Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/320

 ¬witnessed could from other lips have made no impression, yet it was delivered with so much grace that I felt myself for the moment almost convinced; and it was rather to hear again the sweet accents of Morvina, than from any hope of prevailing with so prejudiced an audience, that I asked her to make this reply : — ¬"To all that has been said I not only fully assent, but am delighted with the wise policy which unites the higher orders of your people, whose union connects the rest; and, if there were no better means of securing that friendly intercourse which you have so happily described, I should be the advocate of all I have con- demned. — The worst vices are generated in soli- tude, and the safety of public morals may be perfectly reconciled with all the pleasures which the law allows in this great city. — It would be impious indeed to believe that God had given faculties to multiply our satisfactions, yet that his gifts were only for our temptation, and could not be enjoyed without sin : — but have ¬you ¬