HOR.

TH

HE Captain difcharged the coach; but being piqued at the behaviour of his wife, and feeling that flow of fpirits which ufually returns with the morning even to thofe who have not flept in the night, he had no defire to go home, and therefore refolved to enjoy the fine morning in the Park alone..

Lady Forrest, not doubting but that the Captain would immediately return home, congratulated herself upon her deliverance; but at the fame time, to indulge her defire of a walk, followed him into the Park.

The captain had reached the top of the Mall; and, turning back, met her before he had advanced two hundred yards beyond the palace. The moment the perceiv. ed him, the remembrance of her meflage, the motives that produced it, the detection of it's falíhood, and discovery of it's defign, her difappointment and confcioufnefs of that very fituation which he had fo much reafon to avoid, all concurred to cover her with confufion which it was impoffible to hide: pride and goodbreeding were, however, ftill predominant over truth and prudence; he was fill zealous to remove from the captain's mind any fufpicion of a defign to fhun him, and therefore with an effort perhaps equal to that of a hero who fimiles upon the rack, the affected an air of gaiety, faid fhe was glad to fee him, and as an excufe for her meffage and her conduct, prattled fomething about the fickleness of a woman's mind, and concluded with obferving that the changed hers too often ever to be mad. By this conduct a retreat was rendered impofible, and they walked together till between eight and nine: but the clouds having infenfibly gathered, and a fudden fhower falling just as they reached Spring Gardens, they went out inftead of going back; and the Captain having put the lady into a chair, took his leave. It happened that Sir James, contrary

FRANCIS.

to his first purpose, had returned from his journey at night. He learnt from the fervants, that his lady was gone to Captain Freeman's, and was fecretly dif pleafed that she had made this vifit when he was abfent; an incident which, however trifling in itself, was by the magic of jealoufy fwelled into importance: yet upon recollection he reproved himself for this difpleature, fince the prefence of the Captain's lady would fufficiently fe cure the honour of his own. While he was ftruggling with thefe fufpicions, they increafed both in number and ftrength in proportion as the night wore away. At one he went to bed; but he paffed the night in agonies of terror and refentment, doubting whether the abfence of his lady was the effect of accident or defign, listening to every noife, and bewildering himself in a multitude of extravagant fuppofitions. He rofe again at break of day; and after feveveral hours of suspense and irrefolution, whether to wait the iffue, or go out for intelligence, the reftleffness of curiofity prevailed, and about eight he fet out for Captain Freeman's; but left word with his fervants that he was gone to a neighbouring coffee-house.

Mrs. Freeman, whofe affected indifference and diffimulation of a design to go immediately to bed, contributed to prevent the Captain's return, had during his abfence fuffered inexpreffible difquiet: fhe had, indeed, neither intention to go to bed, nor inclination to fleep; the walked backward and forward in her chamber, distracted with jealousy and suspense, till she was informed that Sir James was below, and defired to fee her. When the came down, he difcovered that he had been in tears; his fear was now more alarmed than his jealoufy, and he concluded that fome fatal accident had befallen his wife; but he foon learnt that he and the Captain had gone from thence at five in the morning,

