cially as the ceremony might have been over before anything could have operated from your uncle's intentions, and of consequence no untruth persisted in,) I would not have proposed it. But think not, my beloved creature, that you shall enjoy, without condition, this triumph over my judgment.

And then, clasping my arms about her, I gave her averted cheek (her charming lip designed) a fervent kiss; and your forgiveness of this sweet freedom [bowing] is that condition.

She was not mortally offended. And now must I make out the rest as well as I can. But this I will tell thee, that, although her triumph has not diminished my love for her, yet it has stimulated me more than ever to revenge, as thou wilt be apt to call it. But victory, or conquest, is the more proper word.

There is a pleasure, 'tis true, in subduing one of these watchful beauties. But, by my soul, Belford, men of our cast take twenty times the pains to be rogues that it would cost them to be honest; and dearly, with the sweat of our brows, and to the puzzling of our brains, (to say nothing of the hazards we run,) do we earn our purchase, and ought not, therefore, to be grudged our success when we meet with itespecially as, when we have obtained our end, satiety soon follows, and leaves us little or nothing to shew for it. But this, indeed, may be said of all worldly delights. And is not that a grave reflection from me?

I was willing to write up to the time. Although I have not carried my principal point, I shall make something turn out in my favour from Captain Tomlinson's errand. But let me give thee this caution, that thou do not pretend to judge of my devices by parts, but have patience till thou seest the whole. But once more I swear, that I will not be out-Norrised by a pair of novices. And yet I am very apprehensive, at times, of the consequences of Miss Howe's smuggling scheme.

My conscience, I should think, ought not to reproach me for a contrivance which is justified by the contrivances of two such girls as these; one of whom (the more excellent of the two) I have always, with her own approbation, as I imagine, proposed for my imitation.

But here, Jack, is the thing that concludes me, and cases my heart with adamant; I find by Miss Howe's letters, that it is owing to her that I have made no greater progress with my blooming fair one. She loves me. The ipecacuanha contrivance convinces me that she loves me. Where there is love there must be confidence, or a desire of having reason to confide. Generosity, founded on my supposed generosity, has taken hold of her heart. Shall I not now see (since I must be for ever unhappy if I marry her, and leave any trial unessayed) what I can make of her love, and her newly-raised con

fidence? Will it not be to my glory to succeed? And to hers, and to the honour of her sex, if I cannot? Where then will be the hurt to either, to make the trial? And cannot I, as I have often said, reward her when I will by marriage?

'Tis late, or rather early, for the day begins to dawn upon me. I am plaguy heavy. Perhaps I need not to have told thee that; but will only indulge a doze in my chair for an hour, then shake myself, wash and refresh. At my time of life, with such a constitution as I am blessed with, that's all that's wanted.

Good-night to me !-It cannot be broad day till I am awake.-Aw-w-w-whaugh-pox of this yawning!

Is not thy uncle dead yet?

What's come to mine, that he writes not to my last? Hunting after more wisdom of nations, I suppose !-Yaw-yaw-yawning again!-Pen, begone!

LETTER CXXIII.

MR LOVELACE TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.

Monday, May 29. Now have I established myself for ever in my charmer's heart.

The captain came at seven, as promised, and ready equipped for his journey. My beloved chose not to give us her company till our first conversation was over,-ashamed, I suppose, to be present at that part of it which was to restore her to her virgin state by my confession, after her wifehood had been reported to her uncle. But she took her cue, nevertheless, and listened to all that passed.

The modestest women, Jack, must think, and think deeply sometimes. I wonder whether they ever blush at those things by themselves, at which they have so charming a knack of blushing in company. If not, and if blushing be a sign of grace or modesty, have not the sex as great a command over their blushes as they are said to have over their tears? This reflection would lead me a great way into female minds, were I disposed to pursue it.

