Page:Modern literature (1804 Volume 2).djvu/124

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  • chases a commission for Gauntlet; but

the British naval officer of 1789, has an understanding, improved by cultivation and manners, softened by commixture with elegant and enlightened society. In both cases, the picture is just; in the former, it represents an original, namely, a diamond of the first water, rough from the mine; in the second, after undergoing the highest polish." "Besides," said young Mortimer, "the seaman of Mrs. Somerive was farther mildened by the tenderest of passions, which sailors certainly feel as strongly as other men; and what man, enamoured of such an object as the Fair Orphan of Pembroke, would not be softened, even if he had been naturally less benignant?" At this remark, Miss Hamilton, who had been by her admirer frequently compared to this very heroine, could not avoid blushing; which Mrs. Somerive perceiving,