_Contains what every reader of an ordinary capacity may, by this time,
easily guess at_
Some of my readers will, doubtless, think Mrs. Munden entirely justified
in making a secret of the above-mentioned letter to her husband, as she
did so in regard to his peace; but others, again, who maintain that
there ought to be no reserve between persons so closely united, will
condemn her for it: I shall forbear to give my vote upon the matter; and
only say, that if she had not acted with less prudence soon after, she
might saved herself a very great shock, and her husband much vexation.
It was no more than three days after the great man had dined there, that
Mr. Munden received a billet from him, which contained as follows.
'To George Munden, Esq.
Dear Munden,
I have so few days that I can call my own, that I am willing to
make those few as happy as I can; and on that motive desire yours
and your amiable wife's company to dinner with me to-morrow: I
leave you to make both my request and compliments acceptable to
her; and am, with all sincerity, dear Munden, yours, &c. &c.
----
P.S. I shall have a female relation with me, who will rejoice in an
opportunity of becoming acquainted with Mrs. Munden.'
Mr. Munden desired the servant who brought this, to give his own and
wife's most humble duty to his lord, and assure his lordship they would
not fail to attend his commands.
Some friends being with him when this invitation was brought, hindered
him from saying any thing of it at that time to his wife; but they were
no sooner gone, than, with an air and voice elated even to an excess, he
told her of the high favour conferred upon them by his right honourable
patron.
Mrs. Munden was now more than ever convinced of the base designs Lord
---- had upon her, and that the letter she had received was sent by him:
she therefore immediately determined within herself to let him see, by
her not complying with this invitation, that she was neither ignorant
what his intentions were, nor would do any thing that might give him the
least encouragement to prosecute them.
But as she still judged it was wholly improper to acquaint Mr. Munden
with any thing of the affair, she could form no other contrivance to
avoid accompanying him in this visit, than by pretending herself seized
with a sudden indisposition; which she resolved to do some few hours
before the arrival of that wherein they should set out.
If she had persisted in this mind, it would have been highly laudable
indeed: but, alas! the next morning inspired her with very different
sentiments; vanity, that sly subverter of our best resolutions,
suggested to her that there was no necessity for her behaving in the
manner she had designed.
'What should I fear?' said she to herself; 'what danger threatens either
my virtue or my reputation? A wife may certainly go any where with her
husband: besides, a lady will be there, a relation of his lordship's; he
can communicate nothing to me in their presence that I should blush to
hear; and it would be rather ridiculous prudery, than discretion in me,
to deny myself the satisfaction of such good company.'
It must be acknowledged, (for it but too plainly appears from every
circumstances of this lady's conduct, both before and after marriage)
that the unhappy propensity in her nature for attracting universal
admiration, rendered her little regardful either of the guilt or the
disquiets to which her beauty was accessary: if she was admired and
loved, she cared not to what end; in short, it made her, perfectly
uncorrupted and pure as her own inclinations were, rather triumph in,
than regret, the power she had of inspiring the most inordinate and
vicious ones in others.
Thus, more delighted than alarmed, she equipped herself with all the
arts and laboured industry of female pride, for securing the conquest
she had gained: safe as she imagined herself from all the encroachments
of presumptuous love, she pleased herself with the thoughts of being
looked upon by the adoring peer as Adam did upon the forbidden
fruit--longing, wishing, but not daring to approach.
She had but just finished her embellishments, and was looking in the
great glass to see if all was right, when Mr. Munden sent up stairs to
know if she was ready, and to tell her his noble patron had sent his own
chariot to fetch them: on hearing this she immediately tripped down
stairs, singing, as she went, this part of an old song--
'With an air and a face,
And a shape and a grace,
Let me charm like beauty's goddess.'
Oh, how will the prudent, reserved part of the sex lament, that a young
lady, endued with so many perfections, so many amiable qualities, should
thus persevere in a vanity of which she had already experienced such
vexatious consequences!
Lord ---- received them in a fashion which fully gratified the ambition
of Mr. Munden, and the yet less warrantable expectations of his wife;
the lady mentioned in the letter was already with him; who, on his
lordship's presenting Mrs. Munden to her, saluted her with abundance of
sweetness and good-breeding: she was a person of about thirty years of
age; had been extremely handsome, and still retained the remains of
charms which must have been very powerful in their bloom; nor was her
conversation less agreeable than her person; she said little, indeed,
but what she said was extremely to the purpose, and very entertaining;
there was, notwithstanding, a certain air of melancholy about her, which
she in vain attempted to conceal, though it was easy to perceive she
made use of her utmost efforts for that purpose.
His lordship was extremely gay and spiritous, as, indeed, were all the
company, during the whole time at dinner: but it was no sooner over,
than he said to Mr. Munden, 'Dear Munden, I have a business to
communicate to you which these ladies must forgive me if I make a secret
of to them.' With these words he took Mr. Munden into another room, and
spoke to him in the following manner.
