'Twas such a scene as gave a kind relief
To memory, in sweetly pensive grief.
VIRGIL'S TOMB.
Mine be the breezy hill, that skirts the down,
Where a green grassy turf is all I crave,
With here and there a violet bestrown,
And many an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave.
THE MINSTREL.
Repose had so much restored Clara, that when Adeline, anxious to know
how she did, went early in the morning to her chamber, she found her
already risen, and ready to attend the family at breakfast. Monsieur
Verneuil appeared also; but his looks betrayed a want of rest, and
indeed he had suffered during the night a degree of anguish from his arm
which it was an effort of some resolution to endure in silence. It was
now swelled and somewhat inflamed, and this might in some degree be
attributed to the effect of Madame La Luc's balsam, the restorative
qualities of which for once had failed. The whole family sympathized
with his sufferings, and Madame at the request of M. Verneuil, abandoned
her balsam, and substituted an emollient fomentation.
From an application of this, he in a short time found an abatement of
the pain, and returned to the breakfast table with greater composure.
The happiness which La Luc felt at seeing his daughter in safety was
very apparent; but the warmth of his gratitude towards her preserver he
found it difficult to express. Clara spoke the genuine emotions of her
heart with artless but modest energy, and testified sincere concern for
the sufferings which she had occasioned M. Verneuil.
The pleasure received from the company of his guest, and the
consideration of the essential services he had rendered him, co-operated
with the natural hospitality of La Luc, and he pressed M. Verneuil to
remain some time at the chateau.--I can never repay the services you
have done me, said La Luc; yet I seek to increase my obligations to you
by requesting you will prolong your visit, and thus allow me an
opportunity of cultivating your acquaintance.
M. Verneuil, who at the time he met La Luc was travelling from Geneva to
a distant part of Savoy, merely for the purpose of viewing the country,
being now delighted with his host and with every thing around him,
willingly accepted the invitation. In this circumstance prudence
concurred with inclination, for to have pursued his journey on
horseback, in his present situation, would have been dangerous, if not
impracticable.
The morning was spent in conversation, in which M. Verneuil displayed a
mind enriched with taste, enlightened by science, and enlarged by
observation. The situation of the chateau and the features of the
surrounding scenery charmed him, and in the evening he found himself
able to walk with La Luc and explore the beauties of this romantic
region. As they passed through the village, the salutations of the
peasants, in whom love and respect were equally blended, and their eager
inquiries after Clara, bore testimony to the character of La Luc; while
his countenance expressed a serene satisfaction, arising from the
consciousness of deserving and possessing their love.--I live surrounded
by my children, said he, turning to M. Verneuil, who had noticed their
eagerness; for such I consider my parishioners. In discharging the
duties of my office, I am repaid not only by my own conscience, but by
their gratitude. There is a luxury in observing their simple and honest
love, which I would not exchange for any thing the world calls
blessings.
Yet the world, Sir, would call the pleasures of which you speak
romantic, said M. Verneuil; for to be sensible of this pure and
exquisite delight requires a heart untainted with the vicious pleasures
of society--pleasures that deaden its finest feelings and poison the
source of its truest enjoyments.--They pursued their way along the
borders of the lake, sometimes under the shade of hanging woods, and
sometimes over hillocks of turf, where the scene opened in all its wild
magnificence. M. Verneuil often stopped in raptures to observe and point
out the singular beauties it exhibited, while La Luc, pleased with the
delight his friend expressed, surveyed with more than usual satisfaction
the objects which had so often charmed him before. But there was a
tender melancholy in the tone of his voice and his countenance, which
arose from the recollection of having often traced those scenes, and
partaken of the pleasure they inspired, with her who had long since bade
them an eternal farewell.
They presently quitted the lake, and, winding up a steep ascent between
the woods, came after a hour's walk to a green summit, which appeared,
among the savage rocks that environed it, like the blossom on the thorn.
It was a spot formed for solitary delight, inspiring that soothing
tenderness so dear to the feeling mind, and which calls back to memory
the images of past regret, softened by distance and endeared by frequent
recollection. Wild shrubs grew from the crevices of the rocks beneath,
and the high trees of pine and cedar that waved above, afforded a
melancholy and romantic shade. The silence of the scene was interrupted
only by the breeze as it rolled over the woods, and by the solitary
notes of the birds that inhabited the cliffs.
From this point the eye commanded an entire view of those majestic and
sublime Alps whose aspect fills the soul with emotions of indescribable
awe, and seems to lift it to a nobler nature. The village and the
chateau of La Luc appeared in the bosom of the mountains, a peaceful
retreat from the storms that gathered on their tops. All the faculties
of M. Verneuil were absorbed in admiration, and he was for some time
quite silent; at length, bursting into a rhapsody, he turned, and would
have addressed La Luc, when he perceived him at a distance leaning
against a rustic urn, over which drooped in beautiful luxuriance the
weeping willow.
