The STORY of the INJURED LADY. Written by herself. IN a Letter to her FRIEND. SIR, With his ANSWER. BEing ruined by the inconftancy and unkindness of a lover, I hope a true and plain relation of my misfortunes may be of ufe and warning to credulous maids, never to put too much truft in deceitful men. A gentleman in the neighbourhood had two miftreffes, another and myfelf; and he pretended honourable love to us both. Our three houses ftood pretty near one another. His was parted from mine by a river ‡, and from my rival's by an old broken wall. But before I enter into the particulars of this gentleman's hard ufage of me, I will give a very juft impartial character of my rival and myself. As to her perfon, fhe is tall and lean, and very ill fhaped; the hath bad features, and a worse complexion; the hath a ftinking breath, and twenty ill fmells about her befides; which are yet more un * England. The Irish fea. Scotland and Ireland. Z 2 fufferable, fufferable, by her natural fluttishness; for fhe is always loufy, and never without the itch As to her other qualities, fhe hath no reputation either for virtue, honefty, truth, or manners: and it is no wonder, confidering what her education hath been, Scolding and curling are her common converfation. To fum up all; fhe is poor and beggarly, and gets a forry maintenance by pilfering wherever fhe comes. As for this gentleman, who is now fo fond of her, fhe still beareth him an invincible hatred revileth him to his face, and raileth at him in all companies. Her houfe is frequented by a company of rogues, and thieves and pick-pockets, whom the encourageth to rob his henroofts, fteal his corn and cattle, and do him all manner of mifchief. She bath been known to come at the head of these rascals, and beat her lover until he was fore from head to foot, and then force him to pay for the trouble she was at. Once attended with a crew of raggamuffins, the broke into his houfe, turned all things topfyturvy, and then fet it on fire. At the fame time fhe told fo many lies among his fervants, that it fet them all by the ears, and his poor fteward * was knocked on the head; for which I think, and fo doth all the country, that the ought to be anfwerable. To conclude her character: fhe is of a different religion, being a Prefbyterian of the most rank and virulent kind, and confequently having an inveterate hatred to the church; yet I am fure, I have been always told, that in marriage there ought to be an union of minds as well as of perfons. I will now give my own character: and fhall do it in few words, and with modefty and truth. I was reckoned to be as handfome as any in our neighbourhood, until I became pale and thin with grief and ill ufage. I am ftill fair enough, and have, I think, no very ill feature about me. They * Charles I. that that fee me now, will hardly allow me ever to have had any great share of beauty; for, befides being fo much altered, I go always mobbed, and in an undrefs, as well out of neglect, as indeed for want of cloaths to appear in. I might add to all this, that I was born to a good eftate, although it now turneth to little account, under the oppreffions I endure, and hath been the true caufe of all my miffortues. Some years ago this gentleman taking a fancy ei- ther to my perfon or fortune, made his addreffes to me; which, being then young and foolish, I too readily admitted. He feemed to use me with fo much tenderness, and his converfation was fo very engaging, that all my conftancy and virtue were too foon overcome; and, to dwell no longer upon a theme that caufeth fuch bitter reflections, I must confefs with fhame, that I was undone by the common arts paractifed upon all eafy credulous virgins, half by force, and half by confent, after folemn vows and proteftations of marriage. When he had once got poffeffion, he foon began to play the ufual part of a too fortunate lover, affecting on all occafions to fhew his authority, and to act like a conqueror. Firft, he found fault with the government of my family, which I grant was none of the beft, confifting of ignorant illiterate creatures; for at that time I knew but little of the world. compliance to him, therefore, I agreed to fall into his ways and methods of living. I confented that his fteward fhould govern my houfe, and have liberty to employ an under-fteward *, who would receive his directions. My lover proceeded farther, turning away fome old fervants and tenants, and fupplying me with others from his own house. These grew fo domineering and unreasonable, that there was no quiet, and I heard of nothing but Lord Lieutenant. Z 3 In perpetual perpetual quarrels ; which although I could not poffibly help, yet my lover laid all the blame and punishment upon me; and, upon every falling out, ftill turned away more of my people, and fupplied me in their ftead with a number of fellows and dependents of his own, whom he had no other way to provide for. Overcome by love, and to avoid noise and contention, I. yielded to all his ufurpations; and finding it in vain to refist, I thought it my best policy, to make my court to my new fervants, and draw them to my interests. I fed them from my own table with the best I had, put my new tenants on the choice parts of my land, and treated them all fo kindly, that they began to love me as well as their mafter. In procefs of time all my old fervants were gone, and I had not a creature about me, nor above one or two tenants, but what were of his chufing; yet I had the good luck, by gentle ufage, to bring over the greateft part of them to my fide. When my lover obferved this, he began to alter his language; and to those who inquired about me, he would answer, that I was an old dependent upon his family, whom he had placed on fome concerns of his own; and he began to use me accordingly, neglecting by degrees all common civilities in his behaviour. I fhall never forget the fpeech he made me one morning, which he delivered with all the gravity in the world. He put me in mind of the vaft obligations I lay under to him, in fending me fo many of his people for my own good, and to teach me manners: that it had coft him ten times more than I was worth to maintain me that it had been much better for him if I had been damned, or burnt, or funk to the bottom of the fea that it was but reasonable I fhould strain myself as far as I was able, to reimburse him fome of his charges: that, from henceforward, he expected his word fhould be a law to me in all things: that I must maintain a parifh watch against thieves : and and robbers, and give falaries to an oveefecr, a conftable, and others, all of his own chufing, whom he would fend from time to time to be fpies upon me; that, to enable me the better in fupporting these expences, my tenants fhall be obliged to carry all their goods cross the river, to his own townmarket, and pay toll on both fides, and then fell them at half value. But because we were a nafty fort of people, and that he could not endure to touch any thing we had a hand in, and likewife, because he wanted work to employ his own folks, therefore we must send all our goods to his market just in their naturals; the milk immediately from the cow, without making it into cheese or butter; the corn in the ear; the grafs as it is mowed; the wool as it cometh from the fheep's back; and bring the fruit upon the branch, that he might not be obliged to eat it after our filthy hands; that, if a tenant carried but a piece of bread and cheese to eat by the way, or an inch of worfted to mend his ftockings, he fhould forfeit his whole parcel; and because a company of rogues ufually plied on the river between us, who often robbed my tenants of their goods and boats, he ordered a waterman of his to guard them, whose manner was, to be out of the way until the poor wretches were plundered; then to overtake the thieves, and feize all as lawful prize to his master and himself. It would be endless to repeat a hundred other hardships he hath put upon me; but it is a general rule, that whenever he imagines the smallest advantage will redound to one of his footboys, by any new oppreffion of me and my whole family and eftate, he never difputeth it a moment. All this hath rendered me fo very infignificant and contemptible at home, that fome fervants, to whom I pay the greatest wages, and many tenants, who have the moft beneficial leafes, are gone over to live with him; yet I am bound to continue their wages, and |