No. 505. ably upon the Curiosity of several well-disposed Persons Thursday, in the Cities of London and Westminster. October 9, 1712. Among the many pretended Arts of Divination, there is none which so universally amuses as that by Dreams. I have indeed observed in a late Speculation that there have been sometimes, upon very extraordinary Occasions, supernatural Revelations made to certain Persons by this Means; but as it is the chief Business of this Paper to root out popular Errors, I must endeavour to expose the Folly and Superstition of those Persons, who, in the common and ordinary Course of Life, lay any Stress upon Things of so uncertain, shadowy and chimerical a Nature. This I cannot do more effectually than by the following Letter, which is dated from a Quarter of the Town that has always been the Habitation of some prophetick Philomath; it having been usual, Time out of Mind, for all such People as have lost their Wits, to resort to that Place either for their Cure or for their Instruction. 'Mr. SPECTATOR, Moor Fields, October 4, 1712, Having long considered whether there be any Trade wanting in this great City, after having surveyed very attentively all Kinds of Ranks and Professions, I do not find in any Quarter of the Town an Oneirocrítick, or, in plain English, an Interpreter of Dreams. For Want of so useful a Person, there are several good People who are very much puzzled in this Particular, and dream a whole year together without being ever the wiser for it. I hope I am pretty well qualified for this Office, having studied by Candle-light all the Rules of Art which have been laid down upon this Subject. My great Unckle by my Wife's Side was a Scotch Highlander, and second Sighted. I have four Fingers and two Thumbs upon one Hand, and was born on the longest Night of the Year. My Christian and Sirname begin and end with the same Letters. I am lodged in Moor-fields, in a House that for these fifty Years has been always tenanted by a Conjuror, If you had been in Company, so much as my self, with ordinary Women of the Town, you must know that there are many of them who every Day in their Lives, upon 1712, upon Seeing or Hearing of any Thing that is unexpected, No. 505, cry my Dream is out; and cannot go to Sleep in quiet Thursday, the next Night, 'till Something or other has happened October 9, which has expounded the Visions of the preceding one. There are others who are in very great Pain for not being able to recover the Circumstances of a Dream, that made strong Impressions upon them while it lasted. In short, Sir, there are many whose waking Thoughts are wholly employed on their sleeping ones? For the Benefit therefore of this curious and inquisitive Part of my Fellow-Subjects, I shall in the first Place tell those Persons what they dreamt of, who fancy they never dream at all. In the next Place, I shall make out any Dream, upon hearing a single Circumstance of it; and in the last Place, shall expound to them the good or bad Fortune which such Dreams portend. If they do not presage good Luck, I shall desire nothing for my Pains; not questioning at the same Time that those who consult me will be so reasonable as to afford me a moderate Share out of any considerable Estate, Profit or Emolument which I shall thus discover to them. I Interpret to the Poor for Nothing, on Condition that their Names may be inserted in Publick Advertisements, to attest the Truth of such my Interpretations. As for People of Quality or others who are indisposed, and do not care to come in Person, I can interpret their Dreams by seeing their Water. I set aside one Day in the Week for Lovers; and interpret by the Great for any Gentlewoman who is turned of Sixty, after the Rate of half a Crown per Week, with the usual Allowances for good Luck. I have several Rooms and Apartments fitted up, at reasonable Rates, for such as have not Conveniencies for dreaming at their own Houses. N. B. I am not dumb, Titus Trophonius. 1712. Friday, October 10. Candida perpetuo reside, Concordía, lecto, Tamque pari semper sit Venus aequa jugo: Tunc quoque, cum fuerit, non videatur anus.--Mart. THE HE following Essay is written by the Gentleman, to whom the World is obliged for those several Excellent Discourses which have been marked with the Letter X. I have somewhere met with a Fable that made Wealth the Father of Love. It is certain a Mind ought, at least, to be free from the Apprehensions of Want and Poverty, before it can fully attend to all the Softnesses and Endearments of this Passion. Notwithstanding we see Multitudes of married People, who are utter Strangers to this delightful Passion, amidst all the Affluence of the most plentiful Fortunes. It is not sufficient to make a Marriage happy, that the Humours of two People should be alike; I could instance an hundred Pair, who have not the least Sentiment of Love remaining for one another, yet are so like in their Humours, that if they were not already married, the whole World would design them for Man and Wife, The Spirit of Love has Something so extreamly fine in it, that it is very often