it. But we fhall fee you back. when you come PHILIP SCOWRER. There are many things in this matter which employ the ableft men here, as whether an action will lie for the world among people who make the most of words; or whether it be advifeable to call that round ball the world; and if we do not call it fo, whether we can have any remedy? The ableft lawyer here fays there is no help; for if you call it the world, it will be anfwered, how could the world be in one fhire, to wit, that of Buckingham; for the county mult be named; and if you do not name it we fhall certainly be nonfuited. I do not know whether I make myself understood; but you understand me right when you believe I am your moft humble fervant, and faithful correfpondent, HONOURED SIR, THE PROMPTER. YOUR character of Guardian makes it not only neceffary, but becoming, to have feveral employed under you. And being myfelf ambitious of your fervice, I am now your humble petitioner to be admitted into a place I do not find yet difpofed of-I mean that of your lion-catcher. It was, Sir, for want of fuch commiffion from your honour, that very many lions have lately escaped. However, I made bold to distinguish a couple. One I found in a coffee-house: he was of the larger fort, looked fierce, and roared loud. I confidered wherein he was dangerous; and accordingly expreffed my difpleafure against Lim, in fuch a manner upon his chaps, that now he is not able to fhew his teeth. The other was a small lion, who was flipping by me as I stood at the corner of an alley-I finelt the creature presently, and catched at him, but he got off with the lofs of a lock of hair only, which proved of a dark colour. This and the teeth above-mentioned I have by me, and defign them both for a prefent to Button's coffee-houfe. Befides this way of dealing with them, I have invented many curious traps, fnares, and artificial baits, which, it is humbly conceived, cannot fail of clearing the kingdom of the whole fpecies in a hort time. This is humbly fubmitted to your ho TOM'S COFFEE-HOUSE IN CORNHILL. R' EADING in your yesterday's paper a letter from Daniel Button, in recommendation of his coffee-house for polite converfation and freedom from the argument by the button, I make bold to fend you this to affure you, that at this place there is as yet kept up as good a decorum in the debates of politics, trade, ftocks, &c. as at Will's, or at any other coffee-houfe at your end of the town. In order therefore to preferve this houfe from the arbitrary way of forcing an affent, by feizing on the collar, neckcloth, or any other part of the body or drefs, it would be of fignal fervice if would be pleafed to intimate, that we, who frequent this place after Exchange time, fhall have the honour of feeing you here fometimes; for that would be a fufficient guard to us from all fuch petty practices, and aifo be a means of enabling the honeft man who keeps the houfe to continue to ferve us with the bett bohea, and green tea, and coffee, and will in a particular manner oblige, Sir, your most humble fervant, you JAMES DIAPER. have it from perfons of undoubted veracity, that he prefumed once to pats by my door without waiting upon me. Whether this be confiftent with the refpect which we learned men ought to have for each other, I leave to your judgment; and am, Sir, your affectionate friend,. I PHILAUTUS. OXFORD, JUNE 18, 1713. FRIEND NESTOR, Had always a great value for thee, and have fo fill. But I must tell thee, that thou strangely affecteft to be fage and folid: now pr'ythee let me obferve to thee, that though it be contmon enough for people as they grow older to grow graver, yet it is not fo common to become wifer. Verily to me thou feemeft to keep ftrange company, and with a pofitive fufficiency, incident to old age, to follow too much thine own inventions. Thou dependeft too much likewife upon thy correfpondence here, and art apt to take people's words without confideration. But my prefent business with thee is to expoftulate with thee about a late paper, occafioned, as thou fayeft, by Jack Lizard's information, (my very good friend) that we are to have a Public A&. Now, I fay, in that paper, there is nothing contended for which any man of cominon-fenfe will deny; all that is there faid, is, that no man or woman's reputation ought to blasted, i. e. nobody ought to have an ill character who does not deferve it. Very true; but here's. this falfe confequence infinuated, that therefore nobody ought to hear of their faults; or, in other words, let any body do as much ill as he pleafes, he ought not to be told of it. Art thou a patriot, Mr. Ironfide, and wilt thou affirm, that arbitrary proceedings and oppreffions ought to be concealed or justified? Art thou a gentleman, and wouldft thou have bafe, fordid, ignoble tricks, connived at or tolerated? Art thou a fcholar, and wouldft thou have learning and good manners difcouraged? Wouldit thou have cringing fervility, parifitical fhuffling, fawning, and dishoneft compliances, made the road to fuccefs? Art thou a Chriftian, and wouldst thou have all villainies within the law practifed with in punity? Should they not be told of it? It is certain, there are many things which, though there are no laws againit them, yet ought not to be done; and in fuch cafes there is no argument fo likely to hinder their being done, as the fear of public fhame for doing them. The two great reafons against an Act are always the faving of money, and hiding of roguery. Here many things are omitted which will be in the fpeech of the Terræfilius. And now, dear old Iron, I am glad to hear that at thefe years thou hafi gallantry enough left to have thoughts of fetting up for a knight-errant, a tamer of monsters, and a defender of diftrefled damfels. Adieu, old fellow, and let me give you this advice at parting: e'en get thyfelf cafe-hardened; for though the very beft fteel may fnap, yet old iron you know will ruft. Be juft, and publish this. UMBRA. OXFORD, SAT. 27, 1713. MR. IRONSIDE, THIS day arrived the vanguard of the theatrical