66 glad that the fellow was in possession of all that belongs to her. I never advise old women: "for if they take it into their heads to go to the 66 devil, it is no more possible, than worth while, "to keep them from him. Innocence, and youth "and beauty, are worthy a better fate, and I would save them from his clutches. Let me ad. "vise you, therefore, dear child, never suffer this "fellow to be particular with you again."-"Many " more things he said to me, which I have now. forgotten, and indeed I attended very little to them at that time; for inclination contradicted 'all he said; and besides, I could not be per. suaded, that women of quality would conde. scend to familiarity with such a person as he doscribed. But I am afraid, my dear, I shall tire you with a detail of so many minute circumstances, To be concise, therefore, imagine me married; imagine me with my husband, at the feet of my aunt; and then imagine the maddest woman in Bedlam in a raving fit, and your imagination will suggest to you no more than what really ' happened. The very next day my aunt left the place, partly to avoid seeing Mr. Fitzpatrick or myself, and as much perhaps to avoid seeing any one else; for, though I am told she hath since denied every thing stoutly, I believe she was then a Little confounded at her disappointment. Since that time I have written to her many letters, but never could obtain an answer, which I must < own sits somewhat the heavier, as she herself was, though undesignedly, the occasion of all my sufferings: for had it not been under the 'colour of paying his addresses to her, Mr. Fitz patrick would never have found sufficient op. portunities to have engaged my heart, which, in other circumstances, I still flatter myself would not have been an easy conquest to such a person. Indeed, I believe, I should not have erred so grossly in my choice, if I had relied on my own judgment; but I trusted totally to the opinion of others, and very foolishly took the merit of a man for granted, whom I saw so universally well received by the women. What is the rea son, my dear, that we, who have understand ings equal to the wisest and greatest of the other sex, so often make choice of the silliest fellows for companions and favourites? It raises my indignation to the highest pitch, to reflect on the numbers of women of sense who have been undou by fools.' Here she paused a moment; but Sophia making no answer, she proceeded as in the next chapter. CHAP. V. In which the history of Mrs. Fitzpatrick is con tinued. WE remained at Bath no longer than a fort. night after our wedding: for as to any reconciliation with my aunt, there were no hopes; and of my fortune, not one farthing could be touched till I was of age, of which I now wanted more than two years. My husband, therefore, 6 was resolved to set out for Ireland; against which I remonstrated very earnestly, and in. 'sisted on a promise which he had made me before our marriage, that I should never take this journey against my consent; and indeed I never intended to consent to it, nor will any body, I believe, blame me for that resolution; but this, however, I never mentioned to my husband, and petitioned only for the reprieve of a month; but he had fixed the day, and to that day he ob'stinately adhered. rooms. The evening before our departure, as we were I disputing this point with great eagerness on both sides, he started suddenly from his chair, and 'left me abruptly, saying, he was going to the He was hardly out of the house, when 'I saw a paper lying on the floor, which, I sup6 pose, he had carelessly pulled from his pocket, 'together with his handkerchief. This paper < I took up, and finding it to be a letter, I made < no scruple to open and read it; and indeed I 'read it so often, that I can repeat it to you almost word for word. This then was the letter: 'To Mr. Brian Fitzpatrick. SIR, 'YOURS received, and am surprised you should 6 use me in this manner, as have never seen any of your cash, unless for one linsey-woolsey coat, and your bill now is upwards of 150l. Con. sider, sir, how often you have fobbed me off ' with your being shortly to be married to this lady, and t'other lady; but I can neither live on hopes or promises, nor will my woollen'draper take any such in payment. You tell me you are secure of having either the aunt or 'the piece, and that you might have married the 'aunt before this, whose jointure you say is im< mense, but that you prefer the niece on account of her ready money. Pray, sir, take a fool's advice for once, and marry the first you can get. You will pardon my offering my advice, as you know I sincerely wish you well. Shall draw on you per next post, in favour of Messieurs John Drugget and company, at fourteen days, which doubt not your honouring, • and am, • Sir, "Your humble servant, This was the letter, word for word. Guess, 'my dear girl, guess how this letter affected me. You prefer the niece on account of her ready money! If every one of these words had been a dagger, I could with pleasure have stabbed them into his heart; but I will not recount my 'frantic behaviour on the occasion. I had pretty 'well spent my tears before his return home; but sufficient remains of them appeared in my 'swollen eyes. He threw himself sullenly into his chair, and for a long time we were both silent. At length, in a haughty tone, he said, "I hope, madam, your servants have packed up "all your things; for the coach will be ready by "six in the morning." My patience was totally subdued by this provocation, and I answered, no, sir, there is a letter still remains unpacked; and then throwing it on the table, I fell to upbraiding him with the most bitter lan guage I could invent. 6 Whether guilt, or shame, or prudence, restrained him, I cannot say ; but though he is the most passionate of men, he exerted no rage on this occasion. He endeavoured, on the contrary, to pacify me by the most gentle means. He swore the phrase in the letter, to which I ' principally objected, was not his, nor had he ever written any such. He owned, indeed, the z having mentioned his marriage, and that pre. ference which he had given to myself, but denied with many oaths the having assigned any such reason. And he excused the having mentioned any such matter at all, on account of the straits he was in for money, arising, he said, from his having too long neglected his estate in Ireland. And this, he said, which he could not bear to discover to me, was the only reason of his having so strenuously insisted on our 'journey. He then used several very endearing expressions, and concluded by a very fond C caress, and many violent protestations of love. 6 There was one circumstance, which, though he did not appeal to it, had much weight with me in his favour, and that was the word join. ture in the tailor's letter; whereas my aunt never had been married, and this Mr, Fitzpatrick well knew. As I imagined, therefore, that the fellow must have inserted this of his own head, or from hearsay, I persuaded myself he might have ventured likewise on that odious line on no better authority. What reasoning was this, my dear? was I not an advocate rather than a judge? But why do I mention such a circumstance as this, or appeal to it for the justification of my forgiveness? In short, had he been guilty of twenty times as much, half the tenderness and fondness which he used, would have prevailed on me to have forgiven him. I now made no farther objections to our setting out, which we did the next morning, and in a little more than a week arrived at the seat of Mr. Fitzpatrick. Your curiosity will excuse me from relating any occurrences which passed during our journey: |