I HAVE, indeed, feen and heard of feveral young gentlemen under the fame misfortune with my prefent corre fpondent. The beft rule I can lay down for thein to avoid the like calamities for the future, is thoroughly to confider not only whether their companions are weak, but whether themselves are wits. THE following letter comes to me from Exeter, and being credibly informed that what it contains is matter of fact, I fhall give it my reader as it was fent me. You in a Mr SPECTATOR; Exeter, Sept. 7. OU were pleafed in a late fpeculation to take nounder me the country, in not being able to keep pace with the fashion; but there is another misfortune which we are subject tož and is no lefs grievous than the former, which has hitherto efcaped your obfervation. I mean, the having things palmed upon us for London fashions, which were "never once heard of there.. A LADY of this place had fome time fince a box of the newest ribbons fent down by the coach: whether it was her own malicious invention, or the wantonness of aLondon milliner, I am not able to inform you; but, among the reft, there was one cherry-coloured ribbon, confifting of about half a dozen yards, made up in the figure of a finall head-drefs. The aforefaid lady had the affurance to affirm, amidst a circle of female inquifitors, who were prefent at the opening of the box, that this. was the newest fashion worn at court. Accordingly the next Sunday we had feveral females, who came to church with their heads dreffed wholly in ribbons, and looked, like fo many victims ready to be facrificed. This is fill a reigning mode among us. At the fame time we have a fet of gentlemen who take the liberty to appear in all public places without any buttons to their coats, which they fupply with feveral little filver hafps, though our frefheft advices from London make no mention of any fuch fashion; and we are fomething fhy of affording.. inatter to the button-makers for a fecond petition. "WHAT I Would humbly propose to the public is, that there might be a fociety erected in London, to confist of the moft skilful perfons of both fexes, for the infpection C. 3 of of modes and fashions; and that hereafter no perfon or perfons fhall prefume to appear fingularly habited in any 'part of the country, without a teftimonial from the aforefaid fociety, that their drefs is anfwerable to the mode at London. By this means, Sir, we fhall know a little whereabout we are. If you could bring this matter to bear, you would " very much oblige great numbers of your country friends, and among the rest, X Your very humble fervant, JACK MODISH. No 176. Friday, September 21. Parvula, pumilio, xapi Twv pía, tota merum fal. A little, pretty, witty, charming fhe! T HERE are, in the following letter, matters which I, a batchelor, cannot be supposed to be acquainted with; therefore fhall not pretend to explain upon it till further confideration, but leave the author of the epiftle to exprefs his condition in his own way. Mr SPECTATOR. Do appear, in of your Ipes, ot deny but you app life pretty well, but there are very many things which you cannot poffibly have a true notion of, in a single life; thefe are fuch as respect the married state; otherwise I cannot account for your having overlooked a very good fort of peopie, which are commonly called in fcorn the Hen-peckt. You are to underftand, that I am one of those innocent mortals who fuffer derifion under that word, for being governed by the best of wives. It would be worth your confideration to enter into the nature of affection itself, and tell us, according to your philofophy, why it is that our dears 'fhould do what they will with us, fhall be froward, illnatured, affuming, fometimes whine, at others rail, then • fwoon fwoon away, then come to life, have the ufe of fpeech. to the greatest fluency imaginable, and then fink away again, and all because they fear we do not love them enough; that is, the poor things love us fo heartily, that they cannot think it poffible we fhould be able to love them in fo great a degree, which makes them take on fo. Ifay, Sir, a true good-natured man, whom rakes and Hibertines call hen-peckt, fhall fall into all thefe different • moods with his dear life, and in the fame time fee they are wholly put on: and yet not be hard-hearted enough to tell the dear good creature that the. is an hypocrite. THIS fort of good man is very frequently in the populous and wealthy city of London, and is the true hen peckt man; the kind creature cannot break thro' his • kindneffes fo far as to come to an explanation with the tender soul, and therefore goes on to comfort her when nothing ails her, to appeafe her when the is not angry, and to give her his cash when he knows she does not want it, rather than be uneafy for a whole month, which is computed, by hard-hearted men, the space of time which a froward woman takes to come to herself, if you have courage to ftand out. THERE are indeed feveral other fpecies of the henpeckt, and in my opinion they are certainly the best fubjects the queen has; and for that reafon I take it to be your duty to keep us above contempt. 