brought them, they drank very civilly one to the other; but Miss
expected to be attacked, after another Sort of Manner than she found by
the Gentleman: For he asked her, how long she had continued that Trade;
she told him, as they all do, but a very short Time; then he continues,
how can you dare to live in Rebellion both against the Laws of God and
Man, and impudently pursue Methods to destroy both your Body, and your
immortal Soul? In short, he read her such a Lecture, that she, not being
hardened in Sin as are the Generality of those Miscreants, burst out
into a Flood of Tears, and told him, that it was not without a wonderful
Remorse of Conscience she followed that wicked Course of Life, and
protested to him, that it was pure Necessity obliged her to it, for
otherwise she could not get a Subsistence. The Gentleman asked her
further, How she came first to be debauched? She told him her Father was
a Country Gentleman, who had extravagantly spent a plentiful Estate, and
then dying, left her to the wide World unprovided for: She thought
_London_ was the best Place to get her a Livelihood in, and thither she
came, but very unfortunately fell into the Hands of a lewd Woman, who
betrayed her to the Lust of a Gentleman, who was no more than once
concerned with her, and then advised her to ply the Streets; and, that
he himself was the first Person that ever had picked her up.
The Gentleman told her, it was hard to believe Persons who had been
guilty of such heinous Crimes, and very heartily admonished her to
forsake her evil Practices, to repent of what she had already done, and
to amend her Life for the Future; she gave him many Thanks for his good
Advice, and told him, she should think herself a very happy Person, if
either he, or any one else, would put her in a Way to live otherwise; he
told her, if she would resolve to amend for the Future, he would take
Care to provide for her; she promised him, with all the Asseverations
imaginable, that she would: Whereupon he told her, that she should meet
him the next Day at a certain Time and Place; she coming according to
Appointment, he put her into a Lodging he had provided, and being well
assured of her Repentance and Sincerity, and finding her an accomplished
Gentlewoman, soon after married her; and she made him a chaste and happy
Wife, and he lived as happily with her, as if she had been possessed of
a Portion of Thousands of Pounds.
_Sophia._ If I had here a Bottle of Wine, I would drink that Gentleman's
Health; he, under God, saved the Body and Soul of that poor Creature,
and made a Saint, by taking a Sinner to his Bed. I cannot chuse but
reflect on our Discourse, how naturally we have fallen from the
Discourse of Matrimony, to Love Stories; we have talked away the Time,
as Children cry themselves asleep. But we must be gone, the Sun is just
down, and we shall be wanted at Supper.
* * * * *
Transcriber's note:
This extract and the Mundus Foppensis were both included in a book
published by the Augustan Reprint Society in 1992, with the title
cover as shown below. There are a number of words spelt differently
from spelling used today. Some words have been changed. They are
japan to Japan, Sweet-meets to Sweet-meats, sollicit to solicit,
and hugy to hugely.
THE
Harleian Miscellany:
OR, A
COLLECTION
OF
SCARCE, CURIOUS, and ENTERTAINING
PAMPHLETS and TRACTS,
As well in Manuscript as in Print,
Found in the late
EARL of _OXFORD_'s LIBRARY.
INTERSPERSED
With HISTORICAL, POLITICAL, and CRITICAL NOTES.
WITH
A Table of the CONTENTS.
VOL. V.
LONDON:
Printed for _T. OSBORNE_, in _Gray's-Inn_. MDCCXLV.