' I told him, that as the offence was not voluntary of
his side, it was to be hoped he would not find her implacable.
But, in truth, all this concern was dissembled. In his approaches
of gallantry to Mrs Tabitha, he had been misled by a mistake of
at least six thousand pounds, in the calculation of her fortune;
and in this particular he was just undeceived. He, therefore,
seized the first opportunity of incurring her displeasure
decently, in such a manner as would certainly annihilate the
correspondence; and he could not have taken a more effectual
method, than that of beating her dog. When he presented himself
at our door, to pay his respects to the offended fair, he was
refused admittance, and given to understand that he should never
find her at home for the future. She was not so inaccessible to
Derrick, who came to demand satisfaction for the insult she had
offered to him, even in the verge of his own court. She knew it
was convenient to be well with the Master of the Ceremonies,
while she continued to frequent the Rooms; and, having heard he
was a poet, began to be afraid of making her appearance in a
ballad or lampoon. -- She therefore made excuses for what she had
done, imputing it to the flutter of her spirits; and subscribed
handsomely for his poems: so that he was perfectly appeased, and
overwhelmed her with a profusion of
compliment.
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