MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS; 



925 



ftreet as free for you as for ano. 

 ther ? — Yes, but you know, cun- 

 ning Agnes, -what I want, which is 

 to see you at the door. That might 

 possibly happen, said she, but if it 

 did, you are not to speak to me, or 

 I should take it very ill. 



Wo, you won't, my dearest Agnes. 

 —You shall find it so, only renture. 

 This she said with a kind of peeTish- 

 Beu which appeared to mc affected ; 

 and with this, after the good-tem- 

 ptred youth had in Tain begged for 

 a kiss, which however he did not 

 dare to press much for, from the 

 respect peculiar to honest and heart> 

 felt tenderness, the courtship of the 

 •rening ended. But what I thought 

 a good omeo in favour of the young 

 man, was, that Agnes, having shut 

 the door after her, opened it again 

 as softly as possible in order to have 

 a peep at him, and afterwards at 

 softly shut it. 



Da veniumjusso, vix palienter amo. 



OVJD. 



>h ! sweetest maid, my flame approve, 

 And pardon an impatient love. 



After this first attack of our ap- 

 prentice on the heart of the good 

 Agnes, I thought he would not fail 

 to take his chance of renewing it on 

 the following Sunday. In this I 

 did not mistake, and in the after- 

 noon, as soon as service was ended, 

 I beheld him slowly approaching, 

 neatly drrssed and his hair powdered, 

 which greatly mended his appear- 

 ance. i5ut the poor lad's trouble 

 was fruitless. Agnes's door and 

 windows still remained shut, which, 

 when he strolled past the house for 

 the third time, made him dejectedly 

 oast his eyes up to heaven, as if in 

 reproach for Agnes's cruelty and 

 traatef (fl'iug, I am sure if th» 



lass had seen him in that condition, 

 she would have pitied him. How- 

 ever it was not her fault, as she was 

 just gone out with her mother, a 

 prayer-book under her arm, proba- 

 bly to attend evening-service. My 

 compassion was excited for the poor 

 hopeless youngster, who, as all real 

 and tender IcT^rs always fear the 

 worst, certainly fancied that Agnes 

 disliked, and would never have a fa- 

 vourable opinion of him. 



During the rest of the week I was 

 either from home, or engaged, so 

 that I learnt no more of the matter 

 till the Sunday following ; when, on 

 returning from church, I saw the 

 young man walk before me towards 

 our street; but was surprised to find 

 he accompanied a young woman, 

 with whom he was earnestly dis- 

 coursing. She appeared to be about 

 the age of Agnes, and as pretty, but 

 although not more fashionably, she 

 was more expensively drcst, and 

 wore various golden trinkets. I 

 doubted not but his view was to out- 

 brave Agnes, and to revenge himself 

 for her crossness, by showing her 

 that he needed not be so much con- 

 cerned for her, and although she 

 slighted him, he could be well re- 

 ceived by other girls, her equals at 

 least. 1 followed them gently, and 

 to my great astonishment saw this 

 young couple knock at Agnes's 

 door : this astonishment however 

 subsided, when I heard him call the 

 young woman sister. I then im- 

 mediately understood the matter, 

 and perceived that James must have 

 acquainted his sister with his distress, 

 and that love had inspired him with 

 sense «nough to discover, that there 

 could be no means more certain of 

 obtaining access to his sweetheart, 

 than by making the two girls ac- 

 quaiutei with each other. Whether 



this 



