and if Miss Byron can content herself with another woman's leavings, for that, he says, he is well informed is the case, he knows what he shall think of her spirit. And then he threw out, as usual, reflections on our sex, which had malice in them.

This man's threats disturb me. God grant that your brother may not meet with any more embarrassments from insolent men, on my account!

If these men, this Greville in particular, would let me be at peace, I should be better, I believe, in my health; but Lady Frampton is his advocate, by letter. He watches my footsteps, and in every visit I make, throws himself in the way: and on Sundays he is always ready with his officious hand, as I alight to enter the church; and to lead me back to my uncle's coach. My uncle cannot affront him, because he will not be affronted by him. He rallies off, with an intrepidity that never was exceeded, all that my aunt says to him. I repulse him with anger everywhere but in a place so public and so sacred. He disturbs my devotion, with his bold eyes, always fixed on our pew; which draw every one's after them. He has the assurance, when he intrudes himself into my company, to laugh at my anger; telling me, that it is what he has long wished for; and that now he is so much used to it, that he can live on my frowns, and cannot support life without them. He plainly tells me, that Mr Fenwick's arrival from abroad, and another certain person's also, are the occasion of his resumed sedulity.

Everybody about us, in short, is interested for or against him. He makes me appear coy and ridiculous. He-But no more of this bold man. Would to Heaven that some one of those who like such, would relieve me from him!

Visitors, and the post oblige me, sooner than I otherwise should, to conclude myself, my dear Lady G

Ever yours,
HARRIET BYRON.

LETTER CCXV.

MR DEANE TO SIR CHARLES GRANDISON.

Selby-House, Tuesday, Oct. 3. AN alliance more acceptable, were it with a prince, could not be proposed, than that which Sir Charles Grandison, in a manner so worthy of himself, has proposed with a family who have thought themselves under obligation to him, ever since he delivered the darling of it from the lawless attempts of a savage libertine. I know to whom I write ; and will own, that it has been my wish, in a most particular manner.

As to the surviving part of the family, exclu

sive of Miss Byron, (for I will mention her parents by and by,) it is, in all its branches, worthy: Indeed, sir, your wish of a relation to them, is not a discredit to your high character. As to the young lady-I say nothing of herYet how shall I forbear-O sir, believe me, she will dignify your choice! Her duty and her inclination through every relation of life, were never divided.

Excuse me, sir-No parent was ever more fond of his child, than I have been, from her infancy, of this my daughter by adoption. Hence, sir, being consulted on this occasion, as my affection I will say for the whole family deserves, I take upon me to acquaint you, before any farther steps are taken, what our dear child's fortune will be; for it has been always my notion, that a young gentleman, in such a case, should, the moment he offers himself, if his own proposals are acceptable, be spared the indelicacy of asking questions as to fortune. We know, sir, yours is great; but as your spirit is princely, you ought to have something worthy of your own fortune with a wife. But here, alas! we must fail, I doubt; at least, in hand.

Mr Byron was one of the best of men; his lady a most excellent woman: there never was a happier pair. Both had reason to boast of their ancestry. His estate was upwards of four thousand pounds a-year; but it was entailed; and, in failure of male heirs, was to descend to a second branch of the family, which had made itself the more unworthy of it, by settling in a foreign country, renouncing, as I may say, its own. Mr Byron died a young man, and left his lady ensient; but grief for losing him, occasioned first her miscarriage, and then her death; and the estate followed the name. Hence, be pleased to know, that Miss Byron's fortune, in her own right, is no more than between thirteen and fourteen thousand pounds. It is chiefly in the funds. It has been called 15,000l., but is not much more than thirteen. Her grandmother's jointure is between 4 and 500l. a-year. We none of us wish to see my god-daughter in possession of it; she herself least of all. Mrs Shirley is called by every one that knows her, or speaks of her, the ornament of old age. Her husband, an excellent man, desired her to live always in the mansion-house, and in the hospitable way he had ever kept up, if what he left her would support her in it. She has been longer spared to the prayers of her friends, and to those of the poor, than was apprehended; for she is infirm in health. She therefore can do but little towards the increase of her child's fortune. But Shirley-Manor is a fine old seat, sir !—And there is timber upon the estate, which wants but ten years' growth, and will be felled to good account. Mr Selby is well in the world. He proposes, as a token of his love, to add 3000l. in hand to his niece's fortune; and by his will,

something very considerable, farther expectant on his lady's death; who being Miss Byron's aunt, by the father's side, intends, by her will, to do very handsomely for her.-By the way, dear sir, be assured, that what I write is absolutely unknown to Miss Byron.

