keeps fair ladies from running out into expences, but is at the fame time an actual improvement. How memorable would that matron be, who fhould have it infcribed upon her monument, 'That she wrought out the whole Bible in tapestry, and died in a good old age, after having covered three hundred yards of wall in the man'fion-house.'

THE premises being confidered, I humbly fubmit the following propofals to all mothers in Great Britain.

I. THAT no young virgin whatsoever be allowed to receive the addreffes of her firft lover, but in a fuit of her own embroidering.

II. THAT before every fresh servant fhe be obliged to appear with a new ftomacher at the least.

III. THAT no one be actually married, till she hath the childbed-pillows, &c. ready ftitched, as likewise the mantle for the boy quite finifhed.

THESE laws, if I miftake not, would effectually restore the decayed art of needle-work, and make the virgins of Great Britain exceedingly nimble-fingured in their bufinefs.

A

THERE is a memorable custom of the Grecian ladies, in this particular, preferved in Homer, which I hope will have a very good effect with my country-women. widow, in ancient times, could not, without indecency, receive a fecond hufband, till fhe had woven a fhroud for her deceafed lord, or the next of kin to him. Accordingly the chafte Penelope, having, as fhe thought, loft Ulyffes at fea, fhe employed her time in preparing a winding-sheet for Laertes, the father of her husband. The story of her web being very famous, and yet not fufficiently known in its feveral circumstances, I fhall give it to my reader, as Homer makes one of her wooers relate it.

Sweet hope fhe gave to every youth apart,
With well-taught looks, and a deceitful heart:
A web fhe wove of many a slender twine,
Of curious texture, and perplex'd defign:
My youths, fhe cry'd, my lord but newly dead,
Forbear a while to court my widow'd bed,
'Till I have woven, as folemn vows require,
This web, a fhroud for poor Ulyffes' fire.

His

His limbs, when fate the hero's foul demands,
Shall claim this labour of his daughter's hands:
Left all the dames of Greece my name despise,
While the great king without a covering lies.
Thus fhe. Nor did my friends miftruft the guile.
All day fhe fped the long laborious toil:
But when the burning lamps fupply'd the fun,
Each night unravell'd what the day begun.
Three live-long fummers did the fraud prevail;
The fourth her maidens told th' amazing tale.
Thefe eyes beheld, as close I took my stand,
The backward labours of her faithless hand;
'Till watch'd at length, and prefs'd on ev'ry fide,
Her task he ended, and commenc'd a bride.

N° 607.

Friday, October 15.

Dicite Io Paan, et Io bis dicite Paan:

Decidit in caffes præda petita meos.

Ovid. Ars am. 1. 1. v. 1.

Now Io Paan fing, now wreaths prepare,
And with repeated Ios fill the air :
The prey is fallen in my fuccessful toils.

Mr SPECTATOR,

H

Anon.

AVING in your paper of Monday last published my report on the cafe of Mrs Fanny Fickle, wherein I have taken notice, that love comes after marriage; I hope your readers are fatisfied of this truth, that as love generally produces matrimony, fo it often happens that matrimony produces love.

'IT perhaps requires more virtues to make a good hufband or wife, than what go to the finishing any the most 'fhining character whatsoever.

DISCRETION feems abfolutely neceffary, and accordingly we find that the best husbands have been moft famous for their wifdom. Homer, who hath drawn a perfect pattern of a prudent man, to make it the more complete, hath celebrated him for the juft returns of fidelity and truth to his Penelope; infomuch that he

• refufed

refufed the careffes of a goddefs for her fake, and, to use the expreffion of the best of Pagan authors, Vetulam fuam prætulit immortalitati, His old woman was dearer to him than immortality.

VIRTUE is the next neceffary qualification for this domeftic character, as it naturally produces conftancy and mutual efteem. Thus Brutus and Porcia were more remarkable for virtue and affection than any others ' of the age in which they lived.

GOOD-NATURE is a third neceffary ingredient in the marriage-ftate, without which it would inevitably four upon a thousand occafions. When greatness of mind is joined with this amiable quality, it attracts the admi⚫ration and esteem of all who behold it. Thus Cæfar, not more remarkable for his fortune and valour than for his humanity, stole into the hearts of the Roman people, when, breaking through the cuftom, he pronounced " an oration at the funeral of his first and best beloved " wife.

