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O my dear Ludovico! I fhall expire in the pleafure of your embraces. But by what magick could you get in, and deceive the vigilance of my ty• rant and his guards?'

My habit will inform you,' answered he in a fofter tone of voice than the had been used to. I am now happy in the

lofs which I have fuftained, fince it fur⚫nishes me with the means of your delivery. Trust yourself to me, my dear Honoria, and I will take you out of the power of this barbarian, who has fo little regard to your delicacy. You may now be happier with me than you was • before, as I shall not trouble you with thofe coarfe folicitations which gave you fo much uneafinefs. We will love with the purity of angels, and leave fenfual enjoyments to the vulgar, who have not a relifh for higher pleasures.'

I

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LETTER VII. SELIM, TO MIRZA AT ISPAHAN.

Have received thy answers to my letters with a pleasure which the diftance I am at from my friends and country rendered greater than thou wouldnt believe: I find thee very impatient to be informed of the government and policy of this country, which I promised to fend thee fome account of: but though I have been diligent in my enquiries, and loft no time fince my arrival here, I am unable to answer the questions thou demandeft of me, other wife than by acknowledging my igno

rance.

I have, for instance, been often affured that the English parliament is a check to the king's authority; and yet I am well informed, that the only way to advancement at court, is to gain a feat in parliament.

The house of commons is the reprefentative of the nation; nevertheless there are many great towns which fend no deputies thither, and many hamlets almost uninhabited that have a right of fending two. Several members have never feen their electors, and several are elected by the parliament who were rejected by the people. All the electors fwear not to fell their voices, yet many of the candidates are undone by the expence of buying them. This whole affair is involved in deep mystery and inexplicable difficulties.

FROM LONDON,

Thou afkeft if commerce be as flourishing as formerly. Some whom I have confulted on that head fay, it is now in it's meridian; and there is really an appearance of it's being fo, for luxury is prodigioufly increafed, and it is hard to imagine how it can be fupported without an inexhaustible trade: but others pretend, that this very luxury is a proof of it's decline; and they add, that the frauds and villainies in all the trading companies are fo many inward poifons, which, if not speedily expelled, will deftroy it entirely in a little time.

Thou wouldst know if property be fo fafely guarded as is generally believed. It is certain that the whole power of a king of England cannot force an acre of land from the weakest of his fubjects; but a knavish attorney will take away his whole eftate by thofe very laws which were defigned for it's fecurity. Nay, if I am not milinformed, even thei who are chosen by the people to be the great guardians of property, have fomtimes taken more from them in one felfion of parliament, for the nofeleis expences, than the most abiòlute mo. narch could venture to raile upon the molt urgent occafions.

Thefe, Mirza, are the contradi Fions that perplex me. My judgment is b wildered in uncertainty; I doubt my own obfervations, and diftruft the rela

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tions of others. More time and better information may, perhaps, clear them up to me; till then, modefty forbids me to impofe my conjectures upon thee, af

ter the manner of Chriftian travellers, whofe prompt decifions are the effect rather of folly than penetration,

LETTER VIII.

SELIM, TO MIRZA AT ISPAHAN.

FROM LONDON.

ASI now underland English pretty blush) yet in general they feemed to be

well, I went laft night with fome friends to fee a play. The principal character was a young fellow; who, in the space of three or four hours that the action lafted, cuckolds two or three hofbands, and debauches as many virgins. I had heard that the English theatre was famous for killing people upon the stage, but this author was more foi propagating than defroying.

There were a great many ladies at the reprefentation of this modeft performance; and though they fometimes hid their faces with their fans, (I fuppofe for fear of fhewing that they did not

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much delighted with the fine gentleman's heroical exploits. I must confeis,' faid I, this entertainment is far more • natural than the opera; and I do not wonder that the ladies are moved at it:' but if in Perfia we allowed our women to be present at such spectacles as thefe, what would fignify our bolts, our bars, our eunuchs? Though we fhould double our jealousy and care, they would foon get the better of all re ftraint, and put in practice thofe leffous of the ftage which it is fo much plea, fanter to ACT than to BEHOLD.

