The power of sympathy: or, The triumph of nature. Founded in truth.

Chapter 18: LETTER XV.

Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

An epistolary novel recounts a series of letters that expose a courtship and a concealed seduction whose revelation brings shame, illness, and familial ruin, used to dramatize the moral dangers of reckless passion. Through careful narration and moral commentary, the correspondence traces how social conventions, personal weakness, and misplaced sympathy produce personal and domestic catastrophe while urging prudence, female self-respect, and the restorative force of nature and truth. Written in a sentimental, didactic mode, the work blends realistic social observation with moral exhortation and is structured to instruct readers about the consequences of seduction and the virtues of restraint.

LETTER XV.

Harrington to Worthy.

Boston.

AM I to believe my eyes—my ears-my heart!—and yet I cannot be deceived.—We are generally most stupid and incredulous in what most materially concerns us. We find the greatest difficulty in persuading ourselves of the attainments of what we most ardently desire—She loves!—I say to myself, “Harriot loves me,” and I reverence myself.

I THINK I may now take upon me some share of happiness—I may say I have not lived in vain—for all my heart holds dear is mine—joy and love encompass me—peace and tranquillity are before me; the prospect is fair and promising as the gilded dawn of a summer’s day—There is none to supplant me in her affections—I dread no rival, for our tempers are similar, and our hearts beat in unison together.

Adieu!