The will, distracted by the tumult of external things, and the
variety of, her occupations or pleasures, will soon lose this
sentiment of terror on which she seems to count so much, but the
imagination will conserve for a long time the impressions and images
upon which it has feasted, and which will form the constant subject
of her thoughts during the day and of her dreams during the night.
Hence, the books that are capable of producing such results are
evidently bad, and if you wish to preserve intact the innocence of
your heart you should never take one of them in your hands. If you
wish to conceive a deep horror for vice, and guard against the snares
of passion, you will more readily and securely attain your end by
reading a few serious books in which truth is presented in its own
simplicity without artifice. Books in which the author, realizing the
importance of his mission, directly addresses the mind without trying
to captivate the heart and imagination, or to render vice amiable
first in order to inspire you with horror for it afterwards. If you
wish to be true to yourself; if by your readings your object is to
cultivate a love for virtue and horror for evil, novels are not the
books that you will have recourse to.
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