uence of having treated his brother with a
bottle of wine. The people in question were a gentleman and his lady
lately arrived from England, in their way to Paris. The husband was
a man of good fortune, who had been a libertine in his youth, and a
professed declaimer against matrimony. He wanted neither sense nor
experience, and piqued himself in particular upon his art of avoiding
the snares of the female sex, in which he pretended to be deeply versed;
but, notwithstanding all his caution and skill, he had lately fallen a
sacrifice to the attractions of an oyster-wench, who had found means
to decoy him into the bands of wedlock; and, in order to evade the
compliments and congratulations of his friends and acquaintance, he had
come so far on a tour to Paris, where he intended to initiate his spouse
in the beau monde. In the mean time, he chose to live upon the reserve,
because her natural talents had as yet received but little cultivation;
and he had not the most implicit confidence in her virtue and
discretion, which, it seems, had like to have yielded to the addresses
of an officer at Canterbury, who had made shift to insinuate himself
into her acquaintance and favour.

Peregrine's curiosity being inflamed by this information, he lounged
about the yard, in hopes of seeing the dulcinea who had captivated the
old bachelor; and at length observing her at a window, took the liberty
of bowing to her with great respect. She returned the compliment with a
curtsy, and appeared so decent in her dress and manner, that unless he
had been previously informed of her former life and conversation, he
never would have dreamt that her education was different from that
of other ladies of fashion; so easy is it to acquire that external
deportment on which people of condition value themselves so much. Not
but that Mr. Pickle pretended to distinguish a certain vulgar audacity
in her countenance, which in a lady of birth and fortune would have
passed for an agreeable vivacity that enlivens the aspect, and gives
poignancy to every feature; but as she possessed a pair of fine eyes,
and a clear complexion overspread with a glow of health, which never
fails of recommending the owner, he could not help gazing at her with
desire, and forming the design of making a conquest of her heart.
With this view, he sent his compliments to her husband whose name was
Hornbeck, with an intimation that he proposed to set out the next day
for Paris, and as he