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Feb. 29,

and said that for the future he would take Care of his No. 314. Child, so that he did not doubt but to crosse my amerous Friday, : Inclinations, The Lady is confined to her Chamber, 1712. and for my Part, I am ready to hang my self with the Thoughts that I have danced my self out of Favour with her Father. I hope you will pardon the Trouble I give; but shall take it for a mighty Favour, if you will * give me a little more of your Advice to put me in a write Way to cheat the old Dragon and obtain my Mistress, I am once more,

York, Feb. 23,

1711-12.

Sir,

Your obliged humble Servant,

John Trott.

Let me desire you to make what Alterations you please, and insert this as soon as possible, Pardon Mistake by Haste,'

} I never do pardon Mistakes by Haste.

• Sir,

The SPECTATOR.

Feb. 27, 1711-12.

Pray be so kind as to let me know what you esteem to be the chief Qualification of a good Poet, especially of one who writes Plays; and you will very much oblige, Sir, Your very humble Servant,

N. B.'

To be a very well-bred Man.

The SPECTATOR,

'Mr. SPECTATOR,

You are to know that I am naturally brave, and love Fighting as well as any Man in England. This gallant Temper of mine makes me extremely delighted with Battles on the Stage, I give you this Trouble to com plain to you, that Nicolini refused to gratifie me in that Part of the Opera for which I have most Taste, I observe it's become a Custom, that whenever any Gentlemen are particularly pleased with a Song, at their crying out Encore or Altro Volto, the Performer is so obliging as to sing it over again. I was at the Opera the last time Hydaspes was performed. At that Part of it where

the

No. 314,
Friday,
Feb. 29,
1712.

the Heroe engages with the Lion, the graceful Manner with which he put that terrible Monster to Death gave me so great a Pleasure, and at the same time so just a Sense of that Gentleman's Intrepidity and Conduct, that I could not forbear desiring a Repetition of it, by_crying out Altro Volto in a very audible Voice; and my Friends flatter me that I pronounced those Words with a tolerable good Accent, considering that was but the third Opera I had ever seen in my Life. Yet, notwithstanding all this, there was so little Regard had to me, that the Lion was carried off, and went to Bed, without being killed any more that Night. Now, Sir, pray consider that I did not understand a Word of what Mr. Nicolini said to this cruel Creature; besides, I have no Ear for Musick; so that during the long Dispute between 'em, the whole Entertainment I had was from my Eye: Why then have not I as much Right to have a graceful Action repeated as another has a pleasing Sound, since he only hears, as I only see, and we neither of us know that there is any reasonable thing a doing? Pray, Sir, settle the Business of this Claim in the Audience, and let us know when we may cry Altro Volto, Anglice, again, again, for the future. I am an English-Man, and expect some Reason or other to be given me, and perhaps an ordinary one may serve; but I expect your Answer,

1 am,
Sir

'Mr. SPECTATOR,

Your most humble Servant,
Toby Rentfree.'

Nov. 29,

You must give me Leave, amongst the rest of your Female Correspondents, to address you about an Affair which has already given you many a Speculation; and which, I know I need not tell you, have had a very happy influence over the adult Part of our Sex: But as many of us are either too old to learn, or too obstinate in the Pursuit of the Vanities which have been bred up with us from our Infancy, and all of us quitting the Stage whilst you are prompting us to act our Part well; you ought, methinks, rather to turn your Instructions

for

for the Benefit of that Part of our Sex who are yet in No. 314. their native Innocence, and ignorant of the Vices, and Friday, Feb. 29, that Variety of Unhappinesses that reign amongst us. 1712. I must tell you, Mr. SPECTATOR, that it is as much a Part of your Office to oversee the Education of the Female Part of the Nation, as well as of the Male; and to convince the World you are not partial, pray proceed to detect the Male Administration of Governesses as successfully as you have expos'd that of Pedagogues; and rescue our Sex from the Prejudice and Tyranny of Education as well as that of your own, who without your seasonable Interposition are like to improve upon the Vices that are now in Vogue,

I who know the Dignity of your Post, as SPECTATOR, and the Authority a skilful Eye ought to bear in the Female World, could not forbear consulting you, and beg your Advice in so critical a Point, as is that of the Educa tion of young Gentlewomen: Having already provided my self with a very convenient House in a good Air, I'm not without Hope but that you will promote this generous design. I must farther tell you, Sir, that all who shall be committed to my Conduct, beside the usual Accomplishments of the Needle, Dancing, and the French Tongue, shall not fail to be your constant Readers. It is therefore my humble Petition, that you will entertain the Town on this important Subject, and so far oblige a Stranger, as to raise a Curiosity and Enquiry in my Behalf, by publishing the following Advertisement,

I am, Sir,

Your constant Admirer,

ADVERTISEMENT.

