tered, Mafter, faid he; I remember when he was no better born than myself. Aye! aye! fays Adams. My Father drove the Squire's Coach, anfwered he, when that very Man rode Poftilion but he is now his Steward, and a great Gentleman. Adams then fnapped his Fingers, and cry'd, he thought fhe was fome fuch Trollop.

Adams made hafte to acquaint Mrs. Slipflop with this good News, as he imagined it; but it found a Reception different from what he expected. The prudent Gentlewoman, who despised the Anger of Mifs Grave-airs, whilft fhe conceived her the Daughter of a Gentleman of fmall Fortune, now she heard her Alliance with the upper Servants of a great Family in her Neighbourhood, began to fear her Intereft with the Miftrefs. She wished she had not carried the Difpute fo far, and began to think of endeavouring to reconcile herself to the young Lady before the left the Inn; when luckily the Scene at London, which the Reader can scarce have forgotten, presented itself to her Mind, and comforted her with fuch Affurance, that the no longer apprehended any Enemy with her Mistress.

Every thing being now adjusted, the Company entered the Coach, which was juft on its Departure, when one Lady recollected fhe had left her Fan, a second her Gloves, a third a Snuff-Box, and a fourth a Smelling-Bottle behind her; to find all which occafioned fome Delay, and much Swearing, to the Coachman.

4

As foon as the Coach had left the Inn, the Women all together fell to the Character of Mifs Grave-airs, whom one of them declared she had fufpected to be fome low Creature, from the Beginning of their Journey; and another affirmed

had

had not even the Looks of a Gentlewoman; a third warranted fhe was no better than fhe fhould be; and turning to the Lady who had related the Story in the Coach, faid, Did you ever • hear, Madam, any Thing fo prudifh as her Remarks? Well, deliver me from the Cen• foriousness of fuch a Prude.' The fourth added, O Madam! all these Creatures are cenforious but for my Part, I wonder where the Wretch was bred; indeed I must own I have feldom conversed with these mean kind of People; fo that it may appear ftranger to me; but to refuse the general Defire of a whole • Company hath fomething in it fo astonishing, that, for my Part, I own I fhould hardly believe it, if my own Ears had not been Witneffes to it.' Yes, and fo handfome a young Fellow,' cries Slipflop: the Woman must have no Compaffion in her, I believe she is more of a Turk than a Chriftian; I am certain if she had any Chriftian Woman's Blood in her Veins, the Sight of fuch a young Fellow must have warm'd it. Indeed there are fome wretched, miferable old Objects, that turn one's Stomach; I fhould not wonder if she had refused 'fuch a one; I am as nice as herself, and fhould have cared no more than herself for the Company of ftinking old Fellows: but hold up thy Head, Jofeph, thou art none of those; and the who hath not Compulfion for thee is a Mybummetman, and I will maintain it.' This Converfation made Jofeph uneafy, as well as the Ladies; who, perceiving the Spirits which Mrs. Slipflop was in, (for indeed fhe was not a Cup too low) began to fear the Confequence; one of them therefore defired the Lady to conclude the Story

Story Aye Madam,' faid Slipflop,

I beg

your Ladyfhip to give us that Story you commenfated in the Morning;' which Request that well-bred Woman immediately complied with.

L

CHAP. VI.

Conclufion of the unfortunate Filt.

EONORA having once broke through the Bounds which Custom and Modesty impofe on her Sex, foon gave an unbridled Indulgence to her Paffion. Her Vifits to Bellarmine were more conftant, as well as longer, than his Surgeon's; in a Word, fhe became abfolutely his Nurse, made his Water-gruel, adminiftred him his Medicines, and, notwithstanding the prudent Advice of her Aunt to the contrary, almost intirely refided in her wounded Lover's Apartment.

The Ladies of the Town began to take her Conduct under Confideration; it was the chief Topic of Difcourfe at their Tea-tables, and was very feverely cenfured by the moft part; efpecially, by Lindamira, a Lady whofe difcreet and starch Carriage, together with a conftant Attendance at Church three times a Day, had utterly defeated many malicious Attacks on her own Reputation: for fuch was the Envy that Lindamira's Virtue had attracted, that, notwithstanding her own strict Behaviour and ftrict Enquiry into the Lives of others, he had not been able to escape being the Mark of fome Arrows herself, which however did her no Injury; a Bleffing perhaps owed by her to the Clergy, who were her chief male CompaniVOL. I.

H

ons,

ons, and with two or three of whom she had been barbarously and unjustly calumniated.

Not fo unjustly neither perhaps, fays Slipflop, for the Clergy are Men, as well as other Folks.

The extreme Delicacy of Lindamira's Virtue was cruelly hurt by thofe Freedoms which Leonora allowed herself: She faid, it was an Affront to her Sex; that fhe did not imagine it confiftent with any Woman's Honour to speak to the Creature, or to be seen in her Company; and that, for her part, fhe fhould always refuse to ⚫dance at an Affembly with her, for fear of Contamination, by taking her by the Hand.

But to return to my Story: As foon as Bellarmine was recovered, which was fomewhat within a Month from his receiving the Wound, he fet out, according to Agreement, for Leonora's Father's, in order to propofe the Match, and fettle all Matters with him touching Settlements, and the like.

A little before his Arrival, the old Gentleman had received an Intimation of the Affair by the following Letter; which I can repeat verbatim, and which they fay was written neither by Leonora nor her Aunt, tho' it was in a Woman's Hand. The Letter was in these Words:

SIR,

I am forry to acquaint you that your Daughter Leonora hath acted one of the bafeft, as well as moft fimple Parts with a young Gentleman to whom She had engaged herself, and whom she hath (pardon the Word) jilted for another of inferior Fortune, notwithstanding his fuperior Figure. You may take what Measures you pleafe on this OccaSion; I have performed what I thought my Duty;

as

as I have, tho' 'unknown to you, a very great ReSpect for your Family.

The old Gentleman did not give himself the trouble to answer this kind Epistle; nor did he take, any Notice of it after he had read it, 'till he faw, Bellarmine. He was, to fay the Truth, one of thofe Fathers who look on Children as an unhappy Confequence of their youthful Pleasures; which as he would have been delighted not to have had attended them, fo was he no less pleased with any Opportunity to rid himfelf of the Incumbrance. He paffed, in the World's Language, as an exceeding good Father, being not only fo rapacious as to rob and plunder all Mankind to the utmost of his Power, but even to deny himself the Conveniencies and almost Neceffaries of Life; which his Neighbours attributed to a Defire of raifing immenfe Fortunes for his Children: but in Fact it was not fo; he heaped up Money for its own Sake only, and looked on his Children as his Rivals, who were to enjoy his beloved Miftrefs, when he was incapable of poffeffing her, and which he would have been much more charmed with the Power of carrying along with him: nor had his Children any other Security of being his Heirs, than that the Law would conftitute them fuch without a Will, and that he had not Affection enough for any one living to take the trouble of writing one.

To this Gentleman came Bellarmine on the Errand I have mentioned. His Perfon, his Equipage, his Family and his Eftate, feemed to the Father to make him an advantageous Match for his Daughter; he therefore very readily accepted his Propofals: but when Bellarmine imagined the H 2

principal