wants of others.

Is this a character to make your Emily happy? We were not formed for
each other: no two minds were ever so different; my happiness is in
friendship, in the tender affections, in the sweets of dear domestic
life; his in the idle parade of affluence, in dress, in equipage, in
all that splendor, which, whilst it excites envy, is too often the mark
of wretchedness.

Shall I say more? Marriage is seldom happy where there is a great
disproportion of fortune. The lover, after he loses that endearing
character in the husband, which in common minds I am afraid is not
long, begins to reflect how many more thousands he might have expected;
and perhaps suspects his mistress of those interested motives in
marrying, of which he now feels his own heart capable. Coldness,
suspicion, and mutual want of esteem and confidence, follow of course.

I will come back with you to Silleri this evening; I have no
happiness but when I am with you. Mrs. Melmoth is so fond of Sir
George, she is eternally persecuting me with his praises; she is
extremely mortified at this delay, and very angry at the manner in
which I behave upon it.

Come to us directly, my dear Bell, and rejoice with your faithful

Emily Montague.



LETTER 31.