N° 98 Friday, June 22. Tanta eft quærendi cura decoris. Juv. Sat. 6. v. 500. So ftudiously their persons they adorn. T HERE is not fo variable a thing in nature as a lady's head-drefs within my own memory I have known it rife and fall above thirty degrees. About ten years ago it fhot up to a very great height, infomuch that the female part of our fpecies were much taller than the men. The women were of fuch an enormous ftature, that we appeared as grafhoppers be⚫fore them :' at prefent the whole fex is in a manner dwarfed and fhrunk into a race of beauties that feem almoft another fpecies. I remember feveral ladies who were once very near feven feet high, that at prefent want fome inches of five: How they came to be thus curtailed I cannot learn; whether the whole fex be at prefent under any penance which we know nothing of, or whether they have caft their head-dreffes in order to furprife us with fomething in that kind which fhall be entirely new; or whether fome of the tallest of the fex, being too cunning for the reft, have contrived this method to make themselves appear fizeable, is ftill a fecret; though I find moft are of opinion, they are at present like trees new lopped and pruned, that will certainly fprout up and flourish with greater heads than before. For my own part, as I do not love to be infulted by women who are taller than myfelf, I admire the fex much more in their prefent humiliation, which has reduced them to their natural dimensions, than when they had extended their perfons and lengthened themfelves out into formidable and gigantic figures. I am not for adding to the beautiful edifices of nature, nor for raifing any whimfical fuperftructure upon her plans: I must therefore repeat it, that I am highly pleafed with the the coiffure now in fashion, and think it fhews the good fenfe which at prefent very much reigns among the valuable part of the fex. One may observe that women in all ages have taken more pains than men to adorn the outfide of their heads; and indeed I very much admire, that thofe female architects, who raise such wonderful ftructures out of ribbands, lace, and wire, have not been recorded for their refpective inventions. It is certain there have been as many orders in these kinds of building, as in those which have been made of marble; fometimes they rife in the fhape of a pyramid, fometimes like a tower, and fometimes like a fteeple. In Juvenal's time the building grew by feveral orders and stories, as he has very humorously defcribed it. Tot premit ordinibus, tot adhuc compagibus altum Juv. Sat. 6. v. 501. "With curls on curls they build her head before, "And mount it with a formidable tow'r : "A giantess fhe feems; but look behind, "And then the dwindles to the pigmy kind." Dryden. But I do not remember in any part of my reading, that the head-dress afpired to fo great an extravagance as in the fourteenth century; when it was built up in a couple of cones or fpires, which stood fo exceffively high on each fide of the head, that a woman, who was but a Pigmy without her head-drefs, appeared like a Coloffus upon putting it on. Monfieur Paradin fays, "that thefe old-fashioned fontanges rofe an ell above the head; that they were pointed like fteeples, and had "long loofe pieces of crape faftened to the tops of them, "which were curioufly fringed, and hung down their "backs like ftreamers." The women might poffibly have carried this gothic building much higher, had not a famous monk, Thomas Conecte by name, attacked it with great zeal and refolution. This holy man travelled from place to place to preach down this monftrous commode; and fucceeded fo well in it, that as the magicians facrificed their books VOL. II. D to to the flames upon the preaching of an apoftle, many of the women threw down their head-dresses in the middle of his fermon, and made a bonfire of them within fight of the pulpit. He was fo renowned as well for the fanctity of his life as his manner of preaching, that he had often a congregation of twenty thousand people; the men placing themselves on the one fide of his pulpit, and the women on the other, that appeared, to ufe the fimilitude of an ingenicus writer, like a foreft of cedars with their heads reaching to the clouds. He fo warmed and animated the people against this monstrous ornament, that it lay under a kind of perfecution; and whenever it appeared in public was pelted down by the rabble, who flung ftones at the perfons that wore it. But notwithftanding this prodigy vanished, while the preacher was among them, it began to appear again fome months after his departure, or to tell it in Monfieur Paradin's own words, "The women that, like fnails in a fright, had "drawn in their horns, fhot them out again as foon as "the danger was over." This extravagance of the womens head-dreffes in that age is taken notice of by Monfieur