all that a Man who had liv'd ill all his time in a House, fhou'd break a Window, or fteal away in the Night through an unusual Poftern: You are now free, and what matter is it to a Prifoner whether the Fetters be taken off the ordinary way or not? If instead of putting off handfomely the Chain of Matrimony, he hath rudely broke it, 'tis at his own Charge, nor thou'd it cost you a Tear; Nothing, Madam, has worfe Mien than counterfeit Sorrow, and you must have the height of Woman's Art to make yours appear other, efpecially when the Spectators fhall confider all the Story. The Sword that is plac'd betwixt a contracted Princess and an Ambaflador, was as much a Husband, and the only difference was, that that Sword laid in the Bed, allow'd one to fupply its Place; this Husband deny'd all, like a falfe Crow fet up in a Garden, which keeps others from the Fruit it cannot tafte it felf: I wou'd not have you fo much as enquire whether it were with his Garters or his Cloak-bag Strings, not engage your self to fresh Sighs by hearing new Relations. The Spanish Princefs Leonina (whom Balzac delivers the Ornament of the laft Age) was wife; who hearing a Poft was fent to tell her, her Husband was dead, and knowing the Secretary was in the way for that Purpofe, fent to stay the Poft till the arrival of the Secretary, that the might not he obliged to fhed Tears twice. Of ill Things the lefs we know, the better. Curiofity wou'd here be as vain, as if a Cuckold thou'd enquire whether it were upon the Couch or a Bed,and whether the Cavalier pull'd off his Spurs firft or not. I must confefs it is a juft Subject for our Sorrow, to hear of any that does quit his Station without his leave that placed him there; and yet as ill a Mien as this Act has; 'twas a-la-Romanfci, as you may fee by a Line of Mr. Shakespear's, who bringing in Titinius after a loft Battel, fpeaking to his Sword, and bidding it find out his Heart, adds By your leave, Gods, this is a Roman's part 'Tis 'Tis true, I think Cloak-Bag Strings were not then fo much in Fashion; but to thofe that are not SwordMen, the way is not fo defpicable; and for my own Part, I affure you Chriftianity highly governs me in the Minute in which I do not wifh, with all my Heart, that all the Discontents in his Majefty's three Kingdoms would find out this very Way of fatisfying themselves and the World. J. S. . SIR, Ince the fetling of your Family wou'd certainly much conduce to the fetling of your Mind (the care of the one being the trouble of the other). I cannot but reckon it in the Number of my Misfortunes, that my Affairs deny me the Content I fhou'd take to ferve you in it. It wou'd be too late now for me, I fuppofe, to advance or confirm you in those good Refolutions I left you in, being confident your own Reafon has been fo juft to you, as long before this to have represented a neceffity of redeeming 1 ime and Fame, and of taking an handsome Revenge upon your felf for the Injuries you would have done your felf. Change, I confefs (to them that think all at once) must needs be frange, and to you hateful, whom firft your own Nature, and then Custom, another Nature, have brought to delight in thofe narrow and uncouth Ways we found you in. You must therefore confider that you have entred into one of thofe near Conjunctions of which Death is the only honourable Divorce; and that you have now to please another as well as your felf; who though the be a Woman, and by the Patent fhe hath from Nature, hath Liberty to do fimply; yet can fhe never be fo ftrongly bribed against her felf, as to betray at once all her Hopes and Ends, and for your fake refolve to live miferably. Examples of fuch loving Folly our Times afford but few; and in thofe there are, you shall find the Stock of Love to have been greater, and their Strengths richer to maintain it, than is to be feared yours can be. Woman (befides the Trouble) has ever been thought a Rent-Charge, and though, through the vain Curiofity of Man, it has often been inclofed, yet has it feldom been brought to improve or become profitable; it faring with marry'd Men, for the most part, as with thofe that at great Charges wall in Grounds, and plant, who cheaper might have eaten Mellons elsewhere, than in their own Gardens Cucumbers. The Ruins that either Time, Sickness, or the Melancholy you fhall give her, fhall bring, must all be made up at your Coft: For that thing a Husband is but Tenant for Life in what he holds, and is bound to leave the Place Tenantable to the next that fhall take it. To conclude, a