16.--To the Hon. Augusta Byron.


[Castle Howard, Malton, Yorkshire.]

Harrow-on-the-Hill, Novr., Saturday, 17th, 1804.


I am glad to hear, My dear Sister, that you like Castle Howard so
well, I have no doubt what you say is true and that Lord C. is much
more amiable than he has been represented to me. Never having been
much with him and always hearing him reviled, it was hardly possible I
should have conceived a very _great friendship_ for his L'dship. My
mother, you inform me, commends my _amiable disposition_ and _good
understanding;_ if she does this to you, it is a great deal more than
I ever hear myself, for the one or the other is always found fault
with, and I am told to copy the _excellent pattern_ which I see before
me in _herself._ You have got an invitation too, you may accept it if
you please, but if you value your own comfort, and like a pleasant
situation, I advise you to avoid Southwell.--I thank you, My dear
Augusta, for your readiness to assist me, and will in some manner
avail myself of it; I do not however wish to be separated from _her_
entirely, but not to be so much with her as I hitherto have been, for
I do believe she likes me; she manifests that in many instances,
particularly with regard to money, which I never want, and have as
much as I desire. But her conduct is so strange, her caprices so
impossible to be complied with, her passions so outrageous, that the