her Christmas at a country-house, a hundred and fifty miles from London;
while here there are a thousand ladies who are left at liberty to do
whatever they please, and who indulge in that liberty, and whose conduct,
in short, deserves a daily bastinado. I name no person, God forbid I
should; but Lady Middleton, Lady Denham, the queen's and the duchess's
maids of honour, and a hundred others, bestow their favours to the right
and to the left, and not the least notice is taken of their conduct. As
for Lady Shrewsbury, she is conspicuous. I would take a wager she might
have a man killed for her every day, find she would only hold her head
the higher for it: one would suppose she imported from Rome plenary
indulgences for her conduct: there are three or four gentlemen who wear
an ounce of her hair made into bracelets, and no person finds any fault;
and yet shall such a cross-grained fool as Chesterfield be permitted to
exercise an act of tyranny, altogether unknown in this country, upon the
prettiest woman in England, and all for a mere trifle: but I am his
humble servant; his precautions will avail him nothing; on the contrary,
very often a woman, who had no bad intentions when she was suffered to
remain in tranquillity, is prompted to such conduct by revenge, or
reduced to it by necessity: this is as true as the gospel: hear now what
Francisco's saraband says on the subject:

"Tell me, jealous-paced swain,
What avail thy idle arts,
To divide united hearts?
Love, like the wind, I trow,
Will, where it listeth, blow;
So, prithee, peace, for all thy cares are vain.

"When you are by,
Nor wishful look, be sure, nor eloquent sigh,