and

and that he was not yet returned. Mrs. Freeman, by Sir James's enquiry, knew that his lady had not been at home: her fufpicions, therefore, were confirmed; and in her jealoufy, which to prevent a duel the laboured to conceal, Sir James found new caufe for his own. He determined, however, to wait with as much decency as poffible, till the Captain came in; and perhaps two perfons were never more embarraffed by the prefence of each other. While breakfast was getting ready, Dr. Tattle came to pay Mrs. Freeman a morning vifit; and, to the unfpeakable grief both of the lady and her guest, was immediately admitted. Dr. Tattle is one of thofe male goffps who, in the common opinion, are the moft diverting company in the world. The Doctor faw that Mrs. Freeman was lowfpirited, and made feveral efforts to divert her, but without fuccefs. At laft he declared, with an air of ironical importance, that he could tell her fuch news as would make her look grave for fomething: The Captain, fays he, has juft huddled a lady into a chair at the 'door of a bagnio near Spring Gardens. He foon perceived, that this fpeech was received with emotions very different from thofe he intended to produce; and therefore added-that the need not, however, be jealous; for notwithstanding the manner in which he bad related the incident, the lady was certainly a woman of character, as he inftantly discovered by her mien and appearance. This particular confirmed the fufpicion it was intended to remove; and the Doctor finding that he was not fo good company as ufual, took his leave; but was met at the door by the Captain, who brought him back. His prefence, however indignificant, impofed fome reftraint upon the rest of the company; and Sir James, with as good an appearance of jocularity as he could ailume, alked the Captain what he had done with his wife. The Captain with fome irrefolution replied, that he had left her early in the morning at her father's; and that having made a point of waiting on her home, the fent word down that her coufin Meadows was indifpofed, and had engaged her to breakfat. The Captain, who knew nothing of the anecdote that had been communicated by the Doctor, judged by appearances that it was prudent thus

indirectly to lye, by concealing the truth both from Sir James and his wife: he fuppofed, indeed, that Sir James would immediately enquire after his wife at her father's, and learn that he did not stay there to break faft; but as it would not follow that they had been to. gether, he left her to account for her abfence as he thought fit, taking for granted that what he had concealed the alfo would conceal for the fame reasons; or if the did not, as he had affirmed nothing contrary to truth, he might pretend to have concealed it in jeft. Sir James, as foon as he had received this intelligence, took his leave with fome appearance of fatisfaction, and was followed by the doctor.

As foon as Mrs. Freeman and the Captain were alone, the queftioned him with great earneftnefs about the dy whom he had been feen to put into a chair. When he had heard that this incident had been related in the prefence of Sir James, he was greatly alarmed left Lady Forrett fhould increate his fufpicions, by attempting to conceal that which, by a feries of enquiry to which he was now ftimulated, he would probably discover: he condemned this conduct in himself; and as the most effectual means at once to quiet the mind of his wife, and obtain her affistance, he told her all that had happened, and his apprehenfion of the confequences: he alfo urged her to go di rectly to Mifs Meadows, by whom his account would be confirmed, and of whom he might learn farther intelligence of Sir James; and to find fome way to acquaint Lady Forrest with her danger, and admonish her to concealno. thing.

Mrs. Freeman was convinced of the Captain's fincerity, not only by the advice which he urged her to give to Lady Forreit, but by the confiftency of the flory and the manner in which he was affected. Her jealoufy was changed into pity for her friend, and apprehenfion for her husband. She hafted to Mifs Meadows, and learnt that Sir James had enquired of the fervant for his lady, and was told that he had been there early with Captain Freeman, but went away foon after him: the related to Mifs Meadows all that had happened; and thinking it at least poffible that Sir James might not go directly home, the wrote the following letter to his lady.

MT

MY DEAR LADY FORREST,

Am in the utmost diftrefs for you. Sir James has fufpicions which truth only can remove, and of which my indifcretion is the caufe. If I had not concealed my defire of the Captain's return, your defign to difengage yourself from him, which I learn from MifsMeadows, would have been effected. Sir James breakfafted with me in the Haymarket; and has fince called at your father's, from whence I write: he knows that your stay here was fhort, and has reafon to believe the Captain put you into a chair fome hours afterwards at Spring Gardens. I hope therefore, my dear lady, that this will reach your hands time enough to prevent your concealing any thing. It would have been better if Sir James had

known nothing, for then you would not have been fufpected; but now he must know all, or you cannot be justified. Forgive the freedom with which I write, and believe me most affectionately your's, MARIA FREEMAN.

P.S. I have ordered the bearer to fay he came from Mrs. Fashion, the milliner.

This letter was given to a chairman, and he was ordered to fay he brought it from the milliner's; because if it should be known to come from Mrs. Freeman, and fhould fall by accident into Sir James's hands, his curiofity might prompt him to read it, and his jealousy to queftion the lady without communicating the contents.

