"ments had no other effect upon me, than tò "diftract my foul with the crueleft prefages. In “the state in which she was, it was neceflary to "reft at the inn; and, as her fervant informed me, "fhe did nothing but talk in her fleep of Eugenio "all the night long, and call for fresh handker"chiefs to stop his bleeding wound. Alas! Sir, "I am almoft tempted to wish that it had really "been a bleeding wound, and that that night had "been my last; but I was unhappily preserved to "feel a deeper wound than any bullet could have "inflicted. Happy had it been for me, had the ❝ chances of battles in which I have fince been "engaged, releafed me from my melancholy ex"istence! "The next morning this beft of women had "recovered her ufual ferenity, and fortunately "retained but a faint recollection of the tranfac❝tions of the preceding evening. From this mo"ment I marked the gradual wafte of her fpirits " and understanding: but the expreffion of huma"nity had given her unperishing graces; and "though in a few months nothing was left but the "shadow of that beauty which was made to rob « princes "princes of their reft, yet enough of her native "loveliness remained to manifeft that it was a ་ decay without degeneracy, and that her virtue, "though inactive for a while, was waiting in dor"mant suspense the fummons to a more suitable "exiftence. Mean while the breath of fcandal, "which tainted her reputation, gave her not a "minute's forrow; and the repined, for their own "fakes, at the malignities of her fex. Confufion "to that outrageous virtue, that can feast, like "favages, on the very blood of the fallen! As "to myself, it has ever been my opinion, that "want of charity is the greatest herefy, and that "the infirmities of the fex are above their feve"rities." N° 49. N° 49. SATURDAY, APRIL I. Non ego te meis Chartis inornatum filebo, Totve tuos patiar labores Impune, Lolli, carpere lividas Ah! never shall thy modeft fame The tomb fhall not thy worth conceal; Steal, unreveng'd, thy gentle breath. As foon," continued Eugenio, ❝ as my eyes "were opened to the full extent of the danger "into which we had incautiously plunged our"felves, I was determined to exert every power "that was left me, to avert the malevolence of our "ftars. As I had juft received from home a bad "account of my mother's health, I embraced "this occafion of making a vifit to my parents. "I fhall not speedily forget the fenfations with "which my bofom was filled, upon my father's "observing the many new lines which marked a << new hiftory in my countenance. In truth, he "w "faw enough in my manner and deportment to <convince him, that the brilliant career, in the "profpect of which his imagination had indulged, "had not yet been entered upon. In the mean "time, forrows were coming faft' upon me from "another quarter. The following letter was the "laft I ever received from that hand which raifes ❝mifery no more from its bed of fickness, but "waits in the filent grave till it is called up to <receive a recompence above, for its unrewarded "charities on earth. Let not my best of friends feel a moment's fadnefs on my account. All my fuffering is over; there is now no ftruggle, no conflict in my bofom. My fpirits are fuddenly become wonderfully tranquil-and I know not how: I do not even lament my fituation-and I know " not why it is not certainly becaufe any new 'prospects within the barrier of the grave are ' opening themselves to my mind. One thing however, my dear youth, I feel it neceffary to • infift upon, for our mutual repofe-and that is, that we meet no more in this mortal state. • May your passage through life be as smooth as my C my departure out of it! and let your forrow for < me be folaced in the reflexion, that I am 'fnatched from no enjoyments for which I could wish to remain; and that as to thy fociety, which is a pleasure indeed, I am going to the only 'place where I can have that with innocence and irreproach. Fare thee well!' "You must, no doubt, Sir, feel it time to have your attention diverted from this difmal pic"ture-but to what objects more cheerful can I "direct it? In my fhort acquaintance with life, "I have met with nothing that has raised in me "much enjoyment. If I fucceed in rendering "myself, by the aid of a religious philosophy, "independent of what used to raise pain in my "bofom, I fhall think that I have pretty well filled up the measure of my allotment here. "Birth, nature, and education, as you perceive, all "marked me out for a man of melancholy. Our ❝ minds are a kind of musical instruments, in which "there is something in the quality of their founds that originally adapts them to grave or merry "airs, and which, if you strain them from their "native bias, will often turn grief into burlesque, |