Monday, September 20, 1714.

'Molle meum levibus Cor est violabile Telis.'

Ovid.

The Case of my Correspondent who sends me the following Letter has
somewhat in it so very whimsical, that I know not how to entertain my
Readers better than by laying it before them.

_SIR,_

'I am fully convinced that there is not upon Earth a more impertinent
Creature than an importunate Lover: We are daily complaining of the
Severity of our Fate, to People who are wholly unconcerned in it; and
hourly improving a Passion, which we would persuade the World is the
Torment of our Lives. Notwithstanding this Reflection, Sir, I cannot
forbear acquainting you with my own Case. You must know then, Sir,
that even from my Childhood, the most prevailing Inclination I could
perceive in my self, was a strong Desire to be in Favour with the Fair
Sex. I am at present in the one and twentieth Year of my Age, and
should have made Choice of a She Bed-fellow many Years since, had not
my Father, who has a pretty good Estate of his own getting, and passes
in the World for a prudent Man, being pleased to lay it down as a
Maxim, That nothing spoils a young Fellow's Fortune so much as
marrying early; and that no Man ought to think of Wedlock 'till six
and twenty. Knowing his Sentiments upon this Head, I thought it in
vain to apply my self to Women of Condition, who expect Settlements;
so that all my Amours have hitherto been with Ladies who had no
Fortunes: But I know not how to give you so good an Idea of me, as by
laying before you the History of my Life.

'I can very well remember, that at my School-mistresses, whenever we
broke up, I was always for joining my self with the Miss who _Lay in_,
and was constantly one of the first to make a Party in the Play of
_Husband and Wife_. This Passion for being well with the Females still
increased as I advanced in Years. At the Dancing-School I contracted
so many Quarrels by struggling with my Fellow-Scholars for the Partner
I liked best, that upon a Ball Night, before our Mothers made their
Appearance, I was usually up to the Nose in Blood. My Father, like a
discreet Man, soon removed me from this Stage of Softness to a School
of Discipline, where I learnt _Latin and Greek_. I underwent several
Severities in this Place, 'till it was thought convenient to send me
to the University; though, to confess the Truth, I should not