but mine
too; which it is certainly my affair to prevent.

Say every thing for me to the ladies of your family.

Adieu! Your affectionate
J. Fitzgerald.

LETTER 197.

To Captain Fitzgerald.

Bellfield, Oct. 10.

You are a malicious fellow, Fitzgerald, and I am half inclined to
keep the sweet Bell by force; take all the men away if you please, but
I cannot bear the loss of a woman, especially of such a woman.

If I was not more a lover than a husband, I am not sure I should not
wish to take my revenge.

To make me happy, you must place me in a circle of females, all as
pleasing as those now with me, and turn every male creature out of the
house.

I am a most intolerable monopolizer of the sex; in short, I have
very little relish for any conversation but theirs: I love their sweet
prattle beyond all the sense and learning in the world.

Not that I would insinuate they have less understanding than we, or
are less capable of learning, or even that it less becomes them.

On the contrary, all such knowledge as tends to adorn and soften
human life and manners, is, in my opinion, peculiarly becoming in
women.

You don't deserve a longer letter.

Adieu! Yours,
Ed. Rivers.

LETTER 198.

To Mrs. Fitzgerald.

Bellfield, Oct. 12.

I am very conscious, my dear Bell, of not meriting the praises my
Rivers lavishes on me, yet the pleasure I receive from them is not the
less lively for that consideration; on the contrary, the less I deserve
these praises, the more flattering they are to me, as the stronger
proofs of his love; of that love which gives ideal charms, which
adorns, which embellishes its object.

I had rather be lovely in his eyes, than in those of all mankind;
or, to speak more exactly, if I continue to please him, the admiration
of all the world is indifferent to me: it is for his sake alone I wish
for beauty, to justify the dear preference he has given me.

How pleasing are these sweet shades! were they less so, my Rivers's
presence would give them every charm: every object has appeared to me
more lovely since the dear moment when I first saw him; I seem to have
acquired a new existence from his tenderness.

You say true, my dear Bell: heaven doubtless formed us to be happy,
even in this world; and we obey its dictates in being so, when we can
without encroaching on the happiness of others.

This lesson is, I think, plain from the book providence ha