The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 160: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

142 THE COURT OF LONDON with less restraint ponder upon the course he had resolved to adopt, and feast his imagination with the triumph which he hoped to ‘achieve. “* And, after all, why should I not dare everything? ”’ he mused aloud. ‘‘ Again and again do I declare that she is worthy any peril and any danger that it may be needful to run. Besides, when vanquished and subdued in my em- brace, when dispossessed of the flower of her virginity, will she make known her shame to the world? Or will she cherish it as a secret not to be whispered even in the solitude of her own chamber, nor to be breathed even in a prayer to Heaven? Yes, she will shrink from the bare idea of proclaiming her disgrace. She will not risk the loss of her lover, whom she adores so fondly. It will be the first lesson which the now innocent and artless one must take in the ways of hypocrisy, — those ways in which all women become initiated sooner or later. Yes, and I will be her preceptor in the school of love’s delights and duplicity’s precautions.” The miscreant! he judged the rest of mankind by his own foul and polluted heart, and he formed his opinion of the female sex from those profligate creatures who, at various times, throughout his depraved career, had been the partners of his debauchery. His notions, too, were chiefly based upon his experiences in that aristocratic sphere to which he him- self belonged, and amongst many of the female scions of which he had enjoyed great success, for his handsome per- son had been a great recommendation, and the sanctity of his profession as a minister of the gospel had rendered it safe, as it were, to intrigue with him. From all these circumstances his opinion of the female sex was not of the loftiest description, and the arguments which he used to confirm his resolve in attempting one last and (as he hoped) crowning outrage against Louisa Stanley, showed how little he was enabled to appreciate or understand the purity of that sweet maiden’s soul. He did not forget that she had frankly communicated the former outrage to her lover Jocelyn, but then he thought to himself that she had adopted this course because of escaping pure and immaculate, and not having to blush in the presence of her admirer when. making the revelation, much less having to fear that she would lose him altogether. Therefore Bernard Audley’s argument was, that if her disgrace were utterly consummated, connicoooKks (C(O)