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Lesley Castle - Dramatic Reading - Jane Austen · Jane Austen Classics Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Leslie Castle, an unfinished novel in letters.
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Speaker 2: To Henry Thomas Austin esquire, Sir, I am now availing
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Speaker 2: myself of the liberty you have frequently honored me with
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Speaker 2: of dedicating one of my novels to you. That it
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Speaker 2: is unfinished. I grieve yet fear that from me it
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Speaker 2: will always remain, so that as far as it is carried,
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Speaker 2: it should be so trifling and so unworthy of you.
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Speaker 2: Is another concern to your obliged, humble servant, the author.
0:34
Speaker 3: Messr's demand and co. Please to pay Jane Austen Spinster
0:40
Speaker 3: the sum of one hundred guineas on account of your
0:43
Speaker 3: humble servant, H. T.
0:46
Speaker 1: Austin, Leslie Castle.
0:49
Speaker 3: Letter.
0:49
Speaker 1: The first is from Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss.
0:52
Speaker 4: Charlotte Lateral, Leslie Castle, January the third, seventeen ninety two.
1:00
Speaker 4: My brother has just left us, Matilda, said he, at
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Speaker 4: parting you and.
1:05
Speaker 5: Margaret, will I am certain take all the care of
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Speaker 5: my dear little one that she might have received from
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Speaker 5: an indulgent and affectionate and amiable mother.
1:16
Speaker 4: Tears rolled down his cheeks as he spoke these words,
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Speaker 4: the remembrance of her who had so wantonly disgraced the
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Speaker 4: maternal character, and so openly violated the conjugal duties prevented
1:28
Speaker 4: his adding anything farther. He embraced his sweet child, and,
1:33
Speaker 4: after saluting Matilda and Me, hastily broke from us and,
1:37
Speaker 4: seating himself in his chaise, pursued the road to Aberdeen.
1:41
Speaker 4: Never was there a better young man, Ah, how little
1:46
Speaker 4: did he deserve the misfortunes he has experienced in the
1:50
Speaker 4: marriage state. So good a husband to so bad a wife.
1:54
Speaker 4: For you know, my dear Charlotte, that the worthless Louisa
1:59
Speaker 4: left him her child and reputation a few weeks ago
2:03
Speaker 4: in company with Danvers and Dishonor. Never was there a
2:07
Speaker 4: sweet a face, a finer form, or a less amiable
2:11
Speaker 4: heart than Louisa owned. Her child already possesses the personal
2:16
Speaker 4: charms of her unhappy mother. May she inherit from her
2:20
Speaker 4: father or his mental ones. Leslie is at present but
2:25
Speaker 4: five and twenty, and has already given himself up to
2:29
Speaker 4: melancholy and despair. What a difference between him and his father,
2:34
Speaker 4: Sir George's fifty seven and still remains the beau, the flighty, stripling,
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Speaker 4: the gay lad, the sprightly youngster that his son was
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Speaker 4: really about five years back, and that he is affected
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Speaker 4: to appear ever since my remembrance. While our father is
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Speaker 4: fluttering about the streets of London, gay, dissipated and thoughtless,
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Speaker 4: at the age of fifty seven, Matildre and I continue
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Speaker 4: secluded from mankind in our old and moldering castle, which
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Speaker 4: is situated two miles from Perth on a bold projecting rock,
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Speaker 4: and commands an extensive view of the town and its
3:14
Speaker 4: delightful environs. But though retired from almost all the world,
3:20
Speaker 4: for we visit no one but the MacLeod's, the mckensie's,
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Speaker 4: the macpherson's, the McCartneys, the MacDonald's, the McKinnon's, the mclellans,
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Speaker 4: the McKay's, the macbeth's, and the mac duffs. We are
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Speaker 4: neither dull nor unhappy. On the contrary, there were never
3:37
Speaker 4: two more lively, more agreeable, or more witty girls than
3:42
Speaker 4: we are. Not an hour in the day hangs heavy
3:45
Speaker 4: on our hands. We read, we work, we walk, and
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Speaker 4: when fatigued with these employments, relieve our spirits either by
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Speaker 4: a lively song, a graceful dance, or by some smart,
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Speaker 4: bond and witty repartee. We are handsome, my dear Charlotte,
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Speaker 4: very handsome, and the greatest of our perfections is that
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Speaker 4: we are entirely insensible of them ourselves. But why do
4:13
Speaker 4: I thus dwell on myself? Let me rather repeat the
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Speaker 4: praise of our dear little niece, the innocent Louisa, who
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Speaker 4: is at present sweetly smiling in a gentle nap as
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Speaker 4: she reposes on the sofa. The dear creature is just
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Speaker 4: turned of two years old, as handsome as though two
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Speaker 4: and twenty, as sensible as though two and thirty, and
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Speaker 4: as prudent as though two and forty. To convince you
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Speaker 4: of this, I must inform you that she has a
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Speaker 4: very fine complexion and very pretty features, that she already
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Speaker 4: knows the first two letters in the alphabet, and that
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Speaker 4: she never tears her frocks. If I have not now
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Speaker 4: convinced you of her beauty, sense and prudence, I have
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Speaker 4: nothing more to urge in support of my assertion, and
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Speaker 4: you will therefore have no way of deciding the affair,
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Speaker 4: but by coming to Leslie Castle, and by a personal
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Speaker 4: acquaintance with Louisa, determined for yourself, Ah, my dear friend,
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Speaker 4: how happy should I be? To see you within these
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Speaker 4: venerable walls. It is now four years since my removal
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Speaker 4: from school has separated me from you. That two such
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Speaker 4: tender hearts, so closely linked together by the ties of
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Speaker 4: sympathy and friendship, should be so widely removed from each
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Speaker 4: other is vastly moving. I live in Perthshire, you in Sussex.
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Speaker 4: We might meet in London, were my father disposed to
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Speaker 4: carry me there, and were your mother to be there
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Speaker 4: at the same time. We might meet at Bath, at Tunbridge,
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Speaker 4: or anywhere else. Indeed, could we but be at the
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Speaker 4: same place together. We have only to hope that such
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Speaker 4: a period may arrive. My father does not return to
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Speaker 4: us till autumn. My brother will leave Scotland in a
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Speaker 4: few days. He is impatient to travel. Mistaken youth, he
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Speaker 4: vainly flatters himself that change of air will heal the
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Speaker 4: wounds of a broken heart. You will join with me.
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Speaker 4: I am certain, my dear Charlotte, in prayers for the
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Speaker 4: recovery of the unhappy Leslie's peace of mind, which must
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Speaker 4: ever be essential to that of your sincere friend, M.
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Speaker 3: Leslie.
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Speaker 1: End of letter the first letter the second from Miss
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Speaker 1: c Lutorelle to Miss m Leslie in.
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Speaker 6: Answer, Glenford, February twelfth, I have a thousand excuses to
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Speaker 6: beg for having so long delayed, thanking you, my dear Peggy,
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Speaker 6: for your agreeable letter, which, believe me, I should not
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Speaker 6: have deferred doing, had not every moment of my time
7:02
Speaker 6: during the last five weeks been so fully employed in
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Speaker 6: the necessary arrangements for my sister's wedding as to allow
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Speaker 6: me no time to devote either to you or myself.
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Speaker 6: And now what provokes me more than anything else is
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Speaker 6: that the matches broke off and all my labor thrown away.
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Speaker 6: Imagine how great the disappointment must be to me when
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Speaker 6: you consider that, after having labored both by night and
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Speaker 6: by day in order to get the wedding dinner ready
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Speaker 6: by the time appointed, after having roasted beef, broiled mutton,
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Speaker 6: and stewed soup enough to last the new married couple
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Speaker 6: through the honey moon, I had the mortific case a
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Speaker 6: finding that I had been roasting, broiling, and stewing both
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Speaker 6: they meat and my self to no purpose. Indeed, my
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Speaker 6: dear friend, I never remember suffering any vexation equal to
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Speaker 6: what I experience on last Monday, when my sister came
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Speaker 6: running to me in the storeroom with her face as
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Speaker 6: white as a whipped syllable, and told me that hervey
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Speaker 6: had been thrown from his horse, had fractured his skull,
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Speaker 6: and was pronounced by his surgeon to be in the
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Speaker 6: most imminent danger. Good God, said I, you don't say so.
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Speaker 6: Why what in the name of Heaven will become of
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Speaker 6: all the vitual? We shall never be able to eat
9:03
Speaker 6: it while it is good. However, we'll call in the
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Speaker 6: surgeon to help us. I shall be able to manage
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Speaker 6: the surlloy in myself. My mother will eat the soup,
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Speaker 6: and you and the doctor must finish the rest. Here
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Speaker 6: I was interrupted by seeing my poor sister fall down
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Speaker 6: to appearance lifeless upon one of the chests where we
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Speaker 6: keep our table lidden. I immediately called my mother and
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Speaker 6: the maids, and at last we brought her to herself again,
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Speaker 6: as soon as ever she was sensible. She expressed a
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Speaker 6: determination of going instantly to Henry, and was so wildly
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Speaker 6: bent on this scheme that we had the greatest difficulty
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Speaker 6: in the world to prevent her putting it in execution.
