LETTER XXI. HARRIOT to MYRA.
RHODEISLAND
We arrived here in &longs;afety, but our
journey is not without incident—an incident
which exhibits a melancholy picture of the
wickedne&longs;s and depravity of the human
heart.
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WHEN we came to the hou&longs;e of Mrs. Martin,
who, I &longs;uppo&longs;e you know is cou&longs;in to
Mrs. Francis, we were not a little a&longs;toni&longs;hed
at the evident traces of di&longs;tre&longs;s in her countenance;
all her actions were accompanied
with an air of &longs;olemnity, and her former
gaiety of heart was exchanged for &longs;ad, serious
thoughtfulne&longs;s: She, however, put on
a face of vivacity upon our being introduced,
but her cheerfulne&longs;s was foreign to the feelings
of her heart.
MR. Martin was equally agitated; he endeavoured
to di&longs;po&longs;&longs;e&longs;s him&longs;elf of an uncommon
weight of remor&longs;e, but in vain—all his
di&longs;&longs;imulation could not conceal his emotion,
nor his art abate the continual upbradings of,
con&longs;cious guilt.
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MRS. Francis was anxious to enquire the
cau&longs;e of this extraordinary change, but wifely
forebore adding to the di&longs;tre&longs;s of her
friend, by de&longs;iring her to explain it, in a
manner too precipitate. She was in a &longs;hort
time made acquainted with the particulars
of the &longs;tory—which is not more melanoholy
than uncommon.
SOMETIME after the marriage of Martin,
the beautiful Ophelia, &longs;i&longs;ter to Mrs. Martin,
returned from an European vi&longs;it, to her
friends in Rhodei&longs;land. Upon her arrival,
&longs;he received a polite offer from her brotherin-law
of an elegant apartment at his hou&longs;e in
town, which was cheerfully accepted—Fatal
acceptation! He had conceived a pa&longs;&longs;ion for
Ophelia and was plotting to gratify it. By
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a &longs;eries of the mo&longs;t artful attentions, suggested
by a diabolical appetite, he in&longs;inuated
him&longs;elf into her affection—he prevailed upon
the heart of the un&longs;u&longs;picious Ophelia, and
triumphed over her innocence and virtue.
THIS ince&longs;tuous connexion has &longs;ecretly
&longs;ub&longs;i&longs;ted until the pre&longs;ent time—it was interrupted
by a &longs;ymptom which rendered it
nece&longs;&longs;ary for Ophelia to retire into the country,
where &longs;he was delivered of a child, at
once the &longs;on and nephew of Martin.
THIS event was a &longs;evere mortification to
the proud &longs;pirit of Shepherd, the father of
Ophelia. His re&longs;entment to his daughter
was implacable, and his revenge of the injury
from Martin not to be &longs;atiated The
blaze of family di&longs;pute raged with
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unquenchable fury—and poor Ophelia received other
puni&longs;hment from the hand of a vindictive
father than bare recrimination.
THE affection of Martin now became
changed to the vile&longs;t hatred.
THUS doomed to &longs;uffer the blacke&longs;t ingratitude
from her &longs;educer on the one hand,
and to experience the feverity of paternal vengeance
on the other—and before her the gloomy
pro&longs;pect of a bla&longs;ted reputation—what
mu&longs;t be the &longs;ituation of the haple&longs;s Ophelia!
Hope, the la&longs;t re&longs;ort of the wretched, was
forever &longs;hut out. There was no one whom
&longs;he dur&longs;t implore by the tender name of father,
and he who had &longs;educed her from her
duty and her virtue, was the fir&longs;t to brand her
with the di&longs;graceful epithets, of undutiful
and uncha&longs;te.
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PERHAPS it was only at this time, that
&longs;he became fully &longs;en&longs;ible of her danger; the
flattery and di&longs;&longs;imulation of Martin might
have bani&longs;hed the idea of detection, and glossed
over that of criminality; but now &longs;he
awoke from her dream of in&longs;en&longs;ibility, &longs;he
was like one who had been deluded by an
ignis fatuus to the brink of a precipice, and
there abandoned to his reflection to contemplate
the horrours of the &longs;ea beneath him,
into which he was about to plunge.
WHETHER from the promi&longs;es of Martin,
or the flattery of her own fancy, is unknown,
but it is &longs;aid &longs;he expected to become his wife,
and made u&longs;e of many expedients to obtain
a divorcement of Martin from her &longs;i&longs;ter:
But this is the breath of rumour.
