ence of mind, she should be able to discover
how much has been cut away by Time--how much by Trim.

"'Twere better to keep ideas of baldness out of her fancy.

"Always carry it in thy mind, and act upon it as a sure maxim,
Toby--

"_'That women are timid.'_ And 'tis well they are--else there would
be no dealing with them.

"Let not thy breeches be too tight, or hang too loose about thy
thighs, like the trunk-hose of our ancestors.

"A just medium prevents all conclusions.

"Whatever thou hast to say, be it more or less, forget not to utter
it in a low soft tone of voice. Silence, and whatever approaches
it, weaves dreams of midnight secrecy into the brain: For this
cause, if thou canst help it, never throw down the tongs and
poker.

"Avoid all kinds of pleasantry and facetiousness in thy discourse
with her, and do whatever lies in thy power at the same time, to
keep from her all books and writings which tend there to: there
are some devotional tracts, which if thou canst entice her to
read over, it will be well: but suffer her not to look into
_Rabelais_, or _Scarron_, or _Don Quixote_.

"They are all books which excite laughter; and thou knowest, dear
Toby, that there is no passion so serious as lust.

"Stick a pin in the bosom of thy shirt, before thou enterest her
parlor.

"And if thou art permitted to sit upon the same sofa with her, and
she gives thee occasion to lay thy hand upon hers--beware of
taking it--thou canst not lay thy hand upon hers, but she will
feel the temper of thine. Leave that and as many other things as
thou canst, quite undetermined; by so doing, thou wilt have her
curiosity on thy side; and if she is not conquered by that, and
thy Asse continues still kicking, which there is great reason to
suppose--thou must begin, with first losing a few ounces of blood
below the ears, according to the practice of the ancient
Scythians, who cured the most intemperate fits of the appetite by
that means.

"_Avicenna_, after this, is for having the part anointed with the
syrup of hellebore, using proper evacuations and purges--and I
believe rightly. But thou must eat little or no goat's flesh, nor
red deer--nor even foal's flesh by any means; and carefully
abstain--that is, as much as thou canst,--from peacocks, cranes,
coots, didappers and water-hens.

"As for thy drink--I need not tell thee, it must be the infusion of
V