Betty herself, says Robin. How so, says his Mother, have you ask'd her the Question then? Yes indeed Madam, says Robin, I have attack'd her in Form five times since she was Sick, and am beaten off: the Jade is so stout, she won't Capitulate, nor Yield upon any Terms, except such as I can't effectually grant: Explain your self, says the Mother, for I am surpris'd, I do not understand you, I hope you are not in Earnest.

Why, Madam, says he, the Case is plain enough upon me, it explains its self; she won't have me, she says, is not that plain enough? I think 'tis plain, and pretty rough too; Well, but, says the Mother, you talk or Conditions, that you cannot grant, what does she want a Settlement? Her Joynter ought to be according to her Portion; what does she bring? Nay, as to Fortune, says Robin, she is rich enough; I am satisfied in that Point; but 'tis I that am not able to come up to her Terms, and she is possitive she will not have me without.

Here the Sisters put in, Madam, says the Second Sister, 'tis impossible to be serious with him, he will never give a direct Answer to any thing; you had better let him alone, and talk no more of it, you know how to dispose of her out of his way. Robin was a little warm'd with his Sister's Rudeness, but he was even with her presently; there are two sorts of People, Madam, says he, turning to his Mother, that there is no contending with, that is a wise Body and a Fool, 'tis a little hard I should engage with both of them together.

The younger Sister then put in, we must be Fools indeed, says she, in my Brother's Opinion, that he should make us believe, he has seriously ask'd Mrs. Betty to marry him, and she has refus'd him.

Answer, and Answer not, says Solomon, reply'd her Brother: When your Brother had said that he had ask'd her no less than five Times, and that she possitively denied him, methinks a younger Sister need not question the Truth of it, when her Mother did not: My Mother you see did not understand it, says the Second Sister: There's some Difference, says Robin, between desiring me to explain it, and telling me she did not believe it.

Well but Son, says the Old Lady, if you are disposed to let us into the Mystery of it. What were these hard Conditions? Yes Madam, says Robin, I had done it before now, if the Teazers here had not worried me by way of Interruption: The Conditions are, that I bring my Father and you to Consent to it, and without that, she protests she will never see me more upon that Head; and the Conditions, as I said, I suppose I shall never be able to Grant; I hope my warm Sisters will be answer'd now, and blush a little.

This Answer was surprising to them all, tho' less to the Mother, because of what I had said to her; as to the Daughters they stood Mute a great while; but the Mother said with some Passion, Well I heard this before, but I could not believe it, but if it is so, then we have all done Betty wrong, and she has behav'd better than I expect'd; Nay, says the eldest Sister, if it is so, she has acted Handsomely indeed: I confess, says the Mother, it was none of her Fault, if he was enough Fool to take a Fancy to her; but to give such an Answer to him, shews more Respect to us, than I can tell how to express; I shall value the Girl the better for it, as long as I know her. But I shall not, says Robin, unless you will give your Consent; I'll consider of that a while, says the Mother, I assure you, if there were not some other Objections, this Conduct of hers would go a great way to bring me to Consent: I wish it would go quite thro' with it, says Robin; if you had as much thought about making me easy, as you have about making me Rich, you would soon Consent to it.

Why Robin, says the Mother again, are you really in Earnest? Would you fain have her? Really Madam, says Robin, I think 'tis hard you should question me again upon that Head; I won't say that I will have her, how can I resolve that Point, when you see I cannot have her without your Consent; but this I will say, I am Earnest, that I will never have any Body else, if I can help it; Betty or no Body is the Word, and the Question which of the Two shall be in your Breast to decide Madam, provided only, That my good humour'd Sisters here, may have no Vote in it.

All this was dreadful to me, for the Mother began to yield, and Robin press'd her Home in it: On the other hand, she advised with the Eldest Son, and he used all the Arguments in the World to perswade her to consent; alledging his Brother's Passionate Love for me, and my generous Regard to the Family, in refusing my own Advantages upon such a nice Point of Honour, and a Thousand such Things: And as to the Father, he was a Man in a hurry of publick Affairs, and getting Money, seldom at Home, thoughtful of the main Chance, but left all those things to his Wife.

