The power of sympathy: or, The triumph of nature. Founded in truth. — John Shaqi
The power of sympathy: or, The triumph of nature. Founded in truth.Brown, William Hill
General
The power of sympathy: or, The triumph of nature. Founded in truth.
Brown, William Hill
Man-woman relationships -- Fiction
ALTHOUGH my attachment to _Belleview_ is not so romantick as
your airy pen has described it, I think its quiet and amusements
infinitely preferable to the bustle and parade with which you are
surrounded.
THE improvements made here by my late husband (who inherited the virtues
of his parents, who still protect me, and endeavour to console the
anguish of his loss by the most tender affection) have rendered the
charms of _Belleview_ superior in my estimation to every gilded scene of
the gay world.
IT is almost vanity to pretend to give you a description of the beauty
of the prospect—the grandeur of the river that rolls through the meadow
in front of the house, or any eulogium of rural elegance, because these
scenes are common to most places in the country. Nature is everywhere
liberal in dispersing her beauties and her variety—and I pity those who
look round and declare they see neither.
A GREAT proportion of our happiness depends on our own choice—it offers
itself to our taste, but it is the heart that gives it relish—what at
one time, for instance, we think to be humour, is at another disgustful
or insipid—so, unless we carry our appetite with us to the treat, we
shall vainly wish to make ourselves happy, “were I in a desert,” says
Sterne, “I would find wherewith in it to call forth my affections—If I
could do no better, I would fasten them on some sweet myrtle, or seek
some melancholy cypress to connect myself to—I would court their shade
and greet them kindly for their protection—If their leaves withered, I
would teach myself to mourn, and when they rejoiced, I would rejoice
along with them.”
I BELIEVE you could hardly find the way to the summer house, where we
have enjoyed many happy hours together, and which you used to call “_The
Temple_ of _Apollo_.” It is now more elegantly furnished than it
formerly was, and is enriched with a considerable addition to the
library and musick.
IN front of the avenue that leads to this place, is a figure of Content,
pointing with one hand to the Temple, and with the other to an
invitation, executed in such an antique style, that you would think it
done either by the ancient inhabitants of the country, or by the hand of
a Fairy—she is very particular in the characters she invites, but those
whom she invites she heartily welcomes.
=Rural Inscription.=
Come ye who loath the horrid crest,
Who hate the fiery front of Mars;
Who scorn the mean, the sordid breast—
Who fly Ambition’s guilty cares:
Ye who are blest with peaceful souls,
Rest Here: Enjoy the pleasures round:
Here Fairies quaffe their acorn bowls,
And lightly print the mazy ground.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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