[Footnote 4:  him]

[Footnote 5:  his]

[Footnote 6:  his]

[Footnote 7:  his]

[Footnote 8:  Mary Fix, whose Tragedy of ’Ibrahim XII, Emperor of the Turks’, was first acted in 1696.]

[Footnote 9:  Mrs. Aphra Behn, whose ‘Rover, or the Banished Cavaliers’, is a Comedy in two Parts; first acted, Part I in 1677, Part II in 1681.]

* * * * *

No. 52.  Monday, April 30, 1711.  Steele.

      ’Omnes ut Tecum meritis pro Talibus annos
      Exigat, et pulchra faciat Te prole parentem.’

      Virg.

* * * * *

An ingenious Correspondent, like a sprightly Wife, will always have the last Word.  I did not think my last Letter to the deformed Fraternity would have occasioned any Answer, especially since I had promised them so sudden a Visit:  But as they think they cannot shew too great a Veneration for my Person, they have already sent me up an Answer.  As to the Proposal of a Marriage between my self and the matchless Hecatissa, I have but one Objection to it; which is, That all the Society will expect to be acquainted with her; and who can be sure of keeping a Woman’s Heart long, where she may have so much Choice?  I am the more alarmed at this, because the Lady seems particularly smitten with Men of their Make.

I believe I shall set my Heart upon her; and think never the worse of my Mistress for an Epigram a smart Fellow writ, as he thought, against her; it does but the more recommend her to me.  At the same time I cannot but discover that his Malice is stolen from Martial.

  Tacta places, Audit a places, si non videare
  Tota places, neutro, si videare, places.

  Whilst in the Dark on thy soft Hand I hung,
  And heard the tempting Siren in thy Tongue,
  What Flames, what Darts, what Anguish I endured! 
  But when the Candle entered I was cur’d.

’Your Letter to us we have received, as a signal Mark of your Favour and brotherly Affection.  We shall be heartily glad to see your short Face in Oxford:  And since the Wisdom of our Legislature has been immortalized in your Speculations, and our personal Deformities in some sort by you recorded to all Posterity; we hold ourselves in Gratitude bound to receive with the highest Respect, all such Persons as for their extraordinary Merit you shall think fit, from Time to Time, to recommend unto the Board.  As for the Pictish Damsel, we have an easy Chair prepared at the upper End of the Table; which we doubt not but she will grace with a very hideous Aspect, and much better become the Seat in the native and unaffected Uncomeliness of her Person, than with all the superficial Airs of the Pencil, which (as you have very ingeniously observed) vanish with a Breath, and the most innocent Adorer may deface the Shrine with a Salutation, and in the literal