Roxana : the fortunate mistress, or, A history of the life and vast variety of fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, afterwards call'd the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany, being the person known by the name of the Lady Roxana in the time of King Charles II

Beautiful, proud Roxana is terrified of being poor. When her foolish husband leaves her penniless with five children, she must choose between being a virtuous beggar or a rich whore. A vivid satire on a dissolute society, this book presents a psychologically acute evocation of the ways in which vanity and ambition can corrupt the human soul.