As he approached, La Luc quitted his position, and advanced to meet him,
while M. Verneuil inquired upon what occasion the urn had been erected.
La Luc, unable to answer, pointed to it, and walked silently away, and
M. Verneuil approaching the urn, read the following inscription:
TO
THE MEMORY OF CLARA LA LUC,
THIS URN
IS ERECTED ON THE SPOT WHICH SHE
LOVED, IN TESTIMONY OF
THE AFFECTION OF
A HUSBAND.
M. Verneuil now comprehended the whole, and, feeling for his friend, was
hurt that he had noticed this monument of his grief. He rejoined La Luc,
who was standing on the point of the eminence contemplating the
landscape below with an air more placid, and touched with the sweetness
of piety and resignation. He perceived that M. Verneuil was somewhat
disconcerted, and he sought to remove his uneasiness. You will consider
it, said he, as a mark of my esteem that I have brought you to this
spot: it is never profaned by the presence of the unfeeling; they would
deride the faithfulness of an attachment which has so long survived its
object, and which, in their own breasts, would quickly have been lost
amidst the dissipation of general society. I have cherished in my heart
the remembrance of a woman whose virtues claimed all my love: I have
cherished it as a treasure to which I could withdraw from temporary
cares and vexations, in the certainty of finding a soothing, though
melancholy comfort.
La Luc paused. M. Verneuil expressed the sympathy he felt, but he knew
the sacredness of sorrow, and soon relapsed into silence. One of the
brightest hopes of a future state, resumed La Luc, is, that we shall
meet again those whom we have loved upon earth. And perhaps our
happiness may be permitted to consist very much in the society of our
friends, purified from the frailties of mortality, with the finer
affections more sweetly attuned, and with the faculties of mind
infinitely more elevated and enlarged. We shall then be enabled to
comprehend subjects which are too vast for human conception; to
comprehend, perhaps, the sublimity of that Deity who first called us
into being. These views of futurity, my friend, elevate us above the
evils of this world, and seem to communicate to us a portion of the
nature we contemplate.
Call them not the illusions of a visionary brain, proceeded La Luc: I
trust in their reality. Of this I am certain, that whether they are
illusions or not, a faith in them ought to be cherished for the comfort
it brings to the heart, and reverenced for the dignity it imparts to the
mind. Such feelings make a happy and an important part of our belief in
a future existence: they give energy to virtue, and stability to
principle.
This, said M. Verneuil, is what I have often felt, and what every
ingenuous mind must acknowledge.
La Luc and M. Verneuil continued in conversation till the sun had left
the scene. The mountains, darkened by twilight, assumed a sublimer
aspect, while the tops of some of the highest Alps were yet illuminated
by the sun's rays, and formed a striking contrast to the shadowy
obscurity of the world below. As they descended through the woods, and
traversed the margin of the lake, the stillness and solemnity of the
hour diffused a pensive sweetness over their minds, and sunk them into
silence.
They found supper spread, as was usual, in the hall, of which the
windows opened upon a garden, where the flowers might be said to yield
their fragrance in gratitude to the refreshing dews. The windows were
embowered with eglantine and other sweet shrubs, which hung in wild
luxuriance around, and formed a beautiful and simple decoration. Clara
and Adeline loved to pass their evenings in this hall, where they had
acquired the first rudiments of astronomy, and from which they had a
wide view of the heavens. La Luc pointed out to them the planets and the
fixed stars, explained their laws, and from thence taking occasion to
mingle moral with scientific instruction, would often ascend towards
that great First Cause, whose nature soars beyond the grasp of human
comprehension.
No study, he would sometimes say, so much enlarges the mind, or
impresses it with so sublime an idea of the Deity, as that of astronomy.
When the imagination launches into the regions of space, and
contemplates the innumerable worlds which are scattered through it, we
are lost in astonishment and awe. This globe appears as a mass of atoms
in the immensity of the universe, and man a mere insect. Yet how
wonderful! that man, whose frame is so diminutive in the scale of being,
should have powers which spurn the narrow boundaries of time and place,
soar beyond the sphere of his existence, penetrate the secret laws of
nature, and calculate their progressive effects.
O! how expressively does this prove the spirituality of our being! Let
the materialist consider it, and blush that he has ever doubted.
In this hall the whole family now met at supper; and during the
remainder of the evening the conversation turned upon general subjects,
in which Clara joined in modest and judicious remark. La Luc had taught
her to familiarize her mind to reasoning, and had accustomed her to
deliver her sentiments freely: she spoke them with a simplicity
extremely engaging, and which convinced her hearers that the love of
knowledge, not the vanity of talking, induced her to converse. M.
Verneuil evidently endeavoured to draw forth her sentiments; and Clara,
interested by the subjects he introduced, a stranger to affectation, and
pleased with the opinions he expressed, answered them with frankness and
animation. They retired mutually pleased with each other.
