nd suffered very much in his character and influence among
the ladies in general.

Finding my finances diminished more than one-half, and my project as
little advanced as on the first day of my arrival in town, I began
to despair of my success, and grew melancholy at the prospect of
approaching want. To dispel the horrors of this fiend I had recourse
to the bottle, and kept more company than ever. I became particularly
attached to the playhouse, conversed with the actors behind the scenes,
grew acquainted with a body of templars, and in a short time commenced a
professed wit and critic. Indeed, I may say, without vanity, that I was
much better qualified than any one of my companions, who were, generally
speaking, of all the creatures I ever conversed with, the most ignorant
and assuming. By means of these avocations I got the better of care,
and learned to separate my ideas in such a manner that, whenever I was
attacked by a gloomy reflection, I could shove it aside, and call in
some agreeable reverie to my assistance. This was not the case with
Strap, who practised a thousand shifts to conceal the sorrow that preyed
upon his carcass, and reduced him to the resemblance of a mere skeleton.

While I thus posted, in a thoughtless manner, towards poverty, I one
day received, by the penny post, a letter written in a woman's hand,
containing a great many high-flown compliments, warm protestations of
love, couched in a very poetical style, an earnest desire of knowing
whether or not my heart was engaged, by leaving an answer at a certain
place, directed to R. B., and the whole subscribed "Your incognita." I
was transported with joy on reading the contents of this billet-doux,
which I admired as a masterpiece of tenderness and elegance, and was
already up to my ears in love with the author, whom my imagination
represented as a lady of fortune, in the bloom of youth and beauty.
Elevated with this conjecture, I went to work, and exhausted my
invention in composing an answer suitable to the sublimity of her style
and the ardour of her sentiments. I expressed my admiration of her wit
in terms the most hyperbolical, and while I acknowledged myself unworthy
of her regard, declared myself enamoured of her understanding; and in
the most pathetic manner implored the honour of an interview. Having
finished this performance, and communicated it to Strap, who skipped
about for joy, I dispatched him with it to the place appointed, which
wa