You may easily believe, that when the Plot was thus, as they thought broke out: It was not so Difficult, or so Dangerous, for the Elder Brother, who no Body suspected of any thing, to have a freer Access than before: Nay, the Mother, which was just as he wished, Propos'd it to him to talk with Mrs. Betty: it may be Son, said she, you may see farther into the Thing than I; and see if she has been so Possitive as Robin says she has been, or no. This was as well as he could wish, and he as it were yielding to talk with me at his Mother's Request, she brought me to him into her own Chamber; told me her Son had some Business with me at her Request, and then she left us together, and he shut the Door after her.

He came back to me, and took me in his Arms and kiss'd me very Tenderly; but told me it was now come to that Crisis, that I should make my self Happy or Miserable, as long as I liv'd: That if I could not comply to his Desire, we should both be Ruin'd: Then he told me the whole Story between Robin, as he call'd him, and his Mother, and his Sisters, and himself, as above: And now dear Child, says he, consider what it will be to marry a Gentleman of a good Family, in good Circumstances, and with the Consent of the whole House, and to enjoy all that the World can give you; And what on the other hand, to be sunk into the dark Circumstances of a Woman that has lost her Reputation; and that tho' I shall be a private Friend to you while I live, yet as I shall be suspected always, so you will be afraid to see me, and I shall be afraid to own you.

He gave me no time to Reply, but went on with me thus: What has happened between us Child, so long as we both agree to do so, may be buried and forgotten: I shall always be your sincere Friend, without any Inclination to nearer Intimacy, when you become my Sister; and we shall have all the honest part of Conversation without any Reproaches between us, of having done amiss: I beg of you to consider it, and do not stand in the way of your own Safety and Prosperity; and to satisfy you that I am Sincere, added he, I here offer you Five Hundred Pounds to make you some amends for the Freedoms I have taken with you, which we shall look upon as some of the Follies of our Lives, which 'tis hoped we may repent of.

He spoke this in so much more moving Terms than it is possible for me to express, that you may suppose as he held me above an Hour and Half in that Discourse, so he answer'd all my Objections, and fortified his Discourse with all the Arguments that humane Wit and Art could devise.

I cannot say however, that any thing he said made Impression enough upon me, so as to give me any thought of the Matter, till he told me at last very plainly, that if I refus'd, he was sorry to add, that he could never go on with me in that Station as we stood before; that tho' he lov'd me as well as ever, and that I was as agreeable to him; yet the Sense of Virtue had not so forsaken him as to suffer him to lye with a Woman that his Brother courted to make his Wife; that if he took his Leave of me, with a denial from me in this Affair, whatever he might do for me in the Point of Support, grounded on his first Engagement of maintaining me, yet he would not have me be surpris'd, that he was obliged to tell me, he could not allow himself to see me any more; and that indeed I could not expect it of him.

I received this last Part with some Tokens of Surprize and Disorder, and had much ado, to avoid sinking down, for indeed I lov'd him to an Extravagance, not easy to imagine; but he perceiv'd my Disorder, and entreated me to consider seriously of it, assured me that it was the only way to preserve our mutual Affection; that in this Station we might love as Friends, with the utmost Passion, and with a love of Relation untainted, free from our own just Reproaches, and free from other People's Suspicions: That he should ever acknowledge his happiness owing to me; that he would be Debtor to me as long as he liv'd, and would be paying that Debt as long as he had Breath: Thus he wrought me up, in short, to a kind of Hesitation in the Matter; having the Dangers on one Side represented in lively Figures, and indeed heighten'd by my Imagination of being turn'd out to the wide World, a meer Cast-off Whore, for it was no less, and perhaps expos'd as such; with little to provide for myself; with no Friend, no Acquaintance in the whole World, out of that Town, and there I could not pretend to stay; all this terrify'd me to the last Degree, and he took care upon all Occasions to lay it home to me, in the worst Colours; on the other hand, he fail'd not to set forth the easy prosperous Life, which I was going to live.

He answer'd all that I could object from Affection, and from former Engagements, with telling me the Necessity that was before us of taking other Measures now; and as to his Promises of Marriage, the Nature of things, he said, had put an End to that, by the Probability of my being his Brother's Wife, before the time to which his Promises all referr'd.

Thus in a Word, I may say, he reason'd me out of my Reason; he conquer'd all my Arguments, and I began to see a Danger that I was in, which I had not considered of before, and that was, of being drop'd by both of them, and left alone in the World to shift for my self.