IR James being convinced that his

LUCANUS.

if he came directly from her father's

morning at a bagnio, by the anfwer which he received at her father's, went directly home. His lady was just arrived before him, and had not recovered from the confufion and dread which feized her when she heard that Sir James came to town the night before, and at the fame inftant anticipated the confequences of her own indifcretion. She was told he was then at the coffee-houfe, and in a few minutes was thrown into an univerfal tremor upon hearing him knock at the door. He perceived her diftrefs not with compaffion but rage, because he believed it to proceed from the consciousness of guilt: he turned pale, and his lips quivered; but he fo far reftrained his paffion as to afk her without invective, where, and how she had paffed the night. She replied, at Captain Freeman's; that the Captain was upon guard, that the fat up with his lady till he came in, and that then infifting to fee her home, he would fuffer the coach to go no farther than her father's, where he left her early in the morning: fhe had not fortitude to relate the fequel, but ftopped with fome appearance of irrefoJution and terror. Sir James then asked,

in which it was asked, increased her confufion: to appear to have stopped fhort in her narrative, fhe thought would be an implication of guilt, as it would betray a defire of concealment: but the past could not be recalled, and the was impelled by equivocation to falfhood; from which, however, fhe would have been kept back by fear, if Sir James had not deceived her into a belief that he had been no farther than the neighbourhood. After thefe tumultuous reflections, which paffed in a moment, the ventured to affirm, that she staid with Miss Meadows till eight, and then came home: but she uttered this falfhood with such marks of guilt and fhame, which the had indeed no otherwife than by this falfhood incurred or deferved, that Sir James no more doubted her infidelity than her existence. As her ftory was the fame with that of the Captain's, and as one had concealed ' the truth and the other denied it, he concluded there was a confederacy between them; and determining first to bring the Captain to account, he turned from her abruptly, and immediately left the houfe.

At the door he met the chairman who had

had been difpatched by Mrs. Freeman to his lady; and fiercely interrogating him what was his bulinefs, the man produced the letter, and saying, as he had been ordered, that he brought it from Mrs. Fafhion, Sir James fnatched it from him, and muttering fome expreffions of contempt and refentment, thruft it into his pocket.

It happened that Sir James did not find the Captain at home; he therefore left a billet, in which he requested to fee him at a neighbouring tavern, and added that he had put on his fword.

In the mean time, his lady, dreading a difcovery of the falfhood which she had afferted, dispatched a billet to Captain Freeman, in which the conjured him, as a man of honour, for particular reasons, not to own to Sir James, or any other perfon, that he had seen her after he had left her at her father's: fhe also wrote to her cousin Meadows, intreating, that if he was queftioned by Sir James, he might be told that the ftaid with her till eight o'clock, an hour at which only herself and the fervants were up.

The billet to Mifs Meadows came foon after the chairman had returned with an account of what had happened to the letter; and Mrs. Freeman was just gone in great hafte to relate the accident to the Captain, as it was of importance that he fhould know it before his next interview with Sir James: but the Captain had been at home before her, and had received both Sir James's billet and that of his lady. He went immediately to the tavern, and, inquiring for Sir James Forreft, was fhewn into a back room one pair of stairs: Sir James received his falutation without reply, and inftantly bolted the door. His jealoufy was complicated with that indignation and contempt, which a fenfe of injury from a perfon of inferior rank never fails to produce; he therefore demanded of the Captain, in a haughty tone, whether he had not that morning been in company with his wife, after he had left her at her father's. The Captain, who was incenfed at Sir James's manner, and deemed himfelf engaged in honour to keep the lady's fecret, anfwered, that, after what he had faid in the morning, no man had 2 right to fuppofe he had feen the lady afterwards; that to infinuate the conary, was obliquely to charge him with

a falfhood; that he was bound to answer no fuch queftions, till they were properly explained; and that, as a gentleman, he was prepared to vindicate his honour. Sir James juftly deemed this reply an equivocation and an infult; and being no longer able to reftrain his rage, he curfed the Captain as a liar and a fcoundrel, and at the fame time ftriking him a violent blow with his fift, drew his fword, and put himself in a posture of defence. Whatever defign the Captain might have had to bring his friend to temper, and reconcile him to his wife, when he first entered the room, he was now equally enraged, and indeed had fuffered equal indignity; he therefore drew at the fame inftant, and after a few defperate paffes on both fides, he received a wound in his breast, and reeling backward a few paces, fell down.

