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 extreme admiration 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 therefore submit 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