 to, an old bachelor, turn'd of sixty, but of a fresh
vigorous complexion, insomuch that he scarce marked five and forty, having never
rack'd his constitution by permitting his desires to overtax his ability.
    As to his birth and condition, his parents, honest and fail'd mechanicks,
had, by the best traces he could get of them, left him an infant orphan on the
parish; so that it was from a charity-school, that, by honesty and industry, he
made his way into a merchant's counting-house; from whence, being sent to a
house in CADIZ, he there, by his talents and activity, acquired a fortune, but
an immense one, with which he returned to his native country; where he could
not, however, so much as fish out one single relation out of the obscurity he
was born in. Taking then a taste for retirement, and pleas'd to enjoy life, like
a mistress in the dark, he flowed his days in all the ease of opulence, without
the least parade of it; and, rather studying the concealment than the shew of a
fortune, looked down on a world he perfectly knew; himself, to his wish, unknown
and unmarked by.
    But, as I propose to devote a letter entirely to the pleasure of retracing
to you all the particulars of my acquaintance with this ever, to me, memorable
friend, I shall, in this, transiently touch on no more than may serve, as mortar
to cement, to form the connection of my history, and to obviate your surprize
that one of my high blood and relish of life should count a gallant of
threescore such a catch.
    Referring then to a more explicit narrative, to explain by what progressions
our acquaintance, certainly innocent at first, insensibly changed nature, and
ran into unplatonic lengths, as might well be expected from one of my condition
of life, and above all, from that principle of electricity that scarce ever
fails of producing fire when the sexes meet. I shall only here acquaint you,
that as age had not subdued his tenderness for our sex, neither had it robbed
him of the power of pleasing, since whatever he wanted in the bewitching charms
of youth, he aton'd for, or supplemented with the advantages of experience, the
sweetness of his manners, and above all, his flattering address in touching the
heart, by an application to the understanding. From him it was I first learn'd,
to any purpose, and not without infinite pleasure, that I
