I see her again;
and when I come home she is in the Dumps, because she says she is sure
I came so soon only because I think her handsome. I dare not upon this
Occasion laugh; but tho' I am one of the warmest Churchmen in the
Kingdom, I am forced to rail at the Times, because she is a violent
Whig. Upon this we talk Politicks so long, that she is convinc'd I
kiss her for her Wisdom. It is a common Practice with me to ask her
some Question concerning the Constitution, which she answers me in
general out of _Harington's Oceana_ [1]: Then I commend her strange
Memory, and her Arm is immediately lock'd in mine. While I keep her in
this Temper she plays before me, sometimes dancing in the Midst of the
Room, sometimes striking an Air at her Spinnet, varying her Posture
and her Charms in such a Manner that I am in continual Pleasure: She
will play the Fool if I allow her to be wise; but if she suspects I
like her for [her] Trifling, she immediately grows grave.

These are the Toils in which I am taken, and I carry off my Servitude
as well as most Men; but my Application to you is in Behalf of the
_Hen-peckt_ in general, and I desire a Dissertation from you in
Defence of us. You have, as I am informed, very good Authorities in
our Favour, and hope you will not omit the mention of the Renowned
_Socrates_, and his Philosophick Resignation to his Wife _Xantippe_.
This would be a very good Office to the World in general, for the
_Hen-peckt_ are powerful in their Quality and Numbers, not only in
Cities but in Courts; in the latter they are ever the most obsequious,
in the former the most wealthy of all Men. When you have considered
Wedlock throughly, you ought to enter into the Suburbs of Matrimony,
and give us an Account of the Thraldom of kind Keepers and irresolute
Lovers; the Keepers who cannot quit their Fair Ones tho' they see
their approaching Ruin; the Lovers who dare not marry, tho' they know
they never shall be happy without the Mistresses whom they cannot
purchase on other Terms.

What will be a great Embellishment to your Discourse, will be, that
you may find Instances of the Haughty, the Proud, the Frolick, the
Stubborn, who are each of them in secret downright Slaves to their
Wives or Mistresses. I must beg of you in the last Place to dwell upon
this, That the Wise and Valiant in all Ages have been _Hen-peckt_: and
that the sturdy Tempers who are n