part of the nation on his side, if he did not find himself king of the most beautiful half of his subjects. Ladies are always of great use to the party they espouse, and never fail to win over numbers to it. Lovers, according to Sir William Petty's computation, make at least the third part of the sensible men of the British nation; and it has been an uncontroverted maxim in all ages, that though a husband is sometimes a stubborn sort of a creature, a lover is always at the devotion of his mistress. By this means it lies in the power of every fine woman, to secure at least half a dozen able-bodied men to his majesty's service. The female world are likewise indispensably necessary in the best causes to manage the controversial part of them, in which no man of tolerable breeding is ever able to refute them. Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.

It is indeed remarkable, that the inferior tribe of common women, who are a dishonour to their sex, have, in most reigns, been the professed sticklers for such as liave acted in opposition to the true interest of the nation. The most numerous converts in King James's reign, were particularly noted to be of this kind. I can give no other reason for such a behaviour, unless it be, that it is not for the advantage of these female adventurers the laws of the land should take place, and that they know Bridewell is a part of our constitution.

There are many reasons why the women of GreatBritain should be on the side of the freeholder, and enemies to the person who would bring in arbitrary government and popery. As there are several of our ladies who amuse themselves in the reading of tra vels, they cannot but take notice what uncomfortable lives those of their own sex lead, where passive obe

dience is professed and practised in its utmost perfection. In those countries the men have no property but in their wives, who are the slaves to slaves: eve. ry married woman being subject to a domestic tyrant, that requires from her the same vassalage which he pays to his sultan. If the ladies would seriously consider the evil consequences of arbitrary power, they would find, that it spoils the shape of the foot in China, where the barbarous politics of the men so diminish the basis of the female figure, as to unqualify a woman for an evening walk or a country dance. In the EastIndies, a widow, who has any regard to her character, throws herself into the flames of her husband's funeral pile, to show, forsooth, that she is faithful and loyal to the memory of her deceased lord. In Persia, the daughters of Eve, as they call them, are reckoned in the inventory of their goods and chattels : and it is a usual thing when a man sells a bale of silk, or a drove of camels, to toss half a dozen women into the bargain. Through all the dominions of the great Turk, a woman thinks herself happy if she can get but the twelfth share of a husband, and is thought of no manner of use in the creation, but to keep up a proper number of slaves for the commander of the faithful. I need not set forth the ill usage which the fair ones meet with in those despotic governments that lie nearer us. Every one hath heard of the several ways of locking up women in Spain and Italy; where, if there is any power lodged in any of the sex, it is not among the young and the beautiful, whom nature seems to have formed for it, but among the old and withered matrons, known by the frightful name of gouvernantes and duennas. If any should allege the freedoms indulged to the French ladies, he must own that these are owing to the natural gallantry of the

people, not to their form of government, which excludes, by its very constitution, every female from power, as naturally unfit to hold the sceptre of that kingdom.

Women ought, in reason, to be no less averse to popery than to arbitrary power. Some merry authors have pretended to demonstrate, that the Roman Catholic religion could never spread in a nation, where women would have more modesty than to expose their innocent liberties to a confessor. Others, of the same turn, have assured us, that the fine British complexion, which is so peculiar to our ladies, would suffer very much from a fish diet: and that a whole Lent would give such a sallowness to the celebrated beauties of this island, as would scarce make them distinguishable from those of France. I shall only leave to the serious consideration of my country-women the danger any of them might have been in (had popery been our national religion) of being forced by their relations to a state of perpetual virginity. The most blooming toast in the island might have been a nun; and many a lady, who is now a mother of fine children, condemned to a condition of life, disagreeable to herself, and unprofitable to the world. To this, I might add the melancholy objects they would be daily entertained with, of several sightly men delivered over to an inviolable celibacy. Let a young lady imagine to herself the brisk embroidered officer, who now makes love to her with so agreeable an air, converted into a monk; or the beau, who now addresses himself to her in a full-bottomed wig, distinguished by a little bald pate, covered with a black leather skull-cap. I forbear to mention many other objections, which the ladies, who are no strangers to the doctrines of popery, will easily recollect: though

I do not in the least doubt, but those I have already suggested, will be sufficient to persuade my fair readers to be zealous in the Protestant cause.

The freedom and happiness of our British ladies is so singular, that it is a common saying in foreign countries, If a bridge were built across the seas, all the women in Europe would flock into England.' It has been observed, that the laws relating to them are so favourable, that one would think they themselves had given votes in enacting them. All the honours and indulgences of society are due to them by our customs; and, by our constitution, they have all the privileges of English-born subjects, without the burdens. I need not acquaint my fair fellow freeholders, that every man, who is anxious for our sacred and civil rights, is a champion in their cause; since we enjoy, in common, a religion agreeable to that reasonable nature, of which we equally partake; and since, in point of property, our law makes no distinction of sexes.

We may therefore justly expect from them, that they will act in concert with us for the preservation of our laws and religion, which cannot subsist, but under the government of his present majesty; and would necessarily be subverted, under that of a person bred up in the most violent principles of popery and arbitrary power. Thus may the fair sex contribute to fix the peace of a brave and generous people, who for many ages have disdained to bear any tyranny but theirs; and be as famous in history as those illustrious matrons, who, in the infancy of Rome, reconciled the Romans and Sabines, and united the contending parties under their new king.

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No. 5.-SATURDAY, JANUARY 6.

Omnium societatum nulla est gravior, nulla carior, quam ea quæ cum republica est unicuique nostrum: cari sunt parentes, cari liberi, propinqui, familiares: sed omnes omnium caritates patria una complexa est: pro qua quis bonus dubitet mortem oppetere, si ei sit profuturus? CICERO.

THERE is no greater sign of a general decay of virtue in a nation, than a want of zeal in its inhabitants for the good of their country. This generous and public-spirited passion has been observed of late years to languish and grow cold in this our island; where a party of men have made it their business to represent it as chimerical and romantic, to destroy in the minds of the people the sense of national glory, and to turn into ridicule our natural and ancient allies, who are united to us by the common interests both of religion and policy. It may not therefore be unseasonable to recommend to this present generation the practice of that virtue, for which their ancestors were particularly famous, and which is called The love of one's country.' This love to our country, as a moral virtue, is a fixed disposition of mind to promote the safety, welfare, and reputation of the community in which we are born, and of the consti-tution under which we are protected. Our obligation to this great duty may appear to us from several considerations.

In the first place, we may observe, that we are directed to it by one of those secret suggestions of na ture, which go under the name of Instinct, and which are never given in vain. As self-love is an instinct planted in us for the good and safety of each particular person, the love of our country is impressed on