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 and expos'd to the fatal impressions of a damp night-air.

After acquitting myself of my duty towards my deceas'd benefactor, and paying him a tribute of unfeign'd sorrow, which a little time chang'd into the most tender, grateful memory of him, that I shall ever retain, I grew somewhat comforted by the prospect that now open'd to me, if not of happiness, at least of affluence, and independence.

I saw myself then, in the full bloom and pride of youth (for I was not yet nineteen) actually at the head of so large a fortune, as it would have been even the heighth of impudence in me, to have rais'd my wishes, much more my hopes, to: and that this unexpected elevation did not turn my head, I ow'd to the pains my benefactor had taken to form and prepare me for it, as I ow'd his opinion of my management of the vast possessions he left me, to what he had observ'd of the prudential œconomy I had learned under Mrs. Cole, of which the reserve Rh