a

• Proverbs. For my part, confidering it only as Human Compofition, I do not think that there is any • Character in Theophraftus, which has fo many beauti⚫ful Particulars in it, and which is drawn with fuch • Elegance of Thought and Phrafe. I wonder that it is not written in Letters of Gold in the great Hall of every Country Gentleman.

• WHO can find a Virtuous Woman? For her Price is far above Rubies.

THE Heart of her Husband does fafely truft in her, fo that he fhall have no need of Spoil.

'SHE will do him Good, and not Evil, all the Days of her Life.

SHE feeketh Wool and Flax, and worketh willing ly with her Hands.

SHE is like the Merchants Ships, fhe bringeth her Food from afar.

SHE rifeth alfo while it is yet Night, and giveth 'Meat to her Houthold, and a Portion to her Maidens. SHE confidereth a Field, and buyeth it; with the Fruit of her Hands the planteth a Vineyard.

SHE girdeth her Loins with Strength, and ftrengthneth her Arms.

SHE perceiveth that her Merchandise is good; her • Candle goeth not out by Night.

SHE layeth her Hands to the Spindle, and her Hands hold the Distaff.

SHE ftretcheth out her Hand to the Poor; yea she reacheth forth her Hands to the Needy.

SHE is not afraid of the Snow for her Houfhold, for 'all her Houfhold are clothed with Scarlet.

SHE maketh herfelf Coverings of Tapestry, her clothing is Silk and Purple.

HER Husband is known in the Gates, when he fitteth among the Elders of the Land.

SHE maketh fine Linen, and felleth it, and deli vereth Girdles unto the Merchant.

STRENGTH. and Honour are her clothing, and fhe fhall rejoice in Time to come.

SHE openeth her Mouth with Wifdem, and in her Tongue is the Law of Kindness.

SHE

"SHE looketh well to the Ways of her Houshold, and ⚫eateth not the Bread of Idleness.

HER Children arife up, and call her Bleffed; her Husband also, and he praiseth her.

MANY Daughters have done virtuously, but thou excelleft them all.

FAVOUR is deceitful, and Beauty is vain, but a • Woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. • GIVE her of the Fruit of her Hands, and let her · own Works praise her in the Gates.

SIR,

Your humble Servant.

Ventured to your Lion with the following Lines, upon an Affurance, that, if you thought them not proper Food for your Beaft, you would at leaft permit him to tear them.

From Anacreon.

Αγε ζωγράφων άρισε, &c.

BEST and happiest Artisan,

With

Beft of Painters, if you can your many-coloured Art Paint the Mistress of my

Heart:

Defcribe the Charms, you hear from me,
(Her Charms you cou'd not paint and fee)
And make the abfent Nymph appear,
As if her lovely felf was here.
Firft draw her eafy-flowing Hair
As foft and black as he is fair;
And, if your Art can rife fo high,
Let breathing Odours round her fly.
Beneath the Shade of flowing Jes
The Ivry Forehead smoothly fet.
With Care the fable Brows extend,
And in two Arches nicely bend,
That the fair Space which lies between
The meeting Shade may fcarce be feen.
The Eye must be uncommon Fire,
Sparkle, languish and defire,

The

The Flames unfeen must yet be felt,
Like Pallas kill, like Venus melt.
The Rofy Cheeks must seem to glow
Amidst the white of new fall'n Snow.
Let her Lips Perfuafion wear,
In Silence elegantly fair;

As if the blufhing Rivals ftrove,
Breathing and inviting Love.
Below her Chin be fure to deck
With ev'ry Grace her polif'd Neck.
While all that's pretty, foft and fweet,
In the fwelling Bofom meet.
The rest in purple Garments veil,
Her Body, not her Shape conceal;
Enough the lovely Work is done,
The breathing Paint will speak anon
I am, SIR,

-

Mr. IRONSIDE,

Your Humble Servant.