I told the captain that I would prevent his question; and accordingly (after I had enjoined the strictest secrecy, that no advantage might be given to James Harlowe, and which he answered for as well on Mr Harlowe's part as his own) I acknowledged nakedly and fairly the whole truth, to wit-" That we were not yet married. I gave him hints of the causes of procrastination; some of them owing to unhappy misunderstandings, but chiefly to the lady's desire of previous reconciliation with her friends, and to a delicacy that had no example."

Less nice ladies than this, Jack, love to have delays, wilful and studied delays, imputed to

them in these cases-yet are indelicate in their affected delicacy; for do they not thereby tacitly confess, that they expect to be the greatest gainers in wedlock, and that there is self-denial in the pride they take in delaying?

I told him the reason of our passing to the people below as married-yet as under a vow of restriction as to consummation, which had kept us both to the height, one of forbearing, the other of vigilant punctilio, even to the denial of those innocent freedoms which betrothed lovers never scruple to allow and to take.

I then communicated to him a copy of my proposal of settlement, the substance of her written answer, the contents of my letter of invitation to Lord M. to be her nuptial-father, and of my lord's generous reply, but said, that, having apprehensions of delay from his infirmities, and my beloved choosing by all means (and that from principles of unrequited duty) a private solemnization, I had written to excuse his lordship's presence, and expected an answer every hour.

The settlements, I told him, were actually drawing by Counsellor Williams, of whose eminence he must have heard

He had.

And of the truth of this he might satisfy himself before he went out of town.

When these were drawn, approved, and engrossed, nothing, I said, but signing, and the nomination of my happy day, would be wanting. I had a pride, I declared, in doing the highest justice to so beloved a creature, of my own voluntary motion, and without the intervention of a family from whom I had received the greatest insults; and, this being our present situation, I was contented that Mr John Harlowe should suspend his reconciliatory purposes till our marriage were actually solemnized. The captain was highly delighted with all I said, yet owned, that, as his dear friend Mr Harlowe had expressed himself greatly pleased to hear that we were actually married, he could have wished it had been so. But, nevertheless, he doubted not that all would be well.

He saw my reasons, he said, and approved of them, for making the gentlewomen below [whom again he understood to be good sort of people believe that the ceremony had passed, which so well accounted for what the lady's maid had told Mr Harlowe's friend. Mr James Harlowe, he said, had certainly ends to answer in keeping open the breach, and as certainly had formed a design to get his sister out of my hands. Wherefore it as much imported his worthy friend to keep this treaty a secret, as it did me; at least till he had formed his party and taken his measures. Ill will and passion were dreadful misrepresenters. It was amazing to him that animosity could be carried so high against a man capable of views so pacific and so honourable, and who had shewn such a com

mand of his temper, in this whole transaction, as I had done. Generosity, indeed, in every case, where love of stratagem and intrigue (I would excuse him) were not concerned, was a part of my character.

He was proceeding, when, breakfast being ready, in came the empress of my heart, irradiating all around her as with a glory-a benignity and graciousness in her aspect, that, though natural to it, had been long banished from it.

Next to prostration lowly bowed the captain. O how the sweet creature smiled her approbation of him! Reverence from one begets reverence from another. Men are more of monkeys in imitation than they think themselves. Involuntarily, in a manner, I bent my knee-My dearest life and made a very fine speech on presenting the captain to her. No title myself to her lip or cheek, 'tis well he attempted not either. He was, indeed, ready to worship her ;could only touch her charming hand.

I have told the captain, my dear creatureand then I briefly repeated (as if I had supposed she had not heard it) all I had told him.

He was astonished that anybody could be displeased one moment with such an angel. He undertook her cause as the highest degree of merit to himself.

Never, I must needs say, did the angel so much look the angel. All placid, serene, smiling, self-assured; a more lovely flush than usual heightening her natural graces, and adding charms, even to radiance, to her charming complexion.

After we had seated ourselves, the agreeable subject was renewed, as we took our chocolate. How happy should she be in her uncle's restored favour!

The captain engaged for it-No more delays, he hoped, on her part! Let the happy day be but once over, all would then be right. But was it improper to ask for copies of my proposals, and of her answer, in order to shew them to his dear friend her uncle?

