I told him I wonder'd what could make him fancy he had ever any Place in my Affections. His own Sex allow him Senfe, and all ours Good breeding. His Perfon is fuch as might, without Vanity, make him believe himself not incapable to be belov'd. Our Fortunes indeed, weighed in the nice Scale of Intereft, are not exactly equal, which by the way was the true Caufe of my Jilting him, and I had the Affurance to acquaint him with the following Maxim, That I fhould always believe that Man's Paflion to be the most violent, who could offer me the largeft Settlement. I have fince changed my Opinion, and have endeavoured to let him know fo much by feveral Letters, but the barbarous Man has refufed them all; fo that I have no way left of writing to him but by your Affiftance. If you can bring him about once more, I promife to fend you all Gloves and Favours, and fhall defire the Favour of Sir ROGER and your felf to stand as God-Fathers to my first Boy.

I am, SIR,

Your most obedient most humble Servant,
AMORET.

Philander to Amoret.

MADAM,

IAM fo furprised at the Question you were pleased to ask me Yefterday, that I am ftill at a loss what to fay to it. At least my Anfwer would be too long to trouble you with, as it would come from a Perion, who, it feems, is fo very indifferent to you. Instead of it, I fhall only recommend to your Confideration the Opinion of one whofe Sentiments on thefe matters I have often heard you fay are extremely juft. A generous and conftant Paffion, fays your favourite Author, in an agreeable Lover, where there is not too great a Disparity in their Circumftances, is the greatest Bleing that can befal a Perfon beloved; and if overlook'd in one, may perhaps never be found in another.

I do not, however, at all defpair of being very fhortly much better belov'd by you than Antenor is at prefent; fince whenever my Fortune fhall exceed his, you

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⚫ were

were pleased to intimate your Paffion would increase ⚫ accordingly.

THE World has feen me fhamefully lofe that Time to please a fickle Woman, which might have been employed much more to my Credit and Advantage in other Purfuits. I fhall therefore take the Liberty to acquaint you, however har fh it may found in a Lady's Ears,. that tho' your Love-Fit fhould happen to return, unless < you could contrive a way to make your Recantation as well known to the Publick, as they are already apprifed. of the manner with which you have treated me, you ⚫ fhall never more fee

SIR,

PHILANDER.

Amoret to Philander.

PON Reflexion, I find the Injury I have done both to you and my felf to be fo great, that tho' the Part I now act may appear contrary to that Decorum ufually obferved by our Sex, yet I purposely break through all Rules, that my Repentance may in fome measure equal my Crime. I affure you that in my prefent Hopes of recovering you, I look upon Antenor's Eftate with Contempt. The Fop was here Yefterday in a gilt Chariot and new Liveries, but I refused to fee him. Tho' I dread to meet your Eyes, after what has pafs'd, I flatter my felf, that amidst all their Confufion you will discover fuch a Tendernefs in mine, as none can imitate but those who Love. I fhall be all ⚫ this Month at Lady D's in the Country; but the Woods, the Fields and Gardens, without Philander, afford no Pleasures to the unhappy

AMORET.

I muft defire you, dear Mr. Spectator, to publish this my Letter to Philander as foon as poffible, and to affure ⚫ him that I know nothing at all of the Death of his rich Uncle in Gloucestershire.

X

N° 402. Wednesday, June 11.

-qua

Spellator tradit fibi

llor.

W

ERE I to publish all the Advertisements I receive from different Hands, and Perfons of different Circumstances and Quality, the very Mention of them, without Reflexions on the feveral Subjects, would raife all the Paffions which can be felt by human Minds. As Inftances of this, I fhall give you two or three Letters; the Writers of which can have no Recourfe to any legal Power for Redrefs, and feem to have written rather to vent their Sorrow than to receive Confolation.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I AM a young Woman of Beauty and Quality, and fuitably married to a Gentleman who dotes on me. But this Perfon of mine is the Object of an unjuft Paffion in a Nobleman who is very intimate with my Husband. This Friendship gives him very cafy Acceis, and frequent Opportunities of entertaining me apart. My Heart is in the utmoft Anguish, and my Face is covered over ⚫ with Confufion, when I impart to you another Circumftance, which is, that my Mother, the moft mercenary of all Women, is gained by this falfe Friend of my Husband to folicit me for him. I am frequently chid by the poor believing Man my Husband, for fhewing an Impatience of his Friend's Company; and I am never alone with my Mother, but the tells me Stories of the difcretionary Part of the World, and fuch a one, and ⚫ fuch a one who are guilty of as much as the advifes me to. She laughs at my Aftonishment; and feems to hint to ine, that as virtuous as fhe has always appeared, I am not the Daughter of her Husband. It is poffible that printing this Letter may relieve me from the unnatural Im⚫portunity

