( 89) 



Not far frorn Ihe charming relreat which Ta- 

 laon had chosen , lived equally in retirement a 

 mortal who had every grand thought , every noble 

 sentiment , and who died unknown like the lily 

 of Ihe valley , or the élégant heath which seat- 

 ters lo the winds of the mountains the sweet fra- 

 grance of its modest flowers. His adventures are 

 unknown , but it is thought he formerly lived in 

 an easy familiarity with the sages of Indus. The 

 tender interest he evinced for suffering animais , 

 and which seemed like a sympathetick feeling , the 

 sort of confraternity which appeared to unité his 

 existence with that of fine trees ; his ardent taste 

 for a cloudless sky , for verdure , water and flo- 

 wers , ail betrayed in him the custom , the man- 

 ners of another climate. His name which doubt- 

 less w^as illustrated by his younger days , and 

 which doubtless his ancestors had likewise en- 

 nobled , even his name has perished. 



« It is related that in his youlh , he had felt 

 the shafts of love , but that he-had always repul- 

 sed them. Such rigor cannot easily be explained. 

 However this be , he was endowed with a mind 

 strong and calm , and in it he found his coun- 

 sel. Old âge had thus surprized him alone. It 

 was Ihen he felt ail the irksomeness of solitude , 

 and the désire of making choice of a spouse , 

 with whom he might spend in calm the re- 

 mainder of his life. This chosen spouse was a 

 priestess of the stem religions of the antique "world ; 

 and her name, celebrated by no poet is likewise 

 sunk into oblivion. 7 



