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which cannot exist, whose difference of sex, produces difference of
interest. These observations on female friends apply only, to a choice, an unfortunate & imprudent
as that of Mrs Clifton, & not to that sacred & endeared sentiment
which unites virtuous women in the bonds of friendship; a sentiment
not only the most pure, but most replete with the highest enjoyment
of which the human heart is capable. The friendship of each
souls, has all the tenderness, without the anxieties of
love; blended with a delicacy more pure & a sympathy
more perfect. Oh ye who have enjoyed this union of souls; this
confidence undisturbed by suspicion, this tenderness unreproved
by delicacy, this sympathy & participation, which similar natures
alone can feel, ye, only can estimate the value & the joy
of this pure & holy sentiment! But higher still is the value,
sweeter still the joy, when the ties of friendship are strengthened
by those of consanguinity, & when in a sister we find a friend.

Ah, had Julia Clifton been so fortunate, from how many dan-
-gers & sorrows might she have been preserved. Then identity
of interest would have made her honor, her sister's honor -- her shame,
her sister's shame; & the interest & pride of family, would have been
a strong motive to gaurd & guide her steps, while it would have
received the tenderness that soothed, & the sympathy that shared
every sorrow & disappointment. -- But Julia had no natural
friend of her own age & disposition, & was left to the guidance of
an erring judgment & impassioned heart.

At the birth of Rosa, Mrs Clifton had been so ill, that
her life was despaired of; during this trying hour & a long succeeding convales-
-cence, Madam Luneville had become an inmate of her family,
the frequent companion of her husband, & her assiduous nurse.

Those faults & frailties which the privacy of domestic life, hide
from general knowledge, became thus revealed to her & thus
dangerous confidence gave her ever after an undue ascendancy,
over her unhappy friend. During the first years of their marriage,
Clifton had been to Julia, all that her fondest wishes, her keen
sensibility could desire. But time while it increased the