Something has been said upon various ways which lead to love and
matrimony; but what I have to say concerning imaginative love was
deferred till we should arrive at the proper place for entering upon
it.
[Footnote 1: EDWARD MORE.]
More or less, imagination enters into all loves and friendships,
except those which have grown with our growth, and which therefore are
likely to be the happiest because there can be no delusion in them.
Cases of this kind would not be so frequent in old romances, if they
did not occur more frequently in real life than unimaginative persons
could be induced to believe, or made to understand.
Sir John Sinclair has related a remarkable instance in his
Reminiscences. He was once invited by Adam Smith to meet Burke and Mr.
Windham, who had arrived at Edinburgh with the intention of making a
short tour in the Highlands. Sir John was consulted concerning their
route; in the course of his directions he dwelt on the beauty of the
road between Dunkeld and Blair;—and added, that instead of being
cooped up in a post-chaise, they would do well to get out and walk
through the woods and beautiful scenes through which the road passes,
especially some miles beyond Dunkeld.
Some three years afterwards Mr. Windham came up to Sir John in the
House of Commons and requested to speak to him for a few moments
behind the Speaker's chair. “Do you recollect,” said he, “our meeting
together at Adam Smith's at dinner?” “Most certainly I do.”
“Do you remember having given us directions for our Highland tour, and
more especially to stroll through the woods between Dunkeld and
Blair?” “I do.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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