beauteous
Helen for his mistress. I know not whether this raillery caused him to
reflect for what reasons he had made his choice; but it is certain he
began to cool in his affections for Miss Churchill; and perhaps he would
entirely have abandoned this pursuit, had not an accident taken place,
which raised in him an entirely new inclination for her.

The court having halted for a few days in a fine open country, the
duchess was desirous of seeing a greyhound course. This diversion is
practised in England upon large downs, where the turf, eaten by the
sheep, is particularly green, and wonderfully even. She was in her
coach, and all the ladies on horseback, every one of them being attended
by her squire; it therefore was but reasonable that the mistress should
likewise have her squire. He accordingly was at the side of her coach,
and seemed to compensate for his deficiencies in conversation, by the
uncommon beauty of his mien and figure.

The duke attended Miss Churchill, not for the sake of besieging her with
soft flattering tales of love, but, on the contrary, to chide her for
sitting so ill on horseback: She was one of the most indolent creatures
in the world; and although the maids of honour are generally the worst
mounted of the whole court, yet, in order to distinguish her, on account
of the favour she enjoyed, they had given her a very pretty, though
rather a high-spirited horse; a distinction she would very willingly
have excused them.

The embarrassment and fear she was under had added to her natural
paleness. In this situation, her countenance had almost completed the
duke's disgust, when her horse, desirous of keeping pace with the others,
set off in a gallop, notwithstanding her greatest efforts to prevent it;
and her endeavours to hold him in, firing his mettle, he at length set
off at full speed, as if he was running a race against the duke's horse.

Miss Churchill lost her seat, screamed out, and fell from her horse.
A fall in so quick a pace must have been violent; and yet it proved
favourable to her in every respect; for, without receiving any hurt, she
gave the lie to all the unfavourable suppositions that had been formed of
her person, in judging from her face. The duke alighted, in order to
help her: she was so greatly stunned, that her thoughts were otherwise
employed than about decency on the present occasion; and those who first
crowded around her found her rather in a negligent posture: they cou