Loose Fragment

Loose fragment from Mary to John.1

[paper torn] love me? – Have I no cause for those possessions of my mind? – Ah! how [paper torn]

and me! – ten thousand painful ideas agitate [paper torn]

not apprehend? – every thing that was mortifying, [paper torn]

don’t treat your little girl any more with that seeming carelessness; – indeed she cannot bear it; – yet let not your attentions be constrained; – I would owe them only to your tenderness! –

“Let your eyes tell her of your heart,

“It’s story is for words too delicate.”2 

But no longer will I doubt your affection; those doubts are too painful to be indulged; – besides, did you not yesterday assure me that your affection still remained the same; – certain I am that you could not deceive; – and even were you capable of doing so, the delusion is too dear not to be cherished; – yes I do believe my Eccles to be all that is amiable; – I will think that his attachment will remain unalterable; – ah! let not your Maria be disappointed; – too tenderly does she love you to bear the thought of losing you; – they tell me that your sex are inconstant, fickle and ever changing; – is it true? Are there not some exceptions? – yes, I will flatter myself I know one; – heaven 

1 Brooks, Correspondence 233; not in Wedd, Love Letters. This undated fragment is on a loose sheet of paper inserted in the volume of letters between Eccles and Hays belonging to the Pforzheimer Collection, NYPL.

2 Source unknown; also appears in Letter 62.