_ THE FEMALE PHILOSOPHER
A LETTER
My Dear Louisa
Your friend Mr Millar called upon us yesterday in his way to
Bath, whither he is going for his health; two of his daughters
were with him, but the eldest and the three Boys are with their
Mother in Sussex. Though you have often told me that Miss Millar
was remarkably handsome, you never mentioned anything of her
Sisters' beauty; yet they are certainly extremely pretty. I'll
give you their description.--Julia is eighteen; with a
countenance in which Modesty, Sense and Dignity are happily
blended, she has a form which at once presents you with Grace,
Elegance and Symmetry. Charlotte who is just sixteen is shorter
than her Sister, and though her figure cannot boast the easy
dignity of Julia's, yet it has a pleasing plumpness which is in a
different way as estimable. She is fair and her face is
expressive sometimes of softness the most bewitching, and at
others of Vivacity the most striking. She appears to have
infinite Wit and a good humour unalterable; her conversation
during the half hour they set with us, was replete with humourous
sallies, Bonmots and repartees; while the sensible, the amiable
Julia uttered sentiments of Morality worthy of a heart like her
own. Mr Millar appeared to answer the character I had always
received of him. My Father met him with that look of Love, that
social Shake, and cordial kiss which marked his gladness at
beholding an old and valued freind from whom thro' various
circumstances he had been separated nearly twenty years. Mr
Millar observed (and very justly too) that many events had
befallen each during that interval of time, which gave occasion
to the lovely Julia for making most sensible reflections on the
many changes in their situation which so long a period had
occasioned, on the advantages of some, and the disadvantages of
others. From this subject she made a short digression to the
instability of human pleasures and the uncertainty of their
duration, which led her to observe that all earthly Joys must be
imperfect. She was proceeding to illustrate this doctrine by
examples from the Lives of great Men when the Carriage came to
the Door and the amiable Moralist with her Father and Sister was
obliged to depart; but not without a promise of spending five or
six months with us on their return. We of course mentioned you,
and I assure you that ample Justice was done to your Merits by
all. "Louisa Clarke (said I) is in general a very pleasant Girl,
yet sometimes her good humour is clouded by Peevishness, Envy and
Spite. She neither wants Understanding or is without some
pretensions to Beauty, but these are so very trifling, that the
value she sets on her personal charms, and the adoration she
expects them to be offered are at once a striking example of her
vanity, her pride, and her folly." So said I, and to my opinion
everyone added weight by the concurrence of their own.
Your affectionate
Arabella Smythe. _