stroyed the settlement of that fortune. I required none of my property
to be returned to me, nor shall enumerate the sums extorted from me
during six years that we lived together.

"After leaving, what the law considers as my home, I was hunted like a
criminal from place to place, though I contracted no debts, and demanded
no maintenance--yet, as the laws sanction such proceeding, and make
women the property of their husbands, I forbear to animadvert. After
the birth of my daughter, and the death of my uncle, who left a
very considerable property to myself and child, I was exposed to new
persecution; and, because I had, before arriving at what is termed years
of discretion, pledged my faith, I was treated by the world, as bound
for ever to a man whose vices were notorious. Yet what are the vices
generally known, to the various miseries that a woman may be subject to,
which, though deeply felt, eating into the soul, elude description, and
may be glossed over! A false morality is even established, which
makes all the virtue of women consist in chastity, submission, and the
forgiveness of injuries.

"I pardon my oppressor--bitterly as I lament the loss of my child, torn
from me in the most violent manner. But nature revolts, and my soul
sickens at the bare supposition, that it could ever be a duty to pretend
affection, when a separation is necessary to prevent my feeling hourly
aversion.

"To force me to give my fortune, I was imprisoned--yes; in a private
mad-house.--There, in the heart of misery, I met the man charged with
seducing me. We became attached--I deemed, and ever shall deem, myself
free. The death of my babe dissolved the only tie which subsisted
between me and my, what is termed, lawful husband.

"To this person, thus encountered, I voluntarily gave myself, never
considering myself as any more bound to transgress the laws of moral
purity, because the will of my husband might be pleaded in my excuse,
than to transgress those laws to which [the policy of artificial society
has] annexed [positive] punishments.--While no command of a husband can
prevent a woman from suffering for certain crimes, she must be allowed
to consult her conscience, and regulate her conduct, in some degree, by
her own sense of right. The respect I owe to myself, demanded my strict
adherence to my determination of never viewing Mr. Venables in the light
of a husband, nor could it forbid me from encouraging another. If I am
unfortunate