Page:Fortunes and misfortunes of the famous Moll Flanders.pdf/5

 In afhort time he obtain'd his mother's conſent, ſo that I was under the fatal neceſſity, either to comply, or be un- done; and as I found at any rate the elder brother was to caſt me off, and as I was not with child to him, con- ſented, tho' with much reluctance, ſo we were married privately. I had my own fears now, leaſt my new married ſpouſe, who I had not the leaſt affection for, might be ſkil- ful enough to know the difference be- tween a maid and a whore; but the elder brother manag'd it ſo, whether with a deſign or not I cannot ſay, but I had the pleaſure of a drunken bed- fellow the firſt night; by which means he fairly ſhifted me into his brother's arms for a chaſte virgin. About five years after he died, leav- ing two children, who were taken care of by his parents. Having now a to- lerable fortune, I ſoon married a linen draper, who ſoon went from me for debt into France: on which I took a lodging, and in a widow's habit, took upon me the name of Mrs Flanders. I was courted as a miſtreſs by ſe- veral lewd men, but thoſe I treated