As Mr Lovelace pleased.-O that the dear creature would always say so!

It must be in strict confidence then, I said. But would it not be better to show her uncle the draught of the settlements, when drawn?

And will you be so good as to allow of this, Mr Lovelace?

There, Belford! We were once the quarrelsome, but now we are the polite lovers.

Indeed, my dear creature, I will, if you desire it, and if Captain Tomlinson will engage that Mr Harlowe shall keep them absolutely a secret, that I may not be subjected to the cavil and control of any others of a family that have used me so very ill.

Now indeed, sir, you are very obliging.

Dost think, Jack, that my face did not now also shine?

Nor any of his, she said; for the captain brought it in that he had five children living, by one of the best wives and mothers, whose excellent management made him as happy as if his eight hundred pounds a-year (which was all he had to boast of) were two thousand.

Without economy, the oraculous lady said, no estate was large enough. With it, the least was not too small.

Lie still, teazing villain! lie still. I was only speaking to my conscience, Jack.

And let me ask you, Mr Lovelace, said the captain, yet not so much from doubt, as that I may proceed upon sure grounds-Are you will ing to co-operate with my dear friend in a general reconciliation?

Let me tell you, Mr Tomlinson, that, if it can be distinguished that my readiness to make up with a family, of whose generosity I have not had reason to think highly, is entirely owing to the value I have for this angel of a woman, I will not only co-operate with Mr John Harlowe, as you ask, but I will meet Mr James Harlowe, senior, and his lady, all the way. And furthermore, to make the son James and his sister Arabella quite easy, I will absolutely disclaim any further interest, whether living or dying, in any of the three brothers' estates, contenting myself with what my beloved's grandfather has bequeathed to her; for I have reason to be abundantly satisfied with my own circumstances and prospects-enough rewarded, were she not to bring a shilling in dowry, in a woman who has a merit superior to all the goods of fortune. True as the Gospel, Belford! Why had not this scene a real foundation?

The dear creature, by her eyes, expressed her gratitude before her lips could utter it. O Mr Lovelace, said she, you have infinitely and there she stopt.

The captain run over in my praise. He was really affected.

O that I had not such a mixture of revenge and pride in my love, thought I !-But (my old plea) cannot I make her amends at any time? And is not her virtue now in the height of its pro

I MUST banish reflection, or I am a lost man. For these two hours past have I hated myself for my own contrivances; and this not only from what I have related to thee, but from what I have further to relate. But I have now once more steeled my heart. My vengeance is uppermost, for I have been re-perusing some of Miss Howe's virulence. The contempt they have both held me in I cannot bear.

The happiest breakfast-time, my beloved owned, that she had ever known since she had left her father's house. [She might have let this alone.] The captain renewed all his protestations of service. He would write me word how his dear friend received the account he should give him of the happy situation of our affairs, and what he thought of the settlements, as soon as I should send him the draughts so kindly promised. And we parted with great professions of mutual esteem, my beloved putting up vows for the success of his generous mediation.

When I returned from attending the captain down stairs, which I did to the outward door, my beloved met me as I entered the diningroom, complacency reigning in every lovely feature.

You see me already, said she, another creature. You know not, Mr Lovelace, how near my heart this hoped-for reconciliation is. I am now willing to banish every disagreeable remembrance. You know not, sir, how much you have obliged me; and O, Mr Lovelace, how happy shall I be, when my heart is lightened from the all-sinking weight of a father's curse! When my dear mamma-you don't know, sir, half the excellencies of my dear mamma! and what a kind heart she has, when it is left to follow its own impulses-when this blessed mamma shall once more fold me to her indulgent bosom! When I shall again have un

cles and aunts, and a brother and sister, all striving who shall shew most kindness and favour to the poor outcast, then no more an outcast And you, Mr Lovelace, to behold all this, and to be received into a family so dear to me with welcome-What though a little cold at first? when they come to know you better, and to see you oftener, no fresh causes of disgust occur ring, and you, as I hope, having entered upon a new course, all will be warmer and warmer love on both sides, till every one will perhaps wonder how they came to set themselves against you.