M. W.

The Boarding School for young Gentlewomen, which was formerly kept on Mile-End-Green, being laid down, there is now one set up almost opposite to it at the two Golden-Balls, and much more con venient in every Respect; where, beside the common Instructions given to young Gentlewomen, they will be taught the whole Art of Pastrey and Preserving,

No. 314,
Friday,
Feb. 29,
1712,

with whatever may render them accomplished. Those who please to make trial of the Vigilance and Ability of the Persons concerned, may enquire at the two Golden Balls on Mile-End-Green, near Stepney, where they will receive further Satisfaction.

This is to give Notice, that the SPECTATOR has taken upon him to be Visitant of all Boarding Schools where young Women are educated, and designs to proceed in the said Office after the same Manner that the Visitants of Colleges do in the two famous Universities of this Land.

All Lovers who write to the SPECTATOR, are desired to forbear one Expression which is in most of the Letters to him, either out of Laziness or Want of Invention, and is true of not above two thousand Women in the whole World, viz. She has in her all that is valuable in Woman,

No. 315,

[ADDISON.]

Saturday, March 1.

Nec deus intersit, nísi dignus vindice nodus

Inciderit

-Hor,

T

HORACE a Pot his Genius, Milton seems

ORACE advises a Poet to consider thoroughly the

to have known, perfectly well, wherein his Strength lay, and has therefore chosen a Subject entirely con formable to those Talents, of which he was Master. As his Genius was wonderfully turned to the Sublime, his Subject is the noblest that could have entered into the Thoughts of Man. Every Thing that is truly great and astonishing, has a Place in it. The whole Systeme of the intellectual World; the Chaos, and the Creation: Heaven, Earth and Hell; enter into the Constitution of his Poem.

Having in the First and Second Book represented the Infernal World with all its Horrours, the Thread of his Fable naturally leads him into the opposite Regions of Bliss and Glory.

If Milton's Majesty forsakes him any where, it is in those Parts of his Poem, where the Divine Persons

are

are

The

are introduced as Speakers, One may, I think, observe No. 315. that the Author proceeds with a Kind of Fear and Saturday, -Trembling, whilst he describes the Sentiments of the March 1, 1712. Almighty, He dares not give his Imagination its full Play, but chuses to confine himself to such Thoughts as are drawn from the Books of the most Orthodox Divines, and to such Expressions as may be met with in Scripture. The Beauties, therefore, which we to look for in these Speeches, are not of a poetical Nature, or so proper to fill the Mind with Sentiments of Grandeur, as with Thoughts of Devotion. Passions, which they are designed to raise, are a Divine Love and Religious Fear. The particular Beauty I of the Speeches in the Third Book, consists in that Shortness and Perspicuity of Stile, in which the Poet has couched the greatest Mysteries of Christianity, and drawn together, in a regular Scheme, the whole Dis pensation of Providence, with respect to Man. He has represented all the abstruse Doctrines of Predestination, Free Will and Grace, as also the great Points of Incar nation and Redemption (which naturally grow up in a Poem that treats of the Fall of Man), with great Energy of Expression, and in a clearer and stronger Light than I ever met with in any other Writer. As these Points are dry in themselves to the Generality of Readers, the concise and clear Manner in which he has treated them, is very much to be admired, as is likewise that particular Art which he has made Use of, in the interspersing of all those Graces of Poetry, which the Subject was capable of receiving,

The Survey of the whole Creation, and of every Thing that is transacted in it, is a Prospect worthy of Omniscience; and as much above that, in which Virgil has drawn his Jupiter, as the Christian Idea of the Supream Being is more Rational and Sublime than that of the Heathens. The particular Objects on which he is described to have cast his Eye, are represented in the most beautiful and lively Manner

Now had th' Almighty Father from above,
From the pure Empyrean where he sits

High thron'd above all height, bent down his Eye,

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