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"T. D."

"I am, Sir, your most humble Servant, "MR. SPECTATOR,

It

people take in company; the unseasonable fondness of some husbands, and the ill-timed tenderness of some wives. They talk and act as if modesty was only fit for maids and bachelors, and that too before both. I was once, Mr. Spectator, where the fault I speak of was so very flagrant, that (being, you must know, a very bashful fellow, and several young ladies in the room) I protest I was quite out of countenance. Lucina, it seems, was breeding; and she did nothing but entertain the company with a discourse upon the difficulty of reckoning to a day, and said she knew those who were certain to an hour; then fell a laughing at a silly, inexperienced creature, who was a month above her time. Upon her husband's coming in, she put several questions to him; which he not caring to resolve, Well,' cries Lucina, I shall have 'em all at night.'-But lest I should seem guilty of the very fault I write against, I shall only entreat Mr. Spectator to correct such misdemeanors.

destitute of necessaries? Who can behold an to us, and eclipse the glory of all other charity. honest soldier, that bravely withstood the enemy, It is the utmost reproach to society, that there prostrate and in want among his friends? It should be a poor man unrelieved, or a poor rogue were endless to mention all the variety of wretch- unpunished. I hope you will think no part of edness, and the numberless poor that not only human life out of your consideration, but will, at singly, but in companies, implore your charity. your leisure, give us the history of plenty and Spectacles of this nature everywhere occur; and want, and the natural gradations toward them, it is unaccountable that, among the many la- calculated for the cities of London and West mentable cries that infest this town, your comp-minster. troller-general should not take notice of the most shocking, viz: those of the needy and afflicted. I cannot but think he waved it merely out of good breeding, choosing rather to stifle his resentment "I beg you would be pleased to take notice of a than upbraid his countrymen with inhumanity: very great indecency, which is extremely common, however, let not charity be sacrificed to popu- though, I think, never yet under your censure. larity; and if his ears were deaf to their comis, Sir, the strange freedom some ill-bred married plaints, let not your eyes overlook their persons. There are, I know, many impostors among them. Lameness and blindness are certainly very often acted; but can those who have their sight and limbs employ them better than in knowing whether they are counterfeited or not? I know not which of the two misapplies his senses most, he who pretends himself blind, to move compassion, or he who beholds a miserable object without pitying it. But in order to remove such impediments, I wish, Mr. Spectator, you would give us a discourse upon beggars, that we may not pass by true objects of charity, or give to impostors. I looked out of my window the other morning earlier than ordinary, and saw a blind beggar, an hour before the pas sage he stands in is frequented, with a needle and a thread thriftily mending his stockings. My as tonishment was still greater, when I beheld a lame fellow, whose legs were too big to walk, within an hour after, bring him a pot of ale. I will not mention the shakings, distortions, and convulsions, which many of them practice to gain an alms; but sure I am they ought to be taken care of in this condition, either by the beadle or the magistrate. They, it seems, relieve their posts according to their talents. There is the voice of an old woman never begins to beg till nine in the evening; and then she is destitute of lodging, turned out for want of rent, and has the same ill fortune every night in the year. You should employ an officer to hear the distress of each beggar that is constant at a particular place, who is ever in the same tone, and succeeds because his audience is continually changing, though he does not alter his lamentation. If we have nothing else for our money, let us have more nvention to be cheated with. All which is nitted to your spectatorial vigilance; and "I am, Sir,

'SIR,

T.

For higher of the genial bed by far,
And with mysterious reverence, I deem.
"I am, Sir, your humble Servant,
"THOMAS MEANWELL."

No. 431.] TUESDAY, JULY 15, 1712. Quid dulcius hominum generi a natura datum est, quam sul cuique liberi?-TULL.

What is there in nature so dear to man as his own children? I HAVE lately been casting in my thoughts the several unhappinesses of life, and comparing the infelicities of old age to those of infancy. The sub-calamities of children are due to the negligence or misconduct of parents; those of age, to the past life which led to it. I have here the history of a boy and girl to their wedding day, and think I cannot give the reader a livelier image of the insipid way in which time uncultivated passes, than expressing all that was remarkable in their lives, by entertaing him with their authentic epistles, till the period of their life above-mentioned. The

"Your most humble Servant.'

reflection I shall at present make on those who are
negligent or cruel in the education of them.
MR. SPECTATOR,

