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Lesley Castle - Dramatic Reading · Lesley Castle - Dramatic Reading

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Leslie Castle, an unfinished novel in letters to Henry Thomas Austin esquire, Sir,
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I am now availing myself of the liberty you have frequently honored me with
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of dedicating one of my novels to you. That it is unfinished. I
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grieve yet fear that from me it will always remain, so that as far
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as it is carried, it should be so trifling and so unworthy of you.
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Is another concern to your obliged, humble servant, the author Messr's demand
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and co. Please to pay Jane Austen Spinster the sum of one hundred guineas
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on account of your humble servant, H. T. Austin, Leslie Castle.
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Letter. The first is from Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss Charlotte Lateral,
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Leslie Castle, January the third, seventeen ninety two. My brother has just
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left us, Matilda, said he, at parting you and Margaret, will
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I am certain take all the care of my dear little one that she might
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have received from an indulgent and affectionate and amiable mother. Tears rolled down his
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cheeks as he spoke these words, the remembrance of her who had so wantonly
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disgraced the maternal character, and so openly violated the conjugal duties prevented his adding
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anything farther. He embraced his sweet child, and, after saluting Matilda and
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Me, hastily broke from us and, seating himself in his chaise, pursued
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the road to Aberdeen. Never was there a better young man, Ah,
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how little did he deserve the misfortunes he has experienced in the marriage state.
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So good a husband to so bad a wife. For you know, my
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dear Charlotte, that the worthless Louisa left him her child and reputation a few
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weeks ago in company with Danvers and Dishonor. Never was there a sweet a
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face, a finer form, or a less amiable heart than Louisa owned.
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Her child already possesses the personal charms of her unhappy mother. May she inherit
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from her father or his mental ones. Leslie is at present but five and
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twenty, and has already given himself up to melancholy and despair. What a
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difference between him and his father, Sir George's fifty seven and still remains the
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beau, the flighty, stripling, the gay lad, the sprightly youngster that
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his son was really about five years back, and that he is affected to
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appear ever since my remembrance. While our father is fluttering about the streets of
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London, gay, dissipated and thoughtless, at the age of fifty seven,
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Matildre and I continue secluded from mankind in our old and moldering castle, which
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is situated two miles from Perth on a bold projecting rock, and commands an
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extensive view of the town and its delightful environs. But though retired from almost
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all the world, for we visit no one but the MacLeod's, the mckensie's,
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the macpherson's, the McCartneys, the MacDonald's, the McKinnon's, the mclellans,
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the McKay's, the macbeth's, and the mac duffs. We are neither
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dull nor unhappy. On the contrary, there were never two more lively,
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more agreeable, or more witty girls than we are. Not an hour in
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the day hangs heavy on our hands. We read, we work, we
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walk, and when fatigued with these employments, relieve our spirits either by a
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lively song, a graceful dance, or by some smart, bond and witty
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repartee. We are handsome, my dear Charlotte, very handsome, and the
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greatest of our perfections is that we are entirely insensible of them ourselves. But
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why do I thus dwell on myself? Let me rather repeat the praise of
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our dear little niece, the innocent Louisa, who is at present sweetly smiling
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in a gentle nap as she reposes on the sofa. The dear creature is
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just turned of two years old, as handsome as though two and twenty,
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as sensible as though two and thirty, and as prudent as though two and
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forty. To convince you of this, I must inform you that she has
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a very fine complexion and very pretty features, that she already knows the first
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two letters in the alphabet, and that she never tears her frocks. If
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I have not now convinced you of her beauty, sense and prudence, I
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have nothing more to urge in support of my assertion, and you will therefore
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have no way of deciding the affair, but by coming to Leslie Castle,
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and by a personal acquaintance with Louisa, determined for yourself, Ah, my
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dear friend, how happy should I be? To see you within these venerable
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walls. It is now four years since my removal from school has separated me
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from you. That two such tender hearts, so closely linked together by the
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ties of sympathy and friendship, should be so widely removed from each other is
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vastly moving. I live in Perthshire, you in Sussex. We might meet
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in London, were my father disposed to carry me there, and were your
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mother to be there at the same time. We might meet at Bath,
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at Tunbridge, or anywhere else. Indeed, could we but be at the
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same place together. We have only to hope that such a period may arrive.
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My father does not return to us till autumn. My brother will leave
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Scotland in a few days. He is impatient to travel. Mistaken youth,
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he vainly flatters himself that change of air will heal the wounds of a broken
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heart. You will join with me. I am certain, my dear Charlotte,
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in prayers for the recovery of the unhappy Leslie's peace of mind, which
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must ever be essential to that of your sincere friend, M. Leslie.
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End of letter the first letter the second from Miss c Lutorelle to Miss m
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Leslie in answer, Glenford, February twelfth, I have a thousand excuses to
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beg for having so long delayed, thanking you, my dear Peggy, for
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your agreeable letter, which, believe me, I should not have deferred doing,
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had not every moment of my time during the last five weeks been so
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fully employed in the necessary arrangements for my sister's wedding as to allow me no
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time to devote either to you or myself. And now what provokes me more
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than anything else is that the matches broke off and all my labor thrown away.
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Imagine how great the disappointment must be to me when you consider that,
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after having labored both by night and by day in order to get the wedding
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dinner ready by the time appointed, after having roasted beef, broiled mutton,
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and stewed soup enough to last the new married couple through the honey moon,
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I had the mortific case a finding that I had been roasting, broiling,
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and stewing both they meat and my self to no purpose. Indeed, my
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dear friend, I never remember suffering any vexation equal to what I experience on
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last Monday, when my sister came running to me in the storeroom with her
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face as white as a whipped syllable, and told me that hervey had been
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thrown from his horse, had fractured his skull, and was pronounced by his
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surgeon to be in the most imminent danger. Good God, said I,
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you don't say so. Why what in the name of Heaven will become of
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all the vitual? We shall never be able to eat it while it is
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good. However, we'll call in the surgeon to help us. I shall
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be able to manage the surlloy in myself. My mother will eat the soup,
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and you and the doctor must finish the rest. Here I was interrupted
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by seeing my poor sister fall down to appearance lifeless upon one of the chests
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where we keep our table lidden. I immediately called my mother and the maids,
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and at last we brought her to herself again, as soon as ever
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she was sensible. She expressed a determination of going instantly to Henry, and
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was so wildly bent on this scheme that we had the greatest difficulty in the
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world to prevent her putting it in execution. At last, however, more
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by force than in cheaty, we prevailed on her to go into her room.
