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dow to her friends in the country, was not lefs beloved for her own good qualities; fhe was taught to read and write, and work at her needle, as foon as she was able to learn; and fhe was taken notice of by all the gentry as the prettieft girl in the place: but her aunt died when the was about eleven years old, and before fhe was thirteen fhe loft her uncle.

She was now again thrown back upon the world, ftill helpless, though her wants were increased, and wretched in proportion as the had known happiness : fhe looked back with anguish, and forward with diftraction; a fit of crying had just afforded her a momentary relief, when the 'fquire, who had been informed of the death of his tenant, fent for her to his house. This gentleman had heard her story from her uncle, and was unwilling that a life which had been preferved almoft by miracle, fhould at laft be abandoned to mifery; he therefore determined to receive her into his family, not as a fervant, but as a companion to his daughter, a young lady finely accomplished, and now about fifteen. The old gentleman was touched with her diftrefs, and Mifs received her with great tenderness and complacency: the wiped away her tears, and of the intolerable anguish of her mind, nothing remained but a tender remembrance of her uncle, whom the loved and reveren

ced as a parent. She had now courage to examine the contents of a little box which he had put into her hand just before he expired; the found in it only the certificate of her mother's marriage, enclosed in the captain's letter, and an account of the events that have been before related, which her uncle had put down as they came to his knowledge: the train of mournful ideas that now rushed upon her mind, raised emotions which, if they could not be fuppreffed by reason, were foon deftroyed by their own violence.

The

The Story of Melissa continued.

: the

N this family, which in a few weeks after returned to London, Meliffa foon became a favourite - good 'fquire feemed to confider her as his child, and Mifs as her fifter: fhe was taught dancing and mufic, introduced to the best company, elegantly dreffed, and allowed fuch fums as were neceffary for trivial expenfes. Youth feldom fuffers the dread of to-morrow to intrude upon the enjoyment of to-day, but rather regards prefent felicity as the pledge of future: Meliffa was probably as happy as if the had been in the actual poffeffion of a fortune, that, to the ease and splendour which fhe enjoyed already, would have added stability and independence.

She was now in her eighteenth year, and the only fon of her benefactor was just come from the university to spend the winter with his father in town. He was charmed with her perfon, behaviour, and discourse; and what he could not but admire, he took every opportunity to commend. She foon perceived that he fhewed particular marks of refpect to her, when he thought they would not be perceived by others; and that he endeavoured to recommend himself by an officious affiduity, and a diligent attention to the moft minute cir-cumstances that might contribute to her pleasure. But this behaviour of the young gentleman, however it might gratify her vanity, could not fail to alarm her fear the forefaw, that if what she had remarked in his conduct should be perceived by his father or fifter, the peace of the family would be deftroyed; and that the muft either be fhipwrecked in the ftorm, or thrown overboard to appease it. She therefore affected not to perceive that more than a general complaifance was intended by her lover; and hoped that he would thus be difcouraged from making an explicit declaration: but though he was mortified at her difregard of that which he knew she could not but fee, yet he determined to addrefs

addrefs her in fuch terms as fhould not leave this provoking neutrality in her power: though he reverenced her virtue, yet he feared too much the anger of his father to think of making her his wife; and he was too deeply enamoured of her beauty, to relinquish his hopes of poffeffing her as a mistress. An opportunity for the execution of his purpose was not long wanting: the received his general profeffions of love with levity and merriment; but when the perceived that his view was to feduce her to prostitution, fhe burst into tears, and fell back in an agony, unable to speak. He was immediately touched with grief and remorfe; his tenderness was alarmed at her distress, and his esteem increased by her virtue; he catched her in his arms, and as an atone ment for the infult she had received, he offered her marriage: but as her chastity would not fuffer her to become his mistress, neither would her gratitude permit her to become his wife; and as foon as fhe was fuf ficiently recollected, fhe intreated him never more to urge her to violate the obligations she was under either to herself or to her benefactor: Would not,” said fhe, "the presence of a wretch whom you had feduced "from innocence and peace to remorfe and guilt, per"petually upbraid you; and would you not always fear "to be betrayed by a wife, whofe fidelity no kindness «could fecure; who had broken all the bands that "restrain the generous and the good; and who, by an "act of the moft flagitious ingratitude, had at once "reached the pinnacle of guilt, to which others afcend "by imperceptible gradations?"

