Nay, so much was he infatuated
by this weakness, that he resolved to encourage the deception,
by living up to the report; and accordingly engaged in the most
expensive parties of pleasure, believing that, before his present
finances should be exhausted, his fortune would be effectually
made, by the personal accomplishments he should have occasion to
display to the beau monde in the course of his extravagance. In a
word, vanity and pride were the ruling foibles of our adventurer,
who imagined himself sufficiently qualified to retrieve his fortune
in various shapes, long before he could have any idea of want or
difficulty. He thought he should have it in his power, at any time,
to make a prize of a rich heiress, or opulent widow; his ambition had
already aspired to the heart of a young handsome duchess dowager,
to whose acquaintance he had found means to be introduced; or,
should matrimony chance to be unsuitable to his inclinations, he
never doubted, that, by the interest he might acquire among the
nobility, he should be favoured with some lucrative post, that
would amply recompense him for the liberality of his disposition.
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