drew into it Multitudes of People,
who were perpetually employed in the sinking of Wells, the digging of
Trenches, and the hollowing of Trees, for the better Distribution of
Water through every Part of this spacious Plantation.

The Habitations of _Shalum_ looked every Year more beautiful in the Eyes
of _Hilpa_, who, after the Space of 70 Autumns, was wonderfully pleased
with the distant Prospect of _Shalum_'s Hills, which were then covered
with innumerable Tufts of Trees and gloomy Scenes that gave a
Magnificence to the Place, and converted it into one of the finest
Landskips the Eye of Man could behold.

The _Chinese_ record a Letter which _Shalum_ is said to have written to
_Hilpa_, in the Eleventh Year of her Widowhood. I shall here translate
it, without departing from that noble Simplicity of Sentiments, and
Plainness of Manners which appears in the Original.

_Shalum_ was at this Time 180 Years old, and _Hilpa_ 170.

Shalum, _Master of Mount_ Tirzah, _to_ Hilpa, _Mistress of the
Vallies_.

_In the 788th Year of the Creation._

'What have I not suffered, O thou Daughter of _Zilpah_, since thou
gavest thy self away in Marriage to my Rival? I grew weary of the
Light of the Sun, and have been ever since covering my self with Woods
and Forests. These threescore and ten Years have I bewailed the Loss
of thee on the Tops of Mount _Tirzah_, and soothed my Melancholy among
a thousand gloomy Shades of my own raising. My Dwellings are at
present as the Garden of God; every Part of them is filled with
Fruits, and Flowers, and Fountains. The whole Mountain is perfumed for
thy Reception. Come up into it, O my Beloved, and let us People this
Spot of the new World with a beautiful Race of Mortals; let us
multiply exceedingly among these delightful Shades, and fill every
Quarter of them with Sons and Daughters. Remember, O thou Daughter of
_Zilpah,_ that the Age of Man is but a thousand Years; that Beauty is
the Admiration but of a few Centuries. It flourishes as a Mountain
Oak, or as a Cedar on the Top of _Tirzah_, which in three or four
hundred Years will fade away, and never be thought of by Posterity,
unless a young Wood springs from its Roots. Think well on this, and
remember thy Neighbour in the Mountains.

Having here inserted this Letter, which I look upon as the only
Antediluvian _Billet-doux_ now extant, I shall in my next Paper give the
Answer to it, and the Sequel