OF THOSE WHO HAVE MADE A MEAN, CONTEMPTIBLE FIGURE

IN SOME ACTION OR CIRCUMSTANCE OF THEIR LIVES.

Antony, at Actium, when he fled after Cleopatra. Pompey, when he was killed on the sea-shore, in Egypt. Nero and Vitellius, when they were put to death.

Lepidus, when he was compelled to lay down his share of the triumvirate.

Cromwell, the day he refused the kingship out of fear. Perseus, king of Macedon, when he was led in triumph. Richard II., of England, after he was deposed.

The late king of Poland, when the king of Sweden forced him to give up his kingdom; and when he took it again, upon the king of Sweden's defeat by the Muscovites.

King James II., of England, when the prince of Orange sent to him at midnight to leave London.

King William III., of England, when he sent to beg the house of commons to continue his Dutch guards, and was refused.

The late queen Anne of England, when she sent Whitworth to Muscovy on an embassy of humiliation, for an insult committed here on that prince's ambassador.

The lord chancellor Bacon, when he was convicted of bribery.

The late duke of Marlborough, when he was forced, after his own disgrace, to carry his duchess's gold key to the queen.

The old earl of Pembroke, when a Scotch lord gave him a lash with a whip at Newmarket, in presence of all the nobility, and he bore it with patience.

King Charles II., of England, when he entered into the second Dutch war; and in many other actions during his whole reign.

Philip II., of Spain, after the defeat of the Armada.

The emperor Charles V., when he resigned his crown, and nobody would believe his reasons.

King Charles I., of England, when, in gallantry to his queen, he thought to surprise her with a present of a diamond buckle, which he pushed down her breast, and tore her flesh with the tongue; upon which she drew it out, and flung it on the ground.

Fairfax, the parliament general, at the time of king Charles's trial,

Julius Cæsar, when Antony offered to put a diadem on his head, and the people shouted for joy to see him decline it; which he never offered to do, until he saw their dislike in their countenances.

Coriolanus, when he withdrew his army from Rome at the entreaty of his mother.

Hannibal, at Antiochus's court.

Beau Fielding, at fifty years old, when, in a quarrel upon the stage, he was run into his breast, which he opened and showed to the ladies, that he might move their love and pity; but they all fell a-laughing.

The count de Bussy Rabutin, when he was recalled to court after twenty years' banishment into the country, and affected to make the same figure he did in his youth.

The earl of Sunderland, when he turned Papist, in the time of king James II., and underwent all the forms of a heretic converted.

Pope Clement VII., when he was taken prisoner at Rome, by the emperor Charles V.'s forces.

Queen Mary of Scotland, when she suffered Bothwell to ravish her, and pleaded that as an excuse for marrying him. King John of England, when he gave up his kingdom to the pope, to be held as a fief to the see of Rome.

OF THE

EDUCATION OF LADIES.

THERE is a subject of controversy which I have frequently met with, in mixed and select companies of both sexes, and sometimes only of men:-" Whether it be prudent to choose a wife who has good natural sense, some taste of wit and humour, sufficiently versed in her own natural language, able to read and relish history, books of travels, moral or entertaining discourses, and be a tolerable judge of the beauties in poetry?" This question is generally determined in the negative by the women themselves, but almost universally by the

men.

We must observe, that in this debate, those whom we call men and women of fashion are only to be understood, not merchants, tradesmen, or others of such occupations who are not supposed to have shared in a liberal education. I except, likewise, all ministers of state during their power, lawyers, and physicians in great practice, persons in such employments as take up the greater part of the day, and perhaps some other conditions of life which I cannot call to mind. Neither nust I forget to except all gentlemen of the army, from the general to the ensign; because those qualifications above men

tioned in a wife, are wholly out of their element and comprehension; together with all mathematicians and gentlemen lovers of music, metaphysicians, virtuosi, and great talkers, who have all amusements enough of their own. All these put together will amount to a great number of adversaries, whom I shall have no occasion to encounter, because I am already of their sentiments. Those persons whom I mean to include, are the bulk of lords, knights, and squires, throughout England, whether they reside between the town and country, or generally in either. I do also include those of the clergy, who have tolerably good preferments in London or any other parts of the kingdom.

The most material arguments that I have met with, on the negative side of this great question, are what I shall now impartially report in as strong a light as I think they can bear.

It is argued, "That the great end of marriage is propagation that consequently, the principal business of a wife is to breed children, and to take care of them in their infancy that the wife is to look to her family, watch over the servants, see that they do their work: that she be absent from her house as little as possible, that she is answerable for everything amiss in her family: that she is to obey all the lawful commands of her husband, and visit or be visited by no persons whom he disapproves: that her whole business, if well performed, will take up most hours of the day: that the greater she is, and the more servants she keeps, her inspection must increase accordingly; for as a family represents a kingdom, so the wife, who is her husband's first minister, must, under him, direct all the officers of state, even to the lowest; and report their behavior to the husband, as the first minister does to his prince: that such a station requires much time, and thought, and order; and if well executed, leaves but little time for visits or diversions: that a humor of reading books

except those of devotion or housewifery, is apt to turn a woman's brain; that plays, romances, novels, and love-poems, are only proper to instruct them how to carry on an intrigue; that all affectation of knowledge, beyond what is merely domestic, renders them vain, conceited, and pretending: that the natural levity of woman wants ballast; and when she once begins to think she knows more than others of her sex, she will begin to despise her husband, and grow fond of every coxcomb who pretends to any knowledge in books: that she will learn scholastic words; make herself ridiculous by pronouncing them wrong, and applying them absurdly in all companies; that, in the mean time, her household affairs, and the care of her children, will be wholly laid aside; her toilet will be crowded with all the under wits, where the conversation will pass in criticising on the last play or poem that comes out, and she will be careful to remember all the remarks that were made, in order to retail them in the next visit, especially in company who know nothing of the matter: that she will have all the impertinence of a pedant without the knowledge; and for every new acquirement, will become so much the worse."

To say the truth, that shameful and almost universal neglect of good education among the nobility, gentry, and indeed among all others who are born to good estates, will make this essay of little use to the present age; for, considering the modern way of training up both sexes in ignorance, idleness, and vice, it is of little consequence how they are coupled together. And therefore my speculations on this subject can be only of use to a small number; for, in the present situation of the world, none but wise and good men can fail of missing their match, whenever they are disposed to marry; and consequently there is no reason for complaint on either side. The forms by which a husband and wife are to live, with regard to each other and to the world, are sufficiently