_Modesty_.


Modesty is the citidel of beauty and virtue. The first of all virtues is
innocence; the second is modesty.

1. Modesty is both in its source, and in its consequence, a very great
happiness to the fair possessor of it; it arises from a fear of
dishonor, and a good conscience, and is followed immediately, upon its
first appearance, with the reward of honor and esteem, paid by all those
who discover it in any body living.

2. It is indeed a virtue in a woman (that might otherwise be very
disagreeable to one) so exquisitely delicate, that it excites in any
beholder, of a generous and manly disposition, almost all the passions
that he would be apt to conceive for the mistress of his heart, in
variety of circumstances.

3. A woman that is modest creates in us an awe in her company, a wish
for her welfare, a joy in her being actually happy, a sore and painful
sorrow if distress should come upon her, a ready and willing heart to
give her consolation, and a compassionate temper towards her, in every
little accident of life she undergoes; and to sum up all in one word, it
causes such a kind of angelical love, even to a stranger, as good
natured brothers and sisters usually bear towards one another.

4. It adds wonderfully to the make of a face, and I have seen a pretty
well turned forehead, fine set eyes, and what your poets call, a row of
pearl set in coral, shewn by a pretty expansion of two velvet lips that