judgment and keen eye most persons feared, absolutely abashed. He reddened, and even stammered, in uttering the common phrases necessary on an occasion, to others so common, to him so trying. Not so the object of his admiration, who, with all the self-possession which he wanted, but mingled with that natural sweetness which no other woman ever had, reminded him that they had met before in scenes very different from this. To this he assented, and would have said something about the pastoral valleys, and the banks of the Rhine; but his voice failed, and I really feared he was ill. Strange as it appeared, at least to me, it was the very sincerity of his admiration that was his enemy; for never did lover present himself for a first time to his mistress under such disadvantage. It was therefore with joy that I saw the party pass on, after the Marquis had begged him to renew their old acquaintance by visiting him in town. " As you seem fond of the Rhine," said he, "I will show you some drawings of it, which I think you will like; and if you do, as she knows you are an artist, it will please Lady Isabel, whose works in fact they are."

This called up an ingenuous blush on the cheek of the Lady, and completed (if it wanted completion,) the thraldom and confusion of my once

VOL. II.

F

bold cousin. He seemed, indeed, the reverse of Cymon; for his Iphigenia, instead of animating him into increased energy, appeared to have damped all that which he really possessed.

I know not if those who may read this story will like it well enough to wish me to proceed. But as I like it myself, I shall probably return to it hereafter. At present I hasten to the great subject at large, as it will be learnedly treated in the Second Part of these memoirs.

END OF THE FIRST PART.

PART II.

TO THE

WHO, THOUGH HER MODEST NATURE MAY PREVENT HER DISCOVERING IT, WAS THE PROTOTYPE OF THE LADY ISABEL DESCRIBED IN THEM, THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED.

OF LOVE.

LOVERS, COQUETS, MARRIAGE, AND OTHER SUCH MATTERS, INTERESTING TO ALL YOUNG PEOPLE,

AND PERHAPS TO SOME OLD ONES.

Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit,

The power of beauty I remember yet,

Which once inflam'd my soul, and still inspires my wit.

DRYDEN.

I HAVE no doubt that the little incipient love-tale with which I closed the first part of these my lucubrations, will be thought much the most amusing of all I have hitherto presented to the reader; and I apprehend that, from its title, this Second Part will be thought by far the most interesting division of my memoirs. As my first

anecdote, however, relates to myself, I must preface it with a confession, of which I am not a little ashamed, but which truth compels me to make.

Will the reader be surprised (if he knows any thing of the heart he will not), that, spite of Etheredge's admonitions, I fell in love with Lady Laura? To be sure, my Mentor was absent on an affair of his own; but he found me deep on his return.

had more

The death of Much was to be said for me. an uncle, soon after that of my father, than doubled my fortune, which was large before; and the Wilmingtons were perpetually inviting me. I could not find out whether Lady Laura did or did not approve this. I believe she thought me not accomplished enough; yet she encouraged me. But she was a coquet, and I need say no more. Perpetual meetings, and perpetual display, added to this encouragement, did much against me. I was but three-and-twenty, and I forgot all my fascination came on unawares. Etheredge's warnings, or, as I thought them, prejudices. He is too much occupied with another," I said, "to see her real merit." In short, I grew what is called in love.

66

Now every one knows, who knows any thing, that this sort of position is reducible to no fixed principle. It defies reason, prudence, foresight,

or inquiry, to say how it comes, and certainly how it goes: for go it does, as suddenly as it In short, it cannot be analyzed, though it may be described; and I only pretend to describe.

comes.

66

What says La Bruyère? "L'amour nait brusquement, sans autre réflexion, par tempérament ou par foiblesse." If so, how can I be blamed for loving Lady Laura? Un trait de beauté nous fixe, nous détermine;" and my authority goes on to say, that while friendship proceeds by slow degrees, and requires years of good offices to bring it to perfection, a beautiful face, or a beautiful hand may, in love, effect it in a moment. La Bruyère ought to have added, and I wonder he did not, that the beautiful face or hand occasioning the fit, defies, while it lasts, all antecedent caution; nay, perhaps, or probably, such caution may tend much to produce the very dilemma it was intended to prevent. To finish the comment, he ought to have told you that, as what he was talking of was merely capricious love, it might cease as unaccountably as it

arose.

"A look may banish, as a look create."

How it is created, when, and to what extent, in what given time, and how soon, and from what causes it may be extinguished, have escaped all