BC_1763_EMONTAGU_EV_4

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<Q A 1763? TC EV EMONTAGU>
<X ELIZABETH MONTAGU>
[}ELIZABETH MONTAGU TO ELIZABETH VESEY. 1763? HUNTINGTON LIBRARY: NO MO NUMBER}]
<P1>
[\ANNOTATED To M=rs= Vesey 1763?\]
A postscript to be (^read before^) the letter. Why do you laugh at that M=rs= Vesey? are papers like Heirs made to take place according to seniority of age & priority of birth? I say read my postscript which shall be what postscripts never was before (on this side the water at least) it shall be a prologue & a preface which perhaps is the Hebrew fashion, & for the sake of that Hebrician M=rs= Carter take it (\a l'hebreu\) . You will find in my letter that I am giving you some trouble to convey a letter to a Lady at Limerick. I imagine you may know some person there, if not you will find some friend who has an [\acquaintance\] there whom they can prevail on to speak to M=rs= Moore If you please you may send my letter to the person who is to talk with M=rs= Moore & it will show what is desired. I made it short & insipid, & so innocent you may give it a child, as ye quack Doctors say of their powder of post. I will now tell you I am much interested for this young man, not for his own sake, for he is a paltry youth, too flimsey of brain to make a prudent or an honest man, but I w=d= do my best to prevent
<P2>
his ruin for the sake of his mother a most amiable Woman who full of regard for her children retired in her early widow hood to the cave of Malvina, there the lonely watcher of the night sat listening winds when she might have given an ear to the softer Sighing of lovers. She has been a perfect Penelope in constant love & solitary woe. She has a small house surrounded by rocks through which winds & rapid river over her head impend black mountains & if the sun visits her it is with oblique rays. In this place she educated her daughter with all the care & tenderness imaginable, form'd her heart to virtue, her mind to knowledge, & her form to grace & dignity. If a poet had met her on the banks of the river he w=d= have address'd to her as the nymph of the stream & calld her Sabrina, Arethusa, or some river divinity but as we are not poetical in Northumberland she was call'd Miss Grey Miss Grey (\toute courte\) & M=r= Grey Brother to Sir Henry Grey her relation married her. tho a [\younger\] Brother he has a genteel fortune & so our Penelope is happy in her daughter but very unhappy in her son. He was taken from her by his Grandfather
<P3>
who is a good sort of man & was very fond of the youth & is now at 83 made very wretched by his misconduct & I do not much like M=rs= Moore for marrying her daughter to a young man without his parents consent if you know any thing of ye family either of their circumstances & moral character I sh=d= be glad to have information of it that we may know how to proceed. M=rs= Grey when she was Miss Ogle had ye honour of knowing you. I do not know how she appeard when she was a girl but her superior understanding & manners made an impression upon me the first time I saw her, & I have liked her better & better on further acquaintance with her & further information of her character. I wish she had educated her son, she w=d= have given him nobler sentiments. My old cousin told him ten times a day that a penny saved was a penny [\got/] that money was always a friend, & a thousand such good saws, but without fixd principles of virtue what signify maxims of prudence. The foundations of virtue [\well/] laid prudent conduct will follow, but Parents are apt to think selfishness will make a man happy, whereas in fast headstrong
<P4>
selfishness betrays to every mischief, & to such a disposition the tyes of duty are much weaker than the impulse to pleasure. I desire you to write when you have nothing to do, I am forced to write when I have nothing to say. I am frozen with cold, I am petrifyed with dullness, I long to come out of my Coal hole, but I fear it will be three weeks before I get to London tho I am perfectly of S=r=Evremonts [\opinion/] (\qu'il n'y a point de salut pour les honnetes gens hors du Capitale\) . I desire your letters (not your prayers) for a poor soul in the purgatory of business. I hear you are all very lively in Ireland. Our house of Commons will spare you M=r= Wilkes if you have any occasion for him, (\Adieu\) Dear Madam, if alas all the pains I have been at to regulate the precedency of postscript & letter terrified at the apparent length you sh=d= not read either of them? but if you don't read them y=r= self you will make M=rs= Hancock who will do any thing for y=r= sake.
     Ever y=rs=
     EM