have heard him often pleasant on this occafion, and defcribe a young gentleman abufing his man in that coat, which a month or two before was the moft pleafing diftinction he was confcious of in himself. · He would turn his difcourfe ftill more pleasantly upon the ladies bounties of this kind; and I have heard him fay he knew a fine woman, who diftributed rewards and punishments in giving becoming or unbecoming dreffes to her maids.

But my good friend is above these little inftances of good-will, in beftowing only trifles on his fervants; a good fervant to him is fure of having it in his choice very foon of being no fervant at all. As I before obferved, he is fo good an hufband, and knows fo thoroughly that the fkill of the purfe is the cardinal virtue of this life: I fay, he knows fo well that frugality is the fupport of generofity, that he can often fpare a large fine when a tenement falls, and give that fettlement to a good fervant who has a mind to go into the world, or make a stranger pay the fine to that fervant, for his more comfortable maintenance, if he ftays in his fervice.

A man of honour and generofity confiders it would be miferable to himself to have no will but that of another, though it were of the best perfon breathing, and for that reafon goes on as fast as he is able to put his fervants into independent livelihoods. The greatest part of Sir ROGER's eftate is tenanted by perfons who have ferved himself or his ancestors. It was to me extremely pleasant to obferve the vifitants from feveral parts to welcome his arrival into the country; and all the difference that I could take notice of between the late fervants who came to see him, and thofe who ftaid in the family, was, that these latter were looked upon as finer gentlemen and better courtiers.

This manumiffion, and placing them in a way of livelihood, I looked upon as only what is due to a good fervant, which encouragement will make his

K 2

fucceffor

fucceffor be as diligent, as humble, and as ready as he was. There is fomething wonderful in the narrownefs of thofe minds, which can be pleased, and be barren of bounty to those who please them.

One might, on this occafion, recount the fense that great perfons in all ages have had of the merit of their dependents, and the heroick services which men have done their mafters in the extremity of their fortunes; and fhewn to their undone patrons, that fortune was all the difference between them; but as I defign this my fpeculation only as a gentle admonition to thanklefs mafters, I fhall not go out of the occurrences of common life, but affert it as a general obfervation, that I never faw but in Sir ROGER's family, and one or two more, good fervants treated as they ought to be. Sir ROGER's kindnefs extends to their children's children, and this very morning he fent his coachman's grandfon to prentice. I fhall conclude this paper with an account of a picture in his gallery, where there are many which will deferve my future observation.

At the very upper end of this handsome structure, I faw the portraiture of two young men standing in a river, the one naked, the other in a livery. The perfon fupported feemed half dead, but ftill fo much alive as to fhew in his face exquisite joy and love towards the other. I thought the fainting figure resembled my friend Sir ROGER; and looking at the butler, who ftood by me, for an account of it, he informed me that the perfon in the livery was a fervant of Sir ROGER's, who stood on the fhore whilst his mafter was fweeming, and obferving him taken with fome fudden illness, and fink under water, jumped in and faved him. He told me Sir ROGER took off the drefs he was in as foon ás he came home, and by a great bounty at that time, followed by his favour ever fince, had made him master of that pretty feat which we saw at a distance as we came to this houfe. I remembered

indeed Sir ROGER faid there lived a very worthy gentleman, to whom he was highly obliged, without mentioning any thing further. Upon my looking a little diffatisfied at fome part of the picture, my attendant informed me that it was against Sir ROGER'S will, and at the earnest request of the gentleman himself, that he was drawn in the habit in which he had faved his master.

tetetetettttttttttttttt WEDNESDAY, JULY 4.

No. 108.

Gratis anhelans, multa agendo nihil agens.

PHEDR. Fab. v. 1. 2.

Out of breath to no purpose, and very bufy about nothing.

SI was yesterday morning walking with Sir ROGER before his houfe, a country-fellow brought him a huge fish, which, he told him, Mr William Wimble had caught that very morning; and that he prefented it, with his fervice to him, and intended to come and dine with him. At the fame time he delivered a letter which my friend read to me as soon as the messenger left him.

Sir ROGER,

'I defire you to accept of a jack, which is the beft I have caught this feason. I intend to ' come and stay with you a week, and see how the " perch bite in the Black River. I obferved with fome concern, the last time I faw you upon the bowling-green, that your whip wanted a lafh to ' it; I will bring half a dozen with me that I twift'ed last week, which I hope will ferve you all the time you are in the country. I have not been out of the fadle for fix days laft paft, having been at

K. 3

Eaton

"Eaton with Sir John's eldest fon. He takes to his

learning hugely. I am, SIR,

Your humble fervant,

• WILL WIMBLE.'

This extraordinary letter, and meffage that accompanied it, made me very curious to know the character and quality of the gentleman who fent them; which I found to be as follows. Will Wimble is younger brother to a baronet, and descended of the ancient family of the Wimbles. He is now between forty and fifty; but, being bred to no bufinefs and born to no eftate, he generally lives with his elder brother as fuperintendent of his game. He hunts a pack of dogs better than any man in the country, and is very famous for finding out a hare. He is extremely well-versed in all the little handicrafts of an idle man: He makes a May-fly to a miracle; and furnishes the whole country with angle-rods. As he is a good-natured officious fellow, and very much efteemed upon account of his family, he is a welcome guest at every house, and keeps up a good correfpondence among all the gentlemen about him. He carries a tulip-root in his pocket from one to another, or exchanges a puppy between a couple of friends that lives perhaps in the oppofite fides of the county. Will is a particular favourite of all the young heirs, whom he frequently obliges with a net that he has weaved, or a fetting dog that he has made himfelf. He now and then presents a pair of garters of his own knitting to their mothers or fifters; and raises a great deal of mirth among them, by inquiring as often as he meets them how they wear? These gentlemanlike manufactures and obliging little humours make Will the darling of the country.

Sir ROGER was proceeding in the character of him, when we saw him make up to us with two or three hazle-twigs in his hand, that he had cut in

Sir ROGER'S woods, as he came through them in his way to the house. I was very much pleased to observe on one fide the hearty and fincere welcome with which Sir ROGER received him, and on the other, the secret joy which his gueft difcovered at fight of the good old Knight. After the first falutes were over, Will defired Sir ROGER to lend him one of his fervants to carry a fet of fhuttlecocks he had with him in a little box to a lady that lived about a mile off, to whom it seems he had promised fuch a prefent for above this half year: Sir ROGER'S back was no fooner turned, but honeft Will began to tell me of a large cock pheasant that he had fprung in one of the neighbouring woods, with two or three other adventures of the fame na ture. Odd and uncommon characters are the game that I looked for, and moft delighted in; for which reafon I was as much pleased with the novelty of the person that talked to me, as he could be for his life with the springing of a pheasant, and therefore liftened to him with more than ordinary atten tion.

In the midst of his difcourfe the bell rung to dinner, where the gentleman I have been speaking of had the pleasure of feeing the huge jack he had caught, ferved up for the firft difh in a moft fumptuous manner. Upon our fitting down to it he gave us a long account how he had hooked it, played with it, foiled it, and at length drew it out upon the bank, with feveral other particulars that lasted all the first courfe. A difh of wild-fowl that came afterwards furnished conversation for the rest of the dinner, which concluded with a late invention of Will's for improving the quail-pipe.

Upon withdrawing into my room after dinner, I was fecretly touched with compaffion towards the honeft gentleman that had dined with us; and could not but confider with a great deal of concern, how fo good an heart and fuch busy hands were wholly

employed