This, and his Perswasion, at length prevail'd with me to Consent, tho' with so much Reluctance, that it was easy to see I should go to Church, like a Bear to the Stake; I had some little Apprehensions about me too, lest my new Spouse, who by the way, I had not the least Affection for, should be Skilful enough to Challenge me on another Account, upon our first coming to Bed together; but whether he did it with design or not, I know not; but his elder Brother took care to make him very much Fuddled before he went to Bed, so that I had the Satisfaction of a drunken Bedfellow the first Night: How he did it I know not, but I concluded that he certainly contriv'd it, that his Brother might be able to make no Judgment of the difference between a Maid and a married Woman, nor did he ever entertain any Notions of it, or disturb his Thoughts about it.

I should go back a little here, to where I left off; the elder Brother having thus managed me, his next Business was to manage his Mother, and he never left till he had brought her to acquiesce, and be passive even without acquainting the Father, other than by Post Letters: So that she consented to our Marrying privately, leaving her to manage the Father afterwards.

Then he cajol'd with his Brother, and perswaded him what Service he had done him, and how he had brought his Mother to Consent, which tho' True, was not indeed done to serve him, but to serve himself; but thus diligently did he cheat him, and had the Thanks of a faithful Friend for shifting off his Whore into his Brother's Arms for a Wife. So naturally do Men give up Honour and Justice, and even Christianity to secure themselves.

I must now come back to Brother Robin, as we always call'd him, who having got his Mother's Consent, as above, came big with the News to me, and told me the whole Story of it, with a Sincerity so visible, that I must confess it griev'd me, that I must be the Instrument to abuse so honest a Gentleman; but there was no Remedy, he would have me, and I was not oblig'd to tell him, that I was his Brother's Whore, tho' I had no other way to put him off; so I came gradually into it, and behold we were married.

Modesty forbids me to reveal the Secrets of the Marriage Bed, but nothing could have happen'd more suitable to my Circumstances than that, as above, my Husband was so Fuddled when he came to Bed, that he could not remember in the Morning, whether he had had any Conversation with me or no, and I was obliged to tell him he had, tho' in reality he had not, that I might be sure he could make no enquiry about any thing else.

It concerns the Story in Hand very little to enter into the farther Particulars of the Family, or of my self, for the five Years that I liv'd with this Husband, only to observe that I had two Children by him, and that at the end of the five Years he died: He had been really a very good Husband to me, and we liv'd very agreeably together; but as he had not received much from them, and had in the little time he liv'd acquir'd no great Matters, so my Circumstances were not great, nor was I much mended by the Match: Indeed I had preserv'd the elder Brother's Bonds to me, to pay me 500l. which he offered me for my Consent to marry his Brother; and this, with what I had saved of the Money he formerly gave me, and about as much more by my Husband, left me a Widow with about 1200l. in my Pocket.

My two Children were indeed taken happily off of my Hands, by my Husband's Father and Mother, and that was all they got by Mrs. Betty.

I confess I was not suitably affected with the loss of my Husband; nor can I say, that I ever lov'd him as I ought to have done, or was suitable to the good Usage I had from him, for he was a tender, kind, good humour'd Man as any Woman could desire; but his Brother being so always in my Sight, at least while we were in the Country, was a continual Snare to me; and I never was in Bed with my Husband, but I wish'd my self in the Arms of his Brother; and tho' his Brother never offer'd me the least Kindness that way, after our Marriage, but carried it just as a Brother ought to do; yet it was impossible for me to do so to him: In short, I committed Adultery and Incest with him every Day in my Desires, which without doubt, was as effeftually Criminal.

Before my Husband dy'd, his elder Brother was married, and we being then remov'd to London, were written to by the old Lady to come and be at the Wedding; my Husband went, but I pretended Indisposition, so I staid behind; for in short, I could not bear the sight of his being given to another Woman, tho' I knew I was never to have him my self.

