lowed. Poor were the Expectations of the Studious, ' the Modest and the Good, if the Reward of their La-bours were only to be expected from Man. No, my Friend, thy intended Pleadings, thy intended good Of 'fices to thy Friends, thy intended Services to thy Country, are already performed (as to thy Concern in them) in his fight before whom the Paft, Prefent and Future, appear at one View. While others with thy Talents were tormented with Ambition, with Vain-Glory, with Envy, with Emulation, how well didft thou turn thy Mind to its own Improvement in things out of the Power of Fortune, in Probity, in Integrity, in the t Practice and Study of Juftice; how filent thy Paffige, how private thy Journey, how Glorious thy End! Many have I known more Famous, fome more Knowing, not one fo Innocent. R ENo 134. Friday, Auguft 3. ·Opiferque per Orbem Dicor Ovid. D URING my Abfence in the Country, feveral Packets have been left for me, which were not forwarded to me, because was expected every Day in Town, The Author of the following Letter, dated from Tower-hill, having fometimes been entertained with fome Learned Gentlemen in Plush Doublets, who have vended their Wares from a Stage in that Place, has pleasantly enough addreffed to Me, as no lefs a Sage in Morality, than thofe are in Phyfick. To comply with his kind Inclination to make my Cures famous, Í fhall give you his Teftimonial of my great Abilities at large in his own Words. VOL. II. I SIR, SIR, YOUR Days of this OUR faying t'other Day there is fomething won can be pleafed, and be barren of Bounty to thofe who please them, makes me in pain that I am not a Man of 'Power. If I were, you should foon fee how much I approve your Speculations. In the mean time, I beg leave to fupply that Inability with the empty Tribute of an honest Mind, by telling you plainly I love and thank you for your daily Refreshments. I conftantly perufe your Paper as I fmoke my Morning's Pipe, (tho' I can't forbear reading the Motto before I fill and light) and really it gives a grateful Relifh to every Whif; each Paragraph is freight either with useful or delightful Notions, and I never fail of being highly diverted or improved. The Variety of your Subjects furprizes me as much as a Box of Pictures did formerly, in which there was only one Face, that by pulling fome Pieces of Ifinglafs over it, was changed into a grave Senator or a Merry Andrew, a Patch'd Lady or a Nun, a Beau or a Black-a-more, a Prude or a Coquet, a Country 'Squire or a Conjurer, with many other different Reprefentations (very entertaining as you are) tho' ftill the fame at the Bottom. This was a childish Amusement when I was carried away with outward Appearance, but you make a deeper Impreffion, and affect the fecret Springs of the Mind; you charm the Fancy, footh the Paffions, and infenfibly lead the Reader to that Sweetness of Temper that you fo well defcribe, you rouse Generofity with that Spirit, and inculcate Humanity with that Eafe, that he must be miferably Stupid that is not affected by you. I can't say indeed that you have put Impertinence to Silence, or Vanity out of Countenance; but methinks you have bid as fair for it, as any Man that ever appeared upon a publick Stage; and offer an infallible Cure of Vice and Folly, for the Price of One Penny. And fince it is usual for those who receive Benefit by fuch famous Operators, to publifh an Advertisement, that others may reap the fame Advantage, I think my felf obliged to declare to all the World, that having for a long time been splenatick, ill-natured, 6 ill-natured, froward, fufpicious and unfociable, by the Application of your Medicines, taken only with half an Ounce of right Virginia Tobacco, for fix fucceffive Mornings, I am become open, obliging, offi cious, frank and hofpitable. Tower-hill, July 5, 1711. I am Your humble Servant, THIS careful Father and humble Petitioner hereafter mentioned, who are under Difficulties about the just Management of Fans, will foon receive proper Advertisements relating to the Profeffors in that behalf, with their Places of Abode and Methods of Teaching. SIR, IN July the 5th, 1711. N your Spectator of June the 7th, you Tranfcribe a Letter fent to you from a new fort of Mufter-mafter, who teaches Ladies the whole Exercise of the Fan, 'I have a Daughter juft come to Town, who tho' fhe has, always held a Fan in her Hand at proper Times, yet the 'knows no more how to use it according to true Difcipline, than an aukward School-boy does to make use of 'his new Sword: I have fent for her on purpose to