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We laid her upon the bed, and she continued for some hours in
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the most dreadful convulsions. My mother and I continued in the room with her,
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and when any intervals of tolerable composure in Eluisia would allow us, we
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joined in heartfelt lamentations on the dreadful waste in our provisions which this event must
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occasion, and in concerting some plan for getting rid of them, we agreed
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that the best thing we could do was to begin eating them immediately, and
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accordingly we ordered up the cold ham and fowls an instant began our devouring plan
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on them with great alacrity. We would have persuaded Eluisia to have taken a
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wing of a chicken, but she would not be persuaded. She was,
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however, much quieter than she had been the convulsians she had before suffered,
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having given way to an almost perfect insensibility. We endeavored to rouse her by
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every means in our power, but to no purpose. I talked to her
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of Henry. Dear Eluisia said, I, there's no occasion for your crying
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so much about such a trifle. For I was willing to make light of
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it in order to comfort her, I beg you would not mind it.
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You see, it does not vex me in the least, though perhaps I
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may suffer most from it. After all, for I shall not only be
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obliged to eat up all the vituals I have dressed already, but must if
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Henry should recover, which however, is not very likely, dress as much
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for you again. Or should he die, as I suppose he will,
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I shall still have to prepare a dinner for you whenever you marry anyone else.
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So you see that, though perhaps for the present it may afflict you
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to think of Henry's sufferings, yet I dare say he'll die soon, and
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then his pain will be over, and you will be easy, whereas my
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trouble will last much longer. For work as hard as I may, I
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am certain that the pantry cannot be cleared in less than a fortnight. Thus
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I did all in my power to console her, but without any effect.
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And at last, as I saw that she did not seem to listen to
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me, I said no more, But leaving her with my mother, I
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took down the remains of the ham and chicken, and said William to ask
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how Henry did. He was not expected to live many hours. He died
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the same day. We took all possible care to break the melancholy event to
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Weluisia in the tenderest manner. Yet in spite of every precaution, her sufferings
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on hearing it were too violent for her reason, and she continued for many
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hours in our high delirium. She is still extremely ill, and her physicians
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are greatly afraid of her going into a decline. We are therefore preparing for
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Bristol, where we mean to be in the course of the next week.
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And now, my dear Margaret, let me talk a little of your affairs.
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And in the first place, I must inform you that it is confidently
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reported your father is going to be married. I am very unwilling to believe
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so unpleasing a report, and at the same time cannot wholly discredit it.
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I have written to my friend Susan Fitzgerald for information concerning it, which,
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as she is at present in town, she will be very able to leave
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me. I know not who is the lady. I think your brother is
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extremely right in the resolution he has taken of traveling as it will perhaps contribute
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to obliterate from his remembrance those disagreeable events which have lately so much afflicted him.
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I am happy to find that those secluded from all the world, neither
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you nor Matilda are dull or unhappy. That you may never know what it
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is to be Either is the wish of yours, Sincerely, Affectionate, C.
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L. P. S. I have this instant received an answer from
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my friend Susan, which I enclosed to you, and on which you will
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make your own reflections the enclosed letter, My dear Charlotte, You could not
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have applied for information concerning the report of Sir George Leslie's marriage to anyone better
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able to give it to you than I am. Sir George is certainly married.
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I was myself present at the ceremony, which you will not be surprised
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at when I subscribe myself your affectionate, Susan Leslie. End of letter.
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The second letter the third from Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss C. Luturelle Leslie,
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Castle, February sixteenth. I have made my own reflections on the letter
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you enclosed to me, my dear Charlotte, and I will now tell you
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what those reflections were I reflected that if by this second marriage Sir George should
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have a second family, our fortunes be considerably diminished. That if his wife
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should be of an extravagant turn, she would encourage him to persevere in that
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gay and dissipated way of life to which little encouragement would be necessary, and
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which has I fear already proved but too detrimental to his health and fortune.
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That she would now become mistress of those duels which once adorned our mother,
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and which Sir George had always promised us. That if they did not come
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into Perthshire, I should not be able to gratify my curiosity of beholding my
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mother in law, and that if they did, Matilda would no longer sit
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at the head of her father's table. These, my Dear Charlotte, were
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the melancholy reflections which crowded into my imagination after perusing Susan's letter to you,
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and which instantly occurred to Matilda when she had perused it. Likewise, the
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same ideas, the same fears, immediately occupied her mind, and I know
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not which reflection distressed her most, whether the probable diminution of our fortunes or
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her own consequence. We both wish very much to know whether Lady Leslie is
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handsome, and what is your opinion of her? As you honor her with
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the appellation of your friend, we flatter ourselves that she must be amiable.
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My brother is already in Paris. He intends to quit it in a few
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days and to begin his route to Italy. He writes, in a most
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cheerful manner, says that the Heir of France has greatly recovered both his health
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and spirits, that he has now entirely ceased to think of Louisa with any
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degree either of pity or affection, that he even feels himself obliged to her
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for her elopement, as he thinks it very good fun to be single again.
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By this, you may perceive that he has entirely regained that cheerful gaiety
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and sprightly wit for which he was once so remarkable. When he first became
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acquainted with Louisa, which was little more than three years ago, he was
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one of the most lively, the most agreeable young men of the age.
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I believe you never yet heard the particulars of his first acquaintance with her.
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It commenced at our cousin, Colonel Drummonds, at whose house in Cumberland he
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spent the Christmas in which he attained the age of two and twenty. Louisa
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Burton was the daughter of a distant relation of Missus Drummond, who, dying
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a few months before in extreme poverty, left his only child, then about
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eighteen, to the protection of any of his relations who would protect her.
