No, 27, of Mankind to accomplish this Work, and live according Saturday, to their own Approbation, as soon as they possibly can: March 31, But since the Duration of Life is so uncertain, and that 1711 has been a common Topick of Discourse ever since there was such a thing as Life it self, how is it possible that we should defer a Moment the beginning to Live accord ing to the Rules of Reason? The Man of Business has ever some one Point to carry, and then he tells himself he'll bid adieu to all the Vanity of Ambition: The Man of Pleasure resolves to take his Leave at least, and part civilly with his Mistress: But the Ambitious Man is entangled every Moment in a fresh Pursuit, and the Lover sees new Charms in the Object he fancy'd he could abandon. It is therefore a fantastical way of thinking, when we promise our selves an Alteration in our Conduct from change of Place, and difference of Circumstances; the same Passions will attend us where-ever we are, 'till they are Conquer'd; and we can never live to our Satisfaction in the deepest Retirement, unless we are capable of living so in some measure amidst the Noise and Business of the World. I have ever thought Men were better known, by what could be observed of them from a Perusal of their private Letters, than any other way. My Friend, the Clergyman, the other Day, upon serious Discourse with him con cerning the Danger of Procrastination, gave me the following Letters from Persons with whom he lives in great Friendship and Intimacy, according to the good Breeding and good Sense of his Character. The first is from a Man of Business, who is his Convert: The second from one of whom he conceives good Hopes: The third from one who is in no State at all, but carried one way and another by starts. 'Sir. I know not with what Words to express to you the Sense I have of the high Obligation you have laid upon me, in the Penance you enjoined me of doing some Good or other, to a Person of Worth, every Day I live. The Station I am in, furnishes me with daily Opportunities of this kind: And the Noble Principle with which you have inspired me, of Benevolence to all I have to deal No. 27. with, quickens my Application in every thing I undertake, Saturday, March 31 When I relieve Merit from Discountenance, when I assist 1711 a friendless Person, when I produce concealed Worth, I am displeased with my self, for having designed to leave the World in order to be Virtuous, I am sorry you decline the Occasions which the Condition I am in might afford me of enlarging your Fortunes; but know I contribute more to your Satisfaction, when I acknow ledge I am the better Man, from the Influence and Authority you have over, Sir, Your most Obliged and R. O.' • Sir, I am intirely convinced of the Truth of what you were pleased to say to me, when I was last with you alone. You told me then of the silly way I was in; but you told me so, as I saw you loved me, otherwise I could not obey your Commands in letting you know my Thoughts so sincerely as I do at present. I know the Creature for whom I resign so much of my Character, is all that you said of her; but then the Trifler has something in her so undesigning and harm less, that her Guilt in one kind disappears by the Com parison of her Innocence in another. Will you, Virtuous Men, allow no alteration of Offences? Must Dear Chloe be called by the hard Name you pious People give to common Women? I keep the solemn Promise I made you, in writing to you the State of my Mind, after your kind Admonition; and will endeavour to get the better of this Fondness, which makes me so much her humble Servant, that I am almost asham'd to Subscribe my self yours, 'Sir, T. D. There is no State of Life so Anxious as that of a Man Ewho does not live according to the Dictates of his own Reason. It will seem odd to you, when I assure you that No. 27, that my Love of Retirement first of all brought me to Saturday, Court; but this will be no Riddle, when I acquaint you March 31, that I placed my self here with a Design of getting so 1711 much Mony as might enable me to Purchase a handsome Retreat in the Country. At present my Circum stances enable me, and my Duty prompts me, to pass away the remaining Part of my Life in such a Retire ment as I at first proposed to my self; but to my great Misfortune I have intirely lost the Relish of it, and should now return to the Country with greater Reluctance than I at first came to Court, I am so unhappy, as to know that what I am fond of are Trifles, and that what I neglect is of the greatest Importance: In short, I find a Contest in my own Mind between Reason and Fashion, I remember you once told me, that I might live in the World and out of it, at the same time, Let me beg of you to explain this Paradox more at large to me, that I may conform my Life, if possible, both to my Duty and my Inclination. I am R Your most humble Servant, R. B' No. 28. Monday, April 2, I Neque semper arcum Tendit Apollo.