THE MONTHLY MISCELLANY, FOR DECEMBER, 1774. To the EDITORS of the MONTHLY MISCELLANY. MARTA to HENRY, and HENRY to EDWARD, to which you gave fo elegant an' T. B. No Candidate. ABDALLAH, and the SULTAN: An EASTERN TALE. Nearly time, an Eaftern monarch ruled with fuch unbounded arrogance, that at length, the people groaning under his cruelty, look ed for redrefs from young Abdallah, whofe father the barbarian had murder'd, and ufurp'd his throne.--Abdallah had retir'd from court for fome time, living a life of piety and retirement; to his calm retreat the fons of liberty reforted; their party confifted of great. and powerful men, and their confultations ended in refolving on the death of the tyrant, and replacing Abdallah on the throne of his father. It was agreed between them, that when the Sultan took his ufual walk behind the feraglio, Abdallah and fome others were to be in readiness to rush on him, before the guards could come up to his af fiftance. The time arrives; the Sultan's already in the grove: Abdallah, with a drawn fabre, fprings towards him, but unfortunately his foot flipping, the youth falls to the ground; aftrange papic feized MISCELL. VOL. II. the reft; they meanly fled, and left him to the mercy of the enraged monarch, who that day had more attendants than ufual about his perfon; inftantly they difarm Abdallah, deliver him to the guard, who receive orders from their Sultan to prepare the most cruel torments.--A chearlefs dungeon receives the un-. happy youth, whofe breaft was filled with greater forrow from the unmanly flight of his party, than from his own misfortune. The generous hero lov'd his country more than himself.. The day after his imprisonment, the keeper was prevailed on, by a large bribe, to admit a friend, to take a laft farewell of the noble fufferer. This friend was his own coufin, a virtuous man, and every way formed to make a people happy: unperceived he flips a letter into Abdallah's hand, who conveys it as privately to his bofom: They take a laft embrace, and are torn afunder. Abdallah is now alone, and retiring to a remote corner of his dreary habitation, and opening the letter, read the following contents: Mm "Friend There gently live upon fome happy plain, My father and thy king's illuftrious shade Her conq'ring hosts shall mark their dreadful way Thro' purple fields, in that important day; Red with warm blood again their blades fhall rife Again they fall-again a thousand dies- Fate, fteady fate, that levels high and low, That pow'r ordains, that pow'r will deal the blow; Strict, awful juftice, will not rule in vain, Tho' deck'd in all the pomp of regal state, While bright Aftrea joins them both in one. Farewell, for now prophetic fire is]. o'er ; One friendly ftroke shall waft me to the fhore, Where thou shalt vex, and forrow pain, no more. PRIZE ESSA Y; gone furprizing revolutions; for better, Farewell the plumed troops, and the big war, and all quality Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war Farewell. Old England's hardiness is gone. SHAKESPEARE. lue for themselves, to be dubb'd knighterrants, and Quixots, for the fakes of their damfels, and charming Dulcineas. No fear of that from our pretty Gemmen. No favourers thefe, be affured, of any selfdenying doctrines, who would not for the world expofe their tender frame, or injure their complexions. The most celebrated beau of antiquity that I remember, was Paris. And he too (as old Homer defcribes him) often proved a truant to the dufty labours of the field, more fkilled in the fofter campaigns of love, and the delightful scenes of Lydian pleafures. Wars are (as poets fing) the dread of matrons, and nubile virgins. I think we might justly add our milk-fop beaus to the timid number. Their drefs now makes up for deficiencies, and will better pafs current than the happiest qualifications: From the engagements of drefs they hope for every thing. No heart, be it ever fo guarded, is fuppofed capable of holding out against the enchanting graces of their dear, dear perfons, reinforced with the additional me'Tis with grief and regret we bid adieu rit of being in the highest degree fashionto that martial fpirit, that noblenefs of able. Drefs is the darling object of the foul, which made our nation a race of powder'd coxcomb's emulation. Dress is heroes. Our generous youth could then his diftinguifhing excellence; in dress his difdain to wanton in the lap of pleasure, heav'n of happiness is center'd. All his or to waste the gloom of life in idle fool- concerns and cares are confequently dieries, and filken dalliance. Their manly rected to this important end. His knowbofoms were infpired with far other paf-ledge comprehends no more than what fions; fuch as rais'd their fouls to glory, relates to the gaieties and elegances of and to glorious actions. And think it life. He leaves the reft to plodding penot illaudable, if love was often an incen- dants, and the starch'd folemnity of potive with them; if it was their wish to ring book-worms, Learning he has heard deferve by deeds the kind refpects of the is a dangerous thing, and therefore is debeloved fair one; for the advantages of termined it fhall never affect his brain, or perfon were very little confidered. The check the lively flow of his fpirits. One men, I fuppofe, were not lefs handfome, would be almost curious to know how the tho' not fo fairly-complexion'd, as they are delicate creature beftows his time; fince the exercife of his mind and body is equally his deteftation. No doubt genteelly enough, though in the opinion of ill-breeding, perhaps infipidly. Ah! the pleafing labours of the morning! How imperceptibly do the hours fteal on, spent in deep confultations with Twift, Frizeur, and all the various minifters of fathion. Nor muft we forget, that the glass full often claims his moft obfequious attention. Here in dumb devotion does he take his ftand, and gazes like Narciffus on the reflected form with extatic rapture.