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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de
+Saint Pierre
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Paul and Virginia
+
+Author: Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+Release Date: March 25, 2006 [eBook #2127]
+[Most recently updated: January 29, 2023]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Dagny and John Bickers
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL AND VIRGINIA ***
+
+
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+
+by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+
+With A Memoir Of The Author
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+In introducing to the Public the present edition of this well known
+and affecting Tale,--the _chef d'œuvre_ of its gifted author, the
+Publishers take occasion to say, that it affords them no little
+gratification, to apprise the numerous admirers of "Paul and Virginia,"
+that the _entire_ work of St. Pierre is now presented to them. All the
+previous editions have been disfigured by interpolations, and mutilated
+by numerous omissions and alterations, which have had the effect of
+reducing it from the rank of a Philosophical Tale, to the level of a
+mere story for children.
+
+Of the merits of "Paul and Virginia," it is hardly necessary to utter
+a word; it tells its own story eloquently and impressively, and in a
+language simple, natural and true, it touches the common heart of the
+world. There are but few works that have obtained a greater degree
+of popularity, none are more deserving it; and the Publishers cannot
+therefore refrain from expressing a hope that their efforts in thus
+giving a faithful transcript of the work,--an acknowledged classic by
+the European world,--may be, in some degree, instrumental in awakening
+here, at home, a taste for those higher works of Fancy, which, while
+they seek to elevate and strengthen the understanding, instruct and
+purify the heart. It is in this character that the Tale of "Paul and
+Virginia" ranks pre-eminent. [Prepared from an edition published by
+Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, U.S.A.]
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE
+
+Love of Nature, that strong feeling of enthusiasm which leads to
+profound admiration of the whole works of creation, belongs, it may be
+presumed, to a certain peculiarity of organization, and has, no doubt,
+existed in different individuals from the beginning of the world. The
+old poets and philosophers, romance writers, and troubadours, had all
+looked upon Nature with observing and admiring eyes. They have most of
+them given incidentally charming pictures of spring, of the setting sun,
+of particular spots, and of favourite flowers.
+
+There are few writers of note, of any country, or of any age, from
+whom quotations might not be made in proof of the love with which
+they regarded Nature. And this remark applies as much to religious and
+philosophic writers as to poets,--equally to Plato, St. François de
+Sales, Bacon, and Fenelon, as to Shakespeare, Racine, Calderon, or
+Burns; for from no really philosophic or religious doctrine can the love
+of the works of Nature be excluded.
+
+But before the days of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Buffon, and Bernardin
+de St. Pierre, this love of Nature had not been expressed in all its
+intensity. Until their day, it had not been written on exclusively.
+The lovers of Nature were not, till then, as they may perhaps since be
+considered, a sect apart. Though perfectly sincere in all the adorations
+they offered, they were less entirely, and certainly less diligently and
+constantly, her adorers.
+
+It is the great praise of Bernardin de St. Pierre, that coming
+immediately after Rousseau and Buffon, and being one of the most
+proficient writers of the same school, he was in no degree their
+imitator, but perfectly original and new. He intuitively perceived the
+immensity of the subject he intended to explore, and has told us that
+no day of his life passed without his collecting some valuable materials
+for his writings. In the divine works of Nature, he diligently sought
+to discover her laws. It was his early intention not to begin to write
+until he had ceased to observe; but he found observation endless, and
+that he was "like a child who with a shell digs a hole in the sand to
+receive the waters of the ocean." He elsewhere humbly says, that not
+only the general history of Nature, but even that of the smallest plant,
+was far beyond his ability. Before, however, speaking further of him as
+an author, it will be necessary to recapitulate the chief events of his
+life.
+
+HENRI-JACQUES BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE, was born at Havre in 1737. He
+always considered himself descended from that Eustache de St. Pierre,
+who is said by Froissart, (and I believe by Froissart only), to have so
+generously offered himself as a victim to appease the wrath of Edward
+the Third against Calais. He, with his companions in virtue, it is also
+said, was saved by the intercession of Queen Philippa. In one of his
+smaller works, Bernardin asserts this descent, and it was certainly one
+of which he might be proud. Many anecdotes are related of his childhood,
+indicative of the youthful author,--of his strong love of Nature, and
+his humanity to animals.
+
+That "the child is the father of the man," has been seldom more strongly
+illustrated. There is a story of a cat, which, when related by him many
+years afterwards to Rousseau, caused that philosopher to shed tears. At
+eight years of age, he took the greatest pleasure in the regular culture
+of his garden; and possibly then stored up some of the ideas which
+afterwards appeared in the "Fraisier." His sympathy with all living
+things was extreme.
+
+In "Paul and Virginia," he praises, with evident satisfaction, their
+meal of milk and eggs, which had not cost any animal its life. It has
+been remarked, and possibly with truth, that every tenderly disposed
+heart, deeply imbued with a love of Nature, is at times somewhat
+Braminical. St. Pierre's certainly was.
+
+When quite young, he advanced with a clenched fist towards a carter
+who was ill-treating a horse. And when taken for the first time, by his
+father, to Rouen, having the towers of the cathedral pointed out to him,
+he exclaimed, "My God! how high they fly." Every one present naturally
+laughed. Bernardin had only noticed the flight of some swallows who had
+built their nests there. He thus early revealed those instincts which
+afterwards became the guidance of his life: the strength of which
+possibly occasioned his too great indifference to all monuments of
+art. The love of study and of solitude were also characteristics of
+his childhood. His temper is said to have been moody, impetuous, and
+intractable. Whether this faulty temper may not have been produced
+or rendered worse by mismanagement, cannot not be ascertained. It,
+undoubtedly became afterwards, to St. Pierre a fruitful source of
+misfortune and of woe.
+
+The reading of voyages was with him, even in childhood, almost a
+passion. At twelve years of age, his whole soul was occupied by Robinson
+Crusoe and his island. His romantic love of adventure seeming to his
+parents to announce a predilection in favour of the sea, he was sent
+by them with one of his uncles to Martinique. But St. Pierre had
+not sufficiently practised the virtue of obedience to submit, as was
+necessary, to the discipline of a ship. He was afterwards placed with
+the Jesuits at Caen, with whom he made immense progress in his studies.
+But, it is to be feared, he did not conform too well to the regulations
+of the college, for he conceived, from that time, the greatest
+detestation for places of public education. And this aversion he has
+frequently testified in his writings. While devoted to his books of
+travels, he in turn anticipated being a Jesuit, a missionary or a
+martyr; but his family at length succeeded in establishing him at Rouen,
+where he completed his studies with brilliant success, in 1757. He soon
+after obtained a commission as an engineer, with a salary of one hundred
+louis. In this capacity he was sent (1760) to Dusseldorf, under the
+command of Count St. Germain. This was a career in which he might have
+acquired both honour and fortune; but, most unhappily for St. Pierre,
+he looked upon the useful and necessary etiquettes of life as so many
+unworthy prejudices. Instead of conforming to them, he sought to trample
+on them. In addition, he evinced some disposition to rebel against his
+commander, and was unsocial with his equals. It is not, therefore, to be
+wondered at, that at this unfortunate period of his existence, he made
+himself enemies; or that, notwithstanding his great talents, or the
+coolness he had exhibited in moments of danger, he should have been sent
+back to France. Unwelcome, under these circumstances, to his family, he
+was ill received by all.
+
+It is a lesson yet to be learned, that genius gives no charter for the
+indulgence of error,--a truth yet _to be_ remembered, that only a small
+portion of the world will look with leniency on the failings of the
+highly-gifted; and, that from themselves, the consequences of their
+own actions can never be averted. It is yet, alas! _to be_ added to
+the convictions of the ardent in mind, that no degree of excellence in
+science or literature, not even the immortality of a name can exempt
+its possessor from obedience to moral discipline; or give him happiness,
+unless "temper's image" be stamped on his daily words and actions. St.
+Pierre's life was sadly embittered by his own conduct. The adventurous
+life he led after his return from Dusseldorf, some of the circumstances
+of which exhibited him in an unfavourable light to others, tended,
+perhaps, to tinge his imagination with that wild and tender melancholy
+so prevalent in his writings. A prize in the lottery had just doubled
+his very slender means of existence, when he obtained the appointment of
+geographical engineer, and was sent to Malta. The Knights of the Order
+were at this time expecting to be attacked by the Turks. Having already
+been in the service, it was singular that St. Pierre should have had the
+imprudence to sail without his commission. He thus subjected himself to
+a thousand disagreeables, for the officers would not recognize him
+as one of themselves. The effects of their neglect on his mind were
+tremendous; his reason for a time seemed almost disturbed by the
+mortifications he suffered. After receiving an insufficient indemnity
+for the expenses of his voyage, St. Pierre returned to France, there to
+endure fresh misfortunes.
+
+Not being able to obtain any assistance from the ministry or his family,
+he resolved on giving lessons in the mathematics. But St. Pierre was
+less adapted than most others for succeeding in the apparently easy,
+but really ingenious and difficult, art of teaching. When education
+is better understood, it will be more generally acknowledged, that,
+to impart instruction with success, a teacher must possess deeper
+intelligence than is implied by the profoundest skill in any one branch
+of science or of art. All minds, even to the youngest, require, while
+being taught, the utmost compliance and consideration; and these
+qualities can scarcely be properly exercised without a true knowledge of
+the human heart, united to much practical patience. St. Pierre, at this
+period of his life, certainly did not possess them. It is probable that
+Rousseau, when he attempted in his youth to give lessons in music, not
+knowing any thing whatever of music, was scarcely less fitted for
+the task of instruction, than St. Pierre with all his mathematical
+knowledge. The pressure of poverty drove him to Holland. He was well
+received at Amsterdam, by a French refugee named Mustel, who edited a
+popular journal there, and who procured him employment, with handsome
+remuneration. St. Pierre did not, however, remain long satisfied with
+this quiet mode of existence. Allured by the encouraging reception given
+by Catherine II. to foreigners, he set out for St. Petersburg. Here,
+until he obtained the protection of the Marechal de Munich, and the
+friendship of Duval, he had again to contend with poverty. The latter
+generously opened to him his purse and by the Marechal he was introduced
+to Villebois, the Grand Master of Artillery, and by him presented to the
+Empress. St. Pierre was so handsome, that by some of his friends it was
+supposed, perhaps, too, hoped, that he would supersede Orloff in the
+favor of Catherine. But more honourable illusions, though they were
+but illusions, occupied his own mind. He neither sought nor wished to
+captivate the Empress. His ambition was to establish a republic on the
+shores of the lake Aral, of which in imitation of Plato or Rousseau,
+he was to be the legislator. Pre-occupied with the reformation of
+despotism, he did not sufficiently look into his own heart, or seek to
+avoid a repetition of the same errors that had already changed friends
+into enemies, and been such a terrible barrier to his success in
+life. His mind was already morbid, and in fancying that others did
+not understand him, he forgot that he did not understand others. The
+Empress, with the rank of captain, bestowed on him a grant of fifteen
+hundred francs; but when General Dubosquet proposed to take him with him
+to examine the military position of Finland, his only anxiety seemed to
+be to return to France: still he went to Finland; and his own notes of
+his occupations and experiments on that expedition prove, that he gave
+himself up in all diligence to considerations of attack and defence. He,
+who loved Nature so intently, seems only to have seen in the extensive
+and majestic forests of the north, a theatre of war. In this instance,
+he appears to have stifled every emotion of admiration, and to have
+beheld, alike, cities and countries in his character of military
+surveyor.
+
+On his return to St. Petersburg, he found his protector Villebois,
+disgraced. St. Pierre then resolved on espousing the cause of the Poles.
+He went into Poland with a high reputation,--that of having refused
+the favours of despotism, to aid the cause of liberty. But it was his
+private life, rather than his public career, that was affected by his
+residence in Poland. The Princess Mary fell in love with him, and,
+forgetful of all considerations, quitted her family to reside with
+him. Yielding, however, at length, to the entreaties of her mother,
+she returned to her home. St. Pierre, filled with regret, resorted to
+Vienna; but, unable to support the sadness which oppressed him, and
+imagining that sadness to be shared by the Princess, he soon went back
+to Poland. His return was still more sad than his departure; for he
+found himself regarded by her who had once loved him, as an intruder.
+It is to this attachment he alludes so touchingly in one of his letters.
+"Adieu! friends dearer than the treasures of India! Adieu! forests of
+the North, that I shall never see again!--tender friendship, and the
+still dearer sentiment which surpassed it!--days of intoxication and
+of happiness adeiu! adieu! We live but for a day, to die during a whole
+life!"
+
+This letter appears to one of St. Pierre's most partial biographers,
+as if steeped in tears; and he speaks of his romantic and unfortunate
+adventure in Poland, as the ideal of a poet's love.
+
+"To be," says M. Sainte-Beuve, "a great poet, and loved before he had
+thought of glory! To exhale the first perfume of a soul of genius,
+believing himself only a lover! To reveal himself, for the first time,
+entirely, but in mystery!"
+
+In his enthusiasm, M. Sainte-Beuve loses sight of the melancholy sequel,
+which must have left so sad a remembrance in St. Pierre's own mind.
+His suffering, from this circumstance, may perhaps have conduced to his
+making Virginia so good and true, and so incapable of giving pain.
+
+In 1766, he returned to Havre; but his relations were by this time dead
+or dispersed, and after six years of exile, he found himself once
+more in his own country, without employment and destitute of pecuniary
+resources.
+
+The Baron de Breteuil at length obtained for him a commission as
+Engineer to the Isle of France, whence he returned in 1771. In this
+interval, his heart and imagination doubtless received the germs of his
+immortal works. Many of the events, indeed, of the "Voyage à l'Ile de
+France," are to be found modified by imagined circumstances in "Paul and
+Virginia." He returned to Paris poor in purse, but rich in observation
+and mental resources, and resolved to devote himself to literature. By
+the Baron de Breteuil he was recommended to D'Alembert, who procured
+a publisher for his "Voyage," and also introduced him to Mlle. de
+l'Espinasse. But no one, in spite of his great beauty, was so ill
+calculated to shine or please in society as St. Pierre. His manners
+were timid and embarrassed, and, unless to those with whom he was very
+intimate, he scarcely appeared intelligent.
+
+It is sad to think, that misunderstanding should prevail to such an
+extent, and heart so seldom really speak to heart, in the intercourse of
+the world, that the most humane may appear cruel, and the sympathizing
+indifferent. Judging of Mlle. de l'Espinasse from her letters, and the
+testimony of her contemporaries, it seems quite impossible that she
+could have given pain to any one, more particularly to a man possessing
+St. Pierre's extraordinary talent and profound sensibility. Both she and
+D'Alembert were capable of appreciating him; but the society in which
+they moved laughed at his timidity, and the tone of raillery in which
+they often indulged was not understood by him. It is certain that he
+withdrew from their circle with wounded and mortified feelings, and, in
+spite of an explanatory letter from D'Alembert, did not return to it.
+The inflictors of all this pain, in the meantime, were possibly as
+unconscious of the meaning attached to their words, as were the birds of
+old of the augury drawn from their flight.
+
+St. Pierre, in his "Préambule de l'Arcadie," has pathetically and
+eloquently described the deplorable state of his health and feelings,
+after frequent humiliating disputes and disappointments had driven him
+from society; or rather, when, like Rousseau, he was "self-banished"
+from it.
+
+"I was struck," he says, "with an extraordinary malady. Streams of fire,
+like lightning, flashed before my eyes; every object appeared to me
+double, or in motion: like Œdipus, I saw two suns. . . In the
+finest day of summer, I could not cross the Seine in a boat without
+experiencing intolerable anxiety. If, in a public garden, I merely
+passed by a piece of water, I suffered from spasms and a feeling of
+horror. I could not cross a garden in which many people were collected:
+if they looked at me, I immediately imagined they were speaking ill of
+me." It was during this state of suffering, that he devoted himself with
+ardour to collecting and making use of materials for that work which was
+to give glory to his name.
+
+It was only by perseverance, and disregarding many rough and
+discouraging receptions, that he succeeded in making acquaintance with
+Rousseau, whom he so much resembled. St. Pierre devoted himself to his
+society with enthusiasm, visiting him frequently and constantly, till
+Rousseau departed for Ermenonville. It is not unworthy of remark, that
+both these men, such enthusiastic admirers of Nature and the natural
+in all things, should have possessed factitious rather than practical
+virtue, and a wisdom wholly unfitted for the world. St. Pierre asked
+Rousseau, in one of their frequent rambles, if, in delineating St.
+Preux, he had not intended to represent himself. "No," replied Rousseau,
+"St. Preux is not what I have been, but what I wished to be." St. Pierre
+would most likely have given the same answer, had a similar question
+been put to him with regard to the Colonel in "Paul and Virginia."
+This at least, appears the sort of old age he loved to contemplate, and
+wished to realize.
+
+For six years, he worked at his "Etudes," and with some difficulty found
+a publisher for them. M. Didot, a celebrated typographer, whose daughter
+St. Pierre afterwards married, consented to print a manuscript which had
+been declined by many others. He was well rewarded for the undertaking.
+The success of the "Etudes de la Nature" surpassed the most sanguine
+expectation, even of the author. Four years after its publication, St.
+Pierre gave to the world "Paul and Virginia," which had for some time
+been lying in his portfolio. He had tried its effect, in manuscript,
+on persons of different characters and pursuits. They had given it no
+applause; but all had shed tears at its perusal: and perhaps, few works
+of a decidedly romantic character have ever been so generally read, or
+so much approved. Among the great names whose admiration of it is on
+record, may be mentioned Napoleon and Humboldt.
+
+In 1789, he published "Les Vœux d'un Solitaire," and "La Suite des
+Vœux." By the _Moniteur_ of the day, these works were compared to the
+celebrated pamphlet of Sieyes,--"Qu'est-ce que le tiers etat?" which
+then absorbed all the public favour. In 1791, "La Chaumiere Indienne"
+was published: and in the following year, about thirteen days before
+the celebrated 10th of August, Louis XVI. appointed St. Pierre
+superintendant of the "Jardin des Plantes." Soon afterwards, the King,
+on seeing him, complimented him on his writings and told him he was
+happy to have found a worthy successor to Buffon.
+
+Although deficient in the exact knowledge of the sciences, and knowing
+little of the world, St. Pierre was, by his simplicity, and the
+retirement in which he lived, well suited, at that epoch, to the
+situation. About this time, and when in his fifty-seventh year, he
+married Mlle. Didot.
+
+In 1795, he became a member of the French Academy, and, as was just,
+after his acceptance of this honour, he wrote no more against literary
+societies. On the suppression of his place, he retired to Essonne. It is
+delightful to follow him there, and to contemplate his quiet existence.
+His days flowed on peaceably, occupied in the publication of "Les
+Harmonies de la Nature," the republication of his earlier works, and
+the composition of some lesser pieces. He himself affectingly regrets an
+interruption to these occupations. On being appointed Instructor to the
+Normal School, he says, "I am obliged to hang my harp on the willows
+of my river, and to accept an employment useful to my family and my
+country. I am afflicted at having to suspend an occupation which has
+given me so much happiness."
+
+He enjoyed in his old age, a degree of opulence, which, as much as
+glory, had perhaps been the object of his ambition. In any case, it is
+gratifying to reflect, that after a life so full of chance and change,
+he was, in his latter years, surrounded by much that should accompany
+old age. His day of storms and tempests was closed by an evening of
+repose and beauty.
+
+Amid many other blessings, the elasticity of his mind was preserved to
+the last. He died at Eragny sur l'Oise, on the 21st of January, 1814.
+The stirring events which then occupied France, or rather the whole
+world, caused his death to be little noticed at the time. The Academy
+did not, however, neglect to give him the honour due to its members.
+Mons. Parseval Grand Maison pronounced a deserved eulogium on his
+talents, and Mons. Aignan, also, the customary tribute, taking his seat
+as his successor.
+
+Having himself contracted the habit of confiding his griefs and sorrows
+to the public, the sanctuary of his private life was open alike to the
+discussion of friends and enemies. The biographer, who wishes to be
+exact, and yet set down nought in malice, is forced to the contemplation
+of his errors. The secret of many of these, as well as of his miseries,
+seems revealed by himself in this sentence: "I experience more pain from
+a single thorn, than pleasure from a thousand roses." And elsewhere,
+"The best society seems to me bad, if I find in it one troublesome,
+wicked, slanderous, envious, or perfidious person." Now, taking into
+consideration that St. Pierre sometimes imagined persons who were really
+good, to be deserving of these strong and very contumacious epithets,
+it would have been difficult indeed to find a society in which he could
+have been happy. He was, therefore, wise, in seeking retirement, and
+indulging in solitude. His mistakes,--for they were mistakes,--arose
+from a too quick perception of evil, united to an exquisite and diffuse
+sensibility. When he felt wounded by a thorn, he forgot the beauty and
+perfume of the rose to which it belonged, and from which perhaps it
+could not be separated. And he was exposed (as often happens) to the
+very description of trials that were least in harmony with his defects.
+Few dispositions could have run a career like his, and have remained
+unscathed. But one less tender than his own would have been less soured
+by it. For many years, he bore about with him the consciousness of
+unacknowledged talent. The world cannot be blamed for not appreciating
+that which had never been revealed. But we know not what the jostling
+and elbowing of that world, in the meantime, may have been to him--how
+often he may have felt himself unworthily treated--or how far that
+treatment may have preyed upon and corroded his heart. Who shall
+say that with this consciousness there did not mingle a quick and
+instinctive perception of the hidden motives of action,--that he did
+not sometimes detect, where others might have been blind, the
+under-shuffling of the hands, in the by-play of the world?
+
+Through all his writings, and throughout his correspondence, there are
+beautiful proofs of the tenderness of his feelings,--the most essential
+quality, perhaps, in any writer. It is at least, one that if not
+possessed, can never be attained. The familiarity of his imagination
+with natural objects, when he was living far removed from them, is
+remarkable, and often affecting.
+
+"I have arranged," he says to Mr. Henin, his friend and patron, "very
+interesting materials, but it is only with the light of Heaven over
+me that I can recover my strength. Obtain for me a _rabbit's hole_, in
+which I may pass the summer in the country." And again, "With the _first
+violet_, I shall come to see you." It is soothing to find, in passages
+like these, such pleasing and convincing evidence that
+
+     "Nature never did betray,
+     The heart that loved her."
+
+In the noise of a great city, in the midst of annoyances of many kinds
+these images, impressed with quietness and beauty, came back to the mind
+of St. Pierre, to cheer and animate him.
+
+In alluding to his miseries, it is but fair to quote a passage from
+his "Voyage," which reveals his fond remembrance of his native land. "I
+should ever prefer my own country to every other," he says, "not because
+it was more beautiful, but because I was brought up in it. Happy he,
+who sees again the places where all was loved, and all was lovely!--the
+meadows in which he played, and the orchard that he robbed!"
+
+He returned to this country, so fondly loved and deeply cherished in
+absence, to experience only trouble and difficulty. Away from it, he had
+yearned to behold it,--to fold it, as it were, once more to his bosom.
+He returned to feel as if neglected by it, and all his rapturous
+emotions were changed to bitterness and gall. His hopes had proved
+delusions--his expectations, mockeries. Oh! who but must look with
+charity and mercy on all discontent and irritation consequent on such
+a depth of disappointment: on what must have then appeared to him such
+unmitigable woe. Under the influence of these saddened feelings, his
+thoughts flew back to the island he had left, to place all beauty, as
+well as all happiness, there!
+
+One great proof that he did beautify the distant, may be found in the
+contrast of some of the descriptions in the "Voyage à l'Ille de France,"
+and those in "Paul and Virginia." That spot, which when peopled by the
+cherished creatures of his imagination, he described as an enchanting
+and delightful Eden, he had previously spoken of as a "rugged country
+covered with rocks,"--"a land of Cyclops blackened by fire." Truth,
+probably, lies between the two representations; the sadness of
+exile having darkened the one, and the exuberance of his imagination
+embellished the other.
+
+St. Pierre's merit as an author has been too long and too universally
+acknowledged, to make it needful that it should be dwelt on here. A
+careful review of the circumstances of his life induces the belief, that
+his writings grew (if it may be permitted so to speak) out of his life.
+In his most imaginative passages, to whatever height his fancy soared,
+the starting point seems ever from a fact. The past appears to have been
+always spread out before him when he wrote, like a beautiful landscape,
+on which his eye rested with complacency, and from which his mind
+transferred and idealized some objects, without a servile imitation
+of any. When at Berlin, he had had it in his power to marry Virginia
+Tabenheim; and in Russia, Mlle. de la Tour, the niece of General
+Dubosquet, would have accepted his hand. He was too poor to marry
+either. A grateful recollection caused him to bestow the names of the
+two on his most beloved creation. Paul was the name of a friar, with
+whom he had associated in his childhood, and whose life he wished to
+imitate. How little had the owners of these names anticipated that
+they were to become the baptismal appellations of half a generation in
+France, and to be re-echoed through the world to the end of time!
+
+It was St. Pierre who first discovered the poverty of language
+with regard to picturesque descriptions. In his earliest work, the
+often-quoted "Voyages," he complains, that the terms for describing
+nature are not yet invented. "Endeavour," he says, "to describe a
+mountain in such a manner that it may be recognised. When you have
+spoken of its base, its sides, its summit, you will have said all!
+But what variety there is to be found in those swelling, lengthened,
+flattened, or cavernous forms! It is only by periphrasis that all this
+can be expressed. The same difficulty exists for plains and valleys.
+But if you have a palace to describe, there is no longer any difficulty.
+Every moulding has its appropriate name."
+
+It was St. Pierre's glory, in some degree, to triumph over this
+dearth of expression. Few authors ever introduced more new terms into
+descriptive writing: yet are his innovations ever chastened, and in good
+taste. His style, in its elegant simplicity, is, indeed, perfection. It
+is at once sonorous and sweet, and always in harmony with the sentiment
+he would express, or the subject he would discuss. Chenier might well
+arm himself with "Paul and Virginia," and the "Chaumiere Indienne," in
+opposition to those writers, who, as he said, made prose unnatural, by
+seeking to elevate it into verse.
+
+The "Etudes de la Nature" embraced a thousand different subjects, and
+contained some new ideas on all. It is to the honour of human nature,
+that after the uptearing of so many sacred opinions, a production like
+this, revealing the chain of connection through the works of Creation,
+and the Creator in his works, should have been hailed, as it was, with
+enthusiasm.
+
+His motto, from his favourite poet Virgil, "Taught by calamity, I pity
+the unhappy," won for him, perhaps many readers. And in its touching
+illusions, the unhappy may have found suspension from the realities of
+life, as well as encouragement to support its trials. For, throughout,
+it infuses admiration of the arrangements of Providence, and a desire
+for virtue. More than one modern poet may be supposed to have drawn a
+portion of his inspiration, from the "Etudes." As a work of science it
+contains many errors. These, particularly his theory of the tides,(*)
+St. Pierre maintained to the last, and so eloquently, that it was said
+at the time, to be impossible to unite less reason with more logic.
+
+     (*) Occasioned, according to St. Pierre, by the melting of
+     the ice at the Poles.
+
+In "Paul and Virginia," he was supremely fortunate in his subject. It
+was an entirely new creation, uninspired by any previous work; but which
+gave birth to many others, having furnished the plot to six theatrical
+pieces. It was a subject to which the author could bring all his
+excellences as a writer and a man, while his deficiencies and defects
+were necessarily excluded. In no manner could he incorporate politics,
+science, or misapprehension of persons, while his sensibility, morals,
+and wonderful talent for description, were in perfect accordance with,
+and ornaments to it. Lemontey and Sainte-Beuve both consider success
+to be inseparable from the happy selection of a story so entirely in
+harmony with the character of the author; and that the most successful
+writers might envy him so fortunate a choice. Buonaparte was in the
+habit of saying, whenever he saw St. Pierre, "M. Bernardin, when do you
+mean to give us more Pauls and Virginias, and Indian Cottages? You ought
+to give us some every six months."
+
+The "Indian Cottage," if not quite equal in interest to "Paul and
+Virginia," is still a charming production, and does great honour to the
+genius of its author. It abounds in antique and Eastern gems of thought.
+Striking and excellent comparisons are scattered through its pages; and
+it is delightful to reflect, that the following beautiful and solemn
+answer of the Paria was, with St. Pierre, the results of his own
+experience:--"Misfortune resembles the Black Mountain of Bember,
+situated at the extremity of the burning kingdom of Lahore; while you
+are climbing it, you only see before you barren rocks; but when you have
+reached its summit, you see heaven above your head, and at your feet the
+kingdom of Cachemere."
+
+When this passage was written, the rugged, and sterile rock had been
+climbed by its gifted author. He had reached the summit,--his genius had
+been rewarded, and he himself saw the heaven he wished to point out to
+others.
+
+SARAH JONES.
+
+     [For the facts contained in this brief Memoir, I am indebted
+     to St. Pierre's own works, to the "Biographie Universelle,"
+     to the "Essai sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Bernardin de St.
+     Pierre," by M. Aime Martin, and to the very excellent and
+     interesting "Notice Historique et Litteraire," of M. Sainte-
+     Beauve.]
+
+
+
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+
+
+Situated on the eastern side of the mountain which rises above Port
+Louis, in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of
+former cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. These
+ruins are not far from the centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks,
+and which opens only towards the north. On the left rises the mountain
+called the Height of Discovery, whence the eye marks the distant sail
+when it first touches the verge of the horizon, and whence the signal is
+given when a vessel approaches the island. At the foot of this mountain
+stands the town of Port Louis. On the right is formed the road which
+stretches from Port Louis to the Shaddock Grove, where the church
+bearing that name lifts its head, surrounded by its avenues of bamboo,
+in the middle of a spacious plain; and the prospect terminates in a
+forest extending to the furthest bounds of the island. The front view
+presents the bay, denominated the Bay of the Tomb; a little on the right
+is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and beyond rolls the expanded ocean,
+on the surface of which appear a few uninhabited islands; and, among
+others, the Point of Endeavour, which resembles a bastion built upon the
+flood.
+
+At the entrance of the valley which presents these various objects,
+the echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of the
+winds that shake the neighbouring forests, and the tumultuous dashing of
+the waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs; but near the ruined
+cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects which there meet
+the eye are rude steep rocks, that rise like a surrounding rampart.
+Large clumps of trees grow at their base, on their rifted sides, and
+even on their majestic tops, where the clouds seem to repose. The
+showers, which their bold points attract, often paint the vivid colours
+of the rainbow on their green and brown declivities, and swell the
+sources of the little river which flows at their feet, called the river
+of Fan-Palms. Within this inclosure reigns the most profound silence.
+The waters, the air, all the elements are at peace. Scarcely does the
+echo repeat the whispers of the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves,
+the long points of which are gently agitated by the winds. A soft light
+illumines the bottom of this deep valley, on which the sun shines only
+at noon. But, even at the break of day, the rays of light are thrown on
+the surrounding rocks; and their sharp peaks, rising above the shadows
+of the mountain, appear like tints of gold and purple gleaming upon the
+azure sky.
+
+To this scene I loved to resort, as I could here enjoy at once the
+richness of an unbounded landscape, and the charm of uninterrupted
+solitude. One day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages, and
+contemplating their ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the
+spot. He was dressed in the ancient garb of the island, his feet were
+bare, and he leaned upon a staff of ebony; his hair was white, and the
+expression of his countenance was dignified and interesting. I bowed to
+him with respect; he returned the salutation; and, after looking at me
+with some earnestness, came and placed himself upon the hillock on which
+I was seated. Encouraged by this mark of confidence I thus
+addressed him: "Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once
+belonged?"--"My son," replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish,
+and that untilled land, were, twenty years ago, the property of two
+families, who then found happiness in this solitude. Their history is
+affecting; but what European, pursuing his way to the Indies, will pause
+one moment to interest himself in the fate of a few obscure individuals?
+What European can picture happiness to his imagination amidst poverty
+and neglect? The curiosity of mankind is only attracted by the
+history of the great, and yet from that knowledge little use can
+be derived."--"Father," I rejoined, "from your manner and your
+observations, I perceive that you have acquired much experience of human
+life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech you, the history of
+the ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be assured, that even
+the men who are most perverted by the prejudices of the world, find
+a soothing pleasure in contemplating that happiness which belongs to
+simplicity and virtue." The old man, after a short silence, during which
+he leaned his face upon his hands, as if he were trying to recall the
+images of the past, thus began his narration:--
+
+Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
+having in vain solicited a commission in the French army, or some
+support from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in
+this island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young woman,
+whom he loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly beloved. She
+belonged to a rich and ancient family of the same province: but he had
+married her secretly and without fortune, and in opposition to the will
+of her relations, who refused their consent because he was found guilty
+of being descended from parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur
+de la Tour, leaving his wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in
+order to purchase a few slaves, to assist him in forming a plantation on
+this island. He landed at Madagascar during that unhealthy season which
+commences about the middle of October; and soon after his arrival died
+of the pestilential fever, which prevails in that island six months of
+the year, and which will forever baffle the attempts of the European
+nations to form establishments on that fatal soil. His effects were
+seized upon by the rapacity of strangers, as commonly happens to persons
+dying in foreign parts; and his wife, who was pregnant, found herself a
+widow in a country where she had neither credit nor acquaintance, and no
+earthly possession, or rather support, but one negro woman. Too delicate
+to solicit protection or relief from any one else after the death of
+him whom alone she loved, misfortune armed her with courage, and she
+resolved to cultivate, with her slave, a little spot of ground, and
+procure for herself the means of subsistence.
+
+Desert as was the island, and the ground left to the choice of the
+settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most
+favorable to commerce: seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret
+asylum where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way
+from the town towards these rocks, where she might conceal herself
+from observation. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort of
+common instinct, fly for refuge amidst their pains to haunts the
+most wild and desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart against
+misfortune--as if the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the soul.
+That Providence, which lends its support when we ask but the supply of
+our necessary wants, had a blessing in reserve for Madame de la Tour,
+which neither riches nor greatness can purchase:--this blessing was a
+friend.
+
+The spot to which Madame de la Tour had fled had already been inhabited
+for a year by a young woman of a lively, good-natured and affectionate
+disposition. Margaret (for that was her name) was born in Brittany, of a
+family of peasants, by whom she was cherished and beloved, and with
+whom she might have passed through life in simple rustic happiness, if,
+misled by the weakness of a tender heart, she had not listened to the
+passion of a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who promised her marriage.
+He soon abandoned her, and adding inhumanity to seduction, refused to
+insure a provision for the child of which she was pregnant. Margaret
+then determined to leave forever her native village, and retire, where
+her fault might be concealed, to some colony distant from that country
+where she had lost the only portion of a poor peasant girl--her
+reputation. With some borrowed money she purchased an old negro slave,
+with whom she cultivated a little corner of this district.
+
+Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, came to this spot, where
+she found Margaret engaged in suckling her child. Soothed and charmed by
+the sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to her own, Madame
+de la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition and her present
+wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and more anxious to
+merit confidence than to create esteem, she confessed without disguise,
+the errors of which she had been guilty. "As for me," said she,
+"I deserve my fate: but you, madam--you! at once virtuous and
+unhappy"--and, sobbing, she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut and
+her friendship. That lady, affected by this tender reception, pressed
+her in her arms, and exclaimed,--"Ah surely Heaven has put an end to my
+misfortunes, since it inspires you, to whom I am a stranger, with more
+goodness towards me than I have ever experienced from my own relations!"
+
+I was acquainted with Margaret: and, although my habitation is a league
+and a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, I
+considered myself as her neighbour. In the cities of Europe, a street,
+even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of the same family from
+meeting for years; but in new colonies we consider those persons as
+neighbours from whom we are divided only by woods and mountains; and
+above all at that period, when this island had little intercourse with
+the Indies, vicinity alone gave a claim to friendship, and hospitality
+towards strangers seemed less a duty than a pleasure. No sooner was I
+informed that Margaret had found a companion, than I hastened to her, in
+the hope of being useful to my neighbour and her guest. I found Madame
+de la Tour possessed of all those melancholy graces which, by
+blending sympathy with admiration give to beauty additional power.
+Her countenance was interesting, expressive at once of dignity and
+dejection. She appeared to be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I told
+the two friends that for the future interests of their children, and
+to prevent the intrusion of any other settler, they had better divide
+between them the property of this wild, sequestered valley, which is
+nearly twenty acres in extent. They confided that task to me, and I
+marked out two equal portions of land. One included the higher part of
+this enclosure, from the cloudy pinnacle of that rock, whence springs
+the river of Fan-Palms, to that precipitous cleft which you see on the
+summit of the mountain, and which, from its resemblance in form to the
+battlement of a fortress, is called the Embrasure. It is difficult to
+find a path along this wild portion of the enclosure, the soil of which
+is encumbered with fragments of rock, or worn into channels formed
+by torrents; yet it produces noble trees, and innumerable springs and
+rivulets. The other portion of land comprised the plain extending along
+the banks of the river of Fan-Palms, to the opening where we are now
+seated, whence the river takes its course between these two hills, until
+it falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges of some meadow
+land; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not more valuable
+than the other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy, and in dry
+weather is so hard and unyielding, that it will almost resist the stroke
+of the pickaxe. When I had thus divided the property, I persuaded my
+neighbours to draw lots for their respective possessions. The higher
+portion of land, containing the source of the river of Fan-Palms, became
+the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, comprising the plain
+on the banks of the river, was allotted to Margaret; and each seemed
+satisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their habitations
+together, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing intercourse
+of friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind offices. Margaret's
+cottage was situated near the centre of the valley, and just on the
+boundary of her own plantation. Close to that spot I built another
+cottage for the residence of Madame de la Tour; and thus the two
+friends, while they possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood lived
+on their own property. I myself cut palisades from the mountain, and
+brought leaves of fan-palms from the sea-shore in order to construct
+those two cottages, of which you can now discern neither the entrance
+nor the roof. Yet, alas! there still remains but too many traces for
+my remembrance! Time, which so rapidly destroys the proud monuments of
+empires, seems in this desert to spare those of friendship, as if to
+perpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my existence.
+
+As soon as the second cottage was finished, Madame de la Tour was
+delivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who
+was christened by the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me to
+perform the same office for her child also, together with her friend,
+who gave her the name of Virginia. "She will be virtuous," cried
+Margaret, "and she will be happy. I have only known misfortune by
+wandering from virtue."
+
+About the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little estates had
+already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owing
+to the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but far
+more to the indefatigable labours of the two slaves. Margaret's slave,
+who was called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, though advanced in
+years: he possessed some knowledge, and a good natural understanding.
+He cultivated indiscriminately, on both plantations, the spots of ground
+that seemed most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought most
+congenial to each particular soil. Where the ground was poor, he strewed
+maize; where it was most fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in such
+spots as were marshy. He threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the
+foot of the rocks, which they loved to climb and decorate with their
+luxuriant foliage. In dry spots he cultivated the sweet potatoe; the
+cotton-tree flourished upon the heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the
+clayey soil. He reared some plants of coffee on the hills, where the
+grain, although small, is excellent. His plantain-trees, which spread
+their grateful shade on the banks of the river, and encircled the
+cottages, yielded fruit throughout the year. And lastly, Domingo, to
+soothe his cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco. Sometimes he was
+employed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain, sometimes in
+hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level the paths.
+The zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform all these labours
+with intelligence and activity. He was much attached to Margaret, and
+not less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had married
+on the birth of Virginia; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary
+was born at Madagascar, and had there acquired the knowledge of some
+useful arts. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long
+grass that grows in the woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above all,
+faithful. It was her care to prepare their meals, to rear the poultry,
+and go sometimes to Port Louis, to sell the superfluous produce of these
+little plantations, which was not however, very considerable. If you
+add to the personages already mentioned two goats, which were brought up
+with the children, and a great dog, which kept watch at night, you will
+have a complete idea of the household, as well as of the productions of
+these two little farms.
+
+Madame de la Tour and her friend were constantly employed in spinning
+cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of everything which
+their own industry could not supply, at home they went bare-footed:
+shoes were a convenience reserved for Sunday, on which day, at an early
+hour, they attended mass at the church of the Shaddock Grove, which
+you see yonder. That church was more distant from their homes than Port
+Louis; but they seldom visited the town, lest they should be treated
+with contempt on account of their dress, which consisted simply of the
+coarse blue linen of Bengal, usually worn by slaves. But is there,
+in that external deference which fortune commands, a compensation for
+domestic happiness? If these interesting women had something to suffer
+from the world, their homes on that very account became more dear to
+them. No sooner did Mary and Domingo, from this elevated spot, perceive
+their mistresses on the road of the Shaddock Grove, than they flew to
+the foot of the mountain in order to help them to ascend. They discerned
+in the looks of their domestics the joy which their return excited. They
+found in their retreat neatness, independence, all the blessings which
+are the recompense of toil, and they received the zealous services
+which spring from affection. United by the tie of similar wants, and the
+sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave each other the tender names
+of companion, friend, sister. They had but one will, one interest, one
+table. All their possessions were in common. And if sometimes a passion
+more ardent than friendship awakened in their hearts the pang of
+unavailing anguish, a pure religion, united with chaste manners, drew
+their affections towards another life: as the trembling flame rises
+towards heaven, when it no longer finds any ailment on earth.
+
+The duties of maternity became a source of additional happiness to these
+affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship gained new strength at
+the sight of their children, equally the offspring of an ill-fated
+attachment. They delighted in washing their infants together in the same
+bath, in putting them to rest in the same cradle, and in changing the
+maternal bosom at which they received nourishment. "My friend," cried
+Madame de la Tour, "we shall each of us have two children, and each
+of our children will have two mothers." As two buds which remain on
+different trees of the same kind, after the tempest has broken all their
+branches, produce more delicious fruit, if each, separated from the
+maternal stem, be grafted on the neighbouring tree, so these two
+infants, deprived of all their other relations, when thus exchanged
+for nourishment by those who had given them birth, imbibed feelings of
+affection still more tender than those of son and daughter, brother and
+sister. While they were yet in their cradles, their mothers talked of
+their marriage. They soothed their own cares by looking forward to the
+future happiness of their children; but this contemplation often drew
+forth their tears. The misfortunes of one mother had arisen from having
+neglected marriage; those of the other from having submitted to its
+laws. One had suffered by aiming to rise above her condition, the other
+by descending from her rank. But they found consolation in reflecting
+that their more fortunate children, far from the cruel prejudices of
+Europe, would enjoy at once the pleasures of love and the blessings of
+equality.
+
+Rarely, indeed, has such an attachment been seen as that which the
+two children already testified for each other. If Paul complained of
+anything, his mother pointed to Virginia: at her sight he smiled, and
+was appeased. If any accident befel Virginia, the cries of Paul gave
+notice of the disaster; but the dear little creature would suppress
+her complaints if she found that he was unhappy. When I came hither,
+I usually found them quite naked, as is the custom of the country,
+tottering in their walk, and holding each other by the hands and under
+the arms, as we see represented in the constellation of the Twins. At
+night these infants often refused to be separated, and were found lying
+in the same cradle, their cheeks, their bosoms pressed close together,
+their hands thrown round each other's neck, and sleeping, locked in one
+another's arms.
+
+When they first began to speak, the first name they learned to give each
+other were those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no softer
+appellation. Their education, by directing them ever to consider each
+other's wants, tended greatly to increase their affection. In a short
+time, all the household economy, the care of preparing their rural
+repasts, became the task of Virginia, whose labours were always crowned
+with the praises and kisses of her brother. As for Paul, always in
+motion, he dug the garden with Domingo, or followed him with a little
+hatchet into the woods; and if, in his rambles he espied a beautiful
+flower, any delicious fruit, or a nest of birds, even at the top of the
+tree, he would climb up and bring the spoil to his sister. When you met
+one of these children, you might be sure the other was not far off.
+
+One day as I was coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the end of
+the garden running towards the house with her petticoat thrown over her
+head, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a distance,
+I thought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her in order to help
+her on, I perceived she held Paul by the arm, almost entirely enveloped
+in the same canopy, and both were laughing heartily at their being
+sheltered together under an umbrella of their own invention. Those two
+charming faces in the middle of a swelling petticoat, recalled to my
+mind the children of Leda, enclosed in the same shell.
+
+Their sole study was how they could please and assist one another; for
+of all other things they were ignorant, and indeed could neither read
+nor write. They were never disturbed by inquiries about past times, nor
+did their curiosity extend beyond the bounds of their mountain. They
+believed the world ended at the shores of their own island, and all
+their ideas and all their affections were confined within its limits.
+Their mutual tenderness, and that of their mothers, employed all the
+energies of their minds. Their tears had never been called forth by
+tedious application to useless sciences. Their minds had never been
+wearied by lessons of morality, superfluous to bosoms unconscious of
+ill. They had never been taught not to steal, because every thing with
+them was in common: or not to be intemperate, because their simple
+food was left to their own discretion; or not to lie, because they had
+nothing to conceal. Their young imaginations had never been terrified
+by the idea that God has punishment in store for ungrateful children,
+since, with them, filial affection arose naturally from maternal
+tenderness. All they had been taught of religion was to love it, and if
+they did not offer up long prayers in the church, wherever they were, in
+the house, in the fields, in the woods, they raised towards heaven their
+innocent hands, and hearts purified by virtuous affections.
+
+All their early childhood passed thus, like a beautiful dawn, the
+prelude of a bright day. Already they assisted their mothers in the
+duties of the household. As soon as the crowing of the wakeful cock
+announced the first beam of the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened to
+draw water from a neighbouring spring: then returning to the house she
+prepared the breakfast. When the rising sun gilded the points of the
+rocks which overhang the enclosure in which they lived, Margaret and her
+child repaired to the dwelling of Madame de la Tour, where they offered
+up their morning prayer together. This sacrifice of thanksgiving always
+preceded their first repast, which they often took before the door of
+the cottage, seated upon the grass, under a canopy of plantain: and
+while the branches of that delicious tree afforded a grateful shade, its
+fruit furnished a substantial food ready prepared for them by nature,
+and its long glossy leaves, spread upon the table, supplied the place of
+linen. Plentiful and wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour
+to the persons of these children, and their countenances expressed the
+purity and the peace of their souls. At twelve years of age the figure
+of Virginia was in some degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded
+her face, to which her blue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming
+brilliancy. Her eyes sparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she
+was silent they were habitually turned upwards, with an expression of
+extreme sensibility, or rather of tender melancholy. The figure of Paul
+began already to display the graces of youthful beauty. He was taller
+than Virginia: his skin was of a darker tint; his nose more aquiline;
+and his black eyes would have been too piercing, if the long eye-lashes
+by which they were shaded, had not imparted to them an expression of
+softness. He was constantly in motion, except when his sister appeared,
+and then, seated by her side, he became still. Their meals often passed
+without a word being spoken; and from their silence, the simple elegance
+of their attitudes, and the beauty of their naked feet, you might have
+fancied you beheld an antique group of white marble, representing some
+of the children of Niobe, but for the glances of their eyes, which were
+constantly seeking to meet, and their mutual soft and tender smiles,
+which suggested rather the idea of happy celestial spirits, whose nature
+is love, and who are not obliged to have recourse to words for the
+expression of their feelings.
+
+In the meantime Madame de la Tour, perceiving every day some unfolding
+grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her maternal anxiety
+increase with her tenderness. She often said to me, "If I were to die,
+what would become of Virginia without fortune?"
+
+Madame de la Tour had an aunt in France, who was a woman of quality,
+rich, old, and a complete devotee. She had behaved with so much
+cruelty towards her niece upon her marriage, that Madame de la Tour
+had determined no extremity of distress should ever compel her to have
+recourse to her hard-hearted relation. But when she became a mother, the
+pride of resentment was overcome by the stronger feelings of maternal
+tenderness. She wrote to her aunt, informing her of the sudden death of
+her husband, the birth of her daughter, and the difficulties in which
+she was involved, burthened as she was with an infant, and without means
+of support. She received no answer; but notwithstanding the high spirit
+natural to her character, she no longer feared exposing herself to
+mortification; and, although she knew her aunt would never pardon her
+for having married a man who was not of noble birth, however estimable,
+she continued to write to her, with the hope of awakening her compassion
+for Virginia. Many years, however passed without receiving any token of
+her remembrance.
+
+At length, in 1738, three years after the arrival of Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais in this island, Madame de la Tour was informed that the
+Governor had a letter to give her from her aunt. She flew to Port Louis;
+maternal joy raised her mind above all trifling considerations, and
+she was careless on this occasion of appearing in her homely attire.
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais gave her a letter from her aunt, in which she
+informed her, that she deserved her fate for marrying an adventurer and
+a libertine: that the passions brought with them their own punishment;
+that the premature death of her husband was a just visitation from
+Heaven; that she had done well in going to a distant island, rather than
+dishonour her family by remaining in France; and that, after all, in
+the colony where she had taken refuge, none but the idle failed to
+grow rich. Having thus censured her niece, she concluded by eulogizing
+herself. To avoid, she said, the almost inevitable evils of marriage,
+she had determined to remain single. In fact, as she was of a very
+ambitious disposition she had resolved to marry none but a man of
+high rank; but although she was very rich, her fortune was not found
+a sufficient bribe, even at court, to counterbalance the malignant
+dispositions of her mind, and the disagreeable qualities of her person.
+
+After mature deliberations, she added, in a postscript, that she had
+strongly recommended her niece to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. This she
+had indeed done, but in a manner of late too common which renders a
+patron perhaps even more to be feared than a declared enemy; for, in
+order to justify herself for her harshness, she had cruelly slandered
+her niece, while she affected to pity her misfortunes.
+
+Madame de la Tour, whom no unprejudiced person could have seen without
+feelings of sympathy and respect, was received with the utmost coolness
+by Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, biased as he was against her. When she
+painted to him her own situation and that of her child, he replied in
+abrupt sentences,--"We shall see what can be done--there are so many to
+relieve--all in good time--why did you displease your aunt?--you have
+been much to blame."
+
+Madame de la Tour returned to her cottage, her heart torn with grief,
+and filled with all the bitterness of disappointment. When she
+arrived, she threw her aunt's letter on the table, and exclaimed to her
+friend,--"There is the fruit of eleven years of patient expectation!"
+Madame de la Tour being the only person in the little circle who could
+read, she again took up the letter, and read it aloud. Scarcely had
+she finished, when Margaret exclaimed, "What have we to do with your
+relations? Has God then forsaken us? He only is our father! Have we not
+hitherto been happy? Why then this regret? You have no courage."
+Seeing Madame de la Tour in tears, she threw herself upon her neck,
+and pressing her in her arms,--"My dear friend!" cried she, "my dear
+friend!"--but her emotion choked her utterance. At this sight Virginia
+burst into tears, and pressed her mother's and Margaret's hand
+alternately to her lips and heart; while Paul, his eyes inflamed with
+anger, cried, clasped his hands together, and stamped his foot, not
+knowing whom to blame for this scene of misery. The noise soon brought
+Domingo and Mary to the spot, and the little habitation resounded with
+cries of distress,--"Ah, madame!--My good mistress!--My dear mother!--Do
+not weep!" These tender proofs of affections at length dispelled the
+grief of Madame de la Tour. She took Paul and Virginia in her arms, and,
+embracing them, said, "You are the cause of my affliction, my children,
+but you are also my only source of delight! Yes, my dear children,
+misfortune has reached me, but only from a distance: here, I am
+surrounded with happiness." Paul and Virginia did not understand this
+reflection; but, when they saw that she was calm, they smiled, and
+continued to caress her. Tranquillity was thus restored in this happy
+family, and all that had passed was but a storm in the midst of fine
+weather, which disturbs the serenity of the atmosphere but for a short
+time, and then passes away.
+
+The amiable disposition of these children unfolded itself daily. One
+Sunday, at day-break, their mothers having gone to mass at the church
+of Shaddock Grove, the children perceived a negro woman beneath the
+plantains which surrounded their habitation. She appeared almost wasted
+to a skeleton, and had no other garment than a piece of coarse cloth
+thrown around her. She threw herself at the feet of Virginia, who was
+preparing the family breakfast, and said, "My good young lady, have pity
+on a poor runaway slave. For a whole month I have wandered among these
+mountains, half dead with hunger, and often pursued by the hunters and
+their dogs. I fled from my master, a rich planter of the Black River,
+who has used me as you see;" and she showed her body marked with scars
+from the lashes she had received. She added, "I was going to drown
+myself, but hearing you lived here, I said to myself, since there are
+still some good white people in this country, I need not die yet."
+Virginia answered with emotion,--"Take courage, unfortunate creature!
+here is something to eat;" and she gave her the breakfast she had been
+preparing, which the slave in a few minutes devoured. When her hunger
+was appeased, Virginia said to her,--"Poor woman! I should like to go
+and ask forgiveness for you of your master. Surely the sight of you
+will touch him with pity. Will you show me the way?"--"Angel of heaven!"
+answered the poor negro woman, "I will follow you where you please!"
+Virginia called her brother, and begged him to accompany her. The slave
+led the way, by winding and difficult paths, through the woods, over
+mountains, which they climbed with difficulty, and across rivers,
+through which they were obliged to wade. At length, about the middle of
+the day, they reached the foot of a steep descent upon the borders of
+the Black River. There they perceived a well-built house, surrounded by
+extensive plantations, and a number of slaves employed in their various
+labours. Their master was walking among them with a pipe in his mouth,
+and a switch in his hand. He was a tall thin man, of a brown complexion;
+his eyes were sunk in his head, and his dark eyebrows were joined
+in one. Virginia, holding Paul by the hand, drew near, and with much
+emotion begged him, for the love of God, to pardon his poor slave, who
+stood trembling a few paces behind. The planter at first paid little
+attention to the children, who, he saw, were meanly dressed. But when
+he observed the elegance of Virginia's form, and the profusion of her
+beautiful light tresses which had escaped from beneath her blue cap;
+when he heard the soft tone of her voice, which trembled, as well as her
+whole frame, while she implored his compassion; he took his pipe from
+his mouth, and lifting up his stick, swore, with a terrible oath, that
+he pardoned his slave, not for the love of Heaven, but of her who asked
+his forgiveness. Virginia made a sign to the slave to approach her
+master; and instantly sprang away followed by Paul.
+
+They climbed up the steep they had descended; and having gained the
+summit, seated themselves at the foot of a tree, overcome with fatigue,
+hunger and thirst. They had left their home fasting, and walked five
+leagues since sunrise. Paul said to Virginia,--"My dear sister, it is
+past noon, and I am sure you are thirsty and hungry: we shall find no
+dinner here; let us go down the mountain again, and ask the master
+of the poor slave for some food."--"Oh, no," answered Virginia, "he
+frightens me too much. Remember what mamma sometimes says, 'The bread
+of the wicked is like stones in the mouth.' "--"What shall we do then,"
+said Paul; "these trees produce no fruit fit to eat; and I shall not be
+able to find even a tamarind or a lemon to refresh you."--"God will take
+care of us," replied Virginia; "he listens to the cry even of the little
+birds when they ask him for food." Scarcely had she pronounced these
+words when they heard the noise of water falling from a neighbouring
+rock. They ran thither and having quenched their thirst at this crystal
+spring, they gathered and ate a few cresses which grew on the border
+of the stream. Soon afterwards while they were wandering backwards and
+forwards in search of more solid nourishment, Virginia perceived in
+the thickest part of the forest, a young palm-tree. The kind of cabbage
+which is found at the top of the palm, enfolded within its leaves,
+is well adapted for food; but, although the stock of the tree is not
+thicker than a man's leg, it grows to above sixty feet in height. The
+wood of the tree, indeed, is composed only of very fine filaments; but
+the bark is so hard that it turns the edge of the hatchet, and Paul was
+not furnished even with a knife. At length he thought of setting fire to
+the palm-tree; but a new difficulty occurred: he had no steel with which
+to strike fire; and although the whole island is covered with rocks,
+I do not believe it is possible to find a single flint. Necessity,
+however, is fertile in expedients, and the most useful inventions have
+arisen from men placed in the most destitute situations. Paul determined
+to kindle a fire after the manner of the negroes. With the sharp end of
+a stone he made a small hole in the branch of a tree that was quite dry,
+and which he held between his feet: he then, with the edge of the same
+stone, brought to a point another dry branch of a different sort of
+wood, and, afterwards, placing the piece of pointed wood in the small
+hole of the branch which he held with his feet and turning it rapidly
+between his hands, in a few minutes smoke and sparks of fire issued
+from the point of contact. Paul then heaped together dried grass and
+branches, and set fire to the foot of the palm-tree, which soon fell to
+the ground with a tremendous crash. The fire was further useful to him
+in stripping off the long, thick, and pointed leaves, within which the
+cabbage was inclosed. Having thus succeeded in obtaining this fruit,
+they ate part of it raw, and part dressed upon the ashes, which they
+found equally palatable. They made this frugal repast with delight,
+from the remembrances of the benevolent action they had performed in the
+morning: yet their joy was embittered by the thoughts of the uneasiness
+which their long absence from home would occasion their mothers.
+Virginia often recurred to this subject; but Paul, who felt his strength
+renewed by their meal, assured her, that it would not be long before
+they reached home, and, by the assurance of their safety, tranquillized
+the minds of their parents.
+
+After dinner they were much embarrassed by the recollection that they
+had now no guide, and that they were ignorant of the way. Paul, whose
+spirit was not subdued by difficulties, said to Virginia,--"The sun
+shines full upon our huts at noon: we must pass, as we did this morning,
+over that mountain with its three points, which you see yonder. Come,
+let us be moving." This mountain was that of the Three Breasts, so
+called from the form of its three peaks. They then descended the steep
+bank of the Black River, on the northern side; and arrived, after an
+hour's walk, on the banks of a large river, which stopped their further
+progress. This large portion of the island, covered as it is with
+forests, is even now so little known that many of its rivers and
+mountains have not yet received a name. The stream, on the banks of
+which Paul and Virginia were now standing, rolls foaming over a bed of
+rocks. The noise of the water frightened Virginia, and she was afraid
+to wade through the current: Paul therefore took her up in his arms, and
+went thus loaded over the slippery rocks, which formed the bed of
+the river, careless of the tumultuous noise of its waters. "Do not be
+afraid," cried he to Virginia; "I feel very strong with you. If that
+planter at the Black River had refused you the pardon of his slave,
+I would have fought with him."--"What!" answered Virginia, "with that
+great wicked man? To what have I exposed you! Gracious heaven! how
+difficult it is to do good! and yet it is so easy to do wrong."
+
+When Paul had crossed the river, he wished to continue the journey
+carrying his sister: and he flattered himself that he could ascend
+in that way the mountain of the Three Breasts, which was still at the
+distance of half a league; but his strength soon failed, and he was
+obliged to set down his burthen, and to rest himself by her side.
+Virginia then said to him, "My dear brother, the sun is going down; you
+have still some strength left, but mine has quite failed: do leave me
+here, and return home alone to ease the fears of our mothers."--"Oh no,"
+said Paul, "I will not leave you if night overtakes us in this wood, I
+will light a fire, and bring down another palm-tree: you shall eat the
+cabbage, and I will form a covering of the leaves to shelter you." In
+the meantime, Virginia being a little rested, she gathered from the
+trunk of an old tree, which overhung the bank of the river, some long
+leaves of the plant called hart's tongue, which grew near its root. Of
+these leaves she made a sort of buskin, with which she covered her feet,
+that were bleeding from the sharpness of the stony paths; for in her
+eager desire to do good, she had forgotten to put on her shoes. Feeling
+her feet cooled by the freshness of the leaves, she broke off a branch
+of bamboo, and continued her walk, leaning with one hand on the staff,
+and with the other on Paul.
+
+They walked on in this manner slowly through the woods; but from the
+height of the trees, and the thickness of their foliage, they soon lost
+sight of the mountain of the Three Breasts, by which they had hitherto
+directed their course, and also of the sun, which was now setting. At
+length they wandered, without perceiving it, from the beaten path in
+which they had hitherto walked, and found themselves in a labyrinth of
+trees, underwood, and rocks, whence there appeared to be no outlet.
+Paul made Virginia sit down, while he ran backwards and forwards, half
+frantic, in search of a path which might lead them out of this thick
+wood; but he fatigued himself to no purpose. He then climbed to the top
+of a lofty tree, whence he hoped at least to perceive the mountain of
+the Three Breasts: but he could discern nothing around him but the tops
+of trees, some of which were gilded with the last beams of the setting
+sun. Already the shadows of the mountains were spreading over the
+forests in the valleys. The wind lulled, as is usually the case at
+sunset. The most profound silence reigned in those awful solitudes,
+which was only interrupted by the cry of the deer, who came to their
+lairs in that unfrequented spot. Paul, in the hope that some hunter
+would hear his voice, called out as loud as he was able,--"Come, come to
+the help of Virginia." But the echoes of the forest alone answered his
+call, and repeated again and again, "Virginia--Virginia."
