O dearest, dear sir, said I, have you nothing more to honour me with?
You oblige and improve me at the same time.--What a happy lot is mine!
Why, let me see, my dearest, said he--But I think of no more at present:
For it would be needless to say how much I value you for your natural
sweetness of temper, and that open cheerfulness of countenance, which
adorns you, when nothing has given my fairest apprehensions for her
virtue: A sweetness, and a cheerfulness, that prepossesses in your
favour, at first sight, the mind of every one that beholds you.--I need
not, I hope, say, that I would have you diligently preserve this sweet
appearance: Let no thwarting accident, no cross fortune, (for we must not
expect to be exempt from such, happy as we now are in each other!)
deprive this sweet face of this its principal grace: And when any thing
unpleasing happens, in a quarter of an hour, at farthest, begin to
mistrust yourself, and apply to your glass; and if you see a gloom
arising, or arisen, banish it instantly; smooth your dear countenance;
resume your former composure; and then, my dearest, whose heart must
always be seen in her face, and cannot be a hypocrite, will find this a
means to smooth her passions also: And if the occasion be too strong for
so sudden a conquest, she will know how to do it more effectually, by
repairing to her closet, and begging that gracious assistance, which has
never yet failed her: And so shall I, my dear, who, as you once but too
justly observed, have been too much indulged by my good mother, have an
example from you, as well as a pleasure in you, which will never be
palled.
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