se to be my lover.

Should this letter find you in the full possession of happiness, let not
the idea of your once loved Eliza, thus intruding itself again upon your
thoughts, interrupt your enjoyments. May some distinguished female, as
deserving as fair, partake with you of that bliss which I have
forfeited.

Whatever may be my destiny, my best wishes shall ever attend you, and a
pleasing remembrance of your honorable attentions preside, till death,
in the breast of

ELIZA WHARTON.

LETTER XLVII.

TO MISS ELIZA WHARTON.

HAMPSHIRE.

Madam: As I was sitting last evening in my study, a letter was handed me
by a servant; upon which I no sooner cast my eye than I recognized, with
surprise, the hand and seal of my once loved, but to me long lost,
Eliza. I opened it hastily, and with still greater surprise read the
contents.

You write with frankness; I shall answer in the same manner.

On reviewing our former intercourse, be assured that I have not an
accusing thought in my heart. The regard which I felt for you was tender
and animated, but it was not of that passionate kind which ends in
death or despair. It was governed by reason, and had a nobler object in
view than mere sensual gratification. It was excited by the appearance
of excellent qualities. Your conduct, at length, convinced me it was
misplaced; that you possessed not in reality those charms which I had
fondly ascribed to you. They were inconsistent, I conceived, with that
artifice and dissimulation of which you strove to render me the dupe.
But, thank Heaven, the snare was broken. My eyes were open to discover
your folly; and my heart, engaged as it was, exerted resolution and
strength to burst asunder the chain by which you held me enslaved, and
to assert the rights of an injured man.

The parting scene you remember. I reluctantly bade you adieu. I tore
myself from you, determined to eradicate your idea from my breast. Long
and severe was the struggle; at last I vanquished, as I thought, every
tender passion of my soul, (for they all centred in you,) and resigned
myself to my God and my duty, devoting those affections to friendship
which had been disappointed in love. But they are again called into
exercise. The virtuous, the amiable, the accomplished Maria Selby
possesses my entire confidence and esteem; and I trust I am not deceived
when I think her highly deserving of both. With her I expect soon to be
united in the most sacred and endearing