never change I will waste away this wretched Life in despair Yes Madam if my Vows and Oaths which Heaven only knows I have made without those I have paid at your Feet will not secure you to this Breast and perswade you I will carry this Passion to my Grave I am not sitting to live Alas to break with you would be barbarous inhumane and base I am not arrived at such Villanies yet and when I do let my end come or what is worse be every Man's wonder Then give me leave to hope you believe this and to send you a Vow taken from the bottom my Soul sent with a Passion and Fidelity inferior to none I ever read of that if you will keep me alive and give me leave to love you it shall never violate the Rules you set to your own Goodness and my Duty nor ever know decay till Pol. His great one Ah dearest Delia believe poor Po. that is ready to dye for Love and Grief to read a melancholy Letter let me implore you not to question my Faith but to conclude me as unalterable as the decrees of Heaven come Delia the Sun will yet shine and we shall yet live to appear our selves Charge not your self for not searching the World nor do not lay such Corrosives as too many of them will cause the death of the passionate Poli. Adieu Soul of my Soul I Love thee more than Misers do their Wealth Than Captives Freedom or than sick Men Health XXIII I Was in such great hopes that the Saturdays Post would have brought some account of Delia's Health as poor Po. hath wasted his whole Day with expectation and wishes but the Post is come and no news if it be designed as a continued piece of severity Po. submits But since he cannot but dread every accident which hinders his hearing when dear Delia is not well it may easily be guessed how uneasie he is all his Treasure is in one bottom and how natural at least how frequent is it to make the apprehensions of a ruine almost as great as the ruine it self indeed Po. is extremely concerned as ever I saw him in my life Alas he is so far from omitting any opportunity of sending as were the conveniencies every hour of the day I dare say Delia would miss very few for he spends them all in thinking of his Dearest and his only Concern Truly all the tenderness that the Soul of Man hath is imployed when we fear for that dear Friend you must let me some way or other know how you are or torment me to death order some body to write two words for I would not have you venture your Eyes yet But alas what do I talk you may be dead you may be any thing I have not heard these three Posts Ah how wretchedly miserable has this made me if satal this arrives farewel to Joy with as much resolution as I will welcome Death which the Holy one knows I will do whenever I lose my Delia I was in hopes the worst had been past when I left you and if so Why do I not hear from you remember what Grief and Sorrow plunged me into at the beginning of this great misfortune you know I am but just recovered and if you have a mind to defer my death have a care of the most deserving of Women for 't is to her alone my Services and my Life are Dedicated Fidelity is not more your due than 't is my nature therefore whatever Calumnies from Malice or Ignorance I may lie under you can answer for me for many years I pray take it here for an undeniable Truth bound with all the reiteravows and Resolutions my Soul can make that only at the Feet of my charming Delia will I breath out my Love and my Obedience in my last breath my Love shall end with my Life and when that goes my Eyes shall close up the Image of my Adorable Delia Let me hear I beseech you as soon as possible for if ever uncertainty was pain it is now a torment an unspeakable one to me Ah Delia What did I not leave you well and of such a Disease how cruel is the mention of it Why did not Fate permit Po. to bear the burthen I repent the word for I should esteem it one tho' it were my destruction Ah think how loth I am say Farewel to all that is my Joy and all that is my Life Adieu Witness this Truth for me ye Rural Powers Such as inhabit Groves or sit in Bowers You watry Nymphs and such as dwell in Shade How oft to you was this confession made Witness you nimble Spirits of the Air And you its Quire who sing away your Care I tried as many years as most have lov'd To save the Heart hath so defenceless prov'd But as some Warlike Nation grown too great And numerous for its Native fertile Seat Sends Colonies abroad to dispossess Those who made Home-bred Ease their Happiness Too much confined tho' in vast Empire She Conquers no less than general Liberty Such Force victorions Delia did display Night could as well resist the approaching Day Yet have we seen a thickned watry Cloud Sometimes attempt to be the Morning Shroud And as the mighty spreading light begun Tried to withstand the lustre of the Sun Suce weak attempts hath Reason sometimes made But how like Clouds did opposition fade Tell her Oh tell her ye Powers above I am made up of Duty and of Love XXIV DId you know how valuable every little is that comes from the Head and Hand of finest Methridatia there would have been more care taken than to have let so great a part of that little suffer Martyrdom