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Missus Drummond was the only one who found herself so disposed. Louisa was therefore
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removed from a miserable cottage in Yorkshire to an elegant mansion in Cumberland, and
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from every pecuniary distress that poverty could inflict, to every elegant enjoyment that money
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could purchase. Louisa was naturally ill tempered and cunning, but she had been
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taught to disguise her real disposition under the appearance of insinuating sweetness by her father,
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who but too well knew that to be married would be the only chance
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she would have of not being starved, and who flattered himself that with such
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an extraordinary share of personal beauty, joined to a gentleness of manners and an
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engaging address, she might stand a good chance of pleasing some young man who
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might afford to marry a girl without a shilling. Louisa perfectly entered into her
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father's schemes and was determined to forward them with all her care and attention.
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By dint of perseverance and application, she had at length so thoroughly disguised her
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natural disposition under the mask of innocence and softness, as to impose upon everyone
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who would not, by a long and constant intimacy with her, discovered her
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real character. Such was Louisa when the hapless Leslie first beheld her at Drummond
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House, his heart, which, to use your favorite comparison, was as
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delicate, as sweet, and as tender as a witch. Syllabub could not
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resist her attractions. In a very few days, he was falling in love.
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Shortly after actually fell and before he had known her a month he had
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married her. My father was at first highly displeased as so hasty and imprudent
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a connection, but when he found that they did not mind it, he
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soon became perfectly reconcile to the match. The estate near Aberdeen, which my
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brother possesses by the bounty of his great uncle in independent of Sir George,
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was entirely sufficient to support him and my sister in elegance and ease for the
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first twelvemonth. No one could be happier than Leslie, and no one more
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amiable to appearance than Louisa. And so plausibly did she act and so cautiously
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behave, that though Matildre and I often spent several weeks together with them,
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yet we neither of us had any suspicion of her real disposition. After the
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birth of Louisa, however, which one would have thought would have strengthened her
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regard for Leslie, the mask she had so long supported was by degrees thrown
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aside, and as probably she then thought herself secure in the affection of her
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husband, which did indeed appear, if possible, augmented by the birth of
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his child. She seemed to take no pains to prevent that affection from ever
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diminishing. Our visits, therefore to Dunbeethe were now less frequent and by far
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less agreeable than they used to be. Our absence was, however, never
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either mentioned or lamented by Louisa, who, in the society of young Danvers
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with whom she became acquainted to Aberdeen he was at one of the universities there
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felt infinitely happier than in that of Matilda and your friend, though there certainly
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never were pleasanter girls than we are. You know the sad end of all
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Leslie's connubial happiness. I will not repeat it. Adieu, my dear Charlotte.
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Although I have not yet mentioned anything of the matter, I hope you
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will do me the justice to believe that I think and feel a great deal
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for your sister's affliction. I do not doubt but that the healthy air of
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the Bristol Downs will entirely remove it by a raising from her mind the remembrance
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of Henry. I am, my dear Charlotte, Yours ever, M.
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L end of letter the third letter the fourth from Miss C. Luturelle to
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Miss M Leslie, Bristol, February twenty seventh. My dear Peggy, I
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have but just received your letter, which, being directed to Sussex while I
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was at Bristol, was obliged to be forwarded to me here, and from
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some unaccountable delay has but this instant reached me. I return you many thanks
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for the account. It contains of Leslie's acquaintance, love and marriage with Louisia,
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which has not the less entertained me for having often been repeated to me
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before. I have the satisfaction of informing you that we have every reason to
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imagine. Our pantry is by this time nearly cleared, as we left particular
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orders with the servants to eat as hard as they possibly could, and to
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call in a couple of chairwomen to assist them. We brought a cold pigeon
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pie, a cold turkey, a cold tongue, and half a dozen jellies
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with us, which we were lucky enough, with the help of our landlady,
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her husband, and their three children, to get rid of in less
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than two days after our arrival. Paul Eluisia is still so very indifferent,
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both in health and spirits, that I very much fear the air of the
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Bristol downs, healthy as it is, has not been able to drive poor
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Henry from her remembrance. You ask me whether your new mother in law is
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handsome and amiable, I will now give you an exact description of her bodily
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and mental charms. She is short, an extremely well made, is naturally
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pale, but rouges a good deal has fine eyes and fine teeth, as
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she will take care to let you know as soon as she sees you,
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and is altogether very pretty. She is remarkably good tempered when she has her
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own way, and very lively when she is not out of humor. She
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is naturally extravagant and not very affected. She never reads anything but the letters
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she receives from me, and never writes anything but her answers to them.
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She plays, sings and answers, but has no taste for either, and
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excels in none, though she says she is passionately fond of all. Perhaps
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your bear flatter me so far as to be surprised that one of whom I
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speak with so little affection should be my particular friend. But to tell you
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the truth, our friendship arose rather from caprice on her side than esteem on
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mine. We spend two or three days together with a lady in Berkshire,
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with whom we both happened to be connected. During our visit, the weather
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being remarkably bad and our party particularly stupid, she was so good as to
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conceive a violent partiality for me, which very soon settled in a downright friendship
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and ended in an established correspondence. She is probably by this time as tired
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of me as I am of her, But as she is too polite and
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I am too civil to say so, our letters are still as frequent and
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affectionate as ever, and our attachment as firm and sincere as when it first
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convinced. As she had a great taste for the pleasures of London and of
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brightelam Stone, she will, I dare say, find some difficulty in prevailing
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on herself even to satisfy the curiosity I dare say she feels of beholding you
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at the expense of quitting those favorite haunts of dissipation for the melancholy, though
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venerable gloom of the castle you inhabit. Perhaps, however, if she finds
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her health impaired by too much amusement, she may acquire fortitude sufficient to undertake
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a journey to Scotland, in the hope of its proving at least beneficial to
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her health, if not conducive to her happiness. Your fears, I am
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sorry to say, say, concerning your father's extravagance, your own fortunes,
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your mother's jewels, and your sister's consequence, I should suppose, are but
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too well founded. My friend herself has four thousand pounds and will probably spend
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nearly as much every year in dress and public places if she can get it.
