24 MEMOIR OF BUUCE 



and the prospect of riches in India was exchanged 

 for a share in the wine-trade. Our traveller knew 

 nothing at all about the business, but as it was an 

 additional bond of connexion with the fair object of 

 his choice, he embarked in it with all the ardour of 

 professional enthusiasm. The dealings of the com- 

 pany were extensive, and he now seemed fixed for 

 life in an employment which promised to secure 

 him both fortune and happiness. 



But the morning of his hopes was soon over- 

 clouded. His young wife inherited a consumptive 

 Babit, which made it necessary for her to seek a 

 healthier clime than the thick noxious atmosphere 

 of London. Finding the waters of Bristol unavail- 

 ing, she undertook a journey to the south of France, 

 but expired on reaching Paris, exhausted with dis- 

 ease and fatigue. The poignant grief of Bruce was 

 exasperated almost to frenzy by the refusal of the 

 intolerant Catholic priests to allow her Christian 

 burial. To obtain this rite required the influence of 

 the British ambassador, Lord Albemarle ; and at 

 the dead hour of midnight, the disconsolate husband 

 bore her remains to a grave, for which he was 

 indebted to the humanity of that nobleman. The 

 distraction of his mind, with the want of food and 

 rest, threw him into a fever at Boulogne, from 

 which he recovered so far as to be able to return to 

 London. His usual avocation was resumed, but 

 the tie that endeared it to him was broken, and it 

 no longer afforded him either interest or amusement. 

 Resigning the chief management to his copartner, 



