me acquainted
with the story and person of the American Prince Oroonoko, whose
adventures she has so feelingly and elegantly described in the
celebrated Novel of that name, upon which Mr. Southern has built his
Tragedy of Oroonoko, part of which is so entertaining and moving, that
it is almost too much for nature. Mrs. Behn tells us, that she herself
had often seen and conversed with that great man, and been a witness to
many of his mighty actions, and that at one time, he, and Imoinda his
wife, were scarce an hour in a day from her lodgings; that they eat
with her, and that she obliged them in all things she was capable of,
entertaining them with the lives of the Romans and great men, which
charmed him with her company; while she engaged his wife with teaching
her all the pretty works she was mistress of, relating stories of Nuns,
and endeavouring to bring her to the knowledge of the true God. This
intimacy between Oroonoko and Mrs. Behn occasioned some reflexions on
her conduct, from which the authoress of her life, already quoted,
justified her in the following manner; 'Here, says she, I can add
nothing to what she has given the world already, but a vindication of
her from some unjust aspersions I find are insinuated about this town,
in relation to that prince. I knew her intimately well, and I believe
she would not have concealed any love affair from me, being one of her
own sex, whose friendship and secrecy she had experienced, which makes
me assure the world that there was no intrigue between that Prince and
Astraea. She had a general value for his uncommon virtues, and when
he related the story of his woes, she might with the Desdemona of
Shakespear, cry out, That it was pitiful, wondrous pitiful, which never
can be construed into an amour; besides, his heart was too violently set
on the everlasting charms of his Imoinda, to be shook with those more
faint (in his eye) of a white beauty; and Astrea's relations there
present kept too watchful an eye over her, to permit the frailty of her
youth, if that had been powerful enough.' After this lady's return to
London, she was married to Mr. Behn, a Merchant there, but of Dutch
extraction. This marriage strengthening her interest, and, perhaps,
restoring her character, gave her an opportunity of appearing with
advantage at court. She gave King Charles II. so accurate and agreeable
an account of the colony of Surinam, that he conceived a great opinion
of her abilities, an