Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/165

Rh of Montague indeed made offers of ſervice, and being captain of the band of penſioners, ſhe aſked him to admit Mr. Gwynnet, a gentleman who had made love to her daughter, into ſuch a poſt. This he promiſed, but upon theſe terms, that her daughter ſhould aſk him for it. The widow thanked him, and not ſuſpecting that any deſign was covered under this offer, concluded herſelf ſure of ſucceſs: But how amazed was ſhe to find her daughter (whom ſhe had bred in the moſt paſſive ſubjection) and who had never diſcovered the leaſt inſtance of diſobedience, abſolutely refuſe to aſk any ſuch favour of his grace. She could be prevailed upon, neither by flattery, nor threatning, and continuing ſtill obſtinate in her reſolution; her mother obliged her to explain herſelf, upon the point of her refuſal. She told her then, that the duke of Montague had already made an attack upon her, that his deſigns were diſhonourable; and that if ſhe ſubmitted to aſk his grace one favour, he would reckon himſelf ſecure of another in return, which he would endeavour to accompliſh by the baſeſt means. This explanation was too ſatisfactory: Who does not ſee the meanneſs of ſuch an ungenerous conduct? He had made uſe of the mother as a tool, for carrying on political deſigns; he found her in diſtreſs, and as a recompence for her ſervices, and under the pretence of mending her fortune, attempted the virtue of her daughter, and would provide for her, on no other terms, but at the price of her child’s innocence.

In the mean time, the young Corinna, a poetical name given her by Mr. Dryden, continued to improve her mind by reading the politeſt authors: Such extraordinary advances had ſhe made, that upon her ſending ſome poems to Mr. Dryden, entreating his peruſal, and impartial ſentiments thereon, he was pleaſed to write her the following letter. Fair