1796. JEr. 43.] COUNT RUMFOED. 57 



have published some of his essays. He took the oppor- 

 tunity to send for me, my mother being dead, and I requir- 

 ing protection. Many were the scenes he had passed 

 through after leaving me as an infant, and erroneous were 

 the ideas I had formed of him, particularly of his appear- 

 ance ; we having had only a small profile of him in shade, 

 giving ever an imperfect idea of the person. Indeed, so 

 different from what I had thought were his looks, that I 

 could hardly fancy him the person I sought after, and would 

 willingly have run from him, and ended in a violent fit of 

 crying, which he did not consider as a compliment, asking 

 me afterwards what I meant by it. The playfulness of his 

 character (at times) secured love to my father. Witness his 

 laughter, quite from the heart, nothing made up about it. 

 The expression of his mouth, ornamented with the most 

 finished pearls, was sweetness itself. But to see him acci- 

 dentally, he did not strike one as handsome, or very agree- 

 able, though not exactly to the contrary. At the time I 

 met him, having been ill, he was very thin and pale again 

 a reason of my disappointment. My opinion of him was 

 naturally romantic, perhaps, as young people's often are. 

 I had heard him spoken of as an officer. I had attached to 

 this an idea of the warrior, with the martial look, possibly 

 the sword, if not the gun, by his side. His profile being in 

 black, made me suppose him dark in complexion, possibly 

 sunburnt ; in short, in stature, size, and looks the perfect 

 warrior. Yet my mother often spoke of him as carroty, his 

 hair being red ; but later not so, a very pretty colour. My 

 father pretended I looked better than he expected to find 

 me. It is true he had had a most unfavourable likeness of 

 me in a small miniature. 



Though it was a trying scene to meet, yet it was nothing 

 to finding out each other's disposition in the end, and my 

 father began with being much alarmed about me. He him- 

 self resided in a large hotel in Pall Mall, but could not have 

 me with him, putting me to board not far off, at a Mrs. 



