persuaded that he can assign none, unless it
be her great red ears and broad feet. As for the pale Lady Yarborough,
who appeared so proud of her match, she is wife, to be sure, of a great
country bumpkin, who, the very week after their marriage, bid her take
her farewell of the town for ever, in consequence of five or six thousand
pounds a year he enjoys on the borders of Cornwall. Alas! poor Miss
Blague! I saw her go away about this time twelvemonth, in a coach with
four such lean horses, that I cannot believe she is yet half way to her
miserable little castle. What can be the matter! all the girls seem
afflicted with the rage of wedlock, and however small their portion of
charms may be, they think it only necessary to show themselves at court
in order to pick and choose their men: but was this in reality the case,
the being a wife is the most wretched condition imaginable for a person
of nice sentiments. Believe me, my dear Temple, the pleasures of
matrimony are so inconsiderable in comparison with its inconveniences,
that I cannot imagine how any reasonable creature can resolve upon it:
rather fly, therefore, from this irksome engagement than court it.
Jealousy, formerly a stranger to these happy isles, is now coming into
fashion, with many recent examples of which you are acquainted. However
brilliant the phantom may appear, suffer not yourself to be caught by its
splendour, and never be so weak as to transform your slave into your
tyrant: as long as you preserve your own liberty, you will be mistress of
that of others. I will relate to you a very recent proof of the perfidy
of man to our sex, and of the impunity they experience in all attempts
upon our innocence. The Earl of Oxford fell in love with a handsome,
graceful actress belonging to the duke's theatre, who performed to
perfection, particularly the part of Roxana, in a very fashionable new
play, insomuch that she ever after retained that name: this creature
being both very virtuous and very modest, or, if you please, wonderfully
obstinate, proudly rejected the addresses and presents of the Earl of
Oxford. This resistance inflamed his passion: he had recourse to
invectives, and even to spells; but all in vain. This disappointment had
such effect upon him that he could neither eat nor drink; this did not
signify to him; but his passion at length became so violent, that he
could neither play nor smoke. In this extremity love had recourse to
Hymen; the Earl of Ox