10:02
Speaker 6: At last, however, more by force than in cheaty, we
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Speaker 6: prevailed on her to go into her room. We laid
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Speaker 6: her upon the bed, and she continued for some hours
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Speaker 6: in the most dreadful convulsions. My mother and I continued
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Speaker 6: in the room with her, and when any intervals of
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Speaker 6: tolerable composure in Eluisia would allow us, we joined in
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Speaker 6: heartfelt lamentations on the dreadful waste in our provisions which
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Speaker 6: this event must occasion, and in concerting some plan for getting.
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Speaker 7: Rid of them, we agreed that the best thing we
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Speaker 7: could do was to begin eating them immediately, and accordingly
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Speaker 7: we ordered up the cold.
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Speaker 6: Ham and fowls an instant began our devouring plan on
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Speaker 6: them with great alacrity. We would have persuaded Eluisia to
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Speaker 6: have taken a wing of a chicken, but she would
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Speaker 6: not be persuaded. She was, however, much quieter than she
11:17
Speaker 6: had been the convulsians she had before suffered, having given
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Speaker 6: way to an almost perfect insensibility. We endeavored to rouse
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Speaker 6: her by every means in our power, but to no purpose.
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Speaker 6: I talked to her of Henry. Dear Eluisia said, I,
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Speaker 6: there's no occasion for your crying so much about such
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Speaker 6: a trifle. For I was willing to make light of
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Speaker 6: it in order to comfort her, I beg you would
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Speaker 6: not mind it. You see, it does not vex me
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Speaker 6: in the least, though perhaps I may suffer most from it.
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Speaker 6: After all, for I shall not only be obliged to
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Speaker 6: eat up all the vituals I have dressed already, but
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Speaker 6: must if Henry should recover, which however, is not very likely,
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Speaker 6: dress as much for you again. Or should he die,
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Speaker 6: as I suppose he will, I shall still have to
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Speaker 6: prepare a dinner for you whenever you marry anyone else.
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Speaker 6: So you see that, though perhaps for the present it
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Speaker 6: may afflict you to think of Henry's sufferings, yet I
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Speaker 6: dare say he'll die soon, and then his pain will
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Speaker 6: be over, and you will be easy, whereas my trouble
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Speaker 6: will last much longer. For work as hard as I may,
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Speaker 6: I am certain that the pantry cannot be cleared in
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Speaker 6: less than a fortnight. Thus I did all in my
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Speaker 6: power to console her, but without any effect. And at last,
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Speaker 6: as I saw that she did not seem to listen
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Speaker 6: to me, I said no more, But leaving her with
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Speaker 6: my mother, I took down the remains of the ham
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Speaker 6: and chicken, and said William to ask how Henry did.
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Speaker 6: He was not expected to live many hours. He died
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Speaker 6: the same day. We took all possible care to break
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Speaker 6: the melancholy event to Weluisia in the tenderest manner. Yet
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Speaker 6: in spite of every precaution, her sufferings on hearing it
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Speaker 6: were too violent for her reason, and she continued for
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Speaker 6: many hours in our high delirium. She is still extremely ill,
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Speaker 6: and her physicians are greatly afraid of her going into
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Speaker 6: a decline. We are therefore preparing for Bristol, where we
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Speaker 6: mean to be in the course of the next week.
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Speaker 6: And now, my dear Margaret, let me talk a little
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Speaker 6: of your affairs. And in the first place, I must
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Speaker 6: inform you that it is confidently reported your father is
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Speaker 6: going to be married. I am very unwilling to believe
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Speaker 6: so unpleasing a report, and at the same time cannot
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Speaker 6: wholly discredit it. I have written to my friend Susan
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Speaker 6: Fitzgerald for information concerning it, which, as she is at
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Speaker 6: present in town, she will be very able to leave me.
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Speaker 6: I know not who is the lady. I think your
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Speaker 6: brother is extremely right in the resolution he has taken
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Speaker 6: of traveling as it will perhaps contribute to obliterate from
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Speaker 6: his remembrance those disagreeable events which have lately so much
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Speaker 6: afflicted him. I am happy to find that those secluded
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Speaker 6: from all the world, neither you nor Matilda are dull
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Speaker 6: or unhappy. That you may never know what it is
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Speaker 6: to be Either is the wish of yours, Sincerely, Affectionate, C. L. P. S.
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Speaker 6: I have this instant received an answer from my friend Susan,
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Speaker 6: which I enclosed to you, and on which you will
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Speaker 6: make your own reflections the enclosed letter.
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Speaker 8: My dear Charlotte, You could not have applied for information
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Speaker 8: concerning the report of Sir George Leslie's marriage to anyone
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Speaker 8: better able to give it to you than I am.
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Speaker 8: Sir George is certainly married. I was myself present at
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Speaker 8: the ceremony, which you will not be surprised at when
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Speaker 8: I subscribe myself your affectionate, Susan Leslie.
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Speaker 1: End of letter. The second letter the third from Miss
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Speaker 1: Margaret Leslie to Miss C.
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Speaker 4: Luturelle Leslie, Castle, February sixteenth. I have made my own
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Speaker 4: reflections on the letter you enclosed to me, my dear Charlotte,
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Speaker 4: and I will now tell you what those reflections were
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Speaker 4: I reflected that if by this second marriage Sir George
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Speaker 4: should have a second family, our fortunes be considerably diminished.
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Speaker 4: That if his wife should be of an extravagant turn,
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Speaker 4: she would encourage him to persevere in that gay and
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Speaker 4: dissipated way of life to which little encouragement would be necessary,
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Speaker 4: and which has I fear already proved but too detrimental
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Speaker 4: to his health and fortune. That she would now become
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Speaker 4: mistress of those duels which once adorned our mother, and
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Speaker 4: which Sir George had always promised us. That if they
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Speaker 4: did not come into Perthshire, I should not be able
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Speaker 4: to gratify my curiosity of beholding my mother in law,
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Speaker 4: and that if they did, Matilda would no longer sit
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Speaker 4: at the head of her father's table. These, my Dear Charlotte,
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Speaker 4: were the melancholy reflections which crowded into my imagination after
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Speaker 4: perusing Susan's letter to you, and which instantly occurred to
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Speaker 4: Matilda when she had perused it. Likewise, the same ideas,
16:59
Speaker 4: the same fears, immediately occupied her mind, and I know
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Speaker 4: not which reflection distressed her most, whether the probable diminution
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Speaker 4: of our fortunes or her own consequence. We both wish
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Speaker 4: very much to know whether Lady Leslie is handsome, and
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Speaker 4: what is your opinion of her? As you honor her
17:20
Speaker 4: with the appellation of your friend, we flatter ourselves that
17:24
Speaker 4: she must be amiable. My brother is already in Paris.
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Speaker 4: He intends to quit it in a few days and
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Speaker 4: to begin his route to Italy. He writes, in a
17:35
Speaker 4: most cheerful manner, says that the Heir of France has
17:39
Speaker 4: greatly recovered both his health and spirits, that he has
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Speaker 4: now entirely ceased to think of Louisa with any degree
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Speaker 4: either of pity or affection, that he even feels himself
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Speaker 4: obliged to her for her elopement, as he thinks it
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Speaker 4: very good fun to be single again. By this, you
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Speaker 4: may perceive that he has entirely regained that cheerful gaiety
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Speaker 4: and sprightly wit for which he was once so remarkable.
18:07
Speaker 4: When he first became acquainted with Louisa, which was little
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Speaker 4: more than three years ago, he was one of the
18:13
Speaker 4: most lively, the most agreeable young men of the age.
18:18
Speaker 4: I believe you never yet heard the particulars of his
18:20
Speaker 4: first acquaintance with her. It commenced at our cousin, Colonel Drummonds,
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Speaker 4: at whose house in Cumberland he spent the Christmas in
18:29
Speaker 4: which he attained the age of two and twenty. Louisa
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Speaker 4: Burton was the daughter of a distant relation of Missus Drummond, who,
18:37
Speaker 4: dying a few months before in extreme poverty, left his
18:41
Speaker 4: only child, then about eighteen, to the protection of any
18:45
Speaker 4: of his relations who would protect her. Missus Drummond was
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Speaker 4: the only one who found herself so disposed. Louisa was
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Speaker 4: therefore removed from a miserable cottage in Yorkshire to an
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Speaker 4: elegant mansion in Cumberland, and from every pecuniary distress that
19:03
Speaker 4: poverty could inflict, to every elegant enjoyment that money could purchase.
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Speaker 4: Louisa was naturally ill tempered and cunning, but she had
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Speaker 4: been taught to disguise her real disposition under the appearance
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Speaker 4: of insinuating sweetness by her father, who but too well
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Speaker 4: knew that to be married would be the only chance
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Speaker 4: she would have of not being starved, and who flattered
19:28
Speaker 4: himself that with such an extraordinary share of personal beauty,
19:33
Speaker 4: joined to a gentleness of manners and an engaging address,
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Speaker 4: she might stand a good chance of pleasing some young
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Speaker 4: man who might afford to marry a girl without a shilling.
