"old woman in tawdry filk, and dreffed out event

beyond the fashion. That is mifs Biddy Ever"" green. Mifs Biddy, it feems, has money, and she "confiders that money was never fo fcarce as it is "now, fhe feems refolved to keep what he has to "herself. She is ugly enough you fee; yet I af"fure you, fhe has refufed feveral offers to my "own knowledge, within this twelvemonth. Let

me fee, three gentlemen from Ireland who ftudy "the law, two waiting captains, her doctor, and a "Scotch preacher, who had like to have carried "her off. All her time is paffed between sickness "and finery. Thus fhe fpends the whole week in a "close chamber, with no other company but her "monkey, her apothecary, and cat, and comes dreffed "out to the Park every Sunday, to fhew her airs, to get new lovers, to catch a new cold, and to "make new work for the doctor.

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"There goes Mrs. Roundabout, I mean the fat lady in the luteftring trollopee. Between you and "I, the is but a cutler's wife. See how fhe's dreffed as fine as hands and pins can make her, while her "two marriageable daughters, like bunters, in ftuff gowns, are now taking fix pennyworh of tea at "the White-conduit-house. Odious pufs! how the "waddles along, with her train two yards behind her! "She puts me in mind of my lord Bantam's Indian fheep, which are obliged to have their monftrous "tails trundled along in a go-cart. For all her airs,

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it goes to her husband's heart to fee four yards of "good luteftring wearing against the ground, like "one of his knives on a grindstone. To fpeak my "mind, cousin Jeffery, I never liked tails; for fup"pofe a young fellow fhould be rude, and the lady "Thould offer to ftep back in a fright, instead of re"tiring, the treads upon her train, and falls fairly " on her back; and then you know, coufin, - her cloaths may be spoiled.

"Ah!

"Ah! mifs Mazzard! I knew we fhould not "mifs her in the Park; fhe in the monstrous Pruf"fian bonnet. Mifs, though fo very fine, was bred "a milliner, and might have had fome cuftom if she "had minded her bufinefs; but the girl was fond of finery, and inftead of dreffing her customers, laid "out all her goods in adorning herfelf. Every new 66 gown fhe put on impaired her credit; fhe ftill, "however, went on improving her appearance, "and leffening her little fortune, and is now, you "fee, become a belle and a bankrupt."

My coufin was proceeding in her remarks, which were interrupted by the approach of the very lady fhe had been fo freely defcribing. Mifs had perceived her at a diftance, and approached to falute her. I found, by the warmth of the two ladies proteftations, that they had been long intimate efteemed friends and acquaintance. Both were so pleased at this happy rencounter, that they were refolved not to part for the day. So we all croffed the park together, and I faw them in a hackney coach at the gate of St. James's. I could not, however, help obferving, "That they are generally moft ridicu"lous themselves, who are apt to fee most ridicule in "" others."

SOME PARTICULARS RELATIVE TO

CHARLES XII.

NOT COMMONLY KNOWN.

SIR,

Stockholm.

I CANNOT refift your folicitations, though it is poffible I fhall be unable to fatisfy your curiofity.

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The

The polite of every country feem to have but one character. A gentleman of Sweden differs but little, except in trifles, from one of any other country. It is among the vulgar we are to find thofe diftinctions which characterize a people, and from them it is that I take my picture of the Swedes.

Though the Swedes in general appear to languifh under oppreffion, which often renders others wicked, or of malignant difpofitions, it has not, however, the fame influence upon them, as they are faithful, civil, and incapable of atrocious crimes. Would you believe that in Sweden highway robberies are not fo much as heard of? for my part I have not in the whole country feen a gibbet or a gallows. They pay an infinite respect to their ecclefiaftics, whom they fuppofe to be the privy counfellors of Providence, who, on their part, turn this credulity to their own advantage, and manage their parishioners as they please. In general, however, they feldom abufe their fovereign authority. Hearkened to as oracles, regarded as the difpenfers of eternal rewards and punifhments, they readily influence their hearers into juftice, and make them practical philofophers without the pains of ftudy.

As to their perfons they are perfectly well made, and the men particularly have a very engaging air. The greateft part of the boys which I faw in the country had very white hair. They were as beautiful as Cupids, and there was fomething open and entirely happy in their little chubby faces. The girls, on the contrary, have neither fuch fair, nor fuch even complexions, and their features are much lefs delicate, which is a circumftance different from that of almost every other country. Befides this, it is obferved that the women are generally afflicted with the itch, for which Scania is particularly remarkable. I had an inftance of this in one of the inns on

the

the road. The hoftefs was one of the most beautiful women I have ever feen; fhe had fo fine a complexion, that I could not avoid admiring it. But what was my furprize, when the opened her bofom in order to fuckle her child, to perceive that feat of delight all covered with this difagreeable diftemper. The careless manner in which the expofed to our eyes fo disgusting an object, fufficiently teftifies that they regard it as no very extraordinary malady, and feem to take no pains to conceal it. Such are the remarks, which probably you may think trifling enough, I have made in my journey to Stockholm, which, to take it all together, is a large, beautiful, and even a populous city,

The arfenal appears to me one of its greatest curiofities; it is an handfome fpacious building, but however fcantily fupplied with the implements of war. To recompence this defect, they have almoft filled it with trophies, and other marks of their former military glory. I faw there feveral chambers filled with Danish, Saxon, Polish, and Ruffian standards. There was at leaft enough to fuffice half a dozen armies; but new ftandards are more eafily made than new armies can be enlifted. I faw, befides, fome very rich furniture, and fome of the crown jewels of great value; but what principally engaged my attention, and touched me with paffing melancholy, were the bloody, yet precious fpoils of the two greatest heroes the North ever produced. What I mean are the cloaths in which the great Guftavus Adolphus, and the intrepid Charles XII. died, by a fate not unusual to kings. The first, if I remember, is a fort of a buff waistcoat, made antique fashion, very plain, and without the leaft ornaments; the fecond, which was even more remarkable, confifted only of a coarfe blue cloath coat, a large hat of lefs value, a fhirt of coarfe linen, large boots, and buff

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buff gloves made to cover a great part of the arm. His faddle, his piftols, and his fword, have nothing in them remarkable, the meanest foldier was in this refpect no way inferior to his gallant monarch. I fhall ufe this opportunity to give you fome particulars of the life of a man already fo well known, which I had from perfons who knew him when a child, and who now, by a fate not unusual to courtiers, spend a life of poverty and retirement, and talk over in raptures all the actions of their old victorious king, companion and master.

Courage and inflexible conftancy formed the bafis of this monarch's character. In his tenderest years he gave inftances of both. When he was yet fcarcely feven years old, being at dinner with the queen his mother, intending to give a bit of bread to a great dog he was fond of, this hungry animal fnapt too greedily at the morfel, and bit his hand in a terrible manner. The wound bled copioufly, but our young hero, without offering to cry, or taking the leaft notice of his misfortune, endeavoured to conceal what had happened, left his dog fhould be brought into trouble, and wrapped his bloody hand in the napkin. The queen perceiving that he did not eat, asked him the reafon. He contented himfelf with replying, that he thanked her, he was not hungry. They thought he was taken ill, and fo repeated their folicitations. But all was in vain, though the poor child was already grown pale with the lofs of blood. An officer who attended at table, at laft perceived it; for Charles would fooner have died than betrayed his dog, who he knew intended no injury.

At another time when in the fmall-pox, and his cafe appeared dangerous, he grew one day very uneafy in his bed, and a gentleman who watched him, defirous of covering him up clofe, received from the patient a violent box on his ear. Some hours after obferving