I was now as above, left loose to the World, and being still young and handsome, as every Body said of me, and I assure you I thought my self so, and with a tolerable Fortune in my Pocket, I put no small Value upon my self: I was courted by several very considerable Tradesmen, and particularly very warmly by one, a Linnen-Draper, at whose House, after my Husband's Death, I took a Lodging, his Sister being my Acquaintance; here I had all the Liberty and Opportunity to be Gay, and appear in Company that I could desire; my Landlord's Sister being one of the Maddest, Gayest things alive, and not so much Mistress of her Vertue as I thought at first she had been: She brought me into a World of wild Company, and even brought home several Persons, such as she lik'd well enough to Gratify, to see her pretty Widow: Now as Fame and Fools make an Assembly, I was here wonderfully caress'd; had abundance of Admirers, and such as call'd themselves Lovers; but I found not one fair Proposal among them all; as for their common Design, that I understood too well to be drawn into any more Snares of that Kind: The case was alter'd with me, I had Money in my Pocket, and had nothing to say to them: I had been trick'd once by that Cheat call'd Love, but the Game was over, I was resolv'd now to be married or nothing, and to be well married or not at all.

I lov'd the Company indeed of Men of Mirth and Wit, and was often entertain'd with such, as I was also with others; but I found by just Observation, that the brightest Men came upon the dullest Errand, that is to say, the dullest, as to what I aim'd at; on the other hand, those who came with the best Proposals were the dullest and most disagreeable Part of the World: I was not averse to a Tradesman, but then I would have a Tradesman, Forsooth, that was something of a Gentleman too; that when my Husband had a mind to carry me to the Court, or to the Play, he might become a Sword, and look as like a Gentleman as another Man; and not like one that had the mark of his Apron-strings upon his Coat, or the mark of his Hat upon his Perriwig; that should look as if he was set on to his Sword, when his Sword was put on to him, and that carried his Trade in his Countenance.

Well, at last I found this amphibious Creature, this Land-water-thing, call'd, a Gentleman-Tradesman, and as a just Plague upon my Folly, I was catch'd in the very Snare which, as I might say, I laid for my self.

This was a Draper too, for tho' my Comrade would have bargain'd for me with her Brother; yet when they came to the Point, it was it seems for a Mistress, and I kept true to this Notion, that a Woman should never be kept for a Mistress, that had Money to make her self a Wife.

Thus my Pride, not my Principle, my Money, not my Vertue, kept me Honest; tho', as it prov'd, I found I had much better have been Sold by my She Comrade, to her Brother, than have sold my self as I did to a Tradesman, that was Rake, Gentleman, Shop-keeper, and Beggar all together.

But I was hurried on (by my Fancy to a Gentleman) to Ruin my self in the grossest Manner that ever Woman did; for my new Husband coming to a lump of Money at once, fell into such a Profusion of Expence, that all I had, and all he had, would not have held it out above one Year.

 

He was very fond of me for about a quarter of a Year, and what I got by that, was, that I had the Pleasure of seeing a great deal of my Money spent upon my self. Come my Dear, says he to me one Day, shall we go and take a turn into the Country for a Week? Ay my dear, says I, Whither would you go? I care not whither, says he, but I have a mind to look like Quality for a Week, we'll go to Oxford, says he: How, says I, shall we go, I am no Horse-Woman, and 'tis too far for a Coach: Too far, says he, no Place is too far for a Coach and Six: If I carry you out, you shall Travel like a Dutchess: Hum, says I, my Dear, 'tis a Frolick, but if you have a mind to it, I don't care. Well, the time was appointed, we had a Rich Coach, very good Horses, a Coachman, Postillion, and two Footmen in very good Liveries; a Gentleman on Horseback, and a Page with a Feather in his Hat upon another Horse; the Servants all call'd him my Lord, and I was her Honour, the Countess, and thus we travel'd to Oxford, and a pleasant Journey we had; for give him his due, not a Beggar alive knew better how to be a Lord than my Husband: We saw all the Rarities at Oxford, talk'd with two or three Fellows of Colleges, about putting a Nephew, that was left to his Lordship's Care to the University, and of their being his Tutors; we diverted our selves with bantering several other poor Scholars, with the hopes of being at least his Lordship's Chaplain and putting on a Scarf; and thus having liv'd like Quality indeed, as to Expence, we went away for Northampton, and in a Word, in about Twelve Days' ramble came Home again, to the Tune of about 93l. Expence.

Vanity is the Perfection of a Fop; my Husband had this Excellence, that he valued nothing of Expence; as his History, you may be sure, has very little weight in it, 'tis enough to tell you, that in about two Years and a Quarter he Broke, got into a Spunging-House, being arrested in an Action too heavy for him to give Bail to, so he sent for me to come to him.

