indulgent father
loses the merit of all his past kindnesses. It is not impossible but she
may deceive herself in the happiness which she proposes from Philander;
but as in such a case she can have no one to blame but herself, she will
bear the disappointment with greater patience; but if she never makes
the experiment, however happy she may be with another, she will still
think she might have been happier with Philander. There is a kind of
sympathy in souls that fits them for each other; and we may be assured,
when we see two persons engaged in the warmths of a mutual affection,
that there are certain qualities in both their minds which bear a
resemblance to one another. A generous and constant passion in an
agreeable lover, where there is not too great a disparity in other
circumstances, is the greatest blessing that can befall the person
beloved; and if overlooked in one, may perhaps never be found in
another. I shall conclude this with a celebrated instance of a father's
indulgence in this particular, which, though carried to an extravagance,
has something in it so tender and amiable, as may justly reproach the
hardness of temper that is to be met with in many a British father.

Antiochus, a prince of great hopes, fell passionately in love with the
young Queen Stratonice, who was his mother-in-law, and had bore a son to
the old King Seleucus his father. The prince finding it impossible to
extinguish his passion, fell sick, and refused all manner of
nourishment, being determined to put an end to that life which was
become insupportable.

Erasistratus the physician soon found that love was his distemper; and
observing the alteration in his pulse and countenance whenever
Stratonice made him a visit, was soon satisfied that he was dying for
his young mother-in-law. Knowing the old king's tenderness for his son,
when he one morning inquired of his health, he told him, that the
prince's distemper was love; but that it was incurable, because it was
impossible for him to possess the person whom he loved. The king,
surprised at this account, desired to know how his son's passion could
be incurable? "Why, sir," replied Erasistratus, "because he is in love
with the person I am married to."

The old king immediately conjured him by all his past favours to save
the life of his son and successor. "Sir," said Erasistratus, "would your
majesty but fancy yourself in my place, you would see the
unreasonableness of what you desire!