uman nature, in all your
intercourse with the daughters of men, in all the exercise of your
charity and beneficence, did you ever observe such sweetness, purity, and
truth; such beauty, sense, and perfection, as that which was the
inheritance of her whose fate I shall for ever deplore?"--"She was,
indeed," replied the lady, "the best and fairest of our sex."

This was the beginning of a conversation touching that lovely victim, in
the course of which he explained those wicked arts which Fathom practised
to alienate his affections from the adorable Monimia; and she described
the cunning hints and false insinuations by which that traitor had
aspersed the unsuspecting lover, and soiled his character in the opinion
of the virtuous orphan. The intelligence he obtained on this occasion
added indignation to his grief. The whole mystery of Monimia's
behaviour, which he could not before explain, now stood disclosed before
him. He saw the gradual progress of that infernal plan which had been
laid for their mutual ruin; and his soul was inflamed with such desire of
vengeance, that he would have taken his leave abruptly, in order to set
on foot an immediate inquiry about the perfidious author of his wrongs,
that he might exterminate such a monster of iniquity from the face of the
earth. But he was restrained by Madam Clement, who gave him to
understand, that Fathom was already overtaken by the vengeance of Heaven;
for she had traced him in all the course of his fortune, from his first
appearance in the medical sphere to his total eclipse. She represented
the villain as a wretch altogether unworthy of his attention. She said,
he was so covered with infamy, that no person could enter the lists
against him, without bearing away some stain of dishonour; that he was,
at present, peculiarly protected by the law, and sheltered from the
resentment of Renaldo, in the cavern of his disgrace.

Melvil, glowing with rage, replied, that he was a venomous serpent, which
it was incumbent on every foot to crush; that it was the duty of every
man to contribute his whole power in freeing society from such a
pernicious hypocrite; and that, if such instances of perfidy and
ingratitude were suffered to pass with impunity, virtue and plain-dealing
would soon be expelled from the habitations of men. "Over and above
these motives," said he, "I own myself so vitiated with the alloy of
human passion and infirmity, that I desire--I eagerly pant for an