I that was a great fortune, and passed for such, was above being asked
how much my estate was; and my false friend taking it upon a foolish
hearsay, had raised it from #500 to #5000, and by the time she came
into the country she called it #15,000. The Irishman, for such I
understood him to be, was stark mad at this bait; in short, he courted
me, made me presents, and ran in debt like a madman for the expenses of
his equipage and of his courtship. He had, to give him his due, the
appearance of an extraordinary fine gentleman; he was tall,
well-shaped, and had an extraordinary address; talked as naturally of
his park and his stables, of his horses, his gamekeepers, his woods,
his tenants, and his servants, as if we had been in the mansion-house,
and I had seen them all about me.
He never so much as asked me about my fortune or estate, but assured me
that when we came to Dublin he would jointure me in #600 a year good
land; and that we could enter into a deed of settlement or contract
here for the performance of it.
This was such language indeed as I had not been used to, and I was here
beaten out of all my measures; I had a she-devil in my bosom, every
hour telling me how great her brother lived. One time she would come
for my orders, how I would have my coaches painted, and how lined; and
another time what clothes my page should wear; in short, my eyes were
dazzled. I had now lost my power of saying No, and, to cut the story
short, I consented to be married; but to be the more private, we were
carried farther into the country, and married by a Romish clergyman,
who I was assured would marry us as effectually as a Church of England
parson.
I cannot say but I had some reflections in this affair upon the
dishonourable forsaking my faithful citizen, who loved me sincerely,
and who was endeavouring to quit himself of a scandalous whore by whom
he had been indeed barbarously used, and promised himself infinite
happiness in his new choice; which choice was now giving up herself to
another in a manner almost as scandalous as hers could be.
But the glittering shoe of a great estate, and of fine things, which
the deceived creature that was now my deceiver represented every hour
to my imagination, hurried me away, and gave me no time to think of
London, or of anything there, much less of the obligation I had to a
person of infinitely more real merit than what was now before me.