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Speaker 4: Louisa perfectly entered into her father's schemes and was determined
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Speaker 4: to forward them with all her care and attention. By
19:54
Speaker 4: dint of perseverance and application, she had at length so
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Speaker 4: thoroughly disguised her natural disposition under the mask of innocence
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Speaker 4: and softness, as to impose upon everyone who would not,
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Speaker 4: by a long and constant intimacy with her, discovered her
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Speaker 4: real character. Such was Louisa when the hapless Leslie first
20:15
Speaker 4: beheld her at Drummond House, his heart, which, to use
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Speaker 4: your favorite comparison, was as delicate, as sweet, and as
20:25
Speaker 4: tender as a witch. Syllabub could not resist her attractions.
20:30
Speaker 4: In a very few days, he was falling in love.
20:33
Speaker 4: Shortly after actually fell and before he had known her
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Speaker 4: a month he had married her. My father was at
20:41
Speaker 4: first highly displeased as so hasty and imprudent a connection,
20:47
Speaker 4: but when he found that they did not mind it,
20:50
Speaker 4: he soon became perfectly reconcile to the match. The estate
20:54
Speaker 4: near Aberdeen, which my brother possesses by the bounty of
20:58
Speaker 4: his great uncle in independent of Sir George, was entirely
21:02
Speaker 4: sufficient to support him and my sister in elegance and
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Speaker 4: ease for the first twelvemonth. No one could be happier
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Speaker 4: than Leslie, and no one more amiable to appearance than Louisa.
21:17
Speaker 4: And so plausibly did she act and so cautiously behave,
21:21
Speaker 4: that though Matildre and I often spent several weeks together
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Speaker 4: with them, yet we neither of us had any suspicion
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Speaker 4: of her real disposition. After the birth of Louisa, however,
21:34
Speaker 4: which one would have thought would have strengthened her regard
21:37
Speaker 4: for Leslie, the mask she had so long supported was
21:41
Speaker 4: by degrees thrown aside, and as probably she then thought
21:45
Speaker 4: herself secure in the affection of her husband, which did
21:50
Speaker 4: indeed appear, if possible, augmented by the birth of his child.
21:55
Speaker 4: She seemed to take no pains to prevent that affection
21:58
Speaker 4: from ever diminishing. Our visits, therefore to Dunbeethe were now
22:03
Speaker 4: less frequent and by far less agreeable than they used
22:07
Speaker 4: to be. Our absence was, however, never either mentioned or
22:12
Speaker 4: lamented by Louisa, who, in the society of young Danvers
22:17
Speaker 4: with whom she became acquainted to Aberdeen he was at
22:20
Speaker 4: one of the universities there felt infinitely happier than in
22:25
Speaker 4: that of Matilda and your friend, though there certainly never
22:29
Speaker 4: were pleasanter girls than we are. You know the sad
22:32
Speaker 4: end of all Leslie's connubial happiness. I will not repeat it. Adieu,
22:38
Speaker 4: my dear Charlotte. Although I have not yet mentioned anything
22:42
Speaker 4: of the matter, I hope you will do me the
22:44
Speaker 4: justice to believe that I think and feel a great
22:48
Speaker 4: deal for your sister's affliction. I do not doubt but
22:52
Speaker 4: that the healthy air of the Bristol Downs will entirely
22:55
Speaker 4: remove it by a raising from her mind the remembrance
23:00
Speaker 4: of Henry. I am, my dear Charlotte, Yours ever, M.
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Speaker 1: L end of letter the third letter the fourth from
23:09
Speaker 1: Miss C. Luturelle to Miss.
23:10
Speaker 6: M Leslie, Bristol, February twenty seventh. My dear Peggy, I
23:17
Speaker 6: have but just received your letter, which, being directed to
23:22
Speaker 6: Sussex while I was at Bristol, was obliged to be
23:25
Speaker 6: forwarded to me here, and from some unaccountable delay has
23:31
Speaker 6: but this instant reached me. I return you many thanks
23:36
Speaker 6: for the account. It contains of Leslie's acquaintance, love and
23:41
Speaker 6: marriage with Louisia, which has not the less entertained me
23:45
Speaker 6: for having often been repeated to me before. I have
23:49
Speaker 6: the satisfaction of informing you that we have every reason
23:53
Speaker 6: to imagine. Our pantry is by this time nearly cleared,
23:59
Speaker 6: as we left particular orders with the servants to eat
24:03
Speaker 6: as hard as they possibly could, and to call in
24:08
Speaker 6: a couple of chairwomen to assist them. We brought a
24:12
Speaker 6: cold pigeon pie, a cold turkey, a cold tongue, and
24:17
Speaker 6: half a dozen jellies with us, which we were lucky enough,
24:21
Speaker 6: with the help of our landlady, her husband, and their
24:25
Speaker 6: three children, to get rid of in less than two
24:29
Speaker 6: days after our arrival. Paul Eluisia is still so very indifferent,
24:35
Speaker 6: both in health and spirits, that I very much fear
24:41
Speaker 6: the air of the Bristol downs, healthy as it is,
24:45
Speaker 6: has not been able to drive poor Henry from her remembrance.
24:52
Speaker 6: You ask me whether your new mother in law is
24:56
Speaker 6: handsome and amiable, I will now give you an exact
25:01
Speaker 6: description of her bodily and mental charms. She is short,
25:06
Speaker 6: an extremely well made, is naturally pale, but rouges a
25:12
Speaker 6: good deal has fine eyes and fine teeth, as she
25:16
Speaker 6: will take care to let you know as soon as
25:20
Speaker 6: she sees you, and is altogether very pretty. She is
25:25
Speaker 6: remarkably good tempered when she has her own way, and
25:30
Speaker 6: very lively when she is not out of humor. She
25:34
Speaker 6: is naturally extravagant and not very affected. She never reads
25:39
Speaker 6: anything but the letters she receives from me, and never
25:43
Speaker 6: writes anything but her answers to them. She plays, sings
25:48
Speaker 6: and answers, but has no taste for either, and excels
25:53
Speaker 6: in none, though she says she is passionately fond of all.
25:58
Speaker 6: Perhaps your bear flatter me so far as to be
26:01
Speaker 6: surprised that one of whom I speak with so little
26:05
Speaker 6: affection should be my particular friend. But to tell you
26:09
Speaker 6: the truth, our friendship arose rather from caprice on her
26:14
Speaker 6: side than esteem on mine. We spend two or three
26:18
Speaker 6: days together with a lady in Berkshire, with whom we
26:22
Speaker 6: both happened to be connected. During our visit, the weather
26:27
Speaker 6: being remarkably bad and our party particularly stupid, she was
26:33
Speaker 6: so good as to conceive a violent partiality for me,
26:38
Speaker 6: which very soon settled in a downright friendship and ended
26:43
Speaker 6: in an established correspondence. She is probably by this time
26:48
Speaker 6: as tired of me as I am of her, But
26:53
Speaker 6: as she is too polite and I am too civil
26:56
Speaker 6: to say so, our letters are still as frequent and
27:01
Speaker 6: affectionate as ever, and our attachment as firm and sincere
27:06
Speaker 6: as when it first convinced. As she had a great
27:10
Speaker 6: taste for the pleasures of London and of brightelam Stone,
27:14
Speaker 6: she will, I dare say, find some difficulty in prevailing
27:19
Speaker 6: on herself even to satisfy the curiosity I dare say
27:23
Speaker 6: she feels of beholding you at the expense of quitting
27:28
Speaker 6: those favorite haunts of dissipation for the melancholy, though venerable
27:34
Speaker 6: gloom of the castle you inhabit. Perhaps, however, if she
27:39
Speaker 6: finds her health impaired by too much amusement, she may
27:44
Speaker 6: acquire fortitude sufficient to undertake a journey to Scotland, in
27:50
Speaker 6: the hope of its proving at least beneficial to her health,
27:54
Speaker 6: if not conducive to her happiness. Your fears, I am
27:59
Speaker 6: sorry to say, say, concerning your father's extravagance, your own fortunes,
28:05
Speaker 6: your mother's jewels, and your sister's consequence, I should suppose,
28:11
Speaker 6: are but too well founded. My friend herself has four
28:17
Speaker 6: thousand pounds and will probably spend nearly as much every
28:23
Speaker 6: year in dress and public places if she can get it.
28:28
Speaker 6: She will certainly not endeavor to reclaim Sir George from
28:32
Speaker 6: the manner of living to which he has been so
28:35
Speaker 6: long accustomed. And there is therefore some reason to fear
28:40
Speaker 6: that you will be very well off if you can
28:44
Speaker 6: get any fortune at all. The jewels, I should imagine too,
28:49
Speaker 6: will undoubtedly be hers, And there is too much reason
28:54
Speaker 6: to think that she will preside at her husband's table
28:58
Speaker 6: in preference to his daughter. But as so melancholy a
29:04
Speaker 6: subject must necessarily extremely distress you, I will no longer
29:10
Speaker 6: dwell on it. Elisia's indisposition has brought us to Bristol
29:18
Speaker 6: at so unfashionable a season of the year that we
29:23
Speaker 6: have actually seen but one genteel family since we came.
