an acceptance from the pardon he gives to other mens faults: and the ingenuous fort of men with whom he converfes have fo just a regard for him,' that he rather is an example than a check to their behaviour. For this reafon, as Senecio never pretends to be a man of pleasure before youth, fo young men never fet up for wisdom before Senecio; fo that you never meet, where he is, thofe moniters of converfation who are grave or gay above their years. He never converfes but with followers of Nature and good-fenfe, where all that is uttered is only the effect of a communicable temper, and not of emulation to excel their companions; all defire of fuperiority being a contradiction to that fpirit which makes a just converfation, the very effence of which is mutual good-will. Hence it is, that I take it for a rule, that the natural, and not the acquired man, is the companion. Learn

ing, wit, gallantry, and good-breeding, are all but fubordinate qualities in fociety; and are of no value, but as they are fubfervient to benevolence, and tend to a certain manner of being or appearing equal to the reft of the company; for converfation is compofed of an affembly of men, as they are men, and not as they are diftinguifhed by fortune: therefore he who brings his quality with him into converfation, fhould always pay the reckoning, for he came to receive homage, and not to meet his friends. -But the din about my ears from the clamour of the people I was with this evening, has carried me beyond my intended purpofe; which was, to explain upon the order of Merry Fellows: but I think I may pronounce them, as I heard good Senecio, with a fpice of the wit of the last age, fay, viz. That a Merry Fellow is the Saddelt Fellow in the world.

OVID. MET. L. 2. v. 88.

WHITE'S CHOCOLATE-HOUSE, JULY 25.

treffed, who are willing to give one limb for the better maintenance of the

against that tyrant of human life called Love, and yet there is no help found against his cruelties, or barrier against the inroads he is pleased to make in the mind of man. After this preface, you will expect I am going to give particular inftances of what I have afferted. That expectation cannot be raised too high for the novelty of the hiftory, and manner of life, of the Emperor Aurengezebe, who has refided for fome years in the cities of London and Weftmintter, with the air and mien indeed of his imperial quality, but the equipage and appointment only of a private gentleman. This potentate, for a long feries of time, appeared from the hour of twelve until that of two at a coffee-houfe near the Exchange, and had a feat (though without a canopy) facred to himfelf, where he gave diurnal audiences concerning commerce, politics, tare and tret, ufury and abatement, with all things neceflary for helping the dif

lofophy is confined to the prefent hour, and were defirous to call in the revenue of the next half year to double the enjoyment of this. Long did this growing monarch employ himfelf after this manner: and as alliances are necessary to all great kingdoms, he took particularly the interests of Lewis the Fourteenth into his care and protection. When all mankind were attacking that unhappy monarch, and thofe who had neither valour or wit to oppofe against him would be ftill fhewing their impotent malice, by laying wagers in oppofition to his interefts; Aurengezebe ever took the part of his contemporary, and laid immenfe treasures on his fide, in defence of his important magazine of Tonion. rengezebe alfo had all this while a conftant intelligence with India; and his letters were anfwered in jewels, which he foon made brilliant, and caused to be affixed to his imperial caftor, which he always wears cocked in front, to show

R 2

Au

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his defiance; with a heap of Imperial fnuff in the middle of his ample vifage, to fhow his fagacity. The zealots for this little fpot called Great Britain fell univerfally into this Emperor's policies, and paid homage to his fuperior genius, in forfeiting their coffers to his treafury. But wealth and wisdom are poffeffions too folemn not to give wearinefs to active minds, without the relief (in vacant hours) of wit and love, which are the proper amufements of the powerful and the wife: this emperor therefore, with great regularity, every day at five in the afternoon, leaves his money-changers, his publicans, and little hoarders of wealth, to their low purfuits, and afcends his chariot to drive to Will's; where the taste is refined, and a relish given to mens poffeffions, by a polite tkill in gratifying their paffions and appetites. There it is that the Emperor has learned to live and to love, and not, like a mifer, to gaze only on his ingots or his treafures; but, with a nobler fatisfaction, to live the admiration of others, for his fplendor and happiness in being master of them. But a prince is no more to be his own caterer in his love than in his food; therefore Aurengezebe has ever in waiting two purveyors for his dishes, and his wenchies for his retired hours, by whom the fcene of his diverfion is prepared in the following manner.