It was no surprise to me, for I had foreseen some-thing before that all was going to Wreck, and had been taking care to reserve something if I could for my self: But when he sent for me, he behav'd much better than I expected: He told me plainly, he had plaid the Fool, and suffer'd himself to be surpriz'd, which he might have prevented: that now he foresaw he could not stand it, and therefore he would have me go Home, and in the Night take away every thing I had in the House of any Value, and secure it; and after that, he told me, that if I could get away 100l. or 200l. in Goods out of the Shop, I should do it; only, says he, let me know nothing of it, neither what you take, or whither you carry it; for as for me, says he, I am resolv'd to get out of this House and be gone; and if you never hear of me more, My Dear, says he, I wish you well; lam only sorry for the Injury I have done you: He said some very handsome Things to me indeed at Parting; for I told you he was a Gentleman, and that was all the Benefit I had of his being so; that he used me very handsomely, even to the last, only spent all I had, and left me to Rob the Creditors for something to subsist on.

However, I did as he bad me, that you may be sure, and having thus taken my leave of him I never saw him more; for he found means to break out of the Bailiff's House that Night, or the next: How I knew not, for I could come at no Knowledge of anything, more than this, that he came Home about three a Clock in the Morning, caus'd the rest of his Goods to be remov'd into the Mint, and the Shop to be shut up; and having rais'd what Money he could, he got over to France, from whence I had one or two Letters from him, and no more.

I did not see him when he came Home, for he having given me such Instructions as above, and I having made the best of my Time, I had no more Business back again at the House, not knowing but I might have been stop'd there by the Creditors; for a Commission of Bankrupt, being soon after Issued, they might have stop'd me by Orders from the Commissioners: But my Husband having desperately got out from the Bailiff's by letting himself down from almost the top of the House, to the top of another Building, and leaping from thence, which was almost two Stories, and which was enough indeed to have broken his Neck: He came home and got away his Goods, before the Creditors could come to Seize, that is to say, before they could get out the Commission, and be ready to send their Officers to take Possession.

My Husband was so civil to me, for still I say he was much of a Gentleman, that in the first Letter he wrote me, he let me know where he had Pawn'd 20 Pieces of fine Holland for 30l. which were worth above 90l., and enclos'd me the Token, for the taking them up, paying the Money, which I did, and made in time above 100l. of them, having Leisure to cut them, and sell them to private Families, as opportunity offer'd.

However, with all this, and all that I had secur'd before, I found upon casting things up, my Case was very much alter'd, and my Fortune much lessen'd; for including the Hollands, and a parcel of fine Muslins, which I carry'd off before, and some Plate, and other things; I found I could hardly muster up 500l. and my Condition was very odd, for tho' I had no Child, (I had had one by my Gentleman Draper, but it was buried,) yet I was a Widow bewitch'd, I had a Husband, and no Husband, and I could not pretend to Marry again, though I knew well enough my Husband would never see England any more, if he liv'd fifty Years: Thus I say, I was limited from Marriage, what Offer soever might be made me; and I had not one Friend to advise with, in the Condition I was in, at least not one who I could Trust the Secret of my Circumstances to, for if the Commissioners were to have been inform'd where I was, I should have been fetch'd up, and all I had sav'd be taken away.

Upon these Apprehensions, the first thing I did, was to go quite out of my Knowledge, and go by another Name: This I did effectually, for I went into the Mint too, took Lodgings in a very private Place, dress'd me up in the Habit of a Widow, and call'd my self Mrs. Flanders.

Here, however, I conceal'd my self, and tho' my new Acquaintance knew nothing of me, yet I soon got a great deal of Company about me; and whether it be that Women are scarce among the People that generally are to be found there; or that some Consolations in the Miseries of that Place, are more requisite than on other Occasions, I soon found that an agreeable Woman was exceedingly valuable among the Sons of Affliction there; and that those that cou'd not pay Half a Crown in the Pound to their Creditors, and run in Debt at the Sign of the Bull for their Dinners, would yet find Money for a Supper, if they lik'd the Woman.

However, I kept myself safe yet, tho' I began like my Lord Rochester's Mistress, that lov'd his Company, but would not admit him farther, to have the Scandal of a Whore, without the Joy; and upon this score, tir'd with the Place, and with the Company too, I began to think of Removing.

