riend _Will Honeycomb_, who was so unmercifully witty upon the
Women, in a couple of Letters, which I lately communicated to the
Publick, has given the Ladies ample Satisfaction by marrying a Farmer's
Daughter; a piece of News which came to our Club by the last Post. The
_Templer_ is very positive that he has married a Dairy-maid: But _Will_,
in his Letter to me on this Occasion, sets the best Face upon the Matter
that he can, and gives a more tollerable Account of his Spouse. I must
confess I suspected something more than ordinary, when upon opening the
Letter I found that _Will_ was fallen off from his former Gayety, having
changed _Dear Spec_. which was his usual Salute at the Beginning of the
Letter, into _My Worthy Friend_, and subscribed himself in the latter
End of it at full length _William Honeycomb_. In short, the gay, the
loud, the vain _Will Honeycomb_, who had made Love to every great
Fortune that has appeared in Town for [above [2]] thirty Years together,
and boasted of Favours from Ladies whom he had never seen, is at length
wedded to a plain Country Girl.

His Letter gives us the Picture of a converted Rake. The sober Character
of the Husband is dashed with the Man of the Town, and enlivened with
those little Cant-phrases which have made my Friend _Will_ often thought
very pretty Company. But let us hear what he says for himself.

_My Worthy Friend_,

I question not but you, and the rest of my Acquaintance, wonder that
I, who have lived in the Smoak and Gallantries of the Town for thirty
Years together, should all on a sudden grow fond of a Country Life.
Had not my Dog [of a [3]] Steward run away as he did, without making
up his Accounts, I had still been immersed in Sin and Sea-Coal. But
since my late forced Visit to my Estate, I am so pleased with it, that
I am resolved to live and die upon it. I am every Day abroad among my
Acres, and can scarce forbear filling my Letter with Breezes, Shades,
Flowers, Meadows, and purling Streams. The Simplicity of Manners,
which I have heard you so often speak of, and which appears here in
Perfection, charms me wonderfully. As an Instance of it, I must
acquaint you, and by your means the whole Club, that I have lately
married one of my Tenants Daughters. She is born of honest Parents,
and though she has no Portion, she has a great deal of Virtue. The
natural Sweetness and Innocence of her Behaviour, the Freshness of her
Complecti