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She will certainly not endeavor to reclaim Sir George from the manner of living
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to which he has been so long accustomed. And there is therefore some reason
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to fear that you will be very well off if you can get any fortune
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at all. The jewels, I should imagine too, will undoubtedly be hers,
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And there is too much reason to think that she will preside at her
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husband's table in preference to his daughter. But as so melancholy a subject must
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necessarily extremely distress you, I will no longer dwell on it. Elisia's indisposition
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has brought us to Bristol at so unfashionable a season of the year that we
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have actually seen but one genteel family since we came. Mister and missus Marlowe
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are very agreeable people. The ill health of their little boy occasioned their arrival
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here. You may imagine that, being the only family with whom we can
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converse, we are of course on a footing of intimacy with them. We
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see them indeed almost every day, and dine with them yesterday. We spent
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a very pleasant day and had a very good dinner, though to be sure,
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the veal was terribly underdone and the curry had no seasoning. I could
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not help wishing all dinner time that I had been at the dressing it.
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A brother of missus Marlowe, mister Cleveland, is with them at present.
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He is a good looking young man and seems to have a good deal to
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say for himself. I tell Eluisia that she should set her cap at him,
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but she does not at all seem to relish the proposal. I should
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like to see the girl married, and Cleveland has a very good estate.
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Perhaps you may wonder that I do not consider myself as well as my sister
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in my matrimonial projects. But to tell you the truth, I never wish
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to act a more principal part at a wedding than the superintending and directing the
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dinner. And therefore, while I can get any of my acquaintance to marry
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for me, I shall never think of doing it myself, as I very
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much suspect that I should not have so much time for dressing my own wedding
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dinner as for dressing that of my friends, yours sincerely see l end of
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the letter. The fourth letter the fifth Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss Charlotte Littrell
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Leslie, Castle, March eighteenth. On the same day that I receive your
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last kind letter, Matilda received one from Sir George which was dated from Edinburgh,
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and informed us that he should do himself the pleasure of introducing Lady Leslie
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to us on the following evening. This, as you may suppose, considerably
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surprised us, particularly as your account of her ladyship had given us reason to
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imagine there was little chance of her visiting Scotland at a time that London must
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be so gay. As it was our business, howe, to be delighted
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at such a mark of condescension as a visit from Sir George and Lady Leslie,
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we prepare to return them an answer expressive of the happiness we enjoyed in
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expectation of such a blessing. When luckily recollecting that as they were to reach
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the castle the next evening, it would be impossible for my father to receive
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it before he left Edinburgh, we contented ourselves with leaving them to suppose that
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we were as happy as we ought to be. At nine in the evening
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on the following day, they came, accompanied by one of Lady Leslie's brothers.
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Her Ladyship perfectly answers the description you sent me of her, except that
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I do not think her so pretty as you seem to consider her. She
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has not a bad face, but there is something so extremely unmajestic in her
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little, diminutive figure as to render her, in comparison with the elegant height
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of Matilda and myself, an insignificant dwarf. Her curiosity to see us,
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which must have been great to bring her more than four hundred miles, being
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now perfectly gratified. She already begins to mention their return to town, and
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has desired us to accompany her. We cannot refuse her request, since it
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is seconded by the commands of our father, and thirded by the entreaties of
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mister Fitzgerald, who is certainly one of the most pleasing young men I ever
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beheld. It is not yet determined when we are to go, but whenever
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we do, we shall certainly take our little Louisa with us. Adieu,
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my dear Charlotte. Matilda unites in best wishes to you and Eloisa, with
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yours ever M l end of letter, the fifth letter of the sixth Lady
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Leslie to Miss Charlotte Luturelle Leslie, Castle, March twentieth. We arrived here,
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my sweet friend, about a fortnight ago, and I already heartily repent
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that I ever left our charming house in Portman Square for such a dismal,
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old, weather beaten castle as this. You can form no idea sufficiently hideous
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of its dungeon like form. It is actually perched upon a rock, to
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appearance so totally inaccessible that I expected to have been pulled up by a rope,
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And sincerely repented having gratified my curiosity to behold my daughters at the expense
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of being obliged to enter their prison in so dangerous and ridiculous a manner.
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But as soon as I once found myself safely arrived in the inside of this
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tremendous building, I comforted myself with the hope of having my spirits revived by
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the sight of two beautiful girls, such as the Miss Leslie's had been represented
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to me at Edinburgh. But here again I met with nothing but disappointment and
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surprise. Matilda and Margaret Leslie are two great, tall, out of the
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way overgrown girls, just over proper size to inhabit a castle, almost as
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large in comparison as themselves. I wish, my dear Charlotte, that you
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could but behold these Scotch giants. I am sure they would frighten you out
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of your wits. They will do very well as foils to myself. So
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I have invited them to accompany me to London, where I hope to be
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in the course of a fortnight. Besides these two fair damsels, I found
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a little humored brat here who I believe is some relation to them. They
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told me who she was and gave me a long rigormarole story of her father
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and a miss somebody which I have entirely forgot. I hate scandal and detest
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children. I have been plagued ever since I came here with tiresome visits from
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a parcel of Scotch wretches with terrible hard names. They were so civil,
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give me so many invitations, and talked of coming again so soon that I
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could not help affronting them. I suppose I shall not see them anymore.
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And yet as a family party we are so stupid that I do not know
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what to do with myself. These girls have no music but Scotch airs,
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no drawings but Scotch mountains, and no books but Scotch poems. And I
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hate everything Scotch in general. I can spend half the day at my toilet
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with a great deal of pleasure. But why should I dress here? Since
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there is not a creature in the house whom I have any wish to please.
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I have just had a conversation with my brother in which he has greatly
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offended me, and which, as I have nothing more entertaining to send you,
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I will give you the particulars of you. Must know that I have,
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for these four or five days past, strongly suspected William of entertaining a
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partiality to my eldest daughter. I own indeed that had I been inclined to
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fall in love with any woman, I should not have made the choice of
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Matilda Leslie for the object of my passion, For there's nothing I hate so
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much as a tall woman. But however, there is no accounting for some
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men's taste. And as William is himself nearly six feet high, it is
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not wonderful that he should be partial to that high now, as I have
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a very great affection for my brother and should be extremely sorry to see him
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unhappy, which I suppose he means to be if he cannot marry Matilda.
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As moreover, I know that his circumstances will not allow him to marry anyone
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without a fortune, and that Matilda's is entirely dependent on her father, who
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will neither have his own inclination nor my permission to give her anything at present.
