2 EMPLOYMENT IN LONDON. 



bargains on the Stock Exchange, by which he is 

 ruined ; and I am obhged to depend for subsistence 

 on the bounty of my mother's sister, who Hves with 

 her daughter, on a small income, in a retired part of 

 Wales. 



Educated as I have been, in a fashionable manner, 

 and accustomed to the gaieties of London, how shall 

 I bear the uniform secluded life that my good aunt 

 and cousin lead in the country ? Since I left school, 

 my time has been at my own disposal : the mornings 

 have generally been devoted to shopping with young 

 ladies of my acquaintance, a promenade in the park, 

 or some other similar amusement: my afternoons 

 have always passed in company at home, or parties 

 abroad. The few intervals of leisure that I could 

 command from these daily engagements were spent 

 at the piano-forte, or in reading books of entertain- 

 ment. What an insufferable change must I endure, 

 to be confined to the society of two persons, both 

 strangers to those pursuits that I have been accustom- 

 ed to consider as the prime enjoyments of life ; to be 

 banished from London, and obliged to pass my ex- 

 istence in a country village, where the sound of a 

 coach is seldom heard ! To-morrow, instead of my 

 birth-day festival, I depart from the gay metropolis 

 in a stage-coach ; and, if I reach the place of my 

 destination in safety, I will give you an account of 



