No. 175, of a London Milliner, I am not able to inform Thursday, you; but, among the rest, there was one Cherry/ Sept. 20, coloured Ribbon, consisting of about half a dozen Yards,

1711.

made up in the Figure of a Small Head-dress. The
foresaid Lady had the Assurance to affirm, amidst a
Circle of Female Inquisitors, who were present at the
opening of the Box, that this was the newest Fashion
worn at Court. Accordingly the next Sunday we had
several Females, who came to
to Church with their
Heads dress'd wholly in Ribbons, and looked like so
many Victims ready to be Sacrificed. This is still a
reigning Mode among us. At the same time we
have a Sett of Gentlemen, who take the Liberty to
appear in all publick Places without any Buttons to
their Coats, which they supply with several little silver
Hasps; tho' our freshest Advices from London make
no mention of any such Fashion; and we are some
thing shy of affording Matter to the Button-makers for
a second Petition.

What I would humbly propose to the Publick is, that there may be a Society erected in London, to consist of the most skilful Persons of both Sexes for the Inspection of Modes and Fashions; and that hereafter no Person or Persons shall presume to appear singularly habited in any Part of the Country, without a Testi monial from the foresaid Society that their Dress is answerable to the Mode at London. By this means, Sir, we shall know a little whereabout we are,

If you could bring this Matter to bear, you would very much oblige great Numbers of your Country Friends, and among the rest,

X

No. 176,
[STEELE,]

THE

Your very Humble Servant,

Jack Modish.'

Friday, September 21.

Parvula, pumilio, xapíтwv μía, tota merum sal.—Luc, HERE are in the following Letter Matters which I, a Batchelor, cannot be supposed to be acquainted with; therefore shall not pretend to explain upon it till

further

further Consideration, but leave the Author of Epistle to express his Condition his own Way.

'Mr. SPECTATOR,

the No. 176. Friday, Sept. 21, 1711.

I do not deny but you appear in many of your Papers to understand humane Life pretty well; but there are very many things which you cannot possibly have a true Notion of, in a single Life; these are such as respect the married State; otherwise I cannot account for your having over-looked a very good sort of People, which are commonly called in Scorn the Hen-peckt. You are to understand that I am one of those innocent Mortals, who suffer Derision under that Word, for being governed by the best of Wives. It would be worth your Consideration to enter into the Nature of Affec tion it self, and tell us, according to your Philosophy, why it is that our Dears should do what they will with us, shall be froward, ill-natured, assuming, sometimes whine, at others rail, then swoon away, then come to Life, have the Use of Speech to the greatest Fluency imaginable, and then sink away again, and all because they fear we do not love them enough; that is, the poor things love us so heartily, that they cannot think it possible we should be able to love them in so great a Degree, which makes them take on so. I say, Sir, a true good-natur'd Man, whom Rakes and Libertines call Hen-peckt, shall fall into all these different Moods with his dear Life, and at the same time see they are wholly put on; and yet not be hard-hearted enough to tell the dear good Creature that she is an Hypocrite. This sort of good Man is very frequent in the populous and wealthy City of London, and is the true hen-peckt Man; the kind Creature cannot break through his Kind nesses so far as to come to an Explanation with the tender Soul, and therefore goes on to comfort her when nothing ails her, to appease her when she is not angry, and to give her his Cash when he knows she does not want it; rather than be uneasie for a whole Month, which is computed by hard-hearted Men the Space of Time which a froward Woman takes to come to her self if you have Courage to stand out.

There

No. 176.

Friday,
Sept. 21,

1711.

There are indeed several other Species of the Hen peckt, and in my Opinion they are certainly the best Subjects the Queen has; and for that Reason Í take it to be your Duty to keep us above Contempt.

