269 "of letters to no purpofe; and that though we do but "hold up the train of Arts and Sciences, yet, like other $6 pages, we are now and then let into our Ladies fe66 crets. I am,

From my own Apartment, July 22.

I am got hither fafe, but never spent time with fo little fatisfaction as this evening; for you must know, I was five hours with three Merry, and two Honest, Fellows. The former fang catches; and the latter even died with laughing at the noise they made. Well, fays Tom Bellfrey, you fcholars, Mr. Bickerftaff, are the worst company in the world. Ay, fays his oppofite, you are dull to night; prythee be merry. With that I huzzaed, and took a jump cross the table, then came clever upon my legs, and fell a laughing. Let Mr. Bickerflaff alone, fays one of the Honeft Fellows, when he is in a good humour, he is as good company as any man in England. He had no fooner fpoke, but I fnatched his hat off his head, and clapped it upon my own, and burst out a laughing again; upon which we all fell a laughing for half an hour. One of the Honeft Fellows got behind me in the interim, and hit me a found flap on the back; upon which he got the laugh out of my hands; and it was fuch a twang on my fhoulders, that I confefs he was much merrier than I. I was half angry; but refolved to keep up the good humour of the company; and after hollowing as loud as I could poffibly, I drank off a bumper of claret, that made me ftare again. Nay, fays one of the Honeft Fellows, Mr. Ifaac is in the right, there is no conversation in this; what fignifies jumping, or hitting one another on the back? let us drink about. We did fo from feven of the clock until eleven; and now I am come hither, and, after the manner of the wife Pythagoras, begin to reflect upon the paffages of the

N 3

day.

day. I remember nothing but that I am bruifed to death; and as it is my way to write down all the good things I have heard in the laft converfation, to furnish my Paper, I can from this only tell you my sufferings and my bangs.

I named Pythagoras juft now, and I proteft to you, as he believed men after death entered into other fpecies, I am now and then tempted to think other animals enter into men, and could name feveral on two legs, that never discover any fentiments above what is common with the fpecies of a lower kind; as we fee in these bodily Wits with whom I was to-night, whofe parts confit in ftrength and activity; but their boisterous mirth gives me great impatience for the return of fuch happiness as I enjoyed in a converfation last week. Among others in that company we had Florio, who never interrupted any man living when he was fpeaking; or ever ceafed to fpeak, but others lamented that he had done. His difcourfe ever arifes from the fulness of the matter before him, and not from oftentation or triumph of his understanding; for though he feldom delivers what he need fear being repeated, he speaks without having that end in view; and his forbearance of calumny or bitterness is owing rather to his good-nature than his difcretion; for which reason he is esteemed a Gentleman perfectly qualified for conversation, in whom a general good will to mankind takes off the neceffity of caution and circumfpection.

We had at the fame time that evening the beft fort of companion that can be, a good-natured old man. This perfon, in the company of young men, meets with veneration for his benevolence; and is not only valued for the good qualities of which he is mafter, but reaps an acceptance from the pardon he gives to other mens faults: And the ingenuous fort of men with whom he converfes, have fo juft a regard for him, that he rather is an example, than a check, to their behaviour. For this reafon, as Senecio never pretends to be a man of pleafure before youth, fo young men never fet up for wisdom before Senecio; fo that you never meet, where he is, those monsters of conversation, who are grave or gay above their years. He never converses but with fol

lowers

lowers of Nature and good fenfe, where all that is uttered is only the effect of a communicable temper, and not of emulation to excel their companions; all defire of fuperiority being a contradiction to that fpirit which makes a just converfation, the very effence of which is mutual good-will. Hence it is, that I take it for a rule, that the natural, and not the acquired man, is the companion. Learning, wit, gallantry, and good breeding, are all but fubordinate qualities in fociety, and are of no value, but as they are fubfervient to benevolence, and tend to a certain manner of being or appearing equal to the rest of the company; for converfation is compofed of an affembly of men, as they are men, and not as they are diftinguished by fortune: Therefore he who brings his Quality with him into converfation, fhould always pay the reckoning; for he came to receive homage, and not to meet his friends.But the din about my ears from the clamour of the people I was with this evening, has carried me beyond my intended purpose, which was to explain upon the order of Merry Fellows; but I think I may pronounce of them, as I heard good Senecio, with a fpice of the wit of the laft age, fay, viz. That a Merry Fellow is the Saddelt Fellow in the world.

