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N°205. Thursday, October 25.

Decipimur fpecie recti

Hor.

HENI meet with any vicious Character that is not

W generally known, in order to prevent its doing

Mischief, I draw it at length, and set it up as a Scarecrow; by which Means I do not only make an Example of the Perfon to whom it belongs, but give Warning to all Her Majefty's Subjects, that they may not fuffer by it. Thus, to change the Allufion, I have marked oit feveral of the Shoals and Quickfands of Life, and am continually employed in difcovering those which are still concealed, in order to keep the Ignorant and Unwary from running upon them. It is with this Intention that I publifh the following Letter, which brings to Light some Secrets of this Nature.

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Mr. SPEC TATOR,

'TH

HERE are none of your Speculations which I 'read over with greater Delight, than those which are defigned for the Improvement of our Sex. You have endeavoured to correct our unreasonable Fears and Superftitions, in your Seventh and Twelfth Papers; our Fancy of Equipage, in your Fifteenth ; our Love of Puppet Shows, in your Thirty Firft; our Notions of Beauty, in your Thirty Third; our • Inclination for Romances, in your Thirty Seventh; our Paffion for French Fopperies, in your Forty Fifth; our Manhood and Party-Zeal, in your Fifty Seventh; our Abuse of Dancing, in your Sixty Sixth and Sixty 6 Seventh ; our Levity, in your Hundred and Twenty Eighth our Love of Coxcombs, in your Hundred and Fifty Fourth, and Hundred and Fifty Seventh; ' our Tyranny over the Henpeckt, in your Hundred and : Seventy Sixth. You have defcribed the Pict in your

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Forty

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Forty Firft; the Idol, in your Seventy Third; the Demurrer, in your Eighty Ninth; the Salamander, in your Hundred and Ninety Eighth. You have likewife taken to Pieces our Drefs, and reprefented to us the Extravagances we are often guilty of in that *Par<ticular. You have fallen upon our Patches, in your Fiftieth and Eighty Firft; our Commodes, in your Ninety Eighth; our Fans, in your Hundred and SeOur Riding Habits, in your Hundred and Fourth; our Hoop-petticoats, in your Hundred and < Twenty Seventh; befides a great many little Ble mishes, which you have touched upon in your feveral other Papers, and in those many Letters that are fcattered up and down your Works. At the fame Time we must own, that the Compliments you pay our Sex are innumerable, and that thofe very Faults which you represent in us, are neither black in themfelves, nor, as you own, univerfal among us. But, Sir, it is plain that these Difcourfes are calculated your for none but the fafhionable Part of Womankind, and for the Ufe of those who are rather indifcreet than vicious. But, Sir, there is a Sort of Prostitutes in the lower Part of our Sex, who are a Scandal to us, and very well deferve to fall under your Cenfure. I know it would debafe your Paper too much to enter into the Behaviour of thefe Female Libertines; but as your Remarks on fome Part of it would be a doing of Ju'ftice to feveral Women of Virtue and Honour, whofe Reputations fuffer by it, I hope you will not think it < improper to give the Publick fome Accounts of this < Nature. You must know, Sir, I am provoked to write < you this Letter by the Behaviour of an infamous Woman, who having paffed her Youth in a mofl fhamelefs State of Proftitution, is now one of those who gain their Livelihood by feducing others, that are younger than themselves, and by establishing a criminal Commerce between the two Sexes. Among feve ral of her Artifices to get Money, the frequently perfwades a vain young Fellow, that fuch a Woman of Quality, or fuch a celebrated Toalt, entertains a fe6 cret Paffion for him, and wants nothing but an Oppor

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C. tunity of revealing it: Nay, fhe has gone fo far as to write Letters in the Name of a Woman of Figure, to borrow Money of one of thefe foolish Roderigo's, which he has afterwards appropriated to her own Ufe. In the mean Time, the Perfon who has lent the Money, has thought a Lady under Obligations to him, who scarce knew his Name; and wondered at her Ingratitude when he has been with her, that fhe has not owned the Favour, though at the fame Time he was too much a Man of Honour to put her in Mind of it.

