Thursday, October 16, 1712. Addison.

'Quis non invenit turba quod amaret in illa?'

Ovid,

_Dear_ SPEC.

'Finding that my last Letter took, I do intend to continue my
epistolary Correspondence with thee, on those dear confounded
Creatures, _Women_. Thou knowest, all the little Learning I am Master
of is upon that Subject; I never looked in a Book, but for their
sakes. I have lately met with two pure Stories for a _Spectator_,
which I am sure will please mightily, if they pass through thy Hands.
The first of them I found by chance in a _English_ Book called
_Herodotus_, that lay in my Friend _Dapperwit's_ Window, as I visited
him one Morning. It luckily opened in the Place where I met with the
following Account. He tells us that it was the Manner among the
_Persians_ to have several Fairs in the Kingdom, at which all the
young unmarried Women were annually exposed to Sale. The Men who
wanted Wives came hither to provide themselves: Every Woman was given
to the highest Bidder, and the Mony which she fetched laid aside for
the publick Use, to be employed as thou shalt hear by and by. By this
means the richest People had the Choice of the Market, and culled out
all the most extraordinary Beauties. As soon as the Fair was thus
picked, the Refuse was to be distributed among the Poor, and among
those who could not go to the Price of a _Beauty_ Several of these
married the _Agreeables_, without paying a Farthing for them, unless
somebody chanced to think it worth his while to bid for them, in which
Case the best Bidder was always the Purchaser. But now you must know,
SPEC. it happened in _Persia_ as it does in our own Country, that
there were as many _ugly Women_, as _Beauties_ or _Agreeables;_ so
that by Consequence, after the Magistrates had put off a great many,
there were still a great many that stuck upon their Hands. In order
therefore to clear the Market, the Money which the Beauties had sold
for, was disposed of among the Ugly; so that a poor Man, who could not
afford to have a Beauty for his Wife, was forced to take up with a
Fortune; the greatest Portion being always given to the most Deformed.
To this the Author adds, that every poor Man was forced to live kindly
with his Wife, or in case he repented of his Bargain, to return her
Portion with her to the next publick Sale.

What I would recommend to thee on this Occ