No. 509, of Ships, the Mumpers, the Halt, the Blind, and the Lame, Tuesday, your Venders of Trash, Apples, Plumbs, your Ragga October14, muffins, Rakeshames, and Wenches, have justled the

1712.

greater Number of the former out of that Place. Thus it is, especially on the Evening-Change; so that what with the Din of Squalings, Oaths, and Cries of Beggars, Men of greatest Consequence in our City absent themselves from the Place. This Particular, by the Way, is of evil Consequence; for if the Change be no Place for Men of the highest Credit to frequent, it will not be a Disgrace to those of less Abilities to absent. I remember the Time when rascally Company were kept out, and the unlucky Boys with Toys and Balls were whipped away by a Beadle, I have seen this done indeed of late, but then it has been only to chase the Lads from Chuck, that the Beadle might seize their Copper.

I must repeat the Abomination, that the Walnut Trade is carry'd on by old Women within the Walks, which makes the Place impassible by Reason of Shells and Trash. The Benches around are so filthy, that no one can sit down, yet the Beadles and Officers have the Impudence at Christmas to ask for their Box, tho' they deserve the Strapado. I do not think it impertinent to have mentioned this, because it speaks a Neglect in the Domestick Care of the City, and the Domestick is the truest Picture of a Man every where else,

But I designed to speak on the Business of Money and Advancement of Gain. The Man proper for this, speak ing in the general, is of a sedate plain good Understand ing, not apt to go out of his Way, but so behaving himself at home, that Business may come to him. Sir William Turner, that valuable Citizen, has left behind him a most excellent Rule, and couched it in very few Words, suited to the meanest Capacity. He would say, Keep your Shop, and your Shop will keep you. It must be confessed, that if a Man of a great Genius could add Steadiness to his Vivacities, or substitute slower Men of Fidelity to transact the methodical Part of his Affairs, such a one would outstrip the rest of the World: But Business and Trade is not to be managed by the same Heads which write Poetry, and make Plans for the Conduct of Life in

general

general. So, tho' we are at this Day beholden to the late No. 509. witty and inventive Duke of Buckingham for the whole Tuesday October 14, Trade and Manufacture of Glass, yet I suppose there is no 1712, one will aver, that, were his Grace yet living, they would not rather deal with my diligent Friend and Neighbour, Mr. Gumley, for any Goods to be prepared and delivered on such Day, than he would with that illustrious Mechanick abovemention'd,

No, No, Mr. SPECTATOR, you Wits must not pretend to be rich; and it is possible the Reason may be, in some Measure, because you despise, or at least you do not value it enough to let it take up your chief Attention; which the Trader must do, or lose his Credit, which is to him what Honour, Reputation, Fame, or Glory is to other sort of Men.

I shall not speak to the Point of Cash it self, 'till I see how you approve of these my Maxims in general: But, I think, a Speculation upon many a Little makes a Mickle; a Penny sav'd is a Penny got; Penny wise and Pound foolish, It is Need that makes the old Wife trot, would be very useful to the World, and, if you treated them with Knowledge, would be useful to your self, for it would make Demands for your Paper among those who have no Notion of it at present. But of these Matters more hereafter. If you did this, as you excel many Writers of the present Age for Politeness, so you would outgo the Author of the true Strops of Razors for Use.

I shall conclude this Discourse with an Explanation of a Proverb, which by vulgar Errour is taken and used when a Man is reduced to an Extremity, whereas the Propriety of the Maxim is to use it when you would say, There is Plenty, but you must make such a Choice, as not to hurt another who is to come after you.

Mr. Tobías Hobson, from whom we have the Expres sion, was a very honourable Man, for I shall ever call the Man so who gets an Estate honestly, Mr. Tobías Hobson was a Carrier, and being a Man of great Abilities and Invention, and one that saw where there might good Profit arise, tho' the duller Men overlooked it; this ingenious Man was the first in this Island who let out Hackney-Horses. He lived in Cambridge, and ob

serving

No. 509. serving that the Scholars rid hard, his Manner was to keep Tuesday, a large Stable of Horses, with Boots, Bridles, and Whips, October 14, to furnish the Gentlemen at once, without going from

1712.

College to College to borrow, as they have done since the Death of this worthy Man: I say, Mr. Hobson kept a Stable of forty good Cattle always ready and fit for Travelling; but when a Man came for an Horse, he was led into the Stable, where there was great Choice, but he obliged him to take the Horse which stood next to the Stable Door; so that every Customer was alike well served according to his Chance, and every Horse ridden with the same Justice: From whence it became a Proverb, when what ought to be your Election was forced upon you, to say, Hobson's Choice. This memorable Man stands drawn in Fresco at an Inn (which he used) in Bishopsgate-street, with an hundred Pound Bag under his Arm, with this Inscription upon the said Bag,

The fruitful Mother of an hundred more.

