Thefe arofe, not only from my unhappy fituation, but from the perfidy and ingratitude I had expe rienced from a man, who, whilft he was pretending to regret my lofs, was, as I had been informed, abetting and inventing the most improbable, and the falfest reports of me.

Among thefe, it was given out by them, that I encouraged the addreffes of a noble Lord, with whofe Countefs I had the honour of being upon terms of intimacy. Had I been inclined to gallantry, for this reafon, as well as upon account of his own deformity, that nobleman would have been the last man I fhould have chofen. They alfo carried their inveteracy fo far, as to engage a person who wrote for bread, and is a difgrace to the navy, to fcandalize me in a fcurrilous publication, not unlike Bellmen's Verses.

In travelling to the Head, however dull and melancholy my days were, I had great entertainment in the evenings; there being always fome perfon at the inns playing upon the harp, the favourite inftrument of the Welch. And the ditties they played seemed to fuit the gloomy temperature of my mind. When I arrived at ConwayFerry, the wind was so high, that it was impracticable to go over. I was therefore obliged to remain at the ferry-houfe during the night.

Here

Here I was neceffitated to fup in the fame room with all thofe who were forced, like myself, to take up their abode at the inn. There being but one room below stairs, and that, like the cobler's, ferving at once for "parlour, for kitchen, and "hall," we all fat together; only the parlour was divided from the kitchen by a curtain. And both were tolerably well filled. For, befides my fuit, which confifted of the two poftillions, a guide, two footmen, and three maids, the company was From the unfavourable appearance of the habitation, I was apprehenfive that my entertainment would have been as homely. But I was not only most agreeably furprized with one of the best fuppers I had ever fat down to at an inn, but with a small neat bed-room, and a very good bed, and every accommodation that could be hoped for in the beft inus on the road. And all this at so trifling an expence, that it was not to be imagined the people of the house could get a reafonable profit.

numerous.

When I arrived at the Head, the packet was ready to fail. I found there a great number of people waiting to go over, but very few would venture, the fea being extremely boisterous. But as I neither wifhed for life, nor was apprehenfive of danger, it was very immaterial to me in what ftate the fea was. I therefore went aboard, and,

by way of pre-eminence, was cooped up in what is called the ftate-cabin. This fituation was the means of my being more indifpofed than I otherwife fhould have been. For during a ftorm, which lafted four days, I underwent the most excruciating fickness. And this was augmented, by having nothing to drink but cold water. As the paffage is ufually made in a few hours, I had not thought it neceffary to lay in a fea-ftore.

We landed at Dunlarny; when I was fo much enfeebled by the fatigue I had undergone, that I was obliged to be supported to the shore. A coach was fent from Dublin, to convey me to the house of Mrs Molloy, on College Green, with whom I had been very intimate. As unpacking would take up more time than I chose to bestow upon it, 1 fet off immediately, without ftaying to change even my linen. And from the fituation I had been in for four days, together with the uneafy ftate of my mind, it must be supposed that my appearance was not the most brilliant.

My arrival having been hourly expected, curiofity had induced many of the ftudents of the cok lege to watch for my coming. I accordingly found the door of the house, at which I was to alight, crowded with them, in expectation of beholding a wonder. For it could not enter into the imagination of thofe young gentlemen, that

any

any thing less than a perfect beauty had been fo general a topic of converfation, and the fubject of fo many poetical compliments from their prede

ceffors.

One of my female domeftics was tolerably handfome; fhe, therefore, at firft caught their eyes; but, as she had not that appearance of elegance which distinguishes the gentlewoman, the mistake was but momentary. At length I stepped out of the coach. The long-expected phænomenon now made her appearance. But Oh, how different a figure from what their imagination had depictured! Fashion to yourself the idea of a little dirty creature, bent nearly double, enfeebled by fatigue, her countenance tinged with the jaundice, and in every refpect the reverfe of a person who could make the leaft pretenfions to beauty. Such was I, when I prefented myself to the fight of the gazing crowd. And so great and natural was their furprize and disappointment, that they immediately vanished, and left me to crawl into the house, without admiration or molestation.

I spent the evening at the Parliament-Houfe, where many of the feniors of the college, as well as the Provoft, were prefent. Others likewife came to see the fright which had excited the dif guft of the curious in the morning. Nothing is so favourable to an object as exaggerated difpraife. B 5 For,

For, with only the affiftance of ablution, and in the moft fimple drefs (fimplicity in my drefs being, as I have already obferved, my constant adoption, except when finery was abfolutely needful; and I always fcorned to owe any addition to art, which I difliked as much in the adornment of the perfon as of the mind), I made a more favourable impreffion upon the company than could have been expected.

The next morning Mr. Moffop came to congratulate me on my fafe arrival, as the violence of the ftorm had made him apprehenfive for my fafety. He informed me, that Mr. Woodward had been confined by a fever at Cork; notwithftanding which, as foon as he had heard of my engagement, he had fent the letter containing my promise of giving him the preference to Mr. Barry, who had moft illiberally pofted it up in one of the principal coffee-houfes in Dublin. It might not be unneceffary to add here, that when Mr. Calcraft was informed of this tranfaction, he fent to demand of Barry four hundred pounds he had lent him fome years before. As it was not in Barry's power, Mr. Woodward was obliged to pay it for him. Thus was the latter punished for his indifcretion with regard to my letter.

I had fent my men-fervants and the horfes back to London from Holyhead, as the inconvenience.

of