before it came to Tryal Nay having made Call Judge I am sure the execution had been deferr'd till they had been companions in destruction But remember you are accountable to me for the Ruine of what I esteem above the value of anything but such an reparation as you can make and having now so fair an opportunity of appealing to your generosity think not I have so much as to lose it nay had I as much as generous Methridatia her self I should dare intrench upon what she prizeth so much or rob her of so great a share as she hath now occasion for Know then the thirsty Earth was never more covetous nay that I have in this case a Soul so great as not to be contented with less than what the Noblest Person living can give in compensation for what was almost inestimable expect me therefore to come and dun you I should not be in a condition to have entertained any one so much at random upon this Subject if I had not been last night blest with the happy news of a friend of mine being recovered of a Distemper I dreaded a person so dear to me by all that merit and obligation can inspire as I must beg of you to congratulate with me Oh! Comparisons are odious yet I must
the undoubted Right of a thousand Merits and a deathless Passion secured by all those Holy invocations that our Reason commands us to hold binding Ah Asteria your dear Image is no more to be divided from my Soul then my Soul from my Body my Love and my Life shall know but one end I am big with expectation of hearing this day from whence the only good news of my Life can come I sit telling the hours as I have a thousand times done the miles When I have wished the heavy Horse could flye truly dear Asteria every thing that comes from you has such a reception from me as the thirsty Sands gives to the joyful Showers such is the esteem Orantes makes of every thing that looks but kind from Asteria but it s no sit comparison yet surely Asteria that knows he loves beyond all things on Earth knows he will at any time make himself the price of Asteria's kindness let that be a valuable price which is all I have to offer and the rather Heaven knows that shall never want to be offer'd well poor Orantes loves and suffers and could dye before any misfortune should divest him of that Respect which will live in his Soul whilst Breath is in his Body 't is as natural to submit to Asteria as 't is to live and to live and love is all one Ah Madam How long could I entertain you and how little reason is there to suspect that I have any other pleasure Adieu Adieu Blessings surround you XXVIII HOw doth Delia melt her Oil into my Wounds and then for fear they should heal too fast applies her Corrosives prepares Po. for the hardest of Fates with so sweet a Lenitive as opiates all his Grief But alas when I go but two Lines farther she says her Inclinations are far beyond Sea Why what hath Po. done to deserve this great misfortune Hath he not always clothed his Love in that true genuine Passion of his Soul Has he not offered his Blood to expiate any misfortunes of hers and would he not at this hour drain every Vein to convince her Man never lov'd so madly as he does Yes Delia its true I want neither Resolution nor Courage if your Quiet can be bought at no cheaper rate then why if it be a Dispute should not Pol. carry it and keep two such Loves as separation in this kind would absolutely bring destruction to within the four Seas Ah Delia Where can you be within that compass that you and he may not meet often and advise for if he live he will make your ease the care and scope of all his time Yes Delia he has vowed it when the most ambitious and covetous has been at rest and he now swears not to perform it if Honour and Truth has not forsaken the Soul of Man Ah Delia I have a thousand unexpressible troubles upon me for fear you should be perswaded to that which will undeniably prove my death 'T is not Affectation nor Untruth my admired Delia as I am a Christian that it stops my Pen and Sight accept the Tribute I may with your assistance wipe these from my Eyes but never can that Sorrow which any affliction of yours will make inseparable from my Soul could I be supposed to live without Delia my Life would be either a miserable Knowledg or a dull ignorance worse than death Is not this Argument then a fit concerns my Being and indeed both our Interests of weight enough to carry the Ballance but as our Love lies so hard at stake there is nothing ought to come in competition Sure Delia did this to try her faithful Swain one who will out-do Cassandra and will not be unfortunate as long as she is Just Come we have liv'd on the cold side of the Mountain a long time Blasts and sharp Air have blown upon us if we be near enough to help one another we may climb over go round about or like Hannibal make our way thro' with Vinegar we may get on the Sunny side and though our Tubs be no bigger than Diogenes's we may have nothing to desire of Alexander but that he would stand between us and the Sun Well dear Delia think of this it will be ill driving us to despair when we may not be past hope Adieu I have not a worse Enemy to my Quiet than my Fears as Delia