THE SPECTATOR. mired in general, and much greater in being many, must be your chief care; for upon the think, if they every morning and evening spend an hour in their closet, and read over so many prayers in six or seven books of devotion, all equally nonsensical, with a sort of warmth, (that might as well be raised by a glass of wine, or a dram of citron,) they may all the rest of their time go on in whatever their particular passion leads them to. The beauteous Philautia, who is (in your language) an idol, is one of these votaries; she has a very pretty furnished closet, to which she retires at her I have heard Will Honeycomb say, 'A appointed hours.-This is her dressingwoman seldom writes her mind but in her room, as well as chapel; she has constantly postscript.' I think this gentlewoman has before her a large looking-glass; and upon sufficiently discovered her's in this. I will the table, according to a very witty author, 17 and raise in them a mechanical religion, tue more inward and convince some of us, No. 80.] Friday, June 1, 1711. B. D.' instances of applause. The decencies to which women are obliged, made these virgins stifle their resentment so far as not to break into open violences, while they equally suffered the torments of a regulated anger. Their mothers, as it is usual, engaged in the quarrel, and supported the several pretensions of their daughters with all that ill-chosen sort of expense which is common with people of plentiful fortunes and mean taste. The girls preceded their Cælum, non animum, mutant, qui trans mare currunt. parents like queens of May, in all the gaudy colours imaginable, on every Sunday, to church, and were exposed to the examination of the audience for superiority of beauty. Hor. Lib. 1. Ep. xi. 27. Creech. During this constant struggle it happenIn the year 1688, and on the same day of ed, that Phillis one day at public prayers that year, were born in Cheapside, London, smote the heart of a gay West-Indian, who two females of exquisite feature and shape; appeared in all the colours which can affect the one we shall call Brunetta, the other an eye that could not distinguish between Phillis. A close intimacy between their being fine and tawdry. This American, in parents made each of them the first ac- a summer-island suit, was too shining and quaintance the other knew in the world. too gay to be resisted by Phillis, and too inThey played, dressed babies, acted visit- tent upon her charms to be diverted by ings, learned to dance, and make courtesies any of the laboured attractions of Brunetta. together. They were inseparable compa- Soon after, Brunetta had the mortification nions in all the little entertainments their to see her rival disposed of in a wealthy tender years were capable of: which inno- marriage, while she was only addressed to cent happiness continued until the begin-in a manner that showed she was the admining of their fifteenth year, when it hap-ration of all men, but the choice of none. pened that Phillis had a head-dress on, which became her so well, that instead of being beheld any more with pleasure for their amity to each other, the eyes of the neighbourhood were turned to remark them with comparison of their beauty. They now no longer enjoyed the ease of mind and pleasing indolence in which they were formerly happy, but all their words and actions were misinterpreted by each other, and every excellence in their speech and behaviour was looked upon as an act of emulation to surpass the other. These beginnings of disinclination soon improved into a formality of behaviour, a general coldness, and by natural steps into an irreconcilable hatred. These two rivals for the reputation of beauty, were in their stature, countenance, and mien so very much alike, that if you were speaking of them in their absence, the words in which you described the one must give you an idea of the other. They were hardly distinguishable, you would think when they were apart, though extremely different when together. What made their enmity the more entertaining to all the rest of their sex was, that in detraction from each other, neither could fall upon terms which did not hit herself as much as her adversary. Their nights grew restless with meditation of new dresses to outvie each other, and inventing new devices to recal admirers, who observed the charms of the one rather than those of the other, on the last meeting. Their colours failed at each other's appearance, flushed with pleasure at the report of a disadvantage, and their countenances withered upon Phillis was carried to the habitation of her spouse in Barbadoes. Brunetta had the illnature to inquire for her by every opportunity, and had the misfortune to hear of her being attended by numerous slaves, fanned into slumbers by successive bands of them, and carried from place to place in all the pomp of barbarous magnificence. Brunetta could not endure these repeated advices, but employed all her arts and charms in laying baits for any of condition of the same island, out of mere ambition to confront her once more before she died. She at last succeeded in her design, and was taken to wife by a gentleman whose estate was contiguous to that of her enemy's husband. It would be endless to enumerate the many occasions on which these irreconcilable beauties laboured to excel each other; but in process of time it happened, that a ship put into the island consigned to a friend of Phillis, who