{"product_id":"2940012363251","title":"THE FORTUNATE MISTRESS","description":"A HISTORY OF THE LIFE OF ROXANA\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was born, as my friends told me, at the city of Poitiers, in the\u003cbr\u003eprovince or county of Poitou, in France, from whence I was brought to\u003cbr\u003eEngland by my parents, who fled for their religion about the year 1683,\u003cbr\u003ewhen the Protestants were banished from France by the cruelty of their\u003cbr\u003epersecutors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI, who knew little or nothing of what I was brought over hither for, was\u003cbr\u003ewell enough pleased with being here. London, a large and gay city, took\u003cbr\u003ewith me mighty well, who, from my being a child, loved a crowd, and to\u003cbr\u003esee a great many fine folks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI retained nothing of France but the language, my father and mother\u003cbr\u003ebeing people of better fashion than ordinarily the people called\u003cbr\u003erefugees at that time were; and having fled early, while it was easy to\u003cbr\u003esecure their effects, had, before their coming over, remitted\u003cbr\u003econsiderable sums of money, or, as I remember, a considerable value in\u003cbr\u003eFrench brandy, paper, and other goods; and these selling very much to\u003cbr\u003eadvantage here, my father was in very good circumstances at his coming\u003cbr\u003eover, so that he was far from applying to the rest of our nation that\u003cbr\u003ewere here for countenance and relief. On the contrary, he had his door\u003cbr\u003econtinually thronged with miserable objects of the poor starving\u003cbr\u003ecreatures who at that time fled hither for shelter on account of\u003cbr\u003econscience, or something else.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have indeed heard my father say that he was pestered with a great many\u003cbr\u003eof those who, for any religion they had, might e'en have stayed where\u003cbr\u003ethey were, but who flocked over hither in droves, for what they call in\u003cbr\u003eEnglish a livelihood; hearing with what open arms the refugees were\u003cbr\u003ereceived in England, and how they fell readily into business, being, by\u003cbr\u003ethe charitable assistance of the people in London, encouraged to work in\u003cbr\u003etheir manufactories in Spitalfields, Canterbury, and other places, and\u003cbr\u003ethat they had a much better price for their work than in France, and the\u003cbr\u003elike.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy father, I say, told me that he was more pestered with the clamours of\u003cbr\u003ethese people than of those who were truly refugees, and fled in distress\u003cbr\u003emerely for conscience.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was about ten years old when I was brought over hither, where, as I\u003cbr\u003ehave said, my father lived in very good circumstances, and died in about\u003cbr\u003eeleven years more; in which time, as I had accomplished myself for the\u003cbr\u003esociable part of the world, so I had acquainted myself with some of our\u003cbr\u003eEnglish neighbours, as is the custom in London; and as, while I was\u003cbr\u003eyoung, I had picked up three or four playfellows and companions suitable\u003cbr\u003eto my years, so, as we grew bigger, we learned to call one another\u003cbr\u003eintimates and friends; and this forwarded very much the finishing me for\u003cbr\u003econversation and the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI went to English schools, and being young, I learned the English tongue\u003cbr\u003eperfectly well, with all the customs of the English young women; so that\u003cbr\u003eI retained nothing of the French but the speech; nor did I so much as\u003cbr\u003ekeep any remains of the French language tagged to my way of speaking, as\u003cbr\u003emost foreigners do, but spoke what we call natural English, as if I had\u003cbr\u003ebeen born here.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeing to give my own character, I must be excused to give it as\u003cbr\u003eimpartially as possible, and as if I was speaking of another body; and\u003cbr\u003ethe sequel will lead you to judge whether I flatter myself or no.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI was (speaking of myself at about fourteen years of age) tall, and very\u003cbr\u003ewell made; sharp as a hawk in matters of common knowledge; quick and\u003cbr\u003esmart in discourse; apt to be satirical; full of repartee; and a little\u003cbr\u003etoo forward in conversation, or, as we call it in English, bold, though\u003cbr\u003eperfectly modest in my behaviour. Being French born, I danced, as some\u003cbr\u003esay, naturally, loved it extremely, and sang well also, and so well\u003cbr\u003ethat, as you will hear, it was afterwards some advantage to me. With\u003cbr\u003eall these things, I wanted neither wit, beauty, or money. In this manner\u003cbr\u003eI set out into the world, having all the advantages that any young woman\u003cbr\u003ecould desire, to recommend me to others, and form a prospect of happy\u003cbr\u003eliving to myself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt about fifteen years of age, my father gave me, as he called it in\u003cbr\u003eFrench, 25,000 livres, that is to say, two thousand pounds portion, and\u003cbr\u003emarried me to an eminent brewer in the city. Pardon me if I conceal his\u003cbr\u003ename; for though he was the foundation of my ruin, I cannot take so\u003cbr\u003esevere a revenge upon him.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47168417923312,"sku":"2940012363251","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012363251_p0.jpg?v=1763567783","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012363251","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}