_Contains the catastrophe of Lady Mellasin's and her daughter Flora's
adventures while on this side the globe_
While this unhappy little family were in their concealment, each of them
set their whole wits to work to find some means by which Lady Mellasin
might be extricated from that terrible dilemma she had brought herself
into.
But as this was a thing in it's very nature, as affairs had been
managed, morally impossible to be accomplished, all their endeavours to
that purpose only served to shew them the extreme vanity of the attempt,
and consequently to render them more miserable.
Despair, at length, and the near prospect of approaching want, so
humbled the once haughty spirit of Lady Mellasin, that she resolved on
writing to Mr. Edward Goodman--to make use of all her rhetorick to
soothe him into forgiveness for the troubles she had occasioned
him--and, in fine, to petition relief from the very man whom she had
made use of the most villainous arts to prejudice.
The contents of her letter to that much-injured gentleman were as
follows.
'To Edward Goodman, Esq.
Sir,
Appearances are so much against me that I scarce dare say I am
innocent, though I know myself so, as to any intention of doing you
injustice: I cannot, however, forbear giving you a short sketch of
the imposition which has been practiced upon me, and in my name
attempted to be put on you.
The will, which has occasioned this long contest between us, was
brought me by a person who told me he had drawn it up exactly
according to my late husband's instructions, the very evening
before he died; the subscribing witnesses gave me the same
assurance; and also added, that Mr. Goodman was so well convinced
of my integrity, and the wrong he had done me by suspecting it,
that had he lived only to the next morning, he had resolved to send
for me home, and be reconciled to me in the face of the world: so
that, if the thing was a piece of forgery, these men are only
guilty--I am entirely free from any share in it.
But as these proceedings, which I have unhappily been prevailed
upon to countenance, have given you a great deal of trouble and
expence, I sincerely ask your pardon for it: this is all the
atonement I can make to Heaven for offences more immediately my
own.
I am very sensible, notwithstanding, that, by what I have done, I
have not only forfeited my claim to such part of the effects of Mr.
Goodman as appertain to the widow of an eminent and wealthy
citizen, but, likewise, all my pretensions to the friendship and
favour of the person he has made his heir: yet, Sir, however guilty
I may seem to you, or how great my faults in reality may have been,
I cannot help being of opinion that, when you remember I was once
the wife of an uncle, whose memory you have so much cause to value,
you will think the name and character I have borne, ought to defend
me from publick infamy, parish-alms, and beggary.
Reduced as I am, it would ill become me to make any stipulations,
or lay a tax on the goodness I am necessitated to implore. No, Sir;
as I can now demand nothing, so, also, I can hope for nothing but
from your compassion and generosity; and to these two amiable
qualities alone shall ascribe whatever provision you shall think
fit to make for me out of that abundance I was once in full
possession of.
I shall add no more, than to intreat you will consider, with some
portion of attention and good-nature, on what I have lately been,
and what I at present am, the most unfortunate, and most forlorn of
womankind,
M. MELLASIN GOODMAN.
P.S. My daughter Flora, the innocent partner of my griefs and
sufferings, will have the honour to deliver this to you, and, I
hope, return with a favourable answer.'
Lady Mellasin chose to send Miss Flora with this letter, as believing
her agreeable person, and manner of behaviour, would have a greater
effect on that youthful heart of the person it was addressed to, than
could have been expected from the formal and affected gravity of Mrs.
Prinks.
It is not unlikely, too, but that she might flatter herself with the
hopes of greater advantages by her daughter's going in person to Mr.
Goodman's, than those which her letter had petitioned for. She had often
heard and read of men whose resentment had been softened and melted into
tenderness on the appearance of a lovely object: as the poet somewhere
or other expresses it--
'Beauty, like ice, our footing does betray;
Who can tread sure on the smooth, slipp'ry way?'
Miss Flora herself was also very far from being displeased at going on
this errand; and as it was not proper for her to dress in the manner she
would have done on making a visit to any other person, it cost her some
time, before her setting out, to equip herself in such a deshabille as
she thought would be most genteel and become her best.
