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our circumstances; for, however innocent diversions may be in other respects, they must be owned to be 'expensive. When you consider then, Madam, that our income from the curacy was less than forty pounds a year, and that after payment of the debt to the rector, and another to my aunt, with the costs in law which 'she had occasioned by suing for it, my legacy was reduced to less than seventy pounds, you will not wonder 'that in diversions, clothes, and the common expenses of life, we had almost consumed our whole stock.

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'The inconsiderate manner in which we had lived for some time, will, I doubt not, appear to you to want . some excuse; but I have none to make for it. Two things, however, now happened, which occasioned much 'serious reflection to Mr. Bennet; the one was, that I grew near my time; the other, that he now received a 'letter from Oxford, demanding the debt of forty pounds, ' which I mentioned to you before. The former of these 'he made a pretence of obtaining a delay for the pay'ment of the latter, promising in two months to pay off 'half the debt, by which means he obtained a forbearance during that time.

'I was now delivered of a son, a matter which should in reality have increased our concern; but on the contrary, it gave us great pleasure; greater, indeed, could 'not have been conceived at the birth of an heir to the 'most plentiful estate; so entirely thoughtless were we, ' and so little forecast had we of those many evils and 'distresses to which we had rendered a human creature, ' and one so dear to us, liable. The day of a christening is in all families, I believe, a day of jubilee and rejoic'ing; and yet, if we consider the interest of that little 'wretch who is the occasion, how very little reason would 'the most sanguine persons have for their joy!

But, though our eyes were too weak to look forward

VOL. IX.

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'for the sake of our child, we could not be blinded to 'those dangers that immediately threatened ourselves. Mr. Bennet, at the expiration of the two months, received a second letter from Oxford, in a very peremptory style, and threatening a suit without any 'farther delay. This alarmed us in the strongest manner; and my husband, to secure his liberty, was advised for a while to shelter himself in the verge the court.

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And now, Madam, I am entering on that scene which 'directly leads to all my misery.'Here she stopped, and wiped her eyes;-and then, begging Amelia to excuse her for a few minutes, ran hastily out of the room, leaving Amelia by herself, while she refreshed her spirits with a cordial, to enable her to relate what follows in the next chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

Farther continued.

MRS. BENNET, returning into the room, made a short apology for her absence, and then proceeded in these following words:

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'We now left our lodging, and took a second floor in that very house where you now are; to which we เ were recommended by the woman where we had before lodged, for the mistresses of both houses were acquainted; and, indeed, we had been all at the play together. To this new lodging then (such was our 'wretched destiny) we immediately repaired, and were ' received by Mrs. Ellison (how can I bear the sound of 'that detested name) with much civility; she took care,

however, during the first fortnight of our residence, to 'wait upon us every Monday morning for her rent; such being, it seems, the custom of this place, which, as it 'was inhabited chiefly by persons in debt, is not the region of credit.

'My husband, by the singular goodness of the rector, 'who greatly compassionated his case, was enabled to 'continue in his curacy, though he could only do the duty on Sundays. He was, however, sometimes obliged to furnish a person to officiate at his expense; so that our income was very scanty, and the poor little remainder of the legacy being almost spent, we were 'reduced to some difficulties, and, what was worse, saw 'still a prospect of greater before our eyes.

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Under these circumstances, how agreeable to poor Mr. Bennet must have been the behaviour of Mrs. 'Ellison, who, when he carried her her rent on the usual day, told him, with a benevolent smile, that he 'needed not to give himself the trouble of such exact punctuality. She added, that, if it was at any time 'inconvenient to him, he might pay her when he pleased. "To say the truth," says she, "I never was so much pleased with any lodgers in my life,-I am convinced "Mr. Bennet, you are a very worthy man, and you are a very happy one too; for you have the prettiest wife, and the prettiest child I ever saw."-These, dear 'Madam, were the words she was pleased to make use 6 of; and I am sure she behaved to me with such an appearance of friendship and affection, that, as I could not perceive any possible views of interest which she 'could have in her professions, I easily believed them 'real.

เ There lodged in the same house-O, Mrs. Booth! the 'blood runs cold to my heart, and should run cold to yours when I name him:-There lodged in the same

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'house a lord--the lord, indeed, whom I have since seen ' in your company. This lord, Mrs. Ellison told me, had 'taken a great fancy to my little Charly; fool that I was, ' and blinded by my own passion, which made me conเ ceive that an infant, not three months old, could be really the object of affection to any besides a parent; ' and more especially to a gay young fellow! But if I was silly in being deceived, how wicked was the wretch 'who deceived me; who used such art, and employed 'such pains, such incredible pains to deceive me! he 'acted the part of a nurse to my little infant; he danced it, he lulled it, he kissed it; declared it was the very 'picture of a nephew of his, his favourite sister's child; and said so many kind and fond things of its beauty, 'that I myself, though, I believe, one of the tenderest ' and fondest of mothers, scarce carried my own ideas of my little darling's perfection beyond the compliments which he paid it.

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My lord, however, perhaps from modesty before my face, fell far short of what Mrs. Ellison reported from 'him. And now, when she found the impression which was made on me by these means, she took every opportunity of insinuating to me his lordship's many virtues; 'his great goodness to his sister's children in particular; nor did she fail to drop some hints, which gave me the most simple and groundless hopes of strange consequences from his fondness to my Charly.

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When by these means, which, simple as they may appear, were, perhaps, the most artful, my lord had gained something more, I think, than my esteem, he 'took the surest method to confirm himself in my affection. This was, by professing the highest friendship 'for my husband; for, as to myself, I do assure you, he never shewed me more than common respect; and I 'hope you will believe I should have immediately startled

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' and flown off if he had. Poor I accounted for all the 'friendship which he expressed for my husband, and all 'the fondness which he shewed to my boy, from the great prettiness of the one, and the great merit of the other; foolishly conceiving, that others saw with my eyes, and felt with my heart. Little did I dream, that เ my own unfortunate person was the fountain of all this 'lord's goodness, and was the intended price of it.

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'One evening, as I was drinking tea with Mrs. Ellison 'by my lord's fire (a liberty which she never scrupled 'taking when he was gone out), my little Charly, now 'about half a year old, sitting in her lap, my lord, 'accidentally, no doubt, indeed I then thought it so, came in. I was confounded, and offered to go; but my lord declared, if he disturbed Mrs. Ellison's company, as he phrased it, he would himself leave the room. When I was thus prevailed on to keep my seat, my lord 'immediately took my little baby into his lap, and gave 'it some tea there, not a little at the expense of his embroidery; for he was very richly dressed: indeed, he was as fine a figure as perhaps ever was seen. His 'behaviour on this occasion gave me many ideas in his 'favour. I thought he discovered good sense, good nature, condescension, and other good qualities, by the 'fondness he shewed to my child, and the contempt he seemed to express for his finery, which so greatly became him; for I cannot deny but that he was the 'handsomest and genteelest person in the world; though such considerations advanced him not a step in my favour.

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'My husband now returned from church (for this happened on a Sunday), and was, by my lord's par'ticular desire, ushered into the room. My lord received 'him with the utmost politeness, and with many pro'fessions of esteem; which, he said, he had conceived