 should accidentally be a few Moments before me, bid them shew you
into the Drawing-Room.«
    To confess the Truth, Jones was less pleased with this last Epistle, than he
had been with the former, as he was prevented by it from complying with the
earnest Entreaties of Mr. Nightingale, with whom he had now contracted much
Intimacy and Friendship. These Entreaties were to go with that young Gentleman
and his Company to a new Play, which was to be acted that Evening, and which a
very large Party had agreed to damn, from some Dislike they had taken to the
Author, who was a Friend to one of Mr. Nightingale's Acquaintance. And this Sort
of Funn, our Heroe, we are ashamed to confess, would willingly have preferred to
the above kind Appointment; but his Honour got the better of his Inclination.
    Before we attend him to this intended Interview with the Lady, we think
proper to account for both the preceding Notes, as the Reader may possibly be
not a little surprized at the Imprudence of Lady Bellaston in bringing her Lover
to the very House where her Rival was lodged.
    First then the Mistress of the House where these Lovers had hitherto met,
and who had been for some Years a Pensioner to that Lady, was now become a
Methodist, and had that very Morning waited upon her Ladyship, and after
rebuking her very severely for her past Life, had positively declared, that she
would, on no Account, be instrumental in carrying on any of her Affairs for the
future.
    The Hurry of Spirits into which this Accident threw the Lady, made her
despair of possibly finding any other Convenience to meet Jones that Evening;
but as she began a little to recover from her Uneasiness at the Disappointment,
she set her Thoughts to work, when luckily it came into her Head to propose to
Sophia to go to the Play, which was immediately consented to, and a proper Lady
provided for her Companion. Mrs. Honour was likewise dispatched with Mrs. Etoff
on the same Errand of Pleasure; and thus her own House was left free for the
safe Reception of Mr. Jones, with whom she promised herself two or three Hours
of uninterrupted Conversation, after her Return from the Place where she dined,
which was at a Friend's House in a pretty distant Part of the Town, near her old
Place of Assignation, where she had engaged herself before she was well apprized
of the Revolution that had happened in the Mind and Morals of her late
Confidante.
 

                                   Chapter X

         A Chapter which, though short, may draw Tears from some Eyes
