at he justly, as
well as greatly, admires Miss Byron.

My heart rose against myself. Bold Harriet, thought I, how darest thou
thus urge a good man to say more than he has a mind to say of the secrets
of a friend, which are committed to his keeping? Content thyself with
the hopes, that the worthiest man in the world would wish to call thee
his, were it not for an invincible obstacle. And noble, thrice noble
Clementina, be thine the preference even in the heart of Harriet Byron,
because justice gives it to thee; for, Harriet, hast thou not been taught
to prefer right and justice to every other consideration? And, wouldst
thou abhor the thought of a common theft, yet steal an heart that is the
property, and that by the dearest purchase, of another?

LETTER XVIII

MISS BYRON.--IN CONTINUATION
FRIDAY EVENING.

We have had a great debate about the place in which the nuptial ceremony
is to be performed.

Charlotte, the perverse Charlotte, insisted upon not going to church.

Lord G---- dared not to give his opinion; though his father and Lady
Gertrude, as well as every other person, were against her.

Lord L---- said, that if fine ladies thought so slightly of the office,
as that it might be performed anywhere, it would be no wonder, if fine
gentlemen thought still more slightly of the obligation it laid them
under.

Being appealed to, I said, that I thought of marriage as one of the most
solemn acts of a woman's life.

And if of a woman's, of a man's, surely, interrupted Lady L----. If your
whimsey, Charlotte, added she, arises from modesty, you reflect upon your
sister; and, what is worse, upon your mother.

Charlotte put up her pretty lip, and was unconvinced.

Lady Gertrude laid a heavy hand upon the affectation; yet admires her
niece-elect. She distinguished between chamber-vows and church-vows.
She mentioned the word decency. She spoke plainer, on Charlotte's
unfeeling perverseness. If a bride meant a compliment by it to the
bridegroom, that was another thing; but then let her declare as much; and
that she was in an hurry to oblige him.

Charlotte attempted to kill her by a look--She gave a worse to Lord
G----. And why, whispered she to him, as he sat next her, must thou shew
all thy teeth, man?--As Lady Gertrude meant to shame her, I thought I
could as soon forgive that lady, as her who was the occasion of the
freedom of speech.

But still she was perverse: she would not be married at all, she said