29:28
Speaker 6: Mister and missus Marlowe are very agreeable people. The ill
29:34
Speaker 6: health of their little boy occasioned their arrival here. You
29:38
Speaker 6: may imagine that, being the only family with whom we
29:42
Speaker 6: can converse, we are of course on a footing of
29:46
Speaker 6: intimacy with them. We see them indeed almost every day,
29:50
Speaker 6: and dine with them yesterday. We spent a very pleasant
29:54
Speaker 6: day and had a very good dinner, though to be sure,
29:58
Speaker 6: the veal was terribly underdone and the curry had no seasoning.
30:04
Speaker 6: I could not help wishing all dinner time that I
30:08
Speaker 6: had been at the dressing it. A brother of missus Marlowe,
30:13
Speaker 6: mister Cleveland, is with them at present. He is a
30:17
Speaker 6: good looking young man and seems to have a good
30:21
Speaker 6: deal to say for himself. I tell Eluisia that she
30:25
Speaker 6: should set her cap at him, but she does not
30:29
Speaker 6: at all seem to relish the proposal. I should like
30:33
Speaker 6: to see the girl married, and Cleveland has a very
30:36
Speaker 6: good estate. Perhaps you may wonder that I do not
30:39
Speaker 6: consider myself as well as my sister in my matrimonial projects.
30:45
Speaker 6: But to tell you the truth, I never wish to
30:47
Speaker 6: act a more principal part at a wedding than the
30:50
Speaker 6: superintending and directing the dinner. And therefore, while I can
30:55
Speaker 6: get any of my acquaintance to marry for me, I
30:59
Speaker 6: shall never think of doing it myself, as I very
31:03
Speaker 6: much suspect that I should not have so much time
31:07
Speaker 6: for dressing my own wedding dinner as for dressing that
31:11
Speaker 6: of my friends, yours sincerely see.
31:16
Speaker 1: L end of the letter. The fourth letter the fifth
31:20
Speaker 1: Miss Margaret Leslie to Miss Charlotte.
31:22
Speaker 4: Littrell Leslie, Castle, March eighteenth. On the same day that
31:28
Speaker 4: I receive your last kind letter, Matilda received one from
31:31
Speaker 4: Sir George which was dated from Edinburgh, and informed us
31:36
Speaker 4: that he should do himself the pleasure of introducing Lady
31:40
Speaker 4: Leslie to us on the following evening. This, as you
31:43
Speaker 4: may suppose, considerably surprised us, particularly as your account of
31:49
Speaker 4: her ladyship had given us reason to imagine there was
31:52
Speaker 4: little chance of her visiting Scotland at a time that
31:56
Speaker 4: London must be so gay. As it was our business, howe,
32:00
Speaker 4: to be delighted at such a mark of condescension as
32:04
Speaker 4: a visit from Sir George and Lady Leslie, we prepare
32:07
Speaker 4: to return them an answer expressive of the happiness we
32:11
Speaker 4: enjoyed in expectation of such a blessing. When luckily recollecting
32:17
Speaker 4: that as they were to reach the castle the next evening,
32:20
Speaker 4: it would be impossible for my father to receive it
32:23
Speaker 4: before he left Edinburgh, we contented ourselves with leaving them
32:27
Speaker 4: to suppose that we were as happy as we ought
32:30
Speaker 4: to be. At nine in the evening on the following day,
32:34
Speaker 4: they came, accompanied by one of Lady Leslie's brothers. Her
32:38
Speaker 4: Ladyship perfectly answers the description you sent me of her,
32:42
Speaker 4: except that I do not think her so pretty as
32:45
Speaker 4: you seem to consider her. She has not a bad face,
32:50
Speaker 4: but there is something so extremely unmajestic in her little,
32:54
Speaker 4: diminutive figure as to render her, in comparison with the
32:58
Speaker 4: elegant height of Matilda and myself, an insignificant dwarf. Her
33:04
Speaker 4: curiosity to see us, which must have been great to
33:08
Speaker 4: bring her more than four hundred miles, being now perfectly gratified.
33:13
Speaker 4: She already begins to mention their return to town, and
33:16
Speaker 4: has desired us to accompany her. We cannot refuse her request,
33:22
Speaker 4: since it is seconded by the commands of our father,
33:26
Speaker 4: and thirded by the entreaties of mister Fitzgerald, who is
33:30
Speaker 4: certainly one of the most pleasing young men I ever beheld.
33:34
Speaker 4: It is not yet determined when we are to go,
33:38
Speaker 4: but whenever we do, we shall certainly take our little
33:41
Speaker 4: Louisa with us. Adieu, my dear Charlotte. Matilda unites in
33:46
Speaker 4: best wishes to you and Eloisa, with yours ever.
33:50
Speaker 1: M l end of letter, the fifth letter of the
33:54
Speaker 1: sixth Lady Leslie to Miss Charlotte.
33:56
Speaker 8: Luturelle Leslie, Castle, March twentieth. We arrived here, my sweet friend,
34:02
Speaker 8: about a fortnight ago, and I already heartily repent that
34:05
Speaker 8: I ever left our charming house in Portman Square for
34:08
Speaker 8: such a dismal, old, weather beaten castle as this. You
34:11
Speaker 8: can form no idea sufficiently hideous of its dungeon like form.
34:15
Speaker 8: It is actually perched upon a rock, to appearance so
34:18
Speaker 8: totally inaccessible that I expected to have been pulled up
34:22
Speaker 8: by a rope, And sincerely repented having gratified my curiosity
34:26
Speaker 8: to behold my daughters at the expense of being obliged
34:29
Speaker 8: to enter their prison in so dangerous and ridiculous a manner.
34:34
Speaker 8: But as soon as I once found myself safely arrived
34:37
Speaker 8: in the inside of this tremendous building, I comforted myself
34:40
Speaker 8: with the hope of having my spirits revived by the
34:43
Speaker 8: sight of two beautiful girls, such as the Miss Leslie's
34:47
Speaker 8: had been represented to me at Edinburgh. But here again
34:51
Speaker 8: I met with nothing but disappointment and surprise. Matilda and
34:55
Speaker 8: Margaret Leslie are two great, tall, out of the way
34:58
Speaker 8: overgrown girls, just over proper size to inhabit a castle,
35:01
Speaker 8: almost as large in comparison as themselves. I wish, my
35:06
Speaker 8: dear Charlotte, that you could but behold these Scotch giants.
35:10
Speaker 8: I am sure they would frighten you out of your wits.
35:13
Speaker 8: They will do very well as foils to myself. So
35:15
Speaker 8: I have invited them to accompany me to London, where
35:18
Speaker 8: I hope to be in the course of a fortnight.
35:21
Speaker 8: Besides these two fair damsels, I found a little humored
35:24
Speaker 8: brat here who I believe is some relation to them.
35:27
Speaker 8: They told me who she was and gave me a
35:29
Speaker 8: long rigormarole story of her father and a miss somebody
35:33
Speaker 8: which I have entirely forgot. I hate scandal and detest children.
35:37
Speaker 8: I have been plagued ever since I came here with
35:40
Speaker 8: tiresome visits from a parcel of Scotch wretches with terrible
35:44
Speaker 8: hard names. They were so civil, give me so many invitations,
35:47
Speaker 8: and talked of coming again so soon that I could
35:50
Speaker 8: not help affronting them. I suppose I shall not see
35:53
Speaker 8: them anymore. And yet as a family party we are
35:56
Speaker 8: so stupid that I do not know what to do
35:58
Speaker 8: with myself. These girls have no music but Scotch airs,
36:02
Speaker 8: no drawings but Scotch mountains, and no books but Scotch poems.
36:06
Speaker 8: And I hate everything Scotch in general. I can spend
36:10
Speaker 8: half the day at my toilet with a great deal
36:12
Speaker 8: of pleasure. But why should I dress here? Since there
36:15
Speaker 8: is not a creature in the house whom I have
36:17
Speaker 8: any wish to please. I have just had a conversation
36:20
Speaker 8: with my brother in which he has greatly offended me,
36:23
Speaker 8: and which, as I have nothing more entertaining to send you,
36:26
Speaker 8: I will give you the particulars of you. Must know
36:29
Speaker 8: that I have, for these four or five days past,
36:32
Speaker 8: strongly suspected William of entertaining a partiality to my eldest daughter.
36:37
Speaker 8: I own indeed that had I been inclined to fall
36:40
Speaker 8: in love with any woman, I should not have made
36:43
Speaker 8: the choice of Matilda Leslie for the object of my passion,
36:46
Speaker 8: For there's nothing I hate so much as a tall woman.
36:50
Speaker 8: But however, there is no accounting for some men's taste.
