My
fears happened to be disappointed: I lay at an inn upon the road,
and next day arrived in town, in the utmost difficulty and distress;
for I knew not where to fix my habitation, and was destitute of
all means of support. In this dilemma, I applied to my lawyer, who
recommended me to the house of a tradesman in Westminster, where
I lodged and boarded upon credit, with my faithful Abigail (whom
I shall distinguish by the name of Mrs. S--), for the space of ten
weeks, during which I saw nobody, and never once stirred abroad.
"While I was thus harassed out of all enjoyment of life, and reduced
to the utmost indigence, by the cruelty of my persecutor, who had
even stripped me of my wearing apparel, I made a conquest of Lord
D--, a nobleman who is now dead, and therefore I shall say little
of his character, which is perfectly well known: this only will I
observe, that, next to my own tyrant, he was the person of whom I
had the greatest abhorrence. Nevertheless, when these two came in
competition, I preferred the offers of this new lover, which were
very considerable; and as an asylum was the chief thing I wanted,
agreed to follow him to his country seat, whither I actually sent
my clothes, which I had purchased upon credit.
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