pleased to communicate it for the Good of the Publick, ⚫ and you will oblige Yours, A. NOEWILL. Mr. SPECTATOR, T HE Uproar was fo great as foon as I had read. the Spectator concerning Mrs. Freeman, that after many Revolutions in her Temper, of raging, swooning, railing, fainting, pitying herself, and reviling her Hufband, upon an accidental coming in of a neighbouring Lady (who says she has writ to you also) fhe had nothing left for it but to fall in a Fit. I had the Ho. nour to read the Paper to her, and have a pretty good • Command of my Countenance and Temper on fuch 'Occafions; and foon found my hiftorical Name to be "Tom Meggot in your Writings, but concealed my self 'till I faw how it affected Mrs. Freeman. She looked frequently at her Husband, as often at me; and the did not tremble as the filled Tea, till fhe came to the Circumftance of Armstrong's writing out a Piece of Tully for an Opera Tune: Then she burst out, She was exposed, she was deceiv'd, she was wronged and abused. 'The Tea-cup was thrown in the Fire; and without taking Vengeance on her Spouse, fhe faid of me, That I was a pretending Coxcomb, a Medler that knew not ⚫ what it was to interpose in so nice an Affair as between a Man and his Wife. To which Mr. Freeman, Madam, were I lefs fond of you than I am, I should not have taken this Way of writing to the SPECTATOR, to ⚫ inform a Woman whom God and Nature has placed ⚫ under my direction, with what I requeft of her; but fince you are so indiscreet as not to take the Hint ' which I gave you in that Paper, I must tell you, Madam, in fo many Words, that you have for a long and tedious Space of Time acted a Part unfuitable to the • Senfe you ought to have of the Subordination in which you are placed. And I must acquaint you once for all, that the Fellow without, ha Tom! (here the Footman entered and anfwered Madam) Sirrah don't you know my Voice? look upon me when I fpeak to you: I fay, • Madam, 13 ་ Madam, this Fellow here is to know of me my self, ⚫ whether I am at Leisure to see Company or not. I am ⚫ from this Hour Mafter of this House; and my Business in it, and every where elfe, is to behave my felf in fuch a manner, as it shall be hereafter an Honour to you to bear my Name; and your Pride, that you are the Delight, the Darling and Ornament of a Man of Honour, ufeful and esteemed by his Friends; and I no longer one that has buried some Merit in the World, in Compliance to a froward Humour which has grown upon an agreeable Woman by his Indulgence. Mr. Freeman ⚫ended this with a Tenderness in his Afpect and a downcaft Eye, which thewed he was extremely moved at the Anguish he faw her in; for fhe fat swelling with Paffion, and her Eyes firmly fixed on the Fire; when I, fearing he would lofe all again, took upon me to provoke her out of that amiable Sorrow fhe was in, tơ fall upon me; upon which I faid very seasonably for my Friend, That indeed Mr. Freeman was become the common Talk of the Town; and that nothing was fo much a Jeft, as when it was said in Company Mr. Freehas Promised to come to fuch a Place. Upon which the good Lady turned her foftnefs into downright Rage, and threw the fcalding Tea-kettle upon your humble Servant; flew into the middle of the Room, and cried out he was the unfortunateft of all Women: • Others kept Family Diffatisfactions for Hours of Privacy and Retirement: No Apology was to be made to ' her, no Expedient to be found, no previous Manner of breaking what was amifs in her; but all the World was to be acquainted with her Errors, without the leaft Admonition. Mr. Freeman was going to make a foft'ning Speech, but I interpofed; Look you, Madam, I have nothing to fay to this Matter, but you ought to con'fider you are now past a Chicken; this Humour, which was well enough in a Girl, is infufferable in one of your motherly Character. With that the loft all Patience, and flew directly at her Husband's Periwig. I got her in my Arms, and defended my Friend: He making Signs at the fame time that it was too much; I beckoning, nodding, and frowning over her Shoulder, ⚫ that • man ⚫ that he was loft if he did not perfifst. In this manner fhe flew round and round the Room in a Moment, till the Lady I fpoke of above and Servants entered; upon ⚫ which she fell on a Couch as breathless. I still kept up my Friend; but he with a very filly Air, bid them bring the Coach to the Door, and we went off, I forced to bid the Coachman drive on. We were no ⚫ fooner come to my Lodgings, but all his Wife's Rela⚫tions came to inquire after him; and Mrs. Freeman's • Mother writ a Note, wherein the thought never to have feen this Day, and fo forth. IN a word, Sir, I am afraid