THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 EMILY MONTAGUE 
 
 VOL, I. 
 
THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 EMILY MONTAGUE. 
 
 By the Author of 
 LADY JULIA MANDEVILLE, 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for J. DODSLEY, in Pall-Mail. 
 
 M.DCC.LXXVII. 
 
2^4 
 
 TO HIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 GUY CARLETON, Efq* 
 GOVERNOR 
 
 AND 
 
 COMMANDER IN CHIEF 
 
 O F 
 
 His Majefty's Province of QU E B E C, 
 &c. &c. &c. 
 
 S I R, 
 
 A S the fcene of fo great a part of 
 -*- -** the following work is laid in 
 Canada* I flatter myfelf there is a pe- 
 culiar propriety in addrefiing it to 
 your excellency, to whole probity 
 Vol, I, a 3 and 
 
[ vi ] 
 
 and enlightened attention the colony 
 owes its happinefs,* and individuals 
 that tranquillity of mind, without 
 which there can be no exertion of 
 the powers of either the underflanding 
 or imagination. 
 
 Were I to fay all your excellency has 
 done to diffufe, through this province, 
 fo happy under your command, a fpirit 
 of loyalty and attachment to our ex- 
 cellent Sovereign, of chearful obedi- 
 ence .to the laws, and of that union 
 which makes the ftrength of govern- 
 ment, I fliould hazard your efteem by, 
 doing you juftice. 
 
 I will, 
 
[ vii ] 
 
 I will, therefore, only beg leave to 
 add mine to the general voice of Ca- 
 nada; and to allure your excellency, 
 that 
 
 I am, 
 
 With the utmoft efteem 
 and refpedl, 
 Your moft obedient fervant, 
 
 Frances Brooke. 
 
 London, 
 March 22, 1769, 
 
THE 
 
 H I S T O R Y 
 
 O F 
 
 EMILY MONTAGUE, 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 To John Temple, Efq; at Paris. 
 
 Cowes, April 10, 1766. 
 
 AFTER fpending two or three Terj 
 agreeable days here, with a party 
 of friends, in exploring the beauties of 
 the Ifland, and dropping a tender tear at 
 Vol, I. B Carif- 
 
2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Carifbrook Caflle on the memory of the 
 unfortunate Charles the Firft, I am juft 
 fetting out for America, on a fcheme I 
 once hinted to you, of fettling the lands 
 to which I have a right as a lieutenant- 
 colonel on half pay. On enquiry and ma- 
 ture deliberation, I prefer Canada to New- 
 York for two reafons, that it is wilder, 
 and that the women are handfomer : the 
 firft:, perhaps, every body will not ap- 
 prove ; the latter, I am fure, you will. 
 
 You may perhaps call my project ro- 
 mantic, but my active temper is ill fuited 
 to the lazy character of a reduc'd officer : 
 befides that I am too proud to narrow my 
 circle of life, and not quite unfeeling 
 enough to break in on the little eftate 
 which is fcarce fufficient to fupport my 
 mother and filter in the manner to which 
 they have been accuftom'd. 
 
 What you call a facrifice, is none at all; 
 I love England, but am not obilinately 
 
 chain'd 
 
LMILY MONTAGUE. i 
 
 chain'd down to any fpot of earth ; na- 
 ture has charms every where for a man 
 willing to be pleafed : at my time of life, 
 the very change of place is amufing ; love 
 of variety, and the natural reilleiiheis of 
 man, would give me a reiifh for this voyage, 
 even if I did not expect, what I really do, 
 to become lord of a principality which will 
 put our large-acred men in England out of 
 countenance. My fubjects indeed at pre- 
 fent will be only bears and elks, but in 
 time I hope to fee the human face divine 
 multiplying around me ; and, in thus cul- 
 tivating what is in the rudeft flate^of na- 
 ture, I mall tafte one of the greateft of 
 all plcamres, that of creation, and fee 
 order and beauty gradually rife from 
 chaos. 
 
 The velTcl is unmoor'd ; the winds are 
 
 fair ; a gentle breeze agitates the boiom 
 
 of the deep ; all nature fmiles : I go with 
 
 all the eager hopes of a warm imagina- 
 
 B 2 tion; 
 
4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 tion ; yet friendfhip calls a lingering look 
 behind. 
 
 Our mutual iofs, my dear Temple, will 
 be great. I mall never ceafe to regret 
 you, nor will you find it eafy to replace 
 the friend of your youth. You may find 
 friends of equal merit ; you may efteem 
 them equally ; but few connexions form'd 
 after five and twenty flrike root like that 
 early fympathy, which united us almoil 
 from infancy, and has increas'd to the very 
 hour of our feparation. 
 
 What pleafure is there in the friend- 
 ships of the fpring of life, before the 
 world, the mean unfeeling felfifh world, 
 breaks in on the gay miftakes of the juft- 
 expanding heart, which fees nothing but 
 truth, and has nothing but happinefs in 
 profpecl: ! 
 
 I am not furpriz'd the heathens raisM 
 
 altars to friendfhip : 'twas natural for un- 
 
 2 taught 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 5 
 
 taught fuperftition to deify the fource of 
 every good ; they worfhip'd friendfnip, 
 which animates the moral world, on the 
 fame principle as they paid adoration to 
 the fun, which gives life to the world of 
 nature. 
 
 I am fummon'd on board. Adieu ! 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 L E T T E R II. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Quebec, June 27. 
 f HAVE this moment your ietter, my 
 J- dear ; I am happy to hear my mother 
 has been amus'd at Bath, and not at all 
 furpriz'd to find me rivals you in your 
 conquefls. By the way, I am not fure me 
 is not handfomer, notwithftanding you tell 
 B 3 me 
 
6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 me yon are handfomer than ever : I am 
 aftoniih'd me will lead a tall daughter 
 about with her thus, to let people into a 
 fecret they would never fufpect, that ihe is 
 pafl five and twenty. 
 
 You are a foolifh girl, Lucy : do you 
 think I have not more pleafure in continu- 
 ing to my mother, by coming hither, the 
 little indigencies of life, than I could have 
 had by enjoying them myfelf? pray re- 
 concile her to my abfence, and aiTure her 
 me will make me happier by jovially en- 
 joying the trifle I have affign'd to her ufe, 
 than by procuring me the wealth of a 
 Nabob, in which flie was to have no 
 fhare. 
 
 But to return ; you really, Lucy, aik me 
 fuch a million of que ft ions, 'tis impoflible 
 ro know which to anfwer fir ft ; the coun- 
 try, die convents, the balls, the ladieV, the 
 beaux— -'tis a hiflory, nor a letter, you de- 
 
 snand, 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, 7 
 
 Brand, and it will take me a twelvemonth 
 to fatisfy your curiofity. 
 
 Where fcall I begin ? certainly with 
 what mull firft flrike a foldicr : I have feen 
 then the fpot where the amiable hero, ex- 
 pired in the arms of victory; have traced 
 him itep by flep with equal aftoiiifhmcnt 
 and admiration: 'tis here alone it is poffi- 
 ble to form an adequate idea of an enter- 
 prize, the difficulties of which mull have 
 deftroy'd hope itfelf had they been fore- 
 feen. 
 
 The country is a very fine one : you fee 
 here not only the beautiful which it h:is in 
 common with Europe, but the great Jub- 
 lime to an amazing degree ; every objecl 
 here is magnificent: the very people feem 
 almoft another fpecies, if we compare them 
 with the French from whom they are de- 
 fended. 
 
 B 4 On 
 
8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 On approaching the coaft of America, 
 I felt a kind of religious veneration, on 
 feeing rocks which almoft touch'd the 
 clouds, cover'd with tall groves of pines 
 that fcemed coeval with the world itfelf : 
 to which veneration the folemn filence not 
 a little contributed; from Cape Rofieres, 
 up the river St. Lawrence, during a courfe 
 of more than two hundred miles, there is 
 not the leait appearance of a human foot- 
 ftep ; no objects meet the eye but moun- 
 tains, woods, and numerous rivers, which 
 ieem to roll their waters in vain. 
 
 It is impoflible to behold a fcene like 
 this without lamenting the madnefs of 
 mankind, who, more mercilefs than the 
 fierce inhabitants of the howling wilder- 
 nefs, deftroy millions of their own fpecies 
 in the wild contention for a little portion of 
 that earth, the far greater part of which 
 remains yet unpoiTeft, and courts the hand 
 of labour for cultivation. 
 
 The 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 9 
 
 The river itfelf is one of the noblefl in 
 the world ; it's breadth is ninety miles at 
 it's entrance, gradually, and almofl im- 
 perceptibly, decreafing ; interfpers'd with 
 iflands which give it a variety infinitely 
 pleafing, and navigable near five hundred 
 miles from the fea. 
 
 Nothing can be more ftriking than the 
 view of Quebec as you approach ; it Hands 
 on the fummit of a boldly-riling hill, at the 
 confluence of two very beautiful rivers, the 
 St. Lawrence and St. Charles, and, as the 
 convents and other public buildings firfl 
 meet the eye, appears to great advantage 
 from the port. The ifland of Orleans, the 
 diflant view of the cafcade of Montmo- 
 renci, and the oppofite village of Beau- 
 port, fcattered with a pleafing irregularity 
 along the banks of the river St. Charles, 
 add greatly to the charms of the profpecl. 
 
 B c I have 
 
io THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I have juft had time to obferve, that the 
 Canadian ladies have the vivacity of the 
 French, with a fuperior fhare of beauty: 
 as to balls and afiemblies, we have none at 
 prefent, it being a kind of interregnum 
 of government : if I chofe to give you the 
 political (late of the country, I could fill- 
 volumes with the pours and the contres ; 
 but I am not one of thofe fagacious obfer- 
 vers, who, by flaying a week in a place, 
 think themfelves qualified to give, not 
 only its natural, but it's moral and political 
 hiflory : befides which, you and I are ra- 
 ther too young to be very profound politi- 
 cians. We are in expectation of a fuo 
 ceffor from whom we hope a new golden 
 age ;. I {hall then have better nibje&s for 
 a letter to a kdy. 
 
 Adieu ! rny dear girl ! fay every thing 
 for me to my mother. Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivera 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. u 
 
 LETTER III. 
 To Col. Rivers, at Quebec. 
 
 London, April 30. 
 
 INDEED! gone to people the wilds of 
 America, Ned, and multiply the hu- 
 man face divine ? 'tis a project worthy a 
 tall handfome colonel of twenty feven : 
 let, me fee; five feet, eleven inches, well 
 made, with fine teeth, fpeaking eyes, a 
 military air, and the look, of a man of 
 fafhion : fpirit, generofity, a good under- 
 flanding, fome knowledge, an eafy addrefs, 
 a companionate heart, a ilrong inclination 
 for the ladies, and in fhort every quality a 
 gentleman mould have : excellent all thefe 
 for colonization : prenez garde, mes cheres 
 dames. You have nothing againft you, 
 Ned, but your modefly ; a very ufelefs 
 virtue on French ground, or indeed on- 
 any ground : I v/ifh you had a Kttte more 
 B 6 con- 
 
12 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 confcioufnefs of your own merits : remem- 
 ber that to knozv one's felf the oracle of 
 Apollo has pronounced to be the perfec- 
 tion of human wifdom. Our fair friend Mrs. 
 II — fays, " Colonel Rivers wants nothing 
 * 4 to make him the mofl agreeable man 
 " breathing but a little dafh of the cox- 
 " comb." 
 
 For my part, I hate humility in a man of 
 the world ; 'tis worfe than even the hypo- 
 crify of the faints : I am not ignorant, and 
 therefore never deny, that I am a very 
 handfome fellow ; and I have the pleafure 
 to find all the women of the fame opinion. 
 
 I am jufl arriv'd from Paris : the divine 
 Madame De is as lovely and as con- 
 stant as ever -, 'twas cruel to leave her, but 
 who can account for the caprices of the 
 heart ? mine was the prey of a young un- 
 experienc'd EngUfh charmer, juft come out 
 of a convent, 
 
 * The bloom of opening flowers—" 
 
 Ha, 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 13 
 
 Ha, Ned ! But I forget ; you are for the 
 full-blown rofe : 'tis a happinefs, as we 
 are friends, that 'tis imponlble we can ever 
 be rivals ; a woman is grown out of my 
 tafle fome years before fhe comes up to 
 yours : abfolutely, Ned, you are too nice ; 
 for my part, I am not fo delicate ; youth 
 and beauty are fufficient for me ; give me 
 blooming feventeen, and I cede to you the 
 whole empire of fentiment. 
 
 This, I fuppofe, will find you trying the 
 force of your deftru&ive charms on the fa- 
 vage dames of America ; chafing females 
 wild as the winds thro' woods as wild as 
 themfelves : I fee you purfuing the ftately 
 relicl: of fome renown'd Indian chief, fome 
 plump fquaw arriv'd at the age of fenti- 
 ment, fome warlike queen dowager of the 
 Ottawas or Tufcaroras. 
 
 And pray, comment trouvez vous les 
 dames fanv ages ? all pure and genuine na- 
 ture, 1 fuppofe ; none of the affecled coy- 
 
 nefs 
 
14 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 nefs of Europe : your attention there will 
 be the more obliging, as the Indian heroes, 
 I am told, are not very attentive to the 
 charms of the beaufexe. 
 
 You are very fentimental on the fubje& 
 of fiiendfhip; no one has more exalted 
 notions of this fpecies of affe&ion than 
 myfelf, yet I deny that it gives life to the 
 moral world ;' a gallant man, like you, 
 might have found a more animating prin- 
 ciple : 
 
 O Venus ! Mere de V Amour ! 
 
 I am mod glorioufly indolent this morn- 
 ing, and would not write another line if 
 the empire of the world (obferve I do not 
 mean the female world) depended on it. 
 
 Adieu! 
 
 J. T E M PLE. 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 15 
 
 L E T T E R IV- 
 
 To John Temple* Efq; Pall Mali. 
 
 >rp 
 
 Quebec, July r. 
 
 l IS very true, Jack ; I have no relifh 
 for the Mijes; for puling girls in 
 hanging fleeves, who feel no paffion but 
 vanity, and, without any diftinguiihing tafte, 
 are dying for the firft man who tells them 
 they are handfome. Take your boarding- 
 fchool girls ; but give me a woman ; one, 
 in (hort, who has a foul ; not a cold inami- 
 mate form, infenfible to the lively impref- 
 fions of real love, and unfeeling as the wax 
 baby fhe has juft thrown away. 
 
 You will allow Prior to be no bad 
 judge of female merit ; and you may re- 
 member his Egyptian maid, the favorite of 
 
 the 
 1 
 
i6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the luxurious King Solomon, is painted in 
 full bloom. 
 
 By the way, Jack, there is generally a 
 certain hoity-toity inelegance of form and 
 manner at feventeen, which in my opinion 
 is not balanc'd by frefhnefs of complexion, 
 the oniy advantage girls have to boaft of, 
 
 I have another objection to girls, which 
 is, that they will eternally fancy every man 
 they converfe with has defigns ; a coquet 
 and a prude in the bud are equally difagree- 
 able j the former expe&s univerfal adora- 
 tion, the latter is alarm'd even at that ge- 
 neral civility which is the right of all their 
 fex ; of the two however the laft is, I think, 
 much the mod: troublefome ; I wifh fchefe 
 very apprehenfve young ladies knew, 
 their virtue is not half fo often in danger as 
 they imagine, and that there are many 
 male creatures to whom they may fafely 
 
 Ihew 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, 17 
 
 mew politenefs without being drawn into 
 any conceilions inconiiflent with the flri£le£l 
 honor. We are not half fuch terrible ani- 
 mals as mammas, uurfes, and novels repre- 
 fent us; and, if my opinion is of any 
 weight, I am inclin'd to believe thofe tre- 
 mendous men, who have defigns on the 
 whole fex, are, and ever were, characters 
 as fabulous as the giants of romance. 
 
 Women after twenty begin to know this, 
 aj^I therefore converfe with us on the foot- 
 ing of rational creatures, without either 
 feaS&g or expecting to find every man a 
 
 lover, 
 
 To do the ladies juftice however, I have 
 feen the fame abfurdity in my own fex, 
 and have obferved many a very good fort 
 of man turn pale at the politenefs of an 
 agreeable w r oman. 
 
 I kment 
 
l* THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I lament this miftake, in both fexcs, be- 
 caufe it takes greatly from the pleafure of 
 mix'd fociety, the only fociety for which I 
 have any relifli. 
 
 Don't, however, fancy that, becaufe I 
 diflike the Mi//es, I have a tafte for their 
 grandmothers ; there is a golden mean, 
 Jack, of which you feem to have no idea. 
 
 You are very ill informed as to the man- 
 ners of the Indian ladies ; 'tis in the bud 
 alone thefe wild rofes are acceffible ; libe- 
 ral to profufibn of their charms before mar- 
 riage, they are chaftity itfelf after : the 
 moment they commence wives, they give 
 up the very idea of pleafmg, and turn all 
 their thoughts to the cares, and thofe not 
 the mod: delicate cares, of domeflic life : 
 laborious, hardy, aclive, they plough the 
 ground, they fow, they reap; whilft the 
 
 haughty 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 19 
 
 haughty hufband amufes himfelf with 
 hunting, mooting, fifhing, and fuch exer- 
 cifes only as are the image of war; all 
 other employments being, according to his 
 idea, unworthy the dignity of man. 
 
 I have told you the labors of favage life, 
 but I ihould obferve that they are only tem- 
 porary, and when urg'd by the fharp tooth 
 of neceflity : their lives are, upon thevvhole, 
 idle beyond any thing we can conceive. If 
 the Epicurean definition of bappinefs is 
 juft, that it confifts in indolence of body, 
 and tranquillity of mind, the Indians of 
 both fexes are the happieil people on 
 earth ; free from all care, they enjoy the 
 prefent moment, forget the pad, and are 
 without folicitude for the future : in fum- 
 mer, ftretch'd on the verdant turf, they 
 fmg, they laugh, they play, they relate 
 ftories of their ancient heroes to warm the 
 youth to war j in winter, wrap'd in the 
 
 furs. 
 
20 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 furs which bounteous nature provides them, 
 they dance, they feait, and defpife the ri- 
 gors of the feaibn, at which the more effe- 
 minate Europeans tremble. 
 
 War being however the bufinefs of their 
 lives, and the firft pailion of their fouls, 
 their very pleafures take their colors from 
 it : every one muft have heard of the war 
 dance, and their fongs are almofl: all on the 
 fame fubjeft : on the moil diligent enquiry, 
 I find but one love long in their language, 
 which is ihort and ihuple, tho' perhaps not 
 
 " I love you, 
 
 '< I love you dearly, 
 
 « I love you all day long." 
 
 An old Indian told rae, they had alfo fongs 
 of friendship, but I could never procure a 
 tranflation of one of them: on my prefhng 
 
 this 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 21 
 
 this Indian to tranflate one into French for 
 me, he told me with a haughty air, the 
 Indians were not us'd to make tranflations, 
 and that if I chofe to underftand their fongs 
 I muft learn their language. By the way, 
 their language is extremely harmonious, 
 efpecially as pronounced by their women, 
 and as well adapted to mufic as Italian it- 
 felf. I muft not here omit an inftance of 
 their independent fpirit, which is, that 
 they never would fubmit to have the fer- 
 viee of the church, tho* they profefs the 
 Pvomifh religion, in any language but their 
 own ; the women, who have in general 
 fine voices, fing in the choir with a tafte 
 and manner that would furprize you, and 
 with a devotion that might edify more po- 
 lifh'd nations. 
 
 The Indian women are tall and well 
 {haped; have good eyes, and before mar- 
 riage are, except their color, and their 
 
 coarfe 
 
22 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 coarfe greafy black hair, very far from 
 being difagreeable ; but the laborious life 
 they afterwards lead is extremely unfa- 
 vorable to beauty; they become coarfe and 
 mafculine, and lofe in a year or two the 
 power as well as the defire of pleafing. To 
 compenfate however for the lofs of their 
 charms, they acquire a new empire in mar- 
 rying ; are confulted in all affairs of ftate, 
 chufe a chief on every vacancy of the 
 throne, are fcrvereign arbiters of peace 
 and war, as well as of the fate of thofe 
 unhappy captives that have the misfortune 
 to fall into their hands, who are adopted 
 as children, or put to the mod cruel death, 
 as the wives of the conquerors fmile or 
 frown. 
 
 A Jefuit miffionary told me a (lory on 
 this fubjeol-, which one cannot hear with- 
 out horror : an Indian woman with whom 
 he liv'd on his million was feeding her chil- 
 dren, when her hufband brought in an 
 
 Englifli 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 25 
 
 Englifh prifoner ; (he immediately cut off 
 his arm, and gave her children the dream- 
 ing blood to drink : the Jetuit remonftrated 
 on the cruelty of the action, on which, 
 looking flernly at him, " I would have them 
 " warriors," faid (lie, " and therefore feed. 
 " them with the food of men." 
 
 This anecdote may perhaps difgufl you 
 with the Indian ladies, who certainly do not 
 excel in female foftnefs. I will therefore 
 turn to thr Canadian, who have every 
 charm exce; that without which all other 
 charms are to me inlipid, I mean fenfibi- 
 lity : they are gay, coquet, and fprightly; 
 more gallani than fenfible ; more flatter'd 
 by the vanity of infpiring paiiion, than ca- 
 pable of feeling it themfelves ; and, like 
 their European countrywomen, prefer the 
 outward attentions of unmeaning admira- 
 tion to the real devotion of the heart. There 
 is not perhaps on earth a race of females, 
 who talk fo much, or feel fo 1 trie, of love 
 as the French; the very reverie is in gene- 
 
 ' ral 
 
24 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ral true of the Englifh : my fair country- 
 women feem afhamed of the charming fen- 
 timent to which they are indebted for all 
 their power. 
 
 Adieu! I am going to attend a very 
 handfome French lady, who allows me the 
 honor to drive her en calache to our Cana- 
 dian Hyde Park, the road to St. Foix, 
 where you will fee forty or fifty calafhes, 
 with pretty women in them, parading every 
 evening : you will allow the apology to be 
 admiffible. 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 25 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Quebec, July 4. 
 
 WHAT an inconftant animal is man! 
 do you know, Lucy, I begin to be 
 tir'd of the lovely landfcape round me I I 
 have enjoy'd from it all the pleafure meer 
 inanimate objects can give, and find 'tis a 
 pleafure that foon fatiates, if not relieved 
 by others which are more lively. The 
 fcenery is to be fure divine, but one grows 
 weary of meer fcenery : the moft enchant- 
 ing profpeft foon lofes its power of pleaf- 
 ing, when the eye is accuftom'd to it : we 
 gaze at fir ft tranfported on the charms of 
 nature, and fancy they will pleafe for ever; 
 but, alas ! it will not do ; we figh for fo- 
 ciety, the converfation of thofe dear to us; 
 the more animated pleafures of the heart. 
 There are fine women, and men of merit 
 Vol. I. C here- 
 
?6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 here -, but, as the affections are not in our 
 power, I have not yet felt my heart gravi- 
 tate towards any of them. 1 mufl abfolutely 
 fet in earned about my fettlement, in order 
 to emerge from the ftate of vegetation into 
 which I feem falling, 
 
 But to your lad : you a(k me a particu- 
 lar account of the convents here. Have 
 you an inclination, my dear, to turn nun? 
 if you have, you could not have applied to 
 a properer perfon ; my extreme modefty 
 and referve, and my fpeaking French, hav- 
 ing made me already a great favourite with 
 the older part of all the three communities, 
 who unanimoufly declare colonel Rivers to 
 be un ires almable honunc, and have given me 
 an unlimited liberty of viiiting them when- 
 ever I pleafe : they now and then treat me 
 with a light of fome of the young ones, 
 but this is a favor not allcw'd to all the 
 \vo; Id. 
 
 There 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 27 
 
 There are three religious houfes at Que- 
 bec, fo you have choice; the Urfulines, 
 the Hotel Dieu, and the General Hofpital. 
 The firft is the fevered: order in diz Ilomifli 
 church, except that very cruel one which 
 denies its fair votaries the ineftimable li- 
 berty of fpeech. The houfe is large and 
 liandfome, but has an air of gloominefs, 
 with which the black habit, and the livid 
 palenefs of the nuns, extremely corre- 
 fponds. The church is, contrary to the ftyle 
 of the reft of the convent, ornamented and 
 lively to the laft degree. The fuperior is 
 an Englifh-woman of good family, who 
 was taken priibner by the favages when a. 
 child, and plac'd here by the generofity of 
 a French officer. She is one of the moft 
 amiable women I ever knew, with a bene- 
 volence in her countenance which infpires 
 all who fee her with affection : I am very 
 fond of her converfation, tho 5 fixty and a 
 nun. 
 
 C 2 The 
 
23 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The Hotel Dieu is very pleafantly fitu- 
 ated, with a view of the two rivers, and 
 the entrance of the port : the houfe is 
 chearful, airy, and agreeable ; the habit 
 extremely becoming, a circumilance a hand- 
 fome woman ought by no means to over- 
 look i 'tis white with a black gauze veil, 
 which would fhew your complexion to 
 great advantage. The order is much lefs 
 fevere than the Urfulines, and I might add, 
 much more ufeful, their province being the 
 care of the fick: the nuns of this houfe 
 are fprightly, and have a look of health 
 which is wanting at the Urfulines. 
 
