After I had spent two Years in this Territory, partly as a Chairman, and partly as a Nobleman, I fell into an Adventure which had like to have been fatal to me. In his Excellency’s Palace, I had met with the highest Civilities; I had also the Honour to be extremely in the good Graces of his Lady, insomuch that I seem’d to have the first Place in her Friendship. She often favour’d me with _tete a tete_ Conversations; and tho’ she seem’d highly pleas’d with my Company, yet all she said was with so much Modesty and Delicacy, that it was impossible to put a sinister Interpretation upon her Conduct in this Respect, nor could I with all my Penetration guess, that the Source of all this wondrous Goodness was an impure Passion, more especially as she was a Lady of Quality, and as eminent for her Virtue, as for her Birth and Family. But, in Process of Time, from some equivocal Speeches of hers, I could not but entertain a few Suspicions, which were considerably increas’d by several evident Symptoms, The wan Complexion, and the dying Eye, The stedfast Gaze, th’ involuntary Sigh. At length the Mystery was clear’d up, a young Virgin, her Confidante, bringing me the following Billet. _Lovely_ +Kikidorian+, “My Birth, and the natural Modesty of my Sex, have now conceal’d those Sparks of Love, which lurk’d within my Bosom, and with-held them from bursting into an open Flame. But now, sinking under the Oppression, I can no longer resist the Violence of my Wishes.” Let this soft Secret all thy Pity move, Extorted from my Soul by raging Love. _I am Yours_, +Ptarnusa+. Words cannot utter the Confusion this passionate Declaration threw me into. But as I thought it better to be expos’d to the Vengeance of disappointed Love, than to disturb the Laws of Nature by mixing my Blood with a Creature not of the human Species, I return’d the following Answer. +Madam+, The repeated Favours I have receiv’d from his Excellency the Syndick, the Benefits he has heap’d upon an undeserving Stranger, the moral Impossibility of complying with your Request, together with innumerable other Reasons which I forbear to recount; all this, Madam, determines me to hazard your Ladyship’s Resentment, rather than consent to an Action which would render me of all two-footed Creatures the most vile and abominable. Not Death itself is half so terrible. The Crime too would bring an indelible Stain upon a most illustrious Family, and she who commands it must be the greatest Sufferer. Let me conjure you, therefore, to pardon this Refusal, and be satisfy’d, that in every other Respect I shall always pay the profoundest Obedience to your Ladyship’s Commands. I am,