principal Affair concluded, and began to open the incidental Matters of Fortune; the old Gentleman presently changed his Countenance, faying, •he refolved never to marry his Daughter on a • Smithfield Match; that whoever had Love for her to take her, would, when he died, find her Share of his Fortune in his Coffers: but he had feen fuch Examples of Undutifulness happen from the too early Generofity of Parents, that • he had made a Vow never to part with a Shilling whilft he lived. He commended the Saying of Solomon, he that spareth the Rod, Spoileth the Child: but added, he might have likewise • afferted, that he that spareth the Purfe, faveth the Child. He then ran into a Difcourfe on the Extravagance of the Youth of the Age; whence he launched into a Differtation on Horses, and came at length to commend thofe Bellarmine drove. That fine Gentleman, who at another Seafon would have been well enough pleafed to dwell a little on that Subject, was now very eager to resume the Circumftance of Fortune. He faid, he had a very high Value for the young Lady, and would receive her with lefs than he would any other whatever; but that even his Love to ⚫ her made fome Regard to worldly Matters neceffary; for it would be a moft diftracting Sight for him to fee her, when he had the Honour to be her Husband, in lefs than a Coach and Six.' The old Gentleman anfwered, Four will do, Four will do ;' and then took a turn from Horfes to Extravagance, and from Extravagance to Horses, till he came round to the Equipage again, whither he was no fooner arrived, than Bellarmine brought him back to the Point; but ali to no Purpose; he made his Escape from that Subject

in a Minute; till at laft the Lover declared, that • in the prefent Situation of his Affairs it was impoffible for him, though he loved Leonora more than tout le monde, to marry her without any Fortune.' To which the Father anfwered, he ' was forry then his Daughter must lose fo valu

able a Match; that if he had an Inclination, 6 at present it was not in his Power to advance · a Shilling that he had had great Loffes, and been at great Expences on Projects; which, though he had great Expectation from them, • had yet produced him nothing: that he did not know what might happen hereafter, as on the Birth of a Son, or fuch Accident; but he • would make no Promife, or enter into any Article: for he would not break his Vow for all the Daughters in the World.'

In fhort, Ladies, to keep you no longer in fufpenfe; Bellarmine having tried every Argument and Perfuafion which he could invent, and finding them all ineffectual, at length took his leave, but not in order to return to Leonora ; he proceeded directly to his own Seat, whence, after a few Days ftay, he returned to Paris, to the great Delight of the French, and the Honour of the English Nation.

But as foon as he arrived at his Home, he prefently dispatched a Meffenger with the following: Epiftle to Leonora.

I

Adorable and Charmante,

Am forry to have the Honour to tell you I am not the heureux Perfon deftined for your divine Arms. Your Papa hath told me fo with a • Politeffe not often feen on this fide Paris. You may perhaps guefs his manner of refufing me-Ah

6

H.3

mon

mon Dieu! You will certainly believe me, Madam, incapable my felf of delivering_this_trifte Meffage, which I intend to try the French Air to cure the Confequences of─A jamais! Cœur ! Ange!-Au Diable!-If your Papa obliges you to a Marriage, I hope we shall fee you at Paris, till when the Wind that flows from thence, will be the warmest dans le monde: for it will confift almost entirely of my Sighs. Adieu, ma Princeffe! Ah L'Amour!

BELLARMINE.

I fhall not attempt, Ladies, to defcribe Leonora's Condition, when the received this Letter. It is a Picture of Horror, which I fhould have as little Pleafure in drawing, as you in beholding. She immediately left the Place, where he was the Subject of Converfation and Ridicule, and retired to that House I fhewed you, when I began the Story; where fhe hath ever fince led a difconfolate Life, and deserves perhaps Pity for her Misfortunes more than our Cenfure, for a Behaviour to which the Artifices of her Aunt very probably contributed, and to which very young Women are often rendered too liable by that blameable Levity in the Education of our Sex.

If I was inclined to pity her, faid a young Lady in the Coach, it would be for the Lofs of Horatio; for I cannot difcern any Misfortune in her miffing fuch a Husband as Bellarmine.

Why I must own, fays Slipflop, the Gentleman was a little falfe-hearted: but howfumever it was hard to have two Lovers, and get never a Husband at all-But pray, Madam, what became of Our-afho?

He

He remains, faid the Lady, ftill unmarried, and hath applied himself so strictly to his Bufinefs, that he hath raised, I hear, a very confiderable Fortune. And what is remarkable, they fay, he never hears the Name of Leonora without a Sigh, nor hath ever uttered one Syllable to charge her with her ill Conduct towards him.

A very fhort Chapter, in which Parfon Adams went a great Way.

T

HE Lady having finifhed her Story, received the Thanks of the Company; and now Jofeph putting his Head out of the Coach, cried out, Never believe me, if yonder be not " our Parfon Adams walking along without his • Horfe.' On my Word, and fo he is,' fays Slipflop; and as fure as Two-pence, he hath

left him behind at the Inn.' Indeed, true it is, the Parfon had exhibited a fresh Inftance of his Absence of Mind: for he was fo pleased with having got fofeph into the Coach, that he never once thought of the Beaft in the Stable; and finding his Legs as nimble as he defired, he fallied out brandifhing a Crabftick, and had kept on before the Coach, mending and flackening his Pace occafionally, fo that he had never been much more or less than a Quarter of a Mile diftant from it.

Mrs. Slipflop defired the Coachman to overtake him, which he attempted, but in vain: for the fafter he drove, the fafter ran the Parfon, often crying out, Aye, aye, catch me if you can:

H 4

till

till at length the Coachman fwore he would as foon attempt to drive after a Greyhound; and giving the Parfon two or three hearty Curfes, he cry'd, Softly, foftly Boys, to his Horfes, which the civil Beafts immediately obeyed.

But we will be more courteous to our Reader than he was to Mrs. Slipflop; and leaving the Coach and its Company to purfue their Journey, we will carry our Reader on after Parson Adams, who stretched forwards without once looking behind him; till having left the Coach full three Miles in his Rear, he came to a Place, where, by keeping the extremeft Track to the Right, it was just barely poffible for a human Creature to miss his Way. This Track however did he keep, as indeed he had a wonderful Capacity at thefe kinds of bare Poffibilities; and travelling in it about three Miles over the Plain, he arrived at the Summit of a Hill, whence looking a great way backwards, and perceiving no Coach in Sight, he fat himself down on the Turf, and pulling out his fchylus determined to wait here for its Arrival.

He had not fat long here, before a Gun going off very near a little startled him; he looked up, and faw a Gentleman within a hundred Paces taking up a Partridge, which he had juft fhot.

Adams ftood up, and prefented a Figure to the Gentleman which would have moved Laughter in many for his Caffock had just again fallen down below his great Coat, that is to fay, it reached his Knees; whereas, the Skirts of his great Coat defcended no lower than half way down his Thighs: but the Gentleman's Mirth gave way to his Surprize, at beholding such a Perfonage in fuch a Place.

Adams