66 nance, and to attract, by this means, vene"ration and respect. Do you see that Lad, ? 66 fays the Marchioness; I don't believe she ever " left them off, except at Bed-time, since she was ten Years old. In short, the Men and " Women eat with their Spectacles on, and even "in their Afsemblies, and the Streets are seldom " without them. Nay, I have heard, there are " different Spectacles, according to the different "Qualities and Degrees of People. As a Man's "Income increases, he enlarges the size of his " Spectacles, and destines them to a station high" er up his Nofe. Those worn by the Gran"dees, being of an unusual breadth, are called "Ocales for difstinction. Some years ago, they " had their Glaffes from Venice, but three Per" fons having undertaken to make the King of "Spain Master of that City, by firing the Arfe" nal with Burning-Glasses, the Venetians, by way of Revenge, caused a vast number of thefe Ocales to be made, and dispatched them " to their Ambasfador at Madrid. He presented "them to the Court, and every Person who made " use of them endangered his Eye-fight, for they 66 were formed, with exquifite Art, and set in "frames of combustible matter, which with a "fingle Ray of the Sun would put all in a Flame. "It happened on a grand Council-day, that in the Chamber wherein the Members were all "seated in folemn Order, one of the Windows " was " was left open, and the Sun darting, almost in 66 a vertical Line, on their Spectacles, they fuddenly perceived a dangerous fire contrived a gainft their Eye-brows. This Phenomenon put "the old Gentlemen into a terrible Consterna"tion. The whole Synod capered about in a great deal of confufion, and thus ended the weighty business of that Day." 66 66 But to return. I have heard that the majority of my Countrymen affect to be purblind for the fame reason that Alexander's Courtiers held their Necks awry; but if a compliment is in reality the reason, our Posterity may by the fame Rule chop off a Leg or an Arm, or demolish a Nose, if their Prince should be unfortunately deprived of one of them.-Jefting apart, however, I am well affured that our R-1 Family are not in the least pleased with so ridiculous a piece of Complaisance, and would be very much inclined to put a stop to the spreading contagion, if it did not so happily contribute to the encouragement of the Glass-Manufacture. I am a strenuous well-wisher to all useful Manufactures, particularly the above-mentioned one, but this is so ludicrous a Fashion, that I cannot check the defire I have to set it in a ludicrous light. I do therefore ordain, by virtue of these Presents, that, if any Girl or Woman, under the Age of twenty-five, and any Stripling under the Age of forty Years, do presume to wear Spectacles or Demi-Spectacles, M 3 after after the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, vulgarly called Michaelmas-Day, next ensuing (unless He, She, or They can shew just and reafonable cause to the contrary) He, She, or They fo offending, shall be stigmatized with the odious Title of Old Women, and confidered as a diftinct Species from such poor Wretches who are by Age or Infirmities unavoidably neceffitated to have recourse to them. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that fuch Offender or Offenders be looked upon by every body with the fame Contempt, Derifion, and Abhorrence, that Old Women are generally treated with. i TO NICHOLAS BABBLE, Efq. SIR Y In medio tútiffimis ibis. The middle way is safest. OVID. OU promised to publish a few animadverfions on on that important Part of a fine Lady's Paraphernalia, commonly called the Hoop; but I must beg the favour of you to infert the following Effay on the fame Subject. The The strange abuse of that Machine called a Hoop, occafions so many inconveniences to both Sexes, that I think it ought entirely to be abolished: or restored to its original Design, which as it is still retained among the formal Spaniards with little alteration, I here communicate for the Entertainement of the Curious. "The Spanish Ladies some years ago wore a Farthingal of prodigious bigness. This Fashion was extremely incommodious to themselves as well as to others; and the Doors of their Houses were scarce wide enough to admit them. They were obliged on this account to leave it off entirely, except at Court in the Royal Presence, and for general wear substituted in its room a kind of under vestment, which, properly speaking, is a young or little Farthingal. This is made of thick copper wire, in a circular form. About the Girdle, a number of Ribbons are fastened, with which is tied a second round of the same figure, but confiderably wider, and depending lower than the first. Of these they have five or fix Circles, reaching to the very ground, and distending their other Garments. Their Visits are generally made in this Habit, and 'tis usual on these Occafions to present the Company with a filver Bason of dried Sweetmeats, folded up in different papers, neatly cut, and gilt for that purpose. In one is contained a Plumb, in another a Cherry or Apricot, and so on. By this means they may eiM 4 ther ther eat upon the spot, or carry away what quantity they please, without danger of soiling their Pockets. Some Ladies do both, and after regaling on these delicates, till they are almost ready to burst, cram what remains into four or five Handkerchiefs. These Handkerchiefs are then tied round their little Farthingal, which seems from this Account to be nothing more in Spain than a kind of portable Pantry, and may be ufed indifferently, with the addition of a few hooks, for the fufpenfion of all forts of Butcher's Meat, Poultry, ४८.” Though our Ladies of Fashion in England have not yet introduced this Custom, some of our female Canaile have borrowed the Hint, and many a valuable piece of stolen Goods has been found fecreted within the rotundity of this Machine. Sally Smuggle, a Cousin of mine, once freighted her Hoop, on board an Indiaman, with fuch an immoderate Cargo of Tea, China, Fans, Nanfooks and Allibanies, that in her defcent to the Boat, her tender Frame was unable to support what would have furnished a little shop, and down she tumbled into the Water. By good fortune, the heavier commodities, disengaging themselves from their confinement, subsided to the bottom: and the whalebone circles were of fingular service in buoying her up, and permitting her to float upon |