fuffered by the Judgment of a Man who fo well understands the true Charms of Eloquence and Poefie. But I direct this Addrefs to you; not that I think I can entertain you with my Writings, but to thank you for the new Delight I have from your Converfation in those of other Men.

MAY you enjoy a long Continuance of the true Relifh of the Happiness Heaven has beftowed upon you. I know not how to say a more affectionate thing to you, than to wish that you may be always what you are; and that you may ever think, as I know you now do, that you have a much larger Fortune than you want. I am,

SIR,

Your mot Obedient, and

moft Humble Servant,

Ifaac BickerЛtaff

THE

TATLER:

BY

Ifaac Bickerstaff, Esq;

VOL. II.

Quicquid agunt Homines noftri Farrago Libelli. The Actions of Mankind are the Subject of my Collections.

N° 51.

Saturday, August 6, 1709.

White's Chocolate-boufe, Auguft 5.
The Hiftory of Orlando the Fair. Chap. II.

ORTUNE being now propitious to the gay Orlando, he dreffed, he spoke, he mov'd as a Man might be fuppofed to do in a Nation of Pygmies, and had an equal Value for our Approbation or Dislike. It is ufual for those, who profefs a Contempt of the World, to fly from it and live in Obfcurity; but Orlando, with a greater Magnanimity, contemn'd it, and appeared in it to tell 'em fo. If therefore his exalted Mien met with an unwelcome Reception, he was fure always to double the Caufe which gave the Diftafte. You fee our Beauties affect a Negligence in the Ornament of their Hair, and adjufting their Head VOL. II. dreffes

B

dreffes, as confcious that they adorn whatever they wear. Orlando had not only this Humour in common with other Beauties, but also had a Neglect whether Things became him, or not, in a World he contemn'd. For this Reafon, a noble Particularity appear'd in all his Oeconomy, Furniture, and Equipage. And to convince the present little Race, how unequal all their Measures were to an Antediluvian, as he called himself, in refpect of the Infects which now appear for Men, he fometimes rode in an open Tumbril, of lefs Size than ordinary, to fhow the Largeness of his Limbs, and the Grandeur of his Ferfonage, to the greater Advantage: At other Seafons, all his Appointments had a Magnificence, as if it were formed by the Genius of Trimalchio of old, which fhewed itself in doing ordinary Things with an Air of Pomp and Grandeur. Orlando therefore called for Tea by Beat of Drum; his Valet got ready to shave him by a Trumpet to Horse; and Water was brought for his Teeth, when the Soundwas changed to Boots and Saddle.

IN all these glorious Exceffes from the common Practice, did the happy Orlando live and reign in an uninterrupted Tranquillity, till an unlucky Accident brought to his Remembrance, that one Evening he was married before he courted the Nuptials of Villaria. Several fatal Memorandums were produced to revive the Memory of this Accident, and the unhappy Lover was for ever banished her Prefence, to whom he owed the Support of his juft Renown and Gallantry. But Diftrefs does not debafe noble Minds ; it only changes the Scene, and gives them new Glory by that Alteration. Orlando therefore now raves in a Garret, and calls to his Neighbour Skies to pity his Dolours, and to find Redress for an unhappy Lover. All high Spirits, in any great Agitation of Mind, are inclin'd to relieve themselves by Toetry: The renowned Porter of Oliver had not more Volumes around his. Cell in the College of Bedlam, than Orlando in his prefent Apartment And though Inferting Poetry in the Midft of Profe be thought a Licence among correct Writers not to be indulged, it is hoped the Neceffity of doing it, to give a juft Idea of the Hero of whom we treat, will plead for the Liberty we fhall

here

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hereafter take, to print Orlando's Soliloquies in Verfe and Profe after the Manner of great Wits, and fuch as those to whom they are near ally'd.

Will's Coffee-houfe, August 5.

A GOOD Company of us were this Day to fee, or rather to hear, an artful Perfon do feveral Feats of Activity with his Throat and Windpipe. The first Thing, wherewith he prefented us, was a Ring of Bells, which he imitated in a most miraculous Manner; after that, he gave us all the different Notes of a Pack of Hounds, to our great Delight and Astonishment. The Company exprefs'd their Applaufe with much Noise; and never was heard fuch a Harmony of Men and Dogs: But a certain plump merry Fellow, from an Angle of the Room, fell a Crowing like a Cock fo ingeniously, that he won our Hearts from the other Operator in an Inftant. As foon as I faw him, I recollected I had feen him on the Stage, and immediately knew it to be Tom. Mirrour, the comical Actor. He immediately addreffed himself to me, and told me, he was furprised to fee a Virtuofo take Satisfaction in any Representations below that of human Life; and asked me, Whether I thought this acting Bells and Dogs was to be confidered under the Notion of Wit, Humour, or Satire? Were it not better, continued he, to have fome particular Picture of Man laid before your Eyes, that might incite your Laughter? He had no fooner fpoke the Word, but he immediately quitted his natural Shape, and talked to me in a very different Air and Tone from what he had used before; upon which, all that fat near us laughed ; but I faw no Distortion in his Countenance,

or any

Thing that appeared to me difagreeable. I afked Pacolet, What meant that fudden Whisper about us? For I could not take the Jeft. He anfwered, The Gentleman you were talking to, affumed your Air and Countenance fo exactly, that all fell a laughing to fee how little you knew yourself, and how much you were enamour'd with your own Image. But that Perfon, (continued my Monitor) if Men would make the right

B 2

ufe

ufe of him, might be as inftrumental to their reforming Errors in Gefture, Language, and Speech, as a Dancing Mafter, Linguift or Orator. You fee he laid yourself before you with so much Address, that you faw nothing particular in his Behaviour: He has so happy a Knack of reprefenting Errors and Imperfections, that you can bear your Faults in him as well as in yourself: He is the first Mimick that ever gave the Beauties, as well as the Deformities, of the Man he acted. What Mr. Dryden faid of a very great Man, may be well applied to him: He is

Not one, but all Mankind's Epitome.

YOU are to know, that this Pantomime may be faid to be a Species of himself: He has no Commerce with the Reft of Mankind, but as they are the Objects of Imitation; like the Indian Fowl, called the Mock-Bird, who has no Note of his own, but hits every Sound in the Wood as foon as he hears it; fo that Mirror is at once a Copy and an Original. Poor Mirrour's Fate (as well as Talent) is like that of the Bird we just now fpoke of; the Nightingale, the Linnet, the Lark, are delighted with his Company; but the Buzzard, the Crow, and the Owl, are obferved to be his mortal Enemies. Whenever Sophronius meets Mirrour, he receives him with Civility and Refpect, and well knows, a good Copy of himself can be no Injury to him; but Bathillus fhuns the Street where he expects to nieet him; for he that knows his every Step and Look is constrained and affected, must be afraid to be rival'd in his Action, and of having it discovered to be unnatural, by its being practifed by another as well as himself.

From my own Apartment, August 5.

LETTERS from Coventry and other Places have been fent to me, in Anfwer to what I have faid in Relation to my Antagonist Mr. Porwell, and advise me, with warm Language, to keep to Subjects more proper for me than fuch high Points. But the Writers of thefe Epiftles mistake the Ufe and Service I propofed