Then, drying her tears with her handkerchief, after a few moments pausing, on a sudden, as if recollecting that she had been led by her joy to an expression of it which she had not intended I should see, she retired to her chamber with precipitation; leaving me almost as unable to stand it as herself.

In short, I was-I want words to say how I was my nose had been made to tingle before; my eyes have before been made to glisten by this soul-moving beauty; but so very much affected, I never was-for, trying to check my sensibility, it was too strong for me, and I even sobbedYes, by my soul, I audibly sobbed, and was forced to turn from her before she had well finished her affecting speech.

I want, methinks, now I have owned the odd sensation, to describe it to thee-the thing was so strange to me--something choking, as it were, in my throat-I know not how-yet, I must needs say, though I am out of countenance upon the recollection, that there was something very pretty in it; and I wish I could know it again, that I might have a more perfect idea of it, and be better able to describe it to thee.

But this effect of her joy on such an occasion gives me a high notion of what that virtue must be [What other name can I call it? which, in a mind so capable of delicate transport, should be able to make so charming a creature, in her very bloom, all frost and snow to every advance of love from the man she hates not. This must be all from education too-Must it not, Belford? Can education have stronger force in a woman's heart than nature?-Sure it cannot. But, if it can, how entirely right are parents to cultivate their daughters' minds, and to inspire them with notions of reserve and distance to our sex, and indeed to make them think highly of their own! for pride is an excellent substitute, let me tell thee, where virtue shines not out, as the sun in its own unborrowed lustre.

LETTER CXXIV.

MR LOVELACE TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.

AND now it is time to confess (and yet I know that thy conjectures are aforehand with my ex

position) that this Captain Tomlinson, who is so great a favourite with my charmer, and who takes so much delight in healing breaches, and reconciling differences, is neither a greater man nor a less than honest Patrick M'Donald, attended by a discarded footman of his own finding out.

Thou knowest what a various-lifed rascal he is, and to what better hopes born and educated. But that ingenious knack of forgery, for which he was expelled the Dublin University, and a detection since in evidenceship, have been his ruin. For these have thrown him from one country to another, and, at last, into the way of life which would make him a fit husband for Miss Howe's Townsend with her contrabands. He is, thou knowest, admirably qualified for any enterprize that requires adroitness and solemnity. And can there, after all, be a higher piece of justice, than to keep one smuggler in readiness to play against another?

Well, but, Lovelace, (methinks thou questionest) how camest thou to venture upon such a contrivance as this, when, as thou hast told me, the lady used to be a month at a time at this uncle's; and must, therefore, in all proba→ bility, know that there was not a Captain Tomlinson in all the neighbourhood, at least no one of the name so intimate with him as this man pretends to be?

This objection, Jack, is so natural a one, that I could not help observing to my charmer, that she must surely have heard her uncle speak of this gentleman. No, she said, she never had; besides, she had not been at her uncle Harlowe's for near ten months; [this I had heard her say before] and there were several gentlemen who used the same green, whom she knew

not.

We are all very ready, thou knowest, to believe what she likes.

And what was the reason, thinkest thou, that she had not been of so long a time at this uncle's?-Why, this old sinner, who imagines himself entitled to call me to account for my freedoms with the sex, has lately fallen into familiarities, as it is suspected, with his housekeeper, who assumes airs upon it.-A cursed deluding sex!-In youth, middle age, or dotage, they take us all in.

Dost thou not see, however, that this housekeeper knows nothing, nor is to know anything, of the treaty of reconciliation designed to be set on foot, and therefore the uncle always comes to the captain, the captain goes not to the uncle? And this I surmised to the lady. And then it was a natural suggestion, that the captain was the rather applied to, as he is a stranger to the rest of the family. Need I tell thee the meaning of all this?

But this intrigue of the ancient is a piece of private history, the truth of which my beloved cares not to own, and, indeed, affects to disbe

lieve, as she does also some puisny gallantries of her foolish brother, which by way of recrimination, I have hinted at, without naming my informant in their family.

