Reason why; till at laft fhe explain'd the Myftery to him, and told him in plain Terms, That he began his Addreffes on Childermafs-Day. She told her Sifter a thoufand times afterwards, fhe liked the Man, and wish'd his firft Letter had been dated on Valentine's Day, and she would willingly have marry'd him. From hence the Infection and Contagion spread, and her Sifter came to be poffeffed with the fame idle Freaks and Whimfies. A fly, crafty, handfom and forward Irish Spark, being well appris'd of this, watch'd his Hour, courted the youngest Sifter, whom he lov'd for her Money, effectually, and was married to her: The Confequence of this was, that they liv'd very wretchedly together, and parted foon after. Upon this Footing the other Gentleman, on the Childermafs Day following, renews his Addreffes with Vigour, infomuch that it is generally believed it will be now a Match; but if fhe has him, 'tis out of a Superftition, by the Rule of Contraries, that fince her Sifter was unlucky, by grounding her Marriage on a profperous Day, her own Marriage will be profperous, by being first founded on an unlucky one.

HOWEVER, for once, to keep the Ladies in coun tenance for what they may have committed in this kind, because I hope their Amendment for the future; I must needs own, that many Great Princes, Wife Statefmen, Galant Heroes, and very Ingenious Men of all Degrees, have been guilty of the fame Weakness, and bow'd in Thought, as the Indians do to the Devil, out of Fear, to thefe falfe Images of Fancy. I have heard that a poor, but witty English Poet, ufed often to go the laft Day of the Month dinnerlefs to bed, to referve one Splendid Shilling in his Pocket, against the peeping out of a New Moon, that he might not be Pennylefs all the enfuing Month, but have wherewithal to give his grumbling Stomach ample Satisfaction. Time corrected his Error, and he often got very well by miffing his Superftition, as he often loft by using it.

MAKING this the Subject of my Discourse the other Night, I was promised by a young Lady, in Love with a Merchant, to be fhewn on next Midfummer-Night, at Twelve o' Clock, how Ships can fail over the White of an Egg in a Wine-Glass, and other Miracles of the fame kind. ANOTHER

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ANOTHER has given her Word, that any Night of the Week, fhe will make me turn a very Tatler upon the Dumb-Cake, if I will be true to observe my usual Taciturnity during the Midnight Solemnity; join in the kneading of the Pafte, and feveral other Ceremonies, and permit it to lie under my Pillow till Morning; fhe affures me I fhall make very useful and pleasant Discoveries in my Sleep, and that I can't fail of feeing ftrange Things upon putting my Eyes, and fituating my Head upon the Cake in this manner when I go to bed.

IN the fame Company, laft Evening, I must remark, that, by the means of a Twelfth-Cake, brought into our Company by a Spark of an entertaining and ludicrous Temper, a Coquette was metamorphofed into a King, and an old Humourist and a Batchelor into a Queen; I, my own felf, that am as honeft a Fellow as any in England, and that have never been at Court, into a Knave; and a tidy Houfe-Wife, that has exceeded all my Devices in Needle-work into a Slut. These strange Occurrences may, for ought I know, produce wonderful Speculations in time to come; which I fhall not fail to communicate as they occur.

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N° 638.

Monday, January 10.

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O Dea certè!

Virg.

HAVE declared it my Intent, upon the Entrance on this last Volume, to dedicate it intirely to the Service and Edification of my Fair Readers; and for this end, I have here fet down the Character of an accomplish'd Lady, and, that it may make a deeper and more agreeable Impreffion upon them, I must let them know, that the Doctrines which 1 advance, flow'd from the Mouth of an Emprefs; and are delivered by a valuable old Author, in the following Words.

, THEOPHILUS,

THEOPHILUS, Emperor of Conftantinople, being upon the Point of difpofing of himself in Marriage; the Emprefs, his Mother, named Euphrofina, paffio'nately defiring the Happiness and Contentment of her Son in an Affair of fo great Importance, difpatched her Ambaffadors thro' all the Provinces of the Empire, to draw together the moft accomplished Maidens that could be found in the Circuit of his Kingdom. And truly, for that purpose, fhe fhut up within the Walls of Conftantinople, the rarest Beauties of the ⚫ whole World; affembling a great Number of Virgins • into a Chamber of his Palace, called, for Curiosity, • THE PEARL. The Day being come, whereon ⚫ the Emperor was to make choice of her to whom he ⚫ would give his Heart, with the Crown of the Empire, the Emprefs, his Mother, fpake to him in thefe

• Terms;

MY LORD and SON, needs must I confefs, that fince the Day Nature bound me fo ftraitly to your Perfon, next after God, I neither have Love, Fear, Care, Hope, nor Contentment, but for you. The Day yields up all my Thoughts to you, and the Night, which feems made to arreft the Agitations of our Spirits, razes not the Remembrance of you from my Heart: I acknowledge my felf doubly obliged, to procure, with all my Endeavours, what concerns your Good, both, because I am your Mother, and also, that I fee you charged with an Empire, which is no • small Burden to them, who have the Discretion to understand what they undertake.

