was seized with strong convulsions that lasted many hours, at the end of which she was entirely overcome by excess of grief, and refused all manner of consolation. A day and a night passed away in the most heart-rending state, when, seeming a little more composed, she called for a pen and ink, and with much difficulty exerted herself so far as to write the following pathetic letter to her invaluable friend.

"WHEN you receive this, my dear and fondly beloved Amelia, perhaps you will drop a tear to the memory of your poor heartbroken friend, who will then be laid, with all her sorrows, in the narrow house.'. The storms shall rave o'er her untimely grave, unnoticed by the unhappy victim; the cruel malice of man cannot move her cold remains, or call up her shade from the mansions of the dead. I thank my God, my family, and you (who have not forsaken ine), that your last fatal news have

Yes,

had the desired effect. My soul, wounded and sick unto death, only required the final blow of misery to wean it effectually from the fading pleasures of this world. My days have been few, but they have been marked with woe; in a few

.

more, I hope to be with my innocent babe in the bright regions of bliss eternal.

"After many earnest solicitations, the physicians have assured me, that my poor, weak, and decayed frame, cannot long sustain the load of life. I received the news of my approaching dissolution with joyous ecstacy; for what ray of hope, however feeble, what gleam of pleasure, is there remaining, to cheer me on my way through the weary pilgrimage of life? Are not all my prospects, which were once so bright, shrouded in an impervious gloom? Is not my tender bud, which might have opened into a fair flower to adorn the weedy garden of life, nipt in its earliest blossom by the chilling blasts of man's inhumanity? Think you that the world could now afford the least enjoyment to one who has drank so deeply of its bitterest cup?-Oh, no-I have indeed experienced that

'Man was made to mourn."

'Why did I ever listen to the soothing dictates of an affection which bound me to an individual, to whom, alas! are there any hopes of my being united by any other tie ?-But I did listen, and my heart, unable to resist the fascination, first

yielded itself a silent, mournful, and secret victim to the all-subduing power; then awoke to that blest reality which hope had so frequently pictured for my consolation amidst the surrounding shades of despondency: yet does my conduct appear as the height of folly, to a cool and dispassionate observer. I well know the opinions and cruel scorn of the world have all their poisonous shafts in readiness to transpierce my soul in its weakest part; but it must be so, and I shall soon be far away from their reach. Oh, God! what were the raptures of happy love that thrilled through my whole frame on the sweet and delicate disclosure of his attachment to me! and was the fond remembrance of those moments to be for ever blasted, because I was considered as an outcast on the world's wide stage ?-No, no; they have constituted my only comfort, when my soul has been oppressed by grief. With eyes ready to overflow, and a mind veiled from every solace, save the love of his Julia, how reluctantly he tore himself from me to fulfil the solemn engagement of his word. Some feeble glimmerings of happier days lighted upon my poor desponding mind, like the rays of the morning sun dispelling the glooom of

night of storms; but they were even more tran

sitory than the gentle whispers of a summer's breeze, and I fled to my favourite solitude, there to pour forth the grief that oppressed my heart. -You will think this a strange account, my dear; but it is real: forgive me my past errors; you are almost my only friend, and do not let me deserve your contempt in my last moments; in a little time, and all will be over.

"Your much-valued friendship has for a long time past been my chief comfort; the recollection of that, and the care I know you would have taken of my poor little innocent, had it pleased Providence to prolong its earthly career, acted as a balm to my wounded soul, and sweetened my most painful moments. Your last letter convinces me of the sincerity of your affection. I have made my peace with God, and my mind is calm and resigned. With fervent thankfulness, mingled with the most delightful sensations of ecstatic joy, I am awaiting the arrival of the last solemn awful moment, which shall terminate my existence here, and translate my purified spirit to the arms of my babe in paradise.

66

My eyes grow dim; my spirits fail me.Farewell, my dear, my only friend; may you in this world long taste of every felicity your culti

vated mind and sweet disposition entitle you to! and when your sun shall be set in the eternal night of death, may we then meet in the blissful mansions of peace, to part no more! Oh!-farewell, and forget not the fate of your unfortunate

JULIA."

No sooner had she finished this pathetic detail of her sorrows, than her strength failing her, she sunk backwards on her pillow, and appeared entirely overcome by the exertion she had made. She continued in a state of dosing insensibility the remaining part of that night; but towards the evening of the following day her faculties seemed to receive a sudden but transient energy, and calling all her relatives about her, she individually took leave of them in the most solemn and affectionate manner, and in a short time afterwards her delighted spirit, emancipated from its mortal bondage, soared to the regions of eternal joy, leaving nought behind but the yet beauteous remains of its earthly form, on which her afflicted parents continued to gaze, with eyes dimmed by grief and unavailing woe, until the darkness of night warned them to quit the melancholy chamber, and retire to their sleepless pillows.