Lay aside, I conjure you, your fears of crossing the sea.—­Mr. and Mrs. Smith intend spending part of this winter at Montpelier:  trust yourself with them; I shall be there to receive you at the Hotel de Spence.

The season for the Spaw is almost at an end.  My physicians forbid my return to England till next autumn, else I would fly to comfort,—­to console my dearest Fanny,—­We shall be happy together in France:—­I can love you the same in all places.

My banker has orders to remit you three hundred pounds;—­but your power is unlimited; it is impossible to say, my dear, how much I am in your debt.—­I have wrote my housekeeper to get every thing ready for your reception:—­consider her, and all my other servants, as your own.—­I shall be much disappointed if you do not move to the Lodge immediately.—­You shall not,—­must not,—­continue in a house where every thing in and about it reminds you of so great a loss.—­Miss West, Miss Gardner, Miss Conway, will, at my request, accompany you thither.—­The Menagerie,—­plantations, and other places of amusement, will naturally draw them out;—­you will follow mechanically, and by that means be kept from indulging melancholy.—­Go an-airing every day, unless you intend I shall find my horses unfit for service:—­why have you let them live so long idle?

I revere honest Jenkings—­he is faithful,—­he will assist you with his advice on all occasions.—­Can there be a better resource to fly to, than a heart governed by principles of honour and humanity?

Write, my dear, to Mrs. Smith, and let me know if the time is fixed for their coming over.—­Say you will comply with the request my heart is so much set on;—­say you will be one of the party.

My health and spirits are better:—­the latter I support for your sake;—­who else do I live for?—­Endeavour to do the same, not only for me, but others, that one day will be as dear to you as you are to

Your truly affectionate,

M. Sutton.

LETTER II.

Miss Warley to Lady Mary Sutton.

Barford Abbey.

Barford Abbey! Yes, my dearest Lady,—­I date from Barford Abbey:  a house I little thought ever to have seen, when I have listened hours to a description of it from Mr. Jenkings.—­What are houses,—­what palaces, in competition with that honour, that satisfaction, I received by your Ladyship’s last letter!—­The honour all must acknowledge;—­the satisfaction is not on the surface,—­it centers in the heart.—­I feel too much to express any thing.—­One moment an orphan; next the adopted child of Lady Mary Sutton.—­What are titles, except ennobled by virtue! That only makes a coronet fit graceful on the head;—­that only is the true ornament of greatness.