M. Verneuil was about six-and-thirty; his figure manly, his countenance
frank and engaging. A quick penetrating eye, whose fire was softened by
benevolence, disclosed the chief traits of his character; he was quick
to discern, but generous to excuse, the follies of mankind; and while no
one more sensibly felt an injury, none more readily accepted the
concession of an enemy.
He was by birth a Frenchman. A fortune lately devolved to him, had
enabled him to execute the plan which his active and inquisitive mind
had suggested, of viewing the most remarkable parts of the continent. He
was peculiarly susceptible of the beautiful and sublime in nature. To
such a taste, Switzerland and the adjacent country was, of all others,
the most interesting; and he found the scenery it exhibited infinitely
surpassing all that his glowing imagination had painted; he saw with the
eye of a painter, and felt with the rapture of a poet.
In the habitation of La Luc he met with the hospitality, the frankness,
and the simplicity so characteristic of the country; in his venerable
host he saw the strength of philosophy united with the finest tenderness
of humanity--a philosophy which taught him to correct his feelings, not
to annihilate them; in Clara, the bloom of beauty with the most perfect
simplicity of heart; and in Adeline, all the charms of elegance and
grace, with a genius deserving of the highest culture. In this family
picture the goodness of Madame La Luc was not unperceived or forgotten.
The cheerfulness and harmony that reigned within the chateau was
delightful; but the philanthropy which, flowing from the heart of the
pastor, was diffused through the whole village, and united the
inhabitants in the sweet and firm bonds of social compact, was divine.
The beauty of its situation conspired with these circumstances to make
Leloncourt seem almost a paradise. M. Verneuil sighed that he must soon
quit it. I ought to seek no further, said he, for here wisdom and
happiness dwell together.
The admiration was reciprocal: La Luc and his family found themselves
much interested in M. Verneuil, and looked forward to the time of his
departure with regret. So warmly they pressed him to prolong his visit,
and so powerfully his own inclinations seconded theirs, that he accepted
the invitation. La Luc admitted no circumstance which might contribute
to the amusement of his guest, who having in a few days recovered the
use of his arm, they made several excursions among the mountains.
Adeline and Clara, whom the care of Madame had restored to her usual
health, were generally of the party.
After spending a week at the chateau, M. Verneuil bade adieu to La Luc
and his family. They parted with mutual regret; and the former promised
that when he returned to Geneva, he would take Leloncourt in his way. As
he said this, Adeline, who had for some time observed with much alarm La
Luc's declining health, looked mournfully on his languid countenance,
and uttered a secret prayer that he might live to receive the visit of
M. Verneuil.
Madame was the only person who did not lament his departure; she saw
that the efforts of her brother to entertain his guest were more than
his present state of health would admit of, and she rejoiced in the
quiet that would now return to him.
But this quiet brought La Luc no respite from illness; the fatigue he
had suffered in his late excursions seemed to have increased his
disorder, which in a short time assumed the aspect of a consumption.
Yielding to the solicitations of his family, he went to Geneva for
advice, and was there recommended to try the air of Nice.
The journey thither, however, was of considerable length; and believing
his life to be very precarious, he hesitated whether to go. He was also
unwilling to leave the duty of his parish unperformed for so long a
period as his health might require; but this was an objection which
would not have withheld him from Nice, had his faith in the climate been
equal to that of his physicians.
His parishioners felt the life of their pastor to be of the utmost
consequence to them: it was a general cause, and they testified at once
his worth, and their sense of it, by going in a body to solicit him to
leave them. He was much affected by this instance of their attachment.
Such a proof of regard, joined with the entreaties of his own family,
and a consideration that for their sakes it was a duty to endeavour to
prolong his life, was too powerful to be withstood, and he determined to
set out for Italy.
It was settled that Clara and Adeline, whose health La Luc thought
required change of air and scene, should accompany him, attended by the
faithful Peter.
On the morning of his departure, a large body of his parishioners
assembled round the door to bid him farewell. It was an affecting
scene;--they might meet no more. At length, wiping the tears from his
eyes, La Luc said, Let us trust in God, my friends; he has power to heal
all disorders both of body and mind. We shall meet again, if not in this
world, I hope in a better;--let our conduct be such as to ensure that
better.
The sobs of his people prevented any reply. There was scarcely a dry eye
in the village; for there was scarcely an inhabitant of it that was not
now assembled in the presence of La Luc. He shook hands with them all;
Farewell, my friends, said he, we shall meet again.--God grant we may!
said they, with one voice of fervent petition.
