that her wit is even superior to her beauty. I am very glad of the
accident, for I have a great desire to see her. My mother's last was
partly a letter of business, but chiefly of recommendation,
particularly of the young lady: and in it was enclosed one from my
sister, Louisa, which gives a very high character of her friend, Anna
St. Ives. They have become acquainted since I have been abroad. The
letter is loaded with advice to me, at which as you may well think I
laugh. These girls, tied to their mother's apron-strings, pretend to
advise a man who has seen the world! But vanity and conceit are strange
propensities, that totally blind the eyes of their possessors. I have
lived but little at home, but I always thought the young lady a forward
imperious miss; yet I never before knew her so much on the stilts. I
expect she will soon put on boots and buckskin, and horsewhip her
fellows herself; for she improves apace.

Once more farewell.




LETTER XX

_Anna Wenbourne St. Ives to Louisa Clifton_

_Paris, Hotel d'Espagne, Rue Guenegaude_,

_Fauxbourg St. Germain_

After abundance of jolting in carriages, sea sickness, and such-like
trifling accidents, incidental to us travellers, here we are at last,