cheered by the sight of a comfortable fire--. She was a widow
and had only one Daughter, who was then just seventeen--One of
the best of ages; but alas! she was very plain and her name was
Bridget. . . . . Nothing therfore could be expected from her--she
could not be supposed to possess either exalted Ideas, Delicate
Feelings or refined Sensibilities--. She was nothing more than a
mere good-tempered, civil and obliging young woman; as such we
could scarcely dislike here--she was only an Object of Contempt
--.
Adeiu
Laura.



LETTER the 14th
LAURA in continuation

Arm yourself my amiable young Freind with all the philosophy you
are Mistress of; summon up all the fortitude you possess, for
alas! in the perusal of the following Pages your sensibility
will be most severely tried. Ah! what were the misfortunes I
had before experienced and which I have already related to you,
to the one I am now going to inform you of. The Death of my
Father and my Mother and my Husband though almost more than my
gentle Nature could support, were trifles in comparison to the
misfortune I am now proceeding to relate. The morning after our
arrival at the Cottage, Sophia complained of a violent pain in
her delicate limbs, accompanied with a disagreable Head-ake She
attributed it to a cold caught by her continued faintings in the
open air as the Dew was falling the Evening before. This I