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having mentioned his Marriage, and that Preference which he had given to myself, but denied with many Oaths the having affigned any fuch Reafon. And he excufed the having mentioned any fuch Matter at all, on account of the Straits he was in for Money, arifing, he faid, from his having too long neglected his Eftate in Ireland. And this, he faid, which he could not bear to discover to me, was the only Reason of his having fo ftrenuously infifted on our Journey. He then ufed feveral very endearing Expreffions, and concluded by a very ⚫ fond Carefs, and many violent Proteftations of • Love.

• There was one Circumstance, which, tho' he did not appeal to it, had much Weight with me in his Favour, and that was the Word Join ture in the Taylor's Letter, whereas my Aunt never had been married, and this Mr. Fitzpatrick well knew.--As I imagined therefore that the Fellow must have inferted this of his own Head, or from Hearfay, I perfuaded my→ felf he might have ventured likewife 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 fuch a Circumftance as this, or appeal to it for the Juftification 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 C forgiven him. I now made no farther Objections to our fetting out, which we did the next Morning, and in a little more than a Week arrived at the Seat of Mr. Fitzpatrick.

• Your

"Your Curiofity will excufe me from relating C any Occurrences which paft during our Journey: For it would indeed be highly difagreeable to travel it over again, and no lefs fo to you to travel it over with me.

you

This Seat then, is an ancient ManfionHouse: If I was in one of those merry Hu6 mours, in which have so often feen me, I could defcribe it to you ridiculously enough. It looked as if it had been formerly inhabited by a Gentleman. Here was Room enough, ⚫ and not the lefs Room on account of the Furniture: For indeed there was very little in it. 'An old Woman, who feemed coeval with the Building, and greatly refembled her whom 'Ghamunt mentions in the Orphan, received us at the Gate, and in a Howl fcarce human, and to me unintelligible, welcomed her Mafter "home. In fhort, the whole Scene was fo gloomy and melancholy, that it threw my Spirits into the loweft Dejection; which my Huf ⚫ band difcerning, inftead of relieving, encreased by two or three malicious Obfervations." "There are good Houfes, Madam," fays he, " as you find, in other Places befides England; "but perhaps you had rather be in a dirty Lodg"ings at Bath.”

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Happy, my Dear, is the Woman, who in any State of Life, hath a cheerful good-natured Companion to fupport and comfort her; but • why do I reflect on happy Situations only to aggravate my own Mifery! My Companion, far from clearing up the Gloom of Solitude, foon convinced me, that I must have been • wretched with him in any Place, and in any Condition. In a Word, he was a furly Fel

low,

low, a Character you have perhaps never feen: For indeed no Woman ever fees it exemplified,

but in a Father, a Brother, or a Hufband; and "tho' you have a Father, he is not of that Character. This furly Fellow had formerly ap'peared to me the very Reverfe, and fo he did ftill to every other Perfon. Good Heaven! how is it poffible for a Man to maintain a con'ftant Lie in his Appearance abroad and in Company, and to content himself with fhewing difagreeable Truth only at home? Here, my Dear, they make themselves Amends for the uneafy Restraint which they put on their Tempers in the World; for I have obferved the more merry and gay and good-humoured my Husband hath at any Time been in Company, the more fullen and morofe he was fure to become at our next private Meeting. How fhall I defcribe his Barbarity? To my Fondness he was cold and infenfible. My little comical Ways, which you, my Sophy, and which others have called fo agreeable, he treated with Contempt. In my moft ferious Moments he fung and whistled; and whenever I was thoroughly dejected and miferable, he was angry, and abused me: For though he was never pleased ' with my good Humour, nor afcribed it to my • Satisfaction in him; yet my low Spirits always "offended him, and those he imputed to my Repentance of having (as he faid) married an • Irishman.

You will eafily conceive, my dear Graveairs; (I ask your Pardon, I really forgot myfelf) that when a Woman makes an imprudent Match in the Senfe of the World; that is, • when she is not an arrant Proftitute to pecu

niary Intereft, fhe muft neceffarily have fome Inclination and Affection for her Man. You will as easily believe that this Affection may ⚫ poffibly be leffened; nay, I do affure you, Contempt will wholly eradicate it. This Contempt I now began to entertain for my Hufband, whom I now discovered to be-I must ufe the Expreffion-an arrant Blockhead. Perhaps you will wonder I did not make this Difcovery long before; but Women will fuggeft a thousand Excuses to themselves for the Folly of those they like: Befides, give me Leave to tell you, it requires a moft penetrating Eye to difcern a Fool through the Disguises of Gayety and Good-breeding.

It will be eafily imagined, that when I once defpifed my Husband, as I confefs to you I foon did, I muft confequently diflike his Company; and indeed I had the Happiness of being very little troubled with it; for our House was now moft elegantly furnished, our Cellars well ftocked, and Dogs and Horfes provided in great Abundance. As my Gentleman therefore entertained his Neighbours with great Hospitality; fo his Neighbours reforted to him with great Alacrity; and Sports and Drinking confumed fo much of his Time, that a small Part of his • Conversation, that is to fay, of his Ill-humours, fell to my Share.

Happy would it have been for me, if I could as eafily have avoided all other disagreeable Company; but alas! I was confined to fome which conftantly tormented me; and the more, as I faw no Profpect of being relieved from them. Thefe Companions were my own racking Thoughts, which plagued, and in a man

ner

⚫ner haunted me Night and Day. In this Situation I past through a Scene, the Horrors of which can neither be painted nor imagined. Think, my Dear, figure, if you can, to your⚫ felf what I must have undergone. I became a Mother by the Man I fcorned, hated, and de• tefted. I went through all the Agonies and Miseries of a Lying-in, (ten Times more painful in fuch a Circumftance, than the worst Labour can be, when one endures it for a Man 6 one loves,) in a Defert, or rather indeed a Scene of Riot and Revel, without a Friend, without a Companion, or without any of thofe agreeable Circumftances which often alleviate, and < perhaps fometimes more than compenfate the Sufferings of our Sex at that Seafon.

CHAP. VI.

In which the Mistake of the Landlord throws Sophia into a dreadful Confternation.

M

RS. Fitzpatrick was proceeding in her Narrative, when he was interrupted by the Entrance of Dinner, greatly to the Concern of Sophia: For the Misfortunes of her Friend had raised her Anxiety, and left her no Appetite, but what Mrs. Fitzpatrick was to fatisfy by her Relation.

The Landlord now attended with a Plate under his Arm, and with the fame Respect in his Countenance and Address, which he would have put on, had the Ladies arrived in a Coach and Six.

The married Lady feemed lefs affected with her own Misfortunes than was her Coufin: For the former eat very heartily, whereas the latter could

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