settled state of her native country on the commencement of the revolutionary war. The same

· process, with the exception of two papers,* and for the same reasons, was repeated some years after, when she went from England to France. During her residence in England she wrote much, and her subsequent regret was greater for its destruction.+ She afterward either dis

* See Appendix, No. II. for copies of these two papers.

Since writing this sentence, the editor had reason to hope that something of importance, written by Miss Laurens, while in England, was still in existence, and in the possession of her intimate friend, Mrs. Brailsford; accordingly he, by letter, asked for information, and requested, if such writing existed, to be favoured with its perusal. To his application the following answer was returned.

SIR,

In consequence of your application of yesterday, I enclose for your perusal two small books of reflections given me many years since, by my late much loved friend, dear Mrs. Ramsay; but under such injunctions that no human eye but my own should ever see them, that I never thought myself at liberty to show them, even to my beloved mother, and I can scarcely think myself justified in doing what I now do. Yet the very close relation in which you were united to her, makes me particularly anxious to comply with your request; and I trust if her pure and highly exalted spirit now beholds me, she does not disapprove this act. I beg to be most affectionately remem bered to your dear family,

And remain, Sir,

Your humble servant,

ELIZABETH BRAILSFORD.

June 29, 1811.

For the papers thus providentially brought to view, though

continued writing, or destroyed what she wrote, for no papers of any consequence have been found among her manuscripts, as written during the subsequent seven years of her residence in Europe.

During the first years of the American revolution, and for a short period after its termination, Miss Laurens resided in various parts of England, improving her mind and preparing herself for meeting the contemplated loss of her father, brother, and fortune by the events of the war, and at the same time doing every office of love to her afflicted uncle. She afterward continued the same kind services to him for several years in France. In that country, in the year 1784, he was released by death,* from a long protracted painful complaint, under which he had laboured for the last ten years of his life; and his surviving friends, with pious sacrilege, stole for him a grave, in which they deposited his remains. Mr. James Laurens having no

their existence was unknown and unsuspected when this work. commenced, see Appendix, No. IV.

* When Mr. James Laurens died in Vigan, his niece Martha Laurens was with her father in England. She started out of bed, and pronounced that her uncle was just dead; and at her request, the day and hour was committed to writing, by Miss Futerell. In the ordinary course of the posts between the two countries, intelligence of his death arrived, and the day and hour of it precisely corresponded with what had been recorded as aforesaid in England.

children of his own, proposed to leave the bulk of his estate to Miss Laurens, his faithful nurse and affectionate niece; but she peremptorily refused the acceptance thereof to the deterioration of the reasonable expectations of her brothers and sister. The will was framed agreeable to her wishes; but the testator, in addition to a child's share, left her a specific legacy of five hundred pounds sterling, declared in his will to be "a token of his friendship for her; and as an acknowledgment for the services she had rendered to him and his family, and for her good and gentle conduct upon all occasions."

While Miss Laurens resided in England, she formed an acquaintance with many persons eminent for their piety, and particularly with the Countess of Huntingdon, by whom she was very much noticed. She highly prized the company of such persons, and from them received both pleasure and improvement.

After the treaty of France with congress, in 1778, and particularly the rejection in the same year of the offers of Great Britain, for a reunion with her late colonies, the situation of the Carolina Laurens family in England was unpleasant. . Henry Laurens was at that time president of congress, and had officially conducted the correspondence of that body with the British commissioners, which terminated in a rejection of their offers. Miss Laurens was often obliged

to hear her native country abused, and to read and hear her beloved father calumniated as a fomenter of the disputes between Britain and her colonies; and as an aspiring ambitious man, wishing to rise to consequence at every hazard; but taught by his sage advice, and her own good sense, she shunned all political controversy. Unable to render her suffering country any other service, she daily offered up her fervent prayers in its behalf.

Mr. James Laurens, his two nieces, and their aunt, or second mother, finding it expedient to leave England, passed over to France, and lived there till the re-establishment of peace. During the greatest part of this period, of six or seven years, and the whole of the time of their residence in England, they were almost wholly cut off from their usual means of support, for their property was in America, three thousand miles distant.-War raged, and the Atlantic ocean rolled between them and it. In this forlorn situation they found ample occasion for all the comforts of that religion which they professed. The greatest economy was necessary, A residence in Vigan was preferred on account of the cheapness of living. There Miss Laurens spent her time usefully to her uncle, profitably to herself, and as pleasantly as straitened circum- stances, anxiety for her friends and native coun-try, then the seat of war, would permit. She

had many opportunities of improving her mind by reading and conversation, which she diligently improved. She and the family of her uncle received great civilities from the French, for the same reasons that they received slights from the English. But nevertheless, they had all abundant scope for the exercise of faith, patience, and trust in that Being to whom they had committed all their concerns. Love to their common Father in heaven, and love and harmony among themselves, sweetened their frugal repasts, and took away the bitterness of the cup of affliction from which they were obliged deeply to drink.

In the year 1780, Miss Laurens's Father was taken a prisoner, and confined on a charge of high treason in the tower of London, and his life staked on the success of the American revolution! If that had failed, it would have been easy to have convicted him of the crime with which he was charged, and not easy to have saved him from the penalty annexed to it. The disorder of her uncle became daily worse, and required unceasing attention by night and by day. Charleston was taken by the British; Carolina overrun by their armies; remittances were not only rendered impossible, but the loss of the whole capital extremely probable. The alarms of her father at the commencement of the war, seemed to be on the point of being