36:53
Speaker 8: And as William is himself nearly six feet high, it
36:56
Speaker 8: is not wonderful that he should be partial to that
36:59
Speaker 8: high now, as I have a very great affection for
37:03
Speaker 8: my brother and should be extremely sorry to see him unhappy,
37:06
Speaker 8: which I suppose he means to be if he cannot
37:08
Speaker 8: marry Matilda. As moreover, I know that his circumstances will
37:12
Speaker 8: not allow him to marry anyone without a fortune, and
37:16
Speaker 8: that Matilda's is entirely dependent on her father, who will
37:19
Speaker 8: neither have his own inclination nor my permission to give
37:22
Speaker 8: her anything at present. I thought it would be doing
37:25
Speaker 8: a good natured action by my brother to let him
37:28
Speaker 8: know as much, in order that he might choose for
37:31
Speaker 8: himself whether to conquer his passion or love and despair. Accordingly,
37:37
Speaker 8: finding myself this morning alone with him in one of
37:40
Speaker 8: the horrid old rooms of this castle, I opened the
37:42
Speaker 8: cause to him in the following manner. Well, my dear William,
37:46
Speaker 8: what do you think of these girls? For my part,
37:48
Speaker 8: I do not find them so plain as I expected.
37:51
Speaker 8: But perhaps you may think me partial to the daughters
37:54
Speaker 8: of my husband, And perhaps you are right. They are
37:57
Speaker 8: indeed so very like Sir George, that it is not I'm.
38:00
Speaker 5: Actual to think, my dear Susan.
38:02
Speaker 8: Cried he in a tone of the greatest amazement.
38:06
Speaker 5: You do not really think they bear the least resemblance
38:08
Speaker 5: to their father. He is so very plain. But I
38:13
Speaker 5: beg your pardon. I had entirely forgotten to whom I
38:16
Speaker 5: was speaking.
38:18
Speaker 8: Oh pray, don't mind me, replied I. Everyone knows Sir
38:21
Speaker 8: George is horribly ugly, and I assure you I always
38:24
Speaker 8: thought him affright.
38:26
Speaker 5: You surprise me, extremely, answered William. By what you say
38:31
Speaker 5: both with respect to Sir George and his daughters, You
38:35
Speaker 5: cannot think your husband is so deficient in personal charms
38:38
Speaker 5: as you speak of. Nor can you surely see any
38:42
Speaker 5: resemblance between him and the miss leslies, who are, in
38:46
Speaker 5: my opinion, perfectly unlike him and perfectly handsome.
38:51
Speaker 8: If that is your opinion with regard to the girls,
38:54
Speaker 8: it certainly is no proof of their father's beauty, For
38:57
Speaker 8: if they are perfectly unlike him and very handsome at
39:00
Speaker 8: the same time, it is natural to suppose that he
39:02
Speaker 8: is very plain.
39:04
Speaker 5: By no means, said he, for what may be pretty
39:09
Speaker 5: in a woman may be very unpleasing in a man.
39:13
Speaker 8: But you, yourself replied, I, but a few minutes ago
39:16
Speaker 8: allowed him to be very plain.
39:18
Speaker 5: Men are no judges of beauty in their own sex.
39:22
Speaker 4: Said he.
39:23
Speaker 8: Neither men nor women can think Sir George tolerable.
39:27
Speaker 5: Well well, said he. We will not dispute about his beauty,
39:31
Speaker 5: but your opinion of his daughters is surely very singular.
39:35
Speaker 5: For if I understood you right, you said you did
39:38
Speaker 5: not find them so plain as you expected to do.
39:42
Speaker 8: Why do you find them plainer? Then, said I.
39:46
Speaker 5: I can scarcely believe you to be serious, returned he.
39:50
Speaker 5: When you speak of their persons in so extraordinary a manner,
39:54
Speaker 5: do not you think the miss leslies are two very
39:57
Speaker 5: handsome young women.
39:59
Speaker 8: Lord no, oh, cried I. I think them terribly.
40:01
Speaker 5: Plain plain, replied he. My dear Susan, you cannot really think.
40:08
Speaker 9: So.
40:09
Speaker 5: Why what single feature in the face of either of
40:12
Speaker 5: them can you possibly find faults with?
40:16
Speaker 10: Oh?
40:16
Speaker 8: Trust me for that, replied I. Come, I will begin
40:19
Speaker 8: with the eldest, with Matilda, shall i?
40:22
Speaker 6: William?
40:22
Speaker 8: I looked as cunning as I could when I said it,
40:25
Speaker 8: in order to shame him.
40:27
Speaker 5: They are so much alike, said he, that I should
40:30
Speaker 5: suppose the faults of one would be the faults of both.
40:34
Speaker 8: Well, then, in the first place, they are both so
40:36
Speaker 8: horribly tall.
40:38
Speaker 5: They are taller than you are, indeed.
40:41
Speaker 8: Said he with a saucy smile. Nay said, I I
40:45
Speaker 8: know nothing of that.
40:47
Speaker 5: Well, but he continued, though they may be above the
40:51
Speaker 5: common size, the figures are perfectly elegant, and as to
40:55
Speaker 5: their faces, their eyes are beautiful.
40:59
Speaker 8: I never can think such tremendous knock me down figures
41:02
Speaker 8: in the least degree elegant. And as for their eyes,
41:05
Speaker 8: they are so tall that I could never strain my
41:07
Speaker 8: neck enough to look at them. Nay replied he.
41:10
Speaker 5: I know not whether you may not be in the
41:13
Speaker 5: right and not attempting it, For perhaps they might dazzle
41:17
Speaker 5: you with their luster.
41:19
Speaker 8: Oh, certainly, said I, with the greatest complacency. For I
41:23
Speaker 8: assure you, my dearest Charlotte, I was not in the
41:26
Speaker 8: least offended, though by what followed one would suppose that
41:29
Speaker 8: William was conscious of having given me just cause to
41:32
Speaker 8: be so. For coming up to me and taking my hand.
41:35
Speaker 5: He said, you must not look so grave, Susan, you
41:38
Speaker 5: will make me fear that I have offended.
41:40
Speaker 8: You offended me, dear brother, how came such a thought
41:44
Speaker 8: in your head? Returned I, No, really, I assure you
41:48
Speaker 8: that I am not in the least surprised at your
41:50
Speaker 8: being so warm an advocate for the beauty of these girls. Well,
41:55
Speaker 8: but interrupted, William.
41:56
Speaker 5: Remember that we have not yet concluded our dispute. Can
42:00
Speaker 5: discerning them? What fault do you find with their complexion?
42:04
Speaker 8: They are so horridly pale.
42:07
Speaker 5: They have always a little color, and after any exercise
42:11
Speaker 5: it is considerably heightened.
42:14
Speaker 8: Yes, but if there should ever happen to be any
42:16
Speaker 8: rain in this part of the world, they will never
42:19
Speaker 8: be able to raise more than their common stock, except
42:22
Speaker 8: indeed they amuse themselves with running up and down these
42:25
Speaker 8: horrid old galleries.
42:26
Speaker 5: And Ante Chambers, well.
42:29
Speaker 8: Replied my brother, in a tone of vexation, and glancing
42:32
Speaker 8: an impertinent look at me.
42:34
Speaker 5: If they have but little color, at least it is
42:37
Speaker 5: all their own.
42:39
Speaker 8: This was too much, my dear Charlotte, for I am
42:42
Speaker 8: certain that he had the impudence by that look of
42:45
Speaker 8: pretending to suspect the reality of mine. But you, I
42:49
Speaker 8: am sure, will vindicate my character whenever you may hear
42:52
Speaker 8: it so cruellyous. First, for you can witness how often
42:56
Speaker 8: I have protested against wearing rouge, and how much I
42:59
Speaker 8: am always told you I disliked it, And I assure
43:02
Speaker 8: you that my opinions are still the same. Well, not
43:05
Speaker 8: bearing to be so suspected by my brother, I left
43:08
Speaker 8: the room immediately and have been ever since in my
43:12
Speaker 8: own dressing room writing to you. What a long letter
43:16
Speaker 8: have I made of it? But you must not expect
43:18
Speaker 8: to receive such from me when I get to town,
43:21
Speaker 8: for it is only at Leslie Castle that one has
43:24
Speaker 8: time to write, even to a Charlotte Letterer. I was
43:27
Speaker 8: so much vexed by William's glance that I could not
43:29
Speaker 8: summon patience enough to stay and give him that advice
43:32
Speaker 8: respecting his attachment to Matilda, which had first induced me
43:36
Speaker 8: from pure love to him to begin the conversation. And
43:40
Speaker 8: I am now so thoroughly convinced by it of his
43:42
Speaker 8: violent passion for her, that I am certain he would
43:46
Speaker 8: never hear reason on the subject. And I shall therefore
43:49
Speaker 8: give myself no more trouble either about him or his favorite. Adieu,
43:54
Speaker 8: my dear girl, yours affectionately susan l.
43:59
Speaker 1: End of letters. But at the seventh from Missy Luttrell
44:03
Speaker 1: to Miss m.
44:03
Speaker 6: Leslie, Bristol, the twenty seventh of March, I have received
44:10
Speaker 6: letters from you and your mother in law within this week,
44:15
Speaker 6: which have greatly entertained me, as I find by them
44:20
Speaker 6: that you are both downright jealous of each other's beauty.
44:25
Speaker 6: It is very odd that two pretty women, though actually
44:29
Speaker 6: mother and daughter, cannot be in the same house without
44:33
Speaker 6: falling out about their faces. Do be convinced that you
44:38
Speaker 6: are both perfectly handsome, and say no more of the matter.