Having mounted his horse, and Clara and Adeline being ready, they took a
last leave of Madame La Luc, and quitted the chateau. The people
unwilling to leave La Luc, the greater part of them accompanied him to
some distance from the village. As he moved slowly on, he cast a last
lingering look at his little home, where he had spent so many peaceful
years, and which he now gazed on perhaps for the last time, and tears
rose to his eyes; but he checked them. Every scene of the adjacent
country called up, as he passed, some tender remembrance. He looked
towards the spot consecrated to the memory of his deceased wife; the
dewy vapours of the morning veiled it. La Luc felt the disappointment
more deeply, perhaps, than reason could justify; but those who know from
experience how much the imagination loves to dwell on any object,
however remotely connected with that of our tenderness, will feel with
him. This was an object round which the affections of La Luc had settled
themselves; it was a memorial to the eye, and the view of it awakened
more forcibly in the memory every tender idea that could associate with
the primary subject of his regard. In such cases fancy gives to the
illusions of strong affection the stamp of reality, and they are
cherished by the heart with romantic fondness.
His people accompanied him for near a mile from the village, and could
scarcely then be prevailed on to leave him: at length he once more bade
them farewell, and went on his way, followed by their prayers and
blessings.
La Luc and his little party travelled slowly on, sunk in pensive
silence--a silence too pleasingly sad to be soon relinquished, and which
they indulged without fear of interruption. The solitary grandeur of the
scenes through which they passed, and the soothing murmur of the pines
that waved above, aided this soft luxury of meditation.
They proceeded by easy stages; and after travelling for some days among
the romantic mountains and green valleys of Piedmont, they entered the
rich country of Nice. The gay and luxuriant views which now opened upon
the travellers as they wound among the hills, appeared like scenes of
fairy enchantment, or those produced by the lonely visions of the poets.
While the spiral summits of the mountains exhibited the snowy severity
of winter, the pine, the cypress, the olive, and the myrtle shaded their
sides with the green tints of spring, and groves of orange, lemon, and
citron, spread over their feet the full glow of autumn. As they
advanced, the scenery became still more diversified; and at length,
between the receding heights, Adeline caught a glimpse of the distant
waters of the Mediterranean fading into the blue and cloudless horizon.
She had never till now seen the ocean; and this transient view of it
roused her imagination, and made her watch impatiently for a nearer
prospect.
It was towards the close of day when the travellers, winding round an
abrupt projection of that range of Alps which crowns the amphitheatre
that environs Nice, looked down upon the green hills that stretch to the
shores, on the city, and its ancient castle, and on the wide waters of
the Mediterranean; with the mountains of Corsica in the furthest
distance. Such a sweep of sea and land, so varied with the gay, the
magnificent, and the awful, would have fixed any eye in admiration. For
Adeline and Clara novelty and enthusiasm added their charms to the
prospect. The soft and salubrious air seemed to welcome La Luc to this
smiling region, and the serene atmosphere to promise invariable summer.
They at length descended upon the little plain where stands the city of
Nice, and which was the most extensive piece of level ground they had
passed since they entered the country. Here, in the bosom of the
mountains, sheltered from the north and the east, where the western
gales alone seemed to breathe, all the blooms of spring and the riches
of autumn were united. Trees of myrtle bordered the road, which wound
among groves of orange, lemon, and bergamot, whose delicious fragrance
came to the sense mingled with the breath of roses and carnations that
blossomed in their shade. The gently swelling hills that rose from the
plain were covered with vines, and crowned with cypresses, olives, and
date trees; beyond, there appeared the sweep of lofty mountains whence
the travellers had descended, and whence rose the little river Paglion,
swollen by the snows that melt on their summits, and which, after
meandering through the plain, washes the walls of Nice, where it falls
into the Mediterranean. In this blooming region Adeline observed that
the countenances of the peasants, meagre and discontented, formed a
melancholy contrast to the face of the country; and she lamented again
the effects of an arbitrary government, where the bounties of nature,
which were designed for all, are monopolized by a few, and the many are
suffered to starve, tantalized by surrounding plenty.
The city lost much of its enchantment on a nearer approach; its narrow
streets and shabby houses but ill answered the expectation which a
distant view of its ramparts and its harbour, gay with vessels, seemed
to authorize. The appearance of the inn at which La Luc now alighted did
not contribute to soften his disappointment: but if he was surprised to
find such indifferent accommodation at the inn of a town celebrated as
the resort of valetudinarians, he was still more so when he learned the
difficulty of procuring furnished lodgings.
After much search, he procured apartments in a small but pleasant house
situated a little way out of the town; it had a garden, and a terrace
which overlooked the sea, and was distinguished by an air of neatness
very unusual in the houses of Nice. He agreed to board with the family,
whose table likewise accommodated a gentleman and lady, their lodgers;
and thus he became a temporary inhabitant of this charming climate.
On the following morning Adeline rose at an early hour, eager to indulge
the new and sublime emotion with which a view of the ocean inspired her,
and walked with Clara toward the hills that afforded a more extensive
prospect. They pursued their way for some time between high embowering
banks, till they arrived at an eminence, whence:
Heaven, earth, ocean, smiled!
