ings, and all that, for the publick Benefit of the Commonwealth.

Mr.

the Merchant is in our Company, who has travel'd Abroad, and feen the World: He fays, that a Whore in the Civil State, is what Farthings are in the Business of Trade, only to be used for the Convenience of ready Change. But that a Man that makes a Whore, if not his conftant Wife, yet his conftaut Companion, and a Government that nakes Farthings their only current Money, will foon be convinc'd of the Vanity of their Politicks. And he faid Ireland was lately a fad Inftance of the latter.

What vexes me most, says is to hear thefe Keeping-Coxcombs magnify themselves upon their Difcretion. I fave Charges by it, cries one

Yes, replies his, Neighbour, they are as much Sa vers by the Bargain, as one that goes down to Tun bridge or the Bath, to fave his Expences in Town. But fince this Point has been spoken to already, I will fay no more to it. Only give me Leave, Gentlemen,. to cap the Story of the two Gandles with another like it. A Brace of Country Attorneys went into a Tavern one Morning to take a Whet, and becaufe they had not feen one another for a Term or two, they drank to the Tune of eleven Pints. At last, one of them call'd for a French Roll Why, Brother, fays the other, are you not asham'd to inflame the Reckoning Let the Keepers apply this.

Well, but I'fcape Confinement by it, fays another I don't know that, fays Mr. N; for I think a Man is as much a Prifoner by a Gout or Rheumatism of his own begetting, as if the Government had confin'd him. What fignifies it a Farthing to one in this Cafe, whether the Priest ties the Knot, or he does it himself? Tis true, the Gonfinement of Keeping does, not laft so long as that of Marriage, but it devours more in a Month than the other does in a Year. It's like falling into the Hands

of

of the Black Rod, or a Serjeant of the Houfe, where the Fees run fo high, that you spend more in a few Weeks, than would handfomly maintain you in another Prifon all your Life. But to fee by what Chimera's the World is manag'd: Matrimony is Hell in Folio, becaufe it's a Charm that can't be dif folv'd when a Man pleafes. At the fame Time, thofe that keep, can fometimes fubmit to a Confinement full as long and fevere; yet bear it easily, because forfooth 'tis of their own ordering. This puts me in Mind of the famous Citizen of Paris; who had pafs'd threefcore long Years within the City-Walls, and never had the leaft Inclination to make a Step into the Country: So foon as he heard that his Prince had commanded him never to ftir out of it, he difcreetly dy'd with the Thoughts of being a Prifoner. There are Penitents in Spain, who on certain Days of Mortification, lafh them-felves as heartily as any of our Newgate Rogues art whipp'd by the publick Executioner: Tis certain the Pain and Anguifh are the fame; but one does it voluntarily, and the other cannot help it. What pretty Salvo's a fruitful Imagination can find out!·

Thus far, Sir John, we have given you our Thoughts « of Keeping in general, without defcending to Particulars; but now we come to confider your own Cafe more nearly. To the Surprize of all your Friends, you have pitch'd upon a Daughter of the Stage, upon an Aftrefs, to fhew your particular Fa vours to; and pray be pleas'd to hear what the Company thinks of it.

Mr. , who, next to Mr. Rymer, is the beft Hiftorian about the Town, fays, that this Tranfaction of your Life will be bound up with the Annals of Goatam in the next Age; becaufe to pretend to confine a She-Player to one's felf, is altogether of a Piece with hedging in a Cuckow.

Mr. the Poet first mention'd, prov'd out of the ancient Records of Parnaffus, that all Actreffes belong to thofe of his Profeffion; and that if a Lay Perfon pretended to lay his unhallow'd Hands upon her, he was guilty of making an Impropriation, and ought to be indicted in Apollo's Spiritual Court.

Mr. of the Temple, who, tho' he never goes to Westminster, is nevertheless an Oracle of the Law, pretends that your Cafe comes within the Statute of Monopolies; that you have done as bad as inclos'd a Common ; and that all the Lovers of Magna Charta ought to break down the Fence.

