or by some smart bon-mot, and witty repartee. We are handsome my
dear Charlotte, very handsome and the greatest of our Perfections
is, that we are entirely insensible of them ourselves. But why
do I thus dwell on myself! Let me rather repeat the praise of
our dear little Neice the innocent Louisa, who is at present
sweetly smiling in a gentle Nap, as she reposes on the sofa. The
dear Creature is just turned of two years old; as handsome as
tho' 2 and 20, as sensible as tho' 2 and 30, and as prudent as
tho' 2 and 40. To convince you of this, I must inform you that
she has a very fine complexion and very pretty features, that she
already knows the two first letters in the Alphabet, and that she
never tears her frocks--. If I have not now convinced you of her
Beauty, Sense and Prudence, I have nothing more to urge in
support of my assertion, and you will therefore have no way of
deciding the Affair but by coming to Lesley-Castle, and by a
personal acquaintance with Louisa, determine for yourself. Ah!
my dear Freind, how happy should I be to see you within these
venerable Walls! It is now four years since my removal from
School has separated me from you; that two such tender Hearts, so
closely linked together by the ties of simpathy and Freindship,
should be so widely removed from each other, is vastly moving. I
live in Perthshire, You in Sussex. We might meet in London, were
my Father disposed to carry me there, and were your Mother to be
there at the same time. We might meet at Bath, at Tunbridge, or
anywhere else indeed, could we but be at the same place together.
We have only to hope that such a period may arrive. My Father
does not return to us till Autumn; my Brother will leave Scotland
in a few Days; he is impatient to travel. Mistaken Youth! He
vainly flatters himself that change of Air will heal the Wounds
of a broken Heart! You will join with me I am certain my dear