which, he had nothing but sentiments of friendship and esteem to offer, the heart expanding with the warmth and fervour of a devoted love being no longer in his power to bestow; yet, far from being a loser. Miss Airey, he was convinced, would be infinitely a gainer; his mind was now mellowed into more reflective ideas of domestic life, such as rendered him more adapted to contribute to its happiness than he possibly could have been, had he remained perfectly unaffected with such considerations.
Since his knowledge of Rosilia, he had been insensibly led to attach to the matrimonial union a tie much stronger than he had before formed a conception of; and would it be to disparage her memory, to share his days with another? Was he, on that account, for ever to renounce the consolations of a companion in his sojourn here below? Whence had arisen his solace hitherto? from nought but the satisfaction derived from a well-spent life, social habits, literary pursuits, and military duties, together with the desire of enlarging his general sphere of utility, and of crowding into his short span of existence as many acts of philanthropy as were in his power.
Such were the motives which could alone influence him to pay his addresses to Miss Airey, under
