quality, or such a celebrated toast, entertains a secret passion for him, and wants nothing but an opportunity of revealing it: nay, she has gone so far as to write letters in the name of a woman of figure, to borrow money of one of these foolish Roderigos,' which she has afterwards appropriated to her own use. In the mean time the person who has lent the money, has thought a lady under obligations to him, who scarce knew his name; and wondered at her ingratitude when he has been with her, that she has not owned the favour, though at the same time, he was too much a man of honour to put her in mind of it. "When this abandoned baggage meets with a man who has vanity enough to give credit to relations of this nature, she turns him to a very good account, by repeating praises that were never uttered, and delivering messages that were never sent. As the house of this shameless creature is frequented by several foreigners, I have heard of another artifice, out of which she often raises money. The foreigner sighs after some British beauty, whom he only knows by fame: upon which she promises, if he can be secret, to procure him a meeting. The stranger, ravished at his good fortune, gives her a present, and in a little time is introdu ced to some imaginary title; for you must know that this cunning purveyor has her representatives, upon this occasion, of some of the finest ladies in the kingdom. By this means, as I am informed, it is usual enough to meet with a German count in foreign countries, that shall make his boasts of favours he has received from women of the highest ranks, and the most umblemished characters. Now, sir, what safety is there for a woman's reputa tion, when a lady may be thus prostituted as it were by proxy and be reputed an unchaste woman; as the hero in the ninth book of Dryden's Virgil is looked upon as a coward, because the phantom which appeared in his likeness ran away from Turnus? 1 V. Othello.-C.. You may depend upon what I relate to you to be matter of fact, and the practice of more than one of these female panders. If you print this letter, I may give you some further accounts of this vicious race of women. "Your humble servant, BELVIDERA.” I shall add two other letters on different subjects to fill up my paper. "MR. SPECTATOR, "I AM a country clergyman, and hope you will lend me your assistance, in ridiculing some little indecencies which cannot so properly be exposed from the pulpit. "A widow lady, who straggled this summer from London into my parish for the benefit of the air, as she says, appears every Sunday at church with many fashionable extravagancies, to the great astonishment of my congregation. “But what gives us the most offence, is her theatrical manner of singing the psalms. She introduces above fifty Italian airs into the hundredth psalm; and whilst we begin all people in the old solemn time of our forefathers, she, in a quite different key, runs divisions on the vowels, and adorns them with the graces of Nicolini; if she meets with eke or aye, which are frequent in the metre of Hopkins and Sternhold, we are certain to hear her quavering them half a minute after us to some sprightly airs of the opera. "I am very far from being an enemy to church music; but fear this abuse of it may make my parish ridiculous, who already look on the singing psalms as an entertainment, and not part of their devotion: besides, I am apprehensive that the infection may spread; for Squire Squeekum, who by his voice seems (if I may use the expression) to be cut out for an Italian singer, was last Sunday practising the same airs. "I know the lady's principles, and that she will plead the toleration, which (as she fancies) allows her non-conformity in this particular; but I beg you to acquaint her, that singing the psalms in a different tune from the rest of the congregation, is a sort of schism not tolerated by that act. "I am, sir, "MR. SPECTATOR, แ Your very humble servant, R. S." "In your paper upon temperance,' you prescribe to us a rule for drinking, out of Sir. William Temple, in the following words: 'The first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humour, and the fourth for mine enemies.' Now, sir, you must know that I have read this your Spectator in a club whereof I am a member; when our president told us there was certainly an error in the print, and that the word glass 'should be bottle; and therefore has ordered me to inform you of this mistake, and to desire you to publish the following errata : In the paper of Saturday, October 13, col. 3, line 11, for glass, read bottle. "Yours, ROBIN GOOD-FELLOW." L. 1 No. 195. IN No. 207. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27. Omnibus in terris, quæ sunt à Gadibus usque Juv. Sat. x. 1. Look round the habitable world, how few DRYDEN. In my last Saturday's paper' I laid down some thoughts upon devotion in general, and shall here shew what were the notions of the most refined heathens on this subject, as they are represented in Plato's dialogue upon prayer, entitled, 'Alcibiades the Second,' which doubtless gave occasion to Juvenal's tenth Satire, and to the second Satire of Persius; as the last of these authors has almost transcribed the preceding dialogue, entitled, 'Alcibiades the First,' in his fourth Satire. The speakers in this dialogue upon prayer, are Socrates and Alcibiades and the substance of it (when drawn together out of the intricacies and digressions) as follows. Socrates meeting his pupil Alcibiades, as he was going to his devotions, and observing his eyes to be fixed upon the earth with great seriousness and attention, tells him, that he had reason to be thoughtful on that occasion, since it was possible for a man to bring down evils upon himself by his own prayers, and that those things which the gods send him in answer to his petitions might turn to his destruction: This, says he, may not only happen when a man prays for what he knows is mischievous in its own nature, as Oedipus implored the gods to sow dissension between his sons; but when he prays for what he believes would be for his good, and against what he believes would be to his det No. 201.-C. riment. This the philosopher shews must necessarily happen among us, since most men are blinded with ignorance, prejudice, or passion, which hinder them from seeing such things as are really beneficial to them. For an instance, he asks Alcibiades, Whether he would not be thoroughly pleased if that God to whom he was going to address himself, should promise to make him the sovereign of the whole earth? Alcibiades answers, That he should doubtless look upon such a promise as the greatest favour that could be bestowed upon him. Socrates then asks him, If, after receiving this great favour, he would be content to lose his life? or if he would receive it though he was sure he would make an ill use of it? To both which questions Alcibiades answers in the negative. Socrates then shews him from the examples of others, how these might very probably be the effects of such a blessing. He then adds, that other reputed pieces of good fortune, as that of having a son, or procuring the highest post in a government, are subject to the like fatal consequences; which nevertheless, says he, men ardently desire, and would not fail to pray for, if they thought their prayers might be effectual for the obtaining of them. Having established this great point, That all the most apparent blessings in this life are obnoxious to such dreadful consequences, and that no man knows what in its events would prove to him a blessing or a curse, he teaches Alcibiades after what manner he ought to pray. In the first place, he recommends to him, as the model of his devotion, a short prayer, which a Greek poet composed for the use of his friends, in the following words: 'O, Jupiter, give us those things which are good for us, whether they are such things as we pray for, or such things as we do not pray for; and remove from us those things which are hurtful, though they are such things as we pray for.' |