In proportion as the character of her mistress
was raised, hers likewise, as she conceived, was raised with it;
and, on the contrary, she thought the one could not be lowered without
the other.
On this subject, reader, I must stop a moment, to tell thee a story.
"The famous Nell Gwynn, stepping one day, from a house where she had
made a short visit, into her coach, saw a great mob assembled, and her
footman all bloody and dirty; the fellow, being asked by his
mistress the reason of his being in that condition, answered, 'I
have been fighting, madam, with an impudent rascal who called your
ladyship a wh-re.' 'You blockhead,' replied Mrs. Gwynn, 'at this
rate you must fight every day of your life; why, you fool, all the
world knows it.' 'Do they?' cries the fellow, in a muttering voice,
after he had shut the coachdoor, 'they shan't call me a whore's
footman for all that.'
Thus the passion of Mrs. Honour appears natural enough, even if it
were to be no otherwise accounted for; but, in reality, there was
another cause of her anger; for which we must beg leave to remind
our reader of a circumstance mentioned in the above simile. There
are indeed certain liquors, which, being applied to our passions, or
to fire, produce effects the very reverse of those produced by
water, as they serve to kindle and inflame, rather than to extinguish.
Among these, the generous liquor called punch is one. It was not,
therefore, without reason, that the learned Dr.
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