DCXXXIV. — To the Same.

My Dear Miss Stokes,Dublin, April 4, 1771.

There is a sweetness and friendliness in your spirit which is exceeding agreeable to me. And you have an openness withal which makes it the more pleasing. Let nothing rob you of this; although you cannot retain it without a good deal of resolution; for the example of all the world is against you; even of the religious world, which is full of closeness and reserve, if not of disguise also. How will you do then to retain that artless simplicity which almost every one disclaims? Nay, this is not all: You must likewise expect to be yourself deceived, more or less. You will believe persons to be sincere, who will abuse your confidence; who will say much and mean nothing. But let not my dear maid copy after them: Let them have all the artifice to themselves. Still let not mercy or truth forsake you, but write them upon the table of your heart. Only know to whom you speak; and then you cannot be too free. Open the window in your breast. I pray, never be afraid of writing too large letters: You must not measure yours by mine; for I have a little more business than you.

Your weakness and tenderness of constitution, without great care, may prove a snare to you. Some allowance must be made on that account; but the danger is of making too much. Steer the middle way. So far as you are able, rejoice to endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; and deny yourself every pleasure, which you are not divinely conscious prepares you for taking pleasure in God. I am glad you can converse freely with Sally Flower. Let her not lose her rising in the morning. Surely she and you together might overrule Molly Jones’s Irish reason for not meeting, "I said I would not." I feel much for poor Sally James. Perhaps she will outrun many of you by and by.

My dear Miss Stokes,