lady, whose falsehood is likely to be discovered to your

son.

I am extremely concerned that I cannot leave this place at present. Besides his bodily disease, my poor cousin is in so very weak a state of mind, that he could be swayed to any thing by those around him; and I can trust none of them. I do not believe that any deed he could execute, in his present state, would be valid in law; but I am not certain that it would not; and still less what he might be induced to do if I were absent: I am resolved, therefore, not to quit my post till all is over. There is no knowing how long he may linger, for the doctors cannot persuade him to take any of their prescriptions.

I hope Lord Deanport is fully sensible of the obliga tions he lies under to your ladyship for the great attention you have always paid to his interest, and that he will show his gratitude in the most substantial manner as soon as his marriage with Miss Moyston is concluded; but I do believe that, or some other event of the same nature, must previously take place. He may, I imagine, be prevailed on to part with what he feels superfluous; but I question greatly whether any sense of obligation will make him yield to another what he thinks in the smallest degree necessary to himself.

I admire the portrait prodigiously that your ladyship was so obliging as to send me, especially the colouring, which, in my opinion, is exquisite. It is long since I knew that you were a very ingenious artist, but I was unacquainted with your chief excellence before. There is one other use, however, which you might make of Lady Mango and her East-India friends, besides that of turning them into ridicule: they generally play deep, and some of them very inattentively. I dare swear your la dyship would win from most of them, in whatever seat you were placed. I remain your ladyship's most obedient and faithful servant,

P. S

J. GRINDILL.

Your ladyship is so admirable a painter, that

I should be highly obliged for a sketch of the fair widow Demure, from your pencil. You seem to think me better acquainted with her than I am.

LETTER XLV.

LADY DEANPORT to JAMES GRINDILL, Esq.

London.

I WILL not be so uncandid as to dispute the validity of your reasons for remaining fixed to your post. I should never forgive myself, if in consequence of your yielding to my solicitation, your cousin were influenced by those around him to make settlements prejudicial to your inter

est.

Whilst I regret your absence, therefore, I cannot help approving of your perseverance.

You shall have the sketch you desire, of the widow Demure:-though she tries to conceal some of her strongest features, I think I have caught them all.

I beg you to take notice of my goodness, in complying with your request, at the very instant when you refuse mine.

Mrs. Demure's father had a large estate in one of our West-India islands: her mother was a native of that country. When they quitted it, to establish themselves in England, their family consisted of two sons and a daughter; so that, although the father was rich, this daughter had but a moderate portion.

The Christian-names, of Mary, Ann, Elizabeth, &c. which it was anciently the custom in this island for parents to bestow upon their daughters, began, some years ago, to be changed for Maria, Anna, Eliza. Those, with other royal, imperial, and poetical names, came afterwards so much in fashion, that Carolinas, Charlottas, Augustas, Julias, and Sophias, are now to be found in every alley of London; and particularly, as I have been told, in the environs of Covent-Garden and Drury-Lane. This being the case, it was not surprising that the mode was transported to our West-India islands.

The name of Mrs. Demure's father was Black; and the Christian name of her grandmother, from whom he looked for a legacy, Grizzel. The old lady expected that the child should be named after her; and both the parents agreed that it would be dangerous to disoblige her: they told her, however, that they wished to add two other very delightful names: and the old lady had the complaisance to say, That she had no objection to their giving their daughter as many names as they pleased, provided hers was one of them.' They had already prepared the two names which they thought best calculated to correct the vilifying impression of Grizzel. Mrs. Demure's maidenname, therefore, was Angelina Celestina Grizzel Black.

She was only nine years old when she came to England. At twelve or thirteen, when English females are generally considered as children, Angelina Celestina had much the appearance of a woman, She was already beautiful. The advance of time promised perfection to the rising beauties of her person, and opened fresh charms in her countenance. The effect of time, on the charms of the mother, was directly the reverse.-She did not perceive this in her looking-glass; but she became sensible of it in a manner still more mortifying, by an evident diminution in the attentions of the men, which began to turn from herself to her daughter; and the beauties of the one seemed to bloom in proportion as those of the other withered. The mother, at last, considered her daughter in the light of a thief, who stole from her those goods on which she put the highest value; and she felt an aversion for her accordingly.