 The General Hofpital, fituated about a 
 mile out of town, on the borders of the 
 river St. Charles, is much the moll agree- 
 able of the three. The order and the ha- 
 bit are the fame with the Hotel Dieu, ex- 
 cept that to the habit is added the crofs, 
 g erally worn in Europe by canoneifes 
 onij : a difiin&ion procur'd for them by 
 
 their 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 29 
 
 their founder, St. Vallier, the fecond bi- 
 fhop of Q«ebec, The houfe is, without, 
 a very noble building ; and neatnefs, ele- 
 gance and propriety reign within. The 
 nuns, who are all of the nobleffe, are. 
 many of them handfome, and ad genteel, 
 lively, and well bred ; they have an air of 
 the world, their converfation is eafy, fpi- 
 rited, and polite: with [hem you almoft 
 forget the reclufe in the woman of condi- 
 tion. In fhorr, you have the beft nuns at 
 the Urfulines, the moil agreeable women 
 at the General Hofpi'ai: all however have 
 an air of chagrin, which they in vain en- 
 deavour to conceal ; and the general eager- 
 nefs with which they tell ycu unaik'd they 
 are happy, is a ftrong proof of the con- 
 trary. 
 
 Tho' the mo ft indulgent of all men to the 
 follies of others, efpecially fuch as have 
 their fource in miftaken devorion ; tho' 
 willing to allow all the world to play the 
 fool their own way, yet I cannot help 
 C 3 being 
 
jo THE HISTO 11 Y O F 
 
 being fir'd with a degree of zeal againft an 
 inftitution equally incompatible with public 
 good, and private happinefs ; an inflitution 
 which cruelly devotes beauty and innocence 
 to flavery, regret, and wretchednefs ; to a 
 more irkfome imprifonment than the fe- 
 vered: laws- inflict on the word of crimi- 
 nals. 
 
 Could any thing but experience, my dear 
 Lucy, make it be believ'd poflible that 
 there fliould be rational beings, who think 
 they are ferving the God of mercy by in- 
 flitting on themfelves voluntary tortures, 
 and cutting themfelves off from that flate 
 of fociety in which he has plac'd them, and 
 for which they were form'd ? by renounc- 
 ing the beft affections of the human heart, 
 the tender names of friend, of wife, of mo- 
 ther? and, as far as in them lies, counter- 
 working creation? by fpurning from them 
 every amufement however innocent, by 
 refufing the gifts of that beneficent power 
 
 who 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 3 i 
 
 who made us to be happy, and deftroying 
 bis mod precious gifts, health, beauty, fen- 
 iibility, chearfulnefs, and peace ! 
 
 My indignation is yet awake, from hav- 
 ing f'Z^n a few days fince at the Urfulinc^ 
 an extreme lovely young girl, whole coun- 
 tenance fpoke a foul fonn'd for the moii 
 lively, yet delicate, ties of love and friend- 
 ship, led by a momentary cnthuiiafin, or 
 perhaps by a childiih vanity artfully ex- 
 cited, to the foot of thofe altars, which flie 
 will probably too foon bathe with the bitteu 
 tears of repentance and remorfe. 
 
 The ceremony, form'd to drike the ima- 
 gination, and fed uce the heart of unguarded 
 youth, is extremely folemn and affecting ; 
 the proceffion of the nuns, the fweetnefs 
 of their voices in the choir, the dignified 
 devotion with which the charming enthu- 
 Had received the veil, and took the cruel 
 vow which fliut her from the world for ever, 
 (truck my heart in fpite of my reafon, and 
 C 4 I fdt 
 
$2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I felt myfelf touch'd even to' tears by a fu- 
 peritition I equally pity and defpife. 
 
 I am not however certain it was the cere- 
 mony which affected me thus flrongly ; it 
 was impoflible not to feel for this amiable 
 vi&im; never was there an object more in- 
 terefting; her form was elegance itfelf; 
 her air and motion animated and graceful ; 
 the glow of pleafure was on her cheek, the 
 fire of enthufiafm in her eyes, which are 
 the fmeft I ever faw: never did I fee joy fo 
 liveiily painted on the countenance of the 
 happiefl bride ; fhe feem'd to walk in air; 
 her whole perfon look'd more than human. 
 
 An enemy to every fpecies of fuperftition, 
 I mud however allow it to be lead deilruc- 
 tive to true virtue in your gentle fex, and 
 therefore to be indulg'd with lead danger: 
 the fuperftition of men is gloomy and fe- 
 rocious; it lights the fire, and points the 
 dagger of the affaffin ; whilft that of wo- 
 men 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 33 
 
 men takes its color from the fex ; is fo ft, 
 mild, and benevolent ; exerts itfelf in acts 
 of kindnefs and charity, and feems only 
 fubftituting the love of God to that of man. 
 
 Who can help admiring, wbilft they 
 pity, the foundrefs of the Urfuline con- 
 vent, Madame de la Feltrie, to whom the 
 very colony in fome meafure owes its ex- 
 igence ? young, rich and lovely ; a widow 
 in the bloom of life, miflrefs of her own 
 actions, the world was gay before her, yet 
 fhe left all the pleafures that world could 
 give, to devote her days to the feverities of 
 a religion flie thought the only true one : 
 fhe dar'd the dangers of the fea, and the 
 greater dangers of a favage people ; fhe 
 landed on an unknown fliore, fubmitted to 
 the extremities of cold and heat, of third 
 and hunger, to perform a fervice fhe 
 thought acceptable to the Deity. To an 
 action like this, however miflaken the mo- 
 tive, bigotry alone will deny praife: the 
 man of candor will only lament that minds 
 C 5 capable 
 
34 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 capable of fuch heroic virtue are not di- 
 rected to views more conducive to their own 
 
 and the general happinefs. 
 
 I am unexpectedly call'd this moment, 
 my dear Lucy, on fome bufinefs to Mon- 
 treal, from whence you fhall hear from me. 
 
 Adieu! 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 L E T T E R VI. 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Montreal,- July 9. 
 
 I AM arrivM, my dear, and have brought 
 my heart fafe thro' fuch a continued fire 
 as never poor knight errant was expofed 
 ta; waited on at every ft age by blooming 
 country girls, full of fpirit and coquetry, 
 without any of the village bafhfulnefs of 
 
 Kurjand. 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 35 
 
 England, and d re fled like the (hepherdeffes 
 of romance. A man of adventure might 
 make a pleafant journey to Montreal. 
 
 The peafants are ignorant, lazy, dirty, 
 and ftnpid 'beyond all belief; but hoipita- 
 ble, courteous, civil ; and, what is parti- 
 cularly agreeable, they leave their wives 
 and daughters to do the honors of thehoufe : 
 in which obliging office they acquit thcm- 
 felves with an attention, which, amidfl every 
 inconvenience apparent (tho' I am told not 
 real) poverty can caufe, mud pleafe every 
 gueft who has a foul inclin'd to be pleas'd:. 
 f or my part, I was charm' d with them, arid 
 eat my homely fare with as much pleafure 
 as if I had been feafting on ortolans in a pa- 
 lace. Their converfation is lively and amuf- 
 ing; all ; the little knowledge of Canada is 
 confined to the fex; very few, even of the 
 feigneufSj being able to write their own 
 names. 
 
 C 6 The 
 
3 6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The road from Quebec to Montreal is 
 almofl a continued ftreet, the villages being 
 numerous, and fo extended along the banks 
 of the river St. Lawrence as to leave fcarce 
 a fpace without houfes in view; except 
 where here or there a river, a wood, or 
 mountain intervenes, as if to give a more 
 pleafmg variety to the fcene. I don't re- 
 member ever having had a more agreeable 
 journey ; the fine profpects of the day fo 
 enliven'd by the gay chat of the evening, 
 that I was really forry when I approach'd 
 Montreal. 
 
 The ifland of Montreal, on which the 
 town Hands, is a very lovely fpot ; highly 
 cultivated, and tho' lefs wild and magnifi- 
 cent, more fmiling than the country round 
 Quebec : the ladies, who feem to make 
 pleafure their only bufinefs, and mod of 
 whom I have feen this morning driving 
 about the town in calaihes, and making 
 2 what 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 37 
 
 what they call, the tour de la ville, at- 
 tended by Englifh officers, feem generally 
 handfome, and have an air of fprightlinefs 
 with which I am charm'd ; I mull be ac- 
 quainted with them all, for tho' my flay is 
 to be fliort, I fee no reafon why it fhould 
 be dull. I am told they are fond of little 
 rural balls in the country, and intend to 
 give one as foon as I have paid my refpe&s 
 in form. 
 
 Six in the evening. 
 
 I am juft come from dining with the — - 
 regiment, and find I have a vifit to pay I was 
 not aware of, to two Englifh ladies who are 
 a few miles out of town : one of them is 
 wife to the major of the regiment, and the 
 other juft going to be married to a captain 
 in it, Sir George Clayton, a young hand- 
 fome baronet, juft come to his title and a 
 very fine eftate, by the death of a diftant 
 relation : he is at prefent at New York, and 
 I am told they are to be married as foon as 
 he comes back. 
 
 I have 
 
3 8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Eight o'clock. 
 I have been making fome flying vifits to 
 the French ladies ; tho' I have not feen 
 many beauties, yet in general the women 
 are handfome ; their manner is eaty and 
 obliging, they make the mofl of their 
 charms by their vivacity, and I certainly 
 cannot be difpleas'd with their extreme 
 partiality for the Englifh officers ; their 
 own men, who indeed are not very attrac- 
 tive, have not the leaf! chance for any fhare 
 in their good graces. 
 
 Thurfday morning. 
 I am juft fetting out with a friend for 
 Major Melmoth's, to pay my compliments 
 to the two ladies : I have no relilh for this 
 vifit ; I hate miffes that are going to be 
 married ; they are always fo full of the 
 dear man, that they have not common. civi- 
 lity to other people. I am told however 
 both the ladies are agreeable. 
 
 •£>' 
 
 Agreeable* 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 3? 
 
 14th. Eight in the evening. 
 Agreeable, Lucy ! fhe is an angel : 'tis- 
 happy for me fhe is engag'd ; nothing elfe 
 could fecure my heart, of which you know 
 I am very tenacious : only think of finding 
 beauty, delicacy, fenfibility, all that can 
 charm in woman, hid in a wood in Ca- 
 nada I 
 
 You fay I am given to be enthufiaftre 
 in my approbations, but fhe is really 
 charming. I am refolv'd not only to have 
 a friendfhip for her myfelf, but that you 
 (hall, and have told her fo ; fhe comes to 
 England as foon as fhe is married ; you 
 are formM to love each other. 
 
 But I muft tell you; Major Melmotb 
 kept us a week at his houfe in the country, 
 in one continued round of rural amufe- 
 ments ; by which I do not mean hunting 
 and ihooting, but fuch pkafures as the 
 
 ladies 
 
4 o THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ladies could ihare ; little ruftic balls and 
 parties round the neighbouring country, in 
 which parties we were joined by all the 
 fine women at Montreal. Mrs. Melmoth is 
 a very pieafmg, genteel brunette, but Emily 
 Montague — you will fay I am in love with 
 her if I defcribe her, and yet I declare to 
 you I am not : knowing fhe loves another, 
 to whom fhe is foon to be united, I fee her 
 charms with the fame kind of pleafore I 
 do yours ; a pleafure, which, tho' ex- 
 tremely lively, is by our fituation without 
 the lead: mixture of defire. 
 
 I have faid, fhe is charming ; there are 
 men here who do not think fo, but to me 
 fhe is lovelinefs itfelf. My ideas of beauty 
 are perhaps a little out of the common 
 road: I hate a woman of whom every 
 man coldly fays, foe is handfome ; I adore 
 beauty, but it is not meer features or com- 
 plexion to which I give that name ; 'tis life, 
 'tis fpirit, 'tis animation, 'tis — in one word, 
 'tis Emily Montague — without being re- 
 gularly 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 41 
 
 gularly beautiful, fhe charms every fenfible 
 heart ; all other women, however lovely, 
 appear marble flames near her : fair ; pale 
 (a palenefs which gives the idea of delicacy 
 without deftroying that of health), with 
 dark hair and eyes, the latter large and 
 languishing, ihe feems made to feel to a 
 trembling excefs the pafTion {lie cannot fail 
 of infpiring : her elegant form has an air 
 of foftnefs and languor, which feizes the 
 whole foul in a moment: her eyes, the 
 moil intelligent I ever faw, hold you en- 
 chain'd by their bewitching fenfibility. 
 
 There area thoufandunfpeakable charms 
 in her converfation ; but what I am moil 
 pleas'd with, is the attentive politenefs of 
 her manner, which you feldom fee in a 
 perfon in love ; the extreme defire of 
 pleafing one man generally taking off greatly 
 from the attention due to all the reft. This 
 is partly owing to her admirable under- 
 Handing, and partly to the natural foft- 
 nefs. 
 
42 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 nefs of her foul, which gives her the 
 ftrongeft clefire of pleafmg. As I am a 
 philofopher in thefe matters, and have 
 made the heart my fhidy, I want extremely 
 to fee her with her lover, and to obferve 
 the gradual encreafe of her charms in his 
 prefence ; love, which embelliflies the mod 
 unmeaning countenance, mud give to her'* 
 a iire irrefiftible : what eyes ! when ani- 
 mated by tendernefs ! 
 
 The very foul acquires a new force and 
 beauty by loving ; a woman of honor ne- 
 ver appears half fo amiable, or difplays 
 half fo many virtues, as when fenfible to 
 the merit of a man who deferves her af- 
 fection. Obferve, Lucy, I fhall never 
 allow you to be handfome till I hear you 
 are in love. 
 
 Did I tell you Emily Montague had the 
 fined hand and arm in the world ? I fhould 
 however have excepted yours : her tone of 
 voice too has the fame melodious fweetnefs, 
 
 a per- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 43 
 
 a perfection without which the lovelieft 
 woman could never make the leafl impref- 
 iion on my heart : I don*t think you are 
 very unlike upon the whole, except that 
 fhe is paler. You know, Lucy, you have 
 often told me I fliould certainly have been 
 in love with you if I had not been your 
 brother : this refemblance is a proof you 
 were right. You are really as handfome as 
 any woman can be whofe fenfibility has 
 never been put in motion. 
 
 I am to give a ball to-morrow; Mrs> 
 Melraoth is to have the honors of it, but as 
 flie is with child, (he does not dance. This 
 circumflance has produc'd a difpute not a 
 little flattering to my vanity: the ladles 
 are making interefl to dance with nre ; 
 what a happy exchange have I made! what 
 man of common fenfe would flay to be 
 overlook'd in England, who can have ri- 
 val beauties contend for him in Canada.?. 
 This important point is not yet fettled ; the 
 etiquette here is rather difficult to adjufl ; 
 
 as 
 
44 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 as to me, I have nothing to do in the ecu- 
 fultation ; my hand is deftin'd to the longed 
 pedigree ; we {land prodigioufly on our 
 nobleffe at Montreal. 
 
 After a difpute in which two French la- 
 dies were near drawing their hufoands into 
 a duel, the point of honor is yielded by 
 both to Mifs Montague ; each inlifting only 
 that I fhould not dance with the other : for 
 my part, I fubmit with a good grace, as 
 you will fuppofe* 
 
 Saturday morning. 
 
 I never pafled a more agreeable evening: 
 we have our amufements here, I affure you : 
 a fet of fine young fellows, and handfome 
 women, all well drefs'd, and in humor with 
 themfelves, and with each other : my lovely 
 Emily like Venus amongft the Graces, only 
 multiplied to about fixteen. Nothing is, in 
 
 my 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 45 
 
 my opinion, fo favorable to the difplay of 
 beauty as a ball. A (late of reft is ungrace- 
 ful; all nature is moft beautiful in motion; 
 trees agitated by the wind, a fhip under fail, 
 a horfe in the courfe, a fine woman danc- 
 ing: never any human being had fuch an 
 aveiiion to ftill life as I have. 
 
 I am going back to Melmoth's for a 
 month ; don't be alarm'd, Lucy ! I fee all 
 her perfections, but I fee them with the 
 cold eye of admiration only : a woman en- 
 gaged lofes all her attractions as a woman; 
 there is no love without a ray of hope: my 
 only ambition is to be her friend ; I want to 
 be the confidant of her paffion. With what 
 ipirit fuch a mind as hers muft love ! 
 
 Adieu ! my dear! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 LET- 
 
4<S THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Montreal, Auguft 15. 
 T) Y Heavens, Lucy, this is more than 
 -*-* man can bear ; I was mad to ftay fo 
 long at Melmoth's ; there is no refifting 
 this little feducer: 'tis fhameful in fuch a 
 lovely woman to have underftanding too ; 
 yet even this I could forgive, had me not 
 that enchanting foftnefs in her manner, 
 which fleals upon the foul, and would al- 
 mofl make uglinefs itfelf charm ; were me 
 but vain, one had fome chance, but me will 
 take upon her to have no confcioufnefs, at 
 lead no apparent confcioufnefs, of her per- 
 fections, which is really intolerable. I told 
 her fo lafl night, when me put on fuch a 
 malicious fmile — I believe the little tyrant 
 wants to add me to the lift of her Haves ; 
 but I was not form'd to fill up a train. The 
 2 woman 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 47 
 
 v/oman I love muft be fo far from giving 
 another the preference, that fhe mud have 
 no foul but for me ; I am one of the moil 
 unreafonable men in the world on this head; 
 (lie may fancy what fhe pleafes, but I fet 
 her and all her attractions at defiance : I 
 have made my efcape, and (hall fet off for. 
 Quebec in an hour. Flying is, I mud ac- 
 knowledge, a little out of character, and 
 unbecoming a foldier ; but in thefe cafes, 
 it is the very befl thing man or woman 
 either can do, when they doubt their 
 powers of refiftance. 
 
 I intend to be ten days going to Quebec. 
 I propofe vifiting the priefts at every vil- 
 lage, and endeavouring to get fome know- 
 ledge of the nature of the country, in or- 
 der to my intended fettlement. Idlenefs be- 
 ing the root of all evil, and the nurfe of 
 love, I am determin'd to keep myfelf em- 
 ployed ; nothing can be better fuited to 
 my temper than my prefent defign ; the 
 pleafure of cultivating lands here is as much 
 
 fuperior 
 
48 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 fuperior to what can be found in the fame 
 employment in England, as watching the 
 expanding rofe, and beholding the falling 
 leaves: America is in infancy, Europe in 
 old age. Nor am I very ill qualified for this 
 agreable talk : I have fludied the Georgicks, 
 and am a pretty enough kind of a hufband- 
 man as far as theory goes ; nay, I am not 
 fore I fhall not be, even in practice, the 
 beft gentleman farmer in the province. 
 
 You may expect foon to hear of me in 
 the Mufeum Rufticum ; I intend to make 
 amazing difcoveries in the rural way: I 
 have already found out, by the force of 
 my own genius, two very uncommon cir- 
 cumftances ; that in Canada, contrary to 
 what we fee every where elfe, the country 
 is rich, the capital poor; the hills fruitful, 
 the vallies barren. You fee what excellent 
 difpofitions I have to be an ufeful member 
 of fociety : I had always a ftrong biafs to 
 the ftudy of natural philofophy. 
 
 Tell 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 4? 
 
 Tell my mother how well I am employ'd, 
 and ftie cannot but approve my voyage : 
 allure her, my dear, of my tender eft re- 
 gard. 
 
 The chaife is at the door. 
 Adieu ! 
 
 Ed. RivEfts. 
 
 The lover is every hour expected ; I 
 am not quite fure I fhould have 
 lik'd to fee him arrive : a third per- 
 fon, you know, on fuch an occa- 
 fion, finks into nothing; and I love, 
 wherever I am, to be one of the 
 figures which ftrike the eye; I hate 
 to appear "on the back ground of 
 the picture. 
 
 Vol, L D LET- 
 
S o THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER VIIL 
 To Mifs River s. 
 
 Quebec, Aug. 24. 
 
 YOU can't think, my dear, what a 
 fund of ufeful knowledge I have 
 treafur'd up during ray journey from Mon- 
 treal. This colony is a rich mine yet uno- 
 pen'd ; I do not mean of gold and friver, 
 but of what are of much more real value, 
 corn and cattle. Nothing is wanting but 
 encouragement and cultivation ; the Cana- 
 dians are at their eafe even without labor; 
 nature is here a bounteous mother, who 
 pours forth her gifts almofl unfolicited: 
 bigotry, ftupidity, and lazinefs, united, 
 have not been able to keep the peafantry 
 poor. I rejoice to find fuch admirable ca- 
 pabilities where 1 propofe to fix my domi- 
 nion. 
 
 I was 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 5r 
 
 I was hofpitably entertained by the cures 
 all the way down, tho' they are in general 
 but ill provided for : the parochial clergy 
 are ufeful every where, but I have a great 
 averfion to monks, thofe drones in the po- 
 litical hive, whofe whole fludy feems to be 
 to make themfelves as ufelefs to the world 
 as poffible. Think too of the mocking in- 
 delicacy of many of them, who make it a 
 point of religion to abjure linen, and wear 
 their habits till they drop off. How ado- 
 nifhing that any mind fhouid fuppofe the 
 Deity an enemy to cleanlinefs ! the Jewiih 
 religion was hardly any thing elfe. 
 
 I paid my refpech wherever I flopped, to 
 the feigneurefs of the village ; for as to the 
 feigneurs, except two or three, if they had 
 not wives, they would not be worth vifiting. 
 
 I am every day more pleafed with the 
 
 women here ; and, if I was gallant, fhouid 
 
 be in danger of beins: a convert to the 
 
 D 2 French 
 
52 THE HISTORY F 
 
 French ftile of gallantry ; which certainly 
 debafes the mind much lefs than ours. 
 
 But what is all this to my Emily ? How I 
 envy Sir George! what happinefs has Hea- 
 ven prepared for him, if he has a foul to 
 
 tafte it ! 
 
 I really mud: not think of her ; I found 
 fo much delight in her converfation, it Was 
 quite time to come away; I am -aimed 
 aihamed to own how much difficulty I found 
 in leaving her ; do you know I have fcarce 
 ilept fince? This is abfurd, but I cannot 
 help it -, which by the "Way is an admirable 
 excufe for any thing. 
 
 I have been come but two hours, and 
 am going to Silleri, to pay my compliments 
 to your friend Mifs Fermor, who arrived 
 with her father, who comes to join his re- 
 oiment, -fince I left Quebec. I hear there 
 has been a very fine importation of Engliih 
 
 ladies 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 53 
 
 ladies during my abfence. I am forry I 
 have not time to vifit the reft, but I go to- 
 morrow morning to the Indian village for a 
 fortnight, and have feveral letters to write 
 to-night. 
 
 Adieu ! I am interrupted, 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 To Mrs. Melmoth, at Montreal. 
 
 Quebec, Augufl 24. 
 
 T CANNOT, Madam, exprefs my obli- 
 -*- gation to you for having added a poft- 
 fcript to Major Melmoth's letter: lam Aire 
 he will excufe my anfwering the whole to 
 you ; if not, I beg he may know that I 
 mall be very pert about it, being much more 
 folicitous to pleafe you than him, for a 
 thoufand reafons too tedious to mention. 
 
 D 3 I thought 
 
54 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I thought you had more penetration than 
 to fuppofe me indifferent : on the contrary, 
 fenfibility is my fault; though it is not 
 your little every-day beauties who can ex- 
 cite it : I have admirable difpofitions to 
 love, though I am hard to pleafe: in fhort, 
 I am not cruel, I am only nice : do but you, 
 or your divine friend, give me leave to wear 
 your chains, and you lhall foon be convinced 
 I can love like an angel, when I fetin earned 
 about it. But, alas ! you are married, and 
 in love with your hufband ; and your friend 
 is in a fituation ftill more unfavorable to a 
 lover's hopes. This is particularly unfortu- 
 nate, as you are the only two of your be- 
 witching fex in Canada, for whom my 
 heart feels the leaft fympathy. To be plain, 
 but don't tell the little Major, I am more 
 than half in love with you both, and, if I 
 was the grand Turk, fhould certainly fit 
 out a fleet, to feize, and bring you to my 
 feraglio» 
 
 There 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 55 
 
 There is one virtue I admire extremely 
 m you both ; I mean, that humane and ten- 
 der compailion for the poor men, which 
 prompts you to be always feen together ; if 
 you appeared feparate, where is the hero 
 who could refift either of you ? 
 
 You alk me how I like the French ladies 
 at Montreal: I think them extremely pl'caf- 
 ing; and many of them handfome; I 
 
 thought Madame L fo, even near you 
 
 and Mifs Montague; which is, I think, 
 faying as much as can be faid on the fub- 
 jeft. 
 
 I have juft heard by accident that Sir 
 George is arrived at Montreal. Affure Mifs 
 Montague, no one can be more warmly in- 
 terefted in her happinefs than I am : flie is 
 the moil perfect work of Heaven ; may fhe 
 be the happieft ! I feel much more on this 
 occaiion than I can exprefs : a mind like 
 hers mull, in marriage, be exquifitely happy 
 D 4 or 
 
$6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 or miferable : my friendfhip makes mc 
 tremble for her, notwith (landing the wor- 
 thy character I have heard of Sir George. 
 
 I will defer till another time what I had 
 to fay to Major Melmoth. 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 Madam, 
 
 Yours &c. 
 
