Chapter VIII: Part 8

£ _s._ _d._
By father 0 17 0
By Mother 0 13 6
By Grandmother 1 19 6
By S^r James and my Lady 2 18 0
By Cousen Betty 0 12 0
By S^r Stephen 0 11 0
By Brother 0 16 0
By Uncle & Aunt 0 03 0
By Sisters 0 13 6
Hog Money & old Coate 0 06 0
By several 0 04 6
By y^e Box Money of y^e first 1/2 of my time 0 18 6
By y^e King's Entry 0 03 0
By Aunt Wikes 0 02 6
By father more 0 09 0
By my Lady more 0 10 0
------
16 01 0

7_s._ 6_d._ I had given me more not sett down because layd out
againe In Tokens.

The private accounts are only entered in detail for one half the time of his apprenticeship, and with one or two additions may be all summed up under the following heads:--'Fruit: Necessarys: Lost in wagers and other wayes: on y^e Poore: Spent with kindred and acquaintance: Tokens: & given.'

The regularity with which the accounts are kept is only equalled by the remarkable steadiness of his expenditure; the first and third years showing an outlay of exactly _£_1, 2s. each, whilst the second and fourth each run to precisely _£_2. Perhaps it will be most interesting to examine the four years side by side.

1^{st} Year. 2^{nd} Year. 3^{rd} Year. 4^{th} Year.
_s. d._ _s. d._ _s. d._ _s. d._
In fruit 6 10-1/2 8 0 7 5 7 5
Necessarys 1 1-1/2 2 9 1 9 2 6
Lost in wagers & }
other wayes } 2 1 1 6 2 7 11
On Y^e Poore 1 6 2 6 1 7 1 2
Spent with Kindred }
& acquaintance } 4 1-1/2 6 8 4 6 15 0
Tokens -- 13 8 -- 11 6
Given -- 1 9 4 2 0 6

The additional expenses are unnoteworthy with the exception of 'A Key to a Pen,' which certainly arouses curiosity; the price of the key was one shilling, but its size, shape, and use remain a mystery to us.

The next page or two are filled with desultory memoranda of small sums received in the form of 'tips,' and ending up with these two statements:

This being Sept^r y^e 29^{th} 1699 I find I have spent this first
half of my time on my own charges 06_l._ 4_s._ 00_d._.

Spent on my own acc^t in y^e 7 years 19_l._ 15_s._ 9_d._

One is tempted to speculate as to what form his greater extravagance during the second half of his time took, but on this point the book is silent.

The apprenticeship ended in the early part of 1703, but John apparently stayed on in the same business for several years afterwards at a weekly wage of £5. That this did not constitute his entire income is clear from a page of his diary, which records: 'Father rec^d of Jos. Atkins for my rent Dew at Lady Day 1701, 16_l._ 13_s._ 00_d._ taxes being Deducted'; and again, after more references to Jos. Atkins: 'Rec^d of my tenant in all 64_l._ 17_s._ being 2 years rent due att Michaelmas 1703.'

We do not find any references either in the diary or the accounts to the time when the young man began to think of taking to himself a wife, but his income at the high value of money in those days would now be quite sufficiently large to enable him to do so, and some time within the next three years he wooed and won his bride. Of the nature of that wooing one would gladly learn a little more, for even with the help of a decided love-letter written to his mistress within six months of their marriage we cannot divine much. How this letter (probably only one amongst many of a like nature) ever fell again into the hands of its original writer, to be placed by him in the pocket of the little account-book, we are unable to say; but there it is, yellow and stained with age, and worn with much folding and refolding. It is written on the thin, rough, large square note-paper of the period, sealed with a monogram and elaborately addressed on the back:

For Mrs. Lydia Durrant att
Mr. Henry Woodgate's in
Goudhurst
Kent
By Stone Crouch Bag

The letter is so short and so quaint that I transcribe the whole.

