in our defence; for our minds are conftrued by the waving of that little inftrument, and our thoughts appear in compofure or agitation according to the motion of it. You may obferve, when Will Peregrine comes into the fide-box, Mifs Gatty flutters her Fan as a fly does its wings round a candle; while her elder fifter, who is as much in love with him as fhe is, is as grave as a Veftal at his entrance, and the confequence is accordingly. He watches balf the Play for a glance from her fifter, while Gatty is overlooked and neglected. I wish you heartily as much fuccefs in the management of it as I have had : If you think fit to go on where I left off, I will give you a fhort account of the execution I have made with it. Cimon, who is the dulleft of mortals, and though a wonderful great scholar, does not only pause, but seems to take a nap with his eyes open between every other fentence in his difcourfe: Him have I made a leader in affemblies; and one blow on the fhoulder as I paffed by him has raised him to a downright impertinent in all converfations. The airy Will Sampler is become as lethargic by this my wand, as Cimon is fprightly. Take it, good girl, and ufe it without mercy; for the reign of beauty never lafted full three years, but it ended in marriage, or condemnation to virginity. As you fear therefore the one, and hope for the other, I expect an hourly journal of your triumphs; for I have it by certain tradition, that it was given to the firft who wore it, by an inchantress, with this remarkable power, that it beftows a husband in half a year on her who does not overlook her proper minute; but affigns to a long defpair the woman who is well offered, and neglects that propofal. May occafion attend your charms, and your charms flip no occafion. Give me, I fay, an account of the progrefs of your forces at our next meeting; and you fhall hear what I think of my new condition. I fhall meet my future spouse this moment. Farewel. Live in just terror of the dreadful words, "She was.” From my own Apartment, August 8. I had the the honour this evening to vifit fome ladies, where the fubject of the converfation was Modefty; which they commended as a quality quite as becoming in men as in women. I took the liberty to fay, it might be as beautiful in our behaviour as in theirs, yet it could not be faid, it was as fuccefsful in life; for as it was the only recommendation in them, fo it was the greatest obftacle to us both in Love and Bufinefs. A Gentleman prefent was of my mind, and faid, that we must defcribe the difference between the Modefty of women and that of men, or we should be confounded in our reafonings upon it; for this virtue is to be regarded with respect to our different ways of life. The Woman's province is to be careful in her ceconomy, and chafte in her affections : The Man's to be active in the improvement of his fortune, and ready to undertake whatever is confiftent with his reputation for that end. Modefty therefore in a woman has a certain agreeable fear in all the enters upon; and in men it is compofed of a right judgment of what is proper for them to attempt. From hence it is, that a difcreet man is always a modeft one. It is to be noted, that Modefty in a man is never to be allowed as a good quality, but a weakness, if it fuppreffes his virtue, and hides it from the world, when he has at the fame time a mind to exert himfelf. A French autho fays very juftly, that Modefty is to the other virtues in a man, what fhade in a picture is to the parts of the thing reprefented. It makes all the other beauties confpicuous, which would otherwise be but a wild heap of co-lours. This fhade in our actions must therefore be very justly applied; for if there be too much, it hides our good qualities, instead of fhewing them to advantage. Neftor in Athens was an unhappy inftance of this truth; for he was not only in his profeffion the greatest man of that age, but had given more proofs of it than any other man ever did; yet for want of that naturall freedom and audacity which is neceffary in commerce: with men, his perfonal modefty overthrew all his public. actions. Neftor was in thofe days a skilful Architect, and in a manner the inventor of the use of mechanic powers; which he brought to fo great perfection, that he knew to an atom what foundation would bear fuch a fuperftructure: And they record of him, that he was fo prodigiously exact, that for the experiment's fake, he built B5 built an edifice of great beauty, and feeming ftrength; but contrived fo as to bear only its own weight, and not to admit the addition of the leaft particle. This building was beheld with much admiration by all the Virtuosi of that time; but fell down with no other preffure, but the fettling of a Wren upon the top of it. Yet Neftor's modefty was fuch, that his art and skill were foon difregarded, for want of that manner with which men of the world fupport and affe:t the merit of their own performances. Soon after this inftance of his art, Athens. was, by the treachery of its enemies, burned to the ground. This gave Neftor the greatest occafion that ever Builder had to render his name immortal, and his person venerable: For all the new city rofe according to his difpofition, and all the monuments of the glories and diftreffes of that people were