nd muppet-shows; chiefly in company
with Melinda, whom I cultivated with all the eagerness and address that
my prospect could inspire, and my education afford. I spared neither
my person nor my purse to gratify her vanity and pride; my rivals were
intimidated, and indeed outshone; and, after all, I began to fear that
the dear creature had not a heart to lose.

At last, finding myself unable to support the expense of this amour
much longer, I was determined to bring the matter to a crisis; and
one evening, while we were together by ourselves, complained of her
indifference, described the tortures of suspense to a love-sick mind,
and pressed her to disclose her sentiments of matrimony and me with such
earnestness, that she could not, with all her art, shift the subject,
but was obliged to come to an eclaircissement. She told me, with a
careless air, that she had no objection to my person, and if I could
satisfy her mother in other particulars, I should not find her averse
to the match; but she was resolved to do nothing in such a momentous
concern without the advice and consent of her parent. This was no very
agreeable declaration to me, whose aim had been to win her inclination
first, and then secure my conquest by a private marriage, to which I
flattered myself she would express no reluctance. That I might not,
however, desert my cause before it was desperate, I waited on her
mother; and, with great formality, demanded the daughter in marriage.
The good lady, who was a very notable woman, behaved with great state
and civility; thanked me for the honour I intended her family; and said,
she did not doubt that I was in all respects qualified to make a woman
happy; but it concerned her as a parent anxious about the welfare of
her child, to inquire into the particulars of my fortune, and know what
settlement I proposed to make. To this intimation, which would have
utterly disconcerted me if I had not expected it, I replied, without
hesitation that, though my fortune was very small, I was a gentleman
by birth and education, would maintain her daughter in the sphere of
a gentlewoman, and settle her own dowry on her and her heirs for ever.
This careful matron did not seem to relish my proposal, but observed,
with a demure countenance, that there was no necessity for settling that
upon her child which was her own already; however, if I pleased, her
lawyer should confer with mine upon the matter; and, in the meantime,
she desired