I gladly embrace y^s first opportunity to tell you dearest M^{dm}
y^t I arrived Safe in towne y^s evening with a great deal of ease
both to my horse & self; The Roads I found much better than by way
of Tunbridge & Weather Thanks be to God pretty favourable, My
greatest trouble was to think y^e nearer I was to my journeys End,
y^t I was still y^e farther from y^r Dear Self. Do me so much
Justice M^{dm} as to believe y^t it is impossible for me to have
any interest or concern nearer my heart then you & I am sorry so
great a truth and pure cannot be expressed in other Words then such
as sometimes are forced to serve y^e profane use of Complements. I
wish it were any way in my power & I hope it will 'ere long, to
shew y^e true affection I have for you & I value myself upon y^e
opportunity I promise myself of shortly kissing y^r hand. I have
not mett with father as yett but trust I shall tomorrow morning.
Y^r letters to Hackney shall be delivered with care and speed. I
beg M^{rs} Woodgate's acceptance of y^e oranges designed her y^s
week by Caryer, I shall rejoice to hear y^e little one is come safe
to towne & Aunt in a way of recovery but above all to hear of y^r
good health w^{ch} will be an infinite joy. If you did believe or
could Imagine how great a refreshment a letter from you would
afford me at this melancholy distance you would not faile to write
by the first post, & y^e hopes I conceive you will do so support me
under y^e misfortune of y^r absence. It is late so adding my humble
service to Unkle's & M^r Paris's family with a thousand thanks
shall extend this no farther than y^e subscribing myself with a
most sincere and hearty affection

M^{dm} y^r most humble admirer
JOHN PAYNE.

March 12^{th} 170-5/6 Fetter Lane.

'My greatest trouble was to think the nearer I was to my journeys End, that I was still the farther from your Dear Self'--that is a very prettily turned sentence, and yet with a ring about it which sounds straight from the heart. Throughout the whole letter, indeed, there is a delightful simplicity and homeliness which even the stilted phraseology of the period cannot quite spoil, and which tempts us to think that when the 'melancholy distance' (of some thirty miles) no longer kept the lovers apart, John may possibly have greeted his lady just a little more warmly than with that respectful touch of her hand which was all that epistolary conventions allowed him to propose to himself. At any rate his suit prospered, for in the middle of his pocket-book we come across two pages of diary pure and simple which show us that just five months after his letter the wished-for opportunity of showing his 'true affection' was granted by his marriage with Mistress Lydia Durrant in September of the same year. Immediately following this record of his entrance 'into y^e holy state of Matrimony, Sept. 4, 1706,' we have the beginning of his household accounts. On the credit side they run as follows:

Rec^d Sept. 27^{th}, 1706-- £ _s._ _d._
4 weeks money from Shop 20 00 0
5 weeks do. Nov. 2^d 25 0 0
Rec^{d.} Fa[ther] pr. Bro^{r.} Woodford 20 0 0
Rec^{d.} Brother Woodford more than layed out 2 11 0
Nov. 16. 2 weeks' money 10 00 0
-- 23. 1 week's money 5 0 0
Dec. 7. 2 weeks' money 10 0 0
Jan. 18. 6 weeks' money 30 00 0
Jan. 25. 1 week's money 5 00 0
--------
127 11 0

The debit side is evidently headed by expenses in connection with the wedding, and it would appear that, when John had brought his wife to town, the young couple finished the furnishing of their house together.

Sept^r 29, 1706. £ _s._ _d._
P^d for hatt 1 11 00
Other small things 0 10 00
Mantle pr. glass 2 10 00
Wife 2 10 --
Charges of journey 6 9 00
P^d Father for house 6 15 00
P^d for Chaires 4 8 00
2 Kill^s Beere 0 10 00
Wife for house 2 6 00
Self for Pockett 1 00 00
Glasses 12_s._ 6_d._, Table 8_s._ 1 00 06
Chest of Drawers & Do. 3 16 00

Nov. 18^{th}.
Wife for house 2 00 00
Linen 5 6 00
Shoes 9_s._, house 2_l._ 2 9 00
Knives 30_s._ 1 10 00
Months Rent, Board, & Serv^{ts} wages to Mich^{ms} 9 17 6
P^d wife for house 2 00 00
Linen for Ditto 3 00 6
Butt^r, Cheese, & Bacon 1 12 6
W. Clark, Upholster 10 12 6
W. Litchfeilds Bill 5 2 00
House 6 weeks 12 00 00
P^d for Plate & Spoons 12 5 6
P^d Cheesemonger, S^t Martins 2 0 0
House 2_l._, Handk. & Muz. 31_s._ 3 11 00
--------
106 12 00

On the next page we have a reference to Sarah's wages, which were £2, 3s., but as no dates are given we are unable to decide whether this represents three or six months' hire.

