• IMPRIMIS, That a Lady of known Judgment in all the Decorums and fprightly Alterations of Drefs, be conftituted by the Authority of the principal Ladies at Court, to be a Controllerefs of Female Modes and Fafbions.

ITEM, That when any new Mode is invented, imported from France, Germany, or elsewhere, or new reviv'd, without any confiderable Alterations, it fhall be proposed to the faid Lady before any prefume to appear in publick in fuch Habit or Habits.

ITEM, That fhe, the Lady Controllerefs, upon and after mature Deliberation, and Advice of fuch La⚫dies as fhall be of her Council, fhall give notice by an • Advertisement in the Spectator, that the Ladies may pleafe to wear

ITE M, That convenient Time be prefix'd in fuch Fabions, proportionable to the Distances of Places from London; and that all Perfons be prohibited the Anticipation of fuch Dreffes, under the Penalty of being cenfur'd for Immodefty and ill Manners, and whatever • Punishments elfe may be judg'd neceffary for such enormous Crimes and Misdemeanors.

WE have drawn up these Articles, by the Affiftance of a young Clerk, whom we chofe for our Counsellor in this Affair; and we hope, after fuch Amendments as you fhall judge convenient, you will put us in a Method, in order to its Establishment by publick Authority; and herein you'll eternally oblige,

Your humble Servants.

P. S. If it be requir'd, we can procure Subscriptions, not only throughout this, but from all the neighbouring Counties.

Cambridge,

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Cambridge, April 26, 1715.

IAM glad to fee that one of your Correspondents has lately acquainted you with the odd Management of our Cambridge Funerals, which, whether culpable or wholly indifferent, I know not, you not having pafs'd the Cenfure, but I'm fure it has afflicted many wellmeaning Women with unreasonable Doubts and Scruples. Madam, having lately pack'd off her old Simon, it was warmly argued amongst her Confidents, Whether a virtuous Woman might not admit of any modeft Addreffes during that Interval from the putting into the Ground (as they here call it) to the Funeral Ceremony? After divers ftrong Debates, the best Cafuifts among them could not clearly decide it, tho' moft gave their Opinions in the Affirmative, and confirm'd it by the conftant Practice of the most eminent Matrons in this Corporation; tho' they own'd withal, that Caution ought to be us'd, fince the malicious World was ready to interpret every thing in the worst Senfe, to cenfure and blast their Reputation, as if they admitted Suitors before their former Husbands were buried. I am not very anxious about this matter at prefent, because it is not my own Cafe; but I have heard it has been made a Query, fince this manner of burying was practis'd, with the Concurrence of those judicious and learned Societies amongst us, Whether Marriage alfo, when the Body could not be otherwife kept with Conveniency, might not be anticipated, and the Ceremony deferr'd 'till a more fuitable Opportunity: If you would please to oblige the World. with your Decifion in that, it would particularly engage

Your bumble Servant,

Anna-Maria.

3

Cambridge.

Cambridge.

I

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Often wait on fome young Ladies to an Organ-loft in the University, and have often wonder'd that the politick Gentlemen, who may, tho' but Frefhmen, as they call 'em, be prefum'd to have read moft of the SPECTATORS: I have wonder'd, I fay, why they fhould act fo vulgarly, as to obftruct the Voice of an audible Reader, by repeating, as I imagined, the Prayers after him; but the other Night, to my great Surprife, obferving two or three kneel with their Heads laid together, I overheard one, Faith, fays he, Mifs Swallow is prettier than any of the Three: It is not to be imagined how much Service my Fan did me, in the Confufion this overheard Whisper threw me into; fince this, I have obferv'd the like Colloquies lower towards the Altar, which tho' I can't hear, confound me as much thro' Sufpicion, especially upon their cafting now and then an ill-natur'd Glance. I know not how confiftent this is with the Character of Gentlemen and Scholars, but if you please to hint to them, that they should have fome Respect for the facred Action and Place; or at leaft, if they will take fuch bold Liberties themselves, I defire that either thro' Contempt or Refpect, they would then wholly neglect,

Your humble Servant,

Lucy.

Mr.

Mr. SPECTATOR, Huntington, April 25. 1715. WE, your unhappy Supplicants, poor Betty and I,

have waited a long time at a Coffee houfe in Cambridge, where your Paper is conftantly taken in, and we have been as careful as poffible to manage its orderly Reading; but now, alas! I do not know through what unhappy Stars, and the management of my Miftrefs's Daughter, Clericilla, fhe is forc'd to retire, and we endeavouring to vindicate her's and our Mistress's Honour, are banish'd the Town, under dread of an unworthy Hole, the Spinning-Houfe; as for our young Mistress, she has fomewhat to comfort her in her Afflic tions, but for us, poor Wretches, to fuffer as Accomplices to I know not what, only for being faithful! I was afraid, indeed, that the late dreadful Eclipfe foretold no Good, and, alas! we find it too foon

Good

Mr. SPEC. if you have any common Charity in you, have fome pity on us; 'twould be too great a Prefumption in us, that you fhould move your Readers to vifit us under this Misfortune that hinders us from waiting on them; but I'm fure we have obliged them, and especially your Admirers and Correfpondents, as far as the natural Modefty of Cambridge, and our own Innocence would permit, fo that they cannot refuse our particular and extraordinary Teftimonials; if you could recommend us to an House elsewhere, that is credible, and has a good Trade, you'll merit the everlasting good Wishes of us both, and especially of your unhappy Handmaid,

Suky.

JUST ready for the Prefs, Obfervastion concerning the late Eclipfe, wherein the Notions of Copernicus, Mr. Whifton, Dr. Halley, and our own Profeffors, &c. are refuted, and their Objections against Aftrology in general, the Author, and Ptolomy in particular, are fully confounded, and the whole confirmed by moft ftupendous and never-heard of Predictions. By J. P. Shoemaker, and Aftrological Profeffor, Cambridge.

V. L. IX.

H

Friday,

N° 670. Friday May 6.

Is mihi demum vivere & frui animâ videtur, qui aliquo negotio intentus præclari facinoris aut artis bone Famam quærit.

Salluft.

HAVE ever conceived, and often declared great Indignation against that odd Set of Monsters, who go under the Denomination of Pofture-Mafters. There is fomething fo hideously frightful, offers it felf to my Imagination, upon viewing inhuman Objects, who play their deform'd Tricks upon the noblest Parts of Nature, and are ever toffing it topfy-turvy, to caufe a Laugh in the Poffeffors of it, as its Infamy and Difgrace, that I cannot help confidering of those leud Artificers, as the old Fiend's incarnate Engines, that are by him archly fet on to tempt Mankind, first to a Neglect, then to a Contempt, and at last to a downright Mockery of that heavenly Image, which they ought to be strictly and virtuously ambitious of bearing about them.

BUT Will. Layman, a genteel Fellow, one of that Tribe, who by much Travel and Study has learnt to turn this heinous kind of Practice into a very laudable Art, which will mightily conduce to the Honour and Emolument of the whole Species, hath at length reconciled me to approve of that fort of Pofture-making which is profeffed by him, as a kind of Corporeal Study, that is as necessary in these our Days for the Rectifying of the outward, as any Application to the noblest Science, or the most liberal Art whatsoever, can be for the elegant Compofure of the inward Man.

THIS dextrous Mortal hath, in my Prefence, with wonderful Agility, thrown his Limbs into all the various Forms that have ever been exercised by any notable and active Set of Men or Women, from time immemorial;

and