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Air of a Man who would not give his Judgment rafhly, that much might be faid on both Sides. They were neither of them diffatisfied with the Knight's Determination, because neither of them found himself in the Wrong by it: Upon which we made the best of our Way to the Aflizes.

THE Court was fat before Sir ROGER came, but notwithstanding all the Juftices had taken their Places upon the Bench, they made Room for the old Knight at the Head of them; who for his Reputation in the Country took Occafion to whisper in the Judge's Ear, That he was glad his Lordship had met with fo much good Weather in his Circuit. I was liftening to the Proceedings of the Court with much Attention, and infinitely pleafed with that great Appearance and Solemnity which fo properly accompanies fuch a publick Administration of our Laws; when, after about an Hour's Sitting, I obferved to my great Surprize, in the midft of a Tryal, that my Friend Sir ROGER was getting up to fpeak. I was in fome Pain for him, 'till I found he had acquitted himself of two or three Sentences, with a Look of much Business and great Intrepidity.

UPON his first Rifing the Court was hushed, and a gencral Whisper ran among the Country-People that Sir ROGER was up. The Speech he made was fo little to the Purpose, that I fhall not trouble my Readers with an Account of it; and I believe was not no fo much defigned by the Knight himself to inform the Court, as to give him a Figure in my Eye, and keep up his Credit in the Country.

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I was highly delighted, when the Court rofe, to fee the Gentlemen of the Country gathering about my old Friend, and ftriving who fhould compliment him moft; at the fame Time that the ordinary People gazed upon him at a Distance, not a little admiring his Courage, that was not afraid to speak to the Judge..

IN our Return home we met with a very odd Accident; which I cannot forbear relating, becaufe it fhews how defirous all who know Sir ROGER are of giving him Marks of their Efteem. When we were arrived upon the Verge of his Eftate, we stopped at a little Inn to rest our felves and our Horfes. The Man of the House had it feems been formerly a Servant in the Knight's Family;

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Family; and to do Honour to his old Mafter, had fome Time fince, unknown to Sir ROGER, put him up in a Signpoft before the Door; fo that the Knight's Head had hung out upon the Road about a Week before he himself knew any thing of the Matter. As foon as Sir ROGER was acquainted with it, finding that his Servant's Indifcretion proceeded wholly from Affection and Good-will, he only told him that he had made him too high a Compliment; and when the Fellow feemed to think that could hardly be, added with a more decifive Look, That it was too great an Honour for any Man under a Duke; but told him at the fame time that it might be altered with a very few Touches, and that he himself would be at the Charge of it. Accordingly they got a Painter by the Knight's Directions to add a Pair of Whiskers to the Face, and by a little Aggravation of the Features to change it into the Saracen's-Head. I fhould not have known this Story, had not the Inn-keeper upon Sir ROGER's alighting told him in my Hearing, That his Honour's Head was brought back laft Night with the Alterations that he had ordered to be made in it. Upon this my Friend with his ufual Chearfulness related the Particulars above-mentioned, and or dered the Head to be brought into the Room. I could not forbear discovering greater Expreffions of Mirth than ordinary upon the Appearance of this monftrous Face, under which, notwithstanding it was made to frown and ftare in a moft extraordinary Manner, I could ftill difcover a distant Refemblance of my old Friend. Sir R oGER, upon feeing me laugh, defired me to tell him truly if I thought it poffible for People to know him in that Difguife. I at firft kept my ufual Silence; but upon the Knight's conjuring me to tell him whether it was not still more like himfelf than a Saracen, I compofed my Countenance in the best Manner I could, and replied, That much might be faid on both sides.

THESE feveral Adventures, with the Knight's Beha. viour in them, gave me as pleasant a Day as ever I met with in any of my Travels.

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SI was Yesterday taking the Air with my Friend Sir ROGER, we were met by a fresh-coloured ruddy young Man, who rid by us full Speed, with a couple of Servants behind him. Upon my Enquiry who he was, Sir ROGER told me that he was a young Gentleman of a confiderable Eftate, who had been educated by a tender Mother that lived not many Miles from the Place where we were. She is a very good Lady, fays my Friend, but took fo much Care of her Son's Health that he has made him good for nothing. She quickly found that Reading was bad for his Eyes, and that Writing made his Head ake. He was let loofe among the Woods as foor as he was able to ride on Horfe-back, or to carry a Gun upon his Shoulder. To be brief, I found, by my Friend's Account of him, that he had got a great Stock of Health, but nothing else; and that if it were a Man's Business only to live, there would not be a more accomplished' young Fellow in the whole County.

