surpriz’d me, was to see two or three in black Gowns among my Enemies.  It was no small Trouble to me, sometimes to have a Man come up to me with an angry Face, and reproach me for having lampooned him, when I had never seen or heard of him in my Life.  With the Ladies it was otherwise:  Many became my Enemies for not being particularly pointed out; as there were others who resented the Satyr which they imagined I had directed against them.  My great Comfort was in the Company of half a Dozen Friends, who, I found since, were the Club which I have so often mentioned in my Papers.  I laughed often at Sir Roger in my Sleep, and was the more diverted with Will Honeycomb’s Gallantries, (when we afterwards became acquainted) because I had foreseen his Marriage with a Farmer’s Daughter.  The Regret which arose in my Mind upon the Death of my Companions, my Anxieties for the Publick, and the many Calamities still fleeting before my Eyes, made me repent my Curiosity; when the Magician entered the Room, and awakened me, by telling me (when it was too late) that he was just going to begin.

N.  B. I have only deliver’d the Prophecy of that Part of my Life which is past, it being inconvenient to divulge the second Part ’till a more proper Opportunity.

* * * * *

No. 605.  Monday, October 11, 1714.  Budgell.

  ’Exuerint sylvestrem animum, cultuque frequenti
  In quascunque voces artes, haud tarda sequentur.’

  Virg.

Having perused the following Letter, and finding it to run upon the Subject of Love, I referred it to the Learned Casuist, whom I have retained in my Service for Speculations of that Kind.  He return’d it to me the next Morning with his Report annexed to it, with both of which I shall here present my Reader.

  Mr. SPECTATOR,

’Finding that you have Entertained an useful Person in your Service in quality of Love-Casuist, [1] I apply my self to you, under a very great Difficulty, that hath for some Months perplexed me.  I have a Couple of humble Servants, one of which I have no Aversion to; the other I think of very kindly.  The first hath the Reputation of a Man of good Sense, and is one of those People that your Sex are apt to Value.  My Spark is reckoned a Coxcomb among the Men, but is a Favourite of the Ladies.  If I marry the Man of Worth, as they call him, I shall oblige my Parents and improve my Fortune; but with my dear Beau I promise my self Happiness, altho’ not a Jointure.  Now I would ask you, whether I should consent to lead my Life with a Man that I have only no Objection to, or with him against whom all Objections to me appear frivolous.  I am determined to follow the Casuist’s Advice, and I dare say he will not put me upon so serious a thing as Matrimony, contrary to my Inclination.’

  I am, &c.

  Fanny Fickle.