in one I gave a loose to passion and despair in expressions little short of phrensy: all these I constantly destroyed; for as I had not the heart to write angrily to him, so I dreaded to appear mean in his eyes, if I was too plaintive; nay, I was not sure, since his fortune had become so superior to mine, but I might lay myself open to a charge of the most despicable nature.

Thus my time passed, till yesterday morning, upon observing the house in one of those bustles which the expectation of a visitor creates in small families, I found my good hostess deeply engaged with her pastry, and having myself become a considerable adept in the art under her tuition, I was putting myself in order to assist her in her preparations, when turning to me with a smile, which seemed to spring from joy as well as benevolence- Come, my dear child,' says she, 'I have been at work this hour; and if you had known it was to entertain a friend of your father's, I am persuaded you would not have let me been so long beforehand with you.' I asked her who it was she expected- No matter,' she replied, fall to your work, and do your best, like a good girl, for your mistress's credit as well as your own.'-The significant look with which she accompanied these words set my heart into such a flutter that my hands no longer obeyed me in the task I undertook, till having spilied the milk, overthrown the eggs, and put every thing into the same confusion with myself, I burst into a flood of tears, which ended in a strong hysteric fit. My screams brought the good man of the house and every body in it to my assistance; but judge of my condition, betwixt joy, astonishment, and terror, when the figure of my beloved Constant presented itself to my eyes; my God! he exclaimed, and started back aghast, then sprung to my assistance, and clasping

me in his arms, lifted me at once from the floor, and ran with me into the parlour, where there was a couch,-My life! my soul! was all he could say, for he was like a man beside himself with fright and agony, till I recovered; this was at last effected by a plentiful relief of tears, and then I found myself alone with my beloved Henry, my head reclined upon his neck, and him supporting my whole weight in his arms, whilst he knelt on one knee at my feet; no sooner had I recollected myself than the blood, that had been driven from my cheeks during my fit, rushed back again with violence and covered me with blushes. Henry's transports now became as vehement as his terrors had been, and loosing his hold of me for a moment, whilst he fixed his eyes upon me with an ardour that confounded me so as almost to deprive me of speech or motion, he again caught me in his arms, and pressing me eagerly to his breast almost smothered me with caresses. He then quitted me altogether, and throwing himself on his knees at my feet, entreated me to forgive him, if he had offended me: he had been distracted between joy and terror, and scarce knew what he had done; he proceeded to account for the motives of his conduct towards me, both when he wrote the letter to me from Plymouth, and for every moment of his time since: that he had set off for London the very day he wrote, had sought you out, and conversed fully with you upon the effects his letter had produced; that, hearing I was come to this place, he would have followed me with an immediate explanation, if you had not prevailed with him to the contrary (for which advice I cannot now find in my heart to condemn you): that, however, he had placed himself within two miles of me in a neighbouring village, where he had daily inter

VOL. I.

E

course with the worthy vicar, who gave him punctual intelligence of the state of my mind, and the total revolution effected in it: that what he suffered during the state of trial and suspense no words of his could paint, but the accounts he received of me from this good man, and the benefits he knew I was gaining by his counsel and conversation, kept him from discovering himself, till he had permission for so doing; that he threw himself upon my candour and good sense for justification in the honest artifice he had made use of, and now that I added to my good qualities those religious and domestic virtues which the society of unbelieving pedants had obscured, but not extinguished, he hoped there was no further bar in the way of our mutual happiness; but that I would condescend to accept a man whose heart and soul were devoted to me, and who had one recommendation at least to offer in his own behalf, which he flattered himself no other person could produce, and which he was sure would have some weight with me: so saying, he put a letter into my hands, which I had no sooner glanced my eye upon than, perceiving it was the well known handwriting of my ever honoured and lamented father, I sunk back upon the couch and dissolved again into tears even the manly heart of my Henry now gave way, and the sad remembrance of his departed friend melted his brave bosom into all the softness of a woman's. Then, Sir, oh, then indeed I loved him, then he triumphed in my heart; how dear, how noble, how almost divine did he then appear! his eyes, whose ardent raptures had affrighted me, now, when I saw them bathed in tears, inspired me with the purest passion, and contemplating him with the affection of a sister, not regarding him as a lover, I cast off all reserve, and following the impulse of the

soul, dearest and best of men! I cried-and sunk into his arms.

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Thus, Sir, you have the full and unreserved account to which your friendship is entitled; still there remains one act of kindness in your power to show me, and which my Henry jointly with myself solicits, which is, that you would stand in the place of your deceased friend upon our marriage, and complete the kind part you have taken in my welfare, by joining my hand with that of the most deserving man on earth.

I had almost forgot to mention to you a circumstance that passed as we were sitting at table after dinner, and by which our good friend the Vicar undesignedly threw me into a confusion that was exceedingly distressing, by repeating some verses from Pope's Essay on Man, in which he applied to me to help him out in his quotation: I certainly remembered the passage, and could have supplied his memory with the words; but Henry being present, and the recollection of what had passed on the subject of poetry rushing on my mind, at the same time I thought I saw him glance a significant look at me, threw me into such embarrassment on the sudden that, in vain endeavouring to evade the subject, and being pressed a little unseasonably by the Vicar, my spirits also being greatly fluttered by the events of the morning, I could no longer command myself, but burst into tears, and very narrowly escaped falling into a second hysteric. Nothing ever equaled the tenderness of Henry on this occasion; nay, I thought I could discover that he was secretly pleased with the event, as it betrayed a consciousness of former vanities, and seemed to prove that I repented of them: whatever interpretation he might put upon it, still I could not bring myself to repeat the verses;

and believe I shall never utter another couplet whilst I live; I am certain I shall never make one.

"I enclose you a copy of my father's letter to Henry and am, Sir,

"Your sincere friend,

" and most obliged servant,
"ANNE

Though the letter, of which my amiable correspondent has enclosed a copy, is hastily written in the bustle and hurry of service, yet, as it breathes the sentiments of the friend, the father, and the hero, and as every relic of so venerable a character is, in my opinion at least, too precious not to be preserved, I shall take permission of the reader to subjoin it.

"DEAR HARRY,

"This perverse wind has at last taken shame at confining so many brave fellows in port, and come about to the east, so that we are all in high spirits getting under weigh: the commissioners' yacht is along side, and I drop these few lines by way of farewell to assure my brave lad, that whether we meet again or not, you shall not hear a bad account of your old shipmate, nor, with God's blessing, of his crew. I think we shall soon come into action, and that being the case, d'ye see, few words and fair dealing are best between friends: you tell me, if you get a prize, you mean to marry Nancy; that is honest, for the girl is cruelly in love with you, and I like her the better for it; a seaman's daughter should be a seaman's friend; and, without flattery, I don't believe a braver lad ever trod a plank in the king's service than yourself-so enough of that, you have my consent, and with it all the fortune I have to bestow, which is little more than my blessing.