week since he wrote it; and that yesterday I received the undoubted intelligence, that my lover was married the very next day, to a fat widow of five-and-fifty, with a large jointure, a fine house, and fortune of twenty thousand pounds at her own disposal.

I am, sir,

Your most obedient servant,

M. B.

No. 146. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1755.

I HAVE SO tender a regard for my fair countrywomen, that I most heartily congratulate them upon the approaching meeting of the parliament, which I consider (and I believe they do so too) as the general gaol-delivery of the several counties of the united kingdom.

That beautiful part of our species once engrossed my cares; they still share them: I have been exceedingly affected all the summer with the thoughts of their captivity, and have felt a sympathetic grief for them.

In truth, what can be more moving, than to imagine a fine woman of the highest rank and fashion torn from all the elegant and refined pleasures of the metropolis; hurried by a merciless husband into country captivity, and there exposed to the incursions of the neighbouring knights, squires, and parsons, their wives, sons, daughters, dogs, and horses? The metropolis was once the seat of her empire, and the theatre of her joys. Exiled from thence, how great the fall! how dreadful the pri

son! Methinks I see her sitting in her dressingroom at the mansion-seat, sublimely sullen, like a dethroned eastern monarch; some few books, scattered up and down, seem to imply that she finds no consolation in any. The unopened knotting-bag speaks her painful leisure. Insensible to the proffered endearments of her tender infants, they are sent away for being so abominably noisy. Her dress is even neglected, and her complexion laid by. I am not ashamed to own my weakness, if it be one; for I confess that this image struck me so strongly, and dwelt upon my mind so long, that it drew tears from my eyes.

The prorogation of the parliament last spring was the fatal forerunner of this summer captivity. I was well aware of it, and had some thoughts of preparing a short treatise of consolation, which I would have presented to my fair country-women, in two or three weekly papers, to have accompanied them in their exile: but I must own that I found the attempt greatly above my strength; and inadequate consolation only redoubles the grief, by reviving in the mind the cause of it. Thus at a loss, I searched (as every modest modern should do) the ancients, in order to say in English, whatever they had said, in Latin or Greek upon the like occasion; but far from finding any case in point, I could not find one in any degree like it. I particularly consulted Cicero, upon that exile which he bore so very indifferently himself; but to my great surprise, could not meet with one single word of consolation addressed and adapted to the fair and tender part of his species. To say the truth, that philosopher seems to have had either a contempt for, or an aversion to the fair sex; for it is very observable, that even in his essay upon old age, there is not one single period addressed directly and exclusively to them; whereas

I humbly presume that an old woman wants at least as much, if not more comfort than an old man. Far be it from me to offer them that refined stoical argument to prove that exile can be no misfortune, because the exiled persons can always carry that virtue along with them, if they please.

However, though I could administer no adequate comfort to my fair fellow-subjects under their country captivity, my tender concern for them prompts me to offer them some advice upon their approaching liberty.

As there must have been during this suspension (I will not say only of pleasure, but, in a manner, of existence) a considerable saving in the article of pin-money, I earnestly recommend to them, immediately upon their coming to town, to apply that sinking-fund to the discharge of debts already incurred, and not divert it to the current service of the ensuing year. I would not be misunderstood; I mean only the payment of debts of honour contracted at Commerce, Bragg, or Faro; as they are apt to hang heavy upon the minds of women of sentiment, and even to affect their countenances, upon the approach of a creditor. As for shop-debts to mercers, milliners, jewellers, French pedlars, and such like, it is no great matter whether they are paid or not; some how or other those people will shift for themselves, or at worst, fall ultimately upon the husband.

I will also advise those fine women, who, by an unfortunate concurrence of odious circumstances, have been obliged to begin an acquaintance with. their husbands and children in the country, not to. break it off entirely in town, but, on the contrary, to allow a few minutes every day to the keeping it up; since a time may come, when perhaps they

may like their company rather better than none at all.

As my fair fellow-subjects were always famous for their public spirit and love of their country, I hope they will, upon the present emergency of the war with France, distinguish themselves by unequivocal proofs of patriotism. I flatter myself that they will, at their first appearance in town, publicly renounce those French fashions which of late years have brought their principles, both with regard to religion and government, a little in question. And therefore I exhort them to disband their curls, comb their heads, wear white linen, and clean pocket handkerchiefs, in open defiance of all the power of France. But above all, I insist upon their laying aside that shameful piratical practice of hoisting false colours upon their top-gallant, in the mistaken notion of captivating and enslaving their countrymen. This they may the more easily do at first, since it is to be presumed, that during their retirement, their faces have enjoyed uninterrupted rest. Mercury and vermillion have made no depredations these six months; good air and good hours may perhaps have restored, to a certain degree at least, their natural carnation; but at worst, I will venture to assure them, that such of their lovers who know them again in that state of native artless beauty, will rejoice to find the communication opened again, and all the barriers of plaster and stucco removed. Be it known to them, that there is not a man in England, who does not infinitely prefer the brownest natural, to the whitest artificial skin; and I have received numberless letters from men of the first fashion, not only requesting but requiring me to proclaim this truth, with leave to publish their names; which however I de

cline; but if I thought it could be of any use, I could easily present them with a round robin to that effect, of above a thousand of the most respectable names. One of my correspondents, a member of the Royal Society, illustrates his indignation at glazed faces, by an apt and well-known physical experiment. The shining glass tube, says he, when warmed by friction, attracts a feather (probably a white one) to close contact; but the same feather, from the moment that it is taken off the tube, flies it with more velocity than it approached it with before. I make no application; but, avert the omen, my dear countrywomen!

Another, who seems to have some knowledge of chemistry, has sent me a receipt for a most excellent wash, which he desires me to publish, by way of succedaneum to the various greasy, glutinous, and pernicious applications so much used of late. It is as follows:

Take of fair clear water quantum sufficit; put it into a clean earthen or china basin; then take a clean linen cloth, dip it in that water, and apply it to the face night and morning, or oftener as occasion may require.

I own, the simplicity and purity of this admirable lotion recommend it greatly to me, and engage me to recommend it to my fair countrywomen. It is free from all the inconveniences and nastiness of all / other preparations of art whatsoever. It does not stink, as all others do; it does not corrode the skin, as all others do; it does not destroy the eyes, nor rot the teeth, as all others do; and it does not communicate itself by collision, nor betray the transactions of a tête-à-tête, as most others do.

Having thus paid my tribute of grief to my lovely countrywomen during their captivity, and my tribute of congratulations upon their approaching