Madam,
"I left you in a place, furnished, as I thought,
with every thing necessary for your satisfaction;
but I find I was mistaken in your constitution,
and that there was something wanting,
which, rather than not possess, you must have
recourse to a prison to procure: - ungrateful
as you are to the affection I have treated you
with, I am sorry for your ill conduct, and could
with you had been, at least, more private in
your amours: few men but would have sent an
order for removing you and the persons, for
whose sake you have made these false steps,
into a place where you would have cause to
curse the fatal inclination that seduced you:
think therefore how much you owe a prince,
who, instead of punishing your faults, contents
himself with letting you know he is not ignorant
of them. - If you make a right use of
the lenity I shew on this occasion, you may
perhaps retrieve some part of the influence you
once had over me; but see the Swedish prisoners
no more, if you hope or desire ever to see
MENZIKOFF."
Mattakesa affected the greatest astonishment on having read this letter;
and after having cursed the persons that put such vile suspicions into
the prince's head, asked her what she intended to do.
What can I do! answered the sorrowful Edella, but write to my lord all
the assurances that words, can give him, which heaven knows I can truly
do, that I never wronged him even in wish or thought; and that since
there are people so cruel to misinterpret to my dishonour, what was
nothing but mere charity, to obey his commands with the utmost
punctuality, and never set my foot into that prison more?
Her false friend could not but applaud her resolution, yet told her it
was pity that ill tongues should deprive those unfortunate gentlemen of
the relief she had hitherto afforded them, or herself of the pleasure
she took in their conversation.
As for the first, said Edella, heaven may perhaps raise the mother
friends more capable of lifting them; and as to the other, were it
infinitely greater, it would be my inclination, as it is my duty, to
sacrifice every thing to the will of a prince whom I love, and to whom I
am so much obliged.
Mattakesa having thus compared her design, so far as to be under no
apprehensions of being interrupted by her imagined rival, tho' she had
rather she had been poisoned or strangled, went directly to the prison
and told the gentlemen, it was with the utmost concern she must acquaint
them that Edella would never visit them any more, nor continue the
weekly pension she had hitherto allowed them.
Those among them who understood her, and the others to whom Horatio
interpreted what she said, looked one upon another with a great deal of
consternation, as imagining one of them had done something to offend
her, and thereby the rest were thought unworthy of her
favours. - Everyone endeavoured to clear himself of what he easily saw
his companions suspected him guilty of; till Mattakesa, with a scornful
smile, told them, that it was not owing to the behaviour of any of them,
but to Edella's own inconstant disposition, that they owed the
withdrawing of her bounty; but to console them for the loss of it, she
promised to speak to some of her friends in their behalf, and also to
contribute something herself towards alleviating their misfortunes; but,
added she, I am not the mistress of a prince and first favourite, so
have it not in my power to act as the generosity of my nature
inclines me to do.
She stayed with them a considerable time, and entertained them with
little else than railing on Edella; and to make her appear as odious and
contemptible as she could to Horatio, insinuated that it was for the
sake of a young needy favourite she had been obliged to withdraw the
allowance they had from her.
On taking leave she found means to slip a little billet into Horatio's
hands, unperceived by any of the company, which, as soon as he had a
convenient opportunity, he opened, and found these words in French:
To the agreeable HORATIO.
SIR,
"Tho' I have not perhaps so much beauty
as Edella, I have twice her sincerity, and
not many years older: such as I am, however,
I fancy you will think a correspondence with
me of too much advantage to be refused: - if
you will counterfeit an indisposition, to-morrow
I will out of excessive charity visit you, and
bring you a refreshment, I flatter myself, will
not be disagreeable to a man in your circumstances: - farewell; - be
secret, - and love as well as you can,
Yours,
MATTAKESA."
Of all the accidents that had befallen Horatio since his leaving
England, none ever so much surprized him as the prodigious impudence of
this lady: he had heard talk of such adventures, but never till now
believed there could be any such thing in nature, as a woman that
offered herself in this manner, without the least sollicitation from the
person on whom she wished to lavish what ought only to be the reward of
an approved, or at least a shew of the most violent passion.
The dilemma he was in how to behave, was also equal to his
astonishment: - had she been the most lovely of her sex, as she was very
much the reverse, the ever present idea of his dear Charlotta would have
defended his heart from the invasions of any other charms; but he needed
not that pre-engagement to make him look with detestation on a woman of
Mattakesa's principles: - when he reflected on what she had said
concerning Edella, he found her base, censorious, and unjust: - and when
he considered the manner in which she proceeded in regard to himself, he
saw a lewdness and audacity which rendered her doubly odious, to
him:
