CHAPTER IV.

Consequences of the masquerade.

WHEN Booth rose in the morning, he found in his pocket that letter which had been delivered to him by colonel Bath, which, had not chance brought to his remembrance, he might possibly have never recollected.

He had now, however, the curiosity to open the letter, and beginning to read it, the matter of it drew him on till he perused the whole; for, notwithstanding the contempt cast upon it by those learned critics the bucks, neither the subject, nor the manner in which it was treated, was altogether contemptible.

But there was still another motive which induced Booth to read the whole letter; and this was, that he presently thought he knew the hand. He did, indeed, immediately conclude it was Dr. Harrison; for the doctor wrote a very remarkable one; and the letter contained all the particularities of the doctor's character.

He had just finished a second reading of this letter, when the doctor himself entered the room. The good man was impatient to know the success of Amelia's stratagem; for he bore towards her all that love which esteem can create in a good mind, without the assistance of those selfish considerations, from which the love of wives and children may be ordinarily deduced. The latter of which, Nature, by very subtle and refined reasoning, suggests to us to be part of our dear selves: and the former, as long as they remain the objects of our liking, that same Nature is furnished with very plain and fertile arguments to recommend to our affections. But to raise that affection in the human breast, which the

doctor had for Amelia, Nature is forced to use a kind of logic, which is no more understood by a bad man, than Sir Isaac Newton's doctrine of colours is by one born blind. And yet in reality it contains nothing more abstruse than this, that an injury is the object of anger, danger of fear, and praise of vanity; for in the same simple manner it may be asserted, that goodness is the object of love.

The doctor inquired immediately for his child (for so he often called Amelia); Booth answered, that he had left her asleep; for that she had had but a restless night. 'I hope she is not disordered by the masquerade,' cries the doctor. Booth answered, he believed she would be very well when she waked. 'I fancy,' said he, ‘her gentle spirits were a little too much fluttered last night; 'that is all.'

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'I hope, then,' said the doctor, 'you will never more 'insist on her going to such places, but know your own 'happiness in having a wife that hath the discretion to 'avoid those places; which, though perhaps they may not be, as some represent them, such brothels of vice and debauchery as would impeach the character of every virtuous woman who was seen at them, are certainly, however, scenes of riot, disorder, and intemperance, very improper to be frequented by a chaste and sober Christian matron.'

Booth declared that he was very sensible of his error; and that, so far from soliciting his wife to go to another masquerade, he did not intend ever to go thither any more himself.

The doctor highly approved the resolution; and then Booth said: 'And I thank you, my dear friend, as well as my wife's discretion, that she was not at the masquerade last night.' He then related to the doctor the discovery of the plot; and the good man was greatly

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pleased with the success of the stratagem, and that Booth took it in such good part.

'But, Sir,' says Booth, 'I had a letter given me by a ' noble colonel there, which is written in a hand so very 'like yours, that I could almost swear to it. Nor is the 'style, as far as I can guess, unlike your own. Here it is, Sir. Do you own the letter, doctor, or do you

' not?'

The doctor took the letter, and having looked at it a moment, said-'And did the colonel himself give you 'this letter?'

'The colonel himself,' answered Booth.

'Why then,' cries the doctor, he is surely the most 'impudent fellow that the world ever produced. What, 'did he deliver it with an air of triumph?'

'He delivered it me with air enough,' cries Booth, 'after his own manner, and bid me read it for my edifica'tion. To say the truth, I am a little surprised that he 'should single me out of all mankind to deliver the letter เ to; I do not think I deserve the character of such a 'husband. It is well I am not so very forward to take an affront as some folks.'

'I am glad to see you are not,' said the doctor; and your behaviour in this affair becomes both the man of sense and the Christian; for, it would be surely the เ greatest folly, as well as the most daring impiety, to 'risk your own life for the impertinence of a fool. As long as you are assured of the virtue of your own wife, 'it is wisdom in you to despise the efforts of such a 'wretch. Not, indeed, that your wife accuses him of any downright attack, though she hath observed enough ' in his behaviour to give offence to her delicacy.'

'You astonish me, doctor,' said Booth. "What can you mean? my wife dislike his behaviour! hath the colonel ever offended her?'

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'I do not say he hath ever offended her by any open 'declarations.-Nor hath he done any thing, which, ' according to the most romantic notion of honour, you can or ought to resent; but there is something extremely nice in the chastity of a truly virtuous woman.' And hath my wife really complained of any thing ' of that kind in the colonel?'

'Lookye, young gentleman,' cries the doctor, I will 'have no quarrelling, or challenging; I find I have 'made some mistake, and therefore I insist upon it, by

all the rights of friendship, that you give me your 'word of honour you will not quarrel with the colonel ' on this account.'

‘I do with all my heart,' said Booth;‘for, if I did 'not know your character, I should absolutely think you was jesting with me. I do not think you have 'mistaken my wife; but I am sure she hath mistaken 'the colonel; and hath misconstrued some overstrained point of gallantry, something of the Quixote kind, into 'a design against her chastity; but I have that opinion ، of the colonel, that I hope you will not be offended, ' when I declare, I know not which of you two I should 'be the sooner jealous of.'

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I would by no means have you jealous of any one,' cries the doctor; for I think my child's virtue may be 'firmly relied on; but I am convinced she would not have said what she did to me without a cause; nor ، should I, without such a conviction, have written that 'letter to the colonel, as I own to you I did. However, 'nothing I say hath yet passed, which even in the opinion of false honour, you are at liberty to resent; 'but as to declining any great intimacy, if you will take my advice, I think that would be prudent.'

'You will pardon me, my dearest friend,' said Booth; but I have really such an opinion of the colonel, that

'I would pawn my life upon his honour; and as for I do not believe he ever had an attachment

women,

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'to any.' 'Be it so,' said the doctor. I have only two things เ to insist on. The first is, that if ever you change your 'opinion, this letter may not be the subject of any quarrelling or fighting; the other is, that you never ' mention a word of this to your wife. By the latter 'I shall see whether you can keep a secret; and, if it 'is no otherwise material, it will be a wholesome exer'cise to your mind; for the practice of any virtue is a 'kind of mental exercise, and serves to maintain the 'health and vigour of the soul.'

'I faithfully promise both,' cries Booth. And now the breakfast entered the room, as did soon after Amelia and Mrs. Atkinson.

The conversation ran chiefly on the masquerade; and Mrs. Atkinson gave an account of several adventures there; but whether she told the whole truth with regard to herself, I will not determine. For certain it is, she never once mentioned the name of the noble peer. Amongst the rest, she said there was a young fellow that had preached a sermon there upon a stool, in praise of adultery, she believed; for she could not get near enough to hear the particulars.

During that transaction Booth had been engaged with the blue domino in another room, so that he knew nothing of it; so that what Mrs. Atkinson had now said only brought to his mind the doctor's letter to colonel Bath; for to him he supposed it was written; and the idea of the colonel being a lover to Amelia, struck him in so ridiculous a light, that it threw him into a violent fit of laughter.

The doctor, who from the natural jealousy of an author, imputed the agitation of Booth's muscles to his