going and coming at each act of respiration, and, as it were, using all their endeavours to escape from this kind of prison, in which these fair ones keep them thus confined, without which we would fee them dart forwards into the very hands of those who view and gaze on them with transport. What a ravishing and delicious fpectacle for thofe lovers who are fo numerous in hell!

CHA P. XVIII.

A parliament of women in Hell. A pleasant story relating to it.

OWEVER, the intenfe defires of thefe laft:

How

are a little weakened by another furprising fight, not fo agreeable, which is that of a fort of fenate, or tribunal, compofed of women; at the head: of which is that famous Xantippe, wife of Socrates, who, whilft fhe lived, exercifed fo well the patience of that philofopher. All these women (amongst whom thofe of Holland, and especially thofe of the rich and proud city of Amsterdam, hold the first rank),, arrogantly wearing the hat and the breeches, as public marks of their authority, give their orders, and dictate their pleasures over their filly husbands, whom H 3 they

they lead, like fools, by the nofe; commanding them with a rod, and forcing obedience from them with a degree of haughtiness which the moft abfolute monarch would not shew to the very meanest of his fubje&s.

IT is even related, on this point, that these women, having been used on earth to govern the men, had once upon a time a mind to affume the fame authority Over Lucifer, his court, and all his fubjects; and that with this defign they had laid a plot amongst themselves to ufurp the authority by ftrength of arms. The affair was even already carried so far, as that they were to be seen armed cap-a-pee, with fwords by their fides, and helmets on their heads: in a word, they were all ready to execute their project, and for the total overthrow of the infernal kingdom; nay, this revolution would certainly have happened, if Lucifer, who was warned of it in time by his fpies, had not quickly banished them over to the quarters of Hercules *, Sardanapalus †, Solomon, Heliogabalus,

* A hero and demi-god, very much given to the love of women, for whose fake he committed many meanneffes. Every one knows that he fpun with Omphale, and that he perished by the fatal prefent he received from Dejanira, one of his wives, whom he tenderly loved,

† A king of the Affyrians. His reign, which laft

ed

+, Heliogabalus §, and fome other effeminate mer, over whom he gave them full authority to exercife their power..

ed twenty years, is faid to have been one continued. feries of debaucheries. He paffed his time in fpin-1 ning amongst his wives and concubines, wearing women's cloaths, that he might not be diftinguished from them. His effeminacy raised Arfaces, governor of the province of Media, against him. Sardanapalus defeated this rebel in feveral actions; but his army being defeated in its turn, he left the command of it to his brother, who was beaten in two battles, and entirely cut to pieces in at hird. This feries of misfortunes induced Sardanapalus to resolve on fhutting himself up in Niniveh, where he refifted the attacks of the confpirators, who laid fiege to that city, for three years. But at length a prodigious fall of rain producing an overflow of the river, which carried away. a great part of the walls, Sardanapalus, despairing of being any longer able to oppofe them, caufed a magnificent pile to be erected in the middle of his palace, in which he burnt himself, his wives, his concubines, and all his wealth.

The fon of David, by Bathfheba, the wife of Uriah. No man ever fignalized himself on the throne by a greater share of knowledge, or by a larger number of follies. For, as the beginning of his reign was glorious and admirable, fo was the end of it fhameful and infamous. He carried his paffion for women to fuch a pitch as no one had ever done before

H 4

before him, nor none has ever done fince, having had feven hundred wives, who all enjoyed the title of queen, and three hundred concubines. His con

nexion with them drew him intó apoftacy; infomuch, that he worshipped their idols, caufed temples to be erected for them, and inftituted facrifices to them. He left an example of incontinence to all the princes of the Eaft, which they have fince pretty closely followed, in the multitude of women wherewith their feraglios are filled. After this, what great occafion have we to make our boast of the extent of human wisdom, of which this sovereign is said to have been the most perfect pattern!

§ M. Aurelius Antoninus Verus, furnamed Heliogabalus, from his having been prieft of the fun amongst the Phoenicians. He fucceeded the emperor Macri nus, who had been depofed by the foldiery. This young prince ftained his character with fuch crimes and debaucheries, that he was furnamed the Sardana. palus of Rome. During fomewhat lefs than four years and three months which he held the empire, he married four wives, and established a fenate of women; of whom he made his mother prefident. His crimes, his debauchery, his luxury and extravagance, forced even the foldiers of his own guard to revolt against him and kill both him and his mother. The people of Rome dragged their bodies through the ftreets, then threw them into a bog-house, and after that into the Tiber. This emperor was not above twenty years of age when he was killed; and yet in that very short life he had committed fuch a number of crimes, of every kind imaginable, as even the plain recital of could not not be heard without horror.

CHAP.

Fantaftical diverfity in the other parts of the dress of the inhabitants of Hell.

W

E now come to the whimsical motley of the

habits of those who refide in hell. You will find there fome of all fashions, every one more foolish than another. Some wear them fo ftrait and close, that they can fcarcely breathe within them; on the contrary, others have them fo wide, that they would easily contain two or three bodies fuch as theirs ;. others again wear them cut and mangled in fuch a manner, that you would rather believe they were wrapped in a net than in a habit. Some have their fleeves fo ftrait, that they cannot get their hands into them, without a deal of trouble; whilst others. wear them fo wide, that their whole bodies, were they ever fo big, might pafs through them. In fhort, there are fome fo extravagant, that, wanting, in all appearance, to pafs for monfters, they cause their cloaths to be made with two pair of fleeves; one pair of which they throw behind them, and which, fluttering at their backs, gives them the afpect of so many crows or wild geefe, juft ready to fly; the whole trimmed with fuch a prodigious quantity of ribbons,