 Ed. Rivers, 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Silleri, Augufl24» 
 
 I" HAVE been a month arrived, my dear, 
 ■*■ without having feen your brother, who 
 is at Montreal, but I am told is expected 
 to-day. I have fpent my time however 
 very agreably. I know not what the win- 
 ter may be, but I am enchanted with the 
 beauty of this country in fummer ; bold, 
 
 pi&urefquej 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 57 
 
 pi&urefque, romantic, nature reigns here 
 in all her wanton luxuriance, adorned by a 
 thoufand wild graces which mock the cul- 
 tivated beauties of Europe. The fcenery 
 about the town is infinitely lovely; the 
 profpecl: extenfrve, and diverfified by a va- 
 riety of hills, woods, rivers, cafcades, in- 
 termingled with fmiling farms and cottages, 
 and bounded by diftant mountains which 
 feem to fcale the very Heavens. 
 
 The days are much hotter here than in 
 England, but the heat is more fupportable 
 from the breezes which always fpring up 
 about noon ; and the evenings are charm- 
 ing beyond expreflion. We have much 
 thunder and lightening, but very few in- 
 itanees of their being fatal: the thunder is 
 more magnificent and aweful than in Eu- 
 rope, and the lightening brighter and more 
 beautiful ; I have even feen it of a clear 
 pale purple, refembling the gay tints of 
 the morning. 
 
 Ei 5 The 
 
58 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 The verdure is equal to that of England, 
 and in the evening acquires an unfpeak- 
 able beauty from the lucid fplendor of the 
 fire-flies fparkling like a thoufand little 
 ilarson the trees and on the grafs. 
 
 There are two very noble falls of water 
 near Quebec, la Chaudiere and Montmo- 
 renci : the former is a prodigious meet of 
 water, rufhing over the wildefl rocks, and 
 forming a fcene grotefque, irregular, aflo- 
 nifhing : the latter, lefs wild, lefs irregular, 
 but more pleafing and more majeflic, falls 
 from an immenfe height, down the fide of 
 a romantic mountain, into the river St. 
 Lawrence, oppolite the moil fmiling part 
 of the ifland of Orleans, to the cultivated 
 charms of which it forms the moil ftriking 
 and agreeable contrail. 
 
 The river of the fame name, which fu'p- 
 plies the cafcade of Montmorenci, is the 
 mod lovely of all inanimate objects : but 
 
 why 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. S9 
 
 why do I call it inanimate? It almoft 
 breathes; I no longer wonder at the enthu- 
 fiafm of Greece and Rome ; 'twas from 
 obje&srefemblingthis their mythology took 
 its rife ; it feems the refidence of a thou- 
 fand deities. 
 
 Paint to yourfelf a ftupendous rock 
 burfl as it were in funder by the hands of 
 nature, to give paflage to a fmall, but very 
 deep and beautiful river ; and forming on 
 each fide a regular and magnificent wall, 
 crowned with the nobieft woods that can 
 be imagined ; the fides of thefe romantic 
 walls adorned with a variety of the gayeil 
 flowers, and in many places little ftreams of 
 the pureft water guihing through, and lo- 
 fing themfelves in the river below: a thou- 
 land natural grottoes in the ro«k make you 
 fu-ppofe yourfelf in the abode of the Nereids; 
 as a little ifland, covered with flowering 
 fhrubs, about a mile above the falls, where 
 the river enlarges itfeif as if to give it room, 
 feems intended for the throne of the river 
 D 6 ggddefs. 
 
60 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 goddefs. Beyond this, the rapids, formed 
 by the irregular projections of the rock, 
 which in fome places feem almoft to meet, 
 rival in beauty, as they excel in variety, 
 the cafcade itfelf, and clofe this little world 
 of enchantment. 
 
 In fhort, the lovelinefs of this fairy fcene 
 alone more than pays the fatigues of my 
 voyage ; and, if I ever murmur at having 
 croffed the Atlantic, remind me that I 
 have feen the river Montmorencr. 
 
 lean give you a very imperfect account of 
 the people here ; I have only examined the 
 landfoape about Quebec, and have given very 
 little attention to the figures; the French 
 ladies are handfome, but as to the beaux, 
 they appear to me not at all dangerous, 
 and one might fafely walk in a wood by 
 moonlight with the mod agreeable French- 
 man here. I am not furprized the Cana- 
 dian ladies take fuch pains to feduce our 
 
 men 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 6t 
 
 men from us ; but I think it a little hard wc 
 have no temptation to make reprifals. 
 
 I am at prefent at an extreme pretty 
 farm on the banks of the river St. Law- 
 rence ; the houfe ftands at the foot of a 
 fteep mountain covered with a variety of 
 trees, forming a verdant Hoping wall, which 
 rifes in a kind of regular confufion, 
 " Shade above (hade, a woody theatre,'' 
 and has in front this noble river, on which 
 the fhips continually palling prefent to the 
 delighted eye the moil charming moving 
 picture imaginable ; I never faw a place fo 
 formed to infpire that pleafmg laiTitude,that 
 divine inclination to faunter, which may not 
 improperly be called, the luxurious indo- 
 lence of the country. I intend to build a 
 temple here to the charming goddefs of 
 lazinefs. 
 
 A gentleman is juft coming down the 
 winding path on the fide of the hill, whom 
 by his air I take to be your brother. Adieu ! 
 
 I mud 
 
6i THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I mud receive him : my father is at Que- 
 bec. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Arabella Fermor. 
 
 Your brother has given me a very 
 pleafing piece of intelligence: my 
 friend Emily Montague is at Mont- 
 real, and is going to be married to 
 great advantage; I muft write to 
 her immediately, and infift on her 
 making me a vifit before fhe mar- 
 ries. She came to America two 
 years ago, with her uncle Colonel 
 Montague, who died here, and I 
 imagined was gone back to England ; 
 ihe is however at Montreal with 
 Mrs. Melmoth, adiflant relation! of 
 her mother's. Adieu! matres chere! 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 6$ 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street, 
 
 Quebec, Sept. 10. 
 r Find, my dear, that abfence and amufe- 
 -*- ment are the bed remedies for a 
 beginning paffion ; I have paffed a fort- 
 night at the Indian village of Lorette, 
 where the novelty of the fcene, and the 
 enquiries I have been led to make into 
 their antient reh'gion and manners, have 
 been of a thoufand times more fervice to 
 me than all the reflection in the world 
 would have been. 
 
 I will own to you that I ftaid too long 
 at Montreal, or rather at Major Mel- 
 moth's ; to be fix weeks in the fame houfe 
 with one of the moil amiable, moft pleaf- 
 ing of women, was a trying fituation to a 
 heart full of fenfibility, and of a fenfibi- 
 lity 
 
6 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 lity which has been hitherto, from a vari- 
 ety of caufes, a good deal retrained. I 
 fhould have avoided the danger from the 
 firft, had it appeared to me what it really 
 was ; but I thought myfelf fecure in the 
 confideration of her engagements, a de- 
 fence however which I found grow weaker 
 every day. 
 
 But to my favages : other nations talk 
 of liberty, they poifefs it ; nothing can be 
 more aftonifhing than to fee a little village 
 of about thirty or forty families, the fmall 
 remains of the Hurons, almoft exterminated 
 by long and continual w T ar with the Iro- 
 quoife, preferve their independence in the 
 midft of an European colony confiding of 
 feventy thoufand inhabitants ; yet the fact 
 is true of the favages of Lorette ; they 
 affert and they maintain that independence 
 with a fpirit truly noble. One of our com- 
 pany having faid fomething which an In- 
 dian underftood as a fuppofition that they 
 had been fubjefts of France, his eyes ftruck 
 
 fire> 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 6$ 
 
 fire, he ftop'd him abruptly, contrary to 
 their refpectful and fenfible cuftom of never 
 interrupting the perfon who fpeaks, " You 
 " miftake, brother," faid he •, " we are 
 " fubjedts to no prince ; a favage is free 
 u all over the world." And he fpokeonly 
 truth ; they are not only free as a people, 
 but every individual is perfectly fo. Lord 
 of himfelf, at once fubject and mafter, a 
 favage knows no fuperior, a circumftance 
 which has a ftriking effect on his behavi- 
 our ; unawed by rank or riches, diflinctions 
 unknown amongft his own nation, he would 
 enter as unconcerned, would poffefs all his 
 powers as freely in the palace of an orien- 
 tal monarch, as in the cottage of the mean- 
 eft peafant : 'tis the fpecies, 'tis man, 'tis 
 his equal he refpects, without regarding the 
 gaudy trappings, the accidental advantages, 
 to which poliflied nations pay homage. 
 
 I have taken fome pains to develop their 
 prefent, as well as paft, religious fenti- 
 ments, becaufe the Jefuit miflionaries have 
 
 beaded 
 
66 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 boafted fo much of their converfion ; and 
 find they have rather engrafted a few of 
 the mofl plain and fimple truths of Chrifti- 
 anity on their ancient fuperftitions, than 
 exchanged one faith for another; they are 
 baptized, and even ftibmit to what they 
 themfelves call the yoke of confefTion, and 
 worfhip according to the outward forms of 
 the Romifli church, the drapery of which 
 cannot but firike minds unufed to fplen- 
 dor j but their belief is very little changed, 
 except that the women feem to pay great 
 reverence to the Virgin, perhaps becaufe 
 flattering to the fex. They anciently be* 
 lieved in one God, the ruler and creator 
 of the univerfe, whom they called the 
 Great Spirit and the Mafier of Life ; in the 
 fun as his image and reprefentative ; in a 
 multitude of inferior fpirits and demons ; 
 and in a future (late of rewards and pu*- 
 nifhments, or, to ufe their own phrafe, in # 
 country of fouls. They reverenced the fpi- 
 rits of their departed heroes, but it does 
 
 not 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 67 
 
 not appear that they paid them any religi- 
 ous adoration. Their morals were more 
 pure, their manners more fimple, than 
 thofe of poliflied nations, except in what 
 regarded the intercourfe of the fexes : the 
 young women before marriage were in- 
 dulged in great libertinifm, hid however 
 under the moft referved and decent exte- 
 rior. They held adultery in abhorrence, 
 and with the more reafon as their marriages 
 were diffolvible at pleafure. The miffio- 
 naries are faid to have found no difficulty 
 fo great in gaining them to Chriflianity, as 
 that of perfuading them to marry for life : 
 they regarded the Chriflian fyftem of mar- 
 riage as contrary to the laws of nature 
 and reafon ; and afferted that, as the Great 
 Spirit formed us to be happy, it was op- 
 pofing his will, to continue together when 
 oth erwife. 
 
 The fex we have fo unjuftly excluded 
 from power in Europe have a great fhare 
 
 in 
 
68 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 in the Huron government ; the chief is 
 chofe by the matrons from amongfl the 
 neareft male relations, by the female line, 
 of him he is to fucceed ; and is generally 
 an aunt's or filler's fon ; a cuftom which, 
 if we examine (Irictly into the principle on 
 which it is founded, feems a little to con- 
 tradict what we are told of the extreme 
 chaftity of the married ladies. 
 
 The power of the chief is extremely li- 
 mited •, he feems rather to advife his people 
 as a father than command them as a maf- 
 ter : yet, as his commands are always rea- 
 fonable, and for the general good, no prince 
 in the world is fo well obeyed. They have 
 a fupreme council of ancients, into which 
 every man enters of courfe at an age fixed, 
 and another of affiftants to the chief on 
 common occafions, the members of which 
 are like him elected by the matrons: I am 
 pleafed with this laft regulation, as wo- 
 men are, beyond all doubt, the beft judges 
 of the merit of men ; and I fhould be ex- 
 tremely 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 6 9 
 
 tremely pleafed to fee it adopted in Eng- 
 land: canvaiTing for elections would then 
 be the mod agreeable thing in the world, 
 and I am fure the ladies would give their 
 votes on much more generous principles 
 than we do. In the true fenfe of the word, 
 we are the ravages, who fo impolitely de- 
 prive you of the common rights of citizen- 
 fhip, and leave you no power but that of 
 which we cannot deprive you, the refiftlefs ' 
 power of your charms. By the way, I 
 don't think you are obliged in confcience to 
 obey laws you have had no fhare in mak- 
 ing ; your plea would certainly be at lead 
 as good as that of the Americans, about 
 which we every day hear fo much. 
 
 The Hurons have no pofitive laws ; yet 
 being a people not numerous, with a ftrong 
 fenfe of honor, and in that ftate of equa- 
 lity which gives no food to the moll tor- 
 menting paihons of the human heart, and 
 the council of ancients having a power to 
 3 punifh 
 
7 o THE HISTORY OF 
 
 puniih atrocious crimes, which power how- 
 ever they very feldom find occafion to ufe, 
 they live together in a tranquillity and or- 
 der which appears tousfurprizing. 
 
 In more numerous Indian nations, I am 
 told, every village has its chief and its coun- 
 cils, and is perfectly independent on the 
 reft ; but on great occafions fummon a ge- 
 neral council, to which every village fends 
 deputies. 
 
 Their language is at once fublime and 
 melodious ; but, having much fewer ideas, 
 it is impoffible it can be fo copious as thofe 
 of Europe : the pronunciation of the men 
 is guttural, but that of the women ex- 
 tremely foft and pleafing ; without under- 
 Handing one word of the language, the 
 found of it is very agreeable to me. Their 
 ftyle even in fpeaking French is bold and 
 metaphorical : and I am told is on impor- 
 tant occafions extremely fublime. Even in 
 r common 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 7 t 
 
 common converfation they fpeak in figures, 
 of which I have this moment an inftance. 
 A favage woman was wounded lately in de- 
 fending an Englifh family from the drunken 
 rage of one of her nation. I aiked her 
 after her wound ; " It is well," faid fhe ; 
 " my fillers at Quebec (meaning the Englifh 
 " ladies) have been kind to me ; and pi- 
 " aftres, you know, are very healing.'* 
 
 They have no idea of letters, no alpha- 
 bet, nor is their language reducible to 
 xules : 'tis by painting they preferve the 
 memory of the only events which interefl 
 them, or that they think worth recording, 
 the conquefls gained over their enemies in 
 war. 
 
 When I fpeak of their paintings, I 
 ihould not omit that, though extremely 
 rude, they have a ftrong refemblance to 
 the Chinefe, a circumftance which ft ruck 
 me the more, as it is not the {tile of nature. 
 Their dances alio, the moft lively panto- 
 mimes I ever faw, and efpecially the dance 
 
 of 
 
72 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of peace, exhibit variety of attitudes re- 
 fembling the figures on Chinefe fans ; nor 
 have their features and complexion lefs 
 likenefs to the pictures we fee of the Tar- 
 tars, as their wandering manner of life, 
 before they became chriftians, was the fame. 
 
 If I thought it necefiary to fuppofe they 
 were not natives of the country,, and that 
 America was peopled later than the other 
 quarters of the world, I mould imagine 
 them the defcendants of Tartars ; as no- 
 thing can be more eafy than their paf- 
 fage from Afia, from which America is pro- 
 bably not divided ; or, if it is, by a very 
 narrow channel. But I leave this to thofe 
 who are better informed, being a fubjecl 
 on which I honeftly confefs my ignorance. 
 
 I have already obferved, that they retain 
 moft of their antient fuperflitions. I mould 
 particularize their belief in dreams, of 
 which folly even repeated difappointments 
 cannot cure them : they have alfo an unli- 
 mited 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 73 
 
 mited faith in their powawers, or conjurers, 
 of whom there is one in every Indian vil- 
 lage, who is at once phyfician, orator, and 
 divine, and who is confulted as an oracle 
 on every occafion. As I happened to fmile 
 at the recital a favage was making of a 
 prophetic dream, from which he affured us 
 of the death of an Englifti officer whom I 
 knew to be alive, " You Europeans," 
 faid he, " are the molt unreafonable peo- 
 " pie in the world ; you laugh at our be- 
 " lief in dreams, and yet expect us to be- 
 " lieve things a thoufand times more incre- 
 " dible." 
 
 Their general character is difficult to de- 
 fcribe ; made up of contrary and even con- 
 tradictory qualities, they are indolent, tran- 
 quil, quiet, humane in peace ; active, reh> 
 lefs, cruel, ferocious in war : courteous, 
 attentive, hofpituble, and even polite, when 
 kindly treated; haughty, ftern, vindictive, 
 when they are not ; and their refentment 
 is the more to be dreaded, as they hold it a 
 
 Vol. I. E point 
 
74 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 point of honor to difTemble their fenfe of 
 an injury till they find an opportunity to 
 revenge it. 
 
 They are patient of cold and heat, of 
 hunger and third, even beyond all belief 
 when neceffity requires, paffing whole days, 
 and often three or four days together, with- 
 out food, in the woods, when on the watch 
 for an enemy, or even on their hunting par- 
 ties ; yet indulging themlelves in their 
 feails even to the mod brutal degree of in- 
 temperance. They defpife death, andfuffer 
 the moil excruciating tortures not only with- 
 out a groan, but with an air of triumph ; 
 finging their death fong, deriding their tor- 
 mentors, and threatening them with the 
 vengeance of their furviving friends: yet 
 hold it honorable to fly before an enemy 
 that appears the leaft fuperior in number 
 or force. 
 
 Deprived by their extreme ignorance, 
 and that indolence which nothing but their 
 
 ardor 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, 
 
 / :> 
 
 ardor for war can furmount, of all the con- 
 veniencies, as well as elegant refinements 
 of poliflied Iife> ftrangers to the fofter paf- 
 (ions,' love being with them on the fame 
 footing as amongft their fellow-tenants of 
 the woods, their lives appear to me rather 
 tranquil than happy : they have fewer 
 cares, but they have alfo much fewer en- 
 joyments, than fall to our fhare. I am told, 
 however, that, though infenfible to love, 
 they are not without affections ; are ex- 
 tremely awake to friendfhip, andpaflionately 
 fond of their children. 
 
 They are of a copper color, which is 
 rendered more imp leafing by a quantity 
 of coarfe red on their cheeks ; but the chil- 
 dren, when born, are of a pate filver white ; 
 perhaps their indelicate cuftom of greailng 
 their bodies, and their being fo much ex- 
 poied to the air and fun even from in- 
 fancy, may caufe that total change of com- 
 plexion, which I know not how other wit e 
 to account for: their hxfr is black and 
 E 2 mining, 
 
7tS THE HISTORY OF 
 
 fliining, the women's very long, parted at 
 the top, and combed back, tied behind, 
 and often twitted with a thong of leather, 
 which they think very ornamental : the 
 drefs of both fexes is a clofe jacket, reach- 
 ing to their knees, with fpatterdafhes, all 
 of coarfe blue cloth, fhoes of deer-ikin, 
 embroidered with porcupine quills, and 
 fometimes with filver fpangles ; and a blan- 
 ket thrown acrofs their fhoulders, and fas- 
 tened before w*th a kind of bodkin, with 
 necklaces, and other ornaments of beads or 
 ihells. 
 
 They are in general tall, well made, and 
 agile to the lad degree ; have a lively ima- 
 gination, a ftrong memory ; and, as far as 
 their interefts are concerned, are very dex- 
 trous politicians. 
 
 Their addrefs is cold and referved ; but 
 their treatment of ftrangers, and the un- 
 happy, infinitely kind and hofpitable. A 
 very worthy prieft, with whom I am ac- 
 quainted 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 77 
 
 quainted at Quebec, was fome years fince 
 fhipwrecked in December on the iiland of 
 Anticofci: after a variety of diftrefTes, not 
 difficult to be imagined on an iiland with- 
 out inhabitants, during the feverity of a 
 winter even colder than that of Canada; 
 he, with the fmall remains of his compa- 
 nions who furvivedfuch complicated diflrefs, 
 early in the fpring, reached the main land 
 in their boat, and wandered to a cabbin of 
 favages; the ancient of which, having heard 
 his ftory, bid him enter, and liberally fup- 
 plied their wants: " Approach, brother," 
 faid he ; " the unhappy have a right to our 
 " afiiilance ; we are men, and cannot but 
 " feel for the diftrefTes which happen to 
 " men;" a fentiment which has a ftrong 
 refemblan.ce to a celebrated one in a Greek 
 tragedy. 
 
 You will not expecl: more from me on 
 
 this fubjecl:, as my refidence here has been 
 
 fliort, and I can only be faid to catch a few 
 
 E 3 marking 
 
?8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 marking features flying. I am unable to 
 give you a piclure at full length. 
 
 Nothing aflonifhes me fo much as to find 
 their manners fo little changed by their in- 
 tercourfe with the Europeans; they feem 
 to have learnt nothing of us but excefs in 
 drinking. 
 
 The fituation of the village is very fine, 
 on an eminence, gently rifing to a thick 
 wood at fome diftance, a beautiful little 
 ferpentine river in front, on which are a 
 bridge, a mill, and a fmall cafcade, at fuch 
 a diftance as to be very pleafing objects 
 from their houfes; and a cultivated coun- 
 try, intermixed with little woods lying be* 
 tween them and Quebec, from which they 
 are diflant only nine very fliort miles. 
 
 What a letter have I written! I mall 
 quit my poll of hiftorian to your friend 
 Mifs Fermor ; the ladies love writing much 
 
 better 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 79 
 
 better than we do 5 and I fhould perhaps 
 be only juft, if I faid they write better. 
 
 Adieu I 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Quebec, Sept. 12. 
 
 I YESTERDAY morning received a let- 
 Bet from Major Melmoth, to introduce 
 
 to my acquaintance Sir George Clayton, 
 who brought ir 5 he wanted no other intro- 
 duflion to me than his beirrg dear to the 
 mod amiable woman breathing ; in virtue 
 of that claim, he may command every civility, 
 every attention in my power. He break- 
 failed with me yefterday: we were two 
 hours alone, and had a great deal of con- 
 verfation ; we afterwards fpent the day to- 
 gether very agreably, on a party of plea- 
 fur e in the country. 
 
 E. 4 I am 
 
8o THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I am going with him this afternoon to w 
 fit Mifs Fermor, to whom he has a letter 
 from the divine Emily, which he is to de- 
 liver himfelf. 
 
 He is very handfome, but not of my fa- 
 vorite ftile of beauty: extremely fair and 
 blooming, with fine features, light hair 
 and eyes ; his countenance not abfolutely 
 heavy, but inanimate, and to my tafte in- 
 fipid: finely made, not ungenteel, but with- 
 out that eafy air of the world which I pre- 
 fer to the moil exaft fymmetry without it. 
 In ihort, he is what the country ladies in 
 England call afweet pretty ?nan. He drefies 
 well, has the finefl horfes and the hand- 
 fomeft liveries I have feen in Canada. His 
 manner is civil but cold, his converfation 
 fenfible but not fpirited ; he feems to be a 
 man rather to approve than to love. Will 
 you excufe me if I fay, he refembles the 
 form my imagination paints of Prometheus's 
 
 man 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 81 
 
 man of clay, before he Hole the celeftial 
 fire to animate him ? 
 
 Perhaps I fcrutinize him too ftri&ly ; 
 perhaps I am prejudiced in my judgment 
 by the very high idea I had form'd of the 
 man whom Emily Montague could love. I 
 will own to you, that I thought it impoflible 
 for her to be pleafed with meer beauty ; 
 and I cannot even now change my opinion ; 
 I fhall find fome latent fire, fome hidden 
 fpark, when we are better acquainted* 
 
 I intend to be very intimate with him, to 
 endeavour to fee into his very foul ; I am 
 hard to pleafe in a hufband for my Emily ; 
 he muft have fpirit, he muft have fenfibi- 
 lity, or he cannot make her happy. 
 
 He thank'd me for my civility to Mifs 
 
 Montague : do you know I thought him 
 
 impertinent? and I am not yet fure he was 
 
 E 5 not 
 
8- THE HISTORY OF 
 
 not fo, though I faw he meant to be po<* 
 lite. 
 
 He comes : our horfes are at the dooi% 
 Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Pa vers.. 
 
 Eight in the evening*. 
 
 We are return'd : I every hour like him 
 lefs. There were feveral ladies, French 
 and Englifh, with Mifs Fermor, all on tho 
 rack to engage the Baronet's attention ; 
 you have no notion of the effect of a title 
 in America. To do the ladies juftice how- 
 ever, he really look'd very handfome ; the 
 ride, and the civilities he receiv'd from a 
 circle of pretty women, for they were well 
 chofe, gave a glow to his complexion ex- 
 tremely favorable to his defire of pleaf- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 83 
 
 ing, which, through all his calmnefs, it was 
 impoflible not to obferve ; he even at- 
 tempted onee or twice to be lively, but 
 fail'd : vanity itfelf could not infpire him 
 with vivacity ; yet vanity is certainly his 
 ruling paflion, if fuch a piece of flill life 
 can be faid to have any paffions at all. 
 
 What a charm, my dear Lucy, is there 
 in fenfibility ! Tis the magnet which at- 
 tracts all to itfelf : virtue may command ef- 
 teem, understanding and talents admiration, 
 beauty a tranfient defire; but 'tis fenfibility 
 alone which can infpire love^ 
 
 Yet the tender, the fenfible Emily Mon- 
 tague — no, my dear, 'tis impoflible : fhk 
 may fancy (he loves him, but it is not in 
 nature ; unlefs {he extremely miftakes his 
 character. His approbation of her, for he 
 cannot feel a livelier fentiment, may at 
 prefent, when with her, raife him a little 
 above his natural vegetative ftate, but after 
 E 6 marriage 
 
8 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 marriage he will certainly fink into it 
 
 again. 
 
 If I have the leafl judgment in men, he 
 will be a cold, civil, inattentive hufband ; 
 ataflelefs, infipid, filent companion ; a tran- 
 quil, frozen, unimpafifion'd lover ; his in- 
 fenfibility will fecure her from rivals, his 
 vanity will give her all the drapery of 
 happinefs ; her friends will congratulate her 
 choice ; fhe will be the envy of her own 
 fex : without giving pofitlve offence, he 
 will every moment wound, becaufe he is a 
 flranger to, all the fine feelings of a heart 
 like hers ; ihe will feek in vain the friend, 
 the lover, fhe expected •, yet, fcarce know- 
 ing of what to complain, ihe will accufe 
 herfeif of caprice, and be aftonilh'd to 
 find herfeif wretched with the beji hujband 
 in the world. 
 
