feited all claims to his protection, yet the deception you had been guilty of, in making his Lordship believe we were married, would moft indisputably have excited his refentment, as it could only be deemed a fubterfuge to answer your interested purposes. Befides this, if I am rightly informed, you would have roused the refentment of a right honourable gentleman, that you gained to introduce you as an honourable lover to the niece of one of the firft Ducheffes in the kingdom. But the chastisement you would have received for that would only have been manual. We are all fenfible you have not the inclination to refent fuchtreatment, as the blows given manfully by an officer you had justly offended, and borne patiently, were never noticed. Upon this occafion, you adopted by intuition, Squire Ralph's maxim. I fay, by intuition, as I can by no mean's fuppofe you acquainted with a book wherein all science and learning is contained. You, however, abound with worldly wisdom, though you are not learned; and think with Ralph, that "He who fights and runs away, Cowardice Cowardice is the concomitant of guilt. In what `a fupreme degree then must you poffefs it! The first principle of rectitude, is that noble courage which undauntedly meets every difficulty, and looks upon life as nothing, when compared with the dread of preferving it with difhonour. You fee I would ftill wish to inftruct you; though I fear, all this will be as little understood by you as algebra; nothing like a fentiment of any kind ever having found a place in your bofom, which is as dark as Erebus. You now find, that with your great atchieve. ments, you have altered a difpofition which before your cruel treatment, never knew the fun go down upon its wrath. You have prefumed too far upon my apathy. But the gentleft tempers, when roused by repeated injuries, are not so easily quieted as those who are inflamed by every guft of paffion. Before you had provoked me, you ought to have recollected what Lord Tyrawley fo often warned you of, when he told you I was by nature a lamb, but being roused, a lionefs. I will, however, quiet your feeming terror, by affuring you, that no provocation whatever, fhall, at any time, tempt me to divulge the confidence placed in me, whilft I had the misfortune to be in your family. The fcale of fecrecy must never be broken. No aggravation can plead excufe for a breach of truft of that nature; and racks fhould not compel me to divulge what was entrusted to me when we were upon better terms. This fuperiority of mind I will retain above you. And I will force even you to own, with fhame, that I am ftill just. When you sent to requef my filence upon this head, I was fo much incenfed, that I knew not how to account for the daring fuppofition. I could not even think fo meanly of you, as to suppose you could be guilty of a crime fo atrocious and dangerous to fociety, particularly to a man who had raifed you from nothing. As you may fet your heart at reft upon this fubject, the fair field of retaliation may now go on without any violent agitations being excited in your mind; as injuring a woman, with the law on your fide, is a trifle of no importance. You may think it fo. But there will come a time when pungent remorfe, the fure, attendant on deception, will, if you poffefs the leaft atom, of rectitude, harrow up your foul, There are but two periods of your existence in which I would wish to behold you. The first is, at that awful moment. The fecond is, before that that dreadful period happens. It is at the time you quit being a Yea and a Nay man, and commence orator. Were I at the farthest part of the globe, I should wish to mount a Pegasus, to be prefent on the momentous occafion; as the power of a Demofthenes, joined to the sweetness of a Pliny, muft forcibly elucidate the laws, and prove you the Tully of the age. You fee my heart is ever warm in your favour. And after I have received fuch numerous unmerited favours from you, how can it be otherwife; for Gratitude is my fecond darling virtue. She is younger fifter to Sincerity, with whom The keeps generally in company. I once was under the neceffity of repeating to you the following fentence from Dryden, "He that is ungrateful has no crime but one." But the perfon who delights in fincerity, cannot harbour that heinous vice. She guards the heart from a crime of fuch black dye. She is always as open as the day, unfufpicious as the lamb, and innocent as the dove. She is fecure in her own coat of mail, for no affailant can pierce her celeftial armour. I told you I wished to inftruct you. perverfe, it is not my fault. But If you are your good fortune, fortune, together with your parliamentary studies, fo totally poffefs your mind, that I imagine my intended kind documentations will have little effect. Ignorance itself muft, however, allow that my intention is good. Always pleased when I ám putting the blind in the way, I have intruded upon your patience, in order to point out to you the right road. Though you have hitherto been bewildered, repentance never comes too late. I fhall therefore end my digreffion with two lines, spoken by Alinda to the captain of the Banditti; in the Pilgrim," "Go, go, fay thy prayers; "For thou haft as many fins as hairs." The verse, though unequal, is adequate to your scientific knowledge, who would prefer the bellman's yearly production to the fweet numbers of Pope. As my illness was long and painful, I have. taken the liberty to introduce thefe fentiments in order to fill up a chafm. You complain of the enormous expence my indifpofition cost you, and fet down nine hundred pounds for phyficians fees. As I told you in a former inftance, I have reason to doubt your veracity. If that was the cafe, how came Mr. Adair to be fo poorly grati 3 fied? |