fraid to venture out;--afraid to appear amidst her
shining perfections.--Vile, abandon'd Smith!--But for the sake of his
injur'd, unhappy wife, I will not discover his baseness to any but
yourself and Lady Powis.--Perhaps Mrs. Smith may not be unacquainted
with his innate bad principles;--perhaps she conceals her knowledge of
them knowing it vain to complain of a disorder which is past the reach
of medicine.--What cure is there for mischief lurking under the mask of
hypocrisy?--It must be of long standing before that covering can grow
over it:--like a vellum on the eye, though taken off ever skillfully, it
will again spread on the blemish'd sight.

How am I running on!--My spirits are flutter'd:--I begin where I should
end, and end where I should begin.--Behold me, dearest Madam, just
parted from my Hampshire friends,--silent and in tears, plac'd by the
side of my miscreant conductor.--You know, my Lady, this specious man
_can_ make himself vastly entertaining: he strove to render his
conversation particularly so, on our first setting out.

We had travell'd several stages without varying the subject, which was
that of our intended tour, when I said I hop'd it would conquer Mrs.
Smith's melancholy for the death of her brother.--How did his answer
change him in a moment from the _most_ agreeable to the _most_
disgustful of his sex!

My wife, Miss Warley, with a leer that made him look dreadful, wants
your charming sprightliness:--it is a curs'd thing to be connected with
a gloomy woman:--

_Gloomy_, Sir! casting at him a look of disdain; do you call mildness,
complacency, and evenness of temper, _gloomy?_

She is much altered, Madam;--is grown old and peevish;--her health is
bad;--she cannot live long.

Mrs. Smith can never be _peevish_, Sir;--and as to her _age_, I thought
it pretty near your _own_.

No, no, Madam, you are quite mistaken; I am at least five years younger.

Five years, Sir! what are five years at _your_ time of life!

Come, come, Miss Warley, laying his huge paw on my hand, and in a tone
of voice that shew'd him heartily nettled;--even at _my_ time of life I
can admire a beautiful young Lady.--If my wife should die,--_old as I
am_--men _older_ than myself, with half my estate, have married some of
the finest women in the kingdom.

Very likely, Sir;--but then it is to be suppos'd the characters of
_such_ men have been particularly amiable,--No man or woman of honour
can esteem another whose pri