Даниэль Дефо - Roxana

These were many wicked Arguments for Whoring, for I never set against them the Difference another way, I may say, every other way; how that , FIRST, A Wife appears boldly and honourably with her Husband; lives at Home, and possesses his House, his Servants, his Equipages, and has a Right to them all, and to call them her own; entertains his Friends, owns his Children, and has the return of Duty and Affection from them, as they are here her own, and claims upon his Estate, by the Custom of England , if he dies, and leaves her a Widow.

The Whore sculks about in Lodgings; is visited in the dark; disown’d upon all Occasions, before God and Man; is maintain’d indeed, for a time; but is certainly con-demn’d to be abandon’d at last, and left to the Miseries of Fate, and her own just Disaster: If she has any Children, her Endeavour is to get rid of them, and not maintain them; and if she lives, she is certain to see them all hate her, and be asham’d of her; while the Vice rages, and the Man is in the Devil’s Hand, she has him ; and while she has him, she makes a Prey of him ;, but if he happens to fall Sick; if any Disaster befals him, the Cause of all lies upon her; he is sure to lay all his Misfortunes at her Door; and if once he comes to Repentance, or makes but one Step towards a Reformation, he begins with her; leaves her; uses her as she deserves; hates her; abhors her; and sees her no more ; and that with this never-failing Addition, namely, That the more sincere and unfeign’d his Repentance is, the more earnestly he looks up; and the more effectually he looks in, the more his Aversion to her, encreases; and he curses her from the Bottom of his Soul; nay, it must be from a kind of Excess of Charity, if he so much as wishes God may forgive her.

The opposite Circumstances of a Wife and Whore , are such, and so many, and I have since seen the Difference with such Eyes, as I cou’d dwell upon the Subject a great-while; but my Business is History; I had a long Scene of Folly yet to run over; perhaps the Moral of all my Story may bring me back-again to this Part, and if it does, I shall speak of it fully.

While I continued in Holland , I receiv’d several Letters from my Friend, (so I had good Reason to call him) the Merchant in Paris ; in which he gave me a farther Account of the Conduct of that Rogue, the Jew , and how he acted after I was gone; how Impatient he was while the said Merchant kept him in suspence, expecting me to come again; and how he rag’d when he found I came no more.

It seems, after he found I did not come, he found out, by his unweary’d Enquiry, where I had liv’d; and that I had been kept as a Mistress, by some Great Person, but he cou’d never learn by who, except that, he learnt the Colour of his Livery; in Pursuit of this Enquiry, he guess’d at the right Person, but cou’d not make it out, or offer any positive Proof of it; but he found out the Prince’s Gentleman, and talk’d so saucily to him of it, that the Gentleman treated him, as the French call it, au Coup de Batton ; that is to say, Can’d him very severly, as he deserv’d; and that not satisfying him, or curing his Insolence, he was met one Night late, upon the Pont Neuf in Paris , by two Men, who muffling him up in a great Cloak, carried him into a more private Place, and cut off both his Ears, telling him, It was for talking impudently of his Superiours; adding, that he shou’d take Care to govern his Tongue better, and behave with more Manners, or the next time they would cut his Tongue out of his Head.

This put a Check to his Sauciness that Way; but he comes back to the Merchant, and threatened to begin a Process against him, for corresponding with me, and being accessary to the Murther of the Jeweller, &c .

The Merchant found by his Discourse, that he suppos’d I was protected by the said Prince de —, nay, the Rogue said, he was sure I was in his Lodgings at Versailles; for he never had so much as the least Intimation of the Way I was really gone ; but that I was there, he was certain, and certain that the Merchant was privy to it: The Merchant bade him Defiance; however, he gave him a great deal of Trouble, and put him to a great Charge, and had like to have brought him in for a Party to my Escape, in which Case, he wou’d have been oblig’d to have produc’d me, and that in the Penalty of some capital Sum of Money.

But the Merchant was too-many for him another Way; for he brought an Information against him for a Cheat; wherein, laying down the whole Fact, How he intended falsly to accuse the Widow of the Jeweller, for the suppos’d Murther of her Husband; that he did it purely to get the Jewels from her; and that he offer’d to bring him [the Merchant] in, to be Confederate with him, and to share the Jewels between them; proving also, his Design to get the Jewels into his Hands, and then to have dropp’d the Prosecution, upon Condition of my quitting the Jewels to him; upon this Charge, he got him laid by the Heels, [154] laid by the Heels : arrested (originally, put in leg irons). so he was sent to the Concergerie , [155] the Concergerie : the Conciergerie, the prison attached to the law courts in Paris. that is to say, to Bridewell , [156] Bridewell : a penitentiary in London, used particularly as a house of correction for vagabonds and loose women. The word is often used as a synonym for prison. and the Merchant clear’d: He got out of Jayl in a little-while, tho’ not without the help of Money, and continued teizing [157] teizing : pursuing. Not the modern sense of annoying, but the stronger verb, teise (now obsolete), meaning to drive or chase (a hunted beast). the Merchant a long while; and at last threatning to assassinate and murther him; so the Merchant, who having buried his Wife about two Months before, was now a single Man, and not knowing what such a Villain might do, thought fit to quit Paris , and came away to Holland also.

It is most certain, that speaking of Originals, I was the Source and Spring of all that Trouble and Vexation to this honest Gentleman; and as it was afterwards in my Power to have made him full Satisfaction, and did not, I cannot say but I added Ingratitude to all the rest of my Follies; but of that I shall give a fuller Account presently.

I was surpriz’d one Morning, when being at the Merchant’s House, who he had recommended me to, in Rotterdam , and being busie in his Counting-House, managing my Bills, and preparing to write a Letter to him, to Paris , I heard a Noise of Horses at the Door; which is not very common in a City, where every-body passes by Water; but he had, it seems, ferry’d over the Maez from Williamstadt , [158] the Maez from Williamstadt : the Mass from Willemstad. and so came to the very Door; and I looking towards the Door, upon hearing the Horses, saw a Gentleman alight, and come in at the Gate, I knew nothing, and expected nothing, to be sure, of the Person; but, as I say, was surpriz’d, and indeed, more than ordinarily surpriz’d, when coming nearer to me, I saw it was my Merchant of Paris ; my Benefactor; and indeed, my Deliverer.

I confess, it was an agreeable Surprize to me, and I was exceeding glad to see him, who was so honourable, and so kind to me, and who indeed, had sav’d my Life: As soon as he saw me, he run to me, took me in his Arms, and kiss’d me, with a Freedom that he never offer’d to take with me before; Dear Madam —, says he, I am glad to see you safe in this Country; if you had stay’d two Days longer in Paris, you had been undone . I was so glad to see him, that I cou’d not speak a good-while, and I burst out into Tears, without speaking a Word for a Minute; but I recover’d that Disorder, and said, The more , Sir, is my Obligation to you, that sav’d my Life ; and added, I am glad to see you here, that I may consider how to ballance an Account, in which I am so much your Debtor .