 had such a portion of
me worth bestowing some regard on; from him I received my first essential
encouragement, and instructions how to put it in that train of cultivation,
which I have since pushed to the little degree of improvement you see it at; he
it was, who first taught me to be sensible that the pleasures of the mind were
superior to those of the body; at the same time, that they were so far from
obnoxious to, or incompatible with each other, that, besides the sweetness in
the variety and transition, the one serv'd to exalt and perfect the taste of the
other to a degree that the senses alone can never arrive at.
    Himself a rational pleasurist, as being much too wise to be asham'd of the
pleasures of humanity, loved me indeed, but loved me with dignity; in a mean
equally remov'd from the sourness, of forwardness, by which age is unpleasingly
characteriz'd, and from that childish silly dotage that so often disgraces it,
and which he himself used to turn into ridicule, and compare to an old goat
affecting the frisk of a young kid.
    In short, everything that is generally unamiable in his season of life was,
in him, repair'd by so many advantages, that he existed a proof, manifest at
least to me, that it is not out of the power of age to please, if it lays out to
please, and if, making just allowances, those in that class do not forget that
it must cost them more pains and attention than what youth, the natural
spring-time of joy, stands in need of: as fruits out of season require
proportionably more skill and cultivation, to force them.
    With this gentleman then, who took me home soon after our acquaintance
commenc'd, I lived near eight months; in which time, my constant complaisance
and docility, my attention to deserve his confidence and love, and a conduct, in
general, devoid of the least art and founded on my sincere regard and esteem for
him, won and attach'd him so firmly to me, that, after having generously trusted
me with a genteel, independent settlement, proceeding to heap marks of affection
on me, he appointed me, by an authentick will, his sole heiress and executrix: a
disposition which he did not outlive two months, being taken from me by a
violent cold that he contracted as he unadvisedly ran to the window on an alarm
of fire, at some streets distance, and stood there naked-breasted, and exposed
to the fatal
