You

dear, (but you might not know that,) could have absolved you from this promise.* have not now, however, anybody to control you. You are absolutely your own mistress; and I see not but a promise-But, pray, of what nature was this promise?

Miss Gr. O my folly !-I declared that I never would marry any other man without his consent, while he was single. By this means (to my confusion) I own, that I made him my father, my guardian, my brother; at least I made the influences over me, of such of them as had been living, of no avail, in the most material article of my life; teazed, as I told you, into it; and against my judgment.

Soon after he let me know, as I said, in his own hand-writing, what an illiterate, what a mere superficial man I had entered into treaty with. And ever since I have been endeavouring by pen, as well as in person, to get him to absolve me from my rash promise. And this was my view and endeavour before I had a title to the independence, in which, sir, you was so good as to establish me.

I once thought, proceeded she, that he would easily have complied, and have looked out elsewhere for a wife, for I sought not to fetter him, as you justly call it. He was not of so much consequence with me; and this renders me, perhaps, the less excusable :-But you held me not long enough in suspense, as to the great things you intended to do for me, to enable me to obtain that release from Captain Anderson, which I was meditating to procure, before he knew what those were.

All this time I kept my own secret. I had not confidence enough in the steps I had so rashly taken, (indeed had not humility enough,) to make any living creature acquainted with my situation; and this was the reason, I suppose, that I never was guessed at or found out. The proverb says, Two can keep a secret when one is away; but my Harriet knows [I bowed that I very early, in my knowledge of her, dropt hints of an entanglement, as I ludicrously called it; for I could not, with justice, say love.

Sir Ch. Charming frankness! How do your virtues shine through your very mistakes! But there are many women who have suffered themselves to be worse entangled, even beyond recovery, when they have not had to plead the apprehensions which you had at entering into this affair.

Miss Gr. You are Sir Charles Grandison, sir; I need not say more. We often dread, in rash engagements, to make those communications, which only can be a means to extricate us from the difficulties into which we have plunged ourselves. Had I, for the last six or

seven years of my life, known my brother as I now know him; had I been indulged in a correspondence with him in his absence, not a step would I have taken, but with his approbation.

Sir Ch. Perhaps I was too implicit on this occasion; but I always thought it more safe, in a disputable case, to check, than to give way to, an inclination. My father knew the world. He was not an ill-natured man. He loved his daughters. I had not the vanity to imagine that my sisters, the youngest near as old as myself, would want my advice in material articles; and to break through a father's commands, for the sake merely of gratifying myself—I don't know how-But I could not do it; and as a considerate person, when he has lost a dear friend, and more particularly a parent, is apt to recollect with pleasure those instances in which he has given joy to the departed, and with pain the contrary; methinks I am the more satisfied with myself for having obeyed a command, that, however, at the time, I knew not how to account for.

Miss Gr. You are happy, brother, in this recollection. I should be more unhappy than I am, (on your principles,) had I vexed my father in this affair. Thank God he knew nothing of it! But now, sir, I have told you the whole truth. I have not aggravated the failings of Captain Anderson; nor wish to do so; for the man that once I had but the shadow of a thought to make one day my nearest relation, is entitled, I think, to my good wishes, though he prove not quite so worthy as I once believed him.

Permit me, however, to add, that Captain Anderson is passionate, overbearing; I have never of late met him, but with great reluctance; had I not come to Colnebrook, I should have seen him, as I confessed; but it was with the resolution that I had for a considerable time past avowed to him, never to be his; and to be a single woman all my life, if he would not disengage me of my rash, my foolish promise. And now be pleased (looking round her to every one present) to advise me what to do.

Lord L. I think the man utterly unworthy of you, sister Charlotte. I think you are right to resolve never to have him.

Lady L. Without waiting for my brother's opinion, I must say, that he acts most ungenerously and unworthily, to hold you to an unequal promise-a promise, the like of which you offered not to bind him by. I cannot, Charlotte, think you bound by such a promise; and the poor trick of getting another person to write his letters for him, and exposing my sister to a stranger, and against stipulation-How I should hate him!-What say you, sister Harriet ?

Har. I should be unworthy of this kind con

fidence, if, thus called upon, I did not say something, though it came out to be next to nothing —There seems not to have been any strong affection, any sympathy of soul, if I may so express myself, at any time, Miss Grandison, between you and Captain Anderson, I think?

