22 
MEMOIR OF 
society, what mighty profit, can such an employ- 
ment afford to a man of my kidney ? Even sup- 
posing I had the good fortune to be admired by 
some — but the supposition is indeed extremely 
absurd ; for however elegant, the composition, yet 
elocution — O sovereign elocution ! thou canst 
never flow from Smellie’s awkward tongue. By 
consulting my own imagination, I learn that 
I have a passion for novelty, and for straining 
things to their utmost pitch, — a very dangerous 
and very unpopular turn for a clergyman ! 
“ I shall now inform you of an affair which will 
surprise you more than if I had turned a wor- 
shipper of Mahomet. Nature has deemed me 
to be a violent lover for some years past. Many 
expedients have I tried to overcome the passion ; 
vain and unsuccessful, however, every attempt of 
this kind has been. Neither books, conversation, 
or philosophy, have been able to eradicate the 
deep-rooted affection. What is still more singu- 
lar, the flame had seized both our hearts long 
before either of us were aware of or suspected the 
secret cause, which forcibly determined us to be 
no where so easy as in the simple society of two. 
I have coolly and deliberately, and warmly and 
passionately, alternis vicibus, considered what was 
most proper to be done. To give up all corres- 
pondence would have hurt me extremely ; but 
I have every reason to believe, it would have 
proved fatal to a female who is constitutionally 
constant in affection, and whose mind is sensibi- 
lity itself. I often resolved, and as often tried to 
