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CHAPTER VIII.

The story of Booth continued.

MR. BOOTH thus went on :

'We now took leave of the garrison, and having landed at Marseilles, arrived at Montpelier, without any thing เ happening to us worth remembrance, except the extreme 'sea-sickness of poor Amelia; but I was afterwards well 'repaid for the terrors which it occasioned me, by the เ good consequences which attended it; for I believe it 'contributed even more than the air of Montpelier, to 'the perfect re-establishment of her health.'

'I ask your pardon, for interrupting you,' cries Miss 'Matthews, but you never satisfied me whether you took the serjeant's money.You have made me half in 'love with that charming fellow.'

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'How can you imagine Madam,' answered Booth, ‘I should have taken from a poor fellow what was of so 'little consequence to me, and at the same time of so 'much to him?--Perhaps, now, you will derive this 'from the passion of pride.'

'Indeed,' says she, 'I neither derive it from the passion of pride, nor from the passion of folly: but 'methinks you should have accepted the offer, and I ' am convinced you hurt him very much when you re'fused it. But pray proceed in your story.' Then Booth went on as follows:

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'As Amelia recovered her health and spirits daily, we began to pass our time very pleasantly at Montpelier; 'for the greatest enemy to the French will acknowledge, 'that they are the best people in the world to live amongst 'for a little while. In some countries it is almost as

เ easy to get a good estate as a good acquaintance. In 'England, particularly, acquaintance is of almost as slow growth as an oak; so that the age of man scarce suffices 'to bring it to any perfection, and families seldom conเ tract any great intimacy till the third, or at least the second generation. So shy indeed are we English of 'letting a stranger into our houses, that one would 'imagine we regarded all such as thieves. Now the French are the very reverse. Being a stranger among 'them entitles you to the better place, and to the greater degree of civility; and, if you wear but the appearance 'of a gentleman, they never suspect you are not one. 'Their friendship indeed seldom extends so far as their purse; nor is such friendship usual in other countries. เ To say the truth, politeness carries friendship far enough ' in the ordinary occasions of life, and those who want 'this accomplishment, rarely make amends for it by their sincerity; for bluntness, or rather rudeness, as it commonly deserves to be called, is not always so much a 'mark of honesty as it is taken to be.

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The day after our arrival we became acquainted with 'Mons. Bagillard. He was a Frenchman of great wit and vivacity, with a greater share of learning than 'gentlemen are usually possessed of. As he lodged in 'the same house with us, we were immediately acเ quainted, and I liked his conversation so well, that I เ never thought I had too much of his company. Indeed, 'I spent so much of my time with him, that Amelia (I 'know not whether I ought to mention it) grew uneasy at our familiarity, and complained of my being too little 'with her, from my violent fondness for my new acquaintเ ance; for, our conversation turning chiefly upon books, ' and principally Latin ones (for we read several of the 'classics together), she could have but little entertain'ment by being with us. When my wife had once taken

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' it into her head that she was deprived of my company 'by M. Bagillard, it was impossible to change her opinion; and though I now spent more of my time with 'her than I had ever done before, she still grew more and 'more dissatisfied, till, at last, she very earnestly desired me to quit my lodgings, and insisted upon it with more ' vehemence than I had ever known her express before. เ To say the truth, if that excellent woman could ever be 'thought unreasonable, I thought she was so on this

'occasion.

'But in what light soever her desires appeared to me, เ as they manifestly arose from an affection of which I 'had daily the most endearing proofs, I resolved to เ comply with her, and accordingly removed to a distant เ part of the town; for it is my opinion that we can have 'but little love for the person whom we will never เ indulge in an unreasonable demand. Indeed, I was 'under a difficulty with regard to Mons. Bagillard; 'for, as I could not possibly communicate to him the เ true reason for quitting my lodgings; so I found it as 'difficult to deceive him by a counterfeit one; besides, I เ was apprehensive I should have little less of his company ' than before. I could, indeed, have avoided this dilemma เ by leaving Montpelier; for Amelia had perfectly re'covered her health; but I had faithfully promised captain James to wait his return from Italy, whither he เ was gone some time before from Gibraltar; nor was it เ proper for Amelia to take any long journey, she being now near six months gone with child.

'This difficulty, however, proved to be less than I 'had imagined it; for my French friend, whether he 'suspected any thing from my wife's behaviour, though 'she never, as I observed, shewed him the least incivility, 'became suddenly as cold on his side. After our leaving 'the lodgings he never made above two or three formal

VOL. VIII.

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'visits; indeed, his time was soon after entirely taken

up

' by an intrigue with a certain countess, which blazed all 'over Montpelier.

'We had not been long in our new apartments before an English officer arrived at Montpelier, and came to เ lodge in the same house with us. This gentleman, whose name was Bath, was of the rank of a major, and 'had so much singularity in his character, that, perhaps, เ you never heard of any like him. He was far from 'having any of those bookish qualifications, which had 'before caused my Amelia's disquiet. It is true, his 'discourse generally turned on matters of no feminine kind; war and martial exploits being the ordinary topics ' of his conversation; however, as he had a sister with 'whom Amelia was greatly pleased, an intimacy presently grew between us, and we four lived in one family.

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The major was a great dealer in the marvellous, and เ was constantly the little hero of his own tale. This 'made him very entertaining to Amelia, who, of all persons in the world, hath the truest taste and enjoyment of the ridiculous; for whilst no one sooner 'discovers it in the character of another, no one so well 'conceals her knowledge of it from the ridiculous person. 'I cannot help mentioning a sentiment of hers on this head, as I think it doth her great honour. "If I had the ( "same neglect," said she, "for ridiculous people with "the generality of the world, I should rather think "them the objects of tears than laughter; but, in "reality, I have known several who, in some parts "of their characters, have been extremely ridiculous, "in others have been altogether as amiable. For ""instance," said she, "Here is the major, who tells "us of many things which he has never seen, "and of others which he has never done, and both "in the most extravagant excess; and yet how

"amiable is his behaviour to his poor sister, whom he ""hath not only brought over hither for her health, at "his own expense, but is come to bear her company.' 'I believe, Madam, I repeat her very words; for I am very apt to remember what she says.

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'You will easily believe, from a circumstance I have just mentioned in the major's favour, especially when I ' have told you that his sister was one of the best of girls, 'that it was entirely necessary to hide from her all kind of laughter at any part of her brother's behaviour. To say the truth, this was easy enough to do; for the poor เ girl was so blinded with love and gratitude, and so highly honoured and reverenced her brother, that she 'had not the least suspicion that there was a person in 'the world capable of laughing at him.

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'Indeed, I am certain she never made the least discovery of our ridicule; for I am well convinced she 'would have resented it; for besides the love she bore 'her brother, she had a little family pride, which would เ sometimes appear. To say the truth, i she had any fault, it was that of vanity, but she was a very good 'girl upon the whole; and none of us are entirely free 'from faults.'

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'You are a good-natured fellow, Will,' answered Miss Matthews; but vanity is a fault of the first magnitude in ' a woman, and often the occasion of many others.'

To this Booth made no answer; but continued his story. 'In this company we passed two or three months very

' agreeably, till the major and I both betook ourselves to ' our several nurseries; my wife being brought to bed of a girl, and Miss Bath confined to her chamber by a 'surfeit, which had like to have occasioned her death."

Here Miss Matthews burst into a loud laugh, of which, when Booth asked the reason, she said she could not forbear at the thoughts of two such nurses: 'And