to attend you, as a duty which I owe to my mother's memory; and I hope this may be done without wounding that of my father.

You say well, said my lord; but I am afraid, kinsman, by your air and manner, and speech too, that you want not your father's proud spirit. I revere my father for his spirit, my lord. It might not always be exerted as your lordship, and his other relations, might wish; but he had a manly one. As to myself, I will help your lordship to my character at once. I am, indeed, a very proud man. I cannot stoop to flatter, and least of all men, the great and the rich: finding it difficult to restrain this fault, it is my whole study to direct it to laudable ends; and I hope, that I am too proud to do anything unworthy of my father's name, or of my mother's virtue. Why, sir, (and looked at him again from head to foot,) your father never in his whole life said so good a thing.

Your lordship knew not my father as he deserved to be known. Where there are misunderstandings between two persons, though relations, the character of either is not to be taken from the other. But, my lord, this is, as I said before, a visit of duty. I have nothing to ask of your lordship, but your good opinion; and no longer than I deserve it.

My lord was displeased. "You have nothing to ask of me!" repeated he. Let me tell you, independent sir, that I like not your speech. You may leave rne, if you please; and when I want to see you again, I will send for you.

Your servant, my lord. And let me say, that I will not again attend you, till you do. But when you do, the summons of my mother's brother shall be cheerfully obeyed, notwithstanding this unkind treatment of Lord W

The very next day, my lord, hearing he was still at Windsor, viewing the curiosities of the place, sent to him: he directly went. My lord expressed himself highly pleased with his readiness to come, and apologized to him for his be haviour of the day before. He called him nephew, and swore, that he was just such a young man as he had wished to see. Your mother used to say, proceeded he, that you could do what you would with her, should you even be unreasonable; and I beg of you to ask me no favour but what is fit for me to grant, for I fear I should grudge it after I had granted it; and call in question, what no man is willing to do, my own discretion.

He then asked him about the methods he intended to take with regard to his way of life. Sir Charles answered, that he was resolved to dispose of his racers, hunters, and dogs, as soon as he could. That he would take a survey of the timber upon his estate, and fell that which would be the worse for standing; and doubted not but that a part of it in Hampshire would turn to good account; but that he would plant an oakling for every oak he cut down, for the sake of

posterity. He was determined, he said, to let the house in Essex; and even to sell the estate there, if it were necessary, to clear incumbrances; and to pay off the mortgage upon the Irish estate, which he had a notion was very improvable. What did he propose to do for his sisters? who were, he found, absolutely in his power.

I

Marry them, my lord, as soon as I can. have a good opinion of Lord L. My elder sister loves him. I will inquire what will make him easy; and easy I will make him, on his marriage with her, if it be in my power. I will endeavour to make the younger happy too. And when these two points are settled, but not before, because I will not deceive the family with which I may engage, I will think of myself.

Bravo! bravo! said my lord; and his eyes, that were brimful some minutes before, then ran over. As I hope to be saved, I had a good mind to-to-to-And there he stopt.

I only ask for your approbation, my lord, or correction, if wrong. My father has been very regardful of my interests. He knew my heart, or he would perhaps have been more solicitous for his daughters. I don't find that my circumstances will be very narrow; and if they are, I will live within compass, and even lay up. I endeavour to make a virtue of my pride, in this respect: I cannot live under obligation. I will endeavour to be just; and then, if I can, I will be generous. That is another species of my pride. I told your lordship, that if I could not conquer it, I would endeavour to make it innocent at least.

Bravo! bravo! again cried my lord-and threw his arms about his neck, and kissed his cheek, though he screamed out at the same time, having hurt his gouty knee with the effort.

And then, and then-said my lord, you will marry yourself. And if you marry with discretion, good Lord, what a great man will you be ! -And how I shall love you!-Have you any thoughts of marriage, kinsman ?-Let me be consulted in your match,-and-and-andyou will vastly oblige me. Now, I believe, I shall begin to think the name of Grandison has What a fine a very agreeable sound with it. thing it is, for a young man to be able to clear up his mother's prudence so many years after she is gone, and lessen his father's follies! Your father did not use me well; and I must be allowed sometimes to speak my mind of him.

That, my lord, is the only point on which your lordship and I can differ.

Well, well, we won't differ-Only one thing, my dear kinsman: if you sell, give me the preference. Your father told me, that he would mortgage to any man upon God's earth sooner than to me. I took that very heinously.

