s was
a little blunted by the accidents of time and fortune; but no man of
taste and imagination, whose nerves were not quite chilled with the
frost of age, could, even at that time, look upon her with impunity.
And as Peregrine saw her attractions heightened by the tender office in
which she was engaged, he was smitten with her beauty, and so ravished
with her compassion, that he could not suppress his emotions, but
applauded her benevolence with all the warmth of enthusiasm.

Her ladyship received his compliments with great politeness and
affability. And the occasion on which they met being equally interesting
to both, an acquaintance commenced between them, and they concerted
measures for the benefit of the widow and her two children, one of whom
our hero bespoke for his own godson; for Pickle was not so obscure in
the beau monde, but that his fame had reached the ears of this lady,
who, therefore, did not discourage his advances towards her friendship
and esteem. All the particulars relating to their charge being adjusted,
he attended her ladyship to her own house; and, by her conversation,
had the pleasure of finding her understanding suitable to her other
accomplishments. Nor had she any reason to think that our hero's
qualifications had been exaggerated by common report.

One of their adopted children died before it was baptized; so that
their care concentred in the other, for whom they stood sponsors.
Understanding that the old agent was becoming troublesome in his visits
to the mother, to whom he now began to administer such counsel as
shocked the delicacy of her virtue, they removed her into another
lodging, where she would not be exposed to his machinations. In less
than a month, our hero learned from a nobleman of his acquaintance,
that the hoary pander had actually engaged to procure for him this
poor afflicted gentlewoman; and, being frustrated in his intention,
substituted in her room a nymph from the purlieus of Covent Garden, that
made his lordship smart severely for the favours she bestowed.

Meanwhile, Peregrine cultivated his new acquaintance with all his art
and assiduity, presuming, from the circumstances of her reputation and
fate, as well as on the strength of his own merit, that, in time, he
should be able to indulge that passion which had begun to glow within
his breast. As her ladyship had undergone a vast variety of fortune
and adventure, which he had heard indistinctly related, with number