'I Do not know whether I make myfelf understood in ⚫ the representation of an hen-peckt life, but I fhall take. leave to give you an account of myself, and my own 'fpoufe. You are to know that I am reckoned no fool, • have on several occafions been tried whether I will take ill ufage, and the event has been to my advantage; and yet there is not fuch a flave in Turkey as I am to my dear. She has a good fhare of wit, and is what you call a very pretty agreeable woman. I perfectly doat on her, and my affection to her gives me all the anxieties imaginable but that of jealoufy. My being thus confident of her, I take, as much as I can judge of my heart, to be the reafon, that whatever the does, tho' it be never so much · againft my inclination, there is ftill left fomething in her manner that is amiable. She will fometimes look at me with an affumed grandeur, and pretend to refent that I 9 have not had refpect enough for her opinion in fuch an inftance in company. I cannot but fmile at the pretty. anger fhe is in, and then the pretends fhe is ufed like a child. In a word, our great debate is, which has the fuperiority in point of understanding. She is eternally form-ing an argument of debate; to which I very indolently anfwer, Thou art mighty pretty. To this fhe antwers, All the world but you think I have as much fenfe as yourfelf. I repeat to her, Indeed you are pretty. Upon this there is no patience; fhe will throw down any thing about her, ftamp and pull off her head-clothes. Fy, my dear, fay I how can a woman of your fenfe fall into fuch an intemperate rage? This is an argument which never fails. Indeed, my dear, fays fhe, you make me mad fometimes, fo you do, with the filly way you have of treating me like a pretty idiot. Well, what have I got by putting her into good humour? nothing, but that I mult convince her of my good opinion by my practice; and then I am to give her poffeffion of my little ready money, and, for a day and a half following, diflike all fhe dislikes, and extol every thing the approves. I an fo exquifitely fond of this darling, that I feldom fee any of my friends, am une fy in all companies till I fee her again; and when I come home, the is in the dumps, because the fays fhe is fare I came fo foon only because I think her handfone. I dare not upon this occafion laugh; but though I am one of the warmest churchmen in the kingdom, I am forced to rail at the times, because the is a violent whig. Upon this we talk politics fo long, that The is convinced I kifs her for her wifdom. It is a common practice with me to afk her fome queftion concerning the conftitution, which the anfwers me in general out of Harrington's Oceana: then I commend her strange memory, and her arm is immediately locked in mine. While I keep her in this temper the plays before me, fometimes dancing in the midft of the room, fometimes ftriking an air at her fpinet, varying her pofture and her charms in fuch a manner that I am in continual pleafure: fhe will play the fool, if I allow her to be wife; but if fhe fufpects I like her for her trifling, the immediately grows grave, THESE THESB are the toils in which I ant taken, and I carry off iny fervitude as well as moft men; but my application to you is in behalf of the ben-peckt in general, and I <defire a differtation from you in defence of us. You have, as I am informed, very good authorities in our favour, ' and hope you will not omit the mention of the renowned Socrates and his philofophic refignation to his wife Xantippe. This would be a very good office to the. world in general, for the hen-peckt are powerful in their quality and numbers, not only in cities, but in courts; in the latter they are ever the moft obfequious, in the former the most wealthy of all men. When you have confidered wedlock thoroughly, you ought to enter into 'the fuburbs of matrimony, and give us an account of the thraldom of kind keepers, and irrefolute lovers; the "keepers who cannot quit their fair ones, though they fee their approaching ruin; the lovers who dare not marry, 'tho' they know they never fhall be happy without the miftreffes whom they cannot purchafe on other terms. WHAT will be a great embellishment to your difcourfe, will be, that you may find inftances of the haughty, the proud, the frolic, the ftubborn, who are each of them in fecret downright flaves to their wives or miftreffes. I muft beg of you, in the last place, to dwell upon this,. that the wife and valiant in all ages have been hen-peckt: and that the sturdy tempers, who are not flaves to af fection, owe that exemption to their being enthralled by ambition, avarice, or fome meaner paffion. I have ten ⚫ thousand thousand things more to fay, but my wife fees me writing, and will, according to custom, be confulted, "if I do not feal this immediately.htm Keld to T Yours, NATHANIEL HENROOST.. No 177 |