Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

the date of it; and I cannot tell you how awkward we all felt when we were oblig ed to confess it had none! And since I am upon that subject, I think it much better to tell you candidly that I do not think your hand of write by any means improved. It does not look as if you bestowed that pains upon it which you undoubtedly ought to do; for without pains, I can assure you, Mary, you will never do any thing well. As our admirable grandmother, good Lady Girnachgowl, used to say, pains makes gains; and so it was seen upon her; for it was entirely owing to her pains that the Girnachgowł estate was relieved, and came to be what it is now, viz. a most valuable and highly productive property.

I know there are many young people who are very apt to think it beneath them to take pains; but I sincerely trust, my dear Mary, you have more sense than to be so very foolish. Next to a good distinct hand of write, and proper stops (which I

observe you never put) the thing most to be attended to is your style, which we all think might be greatly improved by a little reflection on your part, joined to a few judicious hints from your friends. friends. We are all of opinion, that your periods are too short, and also that your expressions are deficient in dignity. Neither are you sufficiently circumstantial in your intelligence, even upon sub jects of the highest importance. Indeed, upon some subjects, you communicate no information whatever, which is certainly very extraordinary in a young person, who ought to be naturally extremely communicative. Miss M'Pry, who is here upon a visit to us at present, is perfectly astonished at the total want of news in your letters. She has a niece residing in the neighbourhood of Bath, who sends her regular lists of the company there, and also an account of the most remarkable events that take place there. Indeed, had it not been for Patty M'Pry, we never would have heard a syllable of

the celebrated Lady Travers' elopement with Sir John Conquest; and, indeed I cannot conceal from you, that we have heard more as to what goes on in Lord Courtland's family, through Miss Patty M'Pry, than ever we have heard from you, Mary. In short, I must plainly tell you, however painful you may feel it, that not one of us is ever a whit the wiser after reading your letters than we were before.. But I am sorry to say this is not the most serious part of the complaint we have to make against you. We are all willing to find excuses for you, even upon these points, but I must confess, your neglecting to return any answers to certain inquiries of your aunt's appears to me perfectly inexcusable. Of course, you must understand that I allude to that letter of your aunt Grizzy's, dated the 17th of December, wherein she expressed a strong desire that you should endeavour to make yourself mistress of Dr Redgill's opinion. with respect to lumbago, as she is extreme

ly anxious to know whether he considers the seat of the disorder to be in the bones or the sinews; and undoubtedly it is of the greatest consequence to procure the opinion of a sensible well-informed English physician, upon a subject of such vital importance. Your aunt Nicky, also, in a letter, dated the 22d of December, requested to be informed whether Lord Courtland (like our great landholders) killed his own mutton, as Miss P. M'P. insinuates in a letter to her aunt, that the servants there are suspected of being guilty of great abuses on that score; but there you also preserve a most unbecoming, and I own I think somewhat mysterious silence.

And now, my dear Mary, having said all that I trust is necessary to recal you to a sense of your duty, I shall now communicate to you a piece of intelligence, which, I am certain, will occasion you the most unfeigned pleasure, viz. the prospect there is of your soon

beholding some of your friends from this quar ter in Bath. Our valuable friend and neigh bour, Sir Sampson has been rather (we think) worse than better since you left us. He is now deprived of the entire use of one leg. He himself calls his complaint a morbid rheumatism; but Lady Maclaughlan assures us it is a rheumatic palsy, and she has now formed the resolution of taking him up to Bath early in the ensuing spring. And not only that, but she has most considerately invited your aunt Grizzy to accompany them, which, of course, she is to do with the greatest pleasure. We are therefore all extremely occupied in getting your aunt's things put in order for such an occasion; and you must accept of that as an apology for none of the girls being at leisure to write you at present, and likewise for the shortness of this letter. But be assured we will all write you fully by Grizzy. Meantime, all unite in kind remembrance to you. And

« AnteriorContinuar »