suspicion, but by the firm though sorrowful conviction, that our union could no longer give that prospect of happiness, of which, but a few weeks back, it seemed to leave no reasonable doubt.

"Surrounded as you are by homage and admiration; acknowledging, as your conduct has done, that they comprise the elements of your happiness, you can scarcely fail to obtain it; and even at this late hour, and though I have brought myself to free you from all engagement to me, still, still is that happiness dearer to me than all else beside. May then, my sacrifice of those rights, with which at your own desire I stood invested, be of full avail! May happiness be yours

in

the fullest and truest acceptation of the word! Through life believe that you will never have a more faithful and devoted friend than

"E"

"Whatever," continued Lady de Quincy, might have been the force of my attachment to Lord Edward, this letter raised it to positive idolatry. Without listening to the dictates of prudence, of propriety, or of womanly reserve, my resolution to see him was at once taken. I desired everything to be got in readiness for a journey, and, with my relation, set off for his country seat, determined to win back his heart or to die at his feet. Every mile we advanced increased the fever of my mind, till we arrived at, when I was in a state bordering on frenzy; so confused were my intellects, that it was not till the woman at the Lodge had repeated several times, 'My Lord is gone abroad-he went away yesterday,' that I could be made to comprehend my misery. Follow him!-follow him! if you would not see me mad, give orders to follow

him!'—was all I could utter to my companion,

before insensibility brought a temporary respite to my sufferings. I was too ill to be removed that night from the neighbouring inn to which I had been conveyed, but the next day we proceeded to the sea-port from whence the woman at the lodge said her Lord would embark; but no tidings could be heard of him. We lingered some days, watching each person who went on board an outward-bound packet, as I thought it probable he might have been detained in London; but all was vain, and I returned here to a life of sorrow, solitude, and repentance. My relation, who continued to live with me, had not the energy necessary for such a task, even if she had possessed the courage to risk offending me, by pointing out the useless and therefore sinful mode in which my time and my resources were wasted. For some years I was allowed to indulge in hopeless grief, till an accidental acquaintance with a clergyman of

firm principles, and enlightened mind, awoke in me some of my early energies of thought, and roused me from a life of slothful inaction to one, which, if it has not made me happy, has gone far to render me at peace with all the world, and to convince me that we all possess within ourselves the means of contentment.

"Five years after I received Lord Edward's last letter, hearing of him from a mutual acquaintance, I had intended writing him a letter of friendship and good feeling; but shortly after I heard from Naples that he was about to be married to a very amiable woman, and that the whole party were coming home. Of course all thoughts of bringing myself to his recollection at that moment were abandoned. Their union was not of long duration on earth. The wife died when her second child was only six years old, and Lord Edward

སྐ

survived her but a few months. I have longed

to see and know his children; but this is a weakness which I have never had an opportunily to indulge, without a compromise of what I have established as my duties.

"I have now, Ellen, told you of the faults of my youth, and in justice to myself, or rather to the memory of that worthy and exemplary man who pointed out the means, I must speak of what I hope may be considered in the light of atonement. Where a deep and real sentiment has once taken root in the human heart, it is never to be replaced by puerile thoughts, or trifling occupations. Where all has been grand, the little and the weak cannot replace it. I should never have been roused from my helpless sorrow but by an object of absorbing interest. Charity-well weighed, well considered, and, as far as human judgment could foresee, well regulated-was the source from which I was taught to hope for relief; nor long did