318 HENRY KIRKE WHITE's REMAINS. 



affection for two women at once. I am afraid you let 

 your admiration outrun your judgment in the outset, and 

 then comes the denouement and its attendant, disap- 

 pointment and disgust. Take good heed you do not do 

 this in marriage ; for if you do, there will be great risk 

 of your making shipwreck of your hopes. Be content 

 to learn a woman's good qualities as they gradually re- 

 veal themselves ; and do not let your imagination adorn 

 her with virtues and charms to which she has no pre- 

 tension. I think there is often a little disappointment 

 after marriage — our angels turn out to be mere Eves ; — 

 but the true way of avoiding, or, at least, lessening this 

 inconvenience, is to estimate the object of our affections 

 really as she is, without deceiving ourselves, and injur- 

 ing her, by elevating her above her sphere. This is the 

 way to be happy in marriage ; for, upon this plan, our 

 partners will be continually breaking in upon us, and 

 delighting us with some new discovery of excellence ; 

 while, upon the other plan, we shall always be finding 

 that the reality falls short of what we had so fondly and 

 so foolishly imagined. 



Be very sedulous and very patient in your studies. 

 You would shudder at the idea of obtruding yourself on 

 the sacred office in a condition rather to disgrace than \o 

 adorn it. St Paul is earnest in admonishing Timothy 

 to give attention to reading : and that holy apostle him- 

 self quotes from several of the best authors among the 

 Greeks. His style is also very elegant, and polished on 

 occasion. He, therefore, did not think the graces of 

 composition beneath his attention, as some foolish and 

 ignorant preachers of the present day are apt to do. I 

 have written a longer letter to you than I expected, and 

 1 must now therefore say good bye. 



I am very affectionatelv yours, 



H. K. White. 





