who am transported with an
unspeakable Joy, to hear those last Words from your fair Mouth: and let
me, Oh lovely _Atlante!_ assure you, that what I have said, are not
Words of course, but proceed from a Heart that has vow'd it self
eternally yours, even before I had the Happiness to behold this divine
Person; but now that my Eyes have made good all my Heart before
imagin'd, and did but hope, I swear, I will die a thousand Deaths,
rather than violate what I have said to you; that I adore you; that my
Soul and all my Faculties, are charm'd with your Beauty and Innocence,
and that my Life and Fortune, not inconsiderable, shall be laid at your
Feet.' This he spoke with a Fervency of Passion, that left her no Doubt
of what he had said; yet she blush'd for Shame, and was a little angry
at her self, for suffering him to say so much to her, the very first
time she saw him, and accused her self for giving him any Encouragement:
And in this Confusion she replied, 'Sir, you have said too much to be
believ'd; and I cannot imagine so short an Acquaintance can make so
considerable an Impression; of which Confession I accuse my self much
more than you, in that I did not only hearken to what you said, without
forbidding you to entertain me at that rate, but for unheedily speaking
something, that has encourag'd this Boldness; for so I must call it, in
a Man so great a Stranger to me.' 'Madam (said he) if I have offended by
the Suddenness of my presumptuous Discovery, I beseech you to consider
my Reasons for it, the few Opportunities I am like to have, and the
Impossibility of waiting on you, both from the Severity of your Father
and mine; who, ere I saw you, warn'd me of my Fate, as if he foresaw I
should fall in love, as soon as I should chance to see you; and for that
Reason has kept me closer to my Studies, than hitherto I have been. And
from that time I began to feel a Flame, which was kindled by Report
alone, and the Description my Father gave of your wondrous and dangerous
Beauty: Therefore, Madam, I have not suddenly told you of my Passion.
I have been long your Lover, and have long languish'd without telling of
my Pain; and you ought to pardon it now, since it is done with all the
Respect and religious Awe, that 'tis possible for a Heart to deliver and
unload it self in; therefore, Madam, if you have by chance uttered any
thing, that I have taken Advantage or Hope from, I assure you 'tis so
small, that you have no reason to repent