out any accident, performed our journey to London,
where I met with my lover, who flew to my arms in all the transports
of impatient joy; and, doubtless, I deserved his affection for the
hardships, perils, and difficulties I had undergone to be with him;
for I never scrupled to undertake anything practicable, in order to
demonstrate the sincerity of what I professed. In consequence of our
plan, I assumed a fictitious name, and never appeared in public, being
fully satisfied and happy in the company and conversation of the man
I loved; and, when he went into the country, contented myself with his
correspondence, which he punctually maintained, in a series of letters,
equally sensible, sincere, and affectionate.

"Upon his return to town for the remainder of the season, he devoted
the greatest part of his time to our mutual enjoyment; left me with
reluctance, when he was called away by indispensable business, and the
civility which was due to his acquaintance, and very seldom went to any
place of public entertainment, because I could not accompany and share
with him in the diversion; nay, so much did I engross his attention,
that one evening, after he had been teased into an agreement of meeting
some friends at a play, he went thither precisely at the appointed hour,
and, as they did not arrive punctually at the very minute, he returned
to me immediately, as much rejoiced at his escape as if he had met with
some signal deliverance. Nor was his constancy inferior to the ardour
of his love. We went once together to a ball in the Haymarket, where,
in the midst of a thousand fine women, whose charms were enhanced by the
peculiarity of the dresses they wore, he remained unshaken, unseduced,
preserving his attachment for me in spite of all temptation.

"In the summer, he provided me with a house in the neighbourhood of his
own; but the accommodations being bad, and that country affording no
other place fit for my residence, he brought me home to his own seat,
and, by that step, raised such a universal clamour; though I saw no
company, and led such a solitary life, that nothing but excessive love
could have supported my spirits. Not but that he gave me as much of his
time as he could possibly spare from the necessary duties of paying and
receiving visits, together with the avocations of hunting, and other
country amusements, which I could not partake. Formerly, indeed, I used
to hunt and shoot, but I had left off both, so that I