 I tremble 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. B$ 
 
 I tremble for her happinefs ; I know 
 how few of ray own fex are to be found 
 who have the lively fenfibility of yours, 
 and of thofe few how many wear out their 
 hearts by a life of gallantry and diffipation, 
 and bring only apathy and difguft into mar- 
 riage. I know few men capable of making 
 her happy ; but this Sir George — my 
 Lucy, I have not patience. 
 
 Did I tell you all the men here are in 
 love with your friend Bell Fermor ? The 
 Women all hate her, which is an unequivo- 
 cal proof that fhe pleafes the other fex. 
 
 LET* 
 
$6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 To Mifs Fermor, at Silleri. 
 
 Montreal, Sept. 2> 
 
 MY dearefl: Bell will better imagine 
 than I can defcribe, the pleafure 
 it gave me to hear of her being in Cana- 
 da ; I am impatient to fee her, but as Mrs. 
 Melmoth comes in a fortnight to Quebec, 
 I know me will excufe my waiting to come 
 with her. My vifit however is to Silleri ; I 
 long to fee my dear girl, to tell her a thou- 
 fand little trifles interefling only to friend- 
 ship. 
 
 You congratulate me, my dear, on the 
 pleafmg profpect I have before me ; on 
 jny approaching marriage with a man young, 
 
 rich. 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 87 
 
 rich, lovely, enamor'd, and of an amiable 
 character. 
 
 Yes, my dear, I am obliged to my uncle 
 for his choice ; Sir George is all you have 
 heard ; and, without doubt, loves me, as 
 he marries me with fuch an inferiority of 
 fortune. I am very happy certainly ; how 
 is it poffible I mould be otherwife ? 
 
 I could indeed wifli my tendernefs for 
 him more lively, but perhaps my wifhes 
 are romantic. I prefer him to all his fex, 
 but wifh my preference was of a lefs lan- 
 guid nature ; there is fomething in it more 
 like friendfhip than love ; I fee him with 
 pleafure, but I part from him without re- 
 gret ; yet he deferves my affection, and I 
 can have no objection to him which is not 
 founded in caprice.. 
 
 You fay true ; Colonel Rivers is very 
 
 amiable ; he pafs'd fix weeks with us, yet 
 
 5 vve 
 
88 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 we found his converfation always new ; lie 
 is the man on earth of whom one would 
 wifh to make a friend ; I think I could 
 already trull him with every fentiment of 
 my foul ; I have even more confidence in 
 him than in Sir George whom I love; his 
 manner is foft, attentive, infinuating, and 
 particularly adapted to pleafe women. 
 Without defigns, without pretentions; he 
 fleals upon you in the character of a friend, 
 becaufe there is not the lead appearance 
 of his ever being a lover : he feems to take 
 fuch an interefl in your happinefs, as gives 
 him a right to know your every thought. 
 Don't you think, my dear, thefe kind of 
 men are dangerous I Take care of yourfelf, 
 my dear Bell ; as to me, I am fecure in my 
 fituaticn. 
 
 Sir George is to have the pleafure of 
 delivering this to you, and comes again in 
 a few days ; love him for my fake, though 
 
 he 
 
 L 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. B 9 
 
 hedeferves.it for his own. I affure you, he 
 is extremely worthy. 
 
 Adieu ! my dear. 
 
 Your afFe&ionate 
 
 Emily Montague. 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 To John Temple, Efq; Pall-Mall. 
 
 Quebec^ Sept. 15* 
 
 BELIEVE me, Jack, you are wrong 5 
 this vagrant tafte is unnatural, and 
 does not lead to happinefs; your eager 
 purfuit of pleafure defeats itfelf; love 
 gives no true delight but where the heart 
 is attach'd, and ycu do not give yours time 
 to fix. Such is our unhappy frailty, that 
 the tendered paffion may wear out, and 
 
 another 
 
90 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 another fucceed, but the love of change 
 merely as change is not in nature ; where it 
 is a real tafte, 'tis a depraved one. Boys are 
 inconftant from vanity and affectation, old 
 men from decay of paffion ; but men, and 
 particularly men of fenfe, find their happi- 
 nefs only in that lively attachment of which 
 it is impoflible for more than one to be the 
 object. Love is an intellectual pleafure,. 
 and even the fenfes will be weakly affected 
 where the heart is filent. 
 
 You will find this truth confirmed even 
 within the walls of the feraglio ; amidft 
 this crowd of rival beauties, eager to 
 pleafe, one happy fair generally reigns in 
 the heart of the fultan; the reft ferve 
 only to gratify his pride and oflentation, 
 and are regarded by him with the fame 
 indifference as the furniture of his fuperb 
 palace, of which they may be faid to make 
 a part. 
 
 Willi 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 91 
 
 With your eftate, yon fhould marry ; I 
 have as many objections to the ftate as you 
 can have ; I mean, on the footing marriage 
 is at prefent. But of this I am certain, that 
 two perfons at once delicate and fenfible, 
 united by friendfhip, by tafle, by a con* 
 formity of fentiment, by that lively ardent 
 tender inclination which alone deferves the 
 name of love, will find happinefs in mar- 
 riage, which is in vain fought in any other 
 kind of attachment* 
 
 You are fo happy as to have the power 
 of chufmg ; you are rich, and have not the 
 temptation to a mercenary engagement* 
 Look round you for a companion, a confi- 
 dente ; a tender amiable friend, with all the 
 charms of a miftrefs : above all, be certain 
 of her affection, that you engage, that 
 you fill her whole foul. Find fuch a wo- 
 man, my dear Temple, and you cannot make 
 too much hafle to be happy •, 
 
 1 have 
 
fi THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I have a thoufand things to fay to you, 
 but am fetting off immediately with Sir 
 George Clayton, to meet the lieutenant 
 governor at Montreal ; a piece of refpect 
 which I mould pay with the molt lively 
 pleafure, if it did not give me the oppor- 
 tunity of feeing the woman in the world I 
 moil admire. I am not however going to 
 fet you the example of marrying : I am 
 bo t fo happy ; {lie is engaged to the gen* 
 tleman who goes up with me. Adieu! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers* 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. ?j 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 To Mifs Montague, at Montreal, 
 
 Silleri, Sept. 16. 
 
 TAKE care, my dear Emily, you do 
 not fall into the common error of fen- 
 fible and delicate minds, that of refining 
 away your happinefs. 
 
 Sir George is handfome as an Adonis ; 
 you allow him to be of an amiable cha- 
 racter; he is rich, young, well born, and 
 loves you ; you will have fine cloaths, fine 
 jewels, a fine houfe, a coach and fix; all 
 the douceurs of marriage, with an extreme 
 pretty fellow, who is fond of you, whom 
 you fee with pleafure> and prefer to all his 
 fex; and yet you are difcontented, becaufe 
 you have not for him at twenty-four the 
 romantic paffion of fifteen, or rather that 
 
 ideal 
 
94 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ideal paffion which perhaps never exifted 
 but in imagination. 
 
 To be happy in this world, it is neceffary 
 not to raife one's ideas too high : if I loved 
 a man of Sir George's fortune half as well 
 as by your own account you love him, I 
 fhould not hefitate one moment about mar- 
 rying ; but fit down contented with eafe, 
 affluence, and an agreeable man, without 
 expecting to find life what it certainly is 
 not, a flate of continual rapture. 5 Tis, I 
 am afraid, my dear, your misfortune to 
 have too much fenfibility to be happy. 
 
 I could moralize exceedingly well this 
 morning on the vanity of human wifhes and 
 expectations, and the folly of hoping for 
 felicity in this vile fublunary world : but 
 the fubject is a little exhauiled, and I have 
 a paffion for being original. I think all the 
 moral writers, who have fet off with pro- 
 mifing to mew us the road to happinefs, 
 have obligingly ended with telling us there 
 
 is 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 95 
 
 is no fuch thing; a conclufion extremely 
 confoling, and which if they had drawn be- 
 fore they fet pen to paper, would have 
 faved both themfelves and their readers an 
 infinity of trouble. This fancy of hunting 
 for what one knows is not to be found, is 
 really an ingenious way of amufmg both 
 one's felf and the world: I wifh people 
 would either write to fome purpofe, or be 
 fo good as not to write at all. 
 
 I believe I fliall fet about writing a fyf- 
 tem of ethics myfelf, which mall be fhort, 
 clear, and comprehenfive ; nearer the Epi- 
 curean perhaps than the Stoic; but rural, 
 refined, and fentimental ; rural by all 
 means ; for who does not know that virtue 
 is a country gentlewoman? all the good 
 mammas will tell you, there is no fuch be- 
 ing to be heard of in town. 
 
 I (hall certainly be glad to fee you, my 
 dear ; though I forefee ftrange revolutions 
 in the ft ate of Denmark from this event; 
 
 at 
 
9 6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 at prefent I have all the men to myfelf, 
 and you muft know I have a prodigious 
 averfion to divided empire : however, 'tis 
 fome comfort they all know you are going 
 to be married. You may come, Emily ; 
 only be fo obliging to bring Sir George 
 along with you : in your prefent fituation, 
 you are not fo very formidable. 
 
 The men here, as I faid before, are all 
 dying for me ; there are many handfomer 
 women, but I flatter them, and the dear 
 creatures cannot refift it. I am a very good 
 girl to women, but naturally artful (if you 
 will allow the expreffion) to the other fex ; 
 I can blufh, look down, ftifle a figh, flutter 
 my fan, and feem fo agreeably confufed — 
 you have no notion, my dear, what fools 
 men are. If you had not got the ftart of 
 me, I would have had your little white- 
 haired baronet in a week, and yet I don't 
 take him to be made of very combuftible 
 materials ; rather mild, compofed, and 
 
 pretty, 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 97 
 
 pretty, I believe; but he has vanity, which 
 is quite enough for my purpofe. 
 
 Either your love or Colonel Rivers will 
 have the honor to deliver this letter ; 'tis 
 rather cruel to take them both from us at 
 once; however, we fhall foon be made 
 amends; for we ihail have a torrent of 
 beaux with the general. 
 
 Don't you think the fun in this country 
 vaftly more chearing than in England ? I 
 am charmed with the fun, to fay nothing 
 of the moon, though to be fure I never faw 
 a moon-light night that deferved the name 
 till I came to America. 
 
 Mon cher pere defires a thoufand com- 
 pliments ; you know he has been in love 
 with you ever fince you were feven years 
 old: he is vaftly better for his voyage, and 
 the clear air of Canada, and looks ten years 
 younger than before he fet out. 
 
 Vol. I. F Adieu! 
 
$r8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Adieu! I am going to ramble in the 
 woods, and pick berries, with a little fmil- 
 ing civil captain, who is enamoured of me .: 
 a pretty rural amufement for lovers i 
 
 Good morrow, my dear Emily, 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Termor.* 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silleri, Sept. 1.8. 
 
 YOUR brother, my dear, is gone to 
 Montreal with Sir George Clayton, 
 of whom I fuppofe you have heard, and 
 who is going to marry a friend of mine, to 
 pay a villt to Monfieur le General, who is 
 arrived there. The men in Canada, the 
 Englifli I mean, are eternally changing 
 
 place, 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, 99 
 
 place, even when they have not fo pleafing 
 a call ; travelling is cheap and amufmg, the 
 profpe&s lovely, the weather inviting; and 
 there are no very lively pleasures at pre- 
 sent to attach them either to Quebec or 
 Montreal, fo that they divide diemfe-lves 
 between both. 
 
 This fancy of the men, which is ex- 
 tremely the mode, makes an agreable 
 circulation of inamoratoes, which ferves to 
 vary the amufement of the ladies ; fo that 
 upon .the whole 'tis a pretty faihion, and 
 deferves encouragement. 
 
 You expect too much of your brother, 
 my dear ; the fummer is charming here, 
 but with no fucfa very (hiking difference 
 from that of England, as to give room to 
 fay a vail deal on the fubject ; though I 
 believe, if you will pleafe to compare our 
 letters, you will find, putting us together, 
 we cut a pretty figure in the defcriptive 
 way; at leall if your brother tells me truth. 
 F 2 You 
 
ioo THE HISTORY OF 
 
 You may expect a very well painted froft- 
 piece from me in the winter; as to the 
 prefent feafon, it is juft like any fine au- 
 tumn in England : I may add, that the 
 beauty of the nights is much beyond my 
 power of defcription : a conftant Aurora 
 borealis, without a cloud in the heavens ; 
 and a moon fo refplendent that you may 
 fee to read the fmalleft print by its light ; 
 one has nothing to wifli but that it was 
 full moon every night. Our evening walks 
 are delicious, efpecially at Silleri, where 
 'tis the pleafanteft thing in the world to lif- 
 ten to fort nonfenfe, 
 
 " Whilft the moon dances through the 
 " trembling leaves" 
 
 (A line I ftole from Philander and Sylvia) : 
 But to return : 
 
 The French ladies never walk but at 
 night, which fliews their good tafte ; and 
 
 then 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 101 
 
 then only within the walls of Quebec, 
 which does not : they faunter flowly, after 
 fupper, on a particular battery, which is a 
 kind of little Mall : they have no idea of 
 walking in the country, nor the lead feel- 
 ing of the lovely fcene around them ; there 
 are many of them who never faw the fails 
 of Montmorenci, though little more than 
 an hour's drive from the town. They feem 
 born without the fmaileil portion of curio- 
 fity, or any idea of the pleafures of the 
 imagination, or indeed any pleafure but 
 that of being admired; love, or rather co- 
 quetry, drefs, and devotion, feem to ihare 
 all their hours : yet, as they are lively, and 
 in general handfome, the men are very 
 ready to excufc their want of knowledge. 
 
 There are two ladies in the province, I 
 am told, who read ; but both of them are 
 above fifty, and they are regarded as pro- 
 digies of erudition. 
 
 F 3 ' Abfo- 
 
io2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Eight in the evening. 
 
 Abfolutely, Lucy, I ■will marry a favage, 
 and turn fquaw (a pretty fort name for 
 an Indian princefs!): never was any thing 
 delightful as their lives ; they talk of 
 French husbands, but commend me to an 
 Indian one, who lets his wife ramble five 
 hundred miles, without aiking where ihe is 
 going. 
 
 I was fitting after dinner with a Book, in 
 a thicket of hawthorn near the beach, 
 when a loud laugh called my attention to 
 the river, where I faw a canoe of favages 
 making to the fhore : there were fix wo- 
 men, and two or three children, without 
 one man amongft them : they landed, tied 
 the canoe to the root of a tree, and finding 
 out the moft agreable fhady fpot amongft 
 the" bufncs with which the beach was 
 covered* which happened to be very near 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 103 
 
 me, made a fire, on which they laid fome 
 fi(h to broil, and, fetching water from 
 the river, fat down on the grafs to their 
 frugal rep ail. 
 
 I dole foftly to the hcufe, and, ordering 
 a fervant to bring fome wine and cold pro- 
 vifions, returned to my fquaws : I aikcd 
 them in French if they were of Loreue ; 
 they ihook their heads : I repeated the 
 queftion in Englifh, when the cldeit of the 
 women told me, they were not ; that their 
 country was on the borders of New Eng- 
 land ; that, their husbands being on ahunf- 
 ing party in the woods, curicfity, and the 
 defire of feeing their brethren the Engliih 
 who had conquered Quebec, had brought 
 them up the great river, down which they 
 ihould return as foon as they had feen Mon- 
 treal. She courteoufly alked me to fit down, 
 and eat with them, which I complied with, 
 and produced my part of the feaft. We 
 foon became good company, and brighten* d 
 F 4 the 
 
io 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the chain of friendfhip with two bottles of 
 wine, which put them into fuch fpirits, 
 that they danced, fung, fhook me by the 
 hand, and grew io very fond of me, that 
 I began to be afraid I ihould not eafily get 
 rid of them- They were very unwilling to 
 part with me ; but, after two or three very 
 ridiculous hours, I with fome difficulty pre- 
 vailed on the ladies to purfue their voyage, 
 having firil replenished their canoe with pro- 
 vifions and a few bottles of wine, and given 
 them a letter of recommendation to your 
 brother, that they might be in no diflrefs 
 at Montreal. 
 
 Adieu! my father is juft come in, and 
 has brought fome company with him from 
 Quebec to fuppcr. 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 A, Fermoiu 
 
 Don't 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 105 
 
 Don't you think, my dear, my good 
 filters the fquaws feem to live fome- 
 thing the kind of life of our gyp- 
 fiesP The idea flruck me as they 
 were dancing. I affure you, there is 
 a good deal of refemblance in their 
 perfons : I have feen a fine old fea- 
 foned female gyp fey, of as dark a 
 complexion as a favage : they are 
 all equally marked "as children of 
 the fun. . 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Repcntigny, Sept. 18, ten at night; 
 
 f Study my fellow traveller clofely; his 
 
 -*- character, indeed, is not difficult to ai- 
 
 cer.tain; his feelings are dull, nothing makes 
 
 F 5 the 
 
io6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the lead impreflion on him; he is as infer- 
 rible to the various beauties of the charm- 
 ing country through, which we have tra-- 
 velled, as the very Canadian peafants them- 
 felves who inhabit it. I watched his eyes 
 at fome of the moil beautiful profpe&s,. 
 and faw not the lead gleam of pleafure 
 there : I Introduced him here to an extreme 
 hundfome French lady, and as lively as fhe 
 is handfome, the wife of an officer who is 
 of my acquaintance ; the fame taftelefs com- 
 pofure prevailed, he complained of fa- 
 tigue, and retired to his apartment at eight: 
 .the family are now in bed, and I have an 
 hour to give to my dear Lucy. 
 
 He admires Emily becaufe he has feen 
 her admired by all the world, but he can- 
 not tafte her charms of himfelf ; they are 
 rot of a ftile to pleafe him : I cannot fup- 
 port the thought of fuch a woman's being 
 fo loll ; there are a thoufand infenuble good 
 young women to be found, who would 
 duze away life with him and be happy. 
 
 A rich. 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 107 
 
 A rich, fober, fedate, prefbyterian ci- 
 tizen's daughter, educated by her grand* 
 mother in the country, who would roll 
 about with him in unweildy fplendor, and 
 dream away a lazy exigence, would be the 
 proper wife for him. Is it for him, a lifelefs 
 compofition of earth and water, to unite 
 himfelf to the active elements which com- 
 pofe my divine Emily ? 
 
 Adieu ! my dear! we fet out early in the 
 morning for Montreal. 
 
 Your affetlionate 
 
 Ed, Rivers, 
 
 F 6 L E T> 
 
io2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Montreal, Sept. 19, eleven o'clock, 
 
 NO, my dear, it is impoffible flie can 
 love him ; his dull foul is ill fuited to 
 hers; heavy, unmeaning, formal; a flave 
 to rules, to ceremony, ta etiquette, he has 
 not an idea above thofe of a gentleman 
 uftier. He has been three hours in town 
 without feeing her; dreffmg^ and waiting 
 to pay his compliments firft to the general, 
 who is riding, and every minute expected 
 Lack. I am all impatience, though only her 
 friend, but think it would be indecent in 
 me to go without hiin, and look like a de- 
 fign of reproaching his eoldn-efs. How dif- 
 ferently are we formed! I mould have ftole 
 a moment to fee the woman I loved from 
 the firft prince in the univerfe. 
 
 The 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 109 
 
 The general is returned. Adieu! till 
 our vifit is over; we go from thence to Ma- 
 jor Melmoth's, whofe family I mould have 
 told you are in town, and not half a flreet 
 from us.. What a foul of fire has this 
 lover / 'Tis to profane the word to ufe it in 
 fpeaking of him, 
 
 One o'clock. 
 
 I am miftaken, Lucy; aftoniming as itis 5 
 fhe loves him ; this dull clod of uninformed 
 earth has touched the lively foul of my 
 Emily. Love is indeed the child of ca- 
 price; I will not fay of fympathy, for what 
 fympathy can there be between two hearts 
 fo different ? I am hurt, fhe is lowered in 
 my efleem ; I expedled to find in the man 
 {he loved, a mind feniible and tender as he,r 
 ©wn. 
 
 I repeat it, my dear Lucy, fhe loves him; 
 I obferved her when we entered the room ; • 
 
 fhe 
 
rro THE HISTORY OF 
 
 fhe blufhed, fhe turned pale, fhe trembled* 
 her voice faltered; every look fpoke the 
 ftrong emotion of her foul* 
 
 She is paler than- when I faw her lafl: ; 
 ihe is, 1 think, lefs beautiful, but more 
 touching than ever; there is a languor in 
 her air, a foftnefs in her countenance, 
 which are the genuine marks of a heart in 
 love ; all the tendernefs of her foul is in 
 her eyes. 
 
 Shall I own to you all my injuftice? I 
 hate this man for having the happinefs to 
 pleafe her : I cannot even behave to him 
 with the politenefs due to every gentle- 
 man* 
 
 I begin to fear m,y weak'nefs is greater 
 than I fuppofedi 
 
 a2d in the evening, 
 
 I am certainly mad, Lucy ; what right 
 have I to expeft! — you will fcarce believe 
 
 the 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, m 
 
 the excefs of my folly. I went after dinner 
 to Major Melmoth's ; I found Emily at pi- 
 quet with Sir George : can you conceive 
 that I fancied myfelf ill ufed, that I fcarce 
 fpoke to her, and returned immediately 
 home, though ftrongly preffed to fpend the 
 evening there. I walked twocr three times 
 about my room, took my hat, and went to 
 vifit the handfomeft Frenchwoman at Mon- 
 treal, whofe windows are directly oppofite 
 to Major Melmoth's; in the excefs of my 
 anger, I afked this lady to dance with me 
 to-morrow at a little ball we are to have out 
 of town. Can you imagine any behaviour 
 more childifh? It would have been fcarce 
 pardonable at fixteen. 
 
 Adieu! my letter is called for. I will 
 write to you again inafew days. 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 MajorMelmoth tells me, they are to be 
 married m a month at Quebec, and 
 
 to 
 
ftz THE HISTORY OF 
 
 to embark immediately for England. 
 I will not be there ; I cannot bear 
 to fee her devote herfelf to wretch- 
 ednefs: (he will be the mod unhappy 
 of her fex with this man; I fee clearly 
 into his character ; his virtue is the 
 meer abience of vice ; his good qua* 
 lities are all of the negative kind. 
 
 LETTER XIX.- 
 To Mifs FermoRj at Silleri. 
 
 Montreal, Sept. 24. 
 
 I HAVE but a moment., my dear, to ac- 
 knowledge your laftj this week has been 
 a continual hurry. 
 
 You miftake me; it is not the romantic 
 paifion of fifteen 1 wiih to feel, but that 
 tender lively friendfhip which alone can 
 
 give 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 113 
 
 cive charms to fo intimate an union as that 
 of marriage. I wifh a greater conformity 
 in our characters, in our fentiments, in our 
 taftes. 
 
 But I will fay no more on this fubjeft till 
 I have the pleafure of feeing you at Sillerh 
 Mrs. Melmoth and I come in a fhip which 
 fails in a day or two ; they tell us, it is the 
 mod agreeable way of coming: Colonel 
 Rivers is fo polite* as to flay to accompany 
 us down: Major Melmoth aiked Sir George* 
 but he preferred the pleafure of parading 
 into Quebec, and (hewing his fine horfes and 
 fine perfon to advantage,, to that of attending- 
 his miftrefs : lhall I own to you that I am 
 hurt at this inftance of his neglect, as I 
 know his attendance on the general was not 
 expected? His fituation was more than a 
 fufEcient excufe ; it was highly improper 
 for two women to go to Quebec alone ; it 
 is in fome degree fo that any other man 
 ihould accompany me at this time: my 
 pride is extremely wounded. I expect: a 
 
 thoufand 
 
n 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 thoufand times more attention from him 
 fince his acquifition of fortune; it is with 
 pain I tell you, my dear friend, he feemo 
 to mew me much lefs. I will not defcend 
 to fuppofe he prefumes on this mcreafe of 
 fortune, but he prefumes on the inclination 
 he fuppofes I have for him ; an inclination;, 
 however, not violent enough to make me 
 fubmit to the lead ill treatment from him. 
 
 In my prefent ftate of mind, I am ex- 
 tremely hard to pleafe; either his beha- 
 viour or my temper have fuffered a change. 
 I know not how it is, but I fee his faults in a 
 much ftronger light than I have ever feen 
 them before. lam alarmed at the coldnefs of 
 his difpofition, fo ill fuited to the fenfibi- 
 lity of mine ; I begin to doubt hrs being of 
 the amiable chara&er I once fuppofed: in 
 fhort, I begin to doubt of the pofiibility 
 of his making me happy. 
 
 You will, perhaps, call it an excefs of 
 pride, when I fay, I am much lefs inclined 
 
 to 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. ir$ 
 
 to marry him than when our fituations were 
 equal. I certainly love him; I have a ha- 
 bit of confidering him as the man I am to 
 marry, but my affe&ron is not of that kind 
 which will make me eafy under the fenfe o£ 
 an obligation. 
 
 I will open all my heart to you when we 
 meet: I am not fo happy as you imagine: 
 do not accufe me of caprice; can I be too 
 cautious, where the happinefs of my whole 
 Mfe is at Hake ? 
 
 Adieu! 
 
 Your faithful 
 
 Emily Montague. 
 
