enamoured, but of her Fortune a great deal more.
By the Observations he had made on her Behaviour, he discovered her peculiar Turn: He was well read in Romances himself, and had actually employed himself some Weeks in giving a new Version of the Grand Cyrus; but the prodigious Length of the Task he had undertaken, terrified him so much, that he gave it over: Nevertheless, he was perfectly well acquainted with the chief Characters in most of the French Romances; could tell every thing that was borrowed from them, in all the new Novels that came out; and, being a very accurate Critic, and a mortal Hater of Dryden, ridiculed him for want of Invention, as it appeared by his having recourse to these Books for the most shining Characters and Incidents in his Plays. Almanzor, he would say, was the Copy of the famous Artaban in Cleopatra, whose Exploits Arabella had expatiated upon to Miss Glanville, and her Brother: His admired Character of Melantha in Marriage à-la-mode, was drawn from Berissa in the Grand Cyrus; and the Story of Osmyn and Bensayda, in his Conquest of Granada, taken from Sesostris and Timerilla in that Romance.
Fraught therefore with the Knowlege of all the Extravagances and Peculiarities in those Books, he resolved to make his Addresses to Arabella in the Form they prescribed; and, not having Delicacy enough to be disgusted with the Ridicule in her Character, served himself with her Foible, to effect his Designs.
