The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson, Volumes One and Two: Written by HerselfWilson, Harriette
General
The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson, Volumes One and Two: Written by Herself
Wilson, Harriette
Courtesans -- Great Britain -- Biography; Wilson, Harriette, 1786-1846
Here Worcester, once upon a time, laid his lordly head upon a large
mahogany table, after wiping away the sour beer which fantastically
varied its surface, and with infinite enthusiasm delivered himself to
me in such soft words as, "Oh Harriette, my adored, delicious, lovely,
divine Harriette, what perfect happiness is this, passing thus every
minute of the day and night in your society! God only knows how long I
shall be permitted to enjoy all this felicity; but it is too great I
feel to last. Nobody was ever thus happy long. They will make my going
abroad a point of honour; but even then, my beloved angel-wife will
accompany me! Yet alas! how dreadful it will be to see you exposed to
the dangers and inconveniences of war!"
I had a real tenderness and sisterly affection for Worcester at that
time. I should otherwise have been the most ungrateful, callous, and
inhuman creature breathing; and I really was about to make a very
tender, warm, and suitable reply; but, at that critical moment, the
woman brought in a large platter of ill-dressed veal cutlets and bacon,
followed by the Duc de Guiche and the fat Lord Arthur Hill.
After our sumptuous dinner, Lord Arthur proposed our driving over to
Portsmouth to see the play.
We went accordingly, and having hired a large stage-box, and seated
ourselves in due form, all the sailors in the gallery began hissing and
pelting us with oranges, and made such an astonishing noise that, out of
compassion for ourselves as well as the rest of the audience, we were
obliged to leave the theatre before the first act was over, and we were
followed by a whole gang of tars on our way to the inn. They called us
Mounseers, German moustache rascals, and Frenchmen.
I know not whether the sailors objected to the dress of dragoons in
general, as being a German costume, or whether it was our French Duc de
Guiche, who had caused all the mischief. However that may be, His Grace
of Beaufort, having got hold of the story from the newspapers probably,
declared, with his usual liberality towards me, that the English tars at
Portsmouth could not endure the idea of my not being legally married
to Worcester; want of chastity being held in utter abhorrence among the
crews of our royal navy, as a sin they have no idea of, and one which is
never by any chance practised by them.
In short, the duke would not seem to entertain the slightest doubt that
the whole audience, nay, the whole town, had been thrown into confusion
and alarm by the appearance of so wicked a sinner as myself in so chaste
a seaport.
The world indeed believed me a lawfully wedded wife; and even the duke
himself suspected that I was privately married; but then my certificate
ought to have been forwarded to the governor of Portsmouth before I
presumed to enter the town, and then I should have been permitted to
have witnessed the performance in peace and quietness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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