LETTER XXIII.
HarriottoMyra.
Rhodeisland.
WHATEVER may be the other causes (if there were any besides her seduction) which drove the unhappyOphelia, temerariously to end her existence, it certainly becomes us, my dear friend, to attend to them—and to draw such morals and lessons of instruction from each side of the question, as will be a mirrour by which we may regulate our conduct and amend our lives. A prudent pilot will shun those rocks upon which others have been dashed to pieces, and take example from the conduct of others less fortunate thanhimself: It is the duty of the moralist, then to deduce his observations from preceding facts in such a manner as may directly improve the mind and promote the economy of human life.
THIS may be an apology for sending you the arguments ofMartinin answer toShepherd, who in his rage and grief had called him the murderer of his child.
HE remindedShepherdof his obstinacy in persisting in an explanatory meeting, and refusing to grantOphelia’srequest in suffering the affair to subside—“Your proud spirit,” said he, “would not harken to the gentle remonstrances of your daughter—your heart was closed to every conciliatory proposition. Though she expressed a propensity to fly from the eye of the world, she had hitherto appeared lulled in a kind of happyinsensibility; yet the approaching time of explanation was terrible, it renewed the story and torture of all her misfortunes, and the idea filled her with grief and dismay. Had you been as willing to receive her, as she to return to you, happy would it have been for both; but your pride was the cause of additional calamities—when the time arrived—But why shall we harrow upon souls with the reiteration of her sorrowful exit?—
“FROM these circumstances,” saidMartin, “you cannot accuse me as theimmediatecause ofOphelia’sdeath; the facts are as I have stated them—and thus was a straying, but penitent child, driven to despair and suicide by a severe use of parental power, and a vain attempt to resent an injury, for which it was impossible the accused party could make compensation.”
NOTWITHSTANDING the plausibility ofMartin’splea, I have little hesitation in my mind to charge him with theremote causeof the miserable end ofOphelia.
HOW far parental authority may be extended, is a question which I shall not determine; I must, however, think it depends upon the combination of circumstances. The duty of a child to her parents will be in proportion to the attention paid to her education. If, instead of the usual pains bestowed by many partial parents, upon the vain parade of forming the manners of a child, and burthening the mind with thenecessityof douceurs and graces, would it not often be happier for both, to take a small share of thought to kindleone spark of gracein the heart?
HAPPY the parents, who have bestowed upon their children such an education, as willenable them, by a principle of mediocrity, to govern them without extorting obedience, and to reclaim them without exercising severity.
Farewel!
Farewel!
Farewel!
Farewel!