melworth-hall.

My dear sir,

The unhappy and ill-judged attachment of my friend Charles, towards an unworthy woman, has been the subject of much altercation between him and me. – Could I have succeeded in my wish of disengaging him from her, it would have rejoiced me: – but, with infinite concern, I perceive/ that every degree of opposition seems rather to augment than lessen his passion for her; and, upon mature deliberation, I had determined to desist from trying my influence over him any farther; lest I should involuntarily accelerate the ruin I wish to avert, by stirring up in him an equal spirit of opposition, which might lead him to commit an action he would for ever have cause to lament, as it would involve him in irremediable destruction. - But I cannot see a friend, whose many valuable qualities have greatly endeared him to me, in danger of becoming a dupe to the artful machinations of a vile designing creature, without making another effort for his preservation. As the affair requires to be managed nicely, I take the liberty, my dear sir, of addressing you upon it rather than Charles.

The inclosed is, as you will see, adressed to my sister, and comes from a young lady, of whose veracity I have the highest opinion, tho' I have not the honor of being personally known to her. Miss Bertills is, it seems, the only child of an eminent and wealthy merchant in/ the city of London. Her mother dying while she was very young, she was put to school at C—, where Harriet first saw her. – They were nearly of an age; their dispositions accorded; and they became soon very intimate: – that intimacy has now ripened into a solid, sincere friendship. They have not met since they left school, but have kept up a constant correspondence with each other.