by wiser Judgment; but the Danger is, and especially among the Female Sex, into what Hands this Power of Direction is committed. The Trust of Friendship is so often betrayed, and the Duty of the Office postponed to private Interest, that it is a Question whether we are not safer, while we give a Loose to our own extravagant Excursions. The Institution of Douegnas, or Governesses in Spain, we do not doubt, was a Design well befitting the Caution of that wise and reserved Nation; but the Corruption of the Persons intrusted, soon brought them into so much Disreputation, that they became the Objects of hatred and Scandal.

Don Francisco de Quevedo, in his general Satires, has set these Vermin in such a Light, as gives a shrewd Suspicion of their having been mischievous in his own Family. He dreams that he is got within the Confines of Death, and, among the other visionary Figures presented, he is encountred by an old Governante. How's this! says he, in a great Amazement, Have ye any of those Cattle in this Country? Let the Inhabitants pray heartily for Peace then; and all little enough to keep them quiet. In short, he makes the old Gentlewoman acquaint him, that she had been Eight Hundred Years in Hell, upon a Design to erect an Order of the Governantes; but the Right Worshipful Satanic Commissioners were not as yet come to any Resolution upon the Point: For, they said, if your Governantes should come once to settle there, there would be no Occasion for any other Tormentors, and the Devils themselves would be but so many Jacks out of Office. I have been, says she, too in Purgatory upon the same Project, but there so soon as ever they set Eyes upon me, all the Souls cried out unanimously, Libera nos, Domine. And as for Heaven, That's no Place for Quarrels, Slanders, Disquiets, Heart-burnings, and consequently none for Me.

These are the Douegna's which the Suspicions of the Spaniards at first intended as Spies upon the Conduct of their Wives and Daughters. We have a Species of Governantes among us in England, who being admitted into a Familiarity in Families, by Policy improve it into Friendship: this Friendship lets them into a Degree of Trust, which they are diligent to turn into the best Advantage; and having always little servile Ends of their own to obtain, their surest Step is to sow Dissention, and strengthen their own Interest, by alienating the Affections of the Wife from her Husband; whose Bread they are eating at the same Time, that they are undermining his Quiet in the nearest Concerns of Life.

Making a Visit the other Day to my Friend Gellius, who happened to be abroad, I found the Partner of his Bosom Clarissa, and her eternal Companion Drusilla, all in Tears. I was not received with that open Familiarity, which was used to be shewn me; and I observed something in them of that kind of Reserve, which is common with People who are under some great Affliction. I at first apprehended, that some fatal Accident had happen'd to the Person or Circumstances of my Friend; but, upon Inquiry, I was set easy as to these Fears, tho' they would give me no Hint, by which I might guess at the Cause of their Disquietude. Finding them in a Disposition so unapt for Mirth, I took my Leave; judging, it could be no worse than some little domestick Misunderstanding, occasion'd, perhaps, by a disagreeable Command on the Side of the Husband, or some Contradiction on the Side of the Wife. But my Man, who is very intimate with all the Servants, has since let me into the Secret. It seems, there is a strange Union of Souls between these two Ladies; from what Affinity of Disposition, or mysterious Impulse, is a Secret only known to Nature and themselves. They love and hate alike; their Sympathies and Antipathies are the same; and all Joys are tasteless to the One, without the Company and Participation of the Other. Their Affection is of that tender, that delicate Nature, that the smallest Jealousie, the least Unkindness blasts it. It happen'd one Day, that Clarissa was more than commonly civil to her Husband: There was something past between them, that look'd like Fondness, and this in the Presence of Drusilla: Who can express the Passions that struggled in the Female Rival's Soul? Despair, Rage, Jealousie, and Anguish at once possess'd her; and it was now Time to retire to Sleep; the Lady with her Husband withdrew to Bed, and the jealous Friend likewise committed her self to her Pillow, tho' not to Rest. Her Soul was busied with the bitter Reflexion of what had past, and what further Endearments might be practis'd. Unable to compose her self, she resolves to rise, and pretends Sickness: Clarissa is disturbed from the Embraces of her Husband; nor is suffer'd to go back to the Bed of Wedlock, till she has promis'd her disgusted Friend, by a forc'd Indifference to restrain the Liberties of the inamour'd Gellius.

The learned Times, I find, were not unacquainted with these Female
Intimacies: And by the Names they affix'd to the Persons practising them,
which I shall forbear to mention, 'tis plain they put none of the best
Constructions on their Familiarities.

Plato, I remember, offers at a Reason in Nature for such Conversations. He tells us, that at first Mankind were made with Two Heads, Four Arms, Four Legs, and so every Way double: that of these, there were three Sorts; some, double Men; some, double Women; and some Hermaphrodites. Jupiter, upon an Offence committed, split them all into Two's; from whence arises in Mankind that Desire of a Companion, as his other half to perfect his Being. The Consequence of this Division was, that they, who in their original State were double Men, are still fond of the Ganymede's with smooth Chins; and they, who were at first double Women, are at this Day enamoured of their own Sex, and Platonicks as to any Commerce with Ours.

I have heard so much to the Disadvantage of these Inamorata's, that I consider a Man, who is link'd to such a Wife, in the State of the Lover and his Two Mistresses in the Fable. The one, who was a little turned in Years, pulled out all his black Hairs, to make him look nearer to her Standing: and the other, who was in her Bloom, pick'd out all the grey ones, that the World might not suspect she had an Old Man; 'till between them, they made him as bald as Father Time himself.

I shall conclude with the Story of an unfortunate Gentleman, who had suffer'd heavily in this Way, and went abroad to avoid his Slavery. As he was travelling from Madrid to Valladolid, he found himself belated, and wanted to take up his Night's Quarters in some middle Place. He was informed, the nearest Way would bring him to a small Village, call'd Douegnas; which with us would be the Village of Governesses. But is there no other Place, said he, within some reasonable Distance, either short of, or beyond it? They told him, No, unless it were at a Gallows. Nay, there shall be my Quarters then, said he, I am resolved; for a Thousand Gibbets are not so bad to me as One Douegna.

* * * * *

Printed for W. BOREHAM, at the Angel in Pater-Noster-Row, where
Advertisements and Letters from Correspondents are taken in.

Numb. XXI.

THE

THEATRE.

By Sir JOHN FALSTAFFE.

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Price Two-pence.

[Greek: Kronidês phrenas exeleto Zeus].