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using the utmost diligence to please in return, we shall enjoy at least as many pleasures as will make life valuable, and desirable. The subject I principally design to treat of in this letter, is the plea sures of conjugal affection.

Love's a gentle generous passion,
Source of all sublime delights,
Which by mutual inclination,
Two fond hearts in one unites."

The flame of love once raised will burn long, if fanned by both its votaries; but will inevitably expire, if left to the care of one.

Mutual constancy, and unbounded confidence, are chief ingredients in love.

Of all the pleasures that endear human life, there is none more worthy of the attention of a rational creature, than those that flow from the mutual returns of conjugal love. A happy marriage has in it all the pleasures of friendship, all the enjoyments of sense and reason; and indeed, all the sweets of life. And to make it so, nothing more is required than religion, virtue, prudence, and good nature. When two minds are thus engaged by the ties of reciprocal sincerity, each alternately receives and communicates pleasures, that are in

conceivable to all but those who are in this situation. Hence arises that heart ennobling solicitude for one another's welfare, that tender sympathy which alleviates affliction, and that participated pleasure, which heightens prosperity and joy itself.'

To form a just estimate of the pleasures of the marriage state, we must call back to recollection whatever was delightful in the season of courtship. More particularly, we must dwell upon the realization of all that we could reasonably promise ourselves in each other, during that season; or expect to enjoy, should we prove so happy as to be united for life.

Lovers' vows, my dear Sir, have always been considered as sacred. It were childish indeed, to suppose that they are all fulfilled when the marriage ceremony is concluded. On the contrary, we should consider that the season is but then commencing, in which we are to begin to realize our expectations: and to give and receive those exquisite pleasures, the prospect of which so completely occupied our minds, as to make all pleasures comparatively insipid, when our beloved was not a partaker of them.

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It is natural to suppose that the possession of the object of the most ardent wishes,―the object that we would have endured all difficulties, and run all hazards to have obtained, will greatly increase our pleasures; and prove to us a perpetual source of rational enjoyment:-yielding to us such satisfaction and delight, as the whole world without it could not possibly produce.

Remember when you first enjoyed the inexpressible satisfaction to know that you possessed an interest in the affections of her you loved.-When she no longer hesitated to acknowledge that your preference of her was agreeable, and would meet with a suitable return.-When she consented to satisfy you, that you was the object of her choice:—and, that she prefered you to every other person in the world. What anxious desireyou then felt to secure her confidence,-to confirm her good opinion of you.-And how greatly it increased your happiness to have an opportunity to administer to her plea

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THOMSON in his SEASONS has described an interesting circumstance, which turned out favourably indeed for a youth in love with a maiden. It was an affair of

considerable dificulty; but it was managed with admirable delicacy. Without discovering himself, he retired from the spot where she was bathing: But first, says the Poet :--

These lines trac'd by his ready pencil, on the bank With trembling hand he threw. Bathe on, my fair, Yet unbeheld, save by the sacred eye

Of grateful love: 1 go to guard thy haunt,
To keep from thy recess each vagrant foot,
And each licentious eye. With wild surprize,
As if to marble struck, devoid of sense,
A stupid moment motionless she stood:
So stands the statue that enchants the world,
So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
The mingled beauties of exulting Greece.
Recovering, she flew to find those robes
Which blissful Eden knew not; and, array'd
In careless haste, th' alarming paper snatch'd.
But, when her Damon's well known hand she saw,
Her terrors vanish'd, and a softer train
Of mixt emotions, hard to be describ'd
Her sudden bosom seiz'd; shame, void of guilt,
The charming blush of innocence, esteem,
And admiration of her lover's flame
By modesty exalted: even a sense
Of self approving beauty stole across

Her busy thought. At length a tender calm
Hush'd by degrees the tumult of her soul;
And on the spreading beech, that o'er th' stream
Incumbent hung, she with the silvan pen

Of rural lovers this confession carved,
Which soon her Damon kiss'd with weeping joy:
"Dear youth! sole judge of what these verses mean,
By fortune too much favour'd, but by love,

Alas! not favour'd less, be still as now
Discreet; the time may come you need not go.”

Though this beautiful description is only a poetical fancy, and that highly embellished by the author's taste; yet the feast of exquisite feelings, and self approbation, which the successful youth may be supposed to have possessed, is commonly enjoyed, by persons of delicate and virtuous sentiments; when the beloved object owns her passion, and expresses mutual affection.

The time, and circumstances, under which the partiality of the fair was first avowed, will easily be recollected. What warmth of feeling then ensued !---No place, nor season, could then fix the attention; or make the mind completely happy, without her presence. The language of poetry is absolutely necessary to express such feelings.

In spring the fields, in autumn hills I love, At morn the plains, at noon the shady grove, But Delia always; absent from her sight, Nor plains at morn, nor groves at noon delight." Now, my dear Sir, you possess your Delia always. She has given herself up to you without reserve. Your pleasure is unmixed with fear. Now you can administer to each other's happiness, and enjoy a thousand pleasures in each other's which before it was impossible company,

for you to realize.

H

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