army. Your friend, Mr. George Powel, commanded the artillery both celeftial and terreftrial. The magazines of fnow, lightning, and thunder, are fafcly laid up. We have had no difafter on the way, but that of breaking Cupid's bow by a jolt of the waggon; but they tell us they make them very well in Oxford. We all went in a body, and were fhewn our chambers in Lincoln College. The Terræ filius expects you down; and we of the theatre defign to bring you into town with all our guards. Thofe of Alexander the Great, Julius Cæfar, and the faithful retinue of Cato, fhall meet you at Shotover. The ghoft of Hamlet, and the statue which fupped with Don John, both fay, that though it be at noon-day, they will attend your entry. Every body expects you with great impatience. We fhall be in very good order when all are come down. We have fent to town for a brick-wall, which we forgot. The fea is to come by water. Your moit humble and faithful correfpondent, THE PROMPTER, Nt XCVI. THE N° XCVI. WEDNESDAY, JULY 1. CUNCTI ADSINT, MERITEQUE EXPECTENT PRÆMIA PALME. LET ALL BE PRESENT AT THE GAMES PREPAR'D; HERE is no maxim in politics more indifputable than that a nation fhould have many honours in referve for those who do national fervices. This raifes emulation, cherishes public merit, and infpires every one with an ambition which promotes the good of his country. The lefs expenfive thefe honours are to the public, the more still do they turn to it's advantage. The Romans abounded with thefe little honorary rewards, that, without conferring wealth or riches, gave only place and distinction to the perfon who received them. An oaken garland to be worn on feftivals and public ceremonies, was the glorious recompence of one who had covered a citizen in battle. A foldier would not only venture his life for a mural crown, but think the most hazardous enterprize fufficiently repaid by to noble a donation. But among all honorary rewards which are neither dangerous nor detrimental to the donor, I remember none fo remarkable as the titles which are beflowed by the Emperor of China. Thefe are never given to any fubject, fays Monfieur le Conte, until the fubject is dead. If he has pleafed his emperor to the laft, he is called in all public memorials by the title which the emperor confers on him after his death, and his children take their ranks accordingly. This keeps the ambitious subject in a perpetual dependence, making him always vigilant and active, and in every thing conformable to the will of his fovereign. VIRG. N. v. 70. DRYDEN. generally but one coin ftamped on the occasion, which is made a prefent to the perfon who is celebrated on it: by this means his whole fame is in his own custody. The applaufe that is beftowed upon him is too much limited and confined. He is in poffeffion of an honour which the world perhaps knows nothing of. He may be a great man in his own family; his wife and children may fee the monument of an exploit, which the public in a little time is a ftranger to. The Romans took a quite different method in this particular. Their medals were their current money. When an action deferved to be recorded in coin, it was ftamped perhaps upon an hundred thoufand pieces of money like our thillings, or halfpence, which were iffued out of the mint, and became current. This method published every noble action to advantage, and in a fhort fpace of time fpread through the whole Roman empire. The Romans were fo careful to preferve the memory of great events upon their coins, that when any. particular piece of money grew very fcarce, it was often re-coined by a fucceeding emperor, many years after the death of the emperor to whofe honourit was firft ftruck. A friend of mine drew up a proje& of this kind during the late miniftry, which would then have been put in execution had it not been too busy a time for thoughts of that nature. As this project has been very much talked of by the gentleman above-mentioned to men of the greatest genius, as well as quality; I am informed there is now a defign on foot for executing the propofal which was then made, and that we fhall have feveral farthings and halfpence charged on the reverse with many of the glorious particulars of her majefty's reign. This is one of thofe arts of peace which may very well deferve to be cultivated, and which may be of great use to pofterity. Dr. Swift. There are no honorary rewards among us, which are more efteemed by the perfon who receives them, and are cheaper to the prince, than the giving of medals. But there is fomething in the modern manner of celebrating a great action in medals, which makes fuch a reward much lefs valuable than it was among the Romans. There is As As I have in my poffeffion the copy of the paper above-mentioned, which was delivered to the late lord-treasurer, I shall here give the the public a fight of it. For I do not question, but that the carious part of my readers will be very much pleased to fee fo much matter and fo many useful hints upon this fubject laid together in fo clear and concife a manner. THE English have not been fo care ful as other polite nations to preferve the memory of their great actions and events on medals. Their fubjects are few, their mottos and devices mean, and the coins themfelves not numerous enough to fpread among the people, or defcend to pofterity. The French have outdone us in these particulars, and, by the establishment of a fociety for the invention of proper inferiptions and defigns, have the whole hiftory of the prefent king in a regular feries of medals. They have failed, as well as the Englih, in coining fo fmall a number of each kind, and thofe of fuch coftly metals, that each fpecies may be loft in a few ages, and is at prefent no where to be met with but in the cabinets of the curious. The ancient Romans took the only effectual method to difperfe and preferve their medals, by making them their cur on their copper money, which have moft of the defigns that are to be met with on the gold and filver, and several pe. culiar to that metal