 found it a thousand times more wretched:
I had endured hardships, 'tis true; my whole life had been a series of such, and
when I looked forward, the prospect was not much bettered - but then, they were
become habitual to me, and consequently, I could bear them with less difficulty
- If one scheme of life should not succeed, I could have recourse to another,
and so to a third, veering about to a thousand different shifts, according to
the emergencies of my fate, without forfeiting the dignity of my character,
beyond a power of retrieving it, or subjecting myself wholly to the caprice and
barbarity of the world. On the other hand, she had known and relished the sweets
of prosperity, she had been brought up under the wings of an indulgent parent,
in all the delicacies to which her sex and rank entitled her; and without any
extravagance of hope, entertained herself with the view of uninterrupted
happiness thro' the whole scene of life - How fatal then, how tormenting, how
intolerable must her reverse of fortune be! a reverse, that not only robbs her
of these external comforts, and plunges her into all the miseries of want, but
also murthers her peace of mind, and entails upon her the curse of eternal
infamy! - Of all professions I pronounced that of a courtezan the most
deplorable, and her of all courtezans the most unhappy. - She allowed my
observation to be just in the main, but at the same time, affirmed, that
notwithstanding the disgraces which had fallen to her share, she had not been so
unlucky in the condition of a prostitute as many others of the same community. -
»I have often seen (said she) while I strolled about the streets at mid-night, a
number of naked wretches reduced to rags and filth, huddled together like swine,
in the corner of a dark alley; some of whom, but eighteen months before, I had
known the favourites of the town, rolling in affluence, and glittering in all
the pomp of equipage and dress.« - And indeed the gradation is easily conceived;
the most fashionable woman of the town is as liable to contagion, as one in a
much humbler sphere; she infects her admirers, her situation is publick, she is
avoided, neglected, unable to support her usual appearance, which however she
strives to maintain as long as possible; her credit fails, she is obliged to
retrench and become a night-walker, her malady gains ground, she tampers with
her constitution and ruins it; her complexion fades, she