had directions to give her the refusal of all goods for apparel, before Brunetta could be alarmed of their arrival. He did so, and Phillis was dressed in a few days in a brocade more gorgeous and costly than had ever before appeared in that latitude. Brunetta languished at the sight, and could by no means come up to the bravery of her antagonist. She communicated her anguish of mind to a faithful friend, who by an interest in the wife of Phillis's merchant, procured a remnant of the same silk for Brunetta. Phillis took pains to appear in all the public places where she was sure to meet Brunetta; Brunetta was now prepared for the insult, and came to a public ball in a plain black silk mantua, attended by a beautiful negro girl in a petticoat of Qualis ubi audito venantum murmure tigris Horruit in maculas- Stat. Theb. ii. 128. As when the tigress hears the hunter's din, Dark angry spots distain her glossy skin: the same brocade with which Phillis was | No. 81.] Saturday, June 2, 1711. attired. This drew the attention of the whole company, upon which the unhappy Phillis swooned away, and was immediately conveyed to her house. As soon as she came to herself, she fled from her husband's house, went on board a ship in the road; and is now landed in inconsolable despair at Plymouth. "The just Remonstrance of affronted Though I deny not the petition of Mr. WHO and WHICH, yet you should not suffer them to be rude, and to call honest people names: for that bears very hard on some of those rules of decency which you are justly famous for establishing. They may find fault, and correct speeches in the senate, and at the bar, but let them try to get themselves so often and with so much eloquence repeated in a sentence, as a great orator doth frequently introduce me. 'My lords, (says he) with humble submission, That That I say is this; That That, That That gentleman has advanced, is not That That he should have proved to your lordships. Let those two questionary petitioners try to do thus with their Whos and their Whiches. 'What great advantage was I of to Mr. Dryden, in his Indian Emperor, "You force me still to answer you in That;' to furnish out a rhyme to Morat? and what a poor figure would Mr. Bayes have made without his "Egad and all That?" How can a judicious man distinguish one thing from another, without saying, "This here, or "That there?" And how can a sober man, without using the expletives of oaths, (in which indeed the rakes and bullies have a great advantage over others,) make a discourse of any tolerable length, without "That is;" and if he be a very grave man indeed, without "That is to say?" And how instructive as well as entertaining are those usual expressions in the mouths of great men, "Such things as That," and "The like of That." I am not against reforming the corruptions of speech you mention, and own there are proper seasons for the introduction of other words besides That; but I scorn as much to supply the place of a Who or a Which at every turn, as they are unequal always to fill mine; and I expect good language and civil treatment, and hope to receive it for the future: That That I shall only add is, That I am, yours, R.* THAT.' The first Volume of the original 8vo. and 12mo. editions, as published by Tonson, closes with this puper. ABOUT the middle of last winter I went to see an opera at the theatre in the Haymarket, where I could not but take notice of two parties of very fine women, that boxes, and seemed drawn up in a kind of had placed themselves in the opposite sidebattle-array one against another. After a short survey of them, I found they were patched differently; the faces on one hand being spotted on the right side of the forehead, and those upon the other on the left. I quickly perceived that they cast hostile glances upon one another; and that their patches were placed in those different situations, as party-signals to distinguish friends from foes. In the middle-boxes, between these two opposite bodies were several ladies who patched indifferently on both sides of their faces, and seemed to sit there with no other intention but to see the opera. Upon inquiry I found that the body of Amazons on my right hand were whigs, and those on my left, toties; and that those who had placed themselves in the middle-boxes were a neutral party, whose faces had not yet declared themselves. These last, however, as I afterwards found, diminished daily, and took their party with one side or the other; insomuch that I observed, in several of them, the patches which were before dispersed equally, are now all gone over to the whig or tory side of the face. The censorious say, that the often the occasions that one part of the face men, whose hearts are aimed at, are very is thus dishonoured, and lies under a kind of disgrace, while the other is so much set off and adorned by the owner; and that the patches turn to the right or to the left, according to the principles of the man who is the motives of a few fantastical coquettes, most in favour. But whatsoever may be who do not patch for the public good so much as for their own private advantage, it is certain that there are several women of honour who patch out of principle, and with an eye to the interest of their country.