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"I was last Sunday highly transported at our parish church; the gentleman in the pulpit pleaded movingly in behalf of the poor children, and they for themselves much more forcibly by singing a hymn; and I had the happiness to be a contribu-sentence at the head of this paper, which is only tor to this little religious institution of innocents, dear as a man's own children to him?" is all the a warm interrogation, "What is there in nature so and I am sure I never disposed of my money more to my satisfaction and advantage. The inward joy I find in myself, and the good will I bear to mankind, make me heartily wish these pious works may be encouraged, that the present pro- "I am now entering into my one-and-twentieth moters may reap the delight, and posterity the year, and do not know that I had one day's thorbenefit, of them. But while we are building this ough satisfaction since I came to years of any rebeautiful edifice, let not the old ruins remain in flection, till the time they say others lose their view to sully the prospect. While we are culti-liberty-the day of iny marriage. I am son to a vating and improving this young, hopeful off-gentleman of a very great estate, who resolved to spring, let not the ancient and helpless creatures keep me out of the vices of the age; and, in order be shamefully neglected. The crowds of poor, or to it, never let me see anything that he thought pretended poor, in every place, are a great reproach could give me the least pleasure. At ten years.

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old I was put to a grammar-school, where my board, took me home with him. I had not been master received orders every post to use me very long at home, but one Sunday at church (I shall severely, and have no regard to my having a great never forget it) I saw a young neighboring gen estate. At fifteen I was removed to the university, tleman that pleased me hugely; I liked him of where I lived, out of my father's great discretion, all men I ever saw in my life, and began to wish in scandalous poverty and want, till I was big I could be as pleasing to him. The very next enough to be married, and I was sent for to see day he came, with his father, a visiting to our the lady who sends you the underwritten. When house: we were left alone together, with direcwe were put together, we both considered that we tions on both sides to be in love with one another, could not be worse than we were in taking one and in three weeks' time we were married. I reanother, and out of a desire of liberty, entered gained my former health and complexion, and am into wedlock. My father says I am now a man, now as happy as the day is long. Now, Mr. and may speak to him like another gentleman. Spec., I desire you would find out some name for these craving damsels, whether dignified or distinguished under some or all of the following denominations: to wit, Trash-eaters, Oatmealchewers, Pipe-champers, Chalk lickers, Wax-nibblers, Coal-scranchers, Wall-peelers, or Graveldiggers; and, good Sir, do your utmost endeavor to prevent (by exposing) this unaccountable folly, so prevailing among the young ones of our sex, who may not meet with such sudden good luck, as, "Sir, your constant Reader,

"I am, Sir, your most humble Servant,

"MR. SPEC.,

"RICHARD RENTFREE."

"and very humble Servant,
"SABINA GREEN,
"NOW SABINA RENTFREE."

No. 432.] WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1712.
-Inter strepit anser olores.-VIRG. Ecl. ix. 36.
Ile gabbles like a goose amid the swan-like choir.-DRYDEN.
MR. SPECTATOR,
Oxford, July 14.

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"ACCORDING to a late invitation in one of your papers to every man who pleases to write, I have the vice of being prejudiced. sent you the following short dissertation against

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"Your most humble Servant."