will manage them She may ease the torment of her ever faithful Lover Polierchus XXIX SUre nothing suits the genius of this Age worse than Orantes for that like a rowling Sea sends Billow after Billow and every Blast changes the face of the great Ocean He like the weather-beaten Shrub upon the Beach flourishes never the more for a Calm nor withers in a Storm Dear Asteria is the Rock his Love grows upon there 's Merit enough for the Roots to fix in he is now at leisure to consider the foundation all alone free to Thought the Reins are now loose Asteria is the sole Object he sees her with his Eyes shut hears her at a hundred miles distance and talks to her at the same Rapture and Dream are not very unlike yet this hath the better on it for I can think it over and over again and am not at the mercy of a starter or a noise to loose the dear Delight Charming Asteria Orantes is awake not only thinks but knows and resolves and from his strictest reasoning can averr he loves and she deserves all and more than he can ever pay yet with pleasure he is endeavouring all the dispatch possible to his design of seeing and serving her it is his whole business Sir William Temple makes an ingenious descant upon comparing the steady temper of the Dutch with the more acute Wit of other Nations he says one cuts like a Razor but blunted by hard opposition the other like a Hatchet and makes the deeper impression they are as he says more dilatory but more sure both in their Councils and Dispatch because they are always intending what they are about apply it dear Asteria and doubt not the effect 't is not the trifling Project of some one advantage that animates the Spirit of Orantes 't is no less than all the whole Cargo is at stake and then ask what every one doth for that the Miser and the Generous are then alike Adieu Gratitude and Honour would flourish upon any opportunity of serving you and would quit all pretences for this gratificacation of perfecting what I have so often promised what I have been so long about and what I hope to effect Dear Asteria farewel when you can with ease to your own Concerns think of one whose enjoyments can never amount to a cessation of misfortune till he hath the Blessing to see you again Forgive this trouble and if I may beg it to love Orantes once more Adieu My dearest powerful and propitious Fate May all thy Hours be Quiet and Sedate May'st thou be constant to thy Love and Friend And all that makes thee Happy know no end THE Relation of Delia's Concerns have like the suddain Fires you mention startled me and made me look round for Refuge But alas 't is no news to poor Pol. His Reason to hear she hath a thousand Offers and what she says is inforced with as many Considerations of Prudence the tenderest Concerns lie at stake and nothing to stand in the way but unfortunate Pol. How can I think that that which every thing crushes can oppose so mighty a force Ah Delia my Pen is ready to drop out of my hand by all that 's Sacred cold and heavy Grief has seized my Heart and my Eyes will no longer perform their Duty Forgive the little stop I make Dear Delia and I will on again Is your Prosperity Happiness and Honour dearer to me than my Lives Blood and yet must I be the only Man to oppose it Ah Delia to what necessity am I brought that I must quit both my Love and my Life 't is true when ever I part with one the other will undoubtedly follow But may I not hope my Adorable Dear Delia will look once back and think whether two Souls the nearest being one that ever were made can now be parted Consider it Delia let your Pity be moved to your Slave and I do here again upon my bended Knees implore your Compassion Deny it not for Heavens sake unless you will abandon me to all that Cruelty which would make the most barbarous Relent Adieu my Life depends upon the next remember I have no Solicitor none to Appeal to for help but Delia her self Well I have only to say that unalterable as Fate is the Passion and Friendship of poor Polierchus or may the Eternal Powers for ever hate him Adieu FINIS An Advertisement FOR want of Care in the Printing some Mistakes are made in these Papers as particularly the Second and Third Letters are joyn'd together the former of which ends at the Word Admirer Page 9. Line 6. The rest of the Errors the Reader may correct thus Page 3. Line 2. for seeing read suing p. 3. l. 15. r. virtue p. 6. l. 4. r. desect p. 9. l. 2. r. dwells p. 9. l. 20. r. the success in this p. 11. l. 16. r. desects p. 12. l. 9. r. last p. 19. l. 18. in stead of I believe I shall die r. I believe it I shall die p. 21. l. 20. r. crushed p. 24. l. 15. r. with p. 32. l. 12. r. Darling of my Thoughts p. 34. l. 21. r. charged p. 40. l. 14. r. Anchorites p. 48. l. 1. r. such p. 52. l. 2. r. so little inclinable p. 53. l. 24. r. past p. 54. l. 6. r. fine p. 56. l. 22. r. may Death and Sufferings p. 69. l pen. r. Wound p. 72. l. pen. r. I should not esteem p. 74. l. 10. r. little p. 75. l. 15. r. I should not dare to p. 79. l. 2. r. for great Merit p. 82. l. 19. r. disfavour p. 82. l. 22. r. ah those p. 84. l. 21. r. for beyond p. 86. l. 11. r. as it
