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❝bler, and lets him know, she shall have cards at "her house every Sunday, the remainder of the

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season, where he will be sure of meeting all the "good company in town. By this means she "hopes to see his papers interspersed with living "characters. She longs to see the torch of truth "produced at an assembly, and to admire the "charming lustre it will throw on the jewels, "complexions, and behaviour of every dear crea"ture there."

It is a rule with me to receive every offer with the same civility as it is made; and, therefore, though lady Racket may have had some reason to guess that I seldom frequent card tables on Sundays, I shall not insist upon an exception, which

may to her appear of so little force. My business has been to view, as opportunity was offered, every place in which mankind was to be seen; but at card-tables, however brilliant, I have always thought my visit lost, for I could know nothing of the company but their clothes and their faces. I saw their looks clouded at the beginning of every game with an uniform solicitude, now and then in its progress varied with a short triumph, at one time wrinkled with cunning, at another deadened with despondency, or by accident flushed with rage at the unskilful or unlucky play of a partner. From such assemblies, in whatever humour I happened to enter them, I was quickly forced to retire; they were too trifling for me when I was grave, and too dull when I was cheerful.

Yet I cannot but value myself upon this token of regard from a lady who is not afraid to stand

before the torch of truth. Let her not, however, consult her curiosity more than her prudence; but reflect a moment on the fate of Semele, who might have lived the favourite of Jupiter, if she could have been content without his thunder. It is dan

gerous for mortal beauty, or terrestial virtue, to be examined by too strong a light. The torch of truth shews much that we cannot, and all that we would not see. In a face dimpled with smiles, it has often discovered malevolence and envy, and detected under jewels and brocade, the frightful forms of poverty and distress. A fine hand of

cards have changed before it into a thousand spectres of sickness, misery, and vexation; and immense sums of money, while the winner counted them with transport, have at the first glimpse of this unwelcome lustre vanished from before him. If her ladyship therefore designs to continue her assembly, I would advise her to shun such dangerous experiments, to satisfy herself with common appearances, and to light up her apartments rather with myrtle than the torch of truth.

"A modest young man sends his service to the "author of the Rambler, and will be very willing "to assist him in his work, but is sadly afraid of "being discouraged by having his first essay re"jected, a disgrace he has wofully experienced in 66 every offer he had made of it to every new wri"ter of every new paper; but he comforts himself by thinking, without vanity, that this has been "from a peculiar favour of the muses, who saved "his performances from being buried in trash, and "reserved it to appear with lustre in the Rambler."

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I am equally a friend to modesty and enterprize; and therefore shall think it an honour to correspond with a young man who possesses both in so eminent a degree. Youth is, indeed, the time in which these qualities ought chiefly to be found; modesty suits well with inexperience, and enterprise with health and vigour, and an extensive prospect of life. One of my predecessors has justly observed, that, though modesty has an amiable and winning appearance, it ought not to hinder the exertion of the active powers, but that a man should shew, under his blushes, a latent resolution. This point of perfection, nice as it is, my correspondent seems to have attained. That he is modest, his own declaration may evince; and, I think, the latent resolution may be discovered in his letter by an acute observer. I will advise him, since he so well deserves my precepts, not to be discouraged, though the Rambler should prove equally envious, or tasteless, with the rest of this fraternity. If his paper is refused, the presses of England are open, let him try the judgment of the public. If, as it has sometimes happened in general combinations against merit, he cannot persuade the world to buy his works, he may present them to his friends; and if his friends are seized with the epidemical infatuation, and cannot find his genius, or will not confess it, let him then refer his cause to posterity, and reserve his labours for a wiser age.

Thus have I dispatched some of my correspondents in the usual manner, with fair words and general civility. But to Flirtilla, the gay Flirtilla, VOL. I. F

what shall I reply? Unable as I am to fly, at her command, over land and seas, or to supply her, from week to week, with the fashions of Paris, or the intrigues of Madrid, I am yet not willing to incur her further displeasure, and would save my papers from her monkey on any reasonable terms. By what propitiation, therefore, may I atone for my former gravity, and open, without trembling, the future letters of this sprightly persecutor? To write in defence of masquerades is no easy task ; yet something difficult and daring may well be required as the price of so important an approbation. I therefore consulted, in this great emergency, a man of high reputation in gay life, who having added to his other accomplishments, no mean proficiency in the minute philosophy, after the fifth perusal of her letter, broke out with rapture into these words:" And can you, Mr. Rambler, stand "out against this charming creature? Let her "know, at least, that from this moment Nigrinus "devotes his life and his labours to her service. "Is there any stubborn prejudice of education, "that stands between thee and the most amiable "of mankind? Behold, Flirtilla, at thy feet, a "man grown grey in the study of those noble arts "by which right and wrong may be confounded; "by which reason may be blinded, when we have 66 mind to escape a from her inspection; and ca"price and appetite instated in uncontrouled "command and boundless dominion! Such a ca"suist may surely engage, with certainty of suc❝cess, in vindication of an entertainment, which in "an instant gives confidence to the timorous, and kindles ardour in the cold; an entertainment

"where the vigilance of jealousy has so often been "eluded, and the virgin is set free from the ne❝cessity of languishing in silence; where all the "outworks of chastity are at once demolished; " where the heart is laid open without a blush; “where bashfulness may survive virtue, and no "wish is crushed under the frown of modesty. «Far weaker influence than Flirtilla's might gain 66 over an advocate for such amusements. It was "declared by Pompey, that, if the commonwealth "was violated, he could stamp with his foot, and ❝raise an armay out of the ground; if the rights of "pleasure are again invaded, let but Flirtilla crack "her fan, neither pens nor swords shall be want❝ing at the summons; the wit and the colonel "shall march out at her command, and neither "law nor reason shall stand before us.'

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N° 11. TUESDAY, APRIL 24. 1750.

Non Dindymene, non adytis quatit
Mentem sacerdotum incola Pythius,
Non Liber æque, non acuta

Sic geminant Corybantes æra,
Tristes ut iræ.-

HOR

Yet Oh! remember, nor the god of wine,
Nor Pythian Phoebus from his inmost shrine,
Nor Dindymene, nor her priests possest,

Can with their sounding cymbals shake the breast,

Like furious anger.

FRANCIS.

THE maxim which Periander of Corinth, one of the seven sages of Greece, left as a me

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