It was indeed a Subject of strange Reflection to me, to see Men in the most perplex'd Circumstances, who were reduc'd some Degress below being ruin'd, whose Families were Objects of their own Terror and other People's Charity; yet while a Penny lasted, nay, even beyond it, endeavouring to drown their Sorrow in their Wickedness; heaping up more Guilt upon themselves, labouring to forget former things, which now it was the proper time to remember, making more Work for Repentance, and Sinning on, as a Remedy for Sin past.

But it is none of my Talent to preach; these Men were too wicked, even for me; there was something horrid and absurd in their way of Sinning, for it was all a force even upon themselves; they did not only act against Conscience, but against Nature, and nothing was more easy than to see how Sighs would interrupt their Songs, and paleness and anguish sit upon their Brows, in spight of the forc'd Smiles they put on; nay, sometimes it would break out at their very Mouths, when they had parted with their Money for a lewd Treat, or a wicked Embrace; I have heard them, turning about, fetch a deep Sigh, and cry what a Dog am I! Well Betty, my Dear, I'll drink thy health tho', meaning the Honest Wife, that perhaps had not a Half Crown for herself, and three or four Children: The next Morning they were at their Penitentials again, and perhaps the poor weeping Wife comes over to him, either brings him some Account of what his Creditors are doing, and how she and the Children are turn'd out of Doors, or some other dreadful News; and this adds to his self Reproaches; but when he has thought and por'd on it till he is almost Mad, having no Principles to support him, nothing within him, or above him, to Comfort him; but finding it all Darkness on every Side, he flies to the same Relief again, viz. to drink it away, debauch it away, and falling into Company of Men in just the same Condition with himself, he repeats the Crime, and thus he goes every Day one Step onward of his way to Destruction.

I was not wicked enough for such Fellows as these yet, on the contrary, I began to consider here very seriously what I had to do; how things stood with me, and what Course I ought to take; I knew I had no Friends, no not one Friend or Relation in the World; and that little I had left apparently wasted, which when it was gone, I saw nothing but Misery and Starving was before me: Upon these Considerations, I say, and fill'd with Horror at the Place I was in, I resolv'd to be gone.

I had made an Acquaintance with a sober good sort of a Woman, who was a Widow too like me, but in better Circumstances; her Husband had been a Captain of a Ship, and having had the Misfortune to be Cast away coming Home from the West Indies, was so reduc'd by the Loss, that tho' he had saved his Life then, it broke his Heart, and kill'd him afterwards, and his Widow being persued by the Creditors, was forc'd to take Shelter in the Mint: She soon made things up with the help of Friends, and was at Liberty again; and finding that I rather was there to be conceal'd, than by any particular Prosecutions, and finding also that I agreed with her, or rather she with me in a just Abhorrence of the Place, and of the Company; she invited me to go home with her, till I could put myself in some posture of settling in the World to my Mind; withal telling me, that it was Ten to One, but some good Captain of a Ship might take a Fancy to me, and Court me, in that part of the Town where she liv'd.

I accepted of her Offer, and was with her half a Year, and should have been longer, but in that interval what she propos'd to me happen'd to herself, and she marry'd very much to her Advantage; but whose Fortune soever was upon the Increase, mine seem'd to be upon the Wane, and I found nothing present, except two or three Boatswains, or such Fellows, but as for the Commanders they were generally of two Sorts. 1. Such as having good Business, that is to say, a good Ship, resolv'd not to Marry, but with Advantage. 2. Such as being out of Employ, wanted a Wife to help them to a Ship, I mean, (1). A Wife, who having some Money could enable them to hold a good part of a Ship themselves, so to encourage Owners to come in; or (2.) A Wife, who if she had not Money, had Friends who were concern'd in Shipping, and so could help to put the young Man into a good Ship, and neither of these was my Case; so I look'd like one that was to lie on Hand.

This Knowledge I soon learnt by Experience, viz. That the State of Things was altered, as to Matrimony, that Marriages were here the Consequences of politick Schemes, for forming Interests, carrying on Business, and that LOVE had no Share, or but very little in the Matter.

