even before she was in keeping of the Duke of had cast her off to the town he had robbed of her.

who

In short, my dear, she is quite a common woman; has no fortune at all, as one may say, only a small jointure in- . cumbered, and is much in debt.-She is a shrew into the bargain, and the poor wretch is a father already; for he has had a girl of three years old (her husband has been dead seven) brought him home, which he knew nothing of, nor ever inquired whether his widow had a child!—And he is now employed in paying the mother's debts, and trying to make the best of his bargain.

This is the fruit of a London journey, so long desired by him, and his fluttering about there with his new title.

He was drawn in by a brother of his lady, and a friend of that brother's, two town sharpers, gamesters and bullies. -Poor Sir Joseph Wittol! That was his case, and his character, it seems, in London.

Shall I present you with a curiosity? 'Tis a copy of his letter to his uncle, who had, as you may well think, lost all patience with him, on occasion of this abominable folly.

'MY LORD DAVERS,- For iff you will nott call mee neffew, I have no reason to call you unkell. Shurely you forgett who it was you held up youre kane to: I have as little reason to valew your displeassure, as you have mee; 'for I am, God be thanked, a lord, and a peere of the realme, as well as you: and as to youre nott owneing me, nor youre brother B- — nott looking upon me, I care 'nott a fardinge; and bad as you thinke I have done, I have marry'd a woman of family.-Take thatt among 'you!

<

As to youre personall abuses of her, take care whatt " you say. You know the stattute will defende us as well as you-and, besides, she has a brother thatt won't lett 'her good name be call'd in question-mind thatt!

'Some thinges I wish had been otherwise.-Perhapps I 'do-what then?-Must you, my lord, make more mis

6

chieff, and adde to my plagues, if I have any?—Is this your unkelship?

Butt I shan't want your advise. I have as good an estate as you have, and am as much a lord as yourselfe. Why the devill, then, am I to be treated as I am?-Why 'the plague-but I won't sware neither. I desire not to see you, any more then you doe me, I can tell you thatt. And if we ever meet under one roofe with my like'ing, it must be att the House of Peeres, where I shall be upon a parr with you in everything, that's my 'cumfurte.

As to my Lady Davers, I desire not to see her ladyshipp; for she was always plaguy nimbel with her fingers; but lett my false stepp be what itt will, I have, in other respectes, marry'd a lady, who is as well de'scended as herselfe, and no disparagement neither; so ' have nott that to answer for to her pride; and who has as ' good a spiritt too, if they were to come face to face, or I am mistaken: nor will shee take affruntes from any one. 'So, my lord, leave mee to make the best of my matters, as 'I will you of youres. So no more, but that I am

'P.S. I meane no affrunte to Mrs. B. She is the 'best of yee all-by G-!'

I will not take up your time with further observations upon this poor creature's bad conduct. His reflection must proceed from feeling; and will, that's the worst of it, come too late, come when or how it will. I will only say, I am sorry for it on his own account, but more for that of Lord and Lady Davers, who take the matter very heavily, and wish he had married the lowest-born creature in England (so she had been honest and virtuous), rather than done as he has done.

But I suppose the poor gentleman was resolved to shun,

at all adventures, Mr. B's fault, and keep up to the pride of descent and family;-and so married the only creature, as I hope (since it cannot be helped), that is so great a disgrace to both! For I presume to flatter myself, for the sake of my sex, that among the poor wretches who are sunk so low as the town-women are, there are very few of birth or education; but such, principally, as have had their necessities or their ignorance taken advantage of by base men; since birth and education must needs set the most unhappy of the sex above so sordid and so abandoned a guilt, as the hourly wickedness of such a course of life subjects them to.

*

But let me pursue my purpose of excusing my long silence. I had hardly returned from Lord and Lady Davers's, and recovered my family management, and resumed my nursery duties, when my fourth dear boy, my Jemmy-(for I think I am going on to make out the number Lady Davers allotted me)-pressed upon me in such a manner, as not to be refused, for one month or six weeks' close attention. And then a journey to Lord Davers's, and that noble pair accompanying us to Kent; and daily and hourly pleasures crowding upon us, narrow and confined as our room there was (though we went with as few attendants as possible), engrossed more of my time. So that I hope you will forgive me on all these accounts; because, as soon as I returned, I set about writing this, as an excuse for myself, in the first place; to promise you the subject you insist upon in the next; and to tell you that I am incapable of forgetfulness or negligence to such a friend as Lady G——. For I must always be, dear madam,

Your faithful and affectionate humble servant,

* See page 66.

P. B

LETTER CI.

Mrs. B to Lady G.

MY DEAR LADY G--The remarks which your Cousin Fielding tells you I have made on the subject of young gentlemen's travelling, and which you request me to communicate to you, are part of a little book upon education which I wrote for Mr. B--'s correction and amendment, on occasion of his putting Mr. Locke's treatise on that subject into my hands, and requiring my observations upon it.

I cannot flatter myself that they will answer your expectation; for I am sensible they must be unworthy even of the opportunities I have had in the excursions, in which I have been indulged by the best of men.

But your requests are so many laws to me; and I will give you a short abstract of what I read to Miss Fielding, who has so greatly overrated it to you.

That gentleman's book contains many excellent rules on the subject of education: but this of travel I will only refer you to at present. You will there see his objections against the age at which young gentlemen are sent abroad, from sixteen to twenty-one, the time, in all their lives, he says, in which young men are the least suited to these improvements, and in which they have the least fence and guard against their passions.

The age he proposes is from seven to fourteen, because of the advantage they will then have to master foreign languages, and to form their tongue to the true pronunciation; as well as that then they will be more easily directed by their tutors or governors. Or else he proposes that more sedate time of life, when the gentleman is able to travel without a tutor, and to make his own observations; and when he is thoroughly acquainted with the laws and fashions, the natural and moral advantages and defects of his own

country; by which means, as Mr. Locke wisely observes, the traveller will have something to exchange with those abroad, from whose conversation he hopes to reap any knowledge. This gentleman supports his opinion by excellent reasons, to which I refer you.

What I have written in my little book, which I have not yet quite finished, on this head, relates principally to home travelling, which Mr. B- was always resolved his sons should undertake before they entered upon a foreign tour. I have there observed that England abounds with curiosities, both of art and nature, worth the notice of a diligent inquirer, and equal with some of those we admire in foreign parts; and that if the youth be not sent abroad at Mr. Locke's earliest time, from seven to fourteen (which I can hardly think will be worth while, merely for the sake of attaining a perfection in the languages), he may with good advantage begin, at fourteen or fifteen, the tour of Great Britain, now and then by excursions in the summer months, between his other studies, and as a diversion to him.

This I should wish might be entered upon in his papa's company, as well as his tutor's, if it could conveniently be done; who thus initiating both the governed and the governor in the methods he would have observed by both, will obtain no small satisfaction and amusement to himself.

For the father would by this means be an eye-witness of the behaviour of the one and the other, and have a specimen how fit the young man was to be trusted, or the tutor to be depended upon, when they went abroad, and were out of his sight; as they would of what was expected from them by the father. And hence a thousand benefits, as I humbly conceive, would arise to the young gentleman. from the observations and reflections he would receive from his father, as occasion offered, with regard to expense, company, conversation, hours, and such like.

If the father could not himself accompany his son, he might appoint the stages the young gentleman should take,