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by an ingenuous confession, making all the atonement in my power, for the ingratitude I have been guilty of, and the wrongs I have committed against a virtuous husband, who never gave me cause of complaint. You stand amazed at this preamble; but, alas! how will you be shocked when I own that I have betrayed you in your absence; that I have trespassed against God and my marriage-vow, and fallen from the pride and confidence of virtue to the most abject state of vice: yes, I have been unfaithful to your bed, having fallen a victim to the infernal insinuations of a villain, who took advantage of my weak and unguarded moments. Fathom is the wretch who hath thus injured your honour, and ruined my unsuspecting innocence. I have nothing to plead in alleviation of my crime, but the most sincere contrition of heart; and though, at any other juncture, I could not expect your forgiveness, yet, as I now touch the goal of life, I trust in your humanity and benevolence, for that pardon which will lighten the sorrows of my soul, and those prayers which I hope will entitle me to favour at the throne of grace."

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The poor husband was so much overwhelmed with grief and confusion at this unexpected address, that he could not recollect himself till after a pause of several minutes, when uttering a hollow groan, "I will not (said he) aggravate your sufferings, by reproaching you with my wrongs; though your conduct hath been but an ill return for all my tenderness and esteem. I look upon it as a trial of my Christian patience, and bear my misfortune with resignation: meanwhile, I forgive you from my heart, and fervently pray, that your repentance may be acceptable to the Father of Mercy." So saying, he approached her bed-side, and embraced her in token of his sincerity. Whether this generous condescension diffused such a composure upon her spirits as tended to the ease and refreshment of nature, which had been almost exhausted by disease and vexation, certain it is, that from this day she began to struggle with her malady in surprising efforts, and hourly gained ground, until her health was pretty well re-established.

This recovery was so far beyond the husband's expectation, that he began to make very serious reflections on the event, and even to wish he had not been quite so precipitate in pardoning the backslidings of his wife; for, though he could not withhold his compassion from a dying penitent, he did not at all relish the thoughts of cohabiting, as usual, with a wife self-convicted of the violation of the matrimonial contract: he therefore considered his declaration as no more than a provisional pardon, to take place on condition of her immediate death; and, in a little time, not only communicated to her his sentiments on this subject, but also separated himself from her

company, secured the evidence of her maid, who had been confidante in her amour with Fathom, and immediately set on foot a prosecution against our adventurer, whose behaviour to his wife he did not fail to promulgate, with all its aggravating circumstances. By these means the doctor's name became so notorious, that every man was afraid of admitting him into his house, and every woman ashamed of soliciting his advice.

CHAP. LIV.

His eclipse, and gradual declination. MISFORTUNES seldom come single: upon the back of this hue and cry, he unluckily prescribed phlebotomy to a gentleman of some rank, who chanced to expire during the operation; and quarrelled with his landlord the apothecary, who charged him with having forgot the good offices he had done him in the beginning of his career; and desired he would provide himself with another lodging.

All these mishaps, treading upon the heels of one another, had a very mortifying effect upon his practice. At every tea-table his name was occasionally put to the torture, with that of the vile creature whom he had seduced; though it was generally taken for granted, by all those female casuists, that she must have made the first advances; for it could not be supposed, that any man would take much trouble in laying schemes for the ruin of a person whose attractions were so slender, especially considering the ill state of her health, a circumstance that seldom adds to a woman's beauty or good humour; besides, she was always a pert minx, that affected singularity, and a masculine manner of speaking; and many of them had foreseen, that she would, some time or other, bring herself into such a premunire. At all gossipings, where the apothecary or his wife assisted, Fathom's pride, ingratitude, and malpractice, were canvassed; in all clubs of married men, he was mentioned with marks of abhorrence and detestation; and every medical coffeehouse rung with his reproach. Instances of his ignorance and presumption were quoted, and many particulars feigned for the purpose of defamation; so that our hero was exactly in the situation of a horseman, who, in riding at full speed for the plate, is thrown from the saddle in the middle of the race, and left without sense or motion upon the plain. His progress, though rapid, had been so short, that he could not be supposed to have laid up store against such a day of trouble; and as he still cherished hopes of surmounting those obstacles which had so suddenly started up in his way, he would not resign his equipage, nor retrench his expenses; but appeared, as usual, in all public places, with that serenity and con

fidence of feature which he had never deposited; and maintained his external pomp, upon the little he had reserved in the days of his prosperity, and the credit he had acquired by the punctuality of his former payments. Both these funds, however, failed in a very little time: his law-suit was a gulph that swallowed up all his ready money; and the gleanings of his practice were scarce sufficient to answer his pocket expenses, which now increased in proportion to the decrease of business; for, as he had more idle time, and was less admitted into private families, so he thought he had more occasion to enlarge his acquaintance among his own sex, who alone were able to support him in his disgrace with the other. He accordingly listed himself in several clubs, and endeavoured to monopolize the venereal branch of trade: though this was but an indifferent resource; for almost all his patients of this class were such as either could not or would not properly recompense the physician.

