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68

WORLD.

lous part of the Thames, and with his single hatchet N® 66. among the willows, lay open as many masked edifices of the true modern size and figure, as, properly disposed and fancifully variegated with fresh paint, might make Hounslow-heath a rival to many an admired garden of this age.

A philosopher would not suppose that the master of the place assumed any merit to himself from such trifles: he would hardly imagine that even the most elegant of palaces could add any degree of worth to the possessor, whose character must be raised and sustained by his own dignity, wisdom, and hospitality; remembering the maxim of Tully, Non domo dominus, sed domino domus honestanda est. But to judge with the common observer, and to reason with the general race of Improvers, if it be absolutely necessary for every man to shew his taste in these matters, let him endeavour to compass solidity, duration, and convenience, in the mansion he inhabits; and not attempt to display his magnificence in a number of edifices, which, whatever they may seem to imitate, are unnecessaryhouses.

N° 66. THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1754.

SIR,

4 To Mr. FITZ-ADAM.

a

To confess an unfashionable kind of truth, I am woman who now and then think a little; and when Liu, I sometimes turn my reflections on my own sex. Man, you know, is said to be " armed ir society;" and I do not deny it to be in a creature

mi Tur; eat then pray what is Woman? To

say that she too is " a creature formed for society,"
is saying nothing at all; she is a great deal more
than all that. Shall I tell you what she is? Wo-
man is
a creature formed for crowding, and for

66

being crowded."

Mr. Pope, who you know thought it worth his while to write a whole epistle about us, declares, after he thinks he has analyzed us to the bottom, that the love of pleasure and the love of sway, are the general ruling passions of the whole sex. In direct contradiction to which I assert, that the love of crowding and of being crowded, is a passion infinitely more general and predominant. It will be alleged, probably, that this passion is included in one of the former; but I answer, no; it is absolutely distinct from either of them: for as to the love of pleasure, ask a woman of fashion in the midst of a crowded assembly (and thanks to the taste of the age we live in, you may make the experiment in this dear town any evening you please), ask her, I say, if she takes any pleasure in being crowded?" No," she will tell you, "she hates and detests it; it breaks her hoop, tears her ruffles, puts her in a horrid fluster, makes her a fright in short, and she wonders what could persuade her to come there." A plain proof this, that it does not result from her love of pleasure: and that it is not a consequence of our love of sway, is still more obvious; for the very idea of a crowd excludes all notion of superiority and distinction. But if you want an experimental proof of this too, go to the same assembly, and observe the lady of the house herself: she is distinguished indeed, but in a manner quite opposite to what you would expect; for it is only by bustling through the crowd she has herself raised, with all the hurry and vulgar obsequiousness of a coffee-girl.

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lous part of the Thames, and with his single hatchet among the willows, lay open as many masked edifices of the true modern size and figure, as, properly disposed and fancifully variegated with fresh paint, might make Hounslow-heath a rival to many an admired garden of this age.

A philosopher would not suppose that the master of the place assumed any merit to himself from such trifles: he would hardly imagine that even the most elegant of palaces could add any degree of worth to the possessor, whose character must be raised and sustained by his own dignity, wisdom, and hospitality; remembering the maxim of Tully, "Non domo dominus, sed domino domus honestanda est.' But to judge with the common observer, and to reason with the general race of Improvers, if it be absolutely necessary for every man to shew his taste in these matters, let him endeavour to compass solidity, duration, and convenience, in the mansion he inhabits; and not attempt to display his magnificence in a number of edifices, which, whatever they may seem to imitate, are unnecessaryhouses.

N° 66. THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1754.

• To Mr. FITZ-ADAM.

'SIR, 'To confess an unfashionable kind of truth, I am a woman who now and then think a little; and when I do, I sometimes turn my reflections on my own sex. Man, you know, is said to be " a creature formed for society;" and I do not deny it to be in general true; but then pray what is Woman? To

say

that she too is " a creature formed for society," is saying nothing at all; she is a great deal more than all that. Shall I tell you what she is?

[merged small][ocr errors]

Wo

a creature formed for crowding, and for

being crowded."

'Mr. Pope, who you know thought it worth his while to write a whole epistle about us, declares, after he thinks he has analyzed us to the bottom, that the love of pleasure and the love of sway, are the general ruling passions of the whole sex. In direct contradiction to which I assert, that the love of crowding and of being crowded, is a passion infinitely more general and predominant. It will be alleged, probably, that this passion is included in one of the former; but I answer, no; it is absolutely distinct from either of them: for as to the love of pleasure, ask a woman of fashion in the midst of a crowded assembly (and thanks to the taste of the age we live in, you may make the experiment in this dear town any evening you please), ask her, I say, if she takes any pleasure in being crowded?" No," she will tell you, "she hates and detests it; it breaks her hoop, tears her ruffles, puts her in a horrid fluster, makes her a fright in short, and she wonders what could persuade her to come there." A plain proof this, that it does not result from her love of pleasure: and that it is not a consequence of our love of sway, is still more obvious; for the very idea of a crowd excludes all notion of superiority and distinction. But if you want an experimental proof of this too, go to the same assembly, and observe the lady of the house herself: she is distinguished indeed, but in a manner quite opposite to what you would expect; for it is only by bustling through the crowd she has herself raised, with all the hurry and vulgar obsequiousness of a coffee-girl.

night, like a company of merchants at Jamaica, who had a rich fleet in the harbour at the time of a hurricane.

The moveable houses of the Scythians, described We must in my motto, are worthy our admiration. acknowledge them to be the perfection of all works, since they will stand the criticism of Momus himself; having that requisite, for the want of which he condemned all other houses: they are upon wheels, and can move from bad neighbours, or be conveyed to shelter from the fury of the winds, or the scorching of the sun. What a satisfaction must it be to a man of fortune to be told that such houses are a manufacture of this age and country, and that he may be supplied with a very complete one, at the common and moderate price of three hundred pounds! It is to be presumed that no gentleman whom this intelligence may reach, will hereafter litter his park with huts, tubs, cribs, sentry-boxes, &c.

The taste of the present age is universally for annuals. Their politics, books, plantations, and now their buildings, must be all annuals; and it is to be apprehended, that in a few years, large trees and substantial structures will be no where to be found, except in our deserts: unless we could be as sanguine in our expectations as a certain schemist, of whom I shall relate some particulars.

This gentleman, whose Chinese temple had been blown down a few weeks after it was erected, was comforting himself that he had found in Hanway's travels, a model never yet executed in this part of the world, which from the advantage of its form must stand against the most violent gusts of wind on the highest mountains. This was, it seems, a pyramid of heads, after a genuine plan of that great improver, Kouli Khan. He immediately contracted with the sexton of his parish for a sufficient supply

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