On my coming to Henley, my first Enquiry was, what Ladies were the Toasts among the Men of Pleasure & Gaiety.  Miss Blandy was named as the chief of them, and famed for a great Fortune.  Accident soon gave me an Interview with her; I visited, and was well received by the whole Family, and soon insinuated myself into her good Graces, and I quickly perceived that she had swallowed the Bait.  The Father entertained me at Bed and Board, and the Daughter obliged me with her Company, and supplyed my Wants of Money upon every Emergency, nor was the Mother less fond of me than the Daughter.

But no human Bliss is permanent; it was not long before a Discovery was made that I was a married Man.  Here I had Occasion for the Exercise of all my Cunning.  To deny it, I knew was to no purpose, because it would be proved; and to own it, might be the means of ruining my Design.  Now, in order to steer safely between Scilla and Charibdis, I fairly owned the Charge; but at the same Time intimated, that the Noose was not tyed so fast, but that it might be easily undone, and that I was then in a Fair Way of setting that Marriage aside; and to gain belief to my Assertion, I persuaded my poor credulous Wife to disown me for her Husband, whose Letter restored me to the good opinion of the Family, but especially of my Mistress and her Mother.

The old Gentleman, however, was not so easy of Belief; he was afraid there was a Snake in the Grass and tho’ he seemed to give Credit to my Protestations, that the Cause would quickly be decided, yet I could easily perceive a Coldness in his Behaviour, which was an evident Proof to me that I had lost ground in his favour; nor was I less sensible that the event of my Trial in Scotland, would not contribute anything to replace me in his good Opinion.  I found myself in such a situation, that I must very shortly, either lose my Mistress, and, what was more valuable to me, her Fortune, or make one desperate Push to recover both.  Several schemes for this purpose were offered to my Thoughts; but none seemed so feasible as dispatching the Old Man into the other World:  For if he was but once Dead, I was well assured I should soon be in Possession of his Estate.  I had however, one Difficulty to surmount, which was, to make my Mistress a Party concerned in the Execution of my Project.  I knew she was greatly provoked at her Father’s late unkind Behaviour to me; which I took care to aggravate all I could, which produced the Effects I desired; and she declared she was ready to embrace any scheme I could propose to release us from our Embarrassments; nay, I convinced her, that we should never have her Father’s consent, and therefore it would be in vain to wait for it.  And, in order to fix her entirely in my Interest, I used all my Rhetorick to persuade her to a private Marriage, which however for good Reasons she did not think proper to agree to; yet she gave me her solemn Vow, that no other Man but myself should call her Wife, and that in the mean Time, she should reckon herself in Duty bound to have the utmost Regard to my Will & Pleasure.