Under a Plantan, yet methought lefs fair, Than that fmooth watry Image: back I turn'd, Part of my Soul I feek thee and thee claim -With that thy gentle hand Seiz'd mine, I yielded, and from that time fee . No 326. Friday, March 14 Inclufam Dan aen turris ahenea Si non Mr. SPECTATOR, Hor. OUR Correfpondent's Letter relating to Fortune You Hunters, and your fubfequent' Difcourfe upon it, have given me Encouragement to fend you a State of my Cafe, by which you will fee, that the Matter complained of is a common Grievance both to City and Country. I am a Country Gentleman of between five and fix ⚫ thousand a Year. It is my Misfortune to have a very fine Park and an only Daughter; upon which account I have been fo plagu'd with Dear-Stealers and Fops, that for thefe four Years paft I have fcarce en joy'd ، ، joy'd a Moment's Reft. I look upon myself to be in a State of War, and am forc'd to keep as conftant watch in my Seat, as a Governour would do that commanded a Town on the Frontier of an Enemy's Country. I have indeed pretty well fecur'd my Park, having for this 'purpose provided my felf of four Keepers, who are lefthanded, and handle a Quarter-Staff beyond any other Fellows in the Country. And for the Guard of my House, • befides a Band of Penfioner-Matrons and an old Maiden Relation, whom I keep on constant Duty, I have Blunderbuffes always charged, and Fox-Gins planted in private Places about my Garden, of which I have given frequent notice in the Neighbourhood; yet fo it is, that in fpite of all my Care, I fhall every now and then have a faucy Rafcal ride by reconnoitring (as I think you call it) under my Windows, as fprucely dreft as if he were going to a Ball. I am aware of this way of attacking a Mistress on Horfeback, having heard that it is a common Practice in Spain; and have therefore taken care to re< move my Daughter from the Road-fide of the Houfe, and to lodge her next the Garden. But to cut fhort my Story; what can a Man do after all? I durft not ftand for Member of Parliament laft Election, for fear of fome ill Confequence from my being off of my Poft. What I would therefore defire of you, is, to promote a Project I have fet on foot; and upon which I have writ to fome ' of my Friends; and that is, that care may be taken to fecure our Daughters by Law, as well as our Deer: and and that fome honeft Gentleman of a publick Spirit, 'would move for Leave to bring in a Bill For the batter preferving of the Female Game. ، I am, Your humble Servant. Mr, SPECTATOR, Mile-End Green, March 6, 1711-12. ERE is a young Man walks by our Door every Day about the Dusk of the Evening. He looks HE ، up at my Window, as if to fee me; and if I fteal to : wards wards it to peep at him, he turns another way, and looks frightned at finding what he was looking for. The Air is very cold; and pray let him know that if he knocks at the Door, he will be carry'd to the Parlour Fire, and I ⚫ will come down foon after, and give him an opportunity to break his Mind. I am, Your humble Servant, Mary Comfitt. 6 IF I obferve he cannot fpeak, I'll give him time to recover himself, and ask him how he does. Dear SIR, 'I I BEG you to print this without delay, and by the first Opportunity give us the natural Caufes of Longing in Women; or put me out of fear that my Wife will one time or other be deliver'd of fomething as monftrous as any thing that has yet appeared to the World; for they fay the Child is to bear a Refemblance of what was defir'd by the Mother. I have been marry'd upwards of fix Years, have had four Children, and my Wife is now big with the fifth. The Expences fhe has put me to in procuring what the has longed for during her Pregnancy with them, would not only have handfomly defray'd the Charges of the Month, but of their Education too; her Fancy being fo exorbitant for the firft Year or two, as not to confine it felf to the ufual Objects of Eatables and Drinkables, but running out after Equipage and Furniture, and the like Extravagances. To trouble you only with a few of them: When the was with Child of Tom, my eldest Son, fhe came home one day juft fainting, and told me he had been vifiting a 'Relation, whofe Husband had made her a Prefent of a Chariot and a stately Pair of Horfes; and that fhe was pofitive fhe could not breathe a Week longer, unless the took the Air in the Fellow to it of her own within that time: This, rather than lofe an Heir, I readily comply'd with. Then the Furniture of her beft Room must be 6 ⚫ inftantly inftantly changed, or the fhould mark the Child with fome of the frightful Figures in the old-fashion'd Tapeftry. Well, the Upholsterer was called, and her Longing fav'd that bout. When fhe went with Molly, fhe had fix'd her Mind upon a new Set of Plate, and as much China as would have furnished an India Shop: These alfo I chearfully granted, for fear of being Father to an Indian Pagod. Hitherto I found her Demands rofe upon every Conceffion; and had she gone on, I had been ruin'ed: But by good Fortune, with her third, which was Peggy, the Height of her Imagination came down to the • Corner of a Venifon Pafty, and brought her once even ⚫ upon her knees to gnaw off the Ears of a Pig from the Spir. The Gratifications of her Palate were eafily prefer• red to thofe of her Vanity; and fometimes a Partridge or a Quail, a Wheat-Ear or the Pestle of a Lark, were chearfully purchased; nay, I could be contented tho' I ⚫ were to feed her with green Pease in April, or Cherries in May. But with the Babe fhe now goes, fhe is turned Girl again, and fallen to eating of Chalk, pretending 'twill make the Child's Skin white; and nothing will • ferve her but I must bear her Company, to prevent its having a Shade of my Brown: In this however I have ventur'd to deny her. No longer ago than yesterday, as we were coming to Town, the faw a parcel of Crows fo heartily at Breakfast upon a piece of Horfe flesh, that • fhe had an invincible Defire to partake with them, and (to my infinite furprize) begged the Coachman to cut her off a Slice as if 'twere for himfelf, which the Fellow did; and as foon as fhe came home fhe fell to it with fuch • an Appetite, that the feemed rather to devour than eat it. • What her next Sally will be, I cannot guefs: but in the ' mean time my Request to you is, that if there be any way to come at thefe wild unaccountable Rovings of Imagination by Reafon and Argument, you'd speedily afford us your Affiftance. This exceeds the Grievance ' of Pin-Money, and I think in every Settlement there ought to be a Claufe inferted, that the Father fhould be anfwerable for the Longings of his Daughter. But I LET me know whether you think the next Child will love Horfes as much as Molly does China-Ware. T N° 327. Saturday, March 15. · Major rerum mihi nafcitur ordo. Virg. E were told in the foregoing Book how the evil W Spirit practifed upon Eve as fhe lay sfleep, in order to infpire her with Thoughts of Vanity, Pride and Ambition. The Author, who fhews a wonderful Art throughout his whole Poem, in preparing the Reader for the feveral Occurrences that arife in it, founds upon the above-mention'd Circumftance, the first Part of the fifth Book. Adam upon his awaking finds Eve Aill asleep, with an unufual Difcomposure in her Looks. The Pofture in which he regards her, is defcrib'd with a Tenderness not to be exprefs'd, as the Whisper with which he awakens her, is the fofteft that ever was convey'd to a Lover's Ear. His wonder was, to find unmaker'd Eve Mild |