dations of her glory in my own shame, can I be called cruel, if I am
not affected with her grief as some men would be?

And for what should her heart be broken? Her will is unviolated;--at
present, however, her will is unviolated. The destroying of good habits,
and the introducing of bad, to the corrupting of the whole heart, is the
violation. That her will is not to be corrupted, that her mind is not to
be debased, she has hitherto unquestionably proved. And if she give
cause for farther trials, and hold fast her integrity, what ideas will
she have to dwell upon, that will be able to corrupt her morals? What
vestigia, what remembrances, but such as will inspire abhorrence of the
attempter?

What nonsense then to suppose that such a mere notional violation as she
has suffered should be able to cut asunder the strings of life?

Her religion, married, or not married, will set her above making such a
trifling accident, such an involuntary suffering fatal to her.

Such considerations as these they are that support me against all
apprehensions of bugbear consequences; and I would have them have weight
with thee; who are such a doughty advocate for her. And yet I allow thee
this; that she really makes too much of it; takes it too much to heart.
To be sure she ought to have forgot it by this time, except the charming,
charming consequence happen, that still I am in hopes will happen, were I
to proceed no farther. And, if she apprehended this herself, then has
the dear over-nice soul some reason for taking it so much to heart; and
yet would not, I think, refuse to legitimate.

O Jack! had I am imperial diadem, I swear to thee, that I would give it
up, even to my enemy, to have one charming boy by this lady. And should
she escape me, and no such effect follow, my revenge on her family, and,
in such a case, on herself, would be incomplete, and I should reproach
myself as long as I lived.

Were I to be sure that this foundation is laid [And why may I not hope it
is?] I should not doubt to have her still (should she withstand her day
of grace) on my own conditions; nor should I, if it were so, question
that revived affection in her, which a woman seldom fails to have for the
father of her first child, whether born in wedlock, or out of it.

And pr'ythee, Jack, see in this my ardent hope, a distinction in my
favour from other rakes; who, almost to a man, follow their inclinations
without troubling themselves about cons