When those who attend him talk of the many Omens which had appeared that Day, he answers, Cowards die many Times before their Deaths; Will come, when it will come. WHEN the Hero has fpoken this Sentiment, there is nothing that is great which cannot be expected, from one whofe first Position is the Contempt of Death to fo high a Degree, as making his Exit a Thing wholly indifferent, and not a Part of his Care, but that of Heaven and Fate. St. James's Coffee-house, Auguft ro. LETTERS from Brussels of the 15th Inftant, N. S fay, That Major-General Ravignan returned on the 8th with the French King's Answer to the intended Capitu lation for the Citadel of Tournay; which is, That he does not think fit to fign that Capitulation, except the Allies will grant a Ceflation of Arms in general, during the Time in which all Acts of Hoftility were to have ceafed between the Citadel and the Befiegers. Soon after the Receipt of this News, the Cannon on each Side began to play. There are two Attacks against the Citadel, commanded by General Lottum and General. Schuylemberg, which are both carried on with great Succefs; and it is not doubted but the Citadel will be in the Hands of the Allies before the laft Day of this Month. Letters from Ipres fay, That on the 9th Inftant, Part of the Garrison of that Place had mutined in two Bodies, each confifting of two Hundred, who being difperfed. the fame Day, a Body of eight Hundred appeared in the Market-Place at Nine the Night following, and feized all Manner of Provifions; but were with much Difficulty difquieted. The Governor has not punifhed of the Offenders, the Diffatisfaction being univerfal in that Place; and it is thought, the Officers foment those Disorders, that the Miniftry may be convinced of the Neceffity of paying thofe Troops, and fupplying them with Provifions. Thefe Advices add, That on the 14th the Marquis d'Efte paffed Express through Bruf any fels fels from the Duke of Savoy, with Advice, That the Army of his Royal Highnefs had forced the Retrenchments of the Enemy in Savoy, and defeated that Body of Men which guarded thofe Paffes under the Command of the Marquis de Thouy. 3 N° 54. Saturday, August 13. 1709. White's Chocolate-house, August 12. Of the Government of Affection. WHEN Labour was pronounced to be the Porti on of Man, that Doom reached the Affections of his Mind, as well as his Perfon, the Matter on which he was to feed, and all the animal and vegetable World about him. There is therefore an affiduous Care and Cultivation to be bestowed upon our Paffion and Affections; for they, as they are the Excrefcencies of our Souls, like our Hair and Beards, look horrid or becoming, as we cut or let 'em grow. All this grave Preface is meant to affign a Reafon in Nature for the unaccountable Behaviour of Duumvir the Husband and Keeper. Ten Thousand Follies had this unhappy Man efcaped, had he made a Compact with himself to be upon his Guard, and not permitted his vagrant Eye to let in fo many different Inclinations upon him, as all his Days he has been perplex'd with. But indeed, at prefent he has brought himself to be confined only to one prevailing Miftrefs; between whom and his Wife, Duumvir paffes his Hours in all the Viflicitudes which attend Paffion and Affection, without the Intervention of Reafon. Laura his Wife, and Phillis his Mistress, are all with whom he has had, for fome Months, the leaft amorous Commerce. Duumvir has paffed the Noon of Life; but cannot withdraw from thofe Entertainments which are pardonable only before that Stage of our Being, and which after that Seafon are rather Punishments than Satisfactions: For pall'd Appetite is humorous, 19 humorous, and must be gratified with Sauces rather than Food. For which End Duumvir is provided with an haughty, imperious, expensive, and fantastick Miftrefs, to whom he retires from the Converfation of an affable, humble, difcreet, and affectionate Wife. Laura receives him after Abfence with an eafy and unaf fected Complacency; but that he calls infipid: Phillis rates him for his Abfence, and bids him return from whence he came: This he calls Spirit and Fire: Laura's Gentleness is thought mean; Phillis's Infolence, sprightly. Were you to fee him at his own Home, and his Miftrefs's Lodgings, to Phillis he appears an obfequious Lover, to Laura an imperious Mafter. Nay, fo unjust is the Tafte of Duumvir, that he owns Laura has no ill Quality, but that the is his Wife; Phillis no good one, but that she is his Miftrefs. And he has himself of ten faid, were he married to any one elfe, he would ra- . ther keep Laura than any Woman living; yet allows at the fame Time, that Phillis, were fhe a Woman of Honour, would have been the moft infipid Animal breathing. The other Day Laura, who has a Voice like an Angel, began to fing to him: Fie, Madam, he cry'd, we must be past all thefe Gaieties, Phillis has a Note as rude and as loud as a Milk-maid: When fhe begins to warble; Well, fays he, There is fuch a pleafing Simplicity in all that Wench does In a Word, the affectionate Part of his Heart