 IE TV 
 
Ii6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Siileri, Sept. 24. 
 
 I DECLARE off at once; I will not be & 
 fquaw ; I admire their talking of the li- 
 berty of favages; in the mod effential point, 
 the} arc fiaves : the mothers marry their 
 children without ever confuting their in- 
 clinations, and they are obliged to fubmit 
 to this foolifn tyranny. Dear England! 
 where liberty appears, not as here among 
 thefe odious favages, wild and ferocious, 
 like themfelves, but lovely, mailing, led by 
 the hand of the Graces. There is no true 
 freedom any where elfe* They may talk 
 of the privilege of chufing a chief; but 
 what is that to the dear Englhh privilege 
 of chufing a husband? 
 
 I have been at an Indian wedding, and 
 have no patience. Never did I fee fo vile 
 an aflbrtment. 
 
 AdieuT 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 117 
 
 Adieu! I fhall not be in good humor 
 this month. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor,' 
 
 LETTER XXL 
 
 To John Temple, Efq; Pall Mail. 
 
 Montreal, Sept. 24. 
 TT7"HAT you fay, my dear friend, is 
 V V more true than I wifh it was ; our 
 Engliih women of character are generally 
 too referved; their manner is cold and for- 
 bidding; they feem to think it a crime to 
 be too attractive; they appear almoft afraid 
 to pleafe* 
 
 'Tis to this ill-judged referve I attribute 
 
 the low profligacy of too many of our young 
 
 men; the grave faces and diftant beha- 
 
 1 viour 
 
u8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 viour of the generality of virtuous women 
 fright them from their acquaintance, and 
 drive them into thefocietyof thofe wretched 
 votaries of vice, whofe converfation de- 
 bafes every fentiment of their fouls* 
 
 With as much beauty, good fenfe, fen- 
 fibility, and foftnefs, at leafl, as any wo- 
 men on earth, no women pleafe fo little as 
 the Englifh: depending on their native 
 charms, and on thofe really amiable quali- 
 ties which envy cannot deny them, they are 
 too carelefs in acquiring thofe enchanting 
 namelefs graces, which no language can de- 
 fine, which give refifllefs force to beauty, 
 and even fupply its place where it is want- 
 
 ing. 
 
 They are fatisfied with being good, 
 without confidering that unadorned vir- 
 tue may command efteem, but will never 
 excite love; and both areneceffary in mar- 
 riage, which I fuppofe to be the ftate 
 every woman of honor has in profpeft; for 
 2 I own 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 119 
 
 1 own myfelf rather incredulous as to the 
 affertions of maiden aunts and coufins to 
 the contrary. I wifh my amiable country- 
 women would confider one moment, that vir- 
 tue is never fo lovely as when dreffed in 
 foiiles : the virtue of women fliould have 
 all the foftnefs of the fex; k mould be gen- 
 tle, it ihould bs even playful, to pleafe- 
 
 There is a lady here, whom I wifh you 
 to fee, as the fhorteft way of explaining to 
 you all I mean ; fhe is the moil pleafmg wo- 
 man I ever beheld, independently of her 
 being one of the handfomeft; her manner 
 is irreiiftible : me has all the fmiling graces 
 of France, all the bluming delicacy and 
 native foftnefs of England. 
 
 Nothing can be more delicate, my dear 
 Temple, than the manner in which you 
 offer me your eftate in Rutland, by way of 
 anticipating your intended legacy: it is 
 liowever impofTible for me to accept it; my 
 father, who faw me naturally more profufe 
 
 than 
 
$20 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 than became my expe&ations, took fuch 
 pains to counterwork it by infpiring me 
 with the love of independence, that I can- 
 not have fuch an obligation even to you. 
 
 Befides, your legacy is left on the fup- 
 pofition that you are not to marry, and I 
 am abfolutely determined you fhall; fo that, 
 by accepting this mark of your efteem, I 
 fhould be robbing your younger children. 
 
 I have not a wifh to be richer whilft I 
 am a batchelor, and the only woman I ever 
 wifhed to marry, the only one my heart 
 defires, will be in three weeks the wife of 
 another ; I (hall fpend lefs than my income 
 here : fhall I not then be rich I To make 
 you eafy, know I have four thoufand 
 pounds in the funds ; and that, from the 
 equality of living here, an enfign is obliged 
 to fpend near as much as I am ; he is inevi- 
 tably ruined, but I fave money. 
 
 I pity 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 121 
 
 I pity you, my friend; I am hurt to 
 hear you talk of happinefs in the life you 
 at prefent lead ; of finding pleafure in pof- 
 fefling venal beauty ; you are in danger of 
 acquiring a habit which will vitiate your 
 tafte, and exclude you from that Hate of 
 refined and tender friendfhip for which na- 
 ture formed a heart like yours, and which is 
 only to be found in marriage : I need not 
 add, in a marriage of choice. 
 
 It has been faid that love marriages are 
 generally unhappy ; nothing is more Falfe ; 
 marriages of meer inclination will always 
 be fo : paflion alone being concerned, when 
 that is gratified, all tendernefs ceafes of 
 courfe : but love, the gay child of fympa- 
 thy and efteem, is, when attended by de- 
 licacy, the only happinefs worth a reafen- 
 able man's purfuit, and the choicefl gift of 
 heaven : it is a fofter, tenderer friendfhip, 
 enlivened by tafte, and by the mod ardent 
 
 Vol. I. G defirc 
 
122 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 defire of pleating, which time, inftead of 
 deftroying, will render every hour more 
 dear and interefling. 
 
 If, as you pofTibly will, you mould call 
 me romantic, hear a man of pleafure on 
 the fubjeft, the Petronius of the lad age, 
 the elegant, but voluptuous St. Evremond, 
 who fpeaks in the following manner of the 
 friendship between married perfons : 
 
 " I believe it is this pleafing intercourfe 
 " of tendernefs, this reciprocation of ef- 
 " teem, or, if you will, this mutual ardor 
 " of preventing each other in every en- 
 u dearing mark of affection, in which con- 
 " fifts the fweetnefs of this fecond fpecies 
 " of friendfhip. 
 
 " I do not fpeak of other pleafures, 
 " which are not fo much in themfelves as 
 " in the affurance they give of the intire 
 « poffvflion of thofe we love : this appears 
 
 "to 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 125 
 
 u to me fo true, that I am not afraid to 
 " afTert, the man who is by any other 
 u means certainly allured of the tender- 
 " nefs of her he loves, may eafily fup- 
 <s port the privation of thofe pleafures; 
 " and that they ought not to enter into 
 " the account of friendfhip, but as proofs 
 " that it is without referve. 
 
 " Tis true, few men are capable of the 
 " purity of thefe fentiments, and 'tis for 
 " that reafon we fo very feldom fee per- 
 u feci friend(hip in marriage, at lead for 
 <( any long time : the obj eel: which a fen- 
 " fual pafhon has in view cannot long fuf- 
 " tain a commerce fo noble as that of 
 " friendfhip." 
 
 You fee, the pleafures you fo much toad 
 are the lead of thofe which true tender- 
 nefs has to give, and this in the opinion of 
 a voluptuary. 
 
 Mj 
 
124 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 My dear Temple, all you have ever 
 known of love is nothing to that fweet con- 
 fent of ibuls in unifon, that harmony of 
 minds congenial to each other, of which 
 you have not yet an idea. 
 
 You have feen beauty, and it has infpired 
 a momentary emotion, but you have never 
 yet had a real attachment ; you yet know 
 nothing of that irrefiflible tendcrnefs, that 
 delirium of the foul, which, whjlft it re- 
 fines, adds ftrength to paffion. 
 
 I perhaps fay too much, but Iwiihwith 
 ardor to fee you happy ; in which there is 
 the more merit, as I have not the lea ft 
 profpect of being fo myfelf. 
 
 I wifh you to ptirfue the plan of life 
 Which I myfelf think moil likely to bring 
 nappinefs, becaufe I know our fouls to 
 be of the fame frame ; we have taken dif- 
 ferent 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 125 
 
 ferent roads, but you will come back to 
 mine. Awake to delicate pleafures, I 
 have no tafle for any other ; there are no 
 other for fenfible minds. My gallantries 
 have been few, rather (if it is allowed to 
 fpeak thus of one's felf even to a friend) 
 from elegance of tafle than feverity of 
 manners ; I have loved feldom., becaufe I 
 cannot love without efteem..' 
 
 Believe me> Jack, the meer pleafure of 
 loving, even without a return, is fuperior to 
 all the joys of fenfe where the heart is un- 
 touched : the French poet does not exag- 
 gerate when he fays, 
 
 Amour ; 
 
 Tons Us autrcs plaifirs ne valent pas tvspeincs. 
 
 You will perhaps call me mad ; I am 
 juft come from a woman who is capable of 
 making all mankind fo. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Riveks. 
 
 G 3 LET- 
 
126 THE HISTO RY OF 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silieri, Sept. 25- 
 
 IHAVE been rambling about amongfl 
 the peafants, and afking them a thou- 
 fand queftions, in order to fatisfy your in- 
 quifitive friend. As to my father, though, 
 properly fpeaking, your queftions are ad- 
 dreiTed to him, yet, being upon duty, he 
 begs that, for this time, you will accept of 
 an anfwer from me. 
 
 The Canadians live a good deal like 
 the ancient patriarchs ; the lands were ori- 
 ginally fettled by the troops, every officer 
 became a feigneur, or lord of the manor, 
 every foldier took lands under his com- 
 mander ; but, as avarice is natural to man- 
 kind, the foldiers took a great deal more; 
 than they could cultivate, by way of pro- 
 
 vidine 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 127 
 
 viding for a family : which is the reafon fo 
 much land is now wafle in the fineft part 
 of the province: thofe who had children, 
 and in general they have a great number, 
 portioned out their lands amongft them as 
 they married, and lived in the midft of a 
 little world of their dependents. 
 
 There are whole villages, and there is 
 even a large ill and, that of Coudre, where 
 the inhabitants are alL the defcendents of 
 one pair, if we only fuppofe that their 
 fons went to the next village for wives, for 
 I find no tradition of their having had a dif- 
 jpcufatioii to marry their filters. 
 
 The corn here is very good, though nor 
 equal to ours ; the harvefl not half fo gay 
 as in England, and for this reafon, that 
 the lazy creatures leave the greatelt part of 
 their land uncultivated, only fowing as 
 much corn of different forts . as will ferve 
 themfelves ; and being too proud and too 
 idle to work for hire, every family gets in 
 G 4 its 
 
128 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 its own harveft, which prevents all that jo* 
 vial fpirit which we find when the reapers 
 work together in large parties. 
 
 Idlenefs is the reigning paflion here, from 
 the peaiant to his lord; the gentlemen 
 never either ride on horfeback or walk, but 
 are driven about like women, for they never 
 drive themfelves, lolling at their eafe in a 
 calache : the peafants, I mean the matter* 
 of families, are pretty near as ufdefs aa 
 their lords. 
 
 You will fcarce believe me, when I tell 
 you, that I have feen, at the farm next us, 
 two children, a very beautiful boy and 
 girl, of about eleven years old, aflifted by 
 their grandmother, reaping a field of oats, 
 vhilft the lazy father, a flrong fellow of 
 thirty two, lay on the grafs, fmoaking his 
 pipe, about twenty yards from them : the 
 old people and children work here ; thofe 
 in the age of ftrength and health only take 
 their pleafure* 
 
 A pro- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 129 
 
 Apropos to fmoaking, 'tis common to fee 
 here boys of three years old, fitting at their 
 doors, fmoaking their pipes, as grave and 
 compofed as little old Chinefe men on a 
 chimney.. 
 
 You a/k me after our fruits : we have, 
 as I am told, an immenfity of cranberries; 
 all the year ; when the fnow melts away 
 in fpring, they are faid to be found under 
 it as frefh, and as good as in autumn : flraw- 
 berries and rasberries grow wild in profu- 
 fion ; you cannot walk a ftep in the fields 
 without treading on the former : great 
 plenty of currants, plumbs, apples, and 
 pears ; a few cherries and grapes, but not 
 in much perfection : excellent mufk me- 
 lons, and water melons in abundance, but 
 not fo good in proportion as the mufc 
 Not a peach, nor any thing of the kind ; 
 this I am however convinced is lefs the fault 
 of the climate than of the people,, who 
 G 5 arer 
 
up THE HISTORY OF 
 
 are too indolent to take pains for any thing 
 more than is abfolutely neceffary to their 
 exiflence. They might have any fruit here 
 but goofeberries, for which the fummer is 
 too hot ; there are buflies in the woods, 
 and fome have been brought from England, 
 but the fruit falls off before it is ripe. The 
 wild fruits here, efpecially thofe of the 
 bramble kind, are in much greater variety 
 and perfection than in England.. 
 
 When I fpeak of the natural productions 
 of the country, I mould not forget that 
 hemp and hops grow every where in the 
 woods ; I mould imagine the former might 
 be cultivated here with great fuccefs, if the 
 people could be perfuaded to cultivate any 
 thing* 
 
 A little corn of every kind, a little hay^ 
 a little tobacco, half a dozen apple trees, 
 a few onions and cabbages, make the whole 
 of a Canadian plantation. There is fcarce 
 ^ flower, except thofe in the woods, where 
 
 there 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, iqi 
 
 3 
 
 there is a variety of the moll beautiful 
 fhrubs I ever faw; the wild cherry, of which 
 the woods are full, is equally charming in 
 flower and in fruit ; and, in my opinion, at 
 lead equals the arbutus* 
 
 They fow their wheat in fpring, never 
 manure the ground, and plough it in the 
 flighted manner ; can it then be wondered 
 at that it is inferior to ours? They fancy the 
 frofl would deftroy it if fown in autumn ;. 
 but this, is all prejudice, as experience has 
 fhewn. I myfelf faw a field of wheat this 
 year at the governor's farm, which was 
 manured and fown in autumn, as fine as I 
 ever faw in England. 
 
 I fliould tell you, they are fo indolent as 
 never to manure their lands, or even their 
 gardens ; and that, till the Englifh came, all 
 the manure of (Quebec was thrown into the 
 river* 
 
 G 6 You 
 
132 THE HISTOR Y OF 
 
 You will judge how naturally rich 
 the foil mult be, to produce good crops 
 without manure, and without ever lying 
 fallow, and almoft without ploughing; yet 
 our political writers in England never fpeak 
 of Canada without the epithet of barren. 
 They tell me this extreme fertility is owing 
 to the fnow, which lies five or fix months 
 on the ground. Provifions are dear, which 
 is owing to the prodigious number of horfes 
 kept here ; every family having a carriage, 
 even the pooreft peafant ; and every fon o£ 
 that peafant keeping a horfe for his little 
 excurfions of pleafure, befides thofe necef- 
 fary for the buhnefs of the farm. The wan 
 alfo deflroyed the breed of cattle, which I 
 am told however begins to encreafe; they 
 have even fo far improved in corn, as ta 
 export fome this year to Italy and Spain. 
 
 Don't you think I am become an excels 
 lent farmerefs? 5 Tis intuition ; fome people 
 are born learned : are you not all aftonifh- 
 
 ment 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 133 
 
 ment at my knowledge I I never was fo vain 
 of a letter in my life. 
 
 Shall I own the truth ? I had mofl of my 
 intelligence from dd John, who lived long 
 with my grandfather in the country ; and 
 who, having little elfe to do here, has taken 
 feme pains to pick up a competent know- 
 ledge of the flate of agriculture five miles 
 round Quebec 
 
 Adieu! I am tired of the fubje£t. 
 Your faithful, 
 
 A. Ferm-or* 
 
 Now I think of it, why did you nor 
 write to your brother ? Did you 
 chufe me to expofe my ignorance ? 
 If fo, I flatter myfelf you are a lit- 
 tle taken in, for I think John and! 
 figure in the rural, way. 
 
 LET- 
 
134 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 . LETTER XXIII. 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silleri, Sept. 29, 10 o'clock. 
 
 OTO be fure ! we are vaftly to be pi- 
 tied : no beaux at all with the ge- 
 neral ; only about fix to one ; a very pretty 
 proportion, and what I hope always to fee. 
 We, the ladies I mean, drink chocolate 
 with the general to-morrow, and he gives 
 us a ball on Thurfday ; you would not 
 know Quebec again ; nothing but fmiling 
 faces now ; all fo gay as never was, the 
 fweeteft country in the world ; never ex- 
 peel: to fee me in England again •, one is 
 really fomebody here : I have been afked 
 to dance by only twenty-feven* 
 
 On the fubjecl: of dancing, I am, as it 
 were, a little embarrafed : you will pleafe 
 
 to 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 135 
 
 to obferve that, in the time of fcarcity, 
 when all the men were at Montreal, I fuf- 
 fered a foolifh little eaptain to figh and fay 
 civil things to me, pour pajfer le terns, and 
 the creature takes the airs of a lover, to 
 which he has not the leaf! pretenfions, and 
 chufes to be angry that I won't dance with 
 him on Thurfday, and I pontively won't. 
 
 It is really pretty enough that every ab- 
 furd animal, who takes upon him to make 
 love to one, is to fancy himfelf entitled to 
 a return : I have no patience with the men's 
 ridiculoufnefs : have you, Lucy ? 
 
 But I fee a fhip coming down under full, 
 fail ; it may be Emily and her friends : the 
 colours are all out, they ilacken fail ; they 
 drop anchor oppofke the houfe ; 'tis cer- 
 tainly them ; I mud fly to the beach : 
 mufic as I am a perfon, and an awning on 
 the deck : the boat puts off with your bro- 
 ther in it. Adieu for a moment: I muft 
 
 go and invite them on ihore. 
 
 'Twas 
 
i3« THE HISTORY OF 
 
 2 o'clock. 
 *Twas Emily and Mrs. Melmoth, with 
 two or three very pretty French women ; 
 your brother is a happy man : I found tea 
 and coffee under the awning, and a table 
 loaded with Montreal fruit, which is vaftly 
 better than ours ; by the way, the colonel 
 has bought me an immenfity ; he is fa 
 gallant and all that : we regaled ourfelves, 
 and landed ; they dine here, and we dance 
 in the evening ; we are to have a fyllabub 
 in the wood : my father has fent for Sir 
 George and Major Melmoth, and half a 
 dozen of the mod agreable men, from 
 Quebec : he is enchanted with his little 
 Emily, he loved her when me was a child*. 
 I cannot tell you how happy I am ; my 
 Emily is handfomer than ever; you know 
 how partial I am to beauty : I never had a, 
 friendfhip for an ugly woman in my life. 
 Adieu ! ma tres chere. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor*. 
 
 Your 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 137 
 
 Your brother looks like an angel this 
 morning ; he is not drefl, he is not undreft, 
 but fomehow, eafy, elegant and enchant- 
 ing : he has no powder, and his hair a 
 little degagee, blown about by the wind, 
 and agreably difordered ; fuch fire in his 
 countenance ; his eyes fay a thoufand agre- 
 able things ; he is in fuch fpirits as I never 
 faw him : not a man of them has the lead 
 chance to-day. I fhall be in love with him 
 if he goes on at this rate : not that it will 
 be to any purpofe in the world ; he never 
 would even flirt with me, though I have 
 made him a thoufand advances. 
 
 My heart is fo light, Lucy, I cannot 
 defcribe it : I love Emily at my foul : 'tis 
 three years fince I faw her, and there is. 
 fomething fo romantic in finding her in Ca- 
 nada : there is no faying how happy I am ; 
 I want only you t to be perfectly fo. 
 
 The 
 
*38 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 3 o'clock. 
 The meffenger is returned ; Sir George 
 is gone with a party of French ladies to 
 Lake Charles : Emily blufhed when the 
 meffage was delivered ; he might reafona- 
 bly fuppofe they would be here to-day, as^ 
 the wind was fair : your brother dances 
 with my fweet friend ; {tie lofes nothing by 
 the exchange ; (he is however a little 
 piqued at this appearance of difrefpeclv 
 
 12 o'clock. 
 Sir George came juft as we fat down to 
 fupper ; he did right, he complained firnV 
 and affected to be angry fhe had not fent 
 an exprefs from Point au Tremble. He was 
 however gayer than ufual, and very atten- 
 tive to his miftrefs ; your brother feemed 
 chagrined at his arrival ; Emily perceived 
 it, and redoubled her politenefs to him, 
 which in a little time reftored part of his 
 
 good 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 139 
 
 good humor : upon the whole, it was an 
 agreable evening, but it would have been 
 more fo, if Sir George had come at firft, 
 or not at all. 
 
 The ladies lie here, and we go all toge- 
 ther in the morning to Quebec ; the gen- 
 tlemen are going. 
 
 I (leal a moment to feal, and give this to 
 the colonel, who will put it in his packet 
 to-morrow. 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 To Mifs River*, CI arges Street. 
 
 Quebec, Sept. 30. 
 
 "TTTOtJLD you believe it poffible, my 
 * * dear, that Sir George fhould de- 
 cline attending Emily Montague from Mon- 
 treal, 
 
i 4 o THE HISTORY OF 
 
 treal, and leave the pleafmg commiffion to- 
 me ? I am obliged to him for the three 
 happiefl days of my life, yet am piqued 
 at his chuling me for a cecljbeo to his mif- 
 trefs : he feems to think me a man fans 
 conference > with whom a lady may fafely 
 be milled; there is nothing very flattering 
 in fuch a kind of confidence : let him take 
 care of himfelf, if he is impertinent, and 
 fets me at defiance ; I am not vain, but i%t 
 our fortunes afide, and I dare enter the 
 lifts with Sir George Clayton. I cannot 
 give her a coach and fix ; but I can give her, 
 what is more conducive to happinefs, a 
 heart which knows how to value her per- 
 fections. 
 
 I never had (o pleafmg a journey ; we 
 were three days coming down, becaufe we 
 made it a continual party of pleafure, took 
 mufic with us, landed once or twice a day,. 
 vHited the French families we knew, lay 
 both nights on fliore, and danced at the 
 feigneur's of the village. 
 
 This- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. £41 
 
 This river, from Montreal to Quebec, 
 -exhibits a fcene perhaps not to be matched 
 in the world : it is fettled on both fides, 
 though the fettlements are not fo numerous 
 on the fouth more as on the other : the 
 lovely confufion of woods, mountains, mea- 
 dows, corn fields, rivers (for there are feveral 
 on both fides, which lofe themfelves in the 
 St. Lawrence), intermixed with churches 
 and houfes breaking upon you at a diftance 
 through the trees, form a variety of land- 
 fcapes, to which it is difficult to dojuflice. 
 
 This charming fcene, with a clear ferene 
 iky, a gentle breeze in our favor, and the 
 converfation of half a dozen fine women, 
 would have made the voyage pleafing to the 
 mo ft infenfible man on earth : my Emily 
 too of the party, and mofl politely atten- 
 tive to the pleafure me faw I had in making 
 the voyage agreable to her. 
 
 3 I every 
 
14 
 
 2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I every day love her more ; and, without 
 confidering the impropriety of it, I cannot 
 help giving way to an inclination, in which 
 I find fuch exquifite pleafure ; I find a thou- 
 fand charms in the lead trifle I can do to 
 ■oblige her. 
 
 Don't reafon with me on this fubjecl: I 
 know it is madnefs to continue to fee her ; 
 but I find a delight in her converfation, 
 which I cannot prevail on myfelf to give 
 up till fhe is actually married* 
 
 I refpect her engagements, and pretend to 
 no more from her than her friendihip ; but, 
 as to myfelf, will love her in whatever manner 
 I pleafe : to (hew you my prudence, how- 
 ever, I intend to dance with the handfomeft 
 unmarried Frenchwoman here on Thurf- 
 day, and to ihew her an attention which 
 {hall deftroy all fufpicion of my tendernefs 
 for Emily. I am jealous of Sir George, 
 and hate him ; but 1 diffemble it better than 
 I thought it poflible for me to do. 
 
 i My 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 143 
 
 My Lucy, I am not happy ; my mind is 
 in a ftate not to be defcribed ; I am weak 
 enough to encourage a hope for which 
 there is not the leaft foundation ; I mifcon- 
 ftrue her friendihip for me every moment ; 
 and that attention which is meerly gratitude 
 for my apparent anxiety to oblige. I even 
 fancy her eyes underfland mine, which I 
 am afraid fpeak too plainly the fentiments 
 of my heart. 
 
 I love her, my dear girl, to madnefs; 
 thefe three days ■ 
 
 I am interrupted. Adieu ! 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers* 
 
 *Tis Capt. Fermor, who infifts on my 
 dining at Silleri. They will eternally 
 throw me in the way of this lovely 
 woman : of what materials do they 
 fuppofe me formed ? 
 
 LET- 
 
■t44 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XXV, 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silleri, O&. 3, Twelve o'clock. 
 
 AN enchanting ball, my dear; your lit- 
 tle friend's head is turned. I was 
 more admired than Emily, which to be Cure 
 did not flatter my vanity at all: I fee fhe 
 mufl content herfelf with being beloved, 
 for without coquetry 'tis in vain to expect 
 admiration. 
 
 We had more than three hundred per- 
 fons at the ball ; above three fourths men ; 
 all gay and well dreffed, an elegant flip- 
 per ; in fhort, it was charming. 
 
