lodges in the same house as Welborn and it is hither that after the fire
she attends Mirtilla. Welborn, supposing her to be Mirtilla’s page, out
of kindness offers her half his bed, which for fear of arousing
suspicion she is bound to accept. She slips away, however, before
daybreak, leaving a letter for her companion, by which he learns that
the page is none other than the lady whom he had seen in the Mall.
Welborn and Olivia are eventually married. George Marteen’s elder
brother, Sir Merlin, a boon companion of Sir Morgan Blunder, is a
rakehelly dog, who leads a wild town life to the great anger of old Sir
Rowland. George, who whilst secretly leading a gay life under the name
of Lejere, appears before his father as a demure and sober young
prentice, is designed for Lady Youthly, an ancient, toothless crone,
palsied and blind with extreme old age, whose grand-daughter, Teresia,
is to be married to Sir Rowland himself. George, however, falls in love
with Teresia, who is also pursued by Sir Merlin, and finally weds her in
despite of his father, brother and the beldame. But Sir Rowland shortly
relents and even forgives his eldest son, who has married Diana, the
cast off mistress of a gambler, whilst Lady Youthly is left to the
tender consolations of her chaplain.
SOURCE.
_The Younger Brother; or, The Amorous Jilt_ was written (in great part
at least) by Mrs. Behn a good many years before her death, after which
it was brought on the stage under the auspices of Gildon, in 1696; and
in the Epistle Dedicatory he expressly says ‘all the Alterations which
I made were in the first Act, in removing that old bustle about _Whigg_
and _Tory_ (which was the subject of most of the Second Scene) and
placing the Character of a _Rake-hell_ in its room.’ Mrs. Behn probably
wrote the first Act sometime about the years 1681-3, when there was a
continual ‘rout with Whigging and with Torying’, and afterwards
completed the remainder at her leisure. In his notice of this comedy
Langbaine’s editor (Gildon), who finds Mirtilla ‘genteel’, says that
Astrea took a portion of the plot ‘from a true story of the brother of
Col. Henry Martin, and a Lady that must be nameless. See the Novel
call’d _Hatige_.’ _Hattige: or, the Amours of the King of Tamaran.
A Novel_, by Gabriel de Brémond, was translated in 1680. (12mo. For
Simon the African: Amsterdam, [R. Bentley? London.]) A biting satire on
Charles II and Lady Castlemaine, the tale is told with considerable
spirit and attained great vogue. Another edition was issued in 1683, and
under the title _The Beautiful Turk_ it is to be found in _A Select
Collection of Novels_ (1720 and 1729), Vol. III. This novel had first
appeared anonymously at Cologne in 1676--_Hattigé ou la Belle Turque,
qui contient ses amours avec le roi Tamaran_--and Nodier in his
_Mélanges d’une petite Bibliothèque_ describes a ‘clef’. Hattigé is, of
course, Lady Castlemaine; Tamaran, Charles II; and the handsome Rajeb
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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