CHAP. IV.

‹’Tis here,' he said, and I beheld the tear
Wetting his cheek; the good man sleeps. Be calm
His rest, for he was beat by many a storm!
'Twas on a night—and I remember well

How swept the wild-wind o'er the dark hill-side,
And that calm sea to mountains rose, and cold
The snow, and drifting, fell-his bark was cast
Upon our lonely shores. We brought him home,
And he reviv'd a little; just to tell

His tale of varied sorrow, and resign
His spirit into his Redeemer's hands.'

'Nor unknown,' began the venerable stranger, in the annals of my country, De La Roche is my name. A subject of the Bourbons, it was in Alsace that I first drew the vital air. Born to the possession of estates, which had been successively inherited by the long line of my ancestors under another dynasty, I was instructed in

* It was not until towards the conclusion of the last century, that Alsace became a province of France.

such accomplishments as were considered suitable to my rank and expectations; and, being an only child, I met with every indulgence from my too fond parents.

Before I attained my fifteenth year, I had the misfortune to lose my father. Intrusted to the guardianship of my mother, a descendant of the great and good Philip De Mornay, and having no control but her mild and gentle reproof, I quickly became impa tient of restraint. The victim of an ardent imagination, and encouraged by my companions in crime, I was no sooner the master of my own actions, than I determined to disengage myself from the trammels of maternal entreaties, withdraw myself from the presence of one, whose conduct was a continual rebuke, and procure elsewhere that liberty of transgression which was denied me under her watchful tutelage.

'Confirmed in this resolution by what I regarded as a laudable desire of acquainting myself with foreign nations, and the manners and customs of the world, I now waited a favourable opportunity for informing my

Conscious of the

mother of my intentions. anguish which the disclosure would occasion, I endeavoured to break the affair to her as cautiously as possible; for, though steeled against every other sentiment of rectitude, the chord of filial affection was still unbroken in my heart. But scarcely had I made the first distant allusion, when her solicitude, ever tremblingly alive to my welfare, penetrated the veil I wished to cast over my design. Never shall I forget her agony ! Afraid she would instantly have expired, so dreadful was the shock she had received, I told her that I would at least defer my departure, and perhaps indefinitely postpone it. But this was merely a disguise. I had laid my plans, and was not to be diverted from putting them in execution, even by the alarming agitation of a parent whom I loved and respected.

'I now commenced in secret the preparations for my journey. The day arrived, and all was in readiness. I could not, however, think of quitting the house, without taking leave of my unhappy mother. It

was a moment of indescribable emotion ; but now I was to decide, or for ever abandon my projects. I ran hastily into her apartment-communicated my determination-and was hurrying away from the gaze of an eye where delirium was already depicted, when she flew towards me, and caught me in her arms. At first, incapable of utterance, she could only hang upon my neck, and bathe my cheek with her tears. At length, in a voice scarcely articulate, and interrupted by her sobs, she said- O my son, my son! Will my Claude forsake his poor mother, who brought him forth in sorrow, and fed him from her breast; who watched so anxiously over his helpless infancy, and spent so many a sleepless night beside his bed? O Claude! and shall I then behold the face of my ungrateful, but still-beloved boy, no more?' Feeling my courage begin to fail me, and dreading lest I should be unable to resist longer an interview of so affecting a nature, I tore myself violently from her embraces, and rushed towards the place where I had previously

ordered the carriage to be in waiting to receive me. As I winded through the plantations I heard her shrieks- O Claude, Claude! My son, my son!' Nor was it, until I had proceeded for some time as rapidly as my horses could speed me forward, that they began to die away drearily in the distance. This is a scene to which memory has since recurred with many a poignant reflection.-I never after saw her alive.

For several years, I was leader in all the dissipations of a licentious court. Endowed from my birth with a robust constitution, I withstood excesses which carried many of my wretched companions to untimely, and awful, graves. At such seasons conscience would raise her voice; but it was too still and small to be attended to amidst the clamour of worldly pursuits. Yet, if it was drowned in renewed horrors, it often seemed, notwithstanding, to complain with a sullenness, that more than once spoke terror to my soul.

Buoyed up by the flattering anticipations of youth and inexperience, I gave my