Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/157

Rh faſhionable. The mother of our poeteſs, in the bloom of eighteen, was condemned to the arms of this man, upwards of 60, upon the ſuppoſition of his being wealthy, but in which ſhe was ſoon miſerably deceived. When the grief, which ſo young a wife may be ſuppoſed to feel for an aged huſband, had ſubſided, ſhe began to enquire into the ſtate of his affairs, and found to her unſpeakable mortification, that he died not worth one thouſand pounds in the world. As Mrs. Thomas was a woman of good ſenſe, and a high ſpirit, ſhe diſpoſed of two houſes her huſband kept, one in town, the other in the county of Eſſex, and retired into a private, but decent country lodging. The chambers in the Temple her huſband poſſeſſed, ſhe fold to her brother for 450 l. which, with her huſband’s books of accounts, ſhe lodged in her truſtee’s hands, who being ſoon after burnt out by the fire in the paper buildings in the Temple (which broke out with ſuch violence in the dead of night, that he ſaved nothing but his life) ſhe loſt conſiderabiy. Not being able to make out any bill, ſhe could form no regular demand, and was obliged to be determined by the honour of her huſband’s clients, who, though perſons of the firſt faſhion, behaved with very little honour to her. The deceaſed had the reputation of a judicious lawyer, and an accompliſhed gentleman, but who was too honeſt to thrive in his profeſſion, and had too much humanity ever to become rich. Of all his clients, but one lady behaved with any appearance of honeſty. The counteſs dowager of Wentworth having then loſt her only daughter the lady Harriot (who was reputed the miſtreſs of the duke of Monmouth) told Mrs. Thomas, ‘that ſhe knew ſhe had a large reckoning with the deceaſed, but, ſays ſhe, as you know not what to demand, ſo I know not what to pay; come, madam, I will do better for you than a random