There is near Covent Garden a street known by the name of Drury, which, before the days of Chriftianity, was purchafed by the Queen of Paphos, and is the only part of Great Britain where the tenure of vaffalage is ftill in being. All that long courfe of building is under particular diftricts or ladyships, after the manner of lordships in other parts, over which matrons of known abilities prefide, and have, for the fupport of their age and infirmities, certain taxes paid out of the rewards of the amorous labours of the young. This feraglio of Great Britain is difpofed into convenient alleys and apartments, and every houfe, from the cellar to the garret, inhabited by nymphs of different orders, that perfons of every rank may be accommo dated with an immediate confort to allay their flames, and partake of their cares. Here it is, that when Aurengezebe thinks fit to give a loose to dalliance, the purveyors prepare the entertainment; and what makes it more au

guft is, that every perfon concerned in the interlude has his fet part, and the Prince fends before-hand word what he defigns to fay, and directs alfo the very anfwer which fhall be made to him.

It has been before hinted that this Emperor has a continual commerce with India; and it is to be noted, that the largeft ftone that rich earth has produ ced, is in our Aurengezebe's poffeffion.

But all things are now difpofed for his reception. At his entrance into the Seraglio, a fervant delivers him his beaver of state and love, on which is fixed this inestimable jewel as his diadem. When he is feated, the purveyors, Pandarus and Nuncio, marching on each fide of the matron of the houfe, introduce her into his prefence. In the midft of the room, they bow all together to the diadem.

When the matron

Whoever thou art, as thy awful afpect fpeaks thee a man of power, be propitious to this manfion of love, and let not the feverity of thy wifdom difdain, that by the reprefentation of naked innocence, or paftoral figures, we revive in thee the memory at least of that power of Venus, to which all the wife and the brave are fome part of their lives devoted.' Aurengezebe confents by a nod, and they go out backward.

After this, an unhappy nymph, who is to be fuppofed juft efcaped from the hands of a ravisher, with her treffes difhevelled, runs into the room with a dagger in her hand, and falls before the Emperor.

Pity! oh, pity, whoever thou art, an unhappy virgin, whom one of thy train has robbed of her innocence; her innocence, which was all her portion

-Or rather, let me die like the memorable Lucretia.' Upon which the ftabs herself. The body is immediately examined after the manner of our coroners. Lucretia recovers by a cup of right Naatz; and the matron, who is her next relation, ftops all procefs at law.

This unhappy affair is no fooner over, but a naked mad woman breaks into the room, calls for her Duke, her Lord, her Emperor. As foon as the fpies Aurengezebe, the object of all her fury and love, the calls for petticoats, is ready to fink with fhame, and is dressed

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apartments; then proceeds through the crowd, among whom he throws medals fhaped like half-crowns, and returns to his chariot.

This being all that passed the last day in which Aurengezebe visited the woman's apartment, I confulted Pacolet concerning the foundation of fuch ftrange amusements in old age: to which he answered You may remember, when I gave you an account of my good fortune in being drowned on the ⚫ thirtieth day of my human life, I told you of the difafters I fhould otherwise have met with before I arrived at the • end of my Stamen, which was fixty years. I may now add an obfervation to you, that all who exceed that period, except the latter part of it is ' spent in the exercise of virtue and con<templation of futurity, muft neceffarily fall into an indecent old age; becaufe, with regard to all the enjoyments of the years of vigour and manhood, childhood returns upon them: and as infants ride on sticks, build houses in dirt, and make fhips in gutters, by a faint idea of things they are to act hereafter; fo old men play the lovers, potentates, and emperors, for the decaying image of the more perfect performances of their

ftronger years: therefore be fure to in fert Efculapius and Aurengezebe in your next bill of mortality of the metaphorically defunct."

WILL'S COFFEE-HOUSE, JULY 24.

