ain time; but being
disappointed in my expectation of money from the country, the day
elapsed without my being able to take up my note; upon which she wrote
a peremptory letter, threatening to arrest me, if I did not pay the debt
immediately. Nettled at this precise behaviour, I sent a d--d severe
answer, which enraged her so much that she actually took out a writ
against me. Whereupon, finding the thing grow serious, I got a friend
to advance the money for me, discharged the debt, went to her house,
and abused her for her unfriendly dealing. She was provoked by my
reproaches, and scolded in her turn. The little deformed urchin joined
her mother with such virulence and volubility of tongue, that I was
fain to make a retreat, after having been honoured with a great many
scandalous epithets, which gave me plainly to understand that I had
nothing to hope from the esteem of the one, or the affection of the
other. As they are both utter strangers to life, it is a thousand to one
that the girl will be picked up by some scoundrel or other at Bath, if I
don't provide for her otherwise. You are a well-looking fellow,
Random, and can behave as demurely as a quaker. If you will give me
an obligation of five hundred pounds, to be paid six months after your
marriage, I will put you in a method of carrying her in spite of all
opposition."

This proposal was too advantageous for me to be refused. The writing was
immediately drawn up and executed; and Banter, giving me notice of the
time when, and the stage coach in which they were to set out, I bespoke
a place in the same convenience; and, having hired a horse for Strap,
who was chagrined with the prospect, set forward accordingly.

As we embarked before day, I had not the pleasure for some time of
seeing Miss Snapper (that was the name of my mistress), nor even of
perceiving the number and sex of my fellow travellers, although I
guessed that the coach was full, by the difficulty I found in seating
myself. The first five minutes passed in a general silence, when, all of
a sudden, the coach heeling to one side, a boisterous voice pronounced,
"To the right and left, cover your flanks, d--me! whiz!" I easily
discovered by the tone and matter of this exclamation that it was
uttered by a son of Mars; neither was it hard to conceive the profession
of another person who sat opposite to me, and observed that we ought
to have been well satisfied of our security before we entered upon the
pre