Sir Ch. A very proper question.

Miss Gr. There was not, on either side, I believe. I have hinted at my motives, and at his. In every letter of his, he gave me cause to confirm what I have said of his self-interestedness; and now his principal plea to hold me to my promise is, his interest. I would not to him, I never did, plead mine; though his example would excuse me, if I did.

Lord L. Was the promise given in writing,

sister?

Miss Gr. Indeed it was. She looked down. Har. May I be pardoned, madam ?—The substance of your promise was, that you would never marry any other man without his consent, while he remained unmarried-Did you promise, that, if ever you did marry at all, it should be to him?

Miss Gr. No. He wanted me to promise that; but I refused. And now, my Harriet, what is your advice?

Har. I beg to hear Dr Bartlett's opinion, and yours, sir, (to Sir Charles,) before I presume to give mine.

Sir Charles looked at the Doctor. The Doctor referred himself to him.

Sir Ch. Then, Doctor, you must set me right, if I am wrong. You are a casuist.

As to what Lord L has said, I think with his lordship, that Captain Anderson appears not, in any of his conduct, to be worthy of Miss Grandison; and, in truth, I don't know many who are. If I am partial, excuse the brother.

She bowed. Every one was pleased that Miss Grandison was enabled to hold up her head, as she did, on this compliment from her brother.

Sir Ch. I think also, if my sister esteems him not, she is in the right to resolve never to be his. But what shall we say, as to her promise, Never to be the wife of any other man without his consent, while he remains unmarried? It was made, I apprehend, while her father was living, who might, I believe, Doctor, you will allow, have absolved her from it; but then, her very treating with him since to dispense with it, shews that, in her own conscience, she thinks herself bound by it.

Every one being silent, he proceeded. Lady L is of opinion, that he acts ungenerously and unworthily, to endeavour to hold her to an unequal promise; but what man, except a very generous one indeed, having obtained an advantage over such a woman as Charlotte, she reddened, would not try to hold it? Must he not, by giving up this advantage, vote against himself? Women should be sure of the men in whom they place a confidence

that concerns them highly. Can you think that the man who engages a woman to make a promise, does not intend to hold her to it? When he teazes her to make it, he as good as tells her he does, let what will happen to make her wish she had not.

Miss Gr. O my brother! The repetition of that word teazes!-Are you not rallying me?— Indeed I deserve it.

Sir Ch. Men gain all their advantages by teazing, by promises, by importunities-Be not concerned, my Charlotte, that I use your word.

Miss Gr. O my brother! what shall I do, if you rally me on my folly?

Sir Ch. I mean not to rally you. But I know something of my own sex; and must have been very negligent of my opportunities, if I know not something of the world. I thought, Lucy, he would here have used the word other instead of the word world. We have heard her reason for not binding the captain by a like promise; which was, that she did not value him enough to exact it; and was not that his misfortune?

She is apprehensive of blame on this head; but her situation will be considered. I must not repeat the circumstances. I was grieved to hear that my sisters had been in such circumstances! What pity, that those who believe they best know the sex, think themselves entitled to treat it with least respect! [How we women looked upon one another! I should hope in charity, [in charity, Lucy, and for the true value I bear it, as I think a good woman one of the greatest glories of the creation, that the fault is not generally in the sex.

As to the captain's artifice to obtain a footing, by letters of another man's writing; that was enough, indeed, to make a woman, who herself writes finely, despise him when she knew it. But to what will not some persons stoop, to gain a point on which their hearts are fixed?-This is no new method. One signal instance I will mention. Madam Maintenon, it is reported, was employed in this way, by a favourite mistress of Louis XIV. And this was said to be the means of introducing her to the monarch's favour, on the ruins of her employer. Let me repeat, that women should be sure of their men, before they embark with them in the voyage of love. Hate the man, says Lady L-, for exposing her to the letter-writer!-Exposing!Let me say, that women, who would not be exposed, should not put themselves out of their own power. O Miss Byron! (turning, to my confusion, to me, who was too ready to apply the first part of the caution,) be so good as to tell my Emily, that she must never love a man, of whose love she is not well assured; that she must never permit a man to know his consequence with her, till she is sure he is grateful, just, and generous; and that she must despise him, as a mean and interested man, the first moment he seeks to engage her in a promise.