+
+Paul at length descended from the tree, overcome with fatigue and
+vexation. He looked around in order to make some arrangement for passing
+the night in that desert; but he could find neither fountain, nor
+palm-tree, nor even a branch of dry wood fit for kindling a fire. He was
+then impressed, by experience, with the sense of his own weakness, and
+began to weep. Virginia said to him,--"Do not weep, my dear brother, or
+I shall be overwhelmed with grief. I am the cause of all your sorrow,
+and of all that our mothers are suffering at this moment. I find we
+ought to do nothing, not even good, without consulting our parents. Oh,
+I have been very imprudent!"--and she began to shed tears. "Let us pray
+to God, my dear brother," she again said, "and he will hear us." They
+had scarcely finished their prayer, when they heard the barking of a
+dog. "It must be the dog of some hunter," said Paul, "who comes here at
+night, to lie in wait for the deer." Soon after, the dog began barking
+again with increased violence. "Surely," said Virginia, "it is Fidele,
+our own dog: yes,--now I know his bark. Are we then so near home?--at
+the foot of our own mountain?" A moment after, Fidele was at their feet,
+barking, howling, moaning, and devouring them with his caresses. Before
+they could recover from their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards
+them. At the sight of the good old negro, who wept for joy, they began
+to weep too, but had not the power to utter a syllable. When Domingo
+had recovered himself a little,--"Oh, my dear children," said he, "how
+miserable have you made your mothers! How astonished they were when they
+returned with me from mass, on not finding you at home. Mary, who was at
+work at a little distance, could not tell us where you were gone. I ran
+backwards and forwards in the plantation, not knowing where to look
+for you. At last I took some of your old clothes, and showing them to
+Fidele, the poor animal, as if he understood me, immediately began to
+scent your path; and conducted me, wagging his tail all the while, to
+the Black River. I there saw a planter, who told me you had brought back
+a Maroon negro woman, his slave, and that he had pardoned her at your
+request. But what a pardon! he showed her to me with her feet chained to
+a block of wood, and an iron collar with three hooks fastened round her
+neck! After that, Fidele, still on the scent, led me up the steep bank
+of the Black River, where he again stopped, and barked with all his
+might. This was on the brink of a spring, near which was a fallen
+palm-tree, and a fire, still smoking. At last he led me to this very
+spot. We are now at the foot of the mountain of the Three Breasts,
+and still a good four leagues from home. Come, eat, and recover your
+strength." Domingo then presented them with a cake, some fruit, and
+a large gourd, full of beverage composed of wine, water, lemon-juice,
+sugar, and nutmeg, which their mothers had prepared to invigorate and
+refresh them. Virginia sighed at the recollection of the poor slave,
+and at the uneasiness they had given their mothers. She repeated several
+times--"Oh, how difficult it is to do good!" While she and Paul were
+taking refreshment, it being already night, Domingo kindled a fire: and
+having found among the rocks a particular kind of twisted wood, called
+bois de ronde, which burns when quite green, and throws out a great
+blaze, he made a torch of it, which he lighted. But when they prepared
+to continue their journey, a new difficulty occurred; Paul and Virginia
+could no longer walk, their feet being violently swollen and inflamed.
+Domingo knew not what to do; whether to leave them and go in search of
+help, or remain and pass the night with them on that spot. "There was
+a time," said he, "when I could carry you both together in my arms!
+But now you are grown big, and I am grown old." When he was in this
+perplexity, a troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from
+them. The chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to
+them,--"Good little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this
+morning, with a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon
+for her of her wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you
+home upon our shoulders." He then made a sign, and four of the strongest
+negroes immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees
+and lianas, and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them upon
+their shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch, and
+they proceeded amidst the rejoicings of the whole troop, who overwhelmed
+them with their benedictions. Virginia, affected by this scene, said
+to Paul, with emotion,--"Oh, my dear brother! God never leaves a good
+action unrewarded."
+
+It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on the
+ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began to
+ascend, they heard voices exclaiming--"Is it you, my children?" They
+answered immediately, and the negroes also,--"Yes, yes, it is." A moment
+after they could distinguish their mothers and Mary coming towards them
+with lighted sticks in their hands. "Unhappy children," cried Madame
+de la Tour, "where have you been? What agonies you have made us
+suffer!"--"We have been," said Virginia, "to the Black River, where we
+went to ask pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave our breakfast
+this morning, because she seemed dying of hunger; and these Maroon
+negroes have brought us home." Madame de la Tour embraced her daughter,
+without being able to speak; and Virginia, who felt her face wet with
+her mother's tears, exclaimed, "Now I am repaid for all the hardships I
+have suffered." Margaret, in a transport of delight, pressed Paul in
+her arms, exclaiming, "And you also, my dear child, you have done a
+good action." When they reached the cottages with their children, they
+entertained all the negroes with a plentiful repast, after which the
+latter returned to the woods, praying Heaven to shower down every
+description of blessing on those good white people.
+
+Every day was to these families a day of happiness and tranquillity.
+Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. They did not seek
+to obtain a useless reputation out of doors, which may be procured
+by artifice and lost by calumny; but were contented to be the sole
+witnesses and judges of their own actions. In this island, where, as
+is the case in most colonies, scandal forms the principal topic of
+conversation, their virtues, and even their names were unknown. The
+passer-by on the road to Shaddock Grove, indeed, would sometimes ask the
+inhabitants of the plain, who lived in the cottages up there? and
+was always told, even by those who did not know them, "They are good
+people." The modest violet thus, concealed in thorny places sheds all
+unseen its delightful fragrance around.
+
+Slander, which, under an appearance of justice, naturally inclines
+the heart to falsehood or to hatred, was entirely banished from their
+conversation; for it is impossible not to hate men if we believe them
+to be wicked, or to live with the wicked without concealing that hatred
+under a false pretence of good feeling. Slander thus puts us ill at ease
+with others and with ourselves. In this little circle, therefore, the
+conduct of individuals was not discussed, but the best manner of doing
+good to all; and although they had but little in their power, their
+unceasing good-will and kindness of heart made them constantly ready to
+do what they could for others. Solitude, far from having blunted these
+benevolent feelings, had rendered their dispositions even more
+kindly. Although the petty scandals of the day furnished no subject of
+conversation to them, yet the contemplation of nature filled their minds
+with enthusiastic delight. They adored the bounty of that Providence,
+which, by their instrumentality, had spread abundance and beauty amid
+these barren rocks, and had enabled them to enjoy those pure and simple
+pleasures, which are ever grateful and ever new.
+
+Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than
+most European youths are at fifteen; and the plantations, which Domingo
+merely cultivated, were embellished by him. He would go with the old
+negro into the neighbouring woods, where he would root up the young
+plants of lemon, orange, and tamarind trees, the round heads of which
+are so fresh a green, together with date-palm trees, which produce fruit
+filled with a sweet cream, possessing the fine perfume of the orange
+flower. These trees, which had already attained to a considerable size,
+he planted round their little enclosure. He had also sown the seed of
+many trees which the second year bear flowers or fruit; such as the
+agathis, encircled with long clusters of white flowers which hang from
+it like the crystal pendants of a chandelier; the Persian lilac, which
+lifts high in air its gray flax-coloured branches; the pappaw tree,
+the branchless trunk of which forms a column studded with green
+melons, surmounted by a capital of broad leaves similar to those of the
+fig-tree.
+
+The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mango, alligator
+pear, the guava, the bread-fruit tree, and the narrow-leaved rose-apple,
+were also planted by him with profusion: and the greater number of these
+trees already afforded their young cultivator both shade and fruit.
+His industrious hands diffused the riches of nature over even the most
+barren parts of the plantation. Several species of aloes, the Indian
+fig, adorned with yellow flowers spotted with red, and the thorny torch
+thistle, grew upon the dark summits of the rocks, and seemed to aim at
+reaching the long lianas, which, laden with blue or scarlet flowers,
+hung scattered over the steepest parts of the mountain.
+
+I loved to trace the ingenuity he had exercised in the arrangement of
+these trees. He had so disposed them that the whole could be seen at a
+single glance. In the middle of the hollow he had planted shrubs of
+the lowest growth; behind grew the more lofty sorts; then trees of
+the ordinary height; and beyond and above all, the venerable and lofty
+groves which border the circumference. Thus this extensive enclosure
+appeared, from its centre, like a verdant amphitheatre decorated with
+fruits and flowers, containing a variety of vegetables, some strips
+of meadow land, and fields of rice and corn. But, in arranging these
+vegetable productions to his own taste, he wandered not too far from
+the designs of Nature. Guided by her suggestions, he had thrown upon the
+elevated spots such seeds as the winds would scatter about, and near
+the borders of the springs those which float upon the water. Every
+plant thus grew in its proper soil, and every spot seemed decorated by
+Nature's own hand. The streams which fell from the summits of the rocks
+formed in some parts of the valley sparkling cascades, and in others
+were spread into broad mirrors, in which were reflected, set in verdure,
+the flowering trees, the overhanging rocks, and the azure heavens.
+
+Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground, these plantations
+were, for the most part, easy of access. We had, indeed, all given
+him our advice and assistance, in order to accomplish this end. He had
+conducted one path entirely round the valley, and various branches from
+it led from the circumference to the centre. He had drawn some advantage
+from the most rugged spots, and had blended, in harmonious union, level
+walks with the inequalities of the soil, and trees which grow wild with
+the cultivated varieties. With that immense quantity of large pebbles
+which now block up these paths, and which are scattered over most of the
+ground of this island, he formed pyramidal heaps here and there, at
+the base of which he laid mould, and planted rose-bushes, the Barbadoes
+flower-fence, and other shrubs which love to climb the rocks. In a short
+time the dark and shapeless heaps of stones he had constructed were
+covered with verdure, or with the glowing tints of the most beautiful
+flowers. Hollow recesses on the borders of the streams shaded by the
+overhanging boughs of aged trees, formed rural grottoes, impervious
+to the rays of the sun, in which you might enjoy a refreshing coolness
+during the mid-day heats. One path led to a clump of forest trees, in
+the centre of which sheltered from the wind, you found a fruit-tree,
+laden with produce. Here was a corn-field; there, an orchard; from one
+avenue you had a view of the cottages; from another, of the inaccessible
+summit of the mountain. Beneath one tufted bower of gum trees,
+interwoven with lianas, no object whatever could be perceived: while the
+point of the adjoining rock, jutting out from the mountain, commanded
+a view of the whole enclosure, and of the distant ocean, where,
+occasionally, we could discern the distant sail, arriving from Europe,
+or bound thither. On this rock the two families frequently met in the
+evening, and enjoyed in silence the freshness of the flowers, the gentle
+murmurs of the fountain, and the last blended harmonies of light and
+shade.
+
+Nothing could be more charming than the names which were bestowed upon
+some of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of which
+I have been speaking, whence they could discern my approach at a
+considerable distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and
+Virginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot; and
+whenever they saw me coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief,
+by way of signal of my approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the
+neighbouring mountain on the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck
+me of engraving an inscription on the stalk of this reed; for I never,
+in the course of my travels, experienced any thing like the pleasure
+in seeing a statue or other monument of ancient art, as in reading a
+well-written inscription. It seems to me as if a human voice issued from
+the stone, and, making itself heard after the lapse of ages, addressed
+man in the midst of a desert, to tell him that he is not alone, and that
+other men, on that very spot, had felt, and thought, and suffered like
+himself. If the inscription belongs to an ancient nation, which no
+longer exists, it leads the soul through infinite space, and strengthens
+the consciousness of its immortality, by demonstrating that a thought
+has survived the ruins of an empire.
+
+I inscribed then, on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag, the
+following lines of Horace:--
+
+     Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+     Ventorumque regat pater,
+     Obstrictis, aliis, praeter Iapiga.
+
+"May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you, and the Father of the
+winds, guide you; and may you feel only the breath of the zephyr."
+
+There was a gum-tree, under the shade of which Paul was accustomed to
+sit, to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of this
+tree, I engraved the following lines from Virgil:--
+
+     Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
+
+"Happy are thou, my son, in knowing only the pastoral divinities."
+
+And over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the families so
+frequently met, I placed this line:--
+
+     At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
+
+"Here dwell a calm conscience, and a life that knows not deceit."
+
+But Virginia did not approve of my Latin: she said, that what I had
+placed at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. "I
+should have liked better," added she, "to have seen inscribed, EVER
+AGITATED, YET CONSTANT."--"Such a motto," I answered, "would have been
+still more applicable to virtue." My reflection made her blush.
+
+The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested in
+every thing around them. They gave the tenderest names to objects
+in appearance the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain and
+rose-apple trees, planted round a green sward where Virginia and Paul
+sometimes danced, received the name of Concord. An old tree, beneath
+the shade of which Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount their
+misfortunes, was called the Burial-place of Tears. They bestowed the
+names of Brittany and Normandy on two little plots of ground, where they
+had sown corn, strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary, wishing, in
+imitation of their mistresses, to recall to mind Angola and Foullepoint,
+the places of their birth in Africa, gave those names to the little
+fields where the grass was sown with which they wove their baskets,
+and where they had planted a calabash-tree. Thus, by cultivating
+the productions of their respective climates, these exiled families
+cherished the dear illusions which bind us to our native country, and
+softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas! I have seen these trees,
+these fountains, these heaps of stones, which are now so completely
+overthrown,--which now, like the desolated plains of Greece, present
+nothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances, all called into
+life by the many charming appellations thus bestowed upon them!
+
+But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that called
+Virginia's resting-place. At the foot of the rock which bore the name
+of The Discovery of Friendship, is a small crevice, whence issues a
+fountain, forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in the
+middle of a field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had made
+Margaret a present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and which
+she planted on the border of this fenny ground, in order that the tree
+might one day serve to mark the epoch of her son's birth. Madame de la
+Tour planted another cocoa with the same view, at the birth of Virginia.
+These nuts produced two cocoa-trees, which formed the only records of
+the two families; one was called Paul's tree, the other, Virginia's.
+Their growth was in the same proportion as that of the two young
+persons, not exactly equal: but they rose, at the end of twelve years,
+above the roofs of the cottages. Already their tender stalks were
+interwoven, and clusters of young cocoas hung from them over the basin
+of the fountain. With the exception of these two trees, this nook of the
+rock was left as it had been decorated by nature. On its embrowned and
+moist sides broad plants of maiden-hair glistened with their green and
+dark stars; and tufts of wave-leaved hart's tongue, suspended like long
+ribands of purpled green, floated on the wind. Near this grew a chain
+of the Madagascar periwinkle, the flowers of which resemble the red
+gilliflower; and the long-podded capsicum, the seed-vessels of which are
+of the colour of blood, and more resplendent than coral. Near them, the
+herb balm, with its heart-shaped leaves, and the sweet basil, which has
+the odour of the clove, exhaled the most delicious perfumes. From the
+precipitous side of the mountain hung the graceful lianas, like floating
+draperies, forming magnificent canopies of verdure on the face of
+the rocks. The sea-birds, allured by the stillness of these retreats,
+resorted here to pass the night. At the hour of sunset we could perceive
+the curlew and the stint skimming along the seashore; the frigate-bird
+poised high in air; and the white bird of the tropic, which abandons,
+with the star of day, the solitudes of the Indian ocean. Virginia took
+pleasure in resting herself upon the border of this fountain, decorated
+with wild and sublime magnificence. She often went thither to wash
+the linen of the family beneath the shade of the two cocoa-trees, and
+thither too she sometimes led her goats to graze. While she was making
+cheeses of their milk, she loved to see them browse on the maiden-hair
+fern which clothes the steep sides of the rock, and hung suspended by
+one of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that Virginia
+was fond of this spot, brought thither, from the neighbouring forest, a
+great variety of bird's nests. The old birds following their young, soon
+established themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated times,
+distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and maize. As soon as
+she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird, whose note is
+so soft, the cardinal, with its flame coloured plumage, forsook
+their bushes; the parroquet, green as an emerald, descended from the
+neighbouring fan-palms, the partridge ran along the grass; all advanced
+promiscuously towards her, like a brood of chickens: and she and Paul
+found an exhaustless source of amusement in observing their sports,
+their repasts, and their loves.
+
+Amiable children! thus passed your earlier days in innocence, and in
+obeying the impulses of kindness. How many times, on this very spot,
+have your mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the
+consolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years,
+while they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin
+life under the happiest auspices! How many times, beneath the shade
+of those rocks, have I partaken with them of your rural repasts, which
+never cost any animal its life! Gourds full of milk, fresh eggs, cakes
+of rice served up on plantain leaves, with baskets of mangoes, oranges,
+dates, pomegranates, pineapples, furnished a wholesome repast, the
+most agreeable to the eye, as well as delicious to the taste, that can
+possibly be imagined.
+
+Like the repast, the conversation was mild, and free from every thing
+having a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of the
+day and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for the
+accommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the paths
+were rugged; there, that the seats were uncomfortable: sometimes the
+young arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and Virginia might be
+better pleased elsewhere.
+
+During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage,
+and employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of bamboo.
+Rakes, spades, and hatchets, were ranged along the walls in the most
+perfect order; and near these instruments of agriculture were heaped its
+products,--bags of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of plantains. Some
+degree of luxury usually accompanies abundance; and Virginia was taught
+by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbert and cordials from the
+juice of the sugar-cane, the lemon and the citron.
+
+When night came, they all supped together by the light of a lamp; after
+which Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of travellers
+benighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested by banditti;
+or told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown by the tempest
+upon the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals the children
+listened with eager attention, and earnestly hoped that Heaven would one
+day grant them the joy of performing the rites of hospitality towards
+such unfortunate persons. When the time for repose arrived, the two
+families separated and retired for the night, eager to meet again the
+following morning. Sometimes they were lulled to repose by the beating
+of the rains, which fell in torrents upon the roofs of their cottages,
+and sometimes by the hollow winds, which brought to their ear the
+distant roar of the waves breaking upon the shore. They blessed God for
+their own safety, the feeling of which was brought home more forcibly to
+their minds by the sound of remote danger.
+
+Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of the
+Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon these sacred
+volumes, for their theology centred in a feeling of devotion towards
+the Supreme Being, like that of nature: and their morality was an active
+principle, like that of the Gospel. These families had no particular
+days devoted to pleasure, and others to sadness. Every day was to them
+a holyday, and all that surrounded them one holy temple, in which they
+ever adored the Infinite Intelligence, the Almighty God, the Friend of
+human kind. A feeling of confidence in his supreme power filled their
+minds with consolation for the past, with fortitude under present
+trials, and with hope in the future. Compelled by misfortune to return
+almost to a state of nature, these excellent women had thus developed in
+their own and their children's bosoms the feelings most natural to the
+human mind, and its best support under affliction.
+
+But, as clouds sometimes arise, and cast a gloom over the best regulated
+tempers, so whenever any member of this little society appeared to be
+labouring under dejection, the rest assembled around, and endeavoured
+to banish her painful thoughts by amusing the mind rather than by grave
+arguments against them. Each performed this kind office in their own
+appropriate manner: Margaret, by her gaiety; Madame de la Tour, by the
+gentle consolations of religion; Virginia, by her tender caresses; Paul,
+by his frank and engaging cordiality. Even Mary and Domingo hastened
+to offer their succour, and to weep with those that wept. Thus do weak
+plants interweave themselves with each other, in order to withstand the
+fury of the tempest.
+
+During the fine season, they went every Sunday to the church of the
+Shaddock Grove, the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain. Many
+wealthy members of the congregation, who came to church in palanquins,
+sought the acquaintance of these united families, and invited them
+to parties of pleasure. But they always repelled these overtures with
+respectful politeness, as they were persuaded that the rich and powerful
+seek the society of persons in an inferior station only for the sake of
+surrounding themselves with flatterers, and that every flatterer must
+applaud alike all the actions of his patron, whether good or bad. On the
+other hand, they avoided, with equal care, too intimate an acquaintance
+with the lower class, who are ordinarily jealous, calumniating, and
+gross. They thus acquired, with some, the character of being timid, and
+with others, of pride: but their reserve was accompanied with so much
+obliging politeness, above all towards the unfortunate and the unhappy,
+that they insensibly acquired the respect of the rich and the confidence
+of the poor.
+
+After service, some kind office was often required at their hands by
+their poor neighbours. Sometimes a person troubled in mind sought their
+advice; sometimes a child begged them to its sick mother, in one of the
+adjoining hamlets. They always took with them a few remedies for the
+ordinary diseases of the country, which they administered in that
+soothing manner which stamps a value upon the smallest favours. Above
+all, they met with singular success in administrating to the disorders
+of the mind, so intolerable in solitude, and under the infirmities of a
+weakened frame. Madame de la Tour spoke with such sublime confidence of
+the Divinity, that the sick, while listening to her, almost believed him
+present. Virginia often returned home with her eyes full of tears, and
+her heart overflowing with delight, at having had an opportunity of
+doing good; for to her generally was confided the task of preparing and
+administering the medicines,--a task which she fulfilled with angelic
+sweetness. After these visits of charity, they sometimes extended their
+walk by the Sloping Mountain, till they reached my dwelling, where I
+used to prepare dinner for them on the banks of the little rivulet which
+glides near my cottage. I procured for these occasions a few bottles of
+old wine, in order to heighten the relish of our Oriental repast by
+the more genial productions of Europe. At other times we met on the
+sea-shore, at the mouth of some little river, or rather mere brook. We
+brought from home the provisions furnished us by our gardens, to which
+we added those supplied us by the sea in abundant variety. We caught
+on these shores the mullet, the roach, and the sea-urchin, lobsters,
+shrimps, crabs, oysters, and all other kinds of shell-fish. In this
+way, we often enjoyed the most tranquil pleasures in situations the most
+terrific. Sometimes, seated upon a rock, under the shade of the velvet
+sunflower-tree, we saw the enormous waves of the Indian Ocean break
+beneath our feet with a tremendous noise. Paul, who could swim like a
+fish, would advance on the reefs to meet the coming billows; then, at
+their near approach, would run back to the beach, closely pursued by the
+foaming breakers, which threw themselves, with a roaring noise, far on
+the sands. But Virginia, at this sight, uttered piercing cries, and said
+that such sports frightened her too much.
+
+Other amusements were not wanting on these festive occasions. Our
+repasts were generally followed by the songs and dances of the two young
+people. Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life, and the misery
+of those who were impelled by avarice to cross the raging ocean, rather
+than cultivate the earth, and enjoy its bounties in peace. Sometimes she
+performed a pantomime with Paul, after the manner of the negroes. The
+first language of man is pantomime: it is known to all nations, and is
+so natural and expressive, that the children of the European inhabitants
+catch it with facility from the negroes. Virginia, recalling, from among
+the histories which her mother had read to her, those which had affected
+her most, represented the principal events in them with beautiful
+simplicity. Sometimes at the sound of Domingo's tantam she appeared upon
+the green sward, bearing a pitcher upon her head, and advanced with a
+timid step towards the source of a neighbouring fountain, to draw water.
+Domingo and Mary, personating the shepherds of Midian forbade her to
+approach, and repulsed her sternly. Upon this Paul flew to her succour,
+beat away the shepherds, filled Virginia's pitcher, and placing it upon
+her heard, bound her brows at the same time with a wreath of the red
+flowers of the Madagascar periwinkle, which served to heighten the
+delicacy of her complexion. Then joining in their sports, I took upon
+myself the part of Raguel, and bestowed upon Paul, my daughter Zephora
+in marriage.
+
+Another time Virginia would represent the unhappy Ruth, returning poor
+and widowed with her mother-in-law, who, after so prolonged an absence,
+found herself as unknown as in a foreign land. Domingo and Mary
+personated the reapers. The supposed daughter of Naomi followed their
+steps, gleaning here and there a few ears of corn. When interrogated by
+Paul,--a part which he performed with the gravity of a patriarch,--she
+answered his questions with a faltering voice. He then, touched
+with compassion, granted an asylum to innocence, and hospitality to
+misfortune. He filled her lap with plenty; and, leading her towards us
+as before the elders of the city, declared his purpose to take her
+in marriage. At this scene, Madame de la Tour, recalling the desolate
+situation in which she had been left by her relations, her widowhood,
+and the kind reception she had met with from Margaret, succeeded now
+by the soothing hope of a happy union between their children, could not
+forbear weeping; and these mixed recollections of good and evil caused
+us all to unite with her in shedding tears of sorrow and of joy.
+
+These dramas were performed with such an air of reality that you
+might have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of
+Palestine. We were not unfurnished with decorations, lights, or an
+orchestra, suitable to the representation. The scene was generally
+placed in an open space of the forest, the diverging paths from which
+formed around us numerous arcades of foliage, under which we were
+sheltered from the heat all the middle of the day; but when the sun
+descended towards the horizon, its rays, broken by the trunks of the
+trees, darted amongst the shadows of the forest in long lines of light,
+producing the most magnificent effect. Sometimes its broad disk appeared
+at the end of an avenue, lighting it up with insufferable brightness.
+The foliage of the trees, illuminated from beneath by its saffron beams,
+glowed with the lustre of the topaz and the emerald. Their brown and
+mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of antique bronze; and
+the birds, which had retired in silence to their leafy shades to pass
+the night, surprised to see the radiance of a second morning, hailed the
+star of day all together with innumerable carols.
+
+Night often overtook us during these rural entertainments; but the
+purity of the air and the warmth of the climate, admitted of our
+sleeping in the woods, without incurring any danger by exposure to the
+weather, and no less secure from the molestations of robbers. On our
+return the following day to our respective habitations, we found them in
+exactly the same state in which they had been left. In this island, then
+unsophisticated by the pursuits of commerce, such were the honesty and
+primitive manners of the population, that the doors of many houses were
+without a key, and even a lock itself was an object of curiosity to not
+a few of the native inhabitants.
+
+There were, however, some days in the year celebrated by Paul and
+Virginia in a more peculiar manner; these were the birth-days of their
+mothers. Virginia never failed the day before to prepare some wheaten
+cakes, which she distributed among a few poor white families, born
+in the island, who had never eaten European bread. These unfortunate
+people, uncared for by the blacks, were reduced to live on tapioca in
+the woods; and as they had neither the insensibility which is the result
+of slavery, nor the fortitude which springs from a liberal education,
+to enable them to support their poverty, their situation was deplorable.
+These cakes were all that Virginia had it in her power to give away, but
+she conferred the gift in so delicate a manner as to add tenfold to
+its value. In the first place, Paul was commissioned to take the cakes
+himself to these families, and get their promise to come and spend the
+next day at Madame de la Tour's. Accordingly, mothers of families, with
+two or three thin, yellow, miserable looking daughters, so timid that
+they dared not look up, made their appearance. Virginia soon put them
+at their ease; she waited upon them with refreshments, the excellence
+of which she endeavoured to heighten by relating some particular
+circumstance which in her own estimation, vastly improved them. One
+beverage had been prepared by Margaret; another, by her mother: her
+brother himself had climbed some lofty tree for the very fruit she was
+presenting. She would then get Paul to dance with them, nor would she
+leave them till she saw that they were happy. She wished them to partake
+of the joy of her own family. "It is only," she said, "by promoting the
+happiness of others, that we can secure our own." When they left, she
+generally presented them with some little article they seemed to fancy,
+enforcing their acceptance of it by some delicate pretext, that she
+might not appear to know they were in want. If she remarked that their
+clothes were much tattered, she obtained her mother's permission to
+give them some of her own, and then sent Paul to leave them, secretly at
+their cottage doors. She thus followed the divine precept,--concealing
+the benefactor, and revealing only the benefit.
+
+You Europeans, whose minds are imbued from infancy with prejudices at
+variance with happiness, cannot imagine all the instruction and pleasure
+to be derived from nature. Your souls, confined to a small sphere of
+intelligence, soon reach the limit of its artificial enjoyments: but
+nature and the heart are inexhaustible. Paul and Virginia had neither
+clock, nor almanack, nor books of chronology, history or philosophy.
+The periods of their lives were regulated by those of the operations of
+nature, and their familiar conversation had a reference to the changes
+of the seasons. They knew the time of day by the shadows of the trees;
+the seasons, by the times when those trees bore flowers or fruit;
+and the years, by the number of their harvests. These soothing images
+diffused an inexpressible charm over their conversation. "It is time to
+dine," said Virginia, "the shadows of the plantain-trees are at their
+roots:" or, "Night approaches, the tamarinds are closing their leaves."
+"When will you come and see us?" inquired some of her companions in
+the neighbourhood. "At the time of the sugar-canes," answered Virginia.
+"Your visit will be then still more delightful," resumed her young
+acquaintances. When she was asked what was her own age and that of
+Paul,--"My brother," said she, "is as old as the great cocoa-tree of the
+fountain; and I am as old as the little one: the mangoes have bore fruit
+twelve times and the orange-trees have flowered four-and-twenty times,
+since I came into the world." Their lives seemed linked to that of the
+trees, like those of Fauns or Dryads. They knew no other historical
+epochs than those of the lives of their mothers, no other chronology
+than that of doing good, and resigning themselves to the will of Heaven.
+
+What need, indeed, had these young people of riches or learning such
+as ours? Even their necessities and their ignorance increased their
+happiness. No day passed in which they were not of some service to one
+another, or in which they did not mutually impart some instruction. Yes,
+instruction; for if errors mingled with it, they were, at least, not of
+a dangerous character. A pure-minded being has none of that description
+to fear. Thus grew these children of nature. No care had troubled their
+peace, no intemperance had corrupted their blood, no misplaced passion
+had depraved their hearts. Love, innocence, and piety, possessed their
+souls; and those intellectual graces were unfolding daily in their
+features, their attitudes, and their movements. Still in the morning of
+life, they had all its blooming freshness: and surely such in the garden
+of Eden appeared our first parents, when coming from the hands of God,
+they first saw, and approached each other, and conversed together, like
+brother and sister. Virginia was gentle, modest, and confiding as Eve;
+and Paul, like Adam, united the stature of manhood with the simplicity
+of a child.
+
+Sometimes, if alone with Virginia, he has a thousand times told me, he
+used to say to her, on his return from labour,--"When I am wearied, the
+sight of you refreshes me. If from the summit of the mountain I perceive
+you below in the valley, you appear to me in the midst of our orchard
+like a blooming rose-bud. If you go towards our mother's house, the
+partridge, when it runs to meet its young, has a shape less beautiful,
+and a step less light. When I lose sight of you through the trees, I
+have no need to see you in order to find you again. Something of you, I
+know not how, remains for me in the air through which you have passed,
+on the grass where you have been seated. When I come near you, you
+delight all my senses. The azure of the sky is less charming than the
+blue of your eyes, and the song of the amadavid bird less soft than the
+sound of your voice. If I only touch you with the tip of my finger,
+my whole frame trembles with pleasure. Do you remember the day when we
+crossed over the great stones of the river of the Three Breasts? I was
+very tired before we reached the bank: but, as soon as I had taken you
+in my arms, I seemed to have wings like a bird. Tell me by what charm
+you have thus enchanted me! Is it by your wisdom?--Our mothers have more
+than either of us. Is it by your caresses?--They embrace me much oftener
+than you. I think it must be by your goodness. I shall never forget how
+you walked bare-footed to the Black River, to ask pardon for the poor
+run-away slave. Here, my beloved, take this flowering branch of a
+lemon-tree, which I have gathered in the forest: you will let it remain
+at night near your bed. Eat this honey-comb too, which I have taken for
+you from the top of a rock. But first lean on my bosom, and I shall be
+refreshed."
+
+Virginia would answer him,--"Oh, my dear brother, the rays of the sun in
+the morning on the tops of the rocks give me less joy than the sight of
+you. I love my mother,--I love yours; but when they call you their son,
+I love them a thousand times more. When they caress you, I feel it more
+sensibly than when I am caressed myself. You ask me what makes you love
+me. Why, all creatures that are brought up together love one another.
+Look at our birds; reared up in the same nests, they love each other as
+we do; they are always together like us. Hark! how they call and answer
+from one tree to another. So when the echoes bring to my ears the air
+which you play on your flute on the top of the mountain, I repeat the
+words at the bottom of the valley. You are dear to me more especially
+since the day when you wanted to fight the master of the slave for me.
+Since that time how often have I said to myself, 'Ah, my brother has a
+good heart; but for him, I should have died of terror.' I pray to
+God every day for my mother and for yours; for you, and for our
+poor servants; but when I pronounce your name, my devotion seems to
+increase;--I ask so earnestly of God that no harm may befall you! Why
+do you go so far, and climb so high, to seek fruits and flowers for
+me? Have we not enough in our garden already? How much you are
+fatigued,--you look so warm!"--and with her little white handkerchief
+she would wipe the damps from his face, and then imprint a tender kiss
+on his forehead.
+
+For some time past, however, Virginia had felt her heart agitated by
+new sensations. Her beautiful blue eyes lost their lustre, her cheek
+its freshness, and her frame was overpowered with a universal langour.
+Serenity no longer sat upon her brow, nor smiles played upon her lips.
+She would become all at once gay without cause for joy, and melancholy
+without any subject for grief. She fled her innocent amusements, her
+gentle toils, and even the society of her beloved family; wandering
+about the most unfrequented parts of the plantations, and seeking every
+where the rest which she could no where find. Sometimes, at the sight
+of Paul, she advanced sportively to meet him; but, when about to accost
+him, was overcome by a sudden confusion; her pale cheeks were covered
+with blushes, and her eyes no longer dared to meet those of her brother.
+Paul said to her,--"The rocks are covered with verdure, our birds begin
+to sing when you approach, everything around you is gay, and you only
+are unhappy." He then endeavoured to soothe her by his embraces, but
+she turned away her head, and fled, trembling towards her mother. The
+caresses of her brother excited too much emotion in her agitated heart,
+and she sought, in the arms of her mother, refuge from herself. Paul,
+unused to the secret windings of the female heart, vexed himself in
+vain in endeavouring to comprehend the meaning of these new and strange
+caprices. Misfortunes seldom come alone, and a serious calamity now
+impended over these families.
+
+One of those summers, which sometimes desolate the countries situated
+between the tropics, now began to spread its ravages over this island.
+It was near the end of December, when the sun, in Capricorn, darts over
+the Mauritius, during the space of three weeks, its vertical fires.
+The southeast wind, which prevails throughout almost the whole year,
+no longer blew. Vast columns of dust arose from the highways, and hung
+suspended in the air; the ground was every where broken into clefts;
+the grass was burnt up; hot exhalations issued from the sides of
+the mountains, and their rivulets, for the most part, became dry. No
+refreshing cloud ever arose from the sea: fiery vapours, only, during
+the day, ascended from the plains, and appeared, at sunset, like the
+reflection of a vast conflagration. Night brought no coolness to
+the heated atmosphere; and the red moon rising in the misty horizon,
+appeared of supernatural magnitude. The drooping cattle, on the sides
+of the hills, stretching out their necks towards heaven, and panting for
+breath, made the valleys re-echo with their melancholy lowings: even the
+Caffre by whom they were led threw himself upon the earth, in search of
+some cooling moisture: but his hopes were vain; the scorching sun
+had penetrated the whole soil, and the stifling atmosphere everywhere
+resounded with the buzzing noise of insects, seeking to allay their
+thirst with the blood of men and of animals.
+
+During this sultry season, Virginia's restlessness and disquietude were
+much increased. One night, in particular, being unable to sleep, she
+arose from her bed, sat down, and returned to rest again; but could find
+in no attitude either slumber or repose. At length she bent her way, by
+the light of the moon, towards her fountain, and gazed at its spring,
+which, notwithstanding the drought, still trickled, in silver threads
+down the brown sides of the rock. She flung herself into the basin: its
+coolness reanimated her spirits, and a thousand soothing remembrances
+came to her mind. She recollected that in her infancy her mother and
+Margaret had amused themselves by bathing her with Paul in this very
+spot; that he afterwards, reserving this bath for her sole use, had
+hollowed out its bed, covered the bottom with sand, and sown aromatic
+herbs around its borders. She saw in the water, upon her naked arms and
+bosom, the reflection of the two cocoa trees which were planted at her
+own and her brother's birth, and which interwove above her head their
+green branches and young fruit. She thought of Paul's friendship,
+sweeter than the odour of the blossoms, purer than the waters of the
+fountain, stronger than the intertwining palm-tree, and she sighed.
+Reflecting on the hour of the night, and the profound solitude, her
+imagination became disturbed. Suddenly she flew, affrighted, from those
+dangerous shades, and those waters which seemed to her hotter than the
+tropical sunbeam, and ran to her mother for refuge. More than once,
+wishing to reveal her sufferings, she pressed her mother's hand within
+her own; more than once she was ready to pronounce the name of Paul: but
+her oppressed heart left her lips no power of utterance, and, leaning
+her head on her mother's bosom, she bathed it with her tears.
+
+Madame de la Tour, though she easily discerned the source of her
+daughter's uneasiness, did not think proper to speak to her on the
+subject. "My dear child," said she, "offer up your supplications to God,
+who disposes at his will of health and of life. He subjects you to trial
+now, in order to recompense you hereafter. Remember that we are only
+placed upon earth for the exercise of virtue."
+
+The excessive heat in the meantime raised vast masses of vapour from the
+ocean, which hung over the island like an immense parasol, and gathered
+round the summits of the mountains. Long flakes of fire issued from time
+to time from these mist-embosomed peaks. The most awful thunder soon
+after re-echoed through the woods, the plains, and the valleys: the
+rains fell from the skies in cataracts; foaming torrents rushed down the
+sides of this mountain; the bottom of the valley became a sea, and the
+elevated platform on which the cottages were built, a little island. The
+accumulated waters, having no other outlet, rushed with violence through
+the narrow gorge which leads into the valley, tossing and roaring, and
+bearing along with them a mingled wreck of soil, trees, and rocks.
+
+The trembling families meantime addressed their prayers to God all
+together in the cottage of Madame de la Tour, the roof of which cracked
+fearfully from the force of the winds. So incessant and vivid were the
+lightnings, that although the doors and window-shutters were securely
+fastened, every object without could be distinctly seen through
+the joints in the wood-work! Paul, followed by Domingo, went with
+intrepidity from one cottage to another, notwithstanding the fury of the
+tempest; here supporting a partition with a buttress, there driving in
+a stake; and only returning to the family to calm their fears, by the
+expression of a hope that the storm was passing away. Accordingly, in
+the evening the rains ceased, the trade-winds of the southeast pursued
+their ordinary course, the tempestuous clouds were driven away to the
+northward, and the setting sun appeared in the horizon.
+
+Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her Resting-place.
+Paul approached her with a timid air, and offered her the assistance
+of his arm; she accepted it with a smile, and they left the cottage
+together. The air was clear and fresh: white vapours arose from the
+ridges of the mountain, which was furrowed here and there by the courses
+of torrents, marked in foam, and now beginning to dry up on all
+sides. As for the garden, it was completely torn to pieces by deep
+water-courses, the roots of most of the fruit trees were laid bare, and
+vast heaps of sand covered the borders of the meadows, and had choked
+up Virginia's bath. The two cocoa trees, however, were still erect, and
+still retained their freshness; but they were no longer surrounded by
+turf, or arbours, or birds, except a few amadavid birds, which, upon the
+points of the neighbouring rocks, were lamenting, in plaintive notes,
+the loss of their young.
+
+At the sight of this general desolation, Virginia exclaimed to
+Paul,--"You brought birds hither, and the hurricane has killed them.
+You planted this garden, and it is now destroyed. Every thing then
+upon earth perishes, and it is only Heaven that is not subject to
+change."--"Why," answered Paul, "cannot I give you something that
+belongs to Heaven? but I have nothing of my own even upon the earth."
+Virginia with a blush replied, "You have the picture of Saint Paul."
+As soon as she had uttered the words, he flew in quest of it to his
+mother's cottage. This picture was a miniature of Paul the Hermit, which
+Margaret, who viewed it with feelings of great devotion, had worn at her
+neck while a girl, and which, after she became a mother, she had placed
+round her child's. It had even happened, that being, while pregnant,
+abandoned by all the world, and constantly occupied in contemplating
+the image of this benevolent recluse, her offspring had contracted some
+resemblance to this revered object. She therefore bestowed upon him the
+name of Paul, giving him for his patron a saint who had passed his life
+far from mankind by whom he had been first deceived and then forsaken.
+Virginia, on receiving this little present from the hands of Paul, said
+to him, with emotion, "My dear brother, I will never part with this
+while I live; nor will I ever forget that you have given me the only
+thing you have in the world." At this tone of friendship,--this unhoped
+for return of familiarity and tenderness, Paul attempted to embrace
+her; but, light as a bird, she escaped him, and fled away, leaving him
+astonished, and unable to account for conduct so extraordinary.
+
+Meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour, "Why do we not unite our
+children by marriage? They have a strong attachment for each other, and
+though my son hardly understands the real nature of his feelings, yet
+great care and watchfulness will be necessary. Under such circumstances,
+it will be as well not to leave them too much together." Madame de la
+Tour replied, "They are too young and too poor. What grief would it
+occasion us to see Virginia bring into the world unfortunate children,
+whom she would not perhaps have sufficient strength to rear! Your negro,
+Domingo, is almost too old to labor; Mary is infirm. As for myself, my
+dear friend, at the end of fifteen years, I find my strength greatly
+decreased; the feebleness of age advances rapidly in hot climates, and,
+above all, under the pressure of misfortune. Paul is our only hope: let
+us wait till he comes to maturity, and his increased strength enables
+him to support us by his labour: at present you well know that we have
+only sufficient to supply the wants of the day: but were we to send Paul
+for a short time to the Indies, he might acquire, by commerce, the
+means of purchasing some slaves; and at his return we could unite him to
+Virginia; for I am persuaded no one on earth would render her so happy
+as your son. We will consult our neighbour on this subject."
+
+They accordingly asked my advice, which was in accordance with Madame
+de la Tour's opinion. "The Indian seas," I observed to them, "are calm,
+and, in choosing a favourable time of the year, the voyage out is seldom
+longer than six weeks; and the same time may be allowed for the return
+home. We will furnish Paul with a little venture from my neighbourhood,
+where he is much beloved. If we were only to supply him with some raw
+cotton, of which we make no use for want of mills to work it, some
+ebony, which is here so common that it serves us for firing, and some
+rosin, which is found in our woods, he would be able to sell those
+articles, though useless here, to good advantage in the Indies."
+
+I took upon myself to obtain permission from Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+to undertake this voyage; and I determined previously to mention the
+affair to Paul. But what was my surprise, when this young man said to
+me, with a degree of good sense above his age, "And why do you wish me
+to leave my family for this precarious pursuit of fortune? Is there any
+commerce in the world more advantageous than the culture of the ground,
+which yields sometimes fifty or a hundred-fold? If we wish to engage
+in commerce, can we not do so by carrying our superfluities to the town
+without my wandering to the Indies? Our mothers tell me, that Domingo
+is old and feeble; but I am young, and gather strength every day. If
+any accident should happen during my absence, above all to Virginia, who
+already suffers--Oh, no, no!--I cannot resolve to leave them."
+
+So decided an answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la
+Tour had not concealed from me the cause of Virginia's illness and want
+of spirits, and her desire of separating these young people till they
+were a few years older. I took care, however, not to drop any thing
+which could lead Paul to suspect the existence of these motives.
+
+About this period a ship from France brought Madame de la Tour a letter
+from her aunt. The fear of death, without which hearts as insensible as
+hers would never feel, had alarmed her into compassion. When she wrote
+she was recovering from a dangerous illness, which had, however, left
+her incurably languid and weak. She desired her niece to return to
+France: or, if her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage,
+she begged her to send Virginia, on whom she promised to bestow a good
+education, to procure for her a splendid marriage, and to leave
+her heiress of her whole fortune. She concluded by enjoining strict
+obedience to her will, in gratitude, she said, for her great kindness.
+
+At the perusal of this letter general consternation spread itself
+through the whole assembled party. Domingo and Mary began to weep.
+Paul, motionless with surprise, appeared almost ready to burst with
+indignation; while Virginia, fixing her eyes anxiously upon her mother,
+had not power to utter a single word. "And can you now leave us?" cried
+Margaret to Madame de la Tour. "No, my dear friend, no, my beloved
+children," replied Madame de la Tour; "I will never leave you. I have
+lived with you, and with you I will die. I have known no happiness but
+in your affection. If my health be deranged, my past misfortunes are the
+cause. My heart has been deeply wounded by the cruelty of my relations,
+and by the loss of my beloved husband. But I have since found more
+consolation and more real happiness with you in these humble huts, than
+all the wealth of my family could now lead me to expect in my country."
+
+At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight.
+Paul, pressing Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaimed,--"Neither will
+I leave you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for you,
+dear mamma; and you shall never feel any want with us." But of the whole
+society, the person who displayed the least transport, and who probably
+felt the most, was Virginia; and during the remainder of the day, the
+gentle gaiety which flowed from her heart, and proved that her peace of
+mind was restored, completed the general satisfaction.
+
+At sun-rise the next day, just as they had concluded offering up, as
+usual, their morning prayer before breakfast, Domingo came to inform
+them that a gentleman on horseback, followed by two slaves, was coming
+towards the plantation. It was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. He entered
+the cottage, where he found the family at breakfast. Virginia had
+prepared, according to the custom of the country, coffee, and rice
+boiled in water. To these she had added hot yams, and fresh plantains.
+The leaves of the plantain-tree, supplied the want of table-linen; and
+calabash shells, split in two, served for cups. The governor exhibited,
+at first, some astonishment at the homeliness of the dwelling; then,
+addressing himself to Madame de la Tour, he observed, that although
+public affairs drew his attention too much from the concerns of
+individuals, she had many claims on his good offices. "You have an aunt
+at Paris, madam," he added, "a woman of quality, and immensely rich, who
+expects that you will hasten to see her, and who means to bestow upon
+you her whole fortune." Madame de la Tour replied, that the state of her
+health would not permit her to undertake so long a voyage. "At least,"
+resumed Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, "you cannot without injustice,
+deprive this amiable young lady, your daughter, of so noble an
+inheritance. I will not conceal from you, that your aunt has made use of
+her influence to secure your daughter being sent to her; and that I have
+received official letters, in which I am ordered to exert my authority,
+if necessary, to that effect. But as I only wish to employ my power for
+the purpose of rendering the inhabitants of this country happy, I expect
+from your good sense the voluntary sacrifice of a few years, upon which
+your daughter's establishment in the world, and the welfare of your
+whole life depends. Wherefore do we come to these islands? Is it not to
+acquire a fortune? And will it not be more agreeable to return and find
+it in your own country?"
+
+He then took a large bag of piastres from one of his slaves, and placed
+it upon the table. "This sum," he continued, "is allotted by your aunt
+to defray the outlay necessary for the equipment of the young lady for
+her voyage." Gently reproaching Madame de la Tour for not having had
+recourse to him in her difficulties, he extolled at the same time her
+noble fortitude. Upon this Paul said to the governor,--"My mother did
+apply to you, sir, and you received her ill."--"Have you another child,
+madam?" said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to Madame de la Tour. "No, Sir,"
+she replied; "this is the son of my friend; but he and Virginia are
+equally dear to us, and we mutually consider them both as our own
+children." "Young man," said the governor to Paul, "when you have
+acquired a little more experience of the world, you will know that it
+is the misfortune of people in place to be deceived, and bestow, in
+consequence, upon intriguing vice, that which they would wish to give to
+modest merit."
+
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, at the request of Madame de la Tour, placed
+himself next to her at table, and breakfasted after the manner of the
+Creoles, upon coffee, mixed with rice boiled in water. He was delighted
+with the order and cleanliness which prevailed in the little cottage,
+the harmony of the two interesting families, and the zeal of their old
+servants. "Here," he exclaimed, "I discern only wooden furniture; but I
+find serene countenances and hearts of gold." Paul, enchanted with the
+affability of the governor, said to him,--"I wish to be your friend: for
+you are a good man." Monsieur de la Bourdonnais received with pleasure
+this insular compliment, and, taking Paul by the hand, assured him he
+might rely upon his friendship.
+
+After breakfast, he took Madame de la Tour aside and informed her
+that an opportunity would soon offer itself of sending her daughter to
+France, in a ship which was going to sail in a short time; that he would
+put her under the charge of a lady, one of the passengers, who was
+a relation of his own; and that she must not think of renouncing an
+immense fortune, on account of the pain of being separated from her
+daughter for a brief interval. "Your aunt," he added, "cannot live
+more than two years; of this I am assured by her friends. Think of it
+seriously. Fortune does not visit us every day. Consult your friends.
+I am sure that every person of good sense will be of my opinion." She
+answered, "that, as she desired no other happiness henceforth in the
+world than in promoting that of her daughter, she hoped to be allowed to
+leave her departure for France to her own inclination."
+
+Madame de la Tour was not sorry to find an opportunity of separating
+Paul and Virginia for a short time, and provide by this means, for their
+mutual felicity at a future period. She took her daughter aside, and
+said to her,--"My dear child, our servants are now old. Paul is still
+very young, Margaret is advanced in years, and I am already infirm. If
+I should die what would become of you, without fortune, in the midst
+of these deserts? You would then be left alone, without any person who
+could afford you much assistance, and would be obliged to labour
+without ceasing, as a hired servant, in order to support your wretched
+existence. This idea overcomes me with sorrow." Virginia answered,--"God
+has appointed us to labour, and to bless him every day. Up to this time
+he has never forsaken us, and he never will forsake us in time to come.
+His providence watches most especially over the unfortunate. You have
+told me this very often, my dear mother! I cannot resolve to leave you."
+Madame de la Tour replied, with much emotion,--"I have no other aim than
+to render you happy, and to marry you one day to Paul, who is not really
+your brother. Remember then that his fortune depends upon you."
+
+A young girl who is in love believes that every one else is ignorant of
+her passion; she throws over her eyes the veil with which she covers the
+feelings of her heart; but when it is once lifted by a friendly hand,
+the hidden sorrows of her attachment escape as through a newly-opened
+barrier, and the sweet outpourings of unrestrained confidence succeed
+to her former mystery and reserve. Virginia, deeply affected by this new
+proof of her mother's tenderness, related to her the cruel struggles
+she had undergone, of which heaven alone had been witness; she saw,
+she said, the hand of Providence in the assistance of an affectionate
+mother, who approved of her attachment; and would guide her by her
+counsels; and as she was now strengthened by such support, every
+consideration led her to remain with her mother, without anxiety for the
+present, and without apprehension for the future.
+
+Madame de la Tour, perceiving that this confidential conversation had
+produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected,
+said,--"My dear child, I do not wish to constrain you; think over it at
+leisure, but conceal your affection from Paul. It is better not to let a
+man know that the heart of his mistress is gained."
+
+Virginia and her mother were sitting together by themselves the same
+evening, when a tall man, dressed in a blue cassock, entered their
+cottage. He was a missionary priest and the confessor of Madame de la
+Tour and her daughter, who had now been sent to them by the governor.
+"My children," he exclaimed as he entered, "God be praised! you are
+now rich. You can now attend to the kind suggestions of your benevolent
+hearts, and do good to the poor. I know what Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+has said to you, and what you have said in reply. Your health, dear
+madam, obliges you to remain here; but you, young lady, are without
+excuse. We must obey our aged relations, even when they are unjust.
+A sacrifice is required of you; but it is the will of God. Our Lord
+devoted himself for you; and you in imitation of his example, must give
+up something for the welfare of your family. Your voyage to France will
+end happily. You will surely consent to go, my dear young lady."
+
+Virginia, with downcast eyes, answered, trembling, "If it is the command
+of God, I will not presume to oppose it. Let the will of God be done!"
+As she uttered these words, she wept.
+
+The priest went away, in order to inform the governor of the success of
+his mission. In the meantime Madame de la Tour sent Domingo to request
+me to come to her, that she might consult me respecting Virginia's
+departure. I was not at all of opinion that she ought to go. I consider
+it as a fixed principle of happiness, that we ought to prefer the
+advantages of nature to those of fortune, and never go in search of that
+at a distance, which we may find at home,--in our own bosoms. But what
+could be expected from my advice, in opposition to the illusions of a
+splendid fortune?--or from my simple reasoning, when in competition with
+the prejudices of the world, and an authority held sacred by Madame de
+la Tour? This lady indeed only consulted me out of politeness; she had
+ceased to deliberate since she had heard the decision of her confessor.
+Margaret herself, who, notwithstanding the advantages she expected for
+her son from the possession of Virginia's fortune, had hitherto opposed
+her departure, made no further objections. As for Paul, in ignorance of
+what had been determined, but alarmed at the secret conversations which
+Virginia had been holding with her mother, he abandoned himself to
+melancholy. "They are plotting something against me," cried he, "for
+they conceal every thing from me."
+
+A report having in the meantime been spread in the island that fortune
+had visited these rocks, merchants of every description were seen
+climbing their steep ascent. Now, for the first time, were seen
+displayed in these humble huts the richest stuffs of India; the fine
+dimity of Gondelore; the handkerchiefs of Pellicate and Masulipatan;
+the plain, striped, and embroidered muslins of Dacca, so beautifully
+transparent: the delicately white cottons of Surat, and linens of all
+colours. They also brought with them the gorgeous silks of China,
+satin damasks, some white, and others grass-green and bright red; pink
+taffetas, with the profusion of satins and gauze of Tonquin, both plain
+and decorated with flowers; soft pekins, downy as cloth; and white and
+yellow nankeens, and the calicoes of Madagascar.
+
+Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase whatever she liked;
+she only examined the goods, and inquired the price, to take care that
+the dealers did not cheat her. Virginia made choice of everything she
+thought would be useful or agreeable to her mother, or to Margaret and
+her son. "This," said she, "will be wanted for furnishing the cottage,
+and that will be very useful to Mary and Domingo." In short, the bag of
+piastres was almost emptied before she even began to consider her own
+wants; and she was obliged to receive back for her own use a share of
+the presents which she had distributed among the family circle.
+
+Paul, overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune, which
+he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days after to
+my dwelling. With an air of deep despondency he said to me--"My sister
+is going away; she is already making preparations for her voyage. I
+conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother and
+mine, in order to detain her here." I could not refuse the young man's
+solicitations, although well convinced that my representations would be
+unavailing.
+
+Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse
+cloth of Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head: you
+may therefore imagine how much her beauty was increased, when she was
+attired in the graceful and elegant costume worn by the ladies of this
+country! She had on a white muslin dress, lined with pink taffeta.
+Her somewhat tall and slender figure was shown to advantage in her new
+attire, and the simple arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with
+the form of her head. Her fine blue eyes were filled with an expression
+of melancholy; and the struggles of passion, with which her heart was
+agitated, imparted a flush to her cheek, and to her voice a tone of deep
+emotion. The contrast between her pensive look and her gay habiliments
+rendered her more interesting than ever, nor was it possible to see or
+hear her unmoved. Paul became more and more melancholy; and at length
+Margaret, distressed at the situation of her son, took him aside and
+said to him,--"Why, my dear child, will you cherish vain hopes, which
+will only render your disappointment more bitter? It is time for me to
+make known to you the secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de
+la Tour belongs, by her mother's side, to a rich and noble family, while
+you are but the son of a poor peasant girl; and what is worse you are
+illegitimate."
+
+Paul, who had never heard this last expression before, inquired with
+eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, "I was not married to your
+father. When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness
+of which you are the offspring. The consequence of my fault is, that you
+are deprived of the protection of a father's family, and by my flight
+from home you have also lost that of your mother's. Unfortunate child!
+you have no relations in the world but me!"--and she shed a flood of
+tears. Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, "Oh, my dear mother!
+since I have no relation in the world but you, I will love you all the
+more. But what a secret have you just disclosed to me! I now see the
+reason why Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself so much from me
+for the last two months, and why she has determined to go to France. Ah!
+I perceive too well that she despises me!"
+
+The hour of supper being arrived, we gathered round the table; but
+the different sensations with which we were agitated left us little
+inclination to eat, and the meal, if such it may be called, passed
+in silence. Virginia was the first to rise; she went out, and seated
+herself on the very spot where we now are. Paul hastened after her,
+and sat down by her side. Both of them, for some time, kept a profound
+silence. It was one of those delicious nights which are so common
+between the tropics, and to the beauty of which no pencil can do
+justice. The moon appeared in the midst of the firmament, surrounded
+by a curtain of clouds, which was gradually unfolded by her beams. Her
+light insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island, and
+their distant peaks glistened with a silvery green. The winds were
+perfectly still. We heard among the woods, at the bottom of the valleys,
+and on the summits of the rocks, the piping cries and the soft notes of
+the birds, wantoning in their nests, and rejoicing in the brightness
+of the night and the serenity of the atmosphere. The hum of insects was
+heard in the grass. The stars sparkled in the heavens, and their lurid
+orbs were reflected, in trembling sparkles, from the tranquil bosom of
+the ocean. Virginia's eye wandered distractedly over its vast and gloomy
+horizon, distinguishable from the shore of the island only by the red
+fires in the fishing boats. She perceived at the entrance of the harbour
+a light and a shadow; these were the watchlight and the hull of the
+vessel in which she was to embark for Europe, and which, all ready for
+sea, lay at anchor, waiting for a breeze. Affected at this sight, she
+turned away her head, in order to hide her tears from Paul.
+
+Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and I, were seated at a little distance,
+beneath the plantain-trees; and, owing to the stillness of the night, we
+distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.
+
+Paul said to her,--"You are going away from us, they tell me, in three
+days. You do not fear then to encounter the danger of the sea, at the
+sight of which you are so much terrified?" "I must perform my duty,"
+answered Virginia, "by obeying my parent." "You leave us," resumed
+Paul, "for a distant relation, whom you have never seen." "Alas!" cried
+Virginia, "I would have remained here my whole life, but my mother would
+not have it so. My confessor, too, told me it was the will of God that I
+should go, and that life was a scene of trials!--and Oh! this is indeed
+a severe one."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Paul, "you could find so many reasons for going, and
+not one for remaining here! Ah! there is one reason for your departure
+that you have not mentioned. Riches have great attractions. You will
+soon find in the new world to which you are going, another, to whom you
+will give the name of brother, which you bestow on me no more. You will
+choose that brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their
+birth, and by a fortune which I have not to offer. But where can you go
+to be happier? On what shore will you land, and find it dearer to you
+than the spot which gave you birth?--and where will you form around you
+a society more delightful to you than this, by which you are so much
+accustomed? What will become of her, already advanced in years, when
+she no longer sees you at her side at table, in the house, in the walks,
+where she used to lean upon you? What will become of my mother, who
+loves you with the same affection? What shall I say to comfort them when
+I see them weeping for your absence? Cruel Virginia! I say nothing to
+you of myself; but what will become of me, when in the morning I shall
+no more see you; when the evening will come, and not reunite us?--when
+I shall gaze on these two palm trees, planted at our birth, and so
+long the witnesses of our mutual friendship? Ah! since your lot is
+changed,--since you seek in a far country other possessions than the
+fruits of my labour, let me go with you in the vessel in which you
+are about to embark. I will sustain your spirits in the midst of those
+tempests which terrify you so much even on shore. I will lay my head
+upon your bosom: I will warm your heart upon my own; and in France,
+where you are going in search of fortune and of grandeur, I will wait
+upon you as your slave. Happy only in your happiness, you will find
+me, in those palaces where I shall see you receiving the homage and
+adoration of all, rich and noble enough to make you the greatest of all
+sacrifices, by dying at your feet."
+
+The violence of his emotions stopped his utterance, and we then heard
+Virginia, who, in a voice broken by sobs, uttered these words:--"It is
+for you that I go,--for you whom I see tired to death every day by the
+labour of sustaining two helpless families. If I have accepted this
+opportunity of becoming rich, it is only to return a thousand-fold
+the good which you have done us. Can any fortune be equal to your
+friendship? Why do you talk about your birth? Ah! if it were possible
+for me still to have a brother, should I make choice of any other than
+you? Oh, Paul, Paul! you are far dearer to me than a brother! How much
+has it cost me to repulse you from me! Help me to tear myself from what
+I value more than existence, till Heaven shall bless our union. But
+I will stay or go,--I will live or die,--dispose of me as you will.
+Unhappy that I am! I could have repelled your caresses; but I cannot
+support your affliction."
+
+At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed
+close to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, "I will go with
+her,--nothing shall ever part us." We all ran towards him; and Madame de
+la Tour said to him, "My son, if you go, what will become of us?"
+
+He, trembling, repeated after her the words,--"My son!--my son! You my
+mother!" cried he; "you, who would separate the brother from the sister!
+We have both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been reared upon
+your knees; we have learnt of you to love another; we have said so a
+thousand times; and now you would separate her from me!--you would send
+her to Europe, that inhospitable country which refused you an asylum,
+and to relations by whom you yourself were abandoned. You will tell me
+that I have no right over her, and that she is not my sister. She is
+everything to me;--my riches, my birth, my family,--all that I have! I
+know no other. We have had but one roof,--one cradle,--and we will have
+but one grave! If she goes, I will follow her. The governor will prevent
+me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea?--will he
+prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal
+to me than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will
+die before her eyes, far from you. Inhuman mother!--woman without
+compassion!--may the ocean, to which you trust her, restore her to you
+no more! May the waves, rolling back our bodies amid the shingles
+of this beach, give you in the loss of your two children, an eternal
+subject of remorse!"
+
+At these words, I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him
+of reason. His eyes sparkled with fire, the perspiration fell in great
+drops from his face; his knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat
+violently against his burning bosom.
+
+Virginia, alarmed, said to him,--"Oh, my dear Paul, I call to witness
+the pleasures of our early age, your griefs and my own, and every thing
+that can for ever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I
+remain at home, I will live but for you; that if I go, I will one day
+return to be yours. I call you all to witness;--you who have reared me
+from my infancy, who dispose of my life, and who see my tears. I swear
+by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea which I am going to pass, by
+the air I breathe, and which I never sullied by a falsehood."
+
+As the sun softens and precipitates an icy rock from the summit of
+one of the Appenines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were
+subdued by the voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a torrent of
+tears fell from his eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his,
+held him in her arms, but was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half
+distracted, said to me, "I can bear this no longer. My heart is quite
+broken. This unfortunate voyage shall not take place. Do take my son
+home with you. Not one of us has had any rest the whole week."
+
+I said to Paul, "My dear friend, your sister shall remain here.
+To-morrow we will talk to the governor about it; leave your family to
+take some rest, and come and pass the night with me. It is late; it is
+midnight; the southern cross is just above the horizon."
+
+He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of
+great agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
+
+But why should I continue any longer to you the recital of this history?
+There is but one aspect of human pleasure. Like the globe upon which we
+revolve, the fleeting course of life is but a day; and if one part of
+that day be visited by light, the other is thrown into darkness.
+
+"My father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you
+have begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are
+the most pleasing, those of misfortune are the more instructive. Tell me
+what became of the unhappy young man."
+
+The first object beheld by Paul in his way home was the negro woman
+Mary, who, mounted on a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea. As
+soon as he perceived her, he called to her from a distance,--"Where is
+Virginia?" Mary turned her head towards her young master, and began to
+weep. Paul, distracted, retracing his steps, ran to the harbour. He was
+there informed, that Virginia had embarked at the break of day, and
+that the vessel had immediately set sail, and was now out of sight. He
+instantly returned to the plantation, which he crossed without uttering
+a word.
