Lord very

well satisfied her; for his Repu tation was extremely clear, and common Fame did him no more than Justice, in fpeaking well of him. • Well then,' faid

fhe,

my Lord,—I—I vow, I can't bear the Apprehension of it No, • it must not be.-At least every other Me⚫thod fhall be tried. Can you get rid of your Engagements and dine here to-day? Your Lordship will have an Opportunity of feeing a little more of Mifs Western. I promise you we have no time to lofe. 'Here will be no body but Lady Betty, and Mifs Eagle, and Colonel Hampfted, and • Tom Edwards, they will all go foon ' and I fhall be at home to no body. • Then your Lordship may be a little more explicit. Nay, I will contrive fome Me'thod to convince you of her Attachment · to this Fellow.' My Lord made proper Compliments, accepted the Invitation, and then they parted to drefs, it being now, paft three in the Morning, or to reckon by the old Style, in the Afternoon.

CHAP

..

CHAP. III.

A further Explanation of the foregoing

T

Defign.

HO' the Reader may have long fince concluded Lady Bellafton to be a Member (and no inconfiderable one) of the Great World, fhe was in reality a very confiderable Member of the Little World; by which Appellation was diftinguished a very worthy and honourable Society which not long fince flourished in this Kingdom.

Among other good Principles upon which this Society was founded, there was one very remarkable; for as it was a Rule of an honourable Club of Heroes, who affembled at the close of the late War, that all the Members should every Day fight once at leaft; fo 'twas in this, that every Member fhould, within the twenty four Hours, tell at least one merry Fib, which was to be propagated by all the Brethren and Sifterhood.

Many idle Stories were told about this Society, which from a certain Quality may

be

be perhaps not unjustly fuppofed to have come from the Society themselves. As, that the Devil was the Prefident, and that he fat in Perfon in an elbow Chair at the upper End of the Table; but upon very ftrict Enquiry, I find there is not the leaft Truth in any of thofe Tales, and that the Affembly confifted in reality of a Set of very good fort of People, and the Fibs which they propa. gated were of a harmless Kind, and tended only to produce Mirth and good Humour.

Edwards was likewife a Member of this comical Society. To him therefore Lady Bellafton applied as a proper Inftrument for her Purpose, and furnished him with a Fib, which he was to vent whenever the Lady gave him her Cue; and this was not to be till the Evening when all the Company but Lord Fellamar and himself were gone, and while they were engaged in a Rubbers at Whift.

To this Time then, which was between seven and eight in the Evening, we will con vey our Reader; when Lady Bellafton, Lord Fellamar, Mifs Western, and Tom being engaged at Whift, and in the laft Game of their Rubbers, Tom received his Cue from

Lady

Lady Bellafton, which was, I protest Tom, you are grown intolerable lately; you used to tell us all the News of the Town, and now you know no more of the World than if you lived out of it.

Mr. Edwards then began as follows: • The Fault is not mine, Madam; It lies in the Dulness of the Age that doth no· thing worth talking of -O la! tho' now I think on't, there hath a terrible Accident • befallen poor Col. Wilcox.

6

Poor Ned You know him, my Lord, every body knows him; faith! I am very much concerned for him..

lafton.

What is it, pray?' fays Lady Bel

Why, he hath killed a Man this Morning in a Duel, that's all.

His Lordship, who was not in the Secret, afked gravely, whom he had killed; to which Edwards anfwered, · A Felyoung low we none of us know; a Somersetfhire Lad juft come to town, one Jones his Name is; a near Relation of one Mr. Allworthy, of whom your Lordship 1 be. lieve hath heard. Í faw the Lad lie dead

• in

' in a Coffee-house.

Upon my Soul he ' is one of the finest Corpfes I ever saw in my Life.

Sophia, who just began to deal as Tom had mentioned that a Man was killed, ftopt her Hand, and liftened with Attention, (for all Stories of that Kind affected her) but no fooner had he arrived at the latter part of the Story, then fhe began to deal again; and having dealt three Cards to one, and seven to another, and ten to a third, at laft dropt the reft from her Hand, and fell back in her Chair.

The Company behaved as ufually on thefe Occafions. The ufual Disturbance enfued, the usual Affiftance was fummoned, and Sophia at laft, as it is ufual, returned again to Life, and was foon after, at her earnest Defire, led to her own Apartment; where, at my Lord's Request, Lady Bellafton acquainted her with the Truth, attempted to carry it off as a Jeft of her own, and comforted her with repeated Affurances, that neither his Lordship, nor Tom, though she had taught him the Story, were in the true Secret of the Affair.

There