LETTER XXVIII.

A facetious young Lady to her Aunt, ridiculing her serious

I

Dear Aunt,

Lover.

AM much obliged to you for the Kindnefs you intended me, in recommending Mr. Richards to me for a Hufband: But I must be fo free to tell you, he is a Man no Ways fuited to my Inclination. I defpife, 'tis true, the idle Rants of Romance; but I am inclinable to think there may be an Extreme on the other Side of the Question.

The firft Time the honeft Man came to fee me, in the Way you was pleafed to put into his Head, was one Sunday after Sermon Time. He began with telling me, what I found at my Finger Ends, that it was very cold; and politely blowed upon his. I immediately perceived that his Paffion for me could not keep him warm; and in Complaifance to your Recommendation, conducted him to the Fire Side. After he had pretty well rubbed Heat into his Hands, he ftood up with his Back to the Fire, and, with his Hands behind him, held up his Coat, that he might be warm all over; and looking about him, afked, with the Tranquility of a Man a Twelvemonth married, and juft come off a Journey, how all Friends did in the Country? I faid, I hoped very well; but would be glad to warm my Fingers. Cry Mercy, Madam!And then he fhuffled a little further 'from the Fire; and after two or three Hems, and a long Paufe

I have heard, fays he, a moft excellent Sermon juft now: Dr. Thomas is a fine Man truly: Did you ever hear him, Madam? No, Sir, I generally go to my own Parish Church. That's right, Madam, to be fure: What was your Subject To-Day? The Pharifee and the Publican, Sir. A very good one truly: Dr. Thomas would have made fine Work upon that Subject. His Text To-day was, Evil Communications corrupt good Manners. A good Subject, Sir, I doubt not but the Doctor made a fine Difcourfe upon it. O, ay, Madam, he cannot make a bad one upon any Subject.

I rung for the Tea-Kettle, for, thought I, we shall have all the Heads of the Sermon immediately.

At Tea he gave me an Account of all the religious Societies, unafked; and how many Boys they had put out 'Prentices, and Girls they had taught to knit, and fing Pfalms. To all which I gave a Nod of Approbation, and was juft able to fay, (for I began to be most horribly in the Vapours) it was a very excellent Charity. O, ay, Madam, faid he again, (for that's his Word I find) a very excellent one truly; it is fnatching fo many Brands out of the Fire. You are a Contributor, Sir, I doubt not. O, ay, Madam, to be fure, every good Man would contribute to fuch a worthy Charity, to be fure. No doubt, Sir, a Bleffing attends upon all who promote fo worthy a Defign. O, ay, Madam, no Doubt, as you fay: I am fure I have found it; bleffed be God! And then he twang'd his Nofe, and lifted up his Eyes, as if in an Ejaculation.

O, my good Aunt, what a Man is here for a Hufband! At laft came the happy Moment of his taking Leave; for I would not ask him to ftay Supper: And, moreover, he talked of going to a Lecture at St. He lens. And then, (though I had an Opportunity of faying. little more than Yes, and No, all the Time; for he took the Vapours he had put me into, for Devotion, or Gravity; at leaft, I believe fo) he preft my Hand, looked frightfully kind, and gave me to underftand, as a Mark of his Favour, that if upon further Converfation, and Enquiry into my Character, he fhould happen to like me as well as he did from my Behaviour and Perfon, why, truly, I need not fear, in Time, being bleffed with him for my Hufband!

This, my good Aunt, may be a mighty fafe Way of travelling towards the Land of Matrimony, as far as I know, but I cannot help wishing for a little more Entertainment on or Journey. I am willing to believe Mr. Richards an honeft Man; but am at the fame Time, afraid his religious Turn of Temper, however in itfelf commendable, would better fuit with a Woman who centers all Defert in a folemn Appearance, than with, dear Aunt,

Your greatly obliged Kinfwoman.

LET.

LETTER XXIX.

Her Aunt's Anfwer, rebuking her ludicrous Turn of Mind.
Coufin Jenny,

AM forry you think Mr. Richards fo unfuitable a Lover. He is a ferious, fober, good Man: And furely, when Serioufnefs and Sobriety make a neceffary Part of the Duty of a good Hufband, a good Father, and a good Mafter of a Family, thofe Characters should not be the Subject of Ridicule, in Perfons of our Sex especially, who would reap the Advantages from them. But he talks of the Weather when he first fees you, it feems; and would you have had him directly fall upon the Subject of Love the Moment he beheld you?

He vifited you juft after the Sermon on a Sunday; and was it fo unfuitable for him to let you fee, that the Duty of the Day had made proper Impreffions upon him?