We now begin to notice that besides 'wife for house,' there is another entry of 'wife for self,' which occurs pretty often, 'wife' receiving from two to three pounds at once, and finally she receives five pounds for her 'occassions,' a mysterious allusion which is perhaps explained by a reference later on to 'Parson and Clark, 13_s._ 3_d._,' and 'Cradle and Baskitt, 11_s._ 6_d._' Turning to the 'Diary,' we have the simple record of the birth, and sad to say the death, of his first child:

My Dear first child was born y^e 23^{rd} of June, 1707, about 10 in
y^e forenoon.

Christened by y^e name of Eliz. y^e 25 of y^e same month, & dyed
y^e 19^{th} of July following about 11 at night, & lyes in y^e
vault in S^t Voster's, Lond^n.

With the birth of the child the household expenses increase, and we find in addition to 'House 2_l._' further expenses, which are noted down as 'extraordinary,' but soon cease to be looked upon as anything but ordinary.

The household seems to have been kept up on a fairly large scale, for we have mention of a 'Kate' and a 'Betsy' who also receive wages as well as 'Sarah'; but it is evident from the other side of the page that the wife's father lived with the young people and kept his own manservant, paying them for board two sums of £47, 10s. within the twelve months. Items for wine and beer are very common, one brewer's bill for six months being ten pounds! It is difficult to guess what became of the money allowed for 'House,' since the master paid servants' wages, and bills for wine, beer, coals, groceries, house-linen, butcher, butter-man, and taxes! His wife's allowance also was very liberal, and at various times he pays for the following items besides: 'For Wife's Scarf, 2_l._ 10_s._ 0_d._; Wife's Callico, 1_l._ 7_s._; Wife's Silk, 6_l._ 10_s._ 00_d._; Wife, for tippet, 4_l._ 6_s._ 00_d._'; in fact, according to his own showing, he appears to have given his wife ample means of providing both for the house and herself, and then to have paid all her bills as well!

Under date October 1708, we come across evidence of the arrival of another child to replace the one too soon lost. This time 'Parson and Clark' head the list, receiving 13s. 3d.; 'Gossiping money' comes to £1. 2s. 6d.; 'Coates for child, 1_l._ 1_s._ 6_d._'; 'Midwife and Nurse, 3_l._ 4_s._ 6_d._,' and the Diary says:

My second child John was born Oct^r 13^{th}, 1708, & was baptised
y^e Sabbath Day following by W. Benj^n. Ibbatt.

There is still another record of the birth of a daughter, who, like the first, lived but a few days.

My daughter Ann was born Nov^r y^e 12^{th}, 1709, & Dyed y^e
19^{th} Ditto.

After this the regular accounts stop, as does also the Diary, but from stray notes scattered through the book there would appear to have been born yet another daughter who survived infancy, but whose health must have given cause for anxiety. Thus in February 1716, we read: 'P^d Nurse Patch fifteen Pounds twelve shillings in full for nursing and boarding my Daughter to the 20^{th} of this Instant February.' And again, in February 1720, the child and nurse were evidently sent on a long visit to Huntingdon to Grandmother Payne: 'P^d Mother Feb^{ry} y^e 16^{th}, 17-20/1, Thirty seaven Pounds fourteen shillings & 6_d._ in full for Butter, Interest, Child, and Maide's board and wages and all acc^{ts}.'

