would come from a Perfon, who, it feems, is fo very indifferent to you. Instead of it, I fhall only recommend to your Confideration the O"pinion of one whofe Sentiments on thefe Matters I have often heard you fay are extreamly juft. A generous and conftant Paffion, lays your "favourite Author, in an agreeable Lover, where there is not too great a Disparity in their Circumftances, is the greatest Bleffing that can befal a Perfon beloved; and if overlook'd in one, may perhaps never be found in another. I do not, however, at all defpair of being ve< ry shortly much better beloved by you than Antenor is at prefent; fince whenever my Fortune • fhall exceed his, you were pleafed to intimate your Paffion would increase accordingly. THE World has feen me fhamefully lofe that Time to please a fickle Woman, which might have been employed much more to my Credit and Advantage in other Purfuits. I fhall there"fore take the Liberty to acquaint you, however harth it may found in a Lady's Ears, that tho' your Love-Fit should happen to return, unless you could contrive a way to make your Recantation as well known to the Publick, as they ⚫ are already apprised of the manner with which ( you have treated me, you shall never more fee PHILANDER. SIR, U Amoret to Philander. PON Reflection, I find the Injury I have 'done both to you and my felf to be so great, that though the Part I now at may appear contrary to that Decorum ufually obferved by our Sex, yet I purpofely break through all Rules, that my Repentance may in fome. 'mea measure equal my Crime. I affure you, that in' · my present Hopes of recovering you, I look upon Antenor's Eftate with Contempt. The Fop was here Yefterday in a gilt Chariot and new Liveries, but I refufed to fee him. Tho' I dread to meet your Eyes, after what has pafs'd, I flatter my felf, that amidst all their Confufion you will discover fuch a Tenderness in mine, " as none can imitate but thofe who love. Ifhall be all this Month at Lady D -'s in the Country; but, the Woods, the Fields and Gardens, without Philander, afford no Pleasures to 'the unhappy AMORET. I must defire you, dear Mr. Spectator, to publifh this my Letter to Philander as foon as poffible, and to affure him that I know nothing at 'all of the Death of his rich Uncle in Gloucester: Shire. N° 402. Wednesday, June 11. Spectator tradit fibi. -que X Hor. W receive from different Hands, and Perfons EREI to publifh all the Advertisements L of different Circumftances and Quality, the very Mention of them, without Reflections on the feveral Subjects, would raife all the Paffions which can be felt by human Minds. As Inftances of this, I fhall give you two or three Letters; the Writers of which can have no Recourse to any legal Power for Redress, and seem to have written rather to vent their Sorrow than to receive Confolation. Mr. Mr. SPECTATOR, I Am a young Woman of Beauty and Quality, and fuitably married to a Gentleman 'who doats on me. But this Person of mine is 'the Object of an unjust Paffion in a Nobleman who is very intimate with my Husband. This • Friendship gives him very eafie Access, and frequent Opportunities of entertaining me apart. My Heart is in the utmoft Anguish, and my Face is covered over with Confufion, when I 'impart to you another Circumftance, which is, that my Mother, the most mercenary of all Women, is gained by this falfe Friend of my Husband to follicit me for him. I am frequently chid by the poor believing Man my Husband, for fhewing an Impatience of his Friend's Company; and I am never alone with my Mother, but the tells me Stories of the difcretionary Part of the World, and fuch a one, and fuch a one who are guilty of as much as the advises me to. She laughs at my Aftonishment; and feems to 'hint to me, that as virtuous as the has always appeared, I am not the Daughter of her Huf• band. my It is poffible that printing this Letter may relieve me from the unnatural Importunity of my Mother, and the perfidious Courtship of my Husband's Friend. I have an unfeigned 'Love of Virtue, and am refolved to preferve Innocence. The only Way I can think of to avoid the fatal Confequences of the Difcovery of this Matter, is to fly away for ever; 'which I must do to avoid my Husband's fatal 'Refentment against the Man who attempts to abufe him, and the Shame of expofing a Parent to Infamy. The Perfons concerned will know these Circumstances relate to 'em; and though the Regard to Virtue is dead in them, I have • foie fome Hopes from their Fear of Shame upon reading this in your Paper; which I conjure you to do, if you have any Compaffion for Injured • Virtue. Mr. SPECTATOR, I SYLVIA. Am the Husband of a Woman of Merit, but am fallen in Love, as they call it, with a Lady of her Acquaintance, who is going to be 'married to a Gentleman who deferves her. I am in a Truft relating to this Lady's Fortune, which makes my Concurrence in this Matter neceffary; but I have fo irrefiftible a Rage and Envy rife in me when I confider his future Happinefs, that against all Reafon, Equity, and common Juftice, I am ever playing mean Tricks to fufpend the Nuptials. I have no manner of Hopes for my felf; Emilia, for fo I'll call her, is a Woman of the moft ftri&t Virtue; her Lover is a Gentleman who of all others I could with my Friend; but Envy and Jealousie, though placed fo unjustly, wafte my very Being, and with the Torment and Senfe of a Dæmon, I am ever curfing what I cannot but approve. I with it were the Beginning of Repentance, that I fit down and defcribe my prefent Difpofition with fo hellish an Afpect; but at prefent the De• ftruction of these two excellent Perfons would 'be more welcome to me than their Happiness. 'Mr. SPECTATOR, pray let me have a Paper on these terrible groundlefs Sufferings, and do all you can to exorcife Crowds who are in • fome Degree poffeffed as I am. Mr. SPECTATOR, Canniball. I Have no other Means but this to exprefs my 'gainst 'gainst another. My Circumftances are as fol'lows, I have been for five Years laft paft courted by a Gentleman of greater Fortune than I ought to expect, as the Market for Women goes. You muft to be, fure have obferved People who live in that fort of Way, as all their Friends reckon 'it will be a Match, and are marked out by all the World for each other. In this view we have been regarded for fome Time, and I have above thefe three Years loved him tenderly. As he is very careful of his Fortune, I always thought he lived in a near Manner to lay up what he thought was wanting in my Fortune to make up what he might expect in another. Within few Months I have obferved his ⚫ Carriage very much altered, and he has affected a certain Art of getting me alone, and talking with a mighty Profufion of paffionate Words, How I am not to be refifted longer, how irrefiftible his Wifhes are, and the like. As long as I have been acquainted with him, I could not 'on fuch Occafions fay downright to him, You 'know you may make me yours when you please. But the other Night he with great Franknefs and 'Impudence explained to me, that he thought of me only as a Mistress. I answered this Decla⚫ration as it deserved; upon which he only doubled the Terms on which he proposed my Yielding. When my Anger heightned upon him, he told me he was forry he had made fo little Use of the unguarded Hours we had been together fo remote from Company, as indeed, continued he, fo we are at prefent. I flew from him to a neighbouring Gentlewoman's House, and tho' her Husband was in the Room, threw my felf C on a Couch, and burst into a Paffion of Tears. My Friend defired her Husband to leave the 'Room, But, faid he, there is fomething fo ex'traordi ** |