226 ON SLANDER. 



no uncommon thing to hear these insidious reptiles give vent to the 

 workings of their spleen in the basest insinuations against the charac- 

 ter of some spotless individual who has had the misfortune to excite 

 the venom of their envy. 



As an example of the irresistible power of this propensity, when 

 once acquired, I will mention the following circumstance of which 

 I was myself a witness some time since : a lady (she would consi- 

 der herself insulted by any other appellation) whose sole occupation 

 consists in idle curiosity and in prying into other people's affairs, 

 was one day at a loss to account for the absence of a young lady 

 who had been suddenly ordered by her physician to remove to some 

 distance inland; she set to work to form a reason for it; she began 

 to scrutinize her character; she had very seldom seen her abroad, 

 and then only with her friends, at which time her demeanour was 

 exceedingly modest and steady, but this she said only made her more 

 suspicious. She had heard of an engagement between her and a 

 young gentleman having been broken off, on account of the non-ap- 

 proval of her parents, but she felt quite sure that they still commu- 

 nicated clandestinely ; these suspicious were strengthened by the 

 young lady's having been less seen lately, and altogether confirmed 

 in her mind by her mysterious departure, she proceeded at length 

 to draw the most unfeeling and disgraceful conclusions, and abso- 

 lutely persuaded herself that they were true, resisting all attempts to 

 persuade her to the contrary. 



In order to ascertain what kind of feelings such individuals en- 

 tertain when their own reputation is canvassed 1 retired. About an 

 hour afterwards I returned and found the same topic on the carpet, 

 this I pretended not to notice, but requested the younger branches 

 of her family to withdraw, as I had something very particular to 

 communicate to their mother, in private; I then began and coined 

 a story, similar to that which she had just herself been contriving 

 against the character of another, respecting her eldest daughter who 

 was at that time absent from town on a visit ; on hearing this she burst 

 into the most violent paroxysms of rage: "good Heavens!'' she ex- 

 claimed, " what wretches there are in existence, how can people 

 invent such infamous reports, only think that my daughter could 

 not go away on a visit without being scandalized in this way." Where 



did I get my information ? Mr. would find out, and prosecute 



with the utmost severity, the individuals from whom it emanated ; 



on my refusing to gi\e up my author I was told that Mr. 



would oblige me to do it. 