That, as my Sister in Law, at Colchester had said, Beauty, Wit, Manners, Sense, good Humour, good Behaviour, Education, Vertue, Piety, or any other Qualification, whether of Body or Mind, had no power to recommend: That Money only made a Woman agreeable: That Men chose Mistresses indeed by the gust of their Affection, and it was requisite for a Whore to be Handsome, well shap'd, have a good Mein, and a graceful Behaviour; but that for a Wife, no Deformity would shock the Fancy, no ill Qualities the Judgment; the Money was the thing; the Portion was neither crooked, or Monstrous, but the Money was always agreeable, whatever the Wife was.

On the other Hand, as the Market run all on the Mens side, I found the Women had lost the Privilege of saying No; that it was a Favour now for a Woman to have The Question ask'd, and if any young Lady had so much Arrogance as to Counterfeit a Negative, she never had the Opportunity of denying twice; much less of Recovering that false Step, and accepting what she had seem'd to decline: The Men had such Choice every where, that the Case of the Women was very unhappy; for they seem'd to Ply at every Door, and if the Man was by great Chance refus'd at one House, he was sure to be receiv'd at the next.

Besides this, I observ'd that the Men made no scruple to set themselves out, and to go a Fortune-Hunting, as they call it, when they had really no Fortune themselves to demand it, or Merit to deserve it; and they carry'd it so high, that a Woman was scarce allow'd to enquire after the Character or Estate, of the Person that pretended to her: This, I had an Example of, in a young Lady at the next House to me, and with whom I had contracted an Intimacy; she was Courted by a young Captain, and tho' she had near 2000l. to her Fortune, she did but enquire of some of his Neighbours about his Character, his Morals, or Substance; and he took Occasion at the next Visit to let her know, truly, that he took it very ill, and that he should not give her the Trouble of his Visits any more: I heard of it, and I had begun my Acquaintance with her, I went to see her upon it: She enter'd into a close Conversation with me about it, and unbosom'd herself very freely; I perceiv'd presently that tho' she thought herself very ill us'd, yet she had no power to resent it; that she was exceedingly piqu'd she had lost him, and particularly that another of less Fortune had gain'd him.

I fortify'd her Mind against such a Meanness, as I call'd it; I told her, that as low as I was in the World, I would have despis'd a Man that should think I ought to take him upon his own Recommendation only; also I told her, that as she had a good Fortune, she had no need to stoop to the Disaster of the Times; that it was enough, that the Men could insult us that had but little Money, but if she suffer'd such an Affront to pass upon her without resenting it, she would be render'd low-priz'd upon all Occasions, that a Woman can never want an Opportunity to be reveng'd of a Man that has us'd her ill, and that there were ways enough to humble such a Fellow as that, or else certainly Women were the most unhappy Creatures in the World.

She was very well pleas'd with the Discourse, and told me seriously that she would be very glad to make him sensible of her resentment, and either to bring him on again, or have the Satisfaction of her Revenge being as publick as possible.

I told her, that if she would take my Advice, I would tell her how she should obtain her Wishes in both those things; and that I would engage I would bring the Man to her Door again, and make him beg to be let in: She smil'd at that, and soon let me see, that if he came to her Door, her resentment was not so great, to let him stand long there.

However, she listened very willingly to my Offer of Advice; so I told her, that the first thing she ought to do, was a piece of Justice to herself; namely, that whereas he had reported among the Ladies, that he had left her, and pretended to give the Advantage of the Negative to himself, she should take care to have it well spread among the Women, which she could not fail of an Opportunity to do, that she had enquired into his Circumstances, and found he was not the Man he pretended to be: Let them be told too Madam, said I, that you found he was not the Man you expected, and that you thought it was not safe to meddle with him, that you heard he was of an ill Temper, and that he boasted how he had us'd the Women ill upon many Occasions, and that particularly he was debauch'd in his Morals, &c. The last of which indeed had some Truth in it; but I did not find that she seem'd to like him much the worse for that part.

She came most readily into all this, and immediately she went to Work to find Instruments, she had very little difficulty in the Search; for telling her Story in general to a Couple of her Gossips, it was the Chat of the Tea Table all over that part of the Town, and I met with it wherever I visited: Also, as it was known that I was acquainted with the young Lady her self, my Opinion was ask'd very often, and I confirm'd it with all the necessary Aggravations, and set out his Character in the blackest Colours; and as a piece of secret Intelligence, I added, what the Gossips knew nothing of, viz.