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 antiquarian 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 Græcian 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 with a few advertisements, which, if they have not 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 an 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 Westminster-hall. 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 10,0007. WANTED immediately, by a person in a large and profitable business.... Wanted directly, by a person whose character will bear the strictest enquiry.... Wanted for a week only, or as long as the lender chuses...Upon undeniable security... The borrower will give his bond and judgment, make over his stock in trade, ensure his life, &c....A handsome gratuity will be given...Interest paid punctually....Strictest honour and secrecy may be depended on...None but princi pals will be treated with. Direct for A. B. L. M. S. T. X. Y. &c. &c. &c. This day are published, THE Adventures of Dick Hazard. And speedily will be published, The History of Sir Humphry Herald and Sir Edward Haunch....Memoirs of Lady Vainlove....The Card. Adventures of Tom Doughty, Jack Careless, Frank Easy, Dick Damnable, Molly Peirson, &c. &c. &c. Being a complete collection of Novels for the Amusement of the present Winter. T No. XLVI. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12. SIR, ...Facies non omnibus una, Nec diversa tamen.......... Where borrow'd tints bestow a lifeless grace, To Mr. Town. OVID. 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, that they look as rosy in January as in June, and even in the sharpest weather are very unwilling to approach the fire. I was at a loss how 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 vermillion, and giving us Spanish wool for English beauty. The very reason alledged 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 loth to appear abroad "without paint as without cloaths." 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, until 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 heinousness 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 then is 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 he cannot even hope for relief; since 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 those young beginners, who are not yet discoloured past redemption, to leave it off in time, and endeavour to procure |