A Narrative of the Affair Between Mr. Creswell, and Miss Sc--e [Scrope], Address'd to G----v----e Sc------e, Esq. By which may be Discover'd the Falsities, Misrepresentations, &c. in a Letter in the General Evening-Post, October 31; Signed Lancelot Lee.

London: Printed for Charles Green, [1747]. First edition.

Wrappers sunned; first and last page somewhat dust-soiled, with a little scattered internal soiling; in very good condition.

Removed pamphlet glued into later wrappers, 7.5 x 4.88 inches, [4], 78, [2] pages.

An object lesson in affairs of the heart, the public and at times fairly explicit defense of a rather sordid affair that led to charge of bigamy against the Member of Parliament Creswell, who had been accused by Gervase Scrope of abandoning his sister Eliza Scrope, to whom Creswell had contracted a hasty and (as it was determined in later court proceedings) perfectly legal marriage.

Creswell here writes, "My Design is to relate Truth and plain Matters of Fact; by which it will appear I am Culpable in some Things (as what Man is there that is not) yet I deserve not that base and scandalous Treatment I have met with."

In Creswell's version of the tale, Miss Scrope--without fortune but burning with love--tries by turns both hysterical fits and playful seduction to win his attentions ("I had often felt her Breasts, she frequently desiring me to do it, saying it would make them grow") until she at last "prevailed with me to read over with her the Marriage Ceremony, and when it was over, I lay with her."

Not surprisingly, complications ensue: Creswell marries another woman (an heiress to a Gloucestershire estate), frustrates (perhaps) one of Eliza's own suitors, plots to remove to the continent with Eliza, has his affections alienated from his own wife, etc.