Non satis est pulchra esse poëmata; dulcia sunto ;

and an attention to this circumstance is so important, that, along with some other exertions, it enables the poet and painter, at least, to rival the works of

nature.

No. 25. TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1779.

66

TO THE AUTHOR OF THE MIRROR.

SIR,

"SOME time ago, I troubled you with a letter, giving an account of a particular sort of grievance felt by the families of men of small fortunes, from their acquaintance with those of great ones. I am emboldened, by the favourable reception of my first letter, to write you a second upon the same subject.

"You will remember, Sir, my account of a visit which my daughters paid to a great lady in our neighbourhood, and of the effects which that visit had upon them. I was beginning to hope that time, and the sobriety of manners which home exhibited, would restore them to their former situation, when, unfortunately, a circumstance happened, still more fatal to me than their expedition to

This, Sir, was the honour of a visit from the great lady in return.

"I was just returning from the superintendence of my ploughs in a field I have lately inclosed, when I was met, on the green before my door, by a gen

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tleman, for such I took him to be, mounted upon a very handsome gelding, who asked me, by the appellation of honest friend, if this was not Mr. Homespun's; and, in the same breath, whether the ladies were at home? I told him, my name was Homespun, the house was mine, and my wife and daughters were, I believed, within. Upon this, the young man, pulling off his hat, and begging my pardon for calling me honest, said, he was despatched by Lady with her compliments to Mrs. and Misses Homespun, and that, if convenient, she intended herself the honour of dining with them, on her return from B- park, the seat of another great and rich lady in our neighbourhood.

"I confess, Mr. MIRROR, I was struck somewhat of a heap with the message; and it would not, in all probability, have received an immediate answer, had it not been overheard by my eldest daughter, who had come to the window on the appearance of a stranger. Mr. Papillot,' said she immediately, I rejoice to see you; I hope your lady and all the family are well. Very much at your service, Ma'am,' he replied, with a low bow; my Lady sent me before, with the offer of her best compliments, and that, if convenient'-and so forth, repeating his words to me. 'She does us infinite honour, said my young Madam; let her Ladyship know how happy her visit will make us; but in the mean time, Mr. Papillot, give your horse to one of the servants, and come in and have a glass of something after your ride.' 'I am afraid,' answered he, pulling out his right-hand watch, for, would you believe it, Sir? the fellow had one in each fob, I shall hardly have time to meet my Lady at the place she appointed me.' On a second invitation, however, he dismounted, and went into the house, leaving his horse to the care of the ser

vants; but the servants, as my daughter very well knew, were all in the fields at work; so I, who have a liking for a good horse, and cannot bear to see him neglected, had the honour of putting Mr. Papillot's in the stable myself.

After about an hour's stay, for the gentleman seemed to forget his hurry within doors, Mr. Papillot departed. My daughters, I mean the two polite ones, observed how handsome he was; and added another observation, that it was only to particular friends my Lady sent messages by him, who was her own body servant, and not accustomed to such offices. My wife seemed highly pleased with this last remark: I was about to be angry; but on such occasions it is not my way to say much; I generally shrug up my shoulders in silence; yet, as I said be fore, Mr. MIRROR, I would not have you think me hen-pecked.

"By this time, every domestic about my house, male and female, were called from their several employments to assist in the preparations for her Ladyship's reception. It would tire you to enumerate the various shifts that were made, by purchasing, borrowing, &c. to furnish out a dinner suitable to the occasion. My little gray poney, which I keep for sending to market, broke his wind in the cause, and has never been good for any thing since.

"Nor was there less ado in making ourselves and our attendants fit to appear before such company. The female part of the family managed the matter pretty easily; women, I observe, having a natural talent that way. My wife took upon herself the charge of apparelling me for the occasion, A laced suit, which I had worn at my marriage, was got up for the purpose; but the breeches burst a seam at the very first attempt of pulling them

on, and the sleeves of the coat were also impracticable; so she was forced to content herself with clothing me in my Sunday's coat and breeches, with the laced waistcoat of the above-mentioned suit, slit in the back, to set them off a little. My gardener, who has been accustomed, indeed, to serve in many capacities, had his head cropped, curled, and powdered, for the part of the butler; one of the best-looking ploughboys had a yellow cape clapped to his Sunday's coat, to make him pass for a servant in livery; and we borrowed my son-inlaw the parson's man for a third hand.

"All this was accomplished, though not without some tumult and disorder, before the arrival of the great lady. She gave us, indeed, more time for the purpose than we looked for, as it was near six o'clock before she arrived. But this was productive of a misfortune on the other hand; the dinner my poor wife had bustled, sweated, and scolded for, was so over-boiled, over-stewed, and over-roasted, that it needed the appetite of so late an hour to make it go well down even with me, who am not very nice in these matters: luckily her Ladyship, as I am told, never eats much, for fear of spoiling her shape, now that small waists have come into fashion again.

"The dinner, however, though spoiled in the cooking, was not thrown away, as her Ladyship's train made shift to eat the greatest part of it. When I say her train, I do not mean her servants only, of which there were half a dozen in livery, besides the illustrious Mr. Papillot, and her Ladyship's maid, gentlewoman I should say, who had a table to themselves. Her parlour attendants were equally numerous, consisting of two ladies and six gentlemen, who had accompanied her Ladyship in this excursion, and did us the honour of coming to eat and drink with us, and bringing their servants to do the

same, though we had never seen or heard of them before.

"During the progress of this entertainment, there were several little embarrassments which might appear ridiculous in description, but were matters of serious distress to us. Soup was spilled, dishes overturned, and glasses broken, by the awkwardness of our attendants; and things were not a bit mended by my wife's solicitude, who, to do her justice, had all her eyes about her, to correct them.

"From the time of her Ladyship's arrival, it was impossible that dinner could be over before it was dark; this, with the consideration of the bad road she had to pass through in her way to the next house she meant to visit, produced an invitation from my wife and daughters to pass the night with us; which, after a few words of apology for the trouble she gave us, and a few more of the honour we received, was agreed to. This gave rise to a new scene of preparation, rather more difficult than that before dinner. My wife and I were dislodged from our own apartment, to make room for our noble guest. Our four daughters were crammed in by us, and slept on the floor, that their rooms might be left for the two ladies and four of the gentlemen who were entitled to the greatest degree of respect; for the remaining two, we found beds at my son-in-law's. My two eldest daughters had, indeed, little time to sleep, being closetted the greatest part of the night with their right honourable visitor. My offices were turned topsy-turvy for the accommodation of the servants of my guests, and my own horses turned into the fields, that theirs might occupy my stable.

All these are hardships of their kind, Mr. MIRROR, which the honour that accompanies them seems to me not fully to compensate; but these are slight grievances, in comparison with what I have to com