e existence
of this unhappy wretch.

Alas! had he listened to the first dictates of reason, and been wrought
upon by the reproaches of his conscience, he might have been easy and
happy in his situation, and have comfortably enjoyed the repose of a
reputable old age, instead of coming to that deplorable end, which is
the certain reward of vice and folly.

[Illustration]

CALUMNY AND SCANDAL GREAT

ENEMIES TO SOCIETY.

[Illustration]

Though Maria was of a tolerably good temper, yet she had contracted a
most mischievous vice, and that was calumny. Whenever she fancied she
saw any thing amiss in others, though they were her most intimate
friends, she seemed to take pleasure in publishing it to the world.

The inexperience of her age frequently led her to ascribe indifferent
actions to improper motives; and a single word, or volatility of
disposition, was sufficient to raise in her breast the worst suspicions,
with which, as soon as she had formed them, she would run into company,
and there publish them as indubitable facts.

As she was never at a loss for embellishments for her own fancy, in
order to make her tales appear the more plausible, it may easily be
supposed what mischief such a conduct was capable of producing. In a
little time, all the families in the neighbourhood were set together by
the ears, and the seeds of discord soon after sprung up amongst
individuals; husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, masters and
servants, commenced perpetual variance between each other. All on a
sudden, mutual confidence seemed to be lost in every place where Maria
visited.

Matters at last were carried so far, that every one shut their doors
against her, as they would have done against any one tainted with the
plague; but neither hatred nor humiliation could reform a vice which
custom and prejudice had so deeply rivetted in her heart. This glorious
work of reformation was reserved for Angelica, her cousin, who was the
only one left that would keep her company, and who lived in hopes that
she should in the end be able to convince her of her ruinous conduct.

Maria went one day to see her cousin, and entertained her as usual with
a long recital of scandal against their common friends, though she well
knew that such tales were disagreeable to Angelica. "And now, my dear,"
said Maria, having stopped for want of breath, "your turn is come to
tell me something. You see such a variety of company, that you surely