a copy of the lines; and then I shall judge better
of their merit; and so shall you. The tendency of them was, 'That, since
sickness only gave him a proper train of thinking, and that his restored
health brought with it a return to his evil habits, he was ready to
renounce those gifts of nature for those of contemplation.'

He farther declared, that although these good motions went off (as
he had owned) on his recovery, yet he had better hopes now, from
the influence of my example, and from the reward before him, if he
persevered: and that he was the more hopeful that he should, as his
present resolution was made in a full tide of health and spirits; and
when he had nothing to wish for but perseverance, to entitle himself to
my favour.

I will not throw cold water, Mr. Lovelace, said I, on a rising flame:
but look to it! for I shall endeavour to keep you up to this spirit. I
shall measure your value of me by this test: and I would have you bear
those charming lines of Mr. Rowe for ever in your mind; you, who have,
by your own confession, so much to repent of; and as the scar, indeed,
you shewed me, will, in one instance, remind you to your dying day.

The lines, my dear, are from the poet's Ulysses; you have heard me often
admire them; and I repeated them to him:

Habitual evils change not on a sudden:
But many days must pass, and many sorrows;
Conscious remorse and anguish must be felt,
To curb desire, to break the stubborn will,
And work a second nature in the soul,
Ere Virtue can resume the place she lost:
'Tis else dissimulation--

He had often read these lines, he said; but never tasted them
before.--By his soul, (the unmortified creature swore,) and as he hoped
to be saved, he was now in earnest in his good resolutions. He had said,
before I repeated those lines from Rowe, that habitual evils could
not be changed on a sudden: but he hoped he should not be thought a
dissembler, if he were not enabled to hold his good purposes; since
ingratitude and dissimulation were vices that of all others he abhorred.

May you ever abhor them, said I. They are the most odious of all vices.

I hope, my dear Miss Howe, I shall not have occasion, in my future
letters, to contradict these promising appearances. Should I have
nothing on his side to combat with, I shall be very far from being
happy, from the sense of my fault, and the indignation of all my
relations. So shall not fail