imparted my situation to my companion, she found it high time
for us to decamp, and that without any noise, because we were not
only indebted to our landlady, but also to several tradesmen in the
neighbourhood. Our retreat, therefore, was concerted and executed in
this manner: Having packed up all our clothes and moveables in small
parcels, she (on pretence of fetching cordials for me) carried them
at several times to the house of an acquaintance, where she likewise
procured a lodging, to which we retired in the middle of the night, when
every other body in the house was asleep. I was now obliged to aim at
lower game, and accordingly spread my nets among tradespeople, but found
them all too phlegmatic or cautious for my art and attractions, till at
last I became acquainted with you, on whom I practised all my dexterity;
not that I believed you had any fortune, or expectation of me, but that
I might transfer the burden of such debts as I had incurred, or should
contract, from myself to another, and at the same time avenge myself of
your sex, by rendering miserable one who bore such resemblance to the
wretch who ruined me; but Heaven preserved you from my snares by the
discovery you made, which was owing to the negligence of my maid
in leaving the chamber-door unlocked when she went to buy sugar for
breakfast. When I found myself detected and forsaken by you, I was fain
to move my lodging, and dwell two pair of stairs higher than before. My
companion, being disappointed in her expectations, left me, and I had no
other resource than to venture forth, like the owls in the dark, to pick
up a precarious and uncomfortable subsistence. I have often sauntered
between Ludgate Hill and Charing Cross a whole winter night, exposed
not only to the inclemency of the weather, but likewise to the rage of
hunger and thirst, without being so happy as to meet with one dupe, then
creep up to my garret, in a deplorable draggled condition, sneak to bed,
and try to bury my appetite and sorrows in sleep. When I lighted on some
rake or tradesman reeling home drunk, I frequently suffered the most
brutal treatment, in spite of which I was obliged to affect gaiety and
good humour, though my soul was stung with resentment and disdain,
and my heart loaded with grief and affliction. In the course of these
nocturnal adventures, I was infected with the disease, that in a short
time rendered me the object of my own abhorrence, and drove me to the
retreat w