Part 2 (2/2)
Ferdinand was, or pretended to be, the last person in the fahts; when he perceived her passion, he entered into deliberation with hiht, in order to discover how best he e Here, then, that wejustice to our hero, it will be proper to observe, that, howsoever unapt his understanding ht be to receive and retain the usual culture of the schools, he was naturally a genius self-taught, in point of sagacity and invention--He dived into the characters of mankind, with a penetration peculiar to himself, and, had he been admitted as a pupil in any political academy, would have certainly beco revolved all the probable consequences of such a connexion, he determined to prosecute an amour with the lady whose affection he had subdued; because he hoped to interest her as an auxiliary in his grand scheme upon Mademoiselle, which he did not as yet think proper to lay aside; for he was not able in the prosecution of it He kneould be ihter under the eye of Teresa, whose natural discernment would be whetted with jealousy, and ould watch his conduct, and thwart his progress with all the vigilance and spite of a slightedable to bring her over to his interest, by the influence he had already gained, or ht afterwards acquire over her passions; in which case, she would effectually espouse his cause, and eood offices with her mistress in his behalf; besides, he was induced by another h secondary, did not fail in this case to have an effect upon his determination He looked upon Teresa with the eyes of appetite, which he longed to gratify; for he was not at all dead to the instigations of the flesh, though he had philosophy enough to resist theht they interfered with his interest Here the case was quite different
His desire happened to be upon the side of his advantage, and therefore, resolving to indulge it, he no sooner found hian to radual advances in point of warmth and particular complacency to the love-sick rateful terms, for the concern she had manifested at his diste the course of it; he treated her upon all occasions with unusual affability and regard, assiduously courted her acquaintance and conversation, and contracted an intimacy that in a little tih her heart was too ainst all the for at discretion, she stood upon honourable terreat obstinacy of punctilio, and, while she owned he was ave him to understand, with a peremptory and resolute air, that he should never , that, if the passion he professed was genuine, he would not scruple to give such a proof of it as would at once convince her of his sincerity; and that he could have no just cause to refuse her that satisfaction, she being his equal in point of birth and situation; for, if he was the co Count, she was the friend and confidant of Madeureater than his deserts, but objected against the proposal, as infinitely prejudicial to the fortunes of them both He represented the state of dependence in which they mutually stood; their utter incapacity to support one another under the consequences of a precipitate match, clandestinely made, without the consent and concurrence of their patrons
He displayed, with great eloquence, all those gay expectations they had reason to entertain, froree of favour which they had already secured in the fa colours, those enchanting scenes of pleasure they reeable consciousness of a nuptial chain, provided she would be his associate in the execution of a plan which he had projected for their reciprocal convenience
Having thus inflareat caution, hinted his design upon the young lady's fortune, and, perceiving her listening with the reedy attention, and perfectly ripe for the conspiracy, he disclosed his intention at full length, assuring her, with the most solemn protestations of love and attachal possessor of an estate which Mademoiselle inherited by the will of a deceased aunt, his dear Teresa should reap the happy fruits of his affluence, and wholly engross his time and attention
Such a base declaration our hero would not have ventured to reat a latitudinarian as himself, in point of h he should be , so far as to be threatened with a detection of his purpose, he would always have it in his power to refute her accusation as mere calumny, by the character he had hitherto maintained, and the circumspection of his future conduct
He seldom or never erred in his observations on the hu, relished the plan in general, with deular satisfaction She at once conceived all the advantageous consequences of such a scheme, and perceived in it only one flahich, however, she did not think incurable This defect was no other than a sufficient bond of union, by which they ht be effectually tied down to their mutual interest She foresaw, that, in case Ferdinand should obtain possession of the prize, he reat ease, deny their contract, and disavow her claim of participation She therefore dereement, that he should privately take her to wife, with a view to dispel all her apprehensions of his inconstancy or deceit, as such a previous engagement would be a check upon his behaviour, and keep him strictly to the letter of their contract
He could not help subscribing to the righteousness of this proposal, which, nevertheless, he would have willingly waived, on the supposition that they could not possibly be joined in the bands of wedlock with such secrecy as the nature of the case absolutely required This would have been a difficulty soon removed, had the scene of the transaction been laid in the ers are plied in the streets by clergymen, who prostitute their characters and consciences for hire, in defiance of all decency and law; but in the kingdoary, ecclesiastics are more scrupulous in the exercise of their function, and the objection was, or supposed to be, altogether insurmountable; so that they were fain to have recourse to an expedient, hich, after some hesitation, our she-adventurer was satisfied They joined hands in the sight of Heaven, which they called to witness, and to judge the sincerity of their vows, and engaged, in a voluntary oath, to confirm their union by the sanction of the church, whenever a convenient opportunity for so doing should occur
