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DUTY AND INCLINATION.
35

intelligence with the playfulness of her vivacity, as proved her to be no less sensible than she was brilliant. Her sister, the young Rosilia, was nevertheless the most distinguished; for as a beautiful bud unfolds its tender leaves, and scatters fragrance around, so Rosilia, blooming in the full perfection of youthful loveliness, was encompassed by graces enchanting to the sight. The many amongst the other sex admired her appearance only, acknowledging she possessed attractions even superior to beauty, yet were indifferent as to the source whence they sprung; it was by the nicely appreciating few her mental endowments were duly estimated; those who could read in the ever-varying roses of her cheek the language of innocence and sincerity; and in her sweet, pensive, but eloquent expression the refined sensibility of her soul; in her retired but graceful manners the taste and elegance of her sentiments: these, her characteristic charms, were the more enhanced by the modest drapery, which, though it might seem to cast them into shade, still by its soft effect rather heightened than obscured their lustre.

It may be supposed that Douglas, so extremely solicitous to unburthen his heart to Rosilia, sought to paint upon every occasion the impression she had made upon it from the first moment he had