orbids it,
because they are provided for by the public, although indeed with a
very scanty allowance.

"They are despised and hated by all sorts of people; when one of
them is born, it is reckoned ominous, and their birth is recorded
very particularly; so that you may know their age by consulting the
register, which, however, has not been kept above a thousand years
past, or at least has been destroyed by time or public disturbances.
But the usual way of computing how old they are, is, by asking them
what kings or great persons they can remember, and then consulting
history; for infallibly the last prince in their mind did not begin
his reign after they were fourscore years old.

"They were the most mortifying sight I ever beheld, and the women
more horrible than the men; besides the usual deformities in extreme
old age, they acquired an additional ghastliness, in proportion to
their number of years, which is not to be described; and among half
a dozen, I soon distinguished which was the eldest, although there
was not above a century or two between them."--_Gulliver's Travels._

49 The name of Varina has been thrown into the shade by those of the
famous Stella and Vanessa; but she had a story of her own to tell
about the blue eyes of young Jonathan. One may say that the book of
Swift's life opens at places kept by these blighted flowers! Varina
must have a paragraph.

She was a Miss Jane Waryng, sister to a college chum of his. In
1696, when Swift was nineteen years old, we find him writing a
love-letter to her, beginning, "Impatience is the most inseparable
quality of a lover." But absence made a great difference in his
feelings; so, four years afterwards, the tone is changed. He writes
again, a very curious letter, offering to marry her, and putting the
offer in such a way that nobody could possibly accept it.

After dwelling on his poverty, &c., he says, conditionally, "I shall
be blessed to have you in my arms, without regarding whether your
person be beautiful, or your fortune large. Cleanliness in the
first, and competency in the second, is all I ask for!"

The editors do not tell us what became of Varina in life. One would
be glad to know that she met with some worthy partner, and lived
long enough