, and those parts
of the lady's will which still remain unexecuted; after which the Colonel
addressed himself to me in a manner which gave me some surprise.

He flattered himself, he said, from my present happy turn, and from my
good constitution, that I should live a great many years. It was
therefore his request, that I would consent to be his executor; since it
was impossible for him to make a better choice, or pursue a better
example, than his cousin had set.

His heart, he said was in it: there were some things in his cousin's will
and his analogous: and he had named one person to me, with whom he was
sure I would not refuse to be joined: and to whom he intended to apply
for his consent, when he had obtained mine.* [Intimating, as far as I
could gather, that it was Mr. Hickman, son of Sir Charles Hickman; to
whom I know your Lordship is not a stranger: for he said, Every one who
was dear to his beloved cousin, must be so to him: and he knew that the
gentleman who he had thoughts of, would have, besides my advice and
assistance, the advice of one of the most sensible ladies in England.]

* What is between crotchets, thus [ ], Mr. Belford omitted in the
transcription of this Letter to Miss Howe.

He took my hand, seeing me under some surprise: you must not hesitate,
much less deny me, Mr. Belford. Indeed you must not. Two things I will
assure you of: that I have, as I hope, made every thing so clear that you
cannot have any litigation: and that I have done so justly, and I hope it
will be thought so generously, by all my relations, that a mind like
your's will rather have pleasure than pain in the execution of this
trust. And this is what I think every honest man, who hopes to find an
honest man for his executor, should do.

I told him, that I was greatly obliged to him for his good opinion of me:
that it was so much every man's duty to be an honest man, that it could
not be interpreted as vanity to say, that I had no doubt to be found so.
But if I accepted of this trust, it must be on condition--

I could name no condition, he said, interrupting me, which he would
refuse to comply with.

This condition, I told him, was, that as there was as great a probability
of his being my survivor, as I his, he would permit me to name him for
mine; and, in that case, a week should not pass before I made my will.

With all his heart, he said; and the readier, as he had no apprehensions
of suddenly dying; for what