"I grew tall and wild at my mother's, who is a gay widow, and did not care for showing me, till about two years and a half ago; at which time my guardian uncle sent me to a boarding-school, with orders to contradict me in nothing, for I had been misused enough already. I had not been there above a month, when, being in the kitchen, I saw some oatmeal on the dresser; I put two or three corns in my mouth, liked it, stole a handful, went into my chamber, chewed it, and for two months after never failed taking toll of every pennyworth of oatmeal that came into the house; but one day playing with a tobacco-pipe between my teeth, it happened to break in my mouth, and the spitting out the pieces left such a delicious roughness on my tongue that I could not be satisfied till I had champed up the remaining part of the pipe. I forsook the oatmeal, and stuck to the pipes three months, in which time I had dispensed with thirty-seven foul pipes, all to the bowls: they belonged to an old gentleman, father to my go erness. He locked up the clean ones. I left off eating of pipes, and fell to licking of chalk. I was soon tired of this. I then nibbled all the red Man is a sociable creature, and a lover of glory; wax off our last ball-tickets, and, three weeks after, whence it is, that when several persons are united the black wax from the burying tickets of the old in the same society, they are studious to lessen gentleman. Two months after this I lived upon the reputation of others, in order to raise their thunderbolts, a certain long, round, bluish stone own. The wise are content to guide the springs which I found among the gravel in our garden. Iin silence, and rejoice in secret at their regular was wonderfully delighted with this; but thun-progress. To prate and triumph is the part allotderbolts growing scarce, I fastened tooth and ted to the trifling and superficial. The geese nail upon our garden wall, which I stuck to were providentially ordained to save the Capitol. almost a twelvemonth, and had, in that time, Hence it is, that the invention of marks and depeeled and devoured half a foot toward our neigh-vices to distinguish parties is owing to the beaux bor's yard. I now thought myself the happiest creature in the world: and I believe, in my conscience, I had eaten quite through, had I had it in my chamber; but now I became lazy and unwilling to stir, and was obliged to seek food nearer home. I then took a strange hankering to coals; I fell to scranching them, and had already consumed, I am certain, as much as would have dressed my wedding dinner, when my uncle came for me home. He was in the parlor with my gov. erness, when I was called down. I went in, fell on my knees, for he made me call him father, and when I expected the blessing I asked, the good gentleman, in a surprise, turns himself to my governess, and asks whether this (pointing to me) was his daughter? This,' added he, is the very picture of death. My child was a plumpfaced, hale, fresh-colored girl; but this looks as if she were half-starved, a mere skeleton.' My governess, who is really a good woman, assured my father I had wanted for nothing; and withal told him I was continually eating some trash or other, and that I was almost eaten up with the green-sickness, her orders being never to cross ime. But this magnified but little with my father, who presently, in a kind of pet, paying for my

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and belles of this island. Hats, moulded into different cocks and pinches, have long bid mutual defiance; patches have been set against patches in battle array; stocks have risen or fallen in proportion to head-dresses; and peace or war been expected, as the white or the red hood hath prevailed. These are the standard-bearers in our contending armies, the dwarfs and squires who carry the impresses of the giants or knights, not born to fight themselves, but to prepare the way for the ensuing combat.

"It is a matter of wonder to reflect how far men of weak understanding and strong fancy are hurried by their prejudices, even to the believ ing that the whole body of the adverse party are a band of villains and demons. Foreigners complain that the English are the proudest nation under heaven. Perhaps they too have their share; but be that as it will, general charges against bodies of men is the fault I am writing against. It must be owned, to our shame, that our common people, and most who have not trav 'eled, have an irrational contempt for the language, dress, customs, and even the shape and minds of other nations. Some men, otherwise of sense, have wondered that a great genius should spring

out of Ireland; and think you mad in affirming has not spoke one word good or bad to me, or any that fine odes have been written in Lapland.

This spirit of rivalship, which heretofore reigned in the two universities, is extinct, and almost over betwixt college and college. In parishes and schools, the thirst of glory still obtains. At the seasons of football and cock-fighting, these little republicans reassume their national hatred to each other. My tenant in the country is verily persuaded, that the parish of the enemy hath not

one honest man in it.

body in the family, since Friday was seven-night. What must a man do in that case? Your advice would be a great obligation to, Sir, your most humble Servant, RALPH THIMBLETON "

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July 15, 1712. "When you want a trifle to fill up a paper, in inserting this you will lay an obligation on your humble Servant,

"I always hated satires against woman, and satires against man: I am apt to suspect a stran-"DEAR OLIVIA, ger who laughs at the religion of the faculty; my spleen rises at a dull rogue, who is severe upon mayors and aldermen; and was never better pleased than with a piece of justice executed upon the body of a Templar, who was very arch upon parsons. "The necessities of mankind require various employments; and whoever excels in his province is worthy of praise. All men are not educated after the same manner, nor have all the same talents. Those who are deficient deserve our compassion, and have a title to our assistance. All cannot be bred in the same place; but in all places there arise, at different times, such persons as do honor to their society, which may raise envy in little souls, but are admired and cherished by generous spirits.

Their

"It is certainly a great happiness to be educated in societies of great and eminent men. instructions and examples are of extraordinary advantage. It is highly proper to instil such a reverence of the governing persons, and concern for the honor of the place, as may spur the growing members to worthy pursuits and honest emulation; but to swell young minds with vain thoughts of the dignity of their own brotherhood, by debaseing and vilifying all others, doth them a real injury. By this means I have found that their efforts have become languid, and their prattle irksome, as thinking it sufficient praise that they are children of so illustrious and ample a family. I should think it a surer as well as more generous method, to set before the eyes of youth such persons as have made a noble progress in fraternities less talked of; which seems tacitly to reproach their sloth, who loll so heavily in the seats of mighty improvement. Active spirits hereby would enlarge their notions; whereas, by a servile imitation of one, or perhaps two, admired men, in their own body, they can only gain a secondary and derivative kind of fame. These copiers of men, like those of authors or painters, run into affectations of some oddness, which perhaps was not disagreeable in the original, but sits ungracefully on the narrowsouled transcriber.

