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Chaper seventh 63
Imperceptibly, but fataly, had as [?] conversations of this nature had under mined her principles
And, there was something in this specific advice from which Julia's whole soul
revolted. Not that she deemed it criminal, but because she felt
it to be cruel, thus to use the affections of another for so selfish
a purpose, as her own relief, from the very sufferings she thus
inflicted. -- the sufferings of unparticipated, unreturned affection.
Tho' her whole life had been governed rather by the impulse
of feeling, than principles of morality, yet, while living in
the security of domestic life & under the watchful care of
her fond parents, no feeling had been excited, whose
in Julia had led her astray. Far different was her
situation in the dazzling, seductive & tumultuous scenes
of gay & fashionable life.

When a bark is launched on a peaceful & shallow
stream it may be left with out danger to float upon its surface,
& fathoms But when this stream
mingles with the sea, & the Bark born by its current is
cast upon the wide ocean the sport of wind & waves, it must
inevitably be lost, unless garded by a skilful Pilot.

Moral sentiment, which in a pure & uninitiated
mind is a gaurd & guide to human conduct, too often
loses it. purer when it comes in contact with the pernicious habits
of fashionable life. In Julia's mind at least,
those keen sensibilities, mere perceptions of right &
wrong which had in early youth secured her virtue, were
blunted & obscured, tho' as yet not entirely destroyed. The downward
path to vice is so gradual in its descent, & it is so strewed
with flowers by a deceitful world, that innocence is sometimes
destroyed to ruin, before it is suspicious of danger.

And never was any one more exposed to such a result, than
Mrs Clifton now was. -- There was a time when she would have
recoiled with as much horror from the idea of a lover, as from
that of a criminal, & yet, by imperceptible degrees she was
led to the very verge of this precipice, which she no longer con
-templated with horror or detestation. -- True, she hesitated,
her soul revolted from the plan proposed by Madam Luneville, not, as it has been [??]
because she deemed it criminal -- but because she thought
it cruel. Moral sentiment had lost its force, but the sensibility
of a kind & tender heart yet remained. Feeble & impotent
barrier