“Well, what do you think of them?” said the favorite. “Madam,” answered Selim, “whatsoever their Toys might have published concerning them, I esteem the whole sex as most respectable.”

“Indeed, my friend,” says the Sultan, “you deserve to be a Toy; you would have no occasion for a muzzle.”

“Selim,” added the Sultana, “abandon the satyrical strain, and speak the truth.”

“Madam,” replied the courtier, “I may possibly mix some disagreeable strokes with my narrative: do not impose the task on me of offending a sex, which has always used me well enough, and which I revere by⁠—”