Page:Famous history of the whimsical Mr Spectator.pdf/4

( 4 ) of her who languiſhed for him in ſecret, he tol them with a more than ordinary ſeriouſneſs, tha his heart had been long engaged to one who name he thought himſelf obliged in honour t conceal; but that he could ſhew her picture the lid of his ſnuff box. The young lady, wh ſound herſelf moſt ſenſibly touched by this conſeſſion, took the firſt opportunity that offered ſnatching his box out of his hand. He ſeeme deſirous of recovering it but finding her reſolve to look into the lid, beggen her, that it the ſhould happen to know the perſon, ſhe would not reveal her name. Upon carrying it to the window She was very agreeably, ſhe prized to find there was nothing within the lid out a little looking glaſs, in which, after she had viewed her own face with more pleaſure than he had ever done before, the returned the box with a ſmile, telling him, ſhe could not but admire at his choice.

WILL fancying that his ſtory cook, immediately fell into a diſſertation un the uſefulneſs of looking glaſſes; and applying himself to me, asked if there were any looking-glaſſes in the times or the Greeks and Romans; for that he had often obſerved in the tranſlations of poems out of thoſe languages that people generally talked of seeing themſelves in wells, fountains, lakes, and rivers; nay, lay he, I remember Mr Dryden in his Ovid tells us of a ſwinging fellow called Polypheme, that made uſe of the ſea for his looking-glaſs, and could never dreſs himſelf to advantage but in a calm.