+
+Quite perpendicular as appears the wall of rocks behind us, those green
+platforms which separate their summits are so many stages, by means of
+which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of sloping
+and inaccessible rocks, which is called The Thumb. At the foot of that
+cone is an extended slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and so
+steep and elevated that it looks like a forest in the air, surrounded by
+tremendous precipices. The clouds, which are constantly attracted round
+the summit of the Thumb, supply innumerable rivulets, which fall to so
+great a depth in the valley situated on the other side of the mountain,
+that from this elevated point the sound of their cataracts cannot be
+heard. From that spot you can discern a considerable part of the island,
+diversified by precipices and mountain peaks, and amongst others,
+Peter-Booth, and the Three Breasts, with their valleys full of woods.
+You also command an extensive view of the ocean, and can even perceive
+the Isle of Bourbon, forty leagues to the westward. From the summit of
+that stupendous pile of rocks Paul caught sight of the vessel which was
+bearing away Virginia, and which now, ten leagues out at sea, appeared
+like a black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a great part of
+the day with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had disappeared,
+he still fancied he beheld it; and when, at length, the traces which
+clung to his imagination were lost in the mists of the horizon, he
+seated himself on that wild point, forever beaten by the winds, which
+never cease to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum trees, and the
+hoarse and moaning murmurs of which, similar to the distant sound of
+organs, inspire a profound melancholy. On this spot I found him, his
+head reclined on the rock, and his eyes fixed upon the ground. I had
+followed him from the earliest dawn, and, after much importunity, I
+prevailed on him to descend from the heights, and return to his family.
+I went home with him, where the first impulse of his mind, on seeing
+Madame de la Tour, was to reproach her bitterly for having deceived him.
+She told us that a favourable wind having sprung up at three o'clock in
+the morning, and the vessel being ready to sail, the governor, attended
+by some of his staff and the missionary, had come with a palanquin to
+fetch her daughter; and that, notwithstanding Virginia's objections, her
+own tears and entreaties, and the lamentations of Margaret, every body
+exclaiming all the time that it was for the general welfare, they had
+carried her away almost dying. "At least," cried Paul, "if I had bid
+her farewell, I should now be more calm. I would have said to
+her,--'Virginia, if, during the time we have lived together, one word
+may have escaped me which has offended you, before you leave me forever,
+tell me that you forgive me.' I would have said to her,--'Since I am
+destined to see you no more, farewell, my dear Virginia, farewell! Live
+far from me, contented and happy!'" When he saw that his mother and
+Madame de la Tour were weeping,--"You must now," said he, "seek some
+other hand to wipe away your tears;" and then, rushing out of the house,
+and groaning aloud, he wandered up and down the plantation. He hovered
+in particular about those spots which had been most endeared to
+Virginia. He said to the goats, and their little ones, which followed
+him, bleating,--"What do you want of me? You will see with me no more
+her who used to feed you with her own hand." He went to the bower called
+Virginia's Resting-place, and, as the birds flew around him, exclaimed,
+"Poor birds! you will fly no more to meet her who cherished you!"--and
+observing Fidele running backwards and forwards in search of her, he
+heaved a deep sigh, and cried,--"Ah! you will never find her again."
+At length he went and seated himself upon a rock where he had conversed
+with her the preceding evening; and at the sight of the ocean upon which
+he had seen the vessel disappear which had borne her away, his heart
+overflowed with anguish, and he wept bitterly.
+
+We continually watched his movements, apprehensive of some fatal
+consequence from the violent agitation of his mind. His mother and
+Madame de la Tour conjured him, in the most tender manner, not to
+increase their affliction by his despair. At length the latter soothed
+his mind by lavishing upon him epithets calculated to awaken his
+hopes,--calling him her son, her dear son, her son-in-law, whom she
+destined for her daughter. She persuaded him to return home, and to take
+some food. He seated himself next to the place which used to be occupied
+by the companion of his childhood; and, as if she had still been
+present, he spoke to her, and made as though he would offer her whatever
+he knew as most agreeable to her taste: then, starting from this
+dream of fancy, he began to weep. For some days he employed himself in
+gathering together every thing which had belonged to Virginia, the last
+nosegays she had worn, the cocoa-shell from which she used to drink; and
+after kissing a thousand times these relics of his beloved, to him the
+most precious treasures which the world contained, he hid them in his
+bosom. Amber does not shed so sweet a perfume as the veriest trifles
+touched by those we love. At length, perceiving that the indulgence of
+his grief increased that of his mother and Madame de la Tour, and that
+the wants of the family demanded continual labour, he began, with the
+assistance of Domingo, to repair the damage done to the garden.
+
+But, soon after, this young man, hitherto indifferent as a Creole to
+every thing that was passing in the world, begged of me to teach him
+to read and write, in order that he might correspond with Virginia. He
+afterwards wished to obtain a knowledge of geography, that he might form
+some idea of the country where she would disembark; and of history, that
+he might know something of the manners of the society in which she would
+be placed. The powerful sentiment of love, which directed his present
+studies, had already instructed him in agriculture, and in the art of
+laying out grounds with advantage and beauty. It must be admitted, that
+to the fond dreams of this restless and ardent passion, mankind are
+indebted for most of the arts and sciences, while its disappointments
+have given birth to philosophy, which teaches us to bear up under
+misfortune. Love, thus, the general link of all beings, becomes the
+great spring of society, by inciting us to knowledge as well as to
+pleasure.
+
+Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography, which, instead
+of describing the natural history of each country, gave only a view of
+its political divisions and boundaries. History, and especially modern
+history, interested him little more. He there saw only general and
+periodical evils, the causes of which he could not discover; wars
+without either motive or reason; uninteresting intrigues; with nations
+destitute of principle, and princes void of humanity. To this branch
+of reading he preferred romances, which, being chiefly occupied by the
+feelings and concerns of men, sometimes represented situations similar
+to his own. Thus, no book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus, from
+the pictures it draws of pastoral life, and of the passions which are
+most natural to the human breast. He read aloud to his mother and Madame
+de la Tour, those parts which affected him most sensibly; but sometimes,
+touched by the most tender remembrances, his emotion would choke his
+utterance, and his eyes be filled with tears. He fancied he had found
+in Virginia the dignity and wisdom of Antiope, united to the misfortunes
+and the tenderness of Eucharis. With very different sensations he
+perused our fashionable novels, filled with licentious morals and
+maxims, and when he was informed that these works drew a tolerably
+faithful picture of European society, he trembled, and not without some
+appearance of reason, lest Virginia should become corrupted by it, and
+forget him.
+
+More than a year and a half, indeed, passed away before Madame de la
+Tour received any tidings of her aunt or her daughter. During that
+period she only accidently heard that Virginia had safely arrived in
+France. At length, however, a vessel which stopped here on its way to
+the Indies brought a packet to Madame de la Tour, and a letter written
+by Virginia's own hand. Although this amiable and considerate girl
+had written in a guarded manner that she might not wound her mother's
+feelings, it appeared evident enough that she was unhappy. The letter
+painted so naturally her situation and her character, that I have
+retained it almost word for word.
+
+"MY DEAR AND BELOVED MOTHER,
+
+"I have already sent you several letters, written by my own hand, but
+having received no answer, I am afraid they have not reached you. I have
+better hopes for this, from the means I have now gained of sending you
+tidings of myself, and of hearing from you.
+
+"I have shed many tears since our separation, I who never used to weep,
+but for the misfortunes of others! My aunt was much astonished, when,
+having, upon my arrival, inquired what accomplishments I possessed, I
+told her that I could neither read nor write. She asked me what then I
+had learnt, since I came into the world; and when I answered that I
+had been taught to take care of the household affairs, and to obey your
+will, she told me that I had received the education of a servant. The
+next day she placed me as a boarder in a great abbey near Paris, where
+I have masters of all kinds, who teach me, among other things, history,
+geography, grammar, mathematics, and riding on horseback. But I have
+so little capacity for all these sciences, that I fear I shall make but
+small progress with my masters. I feel that I am a very poor creature,
+with very little ability to learn what they teach. My aunt's kindness,
+however, does not decrease. She gives me new dresses every season; and
+she had placed two waiting women with me, who are dressed like fine
+ladies. She has made me take the title of countess; but has obliged me
+to renounce the name of LA TOUR, which is as dear to me as it is to you,
+from all you have told me of the sufferings my father endured in order
+to marry you. She has given me in place of your name that of your
+family, which is also dear to me, because it was your name when a girl.
+Seeing myself in so splendid a situation, I implored her to let me send
+you something to assist you. But how shall I repeat her answer! Yet you
+have desired me always to tell you the truth. She told me then that
+a little would be of no use to you, and that a great deal would only
+encumber you in the simple life you led. As you know I could not write,
+I endeavoured upon my arrival, to send you tidings of myself by another
+hand; but, finding no person here in whom I could place confidence, I
+applied night and day to learn to read and write, and Heaven, who saw my
+motive for learning, no doubt assisted my endeavours, for I succeeded in
+both in a short time. I entrusted my first letters to some of the ladies
+here, who, I have reason to think, carried them to my aunt. This time I
+have recourse to a boarder, who is my friend. I send you her direction,
+by means of which I shall receive your answer. My aunt has forbid me
+holding any correspondence whatever, with any one, lest, she says, it
+should occasion an obstacle to the great views she has for my advantage.
+No person is allowed to see me at the grate but herself, and an old
+nobleman, one of her friends, who, she says is much pleased with me.
+I am sure I am not at all so with him, nor should I, even if it were
+possible for me to be pleased with any one at present.
+
+"I live in all the splendour of affluence, and have not a sous at
+my disposal. They say I might make an improper use of money. Even my
+clothes belong to my femmes de chambre, who quarrel about them before I
+have left them off. In the midst of riches I am poorer than when I lived
+with you; for I have nothing to give away. When I found that the great
+accomplishments they taught me would not procure me the power of doing
+the smallest good, I had recourse to my needle, of which happily you had
+taught me the use. I send several pairs of stockings of my own making
+for you and my mamma Margaret, a cap for Domingo, and one of my red
+handkerchiefs for Mary. I also send with this packet some kernels, and
+seeds of various kinds of fruits which I gathered in the abbey park
+during my hours of recreation. I have also sent a few seeds of violets,
+daisies, buttercups, poppies and scabious, which I picked up in the
+fields. There are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows of this
+country than in ours, but nobody cares for them. I am sure that you and
+my mamma Margaret will be better pleased with this bag of seeds, than
+you were with the bag of piastres, which was the cause of our separation
+and of my tears. It will give me great delight if you should one day
+see apple trees growing by the side of our plantains, and elms blending
+their foliage with that of our cocoa trees. You will fancy yourself in
+Normandy, which you love so much.
+
+"You desired me to relate to you my joys and my griefs. I have no
+joys far from you. As far as my griefs, I endeavour to soothe them by
+reflecting that I am in the situation in which it was the will of God
+that you should place me. But my greatest affliction is, that no one
+here speaks to me of you, and that I cannot speak of you to any one. My
+femmes de chambre, or rather those of my aunt, for they belong more
+to her than to me, told me the other day, when I wished to turn the
+conversation upon the objects most dear to me: 'Remember, mademoiselle,
+that you are a French woman, and must forget that land of savages.' Ah!
+sooner will I forget myself, than forget the spot on which I was
+born and where you dwell! It is this country which is to me a land of
+savages, for I live alone, having no one to whom I can impart those
+feelings of tenderness for you which I shall bear with me to the grave.
+I am,
+
+"My dearest and beloved mother,
+
+"Your affectionate and dutiful daughter,
+
+"VIRGINIE DE LA TOUR."
+
+"I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo, who took so much care of
+my infancy; caress Fidele for me, who found me in the wood."
+
+Paul was astonished that Virginia had not said one word of him,--she,
+who had not forgotten even the house-dog. But he was not aware that,
+however long a woman's letter may be, she never fails to leave her
+dearest sentiments for the end.
+
+In a postscript, Virginia particularly recommended to Paul's attention
+two kinds of seed,--those of the violet and the scabious. She gave him
+some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers, and
+the spots most proper for their cultivation. "The violet," she said,
+"produces a little flower of a dark purple colour, which delights to
+conceal itself beneath the bushes; but it is soon discovered by its
+wide-spreading perfume." She desired that these seeds might be sown
+by the border of the fountain, at the foot of her cocoa-tree. "The
+scabious," she added, "produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and a
+black ground spotted with white. You might fancy it was in mourning; and
+for this reason it is also called the widow's flower. It grows best in
+bleak spots, beaten by the winds." She begged him to sow this upon the
+rock where she had spoken to him at night for the last time, and that,
+in remembrance of her, he would henceforth give it the name of the Rock
+of Adieus.
+
+She had put these seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
+exceedingly simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when
+he saw on it a P and a V entwined together, and knew that the beautiful
+hair which formed the cypher was the hair of Virginia.
+
+The whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of
+this amiable and virtuous girl. Her mother answered it in the name of
+the little society, desiring her to remain or to return as she thought
+proper; and assuring her, that happiness had left their dwelling since
+her departure, and that, for herself, she was inconsolable.
+
+Paul also sent her a very long letter, in which he assured her that he
+would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and mingle
+together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa, as she had
+blended their initials together in her work. He sent her some fruit from
+the cocoa-trees of the fountain, now arrived at maturity telling her,
+that he would not add any of the other productions of the island, that
+the desire of seeing them again might hasten her return. He conjured her
+to comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes of her family, and
+above all, with his own, since he could never hereafter taste happiness
+away from her.
+
+Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds, particularly the
+violet and the scabious, the flowers of which seemed to bear some
+analogy to the character and present situation of Virginia, by whom they
+had been so especially recommended; but either they were dried up in
+the voyage, or the climate of this part of the world is unfavourable to
+their growth, for a very small number of them even came up, and not one
+arrived at full perfection.
+
+In the meantime, envy, which ever comes to embitter human happiness,
+particularly in the French colonies, spread some reports in the island
+which gave Paul much uneasiness. The passengers in the vessel which
+brought Virginia's letter, asserted that she was upon the point of being
+married, and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was engaged.
+Some even went so far as to declare that the union had already taken
+place, and that they themselves had witnessed the ceremony. Paul at
+first despised the report, brought by a merchant vessel, as he knew that
+they often spread erroneous intelligence in their passage; but some of
+the inhabitants of the island, with malignant pity, affecting to bewail
+the event, he was soon led to attach some degree of belief to this cruel
+intelligence. Besides, in some of the novels he had lately read, he had
+seen that perfidy was treated as a subject of pleasantry; and knowing
+that these books contained pretty faithful representations of European
+manners, he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and had
+forgotten its former engagements. Thus his new acquirements had already
+only served to render him more miserable; and his apprehensions were
+much increased by the circumstance, that though several ships touched
+here from Europe, within the six months immediately following the
+arrival of her letter, not one of them brought any tidings of Virginia.
+
+This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel
+agitation, often came to visit me, in the hope of confirming or
+banishing his uneasiness, by my experience of the world.
+
+I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from this
+point, upon the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping
+Mountain: there I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or
+slaves.
+
+After having enjoyed, and lost the rare felicity of living with a
+congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is
+doubtless that of solitude. Every man who has much cause of complaint
+against his fellow-creatures seeks to be alone. It is also remarkable
+that all those nations which have been brought to wretchedness by their
+opinions, their manners, or their forms of government, have produced
+numerous classes of citizens altogether devoted to solitude and
+celibacy. Such were the Egyptians in their decline, and the Greeks of
+the Lower Empire; and such in our days are the Indians, the Chinese,
+the modern Greeks, the Italians, and the greater part of the eastern and
+southern nations of Europe. Solitude, by removing men from the miseries
+which follow in the train of social intercourse, brings them in some
+degree back to the unsophisticated enjoyment of nature. In the midst of
+modern society, broken up by innumerable prejudices, the mind is in a
+constant turmoil of agitation. It is incessantly revolving in itself a
+thousand tumultuous and contradictory opinions, by which the members of
+an ambitious and miserable circle seek to raise themselves above each
+other. But in solitude the soul lays aside the morbid illusions which
+troubled her, and resumes the pure consciousness of herself, of nature,
+and of its Author, as the muddy water of a torrent which has ravaged the
+plains, coming to rest, and diffusing itself over some low grounds out
+of its course, deposits there the slime it has taken up, and, resuming
+its wonted transparency, reflects, with its own shores, the verdure of
+the earth and the light of heaven. Thus does solitude recruit the powers
+of the body as well as those of the mind. It is among hermits that are
+found the men who carry human existence to its extreme limits; such
+are the Bramins of India. In brief, I consider solitude so necessary to
+happiness, even in the world itself, that it appears to me impossible
+to derive lasting pleasure from any pursuit whatever, or to regulate
+our conduct by any pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by
+any stable principle, if we do not create for ourselves a mental void,
+whence our own views rarely emerge, and into which the opinions
+of others never enter. I do not mean to say that man ought to live
+absolutely alone; he is connected by his necessities with all mankind;
+his labours are due to man: and he owes something too to the rest of
+nature. But, as God has given to each of us organs perfectly adapted to
+the elements of the globe on which we live,--feet for the soil, lungs
+for the air, eyes for the light, without the power of changing the use
+of any of these faculties, he has reserved for himself, as the Author of
+life, that which is its chief organ,--the heart.
+
+I thus passed my days far from mankind, whom I wished to serve, and by
+whom I have been persecuted. After having travelled over many countries
+of Europe, and some parts of America and Africa, I at length pitched my
+tent in this thinly-peopled island, allured by its mild climate and its
+solitudes. A cottage which I built in the woods, at the foot of a tree,
+a little field which I cleared with my own hands, a river which glides
+before my door, suffice for my wants and for my pleasures. I blend with
+these enjoyments the perusal of some chosen books, which teach me to
+become better. They make that world, which I have abandoned, still
+contribute something to my happiness. They lay before me pictures of
+those passions which render its inhabitants so miserable; and in the
+comparison I am thus led to make between their lot and my own, I feel a
+kind of negative enjoyment. Like a man saved from shipwreck, and thrown
+upon a rock, I contemplate, from my solitude, the storms which rage
+through the rest of the world; and my repose seems more profound from
+the distant sound of the tempest. As men have ceased to fall in my way,
+I no longer view them with aversion; I only pity them. If I sometimes
+fall in with an unfortunate being, I try to help him by my counsels, as
+a passer-by on the brink of a torrent extends his hand to save a
+wretch from drowning. But I have hardly ever found any but the innocent
+attentive to my voice. Nature calls the majority of men to her in vain.
+Each of them forms an image of her for himself, and invests her with his
+own passions. He pursues during the whole of his life this vain phantom,
+which leads him astray; and he afterwards complains to Heaven of the
+misfortunes which he has thus created for himself. Among the many
+children of misfortune whom I have endeavoured to lead back to the
+enjoyments of nature, I have not found one but was intoxicated with his
+own miseries. They have listened to me at first with attention, in the
+hope that I could teach them how to acquire glory or fortune, but when
+they found that I only wished to instruct them how to dispense with
+these chimeras, their attention has been converted into pity, because I
+did not prize their miserable happiness. They blamed my solitary life;
+they alleged that they alone were useful to men, and they endeavoured to
+draw me into their vortex. But if I communicate with all, I lay myself
+open to none. It is often sufficient for me to serve as a lesson to
+myself. In my present tranquillity, I pass in review the agitating
+pursuits of my past life, to which I formerly attached so much
+value,--patronage, fortune, reputation, pleasure, and the opinions which
+are ever at strife over all the earth. I compare the men whom I have
+seen disputing furiously over these vanities, and who are no more, to
+the tiny waves of my rivulet, which break in foam against its rocky
+bed, and disappear, never to return. As for me, I suffer myself to
+float calmly down the stream of time to the shoreless ocean of futurity;
+while, in the contemplation of the present harmony of nature, I elevate
+my soul towards its supreme Author, and hope for a more happy lot in
+another state of existence.
+
+Although you cannot descry from my hermitage, situated in the midst of
+a forest, that immense variety of objects which this elevated spot
+presents, the grounds are disposed with peculiar beauty, at least to
+one who, like me, prefers the seclusion of a home scene to great and
+extensive prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in a
+straight line across the woods, looking like a long canal shaded by all
+kinds of trees. Among them are the gum tree, the ebony tree, and that
+which is here called bois de pomme, with olive and cinnamon-wood trees;
+while in some parts the cabbage-palm trees raise their naked stems
+more than a hundred feet high, their summits crowned with a cluster of
+leaves, and towering above the woods like one forest piled upon another.
+Lianas, of various foliage, intertwining themselves among the trees,
+form, here, arcades of foliage, there, long canopies of verdure. Most
+of these trees shed aromatic odours so powerful, that the garments of a
+traveller, who has passed through the forest, often retain for hours the
+most delicious fragrance. In the season when they produce their lavish
+blossoms, they appear as if half-covered with snow. Towards the end
+of summer, various kinds of foreign birds hasten, impelled by some
+inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions on the other side of immense
+oceans, to feed upon the grain and other vegetable productions of the
+island; and the brilliancy of their plumage forms a striking contrast to
+the more sombre tints of the foliage embrowned by the sun. Among these
+are various kinds of parroquets, and the blue pigeon, called here the
+pigeon of Holland. Monkeys, the domestic inhabitants of our forests,
+sport upon the dark branches of the trees, from which they are easily
+distinguished by their gray and greenish skin, and their black visages.
+Some hang, suspended by the tail, and swing themselves in air; others
+leap from branch to branch, bearing their young in their arms. The
+murderous gun has never affrighted these peaceful children of nature.
+You hear nothing but sounds of joy,--the warblings and unknown notes of
+birds from the countries of the south, repeated from a distance by the
+echoes of the forest. The river, which pours, in foaming eddies, over
+a bed of rocks, through the midst of the woods, reflects here and there
+upon its limpid waters their venerable masses of verdure and of shade,
+along with the sports of their happy inhabitants. About a thousand paces
+from thence it forms several cascades, clear as crystal in their fall,
+but broken at the bottom into frothy surges. Innumerable confused sounds
+issue from these watery tumults, which, borne by the winds across the
+forest, now sink in distance, now all at once swell out, booming on the
+ear like the bells of a cathedral. The air, kept ever in motion by
+the running water, preserves upon the banks of the river, amid all the
+summer heats, a freshness and verdure rarely found in this island, even
+on the summits of the mountains.
+
+At some distance from this place is a rock, placed far enough from the
+cascade to prevent the ear from being deafened with the noise of its
+waters, and sufficiently near for the enjoyment of seeing it, of feeling
+its coolness, and hearing its gentle murmurs. Thither, amidst the heats
+of summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia, Paul, and myself,
+sometimes repaired, to dine beneath the shadow of this rock. Virginia,
+who always, in her most ordinary actions, was mindful of the good of
+others, never ate of any fruit in the fields without planting the seed
+or kernel in the ground. "From this," said she, "trees will come, which
+will yield their fruit to some traveller, or at least to some bird."
+One day, having eaten of the papaw fruit at the foot of that rock, she
+planted the seeds on the spot. Soon after, several papaw trees sprang
+up, among which was one with female blossoms, that is to say, a
+fruit-bearing tree. This tree, at the time of Virginia's departure, was
+scarcely as high as her knee; but, as it is a plant of rapid growth, in
+the course of two years it had gained the height of twenty feet, and
+the upper part of its stem was encircled by several rows of ripe fruit.
+Paul, wandering accidentally to the spot, was struck with delight at
+seeing this lofty tree, which had been planted by his beloved; but the
+emotion was transient, and instantly gave place to a deep melancholy,
+at this evidence of her long absence. The objects which are habitually
+before us do not bring to our minds an adequate idea of the rapidity of
+life; they decline insensibly with ourselves: but it is those we behold
+again, that most powerfully impress us with a feeling of the swiftness
+with which the tide of life flows on. Paul was no less over-whelmed and
+affected at the sight of this great papaw tree, loaded with fruit, than
+is the traveller when, after a long absence from his own country, he
+finds his contemporaries no more, but their children, whom he left at
+the breast, themselves now become fathers of families. Paul sometimes
+thought of cutting down the tree, which recalled too sensibly the
+distracting remembrance of Virginia's prolonged absence. At other times,
+contemplating it as a monument of her benevolence, he kissed its trunk,
+and apostrophized it in terms of the most passionate regret. Indeed,
+I have myself gazed upon it with more emotion and more veneration than
+upon the triumphal arches of Rome. May nature, which every day destroys
+the monuments of kingly ambition, multiply in our forests those which
+testify the beneficence of a poor young girl!
+
+At the foot of this papaw tree I was always sure to meet with Paul when
+he came into our neighbourhood. One day, I found him there absorbed in
+melancholy and a conversation took place between us, which I will relate
+to you, if I do not weary you too much by my long digressions; they are
+perhaps pardonable to my age and to my last friendships. I will relate
+it to you in the form of a dialogue, that you may form some idea of the
+natural good sense of this young man. You will easily distinguish the
+speakers, from the character of his questions and of my answers.
+
+_Paul._--I am very unhappy. Mademoiselle de la Tour has now been gone
+two years and eight months and a half. She is rich, and I am poor;
+she has forgotten me. I have a great mind to follow her. I will go
+to France; I will serve the king; I will make my fortune; and then
+Mademoiselle de la Tour's aunt will bestow her niece upon me when I
+shall have become a great lord.
+
+_The Old Man._--But, my dear friend, have not you told me that you are
+not of noble birth?
+
+_Paul._--My mother has told me so; but, as for myself, I know not what
+noble birth means. I never perceived that I had less than others, or
+that others had more than I.
+
+_The Old Man._--Obscure birth, in France, shuts every door of access to
+great employments; nor can you even be received among any distinguished
+body of men, if you labour under this disadvantage.
+
+_Paul._--You have often told me that it was one source of the greatness
+of France that her humblest subject might attain the highest honours;
+and you have cited to me many instances of celebrated men who, born in
+a mean condition, had conferred honour upon their country. It was your
+wish, then, by concealing the truth to stimulate my ardour?
+
+_The Old Man._--Never, my son, would I lower it. I told you the truth
+with regard to the past; but now, every thing has undergone a great
+change. Every thing in France is now to be obtained by interest alone;
+every place and employment is now become as it were the patrimony of a
+small number of families, or is divided among public bodies. The king
+is a sun, and the nobles and great corporate bodies surround him like so
+many clouds; it is almost impossible for any of his rays to reach you.
+Formerly, under less exclusive administrations, such phenomena have been
+seen. Then talents and merit showed themselves every where, as newly
+cleared lands are always loaded with abundance. But great kings, who can
+really form a just estimate of men, and choose them with judgment, are
+rare. The ordinary race of monarchs allow themselves to be guided by the
+nobles and people who surround them.
+
+_Paul._--But perhaps I shall find one of these nobles to protect me.
+
+_The Old Man._--To gain the protection of the great you must lend
+yourself to their ambition, and administer to their pleasures. You would
+never succeed; for, in addition to your obscure birth, you have too much
+integrity.
+
+_Paul._--But I will perform such courageous actions, I will be so
+faithful to my word, so exact in the performance of my duties, so
+zealous and so constant in my friendships, that I will render myself
+worthy to be adopted by some one of them. In the ancient histories, you
+have made me read, I have seen many examples of such adoptions.
+
+_The Old Man._--Oh, my young friend! among the Greeks and Romans, even
+in their decline, the nobles had some respect for virtue; but out of
+all the immense number of men, sprung from the mass of the people, in
+France, who have signalized themselves in every possible manner, I
+do not recollect a single instance of one being adopted by any great
+family. If it were not for our kings, virtue, in our country, would
+be eternally condemned as plebeian. As I said before, the monarch
+sometimes, when he perceives it, renders to it due honour; but in the
+present day, the distinctions which should be bestowed on merit are
+generally to be obtained by money alone.
+
+_Paul._--If I cannot find a nobleman to adopt me, I will seek to please
+some public body. I will espouse its interests and its opinions: I will
+make myself beloved by it.
+
+_The Old Man._--You will act then like other men?--you will renounce
+your conscience to obtain a fortune?
+
+_Paul._--Oh no! I will never lend myself to any thing but the truth.
+
+_The Old Man._--Instead of making yourself beloved, you would become an
+object of dislike. Besides, public bodies have never taken much interest
+in the discovery of truth. All opinions are nearly alike to ambitious
+men, provided only that they themselves can gain their ends.
+
+_Paul._--How unfortunate I am! Every thing bars my progress. I am
+condemned to pass my life in ignoble toil, far from Virginia.
+
+As he said this he sighed deeply.
+
+_The Old Man._--Let God be your patron, and mankind the public body
+you would serve. Be constantly attached to them both. Families,
+corporations, nations and kings have, all of them, their prejudices and
+their passions; it is often necessary to serve them by the practice of
+vice: God and mankind at large require only the exercise of the virtues.
+
+But why do you wish to be distinguished from other men? It is hardly a
+natural sentiment, for, if all men possessed it, every one would be at
+constant strife with his neighbour. Be satisfied with fulfilling your
+duty in the station in which Providence has placed you; be grateful for
+your lot, which permits you to enjoy the blessing of a quiet conscience,
+and which does not compel you, like the great, to let your happiness
+rest on the opinion of the little, or, like the little, to cringe to the
+great, in order to obtain the means of existence. You are now placed
+in a country and a condition in which you are not reduced to deceive or
+flatter any one, or debase yourself, as the greater part of those who
+seek their fortune in Europe are obliged to do; in which the exercise
+of no virtue is forbidden you; in which you may be, with impunity, good,
+sincere, well-informed, patient, temperate, chaste, indulgent to others'
+faults, pious and no shaft of ridicule be aimed at you to destroy your
+wisdom, as yet only in its bud. Heaven has given you liberty, health, a
+good conscience, and friends; kings themselves, whose favour you desire,
+are not so happy.
+
+_Paul._--Ah! I only want to have Virginia with me: without her I have
+nothing,--with her, I should possess all my desire. She alone is to me
+birth, glory, and fortune. But, since her relations will only give her
+to some one with a great name, I will study. By the aid of study and of
+books, learning and celebrity are to be attained. I will become a man of
+science: I will render my knowledge useful to the service of my country,
+without injuring any one, or owning dependence on any one. I will become
+celebrated, and my glory shall be achieved only by myself.
+
+_The Old Man._--My son, talents are a gift yet more rare than either
+birth or riches, and undoubtedly they are a greater good than either,
+since they can never be taken away from us, and that they obtain for
+us every where public esteem. But they may be said to be worth all
+that they cost us. They are seldom acquired but by every species of
+privation, by the possession of exquisite sensibility, which often
+produces inward unhappiness, and which exposes us without to the malice
+and persecutions of our contemporaries. The lawyer envies not, in
+France, the glory of the soldier, nor does the soldier envy that of the
+naval officer; but they will all oppose you, and bar your progress to
+distinction, because your assumption of superior ability will wound
+the self-love of them all. You say that you will do good to men; but
+recollect, that he who makes the earth produce a single ear of corn
+more, renders them a greater service than he who writes a book.
+
+_Paul._--Oh! she, then, who planted this papaw tree, has made a more
+useful and more grateful present to the inhabitants of these forests
+than if she had given them a whole library.
+
+So saying, he threw his arms around the tree, and kissed it with
+transport.
+
+_The Old Man._--The best of books,--that which preaches nothing but
+equality, brotherly love, charity, and peace,--the Gospel, has served as
+a pretext, during many centuries, for Europeans to let loose all their
+fury. How many tyrannies, both public and private, are still practised
+in its name on the face of the earth! After this, who will dare to
+flatter himself that any thing he can write will be of service to his
+fellow men? Remember the fate of most of the philosophers who have
+preached to them wisdom. Homer, who clothes it in such noble verse,
+asked for alms all his life. Socrates, whose conversation and example
+gave such admirable lessons to the Athenians, was sentenced by them to
+be poisoned. His sublime disciple, Plato was delivered over to slavery
+by the order of the very prince who protected him; and, before them,
+Pythagoras, whose humanity extended even to animals, was burned alive
+by the Crotoniates. What do I say?--many even of these illustrious names
+have descended to us disfigured by some traits of satire by which
+they became characterized, human ingratitude taking pleasure in thus
+recognising them; and if, in the crowd, the glory of some names is come
+down to us without spot or blemish, we shall find that they who have
+borne them have lived far from the society of their contemporaries;
+like those statues which are found entire beneath the soil in Greece
+and Italy, and which, by being hidden in the bosom of the earth, have
+escaped uninjured, from the fury of the barbarians.
+
+You see, then, that to acquire the glory which a turbulent literary
+career can give you, you must not only be virtuous, but ready, if
+necessary, to sacrifice life itself. But, after all, do not fancy that
+the great in France trouble themselves about such glory as this. Little
+do they care for literary men, whose knowledge brings them neither
+honours, nor power, nor even admission at court. Persecution, it
+is true, is rarely practised in this age, because it is habitually
+indifferent to every thing except wealth and luxury; but knowledge and
+virtue no longer lead to distinction, since every thing in the state
+is to be purchased with money. Formerly, men of letters were certain
+of reward by some place in the church, the magistracy, or the
+administration; now they are considered good for nothing but to write
+books. But this fruit of their minds, little valued by the world at
+large, is still worthy of its celestial origin. For these books
+is reserved the privilege of shedding lustre on obscure virtue, of
+consoling the unhappy, of enlightening nations, and of telling the truth
+even to kings. This is, unquestionably, the most august commission with
+which Heaven can honour a mortal upon this earth. Where is the author
+who would not be consoled for the injustice or contempt of those who are
+the dispensers of the ordinary gifts of fortune, when he reflects that
+his work may pass from age to age, from nation to nation, opposing a
+barrier to error and to tyranny; and that, from amidst the obscurity
+in which he has lived, there will shine forth a glory which will efface
+that of the common herd of monarchs, the monuments of whose deeds perish
+in oblivion, notwithstanding the flatterers who erect and magnify them?
+
+_Paul._--Ah! I am only covetous of glory to bestow it on Virginia, and
+render her dear to the whole world. But can you, who know so much, tell
+me whether we shall ever be married? I should like to be a very learned
+man, if only for the sake of knowing what will come to pass.
+
+_The Old Man._--Who would live, my son, if the future were revealed
+to him?--when a single anticipated misfortune gives us so much useless
+uneasiness--when the foreknowledge of one certain calamity is enough
+to embitter every day that precedes it! It is better not to pry too
+curiously, even into the things which surround us. Heaven, which has
+given us the power of reflection to foresee our necessities, gave us
+also those very necessities to set limits to its exercise.
+
+_Paul._--You tell me that with money people in Europe acquire dignities
+and honours. I will go, then, to enrich myself in Bengal, and afterwards
+proceed to Paris, and marry Virginia. I will embark at once.
+
+_The Old Man._--What! would you leave her mother and yours?
+
+_Paul._--Why, you yourself have advised my going to the Indies.
+
+_The Old Man._--Virginia was then here; but you are now the only means
+of support both of her mother and of your own.
+
+_Paul._--Virginia will assist them by means of her rich relation.
+
+_The Old Man._--The rich care little for those, from whom no honour is
+reflected upon themselves in the world. Many of them have relations
+much more to be pitied than Madame de la Tour, who, for want of their
+assistance, sacrifice their liberty for bread, and pass their lives
+immured within the walls of a convent.
+
+_Paul._--Oh, what a country is Europe! Virginia must come back here.
+What need has she of a rich relation? She was so happy in these huts;
+she looked so beautiful and so well dressed with a red handkerchief or
+a few flowers around her head! Return, Virginia! leave your sumptuous
+mansions and your grandeur, and come back to these rocks,--to the shade
+of these woods and of our cocoa trees. Alas! you are perhaps even now
+unhappy!"--and he began to shed tears. "My father," continued he, "hide
+nothing from me; if you cannot tell me whether I shall marry Virginia,
+tell me at least if she loves me still, surrounded as she is by noblemen
+who speak to the king, and who go to see her."
+
+_The Old Man._--Oh, my dear friend! I am sure, for many reasons, that
+she loves you; but above all, because she is virtuous. At these words he
+threw himself on my neck in a transport of joy.
+
+_Paul._--But do you think that the women of Europe are false, as they
+are represented in the comedies and books which you have lent me?
+
+_The Old Man._--Women are false in those countries where men are
+tyrants. Violence always engenders a disposition to deceive.
+
+_Paul._--In what way can men tyrannize over women?
+
+_The Old Man._--In giving them in marriage without consulting their
+inclinations;--in uniting a young girl to an old man, or a woman of
+sensibility to a frigid and indifferent husband.
+
+_Paul._--Why not join together those who are suited to each other,--the
+young to the young, and lovers to those they love?
+
+_The Old Man._--Because few young men in France have property enough
+to support them when they are married, and cannot acquire it till the
+greater part of their life is passed. While young, they seduce the wives
+of others, and when they are old, they cannot secure the affections of
+their own. At first, they themselves are deceivers: and afterwards, they
+are deceived in their turn. This is one of the reactions of that eternal
+justice, by which the world is governed; an excess on one side is sure
+to be balanced by one on the other. Thus, the greater part of Europeans
+pass their lives in this twofold irregularity, which increases
+everywhere in the same proportion that wealth is accumulated in the
+hands of a few individuals. Society is like a garden, where shrubs
+cannot grow if they are overshadowed by lofty trees; but there is this
+wide difference between them,--that the beauty of a garden may result
+from the admixture of a small number of forest trees, while the
+prosperity of a state depends on the multitude and equality of its
+citizens, and not on a small number of very rich men.
+
+_Paul._--But where is the necessity of being rich in order to marry?
+
+_The Old Man._--In order to pass through life in abundance, without
+being obliged to work.
+
+_Paul._--But why not work? I am sure I work hard enough.
+
+_The Old Man._--In Europe, working with your hands is considered a
+degradation; it is compared to the labour performed by a machine. The
+occupation of cultivating the earth is the most despised of all. Even an
+artisan is held in more estimation than a peasant.
+
+_Paul._--What! do you mean to say that the art which furnishes food for
+mankind is despised in Europe? I hardly understand you.
+
+_The Old Man._--Oh! it is impossible for a person educated according to
+nature to form an idea of the depraved state of society. It is easy to
+form a precise notion of order, but not of disorder. Beauty, virtue,
+happiness, have all their defined proportions; deformity, vice, and
+misery have none.
+
+_Paul._--The rich then are always very happy! They meet with no
+obstacles to the fulfilment of their wishes, and they can lavish
+happiness on those whom they love.
+
+_The Old Man._--Far from it, my son! They are, for the most part
+satiated with pleasure, for this very reason,--that it costs them no
+trouble. Have you never yourself experienced how much the pleasure of
+repose is increased by fatigue; that of eating, by hunger; or that of
+drinking, by thirst? The pleasure also of loving and being loved is
+only to be acquired by innumerable privations and sacrifices. Wealth, by
+anticipating all their necessities, deprives its possessors of all these
+pleasures. To this ennui, consequent upon satiety, may also be added
+the pride which springs from their opulence, and which is wounded by
+the most trifling privation, when the greatest enjoyments have ceased to
+charm. The perfume of a thousand roses gives pleasure but for a moment;
+but the pain occasioned by a single thorn endures long after the
+infliction of the wound. A single evil in the midst of their pleasures
+is to the rich like a thorn among flowers; to the poor, on the contrary,
+one pleasure amidst all their troubles is a flower among a wilderness
+of thorns; they have a most lively enjoyment of it. The effect of every
+thing is increased by contrast; nature has balanced all things. Which
+condition, after all, do you consider preferable,--to have scarcely any
+thing to hope, and every thing to fear, or to have every thing to hope
+and nothing to fear? The former condition is that of the rich,
+the latter, that of the poor. But either of these extremes is with
+difficulty supported by man, whose happiness consists in a middle
+station of life, in union with virtue.
+
+_Paul._--What do you understand by virtue?
+
+_The Old Man._--To you, my son, who support your family by your labour,
+it need hardly be defined. Virtue consists in endeavouring to do all the
+good we can to others, with an ultimate intention of pleasing God alone.
+
+_Paul._--Oh! how virtuous, then, is Virginia! Virtue led her to seek for
+riches, that she might practise benevolence. Virtue induced her to quit
+this island, and virtue will bring her back to it.
+
+The idea of her speedy return firing the imagination of this young man,
+all his anxieties suddenly vanished. Virginia, he was persuaded, had not
+written, because she would soon arrive. It took so little time to come
+from Europe with a fair wind! Then he enumerated the vessels which had
+made this passage of four thousand five hundred leagues in less than
+three months; and perhaps the vessel in which Virginia had embarked
+might not be more than two. Ship-builders were now so ingenious, and
+sailors were so expert! He then talked to me of the arrangements he
+intended to make for her reception, of the new house he would build for
+her, and of the pleasures and surprises which he would contrive for her
+every day, when she was his wife. His wife! The idea filled him with
+ecstasy. "At least, my dear father," said he, "you shall then do no more
+work than you please. As Virginia will be rich, we shall have plenty of
+negroes, and they shall work for you. You shall always live with us, and
+have no other care than to amuse yourself and be happy;"--and, his heart
+throbbing with joy, he flew to communicate these exquisite anticipations
+to his family.
+
+In a short time, however, these enchanting hopes were succeeded by the
+most cruel apprehensions. It is always the effect of violent passions to
+throw the soul into opposite extremes. Paul returned the next day to my
+dwelling, overwhelmed with melancholy, and said to me,--"I hear nothing
+from Virginia. Had she left Europe she would have written me word of her
+departure. Ah! the reports which I have heard concerning her are but
+too well founded. Her aunt has married her to some great lord. She,
+like others, has been undone by the love of riches. In those books which
+paint women so well, virtue is treated but as a subject of romance. If
+Virginia had been virtuous, she would never have forsaken her mother
+and me. I do nothing but think of her, and she has forgotten me. I am
+wretched, and she is diverting herself. The thought distracts me; I
+cannot bear myself! Would to Heaven that war were declared in India! I
+would go there and die."
+
+"My son," I answered, "that courage which prompts us to court death is
+but the courage of a moment, and is often excited by the vain applause
+of men, or by the hopes of posthumous renown. There is another
+description of courage, rarer and more necessary, which enables us to
+support, without witness and without applause, the vexations of life;
+this virtue is patience. Relying for support, not upon the opinions
+of others, or the impulse of the passions, but upon the will of God,
+patience is the courage of virtue."
+
+"Ah!" cried he, "I am then without virtue! Every thing overwhelms me
+and drives me to despair."--"Equal, constant, and invariable virtue,"
+I replied, "belongs not to man. In the midst of the many passions which
+agitate us, our reason is disordered and obscured: but there is an
+everburning lamp, at which we can rekindle its flame; and that is,
+literature.
+
+"Literature, my dear son, is the gift of Heaven, a ray of that wisdom by
+which the universe is governed, and which man, inspired by a celestial
+intelligence, has drawn down to earth. Like the rays of the sun, it
+enlightens us, it rejoices us, it warms us with a heavenly flame, and
+seems, in some sort, like the element of fire, to bend all nature to
+our use. By its means we are enabled to bring around us all things, all
+places, all men, and all times. It assists us to regulate our manners
+and our life. By its aid, too, our passions are calmed, vice is
+suppressed, and virtue encouraged by the memorable examples of great and
+good men which it has handed down to us, and whose time-honoured images
+it ever brings before our eyes. Literature is a daughter of Heaven who
+has descended upon earth to soften and to charm away all the evils of
+the human race. The greatest writers have ever appeared in the worst
+times,--in times in which society can hardly be held together,--the
+times of barbarism and every species of depravity. My son, literature
+has consoled an infinite number of men more unhappy than yourself:
+Xenophon, banished from his country after having saved to her ten
+thousand of her sons; Scipio Africanus, wearied to death by the
+calumnies of the Romans; Lucullus, tormented by their cabals; and
+Catinat, by the ingratitude of a court. The Greeks, with their
+never-failing ingenuity, assigned to each of the Muses a portion of the
+great circle of human intelligence for her especial superintendence;
+we ought in the same manner, to give up to them the regulation of our
+passions, to bring them under proper restraint. Literature in this
+imaginative guise, would thus fulfil, in relation to the powers of
+the soul, the same functions as the Hours, who yoked and conducted the
+chariot of the Sun.
+
+"Have recourse to your books, then, my son. The wise who have written
+before our days are travellers who have preceded us in the paths of
+misfortune, and who stretch out a friendly hand towards us, and invite
+us to join in their society, when we are abandoned by every thing else.
+A good book is a good friend."
+
+"Ah!" cried Paul, "I stood in no need of books when Virginia was here,
+and she had studied as little as myself; but when she looked at me, and
+called me her friend, I could not feel unhappy."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said I, "there is no friend so agreeable as a mistress
+by whom we are beloved. There is, moreover, in woman a liveliness and
+gaiety, which powerfully tend to dissipate the melancholy feelings of a
+man; her presence drives away the dark phantoms of imagination produced
+by over-reflection. Upon her countenance sit soft attraction and tender
+confidence. What joy is not heightened when it is shared by her? What
+brow is not unbent by her smiles? What anger can resist her tears?
+Virginia will return with more philosophy than you, and will be quite
+surprised to find the garden so unfinished;--she who could think of its
+embellishments in spite of all the persecutions of her aunt, and when
+far from her mother and from you."
+
+The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated the drooping spirits of
+her lover, and he resumed his rural occupations, happy amidst his toils,
+in the reflection that they would soon find a termination so dear to the
+wishes of his heart.
+
+One morning, at break of day, (it was the 24th of December, 1744,)
+Paul, when he arose, perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain
+of Discovery. This flag he knew to be the signal of a vessel descried at
+sea. He instantly flew to the town to learn if this vessel brought any
+tidings of Virginia, and waited there till the return of the pilot,
+who was gone, according to custom, to board the ship. The pilot did not
+return till the evening, when he brought the governor information that
+the signalled vessel was the Saint-Geran, of seven hundred tons burthen,
+and commanded by a captain of the name of Aubin; that she was now
+four leagues out at sea, but would probably anchor at Port Louis the
+following afternoon, if the wind became fair: at present there was a
+calm. The pilot then handed to the governor a number of letters which
+the Saint-Geran had brought from France, among which was one addressed
+to Madame de la Tour, in the hand-writing of Virginia. Paul seized upon
+the letter, kissed it with transport, and placing it in his bosom, flew
+to the plantation. No sooner did he perceive from a distance the family,
+who were awaiting his return upon the rock of Adieus than he waved the
+letter aloft in the air, without being able to utter a word. No sooner
+was the seal broken, than they all crowded round Madame de la Tour,
+to hear the letter read. Virginia informed her mother that she had
+experienced much ill-usage from her aunt, who, after having in vain
+urged her to a marriage against her inclination, had disinherited
+her, and had sent her back at a time when she would probably reach
+the Mauritius during the hurricane season. In vain, she added, had she
+endeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she owed to her
+mother, and to her early habits; she was treated as a romantic girl,
+whose head had been turned by novels. She could now only think of the
+joy of again seeing and embracing her beloved family, and would have
+gratified her ardent desire at once, by landing in the pilot's boat, if
+the captain had allowed her: but that he had objected, on account of the
+distance, and of a heavy swell, which, notwithstanding the calm, reigned
+in the open sea.
+
+As soon as the letter was finished, the whole of the family, transported
+with joy, repeatedly exclaimed, "Virginia is arrived!" and mistresses
+and servants embraced each other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul,--"My
+son, go and inform our neighbour of Virginia's arrival." Domingo
+immediately lighted a torch of bois de ronde, and he and Paul bent their
+way towards my dwelling.
+
+It was about ten o'clock at night, and I was just going to extinguish my
+lamp, and retire to rest, when I perceived, through the palisades round
+my cottage, a light in the woods. Soon after, I heard the voice of Paul
+calling me. I instantly arose, and had hardly dressed myself, when
+Paul, almost beside himself, and panting for breath, sprang on my neck,
+crying,--"Come along, come along. Virginia is arrived. Let us go to the
+port; the vessel will anchor at break of day."
+
+Scarcely had he uttered the words, when we set off. As we were passing
+through the woods of the Sloping Mountain, and were already on the
+road which leads from the Shaddock Grove to the port, I heard some one
+walking behind us. It proved to be a negro, and he was advancing with
+hasty steps. When he had reached us, I asked him whence he came, and
+whither he was going with such expedition. He answered, "I come from
+that part of the island called Golden Dust; and am sent to the port, to
+inform the governor that a ship from France has anchored under the Isle
+of Amber. She is firing guns of distress, for the sea is very rough."
+Having said this, the man left us, and pursued his journey without any
+further delay.
+
+I then said to Paul,--"Let us go towards the quarter of the Golden Dust,
+and meet Virginia there. It is not more than three leagues from hence."
+We accordingly bent our course towards the northern part of the island.
+The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and was surrounded by
+three large black circles. A frightful darkness shrouded the sky; but
+the frequent flashes of lightning discovered to us long rows of thick
+and gloomy clouds, hanging very low, and heaped together over the centre
+of the island, being driven in with great rapidity from the ocean,
+although not a breath of air was perceptible upon the land. As we walked
+along, we thought we heard peals of thunder; but, on listening more
+attentively, we perceived that it was the sound of cannon at a distance,
+repeated by the echoes. These ominous sounds, joined to the tempestuous
+aspect of the heavens, made me shudder. I had little doubt of their
+being signals of distress from a ship in danger. In about half an hour
+the firing ceased, and I found the silence still more appalling than the
+dismal sounds which had preceded it.
+
+We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate to
+each other our mutual apprehensions. At midnight, by great exertion, we
+arrived at the sea shore, in that part of the island called Golden
+Dust. The billows were breaking against the bench with a horrible noise,
+covering the rocks and the strand with foam of a dazzling whiteness,
+blended with sparks of fire. By these phosphoric gleams we
+distinguished, notwithstanding the darkness, a number of fishing canoes,
+drawn up high upon the beach.
+
+At the entrance of a wood, a short distance from us, we saw a fire,
+round which a party of the inhabitants were assembled. We repaired
+thither, in order to rest ourselves till the morning. While we were
+seated near the fire, one of the standers-by related, that late in
+the afternoon he had seen a vessel in the open sea, driven towards the
+island by the currents; that the night had hidden it from his view; and
+that two hours after sunset he had heard the firing of signal guns
+of distress, but that the surf was so high, that it was impossible to
+launch a boat to go off to her; that a short time after, he thought he
+perceived the glimmering of the watch-lights on board the vessel, which,
+he feared, by its having approached so near the coast, had steered
+between the main land and the little island of Amber, mistaking the
+latter for the Point of Endeavour, near which vessels pass in order to
+gain Port Louis; and that, if this were the case, which, however, he
+would not take upon himself to be certain of, the ship, he thought,
+was in very great danger. Another islander informed us, that he had
+frequently crossed the channel which separates the isle of Amber from
+the coast, and had sounded it, that the anchorage was very good, and
+that the ship would there lie as safely as in the best harbour. "I
+would stake all I am worth upon it," said he, "and if I were on board,
+I should sleep as sound as on shore." A third bystander declared that
+it was impossible for the ship to enter that channel, which was scarcely
+navigable for a boat. He was certain, he said, that he had seen the
+vessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber; so that, if the wind rose
+in the morning, she would either put to sea, or gain the harbour.
+Other inhabitants gave different opinions upon this subject, which
+they continued to discuss in the usual desultory manner of the indolent
+Creoles. Paul and I observed a profound silence. We remained on this
+spot till break of day, but the weather was too hazy to admit of our
+distinguishing any object at sea, every thing being covered with fog.
+All we could descry to seaward was a dark cloud, which they told us was
+the isle of Amber, at the distance of a quarter of a league from the
+coast. On this gloomy day we could only discern the point of land on
+which we were standing, and the peaks of some inland mountains, which
+started out occasionally from the midst of the clouds that hung around
+them.
+
+At about seven in the morning we heard the sound of drums in the woods:
+it announced the approach of the governor, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais,
+who soon after arrived on horseback, at the head of a detachment of
+soldiers armed with muskets, and a crowd of islanders and negroes. He
+drew up his soldiers upon the beach, and ordered them to make a general
+discharge. This was no sooner done, than we perceived a glimmering light
+upon the water which was instantly followed by the report of a cannon.
+We judged that the ship was at no great distance and all ran towards
+that part whence the light and sound proceeded. We now discerned through
+the fog the hull and yards of a large vessel. We were so near to her,
+that notwithstanding the tumult of the waves, we could distinctly hear
+the whistle of the boatswain, and the shouts of the sailors, who cried
+out three times, VIVE LE ROI! this being the cry of the French in
+extreme danger, as well as in exuberant joy;--as though they wished
+to call their princes to their aid, or to testify to him that they are
+prepared to lay down their lives in his service.
+
+As soon as the Saint-Geran perceived that we were near enough to render
+her assistance, she continued to fire guns regularly at intervals of
+three minutes. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be
+lighted at certain distances upon the strand, and sent to all the
+inhabitants of the neighbourhood, in search of provisions, planks,
+cables, and empty barrels. A number of people soon arrived, accompanied
+by their negroes loaded with provisions and cordage, which they had
+brought from the plantations of Golden Dust, from the district of La
+Flaque, and from the river of the Ram part. One of the most aged of
+these planters, approaching the governor, said to him,--"We have heard
+all night hollow noises in the mountain; in the woods, the leaves of the
+trees are shaken, although there is no wind; the sea-birds seek refuge
+upon the land: it is certain that all these signs announce a hurricane."
+"Well, my friends," answered the governor, "we are prepared for it, and
+no doubt the vessel is also."
+
+Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. The
+centre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while their
+skirts were tinged with a copper-coloured hue. The air resounded with
+the cries of the tropic-birds, petrels, frigate-birds, and innumerable
+other sea-fowl, which notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere,
+were seen coming from every point of the horizon, to seek for shelter in
+the island.
+
+Towards nine in the morning we heard in the direction of the ocean the
+most terrific noise, like the sound of thunder mingled with that of
+torrents rushing down the steeps of lofty mountains. A general cry was
+heard of, "There is the hurricane!" and the next moment a frightful
+gust of wind dispelled the fog which covered the isle of Amber and its
+channel. The Saint-Geran then presented herself to our view, her deck
+crowded with people, her yards and topmasts lowered down, and her flag
+half-mast high, moored by four cables at her bow and one at her stern.
+She had anchored between the isle of Amber and the main land, inside
+the chain of reefs which encircles the island, and which she had passed
+through in a place where no vessel had ever passed before. She presented
+her head to the waves that rolled in from the open sea, and as each
+billow rushed into the narrow strait where she lay, her bow lifted to
+such a degree as to show her keel; and at the same moment her stern,
+plunging into the water, disappeared altogether from our sight, as if it
+were swallowed up by the surges. In this position, driven by the winds
+and waves towards the shore, it was equally impossible for her to return
+by the passage through which she had made her way; or, by cutting her
+cables, to strand herself upon the beach, from which she was separated
+by sandbanks and reefs of rocks. Every billow which broke upon the coast
+advanced roaring to the bottom of the bay, throwing up heaps of shingle
+to the distance of fifty feet upon the land; then, rushing back, laid
+bare its sandy bed, from which it rolled immense stones, with a hoarse
+and dismal noise. The sea, swelled by the violence of the wind, rose
+higher every moment; and the whole channel between this island and the
+isle of Amber was soon one vast sheet of white foam, full of yawning
+pits of black and deep billows. Heaps of this foam, more than six feet
+high, were piled up at the bottom of the bay; and the winds which swept
+its surface carried masses of it over the steep sea-bank, scattering it
+upon the land to the distance of half a league. These innumerable white
+flakes, driven horizontally even to the very foot of the mountains,
+looked like snow issuing from the bosom of the ocean. The appearance of
+the horizon portended a lasting tempest; the sky and the water seemed
+blended together. Thick masses of clouds, of a frightful form, swept
+across the zenith with the swiftness of birds, while others appeared
+motionless as rocks. Not a single spot of blue sky could be discerned in
+the whole firmament; and a pale yellow gleam only lightened up all the
+objects of the earth, the sea, and the skies.
+
+From the violent rolling of the ship, what we all dreaded happened at
+last. The cables which held her bow were torn away: she then swung to a
+single hawser, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the distance
+of half a cable's length from the shore. A general cry of horror issued
+from the spectators. Paul rushed forward to throw himself into the
+sea, when, seizing him by the arm, "My son," I exclaimed, "would you
+perish?"--"Let me go to save her," he cried, "or let me die!" Seeing
+that despair had deprived him of reason, Domingo and I, in order to
+preserve him, fastened a long cord around his waist, and held it fast
+by the end. Paul then precipitated himself towards the Saint-Geran,
+now swimming, and now walking upon the rocks. Sometimes he had hopes of
+reaching the vessel, which the sea, by the reflux of its waves, had left
+almost dry, so that you could have walked round it on foot; but suddenly
+the billows, returning with fresh fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of
+water, which then lifted it upright upon its keel. The breakers at the
+same moment threw the unfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs
+bathed in blood, his bosom wounded, and himself half dead. The moment
+he had recovered the use of his senses, he arose, and returned with new
+ardour towards the vessel, the parts of which now yawned asunder from
+the violent strokes of the billows. The crew then, despairing of their
+safety, threw themselves in crowds into the sea, upon yards, planks,
+hen-coops, tables, and barrels. At this moment we beheld an object
+which wrung our hearts with grief and pity; a young lady appeared in the
+stern-gallery of the Saint-Geran, stretching out her arms towards him
+who was making so many efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had
+discovered her lover by his intrepidity. The sight of this amiable girl,
+exposed to such horrible danger, filled us with unutterable despair. As
+for Virginia, with a firm and dignified mien, she waved her hand, as
+if bidding us an eternal farewell. All the sailors had flung themselves
+into the sea, except one, who still remained upon the deck, and who
+was naked, and strong as Hercules. This man approached Virginia with
+respect, and, kneeling at her feet, attempted to force her to throw
+off her clothes; but she repulsed him with modesty, and turned away
+her head. Then were heard redoubled cries from the spectators, "Save
+her!--save her!--do not leave her!" But at that moment a mountain
+billow, of enormous magnitude, ingulfed itself between the isle of Amber
+and the coast, and menaced the shattered vessel, towards which it rolled
+bellowing, with its black sides and foaming head. At this terrible
+sight the sailor flung himself into the sea; and Virginia, seeing death
+inevitable, crossed her hands upon her breast, and raising upwards her
+serene and beauteous eyes, seemed an angel prepared to take her flight
+to Heaven.
+
+Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the relentless
+billows. The surge threw some of the spectators, whom an impulse of
+humanity had prompted to advance towards Virginia, far upon the beach,
+and also the sailor who had endeavoured to save her life. This man,
+who had escaped from almost certain death, kneeling on the sand,
+exclaimed,--"Oh, my God! thou hast saved my life, but I would have given
+it willingly for that excellent young lady, who had persevered in not
+undressing herself as I had done." Domingo and I drew the unfortunate
+Paul to the ashore. He was senseless, and blood was flowing from his
+mouth and ears. The governor ordered him to be put into the hands of a
+surgeon, while we, on our part, wandered along the beach, in hopes
+that the sea would throw up the corpse of Virginia. But the wind having
+suddenly changed, as it frequently happens during hurricanes, our search
+was in vain; and we had the grief of thinking that we should not be able
+to bestow on this sweet and unfortunate girl the last sad duties. We
+retired from the spot overwhelmed with dismay, and our minds wholly
+occupied by one cruel loss, although numbers had perished in the wreck.
+Some of the spectators seemed tempted, from the fatal destiny of this
+virtuous girl, to doubt the existence of Providence: for there are in
+life such terrible, such unmerited evils, that even the hope of the wise
+is sometimes shaken.
+
+In the meantime Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to a
+house in the neighbourhood, till he was in a fit state to be removed
+to his own home. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, to discharge the
+melancholy duty of preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the
+disastrous event which had happened. When we had reached the entrance of
+the valley of the river of Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that
+the sea had thrown up many pieces of the wreck in the opposite bay. We
+descended towards it and one of the first objects that struck my sight
+upon the beach was the corpse of Virginia. The body was half covered
+with sand, and preserved the attitude in which we had seen her perish.
+Her features were not sensibly changed, her eyes were closed, and her
+countenance was still serene; but the pale purple hues of death were
+blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of her hands
+was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on her heart,
+was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with difficulty that I
+took from its grasp a small box. How great was my emotion when I saw
+that it contained the picture of Paul, which she had promised him never
+to part with while she lived! As for Domingo, he beat his breast, and
+pierced the air with his shrieks. With heavy hearts we then carried the
+body of Virginia to a fisherman's hut, and gave it in charge of some
+poor Malabar women, who carefully washed away the sand.
+
+While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended the hill
+with trembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la Tour and
+Margaret at prayer; hourly expecting to have tidings from the ship. As
+soon as Madame de la Tour saw me coming, she eagerly cried,--"Where
+is my daughter--my dear daughter--my child?" My silence and my tears
+apprised her of her misfortune. She was instantly seized with a
+convulsive stopping of the breath and agonizing pains, and her voice was
+only heard in sighs and groans. Margaret cried, "Where is my son? I do
+not see my son!" and fainted. We ran to her assistance. In a short time
+she recovered, and being assured that Paul was safe, and under the care
+of the governor, she thought of nothing but of succouring her friend,
+who recovered from one fainting fit only to fall into another. Madame de
+la Tour passed the whole night in these cruel sufferings, and I became
+convinced that there was no sorrow like that of a mother. When she
+recovered her senses, she cast a fixed, unconscious look towards heaven.
+In vain her friend and myself pressed her hands in ours: in vain we
+called upon her by the most tender names; she appeared wholly insensible
+to these testimonials of our affection, and no sound issued from her
+oppressed bosom, but deep and hollow moans.