such a Love as I beg of you to aske Sweet Whether it were not a crime to part them If you will let her be the Priest she shall at our next meeting pronounce them inseparable and then should my journey prove my death I shall have all the satisfactions that being parted from you can admit and if there be such a thing in the next State as retaining our least sentiments here they will have Purity and Innocence enough to be my Companions there Adieu Sweet as the Breezes Eastern Winds convey As breath of Cows or Rose at break of Day She breaths a Wit as sweet as Flowers to Sense And o'er my Soul she hath such influence That when but near me in a Thought she 's come My Breast for nothing else can find a room Did you know fine Asteria you would say She 's gently Great Obliging Sweet and Gay Converse finds there its first and chief Delight The Splendor of the Day and Pleasure of the Night 'T was there I left my Soul and found her Mind The Wonder yet the Pleasure of Mankind Farwel all Joys except she will allow I come to beg and fetch them from her Brow Ah! there I 'de kneel and pray I might express The Beauties and the cause of Happiness But she well knows they 're to her self confin'd There bounteous Nature all her strength combin'd To make the finest Body noblest Mind III. SInce all the content of my Life depends upon giving you these reiterated assurances of my Passion you must finest Mithridatia forgive me if I seize upon all opportunities to tell you I am now arriv'd to that degree that living and loving you is one and the same thing and that nothing but the expiration of the one can be the destruction of the other the loss of your Favour will make me miserable in excess but the end of my passion depends upon nothing but death too violent a remedy for any thing but the dreadful misfortune of your unkindness not so gastly if I know my Heart as to make me rather bear that burthen than shun it but if you will incourage me to throw away these melancholy Reflections and make me desire to preserve my life for your service Accept of that Love which properly makes a Life and which under the severest dispensations shall be pleasant to me with your kindness the greatest Blessing I beg of this side Heaven and of Heaven I beg it Since the Reverence and Respect I will use so great a Blessing with shall be such as Angels shall not think Criminal my desires have been regulated by that Virtue which makes my Passion such My Friendship shall be Just and Constant my Fidelity shall be as uncorrupted as the sweet Mithridatia I adore and the Admiration I have for you shall be so particular as excluding all possibility of other Temptations My Love shall Saint us confirm this Passion of no common Nature by all the Holy Obligations that such things can admit Let our Vows our Promises make as firm a Contract as Love can tye and if I pursue you not all the days of my life with such uncessant peals of kindness as to Mankind is now a stranger make me the unhappiest of Men for I am content you have this Reserve of banishing and ruining me the moment I digress from what I say you need not tell me of what any Mortal would dread but I never presume to trouble you with that Did your confidence in me bear an equal sway I scarce know what could hinder you from preferring my Love before that of other Men nay all the World since nothing in it ever lov'd a Woman more or more submissively the uncertainty of telling you this and the care I must always take to preserve the niceties of your Reputation before my own Happiness make me decline the Blessing of being near you to give you these more distant Discoveries I shall not expect you should be under so great inconveniencies in this place to make me returns of the same nature but I must and do upon my knees beseech you to make your Eyes and Tongue the messengers of my Happiness you shall with your permission receive when I can make an answer to them this way for God above knows I had rather spend my time in this or in the pleasure of your converse than in all that my ambition or wishes can aspire to Adieu forgive me this Callimicles IV. I Come sweetest Delia upon so sad an Errand as will require both your Generosity and Compassion to extenuate the misfortunes that attend it 'T is Madam to take my leave of you and by that Word and Action of Parting to tell you I am as unhappy as a Man divested of all he can call or think satisfaction can be supposed to be 't is true the great part of my Life looks like a continued parting but distance is a great aggravation of absence and I am more unfortunate as the space is greater between me and that which alone can allay the troubles of my Life or add to its content The truth of this Madam is as great as that I have a Being and fixed upon my Soul in such indelible Characters that to live and have respect for you above the rest of the World is one and the same thing Give me dearest Madam the delight to know you desire it should be so and it shall not be in the power of any thing Humane to make it otherwise This Passion implanted by all the irrefragable Arguments of Reason and Inclination shall pursue you and your Interest in all the shapes of