given her was confirmed, fent him an invitation, and received his firft vifit alone. She told him, that as Flavilla had no fortune, and as a confiderable part of his own was dependent upon his father's will, it would be extremely imprudent to endanger the difappointment of his expectations, by a marriage which would make it more neceffary that they fhould be fulfilled; that he ought therefore to obtain his father's confent, before any other step was taken, left he fhould be embarraffed by engagements which young perfons almoft infenfibly contract, whofe complacency in each other is continually gaining ftrength by frequent vifits and converfation. To this counfel, fo falutary and perplexing, Mercator was hefitating what to reply, when Flavilla came in, an accident which he was now only folicitous to improve. Flavilla was not difpleafed either with his perfon or his addrefs; the franknefs and gaiety of her difpofition foon made him forget that he was a ftranger: a converfation commenced, during which they became yet more pleafed with each other; and having thus furmounted the difficulty of a firit vifit, he thought no more of the old lady, as he believed her aufpices were not neceffary to his fuccefs.

His vifits w were often repeated, and he became every hour more impatient of delay: he preffed his fuit with that contagious ardour, which is caught at every glance, and produces the confent which it folicits. At the fame time, indeed, a thought of his father would intervene; but being determined to gratify his wishes at all events, he concluded with a fagacity almoft univerfal on these occafions, that of two evils, to marry without his confent was lefs, than to marry against it; and one evening, after the lovers had spent the afternoon by themfelves, they went out in a kind of frolic, which Mercator had proposed in the vehemence of his paffion, and to which Flavilla had confented in the giddinefs of her indifcretion, and were married at May Fair.

In the first interval of recollection after this precipitate ftep, Mercator confidered, that he ought to be the firft who acquainted his father of the new alliance which had been made in his family: but as he had not fortitude enough to do it in perfon, he expreffed it in the belt terms he could conceive by a letter; and

after fuch an apology for his conduct as he had been used to make to himself, he requested that he might be permitted to prefent his wife for the parental benediction, which alone was wanting to compleat his felicity.

The old gentleman, whose character I cannot better exprefs than in the fafhionable phrafe which has been contrived to palliate falfe principles and diffolute manners, had been a gay man, and was well acquainted with the town. He had often heard Flavilla toafted by rakes of quality, and had often seen her at public places. Her beauty and her dependence, the gaiety of her drefs, the multitude of her admirers, the levity of her conduct, and all the circumstances of her fituation, had concurred to render her character fufpc&ted; and he was difposed to judge of it with yet lefs charity, when he had offended him by marrying his fon, whom he confidered as difgraced and impoverished, and whofe misfortune, as it was irretrievable, he refolved not to alleviate, but increafe; a refolution, by which fathers, who have foolish and difobedient fors, ufually difplay their own kindness and wifdoin. As foon as he had read Mercator's letter, he curfed him for a fool, who had been gulled by the artifices of a ftrumpet to fcreen her from public infamy by fathering her children, and secure her from a prifon by appropriating her debts. In anfwer to his letter, which he wrote only to gratify his refentment, he told him, that if he had taken Flavilla into keeping, he would have overlooked it; and if her extravagance had diftreffed him, he would have satisfied his creditors; but that his marriage was not to be forgiven; that he should never have another fhilling of his money; and that he was determined to fee him no more. Mercator, who was more provoked by this outrage than grieved at his lofs, difdained to reply; and believing that he had now mos reason to be offended, could not be perfuaded to folicit a reconciliation.

He hired a genteel apartment for his wife of an upholsterer, who, with a view to let lodgings, had taken and furnished a large houfe near Leicester Fields, and in about two months left her to make another voyage.

He had received vifits of congratulation from her numerous acquaintance, and had returned them as a pledge of

his defire that they fhould be repeated. But a remembrance of the gay multitude, which while he was at home had flattered his vanity, as foon as he was abfent, alarmed his fufpicion: he had, indeed, no particular caufe of jealousy, but his anxiety arofe merely from a fenfe of the temptation to which the was expofed, and the impoffibility of his fuperintending her conduct.

In the mean time, Flavilla continued to flutter round the fame giddy circle, in which he had fhone fo long; the number of her vifitants was rather increafed than diminished, the gentlemen attended with yet greater affiduity, and the continued to encourage their civilities by the fame indifcreet familiarity: fhe was one night at the masquerade, and another at an opera; fometimes at a rout, and fometimes rambling with a party of pleasure in short excurfions from town; the came home fometimes at midnight, fometimes in the morning, and fometimes fhe was abfent several nights together.