+
+During the morning Paul was carried home in a palanquin. He had now
+recovered the use of his reason, but was unable to utter a word. His
+interview with his mother and Madame de la Tour, which I had dreaded,
+produced a better effect than all my cares. A ray of consolation gleamed
+on the countenances of the two unfortunate mothers. They pressed close
+to him, clasped him in their arms, and kissed him: their tears, which
+excess of anguish had till now dried up at the source, began to flow.
+Paul mixed his tears with theirs; and nature having thus found relief,
+a long stupor succeeded the convulsive pangs they had suffered, and
+afforded them a lethargic repose, which was in truth, like that of
+death.
+
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse
+of Virginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it was
+to be transferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I immediately
+went down to Port Louis, where I found a multitude assembled from all
+parts of the island, in order to be present at the funeral solemnity,
+as if the isle had lost that which was nearest and dearest to it. The
+vessels in the harbour had their yards crossed, their flags half-mast,
+and fired guns at long intervals. A body of grenadiers led the funeral
+procession, with their muskets reversed, their muffled drums sending
+forth slow and dismal sounds. Dejection was depicted in the countenance
+of these warriors, who had so often braved death in battle without
+changing colour. Eight young ladies of considerable families of the
+island, dressed in white, and bearing palm-branches in their hands,
+carried the corpse of their amiable companion, which was covered with
+flowers. They were followed by a chorus of children, chanting hymns, and
+by the governor, his field officers, all the principal inhabitants of
+the island, and an immense crowd of people.
+
+This imposing funeral solemnity had been ordered by the administration
+of the country, which was desirous of doing honour to the virtues of
+Virginia. But when the mournful procession arrived at the foot of this
+mountain, within sight of those cottages of which she had been so long
+an inmate and an ornament, diffusing happiness all around them, and
+which her loss had now filled with despair, the funeral pomp was
+interrupted, the hymns and anthems ceased, and the whole plain resounded
+with sighs and lamentations. Numbers of young girls ran from the
+neighbouring plantations, to touch the coffin of Virginia with their
+handkerchiefs, and with chaplets and crowns of flowers, invoking her as
+a saint. Mothers asked of heaven a child like Virginia; lovers, a heart
+as faithful; the poor, as tender a friend; and the slaves as kind a
+mistress.
+
+When the procession had reached the place of interment, some negresses
+of Madagascar and Caffres of Mozambique placed a number of baskets of
+fruit around the corpse, and hung pieces of stuff upon the adjoining
+trees, according to the custom of their several countries. Some Indian
+women from Bengal also, and from the coast of Malabar, brought cages
+full of small birds, which they set at liberty upon her coffin.
+Thus deeply did the loss of this amiable being affect the natives
+of different countries, and thus was the ritual of various religions
+performed over the tomb of unfortunate virtue.
+
+It became necessary to place guards round her grave, and to employ
+gentle force in removing some of the daughters of the neighbouring
+villagers, who endeavoured to throw themselves into it, saying that
+they had no longer any consolation to hope for in this world, and that
+nothing remained for them but to die with their benefactress.
+
+On the western side of the church of the Shaddock Grove is a small copse
+of bamboos, where, in returning from mass with her mother and Margaret,
+Virginia loved to rest herself, seated by the side of him whom she then
+called her brother. This was the spot selected for her interment.
+
+At his return from the funeral solemnity, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+came up here, followed by part of his numerous retinue. He offered
+Madame de la Tour and her friend all the assistance it was in his power
+to bestow. After briefly expressing his indignation at the conduct of
+her unnatural aunt, he advanced to Paul, and said every thing which he
+thought most likely to soothe and console him. "Heaven is my witness,"
+said he, "that I wished to insure your happiness, and that of your
+family. My dear friend, you must go to France; I will obtain a
+commission for you, and during your absence I will take the same care
+of your mother as if she were my own." He then offered him his hand; but
+Paul drew away and turned his head aside, unable to bear his sight.
+
+I remained for some time at the plantation of my unfortunate friends,
+that I might render to them and Paul those offices of friendship that
+were in my power, and which might alleviate, though they could not heal
+the wounds of calamity. At the end of three weeks Paul was able to
+walk; but his mind seemed to droop in proportion as his body gathered
+strength. He was insensible to every thing; his look was vacant; and
+when asked a question, he made no reply. Madame de la Tour, who was
+dying said to him often,--"My son, while I look at you, I think I see my
+dear Virginia." At the name of Virginia he shuddered, and hastened away
+from her, notwithstanding the entreaties of his mother, who begged him
+to come back to her friend. He used to go alone into the garden, and
+seat himself at the foot of Virginia's cocoa-tree, with his eyes fixed
+upon the fountain. The governor's surgeon, who had shown the most humane
+attention to Paul and the whole family, told us that in order to cure
+the deep melancholy which had taken possession of his mind, we must
+allow him to do whatever he pleased, without contradiction: this, he
+said, afforded the only chance of overcoming the silence in which he
+persevered.
+
+I resolved to follow this advice. The first use which Paul made of his
+returning strength was to absent himself from the plantation. Being
+determined not to lose sight of him I set out immediately, and desired
+Domingo to take some provisions and accompany us. The young man's
+strength and spirits seemed renewed as he descended the mountain. He
+first took the road to the Shaddock Grove, and when he was near the
+church, in the Alley of Bamboos, he walked directly to the spot where
+he saw some earth fresh turned up; kneeling down there, and raising
+his eyes to heaven, he offered up a long prayer. This appeared to me
+a favourable symptom of the return of his reason; since this mark of
+confidence in the Supreme Being showed that his mind was beginning to
+resume its natural functions. Domingo and I, following his example, fell
+upon our knees, and mingled our prayers with his. When he arose, he bent
+his way, paying little attention to us, towards the northern part of the
+island. As I knew that he was not only ignorant of the spot where the
+body of Virginia had been deposited, but even of the fact that it had
+been recovered from the waves, I asked him why he had offered up his
+prayer at the foot of those bamboos. He answered,--"We have been there
+so often."
+
+He continued his course until we reached the borders of the forest, when
+night came on. I set him the example of taking some nourishment, and
+prevailed on him to do the same; and we slept upon the grass, at the
+foot of a tree. The next day I thought he seemed disposed to retrace his
+steps; for, after having gazed a considerable time from the plain upon
+the church of the Shaddock Grove, with its long avenues of bamboos, he
+made a movement as if to return home; but suddenly plunging into the
+forest, he directed his course towards the north. I guessed what was his
+design, and I endeavoured, but in vain, to dissuade him from it. About
+noon we arrived at the quarter of Golden Dust. He rushed down to the
+sea-shore, opposite to the spot where the Saint-Geran had been wrecked.
+At the sight of the isle of Amber, and its channel, when smooth as
+a mirror, he exclaimed,--"Virginia! oh my dear Virginia!" and fell
+senseless. Domingo and I carried him into the woods, where we had some
+difficulty in recovering him. As soon as he regained his senses, he
+wished to return to the sea-shore; but we conjured him not to renew his
+own anguish and ours by such cruel remembrances, and he took another
+direction. During a whole week he sought every spot where he had once
+wandered with the companion of his childhood. He traced the path by
+which she had gone to intercede for the slave of the Black River. He
+gazed again upon the banks of the river of the Three Breasts, where she
+had rested herself when unable to walk further, and upon that part of
+the wood where they had lost their way. All the haunts, which recalled
+to his memory the anxieties, the sports, the repasts, the benevolence
+of her he loved,--the river of the Sloping Mountain, my house, the
+neighbouring cascade, the papaw tree she had planted, the grassy fields
+in which she loved to run, the openings of the forest where she used to
+sing, all in succession called forth his tears; and those very echoes
+which had so often resounded with their mutual shouts of joy, now
+repeated only these accents of despair,--"Virginia! oh, my dear
+Virginia!"
+
+During this savage and wandering life, his eyes became sunk and hollow,
+his skin assumed a yellow tint, and his health rapidly declined.
+Convinced that our present sufferings are rendered more acute by the
+bitter recollection of bygone pleasures, and that the passions gather
+strength in solitude, I resolved to remove my unfortunate friend from
+those scenes which recalled the remembrance of his loss, and to lead him
+to a more busy part of the island. With this view, I conducted him to
+the inhabited part of the elevated quarter of Williams, which he had
+never visited, and where the busy pursuits of agriculture and commerce
+ever occasioned much bustle and variety. Numbers of carpenters were
+employed in hewing down and squaring trees, while others were sawing
+them into planks; carriages were continually passing and repassing on
+the roads; numerous herds of oxen and troops of horses were feeding on
+those wide-spread meadows, and the whole country was dotted with the
+dwellings of man. On some spots the elevation of the soil permitted the
+culture of many of the plants of Europe: the yellow ears of ripe corn
+waved upon the plains; strawberry plants grew in the openings of
+the woods, and the roads were bordered by hedges of rose-trees. The
+freshness of the air, too, giving tension to the nerves, was favourable
+to the health of Europeans. From those heights, situated near the middle
+of the island, and surrounded by extensive forests, neither the sea, nor
+Port Louis, nor the church of the Shaddock Grove, nor any other object
+associated with the remembrance of Virginia could de discerned. Even
+the mountains, which present various shapes on the side of Port
+Louis, appear from hence like a long promontory, in a straight and
+perpendicular line, from which arise lofty pyramids of rock, whose
+summits are enveloped in the clouds.
+
+Conducting Paul to these scenes, I kept him continually in action,
+walking with him in rain and sunshine, by day and by night. I sometimes
+wandered with him into the depths of the forests, or led him over
+untilled grounds, hoping that change of scene and fatigue might divert
+his mind from its gloomy meditations. But the soul of a lover finds
+everywhere the traces of the beloved object. Night and day, the calm
+of solitude and the tumult of crowds, are to him the same; time itself,
+which casts the shade of oblivion over so many other remembrances, in
+vain would tear that tender and sacred recollection from the heart. The
+needle, when touched by the loadstone, however it may have been moved
+from its position, is no sooner left to repose, than it returns to the
+pole of its attraction. So, when I inquired of Paul, as we wandered
+amidst the plains of Williams,--"Where shall we now go?" he pointed to
+the north, and said, "Yonder are our mountains; let us return home."
+
+I now saw that all the means I took to divert him from his melancholy
+were fruitless, and that no resource was left but an attempt to
+combat his passion by the arguments which reason suggested I answered
+him,--"Yes, there are the mountains where once dwelt your beloved
+Virginia; and here is the picture you gave her, and which she held, when
+dying, to her heart--that heart, which even in its last moments only
+beat for you." I then presented to Paul the little portrait which he
+had given to Virginia on the borders of the cocoa-tree fountain. At this
+sight a gloomy joy overspread his countenance. He eagerly seized the
+picture with his feeble hands, and held it to his lips. His oppressed
+bosom seemed ready to burst with emotion, and his eyes were filled with
+tears which had no power to flow.
+
+"My son," said I, "listen to one who is your friend, who was the friend
+of Virginia, and who, in the bloom of your hopes, has often endeavoured
+to fortify your mind against the unforeseen accidents of life. What
+do you deplore with so much bitterness? Is it your own misfortunes, or
+those of Virginia, which affect you so deeply?
+
+"Your own misfortunes are indeed severe. You have lost the most amiable
+of girls, who would have grown up to womanhood a pattern to her sex, one
+who sacrificed her own interests to yours: who preferred you to all that
+fortune could bestow, and considered you as the only recompense worthy
+of her virtues.
+
+"But might not this very object, from whom you expected the purest
+happiness, have proved to you a source of the most cruel distress?
+She had returned poor and disinherited; all you could henceforth
+have partaken with her was your labour. Rendered more delicate by her
+education, and more courageous by her misfortunes, you might have beheld
+her every day sinking beneath her efforts to share and lighten your
+fatigues. Had she brought you children, they would only have served to
+increase her anxieties and your own, from the difficulty of sustaining
+at once your aged parents and your infant family.
+
+"Very likely you will tell me that the governor would have helped you;
+but how do you know that in a colony where governors are so
+frequently changed, you would have had others like Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais?--that one might not have been sent destitute of good
+feeling and of morality?--that your young wife, in order, to procure
+some miserable pittance, might not have been obliged to seek his favour?
+Had she been weak you would have been to be pitied; and if she had
+remained virtuous, you would have continued poor: forced even to
+consider yourself fortunate if, on account of the beauty and virtue of
+your wife, you had not to endure persecution from those who had promised
+you protection.
+
+"It would have remained to you, you may say, to have enjoyed a pleasure
+independent of fortune,--that of protecting a loved being, who, in
+proportion to her own helplessness, had more attached herself to you.
+You may fancy that your pains and sufferings would have served to endear
+you to each other, and that your passion would have gathered strength
+from your mutual misfortunes. Undoubtedly virtuous love does find
+consolation even in such melancholy retrospects. But Virginia is no
+more; yet those persons still live, whom, next to yourself, she held
+most dear; her mother, and your own: your inconsolable affliction is
+bringing them both to the grave. Place your happiness, as she did hers,
+in affording them succour. My son, beneficence is the happiness of the
+virtuous: there is no greater or more certain enjoyment on the earth.
+Schemes of pleasure, repose, luxuries, wealth, and glory are not suited
+to man, weak, wandering, and transitory as he is. See how rapidly one
+step towards the acquisition of fortune has precipitated us all to the
+lowest abyss of misery! You were opposed to it, it is true; but who
+would not have thought that Virginia's voyage would terminate in her
+happiness and your own? an invitation from a rich and aged relation, the
+advice of a wise governor, the approbation of the whole colony, and the
+well-advised authority of her confessor, decided the lot of Virginia.
+Thus do we run to our ruin, deceived even by the prudence of those who
+watch over us: it would be better, no doubt, not to believe them, nor
+even to listen to the voice or lean on the hopes of a deceitful world.
+But all men,--those you see occupied in these plains, those who go
+abroad to seek their fortunes, and those in Europe who enjoy repose from
+the labours of others, are liable to reverses! not one is secure from
+losing, at some period, all that he most values,--greatness, wealth,
+wife, children, and friends. Most of these would have their sorrow
+increased by the remembrance of their own imprudence. But you have
+nothing with which you can reproach yourself. You have been faithful in
+your love. In the bloom of youth, by not departing from the dictates of
+nature, you evinced the wisdom of a sage. Your views were just,
+because they were pure, simple, and disinterested. You had, besides, on
+Virginia, sacred claims which nothing could countervail. You have lost
+her: but it is neither your own imprudence, nor your avarice, nor your
+false wisdom which has occasioned this misfortune, but the will of God,
+who had employed the passions of others to snatch from you the object of
+your love; God, from whom you derive everything, who knows what is most
+fitting for you, and whose wisdom has not left you any cause for the
+repentance and despair which succeed the calamities that are brought
+upon us by ourselves.
+
+"Vainly, in your misfortunes, do you say to yourself, 'I have not
+deserved them.' Is it then the calamity of Virginia--her death and her
+present condition that you deplore? She has undergone the fate allotted
+to all,--to high birth, to beauty, and even to empires themselves. The
+life of man, with all his projects, may be compared to a tower, at whose
+summit is death. When your Virginia was born, she was condemned to die;
+happily for herself, she is released from life before losing her mother,
+or yours, or you; saved, thus from undergoing pangs worse than those of
+death itself.
+
+"Learn then, my son, that death is a benefit to all men: it is the night
+of that restless day we call by the name of life. The diseases, the
+griefs, the vexations, and the fears, which perpetually embitter our
+life as long as we possess it, molest us no more in the sleep of death.
+If you inquire into the history of those men who appear to have been the
+happiest, you will find that they have bought their apparent felicity
+very dear; public consideration, perhaps, by domestic evils; fortune,
+by the loss of health; the rare happiness of being loved, by continual
+sacrifices; and often, at the expiration of a life devoted to the good
+of others, they see themselves surrounded only by false friends, and
+ungrateful relations. But Virginia was happy to her very last moment.
+When with us, she was happy in partaking of the gifts of nature; when
+far from us, she found enjoyment in the practice of virtue; and even at
+the terrible moment in which we saw her perish, she still had cause
+for self-gratulation. For, whether she cast her eyes on the assembled
+colony, made miserable by her expected loss, or on you, my son, who,
+with so much intrepidity, were endeavouring to save her, she must have
+seen how dear she was to all. Her mind was fortified against the future
+by the remembrance of her innocent life; and at that moment she received
+the reward which Heaven reserves for virtue,--a courage superior to
+danger. She met death with a serene countenance.
+
+"My son! God gives all the trials of life to virtue, in order to show
+that virtue alone can support them, and even find in them happiness and
+glory. When he designs for it an illustrious reputation, he exhibits it
+on a wide theatre, and contending with death. Then does the courage of
+virtue shine forth as an example, and the misfortunes to which it has
+been exposed receive for ever, from posterity, the tribute of their
+tears. This is the immortal monument reserved for virtue in a world
+where every thing else passes away, and where the names, even of the
+greater number of kings themselves, are soon buried in eternal oblivion.
+
+"Meanwhile Virginia still exists. My son, you see that every thing
+changes on this earth, but that nothing is ever lost. No art of man can
+annihilate the smallest particle of matter; can, then, that which
+has possessed reason, sensibility, affection, virtue, and religion be
+supposed capable of destruction, when the very elements with which it is
+clothed are imperishable? Ah! however happy Virginia may have been with
+us, she is now much more so. There is a God, my son; it is unnecessary
+for me to prove it to you, for the voice of all nature loudly proclaims
+it. The wickedness of mankind leads them to deny the existence of a
+Being, whose justice they fear. But your mind is fully convinced of
+his existence, while his works are ever before your eyes. Do you then
+believe that he would leave Virginia without recompense? Do you
+think that the same Power which inclosed her noble soul in a form so
+beautiful,--so like an emanation from itself, could not have saved her
+from the waves?--that he who has ordained the happiness of man here, by
+laws unknown to you, cannot prepare a still higher degree of felicity
+for Virginia by other laws, of which you are equally ignorant? Before
+we were born into this world, could we, do you imagine, even if we were
+capable of thinking at all, have formed any idea of our existence here?
+And now that we are in the middle of this gloomy and transitory life,
+can we foresee what is beyond the tomb, or in what manner we shall be
+emancipated from it? Does God, like man, need this little globe,
+the earth, as a theatre for the display of his intelligence and his
+goodness?--and can he only dispose of human life in the territory of
+death? There is not, in the entire ocean, a single drop of water which
+is not peopled with living beings appertaining to man: and does there
+exist nothing for him in the heavens above his head? What! is there no
+supreme intelligence, no divine goodness, except on this little spot
+where we are placed? In those innumerable glowing fires,--in those
+infinite fields of light which surround them, and which neither storms
+nor darkness can extinguish, is there nothing but empty space and an
+eternal void? If we, weak and ignorant as we are, might dare to assign
+limits to that Power from whom we have received every thing, we might
+possibly imagine that we were placed on the very confines of his empire,
+where life is perpetually struggling with death, and innocence for ever
+in danger from the power of tyranny!
+
+"Somewhere, then, without doubt, there is another world, where virtue
+will receive its reward. Virginia is now happy. Ah! if from the abode of
+angels she could hold communication with you, she would tell you, as she
+did when she bade you her last adieus,--'O, Paul! life is but a scene of
+trial. I have been obedient to the laws of nature, love, and virtue. I
+crossed the seas to obey the will of my relations; I sacrificed
+wealth in order to keep my faith; and I preferred the loss of life to
+disobeying the dictates of modesty. Heaven found that I had fulfilled my
+duties, and has snatched me for ever from all the miseries I might have
+endured myself, and all I might have felt for the miseries of others. I
+am placed far above the reach of all human evils, and you pity me! I
+am become pure and unchangeable as a particle of light, and you would
+recall me to the darkness of human life! O, Paul! O, my beloved friend!
+recollect those days of happiness, when in the morning we felt the
+delightful sensations excited by the unfolding beauties of nature; when
+we seemed to rise with the sun to the peaks of those rocks, and then
+to spread with his rays over the bosom of the forests. We experienced a
+delight, the cause of which we could not comprehend. In the innocence of
+our desires, we wished to be all sight, to enjoy the rich colours of
+the early dawn; all smell, to taste a thousand perfumes at once; all
+hearing, to listen to the singing of our birds; and all heart, to be
+capable of gratitude for those mingled blessings. Now, at the source
+of the beauty whence flows all that is delightful upon earth, my soul
+intuitively sees, hears, touches, what before she could only be made
+sensible of through the medium of our weak organs. Ah! what language can
+describe these shores of eternal bliss, which I inhabit for ever! All
+that infinite power and heavenly goodness could create to console the
+unhappy: all that the friendship of numberless beings, exulting in the
+same felicity can impart, we enjoy in unmixed perfection. Support,
+then, the trial which is now allotted to you, that you may heighten the
+happiness of your Virginia by love which will know no termination,--by a
+union which will be eternal. There I will calm your regrets, I will wipe
+away your tears. Oh, my beloved friend! my youthful husband! raise your
+thoughts towards the infinite, to enable you to support the evils of a
+moment.'"
+
+My own emotion choked my utterance. Paul, looking at me steadfastly,
+cried,--"She is no more! she is no more!" and a long fainting fit
+succeeded these words of woe. When restored to himself, he said, "Since
+death is good, and since Virginia is happy, I will die too, and be
+united to Virginia." Thus the motives of consolation I had offered,
+only served to nourish his despair. I was in the situation of a man
+who attempts to save a friend sinking in the midst of a flood, and who
+obstinately refuses to swim. Sorrow had completely overwhelmed his
+soul. Alas! the trials of early years prepare man for the afflictions of
+after-life; but Paul had never experienced any.
+
+I took him back to his own dwelling, where I found his mother and Madame
+de la Tour in a state of increased languor and exhaustion, but Margaret
+seemed to droop the most. Lively characters, upon whom petty troubles
+have but little effect, sink the soonest under great calamities.
+
+"O my good friend," said Margaret, "I thought last night I saw Virginia,
+dressed in white, in the midst of groves and delicious gardens. She said
+to me, 'I enjoy the most perfect happiness:' and then approaching Paul
+with a smiling air, she bore him away with her. While I was struggling
+to retain my son, I felt that I myself too was quitting the earth, and
+that I followed with inexpressible delight. I then wished to bid my
+friend farewell, when I saw that she was hastening after me, accompanied
+by Mary and Domingo. But the strangest circumstance remains yet to be
+told; Madame de la Tour has this very night had a dream exactly like
+mine in every possible respect."
+
+"My dear friend," I replied, "nothing, I firmly believe, happens in this
+world without the permission of God. Future events, too, are sometimes
+revealed in dreams."
+
+Madame de la Tour then related to me her dream which was exactly the
+same as Margaret's in every particular; and as I had never observed in
+either of these ladies any propensity to superstition, I was struck with
+the singular coincidence of their dreams, and I felt convinced that
+they would soon be realized. The belief that future events are sometimes
+revealed to us during sleep, is one that is widely diffused among the
+nations of the earth. The greatest men of antiquity have had faith in
+it; among whom may be mentioned Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
+the Scipios, the two Catos, and Brutus, none of whom were weak-minded
+persons. Both the Old and the New Testament furnish us with numerous
+instances of dreams that came to pass. As for myself, I need only, on
+this subject, appeal to my experience, as I have more than once had good
+reason to believe that superior intelligences, who interest themselves
+in our welfare, communicate with us in these visions of the night.
+Things which surpass the light of human reason cannot be proved by
+arguments derived from that reason; but still, if the mind of man is an
+image of that of God, since man can make known his will to the ends of
+the earth by secret missives, may not the Supreme Intelligence which
+governs the universe employ similar means to attain a like end? One
+friend consoles another by a letter, which, after passing through many
+kingdoms, and being in the hands of various individuals at enmity with
+each other, brings at last joy and hope to the breast of a single human
+being. May not in like manner the Sovereign Protector of innocence come
+in some secret way, to the help of a virtuous soul, which puts its trust
+in Him alone? Has He occasion to employ visible means to effect His
+purpose in this, whose ways are hidden in all His ordinary works?
+
+Why should we doubt the evidence of dreams? for what is our life,
+occupied as it is with vain and fleeting imaginations, other than a
+prolonged vision of the night?
+
+Whatever may be thought of this in general, on the present occasion the
+dreams of my friends were soon realized. Paul expired two months after
+the death of his Virginia, whose name dwelt on his lips in his expiring
+moments. About a week after the death of her son, Margaret saw her last
+hour approach with that serenity which virtue only can feel. She bade
+Madame de la Tour a most tender farewell, "in the certain hope," she
+said, "of a delightful and eternal re-union. Death is the greatest of
+blessings to us," added she, "and we ought to desire it. If life be a
+punishment, we should wish for its termination; if it be a trial, we
+should be thankful that it is short."
+
+The governor took care of Domingo and Mary, who were no longer able to
+labour, and who survived their mistresses but a short time. As for poor
+Fidele, he pined to death, soon after he had lost his master.
+
+I afforded an asylum in my dwelling to Madame de la Tour, who bore
+up under her calamities with incredible elevation of mind. She had
+endeavoured to console Paul and Margaret till their last moments, as if
+she herself had no misfortunes of her own to bear. When they were not
+more, she used to talk to me every day of them as of beloved friends,
+who were still living near her. She survived them however, but one
+month. Far from reproaching her aunt for the afflictions she had caused,
+her benign spirit prayed to God to pardon her, and to appease that
+remorse which we heard began to torment her, as soon as she had sent
+Virginia away with so much inhumanity.
+
+Conscience, that certain punishment of the guilty, visited with all its
+terrors the mind of this unnatural relation. So great was her torment,
+that life and death became equally insupportable to her. Sometimes she
+reproached herself with the untimely fate of her lovely niece, and with
+the death of her mother, which had immediately followed it. At other
+times she congratulated herself for having repulsed far from her two
+wretched creatures, who, she said, had both dishonoured their family
+by their grovelling inclinations. Sometimes, at the sight of the many
+miserable objects with which Paris abounds, she would fly into a rage,
+and exclaim,--"Why are not these idle people sent off to the colonies?"
+As for the notions of humanity, virtue and religion, adopted by all
+nations, she said, they were only the inventions of their rulers, to
+serve political purposes. Then, flying all at once to the other extreme,
+she abandoned herself to superstitious terrors, which filled her
+with mortal fears. She would then give abundant alms to the wealthy
+ecclesiastics who governed her, beseeching them to appease the wrath of
+God by the sacrifice of her fortune,--as if the offering to Him of the
+wealth she had withheld from the miserable could please her Heavenly
+Father! In her imagination she often beheld fields of fire, with burning
+mountains, wherein hideous spectres wandered about, loudly calling on
+her by name. She threw herself at her confessor's feet, imagining every
+description of agony and torture; for Heaven--just Heaven, always sends
+to the cruel the most frightful views of religion and a future state.
+
+Atheist, thus, and fanatic in turn, holding both life and death in equal
+horror, she lived on for several years. But what completed the torments
+of her miserable existence, was that very object to which she had
+sacrificed every natural affection. She was deeply annoyed at perceiving
+that her fortune must go, at her death, to relations whom she hated, and
+she determined to alienate as much of it as she could. They, however,
+taking advantage of her frequent attacks of low spirits, caused her to
+be secluded as a lunatic, and her affairs to be put into the hands of
+trustees. Her wealth, thus completed her ruin; and, as the possession
+of it had hardened her own heart, so did its anticipation corrupt the
+hearts of those who coveted it from her. At length she died; and, to
+crown her misery, she retained enough reason at last to be sensible that
+she was plundered and despised by the very persons whose opinions had
+been her rule of conduct during her whole life.
+
+On the same spot, and at the foot of the same shrubs as his Virginia,
+was deposited the body of Paul; and round about them lie the remains of
+their tender mothers and their faithful servants. No marble marks the
+spot of their humble graves, no inscription records their virtues;
+but their memory is engraven upon the hearts of those whom they have
+befriended, in indelible characters. Their spirits have no need of the
+pomp, which they shunned during their life; but if they still take an
+interest in what passes upon earth, they no doubt love to wander beneath
+the roofs of these humble dwellings, inhabited by industrious virtue, to
+console poverty discontented with its lot, to cherish in the hearts
+of lovers the sacred flame of fidelity, and to inspire a taste for
+the blessings of nature, a love of honest labour, and a dread of the
+allurements of riches.
+
+The voice of the people, which is often silent with regard to the
+monuments raised to kings, has given to some parts of this island names
+which will immortalize the loss of Virginia. Near the isle of Amber, in
+the midst of sandbanks, is a spot called The Pass of the Saint-Geran,
+from the name of the vessel which was there lost. The extremity of that
+point of land which you see yonder, three leagues off, half covered with
+water, and which the Saint-Geran could not double the night before the
+hurricane, is called the Cape of Misfortune; and before us, at the end
+of the valley, is the Bay of the Tomb, where Virginia was found buried
+in the sand; as if the waves had sought to restore her corpse to her
+family, that they might render it the last sad duties on those shores
+where so many years of her innocent life had been passed.
+
+Joined thus in death, ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united!
+unfortunate mothers! beloved family! these woods which sheltered you
+with their foliage,--these fountains which flowed for you,--these
+hill-sides upon which you reposed, still deplore your loss! No one has
+since presumed to cultivate that desolate spot of land, or to rebuild
+those humble cottages. Your goats are become wild: your orchards are
+destroyed; your birds are all fled, and nothing is heard but the cry of
+the sparrow-hawk, as it skims in quest of prey around this rocky basin.
+As for myself, since I have ceased to behold you, I have felt friendless
+and alone, like a father bereft of his children, or a traveller who
+wanders by himself over the face of the earth.
+
+Ending with these words, the good old man retired, bathed in tears; and
+my own, too, had flowed more than once during this melancholy recital.
+
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html
+   PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+   "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" >
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
+    <title>
+      Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+
+<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre</p>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Paul and Virginia</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Bernardin de Saint Pierre</div>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: March 25, 2006 [eBook #2127]<br />
+[Most recently updated: January 29, 2023]</p>
+<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
+  <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by:
+  Dagny; John Bickers and David Widger</p>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL AND VIRGINIA ***</div>
+
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      With A Memoir Of The Author
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> PAUL AND VIRGINIA </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In introducing to the Public the present edition of this well known and
+      affecting Tale,&mdash;the <i>chef d'œuvre</i> of its gifted author, the
+      Publishers take occasion to say, that it affords them no little
+      gratification, to apprise the numerous admirers of "Paul and Virginia,"
+      that the <i>entire</i> work of St. Pierre is now presented to them. All
+      the previous editions have been disfigured by interpolations, and
+      mutilated by numerous omissions and alterations, which have had the effect
+      of reducing it from the rank of a Philosophical Tale, to the level of a
+      mere story for children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the merits of "Paul and Virginia," it is hardly necessary to utter a
+      word; it tells its own story eloquently and impressively, and in a
+      language simple, natural and true, it touches the common heart of the
+      world. There are but few works that have obtained a greater degree of
+      popularity, none are more deserving it; and the Publishers cannot
+      therefore refrain from expressing a hope that their efforts in thus giving
+      a faithful transcript of the work,&mdash;an acknowledged classic by the
+      European world,&mdash;may be, in some degree, instrumental in awakening
+      here, at home, a taste for those higher works of Fancy, which, while they
+      seek to elevate and strengthen the understanding, instruct and purify the
+      heart. It is in this character that the Tale of "Paul and Virginia" ranks
+      pre-eminent. [Prepared from an edition published by Porter &amp; Coates,
+      Philadelphia, U.S.A.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Love of Nature, that strong feeling of enthusiasm which leads to profound
+      admiration of the whole works of creation, belongs, it may be presumed, to
+      a certain peculiarity of organization, and has, no doubt, existed in
+      different individuals from the beginning of the world. The old poets and
+      philosophers, romance writers, and troubadours, had all looked upon Nature
+      with observing and admiring eyes. They have most of them given
+      incidentally charming pictures of spring, of the setting sun, of
+      particular spots, and of favourite flowers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are few writers of note, of any country, or of any age, from whom
+      quotations might not be made in proof of the love with which they regarded
+      Nature. And this remark applies as much to religious and philosophic
+      writers as to poets,&mdash;equally to Plato, St. François de Sales, Bacon,
+      and Fenelon, as to Shakespeare, Racine, Calderon, or Burns; for from no
+      really philosophic or religious doctrine can the love of the works of
+      Nature be excluded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But before the days of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Buffon, and Bernardin de St.
+      Pierre, this love of Nature had not been expressed in all its intensity.
+      Until their day, it had not been written on exclusively. The lovers of
+      Nature were not, till then, as they may perhaps since be considered, a
+      sect apart. Though perfectly sincere in all the adorations they offered,
+      they were less entirely, and certainly less diligently and constantly, her
+      adorers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is the great praise of Bernardin de St. Pierre, that coming immediately
+      after Rousseau and Buffon, and being one of the most proficient writers of
+      the same school, he was in no degree their imitator, but perfectly
+      original and new. He intuitively perceived the immensity of the subject he
+      intended to explore, and has told us that no day of his life passed
+      without his collecting some valuable materials for his writings. In the
+      divine works of Nature, he diligently sought to discover her laws. It was
+      his early intention not to begin to write until he had ceased to observe;
+      but he found observation endless, and that he was "like a child who with a
+      shell digs a hole in the sand to receive the waters of the ocean." He
+      elsewhere humbly says, that not only the general history of Nature, but
+      even that of the smallest plant, was far beyond his ability. Before,
+      however, speaking further of him as an author, it will be necessary to
+      recapitulate the chief events of his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      HENRI-JACQUES BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE, was born at Havre in 1737. He
+      always considered himself descended from that Eustache de St. Pierre, who
+      is said by Froissart, (and I believe by Froissart only), to have so
+      generously offered himself as a victim to appease the wrath of Edward the
+      Third against Calais. He, with his companions in virtue, it is also said,
+      was saved by the intercession of Queen Philippa. In one of his smaller
+      works, Bernardin asserts this descent, and it was certainly one of which
+      he might be proud. Many anecdotes are related of his childhood, indicative
+      of the youthful author,&mdash;of his strong love of Nature, and his
+      humanity to animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That "the child is the father of the man," has been seldom more strongly
+      illustrated. There is a story of a cat, which, when related by him many
+      years afterwards to Rousseau, caused that philosopher to shed tears. At
+      eight years of age, he took the greatest pleasure in the regular culture
+      of his garden; and possibly then stored up some of the ideas which
+      afterwards appeared in the "Fraisier." His sympathy with all living things
+      was extreme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In "Paul and Virginia," he praises, with evident satisfaction, their meal
+      of milk and eggs, which had not cost any animal its life. It has been
+      remarked, and possibly with truth, that every tenderly disposed heart,
+      deeply imbued with a love of Nature, is at times somewhat Braminical. St.
+      Pierre's certainly was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When quite young, he advanced with a clenched fist towards a carter who
+      was ill-treating a horse. And when taken for the first time, by his
+      father, to Rouen, having the towers of the cathedral pointed out to him,
+      he exclaimed, "My God! how high they fly." Every one present naturally
+      laughed. Bernardin had only noticed the flight of some swallows who had
+      built their nests there. He thus early revealed those instincts which
+      afterwards became the guidance of his life: the strength of which possibly
+      occasioned his too great indifference to all monuments of art. The love of
+      study and of solitude were also characteristics of his childhood. His
+      temper is said to have been moody, impetuous, and intractable. Whether
+      this faulty temper may not have been produced or rendered worse by
+      mismanagement, cannot not be ascertained. It, undoubtedly became
+      afterwards, to St. Pierre a fruitful source of misfortune and of woe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reading of voyages was with him, even in childhood, almost a passion.
+      At twelve years of age, his whole soul was occupied by Robinson Crusoe and
+      his island. His romantic love of adventure seeming to his parents to
+      announce a predilection in favour of the sea, he was sent by them with one
+      of his uncles to Martinique. But St. Pierre had not sufficiently practised
+      the virtue of obedience to submit, as was necessary, to the discipline of
+      a ship. He was afterwards placed with the Jesuits at Caen, with whom he
+      made immense progress in his studies. But, it is to be feared, he did not
+      conform too well to the regulations of the college, for he conceived, from
+      that time, the greatest detestation for places of public education. And
+      this aversion he has frequently testified in his writings. While devoted
+      to his books of travels, he in turn anticipated being a Jesuit, a
+      missionary or a martyr; but his family at length succeeded in establishing
+      him at Rouen, where he completed his studies with brilliant success, in
+      1757. He soon after obtained a commission as an engineer, with a salary of
+      one hundred louis. In this capacity he was sent (1760) to Dusseldorf,
+      under the command of Count St. Germain. This was a career in which he
+      might have acquired both honour and fortune; but, most unhappily for St.
+      Pierre, he looked upon the useful and necessary etiquettes of life as so
+      many unworthy prejudices. Instead of conforming to them, he sought to
+      trample on them. In addition, he evinced some disposition to rebel against
+      his commander, and was unsocial with his equals. It is not, therefore, to
+      be wondered at, that at this unfortunate period of his existence, he made
+      himself enemies; or that, notwithstanding his great talents, or the
+      coolness he had exhibited in moments of danger, he should have been sent
+      back to France. Unwelcome, under these circumstances, to his family, he
+      was ill received by all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a lesson yet to be learned, that genius gives no charter for the
+      indulgence of error,&mdash;a truth yet <i>to be</i> remembered, that only
+      a small portion of the world will look with leniency on the failings of
+      the highly-gifted; and, that from themselves, the consequences of their
+      own actions can never be averted. It is yet, alas! <i>to be</i> added to
+      the convictions of the ardent in mind, that no degree of excellence in
+      science or literature, not even the immortality of a name can exempt its
+      possessor from obedience to moral discipline; or give him happiness,
+      unless "temper's image" be stamped on his daily words and actions. St.
+      Pierre's life was sadly embittered by his own conduct. The adventurous
+      life he led after his return from Dusseldorf, some of the circumstances of
+      which exhibited him in an unfavourable light to others, tended, perhaps,
+      to tinge his imagination with that wild and tender melancholy so prevalent
+      in his writings. A prize in the lottery had just doubled his very slender
+      means of existence, when he obtained the appointment of geographical
+      engineer, and was sent to Malta. The Knights of the Order were at this
+      time expecting to be attacked by the Turks. Having already been in the
+      service, it was singular that St. Pierre should have had the imprudence to
+      sail without his commission. He thus subjected himself to a thousand
+      disagreeables, for the officers would not recognize him as one of
+      themselves. The effects of their neglect on his mind were tremendous; his
+      reason for a time seemed almost disturbed by the mortifications he
+      suffered. After receiving an insufficient indemnity for the expenses of
+      his voyage, St. Pierre returned to France, there to endure fresh
+      misfortunes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not being able to obtain any assistance from the ministry or his family,
+      he resolved on giving lessons in the mathematics. But St. Pierre was less
+      adapted than most others for succeeding in the apparently easy, but really
+      ingenious and difficult, art of teaching. When education is better
+      understood, it will be more generally acknowledged, that, to impart
+      instruction with success, a teacher must possess deeper intelligence than
+      is implied by the profoundest skill in any one branch of science or of
+      art. All minds, even to the youngest, require, while being taught, the
+      utmost compliance and consideration; and these qualities can scarcely be
+      properly exercised without a true knowledge of the human heart, united to
+      much practical patience. St. Pierre, at this period of his life, certainly
+      did not possess them. It is probable that Rousseau, when he attempted in
+      his youth to give lessons in music, not knowing any thing whatever of
+      music, was scarcely less fitted for the task of instruction, than St.
+      Pierre with all his mathematical knowledge. The pressure of poverty drove
+      him to Holland. He was well received at Amsterdam, by a French refugee
+      named Mustel, who edited a popular journal there, and who procured him
+      employment, with handsome remuneration. St. Pierre did not, however,
+      remain long satisfied with this quiet mode of existence. Allured by the
+      encouraging reception given by Catherine II. to foreigners, he set out for
+      St. Petersburg. Here, until he obtained the protection of the Marechal de
+      Munich, and the friendship of Duval, he had again to contend with poverty.
+      The latter generously opened to him his purse and by the Marechal he was
+      introduced to Villebois, the Grand Master of Artillery, and by him
+      presented to the Empress. St. Pierre was so handsome, that by some of his
+      friends it was supposed, perhaps, too, hoped, that he would supersede
+      Orloff in the favor of Catherine. But more honourable illusions, though
+      they were but illusions, occupied his own mind. He neither sought nor
+      wished to captivate the Empress. His ambition was to establish a republic
+      on the shores of the lake Aral, of which in imitation of Plato or
+      Rousseau, he was to be the legislator. Pre-occupied with the reformation
+      of despotism, he did not sufficiently look into his own heart, or seek to
+      avoid a repetition of the same errors that had already changed friends
+      into enemies, and been such a terrible barrier to his success in life. His
+      mind was already morbid, and in fancying that others did not understand
+      him, he forgot that he did not understand others. The Empress, with the
+      rank of captain, bestowed on him a grant of fifteen hundred francs; but
+      when General Dubosquet proposed to take him with him to examine the
+      military position of Finland, his only anxiety seemed to be to return to
+      France: still he went to Finland; and his own notes of his occupations and
+      experiments on that expedition prove, that he gave himself up in all
+      diligence to considerations of attack and defence. He, who loved Nature so
+      intently, seems only to have seen in the extensive and majestic forests of
+      the north, a theatre of war. In this instance, he appears to have stifled
+      every emotion of admiration, and to have beheld, alike, cities and
+      countries in his character of military surveyor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his return to St. Petersburg, he found his protector Villebois,
+      disgraced. St. Pierre then resolved on espousing the cause of the Poles.
+      He went into Poland with a high reputation,&mdash;that of having refused
+      the favours of despotism, to aid the cause of liberty. But it was his
+      private life, rather than his public career, that was affected by his
+      residence in Poland. The Princess Mary fell in love with him, and,
+      forgetful of all considerations, quitted her family to reside with him.
+      Yielding, however, at length, to the entreaties of her mother, she
+      returned to her home. St. Pierre, filled with regret, resorted to Vienna;
+      but, unable to support the sadness which oppressed him, and imagining that
+      sadness to be shared by the Princess, he soon went back to Poland. His
+      return was still more sad than his departure; for he found himself
+      regarded by her who had once loved him, as an intruder. It is to this
+      attachment he alludes so touchingly in one of his letters. "Adieu! friends
+      dearer than the treasures of India! Adieu! forests of the North, that I
+      shall never see again!&mdash;tender friendship, and the still dearer
+      sentiment which surpassed it!&mdash;days of intoxication and of happiness
+      adeiu! adieu! We live but for a day, to die during a whole life!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter appears to one of St. Pierre's most partial biographers, as if
+      steeped in tears; and he speaks of his romantic and unfortunate adventure
+      in Poland, as the ideal of a poet's love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "To be," says M. Sainte-Beuve, "a great poet, and loved before he had
+      thought of glory! To exhale the first perfume of a soul of genius,
+      believing himself only a lover! To reveal himself, for the first time,
+      entirely, but in mystery!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In his enthusiasm, M. Sainte-Beuve loses sight of the melancholy sequel,
+      which must have left so sad a remembrance in St. Pierre's own mind. His
+      suffering, from this circumstance, may perhaps have conduced to his making
+      Virginia so good and true, and so incapable of giving pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1766, he returned to Havre; but his relations were by this time dead or
+      dispersed, and after six years of exile, he found himself once more in his
+      own country, without employment and destitute of pecuniary resources.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Baron de Breteuil at length obtained for him a commission as Engineer
+      to the Isle of France, whence he returned in 1771. In this interval, his
+      heart and imagination doubtless received the germs of his immortal works.
+      Many of the events, indeed, of the "Voyage à l'Ile de France," are to be
+      found modified by imagined circumstances in "Paul and Virginia." He
+      returned to Paris poor in purse, but rich in observation and mental
+      resources, and resolved to devote himself to literature. By the Baron de
+      Breteuil he was recommended to D'Alembert, who procured a publisher for
+      his "Voyage," and also introduced him to Mlle. de l'Espinasse. But no one,
+      in spite of his great beauty, was so ill calculated to shine or please in
+      society as St. Pierre. His manners were timid and embarrassed, and, unless
+      to those with whom he was very intimate, he scarcely appeared intelligent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is sad to think, that misunderstanding should prevail to such an
+      extent, and heart so seldom really speak to heart, in the intercourse of
+      the world, that the most humane may appear cruel, and the sympathizing
+      indifferent. Judging of Mlle. de l'Espinasse from her letters, and the
+      testimony of her contemporaries, it seems quite impossible that she could
+      have given pain to any one, more particularly to a man possessing St.
+      Pierre's extraordinary talent and profound sensibility. Both she and
+      D'Alembert were capable of appreciating him; but the society in which they
+      moved laughed at his timidity, and the tone of raillery in which they
+      often indulged was not understood by him. It is certain that he withdrew
+      from their circle with wounded and mortified feelings, and, in spite of an
+      explanatory letter from D'Alembert, did not return to it. The inflictors
+      of all this pain, in the meantime, were possibly as unconscious of the
+      meaning attached to their words, as were the birds of old of the augury
+      drawn from their flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St. Pierre, in his "Préambule de l'Arcadie," has pathetically and
+      eloquently described the deplorable state of his health and feelings,
+      after frequent humiliating disputes and disappointments had driven him
+      from society; or rather, when, like Rousseau, he was "self-banished" from
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was struck," he says, "with an extraordinary malady. Streams of fire,
+      like lightning, flashed before my eyes; every object appeared to me
+      double, or in motion: like Œdipus, I saw two suns. . . In the finest day
+      of summer, I could not cross the Seine in a boat without experiencing
+      intolerable anxiety. If, in a public garden, I merely passed by a piece of
+      water, I suffered from spasms and a feeling of horror. I could not cross a
+      garden in which many people were collected: if they looked at me, I
+      immediately imagined they were speaking ill of me." It was during this
+      state of suffering, that he devoted himself with ardour to collecting and
+      making use of materials for that work which was to give glory to his name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was only by perseverance, and disregarding many rough and discouraging
+      receptions, that he succeeded in making acquaintance with Rousseau, whom
+      he so much resembled. St. Pierre devoted himself to his society with
+      enthusiasm, visiting him frequently and constantly, till Rousseau departed
+      for Ermenonville. It is not unworthy of remark, that both these men, such
+      enthusiastic admirers of Nature and the natural in all things, should have
+      possessed factitious rather than practical virtue, and a wisdom wholly
+      unfitted for the world. St. Pierre asked Rousseau, in one of their
+      frequent rambles, if, in delineating St. Preux, he had not intended to
+      represent himself. "No," replied Rousseau, "St. Preux is not what I have
+      been, but what I wished to be." St. Pierre would most likely have given
+      the same answer, had a similar question been put to him with regard to the
+      Colonel in "Paul and Virginia." This at least, appears the sort of old age
+      he loved to contemplate, and wished to realize.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For six years, he worked at his "Etudes," and with some difficulty found a
+      publisher for them. M. Didot, a celebrated typographer, whose daughter St.
+      Pierre afterwards married, consented to print a manuscript which had been
+      declined by many others. He was well rewarded for the undertaking. The
+      success of the "Etudes de la Nature" surpassed the most sanguine
+      expectation, even of the author. Four years after its publication, St.
+      Pierre gave to the world "Paul and Virginia," which had for some time been
+      lying in his portfolio. He had tried its effect, in manuscript, on persons
+      of different characters and pursuits. They had given it no applause; but
+      all had shed tears at its perusal: and perhaps, few works of a decidedly
+      romantic character have ever been so generally read, or so much approved.
+      Among the great names whose admiration of it is on record, may be
+      mentioned Napoleon and Humboldt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1789, he published "Les Vœux d'un Solitaire," and "La Suite des
+      Vœux." By the <i>Moniteur</i> of the day, these works were compared to
+      the celebrated pamphlet of Sieyes,&mdash;"Qu'est-ce que le tiers etat?"
+      which then absorbed all the public favour. In 1791, "La Chaumiere
+      Indienne" was published: and in the following year, about thirteen days
+      before the celebrated 10th of August, Louis XVI. appointed St. Pierre
+      superintendant of the "Jardin des Plantes." Soon afterwards, the King, on
+      seeing him, complimented him on his writings and told him he was happy to
+      have found a worthy successor to Buffon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although deficient in the exact knowledge of the sciences, and knowing
+      little of the world, St. Pierre was, by his simplicity, and the retirement
+      in which he lived, well suited, at that epoch, to the situation. About
+      this time, and when in his fifty-seventh year, he married Mlle. Didot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1795, he became a member of the French Academy, and, as was just, after
+      his acceptance of this honour, he wrote no more against literary
+      societies. On the suppression of his place, he retired to Essonne. It is
+      delightful to follow him there, and to contemplate his quiet existence.
+      His days flowed on peaceably, occupied in the publication of "Les
+      Harmonies de la Nature," the republication of his earlier works, and the
+      composition of some lesser pieces. He himself affectingly regrets an
+      interruption to these occupations. On being appointed Instructor to the
+      Normal School, he says, "I am obliged to hang my harp on the willows of my
+      river, and to accept an employment useful to my family and my country. I
+      am afflicted at having to suspend an occupation which has given me so much
+      happiness."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He enjoyed in his old age, a degree of opulence, which, as much as glory,
+      had perhaps been the object of his ambition. In any case, it is gratifying
+      to reflect, that after a life so full of chance and change, he was, in his
+      latter years, surrounded by much that should accompany old age. His day of
+      storms and tempests was closed by an evening of repose and beauty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid many other blessings, the elasticity of his mind was preserved to the
+      last. He died at Eragny sur l'Oise, on the 21st of January, 1814. The
+      stirring events which then occupied France, or rather the whole world,
+      caused his death to be little noticed at the time. The Academy did not,
+      however, neglect to give him the honour due to its members. Mons. Parseval
+      Grand Maison pronounced a deserved eulogium on his talents, and Mons.
+      Aignan, also, the customary tribute, taking his seat as his successor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having himself contracted the habit of confiding his griefs and sorrows to
+      the public, the sanctuary of his private life was open alike to the
+      discussion of friends and enemies. The biographer, who wishes to be exact,
+      and yet set down nought in malice, is forced to the contemplation of his
+      errors. The secret of many of these, as well as of his miseries, seems
+      revealed by himself in this sentence: "I experience more pain from a
+      single thorn, than pleasure from a thousand roses." And elsewhere, "The
+      best society seems to me bad, if I find in it one troublesome, wicked,
+      slanderous, envious, or perfidious person." Now, taking into consideration
+      that St. Pierre sometimes imagined persons who were really good, to be
+      deserving of these strong and very contumacious epithets, it would have
+      been difficult indeed to find a society in which he could have been happy.
+      He was, therefore, wise, in seeking retirement, and indulging in solitude.
+      His mistakes,&mdash;for they were mistakes,&mdash;arose from a too quick
+      perception of evil, united to an exquisite and diffuse sensibility. When
+      he felt wounded by a thorn, he forgot the beauty and perfume of the rose
+      to which it belonged, and from which perhaps it could not be separated.
+      And he was exposed (as often happens) to the very description of trials
+      that were least in harmony with his defects. Few dispositions could have
+      run a career like his, and have remained unscathed. But one less tender
+      than his own would have been less soured by it. For many years, he bore
+      about with him the consciousness of unacknowledged talent. The world
+      cannot be blamed for not appreciating that which had never been revealed.
+      But we know not what the jostling and elbowing of that world, in the
+      meantime, may have been to him&mdash;how often he may have felt himself
+      unworthily treated&mdash;or how far that treatment may have preyed upon
+      and corroded his heart. Who shall say that with this consciousness there
+      did not mingle a quick and instinctive perception of the hidden motives of
+      action,&mdash;that he did not sometimes detect, where others might have
+      been blind, the under-shuffling of the hands, in the by-play of the world?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through all his writings, and throughout his correspondence, there are
+      beautiful proofs of the tenderness of his feelings,&mdash;the most
+      essential quality, perhaps, in any writer. It is at least, one that if not
+      possessed, can never be attained. The familiarity of his imagination with
+      natural objects, when he was living far removed from them, is remarkable,
+      and often affecting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have arranged," he says to Mr. Henin, his friend and patron, "very
+      interesting materials, but it is only with the light of Heaven over me
+      that I can recover my strength. Obtain for me a <i>rabbit's hole</i>, in
+      which I may pass the summer in the country." And again, "With the <i>first
+      violet</i>, I shall come to see you." It is soothing to find, in passages
+      like these, such pleasing and convincing evidence that
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Nature never did betray,
+     The heart that loved her."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In the noise of a great city, in the midst of annoyances of many kinds
+      these images, impressed with quietness and beauty, came back to the mind
+      of St. Pierre, to cheer and animate him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In alluding to his miseries, it is but fair to quote a passage from his
+      "Voyage," which reveals his fond remembrance of his native land. "I should
+      ever prefer my own country to every other," he says, "not because it was
+      more beautiful, but because I was brought up in it. Happy he, who sees
+      again the places where all was loved, and all was lovely!&mdash;the
+      meadows in which he played, and the orchard that he robbed!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned to this country, so fondly loved and deeply cherished in
+      absence, to experience only trouble and difficulty. Away from it, he had
+      yearned to behold it,&mdash;to fold it, as it were, once more to his
+      bosom. He returned to feel as if neglected by it, and all his rapturous
+      emotions were changed to bitterness and gall. His hopes had proved
+      delusions&mdash;his expectations, mockeries. Oh! who but must look with
+      charity and mercy on all discontent and irritation consequent on such a
+      depth of disappointment: on what must have then appeared to him such
+      unmitigable woe. Under the influence of these saddened feelings, his
+      thoughts flew back to the island he had left, to place all beauty, as well
+      as all happiness, there!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One great proof that he did beautify the distant, may be found in the
+      contrast of some of the descriptions in the "Voyage à l'Ille de France,"
+      and those in "Paul and Virginia." That spot, which when peopled by the
+      cherished creatures of his imagination, he described as an enchanting and
+      delightful Eden, he had previously spoken of as a "rugged country covered
+      with rocks,"&mdash;"a land of Cyclops blackened by fire." Truth, probably,
+      lies between the two representations; the sadness of exile having darkened
+      the one, and the exuberance of his imagination embellished the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St. Pierre's merit as an author has been too long and too universally
+      acknowledged, to make it needful that it should be dwelt on here. A
+      careful review of the circumstances of his life induces the belief, that
+      his writings grew (if it may be permitted so to speak) out of his life. In
+      his most imaginative passages, to whatever height his fancy soared, the
+      starting point seems ever from a fact. The past appears to have been
+      always spread out before him when he wrote, like a beautiful landscape, on
+      which his eye rested with complacency, and from which his mind transferred
+      and idealized some objects, without a servile imitation of any. When at
+      Berlin, he had had it in his power to marry Virginia Tabenheim; and in
+      Russia, Mlle. de la Tour, the niece of General Dubosquet, would have
+      accepted his hand. He was too poor to marry either. A grateful
+      recollection caused him to bestow the names of the two on his most beloved
+      creation. Paul was the name of a friar, with whom he had associated in his
+      childhood, and whose life he wished to imitate. How little had the owners
+      of these names anticipated that they were to become the baptismal
+      appellations of half a generation in France, and to be re-echoed through
+      the world to the end of time!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was St. Pierre who first discovered the poverty of language with regard
+      to picturesque descriptions. In his earliest work, the often-quoted
+      "Voyages," he complains, that the terms for describing nature are not yet
+      invented. "Endeavour," he says, "to describe a mountain in such a manner
+      that it may be recognised. When you have spoken of its base, its sides,
+      its summit, you will have said all! But what variety there is to be found
+      in those swelling, lengthened, flattened, or cavernous forms! It is only
+      by periphrasis that all this can be expressed. The same difficulty exists
+      for plains and valleys. But if you have a palace to describe, there is no
+      longer any difficulty. Every moulding has its appropriate name."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was St. Pierre's glory, in some degree, to triumph over this dearth of
+      expression. Few authors ever introduced more new terms into descriptive
+      writing: yet are his innovations ever chastened, and in good taste. His
+      style, in its elegant simplicity, is, indeed, perfection. It is at once
+      sonorous and sweet, and always in harmony with the sentiment he would
+      express, or the subject he would discuss. Chenier might well arm himself
+      with "Paul and Virginia," and the "Chaumiere Indienne," in opposition to
+      those writers, who, as he said, made prose unnatural, by seeking to
+      elevate it into verse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The "Etudes de la Nature" embraced a thousand different subjects, and
+      contained some new ideas on all. It is to the honour of human nature, that
+      after the uptearing of so many sacred opinions, a production like this,
+      revealing the chain of connection through the works of Creation, and the
+      Creator in his works, should have been hailed, as it was, with enthusiasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His motto, from his favourite poet Virgil, "Taught by calamity, I pity the
+      unhappy," won for him, perhaps many readers. And in its touching
+      illusions, the unhappy may have found suspension from the realities of
+      life, as well as encouragement to support its trials. For, throughout, it
+      infuses admiration of the arrangements of Providence, and a desire for
+      virtue. More than one modern poet may be supposed to have drawn a portion
+      of his inspiration, from the "Etudes." As a work of science it contains
+      many errors. These, particularly his theory of the tides,(*) St. Pierre
+      maintained to the last, and so eloquently, that it was said at the time,
+      to be impossible to unite less reason with more logic.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     (*) Occasioned, according to St. Pierre, by the melting of
+     the ice at the Poles.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In "Paul and Virginia," he was supremely fortunate in his subject. It was
+      an entirely new creation, uninspired by any previous work; but which gave
+      birth to many others, having furnished the plot to six theatrical pieces.
+      It was a subject to which the author could bring all his excellences as a
+      writer and a man, while his deficiencies and defects were necessarily
+      excluded. In no manner could he incorporate politics, science, or
+      misapprehension of persons, while his sensibility, morals, and wonderful
+      talent for description, were in perfect accordance with, and ornaments to
+      it. Lemontey and Sainte-Beuve both consider success to be inseparable from
+      the happy selection of a story so entirely in harmony with the character
+      of the author; and that the most successful writers might envy him so
+      fortunate a choice. Buonaparte was in the habit of saying, whenever he saw
+      St. Pierre, "M. Bernardin, when do you mean to give us more Pauls and
+      Virginias, and Indian Cottages? You ought to give us some every six
+      months."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The "Indian Cottage," if not quite equal in interest to "Paul and
+      Virginia," is still a charming production, and does great honour to the
+      genius of its author. It abounds in antique and Eastern gems of thought.
+      Striking and excellent comparisons are scattered through its pages; and it
+      is delightful to reflect, that the following beautiful and solemn answer
+      of the Paria was, with St. Pierre, the results of his own experience:&mdash;"Misfortune
+      resembles the Black Mountain of Bember, situated at the extremity of the
+      burning kingdom of Lahore; while you are climbing it, you only see before
+      you barren rocks; but when you have reached its summit, you see heaven
+      above your head, and at your feet the kingdom of Cachemere."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this passage was written, the rugged, and sterile rock had been
+      climbed by its gifted author. He had reached the summit,&mdash;his genius
+      had been rewarded, and he himself saw the heaven he wished to point out to
+      others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      SARAH JONES.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     [For the facts contained in this brief Memoir, I am indebted
+     to St. Pierre's own works, to the "Biographie Universelle,"
+     to the "Essai sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Bernardin de St.
+     Pierre," by M. Aime Martin, and to the very excellent and
+     interesting "Notice Historique et Litteraire," of M. Sainte-
+     Beauve.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Situated on the eastern side of the mountain which rises above Port Louis,
+      in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of former
+      cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. These ruins are not
+      far from the centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks, and which opens
+      only towards the north. On the left rises the mountain called the Height
+      of Discovery, whence the eye marks the distant sail when it first touches
+      the verge of the horizon, and whence the signal is given when a vessel
+      approaches the island. At the foot of this mountain stands the town of
+      Port Louis. On the right is formed the road which stretches from Port
+      Louis to the Shaddock Grove, where the church bearing that name lifts its
+      head, surrounded by its avenues of bamboo, in the middle of a spacious
+      plain; and the prospect terminates in a forest extending to the furthest
+      bounds of the island. The front view presents the bay, denominated the Bay
+      of the Tomb; a little on the right is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and
+      beyond rolls the expanded ocean, on the surface of which appear a few
+      uninhabited islands; and, among others, the Point of Endeavour, which
+      resembles a bastion built upon the flood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance of the valley which presents these various objects, the
+      echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of the winds
+      that shake the neighbouring forests, and the tumultuous dashing of the
+      waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs; but near the ruined
+      cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects which there meet the
+      eye are rude steep rocks, that rise like a surrounding rampart. Large
+      clumps of trees grow at their base, on their rifted sides, and even on
+      their majestic tops, where the clouds seem to repose. The showers, which
+      their bold points attract, often paint the vivid colours of the rainbow on
+      their green and brown declivities, and swell the sources of the little
+      river which flows at their feet, called the river of Fan-Palms. Within
+      this inclosure reigns the most profound silence. The waters, the air, all
+      the elements are at peace. Scarcely does the echo repeat the whispers of
+      the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves, the long points of which are
+      gently agitated by the winds. A soft light illumines the bottom of this
+      deep valley, on which the sun shines only at noon. But, even at the break
+      of day, the rays of light are thrown on the surrounding rocks; and their
+      sharp peaks, rising above the shadows of the mountain, appear like tints
+      of gold and purple gleaming upon the azure sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this scene I loved to resort, as I could here enjoy at once the
+      richness of an unbounded landscape, and the charm of uninterrupted
+      solitude. One day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages, and
+      contemplating their ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the spot.
