s; and frequently while he was
laid up at home in the gout her ladyship was the finest and gayest woman
at every place of public resort. Often, when the acuteness of his pains
obliged him to seek relief from the soporific influence of opium, she
collected half the town, and though his rest was disturbed every moment
by a succession of impetuous raps at the door, he was never offended; on
the contrary, he thought himself obliged to her for staying at home,
which she had assured him was because she could not bear to go abroad
when he was so ill. This, as the greatest mark of her tenderness he ever
received, he failed not to acknowledge with gratitude. She scarcely took
more pleasure in having a train of admirers than his lordship felt from
it; his vanity was flattered in seeing his wife the object of admiration
and he fancied himself much envied for so valuable a possession. Her
coquetry charmed him, as the follies of that vivacity of which he was so
fond. He had no tincture of jealousy in his whole composition; and
acknowledged as favours conferred on himself the attentions paid to his
wife.

Though Lord Sheerness's conduct may appear rather uncommon, yet it
seemed the result of some discernment, or at least his lady's
disposition was such as justifies this opinion; she had received a
genteel education; no external accomplishments had been neglected; but
her understanding and principles were left to the imperfection of nature
corrupted by custom. Religion was thought too serious a thing for so
young a person. The opinion of the world was always represented to her
as the true criterion by which to judge of everything, and fashion
supplied the place of every more material consideration. With a mind
thus formed, she entered the world at sixteen, surrounded with pomp and
splendour, with every gratification at her command that an affluent
fortune and an indulgent husband could bestow: by nature inclined to no
vice, free from all dangerous passions, the charm of innocence
accompanied her vivacity; undesigning and artless, her follies were
originally the consequences of her situation, not constitutional, though
habit engrafted them so strongly that at length they appeared natural to
her. Surrounded with every snare that can entrap a youthful mind, she
became a victim to dissipation and the love of fashionable pleasures;
destitute of any stable principles, she was carried full sail down the
stream of folly. In the love of coquet