There was a misunderstanding between you, my lord. My father had a noble spirit. He might think, that there would be a selfishness in the appearance, had he asked of your lordship

a favour. Little-spirited men sometimes choose to be obliged to relations, in hopes that payment will be less rigorously exacted, than by a stranger

Ah, kinsman! kinsman !—that's the white side of the business.

Indeed, my lord, that would be a motive with me to avoid troubling your lordship in an exigence, were it to happen. For mistrust will arise from possibilities of being ungrateful, when, perhaps, there is no room, were the heart to be known, for the suspicion.

Well said, however. You are a young man that one need not be afraid to be acquainted with. But what would you do as a lender? Would you think hardly of a man that wanted to be obliged to you?

O no! But in this case I would be determined by prudence. If my friend regarded himself as the first person in the friendship; me but as the second, in cases that might hurt my fortune, and disable me from acting up to my spirit, to other friends, I would then let him know, that he thought as meanly of my understanding as of my justice.

Lord W- - was delighted with his nephew's notions. He over and over prophesied, that he would be a great man.

Sir Charles, with wonderful dispatch, executed those designs, which he had told Lord Whe would carry into effect. And the sale of the timber he cut down in Hampshire, and which lay convenient for water carriage, for the use of the government, furnished him with a very considerable sum.

I have mentioned, that Sir Charles, on his setting out from Florence to Paris, to attend his father's leave for his coming to England, had left his ward Miss Jervois, at the former place, in the protection of good Dr Bartlett. He soon sent for them both over, and placed the young lady with a discreet widow-gentlewoman, who had three prudent daughters; sometimes indulging her with leave to visit his sisters, who are very fond of her, as you have heard. And now let me add, that she is an humble petitioner to me, to procure her the felicity, as she calls it, to be constantly resident with Miss Grandison. She will be, she says, the best girl in the world, if she may be allowed this favour; and not one word of advice, either of her guardian, or of Miss Grandison, or of Lady L, shall be lost upon her-And besides, as good women, said she, as Mrs Lane and her daughters are, what protection can women give me, were my unhappy mother to be troublesome, and resolve to have me, as she is continually threatening?

What a new world opens to me, my Lucy, from the acquaintance I am permitted to hold with this family! God grant that your poor Harriet pay not too dearly for her knowledge! -She would, I believe you think, were she to be entangled in a hopeless love.

LETTER LXX.

MISS BYRON.

[In continuation.]

LORD L came to town from Scotland within two or three months of Sir Charles's arrival in England. His first visit was to the young Baronet; who, on my lord's avowing his passion for his sister, and her acknowledging her esteem for him, introduced him to her, and put their hands together, holding them between both his. With pleasure, said he, I join hands where hearts so worthy are united. Do me, my lord, the honour, froin this moment, to look upon me as your brother. My father, I find, was a little embarrassed in his affairs. He loved his daughters, and perhaps was loath that they should early claim another protection; but, had he lived to make himself easy, I have no doubt but he would have made them happy. He has left that duty upon me--and I will perform it.

His sister was unable to speak for joy. My lord's tears were ready to start.

My father, proceeded Sir Charles, in one of his letters to me, acquainted me with the state of your lordship's affairs. Reckon upon my best services: promise, engage, undertake. The brother, my lord, hopes to make you easy: the sister will make you happy.

Miss Charlotte was affected with this scene; and she prayed, with her hands and eyes lifted up, that God would make his power as large as his heart. The whole world would then, she said, be benefited either by his bounty, or his example.

Do you wonder now, my dear Mr Reeves, that Miss Grandison, Lady L, and Lord L-, know not how to contain their gratitude, when this beneficent-minded brother is spoken of?

And has not my Charlotte, said he, turning towards her, and looking at Miss Caroline, some happy man, that she can distinguish by her love? You are equally dear to me, my sisters. Make me your confidant, Charlotte. Your inclinations shall be my choice.

Dear Miss Grandison, why did you mislead me by your boasts of unreservedness? What room was there for reserves to such a brother? -And yet it is plain, you have not let him know all your heart; and he seems to think so too. And now you are uneasy at a hint he has thrown

out of that nature.

