It6 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



•* increafe the happinefs of thy Virginia^ by a love 

 ** which knows no bounds, and by a marriage, the 

 ** torches of which can never be extinguifhed. 

 ** There, I will calm thy forrows ; there, I will 

 ** wipe away thy tears. Oh, my friend ! my young 

 *' hufband ! elevate thy foul toward infinity, in 

 *' order to fupport the miferies of a moment.'* 



My own emotion entirely ftifled my voice. As 

 for Pauly regarding me ftedfaftly, he exclaimed : 

 *' She is no more 1 (he is no morel" A long, lan- 

 guid oppreffion fucceeded thefe mournful words ; 

 then, returning to himfelf, he faid : *^ Since death 

 *' is a bleffing, and Virginia is happy, I will die 

 ** alfo, that I may again be united to her." Thus 

 the confolation which I endeavoured to adminifher, 

 only ferved to aggravate his defpair. I was like a 

 perfon, who wifhcs to fave his friend, when finking 

 to the bottom of a river, without his making any 

 effort to fwim. Sorrow had entirely overwhelmed 

 him. Alas 1 the misfortunes of our early age pre- 

 pare Man for entering into life, and Paul had never 

 experienced them. 



I conducled him back to his habitation, and I 

 there found his mother, and Madame ds la Tour, 

 in a languid ftate, which had greatly increafed fince 

 I left them. Margaret was the moft broken down. 



Lively 



