MISCELLANEOUS THOUGHTS. 429 The sins of his nature seem to go down with him to the dust, and they cleave so close to the whole man, that it is well if they do not rise again with him, and attend him for ever. Not so Placentia, the wise and the courteous. Though she has been surrounded with temptations to pride and anger, yet she had but little of those vices in her original constitution, and has almost nullified that little by rules of virtue, by the labours of piety, and the aids of divine grace. She was educated from her cradle in all the forms of grandeur ; she has been surrounded with complaisance of every kind, and the civilities due to the sex have less exposed her to rudeness and contradiction ; yet she has learnt to bear an opposition, both to her sentiments and her will, without awakening an angry passion, or feeling an uneasy fer- ment within. She receives the. sentiments of her companions, when they are different from her own, with all the serene airs of a philosopher, who has nothing in pursuit but reason and truth ; and if she happens to take a step amiss, the admonition of a friend is numbered amongst her benefits and her obligations. Her nature is not robust, but rather of a sickly make ; yet neither pain nor sickness provoke a peevish word from her. Shy has learnt to receive the affliction as an awakening stroke from heaven, designed to loosen her heart from all that is mortal : She is all submission to the hand of a heavenly Father, and weans herself daily from every thing beneath and beside God. She knows, or believes at least, that her friends and her attendants seek her ease, and she accepts all they do with a grateful plea- sure. She had rather bear an inconvenience herself, than give an uneasiness even to the meaner figures of mankind. Every one loves to do kind offices for Placentia, and happy are they who can administer any relief to her in all her painful hours. If she ever finds occasion to give a reproof, it is with so much address, with such freedom and such sweetness, that the person reproved is convinced and pleased at once, and his reformation is effectually begun. A few days ago she made this appear with pe- culiarhappiness. Critillo happened to pay his morning attendance, and heard divine service at the saine church which Placentia frequented. When prayers were done, the preacher begun ; he spoke many substantial truths, agreeable enough to the text whence he de- rived his discourse, and he drew some practical inferences at the close, with justice, and with some degree of fervency. But, alas ! said Critillo, there were so many old- fashioned similitudes and aukward flourishes with which he seemed to garnish his sermon; sometimes the language was so mean and creeping, some of the phrases appeared so antiquated, others so vulgar, and many of them carried such an affected air of the sublime and magnificent, E e 3
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