to escape them.
Do you suppose then, said Arabella, that I was frighted without Cause?

It is certain, Madam, reply'd he, that no Injury was intended you.
Disingennuity, Sir, said Arabella, does not become a ClergymanÑI think too well of your Understanding to imagine your Fallacy deceives yourself: Why then should you hope that it will deceive me?
The Laws of Conference require that the Terms of the Question and Answer be the same.
I ask, if I had not Cause to be frighted? Why then am I answer'd that no Injury was intended?
Human Beings cannot penetrate Intentions, nor regulate their Conduct but by exterior Appearances. And surely there was sufficient Appearance of intended Injury, and that the greatest which my Sex can suffer.
Why, Madam, said the Doctor, should you still persist in so wild an Assertion?
A coarse Epithet, said Arabella, is no Confutation. It rests upon you to shew, That in giving Way to my Fears, even supposing them groundless, I departed from the Character of a reasonable Person.
I am afraid, replied the Doctor, of a Dispute with your Ladyship, not because I think myself in Danger of Defeat, but because being accustom'd to speak to Scholars with Scholastick Ruggedness, I may perhaps depart in the Heat of Argument, from that Respect to which you have so great a Right, and give Offence to a Person I am really afraid to displease.

But, if you will promise to excuse my Ardour, I will endeavour to prove that you have been frighted without Reason.
I should be content, replied Arabella, to obtain Truth upon harder Terms, and therefore intreat you to begin.
The Apprehension of any future Evil, Madam, said the Divine, which is called Terror, when the Danger is from natural Causes, and Suspicion, when it proceeds from a moral Agent, must always arise from Comparison.
We can judge of the Future only by the Past, and have therefore only Reason to fear or suspect, when we see the same Causes in Motion which have formerly produc'd Mischief, or the same Measures taken as have before been preparatory to a Crime.
Thus, when the Sailor in certain Latitudes sees the Clouds rise, Experience bids him expect a Storm. When any Monarch levies Armies, his Neighbours prepare to repel an Invasion.
This Power of Prognostication, may, by Reading and Conversation, be extended beyond our own Knowledge: And the great Use of Books, is that of participating without Labour or Hazard the Experience of others.
But upon this Principle