Sat. 1. as La ilan tragedy, which was in 25 1013 a

T

o'ls enes:--mine 13 but in three acts

Bol I have begun this letter at the wrong never ura; I must end it, then, at the right.

Yours ever very trely and ebligedly,

Maria ma is very well. She has been

e pature fox me--a miniature which is very

A letter from M11. Hanson apprizes me of the »

:

1.

with Sir Ralph Neel (of which ny), and of his interviews with . e subpet of ou. daughte..

I am

in Chancery ûled against me
Noel, of which this is the firs
bject of which I am ignorant.
be the rest of these discussions
have led to them, and to which
r, that I have not been the f

gun, neither shall I be the f ngth convinced that the foolipe led cher.. o through all and in spite of all,

The hope of a reconciliation and readon, he remote,--is ndubitably useless; ar i although, xl. * onsidered, it could not be very sangue, still srcere, and I cherished it as a sickly infatuatio

1.

y

to

Pwe (shorts, ed. 1730, vol n. pp. 187, 18%) says t while I veka Hospital, Nathan Lee wrote a twenty-five th 2. Printed

L

ragi. Iraft in the possesion of Mr. A

1817.]

A WIFE'S DUTY AND JUSTICE.

67

now I part with it with a regret, perhaps bitterer of [than] that which I felt in parting with yourself.

It was generally understood, if not expressed, that all legal proceedings were to terminate in the act of our separation to what then I am to attribute the bill, of which I am apprized, I am at a loss to conjecture. The object, however, is evident: it is to deprive me of my paternal right over my child, which I have the less merited, as I neither abused nor intended to abuse it. You and yours might have been satisfied with the outrages I have already suffered, if not by your design, at least by your means. I know your defence and your apology-duty and Justice; but Qui n'est que juste, est dur: or if the French aphorism should seem light in the balance, I could refer you to an older language and a higher authority for the condemnation of conduct, which you may yet live to condemn in your own heart.

Throughout the whole of this unhappy business, I have done my best to avoid the bitterness, which, however, is yet amongst us; and it would be as well if even you at times recollected, that the man who has been sacrificed in fame, in feelings, in every thing, to the convenience of your family, was he whom you once loved, and who-whatever you may imagine to the contrary— loved you. If you conceive that I could be actuated by revenge against you, you are mistaken: I am not humble enough to be vindictive. Irritated I may have been, and may be is it a wonder? but upon such irritation, beyond its momentary expression, I have not acted, from the hour that you quitted me to that in which I am made

1. Compare Marino Faliero, act v. sc. I

"Alas! signor,

He who is only just is cruel; who

Upon the earth would live, were all judged justly?"