avour; and he desired me to call for an answer at Mr. Vandal's
house in three days. I followed his directions, and found the manager,
who being made acquainted with my business, owned that Mr. Marmozet
had given him a manuscript play, but denied that he had mentioned Earl
Sheerwit's name. When I informed him of the circumstances of the affair,
he said, he had no engagement with any author; that he would read my
tragedy forthwith; and did not believe he should venture to reject it
in contradiction to his lordship's opinion, for which he had the utmost
veneration, but put it into rehearsal without loss of time. I was
so much intoxicated with this encouragement, that I overlooked the
mysterious conduct of Mr. Marmozet, and attended the manager at the
time appointed, when, to my infinite confusion, he pronounced my play
improper for the stage, and rejected it accordingly. As soon as I could
recollect myself from the disorder into which this unexpected refusal
had thrown me, I expressed a desire of hearing his objections, which
were so groundless, indistinct, and unintelligible, that I persuaded
myself he had not at all perused the piece, but had been prompted by
somebody whose lessons he had not rightly retained. However, I have been
since informed that the poor man's head, which was not naturally very
clear, had been disordered with superstition, and that he laboured under
the tyranny of a wife, and the terrors of hellfire at the same time.

"Precipitated in this manner from the highest pinnacle of hope to
the abyss of despondence, I was ready to sink under the burden of
my affliction, and, in the bitterness of my anguish, could not help
entertaining some doubts of Mr. Marmozet's integrity, when I recollected
and compared the circumstances of his conduct towards me. I was
encouraged in this suspicion by being told that my Lord Sheerwit
had spoken of his character with great contempt: and, in particular,
resented his insolence in opposing his own taste to that of his
lordship, concerning my tragedy. While I hesitated between different
opinions of the matter, that friend, who (as I told you before) was
a little hot-headed, favoured me with a visit, and, having heard a
circumstantial account of the whole affair, could not contain his
indignation, but affirmed without ceremony that Mr. Marmozet was the
sole occasion of my disappointment; that he acted from first to last
with the most perfidious dissimulation, cajoling me with i