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cence; and told me, a quite different place was al"lotted to me, than that which was appointed for my "companion; there being a great diftance from the "manfions of fools and innocents: Though at the fame "time, faid one of the ghosts, there is a great affinity "between an idiot who has been fo for a long life, and "a child who departs before maturity. But this Gen"tleman who has arrived with you is a fool of his own making, is ignorant out of choice, and will fare ac "cordingly. The affembly began to flock about him, and one faid to him, Sir, I obferved you came into "the gate of perfons murdered, and I defire to know, "what brought you to your untimely end? He said, he "had been a Second. Socrates (who may be faid to "have been murdered by the commonwealth of Athens) "stood by, and began to draw near him, in order, af"" ter his manner, to lead him into a fenfe of his error "by conceffions in his own discourse. Sir, said that "divine and amicable Spirit, What was the quarrel? he answered, We shall know very fuddenly, when "the principal in the bufinefs comes, for he was defperately wounded before I fell. Sir, faid the fage, "Had you an eftate? Yes, Sir, the new gueft an"fwered, I have left it in a very good condition, and "made my will the night before this occafion., Did you read it before you figned it? Yes, fure, Sir, "faid the new comer. Socrates replies, could a man,

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that would not give his eftate without reading the in"ftrument, difpofe of his life without afking a question? "That illuftrious fhade turned from him, and a croud "of impertinent goblins, who had been drolls and pa"rafites in their life-time, and were knocked on the "head for their faucinefs, came about my fellow-tra"veller, and made themselves very merry with questions

about the words Cart and Terce, and other terms of Fencers. But his thoughts began to fettle into re"flection upon the adventure which had robbed him of "his late Being: And with a wretched figh, faid he, "How terrible are conviction and guilt, when they come "too late for Penitence!"

Pacolet was going on in this strain, but he recovered from it, and told me, "It was too foon to give my difcourfe

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difcourfe on this fubject fo ferious a turn; you have "chiefly to do with that part of mankind which muft "be led into reflection by degrees, and you must treat "this custom with humour and raillery to get an audi66 ence, before you come to pronounce fentence upon it. "There is foundation enough for raising fuel enter"tainments from the practice on this occafion. Do 66 not you know that often a man is called out of bed to "follow implicitly a Coxcomb (with whom he would "not keep company on any other occafion) to ruin and "death? Then a good lift of fuch, as are qualified "by the laws of thefe uncourteous men of chivalry to enter into combat (who are often perfons of honour " without common honefty): Thefe, I fay, ranged "and drawn up in their proper order, would give an "averfion to doing any thing in common with fuch as men laugh at and contemn. But to go through this work, you must not let your thoughts vary, or make "excurfions from your theme: Confider at the fame "time, that the matter has been often treated by the "ableft and greatest Writers; yet that must not discourage you: For the propereft perfon to handle it is. one, who has roved into mixed converfations, and "must have opportunities (which I fhall give you) of feeing these fort of men in their pleafures and gratifi"cations, among which, they pretend to reckon fighting. It was pleafantly enough faid of a bully in "France, when Duels firft began to be punished: The King has taken away gaming and ftage-playing, and now fighting too; how does he expect Gentlemen fhall divert themselves ?"

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Saturday,

N° 27.

P40

Saturday, June 11, 1709.

White's Chocolate-houfe, June 9,

ACOLET being gone a ftrolling among the men of the fword, in order to find out the fecret caufes of the frequent difputes we meet with, and furnish me with materials for my treatife on Duelling; I have room left to go on in my information to my country readers, whereby they may understand the bright people whofe memoirs I have taken upon me to write.. But in my difcourfe of the twenty-eighth of the last month, I omitted to mention the most agreeable of all bad charac-ters, and that is, a Rake.

A Rake is a man always to be pitied; and, if he lives, is one day certainly reclaimed; for his faults proceed. not from choice or inclination, but from strong paffions and appetites, which are in youth too violent for the curb of reafon, good fenfe, good manners, and good nature: All which he must have by nature and education, before he can be allowed to be, or have been of this order. He is a poor unwieldly wretch, that commits faults out of the redundance of his good qualities. His pity and compaffion make him fometimes a bubble to all his fellows, let them be never so much below him in understanding. His defires run away with him through the ftrength and force of a lively imagination, which hurries him on to unlawful pleasures, before reafon has power to come in to his refcue. Thus, with all the good intentions in the world to amendment, this creature fins on against Heaven, himself, his friends,. and his country, who all call for a better ufe of his talents. There is not a being under the fun fo miserable as this: He goes on in a purfuit he himself disapproves, and, has no enjoyment but what is followed by remorse ; no relief from remorse, but the repetition of his crime.