-Hor. SHALL here present my Reader with a Letter from a Projector, concerning a new Office which he thinks may very much contribute to the Embellishment of the City, and to the driving Barbarity out of our Streets, I consider it as a Satyr upon Projectors in general, and a lively Picture of the whole Art of Modern Criticism, 'Sir, Observing that you have Thoughts of creating certain Officers under you, for the Inspection of several petty Enormities which you your self cannot attend to; and finding daily Absurdities hung out upon the Sign-Posts of this City, to the great Scandal of Foreigners, as well as those of our own Country, who are curious Specta tors 1711, tors of the same; I do humbly propose, that you would No. 28, be pleased to make me your Superintendant of all such Monday Figures and Devices as are or shall be made use of on April 2, this Occasion; with full Powers to rectifie or expunge whatever I shall find irregular or defective. For want of such an Officer, there is nothing like sound Litera ture and good Sense to be met with in those Objects, that are every where thrusting themselves out to the Eye, and endeavouring to become visible. Our Streets are filled with blue Boars, black Swans, and red Lions; not to mention flying Pigs, and Hogs in Armour, with many other Creatures more extraordinary than any in the Desarts of Africk. Strange that one who has all the Birds and Beasts in Nature to chuse out of, should live at the Sign of an Ens Rationis! My first Task therefore should be, like that of Hercules, to clear the City from Monsters, In the second Place I would forbid, that Creatures of jarring and incongruous Natures should be joined together in the same Sign; such as the Bell and the Neats Tongue, the Dog and Gridiron. The Fox and Goose may be supposed to have met; but what has the Fox and the Seven Stars to do together? And when did the Lamb and Dolphin ever meet, except upon a Sign-Post? As for the Cat and Fiddle, there is a Conceit in it; and therefore I do not intend that any thing I have here said should affect it I must however observe to you upon this Subject, that it is usual for a young Tradesman, at his first setting up, to add to his own Sign that of the Master whom he serv'd; as the Husband after Marriage, gives to his Mistress's Arms in his own Coat. This I take to have given Rise to many of those Absurdities which are committed over our Heads; and, as I am informed, first occasioned the three Nuns and a Hare, which we see so frequently joined together. I would therefore establish certain Rules, for the determining how far one Trades man may give the Sign of another, and in what Cases he may be allowed to quarter it with his own. In the third Place, I would enjoin every Shop to make use of a Sign which bears some Affinity to the Wares in which it deals, What can be more incon sistent No. 28, sistent, than to see a Bawd at the Sign of the Angel, Monday, or a Taylor at the Lion? A Cook should not live at April 2, the Boot, nor a Shoemaker at the roasted Pig; and yet, for want of this Regulation, I have seen a Goat set up before the Door of a Perfumer, and the French King's Head at a Sword-Cutler's. 1711. An Ingenious Foreigner observes, that several of those Gentlemen who value themselves upon their Families, and overlook such as are bred to Trade, bear the Tools of their Forefathers in their Coats of Arms, I will not examine how true this is in Fact: But though it may not be necessary for Posterity thus to set up the Sign of their Forefathers; I think it highly proper for those who actually profess the Trade, to show some such Marks of it before their Doors, Our When the Name gives an Occasion for an ingenious Sign Post, I would likewise advise the Owner to take that Opportunity of letting the World know who he is. It would have been ridiculous for the Ingenious Mrs. Salmon to have lived at the Sign of the Trout; for which Reason she has erected before her House the Figure of the Fish that is her Name-sake. Mr. Bell has likewise distinguish'd himself by a Device of the same Nature: And here, Sir, I must beg Leave to observe to you, that this particular Figure of a Bell has given Occasion to several Pieces of Wit in this kind. A Man of your Reading must know that Abel Drugger gained great Applause by it in the Time of Ben. Johnson. Apocryphal Heathen God is also represented by this Figure; which, in Conjunction with the Dragon, makes a very handsome Picture in several of our Streets. As for the Bell-Savage, which is the Sign of a Savage Man standing by a Bell, I was formerly very much puzzled upon the Conceit of it, till I accidentally fell into the reading of an old Romance translated out of the French; which gives an Account of a very beautiful Woman who was found in a Wilderness, and is called in the French la belle Sauvage; and is every where translated by our Country-men the Bell-Savage. This Piece of Phil ology will, I hope, convince you that I have made SignPosts my Study, and consequently qualified my self for the |