family, and know that it is reciprocal; I therefore cannot help
thinking that you would mutually be lost to each other. The
friends, too, which you have here, are of the highest and most
desirable class. To quit them, in order to make new friendships
in a strange land, in which the generality of its inhabitants at
present seem incapable of such virtues as friendship is built
upon, seems wild and visionary.

If M. d'Arblay had a sufficient establishment here for the
purposes of credit and comfort, and determined to settle here for
life, I should certainly think ourselves honoured by his alliance
; but his situation is at present so very remote from all that
can satisfy prudence, or reconcile to an affectionate father the
idea of a serious attachment, that I tremble for your heart and
future happiness. M. d'Arblay must have lived too long in the
great world to accommodate himself
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contentedly to the little. his fate seems so intimately connected
with that of his miserable country, and that country seems at a
greater distance from peace, order, and tranquillity now than it
has done at any time since the Revolution.

These considerations, and the uncertainty Of what party will
finally prevail, make me tremble for you both. You see, by what I
have said, that my objections are not personal, but wholly
prudential. For heaven's sake, my dear Fanny, do not part with
your heart too rapidly, or involve yourself in deep engagements
which it will be difficult to dissolve; and to the last degree
imprudent, as things are at present circumstanced, to fulfil.