N° 46.

Tuesday, July 26, 1709.

Non bene conveniunt, nec in una fede morantur,

Majeftas

W

Amor.

Ovid. Met. 1. z. v. 88.

Love but ill agrees with kingly pride.

White's Chocolate-houfe, July 25.

E fee every day volumes written against that tyrant of human life called Love, and yet there is no help found against his cruelties, or barrier against the inroads he is pleased to make in the mind of man.

N. 4

After

After this preface, you will expect I am going to give particular inftances of what I have afferted. That expectation cannot be raised too high for the novelty of the hiftory, and manner of life, of the Emperor Aurengezebe, who has refided for fome years in the cities of London and Westminster, with the air and mien indeed of his imperial Quality, but the equipage and appointment only of a private Gentleman. This Potentate, for a long feries of time, appeared from the hour of twelve until that of two at a coffee-house near the Exchange, and had a feat (though without a canopy) facred to himself, where he gave diurnal audiences concerning commerce, politics, tare and tret, ufury and abatement, with all things neceffary for helping the diftreffed, who are willing to give one limb for the better maintenance of the reft; or fuch joyous youths, whofe philofophy is confined to the prefent hour, and were defirous to call in the revenue of the next half year to double the enjoyment of this. Long did this growing monarch employ himself after this manner: And as alliances are neceffary to all great Kingdoms, he took particularly the interefts of Lewis the Fourteenth into his care and protection. When all mankind were attacking that unhappy monarch, and those who had neither valour or wit to oppofe against him would be ftill fhewing their impotent malice, by laying wagers in oppofition to his interefts; Aurengezebe ever took the part of his contemporary, and laid immense treafures on his fide, in defence of his important magazine of Toulon. Aurengezebe alfo had all this while a conftant intelligence with India; and his letters were anfwered in jewels, which he foon made brilliant, and caused to be affixed to his imperial caftor, which he always wears cocked in front, to fhow his defiance; with an heap of imperial fnuff in the middle of his ample vifage, to fhow his fagacity. The zealots for this little fpot called Great Britain fell univerfally into this Emperor's policies, and paid homage to his fuperior genius, in forfeiting their coffers to his treasury.

But wealth and wisdom are poffeffions too folemn not to give wearinefs to active minds, without the relief (in vacant hours) of Wit and Love, which are the proper amufements of the powerful and the wife: This Empe

гог

ror therefore, with great regularity, every day at five in the afternoon, leaves his money-changers, his publicans, and little hoarders of wealth, to their low pursuits, and afcends his chariot to drive to Will's; where the tafte is refined, and a relifh given to mens poffeffions, by a polite skill in gratifying their paffions and appetites. There it is that the Emperor has learned to live and to love, and not like a mifer, to gaze only on his ingots or his treasures; but with a nobler fatisfaction, to live the admiration of others, for his fplendor and happinefs in being mafter of them. But a Prince is no more to be his own caterer in his Love, than in his food; therefore Aurengezebe has ever in waiting two purveyors for his dishes, and his wenches for his retired hours, by whom the scene of his diverfion is prepared in the following

manner.

There is near Covent-Garden a ftreet known by the name of Drury, which, before the days of Chriftianity, was purchased by the Queen of Paphos, and is the only part of Great-Britain where the tenure of vaflalage is ftill in being. All that long courfe of building is under particular districts or ladyships, after the manner of lordThips in other parts, over which matrons of known abilities prefide, and have, for the fupport of their age and infirmities, certain taxes paid out of the rewards of the amorous labours of the young. This Seraglio of GreatBritain is difpofed into convenient alleys and apartments, and every houfe from the cellar to the garret, inhabited by Nymphs of different orders, that perfons of every rank may be accommodated with an immediate confort to allay their flames, and partake of their cares. Here it is, that when Aurengexebe thinks fit to give a loofe to dalli-ance, the purveyors prepare the entertainment; and what makes it more auguft is, that every perfon concerned in the Interlude has his fet part, and the Prince fends before hand word what he defigns to fay, and directs alfo the very answer which thall be made to him.

It has been before hinted, that this Emperor has a continual commerce with India; and it is to be noted, that the largest ftone that rich earth has produced, is in our Aurengexebe's poffeffion.