London (England) -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
'She discovered, on the very day of her marriage, that he had lied to
her. He was not rich, though once he had been possessed of a large
fortune; he was a gambler; he had gambled away all his money; he had
married her because she was lovely; he proposed to use her charms for
the purpose of attracting rich gentlemen to his rooms where he intended
to carry on a gaming table.
'Clarinda on this discovery instantly left the man in disgust; but for
the moment she would not go back to the stage. She then took a large
house in one of the western squares. She decorated and furnished this
house, and she opened it for Masquerades and Assemblies. One day she
received a letter from two of the frequenters of her mother's house.
They were in a Debtors' Prison: they were afraid of becoming known, in
which case not only would other detainers be put in, but they might
themselves be arrested on some criminal charge.
'Clarinda, always generous, went to the Prison, saw the two men, and
promised them relief. It was an unfortunate act of generosity, which in
the end worked toward her ruin.
'In the Prison she espied a young man so closely resembling her own
unworthy husband that she accosted him and learned that he was
imprisoned, probably for life, by her husband aided by Mr. Vulpes, an
Attorney, on a vamped-up charge of debt with the hope of making him
obtain his liberty by selling his chance of succession to a large
fortune.
'She obtained the release of this gentleman, who, with his wife, can
never cease to be sufficiently grateful to her. She gave him, for he was
a fine musician, a place in her orchestra.
'She then learned that Vulpes, the attorney, together with one Traditor,
a Thief taker, was organizing another plot against this already injured
gentleman. But she was unable to learn the nature of the plot, except
that the two Villains whom she had released from Prison were involved in
it. The next step was that the gentleman was accused by the whole party
of four as a highway robber, and as such was cast into prison.
'Then it was that our Magistrates should have taken up the case.
Clarinda repaired to Rhadamanthus, the Magistrate, and pointed out to
him the truth. He told her that he had neither men nor money to follow
up the case. Therefore Clarinda, at her own expense, fetched up from
various country prisons turnkeys and governors who should expose the
character of the witnesses; she persuaded her mother and sister to give
evidence to the same effect; in order to do this, she was obliged to buy
her mother out of the tavern. She herself gave evidence; and she made
her unwilling husband give evidence. The result was the acquittal of the
prisoner and the committal of the conspirators. Not the magistrates of
the country; but--_Dux femina facti_--a woman, without assistance,
single-handed, at her own private charges, has done this.
'"Non tali auxilio non defensoribus istis Tempus eget."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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