No. 209. October 30, 1711, Among the Writers of Antiquity, there are none Tuesday, who instruct us more openly in the Manners of their respective Times in which they lived, than those who have employed themselves in Satyr, under what Dress soever it may appear; as there are no other Authors, whose Province it is to enter so directly into the ways of Men, and set their Miscarriages in so strong a Light Simonides, a Poet famous in his Generation, is I think Author of the oldest Satyr that is now extant; and, as some say, of the first that was ever written. This Poet flourished about four hundred Years after the Siege of Troy, and shews by his way of Writing, the Simplicity or rather Coarseness of the Age in which he lived. I have taken notice, in my Hundred and sixty first Speculation, that the Rule of observing what the French call the bienséance, in an Allusion, has been found out of latter Years; and that the Ancients, provided there was a Likeness in their Similitudes, did not much trouble themselves about the Decency of the Comparison, The Satyr or Iambicks of Simonides, with which I shall entertain my Readers in the present Paper, are a remarkable Instance of what I formerly advanced. The Subject of this Satyr is Woman, He describes the Sex in their several Characters, which he derives to them from a fanciful Supposition raised upon the Doctrine of Prae-existence. He tells us, that the Gods formed the Souls of Women out of those Seeds and Principles which compose several kinds of Animals and Elements, and that their Good or Bad Dispositions arise in them according as such and such Seeds and Principles predominate in their Constitutions. I have translated the Author very faithfully, and if not Word) for Word (which our Language would not bear), at least so as to comprehend every one of his Sentiments, with out adding any thing of my own. I have already apologized for this Author's want of Delicacy, and must further premise, that the following Satyr affects only some of the lower part of the Sex, and not those who have been refined by a Polite Education, which was not so common in the Age of this Poet In the Beginning God made the Souls of Woman No. 209. kind out of different Materials, and in separate State Tuesday, from their Bodies. The Souls of one kind of Women were formed out of those Ingredients which compose a Swine. A Woman of this Make is a Slut in her House, and a Glutton at her Table. She is uncleanly in her Person, a Slattern in her Dress, and her Family is no better than a Dunghill, A Second sort of Female Soul was formed out of the same Materials that enter into the Composition of a Fox Such an one is what we call a notable discerning Woman, who has an Insight into every thing, whether it be good or bad. In this Species of Females there are some Virtuous and some Vicious. A Third Kind of Women were made up of Canine Particles. These are what we commonly call Scolds, who imitate the Animals out of which they were taken, that are always busy and barking, that snarl at every one who comes in their way, and live in perpetual Clamour. The Fourth Kind of Women were made out of the Earth. These are your Sluggards, who pass away their Time in Indolence and Ignorance, hover over the Fire a whole Winter, and apply themselves with Alacrity to no kind of Business but Eating. The Fifth Species of Females were made out of the Sea. These are Women of variable uneven Tempers, sometimes all Storm and Tempests, sometimes all Calm and Sunshine. The Stranger who sees one of these in her Smiles and Smoothness would cry her up for a Miracle of good Humour; but on a sudden her Looks and her Words are changed, she is nothing but Fury and Outrage, Noise and Hurricane, The Sixth Species were made up of the Ingredi ents which compose an Ass, or a Beast of Burden. These are naturally exceeding Slothful, but upon the Husband's exerting his Authority will live upon hard Fare, and do every thing to please him. They are however far from being averse to Venereal Pleasure, and seldom refuse a Male Companion. The October 30, 1711 No. 209. October 30, 1711, The Cat furnished Materials for a seventh Species Tuesday, of Women, who are of a melancholy, froward, un amiable Nature, and so repugnant to the Offers of Love, that they fly in the Face of their Husband when he approaches them with Conjugal Endear ments, This Species of Women are likewise subject to little Thefts, Cheats and Pilferings. The Mare with a flowing Mane, which was never broke to any Servile Toil and Labour, composed an Eighth Species of Women. These are they who have little regard for their Husbands, who pass away their Time in Dressing, Bathing and Perfuming who throw their Hair into the nicest Curls, and trick it up with the fairest Flowers and Garlands. A Woman of this Species is a very pretty thing for a Stranger to look upon, but very detrimental to the Owner, unless it be a King or Prince, who takes a Fancy to such a Toy, The Ninth Species of Females were taken out of the