this hour enjoy the fruits attendant on their faith. Providence smiles upon all their endeavours; and if not indulged with the elegancies of life, they happily participate of all its comforts, without being either exposed to want, or to the temptations that surround the tables of the great. That you may follow their example, and share the same goodness, is the unfeigned wish of Yours, &c. LETTER VI. From kind concern about his weal or woe LYTTLETON. THE HROUGH the kindness of Providence, you are at length united to a man, Eloisa, whom I am persuaded you affectionately love, and who I think will make it the business of his life to promote your felicity. In return, much is wanted on your part. His love, which is in every respect disinterested, (except indeed the interest he feels in possessing the object of his heart) deserves the warmest reception and every possible encouragement. If that be once damped, your happiness will K gradually decline, and either leave you completely miserable, or lost to all the tender feelings of the human heart. To prevent any diminution of his attachment should therefore be your constant study, and your happiest employ. -A task not grievous, Eloisa, but delightful, when the wheels of duty are actuated by the impulse of love. Under that of love indeed may be comprised every other duty: without it none are performed aright: when under its animating influence, we act with pleasure and celerity but if this be wanting, the feet move slowly in the paths of obedience, and the best services, if not neglected, are indifferently performed. For the propriety of my remarks, and the necessity of unremitted attention to his and your own happiness, I appeal to yourself. Considerations of this nature, though of the last importance, are too often but little regarded by those who enter into the marriage state. It frequently happens that both parties think all is done, and their happiness effectually secured, when the ceremony is performed. But alas! how delusive is this supposition! how contrary to the sad experience of thousands, who soon find themselves disappointed and alarmed; who, perhaps, are unable by any future efforts to repair the loss they have sustained; and are compelled to pass the rest of their days harassed by the remembrance of negligence for which there was no cause, and of endearments that must be realized no more! Having therefore obtained the object of your wishes, the next inquiry is how to preserve his love, and to perpetuate his happiness. During the time of your friendly intercourse before marriage, it is but reasonable to suppose that you made use of every lawful expedient to recommend yourself to his esteem, and to make his heart your own-In a word, your greatest pleasure was to please; and this endeavour must never be relaxed. That assiduity to give delight, which before seemed easy and familiar, is equally necessary to preserve the love of which marriage is the bond. That we should attempt to render ourselves agreeable to those in whose company we are destined to travel on the journey of life, is, as one expresses it, the dictate of humanity. It is our interest, it is the source of perpetual satisfaction; it is one of our most important duties as men, and particularly required in the profession of christianity. The passion of love is first excited by some real or imaginary excellency supposed to be in the object after the enjoyment of which it aspires. Inducements that are merely external, may lose much of their influence when the object is obtained: but the man who values his own happiness, will add to these such qualities as will make a woman amiable when her bloom is lost.' When this is the case, the parties, by a more intimate knowledge of each other, discover new charms; esteem gradually ripens into love the affections are firmly united, and happiness soon becomes inseparable from an alliance which nothing but the hand of death can dissolve. It is however to be feared that this purity of intention and chastity of desire, though incum |