cheerful Serenity in the Mind, than any of thoſe dangerous Effects which we have mentioned; but in fact, Senſations of this Kind, however delicious, are, at their firſt Recognition, of a very tumultuous Nature, and have very little of the Opiate in them. They were, moreover, in the preſent Caſe, embittered with certain Circumſtances, which being mixed with ſweeter Ingredients, tended altogether to compoſe a Draught that might be termed bitter-ſweet; than which, as nothing can be more diſagreeable to the palate, ſo nothing, in the metaphorical Senſe, can be ſo injurious to the Mind.
For firſt, though he had ſufficient Foundation to flatter himſelf on what he had obſerved in Sophia, he was not yet free from Doubt of miſconſtruing Compaſſion, or, at beſt, Eſteem, into a warmer Regard. He was far from a ſanguine Aſſurance that Sophia had any ſuch Affection towards him, as might promiſe his Inclinations that Harveſt, which, if they were encouraged and nurſed, they would finally grow up to require. Beſides, if he could hope to find no Bar to his Happineſs from the Daughter, he thought himſelf certain of meeting an effectual Bar in the Father; who, though he was a Country Squire in his Diverſions,was
