give you a greater proof of my affection for you than by acting,
as I know you would wish me to do, whether Absent or Present. I

am my dear Emmas sincere freind
E. L.

LETTER the NINTH
Mrs MARLOWE to Miss LUTTERELL

Grosvenor Street, April 10th
Need I say my dear Eloisa how wellcome your letter was to me I

cannot give a greater proof of the pleasure I received from it,
or of the Desire I feel that our Correspondence may be regular

and frequent than by setting you so good an example as I now do
in answering it before the end of the week--. But do not imagine

that I claim any merit in being so punctual; on the contrary I
assure you, that it is a far greater Gratification to me to write

to you, than to spend the Evening either at a Concert or a Ball.
Mr Marlowe is so desirous of my appearing at some of the Public

places every evening that I do not like to refuse him, but at the
same time so much wish to remain at Home, that independant of the

Pleasure I experience in devoting any portion of my Time to my
Dear Eloisa, yet the Liberty I claim from having a letter to

write of spending an Evening at home with my little Boy, you know
me well enough to be sensible, will of itself be a sufficient

Inducement (if one is necessary) to my maintaining with Pleasure
a Correspondence with you. As to the subject of your letters to

me, whether grave or merry, if they concern you they must be
equally interesting to me; not but that I think the melancholy

Indulgence of your own sorrows by repeating them and dwelling on
them to me, will only encourage and increase them, and that it

will be more prudent in you to avoid so sad a subject; but yet
knowing as I do what a soothing and melancholy Pleasure it must

afford you, I cannot prevail on myself to deny you so great an
Indulgence, and will only insist on your not expecting me to

encourage you in it, by my own letters; on the contrary I intend
to fill them with such lively Wit and enlivening Humour as shall

even provoke a smile in the sweet but sorrowfull countenance of
my Eloisa.

In the first place you are to learn that I have met your sisters
three freinds Lady Lesley and her Daughters, twice in Public

since I have been here. I know you will be impatient to hear my
opinion of the Beauty of three Ladies of whom you have heard so

much. Now, as you are too ill and too unhappy to be vain, I
think I may venture to inform you that I like none of their faces

so well as I do your own. Yet they are all handsome--Lady Lesley
indeed I have seen before; her Daughters I beleive would in

general be said to have a finer face than her Ladyship, and yet
what with the charms of a Blooming complexion, a little

Affectation and a great deal of small-talk, (in each of which she
is superior to the young Ladies) she will I dare say gain herself

as many admirers as the more regular features of Matilda, and
Margaret. I am sure you will agree with me in saying that they

can none of them be of a proper size for real Beauty, when you
know that two of them are taller and the other shorter than

ourselves. In spite of this Defect (or rather by reason of it)
there is something very noble and majestic in the figures of the

Miss Lesleys, and something agreably lively in the appearance of
their pretty little Mother-in-law. But tho' one may be majestic

and the other lively, yet the faces of neither possess that
Bewitching sweetness of my Eloisas, which her present languor is

so far from diminushing. What would my Husband and Brother say
of us, if they knew all the fine things I have been saying to you

in this letter. It is very hard that a pretty woman is never to
be told she is so by any one of her own sex without that person's

being suspected to be either her determined Enemy, or her
professed Toad-eater. How much more amiable are women in that

particular! One man may say forty civil things to another
without our supposing that he is ever paid for it, and provided

he does his Duty by our sex, we care not how Polite he is to his
own.

Mrs Lutterell will be so good as to accept my compliments,
Charlotte, my Love, and Eloisa the best wishes for the recovery

of her Health and Spirits that can be offered by her affectionate
Freind

E. Marlowe.
I am afraid this letter will be but a poor specimen of my Powers

in the witty way; and your opinion of them will not be greatly
increased when I assure you that I have been as entertaining as I

possibly could.
LETTER the TENTH

From Miss MARGARET LESLEY to Miss CHARLOTTE LUTTERELL
Portman Square April 13th

MY DEAR CHARLOTTE
We left Lesley-Castle on the 28th of last Month, and arrived

safely in London after a Journey of seven Days; I had the
pleasure of finding your Letter here waiting my Arrival, for

which you have my grateful Thanks. Ah! my dear Freind I every
day more regret the serene and tranquil Pleasures of the Castle

we have left, in exchange for the uncertain and unequal
Amusements of this vaunted City. Not that I will pretend to

assert that these uncertain and unequal Amusements are in the
least Degree unpleasing to me; on the contrary I enjoy them

extremely and should enjoy them even more, were I not certain
that every appearance I make in Public but rivetts the Chains of

those unhappy Beings whose Passion it is impossible not to pity,
tho' it is out of my power to return. In short my Dear Charlotte

it is my sensibility for the sufferings of so many amiable young
Men, my Dislike of the extremeadmiration I meet with, and my

aversion to being so celebrated both in Public, in Private, in
Papers, and in Printshops, that are the reasons why I cannot more

fully enjoy, the Amusements so various and pleasing of London.
How often have I wished that I possessed as little Personal

Beauty as you do; that my figure were as inelegant; my face as
unlovely; and my appearance as unpleasing as yours! But ah! what

little chance is there of so desirable an Event; I have had the
small-pox, and must thereforesubmit to my unhappy fate.

I am now going to intrust you my dear Charlotte with a secret
which has long disturbed the tranquility of my days, and which is

of a kind to require the most inviolable Secrecy from you. Last
Monday se'night Matilda and I accompanied Lady Lesley to a Rout

at the Honourable Mrs Kickabout's; we were escorted by Mr
Fitzgerald who is a very amiable young Man in the main, tho'

perhaps a little singular in his Taste--He is in love with
Matilda--. We had scarcely paid our Compliments to the Lady of

the House and curtseyed to half a score different people when my
Attention was attracted by the appearance of a Young Man the most

lovely of his Sex, who at that moment entered the Room with
another Gentleman and Lady. From the first moment I beheld him,

I was certain that on him depended the future Happiness of my
Life. Imagine my surprise when he was introduced to me by the

name of Cleveland--I instantly recognised him as the Brother of
Mrs Marlowe, and the acquaintance of my Charlotte at Bristol. Mr

and Mrs M. were the gentleman and Lady who accompanied him. (You
do not think Mrs Marlowe handsome?) The elegant address of Mr

Cleveland, his polished Manners and Delightful Bow, at once
confirmed my attachment. He did not speak; but I can imagine

everything he would have said, had he opened his Mouth. I can
picture to myself the cultivated Understanding, the Noble

sentiments, and elegant Language which would have shone so
conspicuous in the conversation of Mr Cleveland. The approach of

Sir James Gower (one of my too numerous admirers) prevented the
Discovery of any such Powers, by putting an end to a Conversation

we had never commenced, and by attracting my attention to
himself. But oh! how inferior are the accomplishments of Sir