'A person,' said he, 'has been guilty of an action in regard to me,
which it is neither consistent with my honour or my humour to put up
with: I will shew you,' continued he, giving him an unsealed letter,
'what I have wrote to him upon the occasion; and that will instruct you
how I intend to proceed, and, at the same time, convince you of the
confidence I repose in your friendship.'
Mr. Munden took the letter out of his lordship's hands, and found the
contents as follows.
'To William W----, Esq.
Sir,
Though the affront you have offered me deserves the severest
treatment, yet, in consideration of our former intimacy, I shall
wave my peerage, and require no other satisfaction from you than
what any private gentleman has a right to demand of another, in a
case of the like nature.
I shall be in the Green Park to-morrow about eight in the morning,
where I believe you have honour enough to meet me: bring with you
any one person you think fit; the gentleman who puts this into your
hands will accompany me.
Not that I mean our friends should be engaged in the quarrel; but
think it proper that there should be some witnesses that no foul
play is attempted on either side. I am, expecting your ready
compliance, Sir, yours, &c.
----.'
'You see, Munden,' said he, perceiving he had done reading, 'the
assurance I build on the sincerity of your attachment to me.'--'Your
lordship does me an infinity of honour,' replied the other with a low
bow, 'and I have nothing to regret, but that my sword must lie idle
while your lordship's is employed.'
'As for that,' resumed the peer, 'I always thought it the utmost folly
and injustice to set two people on cutting one another's throats, merely
in compliment to their friends: but, my dear Munden,' pursued he,
looking on his watch, 'I would have you go immediately; I believe you
will find him at the Cocoa Tree; he is generally there about this
hour--but if not, they will direct you where to find him.'
He sealed the letter while he was speaking; which being again delivered
to Mr. Munden, they both returned into the room where the ladies were.
Mr. Munden stayed no longer than while his footman called a
hackney-coach to the door; as he was going out, the nobleman said to
him, 'I doubt not but you will be back as soon as possible; in the mean
time we three will amuse ourselves with a game at ombre.'
Mrs. Munden was a good deal surprized at her husband's departure; but
had much more reason to be so, as well as alarmed, in a moment or two
after.
Cards were but just laid upon the table, when a servant came hastily,
and told the lady a messenger had brought word that her mother was
suddenly seized with an apoplectic fit; that it was not yet known
whether the old lady would recover, and that she must come home that
instant.
On this she started up, seemed in a most terrible fright, and took her
leave with a precipitation natural enough to the occasion, in a daughter
possessed of any share of duty or affection.
This part of the history must be very unintelligible indeed, if the
reader has not by this time seen, that all this was but a feint
contrivance by the amorous nobleman, in order to get an opportunity of
employing the whole battery of his rhetorick against the virtue he was
impatient to triumph over.
This pretended kinswoman was, in fact, no more than a cast-off mistress
of his lordship's; but, having her dependance entirely upon him, was
obliged to submit in every thing to his will, and become an assistant to
those pleasures with others which she could no longer afford him in her
own person.
She was brought to his house that day for two reasons; first, as he knew
not what fears, and what apprehensions, the beauty of Mrs. Munden might
raise in her husband, and render him suspicious of the true motive of
his being sent away, had no other company been there; and, secondly, to
prevent that fair-intended victim of his unwarrantable flame from being
too suddenly alarmed at finding herself alone with him.
Mrs. Munden, however, had no time to examine into the meaning of what
she saw; and all she could recollect in that instant was, that she was
in the house, and wholly in the power, of a person who had designs upon
her, to which neither her honour, nor her inclinations, would permit her
to acquiesce, and trembled for the event: but concealing the disorders
of her mind as much as possible, 'Well, my lord,' said she, taking up
the cards, and beginning to shuffle them, 'since we are deprived of a
third person by this melancholy accident, what thinks your lordship of a
game at picquet?'
'I think,' answered he, looking upon her with eyes which redoubled all
her terrors, 'that to waste the precious time in cards, and throw away
the golden opportunity of telling you how much my soul adores you, would
be a stupidity which neither love nor fortune could forgive me for.'
In speaking these words he snatched one of her hands; and, in spite of
her endeavours to withdraw it, pressed it to his mouth with an eagerness
which would have convinced her, if she had not been so before, of the
vehemence of those desires with which he was inflamed.
'Fie, my lord!' cried she, with an air as haughty and reserved as it was
in the power of any woman to assume, 'this is not language with which
the wife of him you are pleased to call your friend, could expect to be
entertained.'
'Unreasonably urged!' cried he: 'ought my friendship for the husband to
render me insensible to the beauties of the wife? or would your generous
consenting to reward my passion, dissolve the union between us? No; on
the contrary, it would rather be cemented; I should then love him not
only for his own, but for your sake also, and should think myself bound
to stretch my power to it's extremest limits to do him service: be
assured, my angel, that in blessing me, you fix the happiness of your
husband, and establish his future fortune in the world.'
