as for herself, that she (Narcissa)
might have an opportunity to peruse it at pleasure. I was elated to an
extravagant pitch at this intelligence, and immediately transcribed a
fair copy of my Ode, which was carried to the dear charmer, together
with another on the same subject, as follows:--

Thy fatal shaft unerring move;
I bow before thine altar, Love!
I feel thou soft resistless flame
Glide swift through all my vital frame!

For while I gaze my bosom glows,
My blood in tides impetuous flows;
Hope, fear, and joy alternate roll,
And floods of transports 'whelm my soul!

My faltering tongue attempts in vain
In soothing murmurs to complain;
My tongue some secret magic ties,
My murmurs sink in broken sighs.

Condemn'd to nurse eternal care,
And ever drop the silent tear,
Unheard I mourn, unknown I sigh,
Unfriended live, unpitied die!

Whether or not Narcissa discovered my passion, I could not learn from
her behaviour, which, though always benevolent to me was henceforth more
reserved and less cheerful. While my thoughts aspired to a sphere so
far above me, I had unwittingly made a conquest of the cookwench and
dairymaid, who became so jealous of each other that, if their sentiments
had been refined by education, it is probable one or other of them would
have had recourse to poison or steel to be avenged of her rival; but, as
their minds were happily adapted to their humble station, their mutual
enmity was confined to scolding and fistcuffs, in which exercise they
were both well skilled. My good fortune did not long remain a secret;
for it was disclosed by the frequent broils of these heroines, who kept
no decorum in their encounters. The coachman and gardener, who paid
their devoirs to my admirers, each to his respective choice, alarmed
at my success, laid their heads together, in order to concert a plan
of revenge; and the former, having been educated at the academy
at Tottenham Court, undertook to challenge me to single combat. He
accordingly, with many opprobrious invectives, bade me defiance, and
offered to box me for twenty guineas. I told him that, although I
believed myself a match for him even at that work I would not descend so
far below the dignity of a gentleman as to fight like a porter; but
if he had anything to say to me, I was his man at blunderbuss, musket,
pistol, sword, hatchet, spit, cleaver, fork, or needle; nay, I swore,