I

I do not know whether I make my self understood in the Representation of an hen-peckt Life, but I shall take Leave to give you an Account of my self, and my own Spouse. You are to know that I am reckoned no Fool, have on several Occasions been tried whether I will take ill Usage, and yet the Event has been to my Ad vantage; and yet there is not such a Slave in Turkey as I am to my Dear. She has a good Share of Wit, and is what you call a very pretty agreeable Woman. perfectly doat on her, and my Affection to her gives me all the Anxieties imaginable but that of Jealousie, My being thus confident of her, I take, as much as I can judge of my Heart, to be the Reason, that what ever she does, tho' it be never so much against my Inclination, there is still left something in her Manner that is amiable. She will sometimes look at me with an assumed Grandeur, and pretend to resent that I have not had Respect enough for her Opinion in such an Instance in Company, I cannot but smile at the pretty Anger she is in, and then she pretends she is used like a Child. In a Word, our great Debate is which has the Superiority in Point of Understanding. She is eternally forming an Argument of Debate; to which I very indolently answer, Thou art mighty pretty, To this she answers, All the World but you think I have as much Sense as your self. I repeat to her, Indeed you are pretty. Upon this there is no Patience; she will throw down any thing about her, stamp, and pull off her Head-Cloaths, Fie, my Dear, say I; how can a Woman of your Sense fall into such an intemperate Rage? This is an Argument which never fails. Indeed, my Dear, says she, you make me mad sometimes, so you do, with the silly Way you have of treating me like a pretty Idiot. Well, what have I got by putting her into good Humour? Nothing, but that I must con vince her of my good Opinion by my Practice; and then I am to give her Possession of my little ready

Money

1711.

Money, and for a Day and a half following dislike all No. 176.
she dislikes, and extol every thing she approves. I am Friday,
so exquisitely fond of this Darling, that I seldom see Sept. 21,
any of my Friends, am uneasie in all Companies till
I see her again; and when I come home she is in the
Dumps, because she says she's sure I came so soon
only because I think her handsome. I dare not upon
this Occasion laugh; but tho' I am one of the warmest
Churchmen in the Kingdom I am forced to rail at the
Times, because she is a violent Whig. Upon this we
talk Politicks so long, that she is convinc'd I kiss her
for her Wisdom. It is a common Practice with me to
ask her some Question concerning the Constitution,
which she answers me in general out of _Harington's
Oceana: Then I commend her strange Memory, and
her Arm is immediately locked in mine. While I keep
her in this Temper she plays before me, sometimes
dancing in the Midst of the Room, sometimes striking
an Air at her Spinet, varying her Posture and her
Charms in such a Manner that I am in continual
Pleasure: She will play the Fool if I allow her to be
wise, but if she suspects I like her for her trifling she
immediately grows grave,

These are the Toils in which I am taken, and I carry off my Servitude as well as most Men; but my Applica tion to you is in Behalf of the Hen-peckt in general, and I desire a Dissertation from you in Defence of us. You have, as I am informed, very good Authorities in our Favour, and hope you will not omit the Mention of the renowned Socrates, and his philosophick Resig nation to his Wife Xantippe. This would be a very good Office to the World in general, for the Hen peckt are powerful in their Quality and Numbers, not only in Cities but in Courts; in the latter they are ever the most obsequious, in the former the most wealthy of all Men. When you have considered Wedlock throughly, you ought to enter into the Suburbs of Matrimony, and give us an Account of the Thraldom of kind Keepers and irresolute Lovers; the Keepers who cannot quit their fair ones tho' they see their approaching Ruin; the Lovers who dare not marry, tho' they know they

shall

shall never be happy without the Mistresses whom they cannot purchase on other Terms,

What will be a great Embellishment to your Discourse, will be, that you may find Instances of the Haughty, the Proud, the Frolick, the Stubborn, who are each of them in secret down-right Slaves to their Wives or Mistresses. I must beg of you in the last Place to dwell upon this, That the Wise and Valiant in all Ages have been hen-peckt; and that the sturdy_Tempers who are not Slaves to Affection, owe that Exemption to their being enthraled by Ambition, Avarice, or some meaner Passion. I have ten thousand thousand things more to say, but my Wife sees me Writing, and will, according to Custom, be consulted, if I do not seal this immediately,

T

Yours,

No. 177.
[ADDISON,]

Nathaniel Henroost'

Saturday, September 22,

IN

Quis enim bonus, aut face dignus

Arcana, qualem Cereris vult esse sacerdos,
Ulla aliena sibi credat mala?——Juv.

one of my last Week's Papers I treated of Good nature, as it is the effect of Constitution, I shall now speak of it as it is a Moral Virtue. The first may make a Man easie in himself, and agreeable to others, but implies no Merit in him that is possessed of it. A Man is no more to be praised upon this Account, than because he has a regular Pulse or a good Digestion. This Good-nature however in the Constitution, which Mr. Dryden somewhere calls a Milkiness of Blood, is an admirable Ground-work for the other. In order there fore to try our Good-nature, whether it arises from the Body or the Mind, whether it be founded in the Animal or Rational Part of our Nature, in a word, whether it be such as is entituled to any other Reward, besides that secret Satisfaction and Contentment of Mind which is essential to it, and the kind Reception it procures us in the World, we must examine it by the following Rules, First, Whether it acts with Steadiness and Uniformity

in