returned to Mr. Belford, that he might order the two directed
copies of them to be taken.

In one of these letters Mr. Belford requests Miss Howe to give the
character of the friend she so dearly loved: 'A task, he imagines,
that will be as agreeable to herself, as worthy of her pen.'

'I am more especially curious to know,' says he, 'what was that
particular disposition of her time, which I find mentioned in a
letter which I have just dipt into, where her sister is enviously
reproaching her on that score.* This information may
enable me,' says he, 'to account for what has often surprised me:
how, at so tender an age, this admirable lady became mistress of
such extraordinary and such various qualifications.'

* See Vol. I. Letter XLII.

LETTER LV

MISS HOWE, TO JOHN BELFORD, ESQ.
THURSDAY, OCT. 12.

SIR,

I am incapable of doing justice to the character of my beloved friend;
and that not only from want of talents, but from grief; which, I think,
rather increases than diminishes by time; and which will not let me sit
down to a task that requires so much thought, and a greater degree of
accuracy than I ever believed myself mistress of. And yet I so well
approve of your motion, that I will throw into your hands a few
materials, that may serve by way of supplement, as I may say, to those
you will be able to collect from the papers themselves; from Col.
Morden's letters to you, particularly that of Sept. 23;* and from the
letters of the detestable wretch himself, who, I find, has done her
justice, although to his own condemnation: all these together will enable
you, who seem to be so great an admirer of her virtues, to perform the
task; and, I think, better than any person I know. But I make it my
request, that if you do any thing in this way, you will let me see it.
If I find it not to my mind, I will add or diminish, as justice shall
require. She was a wonderful creature from her infancy: but I suppose
you intend to give a character of her at those years when she was
qualified to be an example to other young ladies, rather than a history
of her life.

*See Letter XLV. of this volume.

Perhaps, nevertheless, you will choose to give a description of her
person: and as you knew not the dear creature when her heart was easy,
I will tell you what yet, in part, you can confirm:

That her shape was so fine, her proportion so exact, her features