They sat down on a point of rock overshadowed by lofty palm-trees, to
contemplate at leisure the magnificent scene. The sun was just emerged
from the sea, over which his rays shed a flood of light, and darted a
thousand brilliant tints on the vapours that ascend the horizon, and
floated there in light clouds, leaving the bosom of the waters below
clear as crystal, except where the white surges were seen to beat upon
the rocks; and discovering the distant sails of the fishing-boats, and
the far distant highlands of Corsica tinted with ethereal blue. Clara,
after some time, drew forth her pencil, but threw it aside in despair.
Adeline, as they returned home through a romantic glen, when her senses
were no longer absorbed in the contemplation of this grand scenery, and
when its images floated on her memory only in softened colours, repeated
the following lines:
SUNRISE: A SONNET
Oft let me wander, at the break of day,
Through the cool vale o'erhung with waving woods,
Drink the rich fragrance of the budding May,
And catch the murmur of the distant floods;
Or rest on the fresh bank of limpid rill,
Where sleeps the violet in the dewy shade,
Where opening lilies balmy sweets distil,
And the wild musk-rose weeps along the glade:
Or climb the eastern cliff, whose airy head
Hangs rudely o'er the blue and misty main;
Watch the fine hues of morn through ether spread,
And paint with roseate glow the crystal plain.
Oh! who can speak the rapture of the soul
When o'er the waves the sun first steals to sight,
And all the world of waters, as they roll,
And Heaven's vast vault unveils in living light!
So life's young hour to man enchanting smiles,
With sparkling health, and joy, and fancy's fairy wiles!
La Luc in his walks met with some sensible and agreeable companions, who
like himself came to Nice in search of health. Of these he soon formed a
small but pleasant society, among whom was a Frenchman, whose mild
manners, marked with a deep and interesting melancholy, had particularly
attracted La Luc. He very seldom mentioned himself, or any circumstance
that might lead to a knowledge of his family, but on other subjects
conversed with frankness and much intelligence. La Luc had frequently
invited him to his lodgings, but he had always declined the invitation;
and this in a manner so gentle as to disarm displeasure, and convince La
Luc that his refusal was the consequence of a certain dejection of mind
which made him reluctant to meet other strangers.
The description which La Luc had given of this foreigner had excited the
curiosity of Clara; and the sympathy which the unfortunate feel for each
other called forth the commiseration of Adeline; for that he was
unfortunate she could not doubt. On their return from an evening walk La
Luc pointed out the chevalier, and quickened his pace to overtake him.
Adeline was for a moment impelled to follow; but delicacy checked her
steps, she knew how painful the presence of a stranger often is to a
wounded mind, and forbore to intrude herself on his notice for the sake
of only satisfying an idle curiosity. She turned therefore into another
path: but the delicacy which now prevented the meeting, accident in a
few days defeated, and La Luc introduced the stranger. Adeline received
him with a soft smile, but endeavoured to restrain the expression of
pity which her features had involuntarily assumed; she wished him not to
know that she observed he was unhappy.
After this interview he no longer rejected the invitations of La Luc,
but made him frequent visits, and often accompanied Adeline and Clara in
their rambles. The mild and sensible conversation of the former seemed
to soothe his mind, and in her presence he frequently conversed with a
degree of animation which La Luc till then had not observed in him.
Adeline too derived from the similarity of their taste, and his
intelligent conversation, a degree of satisfaction which contributed,
with the compassion his dejection inspired, to win her confidence, and
she conversed with an easy frankness rather unusual to her.
His visits soon became more frequent. He walked with La Luc and his
family; he attended them on their little excursions to view those
magnificent remains of Roman antiquity which enrich the neighbourhood of
Nice. When the ladies sat at home and worked, he enlivened the hours by
reading to them, and they had the pleasure to observe his spirits
somewhat relieved from the heavy melancholy that had oppressed him.
M. Amand was passionately fond of music. Clara had not forgot to bring
her beloved lute: he would sometimes strike the chords in the most sweet
and mournful symphonies, but never could be prevailed on to play. When
Adeline or Clara played, he would sit in deep reverie, and lost to every
object around him, except when he fixed his eyes in mournful gaze on
Adeline, and a sigh would sometimes escape him.
One evening, Adeline having excused herself from accompanying La Luc and
Clara in a visit to a neighbouring family, she retired to the terrace of
the garden which overlooked the sea; and as she viewed the tranquil
splendour of the setting sun, and his glories reflected on the polished
surface of the waves, she touched the strings of the lute in softest
harmony, her voice accompanying it with words which she had one day
written after having read that rich effusion of Shakespeare's genius, "A
Midsummer Night's Dream."
TITANIA TO HER LOVE.
O! fly with me through distant air
To isles that gem the western deep!
For laughing Summer revels there,
And hangs her wreath on every steep.
As through the green transparent sea
Light floating on the waves we go,
The nymphs shall gaily welcome me,
Far in their coral caves below.
For oft upon their margin sands,
When twilight leads the freshening hours,
I come with all my jocund bands
To charm them from their sea-green bowers.
