Lady Susan
Autograph manuscript, fair copy, of a novel
Purchased, 1947
18
her voice & manner winningly mild. — I am sorry
it is so, for what is this but Deceit? — Unfortunately
one knows her too well. — She is clever & agreeable,
has all that knowledge of the world which makes
conversation easy, & talks very well, with a happy
command of language, which is too often used, I believe
to make Black appear White. She has already almost
persuaded me of her being warmly attached to her daugh:
:ter, tho' I have been so long convinced to the contrary.
She speaks of her with so much tenderness & anxiety,
lamenting so bitterly the neglect of her education, which
she represents however as wholly unavoidable, that
I am forced to recollect how many successive springs
her Ladyship spent in Town, while her daughter was
left in Staffordshire to the care of servants, or a
Governess very little better, to prevent my
believing what she says.
If her manners have so great an influence