THE Truth of it is, fince my refiding in these Parts I have seen and heard innumerable Inftances of young Heirs and elder Brothers, who either from their own reflecting upon the Estates they are born to, and therefore thinking all other Accomplishments unneceflary, or from hearing thefe Notions frequently inculcated to them by the Flattery of their Servants and Domefticks, or from the fame foolish Thought prevailing in thofe who have the Care of their Education, are of no manner of ufe bur to keep up their Families, and tranfmit their Lands and Houles in a Line to Pofterity..

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THIS makes me often think on a Story I have heard of two Friends, which I fhall give my Reader at large, under feigned Names. The Moral of it may, I hope, be ufeful, though there are fome Circumftances which make it rather appear like a Novel, than a true Story.

EUDOXUS and Leontine began the World with small Eftates. They were both of them Men of good Senfe and great Virtue. They profecuted their Studies together in their earlier Years, and entered into fuch a Friendship as lafted to the end of their Lives. Euxodus, at his first setting out in the World, threw himself into a Court, where by his natural Endowments and his acquired Abilities he made his way from one Poft to another,till at length he had raised a very confiderable Fortune. Leontine on the contrary fought all Opportunities of improving his Mind by Study, Converfation and Travel. He was not only acquainted with all the Sciences, but with the most eminent Profeffors of them throughout Europe. He knew perfectly well the Interefts of its Princes, with the Customs and Fashions of their Courts, and could fearce meet with the Name of an extraordinary Perfon in the Gazette whom he had not either talked to or feen. In fhort, he had fo well mixt and digefted his Knowledge of Men, and Books, that he made one of the most accomplished Perfons of his Age. During the whole courfe of his Studies and Travels he kept up a punctual Correspondence with Euxodus, who often made himself acceptable to the principal Men about Court by the Intelligence which he received from Leontine. When they were both turned of Forty (an Age in which, according to Mr. Cowley, there is no dallying with Life) they determined, pursuant to the Refolution they had taken in the beginning of their Lives, to retire; and pass the Remainder of their Days in the Country. In order to this, they both of them married much about the fame time. Leontine, with his own and his Wife's Fortune, bought a Farm of three hundred a Year, which lay within the Neighbourhood of his Friend Euxodus, who had purchased an Eftate of as many thou fands. They were both of them Fathers about the fame time, Euxodus having a Son born to him, and Leontine a Daughter, but to the unfpeakable Grief of the latter, his young Wife (in whom all his Happiness was wrapt up) died in a few Days after the Birth of her Daughter. His Afflicti

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on would have been infupportable, had he not been come forted by the daily Visits and Converfations of his Friend. As they were one Day talking together with their ufual Intimacy, Leontine, confidering how incapable he was of giving his Daughter a proper Education in his own Houfe, and Eudoxus reflecting on the ordinary Beha viour of a Son who knows himself to be the Heir of a great Eftate, they both agreed upon an Exchange of Chil dren, namely that the Boy fhould be bred up with Leontine as his Son, and that the Girl fhould live with Eudoxus as his Daughter, till they were each of them arrived ar Years of Difcretion. The Wife of Eudoxus, knowing. that her Son could not be fo advantagiously brought up as under the Care of Leontine, and confidering at the fame time that he would be perpetually under her own Eye, was by degrees prevailed upon to fall in with the Project. She therefore took Leonilla, for that was the Name of the Girl, and educated her as her own Daughter. The two Friends on each fide had wrought themfelves to fuch an habitual Tenderness for the Children who were under their Direction, that each of them had the real Paffion of a Father, where the Title was but imaginary. Florio, the Name of the young Heir that lived with Leontine, though he had all the Duty and Affection imaginable for his fuppofed Parent, was taught to rejoice at the Sight of Eudoxus, who vifited his Friend very frequently, and was dictated by his natural Affetion, as well as by the Rules of Prudence, to make himself esteemed and beloved by Florio. The Boy was now old enough to know his fuppofed Father's Circumftances, and that therefore he was to make his way in the World by his own Industry. This Confideration grew ftronger in him every Day, and produced fo good an Effect, that he applied himself with more than ordinary Attention to the Purfuit of every thing which Leontine recommended to him. His natural Abilities, which were very good, affifted by the Directions of fo excellent a Counfellor, enabled him to make a quicker Progrefs than ordinary through all the Parts of his Education. Before he was twenty Years of Age, having finished his Studies and Exercifes with great Applaufe, he as removed from the Univerfity to the Inns of Court,

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