had many children; some of whom died in infancy, but a large proportion of this charming family are still living. Her eldest son was called Charles, after his father, and resembled his mother more, in my opinion, than any of her children. She was one of the most beautiful women I ever remember to have seen, and he was, undoubtedly, a most rare instance of external perfection in the other sex. Oh! how readily, in this connexion, I could give utterance to feelings which overwhelm my heart almost to distraction-but I forbear, and proceed with my narrative. "While our children were in infancy, I lived on no disagreeable terms with my sister. We did not often meet, for our habits were dissimilar, but when we did, it was with apparent cordiality; and our intercourse was the more agreeable from the presence of the Comte de Perouse, whose highly polished manners always kept me and my companion Florence in some awe, and in a degree compelled us to treat his lady with the respect and affection due to her birth and character. In short, his presence was commanding, and kept us in order, putting a restraint upon that disposition to persiflage which was so prevalent in my companion, and for which I had so high a relish. "Old Anselm de Xerés died when his eldest greatgrandchild was about ten years of age, and was sincerely lamented by his grandaughter, who, with her husband, followed him to his grave. "Such were the leading events of the first fifteen years of my married life and that of my sister; during which time, we always lived in apparent friendship, which was, undoubtedly, more cordial on her side than on mine, for Eglantine ever retained her sincerity of character. My "In the mean time, there was a free intercourse between our children, and scarcely a day passed wherein they did not meet. Though a domestic character, I was a careless mother. My children were entrusted to a tutor and a governess, who gave them their lessons at certain hours, but relinquished the care of them at other times. son was naturally of a violent temper, with a considerable degree of pride, which was fostered not only by me, but by Florence, who no doubt supposed that she was gratifying me, and successfully accomplishing her own purpose, when, in my presence, she inflated my son's mind with high ideas of his birth and consequence in society. His chief delight was in rural sports, in climbing the mountains, and pursuing the game among the wilds and over the heaths, in company with the servants and tenants: in consequence of which he left his sister much alone; and, as I was too much wrapped up in my artful companion to afford myself leisure for cultivating the society of my child, it could not be wondered at if she were led to seek companions among her cousins. "My Agnace was, from infancy, a lovely child. It is difficult to give a description of the sort of beauty which she possessed. The rose, the lily, the violet, and the tulip, have been used as emblems of female beauty; but, were I to compare the attractions of my Agnace to any flower of the field, it should be to the anemone, which, as the poet tells us, sprang from the blood of the dying Adonis. 'Still here the fate of lovely forms we see, Which owe to winds their names in Grecian song.' O my Agnace! I endeavour to sooth my misery by describing thy beauties, and attempting to place thy excellencies before others. But the effort fails; the flower is faded; and the sad assurance that thou art lost to me for ever excludes all earthly comfort; the balm of Gilead only can staunch a wound like this. "Charles de Perouse had from infancy selected my little Agnace as his favourite companion. He was brave and strong, and she was the reverse. She was timid, and easily depressed; and he was ever ready to observe the tear on her cheek, and wipe it away. At the period when I first observed this action, he could not have been more than six years of age, and she was little more than three. They were both playing in the room where I sat at my embroidery with Florence. She had fallen down and hurt her foot: he took off her shoes, rubbed her uncovered foot, and wiped her eyes with his frock, for he still wore the first dress of childhood. "When they were a few years older, the chief delight of this youthful pair was to wander together in the charm ing environs of the castle, to lose themselves in the little valleys of the mountains, where no sound vibrates on the ear but the rush of waterfalls and the murmur of the turtledove, and to enjoy renewed pleasure amidst the thousand grottos formed by the rocks of marble, with which those lovely hills every where abound. "I indulged the prevailing opinion entertained by most careless mothers, that so long as their children associate only with those of their own degree, no harm can accrue to them from such intercourse. My dear child might have suffered by such neglect on my part, but it was so ordered by Providence, that in this particular instance, my little Agnace was uninjured in the society of her cousin: but this safety, humanly speaking, was owing more to the care which his parents had taken in his education, than to any caution given by me. The Comte de Perouse was a truly pious man, and, as such, it cannot be supposed that he should have neglected the religious instruction of his children. His labours to benefit Charles, as afterwards appeared, had been blessed; and I have reason to think, that my sweet Agnace derived most of her ideas of true religion from the intercourse above described. For Charles, it