r pusillanimity of dejection. Indeed I did not know how much I had
lost, for having always heard and thought more of my wit and beauty,
than of my fortune, it did not suddenly enter my imagination, that
Melissa could sink beneath her established rank, while her form and her
mind continued the same; that she should cease to raise admiration, but
by ceasing to deserve it, or feel any stroke but from the hand of time.

11. It was in my power to have concealed the loss, and to have married,
by continuing the same appearance, with all the credit of my original
fortune; but I was not so far sunk in my esteem, as to submit to the
baseness of fraud, or to desire any other recommendation than sense and
virtue.

12. I therefore dismissed my equipage, sold those ornaments which were
become unsuitable to my new condition, and appeared among those with
whom I used to converse with less glitter, but with equal spirit.

13. I found myself received at every visit with sorrow beyond what is
naturally felt for calamities in which we have no part, and was
entertained with condolence and consolation so frequently repeated, that
my friends plainly consulted rather their own gratification, than my
relief.

14. Some from that time refused my acquaintance, and forebore without
any provocation, to repay my visits; some visited me, but after a longer
interval than usual, and every return was still with more delay; nor did
any of my female acquaintances fail to introduce the mention of my
misfortunes, to compare my present and former condition, to tell me how
much it must trouble me to want that splendor which I became so well; to
look at pleasures, which I had formerly enjoyed, and to sink to a level
with those by whom I had been considered as moving in a higher sphere,
and who had hitherto approached me with reverence and submission, which
I was now no longer to expect.

15. Observations like these are commonly nothing better than covert
insults, which serve to give vent to the flatulence of pride, but they
are now and then imprudently uttered by honesty and benevolence, and
inflict pain where kindness is intended; I will, therefore, so far
maintain my antiquated claim to politeness, as to venture the
establishment of this rule, that no one ought to remind another of
misfortunes of which the sufferer does not complain, and which there are
no means proposed of alleviating.

16. You have no right to excite thoughts which necessarily give pa