With all the stress which some people put on what they call natural affection, this does not seem to me at all extraordinary; for what is more natural than to hate those whom we see enjoying what we have lost. I have heard the mother condemned, on that accouut, by men who had an abhorrence to the sight of their own nearest relations, for no other reason than because they were heirs to their estates: as if it were not more provoking to see another enjoying what you have been deprived of, during

your life, than merely to know that he is to possess it after your death And I shall leave it to any beautiful wo man to judge, whether it would not both mortify and provoke her more, to see her beauty, than to see her estate, transferred to another. Yet men are astonished that Mrs. Demure's mother should have a prejudice against her own daughter! It must be confessed, Mr. Grindill, that of all the inconsistent animals on earth, men are the most so. Your whole sex is a composition of vanity, caprice, and contradiction. I will not deny, however, that there are exceptions.

But to return to the history of Miss Angelina Celestina Grizzel Black.

Her father was an extravagant, thoughtless man, but extremely indulgent to his daughter. The mother had never loved her husband, and now disliked him more than ever, on account of that indulgence: she became daily more peevish and morose to her husband, and treated her daughter with augmenting severity. Young Angelina's disposition did not improve by the example of that mutual detestation which existed between her father and mo ther. She coaxed and laughed at the one, dreaded and hated the other, and tried to deceive both. The extravagance of the sons ruined the father's affairs, and brought him to his grave. Narrow circumstances increased the malignant tempers of the mother and daughter, who now lived in a state of most acrimonious discord with each other. The former was sometimes overheard pouring reproaches of a singular nature upon her daughter. Some people imputed these entirely to the intemperance of the woman; but it is not likely that a mother would accuse a daughter without foundation. The young lady, no doubt, heard of the rumours which those accusations gave rise to, for she became at once wonderfully circumspect, hypocritical, and prudish.

Having seen the distress which the ruinous state of her father's affairs had thrown his family into, she grew so fond of money, (a disposition she had never before manifested), that, in her opinion, life was not worth holding

without a great deal of it. To secure so essential an ar ticle, therefore, and to be relieved from the vexations of her mother, she accepted the hand of Mr. Demure, à man extremely rich, and extremely infirm, of the same character and the same age with her father, and of an appearance more disagreeable than men usually are at any age. He was generally confined one-half the year with the gout. She displayed a great deal of care and sympathy about this poor man, nursed him in his confinement, warmed his flannels, smoothed his pillow; and made him believe, at last, that she really had some affection for him.-What is so extravagant and inconsistent, that handsome women, assisted by men's vanity and self-love, cannot make them believe?

Some of those who were witnesses to her behaviour were so imposed on by the tender and sympathizing manner in which she performed those disgusting offices, that they adopted the opinion of her husband: as if it were not infinitely more likely, that a young woman should act the part of a hypocrite, which is so natural, and which the prejudices of men has rendered so necessary to young women, than that she should have an affection for an infirm man Besides, Mrs. Demure, from particular circumstances, had been even more habituated to dissimulation than She had been under the neyoung women usually are. cessity of concealing her feelings from an earlier date than common. She had served a long apprenticeship to hypocrisy and simulation.

After she took the intrepid step of marrying such a man as Mr. Demure, it was incumbent on her to over. come her disgust, however strong it might be, and seem to love him: it was equally incumbent on her to persevere till his death; had she relaxed in her caresses, he might have served her as Sir Jeremiah Mango did his lady.

Still some people were astonished that even those considerations could prevail on a woman, so formed for pleasure, to submit to so long a deprivation; for the man held out a full half year after her marriage; which, no doubt, was a longer period than she had calculated on.