6

'husband every one knows you so dearly love: and we 'agreed to forbear seeing each other, and all manner of correspondence, except by letter for one month, till some of my affairs were settled, which had been in great disorder, and were in his kind management then; and I 'had not one relation whom I cared to trouble with them, 'because of their treatment of me on Mr. B's account. 'And this, I told him, should not be neither, but through 'your hands, and with your consent.

And thus, madam, said her ladyship, have I told you 'the naked truth of the whole affair.

'I have seen Mr. B- very seldom since, and when I have, it has been either at a horse-race, in the open field, 'or at some public diversion, by accident, where only dis'tant civilities have passed between us.

'I respect him greatly; you must allow me to say that. Except in the article of permitting me to believe, for some time, that he was a single gentleman, which is a 'fault he cannot be excused for, and which made me heartily quarrel with him, when I first knew it; he has 'behaved towards me with so much generosity and honour, that I could have wished I had been of his sex, since he had a lady so much more deserving than myself; and 'then, had he had the same esteem for me, there never 'would have been a more perfect friendship.

'I am now going, continued her ladyship, to embark for 'France, and shall pass a year or two in Italy; and then I 'shall, I hope, return, as solid, as grave, as circumspect, though not so wise, as Mrs. B——’

In this manner the countess concluded her narrative; and I told her, that I was greatly obliged to her for the honour she did me in this visit, and the kind and considerate occasion of it. But that Mr. B- had made me

entirely happy in every particular, and had done her ladyship the justice she so well deserved, having taken upon himself the blame of passing as a single man, at his first acquaintance with her.

VOL. III.

T

I added, that I could hope her ladyship might be prevented, by some happy man, from leaving a kingdom to which she was so great an ornament, as well by her birth, her quality, and fortune, as by her perfections of person and mind.

She said, she had not been the happiest of her sex in her former marriage; although nobody, her youth considered, thought her a bad wife: and her lord's goodness to her, at his death, had demonstrated his own favourable opinion of her by deeds, as he had done by words, upon all occasions. But that she was yet young; a little too gay and unsettled and had her head turned towards France and Italy, having passed some time in those countries, which she thought of with pleasure, though then but a girl of twelve or thirteen: that, for this reason, and having been on a late occasion still more unsettled (looking down with blushes, which often overspread her face, as she talked), she had refused some offers not despicable. That indeed Lord C-threatened to follow her to Italy, in hopes of meeting better success there than he had met with here; but if he did, though she would make no resolutions, she believed she should be too much offended with him, to give him reason to boast of his journey; and this the rather, as she had grounds to think he had once entertained no very honourable notions of her friendship for Mr. B

She wished to see Mr. B, and to take leave of him, but not out of my company, she was pleased to say. Your ladyship's consideration for me, replied I, lays me under high obligation; but indeed, madam, there is no occasion for it, from any diffidences I have in yours or in Mr. B's honour. And if your ladyship will give me the pleasure of knowing when it will be most acceptable, I will beg of Mr. B-to oblige me with his company to return. this favour the first visit I make abroad.

You are very kind, Mrs. B-, said she; but I think to go to Tunbridge for a fortnight, when I have disposed of everything for my embarkation, and to set out from

thence. And if you should then be both in Kent, I should be glad to take you at your word.

To be sure, I said, Mr. B——, at least, would attend her ladyship there, if anything should happen to deprive me of that honour.

You are very obliging, said the countess :-I take great concern to myself, for having been the means of giving you a moment's uneasiness formerly: but I must now endeavour to be circumspect, in order to retrieve my character, which has been so basely traduced by that presumptuous fellow, Turner, who hoped, I suppose, by that means to bring me down to his level.

Her ladyship would not be prevailed upon to stay dinner; and saying, she should be at Wooburn all the next day, took a very kind and tender leave of me, wishing me all manner of happiness, as I did her.

Mr. B- came home in the evening, and next morning rode to Wooburn to pay his respects to the countess, and came back in the evening.

Thus happily, and to the satisfaction of all three, as I hope, ended this perplexing affair.

Mr. B—— asks me, madam, how I relish Mr. Locke's Treatise of Education? which he put into my hands some time since, as I told your ladyship. I answered, Very well; and I thought it an excellent piece, in the main.

I'll tell you, said he, what you shall do. You have not showed me anything you have written for a good while. I should be glad you would fill up your leisure time, since you cannot be without a pen, with your observations on that treatise, that I may know what you can object to it; for you say, In the main, which shows that you do not entirely approve of every part of it.

But will not that be presumptuous, sir?

I admire Mr. Locke, replied he; and I admire my Pamela. I have no doubt of his excellences; but I want to know the sentiments of a young mother, as well as of a learned gentleman, upon the subject of education; because

I have heard several ladies censure some part of his regimen, when I am convinced that the fault lies in their own over-great fondness for their children.

As to myself, sir, who, in the early part of my life, have not been brought up too tenderly, you will hardly meet with any objection to the part which I imagine you have heard most objected to by ladies who have been more indulgently treated in their first stage. But there are a few other things that want clearing up to my understanding ; but which, however, may be the fault of that.

Then, my dear, said he, suppose me at a distance from you, cannot you give me your remarks in the same manner, as if you were writing to Lady Davers, or to Miss Darnford, that was?

Yes, sir, depending on your kind favour to me, I believe I could.

Do then; and the less restraint you write with, the more I shall be pleased with it. But I confine you not to time or place. We will make our excursions as I once proposed to you; and do you write to me a letter now and then upon the subject; for the places and remarkables you will see, will be new only to yourself; nor will either of those ladies expect from you an itinerary, or a particular description of countries, which they will find better described by authors who have made it their business to treat upon those subjects. By this means you will be usefully employed in your own way, which may turn to good account to us both, and to the dear children which it may please God to bestow

upon us.

You don't expect, sir, anything regular or digested from me?

I don't, my dear. Let your fancy and your judgment be both employed; and I require no method; for I know, in your easy, natural way, that would be a confinement which would cramp your genius, and give what you write a stiff, formal air, that I might expect in a pedagogue, but not in my Pamela.

Well, but, sir, although I may write nothing to the pur

pose, yet if Lady Davers is desirous to give it a reading, will you allow me to transmit what I shall write to her hands, when you have perused it yourself? For your good sister is so indulgent to my scribble, that she will expect to be always hearing from me; and this way I shall oblige her ladyship, while I obey her brother.

With all my heart, he was pleased to say.

So, my lady, I shall now and then pay my respects to you in the writing way, though I must address myself, it seems, to my dearest Mr. B--; and I hope I shall be received on these my own terms, since they are your brother's terms also; and at the same time, such as will convince you, how much I wish to approve myself, to the best of my poor ability,

Your ladyship's most obliged sister

And humble servant,

-I

MY DEAREST MR. B—,—I have been considering of your commands, in relation to Mr. Locke's book; and since you are pleased to give me time to acquit myself of the task, I shall take the liberty to propose to include in a little book my humble sentiments, as I did to Lady Davers in that I showed you in relation to the plays I had seen. And since you confine me not to time or place, perhaps I shall be three or four years in completing it, because I shall reserve some subjects to my further experience in children's ways and tempers, and in order to benefit myself by those good instructions which I shall receive from your delightful conversation in that compass of time,