Mr. SPECTATOR,

I Have lately read the Conclufion of your forty seventh Speculation upon Butts with great Pleafure, and have ever fince been throughly perfwaded that one of ‹ those Gentlemen is extreamly neceffary to enliven Concversation. I had an Entertainment laft Week upon the

Water for a Lady to whom I make my Addresses, with < feveral of our Friends of both Sexes. To divert the < Company in general, and to fhew my Miftrefs in parti<cular my Genius for Rallery, I took one of the most ‹ celebrated Butts in Town along with me. It is with < the utmost Shame and Confufion that I must acquaint you with the Sequel of my Adventure: As foon as we ‹ were got into the Boat, I played a Sentence or two at my Butt which I thought very fmart, when my ill Ge<nius, who I verily believe infpir'd him purely for my ‹ Destruction, fuggefted to him fuch a Reply, as got all the Laughter on his Side. I was dafhed at fo unexpected <a Turn, which the Butt perceiving, refolved not to let me recover my felf, and purfuing his Victory, rallied and toffed me in a most unmerciful and barbarous man-< ner till we came to Chelsea. I had fome fmall Succefs ‹ while we were eating Cheefe-Cakes; but coming < home, he renewed his Attacks with his former good Fortune, and equal Diversion to the whole Company. In fhort, Sir, I must ingenuously own that I was never fo handled in all my Life; and to compleat my Misfortune, I am fince told that the Butt, flushed with his late Victory, has made a Vifit or two to the dear Obje& s of my Withes, so that I am at once in Danger of lofing all my Pretenfions to Wit, and my Mistress into the Bargain. This, Sir, is a true Account of my prefent Troubles, which you are the more obliged to affilt me <in, as you were your felf in a great Meafure the Caufe of them, by recommending to us an Inftrument, and not inftructing us at the fame Time how to play upon

cit.

'I have been thinking whether it might not be highly • convenient, that all Butts fhould wear an Infcription affixed to fome Part of their Bodies, fhewing on YOL. III. ⚫ which

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'which Side they are to be come at, and that if any of them are Perfons of unequal Tempers, there fhould be C fome Method taken to inform the World at what Time .C it is fafe to attack them, and when you had best let them alone. But fubmitting thefe Matters to your 6 more ferious Confideration,

Iam, SIR, Yours, &c.

I have, indeed, feen and heard of feveral young Gentlemen under the fame Misfortune with my prefent Correfpondent. The best Rule I can lay down for them to avoid the like Calamities for the future, is throughly to confider not only Whether their Companions are weak, but Whether themselves are Wits.

THE following Letter comes to me from Exeter, and being credibly informed that what it contains is Matter of Fact, I fhall give it my Reader as it was fent me.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Exeter, Sept. 7.

OU were pleafed in a late Speculation to take No tice of the Inconvenience we lie under in the Coun C try, in not being able to keep Pace with the Fashion: But there is another Misfortune which we are subject C to, and is no lefs grievous than the former, which has hitherto escaped your Obfervation. I mean, the having Things palmed upon us for London Fashions, which were never once heard of there.

A Lady of this Place had fome Time fince a Box of the neweft Ribbons fent down by the Coach: Whether < it was her own malicious Invention, or the Wantonness of a London Milliner, I am not able to inform you; but, C among the reft, there was one Cherry-coloured Ribbon, confifting of about half a dozen Yards, made up in the Figure of a fmall Head-Drefs. The forefaid Lady had the Affurance to affirm, amidst a Circle of Female Inquifitors, who were prefent at the opening of the Box, that this was the newest Fashion worn at Court. Accordingly the next Sunday we had several Females, who came to Church with their Heads drefs'd wholly in Ribbons, and looked like so many Victims ready to be

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facrificed. This is ftill a reigning Mode among us. At the fame Time we have a Set of Gentlemen who take the Liberty to appear in all publick Places without any Buttons to their Coats, which they fupply with feveral <little Silver Hafps, tho' our fresheft Advices from London • make no mention of any fuch Fashion; and we are some<thing fhy of affording Matter to the Button-makers for 6 a fecond Petition.

WHAT I would humbly propofe to the Publick is, < that there may be a Society erected in London, to con< fift of the most skilful Perfons of both Sexes for the Infpection of Modes and Fashions; and that hereafter no < Perfon or Perfons fhall prefume to appear fingularly habited in any Part of the Country, without a Teftimo<nial from the aforefaid Society, that their Dress is an<fwerable to the Mode at London. By this means, Sir, we shall know a little whereabout we are.

