Page:Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749, vol. 2).pdf/226

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Memoirs of a

what youth, the natural spring-time of joy, stands in need of: as fruits out of season, require proportionably more skill and cultivation, to force them.

With this gentleman then, who took me home soon after our acquaintance commenc'd, I lived near eight months, in which time, my constant complaisance, my docility, my attention to deserve his confidence and love, and a conduct, in general, devoid of the least art, and founded on my sincere esteem, and regard for him, won, and attach'd him so firmly to me, that after having generously trusted me with a genteel, independent settlement, proceeding to heap marks of affection on me, he appoined me, by an authentick will, his sole heiress, and executrix; a disposition which he did not outlive two months, being taken from me by a violent cold that he contracted, as he unadvisedly ran to the window, on an alarm of fire, at some streets distance, and stood there naked-breasted,

and