we are upon a thing we have no Talents for; and I can obferve already, my Friend looks upon me rather as a Man that knows a • Weakness of him that he is afhamed of, than one who ⚫ has refcu'd him from Slavery. Mr. SPECTATOR, I am but a young Fellow, and if Mr. Freeman fubmits, I • fhall be looked upon as an Incendiary, and never get a • Wife as long as I breathe. He has indeed fent word < home he shall lie at Hampstead to-night; but I believe Fear of the first Onset after this Rupture has too great a Place in this Refolution. Mrs. Freeman has a very pretty Sifter; fuppofe I delivered him up, and articled. • with the Mother for her bringing him home. If he has not Courage to stand it, (you are a great Cafuist) is it fuch an ill thing to bring my felf off, as well as I can? What makes me doubt my Man, is, that I ⚫ find he thinks it reasonable to expoftulate at least with and Captain SENTREY will tell you, if you let your Orders be difputed, you are no longer a Commander. I wish you could advise me how to get clear ← of this Business handsomly. 6. T her; No. 217. Thursday, November 8. I -Tunc fœmina fimplex, Et pariter toto repetitur clamor ab antro. Juv. Sat. 6. v. 326. Then, unreftrain'd by Rules of Decency, Shall entertain my Reader to-day with fome Letters from my Correfpondents. The first of them is the Defcription of a Club, whether real or imaginary, I cannot determine; but am apt to fancy, that the Writer of it, whoever fhe is, has formed a kind of Nocturnal Orgie out of her own Fancy: Whether this be fo or not, her Letter may conduce to the Amendment of that Kind of Perfons who are represented in it, and whose Characters are frequent enough in the World. 6 Mr. SPECTATOR, IN [N fome of your firft Papers you were pleased to give the Publick a very diverting Account of several ⚫ Clubs and nocturnal Affemblies; but I am a Member of a Society which has wholly efcap'd your Notice, I mean a Club of She-Romps. We take each an Hackney• Coach, and meet once a Week in a large upper Chamber, which we hire by the Year for that Purpose; our • Landlord and his Family, who are quiet People, con• ftantly contriving to be abroad on our Club-Night. We are no fooner come together, than we throw of all that • Modesty and Refervedness with which our Sex are obliged to disguife themselves in publick places. I am not able to express the Pleasure we enjoy from Ten at Night till four in the Morning, in being as rude as you Men can be for your Lives. As our Play runs ' high, the Room is immediately fill'd with broken Fans, torn Petticoats, Lappets or Head-dreffes, Flounces, • Furbelows, Garters and Working-Aprons. I had forgot to tell you at first, that befides the Coaches we come in ourselves, there is one which ftands always empty 6 · empty to carry off our dead Men, for fo we call all those • Fragments and Tatters with which the Room is ftrew'd, and which we pack up together in Bundles and put into the aforefaid Coach: It is no fmall Diversion for us to meet the next Night at fome Member's Chamber, 'where every one is to pick out what belonged to her ⚫ from this confufed Bundle of Silks, Stuffs, Laces, and • Ribbands. I have hitherto given you an Account of our • Diverfion on ordinary Club-Nights; but muft acquaint you further, that once a Month we demolish a Prude, that is, we get fome queer formal Creature in among us, and unrig her in an Inftant. Our laft Month's Prude · was fo armed and fortified in Whalebone and Buckram, that we had much ado to come at her; but you would have died with laughing to have seen how the • fober aukward Thing looked when she was forced out ⚫ of her Intrenchments. In fhort, Sir, it is impoffible to give you a true Notion of our Sport, unless you ⚫ would come one Night amongst us; and tho' it be directly against the Rules of our Society to admit a Male Vifitant, we repose so much Confidence in your Silence ‹ and Taciturnity, that it was agreed by the whole Club, at our laft Meeting, to give you Entrance for one Night as a Spectator. 6 P. S. We fhall demolish a Prude next Thursday. THO' I thank Kitty for her kind Offer, I do not at prefent find in my felf any Inclination to venture my Perfon with her and her romping Companions. I should regard my felf as a fecond Clodius intruding on the myfterious Rites of the Bona Dea, and should apprehend being Demolished as much as the Prude. THE following Letter comes from a Gentleman, whofe Tafte I find is much too delicate to endure the leaft Advance towards Romping. I may perhaps hereafter improve upon the Hint he has given me, and makę it the Subject of a whole Spectator; in the mean time take it as it follows in his own Words. I 5 Mr. |