erected by that fole artist: Nay, all their temples, as well as houses, were the effects of his study and labour; infomuch that it was faid by an old fage, Sure, Neftor will now be famous; for the habitations of Gods, as well as men, are built by his contrivance. But this bafhful quality ftill put a damp upon his great knowledge, which has as fatal an effect upon men's reputations as poverty; for as it was said, the poor man faved the city, and the poor man's la"bour was forgot;" fo here we find, the modeft man built the city, and the modeft man's skill was unknown. Thus we fee every man is the maker of his own fortune; and what is very odd to confider, he must in some measure be the trumpet of his fame: Not that men are to be tolerated who directly praise themselves; but they are to be endued with a fort of defenfive eloquence, by which they fhall be always capable of expreffing the zules and arts by which they govern themfelves.. Varillus was the man of all I have read of the happiest in the true poffeffion of this quality of Modefty. My Author fays of him, Modesty in Varillus is really a virtue; for it is a voluntary quality, and the effect of good fenfe. He is naturally bold and enterprifing; but fo juftly difcreet, that he never acts or speaks any thing, but thofe who behold him know he has forborn much more than he has performed or uttered, out of deference to to the perfons before whom he is. This makes Varillus truly amiable, and all his attempts fuccefsful; for, as bad as the world is thought to be by those who are perhaps unskilled in it, want of fuccefs in our actions is generally owing to want of judgment in what we ought to attempt, or a ruftic Modefty, which will not give us leave to undertake what we ought. But how unfortunate this diffident temper is to thofe who are poffeffed with it, may be best seen in the fuccefs of fuch as are wholly unacquainted with it. We have one peculiar elegance in our language above all others,, which is confpicuous in the term Fellow. This word added to any of our Adjectives extremely varies, or quite alters, the sense of that with which it is joined. Thus though a modeft man is the most unfortunate of all men, yet a modeft fellow is as fuperlatively happy. A modeft fellow is a ready creature, who with great humility, and as great forwardnefs, vifits his patrons at all hours, and meets them in all places, and has fo moderate an opinion of himself, that he makes his court at large. If you will not give him a great employment, he will be glad of a little one. He has fo great a deference for his benefactor's judgment, that as he thinks himself fit for any thing he can get, fo he is above nothing which is offered. He is like the young. Bachelor of Arts, who came to town recommended to a Chaplain's place; but none being vacant, modeftly accepted that of a poftillion. We have very many confpicuous perfons of this undertaking, yet modeft, turn: I have a grandfon who is very happy in this quality: I fent him in the time of the laft peace into France. As foon as he landed at Calais, he fent me an exact account of the nature of the people, and the policies of the King, of France. I got him fince chofen a member of a Corporation: The modeft creature, as foon as he came into the common council, told a Senior Burgess, he was perfectly out of the orders of their houfe. In other circumftances, he is fo thoroughly modest a fellow, that he feems to pretend only to things he understands. He is a citizen only at Court, and inthe city a Courtier. In a word, to fpeak the characteriftical difference between a modeft man and a modeft fellow; the modeft man is in doubt in all his actions; a modeft fellow never has a doubt from his cradle to his grave. N° 53. Thursday, August 11, 1709. T White's Chocolate-house, Auguft so. The Civil Husband. HE fate and character of the inconstant Osmyn is a juft excuse for the little notice taken, by his widow, of his departure out of this life, which was equally troublesome to Elmira, his faithful spouse, and to himself. That life paffed between them after this manner, is the reafon the town has juft now received a Lady with all that gaiety, after having been a relict but three months, which other women hardly affume under fiften after fuch a difafter. Elmira is the daughter of a rich and worthy citizen, who gave her to Ofmyn with a portion which might have obtained her an alliance with our nobleft houses, and fixed her in the eye of the world, where her story had not been now to be related: For her good qualities had made her the object of univerfal efteem among the polite part of mankind, from whom she has. been banished and immured until the death of her goaler. It is now full fifteen years fince that beauteous lady was given into the hands of the happy Ofmyn, who, in the fenfe of all the world, received at that time a prefent more valuable than the poffeffion of both the Indies. She was then in her early bloom, with an understanding and difcretion very little inferior to the most experienced matrons. She was not beholden to the charms of her Sex, that her company was preferable to any Ofmyn could meet with abroad; for were all she said confidered, without regard to her being a woman, it might stand. the examination of the fevereft judges. She had all the beauty |