natural to them, and often fets them upon modelling themselves, not according to the Plans which they approve in their own Opinions, but according to those Plans which they think are most agreeable to the Female World. In a word, Man would not only be an unhappy, but a rude unfinished Creature, were he converfant with none but thofe of his own Make.

WOMEN, on the other fide, are apt to form themselves in every thing with regard to that other half of reafonable Creatures, with whom they are here blended and confused; their Thoughts are ever turned upon appearing amiable to the other Sex; they talk, and move, and smile, with a` Design upon us; every Feature of their Faces, every part of their Dress is filled with Snares and Allurements. There would be no fuch Animals as Prudes or Coquets in the World, were there not fuch an Animal as Man. In short, it is the Male that gives Charms to Womankind, that produces an Air in their Faces, a Grace in their Motions, a Softnefs in their Voices, and a Delicacy in their Complections.

AS

AS this mutual Regard between the two Sexes tends to the Improvement of each of them, we may obferve that Men are apt to degenerate into rough and brutal Natures, who live as if there were no fuch things as Women in the World; as on the contrary, Women, who have an Indifference or Averfion for their Counter-parts in hu man Nature, are generally Sower and Unamiable, Sluttish and Cenfori

ous.

I am led into this train of Thoughts by a little Manufcript which is lately fallen into my Hands, and which I shall communicate to the Reader, as I have done fome other curious Pieces of the famè nature, without troubling him with any Enquiries about the Author of it. It contains a fummary Account of two different States which bordered upon one another. The one was a Common-wealth of Amazons, or Women without Men; the other was a Republick of Males that had not a Woman in their whole Community. As these two States bordered upon one another, it was their way, it seems, to meet upon their Frontiers at a certain Season of the Year, where thofe among A 3 the

the Men who had not made their Choice in any former Meeting, affocia ted themselves with particular Women, whom they were afterwards obliged to look upon as their Wives in every one of thefe yearly Rencounters. The Children that sprung from this Alliance, if Males, were fent to their respective Fathers, if Females, continued with their Mothers. By means of this Anniverfa ry Carnival, which lafted about a Week, the Common-wealths were recruited from time to time, and fupplied with their respective Subjects.

THESE two States were engaged together in a perpetual League, Öffenfive and Defenfive, fo that if any Foreign Potentate offered to attack either of them, both the Sexes fell upon him at once, and quickly brought him to Reason. It was remarkable that for many Ages this Agreement continued inviolable between the two States, notwithstanding, as was faid before, they were Husbands and Wives: but this will not appear fo wonderful if we confider that they did not live together above a Week in a Year.

IN the Account which my Author gives of the Male Republick, there

were

were feveral Customs very remarkable. The Men never shaved their Beards, or pared their Nails above once in a twelvemonth, which was probably about the time of the great Annual Meeting upon their Frontiers. I find the Name of a Minister of State in one part of their History, who was fined for appearing too frequently in clean Linnen; and of a certain great General who was turned out of his Poft for Effeminacy, it having been proved upon him by feveral credible Witneffes that he washed his Face every Morning. If any Member of the Commonwealth had a foft Voice, a fmooth Face, or a fupple Behaviour, he was banifhed into the Commonwealth of Females, where he was treated as a Slave, dreffed in Petticoats, and fet a fpinning. They had no Titles of Honour among them, but fuch as denoted fome bodily Strength or Perfection, as fuch an one the Tall, fuch an one the Stocky, fuch an one the Gruff. Their publick Debates were generally managed with Kicks and Cuffs, infomuch that they often came from the Council Table with broken Shins, black Eyes, and bloody Nofes. When they would `reproach a Man in the most bitter Terms, A 4 they

they would tell him his Teeth were white, or that he had a fair Skin, and a foft Hand. The greatest Man I meet with in their Hiftory, was one who could lift five hundred Weight, and wore fuch a prodigious Pair of Whifkers as had never been feen in the Commonwealth before his time. These Accomplishments it feems had rendred him fo popular, that if he had not died very feasonably, it is thought he might have enflaved the Republick. Having made this fhort Extract out of the Hiftory of the Male Commonwealth, I fhall look into the Hiftory of the neighbouring State which confifted of Females, and if I find any thing in it, will not fail to communicate it to the Publick.

C

Fri