d'Argentré in the history of Bretagne, and by other hiftorians as well as the perfon I have here quoted. It is ufually obferved, that a good reign is the only proper time for the making of laws against the exorbitance of power; in the fame manner an exceffive head-drefs may be attacked the moft effectually when the fashion is against it. I do therefore recommend this paper to my female readers by way of prevention. I would defire the fair fex to confider how impoffible it is for them to add any thing that can be ornamental to what is already the mafter-piece of nature. The head has the most beautiful appearance, as well as the higheft ftation, in a human figure. Nature has laid out all her art in beautifying the face; fhe has touched it with vermilion, planted in it a double row of ivory, made it the feat of fmiles and blushes, lighted it up and enlivened it with the brightnefs of the eyes, hung it on each fide with curious organs of fenfe, given it airs and graces that cannot be defcribed, and furrounded it with fuch a flowing fhade of hair as fets all its beauties in the moft 9 moft agreeable light: in fhort, the feems to have defigned the head as the cupola to the most glorious of her works ; and when we load it with fuch a pile of fupernumerary ornaments, we deftroy the fymmetry of the human figure, and foolishly contrive to call off the eye from great and real beauties, to childish gewgaws, rib bands and bone-lace. L N° 99 Saturday, June 23. -Turpi fecernis honeftum. Hor. Sat. 6. 1. 1. v. 63. You know to fix the bounds of right and wrong. T hints HE club, of which I have often declared myself a member, were last night engaged in a difcourfe upon that which paffes for the chief point of honour among men and women; and ftarted a great many upon the fubject, which I thought were entirely new. I fhall therefore methodize the feveral reflections that arofe upon this occafion, and prefent my reader with them for the fpeculation of this day; after having premifed, that if there is any thing in this paper which feems to differ with any paffage of laft Thurfday's, the reader will confider this as the fentiments of the club, and the other as my own private thoughts, or rather thofe of Pharamond. The great point of honour in men is courage, and in women chastity. If a man lofes his honour in one rencounter, it is not impoffible for him to regain it in another; a flip in a woman's honour is irrecoverable. I can give no reafon for fixing the point of honour to thefe two qualities, unless it be that each fex fets the greatest value on the qualification which renders them the most amiable in the eyes of the contrary fex. Had men chofen for themselves, without regard to the opinions of the fair fex, I fhould believe the choice would have fallen on wisdom or virtue; cr had women determined their own point of honour, it is probable that wit or good nature would have carried it against chastity. Nothing recommends a man more to the female fex than courage; whether it be that they are pleased to fee one who is a terror to others fall like a flave at their feet, or that this quality fupplies their own principal defect, in guarding them from infults, and avenging their quarrels, or that courage is a natural indication of a strong and fprightly conftitution. On the other fide, nothing makes a woman more esteemed by the opposite sex than chastity; whether it be that we always prize those moft who are hardest to come at, or that nothing befides chastity with its collateral attendants, truth, fidelity and conftancy, gives the man a property in the perfon he loves, and confequently endears her to him above all things. I am very much pleafed with a paffage in the infcription on a monument erected in Westminster-Abbey to the late duke and duchefs of Newcastle:" Her name was Margaret Lucas, youngeft filter to the lord Lucas of "Colchester; a noble family, for all the brothers were valiant, and all the fifters virtuous." In books of chivalry, where the point of honour is ftrained to madness, the whole story runs on chastity and courage. The damfel is mounted on a white palfrey, as an emblem of her innocence; and, to avoid scandal, muft have a dwarf for her page. She is not to think of a man, until fome misfortune has brought a Knighterrant to her relief. The Knight falls in love, and, did not gratitude reftrain her from murdering her deliverer, would die at her feet by her difdain. However, he must wait fome years in the defert, before her virgin heart can think of a furrender. The Knight goes off, attacks every thing he meets that is bigger and ftronger than himfelf, feeks all opportunities of being knocked on the head, and after seven years rambling returns to his miftrefs, whofe chastity has been attacked in the mean time by giants and tyrants, and undergone as many trials as her lover's valour. In |