Disappointment and misfortune are calculated to inspire asperity into the
gentlest heart. Mr. Godfrey inveighed with warmth, and sometimes with
partiality, against the coldness and narrowness of the age. He said, "that
men of genius, in conspicuous stations, had no feeling for those whom
nature had made their brothers; and that those who had risen from
obscurity themselves, forgot the mortifications of their earlier life, and
did not imitate the generous justice which had enabled them to fulfil the
destination of nature." But though misfortune had taught him asperity upon
certain subjects, it had not corrupted his manners, debauched his
integrity, or narrowed his heart. He had still the same warmth in the
cause of virtue, as in days of the most unexperienced simplicity. He still
dreaded an oath, and reverenced the divinity of innocence. He still
believed in a God, and was sincerely attached to his honour, though he had
often been told, that this was a prejudice, unworthy of his comprehension
of thinking upon all other subjects.
CHAPTER III.
_A Misanthrope._
Such was the story, in its most essential circumstances, that Mr. Godfrey
related. Delia was exceedingly interested in the gaiety of his
imagination, the cruelty of his disappointments, and the acuteness, and
goodness of heart that appeared in his reflections. Miss Fletcher listened
to the whole with gaping wonder.
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