After November 1709 there are no more regular house-accounts, and the little book is used principally for jotting down moneys received and larger sums paid out to his mother and sisters. The shop also ceases to be mentioned, and we have numerous entries of rents paid by tenants in Huntingdon;--indeed it would seem that soon after the death of his wife's father, which occurred in June 1709, John Payne left London and went down to manage his estates in Huntingdon, where he seems to have been in possession of about £1000 per annum in landed property, chiefly consisting of small farms let to tenants at from £20 to £50 per annum. Out of this property, however, he has to pay quarterly dividends to his mother and sister Anna, though their income, like that of most widows and unmarried daughters of the time, was very small and could form no great burden on the estate. At what period John Payne again left his country house to mix once more in London business life, whether he was personally connected with the bank or only lent his money and his name, or whether indeed he ever was one of the founders or left that honour to his son John, is all a matter of conjecture; yet one closes the quaint little old book with feelings of regret, and would fain follow its owner a little further. The last date is 1726, when he must still have been a comparatively young man.

* * * * *

The publication of this little article had the pleasant result of enabling the writer to restore the Pocket-Book to a descendant of the original owner. Further notes on some of the persons mentioned will be found in a 'Sequel' contributed by Mr. John Orlebar Payne to the next number (that for April 1889) of 'Longman's Magazine.'

WHY MEN DON'T MARRY[30]

AN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ANSWER

(BY ALICE POLLARD)

[30] From 'Longman's Magazine,' by leave of the publishers.

The title of this article is not of my own choosing. It was fore-ordained for me some time back by the rather excited correspondents of a daily newspaper, which opened its columns to as many solutions of the riddle as ingenuity could devise. It may fairly be objected that the riddle is no riddle at all, but rather belongs to the class of question-begging queries of which 'How long have you ceased beating your mother?' is the most famous example. As a matter of fact, most men _do_ marry, and it seems, therefore, unreasonable to be asked to explain why they don't. But on this one point my sex is perhaps a little unreasonable. Women have never acquiesced wholeheartedly in Mr. Stevenson's assertion that though the ideal woman is a wife the ideal man is a bachelor, and so long as even a small minority of men of presentable appearance and some visible means of subsistence persist in denying themselves a man's highest privilege, the problem will doubtless continue to be stated in the sweeping form which I here adopt.

The most hardened offenders are undoubtedly the members of a single class: pleasant young fellows, with an income of three or four hundred a year and no prospect of increasing it. A bachelor with £400 a year, if he live within it, persists in regarding himself as a miracle of economy, but with even the smallest gift of husbandry is probably as rich as any man in the kingdom. To marry on the same £400 means a terrible falling-off in the standard of comfort, and the one luxury which these pleasant fellows religiously deny themselves is that of a wife.

The story is not a new one, and the other day, in looking over some pamphlets in a great library, I came across a thin quarto, entitled, 'The Batchelor's Estimate of the Expences of a Married Life In a Letter to a Friend. Being an Answer to a Proposal of Marrying a Lady with 2000_l._ Fortune.' The date of the pamphlet is 1729, and in it the situation is set forth with so much circumstance, and in so engaging a manner, that I thought there might be some readers who would care to spend a few minutes in looking at it with me.

A gentleman, himself a married man, having a relation a spinster of a marriageable age, and possessing also the, for those days, by no means despicable fortune of £2000, has proposed to a bachelor friend to negotiate a marriage between them.

The bachelor has no innate objection to marriage as such--on the contrary, he looks upon it as 'an agreeable state'; but he cannot 'at present accept the proposal' because 'the following necessary expenses arise so frequently and so openly to his view' that they deter him from considering marriage as possible.

Up to the present time he has lived in chambers at the moderate rent of £12, 10s. per annum. But so impressed is he with the probable requirements of a lady with the 'handsome Fortune' of £2000, that he sees himself at once obliged to secure a house with a rental of £50.

As a bachelor in chambers he has been lucky enough to escape all 'Church, Window and Poor's Taxes, Payments to Rector, Reader and Lecturer, Water Rates, Trophy Money,[31] Militia, Lamp, Scavengers, Watch, Constable, etc.' As a married man he calculates that for these things alone he will be mulcted to the extent of 'at least' £9 per annum.

[31] Trophy money was a duty paid by householders for providing the
militia with harness, drums, colours, etc.

