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? Woman is 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.

• All then that can be said in your friend Pope's defence, is, that he did not live long enough to see this predominant female passion display itself in that full strength and vigour which it does at present. Yet one might think too, from what one has heard of the ring and other fashionable amusements in his time (for I do not remember them myself), that he had, even then, sufficient opportunity given him to discover this truth; but as he has totally omitted it in all his essays, I shall (without making apologies for my inferior abilities, for I hate apologies) endeavour to demonstrate, that this very passion is superior to all our other passions put together.

First, as to our love of play. Let us in the first place, to proceed methodically, consider what play is. Play is a science, or rather a science and an art put together; the former of which has been rendered systematical, by the philosophic pen of Mr. Hoyle; the other, though perhaps as well understood as the former, has yet been honoured with no distinct treatise; though I am told indeed, that a gentleman, now in the Old Bailey, has, at his leisure hours, completed an essay, which, when published, will render the whole of this matter clear to the meanest capacity. But this, en passant. Now, Mr. Fitz-Adam, whether we consider gaming as a science that employs the head, or as an art which exercises the hand of its fair professors; whether we suppose it a matter of judgment or ingenuity; we must agree, that a private room, and a small party, would be infinitely more eligible for the purpose (that is, if a woman loved play for its own sake) than a full assembly; for if she plays with judgment, I would presume that a noise and tumult about her would certainly disturb her; and if she plays with skill, I should imagine a number of

lookers-on might possibly disconcert her: yet this is not the case; to game in a crowd is the thing; and rather than not game so, she is willing either to be beat or to be smoked, either to lose her money or her reputation.

'Having proved, I think to my satisfaction, and I hope, Sir, to yours, that even the love of play is a secondary passion to the love of crowding, I will just touch upon our love of dress. That this is made subservient to it also, is evident to any person that will please to contemplate that most important part of our dress, the hoop; a piece of apparel, or, to speak more properly, a piece of machinery, which owes its very being and existence to this passion: for since that invention, a lady is enabled to make a crowd even by herself; and thirty women can now cram a room as completely as a hundred would do, if deprived of so necessary an auxiliary. On this principle too we may account for that seeming paradox, why the hoop, contrary to the fleeting and short-lived nature of all other parts of dress, holds its place in the realms of fashion so much longer than any other mode was ever known to do; and while our caps have, from the size of a china plate, dwindled away to the breadth of a half-crown, and then entirely vanished, our hoops, on the contrary, continue to enlarge their circumference gradually, and keep pace with our ruling passion. So that I shall venture to assert, that this part of our dress will be immortal; for so long as women are women, so long must they wear large hoops.

Again, as to our love of music; ask any woman of fashion, if the opera sounds as well on a Tuesday as a Saturday, and she will stare at your question, and answer coolly, "No; she does not think it does." And why, pray? For this short reason, that Satur

The thing is now so very plain, that I might spare myself all farther trouble; yet to proceed, let me ask why we prefer gallantry to love, and general acquaintance to particular friendship? Because the one goes on full as well in a crowd (excepting indeed some necessary short intervals with regard to gallantry) as in any other place. But should a woman condescend to cultivate love or friendship, she would be frequently seduced into solitude, or, what is as bad, be obliged sometimes to undergo the insupportable ennui of a grave tête-à-tête.

'Lastly, I would fain ask, why does that small part of our sex, that think at all about the matter, prefer enthusiasm to religion, and Mr. Whitfield to their parish-priest? For no other reason in the world but because Mr. Whitfield of all men living has the greatest knack of gathering a crowd about him.

'Now that I am talking of religion, I have heard of an author who wrote a treatise to prove, that the place of future punishment was the centre of the earth; which since it could not fairly hold half the inhabitants that would be assigned to it, he supposed the principal torment would consist in squeezing. I believe indeed the doctrine was soon exploded; and it was fit it should: for surely, Sir, it would have a manifest bad tendency in point of female morals; for who can think that we should have any dread of squeezing in the next life, when we love so dearly to be squeezed to death in this?

Yet though I have hitherto endeavoured to prove that this love of crowding is the ruling passion of the female world, I would not have it inferred, that it does not sometimes also predominate in man. I know myself various instances to the contrary; many young fellows of my acquaintance are at present warm borough-hunters: now as most of them are infinitely too ignorant to suffer one to imagine they do it with