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I thought it would be doing a good natured action by my brother to
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let him know as much, in order that he might choose for himself whether
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to conquer his passion or love and despair. Accordingly, finding myself this morning
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alone with him in one of the horrid old rooms of this castle, I
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opened the cause to him in the following manner. Well, my dear William,
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what do you think of these girls? For my part, I do
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not find them so plain as I expected. But perhaps you may think me
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partial to the daughters of my husband, And perhaps you are right. They
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are indeed so very like Sir George, that it is not I'm actual to
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think, my dear Susan, cried he in a tone of the greatest amazement.
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You do not really think they bear the least resemblance to their father.
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He is so very plain. But I beg your pardon. I had entirely
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forgotten to whom I was speaking. Oh pray, don't mind me, replied
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I. Everyone knows Sir George is horribly ugly, and I assure you I
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always thought him affright. You surprise me, extremely, answered William. By
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what you say both with respect to Sir George and his daughters, You cannot
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think your husband is so deficient in personal charms as you speak of. Nor
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can you surely see any resemblance between him and the miss leslies, who are,
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in my opinion, perfectly unlike him and perfectly handsome. If that is
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your opinion with regard to the girls, it certainly is no proof of their
38:55
father's beauty, For if they are perfectly unlike him and very handsome at the
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same time, it is natural to suppose that he is very plain. By
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no means, said he, for what may be pretty in a woman may
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be very unpleasing in a man. But you, yourself replied, I,
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but a few minutes ago allowed him to be very plain. Men are no
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judges of beauty in their own sex, said he. Neither men nor women
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can think Sir George tolerable. Well well, said he. We will not
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dispute about his beauty, but your opinion of his daughters is surely very singular.
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For if I understood you right, you said you did not find them
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so plain as you expected to do. Why do you find them plainer?
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Then, said I. I can scarcely believe you to be serious, returned
39:49
he. When you speak of their persons in so extraordinary a manner, do
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not you think the miss leslies are two very handsome young women. Lord no,
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oh, cried I. I think them terribly plain plain, replied he.
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My dear Susan, you cannot really think. So. Why what single
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feature in the face of either of them can you possibly find faults with?
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Oh? Trust me for that, replied I. Come, I will begin
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with the eldest, with Matilda, shall i? William? I looked as
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cunning as I could when I said it, in order to shame him.
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They are so much alike, said he, that I should suppose the faults
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of one would be the faults of both. Well, then, in the
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first place, they are both so horribly tall, they are taller than you
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are, indeed, said he with a saucy smile. Nay said, I
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I know nothing of that. Well, but he continued, though they may
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be above the common size, the figures are perfectly elegant, and as to
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their faces, their eyes are beautiful. I never can think such tremendous knock
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me down figures in the least degree elegant. And as for their eyes,
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they are so tall that I could never strain my neck enough to look at
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them. Nay replied he. I know not whether you may not be in
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the right and not attempting it, For perhaps they might dazzle you with their
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luster. Oh, certainly, said I, with the greatest complacency. For
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I assure you, my dearest Charlotte, I was not in the least offended,
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though by what followed one would suppose that William was conscious of having given
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me just cause to be so. For coming up to me and taking my
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hand. He said, you must not look so grave, Susan, you
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will make me fear that I have offended. You offended me, dear brother,
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how came such a thought in your head? Returned I, No,
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really, I assure you that I am not in the least surprised at your
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being so warm an advocate for the beauty of these girls. Well, but
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interrupted, William, Remember that we have not yet concluded our dispute. Can
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discerning them? What fault do you find with their complexion? They are so
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horridly pale. They have always a little color, and after any exercise it
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is considerably heightened. Yes, but if there should ever happen to be any
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rain in this part of the world, they will never be able to raise
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more than their common stock, except indeed they amuse themselves with running up and
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down these horrid old galleries. And Ante Chambers, well, replied my brother,
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in a tone of vexation, and glancing an impertinent look at me.
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If they have but little color, at least it is all their own.
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This was too much, my dear Charlotte, for I am certain that he
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had the impudence by that look of pretending to suspect the reality of mine.
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But you, I am sure, will vindicate my character whenever you may hear
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it so cruellyous. First, for you can witness how often I have protested
42:57
against wearing rouge, and how much I am always told you I disliked it,
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And I assure you that my opinions are still the same. Well,
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not bearing to be so suspected by my brother, I left the room immediately
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and have been ever since in my own dressing room writing to you. What
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a long letter have I made of it? But you must not expect to
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receive such from me when I get to town, for it is only at
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Leslie Castle that one has time to write, even to a Charlotte Letterer.
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I was so much vexed by William's glance that I could not summon patience enough
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to stay and give him that advice respecting his attachment to Matilda, which had
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first induced me from pure love to him to begin the conversation. And I
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am now so thoroughly convinced by it of his violent passion for her, that
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I am certain he would never hear reason on the subject. And I shall
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therefore give myself no more trouble either about him or his favorite. Adieu,
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my dear girl, yours affectionately susan l end of letters. But at the
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seventh from Missy Luttrell to Miss m Leslie, Bristol, the twenty seventh of
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March, I have received letters from you and your mother in law within this
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week, which have greatly entertained me, as I find by them that you
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are both downright jealous of each other's beauty. It is very odd that two
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pretty women, though actually mother and daughter, cannot be in the same house
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without falling out about their faces. Do be convinced that you are both perfectly
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handsome, and say no more of the matter. I suppose this letter must
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be directed to Portman Square, where, probably great as is your affection for
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Leslie Castle, you will not be sorry to find yourself. In spite of
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all that people may say about Greenfield and the country, I was always of
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opinion that London and its amusements must be very agreeable for a while, and
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should be very happy. Could my mother's income allow her to jocky us into
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its public places during winter? I always long particularly to go to Vauxhall to
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see whether the cold beef there is cut so thin as it is reported,
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For I have a sly suspicion that few people understand the art of cutting a
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slice of cold beef so well as I do. Nay, it would be
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hard if I did not know something of the matter, for it was a
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part of my education that I took by far the most pains with Mamma always
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found me her best scholar, though when Papa was alive, Eluisia was his.
