74 STUDIES OF NATURE. 



She beholds in it the lafl, long farewel of HeBor 

 and Andromache ; fhe is overwhelmed j and to xt" 

 animate her fortitude, turns her eyes upon her huf- 

 band. The comparifon is completed, her courage 

 forfakes her, tears gufh out, conjugal affeâ:ioi> 

 triumphs over love of Country. Two virtues in 

 oppofition ! Add to thefe the charaders of a wild 

 nature, which blend fo well with human grief: 

 profound folitude, the columns and the cupola of 

 that antique temple, corroded by the keen air of 

 the Sea, and marbled over with mofles, which 

 give them the appearance of green bronze ; a fet- 

 ting Sun, which gilds the fummit of it -, the hol- 

 low murmurs of the Sea, at a diftance, breaking 

 along the coaft of Lucania ; the towers of Elea 

 perceptible, in the bofom of a valley, between two 

 fteep mountains, and that forrow of Portia, which 

 hurries us back to the age of Andromache. What 

 a pidture, fuggefted by the contemplation of a 

 pidure ! O, ye Artifts, could you but produce it, 

 Portia would, in her turn, call forth many a tear. 



I could multiply, without end, proofs of the 

 two powers by which we are governed. Enough 

 has been faid on the fubjedt of a paflion, the in- 

 ftinét of which is fo blind, to evince that we are 

 atirafted to it, and aftuated by it, from Laws 

 widely different from thofe of digeftion. Our af- 

 fections demonftrate the immortality of the foul, 



becaufc 