As foon as I came hither this evening, no less than ten people produced the following poem, which they all reported was fent to each of them by the penny-poft from an unknown hand. All the battle-writers in the room were in debate, who could be the author of a piece fo martially written; and every body applauded the addrefs and kill of the author, in calling it a postscript: it being the nature of a poftfcript to contain fomething very material which was forgotten, or not clearly expreffed in the letter itself. Thus the verfes being occafioned by a march without beat of drum, and that circumftance being no ways taken notice of in any of the stanzas, the author calls it a poftfcript; not that it is a poftfcript, but figuratively, because it wants a poftfcript. Cominon writers, when what they mean is not expreffed in the book itfelf, fupply it by a preface: but a pofticript feems to me the more just way of apology; because otherwife a man makes an excufe before the offence is committed. All the heroic poets were guessed at for it's author; but though he could not find in Hudibras, which spoke his qualifiout his name, yet one repeated a couplet cations

I' th' midst of all this warlike rabble,
Crowdero march'd, expert and able.

occafion: for to write, without difcoverThe poem is admirably fuited to the ing your meaning, bears a juft refemblance to marching without beat of drum.

ON THE MARCH TO TOURNAY WITHOUT BEAT OF DRUM..

THE BRUSSELS POSTSCRIPT.

COULD I with plaineft words exprefs

That great man's wonderful addrefs, His penetration, and his tow'ring thought; It would the gazing world furprize,

To fee one man at all times wife,
To view the wonders he with ease has wrought.

Refining schemes approach his mind,
Like breezes of a fouthern wind,

To

To temperate a fultry glorious day;
Whole fannings, with an ufeful pride,
It's mighty heat do foftly guide,
And, having clear'd the air, glide filently away.
Thus his immensity of thought
Is deeply form'd, and gently wrought,
His temper always foftening life's difeafe;
That Fortune, when the does intend
-To rudely frown, the turns his friend,
Admires his judgment, and applauds his cafe.
His great addrefs in this defign,
Does now, and will for ever fhine,
And wants a Waller but to do him right;
The whole amufement was fo ftrong,
Like Fate, he doom'd them to be wrong,
And Tournay's took by a peculiar flight.
Thus, Madam, all mankind behold
Your vaft afcendent, not by gold,
But by your wisdom and your pious life;
Your aim no more than to destroy
That which does Europe's ease annoy,
And fuperfede a reign of fhame and ftrife,

ST. JAMES'S COFFEE-HOUSE, JULY 24. My brethren of the quill, the ingenious fociety of News-writers, having with great fpirit and elegance already informed the world, that the town of Tournay capitulated on the twentyeighth instant; there is nothing left for me to fay, but to congratulate the good company here, that we have reafon to hope for an opportunity of thanking Mr. Withers next winter in this place,

for the fervice he has done his country. No man deferves better of his friends than that gentleman, whose distinguishing character it is, that he gives his orders with the familiarity, and enjoys his fortune with the generolity, of a fellowfoldier. His Grace the Duke of Ar gyle had alfo an eminent part in the reduction of this important place. That illuftrious youth difcovers the peculiar turn of spirit and greatnefs of foul, which only make men of high birth and quality useful to their country; and confiders nobility as an imaginary diftinction, unless accompanied with the prac tice of thofe generous virtues by which it ought to be obtained. But that our military glory is arrived at it's prefent height, and that men of all ranks fo paffionately affect their fhare in it, is certainly owing to the merit and conduct of our glorious general: for as the great fecret in chemistry, though not in nature, has occafioned many useful difcoveries; and the fantaftic notion of being wholly difinterefted in friendship has made men do a thoufand generous actions above themselves; fo, though the prefent grandeur and fame of the Duke of Marlborough is a station of glory to which no one hopes to arrive, yet all carry their actions to a higher pitch, by having that great example laid before them.

WHITE'S CHOCOLATE-HOUSE, JULY 27.

