288 THE PALE BELL OF THE HEATH. 



The tiny bell will yet spring up among the heather, 

 distinguished by its soft tint from the rougher and 

 more abiding plants around it. Not formed, like 

 them, to sustain the rude crush of careless foot- 

 steps, we anticipate its early doom in the fragile 

 tenderness of its aspect. It was not so wiih the 

 lovely antitype : she bore the impress of health 

 and longevity ; and the blight that laid her low 

 ere six months had passed over her, was no con 

 stitutional malady. I should rather trace the re- 

 semblance in this, that both bore too much the 

 hue of heaven to abide long on earth. What 1 

 mean by the hue of heaven, as regards the babe, 

 was that singular expression to which I have be- 

 fore alluded. Her beautiful brow was thoughtful, 

 even to a careless eye ; and the grace that reigned 

 in every movement of her head and limbs, was 

 truly majestic. You could not study her counte- 

 nance without fancying that she communed with 

 a brighter world ; and that something of a calm 

 sadness hung over her view of sensible things. 1 

 was struck by the manner in which she would 

 take hold of her young brother, steadying the 

 boy's face between her delicate hands, and gazing 

 upon it with a kind of perplexed earnestness, as if 

 other images were floating in her mind. Be it. as 

 it may, this we joyously know, than no sooner had 

 the soft lid fallen for the last time over the clear, 

 intelligent eye, than the spirit gained an accession 