-Nay, I am informed that some of them adhere so steadfastly to their party, and are so far from sacrificing their zeal for the public to their passion for any particular person, that in a late draught of marriage-articles, a lady has stipulated with her husband, that whatever his opinions are, she shall be at liberty to patch on which side she pleases. I must here take notice, that Rosalinda, tunately a very beautiful mole on the tory a famous whig partisan, has most unforpart of her forehead; which being very conspicuous, has occasioned many mistakes, and given a handle to her enemies to misrepresent her face, as though it had revolted from the whig interest. But | visions, that if they continue, it will be a whatever this natural patch may seem to misfortune to be born in it. The Greeks intimate, it is well known that her notions thought it so improper for women to inof government are still the same. This terest themselves in competitions and conunlucky mole, however, has misled seve- tentions, that for this reason, among others, ral coxcombs; and like the hanging out of they forbad them under pain of death, to false colours, made some of them converse be present at the Olympic games, notwithwith Rosalinda in what they thought the standing these were the public diversions spirit of her party, when on a sudden she of all Greece. has given them an unexpectd fire, that has sunk them all at once. If Rosalinda is unfortunate in her mole, Nigranilla is as unhappy in a pimple, which forces her, against her inclinations, to patch on the whig side. I am told that many virtuous matrons, who formerly have been taught to believe that this artificial spotting of the face was unlawful, are now reconciled by a zeal for their cause, to what they could not be prompted by a concern for their beauty. This way of declaring war upon one another, puts me in mind of what is reported of the tigress, that several spots rise in her skin when she is angry, or as Mr. Cowley has imitated the verses that stand as the motto of this paper: She swells with angry pride, And calls forth all her spots on every side."* When I was in the theatre the time above-mentioned, I had the curiosity to count the patches on both sides, and found the tory patches to be about twenty stronger than the whig; but to make amends for this small inequality, I the next morning found the whole puppet-show filled with faces spotted after the whiggish manner. Whether or no the ladies had retreated hither in order to rally their forces I cannot tell; but the next night they came in so great a body to the opera, that they outnumbered the enemy. This account of party-patches will, I am afraid, appear improbable to those who live at a distance from the fashionable world; but as it is a distinction of a very singular nature, and what perhaps may never meet with a parallel, I think I should not have discharged the office of a faithful Spectator, had not I recorded it. I have, in former papers, endeavoured to expose this party-rage in women, as it only serves to aggravate the hatreds and animosities that reign among men, and in a great measure deprives the fair sex of those peculiar charms with which nature has endowed them. As our English women exceed those of all nations in beauty, they should endeavour to outshine them in all other accomplishments proper to the sex, and to distinguish themselves as tender mothers, and faithful wives, rather than as furious partisans. Female virtues are of a domestic turn. The family is the proper province for private women to shine in. If they must be showing their zeal for the public, let it not be against those who are perhaps of the same family, or at least of the same religion or nation, but against those who are the open, professed, undoubted enemies of their faith, liberty, and country. When the Romans were pressed with a foreign enemy, the ladies voluntarily contributed all their rings and jewels to assist the government under a public exigence, which appeared so laudable an action in the eyes of their countrymen, that from thenceforth it was permitted by a law to pronounce public orations at the funeral of a woman, in praise of the deceased person, which till that time was peculiar to men. Would our English ladies, instead of sticking on a patch against those of their own country, show themselves so truly public-spirited as to sacrifice every one her necklace against the common enemy, what decrees ought not to be made in favour of them. Since I am recollecting upon this subject such passages as occur to my memory out of ancient authors, I cannot omit a sentence in the celebrated funeral oration of Pericles, which he made in honour of those brave Athenians that were slain in a fight with the Lacedemonians.† After having addressed himself to the several ranks and orders of his countrymen, and shown them how they should behave themselves in the public cause, he turns to the female part of his audience: And as for you,' says he, I shall advise you in very few words. Aspire only to those virtues that are peculiar to your sex; follow your natural modesty, and think it your greatest commendation not to be talked of one way or way other.' When the Romans and Sabines were at war, and just upon the point of giving battle, the women, who were allied to both of them, interposed with so many tears and entreaties, that they prevented the No. 82.] Monday, June 4, 1711. mutual slaughter which threatened both parties, and united them together in a firm and lasting peace. I would recommend this noble example to our British ladies, at a time when their country is torn with so many unnatural diDavideis, Book III. v. 47. -Caput domina venale sub hasta. His fortunes ruin'd, and himself a slave. PASSING under Ludgate‡ the other day, I heard a voice bawling for charity, which †Thucyd. Hist. L. II. p. 130, edit. H. Steph. 