’Twill be imagin’d _Oroonoko_ stay’d not long before he made his second
Visit; nor, considering his Quality, not much longer before he told her,
he ador’d her. I have often heard him say, that he admir’d by what
strange Inspiration he came to talk Things so soft, and so passionate,
who never knew Love, nor was us’d to the Conversation of Women; but
(to use his own Words) he said, ‘Most happily, some new, and, till then,
unknown Power instructed his Heart and Tongue in the Language of Love;
and at the same Time, in Favour of him, inspir’d _Imoinda_ with a Sense
of his Passion.’ She was touch’d with what he said, and return’d it all
in such Answers as went to his very Heart, with a Pleasure unknown
before. Nor did he use those Obligations ill, that Love had done him,
but turn’d all his happy Moments to the best Advantage; and as he knew
no Vice, his Flame aim’d at nothing but Honour, if such a Distinction
may be made in Love; and especially in that Country, where Men take to
themselves as many as they can maintain; and where the only Crime and
Sin against a Woman, is, to turn her off, to abandon her to Want, Shame
and Misery: such ill Morals are only practis’d in _Christian_ Countries,
where they prefer the bare Name of Religion; and, without Virtue or
Morality, think that sufficient. But _Oroonoko_ was none of those
Professors; but as he had right Notions of Honour, so he made her such
Propositions as were not only and barely such; but, contrary to the
Custom of his Country, he made her Vows, she should be the only Woman he
would possess while he liv’d; that no Age or Wrinkles should incline him
to change: for her Soul would be always fine, and always young; and he
should have an eternal _Idea_ in his Mind of the Charms she now bore;
and should look into his Heart for that _Idea_, when he could find it no
longer in her Face.
After a thousand Assurances of his lasting Flame, and her eternal Empire
over him, she condescended to receive him for her Husband; or rather,
receive him, as the greatest Honour the Gods could do her.
There is a certain Ceremony in these Cases to be observ’d, which I
forgot to ask how ’twas perform’d; but ’twas concluded on both Sides,
that in Obedience to him, the Grandfather was to be first made
acquainted with the Design: For they pay a most absolute Resignation to
the Monarch, especially when he is a Parent also.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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