since she had been deprived of seeing him, he was very well convinced the could not live without him; but added, that the believed he was ignorant of the love the bore him: “At leaft, (fays fhe,) I hope he is; for I fhould die with fhame, if I thought he fufpected me guilty of a weakness which I cannot forgive in myfelf."

The governeis comforted her in the best manner she could, and perceiving that the hurry of fpirits this difcourfe had put her in, made her ready to faint away, exceeded her commiffion fo far as to give her hopes that if the really loved to that excess the appeared to do, and thought him worthy of being her hufband, her parents might be brought to confent.

This feemed too great a happiness for the enamoured maid to give much credit to; yet the transport she was in at the bare mention of it, and the agonies fhe fell into, as reafon abated the pleafing idea, affured the perfon who was witnefs of them, that there was no other means of faving her life than fuch a confir mation.

She went directly from her to the old lady's apartment, and related to her the whole of what had paffed between them :how great was her affliction, any one may guefs; but flattering herself that shame might work fome effect on her, fhe bid the governefs let her know he had acquainted both her and her father with the fecret ;" and you may tell her (added she) that you have endeavoured to prevail on us to comply with her inclinations; but that the furprize and grief we are in at bearing fhe had fo much demeaned herself, as to entertain a thought of fuch a fellow, made us give no answer to what you faid.”

The governets went immediately about making this effay, though certain in her mind of the little fuccefs it would have :the paffion Celemena was infpired with, was indeed too strong to be overcome this way; and though dutiful, and wanting none of thofe refpects owing from children to their parents, not all the forrows the occafioned them in this point, had power to turn the current of her affections.

Finding her mother came not into her chamber the next day as ufual, the doubted not but her indignation against her paffion was at least equal to the grief for her condition; and de. fpairing of any effect of her governefs's promifes, her heart, over-prefied beneath a weight of anguish, refufed its accafiomed motion, and the fell into faintings, out of which she was not without great difficulty recovered.

Her mother, distracted at the danger of fo darling a child, cried out to her, that her inclinations fhould no longer be op pofed ;—that fince Quaver was fo neceffary to her life, he fhould immediately

9.

immediately be made acquainted with his good fortune, and that the moment of her recovery should join their hands.

The father, no less anxious, made the fame promife; which Celemena ftill doubting the performance of, they both confirmed with the most folemn oath.

As it could not be fuppofed but that the musician would receive an offer of this nature with an excess of humility and joy, he was fent for, and told by the parents of Celemena, that as, notwithstanding the difparity between them, the young lady had thought him worthy, they too dearly prized her to thwart her inclinations, and would bestow her on him, in cafe he had no previous engagement.

The aftonishment he was in at the beginning of this difcourse, was very vifible in his countenance; but being mafter of cunning, it abated; and he not only recovered himself entirely before they had finished what they had to fay, but also refolved what answer he should make.

He had heard the young lady had been dangerously ill fome time, and that the ftill kept her bed; and fo fudden and unexpected a proposal, made to him by her parents, left no room to doubt the motive of it; fo, without any confideration of what he owed either to her love, or this condefcenfion in them, he meditated only how to make the best bargain he could for his pretty person, which he now thought he could not fet too high a value upon.

After having affured them that he was under no engagement, and flightly thanking them for the honour they did him in making choice of him for a fon-in-law, he begged leave to know what portion they intended to give their daughter.

Such a question, from a man whom they expected would have rather thrown himself at their feet, all in extacy and tranfport, might very well aftonish them :-they looked one upon another for fome minutes, without being able to reply; but the father first regaining prefence of mind," Mr. Quaver, (faid he,) fince I am willing to give my daughter to you, there is little room for you to fuppose I should bestow a beggar on you; but fince you feem to doubt it, I will put five thousand pounds into your hands for the prefent, and, according as I find you behave, will add to it."

"Five thousand pounds, Sir!" cried the musician: "I live very well as I am on my bufinefs, and will not fell my liberty for twice the fum."

Nothing could have been a greater proof of the confideration this tender father had for his child, than that he did not refent this arrogance in the object of her affection, by ordering his

3 T 2

footmen

footmen to turn him out of doors; but his fears for her overruled all he owed to himself, and he only replied, " Well, Mr. Quaver, I will think of your demand, and, if you call to-morrow, will acquaint you with the refult."

It would be needlefs to repeat the fhock fuch a behaviour muft be to perfons of their rank and figure in the world; or how great an aggravation it was to their affliction, that Celemena Thould have beftowed her heart on a man whofe mind was as fordid as his birth was mean-they were fearful of acquainting her with the little regard he feemed to have for her; but, on her being extremely urgent to know what had paffed at an interview her peace was fo deeply interested in, they at last ventured to repeat not only the demand that Quaver had made, but alfo described the infolent manner in which he spoke and looked ; but withal affured her, that for her fake they would both forgive and comply with it.

Celemena listened attentively to the narrative, but seemed much lefs troubled than their apprehenfions had fuggefted :the fainted not, the even wept not, but, after a little paufe, thanked her father for the unexampled tenderness he exprefled for her, and befeeched him, that fince he was fo good as to grant every thing defired by a man, who, fhe confeffed, was worthy of little, either from him or herself, that he might be placed the next day in fome room where she might hear, unseen by him, how he received the condefcenfion which would be made him.

