Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/167

Rh condition, ſhe could not abandon her in that diſtreſs, to die among ſtrangers. She therefore told Mr. Gwynnet, that as ſhe had not thought ſixteen years long in waiting for him, he could not think ſix months long in expectation of her. He replied, with a deep ſigh, ‘Six months at this time, my Corinna, is more than ſixteen years have been; you put it off now, and God will put it off for ever.’——It proved as he had foretold; he next day went into the country, made his will, ſickened, and died April the 16th, 1711, leaving his Corinna the bequeſt of ſix-hundred pounds; and adds ſhe, ‘Sorrow has been my food ever ſince.’

Had ſhe providentially married him, ſhe had been ſecure from the inſults of poverty; but her duty to her parent was more prevalent than conſiderations of convenience. After the death of her lover, ſhe was barbarouſly uſed: His brother, ſlifled the will, which compelled her to have recourſe to law; he ſmothered the old gentleman’s conveyance deed, by which he was enabled to make a bequeſt, and offered a large ſum of money to any perſon, who would undertake to blacken Corinna’s character; but wicked as the world is, he found none ſo compleatly abandoned, as to perjure themſelves for the ſake of his bribe. At laſt to ſhew her reſpect to the memory of her deceaſed lover, ſhe conſented to an accommodation with his brother, to receive 200 l. down, and 200 l. at the year’s end. The firſt payment was made, and diſtributed inſtantly amongſt her mother’s creditors; but when the other became due, he bid her defiance, ſtood ſuit on his own bond, and held out four terms. He carried it from one court to another, till at laſt it was brought to the bar of the Houſe of Lords; and as that is a tribunal, where the chicanery of lawyers can have no weight, he thought proper to pay the money without a hearing: The gentlemen of the