friendship Gratitude and Service shall pay you all those Duties the censorious World admits in acquaintance and all those which Reverence and Fidelity impose upon one tyed by Vows and Love if this condition charming Delia presents its self agreeably enough to obtain your Opinion of its being a Happiness desirable scruple not to let me know it 't will be the only companion I wish in my journey a permission to entertain my self with an assurance you will instate me in so great a Bliss will be all I now desire Oh my admired Delia make me as irresistibly yours by Obligation as I am inevitably so by Passion not that I can wish more reasons to be so than I have but that I would not have you want one to conclude me so I hope you will forgive me if I am now more importunate than ordinarily in petitioning your Favour and that I presume to give you this Note at this time 't is to beg of you and I do it this moment upon my Knees that you will add something this Afternoon to what I know you design me that may convince me of my being in your Favour let me in plain words without a dash receive some such expression as you do not usually part with in return I will present you with Services shall be legible enough for you to understand no Mortal was
ever more in love the Sun can as well cease his motion as Po. loving you see how little I prize my own preservation when I am always acquainting you with what you make use of to my destruction However I must and do with all imaginable sincerity protest my Vows and my Love are the never to be parted Companions of my Soul joyn'd by the force of Inclination and secured by Laws both Humane and Divine Adieu Joy is taking of its flight Dearest Delia How shall I Live when Life is out of sight I believe I shall dye Nor is the Eye at leisure here To suffer the instructions of the Ear The dull instructions of Advice May fit the Happy or the Wise What can the wretched have from Hope Or can it my Destruction stop Or if it could 't would be a grief To find in absence a relief V. MY Dearest Dear Lady every way Dear to poor Call Where alone it is the faithfullest Servant living searches for what is most valuable upon Earth his Pleasure his Ambition and his Love terminates all their Wishes there distant from thence every thing looses both its Nature and its Name Quiet is a stranger Content is not to be found Time the Soul and Essence of every thing turns to torment to the then dear Authoress of all my Joy I have and inseparable from my Thoughts Doth Call send this little and imperfect Atom of his Love from larger Worlds of Thought this Season having made him a Creature of Contemplation and Devotion I do from the truth of the one and consideration of the other avow that I am sure I know his Soul so well as to swear for him he has more Love more Admiration and more Fidelity for dear Mithridatia than all the World besides for the rest of her Sex Oh Madam I am in no humor to Lye and yesterday being Sunday where I eat the food of Angels may all its Holy nourishment turn to my destruction if ever I forsake or love my charming Mithridatia less this is not the impression of a suddain Passion no Madam years before you ever knew it was my Adorable and admired Mithridatia my Choice both by Reason and Inclination But alass What a Bar has Fate thrown betwixt us will you be angry if I repeat what I told you the last time I had the Blessing to see you come it must be it will be so The old Parliament Gentleman chear'd up after Sixteen years despair I shall yet live to own to the World a Passion that you too much trusted in your last Ah Mithridatia I am so little able to support my self under the affliction of your disfavour or under the seeming guilt of any thing derogatory to that respect and love under which I have vowed to live and dye as I have sent this to Mithridatia to beg and beg it I do with all the earnestness imaginable that she will send me one kind Line by this Bearer and to dissipate my Fears she will bid me come and lay my self at her Feet First to tell her of my Love and then how it was my Brothers Business with my Mother which I have been forc'd to adjust there being accounts between them that has created me much trouble but how can I talk of trouble when I have all that can be called so in your unkindness that I cannot bear oh dear Madam let me no longer be left destitute of all I can think or esteem happiness let not that be laid to my Charge which whenever I contract upon my self I withal bring a Sorrow that is as inconsistent with my Health as Light and Darkness Well my dear Mithridatia adieu despise me not for my Demerit nor yet for my Age for upon my Salvation I have Love enough to hide those blemishes and Courage enough to dye for you rather than live for any Woman else upon Earth and to convince you of the truth of what I now say I am come this moment out of my little Grove where I have invoked the Holy Angels to witness against me to my Creator whenever I prove false to my Vows Ah Madam I must lose the Image of my Maker and the reasonable Soul wherewithal he has endued me when such villanies enter my Breast and till then disdain me not