He be y. an er fe n is he ther by Wrinkles on his Forehead, or Traces in his Brain. His Perfon is well turned, of a good Height. He is very ready at that fort of Difcourse with which Men ufually entertain Women. He has all his Life dreffed very well, and remembers Habits as others do Men. He can fmile when one fpeaks to him, and laughs easily. He knows the Hiftory of every Mode, and can inform you from which of the French King's Wenches our Wives and Daughters had this Manner of curling their Hair, that Way of placing their Hoods; whose Frailty was covered by fuch a fort of Petticoat, and whofe Vanity to fhew her Foot made that part of the Dress fo fhort in fuch a Year. In a Word, all his Conversation and Knowledge has been in the female World: As other Men of his Age will take notice 1 to you what such a Minifter faid upon fuch and fuch an Occasion, he will tell you when the Duke of Monmouth danced at Court, fuch a Woman was then fmitten, another was taken with him at the Head of his Troop in the Park. In all these important Relations, he has ever about the fame time received a kind Glance or a Blow of a Fan from B 3 fome Ռ n f t n e e r fome celebrated Beauty, Mother of the prefent Lord fuch-a-one. If you speak of a young Commoner that faid a lively thing in the Houfe, he ftarts up, He has good Blood in his Veins, Tom Mirabell begot him, the Rogue cheated me in that Affair, that young Fel'low's Mother used me more like a 'Dog than any Woman I ever made Ad vances to.' This way of Talking of his very much enlivens the Conversation among us of a more fedate Turn; and I find there is not one of the Company, but my felf, who rarely speak at all, but fpeaks of him as of that Sort of Man who is ufually called a wellbred fine Gentleman. To conclude his Character, where Women are not concerned, he is an honest worthy Man. I cannot tell whether I am to account him whom I am next to speak of, as one of our Company; for he vifits us but feldom, but when he does it adds to every Man elfe a new Enjoyment of himself. He is a Clergyman, a very Philofophick Man, of general Learning, great Sanctity of Life, and the most exact Breeding. He has the Misfortune to be of a very weak Conftitution, and confequently cannot accept accept of fuch Cares and Business as Peferments in his Function would oblige him to: He is therefore among Divines what a Chamber-Counsellor is among Lawyers. The Probity of his Mind, and the Integrity of his Life, create him Followers, as being eloquent or loud advances others. He feldom introduces the Subject he fpeaks upon; but we are so far gone in Years, that he obferves when he is among us, an Earneftness to have him fall on fome Divine Topick, which he always treats with much Authority, as one who has no Interefts in this World, as one who is hattening to the Object of all his Wishes, and conceives Hope from his Decays and Infirmities. Thefe are my my ordinary Companions. R as k ot B 4 Satur pt Quoi quifque ferè ftudio devinctus adhæret: I N one of my late Rambles, or rather Speculations, Í looked into the great Hall where the Bank is kept, and was not a little pleased to fee the Directors, Secretaries and Clerks, with all the other Members of that wealthy Corporation, ranged in their feveral Stations, according to the Parts they act in that juft and regular Oeconomy. This revived in my Memory the many Difcourfes which I had both read and heard concerning the Decay of Publick Credit, with the Methods of restoring it, and which, in my Opinion, have always been defective, because they have always been made with an Eye to feparate Interests, and Party Principles. THE ti: 4 Ι all ad Ο S at eir rts De 10 ad the the in ve, ade and HE THE Thoughts of the Day gave my Mind Employment for the whole Night, fo that I fell infenfibly into a kind of Methodical Dream, which difposed all my Contemplations into a Vifion or Allegory, or what else the Reader fhall please to call it. METHOUGHTS I returned to the Great Hall, where I had been the Morning before, but, to my Surprize, instead of the Company that I left there, I faw towards the upper End of the Hall, a beautiful Virgin, feated on a Throne of Gold. Her Name (as they told me) was Publick Credit. The Walls, instead of being adorned with Pictures and Maps, were hung with many Acts of Parliament written in Golden Let ters. At the upper End of the Hall was the Magna Charta, with the Act of Uniformity on the right Hand, and the Act of Toleration on the left. At the lower End of the Hall was the A& of Settlement, which was placed full in the Eye of the Virgin that fat upon the Throne. Both the Sides of the. Hall were covered with fuch Acts of Parliament as had been made for the Establishment of Publick Funds. The Lady feemed to fet an unspeakable VaBr lue |