Nor was his constancy inferior to the ardour of his
love. We went once together to a ball in the Haymarket, where, in
the midst of a thousand fine women, whose charms were enhanced by
the peculiarity of the dresses they wore, he remained unshaken,
unseduced, preserving his attachment for me in spite of all
temptation.
"In the summer, he provided me with a house in the neighbourhood
of his own; but the accommodations being bad, and that country
affording no other place fit for my residence, he brought me home
to his own seat, and, by that step, raised such a universal clamour;
though I saw no company, and led such a solitary life, that nothing
but excessive love could have supported my spirits. Not but that
he gave me as much of his time as he could possibly spare from the
necessary duties of paying and receiving visits, together with the
avocations of hunting, and other country amusements, which I could
not partake. Formerly, indeed, I used to hunt and shoot, but I
had left off both, so that I was now reduced to the alternative of
reading and walking by myself; but love made up for all deficiencies
to me, who think nothing else worth the living for.
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