EN

LETTER XV.

To Mifs GRENVILLE.

NOUGH, my dearest fifter, enough have you fuffered through your un remitted tenderness to your Julia ;-yet believe her, while fhe vows to the dear bofom of friendship, no action of her's fhall call a blush on your cheek. Good God! what a wretch fhould I be, if I could abuse fuch fifterly love! if, after fuch friendly admonitions, enforced with fo much moving eloquence, your Julia should degenerate from her birth, and for- . get thofe leffons of virtue early inculcated by the best of fathers! If, after all these, fhe fhould fuffer herself to be immerfed in the vortex of folly and vice, what, would fhe not deferve! Oh! reft affured, my dearest dear Louifa, be fatisfied, your. fifter cannot be fo vile, remember the fame blood flows through our veins; one parent stock we sprang from; nurtured by one hand, listening at the fame time to

the

the fame voice of reafon; learning the fame pious leffon-why then these apprehenfions of my degeneracy? Truft me, Louifa, I will not deceive you; and God grant I may never deceive myself! The wifeft of men has faid, "the heart of man is deceitful "above all things." I however will strictly examine mine; I will fearch into it narrowly; at present the search is not painful; I have nothing to reproach myself with; I have, I hope, difcharged my filial and fraternal duties; my matrimonial ones are inviolate: I have studied the temper of Sir William, in hopes I fhould discover a rule for my actions; but how can I form a fyftem from one fo variable as he is? Would to heaven he was more uniform! or that he would fuffer himself to be guided by his own understanding, and not by the whim or caprice of others fo much inferior to himself! All this I have repeated frequently to you, together with my wifh to leave London, and the objects with which I am daily furrounded.-Does fuch a wifh look as if I was improperly at

tached

tached to the world, or any particular person in it? You are too fevere, my love; but when I reflect that your rigidity pro ceeds from your unrivalled attachment, I kifs the rod of my chastisement ;-I long to fold my dear lecturer in my arms, and convince her, that one, whofe heart is filled with the affection that glows in mine, can find no room for any sentiment incompatible with virtue, of which the is the express image. Adieu!

LETTER XVI.

To Mifs GRENVILLE.

F thy Julia falls, my beloved fifter,

IF

how great will be her condemnation! With fuch fupports, and I hope I may add with an inward rectitude of mind, I think the can never deviate from the right path. You fee, my Louisa, that not you alone are interested in my welldoing. I have a fecret, nay I may fay, celestial friend and monitor,-a friend it certainly is, though unknown;-all who

give good counsel must be my true and fincere friends. From whom I have re

ceived it, I know not; but it fhall be

my ftudy to merit the favour of this earthly or heavenly conductor through the intricate mazes of life. I will no longer keep you in ignorance of my meaning, but without delay will copy for you a letter I received this morning; the original I have too much veneration for to part with, even to you, who are dearer to me than almost all the world befide.

THE LET TE R.

"I cannot help anticipating the fur prize your ladyfhip will be under, from re ceiving a letter from an unknown hand; nor will the fignature contribute to develop the cloud behind which chufe to conceal myself.

My motives, I hope, will extenuate the boldness of my task; and I rely likewise on the amiable qualities you fo eminently poffefs, to pardon the temerity of

any

any one who fhall prefume to criticise the conduct of one of the most lovely of God's works.

I feel for you as a man, a friend, or, to fum up all, a guardian angel. I fee you on the brink of a steep precipice. I fhudder at the danger which you are not fenfible of. You will wonder at my motive, and the intereft I take in your concerns.-It is from my knowledge of the goodness of your heart were you lefs amiable than you are, you would be below my folicitude; I might be charmed with you as a woman, but I fhould not venerate you;nay, should poffibly-enchanted as every one must be with your perfonal attractions, join with thofe who seek to feduce you to their own purposes. The fentiments I profefs for you are fuch as a tender father would feel-fuch as your own excellent father cherishes; but they are accompanied by a warmth which can only be equalled by their purity; fuch fentiments fhall I ever experience while you continue to deserve them, and every service in my power shall be exerted in your favour. I

VOL. I.

K

have