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"She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.

"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

"Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.

"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. "Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

• Your humble servant.'

• SIR,

I VENTURED to your lion with the following lines, upon an assurance, that if you thought them not proper food for your beast, you would at least permit him to tear them.'

FROM ANACREON.

Αγε ζωγράφων αριτε, &c.

"BEST and happiest artisan,
Best of painters, if you can
With your many-coloured art

Paint the mistress of my heart;

Describe the charms you hear from me
(Her charms you could not paint and see),
And make the absent nymph appear

As if her lovely self was here.
First draw her easy-flowing-hair
As soft and black as she is fair;
And, if your art can rise so high,
Let breathing odours round her fly;
Beneath the shade of flowing jet
The iv'ry forehead smoothly set.

With care the sable brows extend,
And in two arches nicely bend;

That the fair space, which lies between
The melting shade, may scarce be seen.
The eye must be uncommon fire;
Sparkle, languish, and desire:

The flames unseen must yet be felt;
Like Pallas kill, like Venus melt.
The rosy cheek must seem to glow
Amidst the white of new-fall'n snow.
Let her lips persuasion wear,
In silence elegantly fair;

As if the blushing rivals strove,
Breathing and inviting love.
Below her chin be sure to deck

With every grace her polish'd neck;
While all that's pretty soft, and sweet,
In the swelling bosom meet.
The rest in purple garments veil;
Her body, not her shape conceal:
Enough, the lovely work is done,

The breathing paint will speak anon."
'I am, SIR,

6 MR. IRONSIDE,

Your humble servant.'

• THE letter which I sent you some time ago, and was signed English Tory', has made, as you must have observed, a very great bustle in town. There are come out against me two pamphlets and two Examiners; but there are printed on iny side a letter to the Guardian about Dunkirk, and a pamphlet about Dunkirk or Dover. I am no proper judge who has the better of the argument, the Examiner or myself: but I am sure my seconds are better than his. I have addressed a defence for the ill treatment I have received for my letter (which ought to have made every man in

'See N° 128, and 131.

England my friend) to the bailiff of Stockbridge, because, as the world goes, I am to think myself very much obliged to that honest man, and esteem him my patron, who allowed that fifty was a greater number than one and twenty, and returned me accordingly to serve for that borough.

6

There are very many scurrilous things said against me, but I have turned them to my advantage, by quoting them at large, and by that means swelling the volume to one shilling price. If I may be so free with myself, I might put you in mind upon this occasion of one of those animals which are famous for their love of mankind, that, when a bone is thrown at them fall to eating it, instead of flying at the person who threw it. Please to read the account of the channel, by the map at Will's, and you will find what I represent concerning the importance of Dunkirk, as to its situation, very just.

STEELE.

'I am, SIR,

'Very often your great admirer, RICHARD STEELE.'

*** My bookseller having informed me, that notwithstanding my paper daily increases in the sale, and that there is sold double the number of Guardians more than what are sold of some other papers which are crowded with advertisements; in order to oblige my countrymen, as well as to help myself something in the filling up of this my paper, I do hereby, at the desire and with the advice of my said bookseller, give notice that for the future advertisements will be printed in this paper at two shillings and sixpence each, including the duty of one shilling, which is no more than the usual price paid for an advertisement before this duty was laid.

No 169. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1713.

Cœlumque tueri
Jussit-

OVID. Met. i. 85.

And bade him lift to heaven his wond'ring eyes.

In fair weather, when my heart is cheered, and I feel that exaltation of spirits which results from light and warmth, joined with a beautiful prospect of nature; I regard myself as one placed by the hand of God in the midst of an ample theatre, in which the sun, moon, and stars, and fruits also, and vegetables of the earth, perpetually changing their positions, or their aspects, exhibit an elegant entertainment to the understanding, as well as to the eye.

Thunder and lightning, rain and hail, the painted bow, and the glaring comets, are decorations of this mighty theatre. And the sable hemisphere studded with spangles, the blue vault at noon, the glorious gilding and rich colours in the horizon, I look on as so many successive scenes.

When I consider things in this light, methinks it is a sort of impiety to have no attention to the course of nature, and the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. To be regardless of those phenomena that are placed within our view, on purpose to entertain our faculties, and display the wisdom and power of their Creator, is an affront to Providence of the same kind, (I hope it is not so impious to make such a simile) as it would be to a good poet, to sit out his play without minding the plot or beauties of it.

And yet how few are there who attend to the

drama of nature, its artificial structure, and those admirable machines, whereby the passions of a philosopher are gratefully agitated, and his soul affected with the sweet emotions of joy and surprise!

How many fox-hunters and rural squires are to be found in Great Britain, who are ignorant that they have all this while lived on a planet; that the sun is several thousand times bigger than the earth; and that there are other worlds within our view greater and more glorious than our own! 'Ay, but,' says some illiterate fellow, 'I enjoy the world, and leave others to contemplate it.' Yes, you eat and drink, and run about upon it, that is, you enjoy it as a brute; but to enjoy it as a rational being, is to know it, to be sensible of its greatness and beauty, to be delighted with its harmony, and by these reflections to obtain just sentiments of the Almighty mind that framéd it.

The man who, unembarrassed with vulgar cares, leisurely attends to the flux of things in heaven, and things on earth, and observes the laws by which they are governed, hath secured to himself an easy and convenient seat, where he beholds with pleasure all that passes on the stage of nature; while those about him are, some fast asleep,and others struggling for the highest places, or turning their eyes from the entertainment prepared by Providence, to play at push pin with one another.

Within this ample circumference of the world, the glorious lights that are hung on high, the meteors in the middle region, the various livery of the earth, and the profusion of good things that distinguish the seasons, yield a prospect which annihilates all human grandeur. But when we have seen frequent returns of the same things, when we have often viewed the heaven and the earth in all their various array, our

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