from being the most passionate the most faithful and the most obedient of Men Callimachus VI. I Should be unfortunate beyond expression if the Malice or Design of prejudiced persons should lessen me in the Favour of her to whom I pay a Homage of such a nature as I think in the Eye of Heaven cannot be deemed criminal or defective if there be such a thing as allowance for Humanity if sweet Mi. find it guilty of either I shall submit to her Censure but 't is too unhappy to be at the mercy of others for what they are not concern'd in I beg you to distinguish between those who prefer you before all the World by Inclination and those whose envy pay your Merit an unwilling acknowledgment in their emulation we both in our way do you right but I wish such a Joy as my own Happiness is not more engaged by it than the content I take in your being more deserving than all the World I beg leave to tell my amiable Mi. there dwells not in the Soul of Man a Passion more securely guarded by Fidelity and Respect as the one will always make me love and admire you the other will always oblige me to do it in the manner you will approve so that till you find I grow disobedient give me not death by your unkindess and when I change from what I have so often vow'd to Heaven and you then my Charming Mi. may I become not only the scorn of every one but an exemplary punishment of him that made me May I dye unpittied and my Grave be filled with infamy and reproach when ever I forsake the only Woman upon Earth I ever lov'd for by that great Argument Comparison it is so then why will not my Adorable Mi. be contented with my Love When she can tell her self it is such an one as the dull World is yet a stranger to it pursues you Madam in every shape Obedience Duty and Submission are its attendance my Fortune and my Life shall follow you to the last period be but then contented I should live and that impulse which has told me so a thousand times tells me now we shall yet live to get of the bright side of the Cloud and end our days together and if I fail you may I never see the face of the Holy Beatitude Adieu Let me hear the next Post unless you design me more misery than I can bear Calli. VII I This day Madam found two Papers with Superscriptions that soon recalled those Thoughts that either publick or private Business had set on work like Atoms that Stormy weather had set on float retire when the Calm arrives that Centre Dear Methridatia
do send me a thousand such Questions I 'le answer them in a thousand when you 'll permit me to see you till then I 'le only say I see nothing else that can divert me I have just sight enough to conduct me from one trouble to another Thus the kind Turtle parted from his Mate passes by a thousand Objects and only mourns at all he sees but met their Joy their Life and Love are through each others Bill conveyed Dearest Asteria give me one quarter of an hour sit down and write all that Love inspires shew me its strength in that kind Glass it may flatter and yet be like That Art our finest Painters study and Colour now set off the Features it is impossible my sweetest finest Asteria to Treat thee so nay contrarywise How dull a Rogue should I be if I were call'd to Limn thee so all I can say can never tell the World how much thou deservest my Passion and my Duty nor how much I love but whither could I flye to thy Arms I cannot What matters then my poor remove But not to be too troublesome I will only add the firm resolution I have made that as long as Heaven endues me with Reason and Sence I will love Asteria and nothing else I wish my Period and a Thought contrary to this may have one and the same Moment Adieu X. THey that court Contemplation most cannot brag of being more obliged by Her and all her Helps than I when I was last forc'd to repair to her for some assistance against those misfortunes which began to attack me when I was driven from that place which neither comparison nor expression will permit me to describe the time dearest Delia obliged me with all the quiet the Emblems of Death afford Silence Night and the general retirement of all but Poli would have easily fed an ambitious Fancy that he had all the World to himself the Stars were full as bright as those which wandring Martillo changed for his Mistriss's want of Love The Birds that Dion curst for hindring Thought were all at rest nay Earth it self had got so soft a covering my Horse could make no noise Ah Dearest Delia How do you think I spent the Night or rather can you think it possible that the Beauties and the Charms I quitted and the Passion I brought away could make me spend it otherwise than I did Blest Providence that made Thought not only the best argument of Man's living but the best way to distinguish him from other parts of Created matter I Thought indeed and in that world of Thought 't was only Delia liv'd and she appeared from thence as irresistible as unparall'd I did not long enjoy the pleasing Contemplation of the one without the more severe one of the other those very Powers which made her inevitable rendred her also inaccessible all the considerable occurrences of my life since that