She had the good fortune to find Mr. Goodman at home, and was
immediately introduced to him. He was a little surprized at a visit made
him by a young lady whom he had never seen before; but not enough to
prevent him from receiving her with the utmost complaisance. He saluted
her, seated her in a chair, and then asked her what commands she had to
favour him with: on which, taking out the letter, and giving it to him,
'This, Sir,' said she, with a deep sigh, 'will inform you of the request
that brings me here.'
Mr. Goodman read it hastily over; but, while he was doing so, could not
forbear shaking his head several times; yet spoke nothing till after a
pause of some minutes. 'Madam,' said he, 'as this is a business which I
could not expect to have heard of, I must confess myself altogether
unprepared how to proceed in it. If Lady Mellasin,' added he, 'will give
herself the trouble to send in three or four days, she may depend on an
answer from me.'
The coldness of these words, and the distant air he assumed while
speaking them, so widely different from that with which he had accosted
this lady on her first entrance, made her presently see she had nothing
to hope from this embassy on her own account, and made her also tremble
for that of her mother.
As he urged her not to stay, nor even gave the least hint that he was
desirous of her doing so, she rose, and, with a most dejected air, took
her leave; telling him, in going out, that she should not fail of
acquainting Lady Mellasin with his commands; who, she doubted not, would
be punctual in obeying them.
Mr. Goodman was, indeed, too well acquainted with the character of Miss
Flora to be capable of receiving any impression from the charms nature
had bestowed upon her, even though they had been a thousand times more
brilliant than in effect they were, and she had not been the daughter of
a woman who had rendered herself so justly hateful to him.
Lady Mellasin was shocked to the very soul at being told the reception
her daughter had met with; and could not help looking upon it as a very
bad omen of her future success. She doubted but by his saying that he
must have time for deliberation, he meant that he would do nothing in
this point, without having first consulted his friends; and she had no
reason to expect that any of those he conversed with would give counsel
in her favour.
To be reduced from a state of opulence and respect to one of poverty,
contempt, and wretchedness, is terrible indeed! but much more so when
accompanied with a consciousness of having deserved, by our vices and
ill conduct, all the misfortunes we complain of.
Lady Mellasin having no pleasing reflection of having done her duty in
any one point of life, it would not have been strange if, thus destitute
of comfort from within, all succour from without, she had yielded
herself to the last despair.
She, nevertheless, amidst all the distraction of her thoughts, still
continued to testify a resolution seldom to be found among women of her
abandoned principles; never departing from this maxim, that, in the
worst of events, nothing was to be neglected. On the third day she sent
Mrs. Prinks to wait upon Mr. Goodman for his answer; having experienced
the little effect her daughter's presence had produced.
It is a thing well worth the observation of all degrees of people, that
the truly generous never keep long in suspense the persons they think
proper objects of their bounty. A favour that costs too much pains in
obtaining, loses great part of it's value--it palls upon the mind of the
receiver, and looks more like being extorted than bestowed.
Mr. Cowley, though a man whose great merit, one would think, should have
set him above the necessity of making any request of a pecuniary nature,
was certainly obliged, sometimes, to solicitations that were very
uneasy to him, and drew from him this emphatick exclamation--
'If there's a man, ye gods, I ought to hate,
Attendance and dependance be his fate!'
It soon occurred to Mr. Goodman in what manner it would best become him
to act towards this unhappy woman; and also what conditions ought to be
stipulated on her part. He had been told, both by the lawyer and the two
Mr. Thoughtlesses, that it was his late uncle's intention that she
should not be left without a decent provision; and being willing to
conform, as much as possible, to all the desires of a person whom he had
always esteemed as a parent, he passed by the injury which, since his
death, she had attempted to do to himself; and, within the time he had
mentioned to Miss Flora, wrote an answer to the request in the following
terms.
'To Lady Mellasin Goodman.
