Now all is hushed, and nature seems to make a pause; the sun has
withdrawn his radiance, yet the gloom from yonder western sky bespeaks
him still at hand, promising to return with his reviving warmth, when
nature is refreshed with darkness.
The moon borrows her light, and bestows it upon us; she arises in silent
majesty, humbly waiting to reign when he resigns his throne. No chorus
ushers in his reign, no rays pronounce her approach; gently she steals
on the world, and sits in silent majesty to view the good she does. She
lights the wandering traveller, she warms the earth with gentle heat,
she dazzles not the eye of the philosopher, but invites him to view and
to admire.---How still is nature! not a breeze! each tree enjoys its
shadow undisturbed, the unruffled rivers glide smoothly on reflecting
nature’s face; here thro’ this road, by the side of this fair stream,
let me steal gently, step by step, wrapped up in future thoughts.--A
time will come when earth, and seas, and sun, and stars will be no
more----what then will be my thoughts----Think, oh then
now!--Think--that time is nothing to eternity, think,----all nature,
sun, and earth, and man, and angels are nothing--to thy God.--Think,
that thou art to thyself thy all; thyself once lost, nothing can give
thee joy or pain from without, but all will be concentered in thy own
misery: if happiness be thy lot, then wilt thou be capable of enjoying
also the happiness of others, thus redoubling thy own.
Oh! my soul, behold yon spangled sky---count the number of the
stars----No---thy counting fails, then think on that eternity which
awaits thee in another world; think too now, how great is the goodness
of God, to grace our little world with beauties to attract the eye and
captivate the mind. Beauties by day to cheer, to enliven, to call forth
thy active powers, to bustle with the busy, beauties and blessings
inviting thee to see, to taste, to smell, to hear.---Beauties too, Oh
see, by night, beauties transcendant and glorious; such as draw up the
eye to yon vast concave, where the mind’s eye follows in silent wonder,
quickly passing from star to star, till struck with the beauty of the
whole, it feels “the hand that made it is divine.”
Passion, at this silent hour and awful scene, shrinks away unperceived,
and every light idea flies off. The mind takes the reins, and the body
seems for a while to partake of that spiritual nature it will have
hereafter. Listen then, while reason is uninterrupted, to the silent
councils of nature;---every shadow whispers, such are you! A breeze may
blow you away---to-morrow you may be no more; tread then,---as
now---with caution through the slippery paths of life; beware of the
briars and thorns that lie athwart your way; mistake not shadow for
substance. Brush away, as the dew on the ground, at every step, the
little affairs that momentary rise to check your progress towards
heaven.
This river too has its lesson to give, she is like the cool hour of
reflection, when conscience gives back the actions of our life in
legible characters. Oh may they be as smooth! See, says she, how fair is
my face! how transparent I am! You see my depth; even the ground whence
I spring is open to your view. Let your conscience be ever as smooth, as
clear, as open; let your breast need no disguise, so will no troubled
waters impede your heavenly voyage.
Now again behold the stars, they have a language; and with a powerful
tongue, they call on me to adore the Great King of Heaven and Earth,
whose name they write in golden characters legible to all mankind. They
proclaim him, _Creator of all Worlds, and the Friend of Man_.
Let me, then, often read their book and listen to their tale.---Let me,
like them, proclaim my maker’s praise, by shining in the orb in which
his hand has placed me; nor ever leap the bound, nor strive to rise
above, nor dare to sink beneath the sphere wherein I am. So when the
sun, and stars, and earth shall be no more; my Creator shall raise me to
another world, “to shine like the stars for evermore.”
[[Source:
Earliest source found, with same “gloom” for “gleam” error: The
lady’s magazine: entertaining companion, for the fair sex,
appropriated solely to their use and amusement (London, vol. X,
September 1779, pg 482), signed “An Old Correspondent”.
Notes: “The bold luminary of day has now withdrawn his radiance, yet
the sinking crimson of yonder western sky...”. This line was used
in The Seasons of Life; With an Introduction on the Creation and
Primeval State of Man, by Mary Ashdowne 1839
Quotation: “the hand that made it is divine”. Joseph Addison,
“the hand that made us...”]]
* * * * *
_HAPPINESS._
The road to happiness is seldom strewed with flowers, nor perhaps ought
it to be so; as we should, in that case, be inclined to take our passage
for our port, and while we enjoyed the manna, we might neglect the
promised land.
* * * * *
* * * *
Interesting History Of
THE PRINCESS DE PONTHIEU.
_Translated from the French._
(Continued from page 67.)
