lodgings
of the forlorn lady in the straw, according to the direction he had
heard. Upon inquiry, he understood that she was then visited by some
charitable gentlewoman, who had sent for a nurse, and waited the return
of the messenger; and he sent up his respects, desiring he might be
permitted to see her, on pretence of having been intimate with her late
husband.

Though the poor woman had never heard of his name, she did not think
proper to deny his request; and he was conducted to a paltry chamber
in the third story, where he found this unhappy widow sitting upon a
truckle-bed, and suckling one of her infants, with the most piteous
expression of anguish in her features, which were naturally regular
and sweet, while the other was fondled on the knee of a person, whose
attention was so much engrossed by her little charge, that, for the
present, she could mind nothing else; and it was not till after the
first compliments passed betwixt the hapless mother and our adventurer,
that he perceived the stranger's countenance, which inspired him with
the highest esteem and admiration. He beheld all the graces of elegance
and beauty, breathing sentiment and beneficence, and softened into the
most enchanting tenderness of weeping sympathy. When he declared the
cause of his visit, which was no other than the desire of befriending
the distressed lady, to whom he presented a bank-note for twenty pounds,
he was favoured with such a look of complacency by this amiable phantom,
who might have been justly taken for an angel ministering to the
necessities of mortals, that his whole soul was transported with love
and veneration. Nor was this prepossession diminished by the information
of the widow, who, after having manifested her gratitude in a flood of
tears, told him, that the unknown object of his esteem was a person of
honour, who having heard by accident of her deplorable situation, had
immediately obeyed the dictates of her humanity, and come in person to
relieve her distress; that she had not only generously supplied her with
money for present sustenance, but also undertaken to provide a nurse for
her babes, and even promised to favour her with protection, should
she survive her present melancholy situation. To these articles of
intelligence she added, that the name of her benefactress was the
celebrated Lady --, to whose character the youth was no stranger, though
he had never seen her person before. The killing edge of her charm