For some time he lingered in this situation, without going upwards or downwards, floating like a wisp of straw at the turning of the tide, until he could no longer amuse the person of whom he had hired his coach-horses, or postpone the other demands, which multiplied upon him every day. Then was his chariot overturned with a hideous crash, and his face so much wounded with the shivers of the glass, which went to pieces in the fall, that he appeared in the coffeehouse with half a dozen black patches upon his countenance, gave a most circumstantial detail of the risk he had run, and declared, that he did not believe he should ever hazard himself again in any sort of wheel carriage.

Soon after this accident, he took an opportunity of telling his friends, in the same public place, that he had turned away his footman on account of his drunkenness, and was resolved, for the future, to keep none but maids in his service, because the men servants are impudent, lazy, debauched, or dishonest; and, after all, neither so neat, handy, nor agreeable, as the other sex. In the rear of this resolution, he shifted his lodgings into a private court, being distracted with the din of carriages, that disturb the inhabitants who live towards the open street; and gave his acquaintance to understand, that he had a medical work upon the anvil, which he could not finish without being indulged in silence and tranquillity. In effect, he gradually put on the exteriors of an author. His watch, with an horizontal movement by Graham, which he had often mentioned, and shewn as a very curious piece of workmanship, began, about this time, to be very much out of order, and was committed to the care of a mender, who was in no hurry to restore it. His tye-wig degenerated into a major; he sometimes appeared without a sword, and was even observed

in public with a second day's shirt: at last, his clothes became rusty; and, when he walked about the streets, his head turned round in a surprising manner, by an involuntary motion in his neck, which he had contracted by an habit of reconnoitring the ground, that he might avoid all dangerous or disagreeable encounters.

Fathom, finding himself descending the hill of fortune with an acquired gravitation, strove to catch at every twig, in order to stop or retard his descent. He now regretted the opportunities he had neglected, of marrying one of several women of moderate fortune, who had made advances to him in the zenith of his reputation; and endeavoured, by forcing himself into a lower path of life than any he had hitherto trod, to keep himself afloat, with the portion of some tradesman's daughter, whom he meant to espouse. While he exerted himself in this pursuit, he happened, in returning from a place about thirty miles from London, to become acquainted, in the stage coach, with a young woman, of a very homely appearance, whom, from the driver's information, he understood to be the niece of a country justice, and daughter of a soap-boiler, who had lived and died in London, and left her, in her infancy, sole heiress of his effects, which amounted to four thousand pounds. The uncle, who was her guardian, had kept her sacred from the knowledge of the world, resolving to effect a match betwixt her and his own son; and it was with much difficulty he had consented to this journey, which she had undertaken as a visit to her own mother, who had married a second husband in town.

Fraught with these anecdotes, Fathom began to put forth his gallantry and good humour, and, in a word, was admitted by the lady to the privilege of an acquaintance, in which capacity he visited her during the term of her residence in London; and, as there was no time to be lost, declared his honourable intentions. He had such a manifest advantage, in point of personal accomplishments, over the young gentleman who was destined for her husband, that she did not disdain his proposals; and, before she set out for the country, he had made such progress in her heart, that the day was actually fixed for their nuptials, on which he faithfully promised to carry her off in a coach and six. How to raise money for this expedition was all the difficulty that remained; for, by this time, his finances were utterly dried up, and his credit altogether exhausted. Upon a very pressing occasion, he had formerly applied himself to a certain wealthy quack, who had relieved his necessities by lending him a small sum of money, in return for having communicated to him a se cret medicine, which he affirmed to be the most admirable specific that ever was invented. The nostrum had been used, and, luckily for him, succeeded in the trial; so that the empyric, in

the midst of his satisfaction, began to reflect, that this same Fathom, who pretended to be in possession of a great many remedies, equally efficacious, would certainly become a formidable rival to him in his business, should he ever be able to extricate himself from his present difficulties.