only. By this means they were difperfed into the remoteft corners of the empire, came into the poffeffion of the poor as well as rich, and were in no danger of perithing in the hands of thofe that might have melted down coins of a more valuable metal. Add to all this, that the defigns were invented by men of genius, and executed by a decree of fenate. It is therefore proposed, I. That the English farthings and halfpence be re-coined upon the union of the two nations. II. That they bear devices and inferiptions, alluding to all the most remarkable parts of her majesty's reign. III. That there be a fociety eftablished for the finding out of proper fubjects, infcriptions, and devices. IV. That no fubject, infcription, or device, be ftamped without the approbation of this fociety; nor, if it be thought proper, without the authority of privycouncil. By this means, medals that are at prefent only a dead treasure, or mere curiofities, will be of ufe in the ordinary commerce of life, and at the fame time perpetuate the glories of her majetty's reign, reward the labours of her greatest fubjects, keep alive in the people a gra titude for public fervices, and excite the emulation of pofterity. To thefe generous purposes nothing can so much contribute as medals of this kind, which are of undoubted authority, of neceffary ufe and obfervation, not perishable by time, nor confined to any certain place; properties not to be found in books, statues, pictures, buildings, or any other monuments of illustrious actions. into her company when he would fee no man befides myfelf and her lawyer, who is a little rivelled, fpindle-fhanked gentleman, and married to boot, fo that I had no reason to fear him. Upon my first feeing her, the faid in converfation within my hearing, that the thought a pale complexion the most agreeable either in man or woman: now, you must know, Sir, my face is as white as chalk. This gave me fome encourage ment; fo that to mend the matter I bought a fine flaxen long wig that colt me thirty guineas, and found an opportunity of feeing her in it the next day. She then let drop fome expreffions about an agate fnuff-box. I immediately took the hint, and bought one, being unwilling to omit any thing that might make me desirable in her eyes. I was betrayed after the fame manner into a brocade waistcoat, a fword-knot, a pair of filver-fringed gloves, and a diamond ring. But whether out of fickleness or a defign upon me, I cannot tell; but I found by her difcourfe, that what the liked one day the difliked another: fo that in fix months space I was forced to equip myself above a dozen times. As I told you before, I took her hints at a diftance, for I could never find an opportunity of talking with her directly to the point. All this time, however, I was allowed the utmoft familiarities with her lap-dog, and have played with it above an hour together, without receiving the leaft reprimand, and had many other marks of favour fhown me, which I thought amounted to a promife. If the chanced to drop her fan, fhe received it from my hands with great civility. If The wanted any thing, I reached it for her. I have filled her tea-pot above an hundred times, and have afterwards received a difh of it from her own hands. Now, Sir, do you judge, if after fuch encouragements fhe was not obliged to marry me. I forgot to tell you that I kept a chair by the week, on purpose to carry me thither and back again. Not to trouble you with a long letter, in the fpace of about a twelve month I have run out my whole thousand pound upon her, having laid out the last fifty in a new fuit of cloaths, in which I was refolved to receive her final anfwer, which amounted to this, that he was engaged to another; that the never dreamt I had any fuch thing in my head as marriage; and that he thought I had frequented her house only becaufe I loved to be in company with my relations. This, you know, Sir, is ufing a man like a fool, and fo I told her; but the worst of it is, that I have fpent my fortune to no purpofe. All therefore that I defire of you is, to tell me whether, upon exhibiting the feveral particulars which I have here related to you, I may not fue her for damages in a court of juftice. Your advice in this particular will very much oblige your humble admirer, SIMON SOFTLY. Before I anfwer Mr. Softly's request, I find myself under a neceffity of difcuffing two nice points: Firit of all, What it is, in cafes of this nature, that amounts to an encouragement? and fecondly, What it is that amounts to a promife? Each of which subjects requires more time to examine than I am at prefent matter of. Befides, I would have my friend Simon confider, whether he has any counfel that will undertake his caufe in forma pauperis,' he having unluckily difabled himfelf, by his own account of the matter, from profecuting his fuit any other way. In answer however to Mr. Softly's request, I shall acquaint him with a method made ufe of by a young fellow in King Charles the Second's reign, whom I fhall here call Silvio, who had long made love, with much artifice and intrigue, to a rich widow, whofe true name I fhall conceal under that of Zelinda. Silvio, who was much more fmitten with her fortune than her person, finding a twelvemonth's application unfuccefsful, was refolved to make a faving bargain of it; and fince he could not get the widow's eftate into his poffeffion, to recover at least what he had laid out of his own in the pursuit of it. In order to this he prefented her with a bill of cofts; having particularized in it the feveral expences he had been at in' his long perplexed amour. Zelinda was fo pleafed with the humour of the fellow, and his frank way of dealing, that, upon the perufal of the bill, the fent him a purfe of fifteen hundred guineas, by the right application of which, the lover, in lefs than a year, got a woman of a greater fortune than her he had miffed. The feveral articles in the bill of cofts I pretty well remember, though I have forgotten the particular fum charged to each article. Laid |