No. 456. Let any one who is conversant in the Variety of Wednes Human Life reflect upon it, and he will find the Man who day, wants Mercy has a Taste of no Enjoyment of any Kind. August 13, There is a natural Disrelish of every thing which is good 1712, in his very Nature, and he is born an Enemy to the World. He is ever extremely partial to himself in all his Actions, and has no Sense of Iniquity but from the Punishment which shall attend it. The Law of the Land is his Gospel, and all his Cases of Conscience are deter mined by his Attorney. Such Men know not what it is to gladden the Heart of a Miserable Man, that Riches are the Instruments of serving the Purposes of Heaven or Hell, according to the Disposition of the Professor. The Wealthy can torment or gratifie all who are in their Power, and chuse to do one or other as they are affected with Love or Hatred to Mankind. As for such who are insensible of the Concerns of others, but merely as they affect themselves, these Men are to be valued only for their Morality, and as we hope better Things from their Heirs, I could not but read with great Delight a Letter from an eminent Citizen, who has failed, to one who was intimate with him in his better Fortune, and able by his Countenance to retrieve his lost Condition, 'Sir, It is in vain to multiply Words, and make Apologies for what is never to be defended by the best Advocate in the World, the Guilt of being Unfortunate. All that a Man in my Condition can do or say, will be received with Prejudice by the Generality of Mankind, but I hope not with you: You have been a great Instrument in helping me to get what I have lost, and I know (for that Reason as well as Kindness to me) you cannot but be in Pain to see me undone. To shew you I am not a Man incapable of bearing Calamity, I will, though a poor Man, lay aside the Distinction between us, and talk with the Frankness we did when we were nearer to an Equality: As all I do will be received with Prejudice, all you do will be looked upon with Partiality. What I desire of you, is, that you, who are courted by all, would smile upon me who am shunned by all. Let that Grace and Favour which your Fortune throws throws upon you, be turned to make up the Coldness and No. 456. Indifference that is used towards me, All good and Wednes generous Men will have an Eye of Kindness for me for day, August 13, my own Sake, and the rest of the World will regard me 1712 for yours. There is an happy Contagion in Riches, as well as a destructive one in Poverty; the Rich can make rich without parting with any of their Store, and the Conversation of the Poor makes Men Poor, though they borrow nothing of them. How this is to be accounted for I know not; but Men's Existimation follows us according to the Company we keep. If you are what you were to me, you can go a great Way towards my Recovery; if you are not, my good Fortune, if ever it returns, will return by slower Approaches. I am, Sir, Your affectionate Friend, and humble Servant! This was answered with a Condescension that did not, by long impertinent Professions of Kindness, insult his Distress, but was as follows, 'Dear Tom, I am very glad to hear that you have Heart enough to begin the World a second time. I assure you, I do not think your numerous Family at all diminished (in the Gifts of Nature for which I have ever so much admired them) by what has so lately happened to you, I shall not only countenance your Affairs with my Appearance for you, but shall accommodate you with a considerable Sum at common Interest for three Years. You know I could make more of it; but I have so great a Love for you, that I can wave Opportunities of Gain to help you: For I do not care whether they say of me after I am dead, that I had an hundred or fifty thousand Pounds more than I wanted when I was living, T Your obliged humble Servant.' Thursday No. 457, No. 457, I Thursday, August 14, -Multa & praeclara minantis.-Hor. SHALL this Day lay before my Reader a Letter, written by the same Hand with that of last Friday, which contained Proposals for a Printed News-Paper, that should take in the whole Circle of the Penny-post, · Sír, The kind Reception you gave my last Friday's Letter, in which I broached my Project of a News-Paper, encourages me to lay before you two or three more; for, you must know, Sir, that we look upon you to be the Lowndes of the learned World, and cannot think any Scheme practicable or rational before you have approved of it, tho' all the Mony we raise by it is on our own Funds, and for our private Use. I have often thought that a News Letter of Whispers, written every Post, and sent about the Kingdom, after the same manner as that of Mr. Dyer, Mr. Dawkes, or any other Epistolary Historian, might be highly gratify ing to the Publick, as well as beneficial to the Author. By Whispers I mean those Pieces of News which are communicated as Secrets, and which bring a double Pleasure to the Hearer; first, as they are private History, and in the next place, as they have always in them a Dash of Scandal. These are