which nature had eminently qualified her to ornament.
The minds of the sisters had been early formed, and improved by culture. Though not less moral and virtuous in actual principle than Rosilia, yet the characteristic vivacity of Oriana rendered her less firm in purpose; Duty and reason with her, if weighed against Inclination and affection, would have been found but light in the balance. With Rosilia it was otherwise: perhaps, from the very diffidence of herself and her own powers, she could with better security combat temptation; thoughtful and reflective, no consideration whatever could have led her to enter the marriage state with that precipitate rashness which lead so many young people to misery and reproach. She had been taught to consider matrimony as a solemn contract, a holy institution, which she would profane and abuse if she entered into it from any motives contrary to that true and lasting friendship,—that esteem and respect, that high opinion of the worth and merit of the object to whom she was to devote her life, look up to for support and protection, and with whom she might expect to find a return of those tender endearments so necessary to constitute her full and perfect happiness.
For the first time in her life Rosilia was called
