was compelled to place herself under the protection of
a gentleman of fashion and pleasure, who rioted on her luxuriant
charms for a brief season, until possession and excess produced
satiety, the sure forerunner of disgust--she was then thrown aside as
a worthless toy, to make room for some fresh favorite. Rendered
desperate by her situation, she became an _aristocratic courtezan_,
freely sacrificing her person to every nobleman and gentleman of rank
who chose to pay liberally for her favors. In this manner she
subsisted for a time in luxury--but at last, her patrons (as is always
the case) grew tired of her; she had become

"Like a thrice-told tale,
Vexing the dull ears of a drowsy man,"

and was again thrown upon the world without resources. Her indomitable
pride still clung to her, through all her misfortunes; and though she
plainly saw that her amours with the aristocracy were at an end
forever, she disdained to seek meaner lovers among the humbler
classes. Every offer made to her by men of medium rank, was spurned by
the proud harlot with supreme contempt. 'I am a companion for
nobility--not for the grovelling masses,' she would reply, in answer
to all such offers; nor did the pinchings of want and hunger even for
a moment shake her resolution, or disarm her prejudices. She might,
had she been disposed, have still lived in comfort and even splendor,
by becoming an inmate of some fashionable brothel; but as in such an
establishment she would be required to bestow her favors
indiscriminately on men of all ranks, who could pay for the same, she
recoiled from the idea with disgust. Thus did the pride of this
singular woman triumph over her wants and poverty; when on the very
verge of starvation, with the means of relief within her grasp, the
thought--'I am of noble birth,' would sustain her, and enable her to
resist successfully the longings of hunger and the sufferings
incidental to a homeless life. No scrupulous delicacy prevented her
from accepting any assistance, pecuniary or otherwise, that might be
offered to her; she even did not hesitate to ask for charity, in tones
of _affected_ humility; but the all-pervading principle, PRIDE OF
BIRTH, implanted within her breast, imperiously restrained her from
bestowing the favors of her patrician person upon 'vulgar plebeians;'
and, in consequence, she had sunk lower and lower in want, destituti