Madam,
Though you cannot but be sensible that your late base attempt to
invalidate my dear uncle's will, excludes you from receiving any
benefit from it; yet, as I am determined, as far as in my power, to
make the example of that excellent man the rule of all my actions,
I shall not carry my resentment, for the injustice you have done
me, beyond what he expressed for those much greater injuries he
sustained by your infidelity and ingratitude. It was not his
intention you should starve; nor is it my desire you should do so.
I am willing, Madam, to allow you a pension of one hundred pounds
per annum, to be quarterly paid into whose hands soever you shall
think fit to appoint for that purpose; but it must be on condition
that you retire forthwith, and pass the whole remainder of your
days in some remote part of the kingdom. The farther you remove
from a town where your ill conduct has rendered you so obnoxious,
the better.
This, Madam, is what I insist upon; and is, indeed, no more than
what your own safety demands from you. A very strict search is
making after your accomplices; and if they, or any of them, shall
happen to be found, it will be in vain for you to flatter yourself
with escaping that punishment which the offended laws inflict on
crimes of this nature: nor would it be in my power to shield you
from that fate which even the meanest and most abject of those
concerned with you must suffer.
As I should be extremely sorry to see this, I beg you, for your own
sake, to be speedy in your resolution, which, as soon as you inform
me, I shall act accordingly. I am, yours, &c.
E. GOODMAN.'
This he ordered to be delivered to any one who should say they came from
Lady Mellasin; and Mrs. Prinks accordingly received it.
Lady Mellasin, in the miserable circumstances to which she had reduced
herself, was transported to find she should not be entirely without
support. As for her being obliged to quit London, she was not in the
least shocked at it, as there was no possibility for her even to appear
publickly in it; and she was rather desirous, than averse, to be out of
a place which could no longer afford her those pleasures and amusements
she had once so much indulged herself in the enjoyment of.
But when she considered on her banishment, and ran over in her mind what
part of England she should make choice of for her asylum, the whole
kingdom appeared a desert to her, when driven from the gaieties of the
court and capital: she therefore resolved to go farther, and enter into
a new scene of life, which might be more likely to obliterate the memory
of the former. She had heard much talk of Jamaica--that it was a rich
and opulent place--that the inhabitants thought of little else but how
to divert themselves in the best manner the country afforded, and that
they were not too strict in their notions either as to honour or
religion--that reputation was a thing littler regarded among them: so
that, in case the occasion that had brought her thither should happen to
be discovered, she would not find herself in the less estimation.
She, therefore, hesitated not to write a second letter to Mr. Goodman,
acquainting him with her desire to go to that plantation; and hinting to
him that, if it would be giving him too great a trouble to remit the
quarterly payments he mentioned, she should take it as a particular
favour if he would be pleased to bestow on her such a sum as he should
think proper, in lieu of the annuity he had offered.
Mr. Goodman was extremely pleased with this proposal; and several
letters having passed between them concerning the conditions, he agreed
to give her two hundred pounds in specie, to provide herself with
sufficient necessaries for the voyage, and eight hundred more to be
deposited in the hands of the captain of the ship, to be paid on her
arrival; with which she appeared very well satisfied, and gave him the
most solemn assurances never to trouble him again.
But Miss Flora was all distraction at this event: the thoughts of
leaving dear London were equally irksome to her with those of death
itself. Fain would she have staid behind; but what could she do? Without
reputation--without friends--without money--there was no remedy but to
share her mother's fortune. Mrs. Prinks also, who, by living so long
with Lady Mellasin, known to be in all her secrets, and agent in her
iniquitous proceedings, could have no character to recommend her to any
other service, continued with the only person she, indeed, was fit to
live with; and they all embarked together on board a ship that was then
ready to sail.
All Mr. Goodman's friends congratulated him on the service he had done
his country, in ridding it of three persons who, by perverting the
talents Heaven had bestowed upon them, to the most vile purpose, were
capable of doing the greatest mischiefs to the more innocent and unwary.
It was on this occasion that he made the invitation before-mentioned.