I cannot write; my heart is softened to a degree which makes me incapable of any thing.
Do not neglect one moment going to Sir William Verville.
Adieu!
Your affectionate
Ed. Rivers.
LETTER CCIV.208.
To Colonel Rivers.
Oct. 28.
The story you have told me has equally shocked and astonished me: my sweet Bell has dropped a pitying tear on poor Sophia’s grave.
Thank heaven! we meet with few minds like that of Sir Charles Verville; such a degree of savage insensibility is unnatural.
The human heart is created weak, not wicked: avid of pleasure and of gain; but with a mixture of benevolence which prevents our seeking either to the destruction of others.
Nothing can be more false than that we are naturally inclined to evil: we are indeed naturally inclined to gratify the selfish passions of every kind; but those passions are not evil in themselves, they only become so from excess.