ed, and the queens beating hemp. Mrs. Sarabrand, fo famous for her ingenious puppet-fhow, has fet up a fhop in the Exchange, where the fells her little troop under the term of jointed babies. I could not but be folicitous to know of her, how fhe had difpofed of that rake-hell Punch, whofe lewd life and converfation had given fo much fcandal, and did not a little contribute to the ruin of the fair. She told me, with a figh, that defpairing of ever reclaiming him, he would not offer to place him in a civil family, but got him in a poft upon a stall in Wapping, where he may be feen from fun-rifing to fun-fetting, with a glafs in one hand, and a pipe in the other, as fentry to a brandy-fhòp. The great revolutions of this nature bring to my mind the diftreffes of the unfortunate Camilla, who has had the ill luck to break before her voice, and to difappear at a time when her beauty was in the height of its bloom. This lady entered fo thoroughly into the great characters the acted, that when fhe had finished her part, fhe could not think of retrenching her equipage, but would appear in her own lodgings with the fame magnificence that fhe did upon the stage. This greatness of foul has reduced that unhappy princefs to an involuntary retirement, where the now paffes her time among the woods and forefts, thinking on the crowns and fceptres he has loft, and often humming over in her folitude, I was born of royal race, Yet must wander in difgrace, &c. But for fear of being overheard, and her quality known, the ufually fings in Italian, Nacqui al regno, nacqui al trono, E par fono I venturata paftorella Since I have touched upon this fubject, I fhall communicate to my reader part of a letter I have received from an ingenious friend at Amfterdam, where there is a very very ge My friends have kept me here a week longer than ordinary, to fee one of their plays, which was performed last night, with great applaufe. The actors are all of them tradefinen; who, after their day's work is over, earn about a guilder a night by perfonating kings and nerals. The hero of the tragedy I faw was a journeyman taylor, and his first minifter of state a coffee-man. The empress made me think of Parthenope in the Rehearfal; for her mother keeps an alehoufe in the suburbs of Amfterdam. When the tragedy was over, they entertained us with a fhort farce, in which the Cobbler did his part to a miracle; but, upon inquiry, I found he had really been working at his own trade, and reprefented on the ftage what he every day acted in his fhop. The profits of the theatre maintain an hofpital; for as they do not think the profeffion of an actor here the only trade that a man ought to exercife; fo they will not allow any body to grow rich in a profeffion, that, in their opinion, fo little conduces to the good of the commonwealth. If I am not mistaken, your playhoufes in England have done the fame thing; for, unlefs 1 an mifinformed, the hofpital at Dulwich was erected and endowed by Mr. Allen, a player: and it is alfo faid, a famous fhe-tragedian has fettled her eftate, after her death, for the maintenance of decayed wits, who are to be taken in as soon as they grow dull, at whatever time of their life that shall hap pen.' St. James's Coffee house, May 25. LETTERS from the Hague of the thirty-first inftant, N. S. fay, that the articles preliminary to a general peace were settled, communicated to the tates general, and all the foreign minifters refiding there, and tranfmitted to their respective masters on the twenty-eighth. Monfieur Torcy immediately returned to the court of France, from whence whence he is expected again on the fourth of the next month, with thofe articles ratified by that court. The Hague is agreed upon for the place of treaty, and the fifteenth of the next month, the day on which it is to commence. The terms whereon this negotiation is founded, are not yet declared by public authority; but what is moft generally received is as follows: Her majefty's right and title, and the proteftant fucceffion to thefe dominions, is forthwith to be acknowledged. King Charles is to be owned the lawful fovereign of Spain. The French king fhall not only recall his troops out of that kingdom, and deliver up to the allies the towns of Rofes, Fontarabia, and Pampelona; but in cafe the duke of Anjou fhall not retire out of the Spanish dominions, he fhall be obliged to affift the allies to force him from thence. A ceffation of arms is agreed upon for two months from the firft day of the treaty. The port and fortifications of Dunkirk are to be demolished within four months; but the town itself left in the hands of the -French. The pretender is to be obliged to leave France. All Newfoundland is to be restored to the English. Asto the other parts of America, the French are to restore whatever they may have taken from the English, as the English, in