ence in the world,
that it may be reasonably supposed, by his behaviour, and the manner
in which he rejected all the offers made to him, that had he met with
a woman, in whom all the perfections of the sex were centered, she
would not have been able either to engage him to a serious attachment,
or to have quitted those more darling pursuits, which the desire of
greatness fired him with.

Thus fortified by his present inclinations against all the charms of
youth, of wit, of beauty, there was but one temptation he had not the
power of withstanding, and that one his ill fate at length presented
to him. A certain great person, who at that time was at the head of
public affairs, had a neice, who for many private reasons, he found it
necessary to dispose of in marriage: Natura was the man he happened to
pitch upon, as one who seemed to him a very proper person, and
accordingly made him the offer, accompanied with a promise of getting
him into a great post, which he knew he had been for a long time, and
was still, solliciting, though without any prospect of success,
without his assistance.

The young lady was not ugly, yet far from being mistress of charms
capable of captivating a heart which had been filled with so many
images of different beauties; but, as I have already said, love was
not now the reigning passion of Natura's soul, and had she been much
less amiable, the dowery she was to bring, sufficiently compensated
for all other deficiencies, according to his present way of judging.

He hesitated not a moment to accept the minister's proposal; and a
long courtship, as things were ordered between them, being needless,
he became again a husband, in a very few days, after the first mention
had been made of it, and at the same time was put in possession of
what was much more welcome to him than his bride, even tho' she had
been endowed with every virtue, every grace.

All for a time went smoothly on:--he saw himself in a rank and
precedence, his birth could never have expected:--his wife's uncle
loaded him with favours; he procured a commission of lieutenant in the
guards for his younger brother by his mother-in-law, whom, in spite of
the ill usage, with which both himself and his father had been treated
by her, he had a very great affection for;--he also got employments
for several others of his kindred;--his house was the rendezvous of
the gay and titled world;--his friendship was courted by all his
acquaintance, and