young Woman is a Hawk upon her Wings; and if the be handfome, fhe is the more fubject to go out at check; Falkners that can but feldome fpring right Game, fhou'd ftill have fomething about them to take them down with. The Lure to which all ftoop in this World, is either garnish'd with Profit or Pleasure, and when you cannot throw her the one, you must be content to fhew out the other. This I fpeak, not out of a Defire to increase your Fears, which are already but too many, but out of a Hope that when you know the worst, you will at once leap into the River, and fwim through handfomely, and not (weather-beaten with the divers Blafts of Irrefolution) ftand fhivering up on the Brink. Doubts and Fears are of all the fharpeft Paffions, and are ftill turning Distempers to Difcafes; through thefe falfe Opticks 'tis, all that you fee is like Evening Shadows, dfproportionable to the Truth, and ftrangely longer than the true Subftance: Thefe (when a handsome way of living and Expence, fuitable to your Fortune, is reprefented to you) makes you in their ftead fee Want and Beggary; thrufting upon your Judgment Impoffibilitics for Likely hoods, which they with eafe may do; fine, as Solomon faith, they betray the Succours that Reaton offers. 'Tis true, that all here below is but diverfify'd Folly, and that the little Things we laugh at Children for, we do but act our felves in great; yet is there difference of Lunacy, and of the two, I had much rather be mad with him, that (when he had nothing), thought all the Ships that came into the Haven his; than with you, who (when you have fo much coming in) think you have nothing: This Fear of lofing all in you, is the ill Iffue of a worse Parent, defire of getting in you: So that if you wou'd not be Paffion-rent, you must cease to be covetous: Mony in your Hand is like the Conjurers De vil, which, while you think you have, that has you. The rich Talent that God hath given, or rather lent you, you have hid up in a Napkin, and Man knows no difference betwixt that and Treasures kept by Spirits, but that yours is the harder to come by. To the guarding of thefe golden Apples, of neceffity must be kept thofe never-fleeping Dragons, Fear, Jealoufie, Diftrust, and the like, fo that you are come to moralize Esop, and his Fables of Beafts are become Prophefies of you; for while you catch'd at the Shadow, uncertain Riches, you have loft the Substance, true Content. The Defire I have ye fhou'd be yet your felf, and that your Friends fhou'd have occafion to blefs the Providence of Misfortune, has made me take the Boldness to give you your own Character; and to fhew you your felf out of your own Glafs: And though all this tells you but where you are, yet it is fome part of a Cure to have fearch'd the Wound. And for this time we must be content to do like Travellers, who firft find out the Place, and then the nearest Way, My My noble Lord, YOUR OUR humble Servant had the honour to receive from your Hand a Letter, and had the Grace upon the fight of it to blufh. I but then found my own Negligence, and but now cou'd have the Opportunity to ask Pardon for it. We have ever fince been upon a March, and the Places we are come to, have afforded rather Blood than Ink: And of all things, Sheets have been the hardest to come by, efpecially thofe of Paper. If these few Lines fhall have the Happiness to kiss your Hand, they can affure, that he that fent them knows none to whom he owes more Obligation than to your Lordship, and to whom he would more willingly pay it, and that it must be no less than neceffity it felf that can hinder him from often prefenting it. Germany hath no whit altered me, I am ftill the humble Servant of my Lord that I was, and when I cease to be fo, I muit ceafe to be -- John Suckling. SINCE you can breath no one Defire that was not mine before it was yours or full as foon, (for Hearts united never knew divided Wishes) I must chide you, dear Princess, not thank you, for your prefent; and (if at least I knew how) be angry with you for fending him a Blush, who needs must blush because you fent him one. If you are conscious of much, what am I then? who guilty am of all you can pretend to, and fomething more unworthiness. But why fhou'd you at all (Heart of my Heart) difturb the Happinefs you have fo newly given me? or make Love feed on Doubts, that never yet cou'd thrive on fuch a Diet? If I have granted your Request Oh!- Why will you ever fay that you have ftudy'd me, and give fo great an Inftance to the contrary? that wretched If- fpeaks as |