This request was easily granted; and when they were told he was below, a fervant was ordered to conduct him into a room, divided only by a thin wainscot from Celemena's chamber. She had quitted her bed that day, which for a long time the had not been able to do, and fat with her governefs as clofe as the could to the partition, fo that she could hear all that paffed with the fame cafe as if the had been in the room with them.

"Well, Mr. Quaver, (faid the old gentleman,) I think you told me yesterday that the price at which you fet your liberty was ten thousand pounds :-it is certainly a great fum for a perfon of your vocation, who have no other jointure to make my daughter than a few mufic books; but as fhe has fet her heart upon you, I will not refuse you, and the money fhall be paid on the day of marriage."

"Alas, Sir, (replied the other,) I am forry I was fo unhappy as to be mistaken; I told you that I would not marry for twice the fum you offered at firft, which you may remember was five thoafand pounds; and I think you cannot give me lefs than fifteen thoufand, and five thousand at the birth of the firft child; befides, I expect you should fettle your whole estate on me after

your

your decease, that your daughter, who I know is heiress, may not affame too much, as many wives do, when they have the power of receiving rents lodged in their own hands."

At these words the father was obliged to fummon all his moderation, yet could not reftrain himfelf from crying out, "Heavens! What have I done, to merit a punishment fo fevere ?Unhappy Celemena, to love where there is nothing but what ought to create contempt!"

"Whatever opinion you may have of me, Sir, (returned Quaver, with a moft audacious air,) I know myself, and fhall not abate an ace of my demand: if you think fit to comply with it, I will make a good husband to your daughter; if not, I am your humble fervant."

Celemena no fooner heard this, than fhe fent her governess to beg her father to come into her chamber before he made any farther reply to what was faid; and on his entering, threw herfelf at his feet, and, embracing his knees with a vehemence which furprized him, "Oh, Sir, (faid the,) by all the love and tenderness you have ever ufed me with, by this laft, the greatest proof fure that ever a child received, I conjure you, fuffer not yourself nor me to be one moment longer affronted and infulted by that unworthy fellow, whom I almost hate myself for ever having had a favourable thought on:-fpurn him, I beseech you, from your prefence ;-let him feek a wife more befitting him than Celemena, who now hates and fcorns him."

"But are you certain, my dear, (faid this fond father,) that you can perfift in thefe fentiments?"

"For ever, Sir, (anfwered the,) and your commands to unite me to fuch a wretch would render me more miferable, than two days paft your refufal would have done."

It is not to be doubted but that the old gentleman was tranfported at this unlooked-for change; and returning to Quaver, whom he found looking in the glafs, and humming over a tune of his own compofing, he told him that the farce was entirely over; Celemena had only a mind to divert herself with his vanity; which having done, he might go about his business, for there was no danger of her dying, unless it were with laughing at his fo cafily believing that. to be ferious, which was only a jeft.

The musician, fo lately blown up with felf-conceit, was now quite crushed at once; and, as thofe too foon elated with the appearance of any profperous event, are, with the fame eafe, dejected with the reverfe, he looked like one transfixed with thunder; but when he was about to lay fomething in a stammering voice, by way of reply, the old gentleman cut him

fhort,

fhort, by telling him, in the moft contemptuous manner, that as neither himself nor his daughter had any difpofition to continue the frolick, he had no more bufinefs there, but might go home and dream of a fine lady with fifteen thousand pounds, and a great estate.

To prove how much he was in earnest, he rang the bell, and ordered his fervants to fhew him out; on which he muttered fomewhat between his teeth, and went away justly mortified, and ready to hang himself for what he had loft by his egregious folly.

Celemena, perfectly cured of her paffion, and no otherwife troubled than ashamed of having ever entertained one for a perfon fuch as he had now proved himself, foon resumed her former health and vivacity, and was fome time after married to a person of condition, who knew how to efteem her as he ought.

This behaviour in Quaver, I will allow to be the highest ingratitude, and am very certain there are many fuch examples of it in our bargain-makers for marriage, though all have not the fame spirit and refolution Celemena teftified in refenting it.

Copy of an authentic Letter, written by the late Lord Chefterfield to the prefent Earl, found among the Papers of the unfor tunate Doctor Dodd.

I

MY DEAR LITTLE MAN,

SHALL not warn you against crimes, nor give you examples of criminals, because I am fure that, even already, you have too juft a notion of your religious and moral obligations to be guilty of any but I fhall, from time to time, warn you against thofe follies, which, though fashionable, are indecent and difgraceful, and which are become fo epidemical, that the contagion might poffibly infect you, if fome feafonable preventative were not adminiftered to you. The fubject, therefore, of this letter, fhall be a moft fignal, illiberal, and degrading folly.

It is now too general a fashion for young men, even of the first quality, to drive wheel carriages. They drefs themselves like ftage coachmen, and, together with the drefs, they adopt the manners and the vulgar language of real ftage coachmen.There is the earl of Sn, a lineal defcendent of the great lord B, who has done nothing but drive his coach and fet of horses; and rather than fail, when his own horfes were tired,

has