rs.
To blush and falter under such circumstances would indicate love, much
more surely than open professions.

Were the question put by yourself "Do I love this person?" the first
reply,--that of timidity and doubt,--would be, "no." Still for no
consideration could you rest an hour in that conclusion. Unstaid in all
motions else, there would be one fixed object,

"The constant image of the creature
That is beloved."

Should Overtures be made by a gentleman, it requires great delicacy to
treat them aright. Are you decided in the determination to accept them,
let your reply be prompt. It is ungenerous to trifle with the feelings
of another, when in your power. Perhaps you need advice. Those entitled
to your first regard, on this subject, are your parents. Reserve at this
period causes many unhappy mistakes. A word of information, a hint from
so true a friend as a mother, may confirm your undecided purpose, or
lead you at once to abandon it. Let it not be your fault, if you do not
enjoy the benefit of such valuable counsel. Suppose your parents object
to the connection, when your heart is interested, and judgment approves
your affection. There are examples of noble self-denial under these
circumstances. Cases there are, too, in which health, peace of mind, and
even life, have been the forfeit paid for compliance with such advice. I
believe it right, where the opposition is evidently unreasonable, that
a young lady should obey the promptings of her own heart. Gretna Green,
if it have witnessed the union of some unprincipled fugitives from home,
has seen others joined in a true and sacred bond. Is not such a resort
better than to hang, or suffocate oneself, as is so often done in France
by thwarted lovers? The instances that justify this procedure may be
very rare, yet surely it is better to follow nature's holiest law, than
to drag out a lingering life of martyrdom, as thousands have done, to
gratify what the world knew to be but a whim of an ambitious father, or
a capricious mother. When conscience approves the step, let it be firmly
taken. If the blessing of God can be invoked upon it, then is it right.

Another event may occur. The offering of the heart may prove Unrequited.
She, who has poured forth the fulness of her affections, meets a
chilling repulse. Perhaps it is instant; or there may be intimations of
a favorable regard that shall fan, and keep alive, a hope. That hope is
at length totally crush