 Advocate a Lady is, when she applies
                        her Eloquence to an ill Purpose.
 
When Lady Bellaston heard the young Lord's Scruples, she treated them with the
same Disdain with which one of those Sages of the Law, called Newgate
Solicitors, treats the Qualms of Conscience in a young Witness. »My dear Lord,«
said she, »you certainly want a Cordial. I must send to Lady Edgely for one of
her best Drams. Fie upon it! have more Resolution. Are you frightned by the Word
Rape? Or are you apprehensive -? Well, if the Story of Helen was modern, I
should think it unnatural. I mean the Behaviour of Paris, not the Fondness of
the Lady; for all Women love a Man of Spirit. There is another Story of the
Sabine Ladies, - and that too, I thank Heaven, is very ancient. Your Lordship,
perhaps, will admire my Reading; but I think Mr. Hook tells us they made
tolerable good Wives afterwards. I fancy few of my married Acquaintance were
ravished by their Husbands.« »Nay, dear Lady Bellaston,« cried he, »don't
ridicule me in this Manner.« »Why, my good Lord,« answered she, »do you think
any Woman in England would not laugh at you in her Heart, whatever Prudery she
might wear in her Countenance? - You force me to use a strange Kind of Language,
and to betray my Sex most abominably: But I am contented with knowing my
Intentions are good, and that I am endeavouring to serve my Cousin; for I think
you will make her a Husband notwithstanding this; or, upon my Soul, I would not
even persuade her to fling herself away upon an empty Title. She should not
upbraid me hereafter with having lost a Man of Spirit; for that his Enemies
allow this poor young Fellow to be.«
    Let those who have had the Satisfaction of hearing Reflections of this Kind
from a Wife or a Mistress, declare whether they are at all sweetened by coming
from a Female Tongue. Certain it is they sunk deeper into his Lordship, than any
Thing which Demosthenes or Cicero could have said on the Occasion.
    Lady Bellaston perceiving she had fired the young Lord's Pride, began now,
like a true Orator, to rouse other Passions to its Assistance. »My Lord,« says
she, in a graver Voice, »you will be pleased to remember you mentioned this
Matter to me first; for I would not appear to you in the Light of one who is
endeavouring to put
