19 ved to retire to one of his Estates in the Country, and pass away his Hours of Wedlock in the noble Diverfions of the Field; and in the Fury of a disappointed Lover, made an Oath, to leave neither Stag, Fox, or Hare living, during the Days of his Wife. Befides, that Country Sports would be an Amusement, he hoped alfo, that his Spouse would be half killed by the very Sense of seeing this Town no more, and would think her Life ended as foon as the left it. He communicated his Defign to Elmira, who received it (as now (he did all Things) like a Perfon too unhappy to be relieved or afflicted by the Circumstance of Place. This unexpected Refignation made Ofmyn refolve to be as obliging to her as poffible; and if he could not prevail upon himself to be kind, he took a Refolution at least to act fincerely, and communicate frankly to her the Weakness of his Temper, to excufe the Indifference of his Behaviour. He difpofed his Houthold in the Way to Rutland, fo as he and his Lady travelled only in the Coach for the Convenience of Difcourfe. They had not gone many Miles out of Town, when Ofmyn spoke to this Purpose:

My Dear, I believe I look quite as filly, now I am going to tell you I do not love you, as when I first told you I did. We are now going into the Country together, with only one Hope for making this Life agreeable, Survivorship: Defire is not in our Power; mine is all mine is all gone for you. What shall we do to carry it with Decency to the World, and bate one another with Difcretion?

The Lady anfwered without the leaft Observation on the Extravagance of his Speech:

My Dear, You have lived most of your Days in a Court, and I have not been wholly unacquainted with that Sort of Life. In Courts, you fee Goodwill is spoken with great Warmth, Ill-will covered with great Civility. Men are long in Civilities. to thofe they hate, and fhort in Expreffions of Kindnefs to thofe they love. Therefore, my Dear, let us be well-bred ftill, and it is no Matter, as to all who fee us, whether we love or hate: And to let you fee how much you are beholden to me for my Conduct, I have both hated and defpifed you, my Dear, this half Year; and yet neither in Language or Behaviour has it been visible but that I loved you tenderly. Therefore, as I know you go out of Town to divert Life in Purfuit of Beasts, and Converfation with Men just above 'em ; so, my Life, from this Moment, I shall read all the learned Cooks who have ever writ, ftudy Broths, Plaifters, and Conferves, till from a fine Lady I become a Notable Woman. We must take our Minds a Note or two lower, or we shall be tortur'd by Jealousy or Anger. Thus I am refolved to kill all keen Paffions by employing my Mind on little Subjects, and leffening the Eafinefs of my Spirit; while you, my Dear, with much Ale, Exercife, and ill Company, are so good, as to endeavour to be as contemptible as it is necessary for my Quiet 1 Should think you.

To Rutland they arriv'd, and lived with great, but fecret Impatience for many fuccef

five Years, till Ofmyn thought of an happy Expedient to give their Affairs a new Turn. One Day he took Elmira afide, and spoke as follows:

My Dear, You See here the Air is fo temperate and ferene, the Rivulets, the Groves, and Soil, fo extremely kind to Nature, that we are ftronger and firmer in our Health fince we left the Town; fo that there is no Hope of a Releafe in this Place: But if you will be fo kind as to go with me to my Eftate in the Hundreds of Effex, it is poffible fome kind Damp may one Day or other relieve us. If you will condescend to accept of this Offer, I will add that whole Eftate to your Jointure in this County.

·

Elmira, who was all Goodness, accepted the Offer, removed accordingly, and has left her Spouse in that Place to reft with his Fathers.

This is the real Figure in which Elmira ought to be beheld in this Town, and not thought guilty of an Indecorum, in not profeffing the Senfe, or bearing the Habit of Sorrow, for one who robbed her of all the Endearments of Life, and gave her only common Civility, instead of Complacency of Manners, Dignity of Paffion, and that conftant Affemblage of foft Defires and Affections which all feel who love, but none can express.

Will's Coffee-houfe, August 10.

Mr. Truman, who is a mighty Admirer of Dramatick Poetry, and knows I am about a Tragedy, never meets me, but he is giving Admonitions and Hints for my Conduct. Mr. Bickerftaff

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erftaff, (faid he) I was reading laft Night your fecond Act you were fo kind to lend me; but I find you depend mightily upon the Retinue of your Hero to make him magnificent. make Guards, and Ufhers, and Courtiers, and Commons, and Nobles, march before, and then enters your Prince, and says, they can't defend him from his Love. Why, prithee Ifaac, who ever thought they could? Place me your loving Monarch in a Solitude; let him have no Sense at all of his Grandeur, but let it be eaten up with his Paffion. He muft value himself as the greatest of Lovers, not as the first of Princes: And then let him fay a more tender Thing than ever Man faid before - For his Feather and Eagle's Beak are nothing at all. The Man is to be expreffed by his Sentiments and Affetions, and not by his Fortune or Equipage. You are alfo to take Care, that at his firft Entrance he fays fomething which may give us an Idea of what we are to expect in a Person of his Way of Thinking. Shakespear is your Pattern. In the Tragedy of Cafar, he introduces his Hero in his Night-Gown. He had at that Time all the Power of Rome: Depos'd Confuls, Subordinate Generals, and Captive Princes, might have preceded him; but his Genius was above fuch Mechanick Methods of fhowing Greatness. Therefore he rather prefents that great Soul debating upon the Subject of Life and Death with his intimate Friends, without endeavouring to prepoffefs his Audience with empty Show and Pomp. When those who attend him talk of the many Omens which had appeared that Day, he answers: Cow

Cowards die many Times before their Deaths
The Valiant never taft of Death but once.
Of all the Wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most ftrange that Men fhould fear;
Seeing that Death, a neceffary End,
Will come, when it will come,

When the Hero has spoken this Sentiment, there is nothing that is great which cannot be expected, from one whofe firft Pofition is the Contempt of Death to fo high a Degree, as making his Exit a Thing wholly indifferent, and not a Part of his Care, but that of Heaven and Fate.

St. James's Coffee-house, August 10.

Letters from Bruffels of the 15th Instant, N. S. fay, That Major-General Ravignan returned on the 8th with the French King's Answer to the intended Capitulation for the Citadel of Tournay; which is, That he does not think fit to fign that Capitulation, except the Allies will grant a Ceffation of Arms in general, during the Time in which all Acts of Hoftility were to have ceas'd between the Citadel and the Befiegers. Soon after the Receipt of this News, the Canon on each Side began to play. There are Two Attacks against the Citadel, commanded by General Lottum, and General Schuylemberg, which are both carried on with great Succefs; and it is not doubted but the Citadel will be in the Hands of the Allies before the laft Day of this Month. Letters from Ipres fay, That on the 9th Inftant, Part of the Garrifon of that Place had mutinied in Two Bodies, each C 4

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