Forgive me, Charlotte; you so generously blame yourself, that you will not scruple to have your experience pleaded for an example to a young creature, who may not be able, if entangled, to behave with your magnanimity.

Seasonably did he say this last part, so immediately after his reference to me, for I made Miss Grandison's confusion a half cover for my own; and I fear but a half cover.

I find I must not allow myself to be long from you, my dear friends; at least in this company. Miss Cantillon, Miss Barnevelt, and half a dozen more misses and masters, with whose characters and descriptions I first paraded; where are you? Where can I find you? My heart, when I saw you at Lady Betty Williams's, was easy and unapprehensive. I could then throw my little squibs about me at pleasure; and not fear, by their return upon me, the singeing of my own clothes!

LETTER LXXV.

MISS BYRON.

[In continuation.]

BUT now what remains to be done for our sister? asked Lady L. Charlotte looked round her, as seconding the question. Every one referred to Sir Charles.

In the first place, let me assure you, my dear Charlotte, resumed he, that if you have but the shadow of a preference for Captain Anderson; and if you believe, from what has passed between you, and from the suspense you have kept him in, (which may have been a hindrance to his fortune or preferment,) that you ought to be his, whether in justice, or by inclination, I will amicably meet him, in order to make and to receive proposals. If you do not find him grateful or generous, we will make him so, by our example; and I will begin to set it.

:

Every one was affected: Dr Bartlett as much as anybody. Miss Grandison could hardly sit still her chair was uneasy to her while her brother looked like one who was too much accustomed to acts of beneficence, to suppose he had said anything extraordinary.

Miss Grandison, after some hesitation, replied, Indeed, sir, Captain Anderson is not worthy of being called your brother. I will not enter into the particulars of his unworthiness; because I am determined not to have him. He knows I am: nor does my promise engage me to be his. Had he virtue, had he generosity-But, indeed, he has not either, in the degree that would make me respect him, as a woman should respect her husband.

Sir Ch. Well, then, Charlotte, I would have you excuse yourself, if you have given him hopes of meeting him; let him know that you have

acquainted me with all that has passed between you; and that you refer yourself wholly to me; but with a resolution (if such be your resolution) never to be his.

Miss Gr. I shall dread his violent temper

Sir Ch. Dread nothing! Men who are violent to a woman, when they have a point to carry by being so, are not always violent to men. But I shall treat him civilly. If the man ever hoped to call you his, he will be unhappy enough in losing such a prize. You may tell him, that I will give him a meeting wherever he pleases. Meantime, it may not be amiss, if you have no objection, to shew me some of the letters that have passed between you; of those particularly, in which you have declared your resolution not to be his; the farther backward the better, if, from the date of such, you have always been of the same mind.

Miss Gr. You shall see the copies of all my letters; and all his, if you please. And you will gather from both, sir, that it was owing to the unhappy situation I thought myself in, from the unkind treatment my sister met with, and to the being forbidden to expect a fortune that would entitle me to look up to a man of figure in the world, that I was ever approachable by Captain Anderson.

Sir Ch. Unhappy! But let us look forward. I will meet Captain Anderson. If there are any letters, in which he has treated my sister unhandsomely, you must not let me see them. My motive for looking into any of them, is service to you, Charlotte, and not curiosity. But let me, nevertheless, see all that is necessary to the question, that I may not, when I meet him, hear anything from him, that I have not heard from you; and which may make for him, and against you. I do assure you, that I will allow in his favour, all that shall appear favourable to him, though against my sister. I may meet him prejudiced, but not determined; and I hope you see by my behaviour to you, Charlotte, that, were you and he to have been fond lovers in your letters, you need not be afraid of my eye. I never am severe on lovers' foibles. Our passions may be made subservient to excellent purposes. Don't think you have a supercilious brother. A susceptibility of the passion called love, I condemn not as a fault; but the contrary. Your brother, ladies, (looking upon all three,) is no stoic.

And have you been in love, Sir Charles Grandison? thought I to myself.-Shall I, Lucy, be sorry, or shall I be glad, if he has ?-But, after all, is it not strange, that in all this time one knows so little of his history while he was abroad?

And yet, he said, that he was not angry at his sister for questioning him on the subject. Had I been his sister, questions of that sort would not have been to be now asked.

But here is a new task for her brother. I shall long to know how this affair will end.