Two months before the marriage, Sir Charles put into his sister's hands a paper sealed up. Receive these, my Caroline, said he, as from your father's bounty, in compliance with what your mother would have wished, had we been blessed with her life. When you oblige Lord

tor himself. They knew, however, enough, they said, to reverence him as one of the most worthy and most pious of men. They believed, that he knew all the secrets of their brother's heart. Strange, methinks, that these secrets lie so deep! Yet there does not seem anything so very forbidding, either in Sir Charles or the Doctor, but that one might ask them a few innocent questions. And yet I did not use to be so very curious neither. Why should I be more so than his sisters?-Yet persons coming strangers into a family of extraordinary merit, are apt, I believe, to be more inquisitive about the affairs and particularities of that family, than those who make a part of it; and when they have no other motive for their curiosity, than a desire to applaud and imitate, I see not any great harm in it.

I was also very anxious to know, what, at so early an age (for Sir Charles was not then eighteen,) were the faults he found with the governor appointed for him. It seems, the man was not only profligate himself, but, in order to keep himself in countenance, laid snares for the young gentleman's virtue; which, however, he had the happiness to escape; though at an age in which youth is generally unguarded. This man was also contentious, quarrelsome, and a drinker; and yet, (as Sir Charles at the time acknowledged to his sisters,) it had so very indifferent an appearance, for a young man to find fault with his governor, that, as well for the appearance-sake, as for the man's, he was very loath to complain, till he became insupportable. It was mentioned, as it ought, greatly to the honour of the young gentleman's frankness and magnanimity, that when, at last, he found himself obliged to complain of this wicked man to his father, he gave him a copy of the letter he wrote, as soon as he sent it away. You may make, sir, said he, what use you please of the step I have taken. You see my charge. I have not aggravated it. Only let me caution you, that, as I have not given you by my own misconduct any advantage over me, you do not make a still worse figure in my reply, if you give me occasion to justify my charge. My father loves his son. I must be his son. An altercation cannot end in your favour.

But on inquiry into the behaviour of this bad man, (who might have tainted the morals of one of the finest youths on earth,) which the son besought the father to make, before he paid any regard to his complaints, Sir Thomas dismissed him, and made a compliment to his son, that he should have no other governor for the future, than his own discretion.*

Miss Jervois's history is briefly this:

She had one of the best of fathers; her mother is one of the worst of women. A terma

gant, a swearer, a drinker, unchaste-Poor Mr Jervois !-I have told you, that he (a meek man) was obliged to abandon his country, to avoid her. Yet she wants to have her daughter under her own tuition-Terrible !-Sir Charles has had trouble with her. He expects to have more-Poor Miss Jervois !

Miss Emily's fortune is very great. The ladies say, not less than 50,000l. Her father was an Italian and Turkey merchant; and Sir Charles, by his management, has augmented it to that sum, by the recovery of some thousands of pounds, which Mr Jervois had thought desperate.

AND thus have I brought down, as briefly as I was able, though writing almost night and day, (and greatly indulged in the latter by the ladies, who saw my heart was in the task,) the history of this family, to the time when I had the happiness (by means, however, most shockingly undesirable) to be first acquainted with it.

And now a word or two to present situations. Sir Charles is not yet come down, Lucy. And this is Monday!-Very well!-He made excuses by his cousin Grandison, who came down with my cousin Reeves on Sunday morning; and both went up together yesterday- Vastly busy, no doubt!-He will be here to-morrow, I think, he says. His excuses were to his sisters and Lord L I am glad he did not give himself the importance with your Harriet, to make any to her on his absence.

Miss Grandison complains that I open not my heart to her. She wants, she says, to open hers to me; but, as she has intricacies that I cannot have, she says I must begin; she knows not how, she pretends. What her secrets may be, I presume not to guess; but surely I cannot tell a sister, who, with her sister, favours another woman, that I have a regard for her brother; and that before I can be sure he has any for me.

She will play me a trick, she just now told me, if I will not let her know who the happy man in Northamptonshire is, whom I prefer to all others. That there is such a one somewhere, she says, she has no doubt; and if she find it out before I tell her, she will give me no quarter, speaking in the military phrase; which sometimes she is apt to do. Lady L- siniles, and eyes me with great attention, when her sister is rallying me, as if she, also, wanted to find out some reason for my refusing Lord D- I told them an hour ago, that I am beset with their eyes, and Lord L- -'s; for Lady L keeps no one secret of her heart, nor, I believe, anybody's else, that she is mistress of, from her

lord. Him, I think, of all the men I know, (my uncle not excepted,) I could soonest intrust with a secret. But have I, Lucy, any to reveal? It is, I hope, a secret to myself, that never will be unfolded, even to myself, that I love a man, who has not made professions of love to me. As to Sir Charles Grandison-But have done, Harriet! Thou hast named a man, that will lead thee-Whither will it lead me? More than I am at present my own, I am, and will be ever, my dear Lucy,

Your affectionate

HARRIET BYRON.