His Turn for promoting the religious Societies, which you fpeak fo flightly of, deferves more regard from every good Perfon; for that fame Turn is a Kind of Security to a Woman, that he who had a benevolent and religious Heart could not make a bad Man, or a bad Husband. To put out poor Boys to 'Prentice, to teach Girls to fing Palms, would be with very few a Subject for Ridicule; for he that was fo willing to provide for the Children of others, would ftill take greater Care of his own.

He gave you to underftand, that if he liked your Character on Enquiry, as well as your Perfon and Behaviour, he should think himself very happy in such a Wife; for that, I dare fay, was more like his Language, than what you put in his Mouth: And let me tell you, it would have been a much stranger Speech, had fo cautious and ferious a Man faid, without a thorough Knowledge of your Character, that at the firft Sight he was over Head and Ears in love with you.

I think, allowing for the ridiculous Turn your airy Wit gives to this first Vifit, that, by your own Account, he acted like a prudent, ferious and worthy Man, as he is, and like one who thought flafhy Compliments beneath him in fo ferious an Affair as this.

Ithink, Coufin Jenny, this is not only a mighty safe Way, as you call it, of travelling towards the Land

of

of Matrimony, but to the Land of Happiness, with Refpect as well to the next World as this. And it is to be hoped, that the better Entertainment you so much wifh for on your Journey, may not lead you too much out of your Way, and divert your Mind from the principal View which you ought to have at your Journey's End.

In fhort, I fhould rather have wished that you could bring your Mind nearer to his Standard, than that he fhould bring down his to your Level. And you'd have found more Satisfaction in it than you imagine, could you have brought yourself to a little more of that folemn Appearance, which you treat fo lightly, and which, I think, in him is much more than meer Appearance.

Upon the whole, Coufin Jenny, I am forry, that a Woman of Virtue and Morals, as you are, fhould treat fo ludicrously, a ferious and pious Frame of Mind, in an Age wherein good Examples are fo rare, and to much wanted; tho', at the fame Time, I am far from offering to prefcribe to you in fo arduous an Affair as a Hufband; and with you and Mr. Richards too, fince you are fo differently difpofed, matched more fuitable to each other's Mind than you are likely to be together; . For I am

Your truly affectionate Aunt.

LETTER XXX.

A Sailor to his Sweetheart.

My dear Peggy,

IF of me

F you think of me half fo often as I do of you, it will be every Hour; for you are never out of my Thoughts; and when I am afleep, I conftantly dream of my dear Peggy. I wear my Half-Bit of Gold always at my Heart, tied to a blue Ribbon round my Neck; for True Blue, my dearest Love, is a Colour of Colours Where my Deareft do you put yours? I hope you are careful of it: For it would be a bad Omen to lofe it.

to me.

I hope you hold in the fame Mind ftill, my dearcft Dear: For God will never blefs you if you break the

Vows

Vows you have made to me. As to your ever faithful William, I would fooner have my Heart torn from my Breaft than it should harbour a Wifh for any other Woman befides my Peggy. O, my dearest Love! you are the Joy of my Life! my Thoughts are all of you; you are with me in all I do; and my Hopes and my Wishes are only to be yours. God fend it may be fo! Our Captain' talks of foon failing for England; and then, and then, my deareft Peggy -O how I rejoice, how my Heart beats with Delight that makes me I cannot tell how, when I think of arriving in England, and joining Hands with my Peggy, as we have our Hearts before, I hope. I am fure I fpeak for one.

John Arthur, in the good Ship Elizabeth, Captain Winterton, which is returning to England, as I hope we fhall foon, promifes to deliver this into your own dear Hand; and he will bring you too fix Bottles of Citron Water, as a Token of my Love. It is fit for the finest Lady's Tafte, it is fo good; and is what they fay Ladies drink, when they can get it.

John fays he will have one fweet Kifs of my deareft Peggy for his Care and Pains. So let him, my best Love; for I am not of a jealous Temper. I have a better Opinion of my Deareft, than fo. But oh! that I was in his Place !-One Kifs fhould not ferve my Turn, tho' I hope it may his.-Yet if he takes two, I'll forgive him, one for me and one for himself. For I love John dearly; and fo you may well think. Well, what fhall I fay more?-or rather what shall I fay next? for I have an hundred Things crowding in upon me, when I write to my Deareft; and alas, one has fo few Opportunities! but yet I must leave off; for I have written to the Bottom of my Paper. Love then to all Friends, and Duty to both our Mothers, conclude me

Your faithful Lover till Death. ›

LETTER XXXI.

Dear William,

Her Anfwer.

we and

Mother fays; this is to let you know that nothing

fhall