You saw enough of our doctor, when you were at Farefield, to enter into the spirit of my allusion, when I call him the sun which cheers us. We may say with truth that we live in his smiles. Should you fancy this expression too poetical to suit with Douglass’s stern face, it is because you have not seen him when with a patient who he thinks wants comfort more than medicine. Did they inform you that he never quitted my room during six and thirty hours? Horace will love him, Lucy, and you will be grateful. Amongst other ingenious hypotheses which he maintained this morning was one that will please you; for he proved to demonstration that Miss Cowley “had the strength of a horse.” He has been scolding me for this last hour; and has provoked me to laugh at him and myself.
Oh! how tedious are the hours till I hear from you. Mrs. Allen sends her good wishes with your
Rachel Cowley’s.
P. S. I am well, quite well, Lucy! my cordial in my bosom! Do not mind a word in this letter. Douglass will triumph. He predicted how it would be; when the wind blew propitiously.
LETTER LXXVII.
From Mrs. Serge to Miss Cowley.
My Dear Miss Cowley,
It would give me inexpressible concern, could I for a moment believe that you “himagine” I have forgotten you, or the promise I made you, when at Farefield Hall. You can be no stranger to the “hevents” which have taken place in my family since that time; and of course these will account to you for my “happarent” neglect. I have endeavoured to practise what I preach, which is more, as Mrs. Dangle says, than many who are paid for preaching do; for, as I have said in my letter to Lady Maclairn, I see that nothing good comes from sorrowing for those who are removed from this world. Death is appointed for all; and the best thing we can do is to submit to the loss of our friends and relations, who are summoned away before us. I dare say the death of Mr. Flamall has made her ladyship very unhappy, but time will restore her spirits, unless she do as my Jerry “do,” yield to grief, and mope in her room. My kind friend, Mrs. Dangle, would not permit me to remain at Putney, where it was impossible I could have recovered my spirits. She has a charming house in the Haymarket; and since I have been her guest, I am much better; and indeed should be quite well, were it not for the vexation Nora “give” me. You will be quite astonished to see the halteration a few months of matrimony “have” made in her; and it will give you a dread of love matches! But I would not discourage you. Nora “have” only to thank herself for all that “have” happened to disturb her. Captain Fairly is not to blame, because his wife is jealous; nor Mrs. Dangle, because her constant good humour “make” her the favourite with hevery gentleman. But Nora was always perverse in her temper! she can be heasy no where now, but at Putney. When single, she detested the place. She have been very ill; and her disappointment have perhaps made her lower in spirits; but, as I tell her, “the worse luck now, the better in future.” She may have children enow by the time she is forty.
I hope, my dear Miss Cowley, nothing will prevent your visit to me in February. Captain Fairly has, very politely, offered to be your escort, and desires me to assure you, that he will, with the utmost pleasure, come to Farefield to fetch you, if you will permit him to have that honour; but I conclude you will not be allowed to leave Mrs. Allen behind you; so that you will happoint the captain to meet you on the road. I shall be very happy to see Mrs. Allen. She will be nice company for Mr. Serge, in our absence. I promise you, nothing shall be omitted for your amusement. Mrs. Dangle is quite in polite life; and she engages to “hintroduce” you every where. You will meet the best company at her table; for her husband is never happy without society. There is a Major Ogle in love with you only from description. He says, that I have entangled his heart, and that he must be our shadow; therefore, we shall not want for a beau, nor one that half the women in London are dying for.
I would advise you not to make up any thing when you are for your journey; it would be only so much labour lost. But it may not be amiss for you to begin to accustom yourself to fewer petticoats. We wear here only one. But we have found out vays and means to obviate the mischief of going unclothed, and we contrive to keep ourselves warm; but this, as Mrs. Dangle says, is a secret haunter nu; for if the gentlemen knew you were in the habit of wearing small clothes whilst single, they might fear for their privileges when you married. You will be delighted with this charming woman. She is the counter-part of you, only she has seen more of polite life, since her marriage, than you have been in the vay of seeing at Farefield; which, to say the truth, is a sad place for such a young lady as Miss Cowley.
I remain in the expectation of hearing from you the time fixed for seeing you; and I shall be impatient till I can show you that I am your affectionate friend,