IF you could bring this Matter to bear, you would very much oblige great Numbers of your Country Friends, and among the reft,

Your very humble Servant;

Jack Modifh.

මෙම

N° 176. Friday, September 21.

Parvula, pumilio, xaeitwv μía, tota merum fal. Luc.

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HERE are in the following Letter Matters which I, a Batchelor, cannot be fuppofed to be acquainted with, therefore fhall not pretend to explain upon it till further Confideration, but leave the Author of the Epiftle to express his Condition his own Way.

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Mr. SPECTATOR;

1 Do not deny but you appear in many of your Papers to understand Humane Life pretty well; but there are very many Things which you cannot poffibly have a true Notion of, in a fingle Life; thefe are fuch as refpect the married State; otherwise I cannot account for your having overlooked a very good Sort of People, which are commonly called in Scorn the Hen-peckt. You are to understand that I am one of those innocent Mortals, who fuffer Derifion under that Word, for being < governed by the best of Wives. It would be worth your Confideration to enter into the Nature of Affection it felf, and tell us, according to your Philofophy, why < it is that our Dears fhall do what they will with us, fhall be froward, ill-natured, affuming, fometimes whine, at others rail, then fwoon away, then come to Life, have the Ufe of Speech to the greateft Fluency imaginable, and then fink away again, and all becaufe < they fear we do not love them enough; that is, the poor Things love us fo heartily, that they cannot think it poffible we fhould be able to love them in fo great a Degree, which makes them take on fo. I fay, Sir, a ⚫ true good-natured Man, whom Rakes and Libertines call Hen-peckt, fhall fall into all thefe different Moods with his dear Life, and at the fame Time fee they are wholly put on; and yet not to be hard-hearted enough to tell the dear good Creature that fhe is an Hypocrite.

This fort of good Man is frequent in the populous and wealthy City of London, and is the true Hen-peckt Man; the kind Creature cannot break through his Kindneffes fo far as to come to an Explanation with the tender Soul, and therefore goes on to comfort her when nothing ails her, to appease her when he is not angry, and to give her his Cafh when he knows fhe does not < want it, rather than be uneafy for a whole Month, which is computed by hard-hearted Men the Space of Time which a froward Woman takes to come to her• self, if you have Courage to stand out.

THERE are indeed feveral other Species of the Hen peckt, and in my Opinion they are certainly the

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belt Subjects the Queen has; and for that Reason I take C it to be your Duty to keep us above Contempt.

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'I do not know whether I make my self understood in the Representation of an Hen-peckt Life, but I fhall 'take Leave to give you an Account of my felf and my own Spouse. You are to know that I am reckoned no Fool, have on feveral Occafions been tried whether I 'will take ill Usage, and yet the Event has been to my • Advantage; and yet there is not fuch a Slave in Turkey as I am to my Dear. She has a good Share of Wit, and is what you call a very pretty agreeable Woman. I perfectly doat on her, and my Affection to her gives me all the Anxieties imaginable but that of Jealously. My being thus confident of her, I take, as much as I can judge of my Heart, to be the Reason, that whatever the does, tho' it be never fo much against my Inclination, there is ftill left fomething in her Manner ⚫ that is amiable. She will fometimes look at me with an · affuming Grandeur, and pretend to refent that I have not had Refpect enough for her Opinion in fuch an In⚫ftance in Company. I cannot but fmile at the pretty Anger fhe is in, and then the pretends fhe is ufed like a Child. In a Word, our great Debate is, which has the Superiority in Point of Underftanding. She is eternally forming an Argument of Debate; to which I very indolently anfwer, Thou art mighty pretty. To this fhe anfwers, All the World but you think I have as much Senfe as your felf. I repeat to her, Indeed you are pretty. Upon this there is no Patience; fhe will throw down any thing about her, ftamp, and pull off her Head-Cloaths. Fie, my Dear, fay Is how can a Woman of your Senfe fall into fuch an intemperate Rage? Indeed, my Dear, fays the, you make me mad fometimes, fo you do, with the filly 'Way you have of treating me like a pretty Ideot. Well, 'what have I got by putting her into good Humour ? Nothing, but that I must convince her of my good Opinion by my Practice; and then I am to give her Poffeffion of my little Ready-Money, and for a Day and half following, diflike all the diflikes, and extol every thing the approves. I am fo exquifitely fond of

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: this