Page:Complete letter writer (2).pdf/18

 drunk, and beat their wives.: What a miserable life is that, Jack, and how do 1 know but you may be as bad to me ? how do I know but you, like them, may get drunk every night, and beat me black and blue before morning ! I do assure you. Jack, if I thought that would be the case, I would scrub floors, and scour sauce-pans, as long as I live. But possibly you may not be so bad, for there is Will Copper the brazier, and Jack Trotter the assman, who are both very happy with their wives; they are both home-bringing husbands, and have every day a hot joint;of meat, and a pot of beer. I know not yet what I should do; but as I like a walk to Hornsey, I will meet you at the Shepherd and Shepherdess on Sunday after dinner, and then we will talk more of the matter.—I am, dear-duck, your most obedient servant.

Sir,—However light you may make of promises, yet I am foolish enough to consider them as something more than trifles ; and am likewise induced to believe that the man who voluntarily breaks a promise, will not pay much regard, to an oath; and if so, in what light must I consider your conduct? Did I not give you my promise to be yours, and had you no other reason for soliciting, than merely to gratify your vanity a brutal gratification indeed, to triumph over. the weakness of a woman, whose greatest fault was, that she loved you. I say loved you ; for it was in consequence of that passion I first consented to become yours. Has your conduct, sir, been consistent with my submission, or with your own solemn profession ? is it consistent with the character of a gentleman, first to obtain a woman's consent, and afterward brag