 | The coquette, or, The history of Eliza Wharton : a novel, founded on fact |  |
LETTER XXXI.
I AM very happy to find you are in so
good spirits, Eliza, after parting with your favorite
swain. For I perceive that he is really the
favorite of your fancy, though your heart cannot
esteem him; and, independent of that, no
sensations can be durable.
I can tell you some news of this strange
man. He has arrived, and taken possession of
his seat. Having given general invitations, he has
been called upon and welcomed by most of the
neighboring gentry. Yesterday he made an elegant
entertainment. Friend George (as you call
him) and I were of the number, who had cards.
Twenty one couple went, I am told. We did
not go. I consider my time too valuable to be
spent in cultivating acquaintance with a person
from whom neither pleasure nor improvement
are to be expected. His profuseness may bribe
the unthinking multitude to show him respect;
but he must know, that though
Esteem and love were never to be sold.”
I look upon the vicious habits, and abandoned
character of Major Sanford, to have more
pernicious effects on society, than the perpetrations
of the robber and the assassin. These,
when detected, are rigidly punished by the
laws of the land. If their lives be spared,
they are shunned by society, and treated with
every mark of disapprobation and contempt.
But to the disgrace of humanity and virtue,
the assassin of honor; the wretch, who breaks
the peace of families, who robs virgin innocence
of its charms, who triumphs over the ill placed
confidence of the inexperienced, unsuspecting,
and too credulous fair, is received, and caressed,
not only by his own sex, to which he is a reproach,
but even by ours, who have every conceivable
reason to despise and avoid him. Influenced
by these principles, I am neither ashamed
nor afraid, openly to avow my sentiments of this
man, and my reasons for treating him with the
most pointed neglect.
I write warmly on the subject; for it is a
subject in which I think the honor and happiness
of my sex concerned. I wish they would
more generally espouse their own cause. It
would conduce to the public weal, and to their
personal respectability. I rejoice, heartily, that
you have had resolution to resist his allurements,
to detect and repel his artifices. Resolution, in
such a case, is absolutely necessary; for,
The woman that deliberates is lost.”
As I was riding out, yesterday, I met your
mamma. She wondered that I was not one of
the party at our new neighbor's. The reason,
madam, said I, is that I do not like the character
of the man. I know nothing of him, said she;
he is quite a stranger to me, only as he called at
my house, last week, to pay me his respects, as
he said, for the sake of my late husband, whose
memory he revered; and because I was the
mother of Miss Eliza Wharton, with whom he
had the honor of some little acquaintance. His
manners are engaging, and I am sorry to hear that
his morals are corrupt.
This, my dear, is a very extraordinary visit. I
fear that he has not yet laid aside his arts. Be
still on your guard, is the advice of your sincere
and faithful friend,
| The coquette, or, The history of Eliza Wharton : a novel, founded on fact | |