44:43
Speaker 6: I suppose this letter must be directed to Portman Square, where,
44:48
Speaker 6: probably great as is your affection for Leslie Castle, you
44:52
Speaker 6: will not be sorry to find yourself. In spite of
44:56
Speaker 6: all that people may say about Greenfield and the country,
45:01
Speaker 6: I was always of opinion that London and its amusements
45:05
Speaker 6: must be very agreeable for a while, and should be
45:10
Speaker 6: very happy. Could my mother's income allow her to jocky
45:15
Speaker 6: us into its public places during winter? I always long
45:21
Speaker 6: particularly to go to Vauxhall to see whether the cold
45:26
Speaker 6: beef there is cut so thin as it is reported,
45:30
Speaker 6: For I have a sly suspicion that few people understand
45:35
Speaker 6: the art of cutting a slice of cold beef so
45:38
Speaker 6: well as I do. Nay, it would be hard if
45:42
Speaker 6: I did not know something of the matter, for it
45:46
Speaker 6: was a part of my education that I took by
45:50
Speaker 6: far the most pains with Mamma always found me her
45:55
Speaker 6: best scholar, though when Papa was alive, Eluisia was his.
46:01
Speaker 6: Never to be sure were there two more different dispositions
46:05
Speaker 6: in the world. We both loved reading. She preferred histories,
46:11
Speaker 6: and I receipts. She loved drawing pictures, and I drawing pullets.
46:18
Speaker 6: No one could sing a better song than she, and
46:21
Speaker 6: no one could make a better pie than I, And
46:25
Speaker 6: so it has always continued since we have been no
46:29
Speaker 6: longer children. The only difference is that all disputes on
46:33
Speaker 6: the superior excellence of our employments, then so frequent, are
46:39
Speaker 6: now no more. We have for many years entered into
46:44
Speaker 6: an agreement always to admire each other's works. I never
46:49
Speaker 6: fail listening to her music, and she is as constant
46:55
Speaker 6: in eating my pies. Such at least was the case
47:00
Speaker 6: till Henry Herby made his appearance in Sussex, before the
47:06
Speaker 6: arrival of his aunt in our neighborhood, where she established herself,
47:12
Speaker 6: you know, about a twelve month ago. His visits to
47:16
Speaker 6: her had been at stated times and of equal and
47:20
Speaker 6: settled duration. But on her removal to the hall, which
47:25
Speaker 6: is within a walk from our house, they became both
47:29
Speaker 6: more frequent and longer. This, as you may suppose, could
47:35
Speaker 6: not be pleasing to missus Diana, who is a professed
47:40
Speaker 6: enemy to everything which is not directed by decorum and formality,
47:46
Speaker 6: or which bears the least resemblance to ease and good breeding. Nay,
47:53
Speaker 6: so great was her aversion to her nephew's behavior that
47:58
Speaker 6: I have often heard her give such hints of it
48:01
Speaker 6: before his face, that had not Henry at such times
48:06
Speaker 6: been engaged in conversation with Eluisia, they must have caught
48:11
Speaker 6: his attention and have very much distressed him. This alteration
48:17
Speaker 6: in my sister's behavior, which I have before hinted at,
48:21
Speaker 6: now took place. The agreement we had entered into of
48:27
Speaker 6: admiring each other's productions she no longer seemed to regard.
48:32
Speaker 6: And though I constantly applauded even every country dance she played,
48:39
Speaker 6: yet not even a pigeon pie of my making could
48:44
Speaker 6: obtain from her a single word of approbation. This was
48:49
Speaker 6: certainly enough to put any one in a passion. However,
48:54
Speaker 6: I was as cool as a cream cheese, and having
48:58
Speaker 6: formed my plan and concerted a scheme of revenge, I
49:04
Speaker 6: was determined to let her have her own way, and
49:08
Speaker 6: not even to make her a single reproach. My scheme
49:13
Speaker 6: was to treat her as she treated me, And though
49:17
Speaker 6: she might even draw my own picture or play Marlbrook,
49:23
Speaker 6: which is the only tune I ever really liked, not
49:27
Speaker 6: to say so much as thank you, Eluisia, though I
49:33
Speaker 6: had for many years constantly hallowed whenever she played Bravo, bravisimo,
49:40
Speaker 6: encore de couple, ala greto, corn expression, and Poco presto
49:47
Speaker 6: who with many other such outlandish words, all of them,
49:51
Speaker 6: as Aluisia told me, expressive of my admiration, and so indeed,
49:55
Speaker 6: I suppose they are, as I see some of them
49:58
Speaker 6: in every page of every music book, being the sentiments
50:02
Speaker 6: I imagine of the composer. I executed my plan with
50:06
Speaker 6: great punctuality. I cannot say success for Alas My silence
50:12
Speaker 6: while she played seemed not in the least to displease her.
50:17
Speaker 6: On the contrary, she actually said to me one day.
50:23
Speaker 9: Well, Charlotte, I'm very glad to find that you have
50:27
Speaker 9: at last left off that ridiculous custom of applauding my
50:32
Speaker 9: execution on the harpsichord, till you made my head ache
50:36
Speaker 9: and yourself force. I feel very much obliged to you
50:41
Speaker 9: for keeping your admiration to yourself.
50:46
Speaker 6: I never shall forget the very witty answer I made
50:51
Speaker 6: to this speech, Eluisia said, I, I beg you would
50:55
Speaker 6: be quite at your ease with respect to all such
51:00
Speaker 6: fears in future, for be assured that I shall always
51:05
Speaker 6: keep my admiration to myself and my own pursuits, and
51:11
Speaker 6: never extend it to yours. This was the only very
51:16
Speaker 6: severe thing I ever said in my life, not but
51:21
Speaker 6: that I have often felt myself extremely satirical. But it
51:26
Speaker 6: was the only time I ever made my feelings public.
51:30
Speaker 6: I suppose there never were two young people who had
51:34
Speaker 6: a greater affection for each other than Henry and Aloisia.
51:39
Speaker 6: Know the love of your brother for Miss Burton could
51:43
Speaker 6: not be so strong, though it might be more violent.
51:46
Speaker 6: You may imagine therefore, how provoked my sister must have
51:50
Speaker 6: been to have him play her such a trick. Poor girl.
51:55
Speaker 6: She still laments his death with undeminiush constancy, notwithstanding he
52:01
Speaker 6: has been dead more than six weeks. But some people
52:04
Speaker 6: mind such things more than others. The ill state of
52:08
Speaker 6: health into which his loss has thrown her makes her
52:12
Speaker 6: so weak and so unable to support the least exertion
52:17
Speaker 6: that she has been in tears all this morning, merely
52:22
Speaker 6: from having taken leave of Missus Marlowe, who, with her husband,
52:27
Speaker 6: brother and child utterly Bristol this morning. I am sorry
52:32
Speaker 6: to have them go, because they are the only family
52:36
Speaker 6: with whom we have here any acquaintance. But I never
52:40
Speaker 6: thought of crying. To be sure, Eluisia and Missus Marlowe
52:45
Speaker 6: have always been more together than with me, and have
52:49
Speaker 6: therefore contracted a kind of affection for each other which
52:54
Speaker 6: does not make tears so inexcusable in them as they
52:58
Speaker 6: would be in me. The Marlowes are going to town.
53:02
Speaker 6: Cleveland accompanies them, as neither Eluisia nor I could catch him.
53:08
Speaker 6: I hope you and Matilda may have better luck. I
53:12
Speaker 6: know not when we shall leave Bristol. Eluisia's spirits are
53:16
Speaker 6: so low that she is very averse to moving, and
53:20
Speaker 6: yet is certainly by no means mended by her residence here.
53:25
Speaker 6: A week or two will I hope determine our measures
53:30
Speaker 6: in the meantime. Believe me, and et cetera, and et cetera.
53:35
Speaker 1: Charlotte Lotto l end of letter, the seventh letter the
53:39
Speaker 1: eighth Miss Littorel to missus Marlowe.
53:44
Speaker 9: Bristol, April fourth. I feel myself greatly obliged to you,
53:50
Speaker 9: my dear Emma, for such a mark of your affection,
53:54
Speaker 9: as I flatter myself, was conveyed in the proposal you
53:58
Speaker 9: made me of our correspond I assure you that it
54:02
Speaker 9: will be a great relief to me to write to you,
54:07
Speaker 9: and as long as my health and spirits will allow me,
54:10
Speaker 9: you will find me a very constant correspondent. I will
54:15
Speaker 9: not say an entertaining one, for you know my situation
54:19
Speaker 9: sufficiently not to be ignorant that in me mirth would
54:25
Speaker 9: be improper, and I know my own heart too well
54:30
Speaker 9: not to be sensible that it would be unnatural. You
54:34
Speaker 9: must not expect news, for we see no one with
54:38
Speaker 9: whom we are in the least acquainted, or in whose
54:41
Speaker 9: proceedings we have any interest. You must not expect scandal,
54:46
Speaker 9: for by the same rule we are equally debarred either
54:50
Speaker 9: from hearing or inventing it. You must expect from me
54:55
Speaker 9: nothing but the melancholy effusions of a broken heart, which
55:00
Speaker 9: is ever reverting to the happiness it once enjoyed, and
55:04
Speaker 9: which ill supports its present wretchedness. The possibility of being
55:09
Speaker 9: able to write, to speak to you of my lost henry,
55:14
Speaker 9: will be a luxury to me, and your goodness will not,
55:18
Speaker 9: I know, refuse to read what it will so much
55:23
Speaker 9: relieve my heart to write. I once thought that to
55:27
Speaker 9: have what is in general called a friend, I mean
55:31
Speaker 9: one of my own sex, to whom I might speak
55:34
Speaker 9: with less reserve than to any other person independent of
55:38
Speaker 9: my sister, would never be an object of my wishes.
