New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-08-10

been deceived or are ever likely 70 be lea away oy
the sickly sentimeu,slity Of Illicit passion, how
weak and base and absurd, it is to pretend that
II ever is, or Con be, ennoblng or right. No wo-
man can take in this poison to her harm, when she
sees how utterly she modesty of woman is forgo'-
tel. No man can drink of such mixture wnen
seeing that that which even the most depraVea
prze 10 woman, her womanly modcsty, Is burned
up by illicit passion.
And not modesty only, but every other w9manly
sentiment. ia forgotten. William, though no doubt
busty. must have been more than ordinarily back
ward. for it is evident it was in her to be demon
strstiye enough. First from my lips, says the
lady !" WAS our love told" Toen comes such poor
stuff as talk of loving her as his "destiny;' Oh
" no duty in life but the pursuit Of happiness;" OF
g homeless, endless mis- -ry;" and then long, iona
kiss. All this is sckeDiDg ad nauseum; but ii we
believe it-and it could not be told were it not
tIut-whst may We not believe, and disbeheveY
What credit can we give to the date Of her I'M
ta,tb(uloess But that is Of little moment Oh
sc, We how, when she forgot that the truest lie Is
life of restraint and self-negatOD, oblivion OF al
tenderness, except that belonging to her spas
as onal attraction" has oyer~ helmed her; how
cruelty and insultngly she sneers at her husbandi
how DEE titue of all mohery feeling 10 the illusions
TO her children; with wha, scorn che speaks oil
friends whose age, at least, should have made them
,eyerenced. and who besougbt her to pause in her
teadlopg leap irt, the jaws of that moral death;
with what hate she mathematics 81, the restraints
of social Ife of family ties, Of moral incucatons,
of religious obseryan;es that had ever held her
back. Consumed by fierce rage of desire, che
can remember only Yeowplush's ph losophy that
there is no rule, no duty in life but the pursuit
" of happiness" and forgets utterly, or remem-
beers only with contempt and hate, the heath she
had made desolate, and the hearts she had almost
broken. A woman ceases to be woman when
she forgets how to pity. No sadder picture than
this can be shown to the transgressor. The mad
ness of an unholy and ignoble passion makes this
woman rave.
One allusion in this letter may not be at once
understood Mrs. Quincy is herself an illegitmate
child, and carried therefore, in her blood the
seeds of this madness. Like produces like, and in
10 case oftener than in that Of illegtimate chill.
dren, the illegitimacy often running from genera
ton TO generation. This only eniOrces the lesson
which none can fail TO read in this domestic
tragedy. Mistakes are sometimes, perhaps often,
made in the choice of husband and wife. Wretched
undoubtedly is the life of those who have COM
mitted such errors But to break those bonds to
follow blindly some new passion leads to misery of
far lower depth, and can be defended only as this
woman defends it, by the abuegaticn of all moral
ties and considerations, and forgetfuness of all
that adorns and blesses life. She was not bound
before; she is not bound now, but either party is
free to follow any new fancy. No more fatal mine
than this can be sprung under the foundations of
the social edfce. No reasoning cau make such
philosophy plausible; no eloquence can cover up
its hidecus corruption.