Y Sir Thomas has com

Mmunicated to me his letters from

Epfom of the twenty fifth inftant, which give, in general, a very good account of the prefent pofture of affairs in that place; but that the tranquillity and correfpondence of the company begins to be interrupted by the arrival of Sir Taffety Trippet, a fortune-hunter, whofe follies are too grofs to give diverfion; and whofe vanity is too stupid to let him be fenfible that he is a public offence. If people will indulge a fplenetic humour, it is impoffible to be at eafe, when fuch creatures as are the fcandal of our

Juv. SAT. 1. v. 84, 85.

fpecies fet up for gallantry and adventures. It will be much more eafy therefore to laugh Sir Taffety into reafon, than convert him from his foppery by any serious contempt, I knew a gentleman that made it a maxim to open his doors, and ever run into the way of bullies, to avoid their infolence. This rule will hold as well with coxcombs: they are never mortified, but when they fee you receive and defpife them; otherwife they reft affured, that it is your ig norance makes them out of your good graces; or that it is only want of admittance prevents their being amiable where they are fhunned and avoided. But Sir Taffety is a fop of fo fanguine

a com

a complexion, that I fear it will be very hard for the fair-one he at prefent purfues to get rid of the chace, without being fo tired, as, for her own eafe, to fall into the mouth of the mongrel flie runs from. But the hiftory of Sir Taffety is as pleafant as his character.

It happened, that when he first fet up for a fortune-hunter, he chofe Tunbridge for the scene of action, where were at that time two fifters upon the fame defign. The knight believed of course the elder must be the better prize; and confequently makes all his fail that way. People that want fenfe do always in an égregious manner want modelty, which made our hero triumph in making his amour as public as was poffible. The adored lady was no lefs vain of his public addreffes. An attorney with

one caufe is not half so restless as a woman with one lover. Wherever they met, they talked to each other aloud, chofe each other partner at balls, faluted at the moft confpicuous parts of the fervice of the church, and practifed, in honour of each other, all the remark able particularities which are ufual for perfons who admire one another, and are contemptible to the reft of the world. These two lovers feemed as much made for each other as Adam and Eve, and all pronounced it a match of Nature's ewn making; but the night before the nuptials, fo univerfally approved, the younger fifter, envious of the good fortune even of her fifter, who had been prefent at most of their interviews, and had an equal tafte for the charms of a fop, as there are a fet of women made for that order of men; the younger, I fay, unable to fee fo rich a prize pafs by her, difcovered to Sir Taffety, that a coquet air, much tongue, and three fuits, was all the portion of his mistress. His love vanished that moment, himself and equipage the next morning. It is uncertain where the lover has been ever fince engaged; but certain it is, he has not appeared in his character as a follower

of love and fortune until he arrived at Epfom, where there is at prefent a young lady of youth, beauty, and fortune, who has alarmed all the vain and the impertinent to infeft that quarter. At the head of this affembly, Sir Taffety fhines in the brightest manner, with all the accomplishments which ufually enfnare the heart of a woman; with this particular merit, which often is of great fer

GRECIAN COFFEE-HOUSE, JULY 27.

IN the feveral capacities I bear, of Aftrologer, Civilian, and Phyfician, I have with great application ftudied the public emolument: to this end ferve all my lucubrations, fpeculations, and whatever other labours I undertake, whether nocturnal or diurnal. On this motive am I induced to publifh a never-failing medicine for the fplcen: my experience in this diftemper came from a very remarkable cure on my ever worthy friend Tom Spindle, who, through exceffive gaiety, had exhaufted that natural ftock of wit and fpirits he had long been bleffed with: he was funk and flattened to the loweft degree imaginable, fitting whole hours over the Book of Martyrs and Pilgrim's Progrefs; his other contemplations never rifing higher than the colour of his urine, or the regularity of his pulfe. In this condition I found him, accompanied by the learned Dr. Drachm, and a good old nurfe. Drachm had prefcribed magazines of herbs, and mines of steel. I foon discovered the malady, and defcanted on the nature of it, until I convinced both the patient and his nurfe, that the spleen is not to be cured by medicine, but by poetry. Apollo, the author of phyfic, thone with diffufive rays, the beft of poets as well as of phyficians; and it is in this double capacity that I have made my way; and have found fweet, eafy, flowing.numbers, are oft fuperior to our noblest medicines. When the fpirits are low, and nature funk, the mufe, with fprightly and harmonious notes, gives an unex pected turn with a grain of poetry; which I prepare without the ufe of iner

cury,