Ed. Rivers.

Major Melmoth tells me, they are to be married in a month at
Quebec, and to embark immediately for England. I will not be there; I
cannot bear to see her devote herself to wretchedness: she will be the
most unhappy of her sex with this man; I see clearly into his
character; his virtue is the meer absence of vice; his good qualities
are all of the negative kind.



LETTER 19.


To Miss Fermor, at Silleri.

Montreal, Sept. 24.

I have but a moment, my dear, to acknowledge your last; this week
has been a continual hurry.

You mistake me; it is not the romantic passion of fifteen I wish to
feel, but that tender lively friendship which alone can give charms to
so intimate an union as that of marriage. I wish a greater conformity
in our characters, in our sentiments, in our tastes.

But I will say no more on this subject till I have the pleasure of
seeing you at Silleri. Mrs. Melmoth and I come in a ship which sails
in a day or two; they tell us, it is the most agreeable way of coming:
Colonel Rivers is so polite, as to stay to accompany us down: Major