 provided. They likewise engaged
me in parties, with a view of amusing my imagination, that I might not grow
melancholy in reflecting upon my loss; and desired me to repeat the particulars
of my story forty times over, expressing great surprize at our not being
murthered, or ravished at least. As for this last species of outrage, the fear
of it never once entered my head, otherwise I should have been more shocked and
alarmed than I really was: but it seems this was the chief circumstance of my
companion's apprehension; and I cannot help observing, that an homely woman is
always more apt to entertain those fears, than one whose person exposes her to
much more imminent danger. However, I now learned, that the risk I ran was much
greater than I imagined it to be, those ruffians being familiarized to rape as
well as murder.
    Soon after my appearance in Paris, I was favoured with the addresses of
several French lovers; but I never had any taste for foreigners, or indeed for
any amusement of that kind, except such as were likely to be lasting, and
settled upon a more agreeable footing than that of common gallantry. When I
deviated from this principle, my conduct was the effect of compulsion, and
therefore I was never easy under it, having been reduced to the alternative of
two evils, the least of which I was obliged to choose, as a man leaps into the
sea, in order to escape from a ship that is on fire.
    Though I rejected their love, I did not refuse their company and
conversation; and though my health was considerably impaired by the shock I
received in my last adventure, which was considerably greater than I at first
imagined, and affected my companion so much, that she did not recover her
spirits, till she returned to England: I say, though I was for some time a
valetudinarian, I enjoyed myself in great tranquillity for the space of ten
months, during which I was visited by English, Scotch, and French, of all
parties and persuasions; for pleasure is of no faction, and that was the chief
object of my pursuit; neither was I so ambitious of being a politician, as to
employ my time and thoughts upon subjects which I did not understand. I had
admirers of all sides, and should have spent my time very much to my liking, had
not I felt my funds sensibly diminish, without any prospect of their being
repaired; for I had been obliged to lay out a great part of the sum allotted for
my subsistence, in supplying my companion, my servant
