Page:Original stories from real life 1796.pdf/73

Rh or if ſhe was taken notice of, it was to be pitied, to hear her former ſelf praiſed, and to hear them lament the depredation that dreadful diſeaſe had made in a fine face. Not expecting or wiſhing to be obſerved, ſhe loſt her affected airs, and attended to the converſation, in which ſhe was ſoon able to bear a part. In ſhort, the deſire of pleaſing took a different turn, and as ſhe improved her mind, she diſcovered that virtue, internal beauty, was valuable on its own account, and not like that of the perſon, which reſembles a toy, that pleaſes the obſerver, but does not render the poſſeſſor happy.

She found, that in acquiring knowledge, her mind grew tranquil, and the noble deſire of acting conformably to the will of God ſucceeded, and drove out the immoderate vanity which before actuated her, when her equals were the objects ſhe thought moſt of, and whoſe approbation ſhe ſought with ſuch eagerneſs. And what had ſhe ſought? To be ſtared at and called handſome. Her beauty, the mere ſight of Rh