my

There is a man who loves her as he loves himself. This man has laid by a sum of money every year for the advancing her in marriage, beginning with the fifth year of her life, when it was seen what a hopeful child she was: this has been put at accumulated interest; and it amounts, in sixteen years, or thereabouts, to very near 8000l. This man, sir, will make up the eight thousand ten, to be paid on the day of marriage; and I hope, without promising for what this man will do farther at his death, that you will accept of this five or six-and-twenty thousand pounds, as the cheerfullest given and best bestowed money that ever was laid out.

Let not these particulars pain you, sir: they should not: the subject is a necessary one. You, who ought to give way to the increase of that power which you so nobly use, must not be pained at this mention, once for all. Princes, sir, are not above asking money of their people, as freegifts, on the marriage of their children. He that would be greater than a prince, may, before he is aware, be less than a gentleman. Of this ten thousand pounds, eight is Miss Byron's due, as she is likely to be so happy with all our consents; else it would not: for that was the man's reserved condition; and the sum, or the designation of it, was, till this day, only known to himself.

As to settlements in return, I would have acted the lawyer, but the honest lawyer, with you, sir, and made demands of you; but Mr and Mrs Selby, and Mrs Shirley, unanimously declare, that you shall not be prescribed to in this case. Were you not Sir Charles Grandison? was the question. I was against leaving it to you, for that very reason. It will be, said I, to provoke such a man as Sir Charles to do too much. Most other men ought to be spurred; but this must be held in. But, however, I acquiesced; and the more easily, because I expect that the deeds shall pass through my hands; and I will take care that you shall not, in order to give a proof of love where it is not wanted, exert an inadequate generosity.

These matters I thought it was absolutely necessary to apprize you of: you will have the goodness to excuse any imperfections in my manner of writing. There are none in my heart, when I assure you, that no man breathing can more respect you, than, sir,

Your most faithful,

And obedient humble servant,
THOMAS DEANE.

LETTER CCXVI.

SIR CHARLES GRANDISON TO THOMAS DEANE,

ESQ.

Thursday, Oct. 5. You know not, my dear Mr Deane, upon what an unthankful man you would bestow your favours. I pretend not to be above complying with the laudable customs of the world. Princes are examples to themselves. I have always, in things indifferent, been willing to take the world as I find it; and conform to it.

To say Miss Byron is a treasure in herself, is what every man would say, who has the honour to know her; yet I would not, in a vain ostentation, as the interest of a man and his wife is one, make a compliment to my affection, by resigning or giving from her her natural right; especially as there is no one of her family that wants to be benefited by such gifts or resignations. But then I will not allow, that any of her friends shall part with what is theirs, to supply -What? A supposed deficiency in her fortune. And by whom, as implied by you, supposed a deficiency?-By me; and it is left to me to confirm the imputation by my acceptance of the addition so generously, as to the intention, offered. Had I encumbrances on my estate, which, undischarged, would involve in difficulties the woman I love; I know not what, for her sake, I might be tempted to do. But avarice only can induce a man, who wants it not, to accept of the bounty of a lady's friends, in their life-time especially-When those friends are not either father or mother; one of them not a relation by blood, though he is by a nearer tie-that of love ; and is not the fortune which the lady possesses in her own right, an ample one?

I am as rich as I wish to be, my dear Mr Deane. Were my income less, I would live within it; were it more, it would increase my duties. Permit me, my good sir, to ask, has the MAN, as you call him, (and a MAN, indeed, he appears to me to be,) who intends to make so noble a present to a stranger, no relations, no friends, who would have reason to think themselves unkindly treated, if he gave from them such a large portion of his fortune?

