; and
tho' he past him five or six times, and the Colonel was walking with a single
Officer of no great Rank, and with whom he seemed in no earnest Conversation;
yet could not Booth, who was alone, obtain any further Notice from him.
    This gave the poor Man some Alarm; tho' he could scarce persuade himself
there was any Design in all this Coldness or Forgetfulness. Once he imagined
that he had lessened himself in the Colonel's Opinion, by having discovered his
Inconstancy to Amelia; but the known Character of the other, presently cured him
of this Suspicion, for he was a perfect Libertine with regard to Women; that
being indeed the principal Blemish in his Character, which otherwise might have
deserved much Commendation for Good-nature, Generosity, and Friendship. But he
carried this one to a most unpardonable Height; and made no Scruple of openly
declaring, that if he ever liked a Woman well enough to be uneasy on her
account, he would cure himself, if he could, by enjoying her, whatever might be
the Consequence.
    Booth could not therefore be persuaded that the Colonel would so highly
resent in another a Fault, of which he was himself most notoriously guilty.
After much Consideration, he could derive this Behaviour from nothing better
than a Capriciousness in his Friend's Temper, from a kind of Inconstancy of
Mind, which makes Men grow weary of their Friends, with no more Reason than they
often are of their Mistresses. To say the Truth, there are Jilts in Friendship
as well as in Love; and by the Behaviour of some Men in both, one would almost
imagine that they industriously sought to gain the Affections of others, with a
View only of making the Parties miserable.
    This was the Consequence of the Colonel's Behaviour to Booth. Former
Calamities had afflicted him; but this almost distracted him; and the more so,
as he was not able well to account for such Conduct, nor to conceive the Reason
of it.
    Amelia at his Return, presently perceived the Disturbance in his Mind, tho'
he endeavoured with his utmost Power to hide it; and he was at length prevailed
upon by her Entreaties to discover to her the Cause of it; which she no sooner
heard, than she applied as judicious a Remedy to his disordered Spirits, as
either of those great mental Physicians, Tully or Aristotle, could have thought
of. She used many Arguments to persuade him that he was in an Error; and had
mistaken Forgetfulness and Carelessness for a design'd Neglect.
    But as this Physic was only eventually
