well educated, but his mother was compelled to accept the offer of a
neighbour who took compassion on her, and he was brought up to the
watchmaking trade in Bath. He had to work long hours and endure
many hardships which it might be supposed would tend to repress the
sallies of the most lively imagination, but some men are so
constituted that adverse circumstances do but stimulate a search for
compensation. So it was with him. In his leisure hours he studied
not only horological science but the works of our great English
authors.

I was so much attracted to the watchmaker that I often called on
him, when I had no business with him. He had a wife and daughter,
both of whom were his companions. Melissa, the daughter, was about
nineteen. She was not beautiful according to the Grecian model, but
her figure was elegant, there was depth in her eyes, and she was
always dressed with simplicity and taste. She spoke correctly, and
surprised me by the justness of her observations, not merely on
local and personal matters, but upon subjects with which women of
more exalted rank are not usually familiar. Admission had been
refused to her by every school in Bath, but she had been taken in
charge by two elderly gentlewomen, distant relations of her
grandfather, who had instructed her in the usual branches of polite
learning, including French. I will content myself, Mr. Rambler,
with informing you that I fell in love with Melissa, and that she
did not discourage my attentions. I had not altogether overlooked
the possibility of embarrassment at A., but my passion prevented the
clear foresight of consequences. I have often found that evils
which are imaginary will press upon me with singular vivacity, while
those which may with certainty be deduced from any action are but
obscurely apprehended, so that in fact intensity of colour is an