disturbed and lost, by some little Accidents which the careless and unpolite never attend to, 'till it is gone past Recovery, Nothing has more contributed to banish it from a married State, than too great a Familiarity, and laying aside the common Rules of Decency, Tho' I could give Instances of this in several Particulars, I shall only men tion that of Dress. The Beaus and Belles about Town, who dress purely to catch one another, think there is no farther Occasion for the Bait, when their first Design has succeeded. But besides the too common Fault in point of Neatness, there are several others which I do not remember to have seen touched upon, but in one of our modern Comedies, where a French Woman offering to undress and dress her self before the Lover of the Play, and and assuring his Mistress that it was very usual in No. 506. France, the Lady tells her, that's a Secret in Dress she Friday, October10, never knew before, and that she was so unpolished an 1712. English Woman, as to resolve never to learn even to dress before her Husband, There is Something so gross in the Carriage of some Wives, that they lose their Husbands' Hearts for Faults, which, if a Man has either Good-nature, or Good-breeding, he knows not how to tell them of. I am afraid, indeed, the Ladies are generally most faulty in this Particular; who, at their first giving into Love, find the Way so smooth and pleasant, that they fancy 'tis scarce possible to be tired in it. There is so much Nicety and Discretion_required to keep Love alive after Marriage, and make Conversation still new and agreeable after Twenty or Thirty Years, that I know Nothing which seems readily to promise it, but an earnest Endeavour to please on both Sides, and superior good Sense on the Part of the Man. By a Man of Sense, I mean one acquainted with Business and Letters, A Woman very much settles her Esteem for a Man, according to the Figure he makes in the World, and the Character he bears among his own Sex. As Learning is the chief Advantage we have over them, it is, methinks, as scandalous and inexcusable for a Man of Fortune to be illiterate, as for a Woman not to know how to behave her self on the most ordinary Occasions. It is this which sets the two Sexes at the greatest Distance; a Woman is vexed and surprised, to find Nothing more in the Conversation of a Man, than in the common Tattle of her own Sex, Some small Engagement at least in Business, not only sets a Man's Talents in the fairest Light, and allots him a Part to act, in which a Wife cannot well intermeddle, but gives frequent Occasions for those little Absences, which, whatever seeming Uneasiness they may give, are some of the best Preservatives of Love and Desire, The Fair Sex are so conscious to themselves, that they have Nothing in them which can deserve entirely to engross the whole Man, that they heartily despise one, who No. 506. 1712. who, to use their own Expression, is always hanging at their Apron-Strings, Lætitia is pretty, modest, tender, and has Sense enough; she married Erastus, who is in a Post of some Business, and has a general Taste in most Parts of polite Learning. Lætitia, where ever she visits, has the Pleasure to hear of Something which was handsomly said or done by Erastus. Erastus, since his Marriage, is more gay in his Dress than ever, and in all Companies is as complais ant to Laetitia as to any other Lady, I have seen him give her her Fan when it has dropped, with all the Gallantry of a Lover. When they take the Air together, Erastus is continually improving her Thoughts, and, with a Turn of Wit and Spirit which is peculiar to him, giving her an Insight into Things she had no Notions of before. Laetitia is transported at having a new World thus opened to her, and hangs upon the Man that gives her such agreeable Informations. Erastus has carried this Point still farther, as he makes her daily not only more fond of him, but infinitely more satisfied with her self. Erastus finds a Justness or Beauty in whatever She says or observes, that Lætitia her self was not aware of; and, by his Assistance, she has discovered an hundred good Qualities and Accomplishments in her self, which she never before once dreamed of. Erastus, with the most artful Complaisance in the World, by several remote Hints, finds the Means to make her say or propose almost whatever he has a Mind to, which he always receives as her own Discovery, and gives her all the Reputation of it. Erastus has a perfect Taste in Painting, and carried Laetitia with him, the other Day, to see a Collection of Pictures: I sometimes visit this happy Couple. As we were last Week walking in the long Gallery before Dinner, I have lately laid out some Mony in Paintings, says Erastus, I bought that Venus and Adonis purely upon Lætitia's Judgment; it cost me Three-score Guineas, and I was this Morning offer'd an hundred for it. I turned towards Laetitia, and saw her Cheeks glow with Pleasure, while at the same Time she cast a Look upon Erastus, the most tender and affectionate I ever beheld. Flavilla married Tom Tawdry; she was taken with |