nning incendiary mingled such awful regard, such melting
compassion, as effectually screened him from the suspicion of treachery,
while he widened the fatal breach between her and her lover by the most
diabolical insinuations. He represented his friend as a voluptuary, who
gratified his own appetite without the least regard to honour or
conscience; and, with a show of infinite reluctance, imparted some
anecdotes of his sensuality, which he had feigned for the purpose; then
he would exclaim in an affected transport, "Gracious Heaven! is it
possible for any man who has the least title to perception or humanity to
injure such innocence and perfection! for my own part, had I been so
undeservedly happy--Heaven and earth! forgive my transports, madam, I
cannot help seeing and admiring such divine attractions. I cannot help
resenting your wrongs; it is the cause of virtue I espouse; it ought to
be the cause of every honest man."

He had often repeated such apostrophes as these, which she ascribed to
nothing else than sheer benevolence and virtuous indignation, and
actually began to think he had made some impression upon her heart, not
that he now entertained the hope of an immediate triumph over her
chastity. The more he contemplated her character, the more difficult the
conquest seemed to be: he therefore altered his plan, and resolved to
carry on his operations under the shelter of honourable proposals,
foreseeing that a wife of her qualifications, if properly managed, would
turn greatly to the account of the husband, or, if her virtue should
prove refractory, that he could at any time rid himself of the
encumbrance, by decamping without beat of drum, after he should be cloyed
with possession.

Elevated by these expectations, he one day, in the midst of a
preconcerted rhapsody, importing that he could no longer conceal the fire
that preyed upon his heart, threw himself on his knees before the lovely
mourner, and imprinted a kiss on her fair hand. Though he did not
presume to take this liberty till after such preparation as he thought
had altogether extinguished her regard for Melvil, and paved the way for
his own reception in room of that discarded lover, he had so far overshot
his mark, that Monimia, instead of favouring his declaration, started up,
and retired in silence, her cheeks glowing with shame, and her eyes
gleaming with indignation.

Ferdinand no sooner recovered from the confusion produced by this
unexpect