+      He was dressed in the ancient garb of the island, his feet were bare, and
+      he leaned upon a staff of ebony; his hair was white, and the expression of
+      his countenance was dignified and interesting. I bowed to him with
+      respect; he returned the salutation; and, after looking at me with some
+      earnestness, came and placed himself upon the hillock on which I was
+      seated. Encouraged by this mark of confidence I thus addressed him:
+      "Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once belonged?"&mdash;"My
+      son," replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish, and that untilled
+      land, were, twenty years ago, the property of two families, who then found
+      happiness in this solitude. Their history is affecting; but what European,
+      pursuing his way to the Indies, will pause one moment to interest himself
+      in the fate of a few obscure individuals? What European can picture
+      happiness to his imagination amidst poverty and neglect? The curiosity of
+      mankind is only attracted by the history of the great, and yet from that
+      knowledge little use can be derived."&mdash;"Father," I rejoined, "from
+      your manner and your observations, I perceive that you have acquired much
+      experience of human life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech
+      you, the history of the ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be
+      assured, that even the men who are most perverted by the prejudices of the
+      world, find a soothing pleasure in contemplating that happiness which
+      belongs to simplicity and virtue." The old man, after a short silence,
+      during which he leaned his face upon his hands, as if he were trying to
+      recall the images of the past, thus began his narration:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
+      having in vain solicited a commission in the French army, or some support
+      from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in this
+      island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young woman, whom he
+      loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly beloved. She belonged
+      to a rich and ancient family of the same province: but he had married her
+      secretly and without fortune, and in opposition to the will of her
+      relations, who refused their consent because he was found guilty of being
+      descended from parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur de la Tour,
+      leaving his wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in order to
+      purchase a few slaves, to assist him in forming a plantation on this
+      island. He landed at Madagascar during that unhealthy season which
+      commences about the middle of October; and soon after his arrival died of
+      the pestilential fever, which prevails in that island six months of the
+      year, and which will forever baffle the attempts of the European nations
+      to form establishments on that fatal soil. His effects were seized upon by
+      the rapacity of strangers, as commonly happens to persons dying in foreign
+      parts; and his wife, who was pregnant, found herself a widow in a country
+      where she had neither credit nor acquaintance, and no earthly possession,
+      or rather support, but one negro woman. Too delicate to solicit protection
+      or relief from any one else after the death of him whom alone she loved,
+      misfortune armed her with courage, and she resolved to cultivate, with her
+      slave, a little spot of ground, and procure for herself the means of
+      subsistence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Desert as was the island, and the ground left to the choice of the
+      settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most
+      favorable to commerce: seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret
+      asylum where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way from
+      the town towards these rocks, where she might conceal herself from
+      observation. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort of common
+      instinct, fly for refuge amidst their pains to haunts the most wild and
+      desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart against misfortune&mdash;as if
+      the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the soul. That Providence,
+      which lends its support when we ask but the supply of our necessary wants,
+      had a blessing in reserve for Madame de la Tour, which neither riches nor
+      greatness can purchase:&mdash;this blessing was a friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The spot to which Madame de la Tour had fled had already been inhabited
+      for a year by a young woman of a lively, good-natured and affectionate
+      disposition. Margaret (for that was her name) was born in Brittany, of a
+      family of peasants, by whom she was cherished and beloved, and with whom
+      she might have passed through life in simple rustic happiness, if, misled
+      by the weakness of a tender heart, she had not listened to the passion of
+      a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who promised her marriage. He soon
+      abandoned her, and adding inhumanity to seduction, refused to insure a
+      provision for the child of which she was pregnant. Margaret then
+      determined to leave forever her native village, and retire, where her
+      fault might be concealed, to some colony distant from that country where
+      she had lost the only portion of a poor peasant girl&mdash;her reputation.
+      With some borrowed money she purchased an old negro slave, with whom she
+      cultivated a little corner of this district.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, came to this spot, where
+      she found Margaret engaged in suckling her child. Soothed and charmed by
+      the sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to her own, Madame
+      de la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition and her present
+      wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and more anxious to
+      merit confidence than to create esteem, she confessed without disguise,
+      the errors of which she had been guilty. "As for me," said she, "I deserve
+      my fate: but you, madam&mdash;you! at once virtuous and unhappy"&mdash;and,
+      sobbing, she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut and her friendship.
+      That lady, affected by this tender reception, pressed her in her arms, and
+      exclaimed,&mdash;"Ah surely Heaven has put an end to my misfortunes, since
+      it inspires you, to whom I am a stranger, with more goodness towards me
+      than I have ever experienced from my own relations!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was acquainted with Margaret: and, although my habitation is a league
+      and a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, I
+      considered myself as her neighbour. In the cities of Europe, a street,
+      even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of the same family from
+      meeting for years; but in new colonies we consider those persons as
+      neighbours from whom we are divided only by woods and mountains; and above
+      all at that period, when this island had little intercourse with the
+      Indies, vicinity alone gave a claim to friendship, and hospitality towards
+      strangers seemed less a duty than a pleasure. No sooner was I informed
+      that Margaret had found a companion, than I hastened to her, in the hope
+      of being useful to my neighbour and her guest. I found Madame de la Tour
+      possessed of all those melancholy graces which, by blending sympathy with
+      admiration give to beauty additional power. Her countenance was
+      interesting, expressive at once of dignity and dejection. She appeared to
+      be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I told the two friends that for the
+      future interests of their children, and to prevent the intrusion of any
+      other settler, they had better divide between them the property of this
+      wild, sequestered valley, which is nearly twenty acres in extent. They
+      confided that task to me, and I marked out two equal portions of land. One
+      included the higher part of this enclosure, from the cloudy pinnacle of
+      that rock, whence springs the river of Fan-Palms, to that precipitous
+      cleft which you see on the summit of the mountain, and which, from its
+      resemblance in form to the battlement of a fortress, is called the
+      Embrasure. It is difficult to find a path along this wild portion of the
+      enclosure, the soil of which is encumbered with fragments of rock, or worn
+      into channels formed by torrents; yet it produces noble trees, and
+      innumerable springs and rivulets. The other portion of land comprised the
+      plain extending along the banks of the river of Fan-Palms, to the opening
+      where we are now seated, whence the river takes its course between these
+      two hills, until it falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges
+      of some meadow land; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not
+      more valuable than the other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy,
+      and in dry weather is so hard and unyielding, that it will almost resist
+      the stroke of the pickaxe. When I had thus divided the property, I
+      persuaded my neighbours to draw lots for their respective possessions. The
+      higher portion of land, containing the source of the river of Fan-Palms,
+      became the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, comprising the plain
+      on the banks of the river, was allotted to Margaret; and each seemed
+      satisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their habitations
+      together, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing intercourse of
+      friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind offices. Margaret's cottage
+      was situated near the centre of the valley, and just on the boundary of
+      her own plantation. Close to that spot I built another cottage for the
+      residence of Madame de la Tour; and thus the two friends, while they
+      possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood lived on their own property.
+      I myself cut palisades from the mountain, and brought leaves of fan-palms
+      from the sea-shore in order to construct those two cottages, of which you
+      can now discern neither the entrance nor the roof. Yet, alas! there still
+      remains but too many traces for my remembrance! Time, which so rapidly
+      destroys the proud monuments of empires, seems in this desert to spare
+      those of friendship, as if to perpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the second cottage was finished, Madame de la Tour was
+      delivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who was
+      christened by the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me to perform
+      the same office for her child also, together with her friend, who gave her
+      the name of Virginia. "She will be virtuous," cried Margaret, "and she
+      will be happy. I have only known misfortune by wandering from virtue."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little estates had
+      already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owing to
+      the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but far more
+      to the indefatigable labours of the two slaves. Margaret's slave, who was
+      called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, though advanced in years: he
+      possessed some knowledge, and a good natural understanding. He cultivated
+      indiscriminately, on both plantations, the spots of ground that seemed
+      most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought most congenial to each
+      particular soil. Where the ground was poor, he strewed maize; where it was
+      most fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in such spots as were marshy. He
+      threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the foot of the rocks, which
+      they loved to climb and decorate with their luxuriant foliage. In dry
+      spots he cultivated the sweet potatoe; the cotton-tree flourished upon the
+      heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the clayey soil. He reared some plants
+      of coffee on the hills, where the grain, although small, is excellent. His
+      plantain-trees, which spread their grateful shade on the banks of the
+      river, and encircled the cottages, yielded fruit throughout the year. And
+      lastly, Domingo, to soothe his cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco.
+      Sometimes he was employed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain,
+      sometimes in hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level
+      the paths. The zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform all these
+      labours with intelligence and activity. He was much attached to Margaret,
+      and not less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had married
+      on the birth of Virginia; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary
+      was born at Madagascar, and had there acquired the knowledge of some
+      useful arts. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long grass
+      that grows in the woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above all,
+      faithful. It was her care to prepare their meals, to rear the poultry, and
+      go sometimes to Port Louis, to sell the superfluous produce of these
+      little plantations, which was not however, very considerable. If you add
+      to the personages already mentioned two goats, which were brought up with
+      the children, and a great dog, which kept watch at night, you will have a
+      complete idea of the household, as well as of the productions of these two
+      little farms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour and her friend were constantly employed in spinning
+      cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of everything which their
+      own industry could not supply, at home they went bare-footed: shoes were a
+      convenience reserved for Sunday, on which day, at an early hour, they
+      attended mass at the church of the Shaddock Grove, which you see yonder.
+      That church was more distant from their homes than Port Louis; but they
+      seldom visited the town, lest they should be treated with contempt on
+      account of their dress, which consisted simply of the coarse blue linen of
+      Bengal, usually worn by slaves. But is there, in that external deference
+      which fortune commands, a compensation for domestic happiness? If these
+      interesting women had something to suffer from the world, their homes on
+      that very account became more dear to them. No sooner did Mary and
+      Domingo, from this elevated spot, perceive their mistresses on the road of
+      the Shaddock Grove, than they flew to the foot of the mountain in order to
+      help them to ascend. They discerned in the looks of their domestics the
+      joy which their return excited. They found in their retreat neatness,
+      independence, all the blessings which are the recompense of toil, and they
+      received the zealous services which spring from affection. United by the
+      tie of similar wants, and the sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave
+      each other the tender names of companion, friend, sister. They had but one
+      will, one interest, one table. All their possessions were in common. And
+      if sometimes a passion more ardent than friendship awakened in their
+      hearts the pang of unavailing anguish, a pure religion, united with chaste
+      manners, drew their affections towards another life: as the trembling
+      flame rises towards heaven, when it no longer finds any ailment on earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The duties of maternity became a source of additional happiness to these
+      affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship gained new strength at the
+      sight of their children, equally the offspring of an ill-fated attachment.
+      They delighted in washing their infants together in the same bath, in
+      putting them to rest in the same cradle, and in changing the maternal
+      bosom at which they received nourishment. "My friend," cried Madame de la
+      Tour, "we shall each of us have two children, and each of our children
+      will have two mothers." As two buds which remain on different trees of the
+      same kind, after the tempest has broken all their branches, produce more
+      delicious fruit, if each, separated from the maternal stem, be grafted on
+      the neighbouring tree, so these two infants, deprived of all their other
+      relations, when thus exchanged for nourishment by those who had given them
+      birth, imbibed feelings of affection still more tender than those of son
+      and daughter, brother and sister. While they were yet in their cradles,
+      their mothers talked of their marriage. They soothed their own cares by
+      looking forward to the future happiness of their children; but this
+      contemplation often drew forth their tears. The misfortunes of one mother
+      had arisen from having neglected marriage; those of the other from having
+      submitted to its laws. One had suffered by aiming to rise above her
+      condition, the other by descending from her rank. But they found
+      consolation in reflecting that their more fortunate children, far from the
+      cruel prejudices of Europe, would enjoy at once the pleasures of love and
+      the blessings of equality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rarely, indeed, has such an attachment been seen as that which the two
+      children already testified for each other. If Paul complained of anything,
+      his mother pointed to Virginia: at her sight he smiled, and was appeased.
+      If any accident befel Virginia, the cries of Paul gave notice of the
+      disaster; but the dear little creature would suppress her complaints if
+      she found that he was unhappy. When I came hither, I usually found them
+      quite naked, as is the custom of the country, tottering in their walk, and
+      holding each other by the hands and under the arms, as we see represented
+      in the constellation of the Twins. At night these infants often refused to
+      be separated, and were found lying in the same cradle, their cheeks, their
+      bosoms pressed close together, their hands thrown round each other's neck,
+      and sleeping, locked in one another's arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they first began to speak, the first name they learned to give each
+      other were those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no softer
+      appellation. Their education, by directing them ever to consider each
+      other's wants, tended greatly to increase their affection. In a short
+      time, all the household economy, the care of preparing their rural
+      repasts, became the task of Virginia, whose labours were always crowned
+      with the praises and kisses of her brother. As for Paul, always in motion,
+      he dug the garden with Domingo, or followed him with a little hatchet into
+      the woods; and if, in his rambles he espied a beautiful flower, any
+      delicious fruit, or a nest of birds, even at the top of the tree, he would
+      climb up and bring the spoil to his sister. When you met one of these
+      children, you might be sure the other was not far off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day as I was coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the end of
+      the garden running towards the house with her petticoat thrown over her
+      head, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a distance, I
+      thought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her in order to help her
+      on, I perceived she held Paul by the arm, almost entirely enveloped in the
+      same canopy, and both were laughing heartily at their being sheltered
+      together under an umbrella of their own invention. Those two charming
+      faces in the middle of a swelling petticoat, recalled to my mind the
+      children of Leda, enclosed in the same shell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their sole study was how they could please and assist one another; for of
+      all other things they were ignorant, and indeed could neither read nor
+      write. They were never disturbed by inquiries about past times, nor did
+      their curiosity extend beyond the bounds of their mountain. They believed
+      the world ended at the shores of their own island, and all their ideas and
+      all their affections were confined within its limits. Their mutual
+      tenderness, and that of their mothers, employed all the energies of their
+      minds. Their tears had never been called forth by tedious application to
+      useless sciences. Their minds had never been wearied by lessons of
+      morality, superfluous to bosoms unconscious of ill. They had never been
+      taught not to steal, because every thing with them was in common: or not
+      to be intemperate, because their simple food was left to their own
+      discretion; or not to lie, because they had nothing to conceal. Their
+      young imaginations had never been terrified by the idea that God has
+      punishment in store for ungrateful children, since, with them, filial
+      affection arose naturally from maternal tenderness. All they had been
+      taught of religion was to love it, and if they did not offer up long
+      prayers in the church, wherever they were, in the house, in the fields, in
+      the woods, they raised towards heaven their innocent hands, and hearts
+      purified by virtuous affections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All their early childhood passed thus, like a beautiful dawn, the prelude
+      of a bright day. Already they assisted their mothers in the duties of the
+      household. As soon as the crowing of the wakeful cock announced the first
+      beam of the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened to draw water from a
+      neighbouring spring: then returning to the house she prepared the
+      breakfast. When the rising sun gilded the points of the rocks which
+      overhang the enclosure in which they lived, Margaret and her child
+      repaired to the dwelling of Madame de la Tour, where they offered up their
+      morning prayer together. This sacrifice of thanksgiving always preceded
+      their first repast, which they often took before the door of the cottage,
+      seated upon the grass, under a canopy of plantain: and while the branches
+      of that delicious tree afforded a grateful shade, its fruit furnished a
+      substantial food ready prepared for them by nature, and its long glossy
+      leaves, spread upon the table, supplied the place of linen. Plentiful and
+      wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour to the persons of these
+      children, and their countenances expressed the purity and the peace of
+      their souls. At twelve years of age the figure of Virginia was in some
+      degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded her face, to which her
+      blue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming brilliancy. Her eyes
+      sparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she was silent they were
+      habitually turned upwards, with an expression of extreme sensibility, or
+      rather of tender melancholy. The figure of Paul began already to display
+      the graces of youthful beauty. He was taller than Virginia: his skin was
+      of a darker tint; his nose more aquiline; and his black eyes would have
+      been too piercing, if the long eye-lashes by which they were shaded, had
+      not imparted to them an expression of softness. He was constantly in
+      motion, except when his sister appeared, and then, seated by her side, he
+      became still. Their meals often passed without a word being spoken; and
+      from their silence, the simple elegance of their attitudes, and the beauty
+      of their naked feet, you might have fancied you beheld an antique group of
+      white marble, representing some of the children of Niobe, but for the
+      glances of their eyes, which were constantly seeking to meet, and their
+      mutual soft and tender smiles, which suggested rather the idea of happy
+      celestial spirits, whose nature is love, and who are not obliged to have
+      recourse to words for the expression of their feelings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime Madame de la Tour, perceiving every day some unfolding
+      grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her maternal anxiety
+      increase with her tenderness. She often said to me, "If I were to die,
+      what would become of Virginia without fortune?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour had an aunt in France, who was a woman of quality, rich,
+      old, and a complete devotee. She had behaved with so much cruelty towards
+      her niece upon her marriage, that Madame de la Tour had determined no
+      extremity of distress should ever compel her to have recourse to her
+      hard-hearted relation. But when she became a mother, the pride of
+      resentment was overcome by the stronger feelings of maternal tenderness.
+      She wrote to her aunt, informing her of the sudden death of her husband,
+      the birth of her daughter, and the difficulties in which she was involved,
+      burthened as she was with an infant, and without means of support. She
+      received no answer; but notwithstanding the high spirit natural to her
+      character, she no longer feared exposing herself to mortification; and,
+      although she knew her aunt would never pardon her for having married a man
+      who was not of noble birth, however estimable, she continued to write to
+      her, with the hope of awakening her compassion for Virginia. Many years,
+      however passed without receiving any token of her remembrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length, in 1738, three years after the arrival of Monsieur de la
+      Bourdonnais in this island, Madame de la Tour was informed that the
+      Governor had a letter to give her from her aunt. She flew to Port Louis;
+      maternal joy raised her mind above all trifling considerations, and she
+      was careless on this occasion of appearing in her homely attire. Monsieur
+      de la Bourdonnais gave her a letter from her aunt, in which she informed
+      her, that she deserved her fate for marrying an adventurer and a
+      libertine: that the passions brought with them their own punishment; that
+      the premature death of her husband was a just visitation from Heaven; that
+      she had done well in going to a distant island, rather than dishonour her
+      family by remaining in France; and that, after all, in the colony where
+      she had taken refuge, none but the idle failed to grow rich. Having thus
+      censured her niece, she concluded by eulogizing herself. To avoid, she
+      said, the almost inevitable evils of marriage, she had determined to
+      remain single. In fact, as she was of a very ambitious disposition she had
+      resolved to marry none but a man of high rank; but although she was very
+      rich, her fortune was not found a sufficient bribe, even at court, to
+      counterbalance the malignant dispositions of her mind, and the
+      disagreeable qualities of her person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After mature deliberations, she added, in a postscript, that she had
+      strongly recommended her niece to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. This she had
+      indeed done, but in a manner of late too common which renders a patron
+      perhaps even more to be feared than a declared enemy; for, in order to
+      justify herself for her harshness, she had cruelly slandered her niece,
+      while she affected to pity her misfortunes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, whom no unprejudiced person could have seen without
+      feelings of sympathy and respect, was received with the utmost coolness by
+      Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, biased as he was against her. When she painted
+      to him her own situation and that of her child, he replied in abrupt
+      sentences,&mdash;"We shall see what can be done&mdash;there are so many to
+      relieve&mdash;all in good time&mdash;why did you displease your aunt?&mdash;you
+      have been much to blame."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour returned to her cottage, her heart torn with grief, and
+      filled with all the bitterness of disappointment. When she arrived, she
+      threw her aunt's letter on the table, and exclaimed to her friend,&mdash;"There
+      is the fruit of eleven years of patient expectation!" Madame de la Tour
+      being the only person in the little circle who could read, she again took
+      up the letter, and read it aloud. Scarcely had she finished, when Margaret
+      exclaimed, "What have we to do with your relations? Has God then forsaken
+      us? He only is our father! Have we not hitherto been happy? Why then this
+      regret? You have no courage." Seeing Madame de la Tour in tears, she threw
+      herself upon her neck, and pressing her in her arms,&mdash;"My dear
+      friend!" cried she, "my dear friend!"&mdash;but her emotion choked her
+      utterance. At this sight Virginia burst into tears, and pressed her
+      mother's and Margaret's hand alternately to her lips and heart; while
+      Paul, his eyes inflamed with anger, cried, clasped his hands together, and
+      stamped his foot, not knowing whom to blame for this scene of misery. The
+      noise soon brought Domingo and Mary to the spot, and the little habitation
+      resounded with cries of distress,&mdash;"Ah, madame!&mdash;My good
+      mistress!&mdash;My dear mother!&mdash;Do not weep!" These tender proofs of
+      affections at length dispelled the grief of Madame de la Tour. She took
+      Paul and Virginia in her arms, and, embracing them, said, "You are the
+      cause of my affliction, my children, but you are also my only source of
+      delight! Yes, my dear children, misfortune has reached me, but only from a
+      distance: here, I am surrounded with happiness." Paul and Virginia did not
+      understand this reflection; but, when they saw that she was calm, they
+      smiled, and continued to caress her. Tranquillity was thus restored in
+      this happy family, and all that had passed was but a storm in the midst of
+      fine weather, which disturbs the serenity of the atmosphere but for a
+      short time, and then passes away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The amiable disposition of these children unfolded itself daily. One
+      Sunday, at day-break, their mothers having gone to mass at the church of
+      Shaddock Grove, the children perceived a negro woman beneath the plantains
+      which surrounded their habitation. She appeared almost wasted to a
+      skeleton, and had no other garment than a piece of coarse cloth thrown
+      around her. She threw herself at the feet of Virginia, who was preparing
+      the family breakfast, and said, "My good young lady, have pity on a poor
+      runaway slave. For a whole month I have wandered among these mountains,
+      half dead with hunger, and often pursued by the hunters and their dogs. I
+      fled from my master, a rich planter of the Black River, who has used me as
+      you see;" and she showed her body marked with scars from the lashes she
+      had received. She added, "I was going to drown myself, but hearing you
+      lived here, I said to myself, since there are still some good white people
+      in this country, I need not die yet." Virginia answered with emotion,&mdash;"Take
+      courage, unfortunate creature! here is something to eat;" and she gave her
+      the breakfast she had been preparing, which the slave in a few minutes
+      devoured. When her hunger was appeased, Virginia said to her,&mdash;"Poor
+      woman! I should like to go and ask forgiveness for you of your master.
+      Surely the sight of you will touch him with pity. Will you show me the
+      way?"&mdash;"Angel of heaven!" answered the poor negro woman, "I will
+      follow you where you please!" Virginia called her brother, and begged him
+      to accompany her. The slave led the way, by winding and difficult paths,
+      through the woods, over mountains, which they climbed with difficulty, and
+      across rivers, through which they were obliged to wade. At length, about
+      the middle of the day, they reached the foot of a steep descent upon the
+      borders of the Black River. There they perceived a well-built house,
+      surrounded by extensive plantations, and a number of slaves employed in
+      their various labours. Their master was walking among them with a pipe in
+      his mouth, and a switch in his hand. He was a tall thin man, of a brown
+      complexion; his eyes were sunk in his head, and his dark eyebrows were
+      joined in one. Virginia, holding Paul by the hand, drew near, and with
+      much emotion begged him, for the love of God, to pardon his poor slave,
+      who stood trembling a few paces behind. The planter at first paid little
+      attention to the children, who, he saw, were meanly dressed. But when he
+      observed the elegance of Virginia's form, and the profusion of her
+      beautiful light tresses which had escaped from beneath her blue cap; when
+      he heard the soft tone of her voice, which trembled, as well as her whole
+      frame, while she implored his compassion; he took his pipe from his mouth,
+      and lifting up his stick, swore, with a terrible oath, that he pardoned
+      his slave, not for the love of Heaven, but of her who asked his
+      forgiveness. Virginia made a sign to the slave to approach her master; and
+      instantly sprang away followed by Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They climbed up the steep they had descended; and having gained the
+      summit, seated themselves at the foot of a tree, overcome with fatigue,
+      hunger and thirst. They had left their home fasting, and walked five
+      leagues since sunrise. Paul said to Virginia,&mdash;"My dear sister, it is
+      past noon, and I am sure you are thirsty and hungry: we shall find no
+      dinner here; let us go down the mountain again, and ask the master of the
+      poor slave for some food."&mdash;"Oh, no," answered Virginia, "he
+      frightens me too much. Remember what mamma sometimes says, 'The bread of
+      the wicked is like stones in the mouth.' "&mdash;"What shall we do then,"
+      said Paul; "these trees produce no fruit fit to eat; and I shall not be
+      able to find even a tamarind or a lemon to refresh you."&mdash;"God will
+      take care of us," replied Virginia; "he listens to the cry even of the
+      little birds when they ask him for food." Scarcely had she pronounced
+      these words when they heard the noise of water falling from a neighbouring
+      rock. They ran thither and having quenched their thirst at this crystal
+      spring, they gathered and ate a few cresses which grew on the border of
+      the stream. Soon afterwards while they were wandering backwards and
+      forwards in search of more solid nourishment, Virginia perceived in the
+      thickest part of the forest, a young palm-tree. The kind of cabbage which
+      is found at the top of the palm, enfolded within its leaves, is well
+      adapted for food; but, although the stock of the tree is not thicker than
+      a man's leg, it grows to above sixty feet in height. The wood of the tree,
+      indeed, is composed only of very fine filaments; but the bark is so hard
+      that it turns the edge of the hatchet, and Paul was not furnished even
+      with a knife. At length he thought of setting fire to the palm-tree; but a
+      new difficulty occurred: he had no steel with which to strike fire; and
+      although the whole island is covered with rocks, I do not believe it is
+      possible to find a single flint. Necessity, however, is fertile in
+      expedients, and the most useful inventions have arisen from men placed in
+      the most destitute situations. Paul determined to kindle a fire after the
+      manner of the negroes. With the sharp end of a stone he made a small hole
+      in the branch of a tree that was quite dry, and which he held between his
+      feet: he then, with the edge of the same stone, brought to a point another
+      dry branch of a different sort of wood, and, afterwards, placing the piece
+      of pointed wood in the small hole of the branch which he held with his
+      feet and turning it rapidly between his hands, in a few minutes smoke and
+      sparks of fire issued from the point of contact. Paul then heaped together
+      dried grass and branches, and set fire to the foot of the palm-tree, which
+      soon fell to the ground with a tremendous crash. The fire was further
+      useful to him in stripping off the long, thick, and pointed leaves, within
+      which the cabbage was inclosed. Having thus succeeded in obtaining this
+      fruit, they ate part of it raw, and part dressed upon the ashes, which
+      they found equally palatable. They made this frugal repast with delight,
+      from the remembrances of the benevolent action they had performed in the
+      morning: yet their joy was embittered by the thoughts of the uneasiness
+      which their long absence from home would occasion their mothers. Virginia
+      often recurred to this subject; but Paul, who felt his strength renewed by
+      their meal, assured her, that it would not be long before they reached
+      home, and, by the assurance of their safety, tranquillized the minds of
+      their parents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After dinner they were much embarrassed by the recollection that they had
+      now no guide, and that they were ignorant of the way. Paul, whose spirit
+      was not subdued by difficulties, said to Virginia,&mdash;"The sun shines
+      full upon our huts at noon: we must pass, as we did this morning, over
+      that mountain with its three points, which you see yonder. Come, let us be
+      moving." This mountain was that of the Three Breasts, so called from the
+      form of its three peaks. They then descended the steep bank of the Black
+      River, on the northern side; and arrived, after an hour's walk, on the
+      banks of a large river, which stopped their further progress. This large
+      portion of the island, covered as it is with forests, is even now so
+      little known that many of its rivers and mountains have not yet received a
+      name. The stream, on the banks of which Paul and Virginia were now
+      standing, rolls foaming over a bed of rocks. The noise of the water
+      frightened Virginia, and she was afraid to wade through the current: Paul
+      therefore took her up in his arms, and went thus loaded over the slippery
+      rocks, which formed the bed of the river, careless of the tumultuous noise
+      of its waters. "Do not be afraid," cried he to Virginia; "I feel very
+      strong with you. If that planter at the Black River had refused you the
+      pardon of his slave, I would have fought with him."&mdash;"What!" answered
+      Virginia, "with that great wicked man? To what have I exposed you!
+      Gracious heaven! how difficult it is to do good! and yet it is so easy to
+      do wrong."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Paul had crossed the river, he wished to continue the journey
+      carrying his sister: and he flattered himself that he could ascend in that
+      way the mountain of the Three Breasts, which was still at the distance of
+      half a league; but his strength soon failed, and he was obliged to set
+      down his burthen, and to rest himself by her side. Virginia then said to
+      him, "My dear brother, the sun is going down; you have still some strength
+      left, but mine has quite failed: do leave me here, and return home alone
+      to ease the fears of our mothers."&mdash;"Oh no," said Paul, "I will not
+      leave you if night overtakes us in this wood, I will light a fire, and
+      bring down another palm-tree: you shall eat the cabbage, and I will form a
+      covering of the leaves to shelter you." In the meantime, Virginia being a
+      little rested, she gathered from the trunk of an old tree, which overhung
+      the bank of the river, some long leaves of the plant called hart's tongue,
+      which grew near its root. Of these leaves she made a sort of buskin, with
+      which she covered her feet, that were bleeding from the sharpness of the
+      stony paths; for in her eager desire to do good, she had forgotten to put
+      on her shoes. Feeling her feet cooled by the freshness of the leaves, she
+      broke off a branch of bamboo, and continued her walk, leaning with one
+      hand on the staff, and with the other on Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They walked on in this manner slowly through the woods; but from the
+      height of the trees, and the thickness of their foliage, they soon lost
+      sight of the mountain of the Three Breasts, by which they had hitherto
+      directed their course, and also of the sun, which was now setting. At
+      length they wandered, without perceiving it, from the beaten path in which
+      they had hitherto walked, and found themselves in a labyrinth of trees,
+      underwood, and rocks, whence there appeared to be no outlet. Paul made
+      Virginia sit down, while he ran backwards and forwards, half frantic, in
+      search of a path which might lead them out of this thick wood; but he
+      fatigued himself to no purpose. He then climbed to the top of a lofty
+      tree, whence he hoped at least to perceive the mountain of the Three
+      Breasts: but he could discern nothing around him but the tops of trees,
+      some of which were gilded with the last beams of the setting sun. Already
+      the shadows of the mountains were spreading over the forests in the
+      valleys. The wind lulled, as is usually the case at sunset. The most
+      profound silence reigned in those awful solitudes, which was only
+      interrupted by the cry of the deer, who came to their lairs in that
+      unfrequented spot. Paul, in the hope that some hunter would hear his
+      voice, called out as loud as he was able,&mdash;"Come, come to the help of
+      Virginia." But the echoes of the forest alone answered his call, and
+      repeated again and again, "Virginia&mdash;Virginia."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul at length descended from the tree, overcome with fatigue and
+      vexation. He looked around in order to make some arrangement for passing
+      the night in that desert; but he could find neither fountain, nor
+      palm-tree, nor even a branch of dry wood fit for kindling a fire. He was
+      then impressed, by experience, with the sense of his own weakness, and
+      began to weep. Virginia said to him,&mdash;"Do not weep, my dear brother,
+      or I shall be overwhelmed with grief. I am the cause of all your sorrow,
+      and of all that our mothers are suffering at this moment. I find we ought
+      to do nothing, not even good, without consulting our parents. Oh, I have
+      been very imprudent!"&mdash;and she began to shed tears. "Let us pray to
+      God, my dear brother," she again said, "and he will hear us." They had
+      scarcely finished their prayer, when they heard the barking of a dog. "It
+      must be the dog of some hunter," said Paul, "who comes here at night, to
+      lie in wait for the deer." Soon after, the dog began barking again with
+      increased violence. "Surely," said Virginia, "it is Fidele, our own dog:
+      yes,&mdash;now I know his bark. Are we then so near home?&mdash;at the
+      foot of our own mountain?" A moment after, Fidele was at their feet,
+      barking, howling, moaning, and devouring them with his caresses. Before
+      they could recover from their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards
+      them. At the sight of the good old negro, who wept for joy, they began to
+      weep too, but had not the power to utter a syllable. When Domingo had
+      recovered himself a little,&mdash;"Oh, my dear children," said he, "how
+      miserable have you made your mothers! How astonished they were when they
+      returned with me from mass, on not finding you at home. Mary, who was at
+      work at a little distance, could not tell us where you were gone. I ran
+      backwards and forwards in the plantation, not knowing where to look for
+      you. At last I took some of your old clothes, and showing them to Fidele,
+      the poor animal, as if he understood me, immediately began to scent your
+      path; and conducted me, wagging his tail all the while, to the Black
+      River. I there saw a planter, who told me you had brought back a Maroon
+      negro woman, his slave, and that he had pardoned her at your request. But
+      what a pardon! he showed her to me with her feet chained to a block of
+      wood, and an iron collar with three hooks fastened round her neck! After
+      that, Fidele, still on the scent, led me up the steep bank of the Black
+      River, where he again stopped, and barked with all his might. This was on
+      the brink of a spring, near which was a fallen palm-tree, and a fire,
+      still smoking. At last he led me to this very spot. We are now at the foot
+      of the mountain of the Three Breasts, and still a good four leagues from
+      home. Come, eat, and recover your strength." Domingo then presented them
+      with a cake, some fruit, and a large gourd, full of beverage composed of
+      wine, water, lemon-juice, sugar, and nutmeg, which their mothers had
+      prepared to invigorate and refresh them. Virginia sighed at the
+      recollection of the poor slave, and at the uneasiness they had given their
+      mothers. She repeated several times&mdash;"Oh, how difficult it is to do
+      good!" While she and Paul were taking refreshment, it being already night,
+      Domingo kindled a fire: and having found among the rocks a particular kind
+      of twisted wood, called bois de ronde, which burns when quite green, and
+      throws out a great blaze, he made a torch of it, which he lighted. But
+      when they prepared to continue their journey, a new difficulty occurred;
+      Paul and Virginia could no longer walk, their feet being violently swollen
+      and inflamed. Domingo knew not what to do; whether to leave them and go in
+      search of help, or remain and pass the night with them on that spot.
+      "There was a time," said he, "when I could carry you both together in my
+      arms! But now you are grown big, and I am grown old." When he was in this
+      perplexity, a troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from
+      them. The chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to them,&mdash;"Good
+      little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this morning, with
+      a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon for her of her
+      wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you home upon our
+      shoulders." He then made a sign, and four of the strongest negroes
+      immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees and lianas,
+      and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them upon their
+      shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch, and they
+      proceeded amidst the rejoicings of the whole troop, who overwhelmed them
+      with their benedictions. Virginia, affected by this scene, said to Paul,
+      with emotion,&mdash;"Oh, my dear brother! God never leaves a good action
+      unrewarded."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on the
+      ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began to
+      ascend, they heard voices exclaiming&mdash;"Is it you, my children?" They
+      answered immediately, and the negroes also,&mdash;"Yes, yes, it is." A
+      moment after they could distinguish their mothers and Mary coming towards
+      them with lighted sticks in their hands. "Unhappy children," cried Madame
+      de la Tour, "where have you been? What agonies you have made us suffer!"&mdash;"We
+      have been," said Virginia, "to the Black River, where we went to ask
+      pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave our breakfast this morning,
+      because she seemed dying of hunger; and these Maroon negroes have brought
+      us home." Madame de la Tour embraced her daughter, without being able to
+      speak; and Virginia, who felt her face wet with her mother's tears,
+      exclaimed, "Now I am repaid for all the hardships I have suffered."
+      Margaret, in a transport of delight, pressed Paul in her arms, exclaiming,
+      "And you also, my dear child, you have done a good action." When they
+      reached the cottages with their children, they entertained all the negroes
+      with a plentiful repast, after which the latter returned to the woods,
+      praying Heaven to shower down every description of blessing on those good
+      white people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every day was to these families a day of happiness and tranquillity.
+      Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. They did not seek to
+      obtain a useless reputation out of doors, which may be procured by
+      artifice and lost by calumny; but were contented to be the sole witnesses
+      and judges of their own actions. In this island, where, as is the case in
+      most colonies, scandal forms the principal topic of conversation, their
+      virtues, and even their names were unknown. The passer-by on the road to
+      Shaddock Grove, indeed, would sometimes ask the inhabitants of the plain,
+      who lived in the cottages up there? and was always told, even by those who
+      did not know them, "They are good people." The modest violet thus,
+      concealed in thorny places sheds all unseen its delightful fragrance
+      around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slander, which, under an appearance of justice, naturally inclines the
+      heart to falsehood or to hatred, was entirely banished from their
+      conversation; for it is impossible not to hate men if we believe them to
+      be wicked, or to live with the wicked without concealing that hatred under
+      a false pretence of good feeling. Slander thus puts us ill at ease with
+      others and with ourselves. In this little circle, therefore, the conduct
+      of individuals was not discussed, but the best manner of doing good to
+      all; and although they had but little in their power, their unceasing
+      good-will and kindness of heart made them constantly ready to do what they
+      could for others. Solitude, far from having blunted these benevolent
+      feelings, had rendered their dispositions even more kindly. Although the
+      petty scandals of the day furnished no subject of conversation to them,
+      yet the contemplation of nature filled their minds with enthusiastic
+      delight. They adored the bounty of that Providence, which, by their
+      instrumentality, had spread abundance and beauty amid these barren rocks,
+      and had enabled them to enjoy those pure and simple pleasures, which are
+      ever grateful and ever new.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than most
+      European youths are at fifteen; and the plantations, which Domingo merely
+      cultivated, were embellished by him. He would go with the old negro into
+      the neighbouring woods, where he would root up the young plants of lemon,
+      orange, and tamarind trees, the round heads of which are so fresh a green,
+      together with date-palm trees, which produce fruit filled with a sweet
+      cream, possessing the fine perfume of the orange flower. These trees,
+      which had already attained to a considerable size, he planted round their
+      little enclosure. He had also sown the seed of many trees which the second
+      year bear flowers or fruit; such as the agathis, encircled with long
+      clusters of white flowers which hang from it like the crystal pendants of
+      a chandelier; the Persian lilac, which lifts high in air its gray
+      flax-coloured branches; the pappaw tree, the branchless trunk of which
+      forms a column studded with green melons, surmounted by a capital of broad
+      leaves similar to those of the fig-tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mango, alligator pear,
+      the guava, the bread-fruit tree, and the narrow-leaved rose-apple, were
+      also planted by him with profusion: and the greater number of these trees
+      already afforded their young cultivator both shade and fruit. His
+      industrious hands diffused the riches of nature over even the most barren
+      parts of the plantation. Several species of aloes, the Indian fig, adorned
+      with yellow flowers spotted with red, and the thorny torch thistle, grew
+      upon the dark summits of the rocks, and seemed to aim at reaching the long
+      lianas, which, laden with blue or scarlet flowers, hung scattered over the
+      steepest parts of the mountain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I loved to trace the ingenuity he had exercised in the arrangement of
+      these trees. He had so disposed them that the whole could be seen at a
+      single glance. In the middle of the hollow he had planted shrubs of the
+      lowest growth; behind grew the more lofty sorts; then trees of the
+      ordinary height; and beyond and above all, the venerable and lofty groves
+      which border the circumference. Thus this extensive enclosure appeared,
+      from its centre, like a verdant amphitheatre decorated with fruits and
+      flowers, containing a variety of vegetables, some strips of meadow land,
+      and fields of rice and corn. But, in arranging these vegetable productions
+      to his own taste, he wandered not too far from the designs of Nature.
+      Guided by her suggestions, he had thrown upon the elevated spots such
+      seeds as the winds would scatter about, and near the borders of the
+      springs those which float upon the water. Every plant thus grew in its
+      proper soil, and every spot seemed decorated by Nature's own hand. The
+      streams which fell from the summits of the rocks formed in some parts of
+      the valley sparkling cascades, and in others were spread into broad
+      mirrors, in which were reflected, set in verdure, the flowering trees, the
+      overhanging rocks, and the azure heavens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground, these plantations
+      were, for the most part, easy of access. We had, indeed, all given him our
+      advice and assistance, in order to accomplish this end. He had conducted
+      one path entirely round the valley, and various branches from it led from
+      the circumference to the centre. He had drawn some advantage from the most
+      rugged spots, and had blended, in harmonious union, level walks with the
+      inequalities of the soil, and trees which grow wild with the cultivated
+      varieties. With that immense quantity of large pebbles which now block up
+      these paths, and which are scattered over most of the ground of this
+      island, he formed pyramidal heaps here and there, at the base of which he
+      laid mould, and planted rose-bushes, the Barbadoes flower-fence, and other
+      shrubs which love to climb the rocks. In a short time the dark and
+      shapeless heaps of stones he had constructed were covered with verdure, or
+      with the glowing tints of the most beautiful flowers. Hollow recesses on
+      the borders of the streams shaded by the overhanging boughs of aged trees,
+      formed rural grottoes, impervious to the rays of the sun, in which you
+      might enjoy a refreshing coolness during the mid-day heats. One path led
+      to a clump of forest trees, in the centre of which sheltered from the
+      wind, you found a fruit-tree, laden with produce. Here was a corn-field;
+      there, an orchard; from one avenue you had a view of the cottages; from
+      another, of the inaccessible summit of the mountain. Beneath one tufted
+      bower of gum trees, interwoven with lianas, no object whatever could be
+      perceived: while the point of the adjoining rock, jutting out from the
+      mountain, commanded a view of the whole enclosure, and of the distant
+      ocean, where, occasionally, we could discern the distant sail, arriving
+      from Europe, or bound thither. On this rock the two families frequently
+      met in the evening, and enjoyed in silence the freshness of the flowers,
+      the gentle murmurs of the fountain, and the last blended harmonies of
+      light and shade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing could be more charming than the names which were bestowed upon
+      some of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of which I
+      have been speaking, whence they could discern my approach at a
+      considerable distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and
+      Virginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot; and
+      whenever they saw me coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief, by
+      way of signal of my approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the
+      neighbouring mountain on the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck me
+      of engraving an inscription on the stalk of this reed; for I never, in the
+      course of my travels, experienced any thing like the pleasure in seeing a
+      statue or other monument of ancient art, as in reading a well-written
+      inscription. It seems to me as if a human voice issued from the stone,
+      and, making itself heard after the lapse of ages, addressed man in the
+      midst of a desert, to tell him that he is not alone, and that other men,
+      on that very spot, had felt, and thought, and suffered like himself. If
+      the inscription belongs to an ancient nation, which no longer exists, it
+      leads the soul through infinite space, and strengthens the consciousness
+      of its immortality, by demonstrating that a thought has survived the ruins
+      of an empire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I inscribed then, on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag, the
+      following lines of Horace:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+     Ventorumque regat pater,
+     Obstrictis, aliis, praeter Iapiga.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you, and the Father of the
+      winds, guide you; and may you feel only the breath of the zephyr."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a gum-tree, under the shade of which Paul was accustomed to sit,
+      to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of this tree,
+      I engraved the following lines from Virgil:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Happy are thou, my son, in knowing only the pastoral divinities."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the families so
+      frequently met, I placed this line:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Here dwell a calm conscience, and a life that knows not deceit."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Virginia did not approve of my Latin: she said, that what I had placed
+      at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. "I should have
+      liked better," added she, "to have seen inscribed, EVER AGITATED, YET
+      CONSTANT."&mdash;"Such a motto," I answered, "would have been still more
+      applicable to virtue." My reflection made her blush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested in every
+      thing around them. They gave the tenderest names to objects in appearance
+      the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain and rose-apple trees,
+      planted round a green sward where Virginia and Paul sometimes danced,
+      received the name of Concord. An old tree, beneath the shade of which
+      Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount their misfortunes, was
+      called the Burial-place of Tears. They bestowed the names of Brittany and
+      Normandy on two little plots of ground, where they had sown corn,
+      strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary, wishing, in imitation of their
+      mistresses, to recall to mind Angola and Foullepoint, the places of their
+      birth in Africa, gave those names to the little fields where the grass was
+      sown with which they wove their baskets, and where they had planted a
+      calabash-tree. Thus, by cultivating the productions of their respective
+      climates, these exiled families cherished the dear illusions which bind us
+      to our native country, and softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas!
+      I have seen these trees, these fountains, these heaps of stones, which are
+      now so completely overthrown,&mdash;which now, like the desolated plains
+      of Greece, present nothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances,
+      all called into life by the many charming appellations thus bestowed upon
+      them!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that called
+      Virginia's resting-place. At the foot of the rock which bore the name of
+      The Discovery of Friendship, is a small crevice, whence issues a fountain,
+      forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in the middle of a
+      field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had made Margaret a
+      present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and which she planted
+      on the border of this fenny ground, in order that the tree might one day
+      serve to mark the epoch of her son's birth. Madame de la Tour planted
+      another cocoa with the same view, at the birth of Virginia. These nuts
+      produced two cocoa-trees, which formed the only records of the two
+      families; one was called Paul's tree, the other, Virginia's. Their growth
+      was in the same proportion as that of the two young persons, not exactly
+      equal: but they rose, at the end of twelve years, above the roofs of the
+      cottages. Already their tender stalks were interwoven, and clusters of
+      young cocoas hung from them over the basin of the fountain. With the
+      exception of these two trees, this nook of the rock was left as it had
+      been decorated by nature. On its embrowned and moist sides broad plants of
+      maiden-hair glistened with their green and dark stars; and tufts of
+      wave-leaved hart's tongue, suspended like long ribands of purpled green,
+      floated on the wind. Near this grew a chain of the Madagascar periwinkle,
+      the flowers of which resemble the red gilliflower; and the long-podded
+      capsicum, the seed-vessels of which are of the colour of blood, and more
+      resplendent than coral. Near them, the herb balm, with its heart-shaped
+      leaves, and the sweet basil, which has the odour of the clove, exhaled the
+      most delicious perfumes. From the precipitous side of the mountain hung
+      the graceful lianas, like floating draperies, forming magnificent canopies
+      of verdure on the face of the rocks. The sea-birds, allured by the
+      stillness of these retreats, resorted here to pass the night. At the hour
+      of sunset we could perceive the curlew and the stint skimming along the
+      seashore; the frigate-bird poised high in air; and the white bird of the
+      tropic, which abandons, with the star of day, the solitudes of the Indian
+      ocean. Virginia took pleasure in resting herself upon the border of this
+      fountain, decorated with wild and sublime magnificence. She often went
+      thither to wash the linen of the family beneath the shade of the two
+      cocoa-trees, and thither too she sometimes led her goats to graze. While
+      she was making cheeses of their milk, she loved to see them browse on the
+      maiden-hair fern which clothes the steep sides of the rock, and hung
+      suspended by one of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that
+      Virginia was fond of this spot, brought thither, from the neighbouring
+      forest, a great variety of bird's nests. The old birds following their
+      young, soon established themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated
+      times, distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and maize. As soon
+      as she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird, whose note is
+      so soft, the cardinal, with its flame coloured plumage, forsook their
+      bushes; the parroquet, green as an emerald, descended from the
+      neighbouring fan-palms, the partridge ran along the grass; all advanced
+      promiscuously towards her, like a brood of chickens: and she and Paul
+      found an exhaustless source of amusement in observing their sports, their
+      repasts, and their loves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amiable children! thus passed your earlier days in innocence, and in
+      obeying the impulses of kindness. How many times, on this very spot, have
+      your mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the
+      consolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years,
+      while they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin
+      life under the happiest auspices! How many times, beneath the shade of
+      those rocks, have I partaken with them of your rural repasts, which never
+      cost any animal its life! Gourds full of milk, fresh eggs, cakes of rice
+      served up on plantain leaves, with baskets of mangoes, oranges, dates,
+      pomegranates, pineapples, furnished a wholesome repast, the most agreeable
+      to the eye, as well as delicious to the taste, that can possibly be
+      imagined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like the repast, the conversation was mild, and free from every thing
+      having a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of the day
+      and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for the
+      accommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the paths
+      were rugged; there, that the seats were uncomfortable: sometimes the young
+      arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and Virginia might be better
+      pleased elsewhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage, and
+      employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of bamboo.
+      Rakes, spades, and hatchets, were ranged along the walls in the most
+      perfect order; and near these instruments of agriculture were heaped its
+      products,&mdash;bags of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of plantains.
+      Some degree of luxury usually accompanies abundance; and Virginia was
+      taught by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbert and cordials from
+      the juice of the sugar-cane, the lemon and the citron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When night came, they all supped together by the light of a lamp; after
+      which Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of travellers
+      benighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested by banditti; or
+      told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown by the tempest upon
+      the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals the children listened with
+      eager attention, and earnestly hoped that Heaven would one day grant them
+      the joy of performing the rites of hospitality towards such unfortunate
+      persons. When the time for repose arrived, the two families separated and
+      retired for the night, eager to meet again the following morning.
+      Sometimes they were lulled to repose by the beating of the rains, which
+      fell in torrents upon the roofs of their cottages, and sometimes by the
+      hollow winds, which brought to their ear the distant roar of the waves
+      breaking upon the shore. They blessed God for their own safety, the
+      feeling of which was brought home more forcibly to their minds by the
+      sound of remote danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of the
+      Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon these sacred
+      volumes, for their theology centred in a feeling of devotion towards the
+      Supreme Being, like that of nature: and their morality was an active
+      principle, like that of the Gospel. These families had no particular days
+      devoted to pleasure, and others to sadness. Every day was to them a
+      holyday, and all that surrounded them one holy temple, in which they ever
+      adored the Infinite Intelligence, the Almighty God, the Friend of human
+      kind. A feeling of confidence in his supreme power filled their minds with
+      consolation for the past, with fortitude under present trials, and with
+      hope in the future. Compelled by misfortune to return almost to a state of
+      nature, these excellent women had thus developed in their own and their
+      children's bosoms the feelings most natural to the human mind, and its
+      best support under affliction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, as clouds sometimes arise, and cast a gloom over the best regulated
+      tempers, so whenever any member of this little society appeared to be
+      labouring under dejection, the rest assembled around, and endeavoured to
+      banish her painful thoughts by amusing the mind rather than by grave
+      arguments against them. Each performed this kind office in their own
+      appropriate manner: Margaret, by her gaiety; Madame de la Tour, by the
+      gentle consolations of religion; Virginia, by her tender caresses; Paul,
+      by his frank and engaging cordiality. Even Mary and Domingo hastened to
+      offer their succour, and to weep with those that wept. Thus do weak plants
+      interweave themselves with each other, in order to withstand the fury of
+      the tempest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the fine season, they went every Sunday to the church of the
+      Shaddock Grove, the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain. Many
+      wealthy members of the congregation, who came to church in palanquins,
+      sought the acquaintance of these united families, and invited them to
+      parties of pleasure. But they always repelled these overtures with
+      respectful politeness, as they were persuaded that the rich and powerful
+      seek the society of persons in an inferior station only for the sake of
+      surrounding themselves with flatterers, and that every flatterer must
+      applaud alike all the actions of his patron, whether good or bad. On the
+      other hand, they avoided, with equal care, too intimate an acquaintance
+      with the lower class, who are ordinarily jealous, calumniating, and gross.
+      They thus acquired, with some, the character of being timid, and with
+      others, of pride: but their reserve was accompanied with so much obliging
+      politeness, above all towards the unfortunate and the unhappy, that they
+      insensibly acquired the respect of the rich and the confidence of the
+      poor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After service, some kind office was often required at their hands by their
+      poor neighbours. Sometimes a person troubled in mind sought their advice;
+      sometimes a child begged them to its sick mother, in one of the adjoining
+      hamlets. They always took with them a few remedies for the ordinary
+      diseases of the country, which they administered in that soothing manner
+      which stamps a value upon the smallest favours. Above all, they met with
+      singular success in administrating to the disorders of the mind, so
+      intolerable in solitude, and under the infirmities of a weakened frame.
+      Madame de la Tour spoke with such sublime confidence of the Divinity, that
+      the sick, while listening to her, almost believed him present. Virginia
+      often returned home with her eyes full of tears, and her heart overflowing
+      with delight, at having had an opportunity of doing good; for to her
+      generally was confided the task of preparing and administering the
+      medicines,&mdash;a task which she fulfilled with angelic sweetness. After
+      these visits of charity, they sometimes extended their walk by the Sloping
+      Mountain, till they reached my dwelling, where I used to prepare dinner
+      for them on the banks of the little rivulet which glides near my cottage.
+      I procured for these occasions a few bottles of old wine, in order to
+      heighten the relish of our Oriental repast by the more genial productions
+      of Europe. At other times we met on the sea-shore, at the mouth of some
+      little river, or rather mere brook. We brought from home the provisions
+      furnished us by our gardens, to which we added those supplied us by the
+      sea in abundant variety. We caught on these shores the mullet, the roach,
+      and the sea-urchin, lobsters, shrimps, crabs, oysters, and all other kinds
+      of shell-fish. In this way, we often enjoyed the most tranquil pleasures
+      in situations the most terrific. Sometimes, seated upon a rock, under the
+      shade of the velvet sunflower-tree, we saw the enormous waves of the
+      Indian Ocean break beneath our feet with a tremendous noise. Paul, who
+      could swim like a fish, would advance on the reefs to meet the coming
+      billows; then, at their near approach, would run back to the beach,
+      closely pursued by the foaming breakers, which threw themselves, with a
+      roaring noise, far on the sands. But Virginia, at this sight, uttered
+      piercing cries, and said that such sports frightened her too much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other amusements were not wanting on these festive occasions. Our repasts
+      were generally followed by the songs and dances of the two young people.
+      Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life, and the misery of those who
+      were impelled by avarice to cross the raging ocean, rather than cultivate
+      the earth, and enjoy its bounties in peace. Sometimes she performed a
+      pantomime with Paul, after the manner of the negroes. The first language
+      of man is pantomime: it is known to all nations, and is so natural and
+      expressive, that the children of the European inhabitants catch it with
+      facility from the negroes. Virginia, recalling, from among the histories
+      which her mother had read to her, those which had affected her most,
+      represented the principal events in them with beautiful simplicity.
+      Sometimes at the sound of Domingo's tantam she appeared upon the green
+      sward, bearing a pitcher upon her head, and advanced with a timid step
+      towards the source of a neighbouring fountain, to draw water. Domingo and
+      Mary, personating the shepherds of Midian forbade her to approach, and
+      repulsed her sternly. Upon this Paul flew to her succour, beat away the
+      shepherds, filled Virginia's pitcher, and placing it upon her heard, bound
+      her brows at the same time with a wreath of the red flowers of the
+      Madagascar periwinkle, which served to heighten the delicacy of her
+      complexion. Then joining in their sports, I took upon myself the part of
+      Raguel, and bestowed upon Paul, my daughter Zephora in marriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another time Virginia would represent the unhappy Ruth, returning poor and
+      widowed with her mother-in-law, who, after so prolonged an absence, found
+      herself as unknown as in a foreign land. Domingo and Mary personated the
+      reapers. The supposed daughter of Naomi followed their steps, gleaning
+      here and there a few ears of corn. When interrogated by Paul,&mdash;a part
+      which he performed with the gravity of a patriarch,&mdash;she answered his
+      questions with a faltering voice. He then, touched with compassion,
+      granted an asylum to innocence, and hospitality to misfortune. He filled
+      her lap with plenty; and, leading her towards us as before the elders of
+      the city, declared his purpose to take her in marriage. At this scene,
+      Madame de la Tour, recalling the desolate situation in which she had been
+      left by her relations, her widowhood, and the kind reception she had met
+      with from Margaret, succeeded now by the soothing hope of a happy union
+      between their children, could not forbear weeping; and these mixed
+      recollections of good and evil caused us all to unite with her in shedding
+      tears of sorrow and of joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These dramas were performed with such an air of reality that you might
+      have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of Palestine.
+      We were not unfurnished with decorations, lights, or an orchestra,
+      suitable to the representation. The scene was generally placed in an open
+      space of the forest, the diverging paths from which formed around us
+      numerous arcades of foliage, under which we were sheltered from the heat
+      all the middle of the day; but when the sun descended towards the horizon,
+      its rays, broken by the trunks of the trees, darted amongst the shadows of
+      the forest in long lines of light, producing the most magnificent effect.
+      Sometimes its broad disk appeared at the end of an avenue, lighting it up
+      with insufferable brightness. The foliage of the trees, illuminated from
+      beneath by its saffron beams, glowed with the lustre of the topaz and the
+      emerald. Their brown and mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of
+      antique bronze; and the birds, which had retired in silence to their leafy
+      shades to pass the night, surprised to see the radiance of a second
+      morning, hailed the star of day all together with innumerable carols.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Night often overtook us during these rural entertainments; but the purity
+      of the air and the warmth of the climate, admitted of our sleeping in the
+      woods, without incurring any danger by exposure to the weather, and no
+      less secure from the molestations of robbers. On our return the following
+      day to our respective habitations, we found them in exactly the same state
+      in which they had been left. In this island, then unsophisticated by the
+      pursuits of commerce, such were the honesty and primitive manners of the
+      population, that the doors of many houses were without a key, and even a
+      lock itself was an object of curiosity to not a few of the native
+      inhabitants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were, however, some days in the year celebrated by Paul and Virginia
+      in a more peculiar manner; these were the birth-days of their mothers.
+      Virginia never failed the day before to prepare some wheaten cakes, which
+      she distributed among a few poor white families, born in the island, who
+      had never eaten European bread. These unfortunate people, uncared for by
+      the blacks, were reduced to live on tapioca in the woods; and as they had
+      neither the insensibility which is the result of slavery, nor the
+      fortitude which springs from a liberal education, to enable them to
+      support their poverty, their situation was deplorable. These cakes were
+      all that Virginia had it in her power to give away, but she conferred the
+      gift in so delicate a manner as to add tenfold to its value. In the first
+      place, Paul was commissioned to take the cakes himself to these families,
+      and get their promise to come and spend the next day at Madame de la
+      Tour's. Accordingly, mothers of families, with two or three thin, yellow,
+      miserable looking daughters, so timid that they dared not look up, made
+      their appearance. Virginia soon put them at their ease; she waited upon
+      them with refreshments, the excellence of which she endeavoured to
+      heighten by relating some particular circumstance which in her own
+      estimation, vastly improved them. One beverage had been prepared by
+      Margaret; another, by her mother: her brother himself had climbed some
+      lofty tree for the very fruit she was presenting. She would then get Paul
+      to dance with them, nor would she leave them till she saw that they were
+      happy. She wished them to partake of the joy of her own family. "It is
+      only," she said, "by promoting the happiness of others, that we can secure
+      our own." When they left, she generally presented them with some little
+      article they seemed to fancy, enforcing their acceptance of it by some
+      delicate pretext, that she might not appear to know they were in want. If
+      she remarked that their clothes were much tattered, she obtained her
+      mother's permission to give them some of her own, and then sent Paul to
+      leave them, secretly at their cottage doors. She thus followed the divine
+      precept,&mdash;concealing the benefactor, and revealing only the benefit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You Europeans, whose minds are imbued from infancy with prejudices at
+      variance with happiness, cannot imagine all the instruction and pleasure
+      to be derived from nature. Your souls, confined to a small sphere of
+      intelligence, soon reach the limit of its artificial enjoyments: but
+      nature and the heart are inexhaustible. Paul and Virginia had neither
+      clock, nor almanack, nor books of chronology, history or philosophy. The
+      periods of their lives were regulated by those of the operations of
+      nature, and their familiar conversation had a reference to the changes of
+      the seasons. They knew the time of day by the shadows of the trees; the
+      seasons, by the times when those trees bore flowers or fruit; and the
+      years, by the number of their harvests. These soothing images diffused an
+      inexpressible charm over their conversation. "It is time to dine," said
+      Virginia, "the shadows of the plantain-trees are at their roots:" or,
+      "Night approaches, the tamarinds are closing their leaves." "When will you
+      come and see us?" inquired some of her companions in the neighbourhood.
+      "At the time of the sugar-canes," answered Virginia. "Your visit will be
+      then still more delightful," resumed her young acquaintances. When she was
+      asked what was her own age and that of Paul,&mdash;"My brother," said she,
+      "is as old as the great cocoa-tree of the fountain; and I am as old as the
+      little one: the mangoes have bore fruit twelve times and the orange-trees
+      have flowered four-and-twenty times, since I came into the world." Their
+      lives seemed linked to that of the trees, like those of Fauns or Dryads.
+      They knew no other historical epochs than those of the lives of their
+      mothers, no other chronology than that of doing good, and resigning
+      themselves to the will of Heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What need, indeed, had these young people of riches or learning such as
+      ours? Even their necessities and their ignorance increased their
+      happiness. No day passed in which they were not of some service to one
+      another, or in which they did not mutually impart some instruction. Yes,
+      instruction; for if errors mingled with it, they were, at least, not of a
+      dangerous character. A pure-minded being has none of that description to
+      fear. Thus grew these children of nature. No care had troubled their
+      peace, no intemperance had corrupted their blood, no misplaced passion had
+      depraved their hearts. Love, innocence, and piety, possessed their souls;
+      and those intellectual graces were unfolding daily in their features,
+      their attitudes, and their movements. Still in the morning of life, they
+      had all its blooming freshness: and surely such in the garden of Eden
+      appeared our first parents, when coming from the hands of God, they first
+      saw, and approached each other, and conversed together, like brother and
+      sister. Virginia was gentle, modest, and confiding as Eve; and Paul, like
+      Adam, united the stature of manhood with the simplicity of a child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes, if alone with Virginia, he has a thousand times told me, he
+      used to say to her, on his return from labour,&mdash;"When I am wearied,
+      the sight of you refreshes me. If from the summit of the mountain I
+      perceive you below in the valley, you appear to me in the midst of our
+      orchard like a blooming rose-bud. If you go towards our mother's house,
+      the partridge, when it runs to meet its young, has a shape less beautiful,
+      and a step less light. When I lose sight of you through the trees, I have
+      no need to see you in order to find you again. Something of you, I know
+      not how, remains for me in the air through which you have passed, on the
+      grass where you have been seated. When I come near you, you delight all my
+      senses. The azure of the sky is less charming than the blue of your eyes,
+      and the song of the amadavid bird less soft than the sound of your voice.
