THE happy Marriage is, where two Persons meet and voluntarily make Choice of each other, without principally regarding or neglecting the Circumstances of Fortune or Beauty. These may still love in {pite of Adversity or Sicknefs: The former we may in fome meafure defend our felves from the other is the Portion of our very Make. When you have a true Notion of this sort of Passion, your Hunour of living great will vanish out of your Imagina. tion, and you will find Love has notlting to do with State. Solitude, with the Person beloved, has a Pleasure, even in a Woman's Mind, beyond Show or Pomp.' You are therefore to consider which of your Lovers will like you best undress'd, which will bear with you most when out of Humour; and your way to this is to ask of your felf, which of them you value moft for his own Sake? and by that judge which gives the greater Instances of his valuing you for your self only.'

AFTER you have exprefled fome Senfe of the humble Approach of Florio, and a little Difdain at Strephon's Assurance in his Address, you cry our, what an unexcepti. onable Husband could. I make out of both! Ir would there. fore methinks be a good way to determine your felf: Take him in whom what you like is not transferable to another ;, for if you chuse otherwife, there is no Hopes your Husband will ever have what you liked in his Rival; bu intrinsick Qualities in one Man may very probably purchase every thing that is adventitious in another. In plainer Terms; he whom you take for his personal Perfe&tions will sooner, arrive at the Gifts of Fortune, than he whom you take for the sake of his Fortune attain to Personal Perfections. If Strephon is not a's accomplish'd and agreeable as Florio, Marriage to you will never make him so; but Marriage to you may make Floria as rich as Strephon: Therefore to make a fúre Pur: chase, employ. Fortune upon Ceccainties,, but do not fake crifice Certainties to Fortune.

I am,
Your molt Obedient,

Humble Servant.

Wednesday,

No 1.50. Wednesday, August 22.

Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in fe,
Quam quod ridiculos homines facit -

Juv.

S I was walking in my Chamber the Morning be. A fore. I went last into the Country, I heard the

- Hawkers with great Vehemence crying about a Paper,, entitled, The ninety nine Plagues of an empty Purse. I had indeed some Time before observed, that the Ora. tors of Grub-ftreet had dealt very much in Plagues. They had already published in the fame Month, The Plagues of Matrimony, The Plagues of a single Life, The nineteen Plagues of a Chambermaid, The Plagues of a Coachman, The Plagues of a Footman, and The Plague of Plagues. The Success these several plagues met with, probably gave Occasion to the above-mentioned Poem on an empty Purse. However that be, the Noise so frequently repeat ed under my Window, drew me insensibly to think on. some of those inconveniencies and Mortifications whichi usually attend on Poverty,, and in short gave Birth to the present Speculation :: for after my Fancy had run over the most obyious and common Calamities which Men of mean Fortunes are liable to, it descended to..chofe little Insults and Contempts, which, tho' they may feem to dwindle into nothing when a Man offers to describe them, are perhaps in themselves more cutting and insupportable than the former. Juvenal with a great deal of Humour and Reason tells us, that nothing bore harder upon a. poor Man in his Time, than the continual Ridicule which his Habit and Dress afforded to the Beaus of Rome..

Quid quod materiam præbet caufafque jocorum,
Omnibus hic idem?fi fæda e scisa lacerna ; :
Si toga. fordidula eft, e rupta calceus alter
Pelle patet, vel fi confuto vulnere crassum
Atque resens linam oftendit non una. Cicatrix. Jup. Sat. z.

Add,

: : Add, that the Rich have still a Gibe in Stores

And will be monstrous witty on the poor;
For the torn Surtout and the tatter'd Veft, .
The Wretch and all his Wardrobe are a. Feft:
The greafie Gown fully'd with often turning.
Gives a good Hint to say the Man's in Mourning ;; .
Or if the shoe be ript, or patch is put,

He's wounded! see the plaister on his Foot. Dryd. "Tis on this Occasion that he afterwards adds this Refle&tion which I have chosen for my Motto...

Want is the Scorn of every wealthy Fool, :..

