,
                                                                Sophia Western.«
 
»I charge you write to me no more - at present at least; and accept this, which
is now of no Service to me, which I know you must want, and think you owe the
Trifle only to that Fortune by which you found it.«22
    A Child who hath just learnt his Letters, would have spelt this Letter out
in less Time than Jones took in reading it. The Sensations it occasioned were a
Mixture of Joy and Grief; somewhat like what divide the Mind of a good Man, when
he peruses the Will of his deceased Friend, in which a large Legacy, which his
Distresses make the more welcome, is bequeathed to him. Upon the whole, however,
he was more pleased than displeased; and indeed the Reader may probably wonder
that he was displeased at all; but the Reader is not quite so much in Love as
was poor Jones: And Love is a Disease, which, tho' it may in some Instances
resemble a Consumption, (which it sometimes causes) in others proceeds in direct
Opposition to it, and particularly in this, that it never flatters itself, or
sees any one Symptom in a favourable Light.
    One Thing gave him complete Satisfaction, which was, that his Mistress had
regained her Liberty, and was now with a Lady where she might at least assure
herself of a decent Treatment. Another comfortable Circumstance, was the
Reference which she made to her Promise of never marrying any other Man: For
however disinterested he might imagine his Passion, and notwithstanding all the
generous Overtures made in his Letter, I very much question whether he could
have heard a more afflicting Piece of News, than that Sophia was married to
another tho' the Match had been never so great, and never so likely to end in
making her completely happy. That refined Degree of Platonic Affection which is
absolutely detached from the Flesh, and is indeed entirely and purely spiritual,
is a Gift confined to the female Part of the Creation; many of whom I have heard
declare, (and doubtless with great Truth) that they would, with the utmost
Readiness, resign a Lover to a Rival, when such Resignation was proved to be
necessary for the temporal Interest of such Lover. Hence, therefore, I conclude,
that this Affection is in Nature, though I cannot pretend to say, I have ever
seen an Instance of it.
    Mr. Jones having spent three Hours in reading and kissing the aforesaid
Letter, and being, at last, in a State of good Spirits, from the last-mentioned
Considerations, he