This conduct was the cause of much fpeculation and uneafinefs to the good man and woman of the house. At first they fufpected that Flavilla was no bet ter than a woman of pleafure; and that the perfon who had hired the lodging for her as his wife, and had disappeared upon pretence of a voyage to fea, had been employed to impofe upon them, by concealing her character, in order to obtain fuch accommodation for her as fhe could not fo eafily have procured if it had been known: but as thefe fufpicions made them watchful and inquifitive, they foon discovered, that many ladies by whom he was vifited were of good character and fashion. Her conduct, however, fuppofing her to be a wife, was still inexcufable, and still endangered their credit and fubfiftence; hints were often dropped by the neighbours to the difadvantage of her character; and an elderly maiden lady, who lodged in the fecond floor, had given warning; the family was difturbed at all hours in the night, and the door was crouded all day with meffages and vifitants to Flavilla.

One day, therefore, the good woman took an opportunity to remonftrate, though in the most distant and respectful terms, and with the utmoft diffidence and caution. She told Flavilla, that he was a fine young lady, that her huf

band was abroad, that she kept a great deal of company, and that the world was cenforious; the wifhed that lefs occafion for scandal was given; and hoped to be excufed the liberty fhe had taken, as the might be ruined by thofe flanders, which could have no influence upon the great, and which, therefore, they were not folicitous to avoid. This addrefs, however ambiguous, and however gentle, was eafily understood, and fiercely refented. Flavilla, proud of her virtue, and impatient of controul, would have defpiled the counfel of a philofopher, if it had implied an impeachment of her conduct; before a perfon so much her inferior, therefore, fhe was under no reftraint; the answered with a mixture of contempt and indignation, that those only who did not know her would dare to take any liberty with her character; and warned her to propagate no fcandalous report at her peril. Flavilla immediately rofe from her seat, and the woman departed without reply, though fhe was fcarce lefs' offended than her lodger, and from that moment she determined when Mercator returned to give him warning.

Mercator's voyage was profperous; and after an abfence of about ten months he came back. The woman, to whom her husband left the whole management of her lodgings, and who perfifted in her purpofe, foon found an opportunity to put it in execution. Mercator, as his part of the contract had been punctually fulfilled, thought he had fome caufe to be offended, and infifted to know her reafons for compelling him to leave her house. These his hottefs, who was indeed a friendly woman, was very unwilling to give; and as he perceived that fhe evaded his queftion, he became more folicitous to obtain an answer. After much hefitation, which perhaps had a worie effect than any tale which malice could have invented, the told him, that madam kept a great deal of company, and often itaid out very late; that fhe had always been used to quiet and regularity; and was determined to let her apartment to fome perfon in a more private station..

At this account Mercator changed countenance; for he inferred from it just as much more than truth, as he believed it to be leis. After fome moments of fufpence, he conjured her to conceal nothing from him, with an emotion which

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convinced her that he had already faid too much. She then affured him, that he had no reafon to be alarmed; for that fhe had no exception to his lady, but thofe gaieties which her ftation and the fashion fufficiently authorized. Mercator's fufpicions, however, were not wholly removed; and he began to think he had found a confidant whom it would be his interest to truft: he therefore, in the folly of his jealousy, confeffed that he had foine doubts concerning his wife, which it was of the utmost importance to his honour and his peace to refolve; he intreated that he night continue in the apartment another year; that, as he fhould again leave the kingdom in a fhort time, fhe would fuffer no incident, which might confirm either his hopes or his fears, to escape her notice in his abfence; and that at his return fhe would give him fuch an account as would at Leaft deliver him from the torment of fufpence, and determine his future conduct.

There is no fophiftry more general than that by which we justify a bufy and fcrupulous enquiry after fecrets, which to difcover is to be wretched without hope of redrefs; and no fervice to which others are fo eafily engaged as to affift in the fearch. To communicate fufpicions of matrimonial infidelity, efpecially to a husband, is, by a strange mixture of folly and malignity, deemed not only an act of justice but of friendship; though it is too late to prevent an evil,

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which, whatever be it's guilt, can diffuse wretchednefs only in proportion as it is known. It is no wonder, therefore, that the general kindness of Mercator's confidant was on this occafion overborne, he was flattered by the trust that had been placed in her, and the power with which the was invested; the confented to Mercator's propofal, and promised that the would with the utmost fidelity execute her commiffion.