being corrupted, and his true Tafte that Way wholly loft, he has contracted a Prejudice to all the Behaviour of Laura, and a general Partiality in Favour of Phillis. It is not in the Power of the Wife to do a pleasing Thing,nor in the Miftrefs to commit one that is difagreeable. There is fomething too melancholy in the Reflection on this Circumftance to be the Subject of Raillery He faid a four Thing to Laura at Dinner the other Day; upon which the burst into Tears. What the Devil, Madam, fays he, can't I speak in my own Houfe? He anfwer'd Phillis a little abruptly at Supper the fame Evening; upon which fhe threw his Periwig into the Fire. Well, faid he, Thou art a brave Termagant Jade; Do you know, Huffey, that fair Wig coft Forty Guineas? Oh Laura! Is it for " this that the faithful Chromius figh'd for you in vain? How is thy Condition alter'd, fince Crowds of Youth hung on thy Eye, and watch'd its Glances? It is not many Months fince Laura was the Wonder and Pride of her own Sex, as well as the Defire and Paffion of ours. At Plays and Balls, the juft Turn of her Behaviour, the Decency of her Virgin Charms, chaftis'd, yet added to Diverfions. At publick Devotions, her winning Modefty, her refign'd Carriage, made Virtue and Religionappear with new Ornaments, and in the natural Apparel of Simplicity and Beauty. In ordinary Converfations, a fweet Conformity of Manners, and an Humility which heighten'd all the Complacencies of good Breeding and Education, gave her more Slaves than allthe Pride of her Sex ever made Woman wish for. Lau-ra's Hours are now spent on the fad Reflection on her Choice, and that deceitful Vanity (almost infeparable from the Sex) of believing, fhe could reclaim one that had fo often enfnar'd others; as it now is, it is not even in the Power of Duumvir himself to do her Juftice: For though Beauty and Merit are Things real and independent on Tafte and Opinion, yet Agreeablenefs is arbi-trary, and the Miftrefs has much the Advantage of theWife. But whenever Fate is so kind to her and her Spoufe as to end her Days, with all this Paffion for Phillis, and Indifference for Laura, he has a fecond Wife in View, who may avenge the Injuries done to her Predeceffor. Aglaura is the deftin'd Lady, who has liv'd in Affemblies, has Ambition and Play for her Entertain-ment, and thinks of a Man, not as the Object of Love, but the Tool of her Intereftor Pride. If ever Aglau-ra comes to the Empire of this Inconftant, fhe will endear the Memory of her Predeceffor. But in the mean Time it is melancholy to confider, That the Virtue of a Wife is like the Merit of a Poet, never juftly valued till after Death. From my own Apartment, August 11. As we have profeffed, that all the Actions of Men are our Subject, the most folemn are not to be omitted, if there happen to creep into their Behaviour any Thing improper for fuch Occafions. Therefore the Offence men mentioned in the following Epistles (tho' it may feem to be committed in a Place facred from Obfervation) is fuch, that it is our Duty to remark upon it; for though he who does it is himself only guilty of an Indecorum, he occafions a criminal Levity in all others who are prefent at it. Mr. Bickerftaff. Tbeing mine, as well as the Opinion of many others, that your Papers are extremely well fitted to reform any irregular or indecent Practice, I prefent the following as one which requires your Correction. My felf, and a great many good People who frequent the Divine Service at St. Paul's, have been a long Time fcandaliz'd by the imprudent Conduct of Stentor in that Cathedral. This Gentleman, you must know, is always very exact and zealous in his Devotion, which, I believe, no Body blames; but then he is accustomed to roar and bellow fo terribly loud in the Refponfes, that he frightens even us of the Congregation who are daily us'd to him: And one of our Petty Canons, a Punning Cambrige Scholar,calls hisWay of Worship, aBull-Offering. His harsh untunable Pipe is no more fit than a Raven's to join with the Mufick of a Choir; yet no Body having been enough his Friend, I fuppofe, to inform him of it, he never fails, when prefent, to drown the Harmony of every Hymn and Anthem, by an Inundation of Sound beyond that of the Bridge at the Ebb of the Tide, or the neighbouring Lyons in the Anguifh of their Hunger. This is a Grievance, which, to my certain Knowledge, feveral worthy People defire te fee redrefs'd; and if by inferting this Epiftlein your Paper, or by reprefenting the Matter your own Way, you can convince Stentor, that Difcord in a Choir is the fame Sin that Schifm is in the Church in general, you would lay a great Obligation upon us, and make fome Atonement for certain of your Paragraphs which have not been highly approved by us. I am, SIR, Your moft humble Servant, St. Paul's Churchyard, Aug. 11. IT is wonderful there fhould be fuch a general Lamentation, and the Grievance fo frequent, and yet the Offender never know any Thing of it. I have received the following Letter from my Kinsman at the Heralds-Office, near the fame Place. Dear |