LETTER LV.
HARRINGTON to WORTHY.
Am I a child that I should weep?
—I have been meditating on the cause of my
calamities—Why did my father love Maria
—or rather, why did I love their Harriot?
Cure on this tyrant custom that dooms such
helpless children to oblivion or infamy!
Had I known her to have been my sister, my
love would have been regular---I should
have loved her as a sister---I should have
marked her beauty---I should have delighted
in protecting it. I should have observed
her growing virtues---I should have been
happy in cherishing their growth. But
alas! She is gone—and I cannot stay---I
stand on the threshold of a vast eternity.
