FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138  
139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   >>   >|  
eathing in the thought of your marrying my sister; but I tremble lest this resolution should be the effect of passion merely, and not of that settled esteem and tender confidence without which mutual repentance will be the necessary consequence of your connexion. Lucy is one of the most beautiful women I ever knew, but she has merits of a much superior kind; her understanding and her heart are equally lovely: she has also a sensibility which exceedingly alarms me for her, as I know it is next to impossible that even her charms can fix a heart so long accustomed to change. Do I not guess too truly, my dear Temple, when I suppose the charming mistress is the only object you have in view; and that the tender amiable friend, the pleasing companion, the faithful confidante, is forgot? I will not however anticipate evils: if any merit has power to fix you, Lucy's cannot fail of doing it. I expect with impatience a further account of an event in which my happiness is so extremely interested. If she is yours, may you know her value, and you cannot fail of being happy: I only fear from your long habit of improper attachments; naturally, I know not a heart filled with nobler sentiments than yours, nor is there on earth a man for whom I have equal esteem. Adieu! Your affectionate Ed. Rivers. LETTER 99. To John Temple, Esq; Pall Mall. Quebec, March 23. I have received your second letter, my dear Temple, with the account of your marriage. Nothing could make me so happy as an event which unites a sister I idolize to the friend on earth most dear to me, did I not tremble for your future happiness, from my perfect knowledge of both. I know the sensibility of Lucy's temper, and that she loves you: I know also the difficulty of weaning the heart from such a habit of inconstancy as you have unhappily acquired. Virtues like Lucy's will for ever command your esteem and friendship; but in marriage it is equally necessary to keep love alive: her beauty, her gaiety, her delicacy, will do much; but it is also necessary, my dearest Temple, that you keep a guard on your heart, accustomed to liberty, to give way to every light impression. I need not tell you, who have experienced the truth of what I say, that happiness is not to be found in a life of intrigue; there is no real pleasure in the possession of beauty without the heart; with it, the fears, the anxieties, a man not absolutely destit
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138  
139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Temple
 

esteem

 

happiness

 
marriage
 

sensibility

 

account

 

beauty

 

accustomed

 

friend

 

tender


sister

 
tremble
 

equally

 
idolize
 
unites
 

Nothing

 

future

 

temper

 

difficulty

 

knowledge


perfect

 

marrying

 

weaning

 

received

 

LETTER

 
Rivers
 

affectionate

 

inconstancy

 

Quebec

 

letter


Virtues

 

experienced

 
intrigue
 

anxieties

 

absolutely

 

destit

 

possession

 

pleasure

 

impression

 

thought


friendship
 
command
 

acquired

 

eathing

 

gaiety

 
liberty
 

delicacy

 
dearest
 
unhappily
 

object