Great Man, to make way for things of real and abfolute Service. In the time of Don Sebaftian of Portugal, or fome time fince, the firft Minister would let nothing come near him but what bore the most profound Face of Wifdom and Gravity. They carry'd it so far, that, for the greater Shew of their profound Knowledge, a Pair of Spectacles tied on their Nofes, with a black Ribbon round their Heads, was what completed the Drefs of thofe who made their court at his Levée, and none with naked Nofes were admitted to his Prefence. A blunt honeft Fellow, who had a Command in the Train of Artillery, had attempted to make an impreffion upon the Porter, day after day in vain, till at length he made his appearance in a very thoughtful dark Sute of Clothes, and two Pair of Spectacles on at once. He was conducted from Room to Room, with great deference, to the Minifter; and carrying on the Farce of the Place, he told his Excellence that he had pretended in this manner to be wifer than he really was, but with no ill Intention; but he was honeft Such-a-one of the Train, and he came to tell him that they wanted Wheelbarrows and Pick-axes. The thing happen'd not to displease, the Great Man was feen to fmile, and the fuccefsful Officer was reconducted with the fame profound Ceremony out of the House.

WHEN

WHEN Leo X. reigned Pope of Rome, his Holiness tho' a Man of Senfe, and of an excellent Taste of Letters, of all things affected Fools, Buffoons, Humourists, and Coxcombs: Whether it were from Vanity, and that he enjoy'd no Talents in other Men but what were inferior to him, or whatever it was, he carried it fo far, that his whole Delight was in finding out new Fools, and, as our Phrafe is, playing them off, and making them shew themselves to advantage. A Priest of his former Acquaintance fuffered a great many Disappointments in attempting to find accefs to him in a regular Character, till at laft in defpair he retired from Rome, and return'd in an Equipage fo very fantastical, both as to the Drefs of himself and Servants, that the whole Court were in an Emulation who fhould first introduce him to his Holiness. What added to the Expectation his Holiness had of the Pleafure he fhould have in his Follies, was, that this Fellow, in a Dress the moft exquifitely ridiculous, defired he might speak to him alone, for he had Matters of the highest Importance, upon which he wanted a Conference. Nothing could be denied to a Coxcomb of fo great hope; but when they were apart, the Impoftor revealed himself, and fpoke as follows;

DO

Do not be furpris'd, most holy Father, at feeing, instead of a Coxcomb to laugh at, your old Friend who has taken this way of Access to admonish you of your own Folly.. Can any thing fhew your Holinefs how unworthily you treat Mankind, more than my being put upon this Difficulty to fpeak with you? It is a Degree of Folly to delight to fee it in others, and it is the greatest Infolence imaginable to rejoice in the Difgrace of human Nature. It is a criminal Humility in a Perfon of your Holiness's Understanding, to believe you cannot excel but in the Converfation of Half-wits, Humourifts, Coxcombs and Buffoons. If your Holiness has a mind to be diverted like a rational Man, you have a great opportunity for it, in difrobing all the Impertinents you have favour'd, of all their Riches and Trappings at once, and bestowing them on the Humble, the Virtuous, and the Meek. If your Holiness is not concern'd for the fake of Virtue and Religion, be pleased to reflect, that for the fake of your own Safety it is not proper to be fo very much in jeft. When the Pope is thus merry, the People will in time begin to think many things, which they have hitherto beheld with great Veneration, are in themselves Objects of Scorn and Derifion. If they once get a Trick of knowing how to laugh, your Holiness's faying this Sentence in one Night-cap and t'other with

the

the other, the change of your Slippers, bringing you your Staff in the midst of a Prayer, then ftripping you of one Veft and clapping on a fecond during Divine Service, will be found out to have nothing in it. Confider, Sir, that at this rate a Head will be reckoned never the wifer for being Bald, and the Ignorant will be apt to fay, that going bare-foot does not at all help on in the way to Heaven. The red Cap and the Coul will fall under the fame Contempt; and the Vulgar will tell us to our Faces that we fhall have no Authority over them, but from the Force of our Arguments, and the Sanctity of our Lives.

T

Wednesday,

No 498 Wednesday, October 1.

Fruftra retinacula tendens

Fertur equis Auriga, neque audit currus babenas.
Virg. Georg. 1. v. 514.

Nor Reins, nor Curbs, nor Cries, the Horfes fear,
But force along the trembling Charioteer.

DRYDEN.

To the SPECTATOR-GENERAL of
Great-Britain.

From the farther End of the Widow's Coffeeboufe in Devereux-Court, Monday Evening, twenty eight Minutes and a half past Six.

Dear Dumb,

IN fhort, to use no farther Preface, if I fhould tell you that I have seen a HackneyCoachman, when he has come to fet down. his Fare, which has confifted of two or three very fine Ladies, hand them out, and falute every one of them with an Air of Familiarity, without giving the leaft offence, you would perhaps think me guilty of a Gasconade. But to clear myself from that Imputation, and to explain this Matter to you, I affure you that there are many illuftrious Youths within this City, who frequently re

create