tting money, a fine dashing fellow at spending it. He told his
wife that this was the very sort of man for his daughter; for he got
money like a Jew and spent it like a prince; but whether it was
fairly got or wisely spent, he was too much a man of the world to
inquire. Mrs. Bragwell was not so run away with by appearances but
that she desired her husband to be careful, and make himself quite
sure it was the right Mr. Squeeze, and no impostor. But being
assured by her husband that Betsy would certainly keep her carriage,
she never gave herself one thought with what sort of a man she was
to ride in it. To have one of her daughters drive in her own coach,
filled up all her ideas of human happiness, and drove the other
daughter quite out of her head. The marriage was celebrated with
great splendor, and Mr. and Mrs. Squeeze set off for London, where
they had taken a house.

Mr. Bragwell now tried to forget that he had any other daughter; and
if some thoughts of the resolutions he had made of entering on a
more religious course would sometimes force themselves upon him,
they were put off, like the repentance of Felix, _to a more
convenient season_; and finding he was likely to have a grandchild,
he became more worldly and more ambitious than ever; thinking this
a just pretense for adding house to house, and field to field. And
there is no stratagem by which men more fatally deceive themselves,
than when they make even unborn children a pretense for that rapine,
or that hoarding, of which their own covetousness is the true
motive. Whenever he ventured to write to Mr. Worthy about the
wealth, the gayety, and the grandeur of Mr. and Mrs. Squeeze, that
faithful friend honestly reminded him of the vanity and uncertainty
of worldly greatness, and the error he had been guilty of in
marrying his daughter before he had taken time to inquire into the
real character of the man, saying, that he could not help foreboding
that the happiness of a match made at a ball might have an untimely
end.

Notwithstanding Mr. Bragwell had paid down a larger fortune than was
prudent, for fear Mr. Squeeze should fly off, yet he was surprised
to receive very soon a pressing letter from him, desiring him to
advance a considerable sum, as he had the offer of an advantageous
purchase, which he must lose for want of money. Bragwell was
staggered, and refused to comply; but his wife told him he must not
be shabby to such a gentleman as Squire Squeeze; for