Mercator, however, concealed his fufpicions from his wife; and, indeed, in her prefence they were forgotten. Her manner of life he began feriously to difapprove; but being well acquainted with her temper, in which great fweetnefs was blended with a high fpirit, he would not embitter the pleasure of a thort stay by altercation, chiding, and tears: but when her mind was melted into tenderness at his departure, he clafped her in an extafy of fondness to his bofom, and intreated her to behave with referve and circumfpection; Because,' faid he,' I know that my father keeps a watchful eye upon your conduct, which may, therefore, confirm or remove his difpleafure, and either intercept or bestow 'fuch an increase of my fortune as will prevent the pangs of feparation which muft otherwife fo often return, and in a fhort time unite us to part no more." To this caution fhe had then no power to reply; and they parted with mutual proteftations of unalterable love,

LAVILLA, foon after fhe was thus left in a kind of widowhood a fecond time, found herself with child; and within fomewhat lefs than eight months after Mercator's return from his first voyage, the happened to stumble as the was going up flairs, and being im mediately taken ill, was brought to bed before the next morning. The child, though it's birth had been precipitated more than a month, was not remarkably mall, nor had any infirmity which en: dangered it's life.

Juve

DRYDEN.

It was now neceffary that the vigils of whift, and the tumults of balls and vifits, fhould, for a while, be fufpended; and in this interval of languor and retirement Flavilla firft became thoughtful. She often reflected upon Mercator's caution when they last parted, which had made an indelible impreffion upon her mind, though it had produced no alteration in her conduct: notwithstanding the manner in which it was expreffed, and the reafon upon which it was founded, the began to fear that it might have

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been fecretly prompted by jealoufy. The birth, therefore, of her firft child in his abfence, at a time when, if it had not been premature, it could not poffibly have been his, was an accident which greatly alarmed her: but there was yet another, for which it was ftill lefs in her power to account, and which, therefore, alarmed her ftill more.

It happened that fome civilities which fhe received from a lady who fat next her at an opera, and whom the had never feen before, introduced a converfation, which fo much delighted her, that the gave her a preffing invitation to vifit her: this invitation was accepted, and in a few days the vifit was paid. Flavilla was not lefs pleafed at the fecond interview, than fhe had been at the first; and without making any other enquiry concerning the lady than where the lived, took the first opportunity to wait on her. The apartment in which fhe was received was the ground-floor of an elegant house, at a finall diftance from St. James's. It happened that Flavilla was placed near the window; and a party of the horse-guards riding through the ftreet, the expected to fee fome of the royal family, and hastily threw up the fah. A gentleman who was paffing by at the fame inftant, turned about at the noife of the window, and Flavilla no fooner faw his face than the knew him to be the father of Mercator. After looking first stedfaftly at her, and then glancing his eye at the lady whom the was vifiting, he affected a contemptuous fneer, and went on. Flavilla, who had been thrown into fome confufion by the fudden and unexpected fight of a perfon, whom she knew confidered her as the difgrace of his family and the ruin of his child, now changed countenance, and hastily retired to another part of the room: fhe was touched both with grief and anger at this filent infult, of which, however, the did not then fufpect the caufe. It is, indeed, probable, that the father of Mercator would no where have looked upon her with complacency; but as foon as he faw her companion, he recollected that she was the favourite miftrefs of an old courtier, and that this was the house in which he kept her in great fplendor, though she had been by turns a prostitute to many others. It happened that Flavilla, foon after this accident, discovered the character of her new acquaintance; and never remem

bered by whom he had been feen in her company, without the utmost regret and apprehenfion.

She now refolved to move in a lefs circle, and with more circumfpection. In the mean time, her little boy, whom the fuckled, grew very fast; and it could no longer be known by his appearance

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that he had been born too foon. mother frequently gazed at him till her eyes overflowed with tears; and though her pleafures were now become domeftic, yet the feared left that which had produced fhould deftroy them. After fuch deliberation, the determined that the would conceal the child's age from it's father; believing it prudent to prevent a fufpicion, which, however ill founded, it might be difficult to remove, as her juftification would depend wholly upon the teftimony of her dependants; and her mother's and her own would neceffarily become doubtful, when every one would have reason to conclude, that it would ftill have been the fame fuppofing the contrary to have been true.

