We
considered your fatigue and your extraordinary abstinence, and we were
willing to compensate them by pleasant food, and a grateful
refreshment."
"And is such the grateful refreshment, and such the simple and
unaffected relaxation that your minds suggested? Alas, were I to
approach this board, it would be to me a business and not an amusement,
an exertion and not a relief. A feast like this is an object foreign and
unpleasing to my eyes. The feasts of the valley are chesnuts, and
cheeses, and apples. Our drink is the water of the limpid brook, or the
fair and foaming beverage that our flocks afford. Such are the
enjoyments of sobriety; such are the gratifications of innocence.
Virgins, I am not weary of the simplicity of the pastoral life. I hug it
to my bosom closer, more fondly than ever."
"Amiable, spotless maiden! we admire your opinions, and we love your
person. But virtue is not allied to rigour and austerity. Its boundaries
are unconstrained, and graceful, and sweeping. It is a robe which sits
easily on those who are formed to wear it. It gives no awkwardness to
their manner, and puts no force upon their actions. Partake then, my
Imogen, in those refreshments we have prepared for your gratification.
If this be not duty, it is not crime.
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