I would not be thought romantic ; neither aim I at ostentation. I would be as glad to follow, as to set, a good example. Can I have a nobler, if Miss Byron honours me with her hand, than she, in that case, will give, in preferring me to the Earl of D- —, a worthy man, with a much more splendid fortune than mine? Believe me, my dear Mr Deane, it would, on an event so happy, be a restraint to my own joy before friends so kindly contributing to the increase of her fortune, lest they should imagine that their

generosity, on the occasion, was one of the motives of my gratitude to her for her goodness to

me.

You tell me, that Miss Byron knows nothing of your proposals: I beseech you, let her not know anything of them: abase not so much, in her eyes, the man who presumes on her favour for the happiness of the rest of his life, by supposing (your supposition, sir, may have weight with her) he could value her the more for such an addition to her fortune. No, sir; let Miss Byron, (satisfied with the consciousness of a worth which all the world acknowledges,) in one of the most solemn events of her life, look round among her congratulating friends with that modest confidence which the sense of laying a high obligation on a favoured object gives to diffident merit; and which the receiving of favours from all her friends, as if to supply a supposed defective worth, must either abate; or, if it do not, make her think less of the interested man, who could submit to owe such obliga

tions.

If these friendly expostulations conclude against the offer of your generous friend, they equally do so against that of Mr Selby. Were that gentleman and his lady the parents of Miss Byron, the case would be different; but Miss Byron's fortune is an ascertained one; and Mr Selby has relations who stand in an equal degree of consanguinity to him, and who are all entitled, by their worthiness, to his favour. My best respects and thanks are however due; and I beg you will make my acknowledgments accordingly, as well to your worthy friend, as to Mr Selby.

I take the liberty to send you down the rentroll of my English estate. Determine for me as you please, my dearest Mr Deane; only take this caution-Affront me not a second time; but let the settlements be such, as may be fully answerable to my fortune; although, in the common methods of calculation, it may exceed that of the dear lady. That you may be the better judge of this, you will find a brief particular of my Irish estate subjoined to the other.

I was intending, when I received yours, to do myself the honour of a visit to Selby-House. I am impatient to throw myself at the feet of my dear Miss Byron, and to commend myself to the favour of Mr and Mrs Selby, and every one of a family I am prepared, by their characters, as well as by their relation to Miss Byron, to revere and love; but as you seem to choose that the requisite preliminaries should be first adjusted by pen and ink, I submit, though with reluctance, to that course; but with the less, as I may, in the interim, receive letters from abroad, which, though they can now make no alteration with regard to the treaty so happily begun, may give me an opportunity of laying the whole state of my affairs before Miss Byron; by which

VOL. VIII.

Selby-House, Saturday, Oct. 7. WELL did you observe, my dear, that we may be very differently affected by the same event, when judged of at a distance, and near. May I, in the present situation, presume to say near? Mr Deane has entered into the particulars of my fortune with Sir Charles. The letter was not shewn me before it went; and I was not permitted to see the copy of it till your brother's answer came; and then they shewed me both.

O my dear Mr Deane! my ever-kind Uncle and Aunt Selby! was not your Harriet Byron too much obliged to you before?-As to your brother, What, my love, shall I do with my pride? I did not know I had so much of that bad quality. My poverty, my dear, has added to my pride. Were my fortune superior to that of your brother, I am sure I should not be so proud as I now, on this occasion, find I am. How generously does he decline accepting the goodness, that was offered to give me more consideration with him (as kindly intended by them!) What can I say to him, but that his heart, still prouder than my own, and more generous than that of any other person breathing, will not permit me to owe uncommon obligations to any but himself?

He desires that I may not know anything of this transaction; but they thought the communication would give me pleasure. However, they wish me not to take notice to him, when he visits Selby-House, that they have communicated it to me. If I did, I should think myself obliged to manifest a gratitude that would embarrass me in my present situation, and seem to fetter the freedom of my will. Millions of obligations should not bribe me to give up even a corner of my heart, to a man to whom I could not give the whole. Your brother, my dear, is in possession of the whole.

