"Pardon me, ye dear spirits of benevolence, whose benign smiles and chearful-giving hand have strewed sweet flowers on many a thorny path through which my way-ward fate forced me to pass; think not, that, in condemning the unfeeling texture of the human heart, I forget the spring from whence flow an the comforts I enjoy: oh no! I look up to you as to bright constellations, gathering new splendours from the surrounding darkness; but ah! whilst I adore the benignant rays that cheared and illumined my heart, I mourn that their influence cannot extend to all the sons and daughters of affliction."
Charlotte: A Tale of Truth [Charlotte Temple]
Susanna Rowson, <u>Charlotte: A Tale of Truth</u> (London: Minerva Press, 1791). Republished in America: <u>Charlotte: A Tale of Truth</u> (Philadelphia: M. Carey, 1794). &lt;<a href="http://search.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/u826545">Link to UVA Special Collections</a>&gt; &lt;<a href="http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/toccer-new2?id=RowChar.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=all">Link to UVA E-Text Center</a>&gt;<br>
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Text from U.Va. edition. Reading in <u>Charlotte Temple and Lucy Temple</u>, ed. Ann Douglas (New York: Penguin, 1991).