born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that each heart being set
On bloody courses, the wide scene may end,
And darkness be the burier of the dead_."

Reading but this one scene has convinced me, that he who describes the
concern of great men, must have a soul as noble, and as susceptible of
high thoughts, as they whom he represents: I shall therefore lay by my
drama for some time, and turn my thoughts to cares and griefs, somewhat
below that of heroes, but no less moving. A misfortune proper for me to
take notice of, has too lately happened: the disconsolate Maria[459] has
three days kept her chamber for the loss of the beauteous Fidelia, her
lap-dog. Lesbia herself[460] did not shed more tears for her sparrow.
What makes her the more concerned, is, that we know not whether Fidelia
was killed or stolen; but she was seen in the parlour window when the
train-bands went by, and never since. Whoever gives notice of her, dead
or alive, shall be rewarded with a kiss of her lady.

[Footnote 450: See No. 16.]

[Footnote 451: Intercourse.]

[Footnote 452: Henry Cromwell (died 1728) was a correspondent of Pope's,
and a friend of Wycherley's. "I cannot choose," wrote Mrs. Elizabeth
Thomas, "but be pleased with the conquest of a person whose fame our
incomparable Tatler has rendered immortal, by the three distinguishing
titles of 'Squire Easy the amorous bard'; 'Sir Timothy the critic'; and
'Sir Taffety Trippet the fortune-hunter'" ("Pylades and Corinna," i. 96,
194). See also Nos. 49, 165. Cromwell was a man about town, of private
means, with property in Lincolnshire, who had contributed verses to
Tonson's "Miscellany." Gay ("Mr. Pope's Welcome from Greece," st. xvii.)
speaks of "Honest, hatless Cromwell, with red breeches."]

[Footnote 453: Called forth, drawn as with an alarum.]

[Footnote 454: Henry Cromwell; see note on p. 380. According to another
suggestion, Spindle is intended for Thomas Tickell, who published a
poem, "The Prospect of Peace," in 1713; but it is not probable that in
1709 either Addison or Steele would have satirised him; and Cromwell may
very likely have written verses on the same subject.]

[Footnote 455: A spider named from Tarentum, in Apulia. Strange stories
were told of the effects of its bite, and of their cure by music and
dancing.]

[Footnote 456: See No. 46.]

[Footnote 457: Dr. Radcliffe. See No. 44.]

[Footnote 458: 2 Henry IV., act i. sc. I.]

[Footnote 459: "This _Tatler_