HE Letter which I fent you fome time ago, and

Twas fubfcribed English Tory, has made, as you

• must have observed, a very great Buftle in Town. • There are come out againft me two Pamphlets and two •Examiners; but there are Printed on my Side a Letter to the GUARDIAN about Dunkirk, and a Pamphlet • called Dunkirk or Dover. I am no proper Judge who has the better of the Argument, the Examiner or my • felf: But I am fure my Seconds are better than his. I have addreffed a Defence against the ill Treatment [ have received for my Letter, (which ought to have • made every Man in England my Friend) to the Bailiff of Stockbridge, because, as the World goes, I am ⚫ to think my self very much obliged to that honeft Man, and esteem him my Patron, who allowed that Fifty was a greater Number than One and twenty, and re⚫ turned me accordingly to ferve for that Borough.

6

THERE are very many fcurrilous Things faid against me, but I have turned them to my Advantage, by quoting them at large, and by that means fwelling ⚫ the Volume to 1 s. Price. If I may be fo free with my felf, I might put you in mind upon this Occafion

"of

⚫ of one of thofe Animals which are famous for their Love of Mankind, that when a Bone is thrown at them, fall to eating it, inftead of flying at the Perfon who threw it. Please to read the Account of the • Channel, by the Map at Will's, and you will find what I reprefent concerning the Importance of Dunkirk, as to its Situation, very just.

I

N fair Weather, when my Heart is cheered and I feel that Exaltation of Spirits which refults from Light and Warmth, joined with a beautiful Profpect of Nature, I regard my felf as one placed by the Hand of God in the midst of an ample Theatre, in which the Sun, Moon and Stars, the Fruits alfo, and Vegetables of the Earth, perpetually changing their Pofitions, or their Afpects, exhibit an Elegant Entertainment to the Understanding, as well as to the Eye.

THUNDER and Lightning, Rain and Hail, the painted Bow, and the glaring Comets, are Decorations of this mighty Theatre. And the fable Hemifphere ftudded with Spangles, the blue Vault at Noon, the glorious Gildings and rich Colours in the Horizon, I look on as fo many fucceffive Scenes.

WHEN I confider things in this Light, methinks it is a fort of Impiety to have no Attention to the Course of Nature, and the Rovolutions of the Heavenly Bodies. To be regardless of those Phenomena that are placed

N° 169. within our View, on purpose to entertain our Faculties, and difplay the Wisdom and Power of their Creator, is an Affront to Providence of the fame kind, (I hope it is not impious to make fuch a Simile) as it would be to a good Poet, to fit out his Play without minding the Plot or Beauties of it.

AND yet how few are there who attend to the Drama of Nature, its artificial Structure, and thofe admirable Machines, whereby the Paffions of a Philofopher are gratefully agitated, and his Soul affected with the sweet Emotions of Joy and Surprize?

HOW many Fox-hunters and rural Squires are to be found in Great-Britain, who are ignorant that they have all this while lived on a Planet; that the Sun is feveral thousand Times bigger than the Earth; and that there are other Worlds within our View, greater and more glorious than our own. Ay, but, fays fome illiterate Fellow, I enjoy the World, and leave others to contemplate it. Yes, you eat and drink, and run about up. on it, that is, you enjoy it as a Brute; but to enjoy it as a rational Being is to know it, to be fenfible of its Greatnefs and Beauty, to be delighted with its Har mony, and by thefe Reflexions to obtain juft Sentiments of the Almighty Mind that framed it.

THE Man who, unembarrased with vulgar Cares, leifurely attends to the Flux of things in Heaven, and things on Earth, and obferves the Laws by which they are governed, hath fecured to himself an easy and convenient Seat, where he beholds with Pleasure all that paffes on the Stage of Nature, while thofe about him are, fome fast afleep, and others ftruggling for the highest Places, or turning their Eyes from the Entertainment prepared by Providence, to play at Pufh-pin with one another.

WITHIN this ample Circumference of the World, the glorious Lights that are hung on high, the Meteors in the middle Region, the various Livery of the Earth, and the Profufion of good things that distinguish the Seasons, yield a Profpect which annihilates all Human Grandeur. But when we have feen frequent Returns of the fame Things, when we have often viewed the Heaven and the Earth in all their various Array, our Attention flags and dur Admiration ceafes. All the Art and Magnificence