"By such early corrections of vanity, while boys are growing into men, they will gradually learn: not to censure superficially; but imbibe those principles of general kindness and humanity which alone can make them easy to themselves, and beloved by others.

"Reflections of this nature have expunged all prejudices out of my heart; insomuch, that though am a firm Protestant, I hope to see the pope and cardinals without violent emotions; and though I am naturally grave, I expect to meet good company at Paris.

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"OLIVIA."

"It is but this moment I have had the happi-. ness of knowing to whom I am obliged for the present I received the second of April. I am heartily sorry it did not come to hand the day before; for I can not but think it very hard upon people to lose their jest,that offer at one but once a year. I congratulate myself however upon the earnest given me of something further intended in my favor; for I am told, that the man who is thought worthy by a lady to make a fool of, stands fair enough in her opinion to become one day her husband. Till such time as I have the honor of being sworn, I take leave to subscribe myself, dear Olivia, your fool elect, "NICODEMUNCIO."

T.

No. 433.] THURSDAY, JULY 17, 1712.
Perlege Mæonio cantatas carmine ranas,
Et frontem nugis solvere disce meis.
MART. Epig. xiv. 183.
To banish anxious thought, and quiet pain,
Read Homer's frogs, or my more trifling strain.

THE moral world, as consisting of males and females, is of a mixed nature, and filled with sev eral customs, fashions, and ceremonies, which would have no place in it were there but one sex. Had our species no females in it, men would be quite different creatures from what they are at present; their endeavors to please the oppositə sex polishes and refines them out of those manners which are most natural to them, and often sets them upon modeling themselves, not according to the plans which they approve in their own opinions, but according to those plans which they think are most agreeable to the female world. In a word, man would not only be an unhappy, but a rude unfinished creature, were he conversant with none but those of his own make.

Women, on the other side, are apt to form themselves in everything with regard to that other half of reasonable creatures with whom they are blended and confused; their thoughts are ever turned upon appearing amiable to the other sex; they talk, and move, and smile, with a design upon us; every feature of their faces, every part of their dress, is filled with snares and allurements. There would be no such animals as prudes or coquettes in the world, were there not such an animal as man. In short, it is the male that gives charms to woman. kind, that produces an air in their faces, a grace in their motions, a softness in their voices, and a delicacy in their complexions.

As this mutual regard between the two sexes tends to the improvement of each of them, we may observe that men are apt to degenerate into rough and brutal natures, who live as if there were no such things as women in the world; as, on the contrary, women who have an indifference or aversion for their counterparts in human nature, are generally sour and unamiable, sluttish and censorious. I am led into this train of thoughts by a little manuscript which is lately fallen into my hands,

and which I shall communicate to the reader, as I have done some other curious pieces of the same nature, without troubling him with any inquiries about the author of it. It contains a summary account of two different states which bordered upon one another. The one was a commonwealth of Amazons, or women without men; the other was a republic of males, that had not a woman in their whole community. As these two states bordered upon one another, it was their way, it seems, to meet upon their frontiers at a certain season of the year, where those among the men who had not made their choice in any former meeting associated themselves with particular women, whom they were afterward obliged to look upon as their wives in every one of these yearly rencounters. The children that sprung from this alliance, if males, were sent to their respective fathers; if females, continued with their mothers. By means of this anniver sary carnival, which lasted about a week, the commonwealths were recruited from time to time, and supplied with their respective subjects,

These two states were engaged together in a perpetual league, offensive and defensive; so that if any foreign potentate offered to attack either of them, both the sexes fell upon him at once, and quickly brought him to reason. It was remark able that for many ages this agreement continued inviolable between the two states, notwithstanding, as was said before, they were husbands and wives; but this will not appear so wonderful, if we consider that they did not live together above a week in a year.

