Page:Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (1749, vol. 2).pdf/37

 By this time I was so affected by this inward revolution of sentiments, so soften'd by this sight, that now, betray'd into a sudden transition from extreme fears to extreme desires, I found these last so strong upon me, the heat of the weather too perhaps conspiring to exalt their rage, that nature almost fainted under them: not that I so much as knew precisely what was wanting to me; my only thought was, that so sweet a creature as this youth seem'd to me, could only make me happy; but then the little likelihood there was of compassing an acquaintance with him, or perhaps of ever seeing him again, dash'd my desires, and turn'd them into torments. I was still gazing with all the powers of my sight on this bewitching object, when, in an instant, down he went. I had heard of such things as a cramp seizing on even the best swimmers, and occasioning their being drown'd; and imagining this so sudden eclipse to be owing to it: the inconceivable fondness this unknown had given birth to, Rh