herfelf, and that the grows contemptible by being confpicuous. I cannot conclude my paper without obferving, that Virgil has very finely touched upon this fe male paffion for dress and fhow, in the character of Camilla; who, though the feems to have fhaken off all the other weakneffes of her fex, is ftill defcribed as a woman in this particular. The poet tells us, that after having made a great flaughter of the enemy, fhe unfortunately caft her eye on a Trojan, who wore an embroidered tunick, a beautiful coat of mail, with a mantle of the fineft purple. A golden bow, fays he, hung upon his shoulder ; his garment was buckled with a golden clafp, and his head was covered with an helmet of the fame fhining metal. The Amazon immediately fingled out this well-dreffed warrior, being seized with a woman's longing for the pretty trappings that he was adorn ed with : -Totumque incauta per agmen Famines prade & fpcliorum ardebat amore. EN. xi. ver. 782. This heedlefs purfuit after thefe glittering trifles, the poet (by a nice concealed moral) reprefents to have been the deftruction of his female hero. C No 16. MONDAY, MARCH 19. Quod verum atque decens curo & rogo, & omnis in hoc fum. What right, what true, HOR. Ep. i. 1. 1. ver. II. what fit we justly call, - for this is all. POPE. HAVE received a letter, defiring me to be very fatirical upon the little muff that is now in fashion; another informs me of a pair of filver garters buck led led below the knee, that have been lately feen at the Rainbow coffee-houfe in Fleetfireet; a third fends me an heavy complaint against fringed gloves. To be brief, there is fcarce an ornament of either fex which one or other of my correfpondents has not' inveighed against with some bitterness, and recommended to iny obfervation. I must therefore, once for all, inform my readers, that it is not my intention to fink the dignity of this my paper with reflections upon red heels or top-knots, but rather to enter into the paffions of mankind, and to correct thofe depraved fentiments that give birth to all thofe little extravagancies which appear in their outward drefs and behaviour. Foppifh and fantastic ornaments are only indications of vice, not criminal in themselves. Extinguish vanity in the mind, and ́ you naturally retrench the little fuperfluities of garniture and equipage. The bloffoms will fall of themselves, when the root that nourishes them is deftroyed. I fhall therefore, as I have faid, apply my remedies to the first feeds and principles of an affected dress, without defcending to the drefs itself; tho' at the fame time I must own, that I have thoughts of creating an officer under me, to be intitled, The Cenfor of fmall Wares, and of alloting him one day in a week for the execution of fuch his office. An operator of this nature might act under me, with the fame regard as a furgeon to a phyfician; the one might be employed in healing thofe blotches and tumours which break out in the body, while the other is fweetening the blood and rectifying the conftitution. To fpeak truly, the young people of both fexes are fo wonderfully apt to fhoot out into long fwords or fweeping trains, bushy head-dreffes or full-bottomed periwigs, with feveral other incumberances of drefs, that they stand in need of being pruned very frequently, left they fhould be oppreffed with ornaments, and over-run No 16. with the luxuriance of their habits. I am much in doubt, whether I fhould give the preference to a quaker that is trimmed close, and almost cut to the quick, or to a beau that is loaden with fuch a redundance of excreffences. I must therefore defire my correfpondents to let me know how they approve my project, and whether they think the erecting of fuch a petty cenforfhip may not turn to the emolument of the publick; for I would not do any thing of this nature rafhly and without advice. There is another fet of correfpondents to whom I must addrefs myself in the fecond place: I mean fuch as fill their letters with private scandal and black accounts of particular perfons and families. The world is fo full of ill-nature, that I have lampoons fent me by people who cannot fpell, and fatires compofed by those who fcarce know how to write. By the laft poft, in particular, I received a packet of fcandal which is not legible; and have a whole bundle of letters in womens hands that are full of blots and calumnies, infomuch, that, when I fee the name Calia, Phillis, Paftora, or the like, at the bottom of a fcrawl, I conclude on courfe that it brings me fome account of a fallen virgin, a faithlefs wife, or an amorous widow. I must therefore inform these my correfpondents, that it is not my defign to be a publisher of intrigues and cuckoldoms, or to bring little infamous stories out of their present lurking-holes into broad day-light. If I attack the vicious, I fhall only fet upon them in a body; and will not be provoked by the worft ufage I can receive from others, to make an example of any particular criminals. In fhort, I have fo much of a Drawcanfir in me, that I fhall pafs over a fingle foe to charge whole armies. It is not Lais nor Silenus, but the harlot and the drunkard, whom I fhall endeavour to expofe; and fhall confider the crime as it appears in a fpecies, not as it is circumstanced in an individual. I think it was Caligula who wished the the whole city of Rome had but one neck, that he might behead them at a blow: I fhall do out of humanity, what that emperor would have done in the cruelty of his temper, and aim every ftroke at a collective body of offenders. At the fame time I am very fenfible, that nothing spreads a paper like private calumny and defamation; but, as my fpeculations are not under this neceffity, they are not exposed to this temptation. In the next place, I must apply myself to my party-correfpondents, who are continually teazing me to take notice of one another's proceedings. How often am I asked by both fides, if it is poffible for me to be an unconcerned fpectator of the rogueries that are committed by the party which is oppofite to him that writes the letter. About two days fince I was reproached with an old Grecian law, that forbids any man to stand as a neuter or a looker-on in the divifions of his country. However, as I am very fenfible my paper would lofe its whole effect, fhould it run into the outrages party, I fhall take care to keep clear of every thing which looks that way. If I can any way affuage private inflammations, or allay publick ferments, I ihall apply myself to it with my utmost endeavours; but will never let my heart reproach me, with having done any thing towards increafing those feuds and animofities that extinguifh religion, deface government, and make a nation miferable. of a What I have faid under the three foregoing heads, will, I am afraid, very much retrench the number of my correfpondents: I fhall therefore acquaint my Reader, that if he has started any hint which he is not able to purfue, if he has met with any furprising ftory which he does not know how to tell, if he has difcovered any epidemical vice which has escaped my obfervation, or has heard of any uncommon virtue which he would defire to publifh; in fhort, if he has any materials that can furnish out an innocent diverfion, I fhall promise him my best affiftance in working of them up for a publick entertainment. This paper my reader will find was intended for an anfwer to a multitude of correfpondents; but I hope he will pardon me if I fingle out one of them in particular, who has made me fo very humble a request, that I cannot forbear complying with it. To the SPECTATOR. I SIR, March 15, 1710-11. Am at prefent fo unfortunate, as to have nothing to do but to mind my own bufinefs; and therefore beg of you, that you will be pleafed to put me into fome small poft under you. I obferve that you have appointed your printer and publifher to receive letters and advertisements for the city of London; and fhall think myself very much honoured by you, if you will appoint me to take in letters and advertisements for the city of Westminfter and the duchy of Lancaster. Though I cannot promife to fill fuch an employment with fuf'ficient abilities, I will endeavour to make up with • industry and fidelity what I want in parts and genius. I am, Sir, SINCE INCE our perfons are not of our own making, when they are fuch as appear defective or uncomely, it is, methinks, an honeft and laudable fortitude |