PAUL AND VIRGINIA. 185 



** fufceptible of change, as a particle of light ; and 

 *' you vvilh to recal me to the gloomy night of 

 «Mife! Oh, Paul/ Oh, my friend ! Call to mind 

 *' thofe days of happinefs, when, in the morning, 

 " we enjoyed the beauty of the, Heavens, rifing 

 *^ with the Sun, on the peaks of thefe rocks, and 

 *' dilfufing itfelf, with it's radiations, over the bo- 

 *' fom of our forefts. We experienced a felicity, 

 *' the caufe of which we were unable to compre- 

 " hend. In our innocent defires, we wiflied to be 

 ** all eye, in order to enjoy the rich colours of 

 " Aurora ; all fmell, to inhale the perfume of our 

 ** flowers ; all ear, to liften to the warbling of our 

 ** birds ; all gratitude to acknowledge thefe blef- 

 " lings. Now, at the fource of beauty, whence 

 " flows all that is delightful on the Earth, my foul 

 " immediately taftes, hears, touches, what it could 

 " then perceive only through feeble organs. Ah! 

 " what language is capable of defcribing thefe re- 

 *' gions of an eternal morning, which I inhabit for 

 ** ever. Every thing that Omnipotence, and ce- 

 *' leftial Goodnefs, could create, in order to admi- 

 *' nifter confolation to an unforfjnate being; all 

 ^' the harmony, which the friend(hip of an in- 

 *' finite number of beings, partaking of the fame 

 " felicity, mingles in our common tranfports, I 

 ** now experience without alloy. Support thyfelf, 

 '^ then, in thy flate of probation, that thou mayeft 



*' increafe 



