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Coach and six, a Fellow dress'd up in a Clergyman's Habit to perform the Ceremony, and a Pistol clapt to her Breast to make her consent to be marry'd: And thus the Work was done. She was then carry'd to the private Lodging, put to Bed under the same awe of Swords and Pistols; a Fellow that she never saw in her Life, and knows nothing of, comes to Bed to her, deflowers her, or, as may be well said, ravishes her, and the next Day she is called a Wife, and the Fortune seized upon in the Name of the Husband; and perhaps, in a few Days more, play'd all away at the Box and the Dice, and the Lady sent home again naked, and a Beggar.
This was the Case within the Times of our Memory, till the Parliament thought fit to make it Felony, and that without Benefit of Clergy, and till some of these Fortune Ravishers have since that paid for their Success at the Gallows. And now, indeed, the Ladies are a little safer, and must be attempted with a little more Art, not taken by Storm, Sword in hand, as Men take fortified Towns; but they must be brought to give a formal Assent by the cunning of Female Agents, wheedling and deluding them, and playing the Game another Way, till they are decoy'd into Wedlock; the Man pretending himself Quality, and a Person equal in Estate; by which Craft a certain Kentish Lady of Fortune, was most exquisitely drawn in at once to marry a City Chimney-sweeper; and was forc'd to stand by it too, after she came to an understanding of the Bargain she had made; and another West Country Lady, a Highwayman, and the like.
These
