“As I have been unexpectedly led to take an interest in your concerns, I trust my addressing a few lines to you will not be thought impertinent. The commission intrusted to me was not a voluntary one on my part, and was only intended to suit the present occasion; but I should think I had ill discharged my duty were I to suffer you to return without endeavouring, as far as in my power, to promote your future happiness. Whatever may be the result, the motive is surely excusable. Though a stranger, I cannot but feel for the peculiarity of your situation; deprived of those relatives who would have been your protection, you have confided your happiness to others. It is a heavy misfortune to be friendless, but a still heavier to mistake an enemy for a friend: that this has been your lot I greatly suspect, and sincerely wish I may be mistaken in the supposition.
“Before I proceed farther give me leave to say, once for
all, that your own situation was the sole inducement with me to interfere on
your account, and not any recommendation from any person. The commission was
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“In some of the short conversations we have had on your concerns, you will possibly have thought my enquiries might proceed from an idle curiosity; but I trust they sprung from a better motive. Was it possible for a man of any feeling to know so much of your history as you have thought proper to intrust me with, and not be deeply interested on your account? With family, with fortune, with accomplishments which promise more than a common share of happiness to their possessor, is it possible to stand by and see them become useless, or, rather, perverted into the means of misery, without one endeavour to prevent it? To be silent on such an occasion would be to become accessary to your ruin. In making an attempt to serve you, I have nothing to fear from any of the parties concerned; but from your prudence and good sense I have much to hope, that the language of truth, though from the pen of a stranger, will not be without its effect.
“I will candidly own my questions were directed to obtain
information, whether the unfortunate event we were speaking of was the result
of an attachment in which your heart was engaged, or not, and whether it was
probable the evil might be speedily remedied by a union with some person whose
future attention might in some degree compensate you for the danger and
distress you have suffered on his account; but on this point no light
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“In what I have to say I must, therefore, proceed on supposition; only leaving it to yourself to apply it, in case any observations I may make should have a reference to your situation.
“Give me leave, then, Madam, to express my wonder and astonishment, that in your rank of life, with your fortune and endowments, any man, whatever his quality might be, who had so far engaged your affections, should have chosen to contribute to your destruction and disgrace, rather than to your true interest and happiness. From what has happened, I am almost authorised to suppose you would have honoured him with your hand. Could he refuse it? Whatever his pretence might be, rest assured he is not only undeserving of your confidence and esteem, but merits your contempt and aversion. Avoid him more than death; for depend upon it you are a sacrifice to his gratification; that instead o being your friend, he is your most unpardonable enemy, and pursues his selfish aims, at the risk of every thing that is dear and honourable to you in life. To see him again would be a circumstance of regret; but, still more, to listen to him, even so far as to give him an opportunity of apology for that which cannot possibly admit of apology, would be a degradation of which I cannot think you capable. Relax from your resolution of eternally discarding him, and you are lost for ever.
“But perhaps your heart may feel an attachment, against
which reason and argument are of little avail. Love, it is said, is
involuntary. I should, however, suppose (and, as a married man, I may be
allowed to have had some experience), that the passion of love at least expects
mutuality; and that it must be an un-
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“I should be happy to think that these remarks are not in any degree applicable to your situation. Perhaps your future prospects in life are more favourable than, from want of information, they appear to me; and a short time may place you in a happy and respectable situation with a person deserving your esteem. If that be the case, you will have the goodness to consider this as a well-meant, though mistaken attempt to be serviceable to you in a point of the highest importance.
“Supposing, then, that there is some ground for my
apprehensions (without which my letter may be considered as blank paper), give
me leave to suggest to you a few considerations which may possibly assist you
in your future conduct. That any further connection can subsist between you and
the author of your misfortune, whoever he may be, I will not believe. But your
unprotected situation, an attention to your character, a regard to your
helpless infant, and, perhaps, other considerations, will still require no
small degree of prudence and fortitude. In these, however, you have shown you
are not deficient; and I am convinced that, by directing
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“If the person alluded to be resident in your neighbourhood, assert your own dignity, and immediately end all connection, at whatever risk it may be. Have no apprehension that the real object of your journey here may by these means be known. Your conduct in spurning your deceiver from you will, even in that case, exculpate you from the disgrace in the eyes of the world, and place it where it ought to rest.
“Attach yourself, as much as circumstances will admit, to your relatives and some of the most respectable of your friends; and whilst you remain at your house, never be without their company.
“Make a confidant of some person of worth of your own sex, in whom you can confide; this will be an inexpressible relief to your mind, and will probably preserve you from many dangers.
“Consider whether it would not be more advisable to fix your residence in some large town—as London, or Bath. A country residence cannot be favourable to you. But, above all, let me most earnestly advise you to accept of some of those offers of a connection for life, which, I am convinced, will be made to you. On this head I have only one thing to say. Never live in apprehension that your husband may discover a secret; never entertain the consciousness that you have in any manner misled him. The constant and habitual practice of deception will embitter your life and degrade your mind. An avowal of this transaction before marriage would, I confess, operate differently on different men; but it will be a test of affection, and his love of you and your sincerity will be the best pledges of your future happiness.
“May I be allowed, before I conclude, to request you
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“Let me then once more entreat you, Madam, if there be any veneration due to your lost relatives; if there be any respect of family and connections; if there be any thing honourable in female conduct; or any choice between innocence and guilt, lasting happiness or eternal misery,—to exert every power of your mind to disengage yourself from a connection which has already so deeply injured you, and which, if continued, can only prey upon your spirits, injure your health, impair your future hopes, and inevitably expose you to the pity or contempt of those who, with infinitely less advantages in every respect, have either resisted, or not experienced, the dangers to which you have been exposed.
“That a determined resolution of correcting the errors
of your present conduct may be a consolation to your mind, and may accompany
you, like a good angel, on your long and fatiguing journey; and that God may
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