Having thus vapoured
away the paroxysm of his fury, he became tolerably composed.
But adverse fate had decreed a short duration to the tranquility of his
lordship. Scarcely had the field been cleared from the enemy he so greatly
dreaded, ere a new rival came upon the stage, to whose arms, though
without any great foundation, the whole town of Southampton had consigned
the charming Delia.
The name of this gentleman was Prettyman. He was just returned from his
travels, and was reckoned perfectly accomplished. He was six foot high,
his shoulders were broad, his legs brawny, and his whole person athletic.
The habits however he had formed to himself in foreign countries, will not
perhaps be allowed exactly to correspond with the figure which nature had
bestowed upon him. He generally spent two hours every morning at his
toilette. His face was painted and patched, his whole person strongly
perfumed, and he had continually in his hand a gold snuff-box set with
diamonds. His voice was naturally hoarse and loud, but with infinite
industry he had brought himself to a pronunciation shrill, piping, and
effeminate. His conversion was larded with foreign phrases and foreign
oaths, and every thing he said was accompanied with a significant shrug.
The same period which had introduced this new pretender to the heart of
Delia, had been distinguished by the arrival of a Sir William Twyford, who
paid his addresses to Miss Fletcher.
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