In consequence of these suggestions, he resolved to keep our adventurer's head under water, by maintaining him in the most abject dependence: accordingly, he had, from time to time, accommodated him with small trifles, which barely served to support his existence, and even for these had taken notes of hand, that he might have a scourge over his head, in case he should prove insolent or refractory. To this benefactor Fathom applied for a reinforcement of twenty guineas, which he solicited with the more confidence, as that sum would certainly enable him to repay all other obligations. The quack would advance the money upon no other condition, than that of knowing the scheme, which being explained, he complied with Ferdinand's request; but, at the same time, privately despatched an express to the young lady's uncle, with a full account of the whole conspiracy; so that, when the doctor ar rived at the inn, according to appointment, he was received by his worship in person, who gave him to understand, that his niece had changed her mind, and gone fifty miles farther

finding them inconvenient; but, out of his friendship and good-will to Fathom, undertook to procure for him such letters of recommenda❤ tion as would infallibly make his fortune in the West Indies, and even to fit him out in a genteel manner for the voyage. Ferdinand perceived his drift, and thanked him for his generous offer, which he would not fail to consider with all due deliberation; though he was determined against the proposal, but obliged to temporize, that he might not incur the displeasure of this man, at whose mercy he lay. Meanwhile the prosecution against him in Doctors' Commons drew near a period, and the lawyers were clamorous for money, without which he foresaw he should lose the advantage which his cause had lately acquired by the death of his antagonist's chief evidence: he therefore, seeing every other channel shut up, began to doubt, whether the risk of being apprehended or slain in the character of a highwayman, was not overbalanced by the prospect of being acquitted of a charge which had ruined his reputation and fortune, and actually entertained thoughts of taking the air on Hounslow Heath, when he was diverted from this expedient by a very singular adven◄

ture.

CHAP. LV.

to the matrimonial noose.

into the country, to visit a relation. This was After divers unsuccessful efforts, he has recourse a grievous disappointment to Fathom, who really believed his mistress had forsaken him through mere levity and caprice, and was not undeceived till several months after her marriage with her cousin, when, at an accidental meeting in London, she explained the story of the secret intelligence, and excused her marriage, as the effect of rigorous usage and compulsion.

Had our hero been really enamoured of her person, he might have, probably, accomplished his wishes, notwithstanding the steps she had taken. But this was not the case: his passion was of a different nature, and the object of it effectually without his reach. With regard to his appetite for women, as it was an infirmity of his constitution, which he could not overcome, and as he was in no condition to gratify it at a great expense, he had of late chosen a housekeeper from the hundreds of Drury, and, to avoid scandal, allowed her to assume his name. As to the intimation which had been sent to the country justice, he immediately imputed it to the true author, whom he marked for his vengeance accordingly, but, in the mean time, suppressed his resentment, because he, in some measure, depended upon him for subsistence. On the other hand, the quack, dreading the for wardness and plausibility of our hero, which might, one time or other, render him independent, put a stop to those supplies, on pretence of

CHANCING to meet with one of his acquaintance at a certain coffeehouse, the discourse turned upon the characters of mankind, when, among other oddities, his friend brought upon the carpet a certain old gentlewoman of such a rapacious disposition, that, like a jackdaw, she never beheld any metalline substance without an inclination, and even an effort, to secrete it for her own use and contemplation: nor was this infirmity originally produced from indigence, inasmuch as her circumstances had been always affluent, and she was now possessed of a considerable sum of money in the funds; notwithstanding which, the avarice of her nature tempted her to let lodgings, though few people could live under the same roof with such an original, who, rather than be idle, had often filched pieces of her own plate, and charged her ser vants with the theft, or hinted suspicion of her lodgers. Fathom, struck with the description, soon perceived how this woman's disease might be converted to his advantage; and, after having obtained sufficient intelligence, on pretence of satisfying his curiosity, he visited the widow, in consequence of a bill at her door, and actually hired an apartment in her house, whither he forthwith repaired with his inamorata. It was not long before he perceived, that his landlady's character had not been misrepresented: he fed

her distemper with divers inconsiderable trinkets, such as copper medals, cork-screws, odd buckles, and a paltry seal set in silver, which were, at different times, laid as baits for her infirmity, and always conveyed away with remarkable eagerness, which he and his Dulcinea took pleasure in observing from an unsuspected place. Thus confirmed in his opinion, he, at length, took an opportunity of exposing a metal watch that belonged to his mistress, and saw it seized, with great satisfaction, in the absence of his help-mate, who had gone abroad on purpose. According to instruction, she soon returned, and began to raise a terrible clamour about the loss of her watch; upon which she was condoled by her landlady, who seemed to doubt the integrity of the maid, and even proposed that Mrs Fathom should apply to some justice of the peace for a warrant to search the servant's trunk. The lady thanked her for the good advice, in compliance with which she had immediate recourse to a magistrate, who granted a search warrant, not against the maid, but the mistress; and she, in a little time, returned with the con stable at her back.

