 of virtue than of exhausted novelty, a glut of pleasure, and easy
circumstances, that made me indifferent to any engagements in which pleasure and
profit were not eminently united; and such I could, with the less impatience,
wait for at the hands of time and fortune, as I was satisfy'd I could never mend
my pennyworths, having evidently been serv'd at the top of market, and even been
pamper'd with dainties: besides that, in the sacrifice of a few momentary
impulses, I found a secret satisfaction in respecting myself, as well as
preserving the life and freshness of my complexion. Louisa and Emily did not
carry indeed their reserve so high as I did; but still they were far from cheap
or abandon'd tho' two of their adventures seem'd to contradict this general
character, which, for their singularity, I shall give you in course, beginning
first with Emily's:
    Louisa and she went one night to a ball, the first in the habit of a
shepherdess, Emily in that of a shepherd: I saw them in their dresses before
they went, and nothing in nature could represent a prettier boy than this last
did, being so fair and well limbed. They had kept together for some time, when
Louisa, meeting an old acquaintance of hers, very cordially gives her companion
the drop, and leaves her under the protection of her boy's habit, which was not
much, and of her discretion, which was, it seems, still less. Emily, finding
herself deserted, sauntered thoughtless about a-while, and, as much for coolness
and air as anything else, at length pull'd off her mask and went to the
sideboard; where, eyed and mark'd out by a gentleman in a very handsome domino,
she was accosted by, and fell into chat with him. The domino, after a little
discourse, in which Emily doubtless distinguish'd her good nature and easiness
more than her wit, began to make violent love to her, and drawing her insensibly
to some benches at the lower end of the masquerade room, for her to sit by him,
where he squeez'd her hands, pinch'd her cheeks, prais'd and played with her
fine hair, admired her complexion, and all in a style of courtship dash'd with a
certain oddity, that not comprehending the mystery of, poor Emily attributed to
his falling in with the humour of her disguise; and being naturally not the
cruellest of her profession, began to incline to a parley
