWS are indeed the great Game of your Fortune hunters. There is fcarce a young Fellow in the Town of fix foot high, that has not paffed in Review before one or other of these wealthy Relicts. Hudibras's Cupid, who took his Stand Upon a Widow's Jointure Land, is daily employed in throwing Darts, and kindling Flames. But as for Widows, they are fuch a Subtle Generation of People, that they may be left to their own Conduct; or, if they make a falfe Step in it, they are answerable for it to no body but themselves. The young Innocent Creatures who have no Knowledge and Experience of the World, are those whofe Safety I would principally confult in this Speculation. The stealing of fuch an one fhould, in my Opinion, be as punishable as a Rape. Where there is no Judgment there is no Choice; and why the inveigling a Woman before he is come to Years of Difcretion, fhould not be as Criminal as the feducing of her before fhe is ten Years old, I am at a Lofs to comprehend. L N° 312. Wednesday, Wednesday, February 27. Quod huic Officium, quæ Laus, quod Decus erittanti, quod adipifci cum dolore Corporis velit, qui dolorem fummum malum fibi perfuaferit? Quam porro quis ignominiam, quam turpitudinem non pertulerit, ut effugiat dolorem, fi id fummum malum effe decreverit? Tull. de Dolore tolerando. Tis a very melancholy Reflexion, that Men are ufually fo weak, that it is abfolutely neceffary for them to know Sorrow and Pain to be in their right Senses. Profperous People (for Happy there are none) are hurried away with a fond Senfe of their prefent Condition, and thoughtless of the Mutability of Fortune: Fortune is a a Term which we muft ufe in fuch Difcourfes as thefe, for what is wrought by the unfeen Hand of the Difpofer of all Things. But methinks the Difpofition of a Mind which is truly great, is that which makes Misfortunes and Sorrows little when they befall our felves, great and lamentable when they befall other Men. The most unpardonable Malefactor in the World going to his Death and bearing it with Compofure, would win the Pity of those who should behold him; and this not because his Calamity is deplorable, but because he seems himself not to deplore it: We fuffer for him who is lefs fenfible of his own Mifery, and are inclined to defpife him who finks under the Weight of his Diftreffes. On the other hand, without any Touch of Envy, a temperate and well-govern'd Mind looks down on such as are exalted with Success, with a certain Shame for the Imbecillity of human Nature, that can fo far forget how liable it is to calamity, as to grow giddy with only the Sufpence of Sorrow, which is the Portion of all Men. He therefore who turns his Face from the unhappy Man, who will not look again when his Eye is caft upon modest Sorrow, who fhuns Affliction like a Contagion, does but pamper himself up for a Sacrifice, and contract in himself a greaetr aptitude to Mifery by attempting to escape it. A Gentleman where I happened to be laft Night, fell into a Difcourfe which I thought faewed a good Difcerning in him: He took notice that whenever Men have looked into their Heart for the Idea of true Excellency in human Nature, they have found it to confift in Suffering after a right Manner and with a good Grace. Heroes are always drawn bearing Sorrows, ftruggling with Adverfities, undergoing all kinds of Hardfhips, and having in the Service of Mankind a kind of Appetite to Difficulties and Dangers. The Gentleman went on to obferve, that it is from this Secret Sense of the high Merit which there is in Patience under Calamities, that the Writers of Romances, when they attempt to furnish out Characters of the highest Excellence, ranfack Nature for things terrible; they raife a new Creation of Monsters, Dragons, and Giants; Where the Danger ends, the Hero ceafes; when he won an Empire, or gained his Mistress, the reft of his Story is not worth relating. My Friend carried his Difcourfe fo far as to fay, that it |