1711. and by that Means at least divert the Minds of my No. 10. Female Readers from greater Trifles. At the same Time, Monday, as I would fain give some finishing Touches to those March 12, which are already the most beautiful Pieces in human Nature, I shall endeavour to point out all those Imperfections that are the Blemishes, as well as those Virtues which are the Embellishments, of the Sex, In he mean while I hope these my gentle Readers, who have so much Time on their Hands, will not grudge hrowing away a Quarter of an Hour in a Day on his Paper, since they may do it without any Hindrance o Business. ver I know several of my Friends and Well-wishers are n great Pain for me, lest I should not be able to keep up the Spirit of a Paper which I oblige my self to furnish Every Day: But to make them easie in this Particular, will promise them faithfully to give it over as soon is I grow dull. This I know will be Matter of great Raillery to the small Wits; who will frequently put ne in mind of my Promise, desire me to keep my Word, assure me that it is high Time to give over, with many other little Pleasantries of the like Nature, which Men of a little smart Genius cannot forbear hrowing out against their best Friends, when they ave such a Handle given them of being witty. But et them remember that I do hereby enter my Caveat gainst this Piece of Raillery. No. 11. Tuesday, March 13, Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.—Juv. ARIETTA is visited by all Persons of both Sexes, who have any Pretence to Wit and Gallantry, She s in that time of Life which is neither affected with the Follies of Youth, or Infirmities of Age; and her Conversation is so mixed with Gaiety and Prudence, hat she is agreeable both to the Young and the Old. Her Behaviour is very frank, without being in the least blameable; and as she is out of the Tract of any amorous or ambitious Pursuits of her own, her Visit ants C No. 11. 1711. ants entertain her with Accounts of themselves very Tuesday, freely, whether they concern their Passions or their March 13, Interests. I made her a Visit this Afternoon, having been formerly introduced to the Honour of her Ac quaintance, by my Friend WILL. HONEYCOMB, who ha prevailed upon her to admit me sometimes into he Assembly, as a civil inoffensive Man. I found he accompanied with one Person only, a Common-Place Talker, who, upon my Entrance, rose, and after very slight Civility sat down again; then turning to Arietta, pursued his Discourse, which I found was upon the old Topick of Constancy in Love. He went on with great Facility in repeating what he talk every Day of his Life; and, with the Ornaments of insignificant Laughs and Gestures, enforced his Argu ments by Quotations out of Plays and Songs, which allude to the Perjuries of the Fair, and the general Levity of Women. Methought he strove to shine more than ordinarily in his Talkative Way, that he might insult my Silence, and distinguish himself before Woman of Arietta's Taste and Understanding. She had often an Inclination to interrupt him, but coul find no Opportunity, till the Larum ceased of it self which it did not 'till he had repeated and murdered the celebrated Story of the Ephesian Matron. Arietta seemed to regard this Piece of Raillery a an Outrage done to her Sex; as indeed I have always observed that Women, whether out of a nicer Regar to their Honour, or what other Reason I cannot tell are more sensibly touched with those general Asper sions which are cast upon their Sex, than Men are by what is said of theirs. When she had a little recovered her self from the serious Anger she was in, she replied in the following manner. Sir, When I consider how perfectly new all you have said on this Subject is, and that the Story you have given us is not quite Two thousand Years ol I cannot but think it a Piece of Presumption to dispute with you: But your Quotations put me in Mind of the Fable of the Lion and the Man. The Man walking 1711. with that noble Animal, shewed him, in the Ostentation No. 11. of Human Superiority, a Sign of a Man killing a Lion, Tuesday, March 13, "Upon which the Lion said very justly, We Lions are none of us Painters, else we could shew a hundred Men killed by Lions, for one Lion killed by a Man. You Men are Writers, and can represent us Women as Unbecoming as you please in your Works, while we are unable to return the Injury, You have twice or thrice observed in your Discourse, that Hypocrisie is the very Foundation of our Education; and that an Ability to dissemble our Affections, is a professed Part of our Breeding. These, and such other Reflections, are sprinkled up and down the Writings of all Ages, by Authors, who leave behind them Memorials of their Resentment against the Scorn of particular Women, in Invectives against the whole Sex. Such a Writer, I doubt not, was the celebrated Petronius, who invented the pleasant Aggravations of the Frailty of the Ephesian Lady; but when we con sider this Question between the Sexes, which has been either a Point of Dispute or Raillery ever since there were Men and Women, let us take Facts from plain People, and from such as have not either Ambition For Capacity to embellish their Narrations