Our friend was, we presume, in the habit of taking his morning cup of coffee at a coffee-house. Now he sees in imagination not only his own and his wife's daily supply of coffee to be provided, but he pictures the innumerable 'dishes of tea' which will be consumed by her and her maids, not to mention the additional quantity for gossips and card parties. Thus, 'Tea, Coffee, Chocolate, Sugar, Spirits and Fresh Supply of China will cost 12_l._ per annum.' We are tempted to inquire what proportion of this sum must be set aside for 'spirits' and broken crockery, and why, indeed, there should be any connection between them, unless tea-drinkings in the early part of the eighteenth century were too often modelled on the style of a certain famous one known to readers of Dickens.

The consideration of tea, this being essentially a domestic article, leads our bachelor to the question of servants. For his own use he has been content with the services of a bedmaker, to whom he gave 50s. a year. He forgets to add an unknown sum to pay for the waste, impositions, and perquisites inseparable from a bedmaker's existence. In the future the dignity of a citizen, a householder, and a married man has to be supported, and the weight of this can only be sustained by a staff of 'two Maid-servants and a Man'--the man to be in livery. Yet even these luxuries will not cost him such a very large sum, since he reckons to procure them all, livery included, for an additional £17, 10s. per annum--_i.e._ £20 in all.

We are next let into his confidence with regard to the proper amount of entertainment he will think it fit and necessary to allow his wife. She must certainly go to the play, but a lady of independent fortune, the mistress of a grand house and a servant in livery, cannot be expected to walk out in evening-dress, so a coach or chair must be provided for her conveyance, and for the hire of these he makes a yearly computation of £3, 10s. 'Her expenses at these Diversions' (which included, doubtless, entrance fees and refreshments) would amount to another £3, 10s. As a staid and steady bachelor not given (as he tells us later on) to 'sauntering at Coffee-Houses' or playing at hazard, he has been content with going to the play about once a year, but now, as 'it would not be proper she should go alone,' this exemplary husband will even sacrifice his own inclinations, and, obeying the call of duty, attend his wife at a cost of £1, 10s. a year! Not only is he considerate in the matter of providing for his wife's pleasures, but he seems to us decidedly liberal in the matter of pin-money, as he sets aside £30 for her personal expenses.

Coals and candles weigh heavily on his mind. His landlady has hitherto kept him sufficiently warm for an annual 40s. (coals must have been much cheaper, landladies less of harpies, or the winters much milder in those days!), but in his new establishment coals and candles will run up to the large sum of £15.

His bachelor dinners have cost him an average of 10s. per week; when married he must still dine, and even divert himself with 'evening expenses' common both to married men and bachelors, so that instead of a modest £25 for dinners he will now have to pay the following yearly bills:

£ _s._ _d._
The Butcher 35 00 00
" Poulterer 06 00 00
" Fishmonger 07 00 00
" Herb-Woman 05 00 00
" Oylman 05 00 00
" Baker 08 00 00
" Brewer 10 00 00
" Grocer 06 00 00
" Confectioner 02 00 00
" Cheesemonger 04 00 00
Wine, Cyder, etc., at a moderate computation 30 00 00
The Fruiterer 01 10 00
The Milk-Woman 01 00 00
Salt, Small-coal, Rotten-stone, Brick-dust,
Sand, Oat-meal, Whiteing and many other
little Ingredients in House-Keeping I am
ignorant of 02 00 00

This detailed calculation over, we again catch a glimpse of the man's personality and his conception of what is due from him towards a wife. 'If my Wife pleases me, as I do not doubt but your Relation will, (I know my own Temper so well in that Respect that) I shall be often making her Presents of either Rings, Jewels, Snuff-Boxes, Watch, Tweezers, some Knick-Knacks, and Things of that Nature, in which, one Year with another, I am sure I shall spend 5_l._' After this it occurs to him that he has left out one important source of expense which he 'least wishes for,' but which 'happens in most Families'--that is, the fees of doctor and apothecary, which will, he fears, average £5 per annum.

