amusements and diversions; and when they should observe the daily inquiries after eloped wives and apprentices, and the frequent accounts of trials in Westminster-hall for perjury, adultery, &c., they might form a tolerable notion even of our private life. Among many other reasons for lamenting that the art of printing was not more early discovered, I cannot but regret that we have perhaps lost many accounts of this nature, which might otherwise have been handed down to us. With what pleasure should we have perused an Athenian Advertiser, or a Roman Gazetteer! A curious critic or antiquary would place them on the same shelf with the classics, and would be highly pleased at discovering what days Tully went to his Tusculum, or Pliny to his magnificent villa; who was the capital singer at the Grecian opera, and in what characters Roscius appeared with most success. These pieces of intelligence would undoubtedly give great satisfaction; and I am myself acquainted with a very learned gentleman, who has assured me, that he has been as much delighted at discovering that the Sosii were Horace's booksellers, 'that the Hecyra of Terence was damned, and other little particulars of that nature, as with an account of the destruction of Carthage, or the death of Cæsar. We should also be glad to collect from their advertisements what things were most in request at Athens and Rome. Even our papers (which perhaps are called Daily from their lasting but a day) are, I fear, of too fugitive a nature to fall under the inspection of posterity. To remedy, in some measure, this inconvenience, I shall now conclude my paper with a few advertisements, which, if they have not all actually been inserted in our papers, are at least of the same nature with those that daily have a place there. ADVERTISEMENTS. To be spoke with every day at his house in the Old Bailey, BRYAN RAPAWAY, Who swears oaths of all kinds and prices, and will procure positive evidence at a day's warning in all sorts of causes. He will contract with any attorney or quack-doctor to swear by the quarter; and will supply affidavits, &c. on the most reasonable terms. *He will attend, during the business of elections and double returns, in the lobby of the House of Commons, and will ply next term at Westminsterhall. WANTED, A genteel black or negro girl, very handsome; with a soft skin, good teeth, sweet breath, at least five feet three inches high, and not above eighteen. Whoever has such a girl to dispose of, may hear of a gentleman who will give fifty guineas for her, by applying at the bar of the Shakspeare's Head Tavern, Covent-garden. Note. At the same place any genteel white girl may hear of something to her advantage. A person, that lives near Guildhall, is a very gentle rider, rides about ten stone, chiefly for health, and never on a Sunday, but on an extraordinary occasion, would be glad of a partner much under the same circumstances, in a very genteel mare, and very good in her kind. Several sums, from 10l. to 10,0002. Wanted immediately, by a person in a large and profitable business-Wanted directly, by a person whose character will bear the strctest inquiryWanted for a week only, or as long as the lender chooses-Upon undeniable security-The borrower will give his bond and judgment, make over his stock in trade, insure his life, &c.-A handsome gratuity will be given-Interest paid punctuallyStrictest honour and secrecy may be depended on. None but principals will be treated with. Direct for A. B. L. M. S. T. X. Y. &c. &c. &c. The Adventures of Dick Hazard. The History of James Ramble, Esq. And speedily will be published, Being a complete collection of Novels for the amusement of the present winter. Ꭲ. N° 46. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1754. Where borrow'd tints bestow a lifeless grace, 'SIR, 'To MR. TOWN. IT is whimsical to observe the mistakes that we country gentlemen are led into at our first coming to town. We are induced to think, and indeed truly, that your fine ladies are composed of different materials from our rural ones; since, though they sleep all day and rake all night, they still remain as fresh and ruddy as a parson's daughter or a farmer's wife. At other times we are apt to wonder, that such delicate creatures as they appear, should yet be so much proof against cold, as to look as rosy in January as in June, and even in the sharpest weather to be very unwilling to approach the fire. I was at a loss to account for this unalterable hue of their complexions: but I soon found, that beauty was not more peculiar to the air of St. James's than of York; and that this perpetual bloom was not native, but imported from abroad. Not content with that red and white which nature gave, your belles are reduced (as they pretend) to the necessity of supplying the flush of health with the_rouge of vermilion, and giving us Spanish wool for English beauty. The very reason alleged for this fashionable practice is such, as (if they seriously considered it) the ladies would be ashamed to mention. "The late hours they are obliged to keep, render them such perfect frights, that they would be as loath to appear abroad without paint as without clothes.' This, it must be acknowledged, is too true: but would they suffer their fathers or their husbands to wheel them down for one month to the old mansion-house, they would soon be sensible of the change, and soon perceive how much the early walk exceeds the late assembly. The vigils of the card-table have spoiled many a good face; and I have known a beauty stick to the midnight rubbers, till she has grown as homely as the queen of spades. There is nothing more certain in all Hoyle's cases, than that whist and late hours will ruin the finest set of features: but if the ladies would give up their routs for the healthy amusements of the country, I will venture to say their carmine would be then as useless as their artificial nosegays. 'A moralist might talk to them of the heiniousness of the practice; since all deceit is criminal, and painting is no better than looking a lie. And should they urge that nobody is deceived by it, he might add, that the plea for admitting it is then at an end: since few are yet arrived at that height of French politeness, as to dress their cheeks in public, and to profess wearing vermilion as openly as powder. But I shall content myself with using an argument more likely to prevail; and such, I trust, will be the assurance, that this practice is highly disagreeable to the men. What must be the mortification, and what the disgust of the lover, who goes to bed to a bride as blooming as an angel, and finds her in the morning as wan and yellow as a corpse? For marriage soon takes off the mask; and all the resources of art, all the mysteries of the toilet, are then at an end. He that is thus wedded to a cloud instead of a Juno, may well be allowed to complain, but without relief; for this is a custom, which once admitted, so tarnishes the skin, that it is next to impossible ever to retrieve it. Let me, therefore, caution these young beginners, who are not yet discoloured past redemption, to leave it off in time, and endeavour to procure and preserve by early hours that unaffected bloom, which art cannot give, and which only age or sickness can take away. Our beauties were formerly above making use of so poor an artifice: they trusted to the lively colouring of nature, which was heightened by temperance and exercise; but our modern belles are obliged to retouch their cheeks every day, to keep them in repair. We were then as superior to the French in the assembly, as in the field: but since a trip to France has been thought a requisite in the |