take the troublesome part of their business off their hands. They
have not however the less to do on that account; for they are
generally deputies in another place themselves; in one word, 'tis the
established custom for every lady to have two husbands, one that
bears the name, and another that performs the duties. And the
engagements are so well known, that it would be a downright affront,
and publicly resented, if you invited a woman of quality to dinner,
without, at the same time, inviting her two attendants of lover and
husband, between whom she sits in state with great gravity. The
sub-marriages generally last twenty years together, and the lady
often commands the poor lover's estate, even to the utter ruin of his
family. These connections, indeed, are as seldom begun by any real
passion as other matches; for a man makes but an ill figure that is
not in some commerce of this nature; and a woman looks out for a
lover as soon as she's married, as part of her equipage, without
which she could not be genteel; and the first article of the treaty
is establishing the pension, which remains to the lady, in case the
gallant should prove inconstant. This chargeable point of honour, I
look upon as the real foundation of so many wonderful influences of
constancy. I really know some women of the first quality, whose
pensions are as well known as their annual rents, and yet nobody
esteems them the less; on the contrary, their discretion would be
called in question, if they should be suspected to be mistresses
for nothing. A great part of their emulation consists in trying who
shall get most; and having no intrigue at all, is so far a disgrace,
that, I'll assure you, a lady, who is very much my friend here, told
me but yesterday, how much I was obliged to her for justifying my
conduct in a conversation relating to me, where it was publicly
asserted, that I could not possibly have common sense, since I had
been in town above a fortnight, and had made no steps towards