'As for Children, we may reasonably expect one in every two Years, if not oftener.' Reckoning the 'Expence of Lying-Inne, Child-Linen, Midwife, Nurses, Caudles, Possets, Cradle, Christenings, etc.,' the annual expense consequent on being a family man will be £15. But the initial expense is not all: 'Nursing, Maintaining, Education, Cloathes, Schooling,' and--here, surely, we have found the prototype of Mr. Walter Besant's ideal father--providing an endowment or fortune for each child will require a sum of £30 per annum; and he is 'satisfied' that he has stated a sum 'vastly less' than is likely to prove needful in the end--a foreboding in which he was certainly justified, for of payments for school and 'cloathing,' now as then, there is no end!

Having provided himself in imagination with wife, house, servants, and children, our far-seeing friend suddenly remembers that his dignity and respectability will require to be supported by a seat in church, so we find an entry, 'Pew in Church,' £2. This is followed, although we cannot trace the connection, by an estimate of £8 per annum for 'Washing his wife's and the Family Linen,' and we wonder how laundresses managed to live in those days. But so far the house is not furnished, and an initial £350 must be found for that. Fifty pounds is to go for plate alone, 'without which, being so moderate a Quantity, I daresay my wife, nor indeed should I myself be satisfied.' This £350 he calmly proposes to deduct from his wife's fortune, reducing it, therefore, to £1650.

This £1650, placed out at 5 per cent. interest, will bring in an income of £82, but the cautious bachelor says 5 per cent. is not likely to continue, therefore he will reckon interest at 4 per cent. only, and at this rate the wife's fortune will produce an income of only £56. He then proceeds to show that, adding together the foregoing items, he will have to spend on his wife £215, or even £231, 10s., 'above the Income of the Fortune she brings, besides the Hazard and want of certainty for the Money, which ought to be considered.'

And now the pamphlet draws to an end, with a conclusion we will give in the writer's own words:

'These Things considered (and he that marries without previous
Consideration acts very indiscreetly), I do not see how I can marry
a Woman with the Fortune you propose, or that I should better
myself at all by it, and in Prudence, People should do so or let it
alone; (not that I propose or think to have more) I must therefore
live single, though with some regret that I cannot do otherwise,
and increase my own Fortune, which happens to be sufficient for my
own Maintenance till (if I may so call it) I can afford Matrimony.

'I wish the Lady all Happiness and a better Husband, and if it be
for her Satisfaction, one who has thought less of the Matter; not
but that I have a very good Opinion of Matrimony, and think of it
with Pleasure, as hoping one time or other to enter into its Lists,
but I now wait with Patience till my Circumstances or Thought vary.
One Thing I would not have you mistaken in, is, that I do not mean,
that your Relation will be thus expensive to me, more than any
other, only that whenever I marry, let her be who she will, I must
necessarily (if She has no more Fortune than you propose) expend
considerably more than 200_l._ a year on her, above the Income of
her Fortune, and at present I cannot persuade myself to be at so
great an Expense, for the value of trying a dangerous Experiment,
whether the Pleasures of Matrimony are yearly worth that Sum.'

And all this is submitted to the proposer by his 'Obliged and Humble Servant.'

The whole question of marriage, with its arguments for and against, seems to have been as engrossing a topic amongst English men and women in the early part of the eighteenth century as it certainly is with us now, and the bachelor's pamphlet brought forward at least two replies, which we found bound up with the original. One of these, purporting to be by the lady herself, and signed 'Philogamia,' may be dismissed in a few words; its arguments are neither serious nor to the point, and such wit as there is is of a low order, and too much in the _tu quoque_ style to be amusing. The second rejoinder is by the 'Woman's Advocate,' and is probably not, as it pretends, written by a man on behalf of women in general, but rather by an irritated member of the weaker sex, who finds herself and her fellows insulted _en masse_ by the bachelor's refusal to marry one of them.

The 'Advocate' takes the various items of the 'Batchelor's Estimate' one by one, and proceeds to demolish them to the best of her ability, sometimes with a certain degree of success, due, we fancy, to the more intimate knowledge of housekeeping details naturally possessed by a woman. She at once attacks him on the subject of house-rent, and with truly feminine malice reminds him how she has often heard him praise a friend's house rented at £24, and declare that he 'could wish for nothing better.' This rather reminds us of a young lady who advocated the claims of a somewhat uninteresting young man by saying he would make 'such a delightful brother-in-law.'

