an opportunity to talk to him seriously, and urge upon
him, that if he persists in his obstinacy, he will oblige me to
have recourse to measures which would be disagreeable to me, and
which would give him cause to repent having disobeyed me."

Fatima, for so was the lady called, told the prince the first
time she saw him, that she had been informed of his second
refusal to marry; and how much chagrin his resolution had
occasioned his father. "Madam," replied the prince, "I beseech
you not to renew my grief upon that head. I fear, under my
present uneasiness, something may escape me, which may not be
consistent with the respect I owe you." Fatima judged from this
answer that this was not a proper time to speak to him, and
therefore deferred what she had to say to another opportunity.

Some considerable time after, Fatima thought she had found a more
favourable season, which gave her hopes of being heard upon that
subject. "Son," said she, "I beg of you, if it be not
disagreeable, to tell me what reason you have for your great
aversion to marriage? If it be the wickedness of some women,
nothing can be more unreasonable and weak. I will not undertake
the defence of those that are bad; there are a great number of
them undoubtedly; but it would be the height of injustice on
their account to condemn all the sex. Alas! my son, you have in
your books read of many bad women, who have occasioned great
mischief, and I will not excuse them: but you do not consider how
many monarchs, sultans, and other princes there have been in the
world, whose tyrannies, barbarities, and cruelties astonish those
that read of them, as well as myself. Now, for one wicked woman,
you will meet with a thousand tyrants and barbarians; and what
torment do you think must a good woman undergo, who is matched
with any of these wretches?"

"Madam," replied the prince, "I doubt not there are a great
number of wise, virtuous, good, affable, and well-behaved women
in the world; would to God they all resembled you! But what
deters me is, the hazardous choice a man is obliged to make, and
oftentimes one has not the liberty of following his inclination.

"Let us suppose then, madam," continued he, "that I had a mind to
marry, as the sultan my father so earnestly desires; what wife,
think you, would he be likely to provide for me? Probably a
princess whom he would demand of some neighbouring prince, and
who would think it an honour done him to send her. Hands