OR, WEEKLY. THE VISITOR. FOR THE USE AND AMUSEMENT OF BOTH SEX ES. Saturday, December 15.....1810. VOL. XII.] NOVELTY. ALBERT AND EMMA. (An Interesting Tale.) IN a village, in the south of France, lived a peasant whose only wealth consisted in those possessions which adorn greatness and dignify poverty.He had acquired, by his integrity and industry, the approbati on of the master whom he had long served as under baliff, and the esteen of all his neighbours. In his hours of leisure he delighted in the discharge of his parental duty, by cultivating the native graces of an only child. EMMA, at the age of eighteen, was lovely in her person, gentle in her manners, and virtuous in her principles. Their cottage was the scene of rustic peace, and their little garden a bower of in termingled sweets. BERNARD, had long served, with fidelity and zeal,the Marquis of Clairville, who possessed a sumptu ous chateau, and extensive do [NO. 8. mains in the neighbourhoodjustice, generosity, and innate excellence of heart, were his characteristics ; and he was the idol of the surrounding conntry. Emma assisted her father's honest toil, by employing herself in spinning and net ting, which contributed to acquire those comforts, that rendered them happy and contented. The duty and affection of Emma was unparallel oft would she climb the verdant steep, or wander in the ilent vale, to wait the return of her father from his daily labors, when the evening sun cast its faint gleams upon the summer scene. Sometimes seated by this venerable sire,, she discoursed with him on the virtues of her departed mother, whom fate had hurried from the world in the early infancy of her daughter; and they shed tears of sorrow and regret to her loved memory. Some times, in the seasons of festivity, Emma would join in the tural dance with the villagers, or chant her melodious notes to the soft Autes of the youthful peasants. ing the name of the deceased, one of the peasants informed him that in their master, the How often has she bless'd the coming marquis de Clairville, they had day, When toil relenting lent her tune to play, And all the village train from labor free, Lead up their sports beneath the spread. ing tree, While many a pastime circled in the shade, The young contending, while the old survey d. Such was the life led by Emma and her father; but they were soon to experience a fatal calamity, in the death of the marquis de Clairville, whose loss was universally lamented. For some days af ter his decease the eyes of his tenants and dependants ceased not to flow with tears of gratitude and sorrow. At the funeral of the marquis, conducted with all the pomp due to his rank, the inhabitants of the surrounding hamlets attended; grief was imprinted on every countenance, and they followed the body in mute dejection. A young stranger returning to Switzerland from a tour, chanced to strike out the road as he approached near the castle, tempted by the beauty of the long avenue which led to it. He reached the gates just as the mournful procession was beginning to move. Enquir. lost the best of lords, and most generous of patrons; the tears which rolled down his cheek as he spoke, gave evidence of his feelings: ALBERT dismounted from his horse, and giving charge of it to his servant, mingled with the peasantry, and moving slowly, arrived with them at the church about half a mile distant, where the remains of Clairville were to be interred in the vault of his ancestors. He placed himself near the grave; before the ceremony was ended, and while a solemn dirge was chanting, he observed the mourners to fall back, and form on each side an opening, through which he beheld advancing a group of village maidens, with baskets of flowers on their arms, which they strewed in profusion over the coffin. Albert's attention was soon attracted toward the loveliest object he had ever beheld; she was distinguished from her companions by a superior elegance of mein and grace of features, she wore a vest of white stuff, fitted to her shape, and round her slender waist, was bound a scarf of black gauze; a small cap, whiter than Alpine snows, attempted in vain to confine her flaxen tresses, which fell in waving ringlets on fer shoulders, and strayed over her fair forehead. When she had emptied the fragrant contents of her basket, she bent on her knee upon the brink of the grave,then raising her tearful eyes of celestial blue to heaven,she seemed to breathe a silent prayer for the soul of the departed marquis; then, accompanied by the village maidens, she retired from the spot, passing through the vacancy which was again formed for them. Albert followed the sweet mourner, who, bidding adieu to her associates, moved down the church, looking round with anxious eyes, as if in quest of some object interesting to her affections. Suddenly she venerable sprang towards a cession dropped on his furrowed cheek! The stranger respected too much their mutual grief to interrupt it, and perceiving the funeral train returning from the grave, he accosted one of the psasants who was nearest to him, and eagerly enquired the name of the fair maiden who seemed to