Not that I would insinuate they have less understanding than we, or are less capable of learning, or even that it less becomes them.
On the contrary, all such knowledge as tends to adorn and soften human life and manners, is, in my opinion, peculiarly becoming in women.
You don’t deserve a longer letter.
Adieu! Yours,
Ed. Rivers.
LETTER CXCIV.198.
To Mrs. Fitzgerald.
Bellfield, Oct. 12.
I am very conscious, my dear Bell, of not meriting the praises my Rivers lavishes on me, yet the pleasure I receive from them is not the less lively for that consideration; on the contrary, the less I deserve these praises, the more flattering they are to me, as the stronger proofs of his love; of that love which gives ideal charms, which adorns, which embellishes its object.
I had rather be lovely in his eyes, than in those of all mankind; or, to speak more exactly, if I continue to please him, the admiration of all the world is indifferent to me: it is for his sake alone I wish for beauty, to justify the dear preference he has given me.
How pleasing are these sweet shades! were they less so, my Rivers’s presence would give them every charm: every object has appeared to me more lovely since the dear moment when I first saw him; I seem to have acquired a new existence from his tenderness.