_Ques._ Long by Orlinda's precepts did I move, Nor was my heart a foe or slave to love, My soul was free and calm, no storm appeared, While my own sex my love and friendship shared; The men with due respect I always used, And proffered hearts still civilly refused. This was my state when young Alexis came With all the expressions of an ardent flame, He baffles all the objections I can make, And slights superior matches for my sake; Our humour seem for one another made, And all things else in equal ballance laid; I love him too, and could vouchsafe to wear The matrimonial hoop, but that I fear His love should not continue, cause I'm told, That women sooner far than men grow old; I, by some years, am eldest of the two, Therefore, pray Sirs, advise me what to do. _Ans._ If 'tis your age alone retards your love, You may with ease that groundless fear remove; For if you're older, you are wiser too, Since few in wit must hope to equal you. You may securely, therefore, crown a joy, Not all the plagues of Hymen can destroy, For tho' in marriage some unhappy be, They are not, sure, so fair, so wise as thee. CHAPTER III. Swift--"Tale of a Tub"--Essays--Gulliver's Travels--Variety of Swift's Humour--Riddles--Stella's Wit--Directions for Servants--Arbuthnot. The year 1667 saw the birth of Swift, one of the most highly gifted and successful humorists any country ever produced. A bright fancy runs like a vein of gold through nearly all his writings, and enriches the wide and varied field upon which he enters. He says of himself-- "Swift had the sin of wit, no venial crime; Nay, 'tis affirmed he sometimes dealt in rhyme: Humour and mirth had place in all he writ, He reconciled divinity and wit." Whether religion, politics, social follies, or domestic peculiarities come before him, he was irresistibly tempted to regard them in a ludicrous point of view. He observes-- "It is my peculiar case to be often under a temptation to be witty, upon occasions where I could be neither wise nor sound, nor anything to the matter in hand."