Page:Fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders.pdf/5

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In afhort time he obtain'd his mother's conſent, ſo that I was under the fatal neceſſity, either to comply, or be un- done; and as I found at any rate the elder brother was to caſt me off, and as I was not with child to him, con- ſented, tho' with much reluctance, ſo we were married privately.

 I had my own fears now, leaſt my

new married ſpouſe, who I had not the leaſt affection for, might be ſkil- ful enough to know the difference be- tween a maid and a whore; but the elder brother manag'd it ſo, whether with a deſign or not I cannot ſay, but I had the pleaſure of a drunken bed- fellow the firſt night; by which means he fairly ſhifted me into his brother's arms for a chaſte virgin.

 About five years after he died, leav-

ing two children, who were taken care of by his parents. Having now a to- lerable fortune, I ſoon married a linen draper, who ſoon went from me for debt into France: on which I took a lodging, and in a widow's habit, took upon me the name of Mrs Flanders.

 I was courted as a miſtreſs by ſe-

veral lewd men, but thoſe I treated