'ever at a distance from the most beautiful Ob'ject my Eyes ever beheld. It is thus alfo fhe ' deals with all Mankind, and you must make Love 'to her, as you would conquer the Sphinx, by poBut were she like other Women, and that there were any talking to her, how con'ftant must the Pleasure of that Man be, who 'could converfe with a Creature--But, after all,

fing her.

с

you may be sure her Heart is fixed on fome one ' or other; and yet I have been credibly informed; 'but who can believe half that is faid! After she had done speaking to me, fhe put her Hand to 'her Bofom and adjusted her Tucker. Then she caft her Eyes a little down, upon my beholding ' her too earnestly. They fay fhe fings excellently: her Voice in her ordinary Speech has fomething ' in it inexpreffibly fweet. You must know I dined 'with her at a publick Table the Day after I first ‹ saw her, and she helped me to fome Tanfy in the "Eye of all the Gentlemen in the Country: She ' has certainly the finest Hand of any Woman in the World. I can affure you, Sir, were you to 'behold her, you would be in the fame Condition; for as her Speech is Mufick, her Form is Angelick. But I find I grow irregular while I am 'talking of her; but indeed it would be Stupidity 'to be unconcerned at fuch Perfection. Oh the

'excellent Creature! fhe is as inimitable to all 'Women, as she is inacceffible to all Men.'

I found my Friend begin to rave, and infenfibly led him towards the Houfe, that we might be joined by fome other Company; and am convinced that the Widow is the fecret Caufe of all that Inconfif

tency which appears in fome Parts of my Friend's Difcourfe; though he has fo much Command of himself as not directly to mention her, yet according to that of Martial, which one knows not how to render into English, Dum tacet hanc loquitur. I fhall end this Paper with that whole Epigram, which represents with much Humour my honest Friend's Condition.

Quicquid agit Rufus, nihil eft, nifi Nævia Rufo,
Si gaudet, fi flet, fi tacet, hanc loquitur:
Canat, propinat, pofcit, negat, annuit, una eft
Nævia; Si non fit Nævia, mutus erit.
Scriberet hefternâ Patri cùm Luce Salutem,
Navia lux, inquit, Nævia numen, ave.

Let Rufus weep, rejoice, stand, fit, or walk,
Still he can nothing but of Navia talk;
Let him eat, drink, afk Queftions, or difpute,
Still he must speak of Navia, or be mute,
He writ to his Father, ending with this Line,
I am, my lovely Navia, ever thine.

fations.

CHAP. IX.

THE COVERLEY ECONOMY.

ECONOMY in our Affairs has the fame Effect upon our Fortunes which Good-breeding has upon our ConverThere is a pretending Behaviour in both Cafes, which, instead of making Men efteemed, renders them both miferable and contemptible. We had Yesterday at Sir ROGER's a Set of Country Gentlemen who dined with him: and after Dinner the Glafs was taken, by those who pleased, pretty plentifully. Among others I obferved a Person of a tolerable good Afpect, who seemed to be more greedy of Liquor than any of the Company, and yet, methought, he did not tafte it with Delight. As he grew warm, he was suspicious of every thing that was faid; and as he advanced towards being fuddled, his Humour grew worse. At

the fame time his Bitterness seemed to be rather an inward Diffatisfaction in his own Mind, than any Dislike he had taken to the Company. Upon hearing his Name, I knew him to be a Gentleman of a confiderable Fortune in this County, but greatly in Debt. What gives the unhappy Man this Peevishness of Spirit, is, that his Estate is dipped, and is eating out with Ufury; and yet he has not the Heart to fell any Part of it. His proud Stomach, at the Coft of restless Nights, conftant Inquietudes, Danger of Affronts, and a thousand nameless Inconveniences, preferves this Canker in his Fortune, rather than it fhall be faid he is a Man of fewer Hundreds a Year than he has been commonly reputed. Thus he endures the Torment of Poverty, to avoid the Name of being lefs rich. If you go to his House you fee great Plenty ; but ferved in a Manner that shows it is all unnatural, and that the Master's Mind is not at Home. There is a certain Waste and Carelessness in the Air of every thing, and the whole appears but a covered Indigence, a magnificent Poverty. That Neatness and Chearfulness which attends the Table of him who lives within Compass, is wanting, and exchanged for a Libertine Way of Service in all about him.

THIS Gentleman's Conduct, though a very

common way of Management, is as ridiculous as that Officer's would be, who had but few Men under his Command, and should take the Charge of an Extent of Country rather than of a small Pass. To pay for, perfonate, and keep in a Man's Hands, a greater Estate than he really has, is of all others the most unpardonable Vanity, and must in the End reduce the Man who is guilty of it to DishoYet if we look round us in any County of Great Britain, we shall see many in this fatal Error; if that may be called by fo foft a Name, which proceeds from a falfe Shame of appearing what they really are, when the contrary Behaviour would in a fhort time advance them to the Condition which they pretend to.

nour.

LAERTES has fifteen hundred Pounds a Year; which is mortgaged for fix thousand Pounds; but it is impoffible to convince him that if he fold as much as would pay off that Debt, he would fave four Shillings in the Pound, which he gives for the Vanity of being the reputed Master of it. Yet if Laertes did this, he would perhaps be easier in his own Fortune; but then Irus, a Fellow of Yefterday, who has but twelve hundred a Year, would be his Equal. Rather than this shall be, Laertes goes on to bring well-born Beggars into the World, and every Twelvemonth charges his Estate with