Thefe objections, though they could neither be obviated nor evaded, had yet no tendency to fubdue defire: he loved with greater delicacy, but with more ardour; and as he could not always forbear expoftulations, neither could fhe always filence them in fuch a manner as might moft effectually prevent their being repeated. Such was one morning the fituation of the two lovers: he had taken her hand into his, and was fpeaking with great eagerness; while fhe regarded him

with a kind of timorous complacency, and liftened to him with an attention which her heart condemned: his father, in this tender moment, in which their powers of perception were mutually engroffed by each other, came near enough to hear that his heir had made proposals of marriage, and retired without their knowledge.

As he did not dream that such a proposal could posfibly be rejected by a girl in Meliffa's fituation, imagining that every woman believed her virtue to be inviolate if her perfon was not prostituted, he took his measures accordingly. It was near the time in which his family had been used to remove into the country: he, therefore, gave orders, that every thing should be immediately prepared for the journey, and that the coach fhould be ready at fix the next morning, a man and horse being difpatched in the mean time to give notice of their arrival. The young folks were a little furprized at this sudden removal; but though the 'fquire was a good-natured man, yet, as he governed his family with high authority, and as they perceived fomething had offended him, they did not inquire the reason, nor indeed did they fufpect it. Meliffa packed up her things as ufual; and in the morning the young gentleman and his fifter having by their father's orders got into the coach, he called Meliffa into the parlour; where in a few words, but with great acrimony, he reproached. her with having formed a defign to marry his fon without his confent; an act of ingratitude which, he faid, justified him in upbraiding her with the favours which he had already conferred upon her, and in a resolution he had taken, that a bank bill of fifty pounds, which he then put into her hand, fhould be the laft: adding, that he expected the should within one week leave the house. To this heavy charge she was not in a condition to reply; nor did he stay to see whether she would attempt; it, but haftily got into the coach, which immediately drove from the door.

Thus was Meliffa a third time, by a fudden and unexpected desertion, exposed to penury and distress,

with this aggravation, that ease and affluence were become habitual; and that though she was not so helpless as at the death of her uncle, fhe was expofed to yet greater danger; for few that have been used to flumber upon down, and wake to feftivity, can refift the allurements of vice, who still offers ease and plenty, when the alternative are a flock bed and a garret, fhort meals, coarse apparel, and perpetual labour.

Meliffa, as foon as the had recovered from the ftupor which had feized her upon so astonishing and dreadful a change of fortune, determined not to accept the bounty of a person who imagined her to be unworthy of it; nor to attempt her juftification, while it would render her veracity fufpected, and appear to proceed only from the hope of being restored to a state of fplendid dependence, from which jealoufy or caprice might again at any time remove her, without cause and without notice: fhe had not, indeed, any hope of being ever able to defend herself against her accufer upon equal terms; nor did she know how to subsist a single day, when she had returned his bill and quitted his house: yet fuch was the dignity of her fpirit, that the immediately inclosed it in a blank cover, directed to him at his country feat, and calling up the maid who had been left to take care of the house, fent her immediately with it to the post-office. The tears then burft out, which the agitation of her mind had before reftrained; and when the fervant returned, fhe told her all that had happened, and asked her advice what the fhould do. The girl, after the first emotions of wonder and pity had fubfided, told her that she had a fifter who lodged in a reputable house, and took in plain-work, to whom fhe would be welcome, as fhe could affift her in her bufinefs, of which fhe had often more than fhe could do; and with whom she might continue till some more eligible fituation could be obtained. Meliffa liftened to this propofal as to the voice of Heaven; her mind was fuddenly relieved from the most tormenting perplexity, from the dread of wandering about without money or employment,

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