66 nance, and to attract, by this means, vene"ration and refpect. Do you fee that Lad, ? "fays the Marchionefs; I don't believe fhe ever " left them off, except at Bed-time, fince the σε was ten Years old. In fhort, the Men and "Women eat with their Spectacles on, and even "In their Affemblies, and the Streets are feldom without them. Nay, I have heard, there are different Spectacles, according to the different Qualities and Degrees of People.-As a Man's "Income increases, he enlarges the fize of his "Spectacles, and deftines them to a station high"er up his Nofe. Those worn by the Gran-. "dees, being of an unusual breadth, are called "Ocales for diftinction. Some years ago, they "had their Glaffes from Venice, but three Per"fons having undertaken to make the King of "Spain Master of that City, by firing the Arfe"nal with Burning Glaffes, the Venetians, by

way of Revenge, caufed a vaft number of thefe Ocales to be made, and dispatched them to their Ambaffador at Madrid. He prefented them to the Court, and every Perfon who made ufe of them endangered his Eye-fight, for they 4 were formed with exquifite Art, and fet in "frames of combuftible matter, which with a "Single Ray of the Sun would put all in a Flame. It happened on a grand Council-day, that in the Chamber wherein the Members were all feated in folemn Order, one of the Windows

66 was

"was left open, and the Sun darting, almost in

a vertical Line, on their Spectacles, they fud"denly perceived a dangerous fire contrived a"gainft their Eye-brows. This Phenomenon put "the old Gentlemen into a terrible Confterna "tion. The whole Synod capered about in a great deal of confufion, and thus ended the "weighty bufinefs of that Day.".

હ

But to return. I have heard that the majority of my Countrymen affect to be purblind for the fame reason that Alexander's Courtiers held their Necks awry, but if a compliment is in reality the reafon, our Pofterity may by the fame Rule chop off a Leg or an Arm, or demolish a Nofe, if their Prince should be unfortunately deprived of one of them.-Jefting apart, however, I am well affured that our R1 Family are not in the leaft pleased with fo ridiculous a piece of Complaifance, and would be very much inclined to put a stop to the fpreading contagion, if it did not fo happily contribute to the encouragement of the Glafs-Manufacture. I am a ftrenuous well-wisher to all useful Manufactures, particularly the above-mentioned one, but this is fo ludicrous a Fashion, that I cannot check the defire I have to fet it in a ludicrous light, I do therefore ordain, by virtue of thefe Prefents, that, if any Girl or Woman, under the Age of twenty-five, and any Stripling under the Age of forty Years, do presume to wear Spectacles or Demi-Spectacles, M 3

after

after the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, vulgarly called Michaelmas-Day, next enfuing (unless He. She, or They can fhew juft and reafonable cause to the contrary) He, She, or They fo offending, fhall be ftigmatized with the odious Title of Old Women, and confidered as a diftinct Species from fuch poor Wretches who are by Age or Infirmities unavoidably neceffitated to have recourfe to them. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, that fuch Offender or Offenders be looked upon by every body with the fame Contempt, Derifion, and Abhorrence, that Old Women are generally treated

with.

TO NICHOLAS BABBLE, Efq.

In medio tútiffimis ibis.

OVID.

SIR,

Y

The middle way is fafeft.

OU promifed to publifh a few animadverfions on that important Part of a fine Lady's Paraphernalia, commonly called the Hoop; but I must beg the favour of you to infert the following Effay on the fame Subject.

The

The ftrange abufe of that Machine called a Hoop, occafions fo many inconveniences to both Sexes, that I think it ought entirely to be abolished or restored to its original Defign, which as it is still retained among the formal Spaniards with little alteration, I here communicate for the Entertainement of the Curious.

"The Spanish Ladies fome years ago wore a Farthingal of prodigious bignefs. This Fashion was extremely incommodious to themselves as well as to others; and the Doors of their Houfes were scarce wide enough to admit them. They were obliged on this account to leave it off entirely, except at Court in the Royal Prefence, and for general wear substituted in its room a kind of under vestment, which, properly speaking, is a young or little Farthingal. This is made of thick copper wire, in a circular form. About the Girdle, a number of Ribbons are faftened, with which is tied a fecond round of the fame figure, but confiderably wider, and depending lower than the first. Of these they have five or fix Circles, reaching to the very ground, and diftending their other Garments. Their Vifits are generally made in this Habit, and 'tis ufual on thefe OccaLions to present the Company with a filver Bafon of dried Sweetmeats, folded up in different papers, neatly cut, and gilt for that purpose. In one is contained a Plumb, in another a Cherry or Apricot, and so on. By this means they may eiM 4

ther

ther eat upon the spot, or carry away what quantity they please, without danger of foiling their Pockets. Some Ladies do both, and after regaling on these delicates, till they are almost ready to burft, cram what remains into four or five Handkerchiefs. Thefe Handkerchiefs are then tied round their little Farthingal, which feems from this Account to be nothing more in Spain than a kind of portable Pantry, and may be ufed indifferently, with the addition of a few hooks, for the fufpenfion of all forts of Butcher's Meat, Poultry, &c."

Though our Ladies of Fashion in England have not yet introduced this Cuftom, fome of our female Canaile have borrowed the Hint, and many a valuable piece of ftolen Goods has been found fecreted within the rotundity of this Machine. Sally Smuggle, a Coufin of mine, once freighted her Hoop, on board an Indiaman, with fuch an immoderate Cargo of Tea, China, Fans, Nanfooks and Allibanies, that in her defcent to the Boat, her tender Frame was unable to fupport what would have furnished a little fhop, and down fhe tumbled into the Water. By good fortune, the heavier commodities, difengaging themselves from their confinement, fubfided to the bottom: and the whalebone circles were of fingular fervice in buoying her up, and permitting her to float

upon

t