Epistle XXIV. To Macer.
by
the Same. [Mr. Henley.]
[_]
A Counterpart to the Example of Arria.
HOW does the Quality of Persons vary that of Actions! The same Fact is either extreamly rais'd or depress'd by the Figure or Obscurity of the Performer.
I was in a Boat upon the Larian Lake by our Town, when an old Friend shew'd me a Country House,
and a Chamber, jutting forward to the Lake. A Towns-woman of our's, says he,
on a certain Time drown'd her self and her Husband here,
both together. I enquired the Cause. The Husband had suffer'd a long Time by Ulcers,
in a Part which Modesty obliges to conceal. She engag'd him to give her Leave,
to examine the Evil, as the most faithful Judge, whether it was capable of being cur'd.
She had no sooner taken the View, but despair'd of a Remedy: Exhorted him rather to undergo the last Fate,
than endure it; with an Offer to bear him Company; nay, to lead him on,
to be his Example, and even necessitate him to it. For she fasten'd herself to him,
and flung both at once into the Water. This is the first Light I have had into this Action,
though I live in the same Town; not because the Deed is inferior to the celebrated Case of
Arria, but because the Woman was less conspicuous.
Farewell.