You know that I hate affectation; but must I not have great abatements in my prospects of happiness, because of Lady Clementina? And must they not be still greater, should she be unhappy, should she repent of the resolution she so nobly took, for his saying, that whatever be the contents of his next letters from Italy, they can make no alteration with regard to the treaty 20

begun with us?-Dear, dear Clementina! most excellent of women! Can I bear to stand in the way of your happiness?-I cannot-My life, any more than yours, may not be a long one; and I will not sully the whiteness of it, (pardon my vanity; I presume to call it so, on retrospecting it, regarding my intentions only,) by giving way to an act of injustice, though it were to obtain for me the whole heart of the man I love.

Yet think you, my dear, that I am not mortified?"How can I look round upon my congratulating friends, in one of the most solemn events of my life, with that modest confidence which the sense of laying an obligation on a favoured object, (you know in whose generous words I express myself,) gives to diffident merit?" O my Charlotte! I am afraid of your brother! How shall I look up to him, when I next see him?-But I will give way to this new guest, my pride. What other way have I?Will you forgive me, if I try to look upon your brother's generosity to me and my friends, in declining so greatly their offers, as a bribe to make me sit down satisfied with half, nay, not half a heart?—And now will you not say, that I am proud indeed? But his is the most delicate of human minds; and shall not the woman pretend to some delicacy who has looked up to him?

I thought of writing but a few lines in the cover of the two letters. I hope I should not incur displeasure from anybody here, were they to know I send them to you for your perusal. But let only Lord G, your other self, and Lord and Lady L- read them, and return them by the next post. I know you four will pity the poor and proud girl, who is so inexpressibly obliged almost to every one she knows; but who, believe her, proud as she is, never will be ashamed to own her obligations to you and Lady L.

Witness,

HARRIET BYRON.

LETTER CCXVIII.

LADY G TO MISS BYRON.

Grosvenor Square, Tuesday, Oct. 10. I RETURN your two letters: very good ones both. I like them. Lord L- and Lord G- thank you for allowing them to peruse them. We will know nothing of the matter.

My brother will soon be with you, I believe. I wish Dr Bartlett were in town: one should then know something of the motions of my brother-Not that he is reserved, neither. But he is so much engaged, that I go four times to St James's Square, and perhaps do not see him once. My lord had the assurance to say, but

yesterday, that I was there more than at home. He is very impertinent: I believe he has taken up my sauciness. I laid it down, and thought to resume it occasionally; but when I came to look for it, behold! it was gone!-But I hope, if he has it not, it is only mislaid. I intend, if it come not soon to hand, to set the parish-crier to proclaim the loss, with a reward for the finder. It might be the ruin of some indiscreet woman, should such a one meet with it, and try to use it. Aunt Eleanor [there I remembered myself: no more Aunt Nell! is as joyful, to think her nephew will soon be married, and to an English woman, as if she were going to be married herself! Were there to be a wedding in the family, or among her acquaintance, once a-year! what with preparation, what with solemnization, good old soul! she would live for ever. Chide again, Harriet; I value it not. Yet in your last chiding, you were excessively grave: but I forgive you. Be good, and write me everything how and about it; and write to the moment: you cannot be too minute.

I want you to see Lady Olivia's presents: they are princely. I want to see a letter she wrote to my brother: he mentioned it as something extraordinary. When you are his, you must shew me all he writes, that you are permitted to have in your power long enough to transcribe. He and she correspond. Do you like that, Harriet?-Lady Lwrites: Emily writes. So I have only to say, I am

Your humble servant, and so forth,
CH. G.

LETTER CCXIX.

MISS BYRON TO LADY G

Selby-House, Thursday, Oct. 12.
MY DEAR LADY G-

I EXPECT your brother every hour. I hope he comes in pursuance of letters from Italy May it be so! and such as will not abate his welcome.