"IT feems to me, fince the Death of the Emperor your Father, My most honoured Lord, I have fo many Times newly been delivered of you, as I have seen thorny Affairs in the Management of your State, and at this Time, when I behold you upon Terms to take a Wife, and when I know, by Experience, to meet with one, who is accomplished with all Perfections neceffary for your State, is no lefs rare than the Acquifition of a large Empire the Care which I have • used in all Concerns for your Glory and Contentment, ⚫ is therefore now more fenfible with me, than at any other Time heretofore.

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* IT

IT is true, O most dear Son, that the praife-worthy • Inclinations, which I have observed in your Majefty, give me as much Hope, as may reasonably be conceiv'd in the Course of Human Things: Yet, notwithstanding, the Accidents we fee to happen fo contrary to their Proceedings, do alfo entertain my Mind ⚫ with fome Uncertainty.

THAT you may take fome Refolution upon this • Matter'; Behold in the PEARL of Conftantinople, I have made choice of the most exquifite Maidens of your Empire; and to the End your Majesty may elect her whom you fhall judge moft worthy of your Affections, I befeech God, who is the Author of Marriage, to direct your Spirit in this Choice, and dispose it to that, which fhall be to his greater Glory, wherein you fhall ever find Contentment.

WHEN fhe had fpoken this, fhe drew out of a Box a Golden Apple, enamelled with Precious Stones, which fhe had purposely caufed to be made, that it might be prefented to her, who fhould be chofen out for the Bed of her Son; and putting it into the Emperor's Hand,

BEHOLD (faith fhe) the Golden Apple which I leave to your Difcretion, to give to the most abso• lute. You have the Commiffion of Paris in your Hands, but you fhall do well to difpofe of it more difcreetly than he.

THE Emperor, after he had moft affectionately given Thanks to his Mother, for fo many excellent • Proofs of her Affection, asked of her, by what Note might one know a Wife truly Virtuous and Accomplished, as fhe wish'd?

· EUPHROSINA reply'd, That it was no flight • Demand he made to her; but that fhe would answer ⚫ it with the greatest Sincerity, and in the beft manner • fhe could.

THEN after reprefenting in their proper Colours, three forts of Men, who load the Sex with Crimes that they do not deserve, fhe her own felf addreffed herself to the Virgins that stood by, in this Manner; Ye Maidens (faith fhe) advise in good Time to lay hold on the tenthRank, for nine of ten, that I shall name, are neither Pleafing

Pleafing nor Laudable. The nine Vices are too long to be expreffed here; and the tenth Order, which I hope moft of the British Ladies defire to be ranked in, is what I fhall at present obferve upon.

THE Gentlewomen that flood round about the Emprefs, expreffed much Earneftnefs to know, in few Words, the excellent Qualities of a Woman_truly Virtuous; and Euphrofina, not to frustrate their Defire, proceeded in these Terms;

A Lady well accomplished, is like a Star with five Rays, which are the five Virtues of Devotion, Modefty, Chastity, Difcretion, and Charity. Devotion formeth the Interior; Modefty makes it appear in the • Exterior, with a requifite Comeliness; Chastity crowns ⚫ all her Actions.' At laft, the Beauteous Theodora was found to be the bright Poffeffor of all thefe good Qualities; and after an illuftrious Celebration of the Nuptials, was most pompously attended to the Royal Bed, to give Theophilus a Taste of Happiness, which no other Emperor, without fuch a Partner as her felf, could poffibly enjoy.

TO make the whole Train of Fair British Nobility Theodoras, I think there is nothing more requifite, than to recommend to them the frequent Perufal of a Book, properly and juftly intitled, The Ladies Library; which is prefented to them by a Gentleman of incomparable Talents; whofe Name alone would recommend the Book as much to our Reading, as the Reading of it would have recommended any Body elfe, that stood in need of Fame, to our Approbation, if any one else but himself, had beftowed it upon the Publick; and that Glory and Ornament of her Sex, who is well wedded to fuch an Author, and to whom it is by him dedicated, is a living Example, for all of them to copy every Rule by, that is laid down in the whole Work.

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