with any Beauties of Imagination. I was the other Day amusing my self with Ligon's Account of Barbadoes; and, in Answer to your well-wrought Tale, I will give you Was it dwells upon my Memory) out of that honest Traveller, in his fifty fifth Page, the History of Inkle And Yarico. Mr. Thomas Inkle, of London, aged twenty Years, sembarked in the Downs on the good Ship called the Achilles, bound for the West-Indies, on the 16th of June, 1647, in order to improve his Fortune by Trade and Merchandize. Our Adventurer was the third Son of an eminent Citizen, who had taken particular Care to instill into his Mind an early Love of Gain, by making him a perfect Master of Numbers, and consequently giving him a quick View of Loss nd Advantage, and preventing the natural Impulses of his Passions, by Prepossession towards his Interests. With a Mind thus turned, young Inkle had a Person No. 11. every way agreeable, a ruddy Vigour in his Counten Tuesday, ance, Strength in his Limbs, with Ringlets of fair March 13, Hair loosely flowing on his Shoulders. It happened, 1711. 2 in the Course of the Voyage, that the Achilles, in some Distress, put into a Creek on the Main of America, in Search of Provisions: The Youth, who is the Hero of my Story, among others, went ashore on this Occasion From their first Landing they were observed by a Party of Indians, who hid themselves in the Woods for that Purpose. The English unadvisedly marched a great distance from the Shore into the Country, and were intercepted by the Natives, who slew the greatest Number of them. Our Adventurer escaped among others, by flying into a Forest. Upon his coming into a remote and pathless Part of the Wood, he threw himself, tired and breathless, on a little Hillock, when an Indian Maid rushed from a Thicket behind him After the first Surprize, they appeared mutually agree able to each other. If the European was highly Charmed with the Limbs, Features, and wild Graces of the Naked American; the American was no less taken with the Dress, Complexion, and Shape of an European, covered from Head to Foot, The Indian grew im mediately enamoured of him, and consequently sollicitous for his Preservation: She therefore conveyed him to a Cave, where she gave him a delicious Repast of Fruits, and led him to a Stream to slake his Thirst. In the midst of these good Offices, she would sometimes play with his Hair, and delight in the Opposition of its Colour to that of her Fingers: Then open his Bosom, then laugh at him for covering it. She was, it seems, a Person of Distinction, for she every Day came to him in a different Dress, of the most beautiful Shells, Bugles, and Bredes. She likewise brought him a great many Spoils, which her other Lovers had presented to her; so that his Cave was richly adorned with all the spotted Skins of Beasts, and most Party-coloured Feathers of Fowls, which that World afforded. To make his Confinement more tolerable, she would carry him in the dusk of the Evening, or by the favour of Moon light, to unfrequented Groves and Solitudes, and shew 1711. him where to lye down in Safety, and sleep amidst No. 11. the Falls of Waters, and Melody of Nightingales. Her Tuesday, March 13, Part was to watch and hold him awake in her Arms, for fear of her Countrymen, and awake him on Occasions to consult his Safety. In this manner did the Lovers pass away their Time, till they had learn'd a Language of their own, in which the Voyager communicated to his Mistress, how happy he should be to have her in his Country, where she should be Cloathed in such Silks as his Wastecoat was made of, and be carried in Houses drawn by Horses, without being exposed to Wind or Weather. All this he promised her the Enjoyment of, without such Fears and Alarms as they were there tormented with. In this tender Correspondence these Lovers lived for several Months, when Yarico, instructed by her Lover, discovered a Vessel on the Coast, to which she made Signals; and in the Night, with the utmost Joy and Satisfaction, accompanied him to a Ship's-Crew of his Countrymen, bound for Barbadoes. When a Vessel from the Main arrives in that Island, it seems the Planters come down to the Shoar, where there is an immediate Market of the Indians and other Slaves, as with us of Horses and Oxen, To be short, Mr. Thomas Inkle, now coming into English Territories, began seriously to reflect upon his loss of Time, and to weigh with himself how many Days Interest of his Money he had lost during his Stay with Yarico. This Thought made the young Man very pensive, and careful what Account he should be able to give his Friends of his Voyage. Upon which Considerations, the prudent and frugal young Man sold Yarico to a Barbadian Merchant; notwithstanding that the poor Girl, to incline him to commiserate her Condi tion, told him that she was with Child by him: But he Fonly made use of that Information, to rise in his Demands upon the Purchaser. I was so touch'd with this Story, (which I think should be always a Counterpart to the Ephesian Matron) that left the Room with Tears in my Eyes; which a Woman of Arietta's good Sense, did, I am sure, take for greater Applause, than any Compliments I could make her. R Wednesday |