 I am half inclined to marry ; I am not 
 at all acquainted with the man I have fixed 
 upon, I never fpoke to him till lafl night, 
 nor did he take the leaft notice of me, more 
 
 than 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 145 
 
 than of other ladies, but that is nothing; 
 he pleafes me better than any man I have 
 feen here; he is not handfome, but well 
 made, and looks like a gentleman ; he has 
 a good chara&er, is heir to a very pretty 
 eftate. I will think further of it : there is 
 nothing more eafy than to have him if I 
 chufe it : 'tis only faying to fome of his 
 friends, that I think Captain Fitzgerald the 
 moll agreable fellow here, and he will 
 immediately be aftoniihed he did not fooner 
 find out I was the handfomeft woman. I 
 will confider this affair ferioufly ; one muft 
 marry, 'tis the mode; every body marries; 
 why don't you marry, Lucy ? 
 
 This brother of yours is alwayv here ; I 
 am furprized Sir George is not jealous, for 
 he pays no fort of attention to me, 'tis eafy 
 to fee why he comes ; I dare fay 1 ihan't 
 fee him next week : Emily is going to Mrs, 
 Melmoth's, where fhe flays till to-morrow 
 fevennight ; me goes from hence as foon as 
 dinner is over. 
 
 Vol. I. H Adieu! 
 
i 4 6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Adieu! I am fatigued; we danced till 
 morning ; I am but this moment up. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 
 Your brother danced with Mademoifelle 
 Clairaut ; do you know I was piqued he did 
 not give me the preference, as Emily danced 
 with her lover ? not but that I had perhaps 
 a partner full as agreable, at lead I have 
 a mind to think fo. 
 
 I hear it whifpered that the whole affair 
 of the wedding is to be fettled next week ; 
 my father is in the fee ret, I am not. Emily 
 looks ill this morning; ihe was not gay 
 at the ball. I know not why, but me 
 is not happy. I have my fancies, but they 
 are yet only fancies. 
 
 Adieu! my dear girl; I .can no more* 
 
 L E T~ 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 147 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Quebec, Oa. 6. 
 
 I AM going, my Lucy. — I know not well 
 whither 1 am going, but I will not (lay 
 to fee this marriage. Could you have be- 
 lieved it poilible — But what folly! Did 
 I not know her fituation from the firft? 
 Could I fuppofe fhe would break off an en- 
 gagement of years, with a man who gives 
 fo clear a proof that he prefers her to all 
 other women, to humor the frenzy of one 
 who has never even told her he loved her? 
 
 Captain Fermor allures me all is fettled 
 but the day, and that fhe has promifed to 
 name that to-morrow. 
 
 I will leave Quebec to-night; no one 
 
 fliall know the road I take: I do not yet 
 
 H 2 know 
 
i 4 8 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 know it myfelf ; I will crofs over to Point 
 Levi with my valet de chambre, and go 
 wherever chance directs me. I cannot 
 bear even to hear the day named. I am 
 flrongly inclined to write to her; but what 
 can I fay? I fhould betray my tendernefs in 
 fpite of myfelf, and her companion would 
 perhaps difturb her approaching happinefs: 
 were it even pofhble fhe mould prefer me 
 to Sir George, fhe is too far gone to re- 
 cede. 
 
 My Lucy, I never till this moment felt 
 to what an excefs I loved her. 
 
 Adieu! I mall be about a fortnight ab- 
 fent: by that time me will be embarked for 
 England. I cannot bring myfelf to fee her 
 the wife of another. Do not be alarmed for 
 me ; reafon and the impoflibility of fuccefs 
 will conquer my paflion for this angelic 
 woman ;" I have been to blame in allowing 
 myfelf to fee her fo often. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE, 149 
 
 LETTER XXVIL 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street.. 
 
 Beaumont, Oci. 7, 
 
 ' THINK I breathe a freer air now- 1 am 
 ^ out of Quebec. I cannot bear where- 
 ever I go to meet this Sir George; his tri- 
 umphant air is infupportable ; he has, or 1 
 fancy he has, all the infolence of a happy 
 rival,- 'tis unjuft, but I cannot avoid hat- 
 ing him ; I look on him as a man who has 
 deprived me of a good to which I foolifhly 
 fancy I had pretentions. 
 
 My whole behaviour has been weak to 
 the laft degree: I fhall grow more reason- 
 able when I no longer fee this charming 
 woman ; I ought fooner to have taken this 
 ftep. 
 
 I have found here an excufe for my ex- 
 
 curtion; I have heard of an eftate to be 
 
 H 3 fold 
 
ISO THE HISTORY OF 
 
 fold down the river ; and am told the pur- 
 chafe will be lefs expence than clearing any 
 lands I might take up. I will go and fee it j 
 it is an object, a purfuit, and will amufe 
 me. 
 
 I am going to fend my fervant back to 
 (Quebec; my manner of leaving it mil ft ap- 
 pear extraordinary to my friends ; 1 have 
 therefore made this eftate my excufe. I 
 have written toMifs Fermor that I am going 
 to make a purchafe; have begged my 
 warmeft willies to her lovely friend, for 
 whofe happinefs no one on earth is more 
 anxious ; but have told her Sir George is 
 too much the object of my envy, to expect 
 from me very fmcere congratulations. 
 
 Adieu ! my fervant waits for this. You 
 fliall hear an account of my adventures 
 when I return to Quebec. 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 L E T- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 151 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 To Mifs Fermor, at Sillcri. 
 
 Quebec, Oct. 7, twelve o'clock. 
 
 I MUST fee you, my dear, this evening ; 
 my mind is in an agitation not to be ex- 
 jweffed; a few hours will determine my 
 happinefs or mifery for ever ; I am dii- 
 pleafed with your father for precipitating 
 a determination which cannot be made with 
 too much caution. 
 
 I have a thoufand things to fay to you, 
 which I can fay to no one elfe. 
 
 Be at home, and alone; I will come to 
 you as foon as dinner is over. 
 
 Adieu ! 
 
 Your afFe&ionate 
 
 Emily Montague. 
 H 4 LET- 
 
152 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XXIX, 
 
 To Mifs Montague, at Quebec, 
 
 " WILL be at home, my dear, and de- 
 •*- nied to every body but you. 
 
 I pity you, my dear Emily i but I am 
 unable to give you advice* 
 
 The world would wonder at your hefi* 
 tating a moment. 
 
 Your faithful 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 
 L E T- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 153 
 
 LETTER XXX; 
 
 To Mifs Fermor, at Silleri. 
 
 Quebec, 0&. 7, three o'clock. 
 
 MY vifit to you is prevented by an 
 event beyond my hopes. Sir George 
 has this moment a letter from his mother, 
 defiring him earneftly to poflpone his mar- 
 riage till fpring, for fome reafons of confe- 
 quence to his fortune, with the particulars 
 of which fhe will, acquaint him by the next 
 packet. 
 
 He communicated this intelligence to me 
 with a grave air, but with a tranquillity 
 not to be defcribed, and I received it with a 
 joy I found it impoffible wholly to conceal.. 
 
 I have now time to confult both my heart 
 and my reafon at leifure, and to break with 
 him, if neceffary, by degrees. 
 
 H 5 What 
 
*54 
 
 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 What an efcape have I had! I was within 
 four and twenty hours of either determin- 
 ing to marry a man with whom I fear I 
 have little chance to be happy, or of 
 breaking with him in a manner that would 
 have fuhjecled one or both of us to the cen- 
 fures of a prying impertinent world, whofe 
 cenfures the mod fieady temper cannot 
 always contemn, 
 
 I w.ili own to you, my dear, I every 
 hour have more dread of this marriage : 
 his prefent fituation has brought his faults 
 into full light, Captain Clayton, with lit- 
 tle more than his commii£on, was modeft, 
 humble, affable to his inferiors, polite to 
 all the world ; and I fancied him pollened 
 of thofe more active virtues, which I fup- 
 pofed the fmallnefs of his fortune prevented 
 from appearing,, ? Tis with pain I fee that 
 Sir George, with a fp lend id income, is ava- 
 ricious, felfim, proud, vain, and profufe ; 
 hwiih to every caprice of vanity and orien- 
 tation 
 
 2 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 155 
 
 tation which regards himfelf, coldly inat- 
 tentive to the real wants of others. 
 
 Is this a character to make your Emily 
 happy ? We were not formed for each 
 other: no two minds were ever fo different; 
 my happinefs is in friendship, in the tender 
 affections, in the fweets of dear domeftic 
 life; his in the idle parade of affluence, in 
 drefs, in equipage, in all that fplendor, which, 
 whilft it excites envy, is too often the mark, 
 of wretchednefs. 
 
 Shall I fay more ? Marriage is feldom 
 happy where there is a great disproportion 
 of fortune. The lover, after he lofes that 
 endearing character in the huiband, which 
 in common minds I am afraid is not long, 
 begins to reflect how many more thoufands 
 he might have expected; and perhaps fuf- 
 pects his miftrefs of thofe iriterefled motives 
 in marrying, of which he now feels his own 
 heart capable. Coldnefs, fufpicion, and 
 II 6 mutual 
 
156 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 mutual want of efteem and confidence, fol- 
 low of courfe. 
 
 I will come back with you to Silleri this 
 evening; I have no happinefs but when I 
 am with you. Mrs. Melmoth is fo fond of 
 Sir George, fhe is eternally perfecuting me 
 with his praifes ; me is extremely mortified 
 at this delay, and very angry at the manner 
 in which I behave upon it. 
 
 Come to us directly, my dear Bell, and 
 rejoice with your faithful 
 
 Emily Montague. 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 To Mifs Montague, at Quebec. 
 
 I CONGRATULATE you, my dear ; you 
 will at lead have the pleafure of being 
 five or fix months longer your own miftrefs ; 
 
 which, 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 157 
 
 which, in my opinion, when one is not 
 violently in love, is a coniideration worth 
 attending to. You will alfo have time to 
 fee whether you like any body elfe better ; 
 and you know you can take him if you 
 pleafe at lafl. 
 
 Send him up to his regiment at Montreal 
 with the Melmoths; Hay the winter with 
 me, flirt with fomebody elfe to try the 
 ftrength of your paiiion, and, if it holds out 
 againfl fix months abfence, and the atten- 
 tion of an agreable feilcW, I think you 
 may fafely venture to marry him. 
 
 A propos to flirting, have you feen Co- 
 lonel Rivers? He has not been here thefe 
 two days. I fliall begin to be jealous of 
 this little impertinent Mademoifelle Clai- 
 raut. Adieu! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor, 
 Rivers 
 
158 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Rivers is abfurd. I have a mighty fooliffi 
 letter from him; he is rambling about the 
 country, buying eftates : he had better have 
 been here, playing the fool with us; if I 
 knew how to write to him I would tell him 
 fo, but he is got out of the range of human 
 beings, down the river, Heaven knows 
 where; he fays a thoufand civil things to 
 you, but I will bring the letter with me to 
 fave the trouble of repeating them. 
 
 I have a fort of an idea he won't be very 
 unhappy at this delay j I want vaftly to 
 fend him word of it. 
 
 Adieu! ma chere* 
 
 L E T- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. i 59 
 
 LETTER XXXIL 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Kamarafkas, 0£l. io» 
 
 I" AM at prefent, my dear Lucy, in the 
 4- wildeft country on earth; I mean of 
 thofe which are inhabited at all : 'tis for 
 feveral leagues almoft a continual foreft, 
 with only a few draggling houfes on the ri- 
 ver fide ; 'tis however of not the lead confe- 
 quence to me, all places are equal to me 
 where Emily is not. 
 
 I feek amufement, but without finding 
 it : me is never one moment from my 
 thoughts ; I am every hour on the point of 
 returning to Quebec j I cannot fupport the 
 idea of her leaving the country without 
 my feeing her. 
 
 ! Tis 
 
160 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 'Tis a lady who has this eftate to fell : I 
 am at prefent at her houfe ; fhe is very 
 amiable ; a widow about thirty, with an 
 agreable perfon, great vivacity, an excel- 
 lent underflanding, improved by reading, to 
 which the abfolute folitude of her fituation 
 has obliged her ; (lie has an open pleafing 
 countenance, with a candor and fincerity 
 in her conversation which would pleafe me, 
 if my mind was in a ftate to be pleafed with 
 any thing. Through all the attention and 
 civility I think myfelf obliged to fhew her, 
 fhe feems to perceive the melancholy 
 which I cannot make off: fhe is always 
 contriving fome little party for me, as if 
 {he knew how much I am in want of amufe- 
 menu 
 
 oa. 12. 
 
 Madame Des Roches is very kind ; fhe 
 fees my chagrin, and takes every method 
 
 to 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 161 
 
 to divert it : (lie infifts on my going in her 
 fhallop to fee the lafl fettlement on the 
 river, oppofite the Ifle of Barnaby ; fhe 
 does me the honor to accompany me, with 
 a gentleman and lady who live about a 
 mile from her. 
 
 Ifle Barnaby, 0&. 13. 
 I have been paying a very Angular 
 vifit ; 'tis to a hermit, who has lived fixty 
 years alone on this ifland ; I came to him 
 with a ftrong prejudice againfl him ; I 
 have no opinion of thofe who fly fociety ; 
 who feek a flate of all others the mod con- 
 trary to our nature. Were I a tyrant, and 
 wiflied to inflict the moil cruel punifliment 
 human nature could fupport, I would fe- 
 clude criminals from the joys of fociety, 
 and deny them the endearing fight of their 
 fpecies. 
 
 I am certain I could not exift a year 
 alone ; I am miferable even in that degree 
 
 of 
 
ife THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ©f folitude to which one is confined in £ 
 fhip ; no words can fpeak the joy which I 
 felt when I came to America, on the firfl 
 appearance of fomething like the chearful 
 haunts of men; the nrft man, the firfl: 
 houfe, nay the firfl: Indian fire of which X 
 faw the fmoke rife above the trees, gave me 
 the molt lively tranfport that can be con- 
 ceived ; I felt all the force of thofe ties 
 which unite us to each other, of that lb- 
 cial love to which we owe all our happi- 
 nefs here. 
 
 But to my hermit : his appearance dif- 
 armed my diflike ; he is a tall old man, 
 with white hair and beard, the look of 
 one who has known better days, and the 
 flrongeft marks of benevolence in his 
 countenance. He received me with the ut- 
 moft hofpitality, fpread all his little ftores 
 of fruit before me, fetched me frelh milk > 
 and water from a fpring near his houfe. 
 
 After 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 1*3 
 
 After a little converfation, I exprefled 
 my aflonifhment, that a man of whofe kind- 
 nefs and humanity I had juft had fuch 
 proof, could find his happinefs in flying 
 mankind : I faid a good deal on the fub- 
 je&, to which he liflened with the politeft 
 attention* 
 
 " You appear/' faid he, " of a temper 
 " to pity the miferies of others. My ftory 
 " is {hort and Ample : I loved the mod 
 '« amiable of women; I was beloved. The 
 " avarice of our parents, who both had 
 " more gainful views for us, prevented an 
 " union on which our happinefs depended. 
 " My Louifa, who was threatened with an 
 " immediate marriage with a man (he de- 
 " tefted, propofed to me to fly the tyranny 
 " of our friends: fhe had an uncle at 
 " Quebec, to whom ftie was dear. The 
 " wilds of Canada, faid flie, may afford 
 " us that refuge our cruel country denies 
 
 " us. 
 
164 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 " us. After a fecret marriage, we embarked. 
 " Our voyage was thus far happy ; I landed 
 * ( on the oppofite more, to feek refrefh- 
 (i ments for my Louifa; I was returning, 
 " pleafed with the thought of obliging the 
 " object of all my tendernefs, when a be- 
 " ginning florm drove me to feek flielter in 
 * this bay. The florin encreafed, I faw it's 
 " progrefs with agonies not to be defcribed ; 
 u the ftiip, which was in light, was unable 
 " to refifl its fury ; the failors crowded 
 " into the boat; they had the humanity to 
 " place my Louifa there ; they made for 
 " the fpot where I was, my eyes were 
 " wildly fixed on them; 1 flood eagerly on 
 " the utmofl verge of the water, my arms 
 " flretched out to receive her, my prayers 
 " ardently addrefTed to Heaven, when an 
 " immenfe wave broke over the boa.t ; I 
 " heard a general fhriek; I even fancied I 
 " diflinguifhed my Louifa's cries; it fub- 
 tt lided, the failors again exerted all their 
 " force ; a fecond wave — I faw them no 
 6( more, 
 
 " Never 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 165 
 
 " Never will that dreadful fcene be al> 
 " fent one moment from my memory : I 
 " fell fenfelefs on the beach; when I re- 
 " turned to life, the firft object I beheld 
 " was the breathlefs body of my Louifa 
 " at my feet. Heaven gave me the wretched 
 " confolation of rendering to her the laft 
 " fad duties. In that grave all my happi- 
 i( nefs lies buried. I knelt by her, and 
 * s breathed a vow to Heaven, to wait here 
 u the moment that mould join me to all I 
 " held dear. I every morning viiit her 
 " loved remains, and implore the God of 
 " mercy to haflen my diilolution. I feel 
 u that we ihall not long be feparated ; 
 ic I fliail foon meet her, to part no more." 
 
 He flopped, and, without feeming to 
 remember he was not alone, walked haftily 
 towards a little oratory he has built on the 
 beach, near which is the grave of his 
 Louifa ; I followed him a few fteps, I faw 
 3 him 
 
i66 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 him throw himfelf on his knees ; and, re- 
 fpe&ing his forrow, returned to the houfe. 
 
 Though I cannot abfolutely approve, 
 yet I more than forgive, I almoft ad- 
 mire, his renouncing the world in his fitua- 
 tion. Devotion is perhaps the only balm for 
 the wounds given by unhappy love ; the 
 heart is too much foftened by true tender- 
 nefs to admit any common cure. 
 
 Seven m the evening. 
 I am returned to Madame Des Roches and 
 her friends, who declined vifiting the her- 
 mit. I found in his converfation all which 
 could have adorned fociety; he was pleafed 
 with the fympathy I mewed for his fuffer- 
 ings •, we parted with regret. I wifhed to 
 have made him a prefent, but he will re- 
 ceive nothing. 
 
 A (hip for England is in fight. Madame 
 Des Roches is fo polite to fend off this let- 
 ter; 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 167 
 
 ter; we return to her houfe in the morn- 
 ing. 
 
 Adieu! my Lucy. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed, Rivers. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 To Mifs R ivers, Clarges Street* 
 
 Quebec, Oct. 12. 
 
 I HAVE no patience with this foolifli 
 brother of yours ; he is rambling about 
 in the woods when we want him here : we 
 have a mod agreeable affembly every Thurs- 
 day at the General's, and have had another 
 ball fince he has been gone on this ridicu- 
 lous ramble; I mifs the dear creature where- 
 ever I go. We have nothing but balls, 
 cards, and parties of pleafure; but they 
 are nothing without my little Rivers. 
 
 I have 
 
163 THE HISTORY O f 
 
 I have been making the tour of the three 
 religions this morning, and, as I am the mod 
 con ft ant creature breathing; am come back 
 only a thoufand times more pleafed with 
 my own. I have been at mais, at church, 
 and at the prefbyterian meeting : an idea 
 ftruck me at the laft, in regard to the dra- 
 pery of them all ; that the Romifli religion 
 is like an over-drefted, tawdry, rich citi- 
 zen's wife ; the presbyterian like a rude 
 aukward country girl; the church of Eng- 
 land like an elegant well-drefTed woman of 
 quality, " plain in her neatnefs" (to quote 
 Horace, who is my favorite author). There 
 is a noble, graceful flmplicity both in the 
 worfhip and the ceremonies of the church 
 of England, which, even if I were a ftranger 
 to her doctrines, would prejudice me ftrong- 
 ly in her fa\or. „ 
 
 Sir George fets out for Montreal this 
 evening, fo do the houfe of Melmoth; I 
 have however prevailed on Emily to ftay a 
 
 month 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 169 
 
 month or two longer with me. I am rejoiced 
 Sir George is going away; I am tired of 
 feeing that eternal fmile, that countenance 
 of his, which attempts to fpeak, and fays 
 nothing. I am in d^ubt whether I mall let 
 Emily marry him ; flie will die in a week, 
 of no diflemper but his converfation. 
 
 They dine with 112. I am called down. 
 Adieu ! 
 
 Eight at night. 
 
 Heaven be praifed, our lover is gone ; 
 
 they parted with great philofophy on both 
 
 fides : they are the prettied mild pair of in- 
 
 amoratoes one mall fee. 
 
 Your brother's fervant hasjuft called to 
 tell me he is going to his matter. I have a 
 great mind to anfwer his letter, and order 
 him back. 
 
 Vol, I. I LET- 
 
i 7 o THE HISTORY OF 
 LETTER XXXIV, 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 0£L 12. 
 
 I HAVE been looking at the eftate Ma- 
 dame Des Roches has to fell ; it is as 
 wild as the lands to which I have a right ■> 
 I hoped this would have amufed my cha- 
 grin, but am miflaken : nothing intereft-s 
 me, nothing takes up my attention one mo- 
 ment : my mind admits but one idea. This 
 charming woman follows me wherever I 
 ro: I wander about like the firft man 
 when driven out of paradife : I vainly 
 fancy every change of place will relieve 
 the anxiety of my mind. 
 
 Madame Des Roches fmiles, and tells 
 me I am in love ; 'tis however a fmile of 
 tendernefs and companion ; your fex have 
 
 great 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 171 
 
 great penetration in whatever regards the 
 heart. 
 
 oa. 13. 
 
 I have this moment a letter from Mifs 
 Fermor, to prefs my return to Quebec ; me 
 tells me, Emily's marriage is poftponed tilL 
 fpring. My Lucy! how weak is the hu- 
 man heart ! In fpite of myfelf, a ray of 
 hope — I fet off this inflant : I cannot con- 
 ceal my joy* 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 To Colonel Rivers, at Quebec. 
 
 London, July 23. 
 
 YOU have no idea, Ned, how much 
 your ab fence is lamented by the dow- 
 agers, to whom, it muft be owned, your 
 cnarity has been pretty extenfive. 
 
 [ 2 It 
 
i 7 2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 It would delight you to fee them condo- 
 ling with each other on the lofs of the dear 
 charming man, the man of fentiment, of 
 true tafle, who admires the maturer beau- 
 ties, and thinks no woman worth purfuing 
 till turned of twenty -five : 'tis a lofs not 
 to be made up; for your tafle, it mull be 
 owned, is pretty lingular. 
 
 I have, feen your lad favorite, Lady 
 
 H , who affures me, on the word of a 
 
 woman of honour, that, had you flaid 
 
 feven years in London, fhe does not think 
 
 {lie fhould have had the lead inclination to 
 
 change : but an abfent lover, fhe well ob~ 
 
 ferved, is, properly fpeaking, no lover at 
 
 all. " Bid Colonel Puvers remember," faid 
 
 Ihe, " what I have read fomewhere, the 
 
 " parting words of a French lady to a 
 
 " bifhop of her acquaintance, Let your 
 
 " abfence be fhort, my lord ; and remem- 
 
 " ber that a miflrefs is a benefice which 
 
 «< obliges to refidence." - 
 
 3 . lam 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 173 
 
 I am told, you had not been gone a week 
 before Jack Willmott had the honor of 
 drying up the fair widow's tears. 
 
 I am going this evening to Vauxhall, and 
 to-morrow propofe fetting out for my 
 houfe in Puitland, from whence you {hall 
 hear from me again* 
 
 Adieu! I never write long letters inLon- 
 don. 1 mould tell you, I have been to fee 
 Mrs. Rivers and your fitter ; the former is 
 well, but very anxious to have you in Eng- 
 land again ; the latter grows fo very hand- 
 fome, I don't intend to repeat my vifits 
 often. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J. Temfle, 
 
 I 3 LET- 
 
174 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XXXVI. 
 
 To John Temple, Efq; Pall Mall. 
 
 Quebec, Oct. 14. 
 
 A M this moment arrived from a ramble 
 down the river ; but, a fhip being juft 
 going, mull acknowledge your laft. 
 
 You make me happy in telling me my 
 
 dear Lady H has given my place in her 
 
 heart to fo honeft a fellow as Jack Will- 
 mott ; and I fmcerely wiih the ladies al- 
 ways chofe their favorites as well. 
 
 I mould be very unreasonable indeed to 
 expect conflancy at almoft four thou fan d 
 miles diflance, efpecially when the pro- 
 fpecl of my return is fo very uncertain. 
 
 My voyage ought undoubtedly to be 
 coafidsred as an abdication : I am to all in- 
 tents. 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 175 
 
 tents and purpofes dead in law as a lover ; 
 and the lady has a right to confider her heart 
 as vacant, and to proceed to a new election. 
 
 I claim no more than a fhare in her ef- 
 teem and remembrance, which I dare fay 
 I {hall never want. 
 
 That I have amufed myfelf a little in 
 the dowager way, I am very far from de- 
 nying ; but you will obferve, it was lefs 
 from taiie than the principle of doing as 
 little mifchief as pofiibie in my few excur- 
 fions to the world of gallantry. A little 
 deviation from the exact rule of right we 
 men all allow ourfelves in love affairs ; but 
 I was willing to keep as near it as I could. 
 Married women are, on my principles, for- 
 bidden fruit; I abhor the fedu&ion of in- 
 nocence ; I am too delicate, and (with all 
 my modefly) too vain, to be pleafed with 
 venal beauty : what was I then to do, with 
 a heart too active to be abfolutely at red, 
 I 4 and 
 
i 7 6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 and which had not met with it's counter- 
 part? Widows were, I thought, fair prey, 
 as being fufficiently experienced to take care 
 of themfelves. 
 