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Allowing it to be truth, it appears to be the la&longs;t
attempt of de&longs;pair; for &longs;uch unnatural exertions,
with the compuction attending them,
repre&longs;ent a gloomy picture of the &longs;truggle between
&longs;i&longs;terly affection and declining honour.
They however proved unavailable,
and her efforts to that end, may with propriety
be deemed a wretched &longs;ubterfuge.
IN the mean while the rage of Shepherd
was augmenting. Time, in&longs;tead of allaying,
kindled the flame of revenge in the
brea&longs;t of the old man. A &longs;en&longs;e of the
wounded honour of his family, became
every day more exqui&longs;ite; he re&longs;olved to
call a meeting of the parties, in which the
whole my&longs;tery &longs;hould be developed—that
Ophelia &longs;hould confront her feducer, and a
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thorough enquiry and explication he
brought about.
OPHELIA exerci&longs;ed all her powers to prevent
it; &longs;he intreated her father to con&longs;ent
to her de&longs;ire, but her tears and intreaties
were vain. To this earne&longs;t de&longs;ire of his
daughter, Shepherd oppo&longs;ed the honour of
his family. She replied that &longs;uch a procedure
would publi&longs;h its di&longs;grace and be subversive
of his intention: That &longs;he hoped to
live retired from the world, and it was in
his power to accept her happy repentance:
In extenuating, &longs;he wi&longs;hed not to vindicate
her errours, but declared her&longs;elf to be penetrated
with a melancholy &longs;en&longs;e of her miscondu
ct, and hoped her penitence might expiate
her guilt: She now beheld in the
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mosglaring colours, the dangers to which &longs;he had
been expo&longs;ed, and acknowledged the effects
of her temerity had impre&longs;&longs;ed her mind with
&longs;incere contrition: All per&longs;ons, continued
&longs;he, are not ble&longs;t with the like happine&longs;s of
re&longs;i&longs;ting temptation; &longs;he intreated her father,
therefore, to believe her mis&longs;ortunes
proceeded from credulity and not from an
abandoned principle—that they aro&longs;e more
from &longs;ituation than a depraved heart: In
a&longs;king to be re&longs;tored to the favour and prote
ction of a parent, &longs;he prote&longs;ted &longs;he was not
influenced by any other motive, than a wi&longs;h
to demon&longs;trate the &longs;incerity of her repentance,
and to e&longs;tabli&longs;h the peace and harmony
of the family.
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OPHELIA now became melancholy, and
her intentions vi&longs;ibly bent on the manner of
her death. As the time drew nigh, her sensibility
became more exquifite: What was
before di&longs;tre&longs;s, &longs;he now averred to be horrour:
Her conduct bordered upon insanity.
THE day was appointed to bring to a settlement
this unhappy bu&longs;ine&longs;s—the time of
hearing arrived—the parties met—the presence
of Ophelia was nece&longs;&longs;ary—&longs;he was missing—
the unfortunate Ophelia died by her
own hand.
MRS. Shepherd entered the apartment of
her daughter—&longs;he beheld her pale and trembling—
&longs;he &longs;aw the vial, and the cup with the
remains of the poi&longs;on—&longs;he embraced her
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lo&longs;t child—“My Ophelia! my daughter!
return—return to life.”
AT this cri&longs;is entered the father—he was
mute—he beheld his daughter &longs;truggling
with the pangs of di&longs;&longs;olution—he was dumb
with grief and a&longs;toni&longs;hment.
THE dying Ophelia was con&longs;cious of the
di&longs;tre&longs;s of her parents, and of her own situation—
&longs;he cla&longs;ped her mother's hand, and
rai&longs;ing her eye to heaven, was only heard to
articulate “let my crime be forgotten
with my name.—O fatal! fatal
poison!”
ADIEU! my dear Myra—this unhappy affair
has worked me into a fit of melancholy.
I can write no more. I will give you a few
particulars in my next. It is impo&longs;&longs;ible to
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behold the effects of this horrid cata&longs;trophe
and not be impre&longs;&longs;ed with feelings of sympathetick
&longs;orrow.
Brown, William Hill, 1765-1793 [1789], The power of sympathy, or, The triumph of nature (Isaiah Thomas & Co., Boston) [word count] [eaf034v1T].
