And now, reader, as we are in haste to attend our heroine, we will
leave to thy sagacity to apply all this to the Boeotian writers, and
to those authors who are their opposites. This thou wilt be abundantly
able to perform without our aid. Bestir thyself therefore on this
occasion; for, though we will always lend thee proper assistance in
difficult places, as we do not, like some others, expect thee to use
the arts of divination to discover our meaning, yet we shall not
indulge thy laziness where nothing but thy own attention is
required; for thou art highly mistaken if thou dost imagine that we
intended, when we began this great work, to leave thy sagacity nothing
to do; or that, without sometimes exercising this talent, thou wilt be
able to travel through our pages with any pleasure or profit to
thyself.
Chapter 10
Containing a hint or two concerning virtue, and a few more
concerning suspicion
Our company, being arrived at London, were set down at his
lordship's house, where, while they refreshed themselves after the
fatigue of their journey, servants were despatched to provide a
lodging for the two ladies; for, as her ladyship was not then in town,
Mrs. Fitzpatrick would by no means consent to accept a bed in the
mansion of the peer.
Some readers will, perhaps, condemn this extraordinary delicacy,
as I may call it, of virtue, as too nice and scrupulous; but we must
make allowances for her situation, which must be owned to have been
very ticklish; and, when we consider the malice of censorious tongues,
we must allow, if it was a fault, the fault was an excess on the right
side, and which every woman who is in the self-same situation will
do well to imitate.
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