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it would be to me if they retracted, I added that upon the strength of
the hopes they had given me, and which I looked upon as tantamount to
a promise, I had gone so far as to propose it to my Mother and
you, and that you had declared your readiness to come whenever it should
suit them. All however would not do, and I was obliged at last to give up
the expectation I had been so long feasting upon. All however passed
in perfect good humour and without any signs of pique or displeasure
at my importunities. When that conversation was over, I took
my leave. Mrs B. asked me to stay dinner; but I had determined
with myself before-hand not to stay this time unless I was pressed, that
I might call with the more freedom another time: besides I thought
that as Miss S. was not well there would be no playing on the Harpsichord,
and that the greatest part of the time betwixt that and dinner
would be taken up in her dressing for her visit.
Their behaviour I thought seemed much more free and unreserved this
time than the preceding; so that till the last fatal denial came I was
all along in high spirits. When they Mrs B. asked me after your health and my
mother's, she added she was in hopes she should have seen you before
now. When Mrs B. told me of the Lady she expected to stay a fortnight
with her, I asked (Miss S. in the room) whether she expected Mr Mussarede
this autumn. Miss S. smiled; as much as to say, this is not a question
of mere chit-chat curiosity. Mrs B. said she did not know. she had asked
him. but she did not know whether he would come. He would come if he
pleased: as "she had given him a general invitation." This did not look
I thought, like any very particular intimacy. — Talking with Mrs
B. about her netting, she said she had thoughts of taking to net large nets
for the Garden. She had seen Lady Lyttelton net do that kind of netting-
work; The instruments for it are called a pin and a needle and Lady Lyttelton had promised to put her pin and needle into
the hands of her carpenter, to make a pair by them for Mrs B. This was
before they went to Birchington: since then they have been to Lady L's: but
her Ladyship did not say any thing about it. This, I think, seems to be
a favourable opportunity for me to make her a present of a pair of those
instruments. If you approve of it, Sir, I will beg leave to trouble you with
the commission. They are to be had I should suppose in ivory: or some
other neater material than the Carpenter would make them of. If it should
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Identifier: | JB/538/060/002 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 538.
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1776-09-12 |
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538 |
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060 |
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002 |
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Correspondence |
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Jeremy Bentham |
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