12 that. ufes no Artifice in the World, but makes Ufe of Mens Defigns upon him to get a Maintenance out of them. This he carries on by a certain Peevishness, (which he acts very well) no one would believe could poffibly enter into the Head of a poor Fellow. His Mein, his Dress, his Carriage, and his Language are fuch, that you would be at a Lofs to guess whether in the active Part of his Life, he had been a fenfible Citizen, or Scholar that knew the World. These are the great Circumftances in the Life of Irus, and thus does he pafs away his Days a Stranger to Mankind; and at his Death, the worst that will be faid of him will be, that he got by every Man, who had Expectations from him, more than he had to leave him. I have an Inclination to print the following Letters s for that I have heard the Author of them has fome where or other feen me, and by an excellent Faculty of Mimickry my Correfpondents tell me he can affume my Air, and give my Taciturnity a Slynefs which diverts more than any Thing I could fay if I were prefent. Thus I am glad my Silence is attoned for to the good Company in Town. He has carried his Skill in Imitation fo far, as to have forged a Letter from my Friend Sir ROGER in fuch a Manner, that any one but I who am thoroughly ac quainted with him, would have taken it for genuine. Mr. SPECTATOR, AVING obferved in Lily's Grammar how sweet. Hay Bacchus and Apollo run in a Verfe: I have (to preterve the Amity between them) call'd in Bacchus to the Aid of my Profeffion of the Theatre. So that while fome People of Quality are befpeaking Plays of me to be acted upon fuch a Day, and others, Hogfheads for their Houfes, against fuch a Time; I am wholly employ'd in the agreeable Service of Wit and Wine: Sir, I have fent you Sir Roger de Coverley's Letter to me, which pray comply with in Favour of the Bumper l'avern. Be kind, for you know a Player's utmoft Pride is the Approbation of the SPECTATOR. I am your Admirer, tho' unknown, Richard Eftcourt. To Mr. Efcourt at his Houfe in Covent Garden. Old Comical Ones, > Coverley, December the 18th. 1711. THE Hogfheads of Neat Port came fafe, and have gotten thee good Reputation in these Parts; and I am glad to hear, that a Fellow who has been laying out his Money, ever fince he was born, for the meer Pleasure of Wine, has bethought himself of joining • Profit and Pleafure together! Our Sexton (poor Man) having received Strength from thy Wine, fince his Fit of the Gout, is hugely taken with it: He fays it is given by Nature for the Ufe of Families, that no Stew⚫ard's Table can be without it, that it ftrengthens Digeftion, excludes Surfeits, Fevers and Phyfick; which green Wines of any kind can't do. Pray get a pure fnug Room, and I hope next Term to help fill your Bumper with our People of the Club; but you must have no Bells firring when the Spectator comes; I forbore ringing to Dinner while he was down with me in the Country. Thank you for the little Hams and • Portugal Onions; pray keep fome always by you. You know my Supper is only good Cheshire Cheefe, best Mustard, a golden Pippin, attended with a Pipe of John Sly's Beft. Sir Harry has ftoln all your Songs, ⚫ and tells the Story of the 5th of November to Perfecti එව දැව එම එම එම එම එම දැව ඒණ්ඩ දම එම එම එම ඒව No. 265. Thursday, January 3. Dixerit e multis aliquis, quid virus in angues Óv. de Art. Am. NE of the Fathers, if I am rightly informed, has defned a Woman to be ζῶον Φιλοκοσμοι, an Animal that delights in Finery. I have already treated of the Sex in two or three Papers, conformably to this Definition, and have in particular obferved, that in all Ages they have been more careful than the Men to adorn that Part of the Head, which we generally call the Outfide. THIS Obfervation is fo very notorious, that when in ordinary Difcourfe we fay a Man has a fine Head, a long Head, or a good Head, we exprefs ourselves metaphorically, and speak in Relation to his Understanding; whereas when we fay of a Woman, fhe has fine, a long or good Head, we fpeak only in relation to her Commode. IT is obferved among Birds, that Nature has lavished all her Ornaments upon the Male who very often appears in a moft beautiful Head-drefs: Whether it be a Creft, a Comb, a Tuft of Feathers, or a natural little Plume, erected like a kind of Pinacle on the very Top of the Head. As Nature on the contrary has poured out her Charms in the greatest Abundance upon the Female Part of our Species, fo they are very affiduous in bestowing upon themselves the fineft Garnitures of Art. The Peacock, in all his Pride, does not difplay half the Colours that appear in the Garments of a British Lady, when