penance to me. He would perhaps have sent me into the country, shaded me with cypress, yew, and fir trees in an old monastery, placed me out of the reach of any agreeable society, and bade me stay there from June to November; he would have expected to have seen me wan, meager, woe-begone. No such matterI should have come forth again plump, smiling, debonair, and in this condition do I hope to see you in November next; I shall then have been here about five months,, and I can drink no more of this sort of life at a draught, it is as much as I can promise to swallow without making wry faces. I am sure Mrs. Vesey will be impatient for her return to England, to profit by the acquaintance she has made with you.

I am, &c. &c.

ELIZ. MONTAGU.

To the Same.

My dear Cousin,

September the 28th, 1755. ·

I AM Sorry that the gout, by the frequency and length of his visits, behaves with the familiarity of an intimate acquaintance, though he was never introduced to you by his proper introductor, intemperance; however, you have therefore to oppose to him the great conquerors of pain, Patience and Fortitude. I heartily wish that good Lady Langham may come to Wickham, a delay of three quarters of a year will appear long to the impatience of maternal love: yet I dare say she will be better pleased to wait for the pleasure of seeing you till next summer, than that you should run the hazard of your health in this season, which is so unusually damp and cold. I had heard of poor governor Lyttelton's catastrophe only from the public papers, till Miss Pitt gave me a more particular account of it. I am very sorry for his

disappointment, and the loss that may attend it, if the French should think fit to detain the Blandford; but my country neighbours assure me, we are going to make up matters with the French, and if that be true, he may then proceed on his voyage without hazard. You do great honour to my penetration, when you imagine I can dive into the councils of the French, of ministerial men, and fine ladies; I believe the schemes of all these are open to the researches of those who know where to look for them, but we who live in retirement, either seek for them too near the surface, or too deep; where we imagine profound wisdom, we dig very deep for the motive, and sometimes get many fathoms below it: where we do not imagine schemes of such profundity, we think all must lie uncovered. on the very surface, and again we are deceived. I should have little to animate me in this search, for the wisdom of statesmen would be of little use to me, if I could find it; one might keep it, as the virtuosi do the natural ore, in a cabinet;

but such as is coined for ordinary use, would be of more service to me. I shall envy Miss Pitt when she is with my friends at Wickham, and my friends at Wickham, when they have Miss Pitt.

I am, &c. &c.

To the Same.

E. MONTAGU.

October the 16th, 1755.

My dearest Cousin,

I BEGGED your fair and amiable guest to make my apology for not writing to you at my return to Sandleford. The hurry I was in at Bath Easton, did not allow me to give you any account of the state of my friends there, and of the regular life they lead; I think you will allow it to be a life of reason; but within the sphere of Bath, fashion usually gives the tone, so that I wish the ladies were established in the country, that they might pursue a manner

of life which most people will approve, but very few will commend. My sister rises early, and as soon as she has read prayers to their small family, she sits down to cut out and prepare work for twelve poor girls, whose schooling they pay for; to those whom she finds more than ordinarily capable, she teaches writing and arithmetic herself. The work these children are usually employed in, is making childbed-linen and clothes for poor people in the neighbourhood, which Lady Bab Montagu and she, bestow as they see occasion. Very early on Sunday morning these girls, with twelve little boys whom they also send to school, come to my sister and repeat their catechism, read some chapters, have the principal articles of their religion explained to them, and then are sent to the parish church. These good works are often performed by the Methodist ladies in the heat of enthusiasm, but thank God, my sister's is a calm and rational piety. Her conversation is lively and easy, and she enters into all the reasonable pleasures of society; goes