--At length equipp'd, his whole figure improv'd and perfected, the affected thing fallies forth, his head more full of conquefts, than the giddy girl of fifteen. He vifits, chats a deal of fluent nonfenfe, M m 2 now. They were frong, they were robuft, they were fuch as MEN ought to be. And if the one sex excell'd fo much in their peculiar virtues, the other were as highly cfteemed for their good fenfe, and beauty. Thefe were the envy and praife, thofe the terror and admiration of Europe. But enough of former times, uncivilized and barbarous, in comparison of our own---the brightest æra of true politenefs. Forbear to talk of toils and hardfhips, wars and wounds,---terms intolerably fhocking to our nicer ears. What a much wider age are we fallen into!The young fellows now-a-days (to their honour be it spoken) do their business in fhorter, fafer, and.eafier methods. They have too much prudence, too great a va then then rolls away to every place of gay refort, to operas, balls, and masquerades. These are the fweet fatigues of the evening. All the time he profeffes himfelf an humble fervant of the ladies; yet were it to be wifhed his profeffions were fincere. Judge from appearances, and the ladies feem to be only the fecondary objects of his admiration. The monopolizing love of felf will admit no partner in its affections; it looks on every thing elfe with an eye of cold indifference. The influence of the fair may foon be weaken'd, fhould this apifh foppery prevail. Ali the elevated notions of mutual tenderness and regard would be abfcured and loft; and, to the exclufion of a noble paffion, an illiberal, unmanly selfishness would fucceed. It was once a matter of boaft and oftentation with mankind, that they were the Lords of the Creation, the Vicegerents of the Supreme Being. Upon what does our fex prefume to claim this fuperiority? Certainly not on outward form; for in that we are equalled, and even excelled, by many others of his creatures. On the mind we muft ground our pretenfions; yes, on the foul we build them, fo capable of the fublimeft thoughts, and the most enlarged ideas. 'Tis the reafonable foul that diftinguishes the man above the beafts that perih. What the mind defigns and wills, the body is only the inftrument to execute. To which then, ye effeminate flatterers, is the preference due, which demands your care and cultivation? The cafe of the mistaken Heathen, who paid his adoration to the Creature, not the Creator, may not be improperly applied to you. Had the Turkish law-giver been living in this our age of fops and foplings, we may be perfuaded that thefe, and with more justice, not the poor ladies only, would have fuffered from his doctrine of fouls. To the men, it feems, the prefent depravity is owing. The other fex do but act in character, when they express a fondness for elegance and ornament. A delicacy and refined taste in them is an excellence amiable and becoming. Their gentle fouls were formed in a fofter mould, with faculties of a more exquifite polish, with more quick, more fine, and more lively fenfations. Man is the nobleft, Woman the faireft, work of the Divinity. The one we behold with veneration and amazement, like fome ample structure, rude yet magnifi cent. The other, like a neat and wellfinished building, charins us with delight, whilft we admire the prettineffes, and the labour'd workmanship of the artift. I cannot forbear quoting here what the pathetic Otway has tenderly exclaim'd O woman, lovely woman, Nature made thee To temper man, we had been brutes without thee. Exterior ornaments, and all the little harmless luxuries of drefs, were once, and ought ftill to have continued, the peculiar province of the fair. But our fex have. made encroachments---have most shamefully invaded it. They have proceeded to ridiculous extremes; in fhort, they have refined upon refinement. Their degeneracy perhaps may have fomething to plead in its behalf; that we must not expect now-a-days that rugged virtue, and aufterity of morals, which was once a point of pre-eminence; that men and things are changed; that fuch principles at prefent would be detrimental to fociety; that as it was not for us to correct and adapt the times to our inclinations, we must adapt our tempers and inclinations to the times. com True it is the times are alter'd. New worlds have been open'd to us; merce hath made us acquainted with the remoteft regions of the globe, and brings us home the enjoyment of its richest productions; wealth flows in apace, and the confequence is, that an extravagant pasfion for expence and gaiety univerfally predominates. Did we but barely comply with the fashion of the age, the compliance would be warrantable; but to make it a fiudy, an only study; to be in a manner a flave to it, deferves the fevereft cenfure. Our finical gallants are the principal authors and promoters of this folly. To make themselves agreeable to the fair, they fancy the molt effectual method is to fall in with their paffions, and to adopt their attachments for drefs and finery. And is it thus they hope to win their affections? Would to God the Ladies (for their own fakes I with it) would expel their company, would eternally excommunicate, the whole herd of fuch infignificant danglers! To countenance the idle impertinents would be a tacit reflection on their own good fenfe and underftanding. Yet we cannot but pity their unhappy cafe, fo pefter'd as they are with thefe Popinjays; which muft needs happen, when the death of men of worth is lo great, and fo perpetually expofed to their |