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Never to be sure were there two more different dispositions in the world.
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We both loved reading. She preferred histories, and I receipts. She loved
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drawing pictures, and I drawing pullets. No one could sing a better song
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than she, and no one could make a better pie than I, And
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so it has always continued since we have been no longer children. The only
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difference is that all disputes on the superior excellence of our employments, then so
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frequent, are now no more. We have for many years entered into an
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agreement always to admire each other's works. I never fail listening to her music,
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and she is as constant in eating my pies. Such at least was
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the case till Henry Herby made his appearance in Sussex, before the arrival of
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his aunt in our neighborhood, where she established herself, you know, about
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a twelve month ago. His visits to her had been at stated times and
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of equal and settled duration. But on her removal to the hall, which
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is within a walk from our house, they became both more frequent and longer.
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This, as you may suppose, could not be pleasing to missus Diana,
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who is a professed enemy to everything which is not directed by decorum and
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formality, or which bears the least resemblance to ease and good breeding. Nay,
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so great was her aversion to her nephew's behavior that I have often heard
47:59
her give such hints of it before his face, that had not Henry at
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such times been engaged in conversation with Eluisia, they must have caught his attention
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and have very much distressed him. This alteration in my sister's behavior, which
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I have before hinted at, now took place. The agreement we had entered
48:25
into of admiring each other's productions she no longer seemed to regard. And though
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I constantly applauded even every country dance she played, yet not even a pigeon
48:40
pie of my making could obtain from her a single word of approbation. This
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was certainly enough to put any one in a passion. However, I was
48:53
as cool as a cream cheese, and having formed my plan and concerted a
49:00
scheme of revenge, I was determined to let her have her own way,
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and not even to make her a single reproach. My scheme was to treat
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her as she treated me, And though she might even draw my own picture
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or play Marlbrook, which is the only tune I ever really liked, not
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to say so much as thank you, Eluisia, though I had for many
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years constantly hallowed whenever she played Bravo, bravisimo, encore de couple, ala
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greto, corn expression, and Poco presto who with many other such outlandish words,
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all of them, as Aluisia told me, expressive of my admiration,
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and so indeed, I suppose they are, as I see some of them
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in every page of every music book, being the sentiments I imagine of the
50:02
composer. I executed my plan with great punctuality. I cannot say success for
50:09
Alas My silence while she played seemed not in the least to displease her.
50:16
On the contrary, she actually said to me one day, well, Charlotte,
50:23
I'm very glad to find that you have at last left off that ridiculous
50:30
custom of applauding my execution on the harpsichord, till you made my head ache
50:36
and yourself force. I feel very much obliged to you for keeping your admiration
50:44
to yourself. I never shall forget the very witty answer I made to this
50:51
speech, Eluisia said, I, I beg you would be quite at your
50:57
ease with respect to all such fears in future, for be assured that I
51:04
shall always keep my admiration to myself and my own pursuits, and never extend
51:12
it to yours. This was the only very severe thing I ever said in
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my life, not but that I have often felt myself extremely satirical. But
51:24
it was the only time I ever made my feelings public. I suppose there
51:30
never were two young people who had a greater affection for each other than Henry
51:37
and Aloisia. Know the love of your brother for Miss Burton could not be
51:44
so strong, though it might be more violent. You may imagine therefore,
51:47
how provoked my sister must have been to have him play her such a trick.
51:54
Poor girl. She still laments his death with undeminiush constancy, notwithstanding he
52:00
has been dead more than six weeks. But some people mind such things more
52:06
than others. The ill state of health into which his loss has thrown her
52:12
makes her so weak and so unable to support the least exertion that she has
52:17
been in tears all this morning, merely from having taken leave of Missus Marlowe,
52:24
who, with her husband, brother and child utterly Bristol this morning.
52:30
I am sorry to have them go, because they are the only family with
52:36
whom we have here any acquaintance. But I never thought of crying. To
52:42
be sure, Eluisia and Missus Marlowe have always been more together than with me,
52:49
and have therefore contracted a kind of affection for each other which does not
52:53
make tears so inexcusable in them as they would be in me. The Marlowes
53:00
are going to town. Cleveland accompanies them, as neither Eluisia nor I could
53:07
catch him. I hope you and Matilda may have better luck. I know
53:12
not when we shall leave Bristol. Eluisia's spirits are so low that she is
53:17
very averse to moving, and yet is certainly by no means mended by her
53:22
residence here. A week or two will I hope determine our measures in the
53:30
meantime. Believe me, and et cetera, and et cetera. Charlotte Lotto
53:36
l end of letter, the seventh letter the eighth Miss Littorel to missus Marlowe,
53:44
Bristol, April fourth. I feel myself greatly obliged to you, my
53:50
dear Emma, for such a mark of your affection, as I flatter myself,
53:55
was conveyed in the proposal you made me of our correspond I assure you
54:01
that it will be a great relief to me to write to you, and
54:07
as long as my health and spirits will allow me, you will find me
54:10
a very constant correspondent. I will not say an entertaining one, for you
54:17
know my situation sufficiently not to be ignorant that in me mirth would be improper,
54:25
and I know my own heart too well not to be sensible that it
54:31
would be unnatural. You must not expect news, for we see no one
54:37
with whom we are in the least acquainted, or in whose proceedings we have
54:42
any interest. You must not expect scandal, for by the same rule we
54:47
are equally debarred either from hearing or inventing it. You must expect from me
54:54
nothing but the melancholy effusions of a broken heart, which is ever reverting to
55:01
the happiness it once enjoyed, and which ill supports its present wretchedness. The
55:07
possibility of being able to write, to speak to you of my lost henry,
55:14
will be a luxury to me, and your goodness will not, I
55:17
know, refuse to read what it will so much relieve my heart to write.
55:24
I once thought that to have what is in general called a friend,
55:30
I mean one of my own sex, to whom I might speak with less
55:35
reserve than to any other person independent of my sister, would never be an
55:39
object of my wishes. But how much was I mistaken? Charlotte is too
55:45
much engrossed by too confidential correspondence of that sort to supply the place of one
55:53
to me. And I hope you will not think me girlishly romantic when I
56:00
say that to have some kind and compassionate friend whom i'd listen to my sorrows
56:07
without endeavoring to console me was what I had for some time wished for.
