Anti-Pamela by Eliza Haywood (1742)
Mr W末 having determined, and indeed desired nothing more than to make Syrena his wife, fulfilled the contents of her letter to her mother, in going to ask her consent in form, which it would be needless to say was readily granted; after this he made no secret of his intentions, but declared to everybody that he was going to alter his condition. Accordingly he bespoke a fine new coach, ordered rich liveries for his men, and made some additions to his furniture; omitted nothing that he thought might show his regard for his designed bride, who he took abroad with him in his chariot almost every day, either for the air, or to buy things for her appearance as his wife.
His eldest son, though doubtless not well pleased in his mind, was obliged to treat her with all imaginable respect; and his other relations contented themselves with condemning his conduct among themselves, and did not pretend to dissuade or to argue with him on a thing, which they found he was absolutely bent upon.
Mr W末 resolving however to make all his family as easy as possible, in this unexpected change of his condition, sent for his son from Oxford, in order to settle a handsome fortune upon him before his marriage; and thereby prevent any apprehensions he might otherwise have had, of being a sufferer by a future issue.
By some accident the letter was delayed at the post-house, so that the young gentleman came not so soon as expected, and arrived at his father's but the evening before the day prefixed for the wedding; but happy was it for the whole family he came when he did, as will presently appear.
The old gentleman happening to be at home when he came, took him directly to his closet, and entertained him there a considerable time, telling him, that though he was about being married a second time, as it was to a woman, whose virtue and good nature would rather make her an advocate for his children, than the contrary; none of them ought to repine at his conduct in this affair. The son assured him with a great deal of submission, but how much veracity I cannot take upon me to determine, that he did not think it became a son to call his father's actions in question; and that whoever he had made choice of, he, for his part, should not have the least reluctance, in paying her all those duties she could expect from a son of her own, if it should please heaven to favour her with any; which, added he, "I sincerely wish." "Well said," my boy, replied Mr W末, "I assure thee, thy disinterestedness shall lose thee nothing. I sent for thee to town, for no other purpose, than to make over to thee now, what I intended for thee at my death; and as near as my marriage is, thy settlement shall be made before it. I will immediately send for my lawyer, and the writings shall be drawn to-night. In the meantime you shall see the lady, I shall make your mother to-morrow morning, and who has been some time in my house. So that, my dear boy," continued he, "it is not one whose humour I am unacquainted with, that I am going to make my partner for life; but one, whose uncommon virtues and goodness I have experienced, and am perfectly convinced of." With these words he led him the way to Syrena's chamber, who rose to receive them with her accustomed sweetness, and well affected innocence. But on his approaching to salute her, presented by his father, never was so odd a meeting The young gentleman started back as if he had seen a gorgon, nor could the reality of that fiction have been more shocking to him. Syrena lost all her presence of mind, and gave a great shriek. Mr W末 seemed thunderstruck at seeing them so; in fine, never did three people appear in a greater consternation. All of them were in a profound silence for some minutes, during which time, the father cast his eyes from Syrena to his son; then from his son to Syrena again, as expecting to be informed either by the one or the other, of what at present seemed so mysterious. At last, "Is this the lady, sir, you intend for my mother?" said the young gentleman, with a faltering voice. "Yes," answered Mr W末, "I told you so before I brought you here; have you anything to object against my choice? Or have you, Syrena, continued he, turning to her, any motives for being dissatisfied with this young man?" "No, sir," replied she, by this time having recollected what was best for her to do, "but he is so very like a brother I once had, that the first sight gave me a surprise, I could not presently overcome." "And you, madam," cried the young gentleman, "are so like a mistress of mine, and I doubt not but of half the town beside, that I could not with patience look on you as the person intended for my father's wife." "How!" cried Mr W末, with an angry tone. "Your pardon, sir," replied his son, putting one knee to the ground; "that I presume to own before you the folly of my youth. On any other occasion I could not hope forgiveness; but here 'tis absolutely necessary. Yes, sir, I confess, that without your permission I came about a month past to London, indeed to give a loose to some extravagancies, which I will never henceforward repeat. In my rambles I met with this woman. We fell into conversation. She affected in words to appear a modest