55:42
Speaker 9: But how much was I mistaken? Charlotte is too much
55:47
Speaker 9: engrossed by too confidential correspondence of that sort to supply
55:53
Speaker 9: the place of one to me. And I hope you
55:56
Speaker 9: will not think me girlishly romantic when I say that
56:02
Speaker 9: to have some kind and compassionate friend whom i'd listen
56:06
Speaker 9: to my sorrows without endeavoring to console me was what
56:11
Speaker 9: I had for some time wished for. When our acquaintance
56:14
Speaker 9: with you, the intimacy which followed it, and the particular
56:18
Speaker 9: affectionate attention you paid me almost from the first caused
56:24
Speaker 9: me to entertain the flattering idea of those attentions being
56:28
Speaker 9: improved on a closer acquaintance into a friendship, which, if
56:33
Speaker 9: you were what my wishes formed, you would be the
56:37
Speaker 9: greatest happiness I could be capable of enjoying. To find
56:43
Speaker 9: that such hopes are realized is a satisfaction, indeed a
56:48
Speaker 9: satisfaction which is now almost the only one I could
56:53
Speaker 9: ever experience. Oh, I feel myself so languid that I
56:58
Speaker 9: am sure where you with me, you would oblige me
57:02
Speaker 9: to leave off writing, And I cannot give you a
57:06
Speaker 9: greater proof of my affection for you, done by acting
57:10
Speaker 9: as I know you would wish me to do, whether
57:14
Speaker 9: absent or present. I am my dear Emmas, sincere friend e.
57:23
Speaker 1: L end of letter the eighth better than ninth from
57:28
Speaker 1: Missus Marlowe to Miss Ludureau.
57:30
Speaker 10: Grosvenor Street, April tenth. Need I say, my dear, oh Larisa,
57:35
Speaker 10: how welcome your letter was to me. I cannot give
57:38
Speaker 10: a greater proof of the pleasure I received from it,
57:40
Speaker 10: or of the desire I feel that our correspondence may
57:43
Speaker 10: be regular and frequent than by setting you so good
57:46
Speaker 10: an example as I now do in answering it before
57:49
Speaker 10: the end of the week. But do not imagine that
57:51
Speaker 10: I claim any merit in being so punctual on the contrary,
57:55
Speaker 10: I assure you that it is a far greater gratification
57:58
Speaker 10: to me to write to you than to spend the
58:00
Speaker 10: evening either at a concert or a ball. Mister Marlowe
58:03
Speaker 10: is so desirous of my appearing at some of the
58:06
Speaker 10: public places every evening that I do not like to
58:08
Speaker 10: refuse him, But at the same time so much wished
58:11
Speaker 10: to remain at home that independent of the pleasure I
58:14
Speaker 10: experience in devoting any portion of my time to my
58:17
Speaker 10: dear Eluisa. Yet the liberty I claim from having a
58:20
Speaker 10: letter to write, of spending an evening at home with
58:23
Speaker 10: my little boy, you know me well enough to be sensible,
58:26
Speaker 10: will of itself be a sufficient inducement, if one is
58:29
Speaker 10: necessary to my maintaining with pleasure or correspondence with you.
58:33
Speaker 10: As to the subject of your letters to me, whether
58:36
Speaker 10: grave or merry, if they concern you, they must be
58:39
Speaker 10: equally interesting to me. Not but that I think the
58:42
Speaker 10: melancholy indulgence of your own sorrows, by repeating them and
58:45
Speaker 10: dwelling on them to me, will only encourage and increase them,
58:49
Speaker 10: and that it will be more prudent in you to
58:51
Speaker 10: avoid so sad a subject. But yet knowing as I do,
58:55
Speaker 10: what a soothing and melancholy pleasure it must afford you,
58:58
Speaker 10: I cannot prevail on myself to deny you so great
59:01
Speaker 10: an indulgence, and will only insist on your not expecting
59:04
Speaker 10: me to encourage you in it by my own letters.
59:07
Speaker 10: On the contrary, I intend to fill them with such
59:10
Speaker 10: lively wit and enlivening humor as shall even provoke a
59:13
Speaker 10: smile in the sweet but sorrowful countenance of my Eloisa.
59:17
Speaker 10: In the first place, you are to learn that I
59:19
Speaker 10: have met your sister's three friends, Lady Leslie and her daughters,
59:22
Speaker 10: twice in public since I have been here. I know
59:26
Speaker 10: you will be impatient to hear my opinion of the
59:28
Speaker 10: beauty of three ladies of whom you have heard so much. Now,
59:32
Speaker 10: as you are too ill and too unhappy to be vain,
59:35
Speaker 10: I think I may venture to inform you that I
59:37
Speaker 10: like none of their faces so well as I do
59:39
Speaker 10: your own. Yet they are all handsome. Lady Leslie, indeed
59:43
Speaker 10: I have seen before her daughters I believe, would in
59:46
Speaker 10: general be said to have a finer face than her Ladyship.
59:49
Speaker 10: And yet what would the charms of a blooming complexion
59:52
Speaker 10: a little affectation and a great deal of small talk,
59:55
Speaker 10: in each of which she is superior to the young ladies.
59:58
Speaker 10: She will, I dare say, gain herself as many admirers
1:00:01
Speaker 10: as the more regular features of Matilda and Margaret. I
1:00:05
Speaker 10: am sure you will agree with me in saying that
1:00:06
Speaker 10: they can none of them be of a proper size
1:00:08
Speaker 10: for real beauty, when you know that two of them
1:00:11
Speaker 10: are taller and the other shorter than ourselves. In spite
1:00:15
Speaker 10: of this defect, or rather by reason of it, there
1:00:18
Speaker 10: is something very noble and majestic in the figures of
1:00:21
Speaker 10: the miss leslies, and something agreeably lively in the appearance
1:00:24
Speaker 10: of their pretty little mother in law. But though one
1:00:27
Speaker 10: may be majestic and the other lively, yet the faces
1:00:30
Speaker 10: of neither possess that bewitching sweetness of my Eloisa's, which
1:00:34
Speaker 10: her present languor is so far from diminishing. What would
1:00:37
Speaker 10: my husband and brother say of us if they knew
1:00:40
Speaker 10: all the fine things I have been saying to you
1:00:42
Speaker 10: in this letter? It is very hard that a pretty
1:00:44
Speaker 10: woman is never to be told she is so by
1:00:46
Speaker 10: any one of her own sex, without that person's being
1:00:49
Speaker 10: suspected to be either her determined enemy or her professed
1:00:53
Speaker 10: toad leader. How much more amiable are women in that particular?
1:00:57
Speaker 10: One man may say forty civil things to another without
1:01:00
Speaker 10: our supposing that he has ever paid for it, and
1:01:03
Speaker 10: provided he does his duty by our sex, we care
1:01:05
Speaker 10: not how polite he is to his own. Missus Latterrell
1:01:09
Speaker 10: will be so good as to accept my compliments. Charlotte,
1:01:12
Speaker 10: my love and Eloisa the best wishes for the recovery
1:01:15
Speaker 10: of her health and spirits that can be offered by
1:01:17
Speaker 10: her affectionate friend, E Marlowe. I am afraid this letter
1:01:22
Speaker 10: will be but a poor specimen of my powers in
1:01:24
Speaker 10: the witty way, and your opinion of them will not
1:01:27
Speaker 10: be greatly increased when I assure you that I have
1:01:29
Speaker 10: been as entertaining as I possibly could.
1:01:32
Speaker 1: End of letter. The ninth letter the tenth from Miss
1:01:35
Speaker 1: Margaret Leslie to Miss Charlotte lutturelle.
