This must be horribly stupid stuff to you, Fairfax: therefore pay me in
my own coin; be as dull as you sometimes know how, and bid me complain
if I dare.

C. CLIFTON




LETTER XXIX

_Louisa Clifton to Coke Clifton_

_Rose-Bank_

I write, dear brother, in answer to your last, that I may not by any
neglect of mine contribute to the mistake in which you are at present.
Your letter shews that you suppose your sister to be vain,
presumptuous, and rude; and, such being your feelings, I am far from
blaming you for having expressed them.

Still, brother, I must be sincere, and I would by no means have it
understood that I think you have chosen the best manner of expressing
them; for it is not the manner which, if I have such faults, would be
most likely to produce reformation. But your intention has been to
humble me; and, desiring to be sarcastic, you have not failed in
producing your intended effect. I am sincerely glad of it: had you
shewn that desire without the power, I should have been as sincerely
sorry. But where there is mind there is the material from which every