BOOK ir. CHAP. xiir. 33t 



to be held ; and one would fuppofe it no very arduous taflc to make 

 themfelves more companionable, uleful, and efteemable, as wives, 

 than the Negrelles and Mulattas arc as miftreffes : they might, I 

 am well perlliaded, prove much honefter friends. It is true, that, 

 if it fhould be a man's misfortune to be coupled with a very profli- 

 gate and extravagant wife, the difference, in refpecl to his fortune, 

 is not great, whether plundered by a black or by a white woman. 

 But fuch examples, I may hope, are unfrequent without the hufband's 

 concurrence ; yet, whenever they do happen, the mifchief they oc- 

 cafion is very extenfive, from the apprehenfions with which they 

 flrike multitudes of fingle men, the viler part of whom endeavour 

 to increafe the number of unhappy marriages by every bafe art of 

 feduilionj while others rejoice to find any fuch, becaufe they feem 

 tojuftify their preference of celibacy, or concubinage. In regard 

 to the African miftrefs, I fhall exhibit the following, as no un- 

 fuitable portrait. All her kindred, and mod commonly her very 

 paramours, are faftened upon her keeper like fo many leeches ; 

 while Ihe, the chief leech, confpires to bleed him ufque ad deltquium. 

 In well-difl'embled afFeftion, in her tricks, cajolements, and in- 

 fidelities, (he is far more perfe6lly verfed, than any adept of the 

 hundreds of Drury. She rarely wants cunning to dupe the fool 

 that confides in her; for who " fhall teach the wily African 

 *' deceit?" The quinteffence of her dexterity confifls in perfuading 

 the man (he detefts to believe (he is moft violently fmitten with 

 the beauty of his perfon ; in fhort, over head and ears in love with 

 him. To eftablifh this opinion, which vanity feldom fails to em- 

 brace, (lie now and then afi^eds to be jealous, laments his ungrateful 

 return forfo fincere a pafTion ; and, by this flratagem, (he is better 

 able to hide her private intrigues with her real favourites. I have 

 feen a dear companion of this (lamp deploring the lofs of her de- 

 ceafed cull with all the feeming fervency of an honeft afteclion, 

 or rather of outrageous forrow ; beating her head ; (lamping with 

 her feet ; tears pouring down in torrents ; her exclamations as wild, 

 and geftures as emphatic, as thofe of an antient Roman orator in 

 all the phrenfy of a publick harangue. Unluckily, it foon ap- 

 peared, that, at this very time, (he had rummaged his pockets and 

 efcrutoire; and concealed his watch, rings, and money, in the 



U u 2 feather-bed 