These words, joined to Mr. Munden's being gone away, she knew not on
what errand, made her shudder with the apprehensions that he might have
been tempted, by the hopes of interest, to become yielding to the
dishonourable intentions of his patron: but, willing to be more
confirmed, 'I hope, my lord,' answered she, 'that you cannot think Mr.
Munden has so mean a soul to accept of an establishment on such
condition.'
'I could name some husbands, and those of the first rank, too,' said he,
'who, to oblige a friend, and for particular reasons, have consented to
the complaisance of their wives in this point; but I desire no such
sacrifice from Mr. Munden; there is no necessity for it; I have now sent
him on a pretence too plausible for him to suspect the real motive of my
wanting to get rid of him: I had a lady here also for no other end than
to prevent him from feeling any disquiet on leaving us alone together--I
shall always take the same precautions--all our interviews shall be as
private as your own wishes, and my happiness be an eternal secret to the
whole world as well as to your husband.
'Come, then, my charmer,' added he, attempting to take her in his arms,
'we have no time to lose--away, then, with all idle scruples--yield to
my embraces--assist my raptures--and be assured that my whole soul, my
fortune, and all my power can give, shall be at your disposal!'
It was the discomposure of Mrs. Munden's mind which alone hindered her
from interrupting him during the former part of his speech; but the
close of it, joined with the action which accompanied it, obliged her to
collect all her scattered spirits; and flying to the other end of the
room, in order to avoid his grasp, 'Forbear, my lord!' said she: 'know,
I despise your offers; and set my virtue at a much higher rate than all
the advantages you, or the whole world, would give in exchange.'
Lord ---- finding he had to do with a mistress of uncommon spirit,
thought best to alter the manner of his addresses to her; and
approaching her with an air much more humble and submissive than he had
hitherto done, 'How I adore,' cried he, 'this noble disinterestedness in
you! you will grant nothing but to love alone--be it so: your beauty is,
indeed, above all other price. Let your husband reap all the advantages,
and let it be yours to have the pleasure, like Heaven, to save from
despair the man who cannot live without you.'
Perceiving, or at least imagining he perceived, some abatement in the
fierceness of her eyes, on the change of his deportment, he persisted in
it--he even threw himself on his knees before her; took hold of her
hands, bathed them alternately with tears, then dried them with his
kisses: in a word, he omitted nothing that the most passionate love,
resolute to accomplish it's gratification, could suggest to soften her
into compliance.
At another time, how would the vanity of this lady have been elated to
see a person of such high consideration in the world thus prostrate at
her feet! but at this, the reflection how much she was in his power, and
the uncertainty how far he might exert that power, put to silence all
the dictates of her pride, and rendered her, in reality, much more in
awe of him, than he affected to be of her: she turned her eyes
continually towards the door, in hopes of seeing Mr. Munden enter; and
never had she wished for his presence with the impatience she now did.
The noble lord equally dreaded his return; and finding the replies she
made to his pressures somewhat more moderate than they had been on the
first opening his suit, flattered himself that a very little compulsion
would compleat the work: he therefore resolved to dally no longer; and
having ushered in his design with a prelude of some warm kisses and
embraces, was about to draw her into another room.
She struggled with all her might; but her efforts that way being in
vain, she shrieked, and called aloud for help. This a little shocked
him; he let her go: 'What do you mean, Madam?' said he. 'Would you
expose yourself and me to the ridicule of my servants?'--'I will expose
myself to any thing,' answered she, 'rather than to the ruin and
everlasting infamy your lordship is preparing for me!'
'Call not by so harsh a name,' cried he, 'the effects of the most tender
passion that ever was: by heavens, I love you more than life! nay, life
without you is not worth the keeping.' Speaking these words, he was
about to lay hold of her again; and her cries having brought no body to
her assistance, she must infallibly have been lost, if her better angel
had not in that instant directed her eyes to a bell which hung in the
pannel of the wainscot just behind the door of the room into which he
was forcing her; she snatched the handle, and rung it with such
vehemence that it resounded through the house.
This action made him release her with a kind of indignant fling; and a
servant immediately coming up, 'I believe,' said she to him, 'my servant
is below; pray order him to call me a chair this moment.' The peer, not
often accustomed to such rebuffs, was so much confounded at the strength
of her resolution, that he had not power to utter one word; and she,
fearing another assault, ran to the door, which the footman hastily shut
after him; and having opened it, 'Your lordship,' said she, 'has used me
in a manner neither worthy of yourself nor me; I leave you to blush at
the remembrance.'
She waited not to hear what reply he would have made, but flew down
stairs into the hall; where a chair being presently brought, she threw
herself into it, extremely disconcerted in her dress as well as mind.