Even so.—­It vexes me to be thus taken off from my agreeable task;—­yet I cannot excuse myself,—­her Ladyship is importunate.—­She sends me word I must come;—­that I must return with Lord Darcey.—­Mrs. Finch is accidentally dropp’d in with her son.—­I knew the latter was expected to meet two gentlemen from Bath,—­one of them an intimate friend of Lord Darcey.—­Mrs. Finch is an amiable woman;—­it is to her Lady Powis wants to introduce me.

Your Servant, my Lord.—­A very genteel way to hasten me down—­impatient, I suppose, to see his friend from Bath.—­Well, Jenny, tell his Lordship it will be needless to have the horses taken out.—­I shall be ready in a quarter of an hour.—­Adieu, my dear Lady.

Eleven o’clock at night.

Every thing has conspired to make this day more than commonly agreeable.—­It requires the pen of a Littelton to paint the different graces which shone in conversation.—­As no such pen is at hand, will your Ladyship receive from mine a short description of the company at the Abbey?

Mrs. Finch is about seven and forty;—­her person plain,—­her mind lovely,—­her bosom fraught with happiness.—­She dispenses it promiscuously.—­Every smile,—­every accent,—­conveys it to all around her.—­A countenance engagingly open.—­Her purse too, I am told, when occasions offer, open as her heart.—­How largely is she repaid for her balsamic gifts,—­by seeing those virtues early planted in the mind of her son, spring up and shoot in a climate where a blight is almost contagious!

Mr. Finch is the most sedate young man I have ever seen;—­but his sedateness is temper’d with a sweetness inexpressible;—­a certain mildness in the features;—­a mildness which, in the countenance of that great commander I saw at Brandon Lodge, appears like mercy sent out from the heart to discover the dwelling of true courage.—­There is certainly a strong likeness between the Marquis and Lord Darcey;—­so strong, that when I first beheld his Lordship I was quite struck with surprize.

Mr. Molesworth and Mr. Bridgman, the two gentlemen from Bath, are very opposite to each other in person and manner; yet both in a different degree seem to be worthy members of society.

Mr. Molesworth, a most entertaining companion,—­vastly chearful,—­smart at repartee; and, from the character Lord Darcey has given me of him, very sincere.

Mr. Bridgman has a good deal the air of a foreigner; attained, I suppose, by his residence some years at the court of ——­, in a public character.—­Very fit he appears for such an employ.—­Sensible,—­remarkably polite,—­speaks all languages with the same fluency as his own; but then a veil of disagreeable reserve throws a dark shade over those perfections.—­Perhaps I am wrong to spy out faults so early;—­perhaps to-morrow my opinion may be different.—­First prepossessions—­Ah!  What would I have said of first prepossessions?—­Is it not to them I owe a thousand blessings?—­I, who have nothing to recommend me but being unfortunate.