she is dreffed either for a Ball or a Birth-day. BUT to return to our Female Heads. The Ladies have been for fome Time in a kind of Moulting Seafon, with regard to that Part of their Drefs, having caft great Quantities of Ribbon, Lace, and Cambrick, and in fome measure measure reduced that Part of the human Figure to the beautiful globular Form, which is natural to it. We have for a great while expected what Kind of Ornament would be fubftituted in the Place of thofe antiquated Commodes. But our Female Projectors were all the last Summer fo taken up with the Improvement of their Petticoats, that they had not Time to attend to any Thing else; but having at length fufficiently adorned their lower Parts, they now begin to turn their Thoughts upon the other Extremity, as well remembring the old. Kitchen Proverb, that if you light your Fire at both Ends, the Middle will fhift for itself. I am engaged in this Speculation by a Sight which I lately met with at the Opera. As I was ftanding in the hinder Part of the Box, I took Notice of a little Cluster of Women fitting together in the prettieft coloured Hoods that I ever faw. One of them was blue, another yellow, and another Philomot; the fourth was of a Pink Colour, and the fifth of a pale Green. I looked with as much Pleasure upon this little party-coloured Affembly, as upon a Bed of Tulips, and did not know at firft whether it might not be an Embaffy of Indian Queens; but upon my going about into the Pit, and taking them in Front, I was immediately undeceived, and faw fo much Beauty in every Face, that I found them all to be Englib. Such Eyes and Lips, Cheeks and Foreheads, could be the Growth of no other Country. The Complexion of their Faces hindred me from observing any further the Colour of their Hoods, though I could easily perceive. by that unfpeakable Satisfaction which appeared in their Looks, that their own Thoughts were wholly taken up on thofe pretty Ornaments they wore upon their Heads.. I am informed that this Fashion fpreads daily, infomuch that the Wig and Tory Ladies begin already to hang out different Colours, and to fhew their Principles in their Head-drefs. Nay, if I may believe my Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB, there is a certain old Coquet of his Acquaintance, who intends to appear very fuddenly in a Rainbow Hood, like the Iris in Dryden's Virgil, not queftioning but that among fuch a Variety of Co-. lours the fhall have a Charm for every Heart. Mr My Friend WILL, who very much values himself upon his great Infights into Gallantry, tells me, that he can already guefs at the Humour a Lady is in by her Hood, as the Courtiers of Morocco know the Difpofition of their prefent Emperor by the Colour of the Drefs which he puts on. When Melefinda wraps her Head in Flame Colour, her Heart is fet upon Execution. When she covers it with Purple, I would not, fays he, advise her Lover to approach her; but if the appears in white, it is Peace, and he may hand her out of her Box with Safety. WILL informs me likewife, that these Hoods may be : ufed as Signals. Why elfe, fays he, does Cornelia always put on a Black Hood when her Husband is gone into the Country? SUCH are my Friend HONEYCOMB's Dreams of: Gallantry. For my own Part, I impute this Diversity of Colours in the Hoods to the Diverfity of Complexion in the Faces of my pretty Country Women. Ovid: in his Art of Love has given fome Precepts as to this Particular, though I find they are different from those which prevail among the Moderns. He recommends a red ftriped Silk to the pale Complexion; White to the: Brown, and Dark to the Fair. On the contrary my Friend WILL, who pretends to be a greater Mafter in this Art than Ovid, tells me, that the paleft Features look the most agreeable in white Sarfenet; that a Face which is overflushed appears to Advantage in the deepest Scarlet, and that the darkest Complexion is not a little alleviated by a Black Hood. In fhort, he is for lofing the Colour of the Face in that of the Hood, as a Fire burns dimly, and a Candle goes half out, in the Light of the Sun. This, fays he, your Ovid himself has hinted, where he treats of thefe Matters, when he tells us that the blue Water Nymphs are dreffed in Sky-coloured Garments; and that Aurora, who always appears in the Light of the Rifing Sun, is robed in Saffron. WHETHER thefe his Obfervations are juftly grounded I cannot tell: But I have often known him, as we have stood together behind the Ladies, praife or difpraise the Complexion of a Face which he never faw, from obferving the Colour of her Hood, and has been very feldom out in these his Gueffes. |