LETTER LXXI.

MISS BYRON.

[In continuation.]

Monday, March 13. I WILL now tell you who the lady is to whom the two sisters have given their interest.

It is Lady Anne S, the only daughter of the Earl of S. A vast fortune, it seems, independent of her father; and yet certain of a very great one from him. She is to be here this very afternoon, on a visit to the two ladies. With all my heart. I hope she is a very agreeable lady. I hope she has a capacious mind. I hope I don't know what to hope-And why? Because I find myself out to be a selfish wretch, and don't wish her to be so fine and so good a woman, as I say I do. Is love, if I must own love, a narrower of the heart?-I don't know whether, while it is in suspense, and is only on one side, it be not the parent of jealousy, envy, dissimulation; making the person pretend generosity, disinterestedness, and I cannot tell what; but secretly wishing that her rival may not be so worthy, so lovely, as she pretends to wish her to be.-Ah, Lucy! were one sure, one could afford to be generous; one might then look down with pity upon a rival, instead of being mortified with apprehensions of being looked down upon.

But I will be just to the education given me, and the examples set me. Whatever I shall be able to do or to wish, while I am in suspense; when any happy woman becomes the wife of Sir Charles Grandison, I will revere her; and wish her, for his sake as well as her own, all the felicities that this world can afford; and if I cannot do this from my heart, I will disown that heart.

The two ladies set upon Mr Grandison on Sunday, to get out of him the business that carried Sir Charles so often of late to Canterbury. But though he owned that he was not enjoined secrecy, he affected to amuse them, and strangely to romance; hinting to them a story of a fine woman in love with him, and he with her;

VOL. VIII.

yet neither of them thinking of marriage: Mr Grandison valued not truth, nor scrupled solemn words, though ludicrously uttered, to make the most improbable stuff perplexing and teazing; and then the wretch laughed immoderately at the suspense he supposed he had caused.

What witless creatures, what mere nothings, are these beaux, fine fellows, and laughers, of men! How silly must they think us women! -And how silly indeed are such of us, as can keep in countenance, at our own expense, their folly!

He was left alone with me for half an hour last night; and, in a very serious manner, besought me to receive his addresses. I was greatly displeased with the two sisters; for I thought they intended to give him this opportunity, by their manner of withdrawing. Surely, thought I, I am not sunk so low in the eyes of the ladies of such a family as this, as to be thought by them a fit wife to the only worthless person in it, because I have not the fortune of Lady Anne S. I will hear, thought I, what Miss Grandison says to this; and although I had made excuses to my cousins Reeves, at their request, for staying here longer than I had intended, Í will get away to town as fast as I can. as they are of the name of Grandison, thought I, the name only won't do with Harriet Byron. I am as proud as they.

Proud

I said nothing of my resentment; but told both ladies, the moment I saw them, of Mr Grandison's declaration. They expressed themselves highly displeased with him for it; and said they would talk to him. Miss Grandison said she wondered at his presumption. His fortune was indeed very considerable, she said, notwithstanding the extravagance of his youth; but it was a high degree of confidence, in a man of such free principles, to think himself entitled to countenance from-in short, from such a lady as your Harriet, Lucy; whatever you may think of her in these days of her humiliation.

She added the goodness of my heart to her compliment. I hope it is not a bad one. Then it was that I told them of my thoughts of going to town on the occasion; and the two ladies instantly went to their cousin, and talked to him in such a manner, that he promised, if no more notice were taken of the matter, never again to give occasion for them to reprimand him on this subject. He had, indeed, he owned, no very strong aspirations after matrimony; and had balanced about it a good while, before he could allow himself to declare his passion so seriously; but only, as it was probable, that he might, at one time or other, enter the pale, he thought he never in his life saw a woman with whom he could be so happy as with me.

But you see, Lucy, by this address of Mr Grandison, that nothing is thought of in the family of another nature. What makes me a little more affected than otherwise I believe I

N