56:13
When our acquaintance with you, the intimacy which followed it, and the particular
56:17
affectionate attention you paid me almost from the first caused me to entertain the flattering
56:25
idea of those attentions being improved on a closer acquaintance into a friendship, which,
56:32
if you were what my wishes formed, you would be the greatest happiness
56:38
I could be capable of enjoying. To find that such hopes are realized is
56:45
a satisfaction, indeed a satisfaction which is now almost the only one I could
56:52
ever experience. Oh, I feel myself so languid that I am sure where
56:59
you with me, you would oblige me to leave off writing, And I
57:05
cannot give you a greater proof of my affection for you, done by acting
57:09
as I know you would wish me to do, whether absent or present.
57:15
I am my dear Emmas, sincere friend e l end of letter the eighth
57:27
better than ninth from Missus Marlowe to Miss Ludureau, Grosvenor Street, April tenth.
57:32
Need I say, my dear, oh Larisa, how welcome your letter
57:36
was to me. I cannot give a greater proof of the pleasure I received
57:39
from it, or of the desire I feel that our correspondence may be regular
57:44
and frequent than by setting you so good an example as I now do in
57:47
answering it before the end of the week. But do not imagine that I
57:51
claim any merit in being so punctual on the contrary, I assure you that
57:55
it is a far greater gratification to me to write to you than to spend
57:59
the evening either at a concert or a ball. Mister Marlowe is so desirous
58:04
of my appearing at some of the public places every evening that I do not
58:07
like to refuse him, But at the same time so much wished to remain
58:12
at home that independent of the pleasure I experience in devoting any portion of my
58:15
time to my dear Eluisa. Yet the liberty I claim from having a letter
58:20
to write, of spending an evening at home with my little boy, you
58:23
know me well enough to be sensible, will of itself be a sufficient inducement,
58:28
if one is necessary to my maintaining with pleasure or correspondence with you.
58:32
As to the subject of your letters to me, whether grave or merry,
58:37
if they concern you, they must be equally interesting to me. Not but
58:40
that I think the melancholy indulgence of your own sorrows, by repeating them and
58:45
dwelling on them to me, will only encourage and increase them, and that
58:49
it will be more prudent in you to avoid so sad a subject. But
58:52
yet knowing as I do, what a soothing and melancholy pleasure it must afford
58:58
you, I cannot prevail on myself to deny you so great an indulgence,
59:01
and will only insist on your not expecting me to encourage you in it by
59:05
my own letters. On the contrary, I intend to fill them with such
59:09
lively wit and enlivening humor as shall even provoke a smile in the sweet but
59:14
sorrowful countenance of my Eloisa. In the first place, you are to learn
59:19
that I have met your sister's three friends, Lady Leslie and her daughters,
59:22
twice in public since I have been here. I know you will be impatient
59:27
to hear my opinion of the beauty of three ladies of whom you have heard
59:30
so much. Now, as you are too ill and too unhappy to be
59:34
vain, I think I may venture to inform you that I like none of
59:37
their faces so well as I do your own. Yet they are all handsome.
59:42
Lady Leslie, indeed I have seen before her daughters I believe, would
59:45
in general be said to have a finer face than her Ladyship. And yet
59:50
what would the charms of a blooming complexion a little affectation and a great deal
59:53
of small talk, in each of which she is superior to the young ladies.
59:58
She will, I dare say, gain herself as many admirers as the
1:00:00
more regular features of Matilda and Margaret. I am sure you will agree with
1:00:06
me in saying that they can none of them be of a proper size for
1:00:08
real beauty, when you know that two of them are taller and the other
1:00:12
shorter than ourselves. In spite of this defect, or rather by reason of
1:00:16
it, there is something very noble and majestic in the figures of the miss
1:00:21
leslies, and something agreeably lively in the appearance of their pretty little mother in
1:00:24
law. But though one may be majestic and the other lively, yet the
1:00:29
faces of neither possess that bewitching sweetness of my Eloisa's, which her present languor
1:00:35
is so far from diminishing. What would my husband and brother say of us
1:00:38
if they knew all the fine things I have been saying to you in this
1:00:42
letter? It is very hard that a pretty woman is never to be told
1:00:45
she is so by any one of her own sex, without that person's being
1:00:49
suspected to be either her determined enemy or her professed toad leader. How much
1:00:54
more amiable are women in that particular? One man may say forty civil things
1:00:59
to another without our supposing that he has ever paid for it, and provided
1:01:02
he does his duty by our sex, we care not how polite he is
1:01:06
to his own. Missus Latterrell will be so good as to accept my compliments.
1:01:10
Charlotte, my love and Eloisa the best wishes for the recovery of her
1:01:15
health and spirits that can be offered by her affectionate friend, E Marlowe.
1:01:21
I am afraid this letter will be but a poor specimen of my powers in
1:01:23
the witty way, and your opinion of them will not be greatly increased when
1:01:28
I assure you that I have been as entertaining as I possibly could. End
1:01:31
of letter. The ninth letter the tenth from Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss Charlotte
1:01:37
lutturelle Portman Square, April thirteenth, My dear Charlotte, we left Leslie Castle
1:01:45
on the twenty eighth of last month and arrived safely in London after a journey
1:01:50
of seven days. I had the pleasure of finding your letter here waiting my
1:01:53
arrival, for which you have my grateful thanks Ah, my dear friend,
1:02:00
I every day more regret the serene and tranquil pleasures of the castle we have
1:02:05
left in exchange for the uncertain and unequal amusements of this vaunted city. Not
1:02:10
that I will pretend to assert that these uncertain and unequal amusements are in the
1:02:16
least degree unpleasing to me. On the contrary, I enjoy them extremely,
1:02:22
and should enjoy them even more were I not certain that every appearance I make
1:02:28
in public but rivets the chains of those unhappy beings whose passion it is impossible
1:02:34
not to pity, though it is out of my power to return. In
1:02:38
short, my dear Charlotte, it is my sensibility for the sufferings of so
1:02:44
many amiable young men, my dislike of the extreme admiration I meet with,
1:02:50
and my aversion to being so celebrated, both in public, in private,
1:02:54
in papers and in print shops, that are the reasons why I cannot more
1:03:00
fully enjoy the amusements so various and pleasing of London. How often have I
1:03:07
wished that I possessed as little personal beauty as you do, that my figure
1:03:12
were as inelegant, my face as unlovely, and my appearance as unpleasing as
1:03:17
yours, But are what little chance is there of so desirable an event?
