y brother
Robert was two years older, and might truly be termed the idol of his
parents, and the torment of the rest of the family. Such indeed is the
force of prejudice, that what was called spirit and wit in him, was
cruelly repressed as forwardness in me.

"My mother had an indolence of character, which prevented her from
paying much attention to our education. But the healthy breeze of a
neighbouring heath, on which we bounded at pleasure, volatilized the
humours that improper food might have generated. And to enjoy open
air and freedom, was paradise, after the unnatural restraint of our
fireside, where we were often obliged to sit three or four hours
together, without daring to utter a word, when my father was out
of humour, from want of employment, or of a variety of boisterous
amusement. I had however one advantage, an instructor, the brother of my
father, who, intended for the church, had of course received a liberal
education. But, becoming attached to a young lady of great beauty and
large fortune, and acquiring in the world some opinions not consonant
with the profession for which he was designed, he accepted, with the
most sanguine expectations of success, the offer of a nobleman to
accompany him to India, as his confidential secretary.

"A correspondence was regularly kept up with the object of his
affection; and the intricacies of business, peculiarly wearisome to a
man of a romantic turn of mind, contributed, with a forced absence,
to increase his attachment. Every other passion was lost in this
master-one, and only served to swell the torrent. Her relations, such
were his waking dreams, who had despised him, would court in their turn
his alliance, and all the blandishments of taste would grace the triumph
of love.--While he basked in the warm sunshine of love, friendship also
promised to shed its dewy freshness; for a friend, whom he loved next to
his mistress, was the confident, who forwarded the letters from one to
the other, to elude the observation of prying relations. A friend false
in similar circumstances, is, my dearest girl, an old tale; yet, let not
this example, or the frigid caution of coldblooded moralists, make you
endeavour to stifle hopes, which are the buds that naturally unfold
themselves during the spring of life! Whilst your own heart is sincere,
always expect to meet one glowing with the same sentiments; for to fly
from pleasure, is not to avoid pain!

"My uncle realized, by good