161 It is poffible I may talk of this perfon with too much indulgence; but I muft repeat it, that I think this a character which is moft the object of pity of any in the world. The man in the pangs of the ftone, gout, or any acute diftemper, is not in fo deplorable a condition in the eye of right fenfe, as he that errs and repents, and repents and errs on. The fellow with broken limbs justly deferves your alms for his impotent condition; but he that cannot ufe his own reafon is in a much worfe state; for you see him in miferable circumftances, with his remedy at the fame time in his own poffeffion, if he would, or could ufe it. This is the caufe that, of all ill characters, the Rake has the beft quarter in the world; for when he is himself, and unruffled with intemperance, you fee his natural faculties exert themselves, and attract an eye of favour towards his infirmities.

But if we look round us here, how many dull rogues are there, that would fain be what this poor man hates himself for? All the noife towards fix in the evening is caused by his mimics and imitators. How ought men of fenfe to be careful of their actions, if it were merely from the indignation of seeing themfelves ill drawn by fuch little pretenders? Not to fay, he that leads is guilty of all the actions of his followers; and a Rake has imitators whom you would never expect should prove fo. Second-hand vice, fure, of all, is the most nauseous. There is hardly a folly more abfurd, or which feems less to be accounted for, (though it is what we fee every day) than that grave and honeft Natures give into this way, and at the fame time have good fenfe, if they thought fit to use it: But the fatality (under which moft men labour) of defiring to be what they are not, makes them go out of a method, in which they might be received with applaufe, and would certainly excel, into one, wherein they will all their life have the air of Arangers to what they aim at.

For this reafon, I have not lamented the metamorphofis of any one I know fo much as of Nobilis, who was born with fweetness of temper, juft apprehenfion, and every thing elfe that might make him a man fit for his order. But instead of the pursuit of fober ftudies and applications, in which he would certainly be capable of

making a confiderable figure in the nobleft affembly of men in the world: I fay, in fpight of that good nature, which is his proper bent, he will fay ill-natured things aloud, put fuch as he was, and ftill fhould be, out of countenance, and drown all the natural good in him, to receive an artificial ill character, in which he will never fucceed; for Nobilis is no Rake. He may guzzle as much wine as he pleases, talk bawdy if he thinks fit; but he may as well drink water-gruel, and go twice aday to church, for it will never do. I pronounce it again, Nobilis is no Rake. To be of that order, he must be vicious against his will, and not fo by ftudy or application. All Pretty Fellows are also excluded to a man, as well as all Inamoratoes, or perfons of the Epicene gen. der, who gaze at one another in the prefence of ladies. This clafs, of which I am giving you an account, is pretended to alfo by men of ftrong abilities in drinking; though they are fuch whom the liquor, not the conver fation, keeps together. But block heads may roar, fight, and ftab, and be never the nearer; their labour is allo loft; they want fenfe: They are no Rakes.

As a Rake among men is the man who lives in the conftant abuse of his reason, so a Coquette among women is one who lives in continual mifapplication of her beauty. The chief of all whom I have the honour to be acquainted with, is pretty Mifs Tofs: She is ever in practice of fomething which disfigures her, and takes from her charms, though all the does tends to a contrary effect. She has naturally a very agreeable voice and utterance, which he has changed for the prettieft lifp ima ginable. She fees what he has a mind to fee at half a mile diftance; but poring with her eyes half fhut at every one the paffes by, the believes much more becoming. The Cupid on her fan and the have their eyes full on each other, all the time in which they are not both in motion. Whenever her eye is turned from that dear object, you may have a glance, and your bow, if she is in humour, returned as civilly as you make it; but that must not be in the prefence of a man of greater Quality: For Mifs Tofs is fo thoroughly well-bred, that the chief perfon prefent has all her regards. And the who giggles at Divine fervice, and laughs at her very mother,

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