The King of Jerufalem is obliged to come from the city on foot, instead of being drawn in a triumphant chariot by white horfes, as my operabook had promifed me; and thus, while I expect⚫ed Armida's dragons fhould ruth forward towards Argantes, I found the hero was obliged to go to Armida, and hand her out of her coach. We had alfo but a very short allowance of thunder and lightning; though I cannot in this place omit doing juftice to the boy who had the direction of the two painted dragons, and made them fpit fire and smoke: He flashed out his roûn in fuch juft proportions and in fuch due time, that I could not forbear conceiving hopes of his being one day a moft excellent player. I faw indeed but two things wanting to render his whole action complete, I mean the keeping his head a little lower, and hiding his candle.

• I obferve that Mr. Powell and the undertakers ⚫ had both the fame thought, and I think much a•bout the fame time of introducing animals on their feveral ftages, though indeed with very dif⚫ferent fuccefs. The fparrows and chaffinches at the Hay-market fly as yet very irregularly over the ftage; and, inftead of perching on the trees, and performing their parts, thefe young actors either get into the galleries, or put out the can'dles; whereas Mr. Powell has fo well difciplined ⚫ his pig, that in the first scene he and Punch dance ⚫a minuet together. I am informed, however, that • Mr. Powell refolves to excel his adverfaries in their own way; and introduce larks in his next opera of Sufanna, or Innocence betrayed, which will be exhibited next week with a pair of new elders.

The moral of Mr. Powell's drama is violated, I confefs, by Punch's national reflections on the French, and King Harry's laying his leg upon the Queen's lap in too ludicrous a manner before fo great an affembly.

F 2

• As

As to the mechanifm and scenery, every thing ⚫ indeed was uniform and of a piece, and the scenes were managed very dexterously; which calls on me to take notice, that at the Hay-market the un'dertakers forgetting to change their fide-fcenes, we were prefented with a profpect of the ocean in the midft of a delightful grove; and though the gentlemen on the ftage had very much contributed to the beauty of the grove, by walking up and down between the trees, I muft own I was not a little aftonished to fee a well-dreffed young fellow, in a full-bottomed wig, appear in the midst of the fea, and, without any visible concern, taking fnuff.

6

'I fhall only obferve one thing farther, in which both dramas agree; which is, that by the fqueak of their voices the heroes of each are eunuchs; and, as the wit in both pieces is equal, I must pre'fer the performance of Mr. Powell, because it is in our own language.

'I am, &c.'

R

No 15. SATURDAY, MARCH 17.

Parva leves capiunt animos.

OVID. Ars Am. 1. i. ver. 159.

Light minds are pleas'd with trifles.

WE

HEN I was in France, I ufed to gaze with great aftonishment at the fplendid equipages, and party-coloured habits, of that fantaftic nation. I was one day in particular contemplaring a Lady; that fat in a coach adorned with gilded Cupids, and finely painted with the loves of Venus and Adonis. The coach was drawn by fix milk-white horses, and loaden behind with the fame number of powdered footmen. Juft before the Lady were a couple of

beautiful

beautiful pages, that were stuck among the harness, and, by their gay dreffes and fmiling features, looked like the elder brothers of the little boys that were carved and painted in every corner of the coach.

The Lady was the unfortunate Cleanthe, who afterwards gave an occafion to a pretty melancholy novel. She had, for feveral years, received the addreffes of a gentleman, whom, after a long and intimate acquaintance, the forfook, upon the account of this shining equipage, which had been offered to her by one of great riches but a crazy conftitution. The circumstances in which I faw her, were, it feems, the difguifes only of a broken heart, and a kind of pageantry to cover diftrefs; for in two months after the was carried to her grave with the fame pomp and magnificence; being fent thither partly by the lofs of one lover, and partly by the poffeffion of another.

I have often reflected with myself on this unaccountable humour in womankind, of being fmitten with every thing that is fhowy and fuperficial; and on the numberless evils that befal the fex, from this light fantaftical difpofition. I myself remember a young Lady, that was very warmly folicited by a couple of importunate rivals, who, for feveral months together, did all they could to recommend themselves, by complacency of behaviour and agreeableness of converfation. At length, when the competition was doubtful, and the Lady undetermined in her choice, one of the young lovers very luckily bethought himself of adding a fupernumerary lace to his liveries, which had so good an effect, that he married her the very week after.

The ufual converfation of ordinary women very much cherishes this natural weakness of being taken with outside and appearance. Talk of a newmarried couple, and you immediately hear whether they keep their coach and fix, or eat in plate.

F 3

Mention

Mention the name of an abfent Lady, and it is ten to one but you learn fomething of her gown and petticoat. A ball is a great help to difcourfe, and a birth-day furnishes converfation for a twelvemonth after. A furbelow of precious ftones, an hat buttoned with a diamond, a brocade waistcoat or petticoat, are standing topics. In fhort, they confider only the drapery of the fpecies, and never caft away a thought on thofe ornaments of the mind that make perfons illuftrious in themselves, and ufeful to others. When women are thus perpetually dazzling one another's imaginations, and filling their heads with nothing but colours, it is no wonder that they are more attentive to the fuperficial parts of life, than the folid and fubftantial bleffings of it. A girl who has been trained up in this kind of converfation, is in danger of every embroidered coat that comes in her way. A pair of fringed gloves may be her ruin. In a word, lace and ribbands, filver and gold galloons, with the like glittering gewgaws, are fo many lures to women of weak minds or low educations; and, when artificially difplayed, are able to fetch down the moft airy coquette from the wildeft of her flights and rambles.

True happiness is of a retired nature, and an enemy to pomp and noife; it arifes, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's felf; and, in the next, from the friendship and converfation of a few felcct companions: It loves fhade and folitude, and naturally haunts groves and fountains, fields and meadows: In fhort, it feels every thing it wants within itself, and receives no addition from multitudes of witneffes and fpectators. On the contrary, falfe happiness loves to be in a crowd, and to draw the eyes of the world upon her. She does not receive any fatisfaction from the applaufes which the gives herfelf, but from the admiration which the raifes in others. She flourishes in courts

and

and palaces, theatres, and affemblies, and has no existence, but when she is looked upon.

Aurelia, though a woman of great quality, delights in the privacy of a country life, and paffes away a great part of her time in her own walks and gardens. Her hufband, who is her bofom friend and companion in her folitudes, has been in love with her ever fince he knew her. They both abound with good fenfe, confummate virtue, and a mutual ́efteem; and are a perpetual entertainment to one another. Their family is under fo regular an oeconomy, in its hours of devotion and repast, employment and diverfion, that it looks like a little commonwealth within itself. They often go into company, that they may return with the greater delight to one another; and fometimes live in town not to enjoy it fo properly as to grow weary of it, that they may renew in themfelves the relish of a country life. By this means they are happy in each other, beloved by their children, adored by their fervants, and are become the envy, or rather the delight of all that know them.

How different to this is the life of Fulvia! She confiders her husband as her steward, and looks upon discretion and good housewifery as little domestic virtues, unbecoming a woman of quality. She thinks life loft in her own family, and fancies herself out of the world, when he is not in the ring, the play-houfe, or the drawingroom: She lives in a perpetual motion of body, and reftleffhefs of thought, and is never eafy in any one place, when fhe thinks there is more company in another. The miffing of an opera the first night, would be more afflicting to her than the death of a child. She pities all the valuable part of her own sex, and calls every woman of a prudent, modeft, and retired life, a poor-fpirited unpolished creature. What a mortification would it be to Fulvia, if fhe knew that her setting herself to view is but expofing

herself,