Scott [née Robinson], Sarah (1720-1795)

A Description of Millenium Hall, and the Country Adjacent

London

Printed for J. Newbery

1762

"The tenderest affections of her heart were too much concerned in what she had done, to leave her the power of feeling any apprehensions of poverty; all the evils that attend it then appeared to her so entirely external, that she beheld them with the calm philosophy of a stoic, and not from a very contrary motive; the insensibility of each arose from a ruling passion; the stoic's from pride, her's from love."

When Lady Lambton took leave of Louisa, she would have forced her to receive a very handsome present; Louisa had accepted many while she lived with her ladyship, but at this time she said, 'it would look like receiving a compensation for the loss of Sir Edward; and as she chose to sacrifice both her inclinations and happiness to her regard for Lady Lambton, she could not be induced to accept any thing that looked like a reward for an action, which if she had not thought it her duty, nothing could have prevailed with her to perform.' The tenderest affections of her heart were too much concerned in what she had done, to leave her the power of feeling any apprehensions of poverty; all the evils that attend it then appeared to her so entirely external, that she beheld them with the calm philosophy of a stoic, and not from a very contrary motive; the insensibility of each arose from a ruling passion; the stoic's from pride, her's from love. But though she feared not poverty, she saw it was advisable to fix upon some establishment, as soon as it could be obtained; and therefore received great satisfaction from being assured of Mrs. Thornby's acceptance of her services. Mr. d'Avora was not without hopes, that if Sir Edward continued constant till Lady Lambton's death, Louisa might then, without any breach of honour or gratitude, marry him; though to have engaged herself to do so, would, as she observed, have been scarcely less inexcusable than an immediate consent; therefore he advised her to assume another name, as Sir Edward might not choose, after she was his wife, to have it known that she had been reduced to servitude.
(pp. 122-3)

Government::Rule and Subjection::Rule of Passion

Searching HDIS for "ruling passion"

Five entries in ESTC (1762, 1763, 1764, 1767). Second edition, corrected in 1764; third edition in 1767.

Reading Sarah Scott, A Description of Millenium Hall, ed. Gary Kelly (Ontario: Broadview Literary Texts, 2001).

See also A Description of Millenium Hall, and the Country Adjacent: Together with the Characters of the Inhabitants, And such Historical Anecdotes and Reflections, as May excite in the Reader proper Sentiments of Humanity, and lead the Mind to the Love of Virtue. By A Gentleman on his Travels (London: Printed for J. Newbery, 1762). <Link to archive.org>

Ruling Passion

05/27/2004