and entered very peaceably upon a fubject fit enough for us, which was, the examination of the force of the particle For, when Martius joined us. He, being well known to us all, asked what we were upon? For he had a mind to confummate the happinefs of the day, which had been spent among the ftars of the firit magnitude, among the men of letters; and therefore, to put a period to it, as he had commenced it, he should be glad to be allowed to participate of the pleasure of our fociety. I told him the fubject. Faith, Gentlemen, faid Martius, your fubject is humble; and if you would give me leave to elevate the converfation, I fhould humbly offer, that you would enlarge your enquiries to the word For-asmuch; for though I take it, said he, to be but one word, yet the particle Much implying quantity, the particle As fimilitude, it will be greater, and more like ourfelves, to treat of For-as-much. Jack Comma is always ferious, and answered; "Martius, I must take "the liberty to fay, that you have fallen into all this error and profufe manner of fpeech by a certain hurry "in your imagination, for want of being more exact in "the knowledge of the parts of fpeech; and it is fo "with all men who have not well ftudied the particle "For. You have fpoken For without making any in"ference, which is the great ufe of that particle. "There is no manner of force in your obfervation of "quantity and fimilitude in the fyllables As and Much. "But it is ever the fault of men of great wit to be in"correct; which evil they run into by an indifcreet use "of the word For. Confider all the books of contro"verfy which have been written, and I will engage

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you will obferve, that all the debate lies in this point, "Whether they brought in For in a juft manner; or "forced it in for their own ufe, rather than as under

ftanding the ufe of the word itfelf? There is nothing "like familiar inftances: You have heard the story of "the Irishman, who reading, Money for live hair," "took a lodging, and expected to be paid for living at "that houfe. If this man had known, For was in that "place of a quite different fignification from the parti

cle To, he could not have fallen into the mistake of

"taking

taking Live for what the Latins call Vivere, or rather "Habitare."

Martius feemed at a lofs; and admiring his profound learning, wifhed he had been bred a fcholar, for he did not take the fcope of his difcourfe. This wife debate, of which we had much more, made me reflect upon the difference of their capacities, and wonder that there could be as it were a diverfity in mens genius for nonfenfe; that one fhould blufter, while another crept, in abfurdities. Martius moves like a blind man, lifting his legs higher than the ordinary way of ftepping; and Comma, like one who is only short-fighted, picking his way when he should be marching on. Want of learning makes Martius a brifk entertaining fool, and gives himfelf a full fcope; but that which Comma has, and calls learning, makes him diffident, and curb his natural mifunderftanding to the great lofs of the men of raillery. This converfation confirmed me in the opinion, that learning ufually does but improve in us what Nature endowed us with. He that wants good fenfe is unhappy in having learning, for he has thereby only more ways of expofing himself; and he that has fenfe knows that learning is not knowledge, but rather the art of ufing it.

St. James's Coffee-house, August 22.

We have undoubted intelligence of the defeat of the King of Sweden; and that Prince, who for fome years had hovered like an approaching tempeft, and was looked up at by all the nations of Europe, which feemed to expect their fate according to the courfe he should take, is now, in all probability, an unhappy exile, without the common neceffaries of life. His Czarish Majefty treats his prifoners with great gallantry and diftinction. Count Rhensfeildt has had particular marks of his Majefty's efteem, for his merit and fervices to his Mafter; but Count Piper, whom his Majefty believes author of the most violent councils into which his Prince entered, is difarmed, and entertained accordingly. That decifive battle was ended at nine in the morning; and all the Swedish Generals dined with the Czar that very day, and received affarances, that they should find

Muscovy

Mufcony was not unacquainted with the laws of honour and humanity.

N° 59. Thursday, August 25, 1709.

White's Chocolate-houfe, Auguft 24.

ESOP has gained to himself an immortal renown for figuring the manners, defires, paffions, and interefts of men, by fables of beafts and birds. I fhall, in my future accounts of our modern Heroes and Wits, vulgarly called Sharpers, imitate the method of that delightful moralift; and think, I cannot reprefent those Worthies more naturally than under the fhadow of a pack of Dogs; for this fet of men are like them, made up of finders, lurchers, and fetters. Some fearch for the prey, others purfue, others take it; and if it be worth. it, they all come in at the death, and worry the carcass. It would require a most exact knowledge of the field and the harbours where the deer lie, to recount all the revolutions in the chace.