1:01:39
Speaker 4: Portman Square, April thirteenth, My dear Charlotte, we left Leslie
1:01:44
Speaker 4: Castle on the twenty eighth of last month and arrived
1:01:48
Speaker 4: safely in London after a journey of seven days. I
1:01:52
Speaker 4: had the pleasure of finding your letter here waiting my arrival,
1:01:56
Speaker 4: for which you have my grateful thanks Ah, my dear friend,
1:02:00
Speaker 4: I every day more regret the serene and tranquil pleasures
1:02:04
Speaker 4: of the castle we have left in exchange for the
1:02:07
Speaker 4: uncertain and unequal amusements of this vaunted city. Not that
1:02:12
Speaker 4: I will pretend to assert that these uncertain and unequal
1:02:15
Speaker 4: amusements are in the least degree unpleasing to me. On
1:02:19
Speaker 4: the contrary, I enjoy them extremely, and should enjoy them
1:02:23
Speaker 4: even more were I not certain that every appearance I
1:02:27
Speaker 4: make in public but rivets the chains of those unhappy
1:02:31
Speaker 4: beings whose passion it is impossible not to pity, though
1:02:35
Speaker 4: it is out of my power to return. In short,
1:02:39
Speaker 4: my dear Charlotte, it is my sensibility for the sufferings
1:02:43
Speaker 4: of so many amiable young men, my dislike of the
1:02:47
Speaker 4: extreme admiration I meet with, and my aversion to being
1:02:51
Speaker 4: so celebrated, both in public, in private, in papers and
1:02:57
Speaker 4: in print shops, that are the reasons why I cannot
1:03:00
Speaker 4: more fully enjoy the amusements so various and pleasing of London.
1:03:06
Speaker 4: How often have I wished that I possessed as little
1:03:09
Speaker 4: personal beauty as you do, that my figure were as inelegant,
1:03:14
Speaker 4: my face as unlovely, and my appearance as unpleasing as yours,
1:03:19
Speaker 4: But are what little chance is there of so desirable
1:03:23
Speaker 4: an event? I have had the smallpox and must therefore
1:03:27
Speaker 4: submit to my unhappy fate. I am now going to
1:03:31
Speaker 4: entrust you, my dear Charlotte, with a secret which has
1:03:34
Speaker 4: long disturbed the tranquility of my days, and which is
1:03:38
Speaker 4: of a kind to require the most inviolable secrecy from you.
1:03:44
Speaker 4: Last Monday tonight, Machildren, I accompanied Lady Leslie to a
1:03:49
Speaker 4: route at that honorable missus Kickabouts. We were escorted by
1:03:53
Speaker 4: mister Fitzgerald, who was a very amiable young man in
1:03:57
Speaker 4: the main, though perhaps a little singer in his taste.
1:04:01
Speaker 4: He is in love with Matilda. We had scarcely paid
1:04:05
Speaker 4: our compliments to the lady of the house, and curtsied
1:04:08
Speaker 4: to half a score different people, when my attention was
1:04:12
Speaker 4: attracted by the appearance of a young man, the most
1:04:15
Speaker 4: lovely of his sex, who at that moment entered the
1:04:19
Speaker 4: room with another gentleman and lady. From the first moment
1:04:23
Speaker 4: I beheld him, I was certain that on him depended
1:04:27
Speaker 4: the future happiness of my life. Imagine my surprise when
1:04:32
Speaker 4: he was introduced to me by the name of Cleveland.
1:04:36
Speaker 4: I instantly recognized him as the brother of Missus Marlowe
1:04:40
Speaker 4: and the acquaintance of my Charlotte at Bristol. Mister and
1:04:45
Speaker 4: Missus m were a gentleman and lady who accompanied him.
1:04:49
Speaker 4: You do not think Missus Marlowe handsome. The elegant address
1:04:54
Speaker 4: of mister Cleveland, his polished manners and delightful bow at
1:04:58
Speaker 4: once confirmed my attach He did not speak, but I
1:05:02
Speaker 4: can imagine everything he would have said had he opened
1:05:05
Speaker 4: his mouth. I can picture to myself the cultivated understanding,
1:05:11
Speaker 4: the noble sentiments, and elegant language which would have shone
1:05:15
Speaker 4: so conspicuous in the conversation of mister Cleveland. The approach
1:05:21
Speaker 4: of Sir James Gower, one of my two numerous admirers,
1:05:26
Speaker 4: prevented the discovery of any such powers, by putting an
1:05:29
Speaker 4: end to a conversation we had never commenced, and by
1:05:33
Speaker 4: attracting my attention to himself. But oh, how inferior are
1:05:38
Speaker 4: the accomplishments of Sir James to those of his so
1:05:42
Speaker 4: greatly envy rival. Sir James is one of the most
1:05:46
Speaker 4: frequent of our visitors, and is almost always of our parties.
1:05:51
Speaker 4: We have since often met mister and Missus Marlowe, but
1:05:55
Speaker 4: no Cleveland. He is always engaged somewhere else. Missus Marlowe
1:06:00
Speaker 4: fatigues me to death every time I see her by
1:06:04
Speaker 4: her tiresome conversations about you and Eloisa. She is so stupid.
1:06:10
Speaker 4: I live in the hope of seeing her irresistible brother tonight,
1:06:14
Speaker 4: as we are going to Lady Flambo's, who is I
1:06:17
Speaker 4: know intimate with the Marlowe's. Our party will be Lady Leslie,
1:06:22
Speaker 4: Matilda Fitzgerald, Sir James Gower, and myself. We see little
1:06:28
Speaker 4: of Sir George, who is almost always at the gaming table. Ah,
1:06:32
Speaker 4: my poor fortune, where art thou? By this time we
1:06:37
Speaker 4: see more of Lady l who always makes her appearance
1:06:42
Speaker 4: highly rouged at dinner time. Alas, what delightful duels will
1:06:47
Speaker 4: she be decked in this evening at Lady Flambo's. Is
1:06:50
Speaker 4: I wonder how she can herself delight in wearing them?
1:06:54
Speaker 4: Surely she must be sensible of the ridiculous impropriety of
1:06:59
Speaker 4: loading her diminutive figure with such superfluous ornaments. Is it
1:07:05
Speaker 4: possible that she cannot know how greatly superior an elegant
1:07:10
Speaker 4: simplicity is to the most studied apparel, would she but
1:07:15
Speaker 4: present them to Matildron me? How greatly should we be
1:07:19
Speaker 4: obliged to her? How becoming would diamonds be on our
1:07:22
Speaker 4: fine majestic figures? And how surprising it is that such
1:07:27
Speaker 4: an idea should never have occurred to her. I am
1:07:31
Speaker 4: sure if I have reflected in this manner once, I
1:07:34
Speaker 4: have fifty times whenever I see Lady Leslie dressed in them,
1:07:39
Speaker 4: such reflections immediately come across me my own mother's jewels too.
1:07:44
Speaker 4: But I will say no more on so melancholy a subjects.
1:07:48
Speaker 4: Let me entertain you with something more pleasing. Matilda had
1:07:52
Speaker 4: a letter this morning from Leslie, by which we have
1:07:56
Speaker 4: the pleasure of finding that he is at Naples, has
1:07:59
Speaker 4: to and Roman Catholic, obtained one of the Pope's bulls
1:08:03
Speaker 4: for annulling his first marriage, and has since actually married
1:08:07
Speaker 4: a Neapolitan lady of great rank and fortune. He tells
1:08:12
Speaker 4: us moreover that much the same sort of affair has
1:08:15
Speaker 4: befallen his first wife, The worthless Louisa, who is likewise
1:08:20
Speaker 4: at Naples, had turned Roman Catholic and is soon to
1:08:24
Speaker 4: be married to a Neapolitan nobleman of great and distinguished merit.
1:08:30
Speaker 4: He says that they are at present very good friends,
1:08:33
Speaker 4: have quite forgiven all past errors, and intend in future
1:08:37
Speaker 4: to be very good neighbours. He invites matildren Me to
1:08:40
Speaker 4: pay him a visit to Italy and to bring him
1:08:43
Speaker 4: his little Louisa, whom both a mother stepmother and himself
1:08:49
Speaker 4: are equally desirous of beholding. As to our accepting his invitation,
1:08:54
Speaker 4: it is at present very uncertain. Lady Leslie advises us
1:08:58
Speaker 4: to go without loss of time. Time Fitzgerald offers to
1:09:02
Speaker 4: escort us there, but Matilda has some doubts of the
1:09:05
Speaker 4: propriety of such a scheme. She owns it would be
1:09:09
Speaker 4: very agreeable. I am certain she likes the fellow. My
1:09:14
Speaker 4: father desires us not to be in a hurry, as
1:09:17
Speaker 4: perhaps if we wait a few months, both he and
1:09:20
Speaker 4: Lady Leslie will do themselves the pleasure of attending us.
1:09:24
Speaker 4: Lady Leslie says, no, that nothing will ever tempt her
1:09:27
Speaker 4: to forego the amusements of bright Helmstone for a journey
1:09:32
Speaker 4: to Italy merely to see our brother. No, says the
1:09:36
Speaker 4: disagreeable woman.
1:09:38
Speaker 8: I have once in my life been fool enough to travel.
1:09:41
Speaker 8: I don't know how many hundred miles to see two
1:09:44
Speaker 8: of the family, and I found it did not answer.
1:09:46
Speaker 8: So deuce take me if I am ever so foolish again.
1:09:50
Speaker 4: So says her Ladyship. But Sir George still perseveres in
1:09:55
Speaker 4: saying that perhaps in a month or two they may
1:09:58
Speaker 4: accompany us. Adieu, my dear Charlotte, Yours faithful Margaret Leslie.
1:10:06
Speaker 1: End of letter The tenth End of Leslie Castle by
1:10:09
Speaker 1: Jane Austen