These precautions being taken, Doctor Fathom desired a private conference with the old gentlewoman, in which he gave her to understand, that he had undoubted proofs of her having secreted, not only the watch, but also several other odd things of less consequence, which he had lost since his residence in her house: he then shewed the warrant he had obtained against her, and asked if she had any thing to offer why the constable should not do his duty. Inexpressible were the anguish and confusion of the defendant, when she found herself thus entrapped, and reflected that she was on the point of being detected of felony; for she at once concluded, that the snare was laid for her, and knew, that the officer of justice would certainly find the unlucky watch in one of the drawers of her scrutoire.

Tortured with these suggestions, afraid of public disgrace, and dreading the consequence of legal conviction, she fell on her knees before the injured Fathom, and, after having imputed her crime to the temptations of necessity, implored his compassion, promised to restore the watch, and every thing she had taken, and begged he would disimss the constable, that her reputation might not suffer in the eye of the world.

Ferdinand, with a severity of countenance purposely assumed, observed, that were she really indigent, he had charity enough to forgive what she had done; but, as he knew her circumstances were opulent, he looked upon this excuse as an aggravation of her guilt, which was certainly the effect of a vicious inclination; and he was therefore determined to prosecute her with the utmost severity of the law, as an example and terror to others, who might be infected with the VOL. III,

same evil disposition. Finding him deaf to all her tears and entreaties, she changed her note, and offered him one hundred guineas, if he would compromise the affair, and drop the prosecution, so as that her character should sustain no damage. After much argumentation, he consented to accept of double the sum, which being instantly paid in East India bonds, Doctor Fathom told the constable that the watch was found; and for once her reputation was patched up. This seasonable supply enabled our hero to stand trial with his adversary, who was nonsuited, and also to mend his external appearance, which of late had not been extremely magnificent.

Soon after this gleam of good fortune, a tradesman, to whom he was considerably indebted, seeing no other probable means to recover his money, introduced Fathom to the acquaintance of a young widow who lodged at his house, and was said to be in possession of a considerable fortune. Considering the steps that were taken, it would have been almost impossible for him to miscarry in his addresses. The lady had been bred in the country, was unacquainted with the world, and of a very sanguine disposi tion, which her short trial of matrimony had not served to cool. Our adventurer was instructed to call at the tradesman's house, as if by accident, at an appointed time, when the widow was drinking tea with her landlady. On these occasions he always behaved to admiration. She liked his person, and praised his po liteness, good humour, and good sense; his confederates extolled him as a prodigy of learning, taste, and good nature; they likewise represented him as a person on the eve of eclipsing all his competitors in physic. An acquaintance and intimacy soon ensued, nor was he restricted in point of opportunity. In a word, he succeeded in his endeavours, and, one evening, on pretence of attending her to the play, he accompanied her to the Fleet, where they were married, in presence of the tradesman and his wife, who were of the party.

This grand affair being accomplished to his satisfaction, he, next day, visited her brother, who was a counsellor of the Temple, to make him acquainted with the step his sister had taken; and though the lawyer was not a little mortified to find that she had made such a clandestine match, he behaved civilly to his new brother-in-law, and gave him to understand, that his wife's fortune consisted of a jointure of one hundred and fifty pounds a-year, and fifteen hundred pounds bequeathed to her during her widowhood, by her own father, who had taken the precaution of settling it in the hands of trustees, in such a manner as that any husband she might afterwards espouse should be restricted from encroaching upon the capital, which was reserved for the benefit of her heirs. This intimation was far from being agreeable to

130

our hero, who had been informed, that this sum was absolutely at the lady's disposal, and had actually destined the greatest part of it for the payment of his debts, for defraying the expense of furnishing an elegant house, and setting up a new equipage.

Notwithstanding this disappointment, he resolved to carry on his plan upon the credit of his marriage, which was published in a very pompous article of the newspapers; a chariot was bespoke, a ready-furnished house immediately taken, and Doctor Fathom began to reappear in all his former splendour.