+      If I only touch you with the tip of my finger, my whole frame trembles
+      with pleasure. Do you remember the day when we crossed over the great
+      stones of the river of the Three Breasts? I was very tired before we
+      reached the bank: but, as soon as I had taken you in my arms, I seemed to
+      have wings like a bird. Tell me by what charm you have thus enchanted me!
+      Is it by your wisdom?&mdash;Our mothers have more than either of us. Is it
+      by your caresses?&mdash;They embrace me much oftener than you. I think it
+      must be by your goodness. I shall never forget how you walked bare-footed
+      to the Black River, to ask pardon for the poor run-away slave. Here, my
+      beloved, take this flowering branch of a lemon-tree, which I have gathered
+      in the forest: you will let it remain at night near your bed. Eat this
+      honey-comb too, which I have taken for you from the top of a rock. But
+      first lean on my bosom, and I shall be refreshed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia would answer him,&mdash;"Oh, my dear brother, the rays of the sun
+      in the morning on the tops of the rocks give me less joy than the sight of
+      you. I love my mother,&mdash;I love yours; but when they call you their
+      son, I love them a thousand times more. When they caress you, I feel it
+      more sensibly than when I am caressed myself. You ask me what makes you
+      love me. Why, all creatures that are brought up together love one another.
+      Look at our birds; reared up in the same nests, they love each other as we
+      do; they are always together like us. Hark! how they call and answer from
+      one tree to another. So when the echoes bring to my ears the air which you
+      play on your flute on the top of the mountain, I repeat the words at the
+      bottom of the valley. You are dear to me more especially since the day
+      when you wanted to fight the master of the slave for me. Since that time
+      how often have I said to myself, 'Ah, my brother has a good heart; but for
+      him, I should have died of terror.' I pray to God every day for my mother
+      and for yours; for you, and for our poor servants; but when I pronounce
+      your name, my devotion seems to increase;&mdash;I ask so earnestly of God
+      that no harm may befall you! Why do you go so far, and climb so high, to
+      seek fruits and flowers for me? Have we not enough in our garden already?
+      How much you are fatigued,&mdash;you look so warm!"&mdash;and with her
+      little white handkerchief she would wipe the damps from his face, and then
+      imprint a tender kiss on his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For some time past, however, Virginia had felt her heart agitated by new
+      sensations. Her beautiful blue eyes lost their lustre, her cheek its
+      freshness, and her frame was overpowered with a universal langour.
+      Serenity no longer sat upon her brow, nor smiles played upon her lips. She
+      would become all at once gay without cause for joy, and melancholy without
+      any subject for grief. She fled her innocent amusements, her gentle toils,
+      and even the society of her beloved family; wandering about the most
+      unfrequented parts of the plantations, and seeking every where the rest
+      which she could no where find. Sometimes, at the sight of Paul, she
+      advanced sportively to meet him; but, when about to accost him, was
+      overcome by a sudden confusion; her pale cheeks were covered with blushes,
+      and her eyes no longer dared to meet those of her brother. Paul said to
+      her,&mdash;"The rocks are covered with verdure, our birds begin to sing
+      when you approach, everything around you is gay, and you only are
+      unhappy." He then endeavoured to soothe her by his embraces, but she
+      turned away her head, and fled, trembling towards her mother. The caresses
+      of her brother excited too much emotion in her agitated heart, and she
+      sought, in the arms of her mother, refuge from herself. Paul, unused to
+      the secret windings of the female heart, vexed himself in vain in
+      endeavouring to comprehend the meaning of these new and strange caprices.
+      Misfortunes seldom come alone, and a serious calamity now impended over
+      these families.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of those summers, which sometimes desolate the countries situated
+      between the tropics, now began to spread its ravages over this island. It
+      was near the end of December, when the sun, in Capricorn, darts over the
+      Mauritius, during the space of three weeks, its vertical fires. The
+      southeast wind, which prevails throughout almost the whole year, no longer
+      blew. Vast columns of dust arose from the highways, and hung suspended in
+      the air; the ground was every where broken into clefts; the grass was
+      burnt up; hot exhalations issued from the sides of the mountains, and
+      their rivulets, for the most part, became dry. No refreshing cloud ever
+      arose from the sea: fiery vapours, only, during the day, ascended from the
+      plains, and appeared, at sunset, like the reflection of a vast
+      conflagration. Night brought no coolness to the heated atmosphere; and the
+      red moon rising in the misty horizon, appeared of supernatural magnitude.
+      The drooping cattle, on the sides of the hills, stretching out their necks
+      towards heaven, and panting for breath, made the valleys re-echo with
+      their melancholy lowings: even the Caffre by whom they were led threw
+      himself upon the earth, in search of some cooling moisture: but his hopes
+      were vain; the scorching sun had penetrated the whole soil, and the
+      stifling atmosphere everywhere resounded with the buzzing noise of
+      insects, seeking to allay their thirst with the blood of men and of
+      animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this sultry season, Virginia's restlessness and disquietude were
+      much increased. One night, in particular, being unable to sleep, she arose
+      from her bed, sat down, and returned to rest again; but could find in no
+      attitude either slumber or repose. At length she bent her way, by the
+      light of the moon, towards her fountain, and gazed at its spring, which,
+      notwithstanding the drought, still trickled, in silver threads down the
+      brown sides of the rock. She flung herself into the basin: its coolness
+      reanimated her spirits, and a thousand soothing remembrances came to her
+      mind. She recollected that in her infancy her mother and Margaret had
+      amused themselves by bathing her with Paul in this very spot; that he
+      afterwards, reserving this bath for her sole use, had hollowed out its
+      bed, covered the bottom with sand, and sown aromatic herbs around its
+      borders. She saw in the water, upon her naked arms and bosom, the
+      reflection of the two cocoa trees which were planted at her own and her
+      brother's birth, and which interwove above her head their green branches
+      and young fruit. She thought of Paul's friendship, sweeter than the odour
+      of the blossoms, purer than the waters of the fountain, stronger than the
+      intertwining palm-tree, and she sighed. Reflecting on the hour of the
+      night, and the profound solitude, her imagination became disturbed.
+      Suddenly she flew, affrighted, from those dangerous shades, and those
+      waters which seemed to her hotter than the tropical sunbeam, and ran to
+      her mother for refuge. More than once, wishing to reveal her sufferings,
+      she pressed her mother's hand within her own; more than once she was ready
+      to pronounce the name of Paul: but her oppressed heart left her lips no
+      power of utterance, and, leaning her head on her mother's bosom, she
+      bathed it with her tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, though she easily discerned the source of her
+      daughter's uneasiness, did not think proper to speak to her on the
+      subject. "My dear child," said she, "offer up your supplications to God,
+      who disposes at his will of health and of life. He subjects you to trial
+      now, in order to recompense you hereafter. Remember that we are only
+      placed upon earth for the exercise of virtue."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The excessive heat in the meantime raised vast masses of vapour from the
+      ocean, which hung over the island like an immense parasol, and gathered
+      round the summits of the mountains. Long flakes of fire issued from time
+      to time from these mist-embosomed peaks. The most awful thunder soon after
+      re-echoed through the woods, the plains, and the valleys: the rains fell
+      from the skies in cataracts; foaming torrents rushed down the sides of
+      this mountain; the bottom of the valley became a sea, and the elevated
+      platform on which the cottages were built, a little island. The
+      accumulated waters, having no other outlet, rushed with violence through
+      the narrow gorge which leads into the valley, tossing and roaring, and
+      bearing along with them a mingled wreck of soil, trees, and rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The trembling families meantime addressed their prayers to God all
+      together in the cottage of Madame de la Tour, the roof of which cracked
+      fearfully from the force of the winds. So incessant and vivid were the
+      lightnings, that although the doors and window-shutters were securely
+      fastened, every object without could be distinctly seen through the joints
+      in the wood-work! Paul, followed by Domingo, went with intrepidity from
+      one cottage to another, notwithstanding the fury of the tempest; here
+      supporting a partition with a buttress, there driving in a stake; and only
+      returning to the family to calm their fears, by the expression of a hope
+      that the storm was passing away. Accordingly, in the evening the rains
+      ceased, the trade-winds of the southeast pursued their ordinary course,
+      the tempestuous clouds were driven away to the northward, and the setting
+      sun appeared in the horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her Resting-place. Paul
+      approached her with a timid air, and offered her the assistance of his
+      arm; she accepted it with a smile, and they left the cottage together. The
+      air was clear and fresh: white vapours arose from the ridges of the
+      mountain, which was furrowed here and there by the courses of torrents,
+      marked in foam, and now beginning to dry up on all sides. As for the
+      garden, it was completely torn to pieces by deep water-courses, the roots
+      of most of the fruit trees were laid bare, and vast heaps of sand covered
+      the borders of the meadows, and had choked up Virginia's bath. The two
+      cocoa trees, however, were still erect, and still retained their
+      freshness; but they were no longer surrounded by turf, or arbours, or
+      birds, except a few amadavid birds, which, upon the points of the
+      neighbouring rocks, were lamenting, in plaintive notes, the loss of their
+      young.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the sight of this general desolation, Virginia exclaimed to Paul,&mdash;"You
+      brought birds hither, and the hurricane has killed them. You planted this
+      garden, and it is now destroyed. Every thing then upon earth perishes, and
+      it is only Heaven that is not subject to change."&mdash;"Why," answered
+      Paul, "cannot I give you something that belongs to Heaven? but I have
+      nothing of my own even upon the earth." Virginia with a blush replied,
+      "You have the picture of Saint Paul." As soon as she had uttered the
+      words, he flew in quest of it to his mother's cottage. This picture was a
+      miniature of Paul the Hermit, which Margaret, who viewed it with feelings
+      of great devotion, had worn at her neck while a girl, and which, after she
+      became a mother, she had placed round her child's. It had even happened,
+      that being, while pregnant, abandoned by all the world, and constantly
+      occupied in contemplating the image of this benevolent recluse, her
+      offspring had contracted some resemblance to this revered object. She
+      therefore bestowed upon him the name of Paul, giving him for his patron a
+      saint who had passed his life far from mankind by whom he had been first
+      deceived and then forsaken. Virginia, on receiving this little present
+      from the hands of Paul, said to him, with emotion, "My dear brother, I
+      will never part with this while I live; nor will I ever forget that you
+      have given me the only thing you have in the world." At this tone of
+      friendship,&mdash;this unhoped for return of familiarity and tenderness,
+      Paul attempted to embrace her; but, light as a bird, she escaped him, and
+      fled away, leaving him astonished, and unable to account for conduct so
+      extraordinary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour, "Why do we not unite our
+      children by marriage? They have a strong attachment for each other, and
+      though my son hardly understands the real nature of his feelings, yet
+      great care and watchfulness will be necessary. Under such circumstances,
+      it will be as well not to leave them too much together." Madame de la Tour
+      replied, "They are too young and too poor. What grief would it occasion us
+      to see Virginia bring into the world unfortunate children, whom she would
+      not perhaps have sufficient strength to rear! Your negro, Domingo, is
+      almost too old to labor; Mary is infirm. As for myself, my dear friend, at
+      the end of fifteen years, I find my strength greatly decreased; the
+      feebleness of age advances rapidly in hot climates, and, above all, under
+      the pressure of misfortune. Paul is our only hope: let us wait till he
+      comes to maturity, and his increased strength enables him to support us by
+      his labour: at present you well know that we have only sufficient to
+      supply the wants of the day: but were we to send Paul for a short time to
+      the Indies, he might acquire, by commerce, the means of purchasing some
+      slaves; and at his return we could unite him to Virginia; for I am
+      persuaded no one on earth would render her so happy as your son. We will
+      consult our neighbour on this subject."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They accordingly asked my advice, which was in accordance with Madame de
+      la Tour's opinion. "The Indian seas," I observed to them, "are calm, and,
+      in choosing a favourable time of the year, the voyage out is seldom longer
+      than six weeks; and the same time may be allowed for the return home. We
+      will furnish Paul with a little venture from my neighbourhood, where he is
+      much beloved. If we were only to supply him with some raw cotton, of which
+      we make no use for want of mills to work it, some ebony, which is here so
+      common that it serves us for firing, and some rosin, which is found in our
+      woods, he would be able to sell those articles, though useless here, to
+      good advantage in the Indies."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took upon myself to obtain permission from Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to
+      undertake this voyage; and I determined previously to mention the affair
+      to Paul. But what was my surprise, when this young man said to me, with a
+      degree of good sense above his age, "And why do you wish me to leave my
+      family for this precarious pursuit of fortune? Is there any commerce in
+      the world more advantageous than the culture of the ground, which yields
+      sometimes fifty or a hundred-fold? If we wish to engage in commerce, can
+      we not do so by carrying our superfluities to the town without my
+      wandering to the Indies? Our mothers tell me, that Domingo is old and
+      feeble; but I am young, and gather strength every day. If any accident
+      should happen during my absence, above all to Virginia, who already
+      suffers&mdash;Oh, no, no!&mdash;I cannot resolve to leave them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So decided an answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la Tour
+      had not concealed from me the cause of Virginia's illness and want of
+      spirits, and her desire of separating these young people till they were a
+      few years older. I took care, however, not to drop any thing which could
+      lead Paul to suspect the existence of these motives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About this period a ship from France brought Madame de la Tour a letter
+      from her aunt. The fear of death, without which hearts as insensible as
+      hers would never feel, had alarmed her into compassion. When she wrote she
+      was recovering from a dangerous illness, which had, however, left her
+      incurably languid and weak. She desired her niece to return to France: or,
+      if her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage, she begged her to
+      send Virginia, on whom she promised to bestow a good education, to procure
+      for her a splendid marriage, and to leave her heiress of her whole
+      fortune. She concluded by enjoining strict obedience to her will, in
+      gratitude, she said, for her great kindness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the perusal of this letter general consternation spread itself through
+      the whole assembled party. Domingo and Mary began to weep. Paul,
+      motionless with surprise, appeared almost ready to burst with indignation;
+      while Virginia, fixing her eyes anxiously upon her mother, had not power
+      to utter a single word. "And can you now leave us?" cried Margaret to
+      Madame de la Tour. "No, my dear friend, no, my beloved children," replied
+      Madame de la Tour; "I will never leave you. I have lived with you, and
+      with you I will die. I have known no happiness but in your affection. If
+      my health be deranged, my past misfortunes are the cause. My heart has
+      been deeply wounded by the cruelty of my relations, and by the loss of my
+      beloved husband. But I have since found more consolation and more real
+      happiness with you in these humble huts, than all the wealth of my family
+      could now lead me to expect in my country."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight.
+      Paul, pressing Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaimed,&mdash;"Neither
+      will I leave you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for you,
+      dear mamma; and you shall never feel any want with us." But of the whole
+      society, the person who displayed the least transport, and who probably
+      felt the most, was Virginia; and during the remainder of the day, the
+      gentle gaiety which flowed from her heart, and proved that her peace of
+      mind was restored, completed the general satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At sun-rise the next day, just as they had concluded offering up, as
+      usual, their morning prayer before breakfast, Domingo came to inform them
+      that a gentleman on horseback, followed by two slaves, was coming towards
+      the plantation. It was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. He entered the cottage,
+      where he found the family at breakfast. Virginia had prepared, according
+      to the custom of the country, coffee, and rice boiled in water. To these
+      she had added hot yams, and fresh plantains. The leaves of the
+      plantain-tree, supplied the want of table-linen; and calabash shells,
+      split in two, served for cups. The governor exhibited, at first, some
+      astonishment at the homeliness of the dwelling; then, addressing himself
+      to Madame de la Tour, he observed, that although public affairs drew his
+      attention too much from the concerns of individuals, she had many claims
+      on his good offices. "You have an aunt at Paris, madam," he added, "a
+      woman of quality, and immensely rich, who expects that you will hasten to
+      see her, and who means to bestow upon you her whole fortune." Madame de la
+      Tour replied, that the state of her health would not permit her to
+      undertake so long a voyage. "At least," resumed Monsieur de la
+      Bourdonnais, "you cannot without injustice, deprive this amiable young
+      lady, your daughter, of so noble an inheritance. I will not conceal from
+      you, that your aunt has made use of her influence to secure your daughter
+      being sent to her; and that I have received official letters, in which I
+      am ordered to exert my authority, if necessary, to that effect. But as I
+      only wish to employ my power for the purpose of rendering the inhabitants
+      of this country happy, I expect from your good sense the voluntary
+      sacrifice of a few years, upon which your daughter's establishment in the
+      world, and the welfare of your whole life depends. Wherefore do we come to
+      these islands? Is it not to acquire a fortune? And will it not be more
+      agreeable to return and find it in your own country?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then took a large bag of piastres from one of his slaves, and placed it
+      upon the table. "This sum," he continued, "is allotted by your aunt to
+      defray the outlay necessary for the equipment of the young lady for her
+      voyage." Gently reproaching Madame de la Tour for not having had recourse
+      to him in her difficulties, he extolled at the same time her noble
+      fortitude. Upon this Paul said to the governor,&mdash;"My mother did apply
+      to you, sir, and you received her ill."&mdash;"Have you another child,
+      madam?" said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to Madame de la Tour. "No, Sir,"
+      she replied; "this is the son of my friend; but he and Virginia are
+      equally dear to us, and we mutually consider them both as our own
+      children." "Young man," said the governor to Paul, "when you have acquired
+      a little more experience of the world, you will know that it is the
+      misfortune of people in place to be deceived, and bestow, in consequence,
+      upon intriguing vice, that which they would wish to give to modest merit."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, at the request of Madame de la Tour, placed
+      himself next to her at table, and breakfasted after the manner of the
+      Creoles, upon coffee, mixed with rice boiled in water. He was delighted
+      with the order and cleanliness which prevailed in the little cottage, the
+      harmony of the two interesting families, and the zeal of their old
+      servants. "Here," he exclaimed, "I discern only wooden furniture; but I
+      find serene countenances and hearts of gold." Paul, enchanted with the
+      affability of the governor, said to him,&mdash;"I wish to be your friend:
+      for you are a good man." Monsieur de la Bourdonnais received with pleasure
+      this insular compliment, and, taking Paul by the hand, assured him he
+      might rely upon his friendship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After breakfast, he took Madame de la Tour aside and informed her that an
+      opportunity would soon offer itself of sending her daughter to France, in
+      a ship which was going to sail in a short time; that he would put her
+      under the charge of a lady, one of the passengers, who was a relation of
+      his own; and that she must not think of renouncing an immense fortune, on
+      account of the pain of being separated from her daughter for a brief
+      interval. "Your aunt," he added, "cannot live more than two years; of this
+      I am assured by her friends. Think of it seriously. Fortune does not visit
+      us every day. Consult your friends. I am sure that every person of good
+      sense will be of my opinion." She answered, "that, as she desired no other
+      happiness henceforth in the world than in promoting that of her daughter,
+      she hoped to be allowed to leave her departure for France to her own
+      inclination."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour was not sorry to find an opportunity of separating Paul
+      and Virginia for a short time, and provide by this means, for their mutual
+      felicity at a future period. She took her daughter aside, and said to her,&mdash;"My
+      dear child, our servants are now old. Paul is still very young, Margaret
+      is advanced in years, and I am already infirm. If I should die what would
+      become of you, without fortune, in the midst of these deserts? You would
+      then be left alone, without any person who could afford you much
+      assistance, and would be obliged to labour without ceasing, as a hired
+      servant, in order to support your wretched existence. This idea overcomes
+      me with sorrow." Virginia answered,&mdash;"God has appointed us to labour,
+      and to bless him every day. Up to this time he has never forsaken us, and
+      he never will forsake us in time to come. His providence watches most
+      especially over the unfortunate. You have told me this very often, my dear
+      mother! I cannot resolve to leave you." Madame de la Tour replied, with
+      much emotion,&mdash;"I have no other aim than to render you happy, and to
+      marry you one day to Paul, who is not really your brother. Remember then
+      that his fortune depends upon you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A young girl who is in love believes that every one else is ignorant of
+      her passion; she throws over her eyes the veil with which she covers the
+      feelings of her heart; but when it is once lifted by a friendly hand, the
+      hidden sorrows of her attachment escape as through a newly-opened barrier,
+      and the sweet outpourings of unrestrained confidence succeed to her former
+      mystery and reserve. Virginia, deeply affected by this new proof of her
+      mother's tenderness, related to her the cruel struggles she had undergone,
+      of which heaven alone had been witness; she saw, she said, the hand of
+      Providence in the assistance of an affectionate mother, who approved of
+      her attachment; and would guide her by her counsels; and as she was now
+      strengthened by such support, every consideration led her to remain with
+      her mother, without anxiety for the present, and without apprehension for
+      the future.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, perceiving that this confidential conversation had
+      produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected,
+      said,&mdash;"My dear child, I do not wish to constrain you; think over it
+      at leisure, but conceal your affection from Paul. It is better not to let
+      a man know that the heart of his mistress is gained."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia and her mother were sitting together by themselves the same
+      evening, when a tall man, dressed in a blue cassock, entered their
+      cottage. He was a missionary priest and the confessor of Madame de la Tour
+      and her daughter, who had now been sent to them by the governor. "My
+      children," he exclaimed as he entered, "God be praised! you are now rich.
+      You can now attend to the kind suggestions of your benevolent hearts, and
+      do good to the poor. I know what Monsieur de la Bourdonnais has said to
+      you, and what you have said in reply. Your health, dear madam, obliges you
+      to remain here; but you, young lady, are without excuse. We must obey our
+      aged relations, even when they are unjust. A sacrifice is required of you;
+      but it is the will of God. Our Lord devoted himself for you; and you in
+      imitation of his example, must give up something for the welfare of your
+      family. Your voyage to France will end happily. You will surely consent to
+      go, my dear young lady."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia, with downcast eyes, answered, trembling, "If it is the command
+      of God, I will not presume to oppose it. Let the will of God be done!" As
+      she uttered these words, she wept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The priest went away, in order to inform the governor of the success of
+      his mission. In the meantime Madame de la Tour sent Domingo to request me
+      to come to her, that she might consult me respecting Virginia's departure.
+      I was not at all of opinion that she ought to go. I consider it as a fixed
+      principle of happiness, that we ought to prefer the advantages of nature
+      to those of fortune, and never go in search of that at a distance, which
+      we may find at home,&mdash;in our own bosoms. But what could be expected
+      from my advice, in opposition to the illusions of a splendid fortune?&mdash;or
+      from my simple reasoning, when in competition with the prejudices of the
+      world, and an authority held sacred by Madame de la Tour? This lady indeed
+      only consulted me out of politeness; she had ceased to deliberate since
+      she had heard the decision of her confessor. Margaret herself, who,
+      notwithstanding the advantages she expected for her son from the
+      possession of Virginia's fortune, had hitherto opposed her departure, made
+      no further objections. As for Paul, in ignorance of what had been
+      determined, but alarmed at the secret conversations which Virginia had
+      been holding with her mother, he abandoned himself to melancholy. "They
+      are plotting something against me," cried he, "for they conceal every
+      thing from me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A report having in the meantime been spread in the island that fortune had
+      visited these rocks, merchants of every description were seen climbing
+      their steep ascent. Now, for the first time, were seen displayed in these
+      humble huts the richest stuffs of India; the fine dimity of Gondelore; the
+      handkerchiefs of Pellicate and Masulipatan; the plain, striped, and
+      embroidered muslins of Dacca, so beautifully transparent: the delicately
+      white cottons of Surat, and linens of all colours. They also brought with
+      them the gorgeous silks of China, satin damasks, some white, and others
+      grass-green and bright red; pink taffetas, with the profusion of satins
+      and gauze of Tonquin, both plain and decorated with flowers; soft pekins,
+      downy as cloth; and white and yellow nankeens, and the calicoes of
+      Madagascar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase whatever she liked; she
+      only examined the goods, and inquired the price, to take care that the
+      dealers did not cheat her. Virginia made choice of everything she thought
+      would be useful or agreeable to her mother, or to Margaret and her son.
+      "This," said she, "will be wanted for furnishing the cottage, and that
+      will be very useful to Mary and Domingo." In short, the bag of piastres
+      was almost emptied before she even began to consider her own wants; and
+      she was obliged to receive back for her own use a share of the presents
+      which she had distributed among the family circle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune, which
+      he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days after to
+      my dwelling. With an air of deep despondency he said to me&mdash;"My
+      sister is going away; she is already making preparations for her voyage. I
+      conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother and mine, in
+      order to detain her here." I could not refuse the young man's
+      solicitations, although well convinced that my representations would be
+      unavailing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse cloth of
+      Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head: you may therefore
+      imagine how much her beauty was increased, when she was attired in the
+      graceful and elegant costume worn by the ladies of this country! She had
+      on a white muslin dress, lined with pink taffeta. Her somewhat tall and
+      slender figure was shown to advantage in her new attire, and the simple
+      arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with the form of her head. Her
+      fine blue eyes were filled with an expression of melancholy; and the
+      struggles of passion, with which her heart was agitated, imparted a flush
+      to her cheek, and to her voice a tone of deep emotion. The contrast
+      between her pensive look and her gay habiliments rendered her more
+      interesting than ever, nor was it possible to see or hear her unmoved.
+      Paul became more and more melancholy; and at length Margaret, distressed
+      at the situation of her son, took him aside and said to him,&mdash;"Why,
+      my dear child, will you cherish vain hopes, which will only render your
+      disappointment more bitter? It is time for me to make known to you the
+      secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de la Tour belongs, by her
+      mother's side, to a rich and noble family, while you are but the son of a
+      poor peasant girl; and what is worse you are illegitimate."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, who had never heard this last expression before, inquired with
+      eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, "I was not married to your
+      father. When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness of
+      which you are the offspring. The consequence of my fault is, that you are
+      deprived of the protection of a father's family, and by my flight from
+      home you have also lost that of your mother's. Unfortunate child! you have
+      no relations in the world but me!"&mdash;and she shed a flood of tears.
+      Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, "Oh, my dear mother! since I
+      have no relation in the world but you, I will love you all the more. But
+      what a secret have you just disclosed to me! I now see the reason why
+      Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself so much from me for the last
+      two months, and why she has determined to go to France. Ah! I perceive too
+      well that she despises me!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hour of supper being arrived, we gathered round the table; but the
+      different sensations with which we were agitated left us little
+      inclination to eat, and the meal, if such it may be called, passed in
+      silence. Virginia was the first to rise; she went out, and seated herself
+      on the very spot where we now are. Paul hastened after her, and sat down
+      by her side. Both of them, for some time, kept a profound silence. It was
+      one of those delicious nights which are so common between the tropics, and
+      to the beauty of which no pencil can do justice. The moon appeared in the
+      midst of the firmament, surrounded by a curtain of clouds, which was
+      gradually unfolded by her beams. Her light insensibly spread itself over
+      the mountains of the island, and their distant peaks glistened with a
+      silvery green. The winds were perfectly still. We heard among the woods,
+      at the bottom of the valleys, and on the summits of the rocks, the piping
+      cries and the soft notes of the birds, wantoning in their nests, and
+      rejoicing in the brightness of the night and the serenity of the
+      atmosphere. The hum of insects was heard in the grass. The stars sparkled
+      in the heavens, and their lurid orbs were reflected, in trembling
+      sparkles, from the tranquil bosom of the ocean. Virginia's eye wandered
+      distractedly over its vast and gloomy horizon, distinguishable from the
+      shore of the island only by the red fires in the fishing boats. She
+      perceived at the entrance of the harbour a light and a shadow; these were
+      the watchlight and the hull of the vessel in which she was to embark for
+      Europe, and which, all ready for sea, lay at anchor, waiting for a breeze.
+      Affected at this sight, she turned away her head, in order to hide her
+      tears from Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and I, were seated at a little distance,
+      beneath the plantain-trees; and, owing to the stillness of the night, we
+      distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul said to her,&mdash;"You are going away from us, they tell me, in
+      three days. You do not fear then to encounter the danger of the sea, at
+      the sight of which you are so much terrified?" "I must perform my duty,"
+      answered Virginia, "by obeying my parent." "You leave us," resumed Paul,
+      "for a distant relation, whom you have never seen." "Alas!" cried
+      Virginia, "I would have remained here my whole life, but my mother would
+      not have it so. My confessor, too, told me it was the will of God that I
+      should go, and that life was a scene of trials!&mdash;and Oh! this is
+      indeed a severe one."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What!" exclaimed Paul, "you could find so many reasons for going, and not
+      one for remaining here! Ah! there is one reason for your departure that
+      you have not mentioned. Riches have great attractions. You will soon find
+      in the new world to which you are going, another, to whom you will give
+      the name of brother, which you bestow on me no more. You will choose that
+      brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their birth, and by
+      a fortune which I have not to offer. But where can you go to be happier?
+      On what shore will you land, and find it dearer to you than the spot which
+      gave you birth?&mdash;and where will you form around you a society more
+      delightful to you than this, by which you are so much accustomed? What
+      will become of her, already advanced in years, when she no longer sees you
+      at her side at table, in the house, in the walks, where she used to lean
+      upon you? What will become of my mother, who loves you with the same
+      affection? What shall I say to comfort them when I see them weeping for
+      your absence? Cruel Virginia! I say nothing to you of myself; but what
+      will become of me, when in the morning I shall no more see you; when the
+      evening will come, and not reunite us?&mdash;when I shall gaze on these
+      two palm trees, planted at our birth, and so long the witnesses of our
+      mutual friendship? Ah! since your lot is changed,&mdash;since you seek in
+      a far country other possessions than the fruits of my labour, let me go
+      with you in the vessel in which you are about to embark. I will sustain
+      your spirits in the midst of those tempests which terrify you so much even
+      on shore. I will lay my head upon your bosom: I will warm your heart upon
+      my own; and in France, where you are going in search of fortune and of
+      grandeur, I will wait upon you as your slave. Happy only in your
+      happiness, you will find me, in those palaces where I shall see you
+      receiving the homage and adoration of all, rich and noble enough to make
+      you the greatest of all sacrifices, by dying at your feet."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The violence of his emotions stopped his utterance, and we then heard
+      Virginia, who, in a voice broken by sobs, uttered these words:&mdash;"It
+      is for you that I go,&mdash;for you whom I see tired to death every day by
+      the labour of sustaining two helpless families. If I have accepted this
+      opportunity of becoming rich, it is only to return a thousand-fold the
+      good which you have done us. Can any fortune be equal to your friendship?
+      Why do you talk about your birth? Ah! if it were possible for me still to
+      have a brother, should I make choice of any other than you? Oh, Paul,
+      Paul! you are far dearer to me than a brother! How much has it cost me to
+      repulse you from me! Help me to tear myself from what I value more than
+      existence, till Heaven shall bless our union. But I will stay or go,&mdash;I
+      will live or die,&mdash;dispose of me as you will. Unhappy that I am! I
+      could have repelled your caresses; but I cannot support your affliction."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed close
+      to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, "I will go with her,&mdash;nothing
+      shall ever part us." We all ran towards him; and Madame de la Tour said to
+      him, "My son, if you go, what will become of us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He, trembling, repeated after her the words,&mdash;"My son!&mdash;my son!
+      You my mother!" cried he; "you, who would separate the brother from the
+      sister! We have both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been
+      reared upon your knees; we have learnt of you to love another; we have
+      said so a thousand times; and now you would separate her from me!&mdash;you
+      would send her to Europe, that inhospitable country which refused you an
+      asylum, and to relations by whom you yourself were abandoned. You will
+      tell me that I have no right over her, and that she is not my sister. She
+      is everything to me;&mdash;my riches, my birth, my family,&mdash;all that
+      I have! I know no other. We have had but one roof,&mdash;one cradle,&mdash;and
+      we will have but one grave! If she goes, I will follow her. The governor
+      will prevent me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea?&mdash;will
+      he prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal
+      to me than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will die
+      before her eyes, far from you. Inhuman mother!&mdash;woman without
+      compassion!&mdash;may the ocean, to which you trust her, restore her to
+      you no more! May the waves, rolling back our bodies amid the shingles of
+      this beach, give you in the loss of your two children, an eternal subject
+      of remorse!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words, I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him of
+      reason. His eyes sparkled with fire, the perspiration fell in great drops
+      from his face; his knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat violently
+      against his burning bosom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia, alarmed, said to him,&mdash;"Oh, my dear Paul, I call to witness
+      the pleasures of our early age, your griefs and my own, and every thing
+      that can for ever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I
+      remain at home, I will live but for you; that if I go, I will one day
+      return to be yours. I call you all to witness;&mdash;you who have reared
+      me from my infancy, who dispose of my life, and who see my tears. I swear
+      by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea which I am going to pass, by the
+      air I breathe, and which I never sullied by a falsehood."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun softens and precipitates an icy rock from the summit of one of
+      the Appenines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were subdued by
+      the voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a torrent of tears fell
+      from his eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his, held him in her
+      arms, but was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half distracted, said to
+      me, "I can bear this no longer. My heart is quite broken. This unfortunate
+      voyage shall not take place. Do take my son home with you. Not one of us
+      has had any rest the whole week."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I said to Paul, "My dear friend, your sister shall remain here. To-morrow
+      we will talk to the governor about it; leave your family to take some
+      rest, and come and pass the night with me. It is late; it is midnight; the
+      southern cross is just above the horizon."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of great
+      agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But why should I continue any longer to you the recital of this history?
+      There is but one aspect of human pleasure. Like the globe upon which we
+      revolve, the fleeting course of life is but a day; and if one part of that
+      day be visited by light, the other is thrown into darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you
+      have begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are the
+      most pleasing, those of misfortune are the more instructive. Tell me what
+      became of the unhappy young man."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first object beheld by Paul in his way home was the negro woman Mary,
+      who, mounted on a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea. As soon as
+      he perceived her, he called to her from a distance,&mdash;"Where is
+      Virginia?" Mary turned her head towards her young master, and began to
+      weep. Paul, distracted, retracing his steps, ran to the harbour. He was
+      there informed, that Virginia had embarked at the break of day, and that
+      the vessel had immediately set sail, and was now out of sight. He
+      instantly returned to the plantation, which he crossed without uttering a
+      word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite perpendicular as appears the wall of rocks behind us, those green
+      platforms which separate their summits are so many stages, by means of
+      which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of sloping
+      and inaccessible rocks, which is called The Thumb. At the foot of that
+      cone is an extended slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and so
+      steep and elevated that it looks like a forest in the air, surrounded by
+      tremendous precipices. The clouds, which are constantly attracted round
+      the summit of the Thumb, supply innumerable rivulets, which fall to so
+      great a depth in the valley situated on the other side of the mountain,
+      that from this elevated point the sound of their cataracts cannot be
+      heard. From that spot you can discern a considerable part of the island,
+      diversified by precipices and mountain peaks, and amongst others,
+      Peter-Booth, and the Three Breasts, with their valleys full of woods. You
+      also command an extensive view of the ocean, and can even perceive the
+      Isle of Bourbon, forty leagues to the westward. From the summit of that
+      stupendous pile of rocks Paul caught sight of the vessel which was bearing
+      away Virginia, and which now, ten leagues out at sea, appeared like a
+      black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a great part of the day
+      with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had disappeared, he still
+      fancied he beheld it; and when, at length, the traces which clung to his
+      imagination were lost in the mists of the horizon, he seated himself on
+      that wild point, forever beaten by the winds, which never cease to agitate
+      the tops of the cabbage and gum trees, and the hoarse and moaning murmurs
+      of which, similar to the distant sound of organs, inspire a profound
+      melancholy. On this spot I found him, his head reclined on the rock, and
+      his eyes fixed upon the ground. I had followed him from the earliest dawn,
+      and, after much importunity, I prevailed on him to descend from the
+      heights, and return to his family. I went home with him, where the first
+      impulse of his mind, on seeing Madame de la Tour, was to reproach her
+      bitterly for having deceived him. She told us that a favourable wind
+      having sprung up at three o'clock in the morning, and the vessel being
+      ready to sail, the governor, attended by some of his staff and the
+      missionary, had come with a palanquin to fetch her daughter; and that,
+      notwithstanding Virginia's objections, her own tears and entreaties, and
+      the lamentations of Margaret, every body exclaiming all the time that it
+      was for the general welfare, they had carried her away almost dying. "At
+      least," cried Paul, "if I had bid her farewell, I should now be more calm.
+      I would have said to her,&mdash;'Virginia, if, during the time we have
+      lived together, one word may have escaped me which has offended you,
+      before you leave me forever, tell me that you forgive me.' I would have
+      said to her,&mdash;'Since I am destined to see you no more, farewell, my
+      dear Virginia, farewell! Live far from me, contented and happy!'" When he
+      saw that his mother and Madame de la Tour were weeping,&mdash;"You must
+      now," said he, "seek some other hand to wipe away your tears;" and then,
+      rushing out of the house, and groaning aloud, he wandered up and down the
+      plantation. He hovered in particular about those spots which had been most
+      endeared to Virginia. He said to the goats, and their little ones, which
+      followed him, bleating,&mdash;"What do you want of me? You will see with
+      me no more her who used to feed you with her own hand." He went to the
+      bower called Virginia's Resting-place, and, as the birds flew around him,
+      exclaimed, "Poor birds! you will fly no more to meet her who cherished
+      you!"&mdash;and observing Fidele running backwards and forwards in search
+      of her, he heaved a deep sigh, and cried,&mdash;"Ah! you will never find
+      her again." At length he went and seated himself upon a rock where he had
+      conversed with her the preceding evening; and at the sight of the ocean
+      upon which he had seen the vessel disappear which had borne her away, his
+      heart overflowed with anguish, and he wept bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We continually watched his movements, apprehensive of some fatal
+      consequence from the violent agitation of his mind. His mother and Madame
+      de la Tour conjured him, in the most tender manner, not to increase their
+      affliction by his despair. At length the latter soothed his mind by
+      lavishing upon him epithets calculated to awaken his hopes,&mdash;calling
+      him her son, her dear son, her son-in-law, whom she destined for her
+      daughter. She persuaded him to return home, and to take some food. He
+      seated himself next to the place which used to be occupied by the
+      companion of his childhood; and, as if she had still been present, he
+      spoke to her, and made as though he would offer her whatever he knew as
+      most agreeable to her taste: then, starting from this dream of fancy, he
+      began to weep. For some days he employed himself in gathering together
+      every thing which had belonged to Virginia, the last nosegays she had
+      worn, the cocoa-shell from which she used to drink; and after kissing a
+      thousand times these relics of his beloved, to him the most precious
+      treasures which the world contained, he hid them in his bosom. Amber does
+      not shed so sweet a perfume as the veriest trifles touched by those we
+      love. At length, perceiving that the indulgence of his grief increased
+      that of his mother and Madame de la Tour, and that the wants of the family
+      demanded continual labour, he began, with the assistance of Domingo, to
+      repair the damage done to the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, soon after, this young man, hitherto indifferent as a Creole to every
+      thing that was passing in the world, begged of me to teach him to read and
+      write, in order that he might correspond with Virginia. He afterwards
+      wished to obtain a knowledge of geography, that he might form some idea of
+      the country where she would disembark; and of history, that he might know
+      something of the manners of the society in which she would be placed. The
+      powerful sentiment of love, which directed his present studies, had
+      already instructed him in agriculture, and in the art of laying out
+      grounds with advantage and beauty. It must be admitted, that to the fond
+      dreams of this restless and ardent passion, mankind are indebted for most
+      of the arts and sciences, while its disappointments have given birth to
+      philosophy, which teaches us to bear up under misfortune. Love, thus, the
+      general link of all beings, becomes the great spring of society, by
+      inciting us to knowledge as well as to pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography, which, instead
+      of describing the natural history of each country, gave only a view of its
+      political divisions and boundaries. History, and especially modern
+      history, interested him little more. He there saw only general and
+      periodical evils, the causes of which he could not discover; wars without
+      either motive or reason; uninteresting intrigues; with nations destitute
+      of principle, and princes void of humanity. To this branch of reading he
+      preferred romances, which, being chiefly occupied by the feelings and
+      concerns of men, sometimes represented situations similar to his own.
+      Thus, no book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus, from the pictures
+      it draws of pastoral life, and of the passions which are most natural to
+      the human breast. He read aloud to his mother and Madame de la Tour, those
+      parts which affected him most sensibly; but sometimes, touched by the most
+      tender remembrances, his emotion would choke his utterance, and his eyes
+      be filled with tears. He fancied he had found in Virginia the dignity and
+      wisdom of Antiope, united to the misfortunes and the tenderness of
+      Eucharis. With very different sensations he perused our fashionable
+      novels, filled with licentious morals and maxims, and when he was informed
+      that these works drew a tolerably faithful picture of European society, he
+      trembled, and not without some appearance of reason, lest Virginia should
+      become corrupted by it, and forget him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      More than a year and a half, indeed, passed away before Madame de la Tour
+      received any tidings of her aunt or her daughter. During that period she
+      only accidently heard that Virginia had safely arrived in France. At
+      length, however, a vessel which stopped here on its way to the Indies
+      brought a packet to Madame de la Tour, and a letter written by Virginia's
+      own hand. Although this amiable and considerate girl had written in a
+      guarded manner that she might not wound her mother's feelings, it appeared
+      evident enough that she was unhappy. The letter painted so naturally her
+      situation and her character, that I have retained it almost word for word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "MY DEAR AND BELOVED MOTHER,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have already sent you several letters, written by my own hand, but
+      having received no answer, I am afraid they have not reached you. I have
+      better hopes for this, from the means I have now gained of sending you
+      tidings of myself, and of hearing from you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have shed many tears since our separation, I who never used to weep,
+      but for the misfortunes of others! My aunt was much astonished, when,
+      having, upon my arrival, inquired what accomplishments I possessed, I told
+      her that I could neither read nor write. She asked me what then I had
+      learnt, since I came into the world; and when I answered that I had been
+      taught to take care of the household affairs, and to obey your will, she
+      told me that I had received the education of a servant. The next day she
+      placed me as a boarder in a great abbey near Paris, where I have masters
+      of all kinds, who teach me, among other things, history, geography,
+      grammar, mathematics, and riding on horseback. But I have so little
+      capacity for all these sciences, that I fear I shall make but small
+      progress with my masters. I feel that I am a very poor creature, with very
+      little ability to learn what they teach. My aunt's kindness, however, does
+      not decrease. She gives me new dresses every season; and she had placed
+      two waiting women with me, who are dressed like fine ladies. She has made
+      me take the title of countess; but has obliged me to renounce the name of
+      LA TOUR, which is as dear to me as it is to you, from all you have told me
+      of the sufferings my father endured in order to marry you. She has given
+      me in place of your name that of your family, which is also dear to me,
+      because it was your name when a girl. Seeing myself in so splendid a
+      situation, I implored her to let me send you something to assist you. But
+      how shall I repeat her answer! Yet you have desired me always to tell you
+      the truth. She told me then that a little would be of no use to you, and
+      that a great deal would only encumber you in the simple life you led. As
+      you know I could not write, I endeavoured upon my arrival, to send you
+      tidings of myself by another hand; but, finding no person here in whom I
+      could place confidence, I applied night and day to learn to read and
+      write, and Heaven, who saw my motive for learning, no doubt assisted my
+      endeavours, for I succeeded in both in a short time. I entrusted my first
+      letters to some of the ladies here, who, I have reason to think, carried
+      them to my aunt. This time I have recourse to a boarder, who is my friend.
+      I send you her direction, by means of which I shall receive your answer.
+      My aunt has forbid me holding any correspondence whatever, with any one,
+      lest, she says, it should occasion an obstacle to the great views she has
+      for my advantage. No person is allowed to see me at the grate but herself,
+      and an old nobleman, one of her friends, who, she says is much pleased
+      with me. I am sure I am not at all so with him, nor should I, even if it
+      were possible for me to be pleased with any one at present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I live in all the splendour of affluence, and have not a sous at my
+      disposal. They say I might make an improper use of money. Even my clothes
+      belong to my femmes de chambre, who quarrel about them before I have left
+      them off. In the midst of riches I am poorer than when I lived with you;
+      for I have nothing to give away. When I found that the great
+      accomplishments they taught me would not procure me the power of doing the
+      smallest good, I had recourse to my needle, of which happily you had
+      taught me the use. I send several pairs of stockings of my own making for
+      you and my mamma Margaret, a cap for Domingo, and one of my red
+      handkerchiefs for Mary. I also send with this packet some kernels, and
+      seeds of various kinds of fruits which I gathered in the abbey park during
+      my hours of recreation. I have also sent a few seeds of violets, daisies,
+      buttercups, poppies and scabious, which I picked up in the fields. There
+      are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows of this country than in
+      ours, but nobody cares for them. I am sure that you and my mamma Margaret
+      will be better pleased with this bag of seeds, than you were with the bag
+      of piastres, which was the cause of our separation and of my tears. It
+      will give me great delight if you should one day see apple trees growing
+      by the side of our plantains, and elms blending their foliage with that of
+      our cocoa trees. You will fancy yourself in Normandy, which you love so
+      much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You desired me to relate to you my joys and my griefs. I have no joys far
+      from you. As far as my griefs, I endeavour to soothe them by reflecting
+      that I am in the situation in which it was the will of God that you should
+      place me. But my greatest affliction is, that no one here speaks to me of
+      you, and that I cannot speak of you to any one. My femmes de chambre, or
+      rather those of my aunt, for they belong more to her than to me, told me
+      the other day, when I wished to turn the conversation upon the objects
+      most dear to me: 'Remember, mademoiselle, that you are a French woman, and
+      must forget that land of savages.' Ah! sooner will I forget myself, than
+      forget the spot on which I was born and where you dwell! It is this
+      country which is to me a land of savages, for I live alone, having no one
+      to whom I can impart those feelings of tenderness for you which I shall
+      bear with me to the grave. I am,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My dearest and beloved mother,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your affectionate and dutiful daughter,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "VIRGINIE DE LA TOUR."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo, who took so much care of
+      my infancy; caress Fidele for me, who found me in the wood."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul was astonished that Virginia had not said one word of him,&mdash;she,
+      who had not forgotten even the house-dog. But he was not aware that,
+      however long a woman's letter may be, she never fails to leave her dearest
+      sentiments for the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a postscript, Virginia particularly recommended to Paul's attention two
+      kinds of seed,&mdash;those of the violet and the scabious. She gave him
+      some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers, and the
+      spots most proper for their cultivation. "The violet," she said, "produces
+      a little flower of a dark purple colour, which delights to conceal itself
+      beneath the bushes; but it is soon discovered by its wide-spreading
+      perfume." She desired that these seeds might be sown by the border of the
+      fountain, at the foot of her cocoa-tree. "The scabious," she added,
+      "produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and a black ground spotted
+      with white. You might fancy it was in mourning; and for this reason it is
+      also called the widow's flower. It grows best in bleak spots, beaten by
+      the winds." She begged him to sow this upon the rock where she had spoken
+      to him at night for the last time, and that, in remembrance of her, he
+      would henceforth give it the name of the Rock of Adieus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had put these seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
+      exceedingly simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when he
+      saw on it a P and a V entwined together, and knew that the beautiful hair
+      which formed the cypher was the hair of Virginia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of this
+      amiable and virtuous girl. Her mother answered it in the name of the
+      little society, desiring her to remain or to return as she thought proper;
+      and assuring her, that happiness had left their dwelling since her
+      departure, and that, for herself, she was inconsolable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul also sent her a very long letter, in which he assured her that he
+      would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and mingle
+      together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa, as she had
+      blended their initials together in her work. He sent her some fruit from
+      the cocoa-trees of the fountain, now arrived at maturity telling her, that
+      he would not add any of the other productions of the island, that the
+      desire of seeing them again might hasten her return. He conjured her to
+      comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes of her family, and above
+      all, with his own, since he could never hereafter taste happiness away
+      from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds, particularly the violet
+      and the scabious, the flowers of which seemed to bear some analogy to the
+      character and present situation of Virginia, by whom they had been so
+      especially recommended; but either they were dried up in the voyage, or
+      the climate of this part of the world is unfavourable to their growth, for
+      a very small number of them even came up, and not one arrived at full
+      perfection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime, envy, which ever comes to embitter human happiness,
+      particularly in the French colonies, spread some reports in the island
+      which gave Paul much uneasiness. The passengers in the vessel which
+      brought Virginia's letter, asserted that she was upon the point of being
+      married, and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was engaged. Some
+      even went so far as to declare that the union had already taken place, and
+      that they themselves had witnessed the ceremony. Paul at first despised
+      the report, brought by a merchant vessel, as he knew that they often
+      spread erroneous intelligence in their passage; but some of the
+      inhabitants of the island, with malignant pity, affecting to bewail the
+      event, he was soon led to attach some degree of belief to this cruel
+      intelligence. Besides, in some of the novels he had lately read, he had
+      seen that perfidy was treated as a subject of pleasantry; and knowing that
+      these books contained pretty faithful representations of European manners,
+      he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and had forgotten its
+      former engagements. Thus his new acquirements had already only served to
+      render him more miserable; and his apprehensions were much increased by
+      the circumstance, that though several ships touched here from Europe,
+      within the six months immediately following the arrival of her letter, not
+      one of them brought any tidings of Virginia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel agitation,
+      often came to visit me, in the hope of confirming or banishing his
+      uneasiness, by my experience of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from this point,
+      upon the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping Mountain:
+      there I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or slaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After having enjoyed, and lost the rare felicity of living with a
+      congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is
+      doubtless that of solitude. Every man who has much cause of complaint
+      against his fellow-creatures seeks to be alone. It is also remarkable that
+      all those nations which have been brought to wretchedness by their
+      opinions, their manners, or their forms of government, have produced
+      numerous classes of citizens altogether devoted to solitude and celibacy.
+      Such were the Egyptians in their decline, and the Greeks of the Lower
+      Empire; and such in our days are the Indians, the Chinese, the modern
+      Greeks, the Italians, and the greater part of the eastern and southern
+      nations of Europe. Solitude, by removing men from the miseries which
+      follow in the train of social intercourse, brings them in some degree back
+      to the unsophisticated enjoyment of nature. In the midst of modern
+      society, broken up by innumerable prejudices, the mind is in a constant
+      turmoil of agitation. It is incessantly revolving in itself a thousand
+      tumultuous and contradictory opinions, by which the members of an
+      ambitious and miserable circle seek to raise themselves above each other.
+      But in solitude the soul lays aside the morbid illusions which troubled
+      her, and resumes the pure consciousness of herself, of nature, and of its
+      Author, as the muddy water of a torrent which has ravaged the plains,
+      coming to rest, and diffusing itself over some low grounds out of its
+      course, deposits there the slime it has taken up, and, resuming its wonted
+      transparency, reflects, with its own shores, the verdure of the earth and
+      the light of heaven. Thus does solitude recruit the powers of the body as
+      well as those of the mind. It is among hermits that are found the men who
+      carry human existence to its extreme limits; such are the Bramins of
+      India. In brief, I consider solitude so necessary to happiness, even in
+      the world itself, that it appears to me impossible to derive lasting
+      pleasure from any pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by any
+      pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by any stable principle, if
+      we do not create for ourselves a mental void, whence our own views rarely
+      emerge, and into which the opinions of others never enter. I do not mean
+      to say that man ought to live absolutely alone; he is connected by his
+      necessities with all mankind; his labours are due to man: and he owes
+      something too to the rest of nature. But, as God has given to each of us
+      organs perfectly adapted to the elements of the globe on which we live,&mdash;feet
+      for the soil, lungs for the air, eyes for the light, without the power of
+      changing the use of any of these faculties, he has reserved for himself,
+      as the Author of life, that which is its chief organ,&mdash;the heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thus passed my days far from mankind, whom I wished to serve, and by
+      whom I have been persecuted. After having travelled over many countries of
+      Europe, and some parts of America and Africa, I at length pitched my tent
+      in this thinly-peopled island, allured by its mild climate and its
+      solitudes. A cottage which I built in the woods, at the foot of a tree, a
+      little field which I cleared with my own hands, a river which glides
+      before my door, suffice for my wants and for my pleasures. I blend with
+      these enjoyments the perusal of some chosen books, which teach me to
+      become better. They make that world, which I have abandoned, still
+      contribute something to my happiness. They lay before me pictures of those
+      passions which render its inhabitants so miserable; and in the comparison
+      I am thus led to make between their lot and my own, I feel a kind of
+      negative enjoyment. Like a man saved from shipwreck, and thrown upon a
+      rock, I contemplate, from my solitude, the storms which rage through the
+      rest of the world; and my repose seems more profound from the distant
+      sound of the tempest. As men have ceased to fall in my way, I no longer
+      view them with aversion; I only pity them. If I sometimes fall in with an
+      unfortunate being, I try to help him by my counsels, as a passer-by on the
+      brink of a torrent extends his hand to save a wretch from drowning. But I
+      have hardly ever found any but the innocent attentive to my voice. Nature
+      calls the majority of men to her in vain. Each of them forms an image of
+      her for himself, and invests her with his own passions. He pursues during
+      the whole of his life this vain phantom, which leads him astray; and he
+      afterwards complains to Heaven of the misfortunes which he has thus
+      created for himself. Among the many children of misfortune whom I have
+      endeavoured to lead back to the enjoyments of nature, I have not found one
+      but was intoxicated with his own miseries. They have listened to me at
+      first with attention, in the hope that I could teach them how to acquire
+      glory or fortune, but when they found that I only wished to instruct them
+      how to dispense with these chimeras, their attention has been converted
+      into pity, because I did not prize their miserable happiness. They blamed
+      my solitary life; they alleged that they alone were useful to men, and
+      they endeavoured to draw me into their vortex. But if I communicate with
+      all, I lay myself open to none. It is often sufficient for me to serve as
+      a lesson to myself. In my present tranquillity, I pass in review the
+      agitating pursuits of my past life, to which I formerly attached so much
+      value,&mdash;patronage, fortune, reputation, pleasure, and the opinions
+      which are ever at strife over all the earth. I compare the men whom I have
+      seen disputing furiously over these vanities, and who are no more, to the
+      tiny waves of my rivulet, which break in foam against its rocky bed, and
+      disappear, never to return. As for me, I suffer myself to float calmly
+      down the stream of time to the shoreless ocean of futurity; while, in the
+      contemplation of the present harmony of nature, I elevate my soul towards
+      its supreme Author, and hope for a more happy lot in another state of
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although you cannot descry from my hermitage, situated in the midst of a
+      forest, that immense variety of objects which this elevated spot presents,
+      the grounds are disposed with peculiar beauty, at least to one who, like
+      me, prefers the seclusion of a home scene to great and extensive
+      prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in a straight line
+      across the woods, looking like a long canal shaded by all kinds of trees.
+      Among them are the gum tree, the ebony tree, and that which is here called
+      bois de pomme, with olive and cinnamon-wood trees; while in some parts the
+      cabbage-palm trees raise their naked stems more than a hundred feet high,
+      their summits crowned with a cluster of leaves, and towering above the
+      woods like one forest piled upon another. Lianas, of various foliage,
+      intertwining themselves among the trees, form, here, arcades of foliage,
+      there, long canopies of verdure. Most of these trees shed aromatic odours
+      so powerful, that the garments of a traveller, who has passed through the
+      forest, often retain for hours the most delicious fragrance. In the season
+      when they produce their lavish blossoms, they appear as if half-covered
+      with snow. Towards the end of summer, various kinds of foreign birds
+      hasten, impelled by some inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions on
+      the other side of immense oceans, to feed upon the grain and other
+      vegetable productions of the island; and the brilliancy of their plumage
+      forms a striking contrast to the more sombre tints of the foliage
+      embrowned by the sun. Among these are various kinds of parroquets, and the
+      blue pigeon, called here the pigeon of Holland. Monkeys, the domestic
+      inhabitants of our forests, sport upon the dark branches of the trees,
+      from which they are easily distinguished by their gray and greenish skin,
+      and their black visages. Some hang, suspended by the tail, and swing
+      themselves in air; others leap from branch to branch, bearing their young
+      in their arms. The murderous gun has never affrighted these peaceful
+      children of nature. You hear nothing but sounds of joy,&mdash;the
+      warblings and unknown notes of birds from the countries of the south,
+      repeated from a distance by the echoes of the forest. The river, which
+      pours, in foaming eddies, over a bed of rocks, through the midst of the
+      woods, reflects here and there upon its limpid waters their venerable
+      masses of verdure and of shade, along with the sports of their happy
+      inhabitants. About a thousand paces from thence it forms several cascades,
+      clear as crystal in their fall, but broken at the bottom into frothy
+      surges. Innumerable confused sounds issue from these watery tumults,
+      which, borne by the winds across the forest, now sink in distance, now all
+      at once swell out, booming on the ear like the bells of a cathedral. The
+      air, kept ever in motion by the running water, preserves upon the banks of
+      the river, amid all the summer heats, a freshness and verdure rarely found
+      in this island, even on the summits of the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At some distance from this place is a rock, placed far enough from the
+      cascade to prevent the ear from being deafened with the noise of its
+      waters, and sufficiently near for the enjoyment of seeing it, of feeling
+      its coolness, and hearing its gentle murmurs. Thither, amidst the heats of
+      summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia, Paul, and myself, sometimes
+      repaired, to dine beneath the shadow of this rock. Virginia, who always,
+      in her most ordinary actions, was mindful of the good of others, never ate
+      of any fruit in the fields without planting the seed or kernel in the
+      ground. "From this," said she, "trees will come, which will yield their
+      fruit to some traveller, or at least to some bird." One day, having eaten
+      of the papaw fruit at the foot of that rock, she planted the seeds on the
+      spot. Soon after, several papaw trees sprang up, among which was one with
+      female blossoms, that is to say, a fruit-bearing tree. This tree, at the
+      time of Virginia's departure, was scarcely as high as her knee; but, as it
+      is a plant of rapid growth, in the course of two years it had gained the
+      height of twenty feet, and the upper part of its stem was encircled by
+      several rows of ripe fruit. Paul, wandering accidentally to the spot, was
+      struck with delight at seeing this lofty tree, which had been planted by
+      his beloved; but the emotion was transient, and instantly gave place to a
+      deep melancholy, at this evidence of her long absence. The objects which
+      are habitually before us do not bring to our minds an adequate idea of the
+      rapidity of life; they decline insensibly with ourselves: but it is those
+      we behold again, that most powerfully impress us with a feeling of the
+      swiftness with which the tide of life flows on. Paul was no less
+      over-whelmed and affected at the sight of this great papaw tree, loaded
+      with fruit, than is the traveller when, after a long absence from his own
+      country, he finds his contemporaries no more, but their children, whom he
+      left at the breast, themselves now become fathers of families. Paul
+      sometimes thought of cutting down the tree, which recalled too sensibly
+      the distracting remembrance of Virginia's prolonged absence. At other
+      times, contemplating it as a monument of her benevolence, he kissed its
+      trunk, and apostrophized it in terms of the most passionate regret.
+      Indeed, I have myself gazed upon it with more emotion and more veneration
+      than upon the triumphal arches of Rome. May nature, which every day
+      destroys the monuments of kingly ambition, multiply in our forests those
+      which testify the beneficence of a poor young girl!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the foot of this papaw tree I was always sure to meet with Paul when he
+      came into our neighbourhood. One day, I found him there absorbed in
+      melancholy and a conversation took place between us, which I will relate
+      to you, if I do not weary you too much by my long digressions; they are
+      perhaps pardonable to my age and to my last friendships. I will relate it
+      to you in the form of a dialogue, that you may form some idea of the
+      natural good sense of this young man. You will easily distinguish the
+      speakers, from the character of his questions and of my answers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;I am very unhappy. Mademoiselle de la Tour has now been
+      gone two years and eight months and a half. She is rich, and I am poor;
+      she has forgotten me. I have a great mind to follow her. I will go to
+      France; I will serve the king; I will make my fortune; and then
+      Mademoiselle de la Tour's aunt will bestow her niece upon me when I shall
+      have become a great lord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;But, my dear friend, have not you told me that
+      you are not of noble birth?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;My mother has told me so; but, as for myself, I know
+      not what noble birth means. I never perceived that I had less than others,
+      or that others had more than I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Obscure birth, in France, shuts every door of
+      access to great employments; nor can you even be received among any
+      distinguished body of men, if you labour under this disadvantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;You have often told me that it was one source of the
+      greatness of France that her humblest subject might attain the highest
+      honours; and you have cited to me many instances of celebrated men who,
+      born in a mean condition, had conferred honour upon their country. It was
+      your wish, then, by concealing the truth to stimulate my ardour?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Never, my son, would I lower it. I told you the
+      truth with regard to the past; but now, every thing has undergone a great
+      change. Every thing in France is now to be obtained by interest alone;
+      every place and employment is now become as it were the patrimony of a
+      small number of families, or is divided among public bodies. The king is a
+      sun, and the nobles and great corporate bodies surround him like so many
+      clouds; it is almost impossible for any of his rays to reach you.
+      Formerly, under less exclusive administrations, such phenomena have been
+      seen. Then talents and merit showed themselves every where, as newly
+      cleared lands are always loaded with abundance. But great kings, who can
+      really form a just estimate of men, and choose them with judgment, are
+      rare. The ordinary race of monarchs allow themselves to be guided by the
+      nobles and people who surround them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But perhaps I shall find one of these nobles to protect
+      me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;To gain the protection of the great you must
+      lend yourself to their ambition, and administer to their pleasures. You
+      would never succeed; for, in addition to your obscure birth, you have too
+      much integrity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But I will perform such courageous actions, I will be
+      so faithful to my word, so exact in the performance of my duties, so
+      zealous and so constant in my friendships, that I will render myself
+      worthy to be adopted by some one of them. In the ancient histories, you
+      have made me read, I have seen many examples of such adoptions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Oh, my young friend! among the Greeks and
+      Romans, even in their decline, the nobles had some respect for virtue; but
+      out of all the immense number of men, sprung from the mass of the people,
+      in France, who have signalized themselves in every possible manner, I do
+      not recollect a single instance of one being adopted by any great family.
