I am likewife informed, That several Wives of my dead Men have, fince the Decease of their Husbands,. been feen in many publick Places without Mourning or Regard to common Decency.

I am further advised, That several of the Defunct,. contrary to the Woollen A&, presume to dress themselves. in Lace, Embroidery, Silks, Muflins, and other Ornaments forbidden to Perfons in their Condition. These and other the like Informations moving me thereunto, I must defire, for Distinction fake, and to conclude this Subject for ever, that when any of these Pofthumous Perfons appear, or are fpoken of, that their Wives may be called Widows; their Houfes, Sepulchres; their Chari ots, Hearfes; and their Garments, Flannel: On which Condition, they fhall be allowed all the Conveniences that dead Men can in Reafon defire.

AS I was writing this Morning on this Subject, I re Qeived the following Letter.

I

Mr. Bickerftaff,

From the Banks of Styx. MUST confefs I treated you very fcurrilously when you first fent me hither; but you have dispatched fuch Multitudes after me to keep me in Countenance, that I am very well reconciled both to you and my Condition. We live very lovingly together; for as Death makes us all equal,. it makes us very much delight in one another's Company. Our Time paffes away much after the fame Manner as it did when we were among you: Eating, Drinking, and Sleeping, are our chief Diverfions. Our Quid Nuncs between whiles go to a Coffee-house, where they have several warm Liquors made of the Waters of Lethe, with very. good Poppy-Tea. We that are the fprightly Genius's of the Place, refresh ourselves frequently with a Bottle of Mum,. and tell Stories till we fall asleep. You would do well to fend among us Mr. Dodwell's Book against the Immortality of the Soul, which would be of great Confolation to our whole Fraternity, who would be very glad to find that

they

they are dead for good and all, and would in particular

make me reft for ever.

Yours,

John Partridge.

P. S. Sir James is just arrived here in good Health.

THE foregoing Letter was the more pleafing to me, because I perceive fome little Symptoms in it of a Refufcitation; and having lately seen the Predictions of this Author, which are written in a true Proteftant Spirit of Prophecy, and a particular Zeal against the French King, I have fome Thoughts of fending for him from the Banks of Styx, and reinftating him in his own House, at the Sign of the Globe in Salisbury freet. For the Encouragement of him and others, I fhall offer to their Confideration a Letter, which gives me an Account of the Revival of one of their Brethren.

I

SIR,

Dec. 31.

HAVE perufed your Tatler of this Day, and have wept over it with great Pleasure; I wish you would be more frequent in your Family Pieces. For as I confider you under the Notion of a great Defigner, I think these are not your leaft valuable Performances. I am glad to find you have given over your Face-painting for fome Time, because I think you have employed yourself more in Grotesque Figures than in Beauties; for which Reafon I would rather fee you work upon Hiftory Pieces, than on fingle Portraits. Your feveral Draughts of dead Men appear to me as Pictures of Still-Life, and have done great Good in the Place where I live. The 'Squire of a neighbouring Village, who had been a long Time in the Number of NonEntities, is entirely recovered by them. For thefe feveral Years paft, there was not an Hare in the County that could be at reft for him; and I think, the greatest Exploit be ever boafted of, was, That when he was High Sheriff of the County, he hunted a Fox fo far, that he could not follow him any further by the Laws of the Land. All the Hours he spent at Home, were in fwelling himself with

ober, and rehearsing the Wonders he did in the Field. reading your Papers, he has fold his Dogs, Shook off

bis dead Companions, looked into his Eftate, got the Multiplication-Table by Heart, paid his Tithes, and intends to take upon him the Office of Churchwarden next Year. I wifh the fame Succefs with your other Patients, and am, &c.

Ditto, January 9.

WHEN I came Home this Evening, a very tight middle-aged Woman presented to me the following Petition :

To the Worshipful Ifaac Bickerstaff, Efq; Cenfor of Great

Britain.

The humble Petition of Penelope Prim, Widow,

Sherweth,

T

HAT your Petitioner was bred a Clear-ftarcher and Sempftrefs, and for many Years worked to the Exchange, and to feveral Aldermens Wives, Lawyers Clerks, and Merchants Apprentices.

