our masters; I mean, there is no ogling their mistresses.' I myself
wanted to play the agreeable in France with a little coquette, whom
the king did not care about, and you know how dearly I paid for it.
I confess she gives you fair play, but do not trust to her. All the sex
feel an unspeakable satisfaction at having men in their train, whom they
care not for, and to use them as their slaves of state, merely to swell
their equipage. Would it not be a great deal better to pass a week or
ten days incognito at Peckham, with the philosopher Wetenhall's wife,
than to have it inserted in the Dutch Gazette.--We hear from Bristol,
that such a one is banished the court on account of Miss Stewart, and
that he is going to make a campaign in Guinea on board the fleet that is
fitting out for the expedition, under the command of Prince Rupert."

Hamilton, who was the more convinced of the truth of this discourse, the
more he considered it, after musing some time, appeared to wake from a
dream, and addressing himself with an air of gratitude to the Chevalier
de Grammont: "Of all the men in the world, my dear friend," said he, "you
have the most agreeable wit, and at the same time the clearest judgment
with respect to your friends: what you have told me has opened my eyes.
I began to suffer myself to be seduced by the most ridiculous illusion
imaginable, and to be hurried away rather by frivolous appearances than
any real inclination: to you I owe the obligation of having preserved me
from destruction at the very brink of a precipice. This is not the only
kindness you have done me, your favours have been innumerable; and,
as a proof of my gratitude for this last, I will follow your advice,
and go into retirement at my cousin Wetenhall's, to eradicate from my
recollection every trace of those chimeras which lately possessed my
brain; but so far from going thither incognito, I will take you along
with me, as soon as the court returns to London. My sister shall
likewise be of the party; for it is prudent to use all precautions with