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WHEN this abandoned Baggage meets with a Man who has Vanity enough to give Credit to Rela<tions of this nature, fhe turns him to very good Account, by repeating Praises that were never uttered, and delivering Meffages that were never fent. As the House of this fhameless Creature is frequented by feveral Foreigners, I have heard of another Artifice, out of which he often raifes Money. The Foreigner <fighs after fome British Beauty, whom he only knows by Fame: Upon which the promifes, if he can be fecret, to procure him a Meeting. The Stranger, ravifhed at his good Fortune, gives her a Prefent, and in a little Time is introduced to fome imaginary Title; for you must know that this cunning Purveyor has her Reprefentatives, upon this Occafion, of fome of the fineft Ladies in the Kingdom. By this Means, as I am informed, it is ufual enough to meet with a German Count in foreign Countries, that fhall make his Boafts of Favours he has received from Women of the higheft Ranks, and the most unblemished Characters. Now, Sir, what Safety is there for a Woman's Reputation, when a Lady may be thus prostituted as it were by Proxy, and be reputed an unchafte Woman; as the Hero in the ninth Book of Dryden's Virgil is looked upon as a Coward, because the Phantom which appeared in his Likenefs ran away from Turnus? You may depend upon what I relate to you to be Matter of Fact, and the Practice of more than one of these female Pandars. If you print this Letter, I may give

⚫ you

< you fome further Accounts of this vicious Race of

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< Women.

Your humble Servant,

BELVIDERA.

I fhall add two other Letters on different Subjects to fill up my Paper..

Mr. SPECTATOR,

T Am a Country Clergy-man, and hope you will lend me your Affiftance, in ridiculing fome little Indecencies which cannot fo properly be expofed from the • Pulpit.

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A Widow Lady, who ftraggled this Summer from London into my Parish for the Benefit of the Air, as she fays, appears every Sunday at Church with many fashionable Extravagancies, to the great Aftonishment of my ⚫ Congregation.

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BUT what gives us the most Offence is her theatri cal Manner of finging the Pfalms. She introduces above fifty Italian Airs into the hundredth Pfalm, and whilft we begin All People in the old folemn Tune of our Fore-fathers, the in a quite different Key runs Divi<fions on the Vowels, and adorns them with the Graces of Nicolini; if the meets with Eke or Aye, which are frequent in the Metre of Hopkins and Sternhold, we are certain to hear her quavering them half a Minute after us to fome fprightly Airs of the Opera.

I am very far from being an Enemy to Church Mu'fick; but fear this Abuse of it may make my Parish ri'diculous, who already look on the Singing Pfalms as an Entertainment, and not Part of their Devotion: Befides, 'I am apprehenfive that the Infection may fpread, for Squire Squeekum, who by his Voice feems (if I may use, the Expreffion) to be cut out for an Italian Singer, was laft Sunday practifing the fame Airs.

I know the Lady's Principles, and that he will plead the Toleration, which (as the fancies) allows her Non-Conformity in this Particular; but I beg you to acquaint her, That finging the Pfalms in a different

Tune

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Tune from the rest of the Congregation, is a Sort of Schifm not tolerated by that A&.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I am, SIR,

Your very humble Servant,

R. S.

IN your Paper upon Temperance, you prefcribe to us a Rule for drinking, out of Sir William Temple, in the following Words; The firft Glass for my self, the fecond for my Friends, the third for good Humour, and the fourth for mine Enemies. Now, Sir, you must know that I have read this your Spectator in a Club whereof I am a Member; when our Prefident told us there was certainly an Error in the Print, and that the Word Glass fhould be Bottle; and therefore has ordered me to inform you of this Mistake, and to defire you to publifh the following Errata: In the Paper of Saturday, October 13, Col. 3, Line 11, for Glafs read Bat

⚫tle.

L

Yours, Robin Good-fellow.

N 206. Friday, October 26.

Quanto quifque fibi plura negaverit,
A Diis plura feret-

T

Hor.

HERE is a Call upon Mankind to value and efteem those who set a moderate Price upon their own Merit; and Self-denial is frequently attended with unexpected Bleffings, which in the End abundantly recompence fuch Loffes as the Modeft seem to suffer in the ordinary Occurrences of Life. The Curious tell us, a Determination in our Favour or to our Difadvantage is made upon our first Appearance, even before they know any thing of our Characters, but from the Intimations Men gather from our Afpect. A Man, they

fay,

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