 I have faid married women are, on my 
 principles, forbidden fruit : I fhould have 
 explained myfelf ; I mean in England, for 
 my ideas on this head change as fooa as 1 
 land at Calais* 
 
 Such is the amazing force of local pre- 
 judice, that I do not recollect having ever 
 made love to an Engliih married Woman, or 
 a French unmarried one, Marriages in 
 
 France being made by the parents, and 
 therefore generally without inclination on 
 either fide, gallantry feems to be a tacit 
 condition, though not abfolutely expreffed 
 in the contract. 
 
 But to return to my plan : I think it an 
 excellent one ; and would recommend it to all 
 thofe young men about town, who, like me, 
 
 find 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 177 
 
 find in their hearts the neceffity of loving, 
 before they meet with an object capable of 
 fixing them for life. 
 
 By the way, I think the widows ought 
 to raife a flame to my honor, for haying 
 done my pojfible to prove that, for the fake 
 of decorum, morals, and order, they ought 
 to have all the men to themfelves. 
 
 I have this moment your letter from 
 Rutland. Do you know I am almoft angry ? 
 Your ideas of love are narrow and pedan- 
 tic ; cuflom has done enough to make the 
 life of one half of our fpecies taflelefs ; 
 but you would reduce them to a Mate of 
 flill greater insipidity than even that to 
 which our tyranny has doomed them. 
 
 You would limit the pleafure of loving 
 and being beloved, and the charming power 
 of pleafmg, to three or four years only in 
 the life of that fex which is peculiarly 
 formed to feel tendernefs ; women are born 
 I 5 with. 
 
178 the ftis Tory of 
 
 with more lively affections than men, which 
 are ft ill more foftened by education; to deny 
 them the privilege of being amiable, the 
 only privilege we allow them, as long as 
 nature continues them fo, is fuch a mixture 
 of cruelty and falfe tafte as I fhould never 
 have fufpefted you of, notwithstanding your 
 partiality for unripened beauty. 
 
 As to myfelf, I perfift in my opinion, 
 that women are moil charming when they 
 join the attractions of the mind to thofe 
 of the perfon, when they feel the paffion 
 they infpire ; or rather, that they are ne- 
 yer charming till then. 
 
 A woman in the fir ft bloom of youth re- 
 iembles a tree in blofibm, when mature in 
 fruit ; but a woman who retains the charms 
 of her perfon till her underftanding is in 
 its full perfection, is like thofe trees in 
 happier climes* which produce bloffoms and 
 fruit together* 
 
 Yoti 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 179 
 
 You will fcarce believe, Jack, that I have 
 lived a week tete a tete> in the midit of a 
 wood, with jult the woman I have been 
 defcribing ; a widow extremely my tafte, 
 mature, five or fix years more fo than you 
 fay I require, lively, fenfible, handfome, 
 without faying one civil thing to her \ yet 
 nothing can be more certain. 
 
 I could give you powerful reafons for 
 my infenfibility ; but you are a traitor to 
 love, and therefore have no right to be in 
 any of his fecrets. 
 
 I will excufe your viiits to my filler ; as 
 well as I love you myfelf, I have a thou- 
 sand reafons for chufing Ihe fhould not be 
 acquainted with you. 
 
 What you fay in regard to my mother, 
 
 gives me pain ; I will never take back my 
 
 little gift to her ; and I cannot live in Eng- 
 
 I 6 land 
 
1S0 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 land on my prefent income, though it en- 
 ables me to live en prince in Canada. 
 
 Adieu ! I have not time to fay more. I 
 have flole this half hour from the lovelieft 
 woman breathing, whom I am going to 
 vifit: furely you are infinitely obliged to 
 me. To leiTen the obligation, however, my 
 calafh is not yet come to the door. 
 
 Adieu ! once more. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. River s-.- 
 
 LETTER XXXVIL 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silieri, Oct. 15. 
 
 OUR wanderer is returned, my dear, 
 and in fuch fpirits as you can't con- 
 ceive : he palTed yefterday with us ; he 
 
 likes 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 181 
 
 likes to have us to himfelf, and he had yef- 
 terday ; we walked a trio in the wood, and 
 were foolifh ; I have notpaiTed fo agreable a 
 day fincelcame toCanada : I love mightily to 
 be foolifh, and the people here have no 
 tafle that way at all : your brother is di- 
 vinely fo upon occafion. The weather was, 
 to ufe the Canadian phrafe, fuperbe et viag- 
 nifique. We fhall not, I am told, have much 
 more in the fame magnijique ftyle, fo we 
 intend to make the mod of it : I have or- 
 dered your brother to come and walk with 
 us from morning till night ; every day and 
 all the day. 
 
 The dear man was amazingly overjoyed 
 to fee us again ; we fhared in his joy, 
 though my little Emily took fome pains to 
 appear tranquil on the occafion : I never 
 faw more pleafure in the countenances of 
 two people in my life, nor more pains, 
 taken to fupprefs it. 
 
 Do 
 
iff* THE HISTORY OF 
 
 Do you know Fitzgerald is really an 
 agreable fellow ? I have an admirable natu- 
 ral inftinct ; I perceived he had under- 
 Handing, from his aquiline nofe and his 
 eagle eye, which are indexes I never knew 
 fail. I believe we are going to be great ; 
 I am not fure I lhall not admit him to make 
 tap a partie quarrie with your brother and 
 Emily : I told him my original plot upon, 
 him, and he was immenfely pleafed with 
 it. I almoft fancy he can be foolifh ; in 
 that cafe, my bufmefs is done : if with 
 his other merits he has that, I am a loft 
 woman. 
 
 He has excellent fenfe, great good na- 
 ture, and the true princely fpirit of an 
 Irifhman : he will be ruined here, but that 
 is his affair, not mine. He changed quar- 
 ters with an officer now at Montreal ; and, 
 becaufe the lodgings were to be furniihed, 
 thought himfelf obliged to leave three 
 
 months wine in the cellars. 
 
 His 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 183 
 
 His perfon is pleafmg ; he has good 
 eyes and teeth (the only beauties I require), 
 is marked with the fmall pox, which in- 
 men gives a fenfible look ; very manlyy 
 and looks extremely like a gentleman. 
 
 He comes, the conqueror comes, 
 
 I fee him plainly through the trees ; he 
 is now in full view, within twenty yards of 
 the houfe. He looks particularly well on 
 horfeback, Lucy ; which is one certain 
 proof of a good education. The fellow is 
 Well born, and has ideas of things : I think I 
 fhall admit him of my train* 
 
 Emily wonders I have never been m 
 love : the caufe is clear ; I have prevented 
 any attachment to one man, by conftantly 
 flirting with twenty : 'tis the moil fovereign 
 receipt in the world. I think too, my dear, 
 you have maintained a fort of running fight 
 
 with 
 
1 34 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 with the little deity : our hour is not yet 
 come. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Quebec, 061. 15, evening. 
 
 I AM returned, my dear, and have had 
 the pleafure of hearing you and my 
 mother are well, though I have had no 
 letters from either of you. 
 
 Mr. Temple, my deareft Lucy, tells me 
 he has vifited you. Will you pardon me a 
 freedom which nothing but the moil tender 
 friendfhip can warrant, when I tell you 
 
 that 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 185 
 
 that I would wifh you to be as little ac- 
 quainted with him as politenefs allows ? He 
 is a moft agreable man, perhaps too agre- 
 able, with a thoufand amiable qualities; he 
 is the man I love above all others; and, 
 where women are not concerned, a man of 
 the moft unblemifhed honor : but his manner 
 of life is extremely libertine, and his ideas 
 of women unworthy the reft of bis cha- 
 racter ; he knows not the perfections which 
 adorn the valuable part of your fex, he is 
 a ftranger to your virtues, and incapable, 
 at leaft I fear fo, of that tender affe&ioa 
 which alone can make an amiable woman 
 happy. With all this, he is polite and at* 
 tentive, and has a manner, which, without 
 intending it, is calculated to deceive women 
 into an opinion of his being attached when 
 he is not : he has all the fplendid virtues 
 which command efteem ; is noble, gene- 
 rous, difmterefted, open, brave ; and is the 
 moft dangerous man "on earth to a woman 
 
 of 
 
m THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of honor, who is unacquainted with the 
 arts of man* 
 
 Do not however miftake me, my Lucy ; 
 I know him to be as incapable of forming 
 improper defigns on you, even were you 
 not the fifter of his friend, as you are of 
 liflening to him if he did : 'tis for your 
 heart alone I am alarmed ; he is formed to 
 pleafe ; you are young and inexperienced, 
 and have not yet loved ; my anxiety for 
 your peace makes me dread your loving a 
 man whofe views are not turned to mar- 
 riage, and who is therefore incapable of re- 
 turning properly the tendernefs of a wo- 
 man of honor. 
 
 I have feen my divine Emily : her man- 
 ner of receiving me was very nattering ; I 
 cannot doubt her friendfhip for me ; yet I 
 am not abfolutely content. I am however 
 convinced, by the eafy tranquillity of her 
 air, and her manner of bearing this delay 
 of their marriage, that fhe does not love 
 
 the 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 187 
 
 the man for whom Ihe is intended : me has 
 been a victim to the avarice of her friends. 
 I would fain hope— yet what have I to 
 hope ? If I had even the happinefs to be 
 agreable to her, if fhe was difengaged from 
 Sir George, my fortune makes it impoflible 
 for me to marry her, without reducing her 
 to indigence at home, or dooming her to 
 be an exile in Canada for life. I dare not 
 afk myfelf what I wifh or intend : yet I 
 give way in fpite of me to the delight of 
 feeing, and converting with her^ 
 
 I mufl not look forward ; I will only en- 
 joy the prefent pleafure of believing myfelf 
 one of the firft: in her efleem and friend^ 
 fliip, and of fhe wing her all thofe little 
 pleaiing attentions fo dear to a fenfible 
 heart ; attentions in which her lover is 
 aftonifhingly remifs : he is at Montreal, and 
 I am told was gay and happy on his jour- 
 ney thither, though he left his miftrefs 
 behind. 
 
 I have 
 
188 THE HISTORY Of 
 
 I have fpent two very happy days at 
 Silleri, with Emily and your friend Bell 
 Fermor : to-morrow I meet them at the 
 governor's, where there is a very agreable 
 affembly on Thurfday evenings. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 I &all write again by a fliip which fails 
 next week. 
 
 L E T T E 11 XXXIX. 
 
 To John Temple, Efq; Pall Mall. 
 
 Quebec, Oa. 18. 
 
 f" HAVE this moment a letter from Ma- 
 -*- dame Des Roches, the lady at whofe 
 houfe I fpent a week, and to whom I am 
 
 greatly 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 189 
 
 greatly obliged. I am fo happy as to have 
 an opportunity of rendering her a fervice, 
 in which I mufl defire your afliftance. 
 
 'Tis in regard to fome lands belonging 
 to her, which, not being fettled, fome other 
 perfon has applied for a grant of at home. 
 I fend you the particulars, and beg you 
 will lofe no time in entering a caveat, and 
 taking other proper fteps to prevent what 
 would be an act of great injuflice: the war 
 and the incurfions of the Indians in alliance 
 with us have hitherto prevented thefe lands 
 from being fettled, but Madame Des Roches 
 is actually in treaty with fome Acadians to 
 fettle them immediately. Employ all your 
 friends as well as mine if necelTary ; my 
 lawyer will direct you in what manner to 
 apply, and pay the expences attending the 
 application. Adieu! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 LET- 
 
ipo THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street* 
 
 Silleri, Oc~L 20. 
 
 I DANCED laft night till four o'clock in 
 the morning (if you will allow the ex- 
 preflion), without being the leafl fatigued: 
 the little Fitzgerald was my partner, who 
 grows upon me extremely; the monkey 
 has a way of being attentive and carelefs 
 by turns, which has an amazing effect; no- 
 thing attaches a woman of my temper fo 
 much to a lover as her being a little in fear 
 of lofing him j and he keeps up the fpirit 
 of the thing admirably. 
 
 Your brother and Emily danced together, 
 and I think I never faw either of them look 
 fo handfome; me was a thoufand times 
 more admired at this ball than the firft, 
 and reafon good, for flie was a thoufand 
 
 times 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. x 9 i 
 
 times more agreable ; your brother is 
 really a charming fellow, he is an immenfe 
 favorite with the ladies ; he has that very 
 pleating general attention, which never fails 
 to charm women ; he can even be particu- 
 lar to one, without wounding the vanity of 
 the reft : if he was in company with twenty, 
 his miftrefs of the number, his manner 
 would be fuch, that every woman there 
 would think herfelf thefecond in his efteem; 
 and that, if his heart had not been unluckily 
 pre-engaged, flie herfelf ftiould have been 
 the object of his tendernefs* 
 
 His eyes are of immenfe ufe to him ; he 
 looks the civileft things imaginable; his 
 whole countenance fpeaks whatever he 
 wifhes to fay; he has the lead occafion for 
 words to explain himfelf of any man I ever 
 knew. 
 
 Fitzgerald has eyes too, I affure you, and 
 
 eyes that know how to fpeak; he has a 
 
 i look 
 
i 9 2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 look of faucy unconcern and inattention, 
 which is really irrefiftible. 
 
 We have had a great deal of fnow already, 
 but it melts away j 'tis a lovely day, but an 
 odd enough mixture of fummer and winter; 
 in fome places you fee half a foot of fnow 
 lying, in others the dull is even trouble- 
 fome. 
 
 Adieu! there are a dozen or two of 
 beaux at the door. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor* 
 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 193 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Nov. 10. 
 
 THE favages affure us, my dear, on the 
 information of the beavers, that we 
 {hall have a very mild winter : it feems, thefe 
 creatures have laid in a lefs winter ftock 
 than ufual. 1 take it very ill, Lucy, that 
 the beavers have better intelligence than 
 we have. 
 
 We are got into a pretty compofed eafy 
 way ; Sir George writes very agreable, 
 fenfible, fentimental, goffiping letters, once 
 a fortnight, which Emily anfwers in due 
 courfe, with all the regularity of a counting* 
 houfe correfpondence ; he talks of coming 
 down after Chriilmas: we expect him with- 
 out impatience ; and in the mean time 
 amufe our (elves as well as we can, and (often 
 
 Vol. I. K the 
 
i 9 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 the pain of abfence by the attention of a 
 man that I fancy we like quite as well. 
 
 With fubmiflion to the beavers, the 
 weather is very cold, and we have had a 
 great deal of fnow already ; but they tell 
 me 'tis nothing to what we mall have : they 
 are taking precautions which make me fhud- 
 der beforehand, palling up the windows, 
 and not leaving an avenue where cold can 
 enter. 
 
 I like the winter carriages immenfely; 
 the open carriole is a kind of one-horfe 
 chaife, the covered one a chariot, fet on a 
 fledge to run on the ice ; we have not yet 
 had fnow enough to ufe them, but I like 
 their appearance prodigioufly ; the covered 
 carrioles feem the prettiefl things in nature 
 to make love in, as there are curtains to draw 
 before the windows : we fhall have three 
 in effect, my father's, Rivers's, and Fitz- 
 gerald's ; the two latter are to be elegance 
 itfelf, and entirely for the fervice of the 
 
 ladies ; 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 195 
 
 ladies : your brother and Fitzgerald are 
 trying who (hall be ruined firft for the honor 
 of their country. I will bet three to one 
 upon Ireland. They are every day contriv- 
 ing parties of pleafure, and making the 
 moft gallant little prefents imaginable to 
 the ladies. 
 
 Adieu ! my dear. 
 
 Your?, 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 To Mifs Rivers. 
 
 Quebec, Nov. 14, 
 
 I SHALL not, my dear, have above 
 one more opportunity of writing to 
 you by the mips; after which we can only 
 write by the packet once a month. 
 
 K 2 My 
 
196 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 My Emily is every day more lovely ; I 
 lee her often, and every hour difcover new 
 charms in her ; {he has an exalted under- 
 itanding, improved by all the knowledge 
 which is becoming in your fex ; a foul 
 awake to all the finer fenfations of the 
 heart, checked and adorned by the native 
 lovelinefs of woman : fhe is extremely 
 handfome, but (lie would pleafe every feel- 
 ing heart if die was not ; ihe has the foul 
 of beauty : without feminine foftnefs and 
 delicate fenUbility, no features can give 
 lovelinefs ; with them, very indifferent ones 
 can charm: that fenfibility, that foftnefs, 
 never were fo lovely as in my Emily. I can 
 write on no other fubje£. Were you to 
 fee her, my Lucy, you would forgive me« 
 IMy letter is called for. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed. Rivers. 
 
 Your friend Mifs Ferraor will write you 
 everv thing. 
 
 L E T- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 197 
 
 LETTER XLIIL 
 To Mifs Montague, at Sillerh 
 
 Monreat, Nov. i„. 
 
 "]\ /T R. Melmorh and I, my dear Emily, 
 -ty^ expected by this time to have ice- 
 you at Montreal. I allow fomething vo 
 your friendship for Mifs Fermor; but there 
 is alfo fomething due to relations who ten- 
 derly love you, and under whofe protec- 
 tion your uncle left you at his death. 
 
 I mould add, that there is fomething 
 due to Sir George, had I not already di-f- 
 pleafed you by what I have faid on the 
 fubj eft. 
 
 You are not to be told, that in a week 
 the road from hence to Quebec will be im- 
 paiTable for at leaft a month, till the rivers 
 are fufficiently froze to bear carriages. 
 
 K 2 I will 
 
198 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I will own to you, that I am a little jea- 
 lous of your attachment to Mifs Fermor, 
 though no one can think her more amiable 
 than I do. 
 
 If you do not come this week, I would 
 wiili you to flay till Sir George comes 
 down, and return with him ; I will entreat 
 the favor of Mifs Fermor to accompany you 
 to Montreal, which we will endeavour to 
 make as agreable to her as we can. 
 
 I have been ill of a flight fever, but am 
 now perfectly recovered. Sir George and 
 Mr. Melmoth are well, and very impatient 
 to fee you here. 
 
 Adieu! my dear. 
 
 Your affectionate 
 
 E. Melmoth. 
 
 L E T- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 199 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 To Mrs. Melmoth, at Montreal. 
 
 Silleri, Nov. 20. 
 
 I HAVE a thoufand reafons, my dearefl 
 Madam, for intreating you to excufe 
 my Haying fome time longer at Quebec. 
 I have the fmcereil efleem for Sir George, 
 and am not infenfible of the force of our 
 engagements ; but do not think his being 
 there a reafon for my coming : the kind of 
 fufpended ilate, to fay no more, in which 
 thofe engagements now are, call for a de- 
 licacy in my behaviour to him, which is 
 fo difficult to obferve without the appear- 
 ance of affectation, that his abfence re- 
 lieves me for a very painful kind of re- 
 ftraint: for the fame reafon, 'tisimpoflLbh 
 for me to come up at the time he does, ii 
 I do come, even though MifsFermor mould 
 accompany me. 
 
 K 4 A mo- 
 
■2go THE HISTORY OF 
 
 A moment's reflexion will convince you 
 of the propriety of my flaying here till 
 his mother does me the honor again to ap- 
 prove his choice ; or till our engagement is 
 publicly known to be at an end. Mrs. 
 Clayton is a prudent mother, and a woman 
 of the world, and may confider that Sir 
 George's fituation is changed fince fhe con- 
 fented to his marriage. 
 
 I am not capricious ; but I will own to 
 you, that my efteem for Sir George is much 
 leffened by his behaviour fince his laft re- 
 tarn from New-York : he miflakes me ex- 
 tremely, if he fuppofes he has the lead 
 additional merit in my eyes from his late 
 acquifition of fortune : on the contrary, I 
 now fee faults in him which were concealed 
 by the mediocrity of his fituation before, 
 and which do not promife happinefs to a 
 heart like mine, a heart which has little 
 tafle for the falfe glitter of life, and the 
 
 moil 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 201 
 
 mod lively one pomble for the calm real 
 delights of friendship, and domeftic feli- 
 city. 
 
 Accept my fmcereft congratulations on 
 your return of health ; and believe me, 
 
 My dearefl Madam, 
 
 Your obliged and affectionate 
 
 Emily Montague. 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silleri, Nov. 23. 
 
 I HAVE been feeing the lad (hip go out 
 of the port, Lucy ; you have no no- 
 tion what a melancholy fight it is : we are. 
 now left to ourfelves, and fhut up from all 
 the world for the winter : fomehow we 
 K S fcem 
 
202 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 feem fo forfaken, fo cut off from the reft 
 of human kind, I cannot bear the idea : I 
 fent a thoufand fighs and a thoufand ten- 
 der wifhes to dear England, which I never 
 loved fo much as at this moment. 
 
 Do you know, my dear, I could cry if I 
 Was not aihamed ? I mail not abfolutely be 
 in fpirits again this week. 
 
 'Tis the firft time I have felt any thing 
 like bad fpirits in Canada : I followed the 
 ihip with my eyes till it turned Point Levi, 
 and, when I loft fight of it, felt as if I had 
 loft every thmg dear to me on earth. I am 
 not particular: I fee a gloom on every 
 countenance ; I have been at church, and 
 think I never faw fo many dejected faces in 
 my life. 
 
 Adieu ! for the prefent : it will be a 
 fortnight before I can fend this letter; 
 another agreable circumftance that: would 
 
 to 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 203 
 
 to Heaven I were in England, though I 
 changed the bright fun of Canada for a 
 fog! 
 
 Dec. 1. 
 We have had a week's fnow without in- 
 termiffion: happily for us, your brother 
 and the Fitz have been weather-bound all 
 the time at Silleri, and cannot poflibly get 
 away. 
 
 We have amufed ourfelves within doors, 
 for there is no flirring abroad, with play- 
 ing at cards, playing at fhuttlecock, playing 
 the fool, making love, and making moral 
 reflexions : upon the whole, the week has 
 not been very difagreable. 
 
 The fnow is when we wake conflantly 
 up to our chamber windows ; we are lite- 
 rally dug out of it every morning. 
 
 K 6 As 
 
2o 4 THE HISTO RY OF 
 
 As to Quebec, I give up all hopes of 
 ever feeing it again : but my comfort is, 
 that the people there cannot polTibly get 
 to their neighbors ; and I flatter myfelf 
 very few of them have been half fo well 
 entertained at home. 
 
 We fhall be abufed, I know, for (what is 
 really the fault of the weather) keeping 
 thefe two creatures here this week ; the 
 ladies hate us for engroffing two fuch fine 
 fellows as your brother and Fitzgerald, as 
 well as for having vaftly more than our 
 lhare of all the men : we generally go out 
 attended by at leaft a dozen, without any 
 other woman but a lively old French ladyj 
 who is a flirt of my father's, and will cer- 
 tainly be my mamma. 
 
 We fweep into the general's aflembly 
 
 on Thurfdays with fuch a train of beaux 
 
 as draws every eye upon us : the reft of 
 
 the fellows crowd round us; the miifes 
 
 draw up, blufh, and flutter their fans; and 
 5 your 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 205 
 
 your little Bell fits down with fuch a faucy 
 impertinent confeioufnefs in her counte- 
 nance as is really provoking : Emily on the 
 contrary looks mild and humble, and feems 
 by her civil decent air to apologize to them 
 for being fo much more agreable than 
 themfelves, which is a fault I for my part 
 am not in the leaft inclined to be afhamed 
 of. 
 
 Your idea of Quebec, my dear, is per- 
 fectly juft ; it is like a third or fourth rate 
 country town in England ; much hofpitality, 
 little fociety; cards, fcandal, dancing, and 
 good chear ; all excellent things to pafs 
 away a winter evening, and peculiarly 
 adapted to what I am told, and what I be- 
 gin to feel, of the feverity of this climate. 
 
 I am told they abufe me, which I can 
 eaiily believe, becaufe my impertinence to 
 them deferves it : but what care I, you 
 know, Lucy, fo long as I pleafe myfelf, 
 and am at Silleri out of the found ? 
 
 They 
 
2o6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 They are fquabbling at Quebec, I hear, 
 about I cannot tell what, therefore malt 
 not attempt to explain : fome dregs of old 
 difputes, it feems, which have had not time 
 to fettle : however, we new comers have 
 certainly nothing to do with thefe matters : 
 you can't think how comfortable we feel 
 at Silleri, out of the way. 
 
 My father fays, the politics of Canada 
 are as complex and as difficult to be under- 
 ftood as thofe of the Germanic fyftem. 
 
 For my part, I think no politics worth 
 attending to but thofe of the little com- 
 monwealth of woman : if I can maintain 
 my empire over hearts, I leave the men to 
 quarrel for every thing elfe. 
 
 I obferve a drift neutrality, that I may 
 have a chance for admirers amongft both 
 parties. Adieu! the poft is juft going out. 
 Your faithful 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 207 
 
 LETTER XLVL 
 To Mifs Montague, at Silleri. 
 
 Montreal, Dec, 18. 
 
 THERE is fomething, my dear Emily, 
 in what you fay as to the delicacy 
 of your fituation ; but, whilft you are fo 
 very exact in acting up to it on one fide, 
 do you not a little overlook it on the 
 other ? 
 
 I am extremely unwilling to fay a dif- 
 agreable thing to you, but Mifs Fermor is 
 too young as well as too gay to be a pro- 
 tection — the very particular circumftance 
 you mention makes Mr. Melmoth's the 
 only houfe in Canada in which, if I have 
 any judgment, you can with propriety live 
 till your marriage takes place. 
 
 You 
 
208 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 You extremely injure Sir George in fup- 
 pofing it poflible he fhould fail in his en- 
 gagements : and I fee with pain that you 
 are more quickfighted to his failings than 
 is quite confident with that tendernefs, 
 which (allow me to fay) he has a right to 
 expect from you. He is like other men of 
 his age and fortune ; he is the very man 
 you fo lately thought amiable, and of 
 whofe love you cannot without injuftice 
 have a doubt. 
 