THAT through the Scarcity caufed by Regrators of Bread-Corn, (of which Starch is made) and the • Gentry's immoderate frequenting the Opera's, the La'dies, to fave Charges, have their Heads washed at

Home, and the Beaus put out their Linen to common • Landreffes. So that your Petitioner has little or no • Work at her Trade: For want of which he is re⚫duced to fuch Neceffity, that she and her feven fatherlefs Children muft inevitably perish, unless relieved by your Worship.

THAT your Petitioner is informed, That in Contempt of your Judgment pronounced on Tuesday the 3d Inftant against the new fashioned Petticoat, or oldfashioned Fardingal, the Ladies defign to go on in that • Drefs. And fince it is prefumed your Worship will not fupprefs them by Force, your Petitioner humbly ⚫ defires you would order, That Ruffs may be added to 'the Dress; and that she may be heard by her Counsel, who has affured your Petitioner, he has fuch cogent • Reasons to offer to your Court, that Ruffs and Fardingals are infeparable, that he questions not but two

Thirds of the greatest Beauties about Town will have • Cambrick Collars on their Necks before the End of Eafter Term next. He further fays, That the Defign of our Great Grandmothers in this Petticoat, was to appear much bigger than the Life; for which Reafon they had falle Shoulder-Blades, like Wings, and the • Ruff above-mentioned, to make their upper and lower Parts of their Bodies appear proportionable; whereas the Figure of a Woman in the prefent Drefs, bears (as he calls it) the Figure of a Cone, which (as he advises) is the fame with that of an Extinguisher, with a little Knob at the upper End, and widening downward, till it ends in a Bafis of a moft enormous Circumference.

YOUR Petitioner therefore most humbly prays, That you would reftore the Ruff to the Fardingal, which in their Nature ought to be as infeparable as the two Hungarian Twins.

And your Petitioner shall ever pray,

I HAVE examined into the Allegations of this Pe tition, and find, by feveral antient Pictures of my own Predeceffors, particularly that of Dame Deborah BickerStaff, my Great Grandmother, that the Ruff and Far dingal are made ufe of as abfolutely neceffary to preferve the Symmetry of the Figure; and Mrs. Pyramid Bickerftaff, her fecond Sifter, is recorded in our Family-Book, with fome Obfervations to her Difadvantage, as the firft Female of our House that difcovered, to any befides her Nurfe and her Hufband, an Inch below her Chin, or above her Inftep. This convinces me of the Reasonableness of Mrs. Prim's Demand; and therefore I fhall not allow the reviving of any one. Part of that antient Mode, except the Whole is complied with. Mrs. Prim is there. fore hereby impowered to carry Home Ruffs to fuch as fhe fhall fee in the above-mentioned Petticoats, and require Payment on Demand.

Mr. Bickerstaff bas under Confideration the Offer from the Corporation of Colchester of four Hundred Pounds per Annum, to be paid Quarterly, provided that all his dead Perfons fhall be obliged to wear the Bays of that Place.

In

In tenui labor.

There is Labour in the fmalleft Things.

No 119.

Thursday, January 12, 1709.

Virg.

I

"

Sheer-Lane, January 11.

HAVE lately applied myself with much Satisfaction to the curious Discoveries that have been made by the Help of Microscopes, as they are related by Authors of our own and other Nations. There is a great deal of Pleafure in prying into this World of Wonders, which Nature has laid out of Sight, and feems industrious to conceal from us. Philofophy had ranged over all the vifible Creation, and began to want Objects for her Inquiries, when the prefent Age, by the Invention of Glaffes, opened a new and inexhaustible Magazine of Rarities, more wonderful and amazing than any of those which astonished our Forefathers. I was Yesterday amufing myself with Speculations of this Kind, and reflecting upon Myriads of Animals that fwim in those little Seas of Juices that are contained in the feveral Veffels of an human Body. While my Mind was thus filled with that fecret Wonder and Delight,. I could not but look upon. myself as in an Act of Devotion, and am very well pleased with the Thought of a great Heathen Anatomist, who calls his Description of the Parts of an human Body, An Hymn to the Supreme Being. The Reading of the Day produced in my Imagination an agreeable Morning's Dream, if I may call it fuch; for I am still in Doubt. whether it paffed in my fleeping or waking Thoughts. However it was, I fancied that my good Genius flood at my Bed's Head, and entertained me with the following Difcourfe; for upon my Rifing, it dwelt fo ftrongly upon me, that I writ down the Substance of it, if not the very Words

LE