Has not our sex, too, been accused, with some degree of justice, of practising little meannesses, and does not the 'Woman's Advocate's' confession that she 'has lived 10 years in one Parish and never paid a penny to the Church' smack slightly of this feminine vice?

She goes on to say: 'To the Rector you will give 6_d._ as an Easter offering--to the Lecturer what you please. Trophy-money is but 6_d._ per annum. You need not join the Militia. Lamp, Scavenger, and Watch seldom amount to thirty shillings, and as for the Constable's Tax, I never heard of such a thing in my Life.' So the £9 is reduced to £2.

On the estimate for servants, especially for the footman in livery, the 'Woman's Advocate' pours great scorn. 'A man in livery forsooth! Have the two maids so little to do that you must e'en employ a man to play with 'em?'

But it is perhaps in her attack on the actual house-keeping estimates that the 'Woman's Advocate' is at her best. She does not always assign her reasons, but boldly makes such statements as the following: 'Your Butcher's Bill is over-rated at least one Third. Your Poulterer's and Fishmonger's more than two Thirds. As for the Herb-Woman you have overtopt her with a Vengeance; Twelve pence a week is more than enough for greens etc., _and besides_' (does not this bear some resemblance to the traditional postscript?) '_half the year but few sorts are in Season_.' There is more banter about greenstuff and salads, during which the bachelor is taunted with being 'a meer Frenchman to eat seven Pounds per annum in Salads,' and with 'outdoing the Italians in oiling it,' and is, moreover, advised to buy his oil direct from the ship instead of from the tavern, thereby effecting a saving of 10s. per quart!--a hint we should imagine well worth carrying out.

Words fail the 'Advocate' in which to pour sufficient contempt on the estimates for grocer and confectioner: 'If you are sweet-Tooth'd,' she says, 'I will allow you now and then a Pennyworth of Sugar-Plumbs, but think 40_s._ per annum in that kind of Trash too much for a Person of your Years and Frugality; and I could really wish, for your own Sake, you had omitted that Article in your Estimate.'

The mention of the doctor's and apothecary's fees, which he 'least desired,' gives the 'Advocate' a final opportunity for crushing her victim, and will serve as a very fair example of her style of rejoinder throughout the whole answer when she is not dealing with concrete materials: 'I believe you wish for no one Article of Expence; could you have a Wife that would wear no Cloathes, eat no Victuals, bear no Children, never be sick, and bring you 2 or 3,000_l._, the more the better, I suppose your self-conceited Worship would marry, who imagine, no doubt, you merit a Fortune of 50, nay, 100,000_l._ To conclude I pronounce Bachelors the Vermin of a State. They enjoy the Benefits of Society but contribute not to its charge, and sponge upon the Publick, without making the least return. Had I any Power in the Legislature, you should not only be punished for Mischievous Libel, but all Batchelors above the age of Thirty should be double Tax'd.'

Edinburgh: Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE

[ Transcriber's Notes:

Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained except in obvious cases of typographical error:

"...is a (familar -->) familiar feature in mediæval art..."

"...the zeal of (Phinehas -->) Phineas in..."

"...and there (aret wo -->) are two more..."

"...picture by (Verrochio -->) Verrocchio in Or S. Michele,..."

"...and in the 'Rudimenta Grammatices' of (Donatu -->) Donatus
1493,..."

"...his R (represensing -->) representing Lot,..."

"...One Missal was printed at (Basle -->) Basel,..."

"...Caxton, had (introdnced -->) introduced printing into
England,..."

"...it is only in Great (Britian -->) Britain and..."

"...that manuscripts of literary (inportance -->) importance
begin..."

"...be so eager to (ie -->) lie here,..."

"...in reference to the (Autor's -->) Author's name..."

"...bears the (initals -->) initials, 'W.P.,'..."

"...combined with a (manuscipt -->) manuscript note,..."

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