pre

'I could have told you that the Eye of Leonora is flyly watchful while it looks negligent; 'fhe looks round her without the Help of the < Glaffes you fpeak of, and yet seems to be employed on Objects directly before her. This Eye is what affects Chance-medley, ' and on a fudden, as if it attended to another Thing, turns all its Charms against an Ogler. The Eye of Lufitania is an Inftrument of 'meditated Murder, but the Design being vifible, destroys the Execution of it; and with much more Beauty than that of Leonora, it is not half fo mifchievous. There is a brave Soldier's Daughter in Town, that by her Eye has been the Death of more than ever her Father made fly before him. A beautiful Eye makes Silence eloquent, a kind Eye makes 'Contradiction an Affent, an enraged Eye makes Beauty deformed. This little Member gives Life to every other Part about us, and I believe the Story of Argus implies no more than that the Eye is in every Part, that is to say, every other Part would be mutilated, were not its Force reprefented more by 'the Eye than even by it felf. But this is 'Heathen Greek to thofe who have not con' verfed by Glances. This, Sir, is a Language ' in which there can be no Deceit, nor can a skilful obferver be impofed upon by Looks even among Politicians and Courtiers. If you do me the Honour to print this among your Speculations, I fhall in my next, make ⚫ you

B 2

you a Present of fecret History, by tranflating all the Looks of the next Affembly of 'Ladies and Gentlemen into Words, to adorn 'fome future Paper.

1 am,

1

Dear Mr. SPECTATOR,

I

Have a Sot of a Husband that lives a very fcandalous Life, and waftes away his Body and Fortune in Debauches; and is im'moveable to all the Arguments 1 can urge to him. I would gladly know whether in fome 'Cafes á Cudgel may not be allowed as a good · Figure of Speech, and whether it may not be lawfully used by a female Orator.

Your humble Servant,
Barbara Crabtree.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

T

Hough I am a Practitioner in the Law ' of fome ftanding, and have heard many eminent Pleaders in my Time, as well as other eloquent Speakers of both Univerfities, yet I agree with you that Women are "better qualified to fucceed in Oratory than the

Men, and believe this is to be refolved into 'natural Causes. You have mentioned only 'the Volubility of their Tongue; but what do you think of the filent, Flattery of their pretty Faces, and the Perfwafion which even

' an

an infipid Discourse carries with it when flowing from beautiful Lips, to which it would be cruel to deny any Thing? It is certain too that they are poffeffed of fome Springs of Rhe'torick which Men want, fuch as Tears, fainting Fits, and the like, which I have seen employed upon Occafion with good Success. You must know I am a plain Man and love my Money; yet I have a Spoufe who is fo great an Orator in this Way, that she draws from me what Sums the plea fes. Every Room in my Houfe is furnished with Trophies of her Eloquence, rich Cabinets, Piles of China, Japan Screens, and coftly Jarrs; and if you were to come into my great Par lour, you would fancy your felf in an India Warehouse: Befides this, fhe keeps a Squir' rel, and I am doubly taxed to pay for the China he breaks. She is feized with perio'dical Fits about the Time of the Subfcriptions to a new Opera, and is drowned in 'Tears after having feen any Woman there in 'finer Cloaths than her felf: Thefe are Arts

of Perswasion purely Feminine, and which a 'tender Heart cannot refift. What I would therefore defire of you, is, to prevail with your Friend who has promifed to diffect a Female Tongue, that he would at the fame Time give us the Anatomy of a female Eye, and explain the Springs and Sluices which feed it with fuch ready Supplies of Moisture; and likewife fhew by what Means, if poffible, they may be ftopped at a reasonable Expence:

'Or indeed, fince there is fomething fo moving in the very Image of weeping Beauty, it 'would be worthy his Art to provide, that thefe eloquent Drops may no more be la'vifhed on Trifles, or employed as Servants to their wayward Wills; but referved for ferious Occafions in Life, to adorn generous Pity, true Penitence, or real Sorrow.

T

N° 253.

I am, &c.

Thursday, December 20.

Indignor quicquam reprehendi, non quia craffe Compofitum, illepideve putetur, fed quia nuper.Hor.

T

HERE is nothing which more denotes a great Mind, than the Abhorrence of Envy and Detraction. This Passion reigns more among bad Poets, than among any other Set of Men.

AS there are none more ambitious of Fame, than those who are converfant in Poetry, it is very natural for fuch as have not fucceeded in it to depreciate the Works of those who have. For fince they cannot raise themselves to the Reputation of their Fellow-Writers, they muft endeavour to fink it to their own Pitch, if they would still keep themselves upon a Level with them.

THE greatest Wits that ever were produced in one Age, lived together in fo good an Understanding, and celebrated one another with fo much Generofity, that each of them receives an additional Luftre from his Contemporaries, and is more famous for having lived with Men of fo extraordinary a Genius, than if he had himself been the fole Wonder of the Age. I need not tell my Reader, that I here point at the Reign of Auguftus, and I believe he will be of my Opinion, that neither Virgil nor Horace would have gained so great a Reputation in the World, had they not been the Friends and Admirers of each other. Indeed all the great Writers of that Age, for whom fingly we have fo great an Esteem, ftand up together as Vouchers for one another's Reputation. But at the fame time that Virgil was celebrated by Gallus, Propertius, Horace, Varius, Tucca and Ovid, we know that Bavius and Mevius were his declared Foes and Calumniators.

IN our own Country a Man seldom fets up for a Poet, without attacking the Reputation of all his Brothers in the Art. The Ignorance of the Moderns, the Scribblers of the Age, the Decay of Poetry, are the Topicks of Detraction, with which he makes his Entrance into the World: But how much more noble is the Fame that is built on Candour and Ingenuity, according to thofe beautiful Lines of Sir John Denham, in his Poem on Fletcher's Works!

B 4

But