“Old Lord Carlingford, and that mad fellow, Crofts (for I must now make you my general confession), those insipid buffoons, were frequently telling her some diverting stories, which passed pretty well with the help of a few old threadbare jests, or some apish tricks in the recital, which made her laugh heartily.  As for myself, who know no stories, and do not possess the talent of improving them by telling, if I did know any, I was often greatly embarrassed when she desired me to tell her one:  ‘I do not know one, indeed,’ said I, one day, when she was teazing me on the subject.  ‘Invent one, then,’ said she.  ’That would be still more difficult,’ replied I; ’but if you will give me leave, madam, I will relate to you a very extraordinary dream, which has, however, less appearance of truth in it than dreams generally have.’  This excited her curiosity, which would brook no denial.  I therefore began to tell her that the most beautiful creature in the world, whom I loved to distraction, paid me a visit in my sleep.  I then drew her own portrait, with a rapturous description of all her beauties; adding, that this goddess, who came to visit me with the most favourable intentions, did not counteract them by any unreasonable cruelty.  This was not sufficient to satisfy Miss Stewart’s curiosity:  I was obliged to relate every particular circumstance of the kindness I experienced from this delicate phantom; to which she was so very attentive, that she never once appeared surprised or disconcerted at the luscious tale.  On the contrary, she made me repeat the description of the beauty, which I drew as near as possible after her own person, and after such charms as I imagined of beauties that were unknown to me.

“This is, in fact, the very thing that had almost deprived me of my senses:  she knew very well that she herself was the person I was describing:  we were alone, as you may imagine, when I told her this story; and my eyes did their utmost to persuade her that it was herself whom I drew.  I perceived that she was not in the least offended at knowing this; nor was her modesty in the least alarmed at the relation of a fiction, which I might have concluded in a manner still less discreet, if I had thought proper.  This patient audience made me plunge headlong into the ocean of flattering ideas that presented themselves to my imagination.  I then no longer thought of the king, nor how passionately fond he was of her, nor of the dangers attendant upon such an engagement:  in short, I know not what the devil I was thinking of; but I am very certain that, if you had not been thinking for me, I might have found my ruin in the midst of these distracted visions.”

Not long after, the court returned to London; and from that time, some malevolent star having gained the ascendant, every thing went cross in the empire of Love:  vexation, suspicions, or jealousies, first entered the field, to set all hearts at variance; next, false reports, slander, and disputes, completed the ruin of all.