convivial fellow of the party, always free, gay, and unconcerned; and what then is he now!"
He endeavoured to divert his ideas by reading, but found he could not, and continued ruminating as follows.
"If I had never become acquainted with the De Brookes, I should probably have gone on in a course of unthinking gaiety, and these reflections would never have been drawn from me; had I never known that lovely girl Rosilia, never felt for her aught but what I had felt in common for her sex; had I never perceived her tremble at a trifling tale of vice told in her presence; and had I not perceived that though she abhorred the evil, the culprit excited her compassion rather than her indignation; if I had not perceived her beautiful countenance sadden upon similar occasions, I should never have been called to reflection. It was her uncommon loveliness that caught my admiration; but had not my chains become riveted by the superior lustre of her innocence and virtue, and had not my heart deeply acknowledged their power, I should never have been influenced by these sentiments. How often during my life have I fancied myself in love! it is now my firm belief that I never loved before; it was mere passion, mere infatuation, anything but love; for never, at any
