date

as soon after my Receipt of Sam's Packet
as soon after my Receipt of Sam's Packet as possible, I will take care to

transmit it to P. Carew together with your Letter to him, & think with

you, it will be better for me not to appear in it, since I am not unaware

that both of us interfering with the same Person may lessen the weight of

Each of us — Since my last I have been in Company with a Lady a

few miles from home, that was several years with the Consul of

Petersburg, was acquainted with every body belonging to it and particularly

the Countess, as you call her. This Lady told

me, She was handsome, genteel, in her person, & very amicable &

agreeable in her behaviour & deportment & esteem'd

by everybody, & in a manner adored by her own family, that

she is one that cou d not but please here

in England; that when ever she went out it was in a carriage with a

set of six horses to attend her — and she gave me much the same

account of her family, as Sam's to me — speaking of the Father she

said he was look d upon to be rather

a weak man, & was made a dupe of by some designing persons, who,

to answer some views of their own put him upon behaving in a manner

slighting or offensive to the Grand Duke & Dutchess, on

w ch account, it was that he was

ordered out of the way, to Moscow, but that his wife the Countess's

mother was not thought the worse of on his account — you will

probably want to know by this time, who this same Lady is, that co d give me so partial an account

— It is a M rs Winder, who is daughter of

Lady Knowles by Admiral Sir Cha s

Knowles, who you know, was some time at Petersberg. This daughter is

married to a young gentleman an officer of the Guards, but he

& she live chiefly with Lady Knowles her Mother, at Thorpe. M rs Winder is a very pretty, agreable

young Lady, plays admirably well on the Harpsichord, & when

she M iss Knowles

at Petersburg she was, it seems, a great favourite of the

Empress, in so much , as to be a kind of maid of

honour, & I once saw her dressed in Town, when she appeared to have

some Jewels, in some form, on one side w ch if

I understood aright were a present from the Empress, expressive of some

order or other, but as to that circumstance, perhaps, I may be mistaken,

however she appeared to be perfectly well acquainted with the Names ,

Persons & Characters of every body at the Court of Petersburg —

you may imagine I co d not but be

pleas'd that a young Lady of such a description &

character, as the Countess, had avow'd such a for Sam,

tho' nothing may come of it — as it nevertheless

1783 ) Q.S.P. Datchet 10 ) to Sept. ) J.B. Brompton

Sophia known by Mrs Winder
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  • Title: [15 versts from Petersbourg Aug t 21 t 1783]
    Description: 15 versts from Petersbourg Aug t 21 t 1783. O.S.

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    Description: 3

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    You have I suppose from Lind some idea of the manner in which the Nobility

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    4

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    of money to become a partner Sir James Harris's friendship to me

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    Chernobyl 1 st Aug t

    1780