Such was the ftate of Flavilla's mind, and her little boy was fix months old, when Mercator returned. She received him with joy, indeed, but it was mixed with a vifible confulion; their meeting was more tender, but on her part it was lefs cheerful; she smiled with inexpreffible complacency, but at the fame time the tears gufhed from her eyes, and the was feized with an univerfal tremor. Mercator caught the infection; and careffed first his Flavilla, and then his boy, with an excefs of fondness and delight that before he had never expreffed. The fight of the child made him more than ever with a reconciliation with his father; and having heard at his first landing that he was dangerously ill, he determined to go immediately and attempt to fee him, promifing that he would return to fupper. He had, in the midt of his careffes, more than once inquired the age of his fon, but the question had been always evaded; of which, however, he took no notice, nor did it produce any fufpicion.

He was now hafting to enquire after his father; but as he paffed through the hall, he was officiously laid hold of by his landlady. He was not much difpofed to enquire how the had fulfilled his charge; but perceiving by her looks that he had fomething to communicate, which was at least in her own opinion S s

of

of importance, he fuffered her to take him into her parlour. She immediately fhut the door, and reminded him, that fhe had undertaken an office with reluctance which he had preffed upon her; and that he had done nothing in it to which he had not bound her by a promife; that he was extremely forry to communicate her difcoveries; but that he was a worthy gentleman, and, indeed, ought to know them. She then told him, that the child was born within less than eight months after his laft return from abroad; that it was faid to have come before it's time, but that having preffed to fee it, fhe was refused. This indeed was true, and confirmed the good woman in her fufpicion; for Flavilla, who had still refented the freedom which he had taken in her remonftrance, had kept her at a great distance: and the fervants, to gratify the miftrefs, treated her with the utmost infolence and contempt.

At this relation Mercator turned pale. He now recollected, that his question concerning the child's birth had been evaded; and concluded, that he had been fhedding tears of tenderness and joy over a ftrumpet and a battard, who had robbed him of his patrimony, his honour, and his peace. He started up with the furious wildnefs of fudden phrenzy; but the with great difficulty prevailed upon him not to leave the room. He fat down, and remained fome time motionless,with his eyes fixed on the ground, and his hands locked in each other. In proportion as he believed his wife to be guilty, his tenderness for his father revived; and he refolved, with yet greater zeal, to profecute his purpose of immediately attempting a reconciliation.

indeed, mufing over the story which he had just heard, and loft in the fpeculation of his own wretchednefs. Hewaked as from a dream, when the voice of the perfon who had been reading was fufpended; and finding that he could no longer contain himself, he started up, and would have left the company.

Of the will which had been read before him, he knew nothing: but his uncle believing that he was moved with grief and refentinent at the manner in which he had been mentioned in it, and the bequest only of a fhilling, took him into another room; and, to apologize for his father's unkindness, told him, that the refentment which he expreffed at his marriage, was every day increased by the conduct of his wife, whofe character was now become notoriously infamous; for that she had been seen at the lodgings of a known proftitute, with whom the appeared to be well acquainted. This account threw Mercator into another agony; from which he was, however, at length recovered by his uncle, who, as the only expedient by which he could retrieve his misfortune and foothe his diftrefs, propofed that he should no more return to his lodgings, but go home with him; and that he would himself take fuch meatures with his wife, as could fcarce fail of inducing her to accept a feparate maintenance, affume another name, and trouble him no more. Mercator, in the bitternefs of his affliction, confented to this propofal, and they went away together.

Mercator, in the mean time, was expected by Flavilla with the moft tender impatience. She had put her little boy to bed, and decorated a small room in which they had been used to fup by themfelves, and which fhe had fhut up in his abfence; the counted the moments as they paffed, and liftened to every carriage and every step that she heard. Supper now was ready: her impatience was increased; terror was at length mingled with regret, and her fondnefs was only bufied to afflict her; the wifhed, the feared, the accufed, fhe apologized, and the wept. In the height of thefe eager expectations and this tender diftrefs, the received a billet which Mercator had been perfuad

braided her in the ftrongest terms with abufing his confidence and difhonouring his bed; of this, he faid, he had now obtained fufficient proof to do juftice

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