clouds as any predeceffor of mine in the theatre that ever bore that character, but also have defcended and • spoke on the stage as the bold thunder in the Rehearfal. When they got me down thus low, they thought fit to degrade me further, and make me a ghoft. I " was contented with this for these two laft winters; but they carry their tyranny ftill further, and not fatisfied that I am banished from above ground, they have given' · me to understand that I am wholly to depart their dominions, and taken from me even my fubterraneous employment. Now, Sir, what I defire of you is, that • if your undertaker thinks fit to ufe fire-arms, as other authors have done, in the time of Alexander, I may be a cannon against Porus, or elfe provide for me in the burning of Perfepolis, or what other method you shall think fit. ‹ SALMONEUS of Covent-Garden.” The petition of all the devils of the play-houfe in be half of themselves and families, fetting forth their expulfion from thence, with certificates of their good life and converfation, and praying relief. The merit of this petition referred to Mr. Chr. Rich, who made them devils. The petition of the grave-digger in Hamlet, to command the pioneers in the expedition of Alexander.. Granted. The petition of William Bullock, to be Hepheftion to Penkethman the Great. Granted. ADVERTISEMENT. A widow gentlewoman, well born both by father and mother's fide, being the daughter of Thomas Pra< ter, once an eminent practitioner in the law, and of Letitia Tattle, a family well known in all parts of this kingdom, having been reduced by misfortunes to wait on several great perfons, and for fome time to be teacher at a boarding-fchool of young ladies, giveth notice to the public, that he hath lately taken a house near Bloomsbury-Square, commodiously fituated next G 2 • the ' the fields in a good air; where the teaches all forts of birds of the loquacious kinds, as parrots, ftarlings, magpies, and others, to imitate human voices in greater perfection than ever yet was practifed. They are not only inftructed to pronounce words diftinctly, and in a proper tone and accent, but to fpeak the language with great purity and volubility of tongue, together with all the fashionable phrafes and compliments now in ufe either at tea-tables or visiting-days. Thofe that have good voices may be taught to fing the newest operaairs, and, if required, to fpeak either Italian or French, paying fomething extraordinary above the common rates. They whofe friends are not able to pay the full prices may be taken as half-boarders. She teaches fuch as are defigned for the diverfion of the public, and to act in enchanted woods on the theatres, by the great. As she has often obferved with much concern how indecent an education is ufually given thefe innocent creatures, which in fome measure is owing to their being placed in rooms next the street, where, to the great offence of chafte and tender ears, they learn ribaldry, obfcene fongs, and immodeft expreffions from paffengers, and idle people, as alfo to cry fifh, and cardinatches, with other ufelefs parts of learning to birds who have rich friends; fhe has fitted up proper and neat apartments for them in the back part of her said house; where the fuffers none to approach them but herself, and a fervant-maid who is deaf and dumb, and whom The provided on purpofe to prepare their food and cleanfe their cages; having found by long experience how hard a thing it is for thofe to keep filence who have the ufe of fpeech, and the dangers her scholars are exposed to by the ftrong impreffions that are made by harfh founds and vulgar dialects. In fhort, if they are birds of any parts or capacity, fhe will undertake to render them fo accomplished in the compafs of a twelvemonth, that they fhall be fit converfation for fuch ladies as love to choose their friends and companions out ⚫ of this fpecies.' R Thursday, N° 37. Thursday, April 12. Non illa colo calathifve Minervæ S Fæmineas affueta manus VIRG. Æn. vii. 805. DRYDEN. Unbred to spinning, in the loom unskill'd. OME months ago, my friend Sir Roger, being in the country, inclofed a letter to me, directed to a certain lady whom I fhall here call by the name of Leonora, and, as it contained matters of confequence, defired me to deliver it to her with my own hand. Accordingly I waited upon her ladyship pretty early in the morning, and was defired by her woman to walk into her lady's library, 'till fuch time as fhe was in a readiness to receive me. The very found of a Lady's