single Circumstance, that the Parties were alone
together; and then if he will not acquit the Defendant, he must be convicted;
for I have nothing more to say in his Defence.
 

                                   Chapter II

   The latter Part of which we expect will please our Reader better than the
                                    former.

A Whole Week did our Lady and Gentleman live in this criminal Conversation, in
which the Happiness of the former was much more perfect than that of the latter;
for tho' the Charms of Miss Mathews, and her excessive Endearments, sometimes
lulled every Thought in the sweet Lethargy of Pleasure; yet in the Intervals of
his Fits, his Virtue alarmed and roused him, and brought the Image of poor
injured Amelia to haunt and torment him. In fact, if we regard this World only,
it is the Interest of every Man to be either perfectly good, or completely bad.
He had better destroy his Conscience, than gently wound it. The many bitter
Reflections which every bad Action costs a Mind in which there are any Remains
of Goodness, are not to be compensated by the highest Pleasures which such an
Action can produce.
    So it happened to Mr. Booth. Repentance never failed to follow his
Transgressions; and yet so perverse is our Judgment, and so slippery is the
Descent of Vice, when once we are entered into it; the same Crime which he now
repented of, became a Reason for doing that which was to cause his future
Repentance; and he continued to sin on, because he had begun. His Repentance
however returned still heavier and heavier, till at last it flung him into a
Melancholy, which Miss Mathews plainly perceived, and at which she could not
avoid expressing some Resentment in obscure Hints, and ironical Compliments on
Amelia's Superiority to her whole Sex, who could not cloy a gay young Fellow by
many Years Possession. She would then repeat the Compliments which others had
made to her own Beauty - and could not forbear once crying out: »Upon my Soul!
my dear Billy, I believe the chief Disadvantage on my Side, is in my superior
Fondness; for Love, in the Minds of Men, hath one Quality at least of a Fever,
which is to prefer Coldness in the Object. Confess, dear Will, is there not
something vastly refreshing in the cool Air of a Prude.« - Booth fetched a deep
Sigh, and begged her never more to mention Amelia's Name. - »O Will,« cries she,
»did that Request proceed from the Motive I could wish, I should be the happiest
of Womankind.« - »