seems, had certain portions of Scripture given him for his daily study; and as he often devoted the hours spent with Agnace to this study, he frequently employed her to examine him in his lessons, and thus led her to a more serious consideration of Scripture than she might otherwise have been inclined to make. Independent of his allotted tasks, the young de Perouse was a lover of reading, even from a child: this induced him to visit the old library of the castle, which, in my time, was suffered to remain much neglected; and there, having found a ponderous volume of romance concerning the Heroes of Roncevalles, it became the constant companion of his walks with Agnace, when she was about ten years of age, amid that very line of hills which had witnessed so many actions of those renowned personages. "A celebrated writer of the present day has remarked, that romance is less injurious to the harder than the softer sex; and this may well be, as the kind of feelings excited by such productions have a tendency to meliorate the character where it is inclined to harshness, and to enervate it when inclined to weakness. The present age is, however, not an age of romantic feelings; the state of society inclines not to this error; and our present works of imagination partake very little of the eccentricities and overstrained yet heroic sentiments with which our ancient romances abounded. These provinces, however, in which our children were educated, had not as yet departed so far from the spirit of the heroic and romantic times. There was scarcely a character of modern taste and manners among us, if we except Florence, and myself, rendered so by her influence; although it may appear marvellous to any one who is not a close observer of life, to consider the degree in which I had fallen under the dominion of this artful woman, and to what extent she had rendered herself necessary to me. "In the mean while, years passed on with little variation. My children grew up about me, and my husband at intervals returned to his home, but always appeared restless when with us, and anxious to return to the camp. When Bertram was fifteen, he took him with him to his regiment, where he purposed to initiate him in military affairs; and this same year, a chasm was made in our little circle by the sudden death of the Comte de Perouse, by which calamity Eglantine became a widow, and for a season she appeared inconsolable, and perfectly incapable of rousing herself from the paralysing influence of so painful an event. "I was not so insensible as not to feel for her on this occasion; and as I found that she was much consoled by the presence of Agnace, I suffered her to be continually with her, and thus administered further opportunities for her associating with Charles, who, by the death of his father and grandfather, had become the stay and support of his widowed parent and the younger children. "By the death of the Comte de Perouse, whom it was impossible not to honour as a gentleman and a Christian, and whom a person of duplicity must fear as a man of great discernment into character, it appears that a restraint had been suddenly taken away from the tongue of Florence, who, not long after his death, began to utter certain insinuations against the comtesse, for whom, it seems, she had always felt that kind of dislike which low-minded and envious persons commonly feel for their superiors. "I remember the occasion on which this feeling first began to display itself, after the death of the comte. It was one summer's afternoon, and the season was particularly sultry. I was sitting with Florence in my own apartment, which opened by folding-doors into a balcony which hung over the water. The doors were open, and we had a full view of one front of the opposite house, with the extent of gallery which extended round the first floor. For some time we heard not a voice, and saw not a human being belonging to the family; and Florence remarked that there was a great stillness on that side of the house since his death. "Those apartments just before us were his,' I replied, and that balcony his favourite spot.' 66 6 True,' she answered; and I doubt not that the widow cannot yet bring her mind to visit this her husband's favourite haunt. But time does wonders in drying up the sources of grief: your sister used to have a wonderful flow of spirits, and great elasticity of mind; she is yet young, and I doubt not but that she will console herself by and by.' "There was something in the tone of her voice which made me look up as she spoke; but she was bending over her work, and I could not perceive the expression of her Countenance. I therefore replied, Undoubtedly there is no grief which time does not alleviate. If we suffered in continuance what we feel at first on any trying occasion, life would become a burden too heavy to be borne.' "Truly,' she answered; for, generally speaking, there is no grief more deep than that occasioned by the loss of an affectionate husband, and none for which a remedy is sooner found by a rich and handsome woman.' "Why surely, Florence,' I said, 'you do not think that Eglantine, with her eight children, will marry again?' "I was speaking in a general way,' she replied, and by no means with a view to the comtesse.' "At that moment a door opened in the opposite house. It was the door of the late comte's apartment, and Agnace appeared leading out her aunt, who seemed to be weeping. There was a sofa in the gallery: to this Agnace led the comtesse, and they sat down together. Eglantine then evi |