44 
feeling on fubje&is wherein the heart was 
his monitor; and with claffical propriety, 
when matters cf worldly import formed 
the tenour of his letters. If he evinced a 
fault, or rather a defect of nature, it wa 
_ that ofa portion of vanity which eee 
contributed to diffufe-a fhade over the 
brighter features of his character. But 
his exceffive fenfibility, united to a fervid 
fmagination, probably led him beyond the 
boundaries of judgment, and awakened in 
his mind a fpirit little lefs vivid than that 
of the moft romantic heroes of a antiquity. 
During his refidence in England he’ be- 
came imac nicl Obva lady,» at that time 
one of the moft beautiful in the cour tly cir- 
cie. Unfortunately fhe was married. Lau- 
zun, witha f{pirit of gallantry refined by 
an enthufiaftic fenfe of honour, worthipped 
the object of his idolatry in filent regret. 
But love is hae -eyed; and the accom- 
plifhed victor fanétioned a pure and facred 
intercourfe of foul, which by turns ame- 
- liorated and embittered the deftiny of her 
adorer. 
Few men are capable of entertaining, 
add ill fewer women of infpiring, a paf- 
fion which reafon and refinement have 
power to diveft/of its groffer propenfities. 
But Lavzun was not commonly organized; 
he was. an enthufiaft of every thing elfti- 
mable in the fofter fex, atid an example of 
all that was dignified in his own. Every 
thing that we Yyead of in romance falls 
‘fhort of the ardour which aétuated his 
mind, when it once became influenced bya 
beloved obje&. 
After many months had paffed away in 
this Platonic attachment, fome untoward 
circumftances produced a fudden fepara- 
tion; ,circumftances no lefs agonizing to 
Lauzun’s heart, than unexpected in the 
fafhionable circles. The confequence was, 
the lady’s immediately quitting the metro- 
polis, and fixing her retirement in the 
wilds of a fitter kingdom. 
Lauzun’s defpair was undifcribable! 
He experienced all the mileries of that- 
gloomy vacuum which fucceeds the intereft 
of a warm and generous paflion. He re- 
figned himfelr for a time to the excefs of 
melanchely, and, after vainly endeavouring 
to fhake off the {pell which feemed to faften 
on his faculties, devoted to regrets the 
mof poignant, to fenfations the ease ate 
fiiting, he again repaired to his native 
country. There he continued to refide 
under the immediate Pre teétion of his ve- 
nerable uncle, then Dtue de Biron, whofe 
fortune and title he afterwards inherited. 
Fauzun was the darling of fociety, the 
ornament of the French Court; and the 
Mone: of the late Duce de Biron: 
The avowed fds ference which 
[Feb. ¥, 
diftinguithed eats of the unfortunate 
Marie Antoinette. But let it nor 
be fuppofed that the kindnefs fhewn to- 
wards this amiable nobleman originated 
in any motive but a liberal defire to pa- 
tronize and to promote fuperior qualifica-_ 
tions; Lauzun wasa foldier, as wellas an 
accomplithéd gentleman; he was no lefs 
enterprizing than polifhed; no lefs en- 
lightened than liberalk ANTOINETTE, | 
amidft all the errors that, perhaps, ma- 
lice has afcribed to her, knew how to dif- 
criminate with judgment, whiile fhe re. 
warded with munificence. 
During the early periods of the Wine» 
rican war, Lauzun was prevailed upon - 
by family influence to form a matrimo- 
nial alliance. Intereft was -the unfteady 
-bafis on which a foul replete with all the 
fenfibilities of refinement was compelled 
to build its fabric of domeftic happine(s. 
His relatives urged the union as both ho- 
nourable, and lucrative; and Lauzun be- 
‘ing, at that time, lefs opulent than high 
born; more pliant thaggfrovident of his 
own felicity ; repeatedly folicited by his 
uncle, whofe influence was boundlefs, and 
whom he loved with the affection of a fon, 
he at laft confented. Even at this inter- 
efting and important epocha of human ex- 
iftence, Lauzun. was too brilliantly en- 
lightened to admit the very fhadow of de» 
ception. The day previous to his mar- 
‘riage, he candidly evowed the real fate 
of his fo and confeffed. without re- 
ferve, that the bonds of honor, the chain 
of family connection, and the policy of 
convenience, not the fofter fetters of af- 
fection, would unite them. > 
Superior minds will condemn the plea 
of fuchan union; and refined natures will 
fhudder at fuch a fordid facrifice: but 
marriages of this kind were perpetually. 
folemnized in France; and very frequently. | 
fuch contracts were ratified by parents, 
even before the contraéted parties -were 
perfonally known to each other. This - 
wags not one of the leaft violations of li- 
berty which operated powerfully in pro- 
es and at jength in ae ee? 
the French revolution.” 
The Ducheffe was remarkably deficient 
in perfonal graces ; though nature had be- 
flowed on her the powers of receiving a 
confiderable decree of mental cultivation. 
‘fubifted 
between them naturally produced Ja lan-. 
gour of mind, which was who oly inimical’ 
to domeftic happinefs ; mutual negleé& 
foon gave birth to mutual difgutt ; ‘and, 
after a few months had tedioufly clapfedin 
a feries of conitraine -d civilities, they parted 
_ Shortly 
