Page:Honest debtor, or, The virtuous man struggling with, rising superior to, and overcoming misfortune (1).pdf/8

( 8 ) ly. A ſelect ſociety, formed by her own inclination, thewed her the moſt flattering attentions, and nothing that could rende home agreeable was ever wanting.

'My wife was too young to conſider neceſſary to regulate and reduce my expences. Ah! had ſhe known how much riſked to pleaſe her, with what reſolution would the not have oppoſed it? But as fh brought me a handſome fortune, it was natural for her to conclude, that I was alſo in affluent circumſtances. She imagined at leaſt, that my ſituation in life allowed m to put my eſtabliſhment upon a gentee footing. She perceived nothing in it tha was unſuitable to my profeſſion; and, or conſulting her female friends, all this was highly proper, all this was no more then decent. Alas ! I ſaid ſo too, and Adrienne alone, in her modeſt and ſweetly ingenuous manner, aſked me if I conceived it neceſſary to incur ſuch expences to render myſelf amiable in her eyes. "I cannot be inſenſible," ſaid ſhe, "to the pains you take to render me happy; but I ſhould be ſo without all, that. You love me, and that is enough to excite the envy of theſe young women. What ſatisfaction can you find in increaſing it, by wiſhing me to eclipſe them? Leave them their advantages, which I ſhall not envy. Let the frivolity of taſte: let whim and vain ſuperfluity be their delight. Love and happineſs ſhall be mine."