• will please, Madam, to be upon your guard, and take • all the neceffary Precautions against one who is amiable you know he is enamoured.

to you

before

I am,

Madam,

Your moft obedient Servant.

STREPHON makes great Progrefs in this Lady's good Graces, for most Women being actuated by some little Spirit of Pride and Contradiction, he has the good Effects of both thofe Motives by this Covert-Way of Courtship. He received a Meffage Yefterday from Damon in the following Words, fuperfcribed With Speed.

goes well; she is very angry at me, and I

Adare fay hates me in earneft. It is a good time to

• vifit.

Yours.

THE Comparison of Strephon's Gaiety to Damon's Languifhment, ftrikes her Imagination with a Profpect of very agreeable Hours with fuch a Man as the former, and Abhorrence of the infipid Prospect with one like the latter. To know when a Lady is displeased with another, is to know the best time of advancing your felf. This method of two Perfons playing in each other's Hand is fo dangerous, that I cannot tell how a Woman could be able to withstand fuch a Siege. The Condition of Gloriana, I am afraid is irretrievable, for Strephon has had fo many Opportunities of pleafing without fufpicion, that all which is left for her to do is to bring him, now fhe is advised, to an Explanation of his Paffion, and beginning again, if the can conquer the kind Sentiments The has already conceived for him. When one fhews himself a Creature to be avoided, the other proper to be fled to for Succour, they have the whole Woman between them, and can occafionally rebound her Love and Hatred from one to the other, in fuch a manner as to keep her at a distance from all the reft of the World, and caft Lots for the Conqueft.

N. B. I

N. B. I have many other Secrets which concern the Empire of Love, but I confider that while 1 alarm my Women, I inftruct my Men.

T

Eft Ulubris, animus fi te non deficit æquus.

Hor. Ep. 11. 1. 1. v. 30.

'Tis not the Place Difguft or Pleasure brings:
From our own Mind our Satisfaction Springs.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

:A

London, June 24.

Man who has it in his Power to choose his own Company, would certainly be much to blame fhould he not, to the beft of his Judgment, take fuch as are of a Temper moft fuitable to his own; and where that Choice is wanting, or where a • Man is mistaken in his Choice, and yet under a Ne⚫ ceffity of continuing in the fame Company, it will certainly be his Intereft to carry himself as easily as poffible.

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IN this I am fenfible I do but repeat what has been faid a thousand times, at which however I think no Body has any Title to take Exception, but they who never failed to put this in Practice-Not to ufe any longer Preface, this being the Seafon of the Year in which great Numbers of all forts of People retire from this Place of Business and Pleasure to Country Solitude, I think it not improper to advise them to take with them as great a Stock of Good-humour as they can; for tho' a Country-Life is described as the most plea'fant of all others, and though it may in truth be fo, yet it is fo only to those who know how to enjoy Leifure and Retirement.

1

AS for those who can't live without the constant ⚫ helps of Business or Company, let them confider, that

⚫ in the Country there is no Exchange, there are no Playhouses, no Variety of Coffee-houses, nor many of those other Amusements, which ferve here as fo many Reliefs from the repeated Occurrences in their own Families; but that there the greateft Part of their Time muft be fpent within themfelves, and confequently it behoves them to confider how agreeable it will be to ⚫ them before they leave this dear Town.

I remember, Mr. SPECTATOR, we were very well entertained, laft Year, with the Advices you gave us 'from Sir ROGER'S Country Seat; which I the rather ⚫ mention, becaufe 'tis almost impoffible not to live pleafantly, where the Mafter of a Family is fuch a one as 'you there defcribe your Friend, who cannot therefore (I mean as to his domeftick Character) be too often ' recommended to the Imitation of others. How amia'ble is that Affability and Benevolence with which he treats his Neighbours, and every one, even the meanest of his own Family! And yet how feldom imitated? instead of which we commonly meet with ill-natured Expoftulations, Noife, and Chidings— And this I hinted, becaufe the Humour and Difpofition of the Head, is what chicfly influences all the other Parts of a Family.

