Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/24

14 whoſe praiſe could reflect but little honour, and who would be ready to boaſt of favours they never received, nor indeed ever endeavoured to obtain.

This ſalutary council was rejected; ſhe told him, that ſhe did not think fit to reform a conduct which ſhe reckoned very innocent; and ſtill continued to receive the whiſpers of flatterers, ’till experience taught her the folly of her behaviour, and ſhe lived to repent her indiſcretion.

Her virtue was now nodding, and ſhe was ready to fall into the arms of any gallant, like mellow fruit, without much trouble in the gathering. Sir Thomas Skipwith, a character of gaiety of thoſe times, and, who it ſeems had theatrical connexions, was recommended to her, as being very able to promote her deſign in writing for the ſtage. This knight was in the 50th year of his age, and in the 60th of his conſtitution, when he was firſt introduced to her, and as he had been a long practiſed gallant, he ſoon made addreſſes to her, and whether or no this knight, who was more dangerous to a woman’s reputation, than her virtue, was favoured by her, the world was ſo much convinced of it, that her character was now abſolutely loft. Sir Thomas was a weak, vain, conceited coxcomb, who delighted in boaſting of his conqueſts over women, and what was often owing to his fortune, and ſtation in life, he imputed to his addreſs, and the elegance of his manner, of both which he was totally deſtitute. He even publiſhed Mrs. Manley’s diſhonour, and from that time our ſprightly poeteſs was conſidered, by the ſober part of the ſex, quite abandoned to all ſhame.

When her affair with this ſuperannuated knight was over, ſhe ſoon engaged in another intrigue, ſtill more prejudicial to her character; for it was with a married man, one Mr. Tilly, a gentleman of the Law; with whom ſhe lived a conſiderable time: while he underwent at home many of thoſe ſevere