“The people of the ship had placed about me a young woman extremely
amiable;--the tenderness she expressed for the griefs she saw I was
involved in, made me conceive a very great friendship for her; and,
indeed, as she was the only woman there, it was natural for us to be
more than ordinarily pleased with each other. When she found me a little
composed, she informed me that we were with Flemish merchants, who were
trading to the Levant; that having perceived from deck my extraordinary
tomb, the hope of finding something valuable in it, had made them take
it aboard; but having opened it, they were surprised to see a woman
richly habited: that at first they thought me dead, because I was very
much swelled, but having placed me in the open air, a little motion of
my heart gave them hope of recovering me; that accordingly, with great
difficulty, they effected it; and finding, as they thought, some beauty
in me, they resolved, at the expence of my liberty, to make themselves
amends for having found nothing but me in the tun. ‘’Tis with this
design,’ added she, ‘that we are sailing towards Almeria, where these
merchants design to sell you to the Sultan of that place: it is now six
months since they took me away from the coast of France, which is my
native country, on the same account; but I very well foresee that your
beauty will preserve me from being exposed to the Sultan’s desires: yet,
as I cannot avoid slavery, I beg, madam, that you will not let me be
separated from you. The Sultan will without doubt buy you; contrive it
so, that he may think I am a dependant of yours.’ I was very glad to
have a French woman with me, so promised her, that whatever was my fate,
she should, if she pleased, share it with me; but what she had told me,
giving me great uneasiness, I desired to speak with the captain of the
ship. I began with thanking him for the succour he had given me, and
thinking to have gained him with the hope of a reward, I assured him it
should be made even beyond his wishes, if he would land me on the coast
of France. He answered me that he doubted not my generosity, nor my
being considerable enough to recompense the service he had done me; but
that he could not follow his own inclination in doing what I desired
him, because he was accountable to his companions, who had resolved to
sell me and the other young French woman to the Sultan of Almeria: that
they knew would be certain gain to them, without running the risque of
what my promises might produce. With these words he returned to his
companions, and gave me not leave no answer him; I made several other
efforts, but finding it impossible to persuade them to alter their
resolutions, I was obliged to submit to my ill destiny. In proportion,
as I recovered my reason, my affection to my dear Thibault resumed its
empire over my soul.--I was sensible of the whole extent of my
misfortunes, and my despair would perhaps have kept no bounds, if it had
not been for the prudence and good-nature of my young companion. Yet for
all her cares, I fell into such a melancholy, as frighted the merchant,
lest I should lose the lustre of my beauty, of which he proposed to
himself so great an advantage.
“At length they arrived at Almeria, and we were immediately led to the
Sultan. As he was accustomed to traffic with those people, he received
them perfectly well, and was so well pleased with their prize, that he
gave them their demand both for myself and Sayda. We were placed in the
palace of the Sultan’s women, where he soon followed us; and I had the
misfortune of affecting him in so extraordinary a manner, that he seemed
to make his loving me an affair of state.--I call that a misfortune,
which any one but me would have looked on as the highest felicity: for I
owe the Sultan the justice to say, that he is full of merit, and adorned
with the most heroic virtues; but I was a christian, and prepossessed
with a passion, which left no room for any other; I therefore considered
his assiduity as my worst of troubles. This prince perceiving my regard
for Sayda, gave her to me; (Sayda is a name I made her assume to conceal
her own.) He placed me, in an apartment different from those the rest of
the women were lodged in, and commanded that I should be served as
queen. All these honours added to my uneasiness; yet the submission with
which he treated me, gave me sometimes a hope he never would have
recourse to force that which I was resolved never to grant; but alas!
this prince at last, worn out with his own consuming passion and the
continual murmurs of his subjects, who could ill endure he should
express so much consideration for a christian, resolved to speak to me
in stronger terms than he had hitherto done. My resistance had lasted a
whole year, and he thought he had sufficiently testified his respect, in
allowing me so long a time: he came to me therefore one day, and finding
me extremely melancholy, ‘Madam,’ said he, ‘it is with great regret I
find myself obliged to exceed the bounds I have prescribed myself in
gaining your heart, but you must now consent either to marry me or
publicly abjure your religion; all my power cannot exempt you from the
laws which oblige the women of the seraglio to embrace our faith.---I
adore you, and though I ought to compel you to a change so beneficial to
you, yet I will not, since it is not your desire.--I promise you the
free exercise of your religion in private, provided you accept of the
crown I offer you;---my subjects, and all my court, will then believe
you have changed your religion, without seeking any further proofs, and
you will be at liberty to observe your own in secret:---this is the only
means to preserve you from the fury of a people, who, when enraged, have
no regard even for their sovereign. It would have been more agreeable to
me, if my love and attentions had engaged you; but I hope time will
inspire your heart with those sentiments, that will be conducive to my
felicity, and your repose.’ I could not refrain from tears at this
discourse of the Sultan:---the choice appeared terrible to me; ‘Is it
possible, my lord!’ replied I, ‘that among the number of beauties who
would be proud of the honour you offer me, you cannot find one more
worthy than myself? If you had not distinguished me, your subjects would
have thought nothing of me.---Consider, my lord, what glory you might
gain by subduing your passion, and suffering me to return to my native
country.---What felicity can it be, to live with a woman obtained but by
fear and force, who will always be regretting her parents and liberty.’
“The Sultan smiled at these words; ‘I see, madam,’ said he, ‘that you
are ignorant of your own condition---you are in this place for
life---when once a woman has entered within these walls, there is no
hope of ever getting out again, law and custom have decreed it so.
Therefore you are more obliged to me than you imagined, for the respect
I have paid you, being from the first moment the master of your
destiny.’ I then intreated he would give me three days to answer him; he
granted my request, and I spent them in prayers: but at length seeing
myself without any hope of relief, or ever returning to my country, that
my death there was thought certain, and that I had no means of letting
you know I was living, or if I had, could not promise myself, that,
since you had consented to my death, the news would find a welcome:
I looked on myself as utterly abandoned; and the facility of following
in private my own devotions, determined me, in submitting to the
Sultan’s persuasions. The three days being expired, he came to me again,
and I then told him, that if he would swear never to force me to alter
my religion, I was ready to give him my hand. His joy at my consent was
inconceiveable; and though he saw plainly that what I did was out of
necessity, he assured me he thought himself the happiest man on earth,
and bound himself by an oath sacred in their law, to suffer me to
exercise my own religion, provided I took care not to be discovered.
(_To be continued._)
* * * * *