defiring them to fend their Deputies to receive the propofitions of peace made by the court of France. No II. Thurfday, May 5, 1709. A By Isaac Bickerflaff, Esquire. Will's Coffee-houfe, May 3. Kinsman has sent me a letter, wherein he informs' me, he had lately refolved to write an heroic Poem, but by bufinefs has been interrupted, and has only made one Similitude, which he should be afflicted to have wholly loft; and begs of me to apply it to fomething, being very defirous to fee it well placed in the world. I am fo willing to help the diftreffed, that F have taken it in: But, though his greater genius might very well diftinguifh his verfes from mine, I have marked where his begin. His lines are a defcription of the fun in eclipfe, which I know nothing more like than a brave man in forrow, who bears it as he should, without imploring the pity of his friends, or being dejected with the contempt of his enemies: As in the cafe of Cato. When all the globe to Cafar's fortune bow'd, With inborn ftrength alone oppos'd mankind, "Thus when the Ruler of the genial day "Fondly Fondly they hope their labour may avail "To eafe his conftict, and affift his toil. "Whilft he, in beams of native fplendor bright, } Inflames their lamps, and feeds their golden urns, "Sure to retain his known fuperior tract, "And proves the more illuftrious by defect." This is a very lively image; but I must take the liberty to fay, my Kinfman drives the fun a little like Phaeton: He has all the warmth of Phoebus, but will not ftay for his direction of it. Avail and Toil, Defect and Tract, will never do for rhymes. But however, he has the true fpirit in him; for which reafon I was willing to entertain any thing he pleased to send me. The fubject which he writes upon naturally raifes great reflexions in the foul, and puts us in mind of the mixed condition which we mortals are to fupport; which, as it varies to good or bad, adorns or defaces our actions to the beholders: All which glory and fhame muft end in, what we fo much repine at, death. But doctrines on this occafion, any other than that of living well, are the most infignificant and most empty of all the labours of men. None but a tragedian can die by rule, and wait until he difcovers a plot, or fays a fine thing upon his Exit. In real life, this is a Chimera; and by noble Spirits, it will be done decently, without the of tentation of it. We fee men of all conditions and characters go through it with equal refolution: And if we confider the fpeeches of mighty. Philofophers, Heroes,Lawgivers, and great Captains, they can produce no more in a difcerning fpirit, than rules to make a man a fop on his death-bed. Commend me to that natural greatnefs of foul, expreffed by an innocent, and confequently refolute country-fellow, who faid in the pains of the cholick," If I once get this breath out of my body, 6.6 you fhall hang me before you put it in again." Honeft Ned! and fo he died. But it is to be fuppofed, that from this place you may expect, an account of fuch a thing as a new Play is not to to be omitted. The comedy acted this night is the newest that ever was writ. The Author is my ingenious. friend Mr. Thomas Durfey. This drama is called, “ The "modern Prophets," and is a moft unanswerable fatire against the late fpirit of enthufiafm. The writer had by long experience obferved that, in company, very grave difcourfes had been followed by bawdry; and therefore has turned the humour that way with great fuccefs, and taken from his audience all manner of fuperftition, by the agitations of pretty Mrs. Bignell, whom he has, with great fubtilty, made a lay-fifter, as well as a Prophetess; by which means fhe carries on the affairs of both worlds with great fuccefs. My friend defigns to go on with another work againft winter, which he intends to call, "the modern Poets:" A people no less mistaken in their opinions of being infpired, than the other. In order to this, he has by him feven fongs, befides many ambigui→ ties, which cannot be mistaken for any thing but what he means them. Mr. Durfey generally writes ftate-plays,. and is wonderfully useful to the world in fuch reprefentations. This method is the fame that was used by the old Athenians, to laugh out of countenance, or promote, opinions among the people. My friend has therefore, against this play is acted for his own benefit, made two dances, which may be alfo of an univerfal benefit. In the firft, he has reprefented abfolute power in the perfon of a tall man with an hat and feather, who gives his first Minister, that stands just before him, an huge kick the Minifter gives the kick to the next before; and fo to the end of the ftage. In this moral and practical jeft, you are made to understand, that