or women. any thing lovely in it, wit only was capable of making a lafting impreffion on him, either in men All his miftreffes were famous for `vivacity of genius, and though there might be then, as well as now, fome heavy headed courtiers about him, yet those with whom he paffed his private hours, were all men of moft elevated capacities. THE love of ingenious converfation defcended from the throne to every thing beneath; and if that age might be called an age of too much gallantry, as doubtless it was, there was a certain delicacy in amours, which cannot be alledged in favour of the prefent.-This is faid by perfons, who are least inclined to palliate vice, and cannot be suspected of partiality to one period of time, any more than to another. "I Do not know how it is," said a friend of mine, who in his youth, I fuppofe, might be of the gay world, "but the men of thefe days are ftrangely happy: in my time a fine woman was not to "be gained without a long application, and a thou"fand teftimonies of an unfeigned and constant "regard; but now a game of romps, or a lucky run "at cards, reduces the vanquished fair to accept of "what conditions the conqueror is pleafed to give." How wifely did the ancients affign two Cupids. of fuch different natures, to prefide over amorous affairs!The one all tenderness and truth, inspiring no inordinate defires, but meek, humble, and aiming at the fatisfaction of the object beloved; the other rampant, prefuming, regarding only felf-gratification, and trampling under foot all confiderations that offer to oppofe it. CAN CAN our sex then, whofe characteristic is foftnefs and gentlenefs, prefer the latter to the former, and forego even nature! Surely no, if midnight ricts drown not all reflection, or fome fatal exigence render it of no force. I REMEMBER to have feen in a library belonging to one of my relations, a little book, intitled, The Card of Fancy; it was, I believe, one of the firft effays of printing in England, and both the characters and language fo obfolete, that it was fcarce intelligible to the modern reader. Perhaps the very being fo, heightened my curiofity; and my extreme defire, feconded by the fkill of the owner of the library, made me in a little time able to comprehend the contents; which were a collection of several remarkable little hiftories, with proper remarks on each, which ferved as a kind of moral to direct the reader how to make his own improvement of the paffages he found there. THERE were feveral pompous accounts of the tilts and tournaments of former times made in honour of our fex, and what wonderful things love enabled his votaries to perform in the prefence of their mistresses; especially if they were honoured with a scarf, ribbon, or glove, wherewith to ornament their helmet; but there was one which above all the reft took my humour, as I thought it more displayed the power of that little deity, which once made a great noise in the world, than any had ever heard or read of. Some of those who think the FEMALE SPECTATOR worth their perufal, may poffibly be as well pleafed with it as I was, and in that hope I take the liberty of prefenting it as a great curiosity. I A FORMER A FORMER effay of mine has mentioned, on a different occafion, one Jeffery Rudel, a young nobleman of Provence, a fine country now appertaining to France, but formerly a feoff of the empire. The book, from which I took the narrative I am about to give, describes him as one of the handsomest and most polite perfons of the age he lived in. King Richard the first of England, who, for his undaunted spirit, was firnamed Cœur de Lyon, having paffed fome part of his youth in Provence, became exceedingly intimate with him; and when he came to the crown, fent to intreat he would not forget their former friendfhip fo far as not to make him a vifit. Jeffery Rudel accepted the invitation, came over, and was the first that revived poetry in England, after it had lain dormant feveral hundred years. There are verfes of his compofing ftill extant in the hands of some of the ancient nobility and gentry of this kingdom; and Mr. Rhymer tells us, that there are many more in the library of the Grand Duke of Tufcany. WHEN king Richard made his crufade in the Holy Land, this Jeffery went with him, and proved himself no less a hero in the time of battle, than he was a courtier in the time of peace. He was a prifoner with that prince in Germany, when on his return from fighting the battles of Chrift, he was seized by the treacherous Duke of Austria and detained three whole years for so exorbitant a ranfom as scarce the whole wealth of England could discharge; an obligation to the houfe of Auftria, which many ages had caufe to remember! but time erafes all things, and we are a forgiving people. This however is not to the purpose of my hiftory, the prefent defcendant of that family will doubt doubtless make atonement for all the injuries offered to us by her predeceffors, as well as amply recompenfe the favours fhe in perfon has received. LIBERTY at last regained, he came not with the king of England, but paffed into Bretagne, the inheritance of prince Geoffry, brother to Coeur de Lyon, and who was father to that unhappy Arthur, who loft his life in the ufurpation of his uncle John. There did he hear fuch wonders of thebeauty, wit, learning, and virtue of the countefs of Tripoly, that he became more truly enamoured of her character than is common in our days for men to be with the moft perfect original, that nature ever framed, or art improved. NEITHER his friendship for prince Geoffry, nor the perfuafions of the nobility of Bretagne, by whom he was extremely respected and beloved, could prevail on him to stay any longer there.-He hired a veffel, and with the first fair wind fet fail for Tripoly. BUT though his paffion made him thus obftinately bent to forfake all that befides was dear to him in the world, and run fuch hazards for the fight of the beloved object, yet his good fense sometimes remonstrated to him, that the adventure he undertook, had in it fomething romantic, and the uncertainty how he might be received on his arrival filled him with the most terrible agitations. To alleviate the melancholy he was in, during his long voyage, he poured out the overflowing of his foul in many odes and fonnets; but as they VOL. II. P were were all in the Provençal tongue, I forbear to transcribe them; only to fhew in what manner the poets of those days wrote, will give my readers one, as I find it tranflated into English by Mr. Rymer. I. Sad and heavy fhould I part, But for this love fo far away! Not knowing what my ways may thwart, II. Thou that of all things Maker art, III. How true a love to pure defert, Eas'd once, a thousand times I fmart, IV. Nonether love, none other dart |