friend Charles, whom we hope thou wilt follow in every thing that is good. "We hear that thou art not of the religion of the land any more than we, and, therefore, may reasonably expect that thou wilt give us the same liberty that thou takest thyself. "We hope that in this, and all things else, thou wilt promote the good of thy people, which will oblige us to pray that thy reign over us may be long and prosperous." Had all King James's subjects addressed him with the same integrity, he had, in all probability, sat upon his throne till death had removed him from it. THE LOVER. No. 10.-THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1714. -Magis illa placent quæ plurus emuntur. I HAVE lately been very much teased with the thought of Mrs. Anne Page, and the memory of those many cruelties which I suffered from that obdurate fair one. Mrs. Anne was, in a particular manner, very fond of china-ware, against which I had unfortunately declared my aversion. I do not know but this was the first occasion of her coldness towards me, which makes me sick at the very sight of a china-dish ever since. This is the best introduction I can make for my present discourse, which may serve to fill up a gap till I am more at leisure to resume the thread of my amours. There are no inclinations in women which more surprise me than their passions for chalk and china. The first of these maladies wears out in a little time; but when a woman is visited with the second, it generally takes possession of her for life. China vessels An old lady of are playthings for women of all ages. fourscore shall be as busy in cleaning an Indian mandarin, as her great grand-daughter is in dressing her baby; The common way of purchasing such trifles, if I may believe my female informers, is by exchanging old suits of clothes for this brittle ware. The potters of china have, it seems, their factors at this distance, who retail out their several manufactures for cast clothes and superannuated garments. I have known an old petticoat metamorphosed into a punch-bowl, and a pair of breeches into a tea-pot. For this reason my friend Tradewell, in the city, calls his great room, that is nobly furnished out with china, his wife's wardrobe. In yonder corner,' says he, are above twenty suits of clothes, and on that scrutoire above a hundred yards of furbelowed silk. You cannot imagine how many night-gowns, stays, and mantuas, went to the raising of that pyramid. The worst of it is,' says he, a suit of clothes is not suffered to last its time, that it may be the more vendible; so that in reality this is but a more dexterous way of picking the husband's pocket, who is often purchasing a great vase of china, when he fancies that he is buying a fine head, or a silk gown for his wife.' There is likewise another inconvenience in this female passion for china, namely, that it administers to them great wrath and sorrow. How much anger and affliction are produced daily in the hearts of my dear countrywomen, by the breach of this frail furniture! Some of them pay half their servant's wages in china fragments, which their carelessness has produced. If thou hast a piece of earthen-ware, consider,' says Epictetus, that it is a piece of earthen-ware, and very easy and obnoxious to be broken: be not, therefore, so void of reason as to be angry or grieved when this comes to pass.' In order, therefore, to exempt my fair readers from such additional and supernumerary calamities of life, I would advise them to forbear |