like manner, are to give up what they may have taken from the French, before the commencement of the treaty. The trade. between Great Britain and France fhall be fettled upon the fame foundation as in the reign of king Charles the fecond. The Dutch are to have for their barriers, Newport, Berg, St. Vinox, Furnes, Ipres, Lifle, Tournay, Douay, Valenciennes, Conde, Maubeuge, Mons, Charleroy, Namur, and Luxumburg; all which places fhall be delivered up to the allies before the end of June. The trade between Holland and France fhall be on the fame foot as in 1664. The cities of Strafburg, Brifac, and Alfatia, fhall be restored to the emperor and empire: and the king of France, pursuant to the treaty of Weftphalia in 1648, fhall only retain the protection of ten imperial cities, Colman, Schleftát, Haguenau, Munfter, Turkeim, Keifember, Obrenheim, Rofheim, Weisemberg, and Lan dau: dau Huninguen, Fort Louis, Fort Khiel, and New Brifac, fhall be demolished, and all the fortifications from Bafil to Philipfburg. The king of Pruffia fhall remain in the peaceable poffeffion of Neufchatel. The affair of Orange, as alfo the pretenfions of his Pruffian majesty in Franche Comté, fhall be determined at this general negotiation of peace. The duke of Savoy fhall have a reftitution made of all that has been taken from him by the French, and remain mafter of Exilles, Chamont, Feneffrelles, and the valley of Pragelas. NO. 21. SATURDAY, MAY 28, 1709. White's Chocolate-house, May 26. A GENTLEMAN has writ to me out of the country a very civil letter, and faid things which I fupprefs with great violence to my vanity. There are many terms in. my narratives which he complains want explaining; and has therefore defired that, for the benefit of my country readers, I would let him know what I mean by a gentleman, à pretty fellow, a toast, a coquet, a critic, a wit, and all other appellations of those who are now in poffeffion of thefe feveral characters in the gayer world; together with an account of thofe who unfortunately pretend to them. I fhall begin with him we ufually call a gentleman, or man of converfation. man. It is generally thought, that warmth of imagination, quick relifh of pleasure, and a manner of becoming it, are the most effential qualities for forming this fort of But any one that is much in company will obferve, that the height of good breeding is fhewn rather in never giving offence, than in doing obliging things. Thus he that never fhocks you, though he is feldom entertaining, is more likely to keep your favour, than he who often entertains, and sometimes difpleases you. The moft neceffary talent therefore in a man of conversation, VOL. I. G which which is what we ordinarily intend by a fine gentleman, is a good judgment. He that has this in perfection, is mafter of his companion, without letting him fee it; and has the fame advantage over men of any other qualifications whatsoever, as one that can fee would have over a blind man of ten times his ftrength. This is what makes Sophronius the darling of all who converfe with him, and the most powerful with his acquaintance of any man in town. By the light of this faculty he acts with great ease and freedom among the men of pleasure, and acquits himself with fkill and difpatch among the men of bufinefs. All which he performs with fuch fuccefs, that, with as much difcretion in life as any man ever had, he neither is, nor appears, cunning. But if he does a good office, as he ever does it with readiness and alacrity; so he denies what he does not care to engage in, in a manner that convinces you that you ought not to have afked it. His judgment is fo good and unerring, and accompanied with fo cheerful a fpirit, that his converfation is a continual feaft, at which he helps fome, and is helped by others, in fuch a manner, that the equality of fociety is perfectly kept up, and every man obliges as much as he is obliged: for it is the greatest and jufteft fkill in a man of fuperior understanding, to know how to be on a level with his companions. This fweet difpofition runs through all the actions of Sophronius, and makes his company defired by women, without being envied by men. Sophronius would be just as he is, if there were no law; and would be as difcreet as he is, if there were no fuch thing as calumny. In imitation of this agreeable being, is made that animal we call a pretty fellow; who being juft able to find out, that what makes Sophronius acceptable is a natural behaviour, in order to the fame reputation, makes his own an artifical one. Jack Dimple is his perfect mimic, whereby he is, of courfe, the most unlike him of all men living. Sophronius juft now paffed into the inner room directly forward: Jack comes as faft after as he can or the right and left looking-glafs, in which he had but just approved himself by a nod at each, and marched on. He will |