I plead the advantage I should derive from it. The
personal improvement, the connexions I should make. I told her she was
not the only one on whom fortune did not smile in every instance. I
produced examples from her own acquaintance, and represented their
situation in terms which sensibly affected both herself and Lady
C----. I painted a lady full of affection, of tenderness, and
sensibility, separated from her husband, for a series of time, by the
cruelty of the war--her uncertainty respecting his health; the pain
and anxiety which must naturally arise from it. I represented, in the
most pathetic terms, the disquietudes which, from the nature of her
connexion, might possibly intrude on her domestic retreat. I then
raised to her view fortitude under distress; cheerfullness, life, and
gayety, in the midst of affliction.
I hope you will forgive me, my dear little friend, if I produced you
to give life to the image. The instance, she owned, was applicable.
She felt for you from her heart, and she has a heart capable of
feeling. She wished not a misfortune similar to yours; but, if I was
resolved to make it so, she would strive to imitate your example. I
have now permission to go where I please, but you must not forget her.
She and Lady C---- promise to come to the Hermitage to spend a week or
two. Encourage her, and represent the advantage I shall gain from
travel. But why should I desire you to do what I know your own heart
will dictate? for a heart so capable of friendship feels its own pain
alleviated by alleviating that of another.
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