Emilius and Sophia - 1783 Author:Jean-Jacques Rousseau Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: you forget that juftice which you owe to your- felf, if you are the oecafion of her not receiving that refpect which is due to her. I proceeded then to explai... more »n to him thereafons of thefe diftinctions, and convinced him of the injuftice he would be guilty of in paying no regard to them. Is he certain that he fhall be the hufband of Sophia, of whofe fentiments he is wholly ignorant; who in confequence of her own inclinations, or of her parents, may have prior engagements, to whom he is a ftranger; and who perhaps has not any of thofe cOrrefpondent rcquifites, which render the marriage ftate happy ? Is he ignorant that fcandal fixes an indelible ftain upon a girl, which is not to be effaced even by her marriage with the perfonwho occasioned it ? What man of fenfibility would injure her. he loves? What man of honour would give an unhappy woman oecafion to bewail for ever the mi fortune of having been agreeable to him ? Emilius, who is always apt to run into extremes, was fo terrified at theconfequences I de- fcribed, that he began now to think himfelf much too near the abode of Sopia: he mends his pace : he looks round about him to difcover whether we were overheard ; he would facrifice his own happinefs a thoufand times over to the honour of his miftrefs ; he had rather never behold her again while he lives, than oecafion her the lealt difpleafure. This is the firft fruit of the; pains I have taken in his youth, fo to form his mind as to render it fufceptible of affeiition. It is our endeavour therefore to fettle ourfe've at,a convenient diftance. We enquire, and are told there is a town within fix long miles ; and we endeavour to procure a lodging there, rather than in the adjacent villages, where our abode might look fufpicious. At this town at length we arrive ; our yo...« less