The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 34: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE DUKE AND HIS MISTRESS 17 had given the Duke of Marchmont his new mistress before he found that he was many thousand pounds out of pocket, and that if she went on in the same expensive manner, it would be productive of serious inconveniences, not- withstanding the magnitude of the income which he en- joyed. He had foreseen from the very first that her imperious temper was likely to cause him much annoyance, and a few little examples which she had given him of her domi- neering disposition had shown that his presage was by no means ill-founded. He bitterly cursed the unfortunate incident which had rendered him the slave of such a con- nection, and he saw the necessity of asserting a will of his own if he would not have that imperious woman put her foot completely upon his neck. Although she was so exceedingly handsome, and possessed a figure of such perfectly modelled and voluptuous beauty, yet did he take no pleasure in the possession of such a mistress; there was something in her character which filled him with dread whenever he found himself in her presence, and though she was of a temperament which burned with the strongest fires of sensuous passion, yet was she deficient in those little blandishments and charming fascinations which con- stitute the real seductive powers of woman. A magnificent set of diamonds valued at nearly eight thousand guineas had for some little time been exhibited at the shop of a fashionable jeweller in Bond Street. Num- bers of persons belonging to the higher order had been to inspect them, and several offers were made for the purchase of the set, but the jeweller would not abate one shilling of the price which he had originally put upon the gems. Wives had endeavoured to wheedle their husbands, and young ladies their papas, into the purchase of the diamonds, but without effect. Weeks had passed since their first display, and there they remained. At length, one afternoon, Mrs. Oxenden alighted from her splendid equipage and entered the shop to make a few purchases. She had been on the previous day attracted by something she had seen in the windows, and hence this visit. It was the first time she had patronized the par- ticular establishment in question, and she had not. heard of the diamonds that were exhibited for sale in the show- room up-stairs. The shopman who served her — fancying CONnnicloookks (S©)