'GOOD-NATURE is infufficient unless it be steady and. uniform, and accompanied with an evennefs of temper, ' which is, above all things, to be preferved in this friendfhip contracted for life. A man must be eafy within himself, before he can be fo to his other felf. Socrates, and Marcus Aurelius, are inftances of men, who, by the ftrength of philofophy, having entirely compofed their minds, and fubdued their paffions, are celebrated for good husbands, notwithstanding the firft was yoked with Xantippe, and the other with Fauftina. If the wedded pair would but habituate themselves for the • first year to bear with one another's faults, the difficulty would be pretty well conquered. This mutual fweetnefs of temper and complacency was finely recommended in the nuptial ceremonies among the Heathens, who, when they facrificed to Juno at that folemnity, always tore out the gall from the entrails of the victim, and 'caft it behind the altar.

I SHALL conclude this letter with a paffage out of "Dr Plot's Natural Hiftory of Staffordshire, not only as it will ferve to fill up your prefent paper, but, if I find myself in the humour, may give rife to another; I haVOL. VIII.

e

6

ving

ving by me an old register belonging to the place here under mentioned.'

SIR Philip de Somervile held the manors of Whichenovre, Scirefcot, Ridware, Netherton, and Cowlee, all in Com. Stafford, of the earls of Lancafter, by this memorable fervice: The faid Sir Philip shall find, maintain, and fuftain, one Bacon-flitch, hanging in his hall at Whichenovre, ready arrayed all times of the year, but in Lent, to be given to every man or woman married, after the day and the year of their marriage be paft, in form following.

WHENSOEVER that any one fuch before named will come to inquire for the bacon, in their own perfon, they fhall come to the bailiff, or to the porter of the lordship of Whichenovre, and shall say to them in the manner as enfueth :

<

BAYLIFF, or porter, I do you to know, that I am come for myself, to demand one Bacon Flyke hanging in the hall of the lord of Whichenovre, after the form thereunto belonging.'

AFTER which relation, the bailiff or porter fhall affign a day to him, upon promise by his faith to return, and with him to bring twain of his neighbours. And in the mean time the faid bailiff fhall take with him twain of the freeholders of the lordship of Whichenovre, and they three fhall go to the manor of Rudlow, belonging to Robert Knightleye, and there shall fummon the aforefaid Knightleye, or his bailiff, commanding him to be ready at Whichenovre the day appointed, at prime of day, with his carriage, that is to fay, a horfe and a faddle, a fack and a prike, for to convey the faid bacon and corn a journey out of the county of Stafford, at his coftages. And then the faid bailiff fhall, with the faid freeholders, fummon all the tenants of the faid manor, to be ready at the day appointed, at Whichenovre, for to do and perform the fervices which they owe to the bacon. And at the day affigned, all fuch as owe fervices to the bacon, fhall be ready at the gate of the manor of Whichenovre, from the fun-rising to noon, attending and awaiting for the coming of him who fetcheth the bacon. And when he is come, there fhall be delivered to him and his fellows, chapelets; and to all those which fhall be there, to do their fervices due to the bacon.

And

And they shall lead the faid demandant with trumps and tabours, and other manner of minftrelfey, to the halldoor, where he fhall find the lord of Whichenovre, or his fteward, ready to deliver the bacon in this manner.

HE fhall enquire of him, which demandeth the bacon, if he have brought twain of his neighbours with him; which must answer, They be here ready. And then the fteward fhall cause these two neighbours to fwear, if the faid demandant be a wedded man, or have been a wedded man; and if fince his marriage one year and a day be past; and if he be a freeman, or a villain. And if his faid neighbours make oath, that he hath for him all these three points rehearsed; then shall the bacon be taken down and brought to the hall-door, and fhall there be laid. upon one half quarter of wheat, and upon one other of rye. And he that demandeth the bacon fhall kneel upon his knee, and fhall hold his right hand upon a book, which book fhall be laid upon the bacon and the corn, and fhall make oath in this manner.

HERE ye, Sir Philip de Somervile, lord of Whichenovre, mayntener and gyver of this baconne: that I A 'fithe I wedded B my wyfe, and fithe I hadd hyr in my kepyng, and at my wylle, by a year and a day after our marriage, I would not have chaunged for none other; fairer, ne fouler; richer, ne pourer; ne for none other defcended of greater lynage; flepying ne waking, at noo tyme. And if the feyd B were fole and I fole, I would take hyr to be my wyfe before all the wymen of the worlde, of what condiciones foever they be, good or evylle; as help me GoD and his feyntes, and this fiefh and all flefhes.'

AND his neighbours shall make oath, that they trust ve-rily he hath faid truly. And if it be found by his neighbours before named, that he be a freeman, there shall be delivered to him half a quarter of wheat and a cheese; and if he be a villain, he fhall have half a quarter of rye without cheese. And then shall Knightleye, the lord of Rudlow, be called for, to carry all these things tofore rehearsed; and the faid corn fhall be laid on one horse, and the bacon above it; and he to whóm the bacon appertaineth fhall afcend upon his horfe, and fhall take the cheefe before him, if he have a horse. And if he have