They are too much respected, for
the neighbouring shepherds not to watch over it in turn out of pure
love. And, I hope, as I will then exert myself with double vigour, that
the Gods will bless us, and we shall do very well. As to general
distress, heaven is too propitious to us, to permit the inhabitants of
the valley to be overwhelmed by it. And I shall always have milk from my
flocks, and a cheese from my store, to set before the hungry and
necessitous.
"But were these advantages more valuable than they are, it would not be
my duty to purchase them so dear. What, shall I desert all the
connections it has been the business of my life to form, and that happy
state of simplicity I love so much? Shall I shake off the mutual vows I
have exchanged with the most amiable and generous of the swains, and
join myself to one, whose person I cannot love, and whose character I
cannot approve? No, Roderic, enjoy that happiness, if it deserve the
name of happiness, that is congenial to your inclination. Forget the
worthless and unreasonable passion, you pretend to have conceived, in
the multitude of gratifications that are within your reach. Envy not me
my straw-defended roof, my little flock, and my faithful shepherd. I
will never exchange them for all the temptations that the world can
furnish.
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