LETTER IX.

SELIM, TO MIRZA AT ISPAHAN.

FROM LONDON.

A Friend carried me Intely to an af- married; that the lady, indeed, had been

fembly of the beau monde, which is a meeting of men and women of the first fashion. The crowd was fo very great, that the two fexes promifcucully preffed one another in a manner that feemed ve ry extraordinary to Oriental eyes. I obferved a young man and a beautiful young woman fitting in a window together, and whispering one another with fo much earneftnels, that neither the great noife in the room, nor number of paffengers who rubbed by them continually, gave them the leaft difturbance: they looked at one another with the most animated tenderness; the lady efpecially had in her eyes fuch a mixture of foftnefs and defire, that I expected every moment to Ice them withdraw, in order to fatisfy their mutual impatience, in a manner that even the European liberty would not admit of in to publick a place. I made my friend take notice of them, and afked him how long they had been married? He smiled at my mistake, and told me, they were not

married about a year and a half to a man that flood at a little distance; but that the gentleman was an unmarried man of quality, who made it his business to cor rupt other men's wives. That he had begun the winter with this lady; and that this was her firft affair of that fort, her husband and he having married for love.

As I had heard of many employed in the fame manner, and could not perceive that they did any thing else, I asked my friend if there was any feminary, any pub lick foundation, for educating young men of quality to this profeffion; and whether they could carry on the bufinefs without frequent interruptions from the respective hutbands. I will explain the whole matter to you,' fays he. There is indeed no publick foundation or acade my for this purpose; but it depends upon the private care of their feveral parents, who, if I may use the expreffion, negatively breed them up to this business, by making them er

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⚫tirely

tirely unfit for any other: for, left their fons fhould be diverted from the profeffion of gallantry by a dull application to graver ftudies, they give them a very fuperficial tincture of learning, but take care to instruct them thoroughly in the more fhewith " parts of education, fuch as musick, dreffing, dancing, &c. by which " means, when they come to be men, they naturally prefer the gay and eafy converfation of the fair-fex, and are well received by them. As for the hufbands, they are the people in the world who give them the least disturbance; but, on the contrary, generally live in the strictest intimacy with those who ⚫ intend them the favour of cuckoldom. The marriage contract being here perpetual, though the causes of it are of fhort duration, the most fenfible men

are

defirous of having fome affiftance to support the burdensome perpetuity. For instance, every man marries either for money, or for love. In the * first case the money becomes his own as foon as the wife does; fo that, having bad what he wanted from her,

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LETTER X:

SELIM, TO MIRZA AT ISPAHAN.

Wadaired the little history of the WE

E have often read together, and

Troglodytes, related by our countryman Ufbec, with a spirit peculiar to his writings. Unequal as I am to the imitation of so excellent an author, I have a mind, in a continuation of that story, to fhew thee by what steps, and through what changes, the original good of fociety is overturned, and mankind become wickeder and more miferable in a ftate of government, than they were when left in a state of nature.

CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY

OF THE TROGLODYTES.

THE Troglodytes were fo affected with the virtue of the good old man who refused the crown which they had offered, that they determined to remain without a king. The love of the

Vide Montefquieu's Perfian Letters

FROM LONDON.

publick was fo ftrong in every particular, that there was no need of authority to enforce obedience. The law of nature and uncorrupted reafon was engraven on their hearts; by that alone they governed all their actions, and on that alone they established all their happiness. But the most perfect felicity of mortal men is fubject to continual disturbance. Thofe barbarians, whom they had defeated fome time before, ftirred up by a detire of revenge, invaded them again with greater forces. They fell upon them unawares, carried off their flocks and herds, burnt their houfes, and led their women captive: every thing was in confufion, and the want of order made them incapable of defence. They foon found the neceffity of uniting under a fingle chief. As the danger required vigour and alacrity, they pitched upon a young man of distinguished courage, from Paris. Vol. I. Letter xi to xiv. Ca

and

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