In the account which my author gives of the male republic, there were several customs very remarkable. The men never shaved their beards, or pared their nails, above once in a twelvemonth, which was probably about the time of the great annual meeting upon their frontiers. I find the name of a minister of state in one part of their history, who was fined for appearing too frequently in clean linen; and of a certain great general, who was turned out of his post for effeminacy, it having been proved upon him by several credible witnesses that he washed his face every morning. If any member of the commonwealth had a soft voice, a smooth face, or a supple behavior, he was banish ed into the commonwealth of females, where he was treated as a slave, dressed in petticoats, and set a spinning. They had no titles of honor among them, but such as denoted some bodily strength or perfection, as such a one "the tall," such a one "the stocky," such a one "the gruff." Their public debates were generally managed with kicks and cuffs, insomuch that they often came from the council-table with broken shins, black eyes, and bloody noses. When they would reproach a man in the most bitter terms, they would tell him his teeth were white, or that he had a fair skin and a soft hand. The greatest man I meet with in their history was one who could lift five hundred weight, and wore such a prodigious pair of whiskers as had never been seen in the commonwealth before his time. These accomplishments, it seems, had rendered him so popular, that if he had not died very seasonably, it is thought he might have enslaved the republic. Having made this short extract out of the history of the male commonwealth, I shall look into the history of the neighboring state, which consisted of females; and, if I find anything in it, will not fail to communicate it to the public.-C.

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HAVING carefully perused the manuscript I mentioned in my yesterday's paper, so far as it relates to the republic of women, I find in it several particulars which may very well deserve the reader's attention.

The girls of quality, from six to twelve years old, were put to public schools, where they learned to box and play at cudgels, with several other ac complishments of the same nature; so that no❤ thing was more usual than to see a little miss returning home at night with a broken pate, or two or three teeth knocked out of her head. They were afterward taught to ride the great horse, to shoot, dart, or sling, and listed into sev eral companies in order to perfect themselves in military exercises. No woman was to be married till she had killed her man. The ladies of fashion used to play with young lions instead of lap-dogs: and when they made any parties of diversion, instead of entertaining themselves at ombre or piquet, they would wrestle and pitch the bar for a whole afternoon together. There was never any such thing as a blush seen, or a sigh heard, in the commonwealth. The women never dressed but to look terrible; to which end they would sometimes, after a battle, paint their cheeks with the blood of their enemies. For this reason, likewise, the face which had the most scars was looked upon as the most beautiful. If they found lace, jewels, ribbons, or any ornaments in silver or gold, among the booty which they had taken, they used to dress their horses with it, but never entertained a thought of wearing it themselves. There were particular rights and privileges allowed to any member of the commonwealth who was a mother of three daughters. The senate was made up of old women; for by the laws of the country, none was to be a counselor of state that was not past child-bearing. They used to boast that their republic had continued four thousand years, which is altogether improbable, unless we may suppose, what I am very apt to think, that they measured their time by lunar years.

There was a great revolution brought about in this female republic by means of a neighboring king, who had made war upon them several years with various success, and at length overthrew them in a very great battle. This defeat they ascribe to several causes: some say that the secretary of state, having been troubled with the va pors, had committed some fatal mistakes in several dispatches about that time. Others pretend that the first minister being big with child, could not attend the public affairs, as so great an exigency of state required; but this I can give no manner of credit to, since it seems to contradict a fundamental maxim in their government which I have before mentioned. My author gives the most probable reason of this great disaster; for he affirms that the general was brought to bed, or (as others say) miscarried the very night before the

battle: however it was, this signal overthrow obliged them to call in the male republic to their assistance; but notwithstanding their common efforts to repulse the victorious enemy, the war continued for many years before they could entirely bring it to a happy conclusion.

The campaigns which both sexes passed together made them so well acquainted with one another, that at the end of the war they did not care for parting. In the beginning of it, they lodged in separate camps, but afterward, as they grew more familiar, they pitched their tents promiscuously.

From this time, the armies being checkered with both sexes, they polished apace. The men used to invite their fellow-soldiers into their quarters, and would dress their tents with flowers and Doughs for their reception. If they chanced to like one more than another, they would be cutting her name in the table, or chalking out her figure upon the wall, or talking of her in a kind of rapturous language, which by degrees improved into verse and sonnet. These were as the first rudiments of architecture, painting, and poetry, among this savage people. After any advantage over the enemy, both sexes used to jump together, and make a clattering with their swords and shields, for joy, which in a few years produced several regular tunes and set dances.

