. And, as the clergyman read the
service on Sunday,' he added, 'your ladyship reminded me of the angel that
visited the pool.' A murmur of approbation saluted this sally. Manilio,
who is a wit when he is not at cards, was in such a rage that he revoked
when he heard it.

"Jocasta was an angel visiting the waters; but at which of the Bethesdas?
She was puzzled more and more; and, as her way always is, looked the more
innocent and simple, the more artful her intentions were.

" 'We were discoursing,' says she, 'about spelling of names and words when
you came. Why should we say goold and write gold, and call china chayny,
and Cavendish Candish, and Cholmondeley Chumley? If we call Pulteney
Poltney, why shouldn't we call poultry pultry--and----'

" 'Such an enchantress as your ladyship,' says he, 'is mistress of all
sorts of spells.' But this was Dr. Swift's pun, and we all knew it.

" 'And--and how do you spell your name?' says she, coming to the point, at
length; for this sprightly conversation had lasted much longer than is
here set down, and been carried on through at least three dishes of tea.

" 'Oh, madam,' says he, '_I spell my name with the y_.' And laying down
his dish, my gentleman made another elegant bow, and was gone in a moment.

"Jocasta hath had no sleep since this mortification, and the stranger's
disappearance. If balked in anything, she is sure to lose her health and
temper; and we, her servants, suffer, as usual, during the angry fits of
our queen. Can you help us, Mr. Spectator, who know everything, to read
this riddle for her, and set at rest all our minds? We find in her list,
Mr. Berty, Mr. Smith, Mr. Pike, Mr. Tyler--who may be Mr. Bertie, Mr.
Smyth, Mr. Pyke, Mr. Tiler, for what we know. She hath turned away the
clerk of her visiting-book, a poor fellow with a great family of children.
Read me this riddle, good Mr. Shortface, and oblige your admirer--OEDIPUS."

THE "TRUMPET" COFFEE-HOUSE, Whitehall.

"MR. SPECTATOR--I am a gentleman but little acquainted with the town,
though I have had a university education, and passed some years serving my
country abroad, where my name is better known than in the coffee-houses
and St. James's.

"Two years since my uncle died, leaving me a pretty estate in the county
of Kent; and being at Tunbridge Wells last summer, after my mourning was
over, and on the look-out, if truth must be told, for some young lady who
would share with me the solitude of my grea