+      If it were not for our kings, virtue, in our country, would be eternally
+      condemned as plebeian. As I said before, the monarch sometimes, when he
+      perceives it, renders to it due honour; but in the present day, the
+      distinctions which should be bestowed on merit are generally to be
+      obtained by money alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;If I cannot find a nobleman to adopt me, I will seek to
+      please some public body. I will espouse its interests and its opinions: I
+      will make myself beloved by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;You will act then like other men?&mdash;you will
+      renounce your conscience to obtain a fortune?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh no! I will never lend myself to any thing but the
+      truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Instead of making yourself beloved, you would
+      become an object of dislike. Besides, public bodies have never taken much
+      interest in the discovery of truth. All opinions are nearly alike to
+      ambitious men, provided only that they themselves can gain their ends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;How unfortunate I am! Every thing bars my progress. I
+      am condemned to pass my life in ignoble toil, far from Virginia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he said this he sighed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Let God be your patron, and mankind the public
+      body you would serve. Be constantly attached to them both. Families,
+      corporations, nations and kings have, all of them, their prejudices and
+      their passions; it is often necessary to serve them by the practice of
+      vice: God and mankind at large require only the exercise of the virtues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But why do you wish to be distinguished from other men? It is hardly a
+      natural sentiment, for, if all men possessed it, every one would be at
+      constant strife with his neighbour. Be satisfied with fulfilling your duty
+      in the station in which Providence has placed you; be grateful for your
+      lot, which permits you to enjoy the blessing of a quiet conscience, and
+      which does not compel you, like the great, to let your happiness rest on
+      the opinion of the little, or, like the little, to cringe to the great, in
+      order to obtain the means of existence. You are now placed in a country
+      and a condition in which you are not reduced to deceive or flatter any
+      one, or debase yourself, as the greater part of those who seek their
+      fortune in Europe are obliged to do; in which the exercise of no virtue is
+      forbidden you; in which you may be, with impunity, good, sincere,
+      well-informed, patient, temperate, chaste, indulgent to others' faults,
+      pious and no shaft of ridicule be aimed at you to destroy your wisdom, as
+      yet only in its bud. Heaven has given you liberty, health, a good
+      conscience, and friends; kings themselves, whose favour you desire, are
+      not so happy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Ah! I only want to have Virginia with me: without her I
+      have nothing,&mdash;with her, I should possess all my desire. She alone is
+      to me birth, glory, and fortune. But, since her relations will only give
+      her to some one with a great name, I will study. By the aid of study and
+      of books, learning and celebrity are to be attained. I will become a man
+      of science: I will render my knowledge useful to the service of my
+      country, without injuring any one, or owning dependence on any one. I will
+      become celebrated, and my glory shall be achieved only by myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;My son, talents are a gift yet more rare than
+      either birth or riches, and undoubtedly they are a greater good than
+      either, since they can never be taken away from us, and that they obtain
+      for us every where public esteem. But they may be said to be worth all
+      that they cost us. They are seldom acquired but by every species of
+      privation, by the possession of exquisite sensibility, which often
+      produces inward unhappiness, and which exposes us without to the malice
+      and persecutions of our contemporaries. The lawyer envies not, in France,
+      the glory of the soldier, nor does the soldier envy that of the naval
+      officer; but they will all oppose you, and bar your progress to
+      distinction, because your assumption of superior ability will wound the
+      self-love of them all. You say that you will do good to men; but
+      recollect, that he who makes the earth produce a single ear of corn more,
+      renders them a greater service than he who writes a book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh! she, then, who planted this papaw tree, has made a
+      more useful and more grateful present to the inhabitants of these forests
+      than if she had given them a whole library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So saying, he threw his arms around the tree, and kissed it with
+      transport.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;The best of books,&mdash;that which preaches
+      nothing but equality, brotherly love, charity, and peace,&mdash;the
+      Gospel, has served as a pretext, during many centuries, for Europeans to
+      let loose all their fury. How many tyrannies, both public and private, are
+      still practised in its name on the face of the earth! After this, who will
+      dare to flatter himself that any thing he can write will be of service to
+      his fellow men? Remember the fate of most of the philosophers who have
+      preached to them wisdom. Homer, who clothes it in such noble verse, asked
+      for alms all his life. Socrates, whose conversation and example gave such
+      admirable lessons to the Athenians, was sentenced by them to be poisoned.
+      His sublime disciple, Plato was delivered over to slavery by the order of
+      the very prince who protected him; and, before them, Pythagoras, whose
+      humanity extended even to animals, was burned alive by the Crotoniates.
+      What do I say?&mdash;many even of these illustrious names have descended
+      to us disfigured by some traits of satire by which they became
+      characterized, human ingratitude taking pleasure in thus recognising them;
+      and if, in the crowd, the glory of some names is come down to us without
+      spot or blemish, we shall find that they who have borne them have lived
+      far from the society of their contemporaries; like those statues which are
+      found entire beneath the soil in Greece and Italy, and which, by being
+      hidden in the bosom of the earth, have escaped uninjured, from the fury of
+      the barbarians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You see, then, that to acquire the glory which a turbulent literary career
+      can give you, you must not only be virtuous, but ready, if necessary, to
+      sacrifice life itself. But, after all, do not fancy that the great in
+      France trouble themselves about such glory as this. Little do they care
+      for literary men, whose knowledge brings them neither honours, nor power,
+      nor even admission at court. Persecution, it is true, is rarely practised
+      in this age, because it is habitually indifferent to every thing except
+      wealth and luxury; but knowledge and virtue no longer lead to distinction,
+      since every thing in the state is to be purchased with money. Formerly,
+      men of letters were certain of reward by some place in the church, the
+      magistracy, or the administration; now they are considered good for
+      nothing but to write books. But this fruit of their minds, little valued
+      by the world at large, is still worthy of its celestial origin. For these
+      books is reserved the privilege of shedding lustre on obscure virtue, of
+      consoling the unhappy, of enlightening nations, and of telling the truth
+      even to kings. This is, unquestionably, the most august commission with
+      which Heaven can honour a mortal upon this earth. Where is the author who
+      would not be consoled for the injustice or contempt of those who are the
+      dispensers of the ordinary gifts of fortune, when he reflects that his
+      work may pass from age to age, from nation to nation, opposing a barrier
+      to error and to tyranny; and that, from amidst the obscurity in which he
+      has lived, there will shine forth a glory which will efface that of the
+      common herd of monarchs, the monuments of whose deeds perish in oblivion,
+      notwithstanding the flatterers who erect and magnify them?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Ah! I am only covetous of glory to bestow it on
+      Virginia, and render her dear to the whole world. But can you, who know so
+      much, tell me whether we shall ever be married? I should like to be a very
+      learned man, if only for the sake of knowing what will come to pass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Who would live, my son, if the future were
+      revealed to him?&mdash;when a single anticipated misfortune gives us so
+      much useless uneasiness&mdash;when the foreknowledge of one certain
+      calamity is enough to embitter every day that precedes it! It is better
+      not to pry too curiously, even into the things which surround us. Heaven,
+      which has given us the power of reflection to foresee our necessities,
+      gave us also those very necessities to set limits to its exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;You tell me that with money people in Europe acquire
+      dignities and honours. I will go, then, to enrich myself in Bengal, and
+      afterwards proceed to Paris, and marry Virginia. I will embark at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;What! would you leave her mother and yours?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Why, you yourself have advised my going to the Indies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Virginia was then here; but you are now the only
+      means of support both of her mother and of your own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Virginia will assist them by means of her rich
+      relation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;The rich care little for those, from whom no
+      honour is reflected upon themselves in the world. Many of them have
+      relations much more to be pitied than Madame de la Tour, who, for want of
+      their assistance, sacrifice their liberty for bread, and pass their lives
+      immured within the walls of a convent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh, what a country is Europe! Virginia must come back
+      here. What need has she of a rich relation? She was so happy in these
+      huts; she looked so beautiful and so well dressed with a red handkerchief
+      or a few flowers around her head! Return, Virginia! leave your sumptuous
+      mansions and your grandeur, and come back to these rocks,&mdash;to the
+      shade of these woods and of our cocoa trees. Alas! you are perhaps even
+      now unhappy!"&mdash;and he began to shed tears. "My father," continued he,
+      "hide nothing from me; if you cannot tell me whether I shall marry
+      Virginia, tell me at least if she loves me still, surrounded as she is by
+      noblemen who speak to the king, and who go to see her."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Oh, my dear friend! I am sure, for many reasons,
+      that she loves you; but above all, because she is virtuous. At these words
+      he threw himself on my neck in a transport of joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But do you think that the women of Europe are false, as
+      they are represented in the comedies and books which you have lent me?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Women are false in those countries where men are
+      tyrants. Violence always engenders a disposition to deceive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;In what way can men tyrannize over women?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;In giving them in marriage without consulting
+      their inclinations;&mdash;in uniting a young girl to an old man, or a
+      woman of sensibility to a frigid and indifferent husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Why not join together those who are suited to each
+      other,&mdash;the young to the young, and lovers to those they love?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Because few young men in France have property
+      enough to support them when they are married, and cannot acquire it till
+      the greater part of their life is passed. While young, they seduce the
+      wives of others, and when they are old, they cannot secure the affections
+      of their own. At first, they themselves are deceivers: and afterwards,
+      they are deceived in their turn. This is one of the reactions of that
+      eternal justice, by which the world is governed; an excess on one side is
+      sure to be balanced by one on the other. Thus, the greater part of
+      Europeans pass their lives in this twofold irregularity, which increases
+      everywhere in the same proportion that wealth is accumulated in the hands
+      of a few individuals. Society is like a garden, where shrubs cannot grow
+      if they are overshadowed by lofty trees; but there is this wide difference
+      between them,&mdash;that the beauty of a garden may result from the
+      admixture of a small number of forest trees, while the prosperity of a
+      state depends on the multitude and equality of its citizens, and not on a
+      small number of very rich men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But where is the necessity of being rich in order to
+      marry?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;In order to pass through life in abundance,
+      without being obliged to work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But why not work? I am sure I work hard enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;In Europe, working with your hands is considered
+      a degradation; it is compared to the labour performed by a machine. The
+      occupation of cultivating the earth is the most despised of all. Even an
+      artisan is held in more estimation than a peasant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;What! do you mean to say that the art which furnishes
+      food for mankind is despised in Europe? I hardly understand you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Oh! it is impossible for a person educated
+      according to nature to form an idea of the depraved state of society. It
+      is easy to form a precise notion of order, but not of disorder. Beauty,
+      virtue, happiness, have all their defined proportions; deformity, vice,
+      and misery have none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;The rich then are always very happy! They meet with no
+      obstacles to the fulfilment of their wishes, and they can lavish happiness
+      on those whom they love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Far from it, my son! They are, for the most part
+      satiated with pleasure, for this very reason,&mdash;that it costs them no
+      trouble. Have you never yourself experienced how much the pleasure of
+      repose is increased by fatigue; that of eating, by hunger; or that of
+      drinking, by thirst? The pleasure also of loving and being loved is only
+      to be acquired by innumerable privations and sacrifices. Wealth, by
+      anticipating all their necessities, deprives its possessors of all these
+      pleasures. To this ennui, consequent upon satiety, may also be added the
+      pride which springs from their opulence, and which is wounded by the most
+      trifling privation, when the greatest enjoyments have ceased to charm. The
+      perfume of a thousand roses gives pleasure but for a moment; but the pain
+      occasioned by a single thorn endures long after the infliction of the
+      wound. A single evil in the midst of their pleasures is to the rich like a
+      thorn among flowers; to the poor, on the contrary, one pleasure amidst all
+      their troubles is a flower among a wilderness of thorns; they have a most
+      lively enjoyment of it. The effect of every thing is increased by
+      contrast; nature has balanced all things. Which condition, after all, do
+      you consider preferable,&mdash;to have scarcely any thing to hope, and
+      every thing to fear, or to have every thing to hope and nothing to fear?
+      The former condition is that of the rich, the latter, that of the poor.
+      But either of these extremes is with difficulty supported by man, whose
+      happiness consists in a middle station of life, in union with virtue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;What do you understand by virtue?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;To you, my son, who support your family by your
+      labour, it need hardly be defined. Virtue consists in endeavouring to do
+      all the good we can to others, with an ultimate intention of pleasing God
+      alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh! how virtuous, then, is Virginia! Virtue led her to
+      seek for riches, that she might practise benevolence. Virtue induced her
+      to quit this island, and virtue will bring her back to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The idea of her speedy return firing the imagination of this young man,
+      all his anxieties suddenly vanished. Virginia, he was persuaded, had not
+      written, because she would soon arrive. It took so little time to come
+      from Europe with a fair wind! Then he enumerated the vessels which had
+      made this passage of four thousand five hundred leagues in less than three
+      months; and perhaps the vessel in which Virginia had embarked might not be
+      more than two. Ship-builders were now so ingenious, and sailors were so
+      expert! He then talked to me of the arrangements he intended to make for
+      her reception, of the new house he would build for her, and of the
+      pleasures and surprises which he would contrive for her every day, when
+      she was his wife. His wife! The idea filled him with ecstasy. "At least,
+      my dear father," said he, "you shall then do no more work than you please.
+      As Virginia will be rich, we shall have plenty of negroes, and they shall
+      work for you. You shall always live with us, and have no other care than
+      to amuse yourself and be happy;"&mdash;and, his heart throbbing with joy,
+      he flew to communicate these exquisite anticipations to his family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a short time, however, these enchanting hopes were succeeded by the
+      most cruel apprehensions. It is always the effect of violent passions to
+      throw the soul into opposite extremes. Paul returned the next day to my
+      dwelling, overwhelmed with melancholy, and said to me,&mdash;"I hear
+      nothing from Virginia. Had she left Europe she would have written me word
+      of her departure. Ah! the reports which I have heard concerning her are
+      but too well founded. Her aunt has married her to some great lord. She,
+      like others, has been undone by the love of riches. In those books which
+      paint women so well, virtue is treated but as a subject of romance. If
+      Virginia had been virtuous, she would never have forsaken her mother and
+      me. I do nothing but think of her, and she has forgotten me. I am
+      wretched, and she is diverting herself. The thought distracts me; I cannot
+      bear myself! Would to Heaven that war were declared in India! I would go
+      there and die."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My son," I answered, "that courage which prompts us to court death is but
+      the courage of a moment, and is often excited by the vain applause of men,
+      or by the hopes of posthumous renown. There is another description of
+      courage, rarer and more necessary, which enables us to support, without
+      witness and without applause, the vexations of life; this virtue is
+      patience. Relying for support, not upon the opinions of others, or the
+      impulse of the passions, but upon the will of God, patience is the courage
+      of virtue."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah!" cried he, "I am then without virtue! Every thing overwhelms me and
+      drives me to despair."&mdash;"Equal, constant, and invariable virtue," I
+      replied, "belongs not to man. In the midst of the many passions which
+      agitate us, our reason is disordered and obscured: but there is an
+      everburning lamp, at which we can rekindle its flame; and that is,
+      literature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Literature, my dear son, is the gift of Heaven, a ray of that wisdom by
+      which the universe is governed, and which man, inspired by a celestial
+      intelligence, has drawn down to earth. Like the rays of the sun, it
+      enlightens us, it rejoices us, it warms us with a heavenly flame, and
+      seems, in some sort, like the element of fire, to bend all nature to our
+      use. By its means we are enabled to bring around us all things, all
+      places, all men, and all times. It assists us to regulate our manners and
+      our life. By its aid, too, our passions are calmed, vice is suppressed,
+      and virtue encouraged by the memorable examples of great and good men
+      which it has handed down to us, and whose time-honoured images it ever
+      brings before our eyes. Literature is a daughter of Heaven who has
+      descended upon earth to soften and to charm away all the evils of the
+      human race. The greatest writers have ever appeared in the worst times,&mdash;in
+      times in which society can hardly be held together,&mdash;the times of
+      barbarism and every species of depravity. My son, literature has consoled
+      an infinite number of men more unhappy than yourself: Xenophon, banished
+      from his country after having saved to her ten thousand of her sons;
+      Scipio Africanus, wearied to death by the calumnies of the Romans;
+      Lucullus, tormented by their cabals; and Catinat, by the ingratitude of a
+      court. The Greeks, with their never-failing ingenuity, assigned to each of
+      the Muses a portion of the great circle of human intelligence for her
+      especial superintendence; we ought in the same manner, to give up to them
+      the regulation of our passions, to bring them under proper restraint.
+      Literature in this imaginative guise, would thus fulfil, in relation to
+      the powers of the soul, the same functions as the Hours, who yoked and
+      conducted the chariot of the Sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have recourse to your books, then, my son. The wise who have written
+      before our days are travellers who have preceded us in the paths of
+      misfortune, and who stretch out a friendly hand towards us, and invite us
+      to join in their society, when we are abandoned by every thing else. A
+      good book is a good friend."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah!" cried Paul, "I stood in no need of books when Virginia was here, and
+      she had studied as little as myself; but when she looked at me, and called
+      me her friend, I could not feel unhappy."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Undoubtedly," said I, "there is no friend so agreeable as a mistress by
+      whom we are beloved. There is, moreover, in woman a liveliness and gaiety,
+      which powerfully tend to dissipate the melancholy feelings of a man; her
+      presence drives away the dark phantoms of imagination produced by
+      over-reflection. Upon her countenance sit soft attraction and tender
+      confidence. What joy is not heightened when it is shared by her? What brow
+      is not unbent by her smiles? What anger can resist her tears? Virginia
+      will return with more philosophy than you, and will be quite surprised to
+      find the garden so unfinished;&mdash;she who could think of its
+      embellishments in spite of all the persecutions of her aunt, and when far
+      from her mother and from you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated the drooping spirits of
+      her lover, and he resumed his rural occupations, happy amidst his toils,
+      in the reflection that they would soon find a termination so dear to the
+      wishes of his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning, at break of day, (it was the 24th of December, 1744,) Paul,
+      when he arose, perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain of
+      Discovery. This flag he knew to be the signal of a vessel descried at sea.
+      He instantly flew to the town to learn if this vessel brought any tidings
+      of Virginia, and waited there till the return of the pilot, who was gone,
+      according to custom, to board the ship. The pilot did not return till the
+      evening, when he brought the governor information that the signalled
+      vessel was the Saint-Geran, of seven hundred tons burthen, and commanded
+      by a captain of the name of Aubin; that she was now four leagues out at
+      sea, but would probably anchor at Port Louis the following afternoon, if
+      the wind became fair: at present there was a calm. The pilot then handed
+      to the governor a number of letters which the Saint-Geran had brought from
+      France, among which was one addressed to Madame de la Tour, in the
+      hand-writing of Virginia. Paul seized upon the letter, kissed it with
+      transport, and placing it in his bosom, flew to the plantation. No sooner
+      did he perceive from a distance the family, who were awaiting his return
+      upon the rock of Adieus than he waved the letter aloft in the air, without
+      being able to utter a word. No sooner was the seal broken, than they all
+      crowded round Madame de la Tour, to hear the letter read. Virginia
+      informed her mother that she had experienced much ill-usage from her aunt,
+      who, after having in vain urged her to a marriage against her inclination,
+      had disinherited her, and had sent her back at a time when she would
+      probably reach the Mauritius during the hurricane season. In vain, she
+      added, had she endeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she
+      owed to her mother, and to her early habits; she was treated as a romantic
+      girl, whose head had been turned by novels. She could now only think of
+      the joy of again seeing and embracing her beloved family, and would have
+      gratified her ardent desire at once, by landing in the pilot's boat, if
+      the captain had allowed her: but that he had objected, on account of the
+      distance, and of a heavy swell, which, notwithstanding the calm, reigned
+      in the open sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the letter was finished, the whole of the family, transported
+      with joy, repeatedly exclaimed, "Virginia is arrived!" and mistresses and
+      servants embraced each other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul,&mdash;"My
+      son, go and inform our neighbour of Virginia's arrival." Domingo
+      immediately lighted a torch of bois de ronde, and he and Paul bent their
+      way towards my dwelling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about ten o'clock at night, and I was just going to extinguish my
+      lamp, and retire to rest, when I perceived, through the palisades round my
+      cottage, a light in the woods. Soon after, I heard the voice of Paul
+      calling me. I instantly arose, and had hardly dressed myself, when Paul,
+      almost beside himself, and panting for breath, sprang on my neck, crying,&mdash;"Come
+      along, come along. Virginia is arrived. Let us go to the port; the vessel
+      will anchor at break of day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely had he uttered the words, when we set off. As we were passing
+      through the woods of the Sloping Mountain, and were already on the road
+      which leads from the Shaddock Grove to the port, I heard some one walking
+      behind us. It proved to be a negro, and he was advancing with hasty steps.
+      When he had reached us, I asked him whence he came, and whither he was
+      going with such expedition. He answered, "I come from that part of the
+      island called Golden Dust; and am sent to the port, to inform the governor
+      that a ship from France has anchored under the Isle of Amber. She is
+      firing guns of distress, for the sea is very rough." Having said this, the
+      man left us, and pursued his journey without any further delay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I then said to Paul,&mdash;"Let us go towards the quarter of the Golden
+      Dust, and meet Virginia there. It is not more than three leagues from
+      hence." We accordingly bent our course towards the northern part of the
+      island. The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and was surrounded
+      by three large black circles. A frightful darkness shrouded the sky; but
+      the frequent flashes of lightning discovered to us long rows of thick and
+      gloomy clouds, hanging very low, and heaped together over the centre of
+      the island, being driven in with great rapidity from the ocean, although
+      not a breath of air was perceptible upon the land. As we walked along, we
+      thought we heard peals of thunder; but, on listening more attentively, we
+      perceived that it was the sound of cannon at a distance, repeated by the
+      echoes. These ominous sounds, joined to the tempestuous aspect of the
+      heavens, made me shudder. I had little doubt of their being signals of
+      distress from a ship in danger. In about half an hour the firing ceased,
+      and I found the silence still more appalling than the dismal sounds which
+      had preceded it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate to each
+      other our mutual apprehensions. At midnight, by great exertion, we arrived
+      at the sea shore, in that part of the island called Golden Dust. The
+      billows were breaking against the bench with a horrible noise, covering
+      the rocks and the strand with foam of a dazzling whiteness, blended with
+      sparks of fire. By these phosphoric gleams we distinguished,
+      notwithstanding the darkness, a number of fishing canoes, drawn up high
+      upon the beach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance of a wood, a short distance from us, we saw a fire, round
+      which a party of the inhabitants were assembled. We repaired thither, in
+      order to rest ourselves till the morning. While we were seated near the
+      fire, one of the standers-by related, that late in the afternoon he had
+      seen a vessel in the open sea, driven towards the island by the currents;
+      that the night had hidden it from his view; and that two hours after
+      sunset he had heard the firing of signal guns of distress, but that the
+      surf was so high, that it was impossible to launch a boat to go off to
+      her; that a short time after, he thought he perceived the glimmering of
+      the watch-lights on board the vessel, which, he feared, by its having
+      approached so near the coast, had steered between the main land and the
+      little island of Amber, mistaking the latter for the Point of Endeavour,
+      near which vessels pass in order to gain Port Louis; and that, if this
+      were the case, which, however, he would not take upon himself to be
+      certain of, the ship, he thought, was in very great danger. Another
+      islander informed us, that he had frequently crossed the channel which
+      separates the isle of Amber from the coast, and had sounded it, that the
+      anchorage was very good, and that the ship would there lie as safely as in
+      the best harbour. "I would stake all I am worth upon it," said he, "and if
+      I were on board, I should sleep as sound as on shore." A third bystander
+      declared that it was impossible for the ship to enter that channel, which
+      was scarcely navigable for a boat. He was certain, he said, that he had
+      seen the vessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber; so that, if the wind
+      rose in the morning, she would either put to sea, or gain the harbour.
+      Other inhabitants gave different opinions upon this subject, which they
+      continued to discuss in the usual desultory manner of the indolent
+      Creoles. Paul and I observed a profound silence. We remained on this spot
+      till break of day, but the weather was too hazy to admit of our
+      distinguishing any object at sea, every thing being covered with fog. All
+      we could descry to seaward was a dark cloud, which they told us was the
+      isle of Amber, at the distance of a quarter of a league from the coast. On
+      this gloomy day we could only discern the point of land on which we were
+      standing, and the peaks of some inland mountains, which started out
+      occasionally from the midst of the clouds that hung around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At about seven in the morning we heard the sound of drums in the woods: it
+      announced the approach of the governor, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, who
+      soon after arrived on horseback, at the head of a detachment of soldiers
+      armed with muskets, and a crowd of islanders and negroes. He drew up his
+      soldiers upon the beach, and ordered them to make a general discharge.
+      This was no sooner done, than we perceived a glimmering light upon the
+      water which was instantly followed by the report of a cannon. We judged
+      that the ship was at no great distance and all ran towards that part
+      whence the light and sound proceeded. We now discerned through the fog the
+      hull and yards of a large vessel. We were so near to her, that
+      notwithstanding the tumult of the waves, we could distinctly hear the
+      whistle of the boatswain, and the shouts of the sailors, who cried out
+      three times, VIVE LE ROI! this being the cry of the French in extreme
+      danger, as well as in exuberant joy;&mdash;as though they wished to call
+      their princes to their aid, or to testify to him that they are prepared to
+      lay down their lives in his service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the Saint-Geran perceived that we were near enough to render
+      her assistance, she continued to fire guns regularly at intervals of three
+      minutes. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be lighted at
+      certain distances upon the strand, and sent to all the inhabitants of the
+      neighbourhood, in search of provisions, planks, cables, and empty barrels.
+      A number of people soon arrived, accompanied by their negroes loaded with
+      provisions and cordage, which they had brought from the plantations of
+      Golden Dust, from the district of La Flaque, and from the river of the Ram
+      part. One of the most aged of these planters, approaching the governor,
+      said to him,&mdash;"We have heard all night hollow noises in the mountain;
+      in the woods, the leaves of the trees are shaken, although there is no
+      wind; the sea-birds seek refuge upon the land: it is certain that all
+      these signs announce a hurricane." "Well, my friends," answered the
+      governor, "we are prepared for it, and no doubt the vessel is also."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. The
+      centre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while their
+      skirts were tinged with a copper-coloured hue. The air resounded with the
+      cries of the tropic-birds, petrels, frigate-birds, and innumerable other
+      sea-fowl, which notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere, were seen
+      coming from every point of the horizon, to seek for shelter in the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Towards nine in the morning we heard in the direction of the ocean the
+      most terrific noise, like the sound of thunder mingled with that of
+      torrents rushing down the steeps of lofty mountains. A general cry was
+      heard of, "There is the hurricane!" and the next moment a frightful gust
+      of wind dispelled the fog which covered the isle of Amber and its channel.
+      The Saint-Geran then presented herself to our view, her deck crowded with
+      people, her yards and topmasts lowered down, and her flag half-mast high,
+      moored by four cables at her bow and one at her stern. She had anchored
+      between the isle of Amber and the main land, inside the chain of reefs
+      which encircles the island, and which she had passed through in a place
+      where no vessel had ever passed before. She presented her head to the
+      waves that rolled in from the open sea, and as each billow rushed into the
+      narrow strait where she lay, her bow lifted to such a degree as to show
+      her keel; and at the same moment her stern, plunging into the water,
+      disappeared altogether from our sight, as if it were swallowed up by the
+      surges. In this position, driven by the winds and waves towards the shore,
+      it was equally impossible for her to return by the passage through which
+      she had made her way; or, by cutting her cables, to strand herself upon
+      the beach, from which she was separated by sandbanks and reefs of rocks.
+      Every billow which broke upon the coast advanced roaring to the bottom of
+      the bay, throwing up heaps of shingle to the distance of fifty feet upon
+      the land; then, rushing back, laid bare its sandy bed, from which it
+      rolled immense stones, with a hoarse and dismal noise. The sea, swelled by
+      the violence of the wind, rose higher every moment; and the whole channel
+      between this island and the isle of Amber was soon one vast sheet of white
+      foam, full of yawning pits of black and deep billows. Heaps of this foam,
+      more than six feet high, were piled up at the bottom of the bay; and the
+      winds which swept its surface carried masses of it over the steep
+      sea-bank, scattering it upon the land to the distance of half a league.
+      These innumerable white flakes, driven horizontally even to the very foot
+      of the mountains, looked like snow issuing from the bosom of the ocean.
+      The appearance of the horizon portended a lasting tempest; the sky and the
+      water seemed blended together. Thick masses of clouds, of a frightful
+      form, swept across the zenith with the swiftness of birds, while others
+      appeared motionless as rocks. Not a single spot of blue sky could be
+      discerned in the whole firmament; and a pale yellow gleam only lightened
+      up all the objects of the earth, the sea, and the skies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the violent rolling of the ship, what we all dreaded happened at
+      last. The cables which held her bow were torn away: she then swung to a
+      single hawser, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the distance of
+      half a cable's length from the shore. A general cry of horror issued from
+      the spectators. Paul rushed forward to throw himself into the sea, when,
+      seizing him by the arm, "My son," I exclaimed, "would you perish?"&mdash;"Let
+      me go to save her," he cried, "or let me die!" Seeing that despair had
+      deprived him of reason, Domingo and I, in order to preserve him, fastened
+      a long cord around his waist, and held it fast by the end. Paul then
+      precipitated himself towards the Saint-Geran, now swimming, and now
+      walking upon the rocks. Sometimes he had hopes of reaching the vessel,
+      which the sea, by the reflux of its waves, had left almost dry, so that
+      you could have walked round it on foot; but suddenly the billows,
+      returning with fresh fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of water, which
+      then lifted it upright upon its keel. The breakers at the same moment
+      threw the unfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs bathed in blood,
+      his bosom wounded, and himself half dead. The moment he had recovered the
+      use of his senses, he arose, and returned with new ardour towards the
+      vessel, the parts of which now yawned asunder from the violent strokes of
+      the billows. The crew then, despairing of their safety, threw themselves
+      in crowds into the sea, upon yards, planks, hen-coops, tables, and
+      barrels. At this moment we beheld an object which wrung our hearts with
+      grief and pity; a young lady appeared in the stern-gallery of the
+      Saint-Geran, stretching out her arms towards him who was making so many
+      efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had discovered her lover by his
+      intrepidity. The sight of this amiable girl, exposed to such horrible
+      danger, filled us with unutterable despair. As for Virginia, with a firm
+      and dignified mien, she waved her hand, as if bidding us an eternal
+      farewell. All the sailors had flung themselves into the sea, except one,
+      who still remained upon the deck, and who was naked, and strong as
+      Hercules. This man approached Virginia with respect, and, kneeling at her
+      feet, attempted to force her to throw off her clothes; but she repulsed
+      him with modesty, and turned away her head. Then were heard redoubled
+      cries from the spectators, "Save her!&mdash;save her!&mdash;do not leave
+      her!" But at that moment a mountain billow, of enormous magnitude,
+      ingulfed itself between the isle of Amber and the coast, and menaced the
+      shattered vessel, towards which it rolled bellowing, with its black sides
+      and foaming head. At this terrible sight the sailor flung himself into the
+      sea; and Virginia, seeing death inevitable, crossed her hands upon her
+      breast, and raising upwards her serene and beauteous eyes, seemed an angel
+      prepared to take her flight to Heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the relentless
+      billows. The surge threw some of the spectators, whom an impulse of
+      humanity had prompted to advance towards Virginia, far upon the beach, and
+      also the sailor who had endeavoured to save her life. This man, who had
+      escaped from almost certain death, kneeling on the sand, exclaimed,&mdash;"Oh,
+      my God! thou hast saved my life, but I would have given it willingly for
+      that excellent young lady, who had persevered in not undressing herself as
+      I had done." Domingo and I drew the unfortunate Paul to the ashore. He was
+      senseless, and blood was flowing from his mouth and ears. The governor
+      ordered him to be put into the hands of a surgeon, while we, on our part,
+      wandered along the beach, in hopes that the sea would throw up the corpse
+      of Virginia. But the wind having suddenly changed, as it frequently
+      happens during hurricanes, our search was in vain; and we had the grief of
+      thinking that we should not be able to bestow on this sweet and
+      unfortunate girl the last sad duties. We retired from the spot overwhelmed
+      with dismay, and our minds wholly occupied by one cruel loss, although
+      numbers had perished in the wreck. Some of the spectators seemed tempted,
+      from the fatal destiny of this virtuous girl, to doubt the existence of
+      Providence: for there are in life such terrible, such unmerited evils,
+      that even the hope of the wise is sometimes shaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to a
+      house in the neighbourhood, till he was in a fit state to be removed to
+      his own home. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, to discharge the
+      melancholy duty of preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the
+      disastrous event which had happened. When we had reached the entrance of
+      the valley of the river of Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that the
+      sea had thrown up many pieces of the wreck in the opposite bay. We
+      descended towards it and one of the first objects that struck my sight
+      upon the beach was the corpse of Virginia. The body was half covered with
+      sand, and preserved the attitude in which we had seen her perish. Her
+      features were not sensibly changed, her eyes were closed, and her
+      countenance was still serene; but the pale purple hues of death were
+      blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of her hands
+      was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on her heart,
+      was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with difficulty that I took
+      from its grasp a small box. How great was my emotion when I saw that it
+      contained the picture of Paul, which she had promised him never to part
+      with while she lived! As for Domingo, he beat his breast, and pierced the
+      air with his shrieks. With heavy hearts we then carried the body of
+      Virginia to a fisherman's hut, and gave it in charge of some poor Malabar
+      women, who carefully washed away the sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended the hill
+      with trembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la Tour and
+      Margaret at prayer; hourly expecting to have tidings from the ship. As
+      soon as Madame de la Tour saw me coming, she eagerly cried,&mdash;"Where
+      is my daughter&mdash;my dear daughter&mdash;my child?" My silence and my
+      tears apprised her of her misfortune. She was instantly seized with a
+      convulsive stopping of the breath and agonizing pains, and her voice was
+      only heard in sighs and groans. Margaret cried, "Where is my son? I do not
+      see my son!" and fainted. We ran to her assistance. In a short time she
+      recovered, and being assured that Paul was safe, and under the care of the
+      governor, she thought of nothing but of succouring her friend, who
+      recovered from one fainting fit only to fall into another. Madame de la
+      Tour passed the whole night in these cruel sufferings, and I became
+      convinced that there was no sorrow like that of a mother. When she
+      recovered her senses, she cast a fixed, unconscious look towards heaven.
+      In vain her friend and myself pressed her hands in ours: in vain we called
+      upon her by the most tender names; she appeared wholly insensible to these
+      testimonials of our affection, and no sound issued from her oppressed
+      bosom, but deep and hollow moans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the morning Paul was carried home in a palanquin. He had now
+      recovered the use of his reason, but was unable to utter a word. His
+      interview with his mother and Madame de la Tour, which I had dreaded,
+      produced a better effect than all my cares. A ray of consolation gleamed
+      on the countenances of the two unfortunate mothers. They pressed close to
+      him, clasped him in their arms, and kissed him: their tears, which excess
+      of anguish had till now dried up at the source, began to flow. Paul mixed
+      his tears with theirs; and nature having thus found relief, a long stupor
+      succeeded the convulsive pangs they had suffered, and afforded them a
+      lethargic repose, which was in truth, like that of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse of
+      Virginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it was to be
+      transferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I immediately went down
+      to Port Louis, where I found a multitude assembled from all parts of the
+      island, in order to be present at the funeral solemnity, as if the isle
+      had lost that which was nearest and dearest to it. The vessels in the
+      harbour had their yards crossed, their flags half-mast, and fired guns at
+      long intervals. A body of grenadiers led the funeral procession, with
+      their muskets reversed, their muffled drums sending forth slow and dismal
+      sounds. Dejection was depicted in the countenance of these warriors, who
+      had so often braved death in battle without changing colour. Eight young
+      ladies of considerable families of the island, dressed in white, and
+      bearing palm-branches in their hands, carried the corpse of their amiable
+      companion, which was covered with flowers. They were followed by a chorus
+      of children, chanting hymns, and by the governor, his field officers, all
+      the principal inhabitants of the island, and an immense crowd of people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This imposing funeral solemnity had been ordered by the administration of
+      the country, which was desirous of doing honour to the virtues of
+      Virginia. But when the mournful procession arrived at the foot of this
+      mountain, within sight of those cottages of which she had been so long an
+      inmate and an ornament, diffusing happiness all around them, and which her
+      loss had now filled with despair, the funeral pomp was interrupted, the
+      hymns and anthems ceased, and the whole plain resounded with sighs and
+      lamentations. Numbers of young girls ran from the neighbouring
+      plantations, to touch the coffin of Virginia with their handkerchiefs, and
+      with chaplets and crowns of flowers, invoking her as a saint. Mothers
+      asked of heaven a child like Virginia; lovers, a heart as faithful; the
+      poor, as tender a friend; and the slaves as kind a mistress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the procession had reached the place of interment, some negresses of
+      Madagascar and Caffres of Mozambique placed a number of baskets of fruit
+      around the corpse, and hung pieces of stuff upon the adjoining trees,
+      according to the custom of their several countries. Some Indian women from
+      Bengal also, and from the coast of Malabar, brought cages full of small
+      birds, which they set at liberty upon her coffin. Thus deeply did the loss
+      of this amiable being affect the natives of different countries, and thus
+      was the ritual of various religions performed over the tomb of unfortunate
+      virtue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It became necessary to place guards round her grave, and to employ gentle
+      force in removing some of the daughters of the neighbouring villagers, who
+      endeavoured to throw themselves into it, saying that they had no longer
+      any consolation to hope for in this world, and that nothing remained for
+      them but to die with their benefactress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the western side of the church of the Shaddock Grove is a small copse
+      of bamboos, where, in returning from mass with her mother and Margaret,
+      Virginia loved to rest herself, seated by the side of him whom she then
+      called her brother. This was the spot selected for her interment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At his return from the funeral solemnity, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais came
+      up here, followed by part of his numerous retinue. He offered Madame de la
+      Tour and her friend all the assistance it was in his power to bestow.
+      After briefly expressing his indignation at the conduct of her unnatural
+      aunt, he advanced to Paul, and said every thing which he thought most
+      likely to soothe and console him. "Heaven is my witness," said he, "that I
+      wished to insure your happiness, and that of your family. My dear friend,
+      you must go to France; I will obtain a commission for you, and during your
+      absence I will take the same care of your mother as if she were my own."
+      He then offered him his hand; but Paul drew away and turned his head
+      aside, unable to bear his sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained for some time at the plantation of my unfortunate friends, that
+      I might render to them and Paul those offices of friendship that were in
+      my power, and which might alleviate, though they could not heal the wounds
+      of calamity. At the end of three weeks Paul was able to walk; but his mind
+      seemed to droop in proportion as his body gathered strength. He was
+      insensible to every thing; his look was vacant; and when asked a question,
+      he made no reply. Madame de la Tour, who was dying said to him often,&mdash;"My
+      son, while I look at you, I think I see my dear Virginia." At the name of
+      Virginia he shuddered, and hastened away from her, notwithstanding the
+      entreaties of his mother, who begged him to come back to her friend. He
+      used to go alone into the garden, and seat himself at the foot of
+      Virginia's cocoa-tree, with his eyes fixed upon the fountain. The
+      governor's surgeon, who had shown the most humane attention to Paul and
+      the whole family, told us that in order to cure the deep melancholy which
+      had taken possession of his mind, we must allow him to do whatever he
+      pleased, without contradiction: this, he said, afforded the only chance of
+      overcoming the silence in which he persevered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I resolved to follow this advice. The first use which Paul made of his
+      returning strength was to absent himself from the plantation. Being
+      determined not to lose sight of him I set out immediately, and desired
+      Domingo to take some provisions and accompany us. The young man's strength
+      and spirits seemed renewed as he descended the mountain. He first took the
+      road to the Shaddock Grove, and when he was near the church, in the Alley
+      of Bamboos, he walked directly to the spot where he saw some earth fresh
+      turned up; kneeling down there, and raising his eyes to heaven, he offered
+      up a long prayer. This appeared to me a favourable symptom of the return
+      of his reason; since this mark of confidence in the Supreme Being showed
+      that his mind was beginning to resume its natural functions. Domingo and
+      I, following his example, fell upon our knees, and mingled our prayers
+      with his. When he arose, he bent his way, paying little attention to us,
+      towards the northern part of the island. As I knew that he was not only
+      ignorant of the spot where the body of Virginia had been deposited, but
+      even of the fact that it had been recovered from the waves, I asked him
+      why he had offered up his prayer at the foot of those bamboos. He
+      answered,&mdash;"We have been there so often."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued his course until we reached the borders of the forest, when
+      night came on. I set him the example of taking some nourishment, and
+      prevailed on him to do the same; and we slept upon the grass, at the foot
+      of a tree. The next day I thought he seemed disposed to retrace his steps;
+      for, after having gazed a considerable time from the plain upon the church
+      of the Shaddock Grove, with its long avenues of bamboos, he made a
+      movement as if to return home; but suddenly plunging into the forest, he
+      directed his course towards the north. I guessed what was his design, and
+      I endeavoured, but in vain, to dissuade him from it. About noon we arrived
+      at the quarter of Golden Dust. He rushed down to the sea-shore, opposite
+      to the spot where the Saint-Geran had been wrecked. At the sight of the
+      isle of Amber, and its channel, when smooth as a mirror, he exclaimed,&mdash;"Virginia!
+      oh my dear Virginia!" and fell senseless. Domingo and I carried him into
+      the woods, where we had some difficulty in recovering him. As soon as he
+      regained his senses, he wished to return to the sea-shore; but we conjured
+      him not to renew his own anguish and ours by such cruel remembrances, and
+      he took another direction. During a whole week he sought every spot where
+      he had once wandered with the companion of his childhood. He traced the
+      path by which she had gone to intercede for the slave of the Black River.
+      He gazed again upon the banks of the river of the Three Breasts, where she
+      had rested herself when unable to walk further, and upon that part of the
+      wood where they had lost their way. All the haunts, which recalled to his
+      memory the anxieties, the sports, the repasts, the benevolence of her he
+      loved,&mdash;the river of the Sloping Mountain, my house, the neighbouring
+      cascade, the papaw tree she had planted, the grassy fields in which she
+      loved to run, the openings of the forest where she used to sing, all in
+      succession called forth his tears; and those very echoes which had so
+      often resounded with their mutual shouts of joy, now repeated only these
+      accents of despair,&mdash;"Virginia! oh, my dear Virginia!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this savage and wandering life, his eyes became sunk and hollow,
+      his skin assumed a yellow tint, and his health rapidly declined. Convinced
+      that our present sufferings are rendered more acute by the bitter
+      recollection of bygone pleasures, and that the passions gather strength in
+      solitude, I resolved to remove my unfortunate friend from those scenes
+      which recalled the remembrance of his loss, and to lead him to a more busy
+      part of the island. With this view, I conducted him to the inhabited part
+      of the elevated quarter of Williams, which he had never visited, and where
+      the busy pursuits of agriculture and commerce ever occasioned much bustle
+      and variety. Numbers of carpenters were employed in hewing down and
+      squaring trees, while others were sawing them into planks; carriages were
+      continually passing and repassing on the roads; numerous herds of oxen and
+      troops of horses were feeding on those wide-spread meadows, and the whole
+      country was dotted with the dwellings of man. On some spots the elevation
+      of the soil permitted the culture of many of the plants of Europe: the
+      yellow ears of ripe corn waved upon the plains; strawberry plants grew in
+      the openings of the woods, and the roads were bordered by hedges of
+      rose-trees. The freshness of the air, too, giving tension to the nerves,
+      was favourable to the health of Europeans. From those heights, situated
+      near the middle of the island, and surrounded by extensive forests,
+      neither the sea, nor Port Louis, nor the church of the Shaddock Grove, nor
+      any other object associated with the remembrance of Virginia could de
+      discerned. Even the mountains, which present various shapes on the side of
+      Port Louis, appear from hence like a long promontory, in a straight and
+      perpendicular line, from which arise lofty pyramids of rock, whose summits
+      are enveloped in the clouds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Conducting Paul to these scenes, I kept him continually in action, walking
+      with him in rain and sunshine, by day and by night. I sometimes wandered
+      with him into the depths of the forests, or led him over untilled grounds,
+      hoping that change of scene and fatigue might divert his mind from its
+      gloomy meditations. But the soul of a lover finds everywhere the traces of
+      the beloved object. Night and day, the calm of solitude and the tumult of
+      crowds, are to him the same; time itself, which casts the shade of
+      oblivion over so many other remembrances, in vain would tear that tender
+      and sacred recollection from the heart. The needle, when touched by the
+      loadstone, however it may have been moved from its position, is no sooner
+      left to repose, than it returns to the pole of its attraction. So, when I
+      inquired of Paul, as we wandered amidst the plains of Williams,&mdash;"Where
+      shall we now go?" he pointed to the north, and said, "Yonder are our
+      mountains; let us return home."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I now saw that all the means I took to divert him from his melancholy were
+      fruitless, and that no resource was left but an attempt to combat his
+      passion by the arguments which reason suggested I answered him,&mdash;"Yes,
+      there are the mountains where once dwelt your beloved Virginia; and here
+      is the picture you gave her, and which she held, when dying, to her heart&mdash;that
+      heart, which even in its last moments only beat for you." I then presented
+      to Paul the little portrait which he had given to Virginia on the borders
+      of the cocoa-tree fountain. At this sight a gloomy joy overspread his
+      countenance. He eagerly seized the picture with his feeble hands, and held
+      it to his lips. His oppressed bosom seemed ready to burst with emotion,
+      and his eyes were filled with tears which had no power to flow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My son," said I, "listen to one who is your friend, who was the friend of
+      Virginia, and who, in the bloom of your hopes, has often endeavoured to
+      fortify your mind against the unforeseen accidents of life. What do you
+      deplore with so much bitterness? Is it your own misfortunes, or those of
+      Virginia, which affect you so deeply?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your own misfortunes are indeed severe. You have lost the most amiable of
+      girls, who would have grown up to womanhood a pattern to her sex, one who
+      sacrificed her own interests to yours: who preferred you to all that
+      fortune could bestow, and considered you as the only recompense worthy of
+      her virtues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But might not this very object, from whom you expected the purest
+      happiness, have proved to you a source of the most cruel distress? She had
+      returned poor and disinherited; all you could henceforth have partaken
+      with her was your labour. Rendered more delicate by her education, and
+      more courageous by her misfortunes, you might have beheld her every day
+      sinking beneath her efforts to share and lighten your fatigues. Had she
+      brought you children, they would only have served to increase her
+      anxieties and your own, from the difficulty of sustaining at once your
+      aged parents and your infant family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very likely you will tell me that the governor would have helped you; but
+      how do you know that in a colony where governors are so frequently
+      changed, you would have had others like Monsieur de la Bourdonnais?&mdash;that
+      one might not have been sent destitute of good feeling and of morality?&mdash;that
+      your young wife, in order, to procure some miserable pittance, might not
+      have been obliged to seek his favour? Had she been weak you would have
+      been to be pitied; and if she had remained virtuous, you would have
+      continued poor: forced even to consider yourself fortunate if, on account
+      of the beauty and virtue of your wife, you had not to endure persecution
+      from those who had promised you protection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It would have remained to you, you may say, to have enjoyed a pleasure
+      independent of fortune,&mdash;that of protecting a loved being, who, in
+      proportion to her own helplessness, had more attached herself to you. You
+      may fancy that your pains and sufferings would have served to endear you
+      to each other, and that your passion would have gathered strength from
+      your mutual misfortunes. Undoubtedly virtuous love does find consolation
+      even in such melancholy retrospects. But Virginia is no more; yet those
+      persons still live, whom, next to yourself, she held most dear; her
+      mother, and your own: your inconsolable affliction is bringing them both
+      to the grave. Place your happiness, as she did hers, in affording them
+      succour. My son, beneficence is the happiness of the virtuous: there is no
+      greater or more certain enjoyment on the earth. Schemes of pleasure,
+      repose, luxuries, wealth, and glory are not suited to man, weak,
+      wandering, and transitory as he is. See how rapidly one step towards the
+      acquisition of fortune has precipitated us all to the lowest abyss of
+      misery! You were opposed to it, it is true; but who would not have thought
+      that Virginia's voyage would terminate in her happiness and your own? an
+      invitation from a rich and aged relation, the advice of a wise governor,
+      the approbation of the whole colony, and the well-advised authority of her
+      confessor, decided the lot of Virginia. Thus do we run to our ruin,
+      deceived even by the prudence of those who watch over us: it would be
+      better, no doubt, not to believe them, nor even to listen to the voice or
+      lean on the hopes of a deceitful world. But all men,&mdash;those you see
+      occupied in these plains, those who go abroad to seek their fortunes, and
+      those in Europe who enjoy repose from the labours of others, are liable to
+      reverses! not one is secure from losing, at some period, all that he most
+      values,&mdash;greatness, wealth, wife, children, and friends. Most of
+      these would have their sorrow increased by the remembrance of their own
+      imprudence. But you have nothing with which you can reproach yourself. You
+      have been faithful in your love. In the bloom of youth, by not departing
+      from the dictates of nature, you evinced the wisdom of a sage. Your views
+      were just, because they were pure, simple, and disinterested. You had,
+      besides, on Virginia, sacred claims which nothing could countervail. You
+      have lost her: but it is neither your own imprudence, nor your avarice,
+      nor your false wisdom which has occasioned this misfortune, but the will
+      of God, who had employed the passions of others to snatch from you the
+      object of your love; God, from whom you derive everything, who knows what
+      is most fitting for you, and whose wisdom has not left you any cause for
+      the repentance and despair which succeed the calamities that are brought
+      upon us by ourselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Vainly, in your misfortunes, do you say to yourself, 'I have not deserved
+      them.' Is it then the calamity of Virginia&mdash;her death and her present
+      condition that you deplore? She has undergone the fate allotted to all,&mdash;to
+      high birth, to beauty, and even to empires themselves. The life of man,
+      with all his projects, may be compared to a tower, at whose summit is
+      death. When your Virginia was born, she was condemned to die; happily for
+      herself, she is released from life before losing her mother, or yours, or
+      you; saved, thus from undergoing pangs worse than those of death itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Learn then, my son, that death is a benefit to all men: it is the night
+      of that restless day we call by the name of life. The diseases, the
+      griefs, the vexations, and the fears, which perpetually embitter our life
+      as long as we possess it, molest us no more in the sleep of death. If you
+      inquire into the history of those men who appear to have been the
+      happiest, you will find that they have bought their apparent felicity very
+      dear; public consideration, perhaps, by domestic evils; fortune, by the
+      loss of health; the rare happiness of being loved, by continual
+      sacrifices; and often, at the expiration of a life devoted to the good of
+      others, they see themselves surrounded only by false friends, and
+      ungrateful relations. But Virginia was happy to her very last moment. When
+      with us, she was happy in partaking of the gifts of nature; when far from
+      us, she found enjoyment in the practice of virtue; and even at the
+      terrible moment in which we saw her perish, she still had cause for
+      self-gratulation. For, whether she cast her eyes on the assembled colony,
+      made miserable by her expected loss, or on you, my son, who, with so much
+      intrepidity, were endeavouring to save her, she must have seen how dear
+      she was to all. Her mind was fortified against the future by the
+      remembrance of her innocent life; and at that moment she received the
+      reward which Heaven reserves for virtue,&mdash;a courage superior to
+      danger. She met death with a serene countenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My son! God gives all the trials of life to virtue, in order to show that
+      virtue alone can support them, and even find in them happiness and glory.
+      When he designs for it an illustrious reputation, he exhibits it on a wide
+      theatre, and contending with death. Then does the courage of virtue shine
+      forth as an example, and the misfortunes to which it has been exposed
+      receive for ever, from posterity, the tribute of their tears. This is the
+      immortal monument reserved for virtue in a world where every thing else
+      passes away, and where the names, even of the greater number of kings
+      themselves, are soon buried in eternal oblivion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Meanwhile Virginia still exists. My son, you see that every thing changes
+      on this earth, but that nothing is ever lost. No art of man can annihilate
+      the smallest particle of matter; can, then, that which has possessed
+      reason, sensibility, affection, virtue, and religion be supposed capable
+      of destruction, when the very elements with which it is clothed are
+      imperishable? Ah! however happy Virginia may have been with us, she is now
+      much more so. There is a God, my son; it is unnecessary for me to prove it
+      to you, for the voice of all nature loudly proclaims it. The wickedness of
+      mankind leads them to deny the existence of a Being, whose justice they
+      fear. But your mind is fully convinced of his existence, while his works
+      are ever before your eyes. Do you then believe that he would leave
+      Virginia without recompense? Do you think that the same Power which
+      inclosed her noble soul in a form so beautiful,&mdash;so like an emanation
+      from itself, could not have saved her from the waves?&mdash;that he who
+      has ordained the happiness of man here, by laws unknown to you, cannot
+      prepare a still higher degree of felicity for Virginia by other laws, of
+      which you are equally ignorant? Before we were born into this world, could
+      we, do you imagine, even if we were capable of thinking at all, have
+      formed any idea of our existence here? And now that we are in the middle
+      of this gloomy and transitory life, can we foresee what is beyond the
+      tomb, or in what manner we shall be emancipated from it? Does God, like
+      man, need this little globe, the earth, as a theatre for the display of
+      his intelligence and his goodness?&mdash;and can he only dispose of human
+      life in the territory of death? There is not, in the entire ocean, a
+      single drop of water which is not peopled with living beings appertaining
+      to man: and does there exist nothing for him in the heavens above his
+      head? What! is there no supreme intelligence, no divine goodness, except
+      on this little spot where we are placed? In those innumerable glowing
+      fires,&mdash;in those infinite fields of light which surround them, and
+      which neither storms nor darkness can extinguish, is there nothing but
+      empty space and an eternal void? If we, weak and ignorant as we are, might
+      dare to assign limits to that Power from whom we have received every
+      thing, we might possibly imagine that we were placed on the very confines
+      of his empire, where life is perpetually struggling with death, and
+      innocence for ever in danger from the power of tyranny!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Somewhere, then, without doubt, there is another world, where virtue will
+      receive its reward. Virginia is now happy. Ah! if from the abode of angels
+      she could hold communication with you, she would tell you, as she did when
+      she bade you her last adieus,&mdash;'O, Paul! life is but a scene of
+      trial. I have been obedient to the laws of nature, love, and virtue. I
+      crossed the seas to obey the will of my relations; I sacrificed wealth in
+      order to keep my faith; and I preferred the loss of life to disobeying the
+      dictates of modesty. Heaven found that I had fulfilled my duties, and has
+      snatched me for ever from all the miseries I might have endured myself,
+      and all I might have felt for the miseries of others. I am placed far
+      above the reach of all human evils, and you pity me! I am become pure and
+      unchangeable as a particle of light, and you would recall me to the
+      darkness of human life! O, Paul! O, my beloved friend! recollect those
+      days of happiness, when in the morning we felt the delightful sensations
+      excited by the unfolding beauties of nature; when we seemed to rise with
+      the sun to the peaks of those rocks, and then to spread with his rays over
+      the bosom of the forests. We experienced a delight, the cause of which we
+      could not comprehend. In the innocence of our desires, we wished to be all
+      sight, to enjoy the rich colours of the early dawn; all smell, to taste a
+      thousand perfumes at once; all hearing, to listen to the singing of our
+      birds; and all heart, to be capable of gratitude for those mingled
+      blessings. Now, at the source of the beauty whence flows all that is
+      delightful upon earth, my soul intuitively sees, hears, touches, what
+      before she could only be made sensible of through the medium of our weak
+      organs. Ah! what language can describe these shores of eternal bliss,
+      which I inhabit for ever! All that infinite power and heavenly goodness
+      could create to console the unhappy: all that the friendship of numberless
+      beings, exulting in the same felicity can impart, we enjoy in unmixed
+      perfection. Support, then, the trial which is now allotted to you, that
+      you may heighten the happiness of your Virginia by love which will know no
+      termination,&mdash;by a union which will be eternal. There I will calm
+      your regrets, I will wipe away your tears. Oh, my beloved friend! my
+      youthful husband! raise your thoughts towards the infinite, to enable you
+      to support the evils of a moment.'"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My own emotion choked my utterance. Paul, looking at me steadfastly,
+      cried,&mdash;"She is no more! she is no more!" and a long fainting fit
+      succeeded these words of woe. When restored to himself, he said, "Since
+      death is good, and since Virginia is happy, I will die too, and be united
+      to Virginia." Thus the motives of consolation I had offered, only served
+      to nourish his despair. I was in the situation of a man who attempts to
+      save a friend sinking in the midst of a flood, and who obstinately refuses
+      to swim. Sorrow had completely overwhelmed his soul. Alas! the trials of
+      early years prepare man for the afflictions of after-life; but Paul had
+      never experienced any.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took him back to his own dwelling, where I found his mother and Madame
+      de la Tour in a state of increased languor and exhaustion, but Margaret
+      seemed to droop the most. Lively characters, upon whom petty troubles have
+      but little effect, sink the soonest under great calamities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "O my good friend," said Margaret, "I thought last night I saw Virginia,
+      dressed in white, in the midst of groves and delicious gardens. She said
+      to me, 'I enjoy the most perfect happiness:' and then approaching Paul
+      with a smiling air, she bore him away with her. While I was struggling to
+      retain my son, I felt that I myself too was quitting the earth, and that I
+      followed with inexpressible delight. I then wished to bid my friend
+      farewell, when I saw that she was hastening after me, accompanied by Mary
+      and Domingo. But the strangest circumstance remains yet to be told; Madame
+      de la Tour has this very night had a dream exactly like mine in every
+      possible respect."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My dear friend," I replied, "nothing, I firmly believe, happens in this
+      world without the permission of God. Future events, too, are sometimes
+      revealed in dreams."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour then related to me her dream which was exactly the same
+      as Margaret's in every particular; and as I had never observed in either
+      of these ladies any propensity to superstition, I was struck with the
+      singular coincidence of their dreams, and I felt convinced that they would
+      soon be realized. The belief that future events are sometimes revealed to
+      us during sleep, is one that is widely diffused among the nations of the
+      earth. The greatest men of antiquity have had faith in it; among whom may
+      be mentioned Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, the Scipios, the two
+      Catos, and Brutus, none of whom were weak-minded persons. Both the Old and
+      the New Testament furnish us with numerous instances of dreams that came
+      to pass. As for myself, I need only, on this subject, appeal to my
+      experience, as I have more than once had good reason to believe that
+      superior intelligences, who interest themselves in our welfare,
+      communicate with us in these visions of the night. Things which surpass
+      the light of human reason cannot be proved by arguments derived from that
+      reason; but still, if the mind of man is an image of that of God, since
+      man can make known his will to the ends of the earth by secret missives,
+      may not the Supreme Intelligence which governs the universe employ similar
+      means to attain a like end? One friend consoles another by a letter,
+      which, after passing through many kingdoms, and being in the hands of
+      various individuals at enmity with each other, brings at last joy and hope
+      to the breast of a single human being. May not in like manner the
+      Sovereign Protector of innocence come in some secret way, to the help of a
+      virtuous soul, which puts its trust in Him alone? Has He occasion to
+      employ visible means to effect His purpose in this, whose ways are hidden
+      in all His ordinary works?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Why should we doubt the evidence of dreams? for what is our life, occupied
+      as it is with vain and fleeting imaginations, other than a prolonged
+      vision of the night?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever may be thought of this in general, on the present occasion the
+      dreams of my friends were soon realized. Paul expired two months after the
+      death of his Virginia, whose name dwelt on his lips in his expiring
+      moments. About a week after the death of her son, Margaret saw her last
+      hour approach with that serenity which virtue only can feel. She bade
+      Madame de la Tour a most tender farewell, "in the certain hope," she said,
+      "of a delightful and eternal re-union. Death is the greatest of blessings
+      to us," added she, "and we ought to desire it. If life be a punishment, we
+      should wish for its termination; if it be a trial, we should be thankful
+      that it is short."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The governor took care of Domingo and Mary, who were no longer able to
+      labour, and who survived their mistresses but a short time. As for poor
+      Fidele, he pined to death, soon after he had lost his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I afforded an asylum in my dwelling to Madame de la Tour, who bore up
+      under her calamities with incredible elevation of mind. She had
+      endeavoured to console Paul and Margaret till their last moments, as if
+      she herself had no misfortunes of her own to bear. When they were not
+      more, she used to talk to me every day of them as of beloved friends, who
+      were still living near her. She survived them however, but one month. Far
+      from reproaching her aunt for the afflictions she had caused, her benign
+      spirit prayed to God to pardon her, and to appease that remorse which we
+      heard began to torment her, as soon as she had sent Virginia away with so
+      much inhumanity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Conscience, that certain punishment of the guilty, visited with all its
+      terrors the mind of this unnatural relation. So great was her torment,
+      that life and death became equally insupportable to her. Sometimes she
+      reproached herself with the untimely fate of her lovely niece, and with
+      the death of her mother, which had immediately followed it. At other times
+      she congratulated herself for having repulsed far from her two wretched
+      creatures, who, she said, had both dishonoured their family by their
+      grovelling inclinations. Sometimes, at the sight of the many miserable
+      objects with which Paris abounds, she would fly into a rage, and exclaim,&mdash;"Why
+      are not these idle people sent off to the colonies?" As for the notions of
+      humanity, virtue and religion, adopted by all nations, she said, they were
+      only the inventions of their rulers, to serve political purposes. Then,
+      flying all at once to the other extreme, she abandoned herself to
+      superstitious terrors, which filled her with mortal fears. She would then
+      give abundant alms to the wealthy ecclesiastics who governed her,
+      beseeching them to appease the wrath of God by the sacrifice of her
+      fortune,&mdash;as if the offering to Him of the wealth she had withheld
+      from the miserable could please her Heavenly Father! In her imagination
+      she often beheld fields of fire, with burning mountains, wherein hideous
+      spectres wandered about, loudly calling on her by name. She threw herself
+      at her confessor's feet, imagining every description of agony and torture;
+      for Heaven&mdash;just Heaven, always sends to the cruel the most frightful
+      views of religion and a future state.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Atheist, thus, and fanatic in turn, holding both life and death in equal
+      horror, she lived on for several years. But what completed the torments of
+      her miserable existence, was that very object to which she had sacrificed
+      every natural affection. She was deeply annoyed at perceiving that her
+      fortune must go, at her death, to relations whom she hated, and she
+      determined to alienate as much of it as she could. They, however, taking
+      advantage of her frequent attacks of low spirits, caused her to be
+      secluded as a lunatic, and her affairs to be put into the hands of
+      trustees. Her wealth, thus completed her ruin; and, as the possession of
+      it had hardened her own heart, so did its anticipation corrupt the hearts
+      of those who coveted it from her. At length she died; and, to crown her
+      misery, she retained enough reason at last to be sensible that she was
+      plundered and despised by the very persons whose opinions had been her
+      rule of conduct during her whole life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the same spot, and at the foot of the same shrubs as his Virginia, was
+      deposited the body of Paul; and round about them lie the remains of their
+      tender mothers and their faithful servants. No marble marks the spot of
+      their humble graves, no inscription records their virtues; but their
+      memory is engraven upon the hearts of those whom they have befriended, in
+      indelible characters. Their spirits have no need of the pomp, which they
+      shunned during their life; but if they still take an interest in what
+      passes upon earth, they no doubt love to wander beneath the roofs of these
+      humble dwellings, inhabited by industrious virtue, to console poverty
+      discontented with its lot, to cherish in the hearts of lovers the sacred
+      flame of fidelity, and to inspire a taste for the blessings of nature, a
+      love of honest labour, and a dread of the allurements of riches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice of the people, which is often silent with regard to the
+      monuments raised to kings, has given to some parts of this island names
+      which will immortalize the loss of Virginia. Near the isle of Amber, in
+      the midst of sandbanks, is a spot called The Pass of the Saint-Geran, from
+      the name of the vessel which was there lost. The extremity of that point
+      of land which you see yonder, three leagues off, half covered with water,
+      and which the Saint-Geran could not double the night before the hurricane,
+      is called the Cape of Misfortune; and before us, at the end of the valley,
+      is the Bay of the Tomb, where Virginia was found buried in the sand; as if
+      the waves had sought to restore her corpse to her family, that they might
+      render it the last sad duties on those shores where so many years of her
+      innocent life had been passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joined thus in death, ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united!
