sterfield
betrayed for this new rival? He could not think it probable, that
a woman of her disposition could relish a man, whose manners had a
thousand times been the subject of their private ridicule; but what he
judged still more improbable was, that she should begin another intrigue
before she had given the finishing stroke to that in which her own
advances had engaged her: however, he began to observe her with more
circumspection, when he found by his discoveries, that if she did not
deceive him, at least the desire of doing so was not wanting. This he
took the liberty of telling her of; but she answered him in so high
a strain, and treated what he said so much like a phantom of his own
imagination, that he appeared confused without being convinced: all
the satisfaction he could procure from her, was her telling him, in a
haughty manner, that such unjust reproaches as his ought to have had a
better foundation.

Lord Chesterfield had taken the same alarm; and being convinced, from
the observations he had made, that he had found out the happy lover who
had gained possession of his lady's heart, he was satisfied; and
without teasing her with unnecessary reproaches, he only waited for an
opportunity to confound her, before he took his measures.

After all, how can we account for Lady Chesterfield's conduct, unless
we attribute it to the disease incident to most coquettes, who, charmed
with superiority, put in practice every art to rob another of her
conquest, and spare nothing to preserve it.

But before we enter into the particulars of this adventure, let us
take a retrospect of the amours of his Royal Highness, prior to the
declaration of his marriage, and particularly of what immediately
preceded this declaration. It is allowable sometimes to drop the thread
of a narrative, when real facts, not generally known, give such a
variety upon the digression as to render it excusable: let us see then
how those things happened.

The Duke of York's marriage, with the chancellor's daughter, was
deficient in none of those circumstances which render contracts of this
nature valid in the eye of heaven the mutual inclination, the formal
ceremony, witnesses, and every essential point of matrimony, had been
observed.

[The material facts in this narrative are confirmed by Lord
Clarendon.--'Continuation of his Life', p. 33. It is difficult to
speak of the persons concerned in this infamous transaction without
some d