Il8 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



the nobleman who was to obtain her hand ; nay, 

 fome even declared, that the affair was over, and 

 that they had been witnefles of it. Panl^ at firfl:, 

 defpifed thefe rumors, conveyed by a trading- 

 veflel, which often brings falfe reports from th« 

 places which it touches at on it's paffage : but, as 

 many of the inhabitants of the ifland, from a per- 

 fidious pity, officioully interpofed to condole with 

 him on this event, he began to give fome credit to 

 it. Befide, in fome of the romances which he had 

 read, he faw treachery treated with pleafantry, àhd, 

 as he knew that thefe books exhibited a faithful 

 pifture of the manners of Europe, he was appre- 

 henfive that the daughter of Madame de la Tour 

 might have become corrupted, and have forgotten 

 her earlier engagements. The light which he had ac- 

 quired, made him anticipate mifery, and, what gave 

 a finifh to his fufpicions was, that feveral European 

 vefTels had arrived within the year, without bring- 

 ing any news whatever of Firgima, 



That unfortunate young man, abandoned to all 

 the agitations of a heart in love, came frequently 

 to feç me, in order to confirm, or to diffipate, his 

 uneafmefs, by my experience of the World, 



I live, as I have told you, about a league and a 

 half from hence j on the bank of a fmall river, 

 which flows by Long Mountain. There, I pafs 



my 