And well they love our sports to view,
And on the ocean's breast to lave;
And oft as we the dance renew,
They call up music from the wave.
Swift hie we to that splendid clime,
Where gay Jamaica spreads her scene,
Lifts the blue mountain--wild--sublime!
And smooths her vales of vivid green.
Where throned high, in pomp of shade,
The _power of vegetation_ reigns,
Expanding wide, o'er hill and glade,
Shrubs of all growth--fruit of all stains:
She steals the sun-beam's fervid glow,
To paint her flowers of mingling hue;
And o'er the grape the purple throw,
Breaking from verdant leaves to view.
There myrtle bowers, and citron grove,
O'er canopy our airy dance;
And there the sea-breeze loves to rove,
When trembles day's departing glance.
And when the false moon steals away,
Or ere the chasing morn doth rise,
Oft, fearless, we our gambols play
By the fire-worm's radiant eyes.
And suck the honey'd reeds that swell
In tufted plumes of silver white;
Or pierce the cocoa's milky cell,
To sip the nectar of delight!
And when the shaking thunders roll,
And lightnings strike athwart the gloom,
We shelter in the cedar's bole,
And revel 'mid the rich perfume!
But chief we love beneath the palm,
Or verdant plantain's spreading leaf,
To hear, upon the midnight calm,
Sweet Philomela pour her grief.
To mortal sprite such dulcet sound,
Such blissful hours, were never known!
O fly with me my airy round,
And I will make them all thine own!
Adeline ceased to sing--when she immediately heard repeated in a low
voice:
To mortal sprite such dulcet sound,
Such blissful hours, were never known!
and turning her eyes whence it came, she saw M. Amand. She blushed and
laid down the lute, which he instantly took up, and with a tremulous
hand drew forth tones
[Illustration 08]
That might create a soul,
Under the ribs of death:
In a melodious voice, that trembled with sensibility, he sang the
following
SONNET
How sweet is Love's first gentle sway,
When crown'd with flowers he softly smiles!
His blue eyes fraught with tearful wiles,
Where beams of tender transport play:
Hope leads him on his airy way,
And faith and fancy still beguiles----
Faith quickly tangled in her toils----
Fancy, whose magic forms so say
The fair deceiver's self deceive----
How sweet is love's first gentle sway!
Ne'er would that heart he bids to grieve
From sorrow's soft enchantments stray----
Ne'er--till the God exulting in his art,
Relentless frowns and wings th' envenom'd dart.
Monsieur Amand paused: he seemed much oppressed, and at length, bursting
into tears, laid down the instrument and walked abruptly away to the
further end of the terrace. Adeline, without seeming to observe his
agitation, arose and leaned upon the wall, below which a group of
fishermen were busily employed in drawing a net. In a few moments he
returned with a composed and softened countenance. Forgive this abrupt
conduct, said he; I know not how to apologize for it but by owning its
cause. When I tell you, Madame, that my tears flow to the memory of a
lady who strongly resembled you, and who is lost to me for ever, you
will know how to pity me.--His voice faltered, and he paused. Adeline
was silent. The lute he resumed, was her favourite instrument, and when
you touched it with such a melancholy expression, I saw her very image
before me. But, alas! why do I distress you with a knowledge of my
sorrows! she is gone, and never to return! And you, Adeline,--you----He
checked his speech; and Adeline turning on him a look of mournful
regard, observed a wildness in his eyes which alarmed her. These
recollections are too painful, said she in a gentle voice: let us return
to the house; M. La Luc is probably come home. O no! replied M.
Amand;--No--this breeze refreshes me. How often at this hour have I
talked with _her_, as I now talk with you!--such were the soft tones of
her voice--such the ineffable expression of her countenance.--Adeline
interrupted him. Let me beg of you to consider your health--this dewy
air cannot be good for invalids. He stood with his hands clasped, and
seemed not to hear her. She took up the lute to go, and passed her
fingers lightly over the chords. The sounds recalled his scattered
senses: he raised his eyes, and fixed them in long unsettled gaze upon
hers. Must I leave you here? said she smiling, and standing in an
attitude to depart--I entreat you to play again the air I heard just
now, said M. Amand in a hurried voice.--Certainly; and she immediately
began to play. He leaned against a palm tree in an attitude of deep
attention, and as the sounds languished on the air, his features
gradually lost their wild expression, and he melted into tears. He
continued to weep silently till the song concluded, and it was some time
before he recovered voice enough to say, Adeline, I cannot thank you for
this goodness: my mind has recovered its bias; you have soothed a broken
heart. Increase the kindness you have shown me, by promising never to
mention what you have witnessed this evening, and I will endeavour never
again to wound your sensibility by a similar offence.--Adeline gave the
required promise; and M. Amand, pressing her hand, with a melancholy
smile hurried from the garden, and she saw him no more that night.