Whatever Tradesman will try the Experiment, and begin the Day after you publish this my Discourse to treat his Customers all alike, and all reasonably and honestly, I will ensure him the same Success,

-Si sapis

I

Neque praeterquam quas ipse amor molestias

Habet addas, & illas quas habet recte feras.--Ter.

WAS the other Day driving in an Hack thro' Gerard street, when my Eye was immediately catch'd with the prettiest Object imaginable, the Face of a very fair Girl, between Thirteen and Fourteen, fixed at the Chin to a painted Sash, and made Part of the Landskip. It seem'd admirably done, and upon throwing my self eagerly out of the Coach to look at it, it laugh'd, and flung from the Window. This amiable Figure dwelt upon me; and I

was

was considering the Vanity of the Girl, and her pleasant No. 510, Coquettry in acting a Picture 'till she was taken Notice of, Wednes and raised the Admiration of her Beholders. This little day, October 15, Circumstance made me run into Reflections upon the 1712. Force of Beauty, and the wonderful Influence the female Sex has upon the other Part of the Species. Our Hearts are seized with their Enchantments, and there are few of us, but brutal Men, who by that Hardness lose the chief Pleasure in them, can resist their Insinuations, tho' never so much against our own Interest and Opinion. It is common with Women to destroy the good Effects a Man's following his own Way and Inclination might have upon his Honour and Fortune, by interposing their Power over him in Matters wherein they cannot influence him, but to his Loss and Disparagement. I do not know there fore a Task so difficult in humane Life, as to be Proof against the Importunities of a Woman a Man loves. There is certainly no Armour against Tears, sullen Looks, or at best constrain'd Familiarities in her whom you usually meet with Transport and Alacrity. Sir Walter Rawleigh was quoted in a Letter (of a very ingenious Correspon dent of mine) on this Subject. That Author, who had lived in Courts, Camps, travell'd through many Countries, and seen many Men under several Climates, and of as various Complections, speaks of our Impotence to resist the Wiles of Women in very severe Terms. His Words

are as follow!

What Means did the Devil find out, or what Instruments did his own Subtlety present him, as fittest and aptest to work his Mischief by? Even the unquiet Vanity of the Woman, so as by Adam's Hearkening to the Voice of his Wife, contrary to the express Com mandment of the living God, Mankind by that her Incantation became the Subject of Labour, Sorrow, and Death; the Woman being given to Man for a Comforter and Companion, but not for a Counsellor. It is also to be noted by whom the Woman was tempted: Even by the most ugly and unworthy of all Beasts, into whom the Devil entered and perswaded. Secondly, What was the Motive of her Disobedience? Even a Desire to know what was most unfitting her Knowledge, an Affection

No. 510.

1712.

which has ever since remained in all the Posterity of Wednes her Sex. Thirdly, What was it that moved the Man day, to yield to her Perswasions? Even the same Cause October 15, which hath moved all Men since to the like Consent, namely, an Unwillingness to grieve her, or make her sad, lest she should pine, and be overcome with Sorrow. But if Adam in the State of Perfection, and Solomon the Son of David, God's chosen Servant, and himself a Man endued with the greatest Wisdom, did both of them disobey their Creator by the Perswasion and for the Love they bare to a Woman, it is not so wonderful as lamentable, that other Men in succeeding Ages have been allured to so many inconvenient and wicked Prac tices by the Perswasion of their Wives, or other beloved Darlings, who cover over and shadow many malicious Purposes with a counterfeit Passion of dissimulate Sorrow and Unquietness.

The Motions of the Minds of Lovers are no where so well described, as in the Works of skilful Writers for the Stage. The Scene between Fulvia and Curius, in the second Act of Johnson's Catiline, is an excellent Picture of the Power of a Lady over her Gallant. The Wench plays with his Affections; and as a Man of all Places in the World wishes to make a good Figure with his Mistress, upon her upbraiding him with Want of Spirit, he alludes to Enterprizes which he cannot reveal but with the Hazard of his Life. When he is worked thus far, with a little Flattery of her Opinion of his Gallantry, and Desire to know more of it out of her overflowing Fondness to him, he brags to her 'till his Life is in her Disposal,

When a Man is thus liable to be vanquished by the Charms of her he loves, the safest Way is to determine what is proper to be done, but to avoid all Expostulation with her before he executes what he has resolved. Women are ever too hard for us upon a Treaty, and one must consider how senseless a Thing it is to argue with one whose Looks and Gestures are more prevalent with you, than your Reason and Arguments can be with her, It is a most miserable Slavery to submit to what you disapprove, and give up a Truth for no other Reason, but

that