When I was in the Theatre the time above-mentioned, No. 81 I had the Curiosity to count the Patches on both Sides, Saturday, and found the Tory patches to be about twenty Stronger June 2, 1711 than the Whig; but to make amends for this small Inequality, I the next Morning found the whole Puppetshow filled with Faces spotted after the Whiggish manner. Whether or no the Ladies had retreated hither in order to rally their Forces I cannot tell; but the next Night they came in so great a Body to the Opera, that they out numbered the Enemy, This Account of Party-Patches will, I am afraid, appear improbable to those who live at a distance from the fashionable World; but as it is a Distinction of a very singular Nature, and what perhaps may never meet with a Parallel, I think I should not have discharged the Office of a faithful Spectator had I not recorded it. I have, in former Papers, endeavoured to expose this Party Rage in Women, as it only serves to aggravate the Hatreds and Animosities that reign among Men, and in a great measure deprives the Fair Sex of those peculiar Charms with which Nature has endowed them. When the Romans and Sabines were at War, and just upon the point of giving Battle, the Women, who were allied to both of them, interposed with so many Tears and Intreaties, that they prevented the mutual Slaughter which threatned both Parties, and united them together in a firm and lasting Peace, I would recommend this noble Example to our British Ladies, at a time when their Country is torn with so many unnatural Divisions, that if they continue, it will be a Misfortune to be born in it. The Greeks thought it so improper for Women to interest themselves in Competi tions and Contentions, that for this Reason, among others, they forbad them, under Pain of Death, to be present at the Olympick Games, notwithstanding these were the publick Diversions of all Greece. As our English Women excel those of all Nations in Beauty, they should endeavour to outshine them in all other Accomplishments proper to the Sex, and to distin guish themselves as tender Mothers and faithful Wives, rather than as furious Partizans. Female Virtues are of a Domestick No. 81. 1711. Domestick turn. The Family is the proper Province Saturday, for Private Women to Shine in. If they must be June 2, showing their Zeal for the Publick, let it not be against those who are perhaps of the same Family, or at least of the same Religion or Nation, but against those who are the open, professed, undoubted Enemies of their Faith, Liberty, and Country, When the Romans were pressed with a Foreign Enemy, the Ladies voluntarily contributed all their Rings and Jewels to assist the Government under a publick Exigence; which appeared so laudable an Action in the Eyes of their Countrymen, that from thenceforth it was permitted by a Law to pronounce publick Orations at the Funeral of a Woman in Praise of the deceased Person, which till that time was peculiar to Men. Would our English Ladies, instead of sticking on a Patch against those of their own Country, shew themselves so truly Publick-spirited as to Sacrifice every one her Necklace against the Common Enemy, what Decrees ought not to be made in favour of them? Since I am recollecting upon this Subject such Passages as occur to my Memory out of ancient Authors, I cannot omít a Sentence in the Celebrated Funeral Oration of Pericles, which he made in Honour of those Brave Athenians that were Slain in a Fight with the Lacede monians. After having addressed himself to the several Ranks and Orders of his Countrymen, and shewn them how they should behave themselves in the Publick Cause, he turns to the Female part of his Audience; And as for you (says he) I shall advise you in very few Words! Aspire only to those Virtues that are peculiar to your Sex; follow your natural Modesty, and think it your greatest Commendation not to be talked of one way or other.' No. 82, PASSI Monday, June 4, C -Caput domina venale sub hasta.—Juv. ASSING under Ludgate the other Day I heard a Voice bawling for Charity, which I thought I had some where heard before. Coming near to the Grate, the Prisoner 1711. Prisoner called me by my Name, and desired I would No. 82. throw something into the Box I was out of Countenance Monday for him, and did as he bid me, by putting in half a Crown June 4, I went away reflecting upon the strange Constitution of some Men, and how meanly they behave themselves in all Sorts of Conditions. The Person who begged of me is now, as I take it, Fifty I was well acquainted with him till about the Age of Twenty five; at which Time a good Estate fell to him, by the Death of a Relation. Upon coming to this unexpected good Fortune, he ran into all the Extravagancies imaginable; was frequently in drunken Disputes, broke Drawers' Heads, talked and swore loud; was unmannerly to those above him, and insolent to those below him. I could not but remark, that it was the same Baseness of Spirit which worked in his Behaviour in both Fortunes: The same little Mind was insolent in Riches, and shameless in Poverty. This Accident made me muse upon the Circumstance of being in Debt in general, and solve in my Mind what Tempers were most apt to fall into this Errour of Life, as well as the Misfor tune it must needs be to languish under such Pressures. As for my self, my natural Aversion to that Sort of Con