IF the prefent Age is more laudable than those which have gone before it in any fingle Particular, it is in that generous Care which feveral well-difpofed Perfons have taken in the Education of poor Children; and as in these Charity-Schools there is no Place left for the over-weening Fondness of a Parent, the Directors of them would • make them beneficial to the Publick, if they confidered the Precept which I have been thus long inculcating, They might eafily, by well examining the Parts of thofe under their Infpection, make a juft Distribution of them into proper Claffes and Divifions, and allot to them this or that particular Study, as their Genius qualifies them for Profeffions,, Trades, Handicrafts, or Service by Sea or Land.

HOW is this kind of Regulation wanting in the three great Profeffions!

Dr. SOUTH complaining of Perfons who took upon them Holy Orders, tho' altogether unqualified for the Sacred Function, fays fomewhere, that many a Man s runs his Head against a Pulpit, who might have done his Country excellent Service at a Plough-tail.

IN like manner many a Lawyer, who makes but an indifferent Figure at the Bar, might have made a very elegant Waterman, and have fhined at the Temple Stairs, tho' he can get no Business in the Houfe.

I have known a Corn-cutter, who with a right Edu⚫cation would have been an excellent Phyfician.

TO defcend lower, are not our Streets filled with fagacious Draymen, and Politicians in Livieres? We have feveral Taylors of fix Foot high, and meet with many a broad pair of Shoulders that are thrown away upon a Barber, when perhaps at the fame time we fee a pigmy Porter reeling under a Burthen, who might have ma⚫naged a Needle with much Dexterity, or have fnapped his Fingers with great Eafe to himself, and Advantage " to the Publick.

6

THE Spartans, tho' they acted with the Spirit which I am here fpeaking of, carried it much farther than what I propofe: Among them it was not lawful for the Father himself to bring up his Children after his own' Fancy. As foon as they were feven Years old they were all lifted in feveral Companies, and difciplined by the Publick,

K 3

Publick. The old Men were Spectators of their Per'formances, who often raised Quarrels among them, and fet them at Strife with one another, that by thofe early "Discoveries they might fee how their feveral Talents lay, and without any regard to their Quality, difpofe of them accordingly for the Service of the Commonwealth. By this Means Sparta foon became the Mistress of Greece, and famous through the whole World for her Civil and Military Difcipline.

X

IF you think this Letter deferves a Place among your Speculations, I may perhaps trouble you with fome other Thoughts on the fame Subject.

I am, &c.

No 308. Friday, February 22.

-Jam proterva

Fronte petet Lalage maritum.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I

Hor.

felf

Give you this Trouble in order to propofe my to you as an Affiftant in the weighty Cares which you have thought fit to undergo for the publick Good. I am a very great Lover of Women, that is to fay honeftly, and as it is natural to ftudy what onelikes, I have induftriously applied my felf to understand them. The present Circunftance relating to them, is, that I think there wants under you, as SPECTATOR, a Perfon to be diftinguished and vefted in the Power and Quality of a Cenfor on Marriages. I lodge at the Temple, and know, by feeing Women come hither, and afterwards obferving them conducted by their Council to Judges Chambers, that there is a Cuftom in Cafe of making Conveyance of a Wife's Eftate, that he is carried to a Judge's Apartment and left alone with him, to be examined in private whether fhe has not been fright⚫ened or fweetned by her Spoufe into the Act she is going to do, or whether it is of her own free Will. Now

if this be a Method founded upon Reafon and Equity, why should there not be alfo a proper Officer for exa'mining fuch as are entring into the State of Matrimony, 'whether they are forced by Parents on one Side, or moved by Intereft only on the other, to come together, and bring forth fuch aukward Heirs as are the Product ' of half Love and constrained Compliances? There is no Body, though I fay it my felf, would be fitter for this Office than I am: For I am an ugly Fellow of great Wit and Sagacity. My Father was an hail CountrySquire, my Mother a witty Beauty of no Fortune: The Match was made by Confent of my Mother's Parents against her own: and I am the Child of the Rape on the Wedding-Night; fo that I am as healthy and as homely as my Father, but as fprightly and agreeable as my Mother. It would be of great Eafe to you if you would 'ufe me under you, that Matches might be better regula'ted for the future, and we might have no more Children of Squabbles. I fhall not reveal all my Pretenfions till L receive your Answer; and am,

4

SIR,

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Your most humble Servant,
Mules Palfrey.