The scruples of Teresa being thus rees of a husband, which he enjoyed in stolen interviews, and readily undertook to exert her whole power in pro mistress, because she now considered his interest as inseparably connected with her own Surely nothing could be more absurd or preposterous than the articles of this covenant, which she insisted upon with such inflexibility How could she suppose that her pretended lover would be restrained by an oath, when the very occasion of incurring it was an intention to act in violation of all laws human and divine? and yet such ridiculous conjuration is commonly the cement of every conspiracy, how dark, how treacherous, how in that there are soion left in the human mind, even after every moral sentiment hath abandoned it; and that the estions of his conscience, by soiveness
CHAPTER EIGHT
THEIR FIRST ATTEMPT; WITH A DIGRESSION WHICH SOME READERS MAY THINK IMPERTINENT
Be this as it will, our lovers, though real voluptuaries, alect the great political aim of their conjunction Teresa's bedchaht, was the scene of their deliberations, and there it was determined that the dan herself irritated at the indifference of Ferdinand, her passion for as by this time no secret in the family; and that, with a view to countenance this affectation, he should upon all occasions treat her with an air of loftiness and disdain
So screened from all imputation of fraud, she was furnished by him with artful instructions how to sound the inclinations of her young mistress, how to recommend his person and qualifications by the sure s, and reproach; hoatch the paroxysms of her disposition, inflae, those moments of frailty from which no woht his agent to poison the young lady'sto inspire her with the love of guilty pleasure, to debauch her sentinity and virtue After all, the task is not difficult to lead the unpractised heart astray, by dint of those opportunities her seducer possessed The seeds of insinuation seasonably sown upon the war up into such intemperate desires as he wanted to produce, especially when cultured and cherished in her unguarded hours, by that sti discourse which farafted in every breast, are apt to relish and excuse
Fathoround, and discovered some marks of inflammability in Madee her in those gaieties of amusement which could flatter her vanity and dissipate her ideas; and she was of an age when the little loves and young desires take possession of the fancy; he therefore concluded, that she had the es of pleasure that youth never fails to create, particularly in those who, like her, were addicted to solitude and study
Teresa, full fraught with the wily injunctions of her confederate, took the field, and opened the can with such remarkable sourness in her aspect when Ferdinand appeared, that her young lady could not help taking notice of her affected chagrin, and asked the reason of such apparent alteration in her way of thinking Prepared for this question, the other replied, in aMademoiselle to understand, that, whatever iht have forether effaced by the pride and insolence hich he had received her advances; and that her breast noith all the revenge of a slighted lover
To evince the sincerity of this declaration, she bitterly inveighed against him, and even affected to depreciate those talents, in which she knew his chief , by these means, to interest Mademoiselle's candour in his defence So far the train succeeded That young lady's love for truth was offended at the caluainst Ferdinand in his absence She chid her woman for the rancour of her remarks, and undertook to refute the articles of his dispraise Teresa supported her own assertions with great obstinacy, and a dispute ensued, in which her ant commendations of our adventurer
His supposed enenify every advantage they had gained; believing, in good earnest, that her lady's warmth was the effect of a real passion for the fortunate Mr
Fathoht, and rightly imputed the violence of Mademoiselle's behaviour to the contradiction she had sustained fro in behalf of innocence traduced
Nevertheless, he was perfectly well pleased with the nature of the contest; because, in the course of such debates, he foresaw that he should become habitually her hero, and that, in tierations of his ned, for the honour of her own argue, founded upon that principle of self-respect, without which no individual exists, may certainly be justified by manifold occurrences in life We ourselves have known a very pregnant example, which we shall relate, for the e found means to present a nified with the appellation of patrons, instead of reaping that applause and advantage hich he had regaled his fancy, had the mortification to find his performance treated with infinite irreverence and conteeon and disappointment of another critic, who, he knew, had no veneration for the first
This common consolation, to which all baffled authors have recourse, was productive of very happy consequences to our bard; for, though the opinions of both judges concerning the piece were altogether the same, the latter, either out of co his rival ridiculous in the eye of taste, undertook to repair theof literati, to which both these wits belonged, he who had espoused the poet's cause, having previously desired anotherhis composition on the carpet, no sooner heard it rantat its first condemner, observed, that he , who could take such a deplorable performance into his protection The sarcasm took effect