versation which makes a Figure with the Generality of Mankind, exempts me from any Temptations to Expence; and all my Business lies within a very narrow Compass, which is, only to give an honest Man who takes care of my Estate proper Vouchers for his quarterly Payments to me, and observe what Linnen my Laundress brings and takes away with her once a Week: My Steward brings his Receipt ready for my signing, and I have a pretty Implement with the respective Names of Shirts, Cravats, Handkerchiefs and Stockings, with proper Numbers to know how to reckon with my Laundress. This being almost all the Business I have in the World for the Care of my own Affairs, I am at full Leisure to observe upon what others do, with Relation to their Equipage and Oeconomy, When I walk the Street, and observe the Hurry about me in this Town, Where with like Haste, tho' different Ways, they run, No. 82. I say, when I behold this vast Variety of Persons and Monday, Humours, with the Pains they both take for the Accom June 4, plishment of the Ends mentioned in the above Verses of 1711. Denham, I cannot much wonder at the Endeavour after Gain; but am extreamly astonished that Men can be so insensible of the Danger of running into Debt One would think it impossible a Man who is given to contract Debts should know, that his Creditor has from that Moment in which he transgresses Payment, so much as that Demand comes to in his Debtor's Honour, Liberty and Fortune, One would think he did not know, that his Creditor can say the worst thing imaginable of him, to wit, That he is unjust, without Defamation; and can sieze his Person, without being guilty of an Assault. Yet such is the loose and abandoned Turn of some Men's Minds, that they can live under these constant Apprehen sions, and still go on to encrease the Cause of them. there be a more low and servile Condition, than to be ashamed, or afraid, to see any one Man breathing? Yet he that is much in debt, is in that Condition with relation to twenty different People. There are indeed Circum stances wherein Men of honest Natures may become liable to Debts, by some unadvised Behaviour in any great Point of their Life, or mortgaging a Man's Honesty as a Security for that of another, and the like; but these Instances are so particular and circumstantiated, that they cannot come within general Considerations: For one such Case as one of these, there are ten, where a Man, to keep up a Farce of Retinue and Grandeur within his own House, shall shrink at the Expectation of surly Demands at his Doors, The Debtor is the Creditor's Criminal, and all the Officers of Power and State whom we behold make so Can great a Figure, are no other than so many Persons in Authority to make good his Charge against him Humane Society depends upon his having the Vengeance Law allots him; and the Debtor owes his Liberty to his Neighbour, as much as the Murderer does his Life to his Prince. Our Gentry are, generally speaking, in debt; and many Families have put it into a kind of Method of being so from Generation to Generation. The Father mortgages when when his Son is very young; and the Boy is to marry as No. 82. soon as he is at Age, to redeem it, and find Portions for Monday, his Sisters. This, forsooth, is no great Inconvenience to 1711 him; for he may wench, keep a publick Table, or feed Dogs, like a worthy English Gentleman, till he has outrun half his Estate, and leave the same Incumbrance upon his First-born; and so on, till one Man of more Vigour than ordinary goes quite through the Estate, or some Man of Sense comes into it, and scorns to have an Estate in Partnership, that is to say, liable to the Demand or Insult of any Man living. There is my friend Sir ANDREW, tho' for many Years a great and general Trader, was never the Defendant in a Law Suit, in all the Perplexity of Business, and the Iniquity of Mankind at present: No one had any Colour for the least Complaint against his Dealings with him. This is certainly as uncommon, and in its Proportion as laudable in a Citizen, as it is in a General never to have suffered a Disadvantage in Fight. How different from this Gentleman is Jack Truepenny, who has been an old Acquaintance of Sir ANDREW and my self from Boys, but could never learn our Caution. Jack has a whorish unresisting good Nature, which makes him incapable of having a Property in any thing. His Fortune, his Reputation, his Time and his Capacity, are at any Man's Service that comes first. When he was at School, he was whipp'd thrice a Week for Faults he took upon him to excuse others; since he came into the Business of the World, he has been arrested twice or thrice a Year for Debts he had nothing to do with but as Surety for others; and I remember when a Friend of his had suffered in the Vice of the Town, all the Physick his Friend took was conveyed to him by Jack, and inscribed, 'A Bolus or an Electuary for Mr. Truepenny! Jack had a good Estate left him, which came to nothing; because he believed all who pretended to Demands upon it. This Easiness and Credulity destroy all the other Merit he has; and he has all his Life been a Sacrifice to others, without ever receiving Thanks or doing one good Action I will end this Discourse with a Speech which I heard Jack make to one of his Creditors (of whom he deserved gentler Usage) after lying a whole Night in Custody at his Suit. Sir |