Page:Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749, vol. 1).pdf/162

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Memoirs of a

himself to appease me, as my whole rage was levell'd at myself, no part of which I thought myself permitted to aim at him, I begg'd him with more submission than anger, to leave me alone, that I might at least enjoy my affliction in quiet; this he positively refus'd, for fear, as he pretended, I should do myself a mischief.

Violent passions seldom last long, and those of women least of any. A dead still calm succeeded this storm, which ended in a profuse shower of tears.

Had any one, but a few instants before, told me that I should have ever known any man but Charles, I would have spit in his face, or had I been offer'd infinitely a greater sum of money than that I saw paid for me, I had spurn'd the proposal in cold blood: but our virtues and our vices depend too much on our circumstances; unexpectedly beset as I was, betray'd by a mind weakned by a long severe affliction, and stunn'd with the terrors of a gaol, my defeat will appear the more excusable, since I certainly was not present at,

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