Selections from Eliza Leslie

Eliza Farnham, or The Love Letters

81 Eliza Farnham, or The Love Letters Part I Eliza Farnham was sister to a physician who resided in the western part of the state of New York, at a large and flourishing town which bore the Grecian name of Peloponnesus. She had been placed, when a little girl, at a fashionable boardingschool , located somewhere on the banks of the Hudson, and having lost both her parents before she attained her fourteenth year, her brother had succeeded to the charge of herself and her fortune of twenty thousand dollars. On quitting school at the age of sixteen, our heroine had spent a winter in the city of New York by an invitation from the family of her fellow-pupil and most intimate friend, Maria Copley.There she became acquainted with Horace Montacute, a Bostonian, of fine appearance , high connections, and independent fortune, who devoting much of his attention to public affairs, was what is called a “rising young man.”Fascinated by the beauty of Eliza Farnham, he fell immediately and desperately in love. Perceiving that he had made a favourable impression, he became eager to secure his conquest, and before his return to Boston, he addressed her and was accepted. When Dr. Farnham came to convey his sister home (his house at Peloponnesus was to be her residence while unmarried ) he found her engaged to Horace Montacute. Having learnt, on inquiry, that the young gentleman was, in every sense of the term, an excellent match, Dr. Farnham willingly gave 82 Eliza Farnham, or The Love Letters his consent, upon condition that the marriage should not take place till Eliza had reached the age of eighteen; justly considering that, as yet, their acquaintance was too short, and the lady too young. Montacute accompanied them to their home, passed a week at Peloponnesus, and then returned to Boston, with the intention of beguiling the term of probation by frequent visits to the mistress of his heart. Dr. Farnham was a widower without children. His establishment was superintended by his mother, a plain simple-minded dame of the old school, and an active and excellent house-wife. After bringing home his sister, Dr. Farnham was not long in discovering, to his great disappointment, that though her style of dress was elegant, that of her conversation was very much the reverse: that in the cultivation of a few showy accomplishments the improvement of her mind had been entirely neglected; that she knew nothing of any books except those from which she had been obliged to learn the words of sundry lessons repeated with the comprehension of a parrot and forgotten the next day. Her winter in the city had been passed in a very gay circle, where all her time was devoted to a perpetual round of frivolous company, (including balls and crowded parties) and to the adornment of her person. Her numerous deficiencies as they dawned upon the observation of her brother (who had a quick perception of the ridiculous) sometimes diverted as well as grieved him: but he had a great aversion to lecturing, as he called it; and he comforted himself with the reflection that Eliza was going to be married to a very accomplished and intelligent young man, and that it would then be her husband’s business to improve her. In the mean time, Dr. Farnham concluded that now that his sister had left school, and had passed the “ordeal of her coming out,” and of a season in New York, she would insensibly and gradually improve without any particular exertion: and that at eighteen she might probably arrive at a tolerable mediocrity. 83 Eliza Farnham, or The Love Letters A few days after the departure of her lover, Eliza Farnham, holding an open letter in her hand, and with a very unhappy countenance, entered the apartment in which her brother was reading, and her grandmother seated at her knitting. “What is the matter, Eliza”—said the good old lady—“why do you look so uncomfortable. I suppose that letter is from your sweetheart; so it ought to make you glad instead of sorry.” “I hope the course of true love continues to run smoothly”— said Dr. Farnham—“whatever Will Shakspeare may tell us to the contrary, with his universal knowledge of every thing in the world.” “Mr. Shakspeare had better keep his information to himself ,”—said Eliza, pettishly—“I know not who he is, or what...