His good friend the empiric, alarmed at this
event, which not only raised our adventurer in-
to the sphere of a dangerous rival, but also fur-
nished him with means to revenge the ill office
he had sustained at his hands on the adventure
of the former match; for, by this time, Fathom
had given him some hints, importing, that he
was not ignorant of his treacherous behaviour;
roused, I say, by these considerations, he em-
ployed one of his emissaries, who had some
knowledge of Fathom's brother-in-law, to pre-
judice him againt our adventurer, whom he re-
presented as a needy sharper, not only over-
whelmed with debt and disgrace, but likewise
previously married to a poor woman, who was
prevented by nothing but want from seeking
redress at law. To confirm these assertions, he
gave him a detail of Fathom's incumbrances,
which he had learned for the purpose, and even
brought the counsellor in company with the
person who had lived with our hero before
marriage, and who was so much incensed at her
abrupt dismission, that she did not scruple to
corroborate these allegations of the informer.

The lawyer, startled at this intelligence, set
on foot a minute inquiry into the life and con-
versation of the doctor, which turned out so
little to the advantage of his character and cir-
cumstances, that he resolved, if possible, to dis-
unite him from his family, and, as a previous
step, repeated to his sister all that he had heard
to the prejudice of her husband, not forgetting
to produce the evidence of his mistress, who
laid claim to him by a prior title, which, she
pretended, could be proved by the testimony of
Such an ex-
the clergyman who joined them.
planation could not fail to inflame the resent
ment of the injured wife, who, at the very first
opportunity, giving a loose to the impetuosity of
her temper, upbraided our hero with the most
bitter invectives for his perfidious dealing.

Ferdinand, conscious of his own innocence,
which he had not always to plead, far from at-
tempting to sooth her indignation, assumed
the authority and prerogative of an husband,
and sharply reprehended her for her credulity
and indecent warmth. This rebuke, instead of
silencing, gave new spirit and volubility to her
reproaches, in the course of which she plainly
taxed him with want of honesty and affection,

and said, that, though his pretence was love,
his aim was no other than a base design upon
her fortuue.

Fathom, stung with these accusations, which
mon heat, and charged her in his turn with
he really did not deserve, replied, with uncom-
want of sincerity and candour, in the false ac-
count she had given of that same fortune before
marriage. He even magnified his own conde-
scension, in surrendering his liberty to a woman
who had so little to recommend her to the ad-
voked this mild creature to such a degree of
dresses of the other sex-a reflection which pro-
animosity, that, forgetting her duty and alle-
giance, she lent him a box on the ear with such
energy as made his eyes water; and he, for the
honour of his manhood and sovereignty, having
washed her face with a dish of tea, withdrew
abruptly to a coffeehouse in the neighbourhood,
where he had not long remained, when his pas-
sion subsided, and he then saw the expediency
of an immediate reconciliation, which he re-
solved to purchsse, even at the expense of a sub-

mission.

It was pity that such a salutary resolution had not been sooner taken: for, when he reMrs Fathom had gone abroad in an hackney turned to his own house, he understood, that coach; and, upon examining her apartment, in lieu of her clothes and trinkets, which she had he found this billet in one of the drawers of her removed with admirable dexterity and despatch, bureau:

Sir, being convinced that you are a cheat and an impostor, I have withdrawn mya view to solicit the protection of the law; self from your cruelty and machinations, with and I doubt not but I shall soon be able to upon the person or effects of the unfortunate prove, that you have no just title to or demand Sarah Muddy."

The time had been when Mr Fathom would have allowed Mrs Muddy to refine at her leisure, and blessed God for his happy deliverance; but at present the case was quite altered. Smarting as he was from the expense of lawsuits, he dreaded a prosecution for bigamy, which (though he had justice on his side) he all his other schemes of life were frustrated by knew he could not of himself support: besides, this unlucky elopement. He therefore speedily determined to anticipate, as much as in him lay, the malice of his enemies, and to obtain, riage With this view, he hastened to the without delay, authentic documents of his mar house of the tradesman, who, with his wife, had been witness to the ceremony and consummation; and, in order to interest them the more warmly in his cause, made a pathetic recital of this unhappy breach, in which he had suffered such injury and insult. But all his been beforehand with him, and had proved the rhetoric would not avail: Mrs Muddy had better orator of the two; for she had assailed

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