 Though I approve your contempt of the 
 falfe glitter of the world, yet I think it a 
 little (trained at your time of life : did I 
 not know you as well as I do, I Ihould fay 
 that philofophy in a young and efpecially a 
 female mind, is fo out of feafon, as to be 
 extremely fufpicious. The pleafures which 
 attend on affluence are too great, and too 
 pleaflng to youth, to be overlooked, ex- 
 cept 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 209 
 
 cept when under the influence of a livelier 
 paffion. 
 
 Take care, my Emily ; I know the 
 goodnefs of your heart, but I alfo know 
 it's fenfibility ; remember that, if your fitu- 
 ation requires great circumfpe&ion in your 
 behaviour to Sir George, it requires much 
 greater to every other perfon : it is even 
 more delicate than marriage itfeif. 
 
 I fliall expect you and Mifs Fermor as 
 foon as the roads are fuch that you can 
 travel agreably ; and, as you object to Sir 
 George as a conductor, I will entreat Cap» 
 tain Fermor to accompany you hither. 
 
 I am, my dear, 
 
 Your moil affectionate 
 
 E. Melmotkv 
 
 L E T- 
 
■uo THE HISTORY OI 
 
 L E T T E R XLVII. 
 To Mrs, Melmoth, at Montreal. 
 
 SiJleri, Dec. 36. 
 
 T ENTREAT you, my dearefl: Madam, 
 -*- to do me the juftice to believe I fee 
 my engagement to Sir George in as ftrong 
 a light as you can do j if there is any 
 change in my behaviour to him, it is owing 
 to the very apparent one in his conduct to 
 me, of which no one but myfelf can be a 
 judge. As to what you fay in regard to 
 my contempt of affluence, I can only fay 
 it is in my character, whether it is gene- 
 rally in the female one or not. 
 
 Were the cruel hint you are pleafed to 
 give juft, be allured Sir George mould be 
 the firfl perfon to whom I would declare it. 
 I hope however it is poflible to efleem 
 
 merit 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 211 
 
 merit without offending even the molt fa- 
 cred of all engagements. 
 
 A gentleman waits for this. I have only 
 time to fay, that Mifs Fermor thanks you 
 for your obliging invitation, and promifes 
 (he will accompany me to Montreal as foon 
 as the river St. Lawrence will bear car- 
 riages, as the upper road is extremely in- 
 convenient* 
 
 I am, 
 
 My deareft Madam, 
 Your obliged 
 
 and faithful 
 
 £mily Montague, 
 
 L E T- 
 
212 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER XLVIIL 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street, 
 
 Silleri, Dec. 27. 
 
 AFTER a fortnight's fnow, we have 
 had near as much clear blue fky 
 and funfhine : the fnow is fix feet deep, fo 
 that we may be faid to walk on our own 
 heads ; that is, fpeaking en philcfophe> we 
 occupy the fpace we {hould have done in 
 fummer if we had done fo ; or, to explain 
 it more clearly, our heels are now where 
 our heads fhould be. 
 
 The fcene is a little changed for the 
 worfe : the lovely landfcape is now oneun- 
 diftinguifhed wafte of fnow, only a little 
 diverfified by the great variety of ever- 
 greens in the woods : the romantic winding 
 path down the fide of the hill to our farm, 
 on which we ufed to amufe ourfelves with 
 
 feeing 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 213 
 
 feeing the beaux ferpentize, is now a con- 
 fufed, frightful, rugged precipice, which 
 one trembles at the idea of afcending. 
 
 There is fomething exceedingly agrea- 
 ble in the whirl of the carrioles, which 
 fly along at the rate of twenty miles an 
 hour ; and really hurry one out of one's 
 fenfes. 
 
 Our little coterie is the objecT: of great 
 envy ; we live juft as we like, without 
 thinking of other people, which I am not 
 fure here is prudent, but it is pleafant, 
 which is a better thing. 
 
 Emily, who is the civilefl creature 
 breathing, is for giving up her own plea- 
 fure to avoid oifending others, and wants 
 me, every time we make a carrioling-party, 
 to invite all the miffes of Quebec to go 
 with us, becaufe they feem angry at our 
 being happy without them : but for that 
 
 very 
 
2i 4 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 very reafon I perlifl in my own way, and 
 confider wifely, that, though civility is due 
 to other people, yet there is alfo fome ci- 
 vility due to one's felf. 
 
 I agree to vifit every body, but think it 
 mighty abfurd I muft not take a ride with- 
 out aiking a hundred people I fcarce know 
 to go with me : yet this is the ftyle here ; 
 they will neither be happy themfelves, nor 
 let any body elfe. Adieu ! 
 
 Dec. 29. 
 
 I will never take a beaver's word again 
 as long as I live : there is no fupporting 
 this cold ; the Canadians fay it is feventeen 
 years fmce there has been fo fevere a fea- 
 fon. I thought beavers had been people 
 of more honor. 
 
 Adieu! I can no more: the ink freezes 
 
 as I take it from the ftandifh to the paper, 
 
 though clofe to a large flove. Don't ex- 
 
 3 pe& 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 215 
 
 peel: me to write again till May ; one's fa- 
 culties are abfoiutely congealed this wea- 
 ther. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silleri, Jan. 1. 
 
 IT is with difficulty I breathe, my dear ; 
 the cold is fo amazingly intenfe as al- 
 moft totally to (top refpiration. I have 
 bufinefs, the bufmefs of pleafure, at Que- 
 bec ; but have not courage to ftir from the 
 ftove. 
 
 We have had five days, the feverity of 
 which none of the natives remember to 
 
 have 
 
216 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 have ever feen equaled : 'tis faid, the cold 
 is beyond all the thermometers here, tho* 
 intended for the climate. 
 
 The ftrongeft wine freezes in a room 
 which has a Hove in it ; even brandy is 
 thickened to the confidence of oil : the 
 largeft wood fire, in a wide chimney, does 
 not throw out it's heat a quarter of a yard. 
 
 I muft venture to Quebec to-morrow, or 
 have company at home : amufements are 
 here neceflfary to life; we muft be jovial, 
 or the blood will freeze in our veins. 
 
 I no Jonger wonder the elegant arts are 
 unknown here j the rigour of the climate 
 fufpends the very powers of the under (land- 
 ing ; what then muft become of thofe of 
 the imagination ? Thofe who expect to fee 
 
 " Anew Athens ri£ng near the pole," 
 
 will 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 217 
 
 will find themfelves extremely difappoint- 
 ed. Genius will never mount high, where 
 the faculties of the mind are benumbed 
 half the year. 
 
 'Tis fufficient employment for the mod 
 lively fpirit here to contrive how to pre- 
 ferve an exigence, of which there are mo- 
 ments that one is hardly confcious : the 
 cold really fometimes brings on a fort of 
 ft up e faction. 
 
 We had a million of beaux here yefter- 
 day, notwithstanding the fevere cold : 'tis 
 the Canadian cuftom, calculated I fuppofe 
 for the climate, to viiit all the ladies on 
 New-year's-day, who fit dreiled in form 
 to be kiffed : I aifure you, however, our 
 kiiTes could not warm them ; but we were 
 obliged, to our eternal difgrace, to call in 
 rafberry brandy as an auxiliary. 
 
 Vol, I. L You 
 
2i8 THE HISTORY O F 
 
 You would have died to fee the men; 
 they look jufl like fo many bears in their 
 open carrioles, all wrapped in furs from 
 head to foot ; you fee nothing of the hu- 
 man form appear, but the tip of a nofe. 
 
 They have intire coats of beaver fkin, 
 exactly like Friday's in Robinfon Crufoe, 
 and cafques on their heads like the old 
 knights errant in romance ; you never faw 
 fuch tremendous figures ; but without this 
 kind of cloathing it would be impoilible to 
 ftir out at prefent.- 
 
 The ladies are equally covered up, tho' 
 in a lefs unbecoming ftyle ; they have long 
 cloth cloaks with loofe hoods, like thofe 
 worn by the market-women in the north 
 of England. I have one in fcarlet, the 
 hood lined with fable, the prettied ever 
 feen here, in which I aifure you I look 
 amazingly handfome; the men think (o, 
 
 and 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 219 
 
 and call me the Little red riding-hood ; a. 
 name which becomes me as well as the 
 hood. 
 
 The Canadian ladies wear thefe cloaks 
 in India (ilk in fummer, which, fluttering in 
 the wind, look really graceful on a fine 
 Woman. 
 
 Befides our riding-hoods, when we go 
 out, we have a large buffaloe's ikin under 
 our feet, which turns up, and wraps round 
 us almoft to our fhouldcrs ; fo that, upon 
 the whole, we are pretty well guarded from 
 the weather as well as the men. 
 
 Our covered carrioles too have not only 
 canvas windows (we dare not have glafs, 
 becaufe we often overturn), but cloth cur- 
 tains to draw all round us ; the extreme 
 fwiftnefs of thefe carriages alfo, which dart 
 along like lightening, helps to keep one warm, 
 by promoting the circulation of the blood. 
 
 I 
 
 pity 
 
a20 TH E HISTORY OF 
 
 I pity the Fitz ; no tiger was ever fo 
 hard-hearted as I am this weather: the 
 little god has taken his flight, like the fwal- 
 lows. I fay nothing, but cruelty is no 
 virtue in Canada ; at leafl at this feafon. 
 
 I fuppofe Pygmalion's flatue was fome 
 frozen Canadian gentlewoman, and a fud- 
 den warm day thawed her. I love to ex- 
 pound ancient fables, and I think no expo- 
 fition can be more natural than this. 
 
 Would ycu know what makes me chat- 
 ter fo this morning I Papa has made me 
 take fome excellent liqueur ; 'tis the mode 
 here ; all the Canadian ladies take a little, 
 which makes them fo coquet and agreable. 
 Certainly brandy makes a woman talk like 
 an angel. Adieu! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 LET- 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 221 
 
 LETTER L. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Silleri, Jan. 4. 
 
 I DON'T quite agree with you, my 
 dear ; your brother does not appear 
 to me to have the leaft fcruple of tfcat 
 foolilh falfe moddiy which ftands in a 
 
 man s way. 
 
 He Is extremely what the French call 
 awakened j he is modeft, certainly ; that is, 
 he is not a coxcomb, but he has all that 
 proper felf-confidence which is neceffary to 
 fet his agreable qualities in full light : no- 
 thing can be a flronger proof of this, than 
 that, wherever he is, he always takes your 
 attention in a moment, and this without 
 feeming to folicit it. 
 
 L 3 I am 
 
222 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I am very fond of him, though he never 
 makes love to me, in which circumftance he 
 is very lingular : our friendfhip is quite 
 platonic, at leaft on his dde, for I am not 
 quite fo fure on the other. I remember 
 one day in fummer we were walking tete a 
 tete in the road to Cape Rouge, when he 
 wanted me to ftrike into a very beautiful 
 thicket : " Pofitively, Rivers," faid I, " I 
 %< will not venture with you into that 
 " wood." " Are you afraid of me, Bell ¥* 
 " No, but extremely of myfelf" 
 
 I have loved him ever fmce a little fcene 
 that palled here three or four months ago : 
 a very afFe&ing flory, of a diftreffed family 
 in our neighbourhood, was told him and 
 Sir George; the latter preferved all the 
 philofophic dignity and manly compofure 
 of his countenance, very coldly expreifed 
 his concern, and called another fubjecl : 
 your brother changed color, his eyes glif- 
 
 tened i 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 223 
 
 tened ; he took the firft opportunity to leave 
 the room, he fought thefe poor people, he 
 found, he relieved them ; which we difco- 
 vered by accident a month after. 
 
 The weather, tho' cold beyond all that 
 you in England can form an idea of, is yet 
 mild to what it has been the lait five or fix 
 days ; we are going to Quebec, to church. 
 
 Two o'clock. 
 
 Emily and I have been talking religion 
 all the way home : we are both mighty 
 good girls, as girls go in thefe degenerate 
 days ; our grandmothers to be fure — but 
 it's folly to look back. 
 
 We have been faying, Lucy, that 'tis 
 the ftrangeft thing in the world people 
 fhould quarrel about religion, iince we un- 
 doubtedly all mean the fame thing ; all 
 good minds in every religion aim at pleaf- 
 ing the Supreme Being ; the means we take 
 L a differ 
 
224 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 differ according to the country where we 
 are born, and the prejudices we imbibe 
 from education ; a confideration which 
 ought to infpire us with kindnefs and in- 
 dulgence to each other. 
 
 If we examine each other's fentiments 
 with candor, we fhail find much lefs differ- 
 ence in effentials than we imagine ; 
 
 " Since all agree to own, at leaft to mean, 
 " One great, one good, one general Lord 
 " of all." 
 
 There is, I think, a very pretty Sunday 
 reflexion for you, Lucy. 
 
 You muff know, I am extremely religious; 
 and for this amongft other reafons, that I 
 think infidelity a vice peculiarly contrary 
 to the native foftnefs of woman : it is bold, 
 daring, mafculine; and I fhould almoft 
 doubt the fex of an unbeliever in petti- 
 coats. 
 
 Woraca 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 225 
 
 Women are religious as they are virtu- 
 ous, lefs from principles founded on rea- 
 foning and argument, than from elegance 
 of mind, delicacy of moral tafte, and a 
 certain quick perception of the beautiful 
 and becoming in every thing. 
 
 This inftinft, however, for fuch it is, is 
 worth all the tedious reafonings of the men; 
 which is a point I flatter myfelf you will 
 not difpute with me. 
 
 Monday, Jan. 5. 
 
 This is the firfl day I have ventured in an 
 open carriole ; we have been running a 
 race on the mow, your brother and I againil 
 Emily and Fitzgerald : we conquered from 
 Fitzgerald's complaifance to Emily. I mail 
 like it mightily, well wrapt up : I fet off 
 with a crape over my face to keep off the 
 eold, but in three minutes it was a cake 
 L 5 of 
 
225 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 of folid ice, from my breath which froze 
 upon it ; yet this is called a mild day, and 
 the fun fhines in all his glory. 
 
 Silleri, Thurfday, Jan. 8, midnight. 
 
 We are juft come from the general's 
 affembly ; much company, and we danced 
 till this minute ; for I believe we have not 
 been more coming thefe four miles. 
 
 Fitzgerald is the very pink of courtefy f 
 he never ufes his covered carriole himfelf* 
 but devotes it intirely to the ladies ; it 
 Hands at the general's door in waiting on 
 Thurfdays : if any lady comes out before 
 her carriole arrives, the fervants call oat 
 mechanically, " Captain Fitzgerald's car- 
 " riole here, for a lady." The Colonel is 
 equally gallant, but I generally lay an em- 
 bargo on his : they have each of them an 
 extreme pretty one for themfelves, or to 
 drive a fair lady a morning's airing, when 
 
 ftie 
 I 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 227 
 
 ftie will allow them the honor, and the 
 weather is mild enough to permit it. 
 
 Bonfoir ! I am fleepy. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 
 LETTER LI. 
 
 To John Temple, Efq; Pall Mall. 
 
 Quebec, Jan. 9. 
 *\7"OU miftake me extremely, Jack, as 
 4? you generally do : I have by no 
 means forfworn marriage : on the contrary, 
 though happinefs is not fo often found 
 there as I wife, it was, yet I am convinced 
 it is to be found no where elfe ; and, poor 
 as I am, I fhould not hefitate about trying 
 the experiment myfelf to-morrow, if I 
 L 6 could 
 
228 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 could meet with a woman to my tafte, unap- 
 propriated, whofe ideas of the ft ate agreed 
 with mine, which I allow are fomething 
 out of the common road: but I muft be 
 certain thofe ideas are her own, therefore 
 they muft arife fpontaneoufly, and not in 
 complaifance to mine ; for which reafon, if 
 I could, I would endeavour to lead my mif- 
 trefs into the fubjecl, and know her fenti- 
 ments on the manner of living in that ftate 
 before I difcovered my own. 
 
 I muft alfo be well convinced of her ten- 
 dernefs before I make a declaration of mine : 
 flie muft not diftinguifh me becaufe I flatter 
 her, but becaufe (lie thinks I have merit; 
 thofe fancied pafTions, where gratified vanity 
 aflumes the form of love, will not fatisfy 
 my heart : the eyes, the air, the voice of 
 the woman I love, a thoufand little indis- 
 cretions dear to the heart, muft convince 
 me I am beloved, before I confefs I love. 
 
 5 Though 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 229 
 
 Though fenfible of the advantages of 
 fortune, I can be happy without it: if I 
 fhould ever be rich enough to live in the 
 world, no one will enjoy it with greater 
 guft ; if not, I can with great fpirit, pro- 
 vided I find fuch a companion as I wiih, 
 retire from it to love, content, and a cot- 
 tage : by which I mean to the life of a 
 little country gentleman. 
 
 You afk me my opinion of the winter 
 here. If you can bear a degree of cold, 
 of which Europeans can form no idea, it 
 is far from being unpleafant ; we have fet- 
 tled froft, and an eternal blue fky. Tra- 
 velling in this country in winter is particu- 
 larly agreable : the carriages are eafy, and 
 go on the ice with an amazing velocity, 
 though drawn only by one horfe. 
 
 The continual plain of fnow would be 
 extremely fatiguing both to the eye and 
 imagination, were not both relieved, not 
 
 only 
 
230 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 only by the woods in profpec~t, but by the 
 tall branches of pines with which the road 
 is marked out on each fide, and which 
 form a verdant avenue agreably contrafced 
 with the dazzling whitenefs of the mow, on 
 which, when the fun mines, it is-almoft im- 
 poilible to look fteadily even for a moment. 
 
 Were it not for this method of marking 
 out the roads, it would be impoilible to 
 find the way from one village to another. 
 
 The eternal famenefs however of this 
 avenue is tirefome when you go far in one 
 road. 
 
 I have paffed the lafl two months in the 
 moil agreable manner poilible, in a little 
 fociety of perfons I extremely love : I feel 
 myfelf fo attached to this little circle of 
 friends, that I have no pleafure in any other 
 company, and think all the time absolutely 
 loft that politenefs forces me to fpend any 
 
 where 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 231 
 
 where elfe. I extremely dread our party's 
 being diflblved, and wifh the winter to laft 
 for ever, for I am afraid the fpring will di- 
 vide us. 
 
 Adieu ! and believe me, 
 Yours, 
 
 Ed, Rivers, 
 
 LETTER LII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Sillerr, Jan. 9, 
 F BEGIN not to difrelifh the winter 
 -*- here ; now I am ufed to the cold, I 
 don't feel it fo much : as there is no bufi- 
 nefs done here in the winter, 'tis the feafon 
 of general diffipation 5 amufement is the 
 
 ftady 
 
2 3 2 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 ftudy of every body, and the pains people 
 take to pleafe themfelves contribute to the 
 general pleafure : upon the whole,, I am 
 not fure it is not a pleafanter winter thaa 
 that of England* 
 
 Both our houfes and our carriages are 
 uncommonly warm; the clear ferene iky, 
 the dry pure air, the little parties of danc- 
 ing and cards, the good tables we all keep, 
 the driving about on the ice, the abundance 
 of people we fee there, for every body has 
 a carriole, the variety of objects new to an 
 European, keep the fpirits in a continual 
 agreable hurry, that is difficult to defcribe, 
 but very pleafant to feel. 
 
 Sir George (would you believe it?) has 
 written Emily a very warm letter ; tender, 
 fentimental, and almoil impatient ; Mrs. 
 Melmoth's dictating, I will anfwer for it ; 
 not at all in his own compofed agreable 
 ftyle. He talks of coming down in a few 
 
 days : 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 233 
 
 days : I have a ftrong notion he is coming, 
 after his long tedious two years fiege, to 
 endeavor to take us by florm at lad ; he 
 certainly prepares for a coup de main. He 
 is right, all women hate a regular attack. 
 
 Adieu for the prefent. 
 
 Monday, Jan. 12. 
 We fup at your brother's to-night, with 
 all the beau monde of Quebec : we ihall be 
 fuperbly entertained, I know. I am malici- 
 ous enough to wifh Sir George may arrive 
 during the entertainment, becaufe I have 
 an idea it will mortify him ; though I fcarce 
 know why I think fo. Adieu ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A. Fermor. 
 
 L E T- 
 
234 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 LETTER LIII. 
 
 To Mifs Rivers, Clarges Street. 
 
 Jan. 13, Eleven o'clock. 
 
 TI7"E pafied a mod agreable evening 
 * * with your brother, though a large 
 company, which is feldom the cafe : a 
 moft admirable fupper, excellent wine, an 
 elegant defert of preferred fruits, and 
 every body in fpirits and good humor. 
 
 The Colonel was the foul of our enter- 
 tainment : amongft his other virtues, he 
 has the companionable and convivial ones 
 to an immenfe degree, which I never had 
 an opportunity of difcovering fo clearly 
 before. He feemed charmed beyond words 
 to fee us all fo happy : we ftaid till four 
 o'clock in the morning, yet all complained 
 to-day we came away too foon. 
 
 I need 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 235 
 
 I need not tell you we had fiddles, for 
 there is no entertainment in Canada without 
 them : never was luch a race of dancers* 
 
 One o'clock. 
 The dear man is come, and with an equi- 
 page which puts the Emprefs of Raffia's 
 tranieau to fliame. America never beheld 
 any thing fo brilliant : 
 
 " All other carrioles, at fight of this,, 
 " Hide their diminifh'd heads." 
 
 Your brother's and Fitzgerald's wilt never 
 dare to appear now ; they fink into., no- 
 thing. 
 
 Seven in the evening. 
 Emily has been in tears in her chamber ; 
 'tis a letter of Mrs. Melmoth's which has 
 had this aereable effect : fome wife advice, 
 I fuppofe.. Lord ! how I hate people that 
 give advice ! don't you, Lucy ? 
 
 I don't 
 
2^6 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 I don't like this lover's coming; he is al- 
 moft as bad as a huiband : I- am afraid he 
 will derange our little coterie ; and we havs 
 been fo happy, I can't bear it. 
 
 Good night, my dear* 
 
 Yours, 
 
 A* Fermo?.> 
 
 LETTER LIV. 
 
 To Mi'fs Rivers, Clarges Streets 
 
 Silleri, Jan. 14, 
 TTrE have paffed a mighty ftupid day; 
 ** Sir George is civil, attentive, and 
 dull ; Emily penfive, thoughtful, and filent ; 
 and my little felf as peevifh as an old maid: 
 nobody comes near us, not even your bro- 
 ther, becaufe we are fuppofed to be fet- 
 tling. 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 237 
 
 ding preliminaries ; for you muft know Sir 
 George has gracioufly condefcended to 
 change his mind, and will marry her, if (he 
 pleafes, without waiting for his mother's 
 letter, which refolution he has communi- 
 cated to twenty people at Quebec in his 
 way hither; he is really extremely oblig- 
 ing. I fuppofe the Melmoths have fpirited 
 him up to this* 
 
 One o'clock. 
 
 Emily is ftrangely referved to me ; (he 
 avoids feeing me alone, and when it hap- 
 pens talks of the weather; papa is how- 
 ever in her confidence: he is as ftrong an 
 advocate for this milky baronet as Mrs. Mel- 
 moth. 
 
 Ten at night. 
 
 All is over, Lucy ; that is to fay, all is 
 fixed: they are to be married on Monday 
 next at the Recollects church, and to fet 
 off immediately for Montreal: my father 
 
 has 
 
2 3 3 THE HISTORY OF 
 
 has been telling me the whole plan of ope- 
 rations : we go up with them, flay a fort- 
 night, then all come down, and fhow away 
 till fummer, when the happy pair embark 
 in the firft (hip for England. 
 
 Emily is really what one would call a 
 prudent pretty fort of woman, I did not 
 think it had been in her : fhe is certainly 
 right, there is danger in delay; fhe has a 
 thoufand proverbs on her fide ; I thought 
 what all her fine fentiments would come 
 to-, fhe mould at leaft have waited for mam- 
 ma's confent; this hurry is not quite con- 
 fident with that extreme delicacy on which 
 flie piques herfelf ; it looks exceedingly as 
 if fhe was afraid of lofing him. 
 
 I don't love her half fo well as I did three 
 days ago; I hatedifcreet young ladies that 
 marry and fettle ; give me an agreable 
 fellow and a knapfack. 
 
 My 
 
EMILY MONTAGUE. 239 
 
 My poor Rivers! what will become of 
 him when we are gone? he has neglected 
 every body for us. 
 
 As (lie loves the pleafures of converfation, 
 (he will be amazingly happy in her choice ; 
 
 " With fuch a companion to fpend the 
 " long day!" 
 
 He is to be fure a mofl entertaining 
 creature. 
 
 Adieu ! I have no patience. 
 Yours, 
 
 A, Fermor. 
 
 After all, I am a little droll ; I am angry 
 with Emily for concluding an advantageous 
 match with a man fhe does not abfolutely 
 diilike, which all good mammas fay is fufE- 
 cient ; and this only becaufe it breaks in on 
 a little circle of friends, in whofe fociety I 
 have been happy. O! felf! felf! I would 
 
 have 
 
24 o THE HISTORY,&c. 
 
 have her hazard lofmg a fine fortune and a 
 coach and fix, that 1 may continue my co- 
 terie two or three months longer. 
 
 Adieu! I will write again as foon as we 
 are married. My next will, I fuppofe, be 
 from Montreal. I die to fee your brother 
 and my little Fitzgerald ; this man gives me 
 the vapours. Heavens! Lucy, what a 
 difference there is in men ! 
 
 END OF VOL. I.