La Luc had been near a fortnight at Nice, and his health, instead of
amending seemed rather to decline, yet he wished to make a longer
experiment of the climate. The air which failed to restore her venerable
friend revived Adeline, and the variety and novelty of the surrounding
scenes amused her mind, though, since they could not obliterate the
memory of past, or suppress the pang of present affection, they were
ineffectual to dissipate the sick languor of melancholy. Company, by
compelling her to withdraw her attention from the subject of her sorrow,
afforded her a transient relief, but the violence of the exertion
generally left her more depressed. It was in the stillness of solitude,
in the tranquil observance of beautiful nature, that her mind recovered
its tone, and, indulging the pensive inclination now become habitual to
it, was soothed and fortified. Of all the grand objects which nature had
exhibited, the ocean inspired her with the most sublime admiration. She
loved to wander alone on its shores; and when she could escape so long
from the duties or forms of society, she would sit for hours on the
beach watching the rolling waves, and listening to their dying murmur,
till her softened fancy recalled long-lost scenes, and restored the
image of Theodore; when tears of despondency too often followed those of
pity and regret. But these visions of memory, painful as they were, no
longer excited that phrensy of grief they formerly awakened in Savoy;
the sharpness of misery was passed, though its heavy influence was not
perhaps less powerful. To these solitary indulgences generally succeeded
calmness, and what Adeline endeavoured to believe was resignation.
She usually rose early, and walked down to the shore to enjoy, in the
cool and silent hours of the morning, the cheering beauty of nature, and
inhale the pure sea-breeze. Every object then smiled in fresh and lively
colours. The blue sea, the brilliant sky, the distant fishing-boats with
their white sails, and the voices of the fishermen borne at intervals on
the air, were circumstances which reanimated her spirits; and in one of
her rambles, yielding to that taste for poetry which had seldom forsaken
her, she repeated the following lines:--
MORNING, ON THE SEA SHORE
What print of fairy feet is here
On Neptune's smooth and yellow sands?
What midnight revel's airy dance,
Beneath the moonbeam's trembling glance
Has blest these shores?--What sprightly bands
Have chased the waves uncheck'd by fear?
Whoe'er they were they fled from morn,
For now, all silent and forlorn,
These tide-forsaken sands appear--
Return, sweet sprites! the scene to cheer!
In vain the call!--Till moonlight's hour
Again diffuse its softer power,
Titania, nor her fairy loves,
Emerge from India's spicy groves.
Then, when the shadowy hour returns,
When silence reigns o'er air and earth,
And every star in ether burns,
They come to celebrate their mirth;
In frolic ringlet trip the ground,
Bid music's voice on silence win,
Till magic echoes answer round--
Thus do their festive rites begin.
O fairy forms so coy to mortal ken,
Your mystic steps to poets only shown;
O! lead me to the brook, or hollow'd glen,
Retiring far, with winding woods o'ergrown
Where'er ye best delight to rule;
If in some forest's lone retreat,
Thither conduct my willing feet
To the light brink of fountain cool,
Where, sleeping in the midnight dew,
Lie spring's young buds of every hue,
Yielding their sweet breath to the air;
To fold their silken leaves from harm,
And their chill heads in moonshine warm,
Is bright Titania's tender care.
There, to the night-birds's plaintive chaunt
Your carols sweet ye love to raise,
With oaten reed and pastoral lays;
And guard with forceful spell her haunt,
Who, when your antic sports are done,
Oft lulls ye in the lily's cell,
Sweet flower! that suits your slumbers well,
And shields ye from the rising sun.
When not to India's steeps ye fly
After twilight and the moon,
In honey buds ye love to lie,
While reigns supreme light's fervid noon;
Nor quit the cell where peace pervades.
Till night leads on the dews and shades.
E'en now your scenes enchanted meet my sight!
I see the earth unclose, the palace rise,
The high dome swell, and long arcades of light
Glitter among the deep embowering woods,
And glance reflecting from the trembling floods!
While to soft lutes the portals wide unfold,
And fairy forms, of fine ethereal dyes,
Advance with frolic step and laughing eyes,
Their hair with pearl, their garments deck'd with gold;
Pearls that in Neptune's briny waves they sought,
And gold from India's deepest caverns brought.
Thus your light visions to my eyes unveil,
Ye sportive pleasures, sweet illusion, hail!
But ah! at morn's first blush again ye fade!
So from youth's ardent gaze life's landscape gay,
And forms in fancy's summer hues array'd,
Dissolve at once in air at truth's resplendent day!
During several days succeeding that on which M. Amand had disclosed the
cause of his melancholy, he did not visit La Luc. At length Adeline met
him in one of her solitary rambles on the shore. He was pale, and
dejected, and seemed much agitated when he observed her; she therefore
endeavoured to avoid him, but he advanced with quickened steps and
accosted her. He said it was his intention to leave Nice in a few days.
