however, is not always to be had; the present age, whatever age is present, is so vitiated and disordered, that young people are readier to talk than to attend, and good counsel is only thrown away upon those who are full of their own perfections.

I was, therefore, in this scarcity of good sense, a general favourite; and feldom faw a day in which some fober matron did not invite me to her house, or take me out in her chariot, for the fake of inftructing me how to keep my character in this cenforious age, how to conduct myself in the time of courtship, how to ftipulate for a fettlement, how to manage a husband of every character, regulate my family, and educate my children.

We are all naturally credulous in our own favour. Having been so often careffed and applauded for my docility, I was willing to believe myself really enlightened by inftruction, and completely qualified for the talk of life. I did not doubt but I was entering the world with a mind furnished against all exigencies, with expedients to extricate myself from every difficulty, and fagacity to provide against every danger; I was, therefore, in hafte to give fome fpecimen of my prudence, and to fhew that this liberality of inftruction had not been idly lavished upon a mind incapable of improvement:

My purpose, for why should I deny it ? was like that of other women, to obtain a husband of rank and fortune fuperior to my own; and in this I had the concur rence of all those that had affumed the province of directing me. That the woman was undone who married below herself, was univerfally agreed: and though fome ventured to affert, that the richer man ought in

variably

variably to be preferred, and that money was a fufficient compenfation for a defective ancestry; yet the majority declared warmly for a gentleman, and were of opinion that upftarts fhould not be encouraged.

With regard to other qualifications I had an irreconcileable variety of inftructions. I was fometimes told; that deformity was no defect in a man; and that he who was not encouraged to intrigue by an opinion of his perfon, was more likely to value the tenderness of his wife: but a grave widow directed me to choose a man who might imagine himself agreeable to me, for that the deformed were always infupportably vigilant, and apt to fink into sullenness, or burst into rage, if they found their wife's eye wandering for a moment, to a good face or a handsome shape.

They were, however, all unanimous in warning me, with repeated cautions, against all thoughts of union with a wit, as a being with whom no happiness could poffibly be enjoyed: men of every kind I was taught to govern, but a wit was an animal for whom no arts of taming had been yeɩ discovered: the woman whom he could once get within his power, was confidered as loft to all hope of dominion or of quiet: for he would detect artifice and defeat allurement; and if once he discovered any failure of conduct, would believe his own eyes, in defiance of tears, careffes, and protesta... tions.

In purfuanee of these fage principles, I proceeded to form my schemes; and while I was yet in the first bloom of youth, was taken out at an affembly by Mr.. Frisk. I am afraid my cheeks glowed, and my eyes fparkled; for I obferved the looks of all my fuperinvendants fixed anxiously upon me; and I was next day cautioned

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cautioned against him from all hands, as a man of the most dangerous and formidable kind, who had writ verses to one lady, and then forfaken her only because she could not read them, and had lampooned another for no other fault than defaming his fifter.

Having been hitherto accustomed to obey, I ventured to difmifs Mr. Frisk, who happily did not think me worth the labour of a lampoon. I was then addreffed by Mr. Sturdy, and congratulated by all my friends on the manors of which I was fhortly to be lady: but Sturdy's converfation was fo grofs, that after the third vifit, I could endure him no longer; and incurred, by difmiffing him, the cenfure of all my friends, who declared that my nicety was greater than my prudence, and that they feared it would be my fate at laft to be wretched with a wit.

By a wit, however, I was never afterwards attacked, but lovers of every other class, or pretended lovers, I have often had; and, notwithstanding the advice constantly given me, to have no regard in my choice to my own inclinations, I could not forbear to discard fome for vice, and fome for rudeness. I was once loudly cenfured for refufing an old gentleman who offered an enormous jointure, and died of the phthyfic a year after; and was fo baited with inceffant importunities, that I should have given my hand to Drone the ftock-jobber, had not the reduction of intereft made him afraid of the of matrimony. expences

Al

Some, indeed, I was permitted to encourage; but miscarried of the main end, by treating them according to the rules of art which had been prescribed me. tilis, an old maid, infufed into me fo much haughtiness and reserve, that fome of my lovers withdrew them

felves from my frown, and returned no more; others were driven away, by the demands of fettlement which the widow Trapland directed me to make; and I have learned, by many experiments, that to ask advice is to lofe opportunity.

I am, SIR,

Your humble fervant,

PERDITA.

No. LXXV. Tuefday July 24. 1753.

Quid virtus & quid fapientia pofit,

Utile propofuit nobis exemplar Ulyffem.

To fhew what pious wisdom's pow'r can do,
The poet fets Ulyffes in our view.

HOR.

FRANCIS.

I HAVE frequently wondered at the common practice of our inftructors of youth, in making their pupils far more intimately acquainted with the Iliad than with the Odyffey of Homer. This abfurd custom, which feems to arise from the fuppofed fuperiority of the former poem, has inclined me to make fome reflections on the excellence of the latter: a task I am the more readily induced to undertake, as fo little is performed in the differtation prefixed by Broome to Pope's tranfla

tion of this work, which one may venture to pronounce is confufed, defective, and dull. Thofe who receive all their opinions in criticism from cuftom and authority, and never dare to confult the decifions of reafon and the voice of nature and truth, muft not accuse me of being affectedly paradoxical, if I endeavour to maintain that the Odyffey excels the Iliad in many refpects; and that for feveral reasons young scholars fhould peruse it early and attentively.

The moral of this poem is more extenfively useful than that of the Iliad; which, indeed, by difplaying the dire effects of difcord among rulers, may rectify the conduct of princes, and may be called the Manual of Monarchs: whereas the patience, the prudence, the wifdom, the temperance and fortitude of Ulyffes, afford a pattern, the utility of which is not confined within the compafs of courts and palaces, but defcends and diffufes its influence over common life and daily practice. If the fairest examples ought to be placed before us in an age prone to imitation, if patriotism be preferable to implacability, if an eager defire to return to one's country and family be more manly and noble than an eager defire to be revenged of an enemy, then fhould our eyes rather be fixed on Ulyffes than Achillės. Unexperienced minds, too eafily captivated with the fire and fury of a gallant general, are apt to prefer courage to conftancy, and firmness to humanity. We do not behold the deftroyers of peace and the murderers of mankind, with the deteftation due to their crimes; because we have been inured almost from our infancy to listen to the praises that have been wantonly lavished on them by the most exquifite poetry: "The Mufes," to apply the words of an ancient Ly