As the two armies romped on these occasions, the women complained of the thick, bushy beards and long nails of their confederates, who thereupon took care to prune themselves into such figures as were most pleasing to their female friends and allies.

When they had taken any spoils from the enemy, the men would make a present of everything that was rich and showy to the women whom they most admired, and would frequently dress the necks, or heads, or arms of their mistresses, with anything which they thought appeared gay or pretty. The women, observing that the men took delight in looking upon them when they were adorned with such trappings and gewgaws, set their heads at work to find out new inventions, and to outshine one another in all councils of war, or the like solemn meetings. On the other hand, the men, observing how the women's hearts were set upon finery, began to embellish themselves, and look as agreeably as they could in the eyes of their associates. In short, after a few years' conversing together, the women had learned to smile, and the men to ogle; the women grew soft, and the men lively.

When they had thus insensibly formed one another, upon the finishing of the war, which concluded with an entire conquest of their common enemy, the colonels in one army married the colonels in the other; the captains in the same manner took the captains to their wives: the whole body of common soldiers were matched after the example of their leaders. By this means the two republics incorporated with one another, and became the most flourishing and polite government in the part of the world which they inhabited.-C.

No. 435.] SATURDAY, JULY 19, 1712. Nec duo sunt, et forma duplex, nec foemina dici, Nec puer, ut possint: neutrumque et utrumque videntur. OVID, Met. iv. 378.

Both bodies in a single body mix, A single body with a double sex.-ADDISON. MOST of the papers I give the public are written on subjects that never vary, but are forever fixed

and immutable. Of this kind are all ny more serious essays and discourses; but there is another sort of speculations, which I consider as occasional papers, that take their rise from the folly, extravagance, and caprice of the present age. For I look upon myself as one set to watch the manners and behavior of my countrymen and cotemporaries, and to mark down every absurd fashion, ridiculous custom, or affected form of speech, that makes its appearance in the world during the course of these my speculations. The petticoat no sooner began to swell, but I observed its motions. The party-patches had not time to muster themselves before I detected them. I had intelligence of the colored hood the very first time it appeared in a public assembly. I might here mention several other the like contingent subjects, upon which I have bestowed distinct papers. By this means I have so effectually quashed those irregularities which gave occasion to them, that I am afraid posterity will scarce have a suffi cient idea of them to relish those discourses, which were in no little vogue at the time when they were written. They will be apt to think that the fashions and customs I attacked were some fantastic conceits of my own, and that their great-grandmothers could not be so whimsical as I have represented them. For this reason, when I think on the figure my several volumes of speculations will make about a hundred years hence, I consider them as so many pieces of old plate, where the weight will be regarded, but the fashion lost.

Among the several female extravagances I have already taken notice of, there is one which still keeps its ground. I mean that of the ladies who dress themselves in a hat and feather, a ridingcoat and a periwig, or at least tie up their hair in a bag or ribbon, in imitation of the smart part of the opposite sex. As in my yesterday's paper I gave an account of the mixture of two sexes, in one commonwealth, I shall here take notice of this mixture of two sexes in one person. I have already shown my dislike of this immodest custom more than once; but, in contempt of everything I have hitherto said, I am informed that the highways about this great city are still very much infested with these female cavaliers.

I remember when I was at my friend Sir Roger de Coverley's about this time twelvemonth, an equestrian lady of this order appeared upon the plains which lay at a distance from his house. I was at that time walking in the fields with my old friend; and as his tenants ran out on every side to see so strange a sight, Sir Roger asked one of them, who came by us, what it was? To which the country fellow replied, ""Tis a gentlewoman, saving your worship's presence, in a coat and hat." This produced a great deal of mirth at the knight's house, where we had a story at the same time of another of his tenants, who meeting this gentlemanlike lady on the highway, was asked by her whether that was Coverley-hall? The honest man seeing only the male part of the querist, replied, "Yes, Sir;" but upon the second question, whether Sir Roger de Coverley was a married man? having dropped his eye upon the petticoat, he changed his note into "No, Madam."

Had one of these hermaphrodites appeared in Juvenal's days, with what an indignation should we have seen her described by that excellent satirist! He would have represented her in her riding-habit as a greater monster than the centaur. He would have called for sacrifices or purifying waters, to expatiate the appearance of such a prodigy. He would have invoked the shades of Portia or Lucretia, to see into what the Roman ladies had transformed themselves.

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