1588. folio. Ludgate, in the year 1373, was constituted a prison I thought I had somewhere heard before. | he transgresses payment, so much as that Coming near to the gate, the prisoner call- demand comes to, in his debtor's honour, ed me by my name, and desired I would liberty, and fortune. One would think he throw something into the box: I was out of did not know that his creditor can say the countenance for him, and did as he bid me, worst thing imaginable of him, to wit, by putting in half a crown. I went away, 'That he is unjust,' without defamation; reflecting upon the strange constitution of and can seize his person without being some men, and how meanly they behave guilty of an assault. Yet such is the loose themselves in all sorts of conditions. The and abandoned turn of some men's minds, person who begged of me is now, as I take that they can live under these constant apit, fifty: I was well acquainted with him till prehensions, and still go on to increase the about the age of twenty-five; at which cause of them. Can there be a more low time, a good estate fell to him by the death and servile condition, than to be ashamed or of a relation. Upon coming to this unex- afraid to see any one man breathing? Yet pected good fortune, he ran into all the ex- he that is much in debt, is in that condition travagances imaginable; was frequently in with relation to twenty different people. drunken fits, broke drawers' heads, talked | There are indeed circumstances wherein and swore loud, was unmannerly to those men of honest natures may become liable above him, and insolent to those below him. to debts, by some unadvised behaviour in I could not but remark, that it was the any great point of their life, or mortgaging same baseness of spirit which worked in a man's honesty as a security for that of his behaviour in both fortunes: the same another, and the like: but these instances little mind was insolent in riches, and are so particular and circumstantiated, that shameless in poverty. This accident made they cannot come within general considerame muse upon the circumstance of being tions. For one such case as one of these, in debt in general, and solve in my mind there are ten, where a man, to keep up a what tempers were most apt to fall into farce of retinue and grandeur within his this error of life, as well as the misfortune own house, shall shrink at the expectation it must needs be to languish under such of surly demands at his doors. The debtor pressures. As for myself, my natural aver- is the creditor's criminal, and all the offision to that sort of conversation which cers of power and state, whom we behold makes a figure with the generality of man- make so great a figure, are no other than kind, exempts me from any temptations to so many persons in authority to make good expense; and all my business lies within a his charge against him. Human society very narrow compass, which is only to give depends upon his having the vengeance an honest man who takes care of my estate, law allots him; and the debtor owes his proper vouchers for his quarterly pay- liberty to his neighbour, as much as the ments to me, and observe what linen my murderer does his life to his prince. laundress brings and takes away with her once a week. My steward brings his receipt ready for my signing; and I have a pretty implement with the respective names of shirts, cravats, handkerchiefs and stockings, with proper numbers, to know how to reckon with my laundress. This being almost all the business I have in the world for the care of my own affairs, I am at full leisure to observe upon what others do, with relation to their equipage and economy. When I walk the street, and observe the hurry about me in this town, 'Where, with like haste, thro' several ways they run; Some to undo, and some to be undone;'* I say, when I behold this vast variety of for such debtors as were freemen of the city of London: Our gentry are, generally speaking, in debt: and many families have put it into a kind of method of being so from generation to generation. The father mortgages when his son is very young: and the boy is to marry, as soon as he is at age, to redeem it and find portions for his sisters. This, forsooth, is no great inconvenience to him; for he may wench, keep a public table, or feed dogs, like a worthy English gentleman, till he has out-run half his estate, and leave the same incumbrance upon his first-born, and so on, till one man of more vigour than ordinary, goes quite through the estate, or some man of sense comes into it, and scorns to have an estate in partnership, that is to say, liable to the demand or insult of any man living. There is my friend Sir Andrew, though for many years a great and general trader, was never the defendant in a law-suit, in all the perplexity of business, and the iniquity of mankind at present; no one had any colour for the least complaint against his dealings with him. This is certainly as uncommon, and in its proportion as laudable in a citizen, as it is in a general never to have suffered a disadvantage in fight. How different from this gentleman is Jack Truepenny, who has been an old acquaintance of Sir Andrew and myself from boys, but could never learn our cau |