IV.
For flow'rs and women are allied;
Both, nature's glory, and her pride!
Of ev'ry fragrant sweet possest,
They bloom but for the fair one's breast,
And to the swelling bosom borne,
Each other mutually adorn.
Thus sweetly did he palliate the woes, which the generosity of his
actions, mixed with the solemness of the occasion, and the strange
request he had vouchsafed to make me, had occasioned. And all he would
permit me to say, was, that I was not displeased with him!--Displeased
with you, dearest sir! said I: Let me thus testify my obligations, and
the force all your commands shall have upon me. And I took the liberty
to clasp my arms about his neck, and kissed him.
But yet my mind was pained at times, and has been to this hour.--God
grant that I may never see the dreadful moment, that shall shut up the
precious life of this excellent, generous benefactor of mine! And--but I
cannot bear to suppose--I cannot say more on such a deep subject.
Oh! what a poor thing is human life in its best enjoyments! subjected to
imaginary evils, when it has no real ones to disturb it; and that can be
made as effectually unhappy by its apprehensions of remote contingencies,
as if it was struggling with the pangs of a present distress! This, duly
reflected upon, methinks, should convince every one, that this world is
not a place for the immortal mind to be confined to; and that there must
be an hereafter, where the whole soul shall be satisfied.
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