The noife had brought many people to the door of the room, and it was forced open just as the Captain received his wound: Sir James was fecured, and a. meffenger was dispatched for a furgeon. In the mean time the Captain perceived himself to be dying; and whatever might before have been his opinion of right and wrong, and honour and fhame, he now thought all diffimulation criminal, and that his murderer had a right to that truth which he thought it meritorious to deny him when he was his friend: he therefore earnestly defired to speak a few words to him in private. This request was immediately granted; the perfons who had rushed in withdrew, contenting themselves to keep guard at the door; and the Captain, beckoning Sir James to kneel down by him, then told him, that however his lady might have been furprized or betrayed by pride or fear into diffimulation or falfhood, fhe was innocent of the crime which he fuppofed her follicitous to conceal: he then briefly related all the events as they had happened; and at laft, grafping his hand, urged him to escape from the window, that he might be a friend to his widow and to his child, if it's birth fhould not be prevented by the death of it's father. Sir James yielded to the force of this motive, and escaped as the Captain had directed. In his way to Dover he read the letter which he had taken from the chairman, and the next poft inclosed it in the following to his lady. Τ

MY

I

MY DEAR CHARLOTTE,

Am the moft wretched of all men; but I do not upbraid you as the cause: would to God that I were not more guilty than you! We are the martyrs of diffimulation. By diffimulation dear Captain Freeman was induced to waste thofe hours with you, which he would otherwife have enjoyed with the poor unhappy diffembler his wife. Trufting in the fuccefs of diffimulation, you was tempted to venture into the Park, where you met him whom you wifhed to fhun. By detecting diffimulation in the Captain, my fufpicions were increased; and by diffimulation and falfhood you confirmed them. But your diffimulation and falfhood were the effects of mine; your's were ineffectual, mine fucceeded: for I left word that I was gone no farther than the coffee-house, that you might not fufpect I had learned too much to be deceived. By the fuccefs of a lye put into the mouth of a chairman, I was prevented from reading a letter which at last would have undeceived me; and by per

SIR,

fifting in diffimulation, the Captain hac made his friend a fugitive, and his wife a widow. Thus does infincerity terminate in mifery and confufion, whether in it's immediate purpose it fucceeds or is disappointed. O my dear Charlotte! if ever we meet again-to meet again in peace is impoffible-but if ever we meet again, let us refolve to be fincere: to be fincere is to be wife, innocent, and fafe. We venture to commit faults which fhame or fear would prevent, if we did not hope to conceal them by a lye. But in the labyrinth of falfhood, men meet thofe evils which they feek to avoid; and as in the ftrait path of truth alone they can fee before them, in the ftrait path of truth alone they can purfue felicity with fuccefs. Adieu! I'am-dreadful!-I can subscribe nothing that does not reproach and torment me-Adieu!

Within a few weeks after the receipt of this letter, the unhappy lady heard that her husband was cast away in his paffage to France.

TO THE ADVENTURER.

VIRG.

with fenfe, with paffion, and with language.

To fay that the lightning obeyed the

lowing manner.

It is the peculiar privilege of poetry, not only to place material objects in the moft amiable attitudes, and to clothe them in the most graceful drefs, but also to give life and motion to immaterial beings; and form, and colour, and action, even to abstract ideas; to embody the Virtues, the Vices, and the Paffions; and to bring before our eyes, as on a stage, every faculty of the human mind.

Profopopoeia, therefore, or perfonification, conducted with dignity and propriety, may be juftly esteemed one of the greateft efforts of the creative power of a warm and lively imagination. Of this figure many illuftrious examples may be produced from the Jewish writers I have been fo earnestly recommending to your perufal; among whom every part and object of nature is animated, and endowed

a Hebrew