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portunity of my Mother, and the perfidious Courtship of my Husband's Friend. I have an unfeigned Love of Virtue,and am refolved to preserve my Innocence. The only Way I can think of to avoid the fatal Confequences of the Discovery of this Matter, is to fly away for ever; which I must do to avoid my Husband's fatal Refentment against the Man who attempts to abuse him, ⚫ and the Shame of expofing a Parent to Infamy. The Perfons concerned will know thefe Circumstances relate 'to'em; and tho' the Regard to Virtue is dead in them, I have fome Hopes from their Fear of Shame upon reading this in your Paper; which I conjure you to do, if you have any Compaffion for Injured Virtue.

SYLVIA.

་

Mr. SPECTATOR,

Am the Husband of a Woman of Merit, but am fallen in Love, as they call it, with a Lady of her Acquaintance, who is going to be married to a Gentleman who deferves her. I am in a Truft relating to this • Lady's Fortune, which makes my Concurrence in this • Matter neceffary; but I have fo irrefillible a Rage and Envy rife in me when I confider his future Happiness, that against all Reafon, Equity, and common Juftice, I am ever playing mean Tricks to fufpend the Nuptials. ⚫ I have no manner of Hopes for my felf; Emilia, for fo I'll call her, is a Woman of the moft ftrict Virtue; her • Lover is a Gentleman who of all others I could wish my Friend; but Envy and Jealouly, though placed fo unjustly, wafle my very Being, and with the Torment and Senfe of a Dæmon, I am ever curfing what I cannot but approve. I wish it were the Beginning of Repentance, that I fit down and defcribe my prefent Difpofition with to hellish an Afpect; but at present the Destruction of these two excellent Perfons would be more welcome to me than their Happiness. Mr. SPECTATOR, pray let me have a Paper on these terrible groundlefs Sufferings, and do all you can to exercise Crowds who are in fome Degree poffeffed as I am.

Canibal.

Mr.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I

Have no other Means but this to exprefs my Thanks to one Man, and my Refentment against another." My Circumftances are as follows. I have been for five Years laft paft courted by a Gentleman of greater Fortune than I ought to expect, as the Market for Women goes. You must to be fure have obferved People who live in that fort of Way, as all their Friends reckon it' ⚫ will be a Match, and are marked out by all the World for each other. In this view we have been regarded for fome Time, and I have above these three Years loved him tenderly. As he is very careful of his Fortune, I always thought he lived in a near manner to lay up what he thought was wanting in my Fortune to make up what he might expect in another. Within few Months I have obferved his Carriage very much altered, and he has affected a certain Air of getting me alone, and talking with a mighty Profufion of paffionate ⚫ Words, How I am not to be refifted longer, how irrefifti⚫ble his Wifhes are, and the like. As long as I have been acquainted with him, I could not on fuch Occafions fay downright to him, You know you may make me yours when you please. But the other Night he with great Franknefs and Impudence explained to me, that her thought of me only as a Miftrefs. I anfwered this Declaration as it deferved; upon which he only doubled the Terms on which he propofed my Yielding. When my Anger heightned upon him, he told me he was forry he had made fo little Ufe of the unguarded Hours we had been together fo remote from Company, as indeed, continued he, fo we are at prefent. I flew from him. to a neighbouring Gentlewoman's House, and tho' her Husband was in the Room, threw my felf on a Couch, and burst into a Paffion of Tears. My Friend defired her Husband to leave the Room. But, faid he, there is fomething fo extraordinary in this, that I will partake in the Affliction; and be it what it will, fhe is fo much your Friend, that she knows you may command what Services I can do her. The Man fat down by me, and fpoke fo like a Brother, that I told him my whole Affliction. He spoke of the Injury done me with fo much

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