moment I had the presumption or rather the necessity of telling sweet Delia that I lov'd repassed the track of Thought through which they had gone guess then how many Storms I had within which all the calm without could not allay but futurity being so perfectly opposite to what is past I must not expect to support the one with what may serve the other give me leave therefore to tell you that death being infinitely my desire before life without my love for Delia that Passion must be unexpressibly miserable without her Favour Ah Madam I were unworthy and false to my own Reason if I should not say your Favour is inestimable but since Heaven it self is attainable May I not lay at your feet all the Service all the Justice and all the Fidelity which Love Merit and Gratitude have made irrevocable and beg your leave that these humble Emissaries may in my absence make use of their intercession I know they offer nothing which comes not also like Tribute to the Sea from numerous streams But Just as well as Great they who can least capitulate have most reason to be protected Thus petty States are öft preserved When greater Kingdoms are denied Where is your Mercy if deserved Or Power when a Title 's tried XI SInce a Power above my own wishes Dearest Delia permits me not to chuse my own Happiness I am forced to think it one to compound for such as I may hope to receve thus being now denied seeking for pleasures as innumerable as there are Beauties in Delia's Eyes I must beg of my Charmer to transcribe them from that Copy indeed I may not only read the Beauties of her Person but the Ornaments of her Mind I know not how kindly she may design to use me in the description of the the one but the other must he natural and I cannot but confess nay bind it with an Oath that in absence I always found the power of Delia's Wit enough to Eternize my Love and Respect without any reflections upon her Face and I must as firmly vow That whenever I had the opportunity to make my Senses my Judges I always thought it sufficient to be under the Dominion of her Eyes without considering the Beauties of her Mind But since I have heard of those who have been reproved for entertaining charming Delia upon this Subject I shall only say that it is not the first time my Love hath submitted to my Obedience Ah dearest Delia let me hear from you for I long to have some of those new Delights renewed which this kind of Converse affords Who can love as Pol. doth and not seek to redress the miseries of Absence Who that loseth the pleasure of one Sense seeks not to indulge another Who that is obliged to Thought for the greatest part of his Content can live without seeking it some subsistance where Passion and Friendship meet the integrity of the one obtains a Pardon for the other What fine Delia may not approve from her Lover she may from her Friend and it being yet disputable on which side the excess lies sure where they both joyn you must less doubt the truth than I your reception Dearest Delia they both sympathize in the Message and both beg of you to think upon poor Pol. And to conclude he thinks of nothing but you believe him in absence as miserable as he believes Delia meritorious dreaming and resolving upon nothing but his Fidelity and his Love both these Madam shall take their measures from your directions Oh do but say how I ever can or shall serve you and I will a thousand times sooner dispute being Happy than Obedient Polierchus XII IF to all my Affliction I must meet with the addition of being so misinterpreted as to have the destruction of that life attributed to me which Heaven knows I would preserve with the loss of my own I have then scarce another misfortune to look for nor indeed should want one to dispatch me were I not in Reason as well as Opinion convinced that upon consideration I shall be
shall have a Life spent in your service the expiration of which shall only end it but I must now leave this and tell you I am again incouraged to go to London and there being some things which are the common intercourses of acquaintance as such disdain not to know you must command your faithful Pol. Ah Delia this is business He hates to mention any thing in love but what the nicest Thought of Delia may allow from the Humble and Passionate Pol. Who has not a Iess solid tho' a differnt foundation who has Indies tho' not Golden ones to offer Empires tho' not so gross as Interest and Ambition lives upon Ah Delia Heaven and the Powers above of which the Mind of Man is a Type confirm what I say to you for Truth and shew you the vast difference betwixt the lasting power of Merit and the short dominion of Design but whether am I falling let some prosperous Gale direct my Passion into Delia's Breast sweet safe and happy Harbor let me there unload all that Love Fidelity Religion and Honour ever made binding and let Delia take choice of all I have to offer nay she must refuse none it being the gift of Heaven as well as mine well Adieu all the Blessings of Heaven descend upon you quiet Hours soft Dreams and steady Friends be your Portion and let me beg you to believe none so much so as your unfortunate Lover Polierchus