26 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



of Niobe : but, when you beheld their looks, 

 which feemed defirous to meet each other, their 

 fmiles, returned with fmiles ftill fweeter, you would 

 have taken them for thofe children of Heaven, 

 ihofe blefled fpirits, whofe nature is love; and who 

 have no need of thought to make their feelings 

 known, nor of words to exprefs their affedtion. 



In the mean time, Madame de la Tour, perceiv- 

 ing that her daughter advanced in life, with fo 

 many charms, felt her uneafmefs increafe with her 

 tendernefs : (he ufed to fay fometimes to me, *' If 

 *' I fliould chance to die, what would become of 

 ** Virginia f dowerlefs as (he is ?'* 



She had an aunt in France, a woman of q-jality, 

 rich, old, and a devotee, who had refufed her af- 

 lifLance, in a manner fo unfeeling, when (lie mar- 

 ried De la Tour, that Œe refolved never to have re- 

 courfe to her again, to whatever extremity fhe 

 might be reduced. But, now that (he was become 

 a mother, fhe no longer dreaded the (liame of a re- 

 fufal : fhe acquainted her aunt with the unexpedled 

 death of her hufband, the birth of her daughter, 

 and the embarrafTment of her affairs j deftitute of 

 fupport, and burdened wàth a child. She, how- 

 ever, received no anfwer ; but, being a woman of 

 exalted charader, (he no longer feared humiliation, 

 nor to expofe herfelf to the reproaches of her rela- 

 tion. 