But I am diverted from the train of my difcourfe of the fraternity about this town by Letters from Hampflead, which give me an account, there is a late inftitution there, under the name of a Raffling-fhop; which is, it feems, fecretly fupported by a perfon who is a deep practitioner in the law, and out of tenderness of confcience has, under the name of his maid Sily, fet up this eafier way of conveyancing and alienating eftates from one family to another. He is fo far from having an intelligence with the rest of the fraternity, that all the humbler cheats, who appear there, are out-faced by the partners in the bank, and driven off by the reflection of fuperior brafs. This notice is given to all the filly faces that pass that way, that they may not be decoyed in by the foft allurement of a fine Lady, who is the fign to

the

the pageantry. And at the fame time Signior Hawkfly, who is the patron of the houfhold, is defired to leave off this interloping trade, or admit, as he ought to do, the Knights of the Industry to their share in the spoil. this little matter is only by way of digreffion. Therefore to return to our Worthies.

But

The prefent race of terriers and hounds, would farve, were it not for the inchanted Acteon, who has kept the whole pack for many fucceffions of hunting-seasons. Acteon has long tracts of rich foil; but had the misfortune in his youth to fall under the power of forcery, and has been ever fince, fome parts of the year, a deer, and in fome parts a man. While he is a man, fuch is the force of Magic, he no fooner grows to fuch a bulk and fatnefs, but he is again turned into a deer, and hunted until he is lean; upon which he returns to his human fhape. Many arts have been tried, and many refolutions taken by Acteon himself, to follow fuch methods as would break the inchantment; but ali have hitherto proved ineffectual. I have therefore, by midnight watchings and much care, found out, that there is no way to fave him from the jaws of his hounds, but to deftroy the pack, which, by aftrological prefcience, I find I am deftined to perform. For which end I have fent out my Familiar, to bring me a lift of all the places where they are harboured, that I may know where to found my horn, and bring them together, and take an account of their haunts and their marks, against another opportunity.

Will's Coffee-house, Auguft 24.

The Author of the enfuing Letter, by his name, and the quotations he makes from the ancients, feems a fort of fpy from the old world, whom we moderns ought to be careful of offending; therefore I must be free, and own it a fair hit where he takes me, rather than difoblige him.

I

SIR,

SIR,

H

AVING a peculiar humour of defiring to be fomewhat the better or wifer for what I read, "I am always uneafy when, in any profound Writer, "for I read no others, I happen to meet with what I "cannot underftand. When this falls out, it is a great "grievance to me that I am not able to confult the Au

thor himself about his meaning, for commentators are a fect that has little fhare in my efteem: Your "elaborate writings have, among many others, this advantage, that their author is ftill alive, and ready, as "his extenfive charity makes us expect, to explain "whatever may be found in them too fublime for vulgar understandings. This, Sir, makes me prefume "to afk you, how the Hampstead Hero's character could "be perfectly new when the laft Letters came away, "and yet Sir John Suckling fo well acquainted with it "fixty years ago? I hope, Sir, you will not take this

amifs: I can affure you, I have a profound refpect "for you, which makes me write this, with the fame difpofition with which Longinus bids us read Homer "and Plato. When in reading, fays he, any of those "celebrated Authors, we meet with a paffage to which we cannot well reconcile our reafons, we ought firmly "to believe, that were thofe great Wits prefent to an"fwer for themfelves, we fhould to our wonder be "convinced, that we only are guilty of the mistakes "we before attributed to them. If you think fit to

remove the fcruple that now torments me, it will be an encouragement to me to fettle a frequent correfpon"dence with you; feveral things falling in my way "which would not, perhaps, be altogether foreign to your purpofe, and whereon your thoughts would be very acceptable to

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your most humble fervant,

Obadiah Greenbat.