the two chief Qualifications in an Article of News, which recommend it in a more than ordinary Manner, to the Ears of the Curious, Sickness of Persons in high Posts, Twilight Visits paid and received by Ministers of State, Clan destine Courtships and Marriages, Secret Amours, Losses at Play, Applications for Places, with their respective Successes or Repulses, are the Materials in which I chiefly intend to deal. I have two Persons, that are each of them the Representative of a Species, who are to furnish me with those Whispers which I intend to convey to my Correspondents. The first of these is Peter Hush, descended from the ancient Family of the Hushes. The other is the old Lady Blast, who has a 1712. a very numerous Tribe of Daughters in the two great No. 457. Cities of London and Westminster. Peter Hush has Thursday, a whispering Hole in most of the great Coffee Houses August 14, about Town If you are alone with him in a wide Room, he carries you up into a Corner of it, and speaks in your Ear. I have seen Peter seat himself in a Com pany of seven or eight Persons, whom he never saw before in his Life; and after having looked about to see there was no one that over-heard him, has communi cated to them in a low Voice, and under the Seal of Secrecy, the Death of a great Man in the Country, who was perhaps a Fox-hunting the very moment this Account was given of him. If upon your entring into a Coffee-house you see a Circle of Heads bending over the Table, and lying close by one another, it is ten to one but my Friend Peter is among them. I have known Peter publishing the Whisper of the Day by eight a Clock in the Morning at Garraway's, by twelve at Will's, and before two at the Smyrna. When Peter has thus effec tually launched a Secret, I have been very well pleased to hear People whispering it to one another at second Hand, and spreading it about as their own; for you must know, Sir, the great Incentive to Whispering is the Ambition which every one has of being thought in the Secret, and being looked upon as a Man who has Access to greater People than one would imagine. After having given you this Account of Peter Hush, I proceed to that virtuous Lady, the old Lady Blast, who is to com municate to me the private Transactions of the Crimp Table, with all the Arcana of the fair Sex. The Lady Blast, you must understand, has such a particular Malignity in her Whisper, that it blights like an Easterly Wind, and withers every Reputation that it breaths upon. She has a particular knack at making private Weddings, and last Winter married above five Women of Quality to their Footmen, Her Whisper can make an innocent young Woman big with Child, or fill an healthful young Fellow with Distempers that are not to be named. She can turn a Visit into an Intrigue, and a distant Salute into an Assignation. She can beggar the Wealthy, and degrade the Noble. In short, she can whisper Men Base or Foolish 1712. No. 457. Foolish, Jealous or Ill-natured, or if occasion requires, Thursday, can tell you the Slips of their Great Grandmothers, and August 14, traduce the Memory of honest Coach-men that have been in their Graves above these hundred Years. By these, and the like helps, I question not but I shall furnish out a very handsome News Letter. If you approve_my Project, I shall begin to Whisper by the very next Post, and question not but every one of my Customers will be very well pleased with me, when he considers that every Piece of News I send him is a Word in his Ear, and lets him into a Secret, Having given you a Sketch of this Project, I shall, in the next place, suggest to you another for a Monthly Pamphlet, which I shall likewise submit to your Specta torial Wisdom, I need not tell you, Sir, that there are several Authors in France, Germany, and Holland, as well as in our own Country, who Publish every Month, what they call An Account of the Works of the Learned, in which they give us an Abstract of all such Books as are Printed in any Part of Europe. Now, Sir, it is my Design to Publish every Month, An Account of the Works of the Unlearned. Several late Productions of my own Country-men, who many of them make a very Eminent Figure in the Illiterate World, encourage me in this Undertaking, I may, in this Work, possibly make a Review of several Pieces which have appeared in the Foreign Accounts above mentioned, tho' they ought not to have been taken Notice of in Works which bear such a Title, I may, likewise, take into Consider ation such Pieces as appear, from time to time, under the Names of those Gentlemen who Complement one another in Publick Assemblies, by the Title of the Learned Gentlemen. Our Party Authors will also afford Party-Authors me a great Variety of Subjects, not to mention Editors, Commentators, and others, who are often Men of no Learning, or what is as bad, of no Knowledge, I shall not enlarge upon this Hint; but if you think any thing can be made of it, I shall set about it with all the Pains and Application that so useful a Work deserves. I am ever, Most worthy Sir, &c' C Friday |