Ape. These are such as are both ugly and ill natured, who have nothing beautiful in themselves, and endeavour to detract from or ridicule every thing which appears so in others. The Tenth and Last Species of Women were made out of the Bee, and happy is the Man who gets such an one for his Wife. She is altogether faultless and unblameable. Her Family flourishes and improves by her good Management. She loves her Husband, and is beloved by him. She brings him a Race of beautiful and virtuous Children. She distinguishes her self among her Sex. She is surrounded with Graces. She never sits among the loose Tribe of Women, nor passes away her Time with them in wanton Discourses. She is full of Virtue and Prudence, and is the best Wife that Jupiter can bestow on Man. I shall conclude these Iambicks with the Motto of this Paper, which is a Fragment of the same Author. A Man cannot possess any thing that is better than a good Woman, nor any thing that is worse than a bad one. As the Poet has shewn a great Penetration in this 30, 1711. Diversity of Female Characters, he has avoided the No. 209. Fault which Juvenal and Monsieur Boileau are guilty Tuesday, of, the former in his Sixth, and the other in his last October Satyr, where they have endeavoured to expose the Sex in general, without doing Justice to the valuable Part of it. Such levelling Satyrs are of no use to the World, and for this reason I have often wondered how the 1 French Author above mentioned, who was a Man of exquisite Judgment, and a Lover of Virtue, could think Human Nature a proper Subject for Satyr in another of his celebrated Pieces, which is called The Satyr upon Man. What Vice or Frailty can a Discourse correct, which censures the whole Species alike, and endeavours to shew by some Superficial Strokes of Wit, that Brutes are the most excellent Creatures of the two? A Satyr should expose nothing but what is corrigible, and make a due Discrimination between those who are, and those who are not the proper Objects of it. No. 210. Wednesday, October 31 L Nescio quomodo inhaeret in mentibus quasi seculorum quoddam I Sir, 'To the SPECTATOR. AM fully perswaded that one of the best Springs of generous and worthy Actions, is the having generous and worthy Thoughts of our selves. Whoever has a mean Opinion of the Dignity of his Nature, will act in no higher a Rank than he has allotted himself in his own Estimation: If he considers his Being as circum scribed by the uncertain Term of a few Years, his Designs will be contracted into the same narrow Span he imagines is to bound to his Existence. How can he exalt his Thoughts to any thing great and noble, who only believes that, after a short Turn on the Stage of this World, he is to sink into Oblivion, and to lose his Consciousness for ever? For this Reason I am of Opinion, that so useful and No. 210. elevated a Contemplation as that of the Soul's Immor Wednes tality cannot be resum'd too often. There is not a more day, October 31, 1711. improving Exercise to the human Mind, than to be frequently reviewing its own great Privileges and En dowments; nor a more effectual Means to awaken in us an Ambition rais'd above low Objects and little Pursuits, than to value our selves as Heirs of Eternity. It is a very great Satisfaction to consider the best and wisest of Mankind in all Nations and Ages asserting, as with one Voice, this their Birthright, and to find it ratify'd by an express Revelation At the same time, if we turn our Thoughts inward upon our selves, we may_meet with a kind of secret Sense concurring with the Proofs of our own Immortality, You have in my Opinion rais'd a good presumptive Argument from the encreasing Appetite the Mind has to Knowledge, and to the extending its own Faculties, which cannot be accomplish'd, as the more restrain'd Perfection of lower Creatures may, in the Limits of a short Life. I think another probable Conjecture may be rais'd from our Appetite to Duration it self, and from a Reflection on our Progress through the several Stages of its We are complaining, as you observe in a former Speculation, of the Shortness of Life, and yet are perpetually hurrying over the Parts of it, to arrive at certain little Settlements or imaginary Points of Rest which are dispersed up and down in it. Now let us consider what happens to us when we arrive at these imaginary Points of Rest. Do we stop our Motion, and sit down satisfy'd in the Settlement we have gain'd? or are we not removing the Boundary, and marking out new Points of Rest, to which we press forward with the like Eagerness, and which cease to be such as fast as we attain them? Our Case is like that of a Traveller upon the Alps, who should fancy that the Top of the next Hill must end his Journey because it terminates his Prospect; but he no sooner arrives at it than he sees new Ground and other Hills beyond it, and continues to travel on as before, This is so plainly every Man's Condition in Life, that there is no one who has observ'd any thing but may |