woman; but her actions were altogether the reverse; in fine, sir, she is no other than a common creature・" He was going on, but Syrena had now no card but one to play, and interrupted by saying, "O! Barbarous aspersion! O! That I had died, rather than lived to hear my reputation thus cruelly traduced, and to my face, by one I never saw before, heaven is my witness, though the likeness of faces at first deceived me." With these words she fell into fits, nor could all the old gentleman's endeavours bring her to herself. The servants were called in to assist, but she no sooner seemed to recover from one convulsion, than she fell into another; insomuch, that all present, excepting the young gentleman, who had experienced her artifices, imagined she would die. Mr W末, who yet knew not what to make of what his son had said, was too generous and humane to let her perish for want of proper help, even though she should be proved guilty of all she was accused of; ordered the maids to take care of her, and sent immediately for a physician. Having given these directions, he withdrew into another room, taking his son with him; he questioned him very closely concerning the time of his acquaintance with Syrena, the places where they met, and every particular that he thought might inform him of the truth; for though he could not entertain so bad an opinion of the young gentleman, as to imagine he had forged this story on purpose to break the match; yet he could not tell how to bring himself to think he could have been so grossly imposed upon by a woman, whose temper, inclinations, and conduct, he had observed with the utmost strictness, ever since she came into his house.
I believe the reader by this time guesses the truth, and that the son of Mr W末 was no other, than the last gallant she had; and for whom, to meet with the greater freedom, she had pretended her mother's indisposition. This article it was, which more than anything convinced the old gentleman, that the seeming modest Syrena, was the infamous wretch his son had described her; for not only her name, and the young gentleman's positiveness as to her person, but the times of their being so frequently together, agreeing exactly with those of her pretended visits to Mrs Tricksy, at length opened his eyes to the villainy of both mother and daughter; and though he had loved the fair deceiver, with too much tenderness to endure this detection without pain, yet he thought himself bound to thank heaven for so timely a discovery of her guilt; which, had it happened but a day after, had made him from the most happy, the most miserable man on earth. The frailty of his son also deserved his pardon; not only because of the temptation that had misled him, but likewise, because he could no other way have received a confirmation of her crimes. After much talk upon this head, Mr W末 burst out into an exclamation, "Good God!" cried he, "what a fiend must this be under an angel's form! She knew herself a prostitute to the son, yet would have married the father! Monstrous incestuous strumpet!" "Hold, sir," interrupted the son, "compound as she is of lewdness and deceit, let us not wrong her. She knew not till this hour, I was your son; for the better to conceal my being in town from you, I passed with her, and wherever I went, by a different name." "But she is now no longer ignorant of that secret," replied the father, "yet would she have persuaded me, you either had mistook her for some other, or had malice enough to asperse her without cause. O what punishment is great enough for such a wretch!" The physician that moment came in and broke off their farther discourse, by telling them the lady was dangerously ill; that he had prescribed for her, but much feared the success. Young Mr W末 shook his head in token of contempt, and after he was gone could not forbear saying, some severe things on the gentlemen of that profession; but in this he was guilty of some little injustice; for the truth was, that though Syrena's fits were only counterfeited, yet the surprise she had been in, and the apprehension which immediately followed of losing that great fortune, she had but a few minutes before thought herself secure of, gave her real agonies, which put her whole frame into such disorders, as, joined with the artificial ones she put on, might well puzzle the physician's skill.
The old gentleman, however, not being able to suffer so vile a creature under his roof, made her be told she must quit his house; and that if she were as ill as she pretended, her mother was the most proper person to take care of her; and if she were not, it would be doing her a good office, to send her where she would no longer have any need of feigning. She begged with floods of tears to see him, protested her innocence, and left nothing undone to deceive him once more, and throw the odium of all upon his son's dislike of their marriage; but he was now too well assured of her baseness, and remained inexorable to all her messages; so that with a heart full of rage, and a tongue full of imprecations, she took an everlasting leave of a house she was so near being mistress of, after having been obliged to resign all the fine jewels that had been presented to her when intended for a bride.
