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Foster, Hannah (Webster), 1759-1840 [1797], The coquette, or, The history of Eliza Wharton: a novel, founded on fact (Samuel Etheridge, Boston) [word count] [eaf104].
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LETTER XXXI. [figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]

TO MISS ELIZA WHARTON.
Hartford.

I AM very happy to find you are in &longs;o
good &longs;pirits, Eliza, after parting with your favorite
&longs;wain. For I perceive that he is really the
favorite of your fancy, though your heart cannot
e&longs;teem him; and, independent of that, no
&longs;en&longs;ations can be durable.

I can tell you &longs;ome news of this &longs;trange
man. He has arrived, and taken po&longs;&longs;e&longs;&longs;ion of
his &longs;eat. Having given general invitations, he has
been called upon and welcomed by mo&longs;t of the
neighboring gentry. Ye&longs;terday he made an elegant
entertainment. Friend George (as you call
him) and I were of the number, who had cards.
Twenty one couple went, I am told. We did
not go. I con&longs;ider my time too valuable to be
&longs;pent in cultivating acquaintance with a per&longs;on
from whom neither plea&longs;ure nor improvement
are to be expected. His profu&longs;ene&longs;s may bribe
the unthinking multitude to &longs;how him re&longs;pect;
but he mu&longs;t know, that though



“Places and honors have been bought for gold,
E&longs;teem and love were never to be &longs;old.”

-- 091 --

[figure description] Page 091.[end figure description]

I look upon the vicious habits, and abandoned
character of Major Sanford, to have more
pernicious effects on &longs;ociety, than the perpetrations
of the robber and the a&longs;&longs;a&longs;&longs;in. The&longs;e,
when detected, are rigidly puni&longs;hed by the
laws of the land. If their lives be &longs;pared,
they are &longs;hunned by &longs;ociety, and treated with
every mark of di&longs;approbation and contempt.
But to the di&longs;grace of humanity and virtue,
the a&longs;&longs;a&longs;&longs;in of honor; the wretch, who breaks
the peace of families, who robs virgin innocence
of its charms, who triumphs over the ill placed
confidence of the inexperienced, un&longs;u&longs;pecting,
and too credulous fair, is received, and care&longs;&longs;ed,
not only by his own &longs;ex, to which he is a reproach,
but even by ours, who have every conceivable
rea&longs;on to de&longs;pi&longs;e and avoid him. Influenced
by the&longs;e principles, I am neither a&longs;hamed
nor afraid, openly to avow my &longs;entiments of this
man, and my rea&longs;ons for treating him with the
mo&longs;t pointed neglect.

I write warmly on the &longs;ubject; for it is a
&longs;ubject in which I think the honor and happiness
of my &longs;ex concerned. I wi&longs;h they would
more generally e&longs;pou&longs;e their own cau&longs;e. It
would conduce to the public weal, and to their
per&longs;onal re&longs;pectability. I rejoice, heartily, that
you have had re&longs;olution to re&longs;i&longs;t his allurements,
to detect and repel his artifices. Re&longs;olution, in
&longs;uch a ca&longs;e, is ab&longs;olutely nece&longs;&longs;ary; for,



“In &longs;pite of all the virtue we can boa&longs;t,
The woman that deliberates is lo&longs;t.”

-- 092 --

[figure description] Page 092.[end figure description]

As I was riding out, ye&longs;terday, I met your
mamma. She wondered that I was not one of
the party at our new neighbor's. The rea&longs;on,
madam, &longs;aid I, is that I do not like the character
of the man. I know nothing of him, &longs;aid &longs;he;
he is quite a &longs;tranger to me, only as he called at
my hou&longs;e, la&longs;t week, to pay me his re&longs;pects, as
he &longs;aid, for the &longs;ake of my late hu&longs;band, who&longs;e
memory he revered; and becau&longs;e I was the
mother of Mi&longs;s Eliza Wharton, with whom he
had the honor of &longs;ome little acquaintance. His
manners are engaging, and I am &longs;orry to hear that
his morals are corrupt.

This, my dear, is a very extraordinary vi&longs;it. I
fear that he has not yet laid a&longs;ide his arts. Be
&longs;till on your guard, is the advice of your &longs;incere
and faithful friend,

Lucy Freeman.
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Foster, Hannah (Webster), 1759-1840 [1797], The coquette, or, The history of Eliza Wharton: a novel, founded on fact (Samuel Etheridge, Boston) [word count] [eaf104].
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