remembering her precepts.  Though my father was doatingly fond of her, yet there were some sentiments in which they materially differed:  she had been bred from her infancy in the strictest principles of religion, and took the morality of her conduct from the motives which an adherence to those principles suggested.  My father, who had been in the army from his youth, affixed an idea of pusillanimity to that virtue, which was formed by the doctrines, excited by the rewards, or guarded by the terrors of revelation; his dashing idol was the honour of a soldier:  a term which he held in such reverence, that he used it for his most sacred asseveration.  When my mother died, I was some time suffered to continue in those sentiments which her instructions had produced; but soon after, though, from respect to her memory, my father did not absolutely ridicule them, yet he showed, in his discourse to others, so little regard to them, and at times suggested to me motives of action so different, that I was soon weaned from opinions which I began to consider as the dreams of superstition, or the artful inventions of designing hypocrisy.  My mother’s books were left behind at the different quarters we removed to, and my reading was principally confined to plays, novels, and those poetical descriptions of the beauty of virtue and honour, which the circulating libraries easily afforded.

“As I was generally reckoned handsome, and the quickness of my parts extolled by all our visitors, my father had a pride in allowing me to the world.  I was young, giddy, open to adulation, and vain of those talents which acquired it.

“After the last war, my father was reduced to half-pay; with which we retired to a village in the country, which the acquaintance of some genteel families who resided in it, and the cheapness of living, particularly recommended.  My father rented a small house, with a piece of ground sufficient to keep a horse for him, and a cow for the benefit of his family.  An old man servant managed his ground; while a maid, who had formerly been my mother’s, and had since been mine, undertook the care of our little dairy:  they were assisted in each of their provinces by my father and me:  and we passed our time in a state of tranquillity, which he had always talked of with delight, and my train of reading had taught me to admire.

“Though I had never seen the polite circles of the metropolis, the company my father had introduced me into had given me a degree of good breeding, which soon discovered a superiority over the young ladies of our village.  I was quoted as an example of politeness, and my company courted by most of the considerable families in the neighbourhood.

“Amongst the houses where I was frequently invited was Sir George Winbrooke’s.  He had two daughters nearly of my age, with whom, though they had been bred up in those maxims of vulgar doctrine which my superior understanding could not but despise, yet as their good nature led them to an imitation of my manners in everything else, I cultivated a particular friendship.