resignation, her fancy sometimes soared to such a ridiculous
and intolerable pitch of insolence and absurdity, that his temper
forsook him, and he could not help wishing in secret that her
pride might be confounded in the dissipation of her most flattering
hopes, even though he himself should be a principal sufferer by the
disappointment. These, however, were no other than the suggestions
of temporary disgusts, that commonly subsided as suddenly as they
arose, and never gave the least disturbance to the person who
inspired them, because he took care to conceal them carefully from
her knowledge.

Meanwhile she happily advanced in her reckoning, with the promise
of a favourable issue: the term of her computation expired, and in
the middle of the night she was visited by certain warnings that
seemed to bespeak the approach of the critical moment. The commodore
got up with great alacrity, and called the midwife, who had been
several days in the house; the gossips were immediately summoned,
and the most interesting expectations prevailed; but the symptoms
of labour gradually vanished, and as the matrons sagely observed,
this was no more than a false alarm.

Two nights after they received a second intimation, and as she was
sensibly diminished in the waist, everything was supposed to be
in a fair way; yet this visitation was not more conclusive than
the former; her pains wore off in spite of all her endeavours
to encourage them, and the good women betook themselves to their
respective homes, in expectation of finding the third attack
decisive, alluding to the well-known maxim, that "number three is
always fortunate." For once, however, this apophthegm failed; the
next call was altogether as ineffectual as the former; and moreover,