I have found no benefit from the climate, added M. Amand; alas! what
climate can relieve the sickness of the heart! I go to lose in the
varieties of new scenes the remembrance of past happiness; yet the
effort is vain; I am every where equally restless and unhappy. Adeline
tried to encourage him to hope much from time and change of place. Time
_will_ blunt the sharpest edge of sorrow, said she; I know it from
experience. Yet while she spoke, the tears in her eyes contradicted the
assertions of her lips.--You have been unhappy, Adeline!--Yes--I knew it
from the first. The smile of pity which you gave me, assured me that you
knew what it was to suffer. The desponding air with which he spoke
renewed her apprehension of a scene similar to the one she had lately
witnessed, and she changed the subject; but he soon returned to it. You
bid me hope much from time!--My wife!--My dear wife!----his tongue
faltered--It is now many months since I lost her--yet the moment of her
death seems but as yesterday. Adeline faintly smiled. You can scarcely
judge of the effect of time, yet you have much to hope for. He shook his
head. But I am again intruding my misfortunes on your notice; forgive
this perpetual egotism. There is a comfort in the pity of the good, such
as nothing else can impart; this must plead my excuse; may you, Adeline,
never want it! Ah! those tears----Adeline hastily dried them. M. Amand
forbore to press the subject, and immediately began to converse on
indifferent topics. They returned towards the chateau; but La Luc being
from home, M. Amand took leave at the door. Adeline retired to her
chamber, oppressed by her own sorrows, and those of her amiable friend.
Near three weeks had now elapsed at Nice, during which the disorder of
La Luc seemed rather to increase than abate, when his physician very
honestly confessed the little hope he entertained from the climate, and
advised him to try the effect of a sea voyage, adding that if the
experiment failed, even the air of Montpellier appeared to him more
likely to afford relief than that of Nice. La Luc received this
disinterested advice with a mixture of gratitude and disappointment. The
circumstances which had made him reluctant to quit Savoy, rendered him
yet more so to protract his absence and increase his expenses; but the
ties of affection that bound him to his family, and the love of life,
which so seldom leaves us, again prevailed over inferior considerations;
and he determined to coast the Mediterranean as far as Languedoc, where
if the voyage did not answer his expectation he would land and proceed
to Montpellier.
When M. Amand learned that La Luc designed to quit Nice in a few days,
he determined not to leave it before him. During this interval he had
not sufficient resolution to deny himself the frequent conversation of
Adeline, though her presence, by reminding him of his lost wife, gave
him more pain than comfort. He was the second son of a French gentleman
of family, and had been married about a year to a lady to whom he had
long been attached, when she died in her lying-in. The infant soon
followed its mother, and left the disconsolate father abandoned to
grief, which had preyed so heavily on his health, that his physician
thought it necessary to send him to Nice. From the air of Nice, however,
he had derived no benefit; and he now determined to travel further into
Italy, though he no longer felt any interest in those charming scenes
which in happier days and with her whom he never ceased to lament, would
have afforded him the highest degree of mental luxury--now he sought
only to escape from himself, or rather from the image of her who had
once constituted his truest happiness.
La Luc having laid his plan, hired a small vessel, and in a few days
embarked, with a sick hope, bidding adieu to the shores of Italy and the
towering Alps, and seeking on a new element the health which had
hitherto mocked his pursuit.
M. Amand took a melancholy leave of his new friends, whom he attended to
the sea-side. When he assisted Adeline on board, his heart was too full
to suffer him to say farewell; but he stood long on the beach pursuing
with his eyes her course over the waters, and waving his hand, till
tears dimmed his sight. The breeze wafted the vessel gently from the
coast, and Adeline saw herself surrounded by the undulating waves of the
ocean. The shore appeared to recede, its mountains to lessen, the gay
colours of its landscape to melt into each other, and in a short time
the figure of M. Amand was seen no more: the town of Nice, with its
castle and harbour next faded away in distance, and the purple tint of
the mountains was at length all that remained on the verge of the
horizon. She sighed as she gazed, and her eyes filled with tears. So
vanished my prospect of happiness, said she; and my future view is like
the waste of waters that surround me. Her heart was full, and she
retired from observation to a remote part of the deck, where she
indulged her tears as she watched the vessel cut its way through the
liquid glass. The water was so transparent that she saw the sun-beams
playing at a considerable depth, and fish of various colours glance
athwart the current. Innumerable marine plants spread their vigorous
leaves on the rocks below, and the richness of their verdure formed a
beautiful contrast to the glowing scarlet of the coral that branched
beside them.
The distant coast at length entirely disappeared. Adeline gazed with an
emotion the most sublime, on the boundless expanse of waters that spread
on all sides: she seemed as if launched into a new world: the grandeur
and immensity of the view astonished and overpowered her: for a moment
she doubted the truth of the compass, and believed it to be almost
impossible for the vessel to find its way over the pathless waters to
any shore. And when she considered that a plank alone separated her from
death, a sensation of unmixed terror superseded that of sublimity, and
she hastily turned her eyes from the prospect, and her thoughts from the
subject.