which will give the world claims upon me, that from the sadness of my mind I shall be if not unable, at least totally unwilling to fulfil; far better, far happier than for me to remain in an obscurity, where, without strictures from others, or censures from myself, I might act as inclination prompted.
"But what do I say? (cried she, after a pause) do I repine at a change which restores my father to the rank he has been so long unjustly deprived of; at a change which will give to me the means of dispensing happiness to others. Oh! let me chase from my breast a grief so selfish, let me not wrap myself in sorrow and despair, and because the blessing I desired is not mine reject every other. Let me not, like a froward child, dash the proffered cup of joy from my lips, because there is not in it every ingredient I could wish. Yes, (she proceeded, as if animated by a new spirit), I will try to dispel a grief that enervates, that sinks me into languor, that makes me shrink from the idea of fulfilling the claims of society; and I make no
