Letter XIV

Summary

From Mrs. B. to Lady DAVERS.

My good Lady,

You command me to acquaint you with the Proceedings between Mr. Murray and Miss Nanny Darnford: And Miss Polly makes it very easy for me to obey you, in this Particular, and in very few Words; for she says, Every thing was adjusted before she came away, and the Ceremony, she believes, may be performed by this Time. She rejoices that she was out of the way of it: For she says, Love is so aukward a Thing to Mr. Murray, and Good-humour so uncommon an one to Miss Nancy, that she hopes she shall never see such another Courtship.

Mr. B. teizes Miss, that she is a little piqu’d, and that she shew’d it by a satirical Fling or two in a former Letter to me, that her humble Servant took her at her Word: And yet he acknowleges, that he believes she despises him, as by his Conduct he has shewn, that he deserves to be despised by her.

She says, nothing has piqu’d her in the whole Affair, but the Triumph it gave to that ill-natur’d Girl, as she justly calls her Sister, who has insulted her unmercifully on that Account; and yet with so low and mean a Spite, that she has been vex’d at herself to shew the least Concern on the Occasion. But ungenerous Teizing is an intolerable thing, as she says; and often repeated, will vex a Mind naturally above it: Had it, says she, come from any body else, I should not have heeded it; but how can one despise a Sister?

We have been at the Play-house several times; and give me Leave to say, Madam, (for I have now read as well as seen several) That I think the Stage, by proper Regulations,might be made a profitable Amusement. But nothing more convinces one, than these Representations, of the Truth of the common Observation, That the best Things, corrupted, may prove the worst.