Library gave me a great curiofity to fee it, and as it was fome time before the lady came to me, I had an oppor unity of turning over a great many of her books, which were ranged together in a very beautiful order. At the end of the Folios, which were finely bound and gilt, were great jars of China placed one above another in a very noble piece of architecture. The Quartos were separated from the 'Octavos by a pile of fmaller vefiels, which rofe in a delightful pyramid. The Octavos were bounded by tea dishes of all shapes, colours, and fizes, which were fo difpofed on a wooden frame, that they looked like one continued pillar indented with the fineft ftrokes of fculpture, and tained with the greatest variety of dyes. That part of the library which was defigned for the reception of plays and pamphlets, and other loose papers, was inciofed in a kind of fquare, confifting of one of the prettieft grotefque works that ever I faw, and made up of fcaramouches, lions, monkies, mandarines, trees, fhells, and a thousand other odd figures in China-ware. In the midst of the room was a little Japan-table, with a quire of gilt paper G 3 paper upon it, and on the paper a filver fnuff-box made in the fhape of a little book. I found there were several other counterfeit books upon the upper fhelves, which were carved in wood, and ferved only to fill up the num ber like faggots in the mufter of a regiment. I was wonderfully pleafed with fuch a mixt kind of furniture, as feemed very fuitable both to the lady and the scholar, and did not know at first whether I fhould fancy myself in a grotto, or in a library. Upon my looking into the books, I found there were fome few which the lady had bought for her own use, but that most of them had been got together, either be caufe he had heard them praifed, or becaufe she had feen the authors of them. Among feveral that I examined, I very well remember thefe that follow: Ogilby's Virgil. Cleopatra. Sir Ifaac Newton's Works. The Grand Cyrus; with a pin ftuck in one of the middle leaves. Pembroke's Arcadia. Locke of Human Understanding; with a paper of patches in it. A Spelling-Book. A Dictionary for the Explanation of hard Words. The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony. Sir William Temple's Effays. Father Malebranche's Search after Truth, tranflated into English. A Book of Novels. The Academy of Compliments. Culpepper's Midwifery. The Ladies Calling. Tales in Verfe, by Mr. Durfey: bound in red leather,. gilt on the back, and doubled down in feveral places. All the Claffic Authors in wood. A fet of Elzevirs by the fame hand. Clelia which opened of itself in the place that de fcribes two lovers in a bower. Baker's Chronicle. Advice to a daughter. The New Atalantis, with a key to it. Mr. Steele's Chriftian Hero. A Prayer Book; with a bottle of Hungary water by the fide of it. Dr. Sacheverell's Speech. Seneca's Morals. Taylor's Holy Living and Dying. La Ferte's Inftructions for Country Dances. I was taking a catalogue in my pocket-book of thefe, and several other authors, when Leonora entered, and upon my prefenting her with the letter from the knight, told me, with an unfpeakable grace, that the hoped Sir Roger was in good health: I antwered Yes, for I hate long fpeeches, and after a bow or two retired. Leonora was formerly a celebrated beauty, and is still a very lovely woman. She has been a widow for two or three years, and, being unfortunate in her first marriage, has taken a refolution never to venture upon a fecond. She has no children to take care of, and leaves the management of her eftate to my good friend Sir Roger. But as the mind naturally finks into a kind of lethargy, and falls afleep, that is not agitated by fome favourite pleasures and purfuits, Leonora has turned all the paffions of her fex into a love of books and retirement. She converfes chiefly with men, as fhe has often faid herself, but it is only in their writings; and admits of very few male-vifitants, except my friend Sir Roger, whom the hears with great pleasure, and without scandal. As her reading has lain very much among romances, it has given her a very particular turn of thinking, and difcovers itself even in her house, her gardens, and her furniture. Sir Roger has entertained me an hour together with a description of her country-feat, which is fituated in a kind of wildernefs, about an hundred miles distant from London, and looks like a little enchanted palace. The rocks about her are shaped into artificial grottaes covered G 4 |