s, they despised him. So that though they admir'd, and gazed upon
their Equipage, and glorious Dress, they foresaw the Ruin that attended
it, and paid her Quality little Respect.

She was no sooner married, but her Uncle died; and dividing his Fortune
between _Miranda_ and her Sister, leaves the young Heiress, and all her
Fortune, entirely in the Hands of the Princess.

We will call this Sister _Alcidiana_; she was about fourteen Years of
Age, and now had chosen her Brother, the Prince, for her Guardian. If
_Alcidiana_ were not altogether so great a Beauty as her Sister, she had
Charms sufficient to procure her a great many Lovers, though her Fortune
had not been so considerable as it was; but with that Addition, you may
believe, she wanted no Courtships from those of the best Quality; tho'
every body deplor'd her being under the Tutorage of a Lady so expert in
all the Vices of her Sex, and so cunning a Manager of Sin, as was the
Princess; who, on her Part, failed not, by all the Caresses, and
obliging Endearments, to engage the Mind of this young Maid, and to
subdue her wholly to her Government. All her Senses were eternally
regaled with the most bewitching Pleasures they were capable of: She saw
nothing but Glory and Magnificence, heard nothing but Musick of the
sweetest Sounds; the richest Perfumes employ'd her Smelling; and all she
eat and touch'd was delicate and inviting; and being too young to
consider how this State and Grandeur was to be continu'd, little
imagined her vast Fortune was every Day diminishing, towards its
needless Support.

When the Princess went to Church, she had her Gentleman bare before her,
carrying a great Velvet Cushion, with great Golden Tassels, for her to
kneel on, and her Train borne up a most prodigious Length, led by a
Gentleman Usher, bare; follow'd by innumerable Footmen, Pages, and
Women. And in this State she would walk in the Streets, as in those
Countries it is the Fashion for the great Ladies to do, who are well;
and in her Train two or three Coaches, and perhaps a rich Velvet Chair
embroider'd, would follow in State.

It was thus for some time they liv'd, and the Princess was daily press'd
by young sighing Lovers, for her Consent to marry _Alcidiana_; but she
had still one Art or other to put them off, and so continually broke all
the great Matches that were proposed to her, notwithstanding their
Kindred and other Friends had industriously endeavour'd to make several
great