Well, but methinks thou questionest again, Is it not probable that Miss Howe will make inquiry after such a man as Tomlinson?-And when she cannot

I know what thou wouldst say-but I have no doubt that Wilson will be so good, if I desire it, as to give into my own hands any letter that may be brought by Collins to his house for a week to come. And now I hope thou art satisfied.

I will conclude with a short story.

Two neighbouring sovereigns were at war together, about some pitiful chuck-farthing thing or other, no matter what, for the least trifles will set princes and children at loggerheads. Their armies had been drawn up in battalia some days, and the news of a decisive action was expected every hour to arrive at each court. At last, issue was joined, and a bloody battle was fought; and a fellow, who had been a spectator of it, arriving with the news of a complete victory at the capital of one of the princes, some time before the appointed couriers, the bells were set a-ringing, bonfires and illuminations were made, and the people went to bed intoxicated with joy and good liquor. But the next day all was reversed: The victorious enemy, pursuing his advantage, was expected every hour at the gates of the almost defenceless capital. The first reporter was hereupon sought for, and found; and, being questioned, pleaded a great deal of merit, in that he had, in so dismal a situation, taken such a space of time from the distress of his fellow-citizens, and given it to festivity, as were the hours between the false good news and the real bad.

Do thou, Belford, make the application. This I know, that I have given greater joy to my beloved, than she had thought would so soon fall to her share. And, as the human life is properly said to be chequer-work, no doubt but a person of her prudence will make the best of it, and set off so much good against so much had, in order to strike as just a balance as possible.

[The lady, in three several letters, acquaints her friend with the most material passages and conversations contained in those of Mr Lovelace preceding. These are her words, on relating what the commission of the pretended Tomlinson was, after the apprehensions that his distant inquiry had given her :]

Ar last, my dear, all these doubts and fears were cleared up and banished, and, in their

place, a delightful prospect was opened to me. For it comes happily out, (but at present it must be an absolute secret, for reasons which I shall mention in the sequel,) that the gentleman was sent by my uncle Harlowe; [I thought he could not be angry with me for ever;] all owing to the conversation that passed between your good Mr Hickman and him. For, although Mr Hickman's application was too harshly rejected at the time, my uncle could not but think better of it afterwards, and of the arguments that worthy gentleman used in my favour.

Who, upon a passionate repulse, would despair of having a reasonable request granted? Who would not, by gentleness and condescension, endeavour to leave favourable impressions upon an angry mind, which, when it comes coolly to reflect, may induce it to work itself into a condescending temper? To request a favour, as I have often said, is one thing, to challenge it as our due, is another. And what right has a petitioner to be angry at a repulse, if he has not a right to demand what he sues for as a debt?

[She describes Captain Tomlinson, on his breakfast-visit, to be a grave, good sort of a man. And, in another place, a genteel man of great gravity, and a good aspect; she believes upwards of fifty years of age. "I liked him,"

says she, as soon as I saw him." As her prospects are now, as she says, more favourable than heretofore, she wishes that her hopes of Mr Lovelace's so often-promised reformation were better grounded than she is afraid they can be.]

We have both been extremely puzzled, my dear, says she, to reconcile some parts of Mr Lovelace's character with other parts of it, his good with his bad; such of the former, in particular, as his generosity to his tenants; his bounty to the innkeeper's daughter; his readiness to put me upon doing kind things by my good Norton, and others.

A strange mixture in his mind, as I have told him! for he is certainly (as I have reason to say, looking back upon his past behaviour to me in twenty instances,) a hard-hearted man. Indeed, my dear, I have thought more than once, that he had rather see me in tears than give me reason to be pleased with him.

My cousin Morden says, that free livers are remorseless. And so they must be in the very nature of things.

Mr Lovelace is a proud man. We have both long ago observed that he is. And I am truly afraid, that his very generosity is more owing to his pride and his vanity, than that philanthropy