XXI SInce all the ambition of my Life receiv'd its Original from and hath its termination in finest Methridatia How pardonable is it I complain of the unjust diminution you make of that Merit which gave my Passion its Being and is the happy assurance of its duration it is of the highest concern possible to me to oblige you to believe that I think you what you are but 't is very strange you 'll not own what you know you are 't is yet some satisfaction to see what Arguments you are forced to support your diffidence withal either to resolve I must be ignorant of what I make appear I know or to disown your own knowledge rather than believe what I vow to be true Charming Methridatia be not any longer injurious to so many attractions as make all can be paid your due nor to that Love which besides being its own destruction would in its Falsity be my Infamy and misfortune But consider had you not upon a long Contemplation been preferible to me before all the World you had not been my choice and had you not been that my Passion had been impossible now my Reason is its companion and being determined by a Power which can confer what the nature of Reason and Love can desire there can be no greater assurance of its continuance than your Favour give me that dearest Madam and believe me Just and it shall not be in the power of Second Causes to violate in our Case that Order which Nature in other things is so careful to preserve my Happiness shall depend upon my Love that upon my Vows they upon my Reason and all upon Methridatia's Merit as the Spring the only sweet Fountain from whence to derive upon passionate Call the pleasant moments of his Life Call not this Folly Madam nor think it so easily alterable at your own or any other bodies pleasure for had you an equal Obligation both from your Judgment and your Inclination to value Call before any thing else you would not know where to look for either Power or Will to resist the sweet violence of a particularity But because this Case is not like to arrive from the inequality you will always find betwixt your self and others yet must you not by this Rule judge them especially poor Call whos 's unhappy defects make his pretences to any right in your kindness impossible but yet cannot stop the tide of that Ambition which riseth as far as Admiration and Respect will admit I cannot give you a greater Instance of both than when I tell you that nothing hath been more my wish and desire than your being satisfied to allay the terror of Absence with this kind of Converse but since you say 't is troublesom and I cannot be obliged but at the expence of being disagreeable I will endeavour to moderate the heat of those impatiencies which yet I cannot so regulate as not to wish for a Note to day But pardon me if I err in the moment I pretend to repent and indeed I fear your own Declaration looks too like a Civil notice that mine are too frequent and too long yet I cannot forbear saying that if I have any Sence you designed my making use of it when you tell me if your observation fail not the heat will be over by that time you return Oh Methridatia it had all the Cruelty imaginable in it to answer for one and pardon me if I say all the disobligation and injustice possible to include the other it carrying with it all that can conclude me miserable or infamous No Madam I have not built my Passion upon the hopes of Happiness it had misfortune in prospect but it lookt not grim enough to divert me more from loving you to come in that State then it did long ago under a suffering Silence you cannot therefore be free from my Respect however I may be divested of your Favour which yet I will prosecute with a life so spent in your Service as shall make you wish I had more Merit to have been made more Happy Adieu I never found seeing my Love one day Could the Delights to morrow brings allay Each day produces various Joys And Pleasure doth consit in Choice Why then should this Converse which must supply The Powers of Sence meet a worse destiny It ceases to be Love or Joy when we Cease wishing them Eternity Down Rebel Fear the Just Asteria The pleasant Charming Methridatia The fine the sweet the generous Delia Will not refuse the Duty that I pay Because 't was humbly paid them yesterday Absence that preys on Thought when this Relief Cannot be had turnâ— all to Fear and Grief Now Love and Hope at work Command in Chief By these two Messengers be pleas'd to know That Streams do not more naturally flow To their dear Ocean then my Soul to you That Sweets from Flowers persum'd Gums from Tree That Virgin Honey from the â—â—den Bee Are not so sweet as one kind Look from D. XXII IT is not my charming Delia without a mixture of all those apprehensions which make up the greatest Concern that I ever now receive the Honour of a Letter the Joy to see it and the fear to find in it any thing ruinous to my Love are always endeavouring to supplant one another and truly I cannot but say I found enough couched under a serious and grave stile to set my Fears on work for dear Delia should it proceed from a diffidence of my Love as sure thus many years has convinced you I can