The trial of Miss Grandison, as she called it,

being thus happily over, and Miss Emily and Mr Grandison desired to walk in, Sir Charles took notice, with some severity on our sex, on the general liking, which he said women have for military men. He did not know, he said, whether the army were not beholden to this approbation, and to the gay appearance officers were expected to make, ather than to a true martial spirit, for many a gallant man.

What say you, Emily? said he: Do not a cockade, and a scarlet coat, become a fine gentleman, and help to make him so, in your eyes?

Be pleased, sir, to tell me how such a one should look in my eyes, and I will endeavour to make them conform to your lessons.

He bowed to the happy girl: For my part, said he, I cannot but say, that I dislike the life of a soldier in general; whose trade is in blood; who must be as much a slave to the will of his superiors in command, as he is almost obliged to be a tyrant to those under him.

But as to the sex, if it were not that ladies, where love and their own happiness interfere, are the most incompetent judges of all others for themselves-Pardon me

Your servant, sir, said Lady Lall bowed to him.

And we

How can a woman, proceeded he, who really loves her husband, subject herself, of choice, to the necessary absences, to the continual apprehensions, which she must be under for his safety, when he is in the height of what is emphatically called his DUTY? He stopt. No answer being made; Perhaps, resumed he, it may be thus accounted for: women are the most delicate part of the creation. Conscious of the weakness of their sex, and that they stand in need of protection, (for apprehensiveness, the child of prudence, is as characteristic in them, as courage in a man,) they naturally love brave men-And are not all military men supposed to be brave? But how are they mistaken in their main end, supposing this to be it!

I honour a good, a generous, a brave, a humane soldier: but were such a one to be the bravest of men, how can his wife expect constant protection from the husband who is less his own, and consequently less hers, than almost any other man can be (a sailor excepted ;) and who must therefore, oftener than any other man, leave ⚫her exposed to those insults, from which he seems to think he can best defend her?

Lady L. Smiling. But may it not be said, sir, that those women who make soldiers their choice, deserve, in some degree, a rank with heroes; when they can part with their husbands for the sake of their country's glory?

Sir Ch. Change your word glory for safety, Lady L, and your question will be strengthened. The word and thing called Glory, what mischief has it not occasioned !-As to the question itself, were you serious, let every one, I an

swer, who can plead the motive, be entitled to the praise that is due to it.

Miss Gr. There is so much weight in what my brother has said, that I thank Heaven, I am not in danger of being the wife of a soldier.

We, who knew what she alluded to, smiled at it; and Mr Grandison looked about him, as if he wanted to find more in the words, than they could import to him: and then was very earnest to know how his cousin had come off.

Sir Ch. Triumphantly, cousin. Charlotte's supposed fault has brought to light additional excellencies.

Mr Gr. I am sorry for that, with all my soul -There was no bearing her before-and now what will become of me?

Miss Gr. You have nothing now to fear, Mr Grandison, I assure you. I have been detected in real faults. I have been generously treated; and repent of my fault. Let me have an instance of like ingenuousness in you; and I will say, there are hopes of us both.

Mr Gr. Your servant, cousin. Either way I must have it. But were you to follow the example by which you own yourself amended, I might have the better chance, perhaps, of coming up to you in ingenuousness.

Lord L. Upon my word, sister Charlotte, Mr Grandison has said a good thing.

Miss Gr. I think so too, my lord. I will put it down. And if you are wise, sir, (to him,) ask me to sew up your lips till to-morrow dinnertime.

Mr Grandison looked offended.
Sir Ch. Fie, Charlotte!

I am glad, thought I, my good Miss Grandison, that you have not lost much spirit by your trial!

MISS Grandison has shewed me some of the letters that passed between Captain Anderson and her. How must she have despised him, had she been drawn in to give him her hand! And the more for the poor figure he would have made as a brother to her brother! How must she have blushed at every civility paid him in such a family! Yet, from some passages in his letters, I dare say he would have had the higher opinion of himself; first, for having succeeded with her ; and, next, for those very civilities.

And thus had Sir Thomas Grandison, with all his pride, like to have thrown his daughter, a woman of high character, fine understanding, and an exalted mind, into the arms of a man, who had neither fortune, nor education, nor yet good sense, nor generosity of heart, to countenance his pretensions to such a lady, or her for marrying beneath herself.

This is a copy of what Miss Grandison has written to send to Captain Anderson.