LETTER XXV

_Coke Clifton to His Sister, Louisa Clifton_

_Paris, Hotel de l'Universite, pres le Pont Royal_

I write agreeably to your desire, sister, to thank you for all
obligations, not forgetting your advice. Not but I am excessively
obliged to you; I am upon my soul, and seriously, for having done me
the favour to bring me acquainted with your charming friend. I have
seen many women and in many countries, but I never beheld one so sweet,
so beautiful, so captivating! I had heard of her before I left England,
her fame had reached Italy, and your letters had raised my
expectations. But what were these? The accomplishments and graces of
her person, the variety, the pleasure inspiring heaven of her
countenance, the cupids that wanton in her dimples, and the delights
that swim and glisten in her eyes, are each and all exquisite beyond
imagination!

Whatever you may think of me, Louisa, I do persuade myself I know
something of women. I have studied them at home and abroad, and have
often probed them to the soul. But I never before met with any one in
the least comparable to the divine Anna! She is so unreserved, so open,
that her soul seems to dwell upon her lips. Yet her thoughts are so
rapid, and her mind so capacious, that I am persuaded it will cost me
much longer time to know her well than any other woman with whom I ever
met.