than I had ever obferved before in her) "I did not think, brother, you had been fo ill-natured. You have seen, ever fince I came in, that I had a mind to talk of my husband, and you won't be so kind as to give me an occafion." "I did not know," said I, "but it might be a disagreeable subject to you. You do not take me for fo old-fashioned a fellow as to think of entertaining a young lady with the discourse of her husband. I know nothing is more acceptable than to speak of one who is to be fo; but to speak of one who is fo! indeed, Jenny, I am a better bred man than you think me.” She fhewed a little diflike at my raillery, and by her bridling up, I perceived fhe expected to be treated hereafter not as Jenny Distaff, but Mrs. Tranquillus. I was very well pleased with this change in her humour; and upon talking with her on feveral fubjects, I could not but fancy that I saw a great deal of her husband's way and manner in her remarks, her phrases, the tone of her voice, and the very air of her countenance. This gave me an unspeakable fatisfaction, not only because I had found her an husband, from whom she could learn many things that were laudable, but also because I looked upon her imitation of him as an infallible sign that she entirely loved him. This is an observation that I never knew fail, though I do not remember that any other has made it. The natural shynefs of her fex hindered her from telling me the greatnefs of her own paffion, but I eafily collected it from the reprefentation fhe gave me of his. "I have everything," fays fhe, "in Tranquillus that I can wish for; and enjoy in him (what indeed you have told me were to be met with in a good husband) the fondness of a lover, the tendernefs of a parent, and the intimacy of a friend." It transported me to fee her eyes fwimming in tears of affection when she fpoke. "And is there not, dear fifter," said I, "more pleasure in the poffeffion of fuch a man, than in all the little impertinences of balls, affemblies, and equipage, which it cost me much pains to make you contemn?" She answered, fmiling, Tranquillus has made me a fincere convert in a few weeks, though I am afraid you could not have done it in your whole life. To tell you truly, I have only one fear hanging upon

me, which is apt to give me trouble in the midst of all my fatisfactions. I am afraid, you must know, that I fhall not always make the fame amiable appearance in his eye that I do at prefent. You know, Brother Bickerstaff, that you have the reputation of a conjuror, and if you have any one fecret in your art to make your fifter always beautiful, I should be happier than if I were mistress of all the worlds you have shown me in a starry night ""Jenny," faid I, "without having recourse to magick, I shall give you one plain rule that will not fail of making you always amiable to a man who has fo great a paffion for you, and is of fo equal and reasonable a temper as Tranquillus. Endeavour to please, and you must please be always in the same disposition as you are when you afk for this fecret, and you may take my word, you will never want it. An inviolable fidelity, good humour, and complacency of temper, outlive all the charms of a fine face, and make the decays of it invisible."

We discoursed very long upon this head, which was equally agreeable to us both; for I muft confefs (as I tenderly love her) I take as much pleasure in giving her instructions for her welfare, as she herself does in receiving them. I proceeded, therefore, to inculcate these fentiments, by relating a very particular paffage that happened within my own knowledge.

There were several of us making merry at a friend's house in a country village, when the fexton of the parish church entered the room in a fort of surprise, and told us, "That as he was digging a grave in the chancel, a little blow of his pickaxe opened a decayed coffin, in which there were several written papers." Our curiofity was immediately raised, so that we went to the place where the fexton had been at work, and found a great concourse of people about the grave. Among the rest there was an old woman, who told us the perfon buried there was a lady whose name I do not think fit to mention, though there is nothing in the story but what tends very much to her honour. This lady lived several years an exemplary pattern of conjugal love, and dying foon after her husband, who every way anfwered her character in virtue and affection, made it her death-bed request, that all the letters

These I

Several

which she had received from him both before and after her marriage, should be buried in the coffin with her. found upon examination were the papers before us. of them had fuffered fo much by time, that I could only pick out a few words, as, my foul! lilies! roses! dearest angel! and the like. One of them (which was legible throughout) ran thus:"MADAM,

"If you would know the greatness of my love, confider that of your own beauty. That blooming countenance, that fnowy bofom, that graceful perfon, return every moment to my imagination; the brightness of your eyes hath hindered me from closing mine fince I last saw you. You may still add to your beauties by a fmile. A frown will make me the most wretched of men, as I am the most paffionate of lovers.”

It filled the whole company with a deep melancholy, to compare the description of the letter with the person that occafioned it, who was now reduced to a few crumbling bones and a little mouldering heap of earth. With much ado I deciphered another letter, which began with, "My dear, dear wife." This gave me a curiofity to see how the style of one written in marriage differed from one written in courtship. To my furprise, I found the fondnefs rather augmented than leffened, though the panegyrick turned upon a different accomplishment. The words were as follows:

"Before this fhort absence from you I did not know that I loved you so much as I really do, though at the fame time I thought I loved you as much as poffible. I am under great apprehenfions left you should have any uneasiness whilst I am defrauded of my share in it, and can't think of tasting any pleasures that you don't partake with me. Pray, my dear, be careful of your health, if for no other reafon but because you know I could not outlive you. It is natural in absence to make profeffions of an inviolable conftancy, but towards fo much merit it is scarce a virtue, especially when it is but a bare return to that of which you have given me fuch continued proofs ever fince our firft acquaintance.

"I am, &c."

It happened that the daughter of these two excellent perfons was by when I was reading this letter. At the fight of the coffin, in which was the body of her mother, near that of her father, fhe melted into a flood of tears. As I had heard a

great character of her virtue, and obferved in her this inftance of filial piety, I could not refift my natural inclination of giving advice to young people, and therefore addreffed myself to her: "Young lady," said I, " you fee how fhort is the poffeffion of that beauty in which nature has been fo liberal to you. You find the melancholy fight before you is a contradiction to the firft letter that you heard on that fubject, whereas you may obferve the second letter, which celebrates your mother's constancy, is itself, being found in this place, an argument of it. But, madam, I ought to caution you not to think the bodies that lie before you your father and your mother. Know, their conftancy is rewarded by a nobler union than by this mingling of their afhes, in a state where there is no danger or poffibility of a fecond feparation."

CHAPTER XXVII.

SISTER JENNY APPEARS IN HER OWN CHARIOT, AND INCURS MR. BICKERSTAFF'S DISAPPROVAL ON MARRIAGE, AND THE CUSTOMARY CEREMONIES-IMPERTINENCE OF WAGSJENNY AND TRANQUILLUS.

WAS this afternoon furprised with a vifit from my fifter Jenny, after an abfence of fome time. She had, methought, in her manner and air, fomething that was a little below that of women of the first breeding and quality, but at the fame time above the fimplicity and familiarity of her ufual deportment. As soon as the was feated, she began to talk to me of the odd place I lived in, and begged of me to remove out of the lane where I have been fo long acquainted; "for," faid fhe, "it does fo fpoil one's horfes, that I muft beg your pardon if you fee me much feldomer, when I am to make fo great a journey with a single pair, and make vifits, and get home the fame night." I understood her pretty well, but would not, therefore defired her to pay off her coach, for I had a great deal to talk to her. She very pertly told me the came in her own chariot. "Why," faid I, "is your husband in town? And has he fet up an equipage?" "No," anfwered fhe, "but I have received. £500 by his order, and his letters, which came at the fame time, bad me want for nothing that was neceffary." I was heartily concerned at her folly, whofe affairs render her but just able to bear fuch an expenfe. However, I confidered that according to the British cuftom of treating women, there is no other method to be used in removing any of their faults