 airs I have

assumed in this letter; for I shall think myself extremely happy, if, in the future correspondence of our lives, I do not make you more than amends, by affording you, in your turn, many opportunities of appearing as much wiser than I, as you are in reality.—


INDEED, my Fanny, I rejoice in your happiness, tho' I cannot help feeling that I am a sufferer by it; for if you had not received a very kind letter from Lord Hume, you would not, in all probability, have had spirits sufficient to have written an unkind one to me.—You are, my dear sister, perfectly acquainted

with every sentiment of my heart, therefore to repeat what you already know, is needless. But in my own justification I must hold up a portrait to your view, which, from a very short absence, you seem to have forgotten.
By the loss of the best of parents, I became my own mistress, before I was seventeen—my brother, who is three years elder than I, was then returned from the university, and set out almost immediately on his travels. I then looked up to him as the sole stay, both of your youth and mine; and tho' my father's indulgence had rendered us all independent of each other, I firmly resolved never to marry, without the consent and approbation of Sir George.—

Young as you were you may remember that during the time we passed at my aunt Marriot's, in Wiltshire, there were several proposals of marriage made to me; and among the rest Sir William offered me his hand; but as my heart was by no means engaged by any of the persons who honoured me with their addresses, I adhered to my first plan, and referred them all to my brother's decision—as there had been no time fixed for Sir George's return, most of those who called themselves my lovers, withdrew—but Sir William, either more enamoured, or more artful, than the rest, set out immediately for Naples, where my brother then was, and by conciliating his esteem, obtained his consent, which he pretended was all that was wanting to complete his happiness.—

When my brother wrote to us to meet him at Paris, I was transported at the thoughts of seeing him, after a two years absence, but did not once reflect upon his motive for sending for us, nor did I even know that Sir William Barton was to be one of the party.—Sir William's galantry in coming from Paris to meet us at
