ar ghastliness
in his grin, that made him perfectly frightful, if not dangerous to
women with child; yet, made as he was thus in mock of man, he was
so blind to his own staring deformities, as to think himself born to
please, and that no woman could see him with impunity: in consequence
of which idea, he had lavished great sums on such wretches as could gain
upon themselves to pretend love to his person, whilst to those who had
not art or patience to dissemble the horror it inspired, he behaved even
brutally. Impotence, more than necessity, made him seek in variety, the
provocative that was wanting to raise him to the pitch of enjoyment,
which he too often saw himself baulked of, by the failure of his powers:
and this always threw him into a fit of rage, which he wreaked, as far
as he durst, on the innocent objects of his fit of momentary desire.

This then was the master to which my conscientious benefactress, who had
long been his purveyor in this way, had doomed me, and sent for me down
purposely for his examination. Accordingly she made me stand up before
him, turned me round, unpinned my handkerchief, remarked to him the rise
and fall, the turn and whiteness of a bosom just beginning to fill; then
made me walk, and took even a handle from the rusticity of my charms: in
short, she omitted no point of jockeyship; to which he only answered by
gracious nods of approbation, whilst he looked goats and monkeys at
me: for I sometimes stole a corner glance at him, and encountering his
fiery, eager stare, looked another way from pure horror and affright,
which he, characteristically, attributed to nothing more than maiden
modesty, or at least the affectation of it.

However, I was soon dismissed, and reconducted to my room by Phoebe,
who stuck close to me, not leaving me alone, and at leisure to make such
reflections as might naturally rise to any one, not an idiot, on such a
scene as I had just gone through; but to my shame be it confessed, that
just was my invincible stupidity, or rather portentous innocence, that
I did not yet open my eyes to Mrs. Brown's designs, and saw nothing in
this titular cousin of hers but a shockingly hideous person, which did
not at all concern me, unless that my gratitude for my benefactress made
me extend my respect to all her cousinhood.

Phoebe, however, began to sift the state and pulses of my heart toward
this monster, asking me how I should approve of such a fine gentelman
for a husband