with what regarded Mr. Allworthy; to whom, as he had more than filial Obligations, ſo had he for him more than filial Piety. He knew the Nature of that good Man to be ſo averſe to any Baſeneſs or Treachery, that the leaſt Attempt of ſuch a Kind would make the guilty Perſon for ever odious to his Eyes, and the Name of that Perſon a deteſtable Sound in his Ears. The Appearance of ſuch unſurmountable Difficulties was ſufficient to have inſpired him with Deſpair, however ardent his Wiſhes had been; but even theſe were controlled by Compaſſion for another Woman. The Idea of lovely Molly now intruded itſelf before him. He had ſworn eternal Conſtancy in her Arms, and ſhe had as often vowed never to outlive his deſerting her. He now ſaw her in all the moſt ſhocking Poſtures of Death; nay, he conſidered all the Miſeries of Proſtitution to which ſhe would be liable, and of which he would be doubly the Occaſion; firſt by ſeducing, and then by deſerting her; for he well knew the Hatred which all her Neighbours, and even her own Siſters, bore her, and how ready they would all be to tear her to Pieces. Indeed he had expoſed her to more Envy than Shame, or rather to the latter by Means of the former: For many Women abuſed her for being aWhore,
