 as lawful prey; whereas I consider that part of the softer sex whom fortune has dealt unkindly by, whose principles and manners are more elevated than their station, as peculiarly entitled to our respect and protection; and cou'd more easily forgive myself for a failure in a point of politeness, towards

a duchess, than to a woman who is unhappy enough to feel her present condition, a degradation from her former rank.
I don't much like to introduce the subject of your passion for Lady Juliana, but, believe me, if you are, as you say, sufficiently reasonable to be contented with one interview, a little more reason will enable you to be contented without one.—I heartily wish that was the case, for my Lucy is quite unhappy and dissatisfied at being deprived of Lady Juliana's society; and now openly declares, that you are the sole cause of her exile.—Be generous, Charles! and restore her to her friends without conditions;—trust to chance for your meeting, and to the nobleness of her sentiments when you do.

The portrait you have drawn of Miss Harrison, is by no means decisive, with regard to her present situation.—Gaiety or gravity are in a great measure constitutional:—I consider too great an addiction to the first as a misfortune, rather than a fault, but am far from thinking that liveliness and innocence are incompatible.—Too great freedom of speech or manner in a young woman, certainly lessens the respect which is otherwise due to her; it enfranchises the bounds that are placed between the sexes, puts them too much on a level, and tempts libertines to hazard improper freedoms, which though rejected and resented, necessarily sully the purity of female delicacy, and leave a stain behind:—for as Lady Mary Wortley Montague has justly said,
He comes too near who comes to be denied.
Williams is certainly a worthless wretch, and I heartily wish that Capt. Harrison

may treat him as he deserves; but I don't see why you should take the work off his hands, and thrust yourself into a scrape, unless it be merely pour passer le temps;—but if I might advise, I shou'd think you had better look out for some better amusement, and can hardly seek amiss.

Joy to you, Charles! Mrs. Selwyn was yesterday brought to bed of a son. I suppose you will be one of its sponsors, and must of course appear in propria persona. Mr. Selwyn is, you know, a formal divine, and will not admit of proxies.—I was sitting with