We heard by accident of his approach, by a farmer, tenant to my uncle; who saw a fine gentleman, very handsomely attended, alight, as he left Stratford, at the very inn where we baited on our return from London. As a dinner was preparing for him, perhaps, my dear, he will dine in the very room we dined in at that time. The farmer had the curiosity to ask who he was; and was answered by the most courteous gentleman's servants he ever spoke to, that they had the honour to serve Sir Charles Grandison. And the farmer having said he was of Northampton, one of them asked him, How far Selby-House was from that town? The farmer was obliged to hurry home on his own affairs; and meeting my uncle with Mr Deane, and my cousin James

How will the consciousness of inferiority and obligation set a proud and punctilious mind upon hunting for occasions to justify its caprices!A servant of Sir Charles is just arrived with a billet, directed for my Uncle Selby. My aunt opened it. It is dated from Stratford. The contents are, after compliments of inquiry of our healths, to acquaint my uncle, that he shall put up at the George, at Northampton, this night; and hopes to be allowed to pay his compliments to us to-morrow morning, at breakfast; so he did not intend to give himself the consequence, of which my capricious heart was so apprehensive. Yet then, as if resolved to find fault, Is not this a little too parading for his natural freedom? thought I; or does he think we should not be able to outlive our joyful surprise, if he gave us not notice of his arrival in these parts before he saw us?-O Clementina! Goddess! Angel! What a mere mortal, what a woman, dost thou make the poor Harriet Byron appear in her own eyes! How apprehensive of coming after thee! The sense I have of my own littleness, will make me little indeed!

Well, but I presume, that if my uncle and Mr Deane meet him, they will prevail upon him to come hither this night; yet I suppose he must be allowed to go to the proposed inn afterwards -But here he is come!-Come, indeed! My uncle in the chariot with him! My cousin and Mr Deane, Sally tells me, just alighted. Sally

adores Sir Charles Grandison-Begone, Sally. Thy emotions, foolish girl, add to those of thy mistress!

THAT I might avoid the appearance of affectation, I was going down to welcome him, when I met my uncle on the stairs. Niece Byron, said he, you have not done justice to Sir Charles Grandison. I thought your love-sick heart [What words were these, my dear! and at that moment too! must have been partial to him. He prevailed on me to go into his chariot. You may think yourself very happy. For fifteen miles together did he talk of nobody but you. Let me go down with you; let me present you to

him.

I had before besought my spirits to befriend me, but for one half hour. Surely there is nothing so unwelcome as an unseasonable jest. Present me to him! Love-sick heart! O my uncle! thought I. I was unable to proceed. I hastened back to my closet, as much disconcerted as a child could be, who, having taken pains to get its lesson by heart, dashed by a chiding countenance, forgot every syllable of it when it came to say it. You know, my dear, that I had not of some time been well. My spirits were weak, and joy was almost as painful to me as grief could have been.

My aunt came up-My love, why don't you come down?-What now! Why in tears? You will appear, to the finest man I ever saw in my life, very particular!-Mr Deane is in love with him: Your cousin James

Dear madam, I am already, when I make comparisons between him and myself, humbled enough with his excellencies. I did intend to avoid particularity; but my uncle has quite disconcerted me-Yet he always means well: I ought not to complain. I attend you, madam. Can you, Lady G forgive my pride, my petulance?

My aunt went down before me. Sir Charles hastened to me, the moment I appeared, with an air of respectful love.

He took my hand, and bowing upon it, I rejoice to see my dear Miss Byron; and to see her so well. How many sufferers must there be, when you suffer!

I bid him welcome to England. I hope he heard me: I could not help speaking low: he must observe my discomposure. He led me to a seat, and sat down by me, still holding my hand. I withdrew it not presently, lest he should think me precise; but, as there were so many persons present, I thought it was free in Sir Charles Grandison. Yet, perhaps, he could not well quit it, as I did not withdraw it; so that the fault might be rather in my passive. ness, than in his forwardness.

However, I asked my aunt afterwards, if his looks were not those of a man assured of suc