lead the voung group, that strewed Cowers at the grave. The peasant gave Albert every information which he wished, and as the day was declining fast, he offered the traveller a bed at his cottage, which being contiguous to that of Bernard proved a temptation not to be resisted. Honest PIERROT led Albert a short cut through some fields, and after having recommended his guest to the attention of his wife, he hastened to the castle gates in quest of the servant whom Albert had ordered to wait there his return. In this humble, but neat dwelling, the young stranger determined to reside some days, under pretence of exploring, at his leisure, the extensive domains of the castle, but in reality to introduce himself to the lovely | Emma and her father. The impression, which her artless beauty had made on his heart, was of so serious a nature, that he indulged the hope of making We must make a short digression while we return to the state of the family affairs of the late Marquis, for some years before his decease. He had been married, late in life, to an amiable woman, by whom he had an only son, he having passed the winter at Paris, he was unexpectedly called away to attend some important business at Clairville castle; he set off immediately, leaving his lady and infant son, then about three years old, to follow.---After the fatigues of a busy day, on the evening that he expected the Marchioness to arrive, he was waiting her approach upon a terrace which commanded his fine park. As his anxious eyes were turned toward the grand avenue, which led to the castle, he perceived one of the domestics who had been left to attend her advancing with as much speed as the tired state of his horse would allow. The marquis hastened towards him, to re ceive tidings of his beloved wife, but what were his sensations, when the servant in formed him that the carriage of the marchioness and her retinue had been attacked by an armed banditti, who had rushed out of the wood about a league from the castle. The attendants who were likewise armed, surrounded the carriage, and for sometime made a stout resistance, but he had every reason to fear that, overpowered by numbers they had scarce a chance of defending their mistress from the fury of these assassins, and in all probability they had fallen victims with her to the murderous swords of their assailants.. The messenger of these dreadful tidings had been tempted by an early flight to escape to the castle, impelled by the feeble hope of gaining them some assistance, but the road being solitary, which led to the chateau, he had met no human being on his way. The mar quis lost no time in useless lamentations, but instantly arming himself and several of his brave domestics, who were ready to encounter any danger for so beloved a master, they mounted their horses, and in a short time reached the fatal spot. They here found a spectacle of horror; the man gled bodies of the servants lay lifeless round the carriage, in which the murdered marchoi ness and her two women remained with wounds yet bleeding! In the midst of this. desolution, the marquis sought in vain his infant son, whose absence inspired, amid his sorrows, a secret and presaging hope that he had either been rescued or preserved. placed himself and his followers in ambuscade in the wood for the remainder of the day, with a view to surprise the villians should they return at night, and either revenge this horrid massacre or fall in the He attempt; his hopes were vain; the wretches sated with their bloody deeds, approached no more the fatal spot. Early on the ensuing morning, they began to remove the slaughtered victims they had been joined by all the neighbouring villa. gers, who assisted in the sad office. As they were raising some of the lifeless attendants, they were startled by a groan from one of the bodies; on an immediate search they found a dying stranger, whom they concluded to be one of the banditti, who had fallen by the hands of the domestics, during and who had the contest; ported the wounded wretch hoping if he recovered, by the assistance of a surgeon who followed the marquis, by his orders, to this scene of death, and had in vain attempted to restore the marchioness and her unfortunate suite they might obtain information of the fate of the young marquis.He seemed to revive a little by an effect which the attention had upon him. The marquis assisted in supporting him while the surgeon poured a cordial down his throat. His faculties in some degree ap peared to return, he gazed on the marquis and attempted to speak, but in vain. Clairville then addressed him thus, I conjure thee, by the hopes of mercy here and hereafter, tell me, if thou hast power to speak, where is my son does he survive? An swer that question only for the present, and I will wait the event of thy recovery for further information. The dying man, made repeated efforts to articulate, but for some moments he remained speechless; at length he faintly uttered, young Clairville lives.' He could no more: the exertion overcame him; and successive convulsions seizing his whole frame, he exl ́pired in agonies. (to be Con.... |