passion for the person whom he afterwards wedded, as we shall see
in the sequel. Indeed, she was the spur that instigated him in all
his extraordinary undertakings; and I question, whether be would or
not have been able to disengage himself from that course of life in
which he had so long mechanically moved, unless he had been roused
and actuated by her incessant exhortations. London, she observed,
was a receptacle of iniquity, where an honest, unsuspecting man
was every day in danger of falling a sacrifice to craft; where
innocence was exposed to continual temptations, and virtue eternally
persecuted by malice and slander; where everything was ruled by
caprice and corruption, and merit utterly discouraged and despised.
This last imputation she pronounced with such emphasis and chagrin,
as plainly denoted how far she considered herself as an example
of what she advanced; and really the charge was justified by the
constructions that were put upon her retreat by her female friends,
who, far from imputing it to the laudable motives that induced her,
insinuated, in sarcastic commendations, that she had good reason
to be dissatisfied with a place where she had been so overlooked;
and that it was certainly her wisest course to make her last effort
in the country, where, in all probability, her talents would be
less eclipsed, and her fortune more attractive.

Be this as it will, her admonitions, though they were powerful
enough to convince, would have been insufficient to overcome the
languor and vis inertiae of her brother, had she not reinforced
her arguments, by calling in question the credit of two or three
merchants, with whom he was embarked in trade.

Alarmed at these hints of intelligence, be exerted himself effectually;
he withdrew his money from trade, and laying it out in Bank-stock,