And Wit in Rags is turn'd to Ridicule. • Dryd. IT must be confess’d, that few things make a Man'appear more. despicable, or more prejudice his Hearers against what he is going to offer, than an aukward or pitiful Dress; insomuch that I fancy, had Tully himself pronounced one of his Orations with a Blanket about his Shoulders, more people would have laughed at his Dress than have admired his Eloquence... This laft. Reflection made, we wonder at a Set of Men, who, without being Subjected to it by the Unkindness of their Fortunes, are contented to draw upon themselves the Ridicule of the World in this particular ; I mean such as take it into their Heads, that, the first. regular Step to be a Wit is to com mence. a Sloven. It is certain nothing has so much debased that, which must have been otherwise lo great a Character; and I know not. how to account for it, unless it may possibly be in Complaisance to those narrow Minds who can have no Notion of the same Person's poflefling different Accomplishments; or that it is a sort of Sacrifice which some Men are contented to make to Calumny, by allowing it to fasten on one Part of their Character, while they are endeavouring to establish another. Yet however unaccountable this foolish Custom is, I am afraid it could plead a long Prescription, and probably gave too much Occasion for the yulgar Definition still remaining among us of an Heathen Philospher.

I have seen the Speech of a Terre-fillius, spoken in King Charles Il's Reign; in which he describes iwo very emiscnt Men, who were perhaps the greatest Scholars of their Age; and after having mentioned the entire Friendship between them, concludes, That they had but one Mind, one Purse, oneChamber, and one Har. The Men of Busi. ness were also infected with a sort of Singularity little better than this. I have heard my Father say, that a broad-brimm'd Hat, fhort Hair, and unfolded Handkerchief, were in his Time abfolutely necessary to denote a notable Man; and that he had known two or three who aspired to the Characters of very notable, wear Shooe. trings with great Success. ;

To the Honour of our prefent Age it muft be allow. ed, that some of our greatest Genius's for Wit and Business have almost intirely broke the Neck of these Absurdities.

VICTOR, after having dispatched the most impor. tant Affairs of the Commonwealth, has appeared at an Assembly, where all the Ladies have declared him the genteeleft Man in the Company; and in Atticus, tho' every way one of the greatest Genius's the Age has produced, one fees nothing particular in his Dress or Car. riage to denote his Pretenfions to Witand Learning: So that at present a Man may venture to cock up his Hat, and wear a fashionable Whig, without being taken for a Rake or a Fool.

THE Medium between a Fop and a sloven is what a Man of Senfe would endeavour to keep; yet I remember Mr. Osbourn advises his Son to appear in his Habie rather above than below his Fortune; and tells him, that he will find an handsome Suit of Cloaths always procures fome additional Respect. I have indeed myself observed, that iny Banker eyer bows:lowest to me when I wear my full-bottom'd' Whig; and writes me Nir. or Esq; accordingly as he fees me dressed.

I fhall conclude this paper with an Adventure which I was my self air Eye-witness of very lately, * I happened the other Day 10 cali in ata celebrated Cof fee-houfe near the Temple. I had nor been there long when there came in an elderly Man very mcanly dressed and' fát down by me; he had a thread-bare life Coar on, which it was plain, he wore to keep hiinfelf warm, and not to favour his under Suit, which seemed to have been at least his Contemporary: His short Wig and Hat were both answerable to the rest of his Apparel. He was no

sooner

Sooner seated than he called for a Difh of Tea; but as
several Gentlemen in the Room wanted other things,
the Boys of the House did not think themselves at Leifure
to mind him. I could observe the old Fellow was very
uneafie at the Affront, and at his being obliged to re-
peat his Comands several Times ro no Purpole; 'till at
fast one of the Lads presented him with fome ftale Tea
in a broken Dilh, accompanied with a Plate of brown
Sugar;, which fo raised his Indignation, that after seve-
ral obliging Appellations of Dog and Rascal, he asked
him aloud before the whole Company, why he. muft be
used with lefs Respect than that Fop there ? pointing to a
well-dressed young Gentleman who was drinking Tea at
the opposite Table. The Boy of the House replied with
a great deal of Pertness, That his Master had two sorts
of Customers, and that the Gentleman at the other Table
had given him many a Six-Pence for wiping his Shoes.
By this time the young Templar, who found his Honour
concerned in the Dispute, and that the Eyes of the whole
Coffee-hose were upon him, had thrown afide a Paper
he had in his, Hand, and was coming towards us, while
we at the Table made what bafte we could to get a-
way from the impending Quarrel, but were all of us fur.
prised to see him as he approached nearer put on an Air
of Deference and Respeet. To whom the old Man laid,
Hark you, Sirrab, l'll pay off your extravagant Bills once
more; but will take effettual Care for the future, that your
Prodigality fhall not fpirit up a Parcel of Rafoals, to insult
your Father.

THO' I by no means approve either the Impudence of the Servants or the Extravagance of the Son, I can: not but think the old Gentleman was in some meafure juftly served for walking in Masquerade, I mean appearing in a Dress so much beneath his Quality and

Eftate.

Thursday,