N° 37. Thursday, April 12. Non illa colo calathifve Minerva Famineas affueta manus Virg. Æn. 7. v. 805. Unbred to Spinning, in the Loom unskill'd. She DRYDEN. 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 Readinefs to receive me. The very Sound 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 Opportunity 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 feparated from the Octavos by a Pile of fmaller Vessels, which rofe in a delightful Pyramid. The Octavos were bounded by Tea-Difhes of all Shapes, Colours and Sizes, which were fo difpofed on a wooden Frame, that they looked like one continued Pillar indented with the finest Strokes of Sculpture, and ftained 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 inclofed in a kind of Square, confifting of one of the prettieft Grotefque Works that ever I faw, and made up of Scaramouches, Lions, Monkies, Mandarines, Trees, Shells, and a thoufand other odd Figures in China Ware. In the midst of the Room G 3 was was a little Japan Table, with a Quire of gilt Paper upon it, and on the Paper a Silver Snuff-box made in the Shape of a little Book. I found there were several other counterfeit Books upon the upper Shelves, which were carved in Wood, and ferved only to fill up the Number like Fagots in the mufter of a Regiment. I was wonderfully pleased 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 should 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 because she had heard them praifed, or becaufe fhe had feen the Authors of them. Among feveral that I examined, I very well remember these that follow. Ogleby's Virgil. Dryden's Juvenal. Cleopatra. Aftræa. 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 Malbranche'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 All the Claffick Authors in Wood. A Set of Elzevers by the fame Hand. Clelia: Which opened of it felf in the Place that defcribes two Lovers in a Bower. Baker's Chronicle. Advice to a Daughter. The New Atalantis, with a Key to it. 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 these, and feveral other Authors, when Leonora entred, and upon my presenting her with the Letter from the Knight, told me, with an unfpeakable Grace, that the hoped Sir ROGER was in good Health: I answered Yes, for I hate long Speeches, and after a Bow or two retired. LEONORA was formerly a celebrated Beauty, and is ftill a very lovely Woman. She has been a Widow for two or three Years, and being unfortunate in her firft 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 Pursuits, Leonora has turned all the Paffions of her Sex 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 Defcription of her Country-Seat, which is fituated in a kind of Wilder G 4 G4 Wilderness, about an hundred Miles diftant from London, and looks like a little Enchanted Palace. The Rocks about her are shaped into Artificial Grottoes covered with Wood-Bines and Jeffamines. The Woods are cut into shady Walks, twisted into Bowers, and filled with Cages of Turtles. The Springs are made to run among Pebbles, and by that means taught to murmur very agreeably. They are likewife collected into a Beautiful Lake, that is inhabited by a couple of Swans, and empties itself by a little Rivulet which runs through a Green Meadow, and is known in the Family by the Name of The Purling Stream. The Knight likewise tells me, that this Lady preserves her Game better than any of the Gentlemen in the Country, not (fays Sir ROGER) that the fets to great a Value upon her Partridges and Pheasants, as upon her Larks and Nightingales. For fhe fays that every Bird which is killed in her Ground, will spoil a Confort, and that she shall certainly miss him the next Year. WHEN I think how odly this Lady is improved by Learning, I look upon her with a mixture of Admiration and Pity. Amidft thefe Innocent Entertainments which fhe has formed to herself, how much more Valuable does the appear than those of her Sex, who employ themselves in Diverfions that are lefs Reasonable, tho' more in Fashion? What Improvements would a Woman have made, who is fo Sufceptible of Impreffions from what she reads, had the been guided to fuch Books as have a tendency to enlighten the Understanding and rectify the Paffions, as well as to those which are of little more ufe than to divert the Imagination? BUT the manner of a Lady's Employing herself ufefully in Reading fhall be the Subject of another Paper, in which I defign to recommend fuch particular Books as may be proper for the Improvement of the Sex. And as this is a Subject of a very nice Nature, I fhall defire my Correspondents to give me their Thoughts upon it. 43 Friday, N° 38. Friday, April 13. Cupias non placuiffe nimis. One wou'd not please too much. A Mart. Late Conversation, which I fell into, gave me an in a very handsom Woman, and as much Wit in an ingenious Man, turned into Deformity in the one, and Abfurdity in the other, by the meer Force of Affectation. The Fair One had fomething in her Perfon upon which her Thoughts were fixed, that the attempted to fhew to Advantage in every Look, Word, and Gesture. The Gentleman was as diligent to do Juftice to his fine Parts, as the Lady to her beauteous Form: You might fee his Imagination on the Stretch to find out fomething uncommon, and what they call bright, to entertain her; while fhe writhed herself into as many different Postures to engage him. When the laughed, her Lips were to fever at a greater Diftance than ordinary to fhew her Teeth; her Fan was to point to fomewhat at a Distance, that in the Reach fhe may difcover the Roundne's of her Arm; then fhe is utterly mistaken in what the faw, falls back, fmiles at her own Folly, and is fo wholly difcompofed, that her Tucker is to be adjutted, her Bofom expofed, and the whole Woman put into new Airs and Graces. While fhe was doing all this, the Gallant had time to think of fomething very pleafant to fay next to her, or make fome unkind Obfervation on fome other Lady to feed her Vanity. These unhappy Effects of Affectation, naturally led me to look into that ftrangé State of Mind which fo generally difcolours the Behaviour of moft People we meet with. THE learned Dr. Burnet, in his Theory of the Earth, takes the Occafion to obferve, That every Thought is attended with Confcioufnefs and Reprefentativeness ; the Mind has nothing prefented to it but what is imme G. 5 mediately. |