AN Agreement and kind Correfpondence between Friends and Acquaintance, is the greatest Pleasure of Life. This is an undoubted Truth, and yet any Man ' who judges from the Practice of the World, will be al'most perfuaded to believe the contrary; for how can we fuppofe People should be fo industrious to make themfelves uneafy? What can engage them to entertain and foment Jealoufies of one another upon every the least • Occafion? Yet fo it is, there are People who (as it 'fhould feem) delight in being troublefom and vexatious, who (as Tully fpeaks) Mira funt alacritate ad litigandum, Have a certain Chearfulness in wrangling. And thus it happens, that there are very few Families in which there are not Feuds and Animofities, tho' 'tis every one's Intereft, there more particularly, to avoid • 'em, because there (as I would willingly hope) no one gives another Uneafinefs, without feeling some share of ' it― But I am gone beyond what I defigned, and had

⚫ almost

6

almost forgot what I chiefly proposed; which was, 'barely to tell you how hardly we who pafs most of our • Time in Town difpenfe with a long Vacation in the Country, how uneafy we grow to our felves and to one another when our Conversation is confined, infomuch that by Michaelmas, 'tis odds but we come to. downright fquabbling, and make as free with one another to our Faces, as we do with the rest of the World behind their Backs. After I have told you this, I am to defire that you would now and then give us a Lesson of Good-humour, a Family-Piece, which fince we are • all very fond of you, I hope may have some Influence 6 upon us.

AFTER these plain Obfervations, give me leave to give you an Hint of what a Set of Company of my Acquaintance, who are now gone into the Country, and have the Ufe of an abfent Nobleman's Seat, have fettled among themselves, to avoid the Inconveniencies above-mentioned. They are a Collection of ten or twelve, of the fame good Inclination towards each ⚫ other, but of very different Talents and Inclinations : • From hence they hope, that the Variety of their Tem" pers will only create Variety of Pleasures. But as there

6

always will arife, among the fame People, either for 'want of Diversity of Objects, or the like Caufes, a certain Satiety, which may grow into Ill-humour or Difcontent, there is a large Wing of the Houfe which they defign to employ in the Nature of an Infirmary. Whoever fays a peevish thing, or acts any thing which betrays a Sournefs or Indifpofition to Company, is immediately to be conveyed to his Chambers in the Infirmary; from whence he is not to be relieved, till by his Manner of Submiffion, and the Sentiments expref• fed in his Petition for that Purpose, he appears to the Majority of the Company to be again fit for Society. You are to understand, that all ill-natured Words or uneafy Gestures are fufficient Caufe for Banishment; fpeaking impatiently to Servants, making a Man repeat what he says, or any thing that betrays Inattention or Dishumour, are alfo criminal without Reprieve: But it ' is provided, that whoever observes the ill-natured Fit ⚫ coming upon himself, and voluntarily retires, fhall be

• received

' received at his return from the Infirmary with the higheft Marks of Efteem. By these and other whole⚫ fom Methods it is expected that if they cannot cure one another, yet at least they have taken care that the Ill-humour of one fhall not be troublesome to the reft of the Company. There are many other Rules which the Society have established for the Prefervation of their Eafe and Tranquillity, the Effects of which, with the Incidents that arife among them, fhall be communicated to you from Time to Time for the publick Good, by,

Frigora mitefcunt Zephyris; Ver proterit Eftas
Interitura, fimul

Pomifer Autumnus fruges effuderit; & mox

Bruma recurrit iners.

Hor. Od. 7. 1. 4. v. 9.

The Cold grows foft with Western Gales,
The Summer over Spring prevails,

But yields to Autumn's fruitful Rain,
As this to Winter Storms and Hails ;
Each Lofs the bafting Moon repairs again.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

TH

Sir W. TEMPLE.

HERE is hardly any thing gives me a more fenfible Delight, than the Enjoyment of a cool ftill Evening after the Uneafinefs of a hot fultry Day. Such a one I paffed not long ago, which made me rejoice, when the Hour was come for the Sun to fet, that I might enjoy the Freshness of the Evening in my Garden, which then affords me the plea• fantest Hours I pafs in the whole Four and twenty. I