• fall under their notice in their several districts and di' vifions.

I am no less acquainted with the particular quarters ' and regions of this great town than with the different parts and diftributions of the whole nation. I can de'fcribe every parish by its impieties, and can tell you in which of our streets lewdness prevails, which gaming has taken the poffeffion of, and where drun'kenness has got the better of them both. When I am difpofed to raise a fine for the poor, I know the lanes and alleys that are inhabited by common fwearers. 'When I would encourage the hofpital of Bridewell, ' and improve the hempen manufacture, I am very well 'acquainted with all the haunts and reforts of female ' night-walkers.

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After this short account of myself, I must let you ' know that the design of this paper is to give you in• formation of a certain irregular assembly, which I ' think falls very properly under your observation, efpe'cially fince the perfons it is compofed of are criminals ' too confiderable for the animadverfions of our fociety. ' I mean, Sir, the Midnight Mask, which has of late 'been very frequently held in one of the most confpi

cuous parts of the town, and which I hear will be • continued with additions and improvements. As all 'the persons who compose this lawless assembly are masked, we dare not attack any of them in our way, • left we should send a Woman of Quality to Bridewell, or a Peer of Great Britain to the Counter! be' fides that, their numbers are so very great, that I am ' afraid they would be able to rout our whole fraternity,

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though we were accompanied with all our guard of 'conftables. Both these reasons, which fecure them • from our authority, make them obnoxious to yours;

as both their disguise and their numbers will give no ' particular person reason to think himself affronted by you.

If we are rightly informed, the rules that are ob• served by this new fociety are wonderfully contrived for the advancement of cuckoldom. The women either ' come

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come by themselves, or are introduced by friends, who ' are obliged to quit them upon their first entrance, to • the conversation of any body that addresses himself to

them. There are several rooms where the parties may ' retire, and, if they please, shew their faces by confent. • Whispers, squeezes, nods, and embraces, are the in

nocent freedoms of the place. In short, the whole • defign of this libidinous assembly seems to terminate in 'affignations and intrigues; and I hope you will take • effectual methods by your public advice and admoni' tions, to prevent fuch a promiscuous multitude of both • sexes from meeting together in fo clandestine a man

ner,

• I am

• Your humble servant
and fellow-labourer,

• Τ. Β.'

Not long after the perusal of this letter, I received another upon the same subject; which by the date and stile of it, I take to be written by fome young Templar.

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• Sir,

Middle-Temple, 1710-11.

WHEN a man has been guilty of any vice or folly,

I think the best atonement he can make for it, is to warn others not to fall into the like. In order to this I must acquaint you, that fome time in February laft I went to the Tuesday's masquerade. Upon my first going in I was attacked by half a dozen female Quakers, ' who seemed willing to adopt me for a brother; but upon a nearer examination I found they were a fisterhood of coquettes difguised in that precife habit. I was foon after taken out to dance, and, as I fancied, by a woman of the first quality: for she was very tall, and moved gracefully As soon as the minuet was over we ogled ⚫ one another through our masks; and as I am very well very well read in Waller, I repeated to her the four following • verses, out of his poem to Vandike :

The heedless lover does not know
Whose eyes they are that wound him fo;
But, confounded with thy art,
Inquires her name that has his heart.

I pronounced these words with such a languishing air, that I had fome reason to conclude I had made a con< quest. She told me that she hoped my face was not a-kin to my tongue; and looking upon her watch, I. • accidentally discovered the figure of a coronet on the ' back part of it. I was so transported with the thought ⚫ of fuch an amour, that I plied her from one room to • another with all the gallantries I could invent; and at ' length brought things to so happy an issue, that she gave me a private meeting the next day, without page ' or footman, coach or equipage. My heart danced in raptures; but I had not lived in this golden dream ' above three days, before I found good reason to wish ' that I had continued true to my laundress. I have • fince heard, by a very great accident, that this fine • lady does not live far from Covent Garden, and that 'I am not the first cully whom she has passed herself upon for a countess.

Thus, Sir, you fee how I have mistaken a cloud ' for a Juno: and if you can make any use of this adventure, for the benefit of those who may poffibly be as vain young coxcombs as myself, I do most heartily give you leave.

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' I am, Sir,

Your most humble admirer,

B. L.'

I design to visit the next Masquerade myself, in the fame habit I wore at Grand Cairo; and till then shall fufpend my judginent of this midnight entertainment. C. No. IX.

No. IX. SATURDAY, MARCH 10.

-Tigris agit rabidâ cum tigride pacem
Perpetuam, fævis inter fe convenit urfis.

Tiger with tiger, bear with bear, you'll find
In leagues offenfive and defenfive join'd.

Juv.

TATE.

MAN is faid to be a fociable animal, and, as an instance of it, we may obferve, that we take all occafions and pretences of forming ourselves into those little nocturnal assemblies which are commonly known by the name of Clubs. When a fet of men find themselves agree in any particular, though ever so trivial, they establish themselves into a kind of fraternity, and meet once or twice a week upon the account of fuch a fantastic refemblance. I know a confiderable markettown, in which there was a club of fat men, that did not come together, as you may well suppose, to entertain one another with sprightliness and wit, but to keep one another in countenance; the room where the club met was fomething of the largest, and had two entrances; the one by a door of a moderate size, and the other by a pair of folding doors. If a candidate for this corpulent club could make his entrance through the fift, he was look'd upon as unqualified; but if he stuck in the passage, and could not force his way through it, the folding doors were immediately thrown open for his reception, and he was faluted as a brother. I have heard that this club, though it confifted but of fifteen perfons, weighed above three tun!

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In oppofition to this fociety there sprung up another, compofed of fcarecrows and skeletons, who being very meagre and envious, did all they could to thwart the defigns of their bulky brethren, whom they reprefented as men of dangerous principles; till at length they worked them out of the favour of the people, and confequently out of the magistracy. These factions tore the corporation in pieces for feveral years, till at length they came

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to this accommodation: That the two bailiffs of the town should be annually chofen out of the two clubs; by which means the principal magiftrates are at this day coupled like rabbits, one fat and one lean.

Every one has heard of the club, or rather the confederacy of the Kings. This grand alliance was formed a little after the return of King Chaties the Second, and admitted into it men of all qualities and profeffions, provided they agreed in the furname of King, which, as they imagined, fufficiently declared the owners of it to be altogether untainted with republican and antimonarchical principles.

A chriftian name has likewife been often used as a badge of diftinction, and made the occafion of a club. That of the Georges, which used to meet at the fign of the George on St. George's day, and fwear before George, is still fresh in every one's memory.

There are at prefent, in feveral parts of this city, what they call Street-Clubs, in which the chief inhabitants of the street converfe together every night. I remember, upon my enquiring after lodgings in Ormond-ftreet, the landlord, to recommend that quarter of the town, told me, there was at that time a very good club in it; he alfo told me, upon farther difcourse with him, that two or three noify country-Iquires, who were fettled there the vear before, had confiderably funk the price of houterent; and that the club (to prevent the like inconveniencies for the future) had thoughts of taking every house that became vacant into their own hands, till they had found a tenant for it of a fociable nature and good converfation.

The Hum-Drum club, of which I was formerly an unworthy member, was made up of very honeft gentlemen, of peaceable difpofitions, that ufed to fit together, fmoke their pipes, and fay nothing till midnight. The Mum-club, as I am informed, is an inftitution of the fame nature, and as great an enemy to noife.

After these two innocent focieties, I cannot forbear mentioning a very mischievous one, that was erected in the reign of King Charles the Second: I mean the Club VOL. I.

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