in the faces of my pretty countrywomen. Ovid, in his Art of Love, has given some precepts as to this particular, though I find they are different from those which prevail among the moderns. He recom On the mends a red striped silk to the pale complexion, white to the brown, and dark to the fair. contrary, my friend Will, who pretends to be a greater master in this art than Ovid, tells me, that the palest features look the most agreeable in white sarsonet; that a face which is overflushed appears to advantage in the deepest scarlet, and that the darkest complexion is not a little alleviated by a black hood. In short, he is for losing the color of the face in that of the hood, as a fire burns dimly, and a candle goes half out, in the light of the sun. This, says he, your Ovid himself has hinted, where he treats of these matters, when he tells us that the blue waternymphs are dressed in sky-colored garments; and that Aurora, who always appears in the light of the rising sun, is robed in saffron. Whether these his observations are justly grounded I cannot tell: but I have often known him, as we have stood together behind the ladies, praise or dispraise the complexion of a face which he never saw, from observing the color of her hood, and he has been very seldom out in these his guesses. As I have nothing more at heart than the honor and improvement of the fair sex, I cannot conclude this paper without an exhortation to the British ladies, that they would excel the women of all other nations as much in virtue and good sense as they do in beauty; which they may certainly do, if they will be as industrious to cultivate their minds as they are to adorn their bodies; in the meanwhile I shall re commend to their most serious consideration the saying of an old Greek poet, Γυναικι κόσμος ο τρόπος, κ' ἐ χρυσια(α.) No. 266. FRIDAY, January 4, 1712. BY STEELE. Id verò est, quod ego mihi puto palmarium, C TER. Eun. act 5. sc. 4: I look upon it as my masterpiece, that I have found out how a young fellow may know the disposition and behavior of harlots, and by early knowing, come to detest them. Novice or wickedness which people fall into from indulgence to desires which are natural to all, ought to place them below the compassion of the virtuous part of the world: which indeed often makes me a little apt to suspect the sincerity of their virtue, who are too warmly provoked at other people's personal sins. The unlawful commerce of the sexes is of all others the hardest to avoid; and yet there is no one which you shall hear the rigider part of womankind speak of with so little mercy. It is very certain that a modest woman cannot abhor the breach of chastity too much; but pray let her hate it for herself, and only pity it in others. Will Honeycomb calls these over-offended ladies the outrageously virtuous. I do not design to fall upon failures in general, with relation to the gift of chastity, but at present. only enter upon that large field, and begin with the consideration of poor and public whores. The other evening, passing alone near Covent-Garden, I was jogged on the elbow as I turned into the Piazza, on the right hand coming out of James-street, by a slim young girl of about seventeen, who with a pert air asked me if I was for a pint of wine. I do not know but I should have indulged my curiosity in having some chat with her, but that I am informed the man of the Bumper knows me; and it would have made a story for him not very agreeable to some part of my writings, though I have in others so frequently said that I am wholly unconcerned in any scene I am in, but merely as a Spectator. This impediment being in my way, we stood under one of the arches by twilight; and there I could observe as exact features as I had ever seen, the most agreeable shape, the finest neck and bosom, in a word, the whole person of a woman exquisitely beautiful. She affected to allure me with a forced wantonness in her look and air; but I saw it checked with hunger and cold her eyes were wan and eager, her dress thin and tawdry, her mien genteel and childish. This strange figure gave me much anguish of heart, and, to avoid being seen with her, I went away, but could not forbear giving her a crown. The poor thing sighed, courtesied, and, with a blessing, expressed with the utmost vehemence, turned from me. creature is what they call newly come upon the town, but who, I suppose, falling into cruel hands, was left in the first month from her dishonor, and exposed to pass through the hands and discipline of one of those hags of hell whom we call bawds. But lest I should grow too suddenly grave on this subject, and be myself outrageously good, I shall turn to a -scene in one of Fletcher's plays, where this character is drawn, and the economy of whoredom most This admirably described. The passage I would point to is in the third scene of the second act of the Humorous Lieutenant. Leucippe, who is agent for the king's lust, and bawds at the same time for the whole court, is very pleasantly introduced, reading her minutes as a person of business, with two maids, her under-secretaries, taking instructions at a table before her. Her women, both those under her present tutelage and those which she is lying in wait for, are alphabetically set down in her book, and she is look. ing over the letter C, in a muttering voice, as if between soliloquy and speaking out, she says, "Her maiden-head will yield me; let me see now; Cloe, the daughter of a country gentleman; 'Her age upon fifteen. Now her complexion. 'A lovely brown; here 'tis ; eyes black and rolling, The body neatly built; she strikes a lute well, Sings most enticingly: these helps considered, • Her maiden-head will amount to some three hundred, "Or three hundred and fifty crowns; 'twill bear it hand'Her father's poor, some little share deducted, [somely. To buy him a hunting nag.' These creatures are very well instructed in the circumstances and manners of all who are any way related to the fair one whom they have a design upon. As Cloe is to be purchased with three hundred and fifty crowns, and the father taken off with a pad; the merchant's wife next to her, who abounds in plenty, is not to have downright money, but the mercenary part of her mind is engaged with a present of plate and a little ambition. She is made to understand that it is a man of quality who dies for her. The examination of a young girl for business, and the crying down her value for being a slight thing, together with every other circumstance in the scene, are inimitably excellent, and have the true spirit of comedy; though it were to be wished the author had added a circumstance which should make Leucippe's business more odious. It must not be thought a digression from my intended speculation, to talk of bawds in a discourse upon wenches; for a woman of the town is not thoroughly and properly such, without having gone through the education of one of these houses. But the compassionate case of very many is, that they are taken into such hands without any the least suspicion, previous temptation, or admonition to what place they are going. The last week I went to an inn in the city to inquire for some provisions which were sent by a waggon out of the country; and as I waited in one of the boxes till the chamberlain had looked over his parcels, I heard an old and a young voice repeating the questions and responses of the church catechism. I thought it no breach of good manners to peep at a crevice, and look in at people so well employed: but who should I see there but the most artful procuress in town, examining a most beautiful country girl, who had come up in the same waggon with my things, 'Whether she was well educated, could forbear playing the wanton with 'servants and idle fellows, of which this town, says she, is too full?' at the same time, 'Whether she knew enough of breeding, as that if a 'squire or a 'gentleman, or one that was her betters, should give ⚫ her a civil salute, she should courtesy, and be hum6 ble nevertheless?' Her innocent forsooths, yes's, an't please you's, and she would do her endeavor, moved the good old lady to take her out of the hands of a country bumpkin her brother, and hire her for |