I Am one of those unfortunate Men within the CityWalls, who am married to a Woman of Quality, but her Temper is fomething different from that of Lady Anvil. My Lady's whole Time and Thoughts are fpent in keeping up to the Mode both in Apparel and Furniture. All the Goods in my Houfe have been changed three times in feven Years. I have had feven Children by her; and by our Marriage Articles she was to have her Apartment new furnished as often as fhe lay in. Nothing in our Houfe is ufeful but that which is fafhionable; my Pewter holds out generally half a Year, my Plate a full Twelve-month; Chairs are not fit to fit in that were made two Years fince, nor Beds 'fit for any thing but to fleep in that have ftood up above that Time. My Dear is of Opinion that an old⚫ fashioned Grate confumes Coals, but gives no Heat: If • The drinks out of Glaffes of last Year, he cannot diftin

guish Wine from Small-Beer. Oh, dear Sir, you may guefs all the reft.

Yours.

P. S. I could bear even all this, if I were not obliged alfo to eat fashionably. I have a plain Stomach, and have a conftant Loathing of whatever comes to my own • Table; for which Reason I dine at the Chop-Houfe three Days a Week: Where the good Company wonders they < never fee you of late. I am fure by your unprejudiced Difcourfes you love Broth better than Soup.

6

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Will's, Feb. 19. Y OU may believe you are a Perfon as much talked of as any Man in Town. I am one of your best Friends in this House, and have laid a Wager you are fo candid a Man and fo honeft Fellow, that you will

print this Letter, tho' it is in Recommendation of a new Paper called The Hiftorian. I have read it carefully, * and find it written with Skill, good Senfe, Modefty, and Fire. You must allow the Town is kinder to you than you deserve; and I doubt not but you have so much Senfe of the World, Change of Humour, and Inftability of all humane Things, as to understand, that the only Way to preferve Favour, is to communicate it to others with Good-Nature and Judgment. You are fo generally read, that what you speak of will be read. <with Men of Senfe and Tafte is all that is wanting to recommend The Hiftorian.

I am, SIR,

This

Your daily Advocate,
Reader Gentle.

I was very much furprifed this Morning, that any one fhould find out my Lodging, and know it fo well, as to come directly to my Clofet-Door, and knock at it, to give me the following Letter. When I came out I opened it, and faw by a very ftrong Pair of Shoes and a warm Coat the Bearer had on, that he walked all the Way to bring it me, tho' dated from York. My Misfortune is that I cannot talk, and I found the Meffenger had fo much

of

of me, that he could think better than fpeak. He had, I obferved, a polite Difcerning hid under a fhrewd Rufticity: He delivered the Paper with a Yorkshire Tone and a Town Leer.

6

Mr. SPECTATOR,

T HE Privilege you have indulged John Trot has proved of very bad Confequence to our illuftrious Affembly, which, befides the many excellent Maxims it is founded upon, is remarkable for the extraordi< nery Decorum always obferved in it. One Inftance of which is that the Carders, (who are always of the < first Quality) never begin to play till the French-Dances are finished, and the Country-Dances begin? But John Trot having now got your Commiffion in his Pocket, (which every one here has a profound Refpect for) has the Affurance to fet up for a MinuitDancer. Not only fo, but he has brought down upon ⚫us the whole Body of the Trots, which are very numerous, with their Auxiliaries the Hoblers and the Skippers, by which Means the Time is fo much wafted, that unless we break all Rules of Government, it must redound to the utter Subverfion of the Brag-Table, the • difcreet Members of which value Time as Fribble's Wife does her Pin-Money. We are pretty well affured that your Indulgence to Trot was only in relation to Country-Dances; however we have deferred the iffuing an • Order of Council upon the Premiffes, hoping to get you to join with us, that Trot, nor any of his Clan, prefume for the future to dance any but Country-Dances, unless a Horn-Pipe upon a Festival-Day. If you will do this ⚫ you will oblige a great many Ladies, and particularly Your most humble Servant. Eliz. Sweepstakes.

I

York, Feb. 16.

Never meant any other than that Mr. Trott fhould confine himself to Country-Dances. And I further direct, that he fhall take out none but his own Relations according to their Nearness of Blood, but any Gentlewoman may take out him.

T

London, Feb, 21.

The SPECTATOR.

Saturday,