there is, in an abfolute government, no gratification, but giving the kick you receive from one above you, to one below you. This is performed to a grave and melancholy Air; but on a fudden the tune moves quicker, and the whole com pany fall into a circle, and take hands; and then at a certain fharp Note, they move round, and kick as kick can. This latter performance he makes to be the reprefentation of a free State; where, if you all mind your fteps, you may go round and round very jollily, with a motion pleasant to yourselves and those you dance with Nay, if you put yourselves out, at the worst you you only kick and are kicked, like friends and equals. From my own Apartment, May 4. Of all the vanities under the fun, I confefs that of being proud of one's birth is the greateft. At the fame time, fince in this unreasonable age, by the force of prevailing cuftom, things in which men have no hand are imputed to them; and that I am ufed by fome people, as if Ifaac Bickerfaff, though I write myfelf Efquire, was no body: To fet the world right in that particular, I fhall give you my Genealogy, as a kinfman of ours has fent it me from the Herald's Office. It is certain, and obferved by the wifeft writers, that there are women who are not nicely chafte, and men not severely honest, in all families; therefore let those who may be apt to caft afperfions upon ours, please to give us as impartial an account of their own, and we shall be fatisfied. The bufinefs of Heralds is a matter of fo great nicety, that, to avoid mistakes, I fhall give you my cousin's letter verbatim, without altering a fyllable. Dear Coufin, 66 S INCE you have been pleafed to make yourself fo famous of late, by your ingenious Writings, "and fome time ago by your learned Predictions: fince "Partridge of immortal memory is dead and gone, who, "poetical as he was, could not understand his own "poetry; and philomatical as he was, could not read "his own destiny: fince the Pope, the King of France, and great part of his Court, are either literally or "metaphorically defunct: fince, I fay, these things "(not foretold by any one but yourfelf) have come to pafs after fo furprifing a manner; it is with no fmall concern I fee the original of the Stuffian race fo little "known to the world as it is at this time; for which ❝reason, as you have employed your ftudies in Aftro"nomy, and the Occult Sciences, fo I, my mother "being a Welf woman, dedicated mine to Genealogy, "particularly that of our own family, which, for its antiquity and number, may challenge any in Great Britain 66 "Britain. The Staffs are originally of Staffordshire, "which took its name from them: the first that I find "of the Staffs was one Jacobftaff, a famous and renown"ed aftronomer, who by Dorothy his wife had iffue feven fons, viz. Bickerstaff, Longfaf, Wagstaff, Quar"terftaff, Whiteftaff, Falftaf, and Tipftaff. He alfo "had a younger brother who was twice married, and "had five fons, viz. Diftaff, Pikeftaff, Metftaff, Broomftaff, and Raggedftaff. As for the branch from whence you fpring, I fhall fay very little of it, only that it "is the chief of the Staffs, and called Bickerflaff, quafi Biggerftaff; as much as to fay, the Great Staff, or Staff of Staffs; and that it has applied itfelf to Ãftro66 nomy with great fuccefs, after the example of our "aforefaid forefather. The defcendants from Long66 faff, the fecond son, were a rakish disorderly fort of people, and rambled from one place to another, until, "in Harry the Second's time, they fettled in Kent, and "were called Long-Tails, from the Long-Tails which 63 were fent them as a punishment for the murder of "Thomas-a-Becket, as the Legends fay. They have 66 always been fought after by the Ladies, but whether "it be to fhew their averfion to popery, or their love "to miracles, I cannot fay. The Wagstaffs are a merry "thoughtless fort of people, who have always been "opinionated of their own wit; they have turned them"felves moftly to poetry. This is the most numerous "branch of our family, and the pooreft. The Quar "terftaffs are most of them prize-fighters or deer-stealers: there have been fo many of them hanged lately, "that there are very few of that branch of our family "left. The Whiteftaffs are all courtiers, and have had very confiderable places. There have been fome of "them of that ftrength and dexterity, that five hundred "of the ablest men in the kingdom have often tugged "in vain to pull a staff out of their hands. The Fal 66 faffs are ftrangely given to whoring and drinking : "There are abundance of them in and about London. "And one thing is very remarkable of this branch, " and that is, there are just as many women as men in "it. There was a wicked ftick of wood of this name ་ "in |