hall only here acquaint you, that as age had not
subdued his tenderness for our sex, neither had it robbed him of the
power of pleasing, since whatever he wanted in the bewitching charms of
youth, he atoned for, or supplemented with the advantages of experience,
the sweetness of his manners, and above all, his flattering address in
touching the heart, by an application to the understanding. From him it
was I first learned, to any purpose, and not without infinite pleasure,
that I had such a portion of me worth bestowing some regard on; from him
I received my first essential encouragement, and instructions how to put
it in that train of cultivation, which I have since pushed to the little
degree of improvement you see it at; he it was, who first taught me to
be sensible that the pleasures of the mind were superior to those of
the body; at the same time, that they were so far from obnoxious to, or,
incompatible with each other, that, besides the sweetness in the variety
and transition, the one served to exalt and perfect the taste of the
other, to a degree that the senses alone can never arrive at.

Himself a rational pleasurist; as being much too wise to be ashamed of
the pleasures of humanity, loved me indeed, but loved me with dignity;
in a mean equally removed from the sourness, of forwardness, by which
age is unpleasingly characterized, and from that childish silly dotage
that so often disgraces it, and which he himself used to turn into
ridicule, and compare to an old goat affecting the frisk of a young kid.

In short, every thing that is generally unamiable in his season of life,
was, in him, repaired by so many advantages, that he existed a proof,
manifest at least to me, that it is not out of the power of age to
please, if it lays out to please, and if, making just allowance, those
in that class do not forget, that if must cost them more pains and
attention, than what youth, the natural spring-time of joy, stands in
need of: as fruits out of season require proportionally more skill and
cultivation, to force them.

With this gentleman, who took me home soon after our acquaintance
commenced, I lived near eight months in which time, my constant
complaisance and docility, my attention to deserve his confidence and
love, and a conduct, in general, devoid of the least art and founded on
my sincere regard and esteem for him, won and attached him so firmly to
me, that, after having generously trusted me with a genteel,