24 
MEMOIR OF BRUCE 
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 
habit, 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 bv 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 he 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, 
