not to have obstructed your progress in my favor—nor would it my James—Excuse me—if these Rivals of mine in your friendship had been half as deserving, as your absent Eliza—I cannot account for M^{rs}. Sterne’s pique towards me from that, (as it proved) unfortunate letter—not on any one principle of Goodness, my dear, can I account for it—for however the Woman might have been displeased, at my supposed slight of her, the Mother I think, must have pleaded well for me, in a kind maternal breast—as she must have been sensible that I meant affectionate services to her Child, however I’d failed in the Punctilios due to herself, and that fond sensations, in such a Cause, must be lukewarm indeed in that[51] could not counteract the effects of Caprice—Reason, she had none, to be angry with me, knowing that my sole knowledge of her was derived from Yoricks Communications—and that such, were not of the favorable sort—I believed Sterne implicitly, I believed him! _I had no Motive to do otherwise than believe him just, generous & unhappy—till his Death gave me to know, that he was tainted with the Vices of Injustice, Meanness & Folly._ Nothing had ever offered to remove my prejudice against the Widows Character—till your assurances made me wish to be divested of it—Why then angry with me for a slight, which had it’s foundation in real Propriety when the very Proposal which Accompanied it, ought to have acted as a sponge on that, and a thousand such trivial offences, if I had been guilty of them? why? me!—why—I’ll tell you my Dear—because such Commentations on the beauty of a good Action—are like those Pretenders to science, who viewing a fine Poem, Statue, piece of Architecture, or Painting, have not latitude of mind enough, to comprehend the whole beauty of the Design, but enough of Presumtion to censure a Line—a Toe, a Pillar, or single error of the Pencil; if any of these vary in the smallest degree from the Rules of Art—Science may be Taught, and so may good breeding, Taste, Worth and Genius must be innate—to fill the Graceful, whether in Still or Active Life.—A Connoisseur in either, will refer to the _Plan_, in preference to seeking those Minute Blemishes, from w’ch the finest Models are not wholly exempt—and if all is fair, and well proportioned _There_, He with pleasure fixes his Eye on it as the Grand object worthy his Attention, in the way of Praise & Criticisms. And thus, I should have supposed, a Widow & Daughter of the Sentimental Yorick, capable of acting upon every occasion, in which it was given them to distinguish sterling merit from the false—for such I call every species of good Breeding, in some Cases, when Generosity, and Delicacy are principally requisite—I would engage, in a twelvemonth, to train any Girl of moderate abilities, to all the necessary Forms, and peculiar Etiquettes of genteel Behaviour—but I would not engage to make her capable of reaching one Generous