learn the Exercise, fhe being already very well accomplished in all other Arts which are neceffary for a young Lady to understand; my Requeft is, that you will speak to your Correfpondent on my behalf, and in your next Paper let me know what he expects, either by the Month,. or the Quarter, for teaching; and where he keeps his Place of Rendezvous. I have a Son too, whom I would fain have taught to gallant Fans, and fhould be glad to know what the Gentleman will have for teaching them both, I finding Fans for Practice at my own Expence • This Information will in the highest manner oblige, SIR, Your most humble Servant, William Wifeacre. A S foon as my Son is perfect in this Art (which I hope will be in a Year's time, for the Boy is pretty apt,) I defign he fhall learn to ride the great Horfe, (altho 1 2 he he is not yet above twenty Years old) if his Mother, whofe Darling he is, will venture him. To the SPECTATOR. The humble Petition of Benjamin Eafie, Gent. Sheweth, T HAT it was your Petitioner's Misfortune to walk to Hackney Church laft Sunday, where to his great Amazement he met with a Soldier of your own training; The furls a Fan, recovers a Fan, and goes through the whole Exercife of it to Admiration. This well-managed "Officer of yours has, to my knowledge, been the Ruîn of above five young Gentlemen befides my felf, and ftill goes on laying wafte wherefoever fhe comes, whereby the whole Village is in great Danger. Our humble Requeft is therefore, that this bold Amazon be ordered immediately to lay down her Arms, or that you would ⚫iffue forth an Order, that we who have been thus injured may meet at the Place of General Rendezvous, and there be taught to manage our Snuff-Boxes in fuch manner as we may be an equal Match for her: R And your Petitioner shall ever Pray, &c. N° 135. I Saturday, August 4. Eft brevitate opus, ut currat Sententia Hor. Have fomewhere read of an eminent Perfon, who used in his private Offices of Devotion to give Thanks to Heaven that he was born a Frenchman: For my own Part, I look upon it as a peculiar Bleffing that I was born an Englishman. Among many other Reasons, I think my felf very happy in my Country, as the Language of it is wonderfully adapted to a Man who is fparing of his Words, and an Enemy to Loquacity. AS ASI have frequently reflected on my good Fortune in this Particular, I fhall communicate to the Publick my Speculations upon the English Tongue, not doubting but they will be acceptable to all my curious Readers. THE English delight in Silence more than any other European Nation, if the Remarks which are made on us by Foreigners are true. Our Difcourfe is not kept up in Converfation, but falls into more Paufes and Intervals than in our Neighbouring Countries; as it is obferved, that the matter of our Writings is thrown much clofer together, and lies in a narrower Compass than is ufual in the Works of Foreign Authors: For, to favour our Natural Taciturnity, when we are obliged to utter our Thoughts, we do it in the fhortest way we are able, and give as quick a Birth to our Conceptions as poffible. THIS Humour fhews it felf in feveral Remarks that we may make upon the English Language. As firft of all by its abounding in Monofyllables, which gives us an Opportunity of delivering our Thoughts in few Sounds. This indeed takes off from the Elegance of our Tongue, but at the fame time expreffes our Ideas in the readieft manner, and confequently anfwers the firft Defign of Speech better than the Multitude of Syllables, which make the Words of other Languages more Tunable and Sonorous. The Sounds of our English Words are commonly like those of String Mufick, fhort and tranfient, which rife and perish upon a fingle Touch, thofe of other Languages are like the Notes of Wind Inftruments, fweet and fwelling, and lengthen'd out into variety of Modulation. IN the next place we may obferve, that where the Words are not Monofyllables, we often make them fo, as much as lies in our Power, by our Rapidity of Pronunciation; as it generally happens in moft of our long Words which are derived from the Latin, where we contract the length of the Syllables that gives them a grave and folemn Air in their own Language, to make them more proper for Difpatch, and more conformable to the Genius of our Tongue. This we may find in a Multitude of Words, as Liberty, Confpiracy, Theatre, Orator, &c. THE fame natural Averfion to Loquacity has of late Years made a very confiderable Alteration in our Language, by clofing in one Syllable the Termination of our I. 3: Præter |