OIL B L A J, a ,
of being well paid for my condefcenfion ; and my hopes were not difappointed t for, the very next da^,. I received from him confiderablc prefems, which were followed by many more, during the courfe of our correspondence. I was afraid that I Ihould noc be able to detain a man of fuch high rank a long time in my fetters;, and this I dreaded the more, becaufe I knew very well, that he had efcapea from celebrated beauties, whofe chains he had broke almofl as foon as he had bore them. Neverthelcfs, far from being every day lefs and lefs plea fed with my favours, his raptures feemed rather to incrcafe ; in fhort, I had the art to amufe him, and hinder his heart, naturally inconllant, from giving way to its ufual levity.
He had been attached to me already three months, and I had room to flatter myfclf, that his palfion. would be of long duration; when one of my fha- friends and I went to an aflembly, where he happened to be with his duchefs, in order to hear a concert of vocal and inltrumcntal mufic. We chanced to place ourfelves pretty near the duchefs, who was- pleafcd to take arnifs, that I fhould prefume to appear in a place where (he was, and font a mclfage to me by one of her women, defiling, that I would immediately withdraw. I returned an infolent an- fwer, which incenfed the dutchefs fo much, that Ihe complained of it to her hulband, who came to me in perfon, and laid, “ Retire, Lucinda ; though noblemen of my rznk attach thcmfelvcs to fuch little creatures as you, they mult not forget thcmfelvcs altogether : if we love you more than our wives, we honour our wives more than you; and as often as you have the infolcnce to put youi Selves in companion with them, you will always have the mortification to be treated with indignity.”
Luckily for me the duke fpoke this in a tone of voi^c fo lo\v, that not one word was overheard by Lh% people around us. I withdrew’, covered with 15 a fhanie,