'Tis but fit it should be fo, cries another; for he that pretends to confine a Damofel of the Theatre to his own Ufe, who by her Character is a Person of an extended Qualification, acts as unrighteous, at least as unnatural a Part, as he that would debauch a Nun : That after all, fuch a Spark rather confults his Vanity than his Love, and would be thought to ingrofs what all the young Coxcombs of the Town admire and covet. Captain ended this ferious Debate. He faid, that whoever gave Pay to a Woman, or a Soldier, expected they fhould prove faithful to him. Now, continu'd he, to expect Fidelity from a Female that has been rais'd up in that hot Bed call'd a Play-houfe, is to expect Honefty from an Evidence. 'Tis a Folly not to be excus'd: 'Tis to bottle up Air, like Shadwell's Virtuofo: 'Tis to wash a Blackamoor. 'Tis to make Dr. Oates rectus in curia: Tis, in fhort, to grafp at more than attaining an Impoffibility; for 'tis impoflible to fecure any other Woman to your felf, but much more an Actress.

Thus we have fent you, Sir John, the Opinion of the Committee of our whole House upon this Occafion. You are defir'd to confider of it coolly by your felf; and when you have fo done, if 'tis poflible, repent ;* otherwife do like fome of our Divines when they

con

contradict what they formerly afferted, and stand buff

to it.

Tom.

would have you meet us to-morrow Night at the Rofe, where he pretends to attack you with fo many Arguments against the Female Sex, that he does not queftion to make you Profelyte to the Bottle.

*****

The Answer of Sir John Sands, in Defence of keeping a Mifs rather than a Wife.

I

Gentlemen,

Find I have a whole Poffe Comitatus to encounter but I rely fo much upon the Goodness of my Caufe, that without calling in the Affiftance of my Brother-Keepers, without giving my felf the Trouble to repel Numbers by Numbers, I don't queftion but that I am able, in my own fingle Perfon, to maintain the Field against you.

You are divided, Gentlemen, like all other Affemblies, in your Opinions: Some of you feem to favour Marriage, but declare againft Keeping: Some of you denounce War equally against both, and confequently muft fer up for Fornication at large. I make this Inference, because my Charity won't fuffer me to believe that any of you are fuch rank Infidels, as to dif card the Sex by Wholefale. If I thought you had any of that Complexion among you, yet I fhould not think it worth my while to difpute them into better Senfe. 'Tis an old receiv'd Axiom, you know, that contra negantem Principia non eft difputandum,

As for the former Gentlemen, I mean thofe that have fome Refpects for Marriage, but are utter Enemies to Keeping, they would oblige me to prove, that lying at an Inn, where a Man ftays no longer than he finds himself well used, and the Place agreeable, is half fo chargeable or foolish, as ftaying there all one's Life, let the Entertainment be what it will. There are certainly Degrees in Confinement, and the Fleet is not altogether fo Pagan and uncomfortable a Place as Sally or Algiers. Oh! but Imagination governs all thefe Matters. If, as we have frequent Inftances of it in Hiftory, Imagination can kill as effectually as a Blunderbufs loaded with a dozen Bullets, deliver me, I fay, from the Hands of that Tyrant Imagination. But tho' this is Anfier enough to fo trifling an Objection, yet, Gentlemen, I will prove, that there's fomething more than bare Imagination in the Cafe. A Mifs's Patent runs durante bene placito, and the lies eternally at the Mercy of her Patron. A Wife has a Leafe of your Body for Term of Life, and has no fuch Obligations upon her to keep within Bounds. One, like an open Fown, can make no ReAftance, and confequently has no Temptation or Intereft to rebel. A Wife is a Sort of Garrifon, fortify'd by Law and Act of Parliament, which the So vereign can't dismantle when he pleafes. She lies fecure behind that unrighteous Bulwark call' a Ser dement, which is made as strong as the WestminsterHall Engineers can contrive it ; and tho' fhe's never fo plainly convicted of revolting from her lawful Mafter, and holding an Intelligence with the Enemy, the forfeits neither Life nor Limb; nay, can challenge a Subfiftance as long as the lives. This, I think, fhews, with a Witnefs, that there's a vaft Difference between Marriage and Keeping: But, to difmifs this Point, were a Wife never fo fincere, and never fo fubmiffive, yet there's a Duty in the Cafe.. Confider what I fay, Gentlemen, there's Duty in the Cafe, in which fingle Word there's Dulnefs and Im

The

porence