ps, as elevated as
you have a right to claim. Forgive my plainness, Eliza. It is the task
of friendship, sometimes, to tell disagreeable truths. I know your
ambition is to make a distinguished figure in the first class of
polished society, to shine in the gay circle of fashionable amusements,
and to bear off the palm amidst the votaries of pleasure. But these are
fading honors, unsatisfactory enjoyments, incapable of gratifying those
immortal principles of reason and religion which have been implanted in
your mind by Nature, assiduously cultivated by the best of parents, and
exerted, I trust, by yourself. Let me advise you, then, in conducting
this affair,--an affair big, perhaps, with your future fate,--to lay
aside those coquettish airs which you sometimes put on; and remember
that you are not dealing with a fop, who will take advantage of every
concession, but with a man of sense and honor, who will properly
estimate your condescension and frankness. Act, then, with that modest
freedom, that dignified unreserve, which bespeak conscious rectitude and
sincerity of heart.

I shall be extremely anxious to hear the process and progress of this
business. Relieve my impatience as soon as possible; and believe me
yours with undissembled affection.

LUCY FREEMAN.

LETTER XIV.

TO MISS LUCY FREEMAN.

NEW HAVEN.

I have received, and read again and again, your friendly epistle. My
reason and judgment entirely coincide with your opinion; but my fancy
claims some share in the decision; and I cannot yet tell which will
preponderate. This was the day fixed for deciding Mr. Boyer's cause. My
friends here gave me a long dissertation on his merits. Your letter,
likewise, had its weight; and I was candidly summoning up the _pros_ and
_cons_ in the garden, whither I had walked, (General Richman and lady
having rode out,) when I was informed that he was waiting in the parlor.
I went immediately in, (a good symptom, you will say,) and received him
very graciously. After the first compliments were over, he seemed eager
to improve the opportunity to enter directly on the subject of his
present visit. It is needless for me to recite to you, who have long
been acquainted with the whole process of courtship, the declarations,
propositions, protestations, entreaties, looks, words, and actions of a
lover. They are, I believe, much the same in the whole sex, allowing for
their different dispositions, educations, and characters; but you