1:03:23
I have had the smallpox and must therefore submit to my unhappy fate. I
1:03:30
am now going to entrust you, my dear Charlotte, with a secret which
1:03:34
has long disturbed the tranquility of my days, and which is of a kind
1:03:39
to require the most inviolable secrecy from you. Last Monday tonight, Machildren,
1:03:45
I accompanied Lady Leslie to a route at that honorable missus Kickabouts. We were
1:03:52
escorted by mister Fitzgerald, who was a very amiable young man in the main,
1:03:58
though perhaps a little singer in his taste. He is in love with
1:04:01
Matilda. We had scarcely paid our compliments to the lady of the house,
1:04:06
and curtsied to half a score different people, when my attention was attracted by
1:04:13
the appearance of a young man, the most lovely of his sex, who
1:04:16
at that moment entered the room with another gentleman and lady. From the first
1:04:23
moment I beheld him, I was certain that on him depended the future happiness
1:04:28
of my life. Imagine my surprise when he was introduced to me by the
1:04:33
name of Cleveland. I instantly recognized him as the brother of Missus Marlowe and
1:04:40
the acquaintance of my Charlotte at Bristol. Mister and Missus m were a gentleman
1:04:46
and lady who accompanied him. You do not think Missus Marlowe handsome. The
1:04:53
elegant address of mister Cleveland, his polished manners and delightful bow at once confirmed
1:04:59
my attach He did not speak, but I can imagine everything he would have
1:05:03
said had he opened his mouth. I can picture to myself the cultivated understanding,
1:05:11
the noble sentiments, and elegant language which would have shone so conspicuous in
1:05:16
the conversation of mister Cleveland. The approach of Sir James Gower, one of
1:05:23
my two numerous admirers, prevented the discovery of any such powers, by putting
1:05:29
an end to a conversation we had never commenced, and by attracting my attention
1:05:33
to himself. But oh, how inferior are the accomplishments of Sir James to
1:05:41
those of his so greatly envy rival. Sir James is one of the most
1:05:45
frequent of our visitors, and is almost always of our parties. We have
1:05:51
since often met mister and Missus Marlowe, but no Cleveland. He is always
1:05:57
engaged somewhere else. Missus Marlowe fatigues me to death every time I see her
1:06:03
by her tiresome conversations about you and Eloisa. She is so stupid. I
1:06:10
live in the hope of seeing her irresistible brother tonight, as we are going
1:06:15
to Lady Flambo's, who is I know intimate with the Marlowe's. Our party
1:06:20
will be Lady Leslie, Matilda Fitzgerald, Sir James Gower, and myself.
1:06:27
We see little of Sir George, who is almost always at the gaming table.
1:06:31
Ah, my poor fortune, where art thou? By this time we
1:06:36
see more of Lady l who always makes her appearance highly rouged at dinner time.
1:06:45
Alas, what delightful duels will she be decked in this evening at Lady
1:06:48
Flambo's. Is I wonder how she can herself delight in wearing them? Surely
1:06:55
she must be sensible of the ridiculous impropriety of loading her diminutive figure with such
1:07:01
superfluous ornaments. Is it possible that she cannot know how greatly superior an elegant
1:07:10
simplicity is to the most studied apparel, would she but present them to Matildron
1:07:16
me? How greatly should we be obliged to her? How becoming would diamonds
1:07:21
be on our fine majestic figures? And how surprising it is that such an
1:07:27
idea should never have occurred to her. I am sure if I have reflected
1:07:31
in this manner once, I have fifty times whenever I see Lady Leslie dressed
1:07:38
in them, such reflections immediately come across me my own mother's jewels too.
1:07:44
But I will say no more on so melancholy a subjects. Let me entertain
1:07:48
you with something more pleasing. Matilda had a letter this morning from Leslie,
1:07:55
by which we have the pleasure of finding that he is at Naples, has
1:07:59
to and Roman Catholic, obtained one of the Pope's bulls for annulling his first
1:08:03
marriage, and has since actually married a Neapolitan lady of great rank and fortune.
1:08:11
He tells us moreover that much the same sort of affair has befallen his
1:08:15
first wife, The worthless Louisa, who is likewise at Naples, had turned
1:08:21
Roman Catholic and is soon to be married to a Neapolitan nobleman of great and
1:08:27
distinguished merit. He says that they are at present very good friends, have
1:08:32
quite forgiven all past errors, and intend in future to be very good neighbours.
1:08:39
He invites matildren Me to pay him a visit to Italy and to bring
1:08:43
him his little Louisa, whom both a mother stepmother and himself are equally desirous
1:08:49
of beholding. As to our accepting his invitation, it is at present very
1:08:55
uncertain. Lady Leslie advises us to go without loss of time. Time Fitzgerald
1:09:01
offers to escort us there, but Matilda has some doubts of the propriety of
1:09:05
such a scheme. She owns it would be very agreeable. I am certain
1:09:12
she likes the fellow. My father desires us not to be in a hurry,
1:09:15
as perhaps if we wait a few months, both he and Lady Leslie
1:09:19
will do themselves the pleasure of attending us. Lady Leslie says, no,
1:09:26
that nothing will ever tempt her to forego the amusements of bright Helmstone for a
1:09:30
journey to Italy merely to see our brother. No, says the disagreeable woman.
1:09:38
I have once in my life been fool enough to travel. I don't
1:09:41
know how many hundred miles to see two of the family, and I found
1:09:45
it did not answer. So deuce take me if I am ever so foolish
1:09:48
again, so says her Ladyship. But Sir George still perseveres in saying that
1:09:56
perhaps in a month or two they may accompany us. Adieu, my dear
1:10:00
Charlotte, Yours faithful Margaret Leslie. End of letter The tenth End of Leslie
1:10:08
Castle by Jane Austen