+      unfortunate mothers! beloved family! these woods which sheltered you with
+      their foliage,&mdash;these fountains which flowed for you,&mdash;these
+      hill-sides upon which you reposed, still deplore your loss! No one has
+      since presumed to cultivate that desolate spot of land, or to rebuild
+      those humble cottages. Your goats are become wild: your orchards are
+      destroyed; your birds are all fled, and nothing is heard but the cry of
+      the sparrow-hawk, as it skims in quest of prey around this rocky basin. As
+      for myself, since I have ceased to behold you, I have felt friendless and
+      alone, like a father bereft of his children, or a traveller who wanders by
+      himself over the face of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ending with these words, the good old man retired, bathed in tears; and my
+      own, too, had flowed more than once during this melancholy recital.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL AND VIRGINIA ***</div>
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+eBook #2127 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2127)
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+  <head>
+    <title>
+      Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+    
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
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+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Paul and Virginia
+
+Author: Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+Release Date: March 25, 2006 [EBook #2127]
+Last Updated: February 7, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL AND VIRGINIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny; John Bickers and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h3>
+      With A Memoir Of The Author
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      Contents
+    </h2>
+    <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto">
+      <tr>
+        <td>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE </a>
+          </p>
+          <p class="toc">
+            <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> PAUL AND VIRGINIA </a>
+          </p>
+        </td>
+      </tr>
+    </table>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a> <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <h2>
+      PREFACE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      In introducing to the Public the present edition of this well known and
+      affecting Tale,&mdash;the <i>chef d'oeuvre</i> of its gifted author, the
+      Publishers take occasion to say, that it affords them no little
+      gratification, to apprise the numerous admirers of "Paul and Virginia,"
+      that the <i>entire</i> work of St. Pierre is now presented to them. All
+      the previous editions have been disfigured by interpolations, and
+      mutilated by numerous omissions and alterations, which have had the effect
+      of reducing it from the rank of a Philosophical Tale, to the level of a
+      mere story for children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of the merits of "Paul and Virginia," it is hardly necessary to utter a
+      word; it tells its own story eloquently and impressively, and in a
+      language simple, natural and true, it touches the common heart of the
+      world. There are but few works that have obtained a greater degree of
+      popularity, none are more deserving it; and the Publishers cannot
+      therefore refrain from expressing a hope that their efforts in thus giving
+      a faithful transcript of the work,&mdash;an acknowledged classic by the
+      European world,&mdash;may be, in some degree, instrumental in awakening
+      here, at home, a taste for those higher works of Fancy, which, while they
+      seek to elevate and strengthen the understanding, instruct and purify the
+      heart. It is in this character that the Tale of "Paul and Virginia" ranks
+      pre-eminent. [Prepared from an edition published by Porter &amp; Coates,
+      Philadelphia, U.S.A.]
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Love of Nature, that strong feeling of enthusiasm which leads to profound
+      admiration of the whole works of creation, belongs, it may be presumed, to
+      a certain peculiarity of organization, and has, no doubt, existed in
+      different individuals from the beginning of the world. The old poets and
+      philosophers, romance writers, and troubadours, had all looked upon Nature
+      with observing and admiring eyes. They have most of them given
+      incidentally charming pictures of spring, of the setting sun, of
+      particular spots, and of favourite flowers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There are few writers of note, of any country, or of any age, from whom
+      quotations might not be made in proof of the love with which they regarded
+      Nature. And this remark applies as much to religious and philosophic
+      writers as to poets,&mdash;equally to Plato, St. Francois de Sales, Bacon,
+      and Fenelon, as to Shakespeare, Racine, Calderon, or Burns; for from no
+      really philosophic or religious doctrine can the love of the works of
+      Nature be excluded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But before the days of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Buffon, and Bernardin de St.
+      Pierre, this love of Nature had not been expressed in all its intensity.
+      Until their day, it had not been written on exclusively. The lovers of
+      Nature were not, till then, as they may perhaps since be considered, a
+      sect apart. Though perfectly sincere in all the adorations they offered,
+      they were less entirely, and certainly less diligently and constantly, her
+      adorers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is the great praise of Bernardin de St. Pierre, that coming immediately
+      after Rousseau and Buffon, and being one of the most proficient writers of
+      the same school, he was in no degree their imitator, but perfectly
+      original and new. He intuitively perceived the immensity of the subject he
+      intended to explore, and has told us that no day of his life passed
+      without his collecting some valuable materials for his writings. In the
+      divine works of Nature, he diligently sought to discover her laws. It was
+      his early intention not to begin to write until he had ceased to observe;
+      but he found observation endless, and that he was "like a child who with a
+      shell digs a hole in the sand to receive the waters of the ocean." He
+      elsewhere humbly says, that not only the general history of Nature, but
+      even that of the smallest plant, was far beyond his ability. Before,
+      however, speaking further of him as an author, it will be necessary to
+      recapitulate the chief events of his life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      HENRI-JACQUES BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE, was born at Havre in 1737. He
+      always considered himself descended from that Eustache de St. Pierre, who
+      is said by Froissart, (and I believe by Froissart only), to have so
+      generously offered himself as a victim to appease the wrath of Edward the
+      Third against Calais. He, with his companions in virtue, it is also said,
+      was saved by the intercession of Queen Philippa. In one of his smaller
+      works, Bernardin asserts this descent, and it was certainly one of which
+      he might be proud. Many anecdotes are related of his childhood, indicative
+      of the youthful author,&mdash;of his strong love of Nature, and his
+      humanity to animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That "the child is the father of the man," has been seldom more strongly
+      illustrated. There is a story of a cat, which, when related by him many
+      years afterwards to Rousseau, caused that philosopher to shed tears. At
+      eight years of age, he took the greatest pleasure in the regular culture
+      of his garden; and possibly then stored up some of the ideas which
+      afterwards appeared in the "Fraisier." His sympathy with all living things
+      was extreme.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In "Paul and Virginia," he praises, with evident satisfaction, their meal
+      of milk and eggs, which had not cost any animal its life. It has been
+      remarked, and possibly with truth, that every tenderly disposed heart,
+      deeply imbued with a love of Nature, is at times somewhat Braminical. St.
+      Pierre's certainly was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When quite young, he advanced with a clenched fist towards a carter who
+      was ill-treating a horse. And when taken for the first time, by his
+      father, to Rouen, having the towers of the cathedral pointed out to him,
+      he exclaimed, "My God! how high they fly." Every one present naturally
+      laughed. Bernardin had only noticed the flight of some swallows who had
+      built their nests there. He thus early revealed those instincts which
+      afterwards became the guidance of his life: the strength of which possibly
+      occasioned his too great indifference to all monuments of art. The love of
+      study and of solitude were also characteristics of his childhood. His
+      temper is said to have been moody, impetuous, and intractable. Whether
+      this faulty temper may not have been produced or rendered worse by
+      mismanagement, cannot not be ascertained. It, undoubtedly became
+      afterwards, to St. Pierre a fruitful source of misfortune and of woe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The reading of voyages was with him, even in childhood, almost a passion.
+      At twelve years of age, his whole soul was occupied by Robinson Crusoe and
+      his island. His romantic love of adventure seeming to his parents to
+      announce a predilection in favour of the sea, he was sent by them with one
+      of his uncles to Martinique. But St. Pierre had not sufficiently practised
+      the virtue of obedience to submit, as was necessary, to the discipline of
+      a ship. He was afterwards placed with the Jesuits at Caen, with whom he
+      made immense progress in his studies. But, it is to be feared, he did not
+      conform too well to the regulations of the college, for he conceived, from
+      that time, the greatest detestation for places of public education. And
+      this aversion he has frequently testified in his writings. While devoted
+      to his books of travels, he in turn anticipated being a Jesuit, a
+      missionary or a martyr; but his family at length succeeded in establishing
+      him at Rouen, where he completed his studies with brilliant success, in
+      1757. He soon after obtained a commission as an engineer, with a salary of
+      one hundred louis. In this capacity he was sent (1760) to Dusseldorf,
+      under the command of Count St. Germain. This was a career in which he
+      might have acquired both honour and fortune; but, most unhappily for St.
+      Pierre, he looked upon the useful and necessary etiquettes of life as so
+      many unworthy prejudices. Instead of conforming to them, he sought to
+      trample on them. In addition, he evinced some disposition to rebel against
+      his commander, and was unsocial with his equals. It is not, therefore, to
+      be wondered at, that at this unfortunate period of his existence, he made
+      himself enemies; or that, notwithstanding his great talents, or the
+      coolness he had exhibited in moments of danger, he should have been sent
+      back to France. Unwelcome, under these circumstances, to his family, he
+      was ill received by all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is a lesson yet to be learned, that genius gives no charter for the
+      indulgence of error,&mdash;a truth yet <i>to be</i> remembered, that only
+      a small portion of the world will look with leniency on the failings of
+      the highly-gifted; and, that from themselves, the consequences of their
+      own actions can never be averted. It is yet, alas! <i>to be</i> added to
+      the convictions of the ardent in mind, that no degree of excellence in
+      science or literature, not even the immortality of a name can exempt its
+      possessor from obedience to moral discipline; or give him happiness,
+      unless "temper's image" be stamped on his daily words and actions. St.
+      Pierre's life was sadly embittered by his own conduct. The adventurous
+      life he led after his return from Dusseldorf, some of the circumstances of
+      which exhibited him in an unfavourable light to others, tended, perhaps,
+      to tinge his imagination with that wild and tender melancholy so prevalent
+      in his writings. A prize in the lottery had just doubled his very slender
+      means of existence, when he obtained the appointment of geographical
+      engineer, and was sent to Malta. The Knights of the Order were at this
+      time expecting to be attacked by the Turks. Having already been in the
+      service, it was singular that St. Pierre should have had the imprudence to
+      sail without his commission. He thus subjected himself to a thousand
+      disagreeables, for the officers would not recognize him as one of
+      themselves. The effects of their neglect on his mind were tremendous; his
+      reason for a time seemed almost disturbed by the mortifications he
+      suffered. After receiving an insufficient indemnity for the expenses of
+      his voyage, St. Pierre returned to France, there to endure fresh
+      misfortunes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not being able to obtain any assistance from the ministry or his family,
+      he resolved on giving lessons in the mathematics. But St. Pierre was less
+      adapted than most others for succeeding in the apparently easy, but really
+      ingenious and difficult, art of teaching. When education is better
+      understood, it will be more generally acknowledged, that, to impart
+      instruction with success, a teacher must possess deeper intelligence than
+      is implied by the profoundest skill in any one branch of science or of
+      art. All minds, even to the youngest, require, while being taught, the
+      utmost compliance and consideration; and these qualities can scarcely be
+      properly exercised without a true knowledge of the human heart, united to
+      much practical patience. St. Pierre, at this period of his life, certainly
+      did not possess them. It is probable that Rousseau, when he attempted in
+      his youth to give lessons in music, not knowing any thing whatever of
+      music, was scarcely less fitted for the task of instruction, than St.
+      Pierre with all his mathematical knowledge. The pressure of poverty drove
+      him to Holland. He was well received at Amsterdam, by a French refugee
+      named Mustel, who edited a popular journal there, and who procured him
+      employment, with handsome remuneration. St. Pierre did not, however,
+      remain long satisfied with this quiet mode of existence. Allured by the
+      encouraging reception given by Catherine II. to foreigners, he set out for
+      St. Petersburg. Here, until he obtained the protection of the Marechal de
+      Munich, and the friendship of Duval, he had again to contend with poverty.
+      The latter generously opened to him his purse and by the Marechal he was
+      introduced to Villebois, the Grand Master of Artillery, and by him
+      presented to the Empress. St. Pierre was so handsome, that by some of his
+      friends it was supposed, perhaps, too, hoped, that he would supersede
+      Orloff in the favor of Catherine. But more honourable illusions, though
+      they were but illusions, occupied his own mind. He neither sought nor
+      wished to captivate the Empress. His ambition was to establish a republic
+      on the shores of the lake Aral, of which in imitation of Plato or
+      Rousseau, he was to be the legislator. Pre-occupied with the reformation
+      of despotism, he did not sufficiently look into his own heart, or seek to
+      avoid a repetition of the same errors that had already changed friends
+      into enemies, and been such a terrible barrier to his success in life. His
+      mind was already morbid, and in fancying that others did not understand
+      him, he forgot that he did not understand others. The Empress, with the
+      rank of captain, bestowed on him a grant of fifteen hundred francs; but
+      when General Dubosquet proposed to take him with him to examine the
+      military position of Finland, his only anxiety seemed to be to return to
+      France: still he went to Finland; and his own notes of his occupations and
+      experiments on that expedition prove, that he gave himself up in all
+      diligence to considerations of attack and defence. He, who loved Nature so
+      intently, seems only to have seen in the extensive and majestic forests of
+      the north, a theatre of war. In this instance, he appears to have stifled
+      every emotion of admiration, and to have beheld, alike, cities and
+      countries in his character of military surveyor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On his return to St. Petersburg, he found his protector Villebois,
+      disgraced. St. Pierre then resolved on espousing the cause of the Poles.
+      He went into Poland with a high reputation,&mdash;that of having refused
+      the favours of despotism, to aid the cause of liberty. But it was his
+      private life, rather than his public career, that was affected by his
+      residence in Poland. The Princess Mary fell in love with him, and,
+      forgetful of all considerations, quitted her family to reside with him.
+      Yielding, however, at length, to the entreaties of her mother, she
+      returned to her home. St. Pierre, filled with regret, resorted to Vienna;
+      but, unable to support the sadness which oppressed him, and imagining that
+      sadness to be shared by the Princess, he soon went back to Poland. His
+      return was still more sad than his departure; for he found himself
+      regarded by her who had once loved him, as an intruder. It is to this
+      attachment he alludes so touchingly in one of his letters. "Adieu! friends
+      dearer than the treasures of India! Adieu! forests of the North, that I
+      shall never see again!&mdash;tender friendship, and the still dearer
+      sentiment which surpassed it!&mdash;days of intoxication and of happiness
+      adeiu! adieu! We live but for a day, to die during a whole life!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This letter appears to one of St. Pierre's most partial biographers, as if
+      steeped in tears; and he speaks of his romantic and unfortunate adventure
+      in Poland, as the ideal of a poet's love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "To be," says M. Sainte-Beuve, "a great poet, and loved before he had
+      thought of glory! To exhale the first perfume of a soul of genius,
+      believing himself only a lover! To reveal himself, for the first time,
+      entirely, but in mystery!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In his enthusiasm, M. Sainte-Beuve loses sight of the melancholy sequel,
+      which must have left so sad a remembrance in St. Pierre's own mind. His
+      suffering, from this circumstance, may perhaps have conduced to his making
+      Virginia so good and true, and so incapable of giving pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1766, he returned to Havre; but his relations were by this time dead or
+      dispersed, and after six years of exile, he found himself once more in his
+      own country, without employment and destitute of pecuniary resources.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Baron de Breteuil at length obtained for him a commission as Engineer
+      to the Isle of France, whence he returned in 1771. In this interval, his
+      heart and imagination doubtless received the germs of his immortal works.
+      Many of the events, indeed, of the "Voyage a l'Ile de France," are to be
+      found modified by imagined circumstances in "Paul and Virginia." He
+      returned to Paris poor in purse, but rich in observation and mental
+      resources, and resolved to devote himself to literature. By the Baron de
+      Breteuil he was recommended to D'Alembert, who procured a publisher for
+      his "Voyage," and also introduced him to Mlle. de l'Espinasse. But no one,
+      in spite of his great beauty, was so ill calculated to shine or please in
+      society as St. Pierre. His manners were timid and embarrassed, and, unless
+      to those with whom he was very intimate, he scarcely appeared intelligent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It is sad to think, that misunderstanding should prevail to such an
+      extent, and heart so seldom really speak to heart, in the intercourse of
+      the world, that the most humane may appear cruel, and the sympathizing
+      indifferent. Judging of Mlle. de l'Espinasse from her letters, and the
+      testimony of her contemporaries, it seems quite impossible that she could
+      have given pain to any one, more particularly to a man possessing St.
+      Pierre's extraordinary talent and profound sensibility. Both she and
+      D'Alembert were capable of appreciating him; but the society in which they
+      moved laughed at his timidity, and the tone of raillery in which they
+      often indulged was not understood by him. It is certain that he withdrew
+      from their circle with wounded and mortified feelings, and, in spite of an
+      explanatory letter from D'Alembert, did not return to it. The inflictors
+      of all this pain, in the meantime, were possibly as unconscious of the
+      meaning attached to their words, as were the birds of old of the augury
+      drawn from their flight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St. Pierre, in his "Preambule de l'Arcadie," has pathetically and
+      eloquently described the deplorable state of his health and feelings,
+      after frequent humiliating disputes and disappointments had driven him
+      from society; or rather, when, like Rousseau, he was "self-banished" from
+      it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was struck," he says, "with an extraordinary malady. Streams of fire,
+      like lightning, flashed before my eyes; every object appeared to me
+      double, or in motion: like OEdipus, I saw two suns. . . In the finest day
+      of summer, I could not cross the Seine in a boat without experiencing
+      intolerable anxiety. If, in a public garden, I merely passed by a piece of
+      water, I suffered from spasms and a feeling of horror. I could not cross a
+      garden in which many people were collected: if they looked at me, I
+      immediately imagined they were speaking ill of me." It was during this
+      state of suffering, that he devoted himself with ardour to collecting and
+      making use of materials for that work which was to give glory to his name.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was only by perseverance, and disregarding many rough and discouraging
+      receptions, that he succeeded in making acquaintance with Rousseau, whom
+      he so much resembled. St. Pierre devoted himself to his society with
+      enthusiasm, visiting him frequently and constantly, till Rousseau departed
+      for Ermenonville. It is not unworthy of remark, that both these men, such
+      enthusiastic admirers of Nature and the natural in all things, should have
+      possessed factitious rather than practical virtue, and a wisdom wholly
+      unfitted for the world. St. Pierre asked Rousseau, in one of their
+      frequent rambles, if, in delineating St. Preux, he had not intended to
+      represent himself. "No," replied Rousseau, "St. Preux is not what I have
+      been, but what I wished to be." St. Pierre would most likely have given
+      the same answer, had a similar question been put to him with regard to the
+      Colonel in "Paul and Virginia." This at least, appears the sort of old age
+      he loved to contemplate, and wished to realize.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For six years, he worked at his "Etudes," and with some difficulty found a
+      publisher for them. M. Didot, a celebrated typographer, whose daughter St.
+      Pierre afterwards married, consented to print a manuscript which had been
+      declined by many others. He was well rewarded for the undertaking. The
+      success of the "Etudes de la Nature" surpassed the most sanguine
+      expectation, even of the author. Four years after its publication, St.
+      Pierre gave to the world "Paul and Virginia," which had for some time been
+      lying in his portfolio. He had tried its effect, in manuscript, on persons
+      of different characters and pursuits. They had given it no applause; but
+      all had shed tears at its perusal: and perhaps, few works of a decidedly
+      romantic character have ever been so generally read, or so much approved.
+      Among the great names whose admiration of it is on record, may be
+      mentioned Napoleon and Humboldt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1789, he published "Les Veoeux d'un Solitaire," and "La Suite des
+      Voeux." By the <i>Moniteur</i> of the day, these works were compared to
+      the celebrated pamphlet of Sieyes,&mdash;"Qu'est-ce que le tiers etat?"
+      which then absorbed all the public favour. In 1791, "La Chaumiere
+      Indienne" was published: and in the following year, about thirteen days
+      before the celebrated 10th of August, Louis XVI. appointed St. Pierre
+      superintendant of the "Jardin des Plantes." Soon afterwards, the King, on
+      seeing him, complimented him on his writings and told him he was happy to
+      have found a worthy successor to Buffon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although deficient in the exact knowledge of the sciences, and knowing
+      little of the world, St. Pierre was, by his simplicity, and the retirement
+      in which he lived, well suited, at that epoch, to the situation. About
+      this time, and when in his fifty-seventh year, he married Mlle. Didot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In 1795, he became a member of the French Academy, and, as was just, after
+      his acceptance of this honour, he wrote no more against literary
+      societies. On the suppression of his place, he retired to Essonne. It is
+      delightful to follow him there, and to contemplate his quiet existence.
+      His days flowed on peaceably, occupied in the publication of "Les
+      Harmonies de la Nature," the republication of his earlier works, and the
+      composition of some lesser pieces. He himself affectingly regrets an
+      interruption to these occupations. On being appointed Instructor to the
+      Normal School, he says, "I am obliged to hang my harp on the willows of my
+      river, and to accept an employment useful to my family and my country. I
+      am afflicted at having to suspend an occupation which has given me so much
+      happiness."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He enjoyed in his old age, a degree of opulence, which, as much as glory,
+      had perhaps been the object of his ambition. In any case, it is gratifying
+      to reflect, that after a life so full of chance and change, he was, in his
+      latter years, surrounded by much that should accompany old age. His day of
+      storms and tempests was closed by an evening of repose and beauty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amid many other blessings, the elasticity of his mind was preserved to the
+      last. He died at Eragny sur l'Oise, on the 21st of January, 1814. The
+      stirring events which then occupied France, or rather the whole world,
+      caused his death to be little noticed at the time. The Academy did not,
+      however, neglect to give him the honour due to its members. Mons. Parseval
+      Grand Maison pronounced a deserved eulogium on his talents, and Mons.
+      Aignan, also, the customary tribute, taking his seat as his successor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Having himself contracted the habit of confiding his griefs and sorrows to
+      the public, the sanctuary of his private life was open alike to the
+      discussion of friends and enemies. The biographer, who wishes to be exact,
+      and yet set down nought in malice, is forced to the contemplation of his
+      errors. The secret of many of these, as well as of his miseries, seems
+      revealed by himself in this sentence: "I experience more pain from a
+      single thorn, than pleasure from a thousand roses." And elsewhere, "The
+      best society seems to me bad, if I find in it one troublesome, wicked,
+      slanderous, envious, or perfidious person." Now, taking into consideration
+      that St. Pierre sometimes imagined persons who were really good, to be
+      deserving of these strong and very contumacious epithets, it would have
+      been difficult indeed to find a society in which he could have been happy.
+      He was, therefore, wise, in seeking retirement, and indulging in solitude.
+      His mistakes,&mdash;for they were mistakes,&mdash;arose from a too quick
+      perception of evil, united to an exquisite and diffuse sensibility. When
+      he felt wounded by a thorn, he forgot the beauty and perfume of the rose
+      to which it belonged, and from which perhaps it could not be separated.
+      And he was exposed (as often happens) to the very description of trials
+      that were least in harmony with his defects. Few dispositions could have
+      run a career like his, and have remained unscathed. But one less tender
+      than his own would have been less soured by it. For many years, he bore
+      about with him the consciousness of unacknowledged talent. The world
+      cannot be blamed for not appreciating that which had never been revealed.
+      But we know not what the jostling and elbowing of that world, in the
+      meantime, may have been to him&mdash;how often he may have felt himself
+      unworthily treated&mdash;or how far that treatment may have preyed upon
+      and corroded his heart. Who shall say that with this consciousness there
+      did not mingle a quick and instinctive perception of the hidden motives of
+      action,&mdash;that he did not sometimes detect, where others might have
+      been blind, the under-shuffling of the hands, in the by-play of the world?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Through all his writings, and throughout his correspondence, there are
+      beautiful proofs of the tenderness of his feelings,&mdash;the most
+      essential quality, perhaps, in any writer. It is at least, one that if not
+      possessed, can never be attained. The familiarity of his imagination with
+      natural objects, when he was living far removed from them, is remarkable,
+      and often affecting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have arranged," he says to Mr. Henin, his friend and patron, "very
+      interesting materials, but it is only with the light of Heaven over me
+      that I can recover my strength. Obtain for me a <i>rabbit's hole</i>, in
+      which I may pass the summer in the country." And again, "With the <i>first
+      violet</i>, I shall come to see you." It is soothing to find, in passages
+      like these, such pleasing and convincing evidence that
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     "Nature never did betray,
+     The heart that loved her."
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In the noise of a great city, in the midst of annoyances of many kinds
+      these images, impressed with quietness and beauty, came back to the mind
+      of St. Pierre, to cheer and animate him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In alluding to his miseries, it is but fair to quote a passage from his
+      "Voyage," which reveals his fond remembrance of his native land. "I should
+      ever prefer my own country to every other," he says, "not because it was
+      more beautiful, but because I was brought up in it. Happy he, who sees
+      again the places where all was loved, and all was lovely!&mdash;the
+      meadows in which he played, and the orchard that he robbed!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He returned to this country, so fondly loved and deeply cherished in
+      absence, to experience only trouble and difficulty. Away from it, he had
+      yearned to behold it,&mdash;to fold it, as it were, once more to his
+      bosom. He returned to feel as if neglected by it, and all his rapturous
+      emotions were changed to bitterness and gall. His hopes had proved
+      delusions&mdash;his expectations, mockeries. Oh! who but must look with
+      charity and mercy on all discontent and irritation consequent on such a
+      depth of disappointment: on what must have then appeared to him such
+      unmitigable woe. Under the influence of these saddened feelings, his
+      thoughts flew back to the island he had left, to place all beauty, as well
+      as all happiness, there!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One great proof that he did beautify the distant, may be found in the
+      contrast of some of the descriptions in the "Voyage a l'Ile de France,"
+      and those in "Paul and Virginia." That spot, which when peopled by the
+      cherished creatures of his imagination, he described as an enchanting and
+      delightful Eden, he had previously spoken of as a "rugged country covered
+      with rocks,"&mdash;"a land of Cyclops blackened by fire." Truth, probably,
+      lies between the two representations; the sadness of exile having darkened
+      the one, and the exuberance of his imagination embellished the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      St. Pierre's merit as an author has been too long and too universally
+      acknowledged, to make it needful that it should be dwelt on here. A
+      careful review of the circumstances of his life induces the belief, that
+      his writings grew (if it may be permitted so to speak) out of his life. In
+      his most imaginative passages, to whatever height his fancy soared, the
+      starting point seems ever from a fact. The past appears to have been
+      always spread out before him when he wrote, like a beautiful landscape, on
+      which his eye rested with complacency, and from which his mind transferred
+      and idealized some objects, without a servile imitation of any. When at
+      Berlin, he had had it in his power to marry Virginia Tabenheim; and in
+      Russia, Mlle. de la Tour, the niece of General Dubosquet, would have
+      accepted his hand. He was too poor to marry either. A grateful
+      recollection caused him to bestow the names of the two on his most beloved
+      creation. Paul was the name of a friar, with whom he had associated in his
+      childhood, and whose life he wished to imitate. How little had the owners
+      of these names anticipated that they were to become the baptismal
+      appellations of half a generation in France, and to be re-echoed through
+      the world to the end of time!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was St. Pierre who first discovered the poverty of language with regard
+      to picturesque descriptions. In his earliest work, the often-quoted
+      "Voyages," he complains, that the terms for describing nature are not yet
+      invented. "Endeavour," he says, "to describe a mountain in such a manner
+      that it may be recognised. When you have spoken of its base, its sides,
+      its summit, you will have said all! But what variety there is to be found
+      in those swelling, lengthened, flattened, or cavernous forms! It is only
+      by periphrasis that all this can be expressed. The same difficulty exists
+      for plains and valleys. But if you have a palace to describe, there is no
+      longer any difficulty. Every moulding has its appropriate name."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was St. Pierre's glory, in some degree, to triumph over this dearth of
+      expression. Few authors ever introduced more new terms into descriptive
+      writing: yet are his innovations ever chastened, and in good taste. His
+      style, in its elegant simplicity, is, indeed, perfection. It is at once
+      sonorous and sweet, and always in harmony with the sentiment he would
+      express, or the subject he would discuss. Chenier might well arm himself
+      with "Paul and Virginia," and the "Chaumiere Indienne," in opposition to
+      those writers, who, as he said, made prose unnatural, by seeking to
+      elevate it into verse.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The "Etudes de la Nature" embraced a thousand different subjects, and
+      contained some new ideas on all. It is to the honour of human nature, that
+      after the uptearing of so many sacred opinions, a production like this,
+      revealing the chain of connection through the works of Creation, and the
+      Creator in his works, should have been hailed, as it was, with enthusiasm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His motto, from his favourite poet Virgil, "Taught by calamity, I pity the
+      unhappy," won for him, perhaps many readers. And in its touching
+      illusions, the unhappy may have found suspension from the realities of
+      life, as well as encouragement to support its trials. For, throughout, it
+      infuses admiration of the arrangements of Providence, and a desire for
+      virtue. More than one modern poet may be supposed to have drawn a portion
+      of his inspiration, from the "Etudes." As a work of science it contains
+      many errors. These, particularly his theory of the tides,(*) St. Pierre
+      maintained to the last, and so eloquently, that it was said at the time,
+      to be impossible to unite less reason with more logic.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     (*) Occasioned, according to St. Pierre, by the melting of
+     the ice at the Poles.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      In "Paul and Virginia," he was supremely fortunate in his subject. It was
+      an entirely new creation, uninspired by any previous work; but which gave
+      birth to many others, having furnished the plot to six theatrical pieces.
+      It was a subject to which the author could bring all his excellences as a
+      writer and a man, while his deficiencies and defects were necessarily
+      excluded. In no manner could he incorporate politics, science, or
+      misapprehension of persons, while his sensibility, morals, and wonderful
+      talent for description, were in perfect accordance with, and ornaments to
+      it. Lemontey and Sainte-Beuve both consider success to be inseparable from
+      the happy selection of a story so entirely in harmony with the character
+      of the author; and that the most successful writers might envy him so
+      fortunate a choice. Buonaparte was in the habit of saying, whenever he saw
+      St. Pierre, "M. Bernardin, when do you mean to give us more Pauls and
+      Virginias, and Indian Cottages? You ought to give us some every six
+      months."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The "Indian Cottage," if not quite equal in interest to "Paul and
+      Virginia," is still a charming production, and does great honour to the
+      genius of its author. It abounds in antique and Eastern gems of thought.
+      Striking and excellent comparisons are scattered through its pages; and it
+      is delightful to reflect, that the following beautiful and solemn answer
+      of the Paria was, with St. Pierre, the results of his own experience:&mdash;"Misfortune
+      resembles the Black Mountain of Bember, situated at the extremity of the
+      burning kingdom of Lahore; while you are climbing it, you only see before
+      you barren rocks; but when you have reached its summit, you see heaven
+      above your head, and at your feet the kingdom of Cachemere."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When this passage was written, the rugged, and sterile rock had been
+      climbed by its gifted author. He had reached the summit,&mdash;his genius
+      had been rewarded, and he himself saw the heaven he wished to point out to
+      others.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      SARAH JONES.
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     [For the facts contained in this brief Memoir, I am indebted
+     to St. Pierre's own works, to the "Biographie Universelle,"
+     to the "Essai sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Bernardin de St.
+     Pierre," by M. Aime Martin, and to the very excellent and
+     interesting "Notice Historique et Litteraire," of M. Sainte-
+     Beauve.]
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      Situated on the eastern side of the mountain which rises above Port Louis,
+      in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of former
+      cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. These ruins are not
+      far from the centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks, and which opens
+      only towards the north. On the left rises the mountain called the Height
+      of Discovery, whence the eye marks the distant sail when it first touches
+      the verge of the horizon, and whence the signal is given when a vessel
+      approaches the island. At the foot of this mountain stands the town of
+      Port Louis. On the right is formed the road which stretches from Port
+      Louis to the Shaddock Grove, where the church bearing that name lifts its
+      head, surrounded by its avenues of bamboo, in the middle of a spacious
+      plain; and the prospect terminates in a forest extending to the furthest
+      bounds of the island. The front view presents the bay, denominated the Bay
+      of the Tomb; a little on the right is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and
+      beyond rolls the expanded ocean, on the surface of which appear a few
+      uninhabited islands; and, among others, the Point of Endeavour, which
+      resembles a bastion built upon the flood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance of the valley which presents these various objects, the
+      echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of the winds
+      that shake the neighbouring forests, and the tumultuous dashing of the
+      waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs; but near the ruined
+      cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects which there meet the
+      eye are rude steep rocks, that rise like a surrounding rampart. Large
+      clumps of trees grow at their base, on their rifted sides, and even on
+      their majestic tops, where the clouds seem to repose. The showers, which
+      their bold points attract, often paint the vivid colours of the rainbow on
+      their green and brown declivities, and swell the sources of the little
+      river which flows at their feet, called the river of Fan-Palms. Within
+      this inclosure reigns the most profound silence. The waters, the air, all
+      the elements are at peace. Scarcely does the echo repeat the whispers of
+      the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves, the long points of which are
+      gently agitated by the winds. A soft light illumines the bottom of this
+      deep valley, on which the sun shines only at noon. But, even at the break
+      of day, the rays of light are thrown on the surrounding rocks; and their
+      sharp peaks, rising above the shadows of the mountain, appear like tints
+      of gold and purple gleaming upon the azure sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To this scene I loved to resort, as I could here enjoy at once the
+      richness of an unbounded landscape, and the charm of uninterrupted
+      solitude. One day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages, and
+      contemplating their ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the spot.
+      He was dressed in the ancient garb of the island, his feet were bare, and
+      he leaned upon a staff of ebony; his hair was white, and the expression of
+      his countenance was dignified and interesting. I bowed to him with
+      respect; he returned the salutation; and, after looking at me with some
+      earnestness, came and placed himself upon the hillock on which I was
+      seated. Encouraged by this mark of confidence I thus addressed him:
+      "Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once belonged?"&mdash;"My
+      son," replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish, and that untilled
+      land, were, twenty years ago, the property of two families, who then found
+      happiness in this solitude. Their history is affecting; but what European,
+      pursuing his way to the Indies, will pause one moment to interest himself
+      in the fate of a few obscure individuals? What European can picture
+      happiness to his imagination amidst poverty and neglect? The curiosity of
+      mankind is only attracted by the history of the great, and yet from that
+      knowledge little use can be derived."&mdash;"Father," I rejoined, "from
+      your manner and your observations, I perceive that you have acquired much
+      experience of human life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech
+      you, the history of the ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be
+      assured, that even the men who are most perverted by the prejudices of the
+      world, find a soothing pleasure in contemplating that happiness which
+      belongs to simplicity and virtue." The old man, after a short silence,
+      during which he leaned his face upon his hands, as if he were trying to
+      recall the images of the past, thus began his narration:&mdash;
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
+      having in vain solicited a commission in the French army, or some support
+      from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in this
+      island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young woman, whom he
+      loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly beloved. She belonged
+      to a rich and ancient family of the same province: but he had married her
+      secretly and without fortune, and in opposition to the will of her
+      relations, who refused their consent because he was found guilty of being
+      descended from parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur de la Tour,
+      leaving his wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in order to
+      purchase a few slaves, to assist him in forming a plantation on this
+      island. He landed at Madagascar during that unhealthy season which
+      commences about the middle of October; and soon after his arrival died of
+      the pestilential fever, which prevails in that island six months of the
+      year, and which will forever baffle the attempts of the European nations
+      to form establishments on that fatal soil. His effects were seized upon by
+      the rapacity of strangers, as commonly happens to persons dying in foreign
+      parts; and his wife, who was pregnant, found herself a widow in a country
+      where she had neither credit nor acquaintance, and no earthly possession,
+      or rather support, but one negro woman. Too delicate to solicit protection
+      or relief from any one else after the death of him whom alone she loved,
+      misfortune armed her with courage, and she resolved to cultivate, with her
+      slave, a little spot of ground, and procure for herself the means of
+      subsistence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Desert as was the island, and the ground left to the choice of the
+      settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most
+      favorable to commerce: seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret
+      asylum where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way from
+      the town towards these rocks, where she might conceal herself from
+      observation. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort of common
+      instinct, fly for refuge amidst their pains to haunts the most wild and
+      desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart against misfortune&mdash;as if
+      the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the soul. That Providence,
+      which lends its support when we ask but the supply of our necessary wants,
+      had a blessing in reserve for Madame de la Tour, which neither riches nor
+      greatness can purchase:&mdash;this blessing was a friend.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The spot to which Madame de la Tour had fled had already been inhabited
+      for a year by a young woman of a lively, good-natured and affectionate
+      disposition. Margaret (for that was her name) was born in Brittany, of a
+      family of peasants, by whom she was cherished and beloved, and with whom
+      she might have passed through life in simple rustic happiness, if, misled
+      by the weakness of a tender heart, she had not listened to the passion of
+      a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who promised her marriage. He soon
+      abandoned her, and adding inhumanity to seduction, refused to insure a
+      provision for the child of which she was pregnant. Margaret then
+      determined to leave forever her native village, and retire, where her
+      fault might be concealed, to some colony distant from that country where
+      she had lost the only portion of a poor peasant girl&mdash;her reputation.
+      With some borrowed money she purchased an old negro slave, with whom she
+      cultivated a little corner of this district.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, came to this spot, where
+      she found Margaret engaged in suckling her child. Soothed and charmed by
+      the sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to her own, Madame
+      de la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition and her present
+      wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and more anxious to
+      merit confidence than to create esteem, she confessed without disguise,
+      the errors of which she had been guilty. "As for me," said she, "I deserve
+      my fate: but you, madam&mdash;you! at once virtuous and unhappy"&mdash;and,
+      sobbing, she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut and her friendship.
+      That lady, affected by this tender reception, pressed her in her arms, and
+      exclaimed,&mdash;"Ah surely Heaven has put an end to my misfortunes, since
+      it inspires you, to whom I am a stranger, with more goodness towards me
+      than I have ever experienced from my own relations!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was acquainted with Margaret: and, although my habitation is a league
+      and a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, I
+      considered myself as her neighbour. In the cities of Europe, a street,
+      even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of the same family from
+      meeting for years; but in new colonies we consider those persons as
+      neighbours from whom we are divided only by woods and mountains; and above
+      all at that period, when this island had little intercourse with the
+      Indies, vicinity alone gave a claim to friendship, and hospitality towards
+      strangers seemed less a duty than a pleasure. No sooner was I informed
+      that Margaret had found a companion, than I hastened to her, in the hope
+      of being useful to my neighbour and her guest. I found Madame de la Tour
+      possessed of all those melancholy graces which, by blending sympathy with
+      admiration give to beauty additional power. Her countenance was
+      interesting, expressive at once of dignity and dejection. She appeared to
+      be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I told the two friends that for the
+      future interests of their children, and to prevent the intrusion of any
+      other settler, they had better divide between them the property of this
+      wild, sequestered valley, which is nearly twenty acres in extent. They
+      confided that task to me, and I marked out two equal portions of land. One
+      included the higher part of this enclosure, from the cloudy pinnacle of
+      that rock, whence springs the river of Fan-Palms, to that precipitous
+      cleft which you see on the summit of the mountain, and which, from its
+      resemblance in form to the battlement of a fortress, is called the
+      Embrasure. It is difficult to find a path along this wild portion of the
+      enclosure, the soil of which is encumbered with fragments of rock, or worn
+      into channels formed by torrents; yet it produces noble trees, and
+      innumerable springs and rivulets. The other portion of land comprised the
+      plain extending along the banks of the river of Fan-Palms, to the opening
+      where we are now seated, whence the river takes its course between these
+      two hills, until it falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges
+      of some meadow land; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not
+      more valuable than the other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy,
+      and in dry weather is so hard and unyielding, that it will almost resist
+      the stroke of the pickaxe. When I had thus divided the property, I
+      persuaded my neighbours to draw lots for their respective possessions. The
+      higher portion of land, containing the source of the river of Fan-Palms,
+      became the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, comprising the plain
+      on the banks of the river, was allotted to Margaret; and each seemed
+      satisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their habitations
+      together, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing intercourse of
+      friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind offices. Margaret's cottage
+      was situated near the centre of the valley, and just on the boundary of
+      her own plantation. Close to that spot I built another cottage for the
+      residence of Madame de la Tour; and thus the two friends, while they
+      possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood lived on their own property.
+      I myself cut palisades from the mountain, and brought leaves of fan-palms
+      from the sea-shore in order to construct those two cottages, of which you
+      can now discern neither the entrance nor the roof. Yet, alas! there still
+      remains but too many traces for my remembrance! Time, which so rapidly
+      destroys the proud monuments of empires, seems in this desert to spare
+      those of friendship, as if to perpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the second cottage was finished, Madame de la Tour was
+      delivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who was
+      christened by the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me to perform
+      the same office for her child also, together with her friend, who gave her
+      the name of Virginia. "She will be virtuous," cried Margaret, "and she
+      will be happy. I have only known misfortune by wandering from virtue."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little estates had
+      already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owing to
+      the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but far more
+      to the indefatigable labours of the two slaves. Margaret's slave, who was
+      called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, though advanced in years: he
+      possessed some knowledge, and a good natural understanding. He cultivated
+      indiscriminately, on both plantations, the spots of ground that seemed
+      most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought most congenial to each
+      particular soil. Where the ground was poor, he strewed maize; where it was
+      most fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in such spots as were marshy. He
+      threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the foot of the rocks, which
+      they loved to climb and decorate with their luxuriant foliage. In dry
+      spots he cultivated the sweet potatoe; the cotton-tree flourished upon the
+      heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the clayey soil. He reared some plants
+      of coffee on the hills, where the grain, although small, is excellent. His
+      plantain-trees, which spread their grateful shade on the banks of the
+      river, and encircled the cottages, yielded fruit throughout the year. And
+      lastly, Domingo, to soothe his cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco.
+      Sometimes he was employed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain,
+      sometimes in hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level
+      the paths. The zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform all these
+      labours with intelligence and activity. He was much attached to Margaret,
+      and not less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had married
+      on the birth of Virginia; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary
+      was born at Madagascar, and had there acquired the knowledge of some
+      useful arts. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long grass
+      that grows in the woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above all,
+      faithful. It was her care to prepare their meals, to rear the poultry, and
+      go sometimes to Port Louis, to sell the superfluous produce of these
+      little plantations, which was not however, very considerable. If you add
+      to the personages already mentioned two goats, which were brought up with
+      the children, and a great dog, which kept watch at night, you will have a
+      complete idea of the household, as well as of the productions of these two
+      little farms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour and her friend were constantly employed in spinning
+      cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of everything which their
+      own industry could not supply, at home they went bare-footed: shoes were a
+      convenience reserved for Sunday, on which day, at an early hour, they
+      attended mass at the church of the Shaddock Grove, which you see yonder.
+      That church was more distant from their homes than Port Louis; but they
+      seldom visited the town, lest they should be treated with contempt on
+      account of their dress, which consisted simply of the coarse blue linen of
+      Bengal, usually worn by slaves. But is there, in that external deference
+      which fortune commands, a compensation for domestic happiness? If these
+      interesting women had something to suffer from the world, their homes on
+      that very account became more dear to them. No sooner did Mary and
+      Domingo, from this elevated spot, perceive their mistresses on the road of
+      the Shaddock Grove, than they flew to the foot of the mountain in order to
+      help them to ascend. They discerned in the looks of their domestics the
+      joy which their return excited. They found in their retreat neatness,
+      independence, all the blessings which are the recompense of toil, and they
+      received the zealous services which spring from affection. United by the
+      tie of similar wants, and the sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave
+      each other the tender names of companion, friend, sister. They had but one
+      will, one interest, one table. All their possessions were in common. And
+      if sometimes a passion more ardent than friendship awakened in their
+      hearts the pang of unavailing anguish, a pure religion, united with chaste
+      manners, drew their affections towards another life: as the trembling
+      flame rises towards heaven, when it no longer finds any ailment on earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The duties of maternity became a source of additional happiness to these
+      affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship gained new strength at the
+      sight of their children, equally the offspring of an ill-fated attachment.
+      They delighted in washing their infants together in the same bath, in
+      putting them to rest in the same cradle, and in changing the maternal
+      bosom at which they received nourishment. "My friend," cried Madame de la
+      Tour, "we shall each of us have two children, and each of our children
+      will have two mothers." As two buds which remain on different trees of the
+      same kind, after the tempest has broken all their branches, produce more
+      delicious fruit, if each, separated from the maternal stem, be grafted on
+      the neighbouring tree, so these two infants, deprived of all their other
+      relations, when thus exchanged for nourishment by those who had given them
+      birth, imbibed feelings of affection still more tender than those of son
+      and daughter, brother and sister. While they were yet in their cradles,
+      their mothers talked of their marriage. They soothed their own cares by
+      looking forward to the future happiness of their children; but this
+      contemplation often drew forth their tears. The misfortunes of one mother
+      had arisen from having neglected marriage; those of the other from having
+      submitted to its laws. One had suffered by aiming to rise above her
+      condition, the other by descending from her rank. But they found
+      consolation in reflecting that their more fortunate children, far from the
+      cruel prejudices of Europe, would enjoy at once the pleasures of love and
+      the blessings of equality.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rarely, indeed, has such an attachment been seen as that which the two
+      children already testified for each other. If Paul complained of anything,
+      his mother pointed to Virginia: at her sight he smiled, and was appeased.
+      If any accident befel Virginia, the cries of Paul gave notice of the
+      disaster; but the dear little creature would suppress her complaints if
+      she found that he was unhappy. When I came hither, I usually found them
+      quite naked, as is the custom of the country, tottering in their walk, and
+      holding each other by the hands and under the arms, as we see represented
+      in the constellation of the Twins. At night these infants often refused to
+      be separated, and were found lying in the same cradle, their cheeks, their
+      bosoms pressed close together, their hands thrown round each other's neck,
+      and sleeping, locked in one another's arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When they first began to speak, the first name they learned to give each
+      other were those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no softer
+      appellation. Their education, by directing them ever to consider each
+      other's wants, tended greatly to increase their affection. In a short
+      time, all the household economy, the care of preparing their rural
+      repasts, became the task of Virginia, whose labours were always crowned
+      with the praises and kisses of her brother. As for Paul, always in motion,
+      he dug the garden with Domingo, or followed him with a little hatchet into
+      the woods; and if, in his rambles he espied a beautiful flower, any
+      delicious fruit, or a nest of birds, even at the top of the tree, he would
+      climb up and bring the spoil to his sister. When you met one of these
+      children, you might be sure the other was not far off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day as I was coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the end of
+      the garden running towards the house with her petticoat thrown over her
+      head, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a distance, I
+      thought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her in order to help her
+      on, I perceived she held Paul by the arm, almost entirely enveloped in the
+      same canopy, and both were laughing heartily at their being sheltered
+      together under an umbrella of their own invention. Those two charming
+      faces in the middle of a swelling petticoat, recalled to my mind the
+      children of Leda, enclosed in the same shell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Their sole study was how they could please and assist one another; for of
+      all other things they were ignorant, and indeed could neither read nor
+      write. They were never disturbed by inquiries about past times, nor did
+      their curiosity extend beyond the bounds of their mountain. They believed
+      the world ended at the shores of their own island, and all their ideas and
+      all their affections were confined within its limits. Their mutual
+      tenderness, and that of their mothers, employed all the energies of their
+      minds. Their tears had never been called forth by tedious application to
+      useless sciences. Their minds had never been wearied by lessons of
+      morality, superfluous to bosoms unconscious of ill. They had never been
+      taught not to steal, because every thing with them was in common: or not
+      to be intemperate, because their simple food was left to their own
+      discretion; or not to lie, because they had nothing to conceal. Their
+      young imaginations had never been terrified by the idea that God has
+      punishment in store for ungrateful children, since, with them, filial
+      affection arose naturally from maternal tenderness. All they had been
+      taught of religion was to love it, and if they did not offer up long
+      prayers in the church, wherever they were, in the house, in the fields, in
+      the woods, they raised towards heaven their innocent hands, and hearts
+      purified by virtuous affections.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All their early childhood passed thus, like a beautiful dawn, the prelude
+      of a bright day. Already they assisted their mothers in the duties of the
+      household. As soon as the crowing of the wakeful cock announced the first
+      beam of the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened to draw water from a
+      neighbouring spring: then returning to the house she prepared the
+      breakfast. When the rising sun gilded the points of the rocks which
+      overhang the enclosure in which they lived, Margaret and her child
+      repaired to the dwelling of Madame de la Tour, where they offered up their
+      morning prayer together. This sacrifice of thanksgiving always preceded
+      their first repast, which they often took before the door of the cottage,
+      seated upon the grass, under a canopy of plantain: and while the branches
+      of that delicious tree afforded a grateful shade, its fruit furnished a
+      substantial food ready prepared for them by nature, and its long glossy
+      leaves, spread upon the table, supplied the place of linen. Plentiful and
+      wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour to the persons of these
+      children, and their countenances expressed the purity and the peace of
+      their souls. At twelve years of age the figure of Virginia was in some
+      degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded her face, to which her
+      blue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming brilliancy. Her eyes
+      sparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she was silent they were
+      habitually turned upwards, with an expression of extreme sensibility, or
+      rather of tender melancholy. The figure of Paul began already to display
+      the graces of youthful beauty. He was taller than Virginia: his skin was
+      of a darker tint; his nose more aquiline; and his black eyes would have
+      been too piercing, if the long eye-lashes by which they were shaded, had
+      not imparted to them an expression of softness. He was constantly in
+      motion, except when his sister appeared, and then, seated by her side, he
+      became still. Their meals often passed without a word being spoken; and
+      from their silence, the simple elegance of their attitudes, and the beauty
+      of their naked feet, you might have fancied you beheld an antique group of
+      white marble, representing some of the children of Niobe, but for the
+      glances of their eyes, which were constantly seeking to meet, and their
+      mutual soft and tender smiles, which suggested rather the idea of happy
+      celestial spirits, whose nature is love, and who are not obliged to have
+      recourse to words for the expression of their feelings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime Madame de la Tour, perceiving every day some unfolding
+      grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her maternal anxiety
+      increase with her tenderness. She often said to me, "If I were to die,
+      what would become of Virginia without fortune?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour had an aunt in France, who was a woman of quality, rich,
+      old, and a complete devotee. She had behaved with so much cruelty towards
+      her niece upon her marriage, that Madame de la Tour had determined no
+      extremity of distress should ever compel her to have recourse to her
+      hard-hearted relation. But when she became a mother, the pride of
+      resentment was overcome by the stronger feelings of maternal tenderness.
+      She wrote to her aunt, informing her of the sudden death of her husband,
+      the birth of her daughter, and the difficulties in which she was involved,
+      burthened as she was with an infant, and without means of support. She
+      received no answer; but notwithstanding the high spirit natural to her
+      character, she no longer feared exposing herself to mortification; and,
+      although she knew her aunt would never pardon her for having married a man
+      who was not of noble birth, however estimable, she continued to write to
+      her, with the hope of awakening her compassion for Virginia. Many years,
+      however passed without receiving any token of her remembrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length, in 1738, three years after the arrival of Monsieur de la
+      Bourdonnais in this island, Madame de la Tour was informed that the
+      Governor had a letter to give her from her aunt. She flew to Port Louis;
+      maternal joy raised her mind above all trifling considerations, and she
+      was careless on this occasion of appearing in her homely attire. Monsieur
+      de la Bourdonnais gave her a letter from her aunt, in which she informed
+      her, that she deserved her fate for marrying an adventurer and a
+      libertine: that the passions brought with them their own punishment; that
+      the premature death of her husband was a just visitation from Heaven; that
+      she had done well in going to a distant island, rather than dishonour her
+      family by remaining in France; and that, after all, in the colony where
+      she had taken refuge, none but the idle failed to grow rich. Having thus
+      censured her niece, she concluded by eulogizing herself. To avoid, she
+      said, the almost inevitable evils of marriage, she had determined to
+      remain single. In fact, as she was of a very ambitious disposition she had
+      resolved to marry none but a man of high rank; but although she was very
+      rich, her fortune was not found a sufficient bribe, even at court, to
+      counterbalance the malignant dispositions of her mind, and the
+      disagreeable qualities of her person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After mature deliberations, she added, in a postscript, that she had
+      strongly recommended her niece to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. This she had
+      indeed done, but in a manner of late too common which renders a patron
+      perhaps even more to be feared than a declared enemy; for, in order to
+      justify herself for her harshness, she had cruelly slandered her niece,
+      while she affected to pity her misfortunes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, whom no unprejudiced person could have seen without
+      feelings of sympathy and respect, was received with the utmost coolness by
+      Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, biased as he was against her. When she painted
+      to him her own situation and that of her child, he replied in abrupt
+      sentences,&mdash;"We shall see what can be done&mdash;there are so many to
+      relieve&mdash;all in good time&mdash;why did you displease your aunt?&mdash;you
+      have been much to blame."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour returned to her cottage, her heart torn with grief, and
+      filled with all the bitterness of disappointment. When she arrived, she
+      threw her aunt's letter on the table, and exclaimed to her friend,&mdash;"There
+      is the fruit of eleven years of patient expectation!" Madame de la Tour
+      being the only person in the little circle who could read, she again took
+      up the letter, and read it aloud. Scarcely had she finished, when Margaret
+      exclaimed, "What have we to do with your relations? Has God then forsaken
+      us? He only is our father! Have we not hitherto been happy? Why then this
+      regret? You have no courage." Seeing Madame de la Tour in tears, she threw
+      herself upon her neck, and pressing her in her arms,&mdash;"My dear
+      friend!" cried she, "my dear friend!"&mdash;but her emotion choked her
+      utterance. At this sight Virginia burst into tears, and pressed her
+      mother's and Margaret's hand alternately to her lips and heart; while
+      Paul, his eyes inflamed with anger, cried, clasped his hands together, and
+      stamped his foot, not knowing whom to blame for this scene of misery. The
+      noise soon brought Domingo and Mary to the spot, and the little habitation
+      resounded with cries of distress,&mdash;"Ah, madame!&mdash;My good
+      mistress!&mdash;My dear mother!&mdash;Do not weep!" These tender proofs of
+      affections at length dispelled the grief of Madame de la Tour. She took
+      Paul and Virginia in her arms, and, embracing them, said, "You are the
+      cause of my affliction, my children, but you are also my only source of
+      delight! Yes, my dear children, misfortune has reached me, but only from a
+      distance: here, I am surrounded with happiness." Paul and Virginia did not
+      understand this reflection; but, when they saw that she was calm, they
+      smiled, and continued to caress her. Tranquillity was thus restored in
+      this happy family, and all that had passed was but a storm in the midst of
+      fine weather, which disturbs the serenity of the atmosphere but for a
+      short time, and then passes away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The amiable disposition of these children unfolded itself daily. One
+      Sunday, at day-break, their mothers having gone to mass at the church of
+      Shaddock Grove, the children perceived a negro woman beneath the plantains
+      which surrounded their habitation. She appeared almost wasted to a
+      skeleton, and had no other garment than a piece of coarse cloth thrown
+      around her. She threw herself at the feet of Virginia, who was preparing
+      the family breakfast, and said, "My good young lady, have pity on a poor
+      runaway slave. For a whole month I have wandered among these mountains,
+      half dead with hunger, and often pursued by the hunters and their dogs. I
+      fled from my master, a rich planter of the Black River, who has used me as
+      you see;" and she showed her body marked with scars from the lashes she
+      had received. She added, "I was going to drown myself, but hearing you
+      lived here, I said to myself, since there are still some good white people
+      in this country, I need not die yet." Virginia answered with emotion,&mdash;"Take
+      courage, unfortunate creature! here is something to eat;" and she gave her
+      the breakfast she had been preparing, which the slave in a few minutes
+      devoured. When her hunger was appeased, Virginia said to her,&mdash;"Poor
+      woman! I should like to go and ask forgiveness for you of your master.
+      Surely the sight of you will touch him with pity. Will you show me the
+      way?"&mdash;"Angel of heaven!" answered the poor negro woman, "I will
+      follow you where you please!" Virginia called her brother, and begged him
+      to accompany her. The slave led the way, by winding and difficult paths,
+      through the woods, over mountains, which they climbed with difficulty, and
+      across rivers, through which they were obliged to wade. At length, about
+      the middle of the day, they reached the foot of a steep descent upon the
+      borders of the Black River. There they perceived a well-built house,
+      surrounded by extensive plantations, and a number of slaves employed in
+      their various labours. Their master was walking among them with a pipe in
+      his mouth, and a switch in his hand. He was a tall thin man, of a brown
+      complexion; his eyes were sunk in his head, and his dark eyebrows were
+      joined in one. Virginia, holding Paul by the hand, drew near, and with
+      much emotion begged him, for the love of God, to pardon his poor slave,
+      who stood trembling a few paces behind. The planter at first paid little
+      attention to the children, who, he saw, were meanly dressed. But when he
+      observed the elegance of Virginia's form, and the profusion of her
+      beautiful light tresses which had escaped from beneath her blue cap; when
+      he heard the soft tone of her voice, which trembled, as well as her whole
+      frame, while she implored his compassion; he took his pipe from his mouth,
+      and lifting up his stick, swore, with a terrible oath, that he pardoned
+      his slave, not for the love of Heaven, but of her who asked his
+      forgiveness. Virginia made a sign to the slave to approach her master; and
+      instantly sprang away followed by Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They climbed up the steep they had descended; and having gained the
+      summit, seated themselves at the foot of a tree, overcome with fatigue,
+      hunger and thirst. They had left their home fasting, and walked five
+      leagues since sunrise. Paul said to Virginia,&mdash;"My dear sister, it is
+      past noon, and I am sure you are thirsty and hungry: we shall find no
+      dinner here; let us go down the mountain again, and ask the master of the
+      poor slave for some food."&mdash;"Oh, no," answered Virginia, "he
+      frightens me too much. Remember what mamma sometimes says, 'The bread of
+      the wicked is like stones in the mouth.' "&mdash;"What shall we do then,"
+      said Paul; "these trees produce no fruit fit to eat; and I shall not be
+      able to find even a tamarind or a lemon to refresh you."&mdash;"God will
+      take care of us," replied Virginia; "he listens to the cry even of the
+      little birds when they ask him for food." Scarcely had she pronounced
+      these words when they heard the noise of water falling from a neighbouring
+      rock. They ran thither and having quenched their thirst at this crystal
+      spring, they gathered and ate a few cresses which grew on the border of
+      the stream. Soon afterwards while they were wandering backwards and
+      forwards in search of more solid nourishment, Virginia perceived in the
+      thickest part of the forest, a young palm-tree. The kind of cabbage which
+      is found at the top of the palm, enfolded within its leaves, is well
+      adapted for food; but, although the stock of the tree is not thicker than
+      a man's leg, it grows to above sixty feet in height. The wood of the tree,
+      indeed, is composed only of very fine filaments; but the bark is so hard
+      that it turns the edge of the hatchet, and Paul was not furnished even
+      with a knife. At length he thought of setting fire to the palm-tree; but a
+      new difficulty occurred: he had no steel with which to strike fire; and
+      although the whole island is covered with rocks, I do not believe it is
+      possible to find a single flint. Necessity, however, is fertile in
+      expedients, and the most useful inventions have arisen from men placed in
+      the most destitute situations. Paul determined to kindle a fire after the
+      manner of the negroes. With the sharp end of a stone he made a small hole
+      in the branch of a tree that was quite dry, and which he held between his
+      feet: he then, with the edge of the same stone, brought to a point another
+      dry branch of a different sort of wood, and, afterwards, placing the piece
+      of pointed wood in the small hole of the branch which he held with his
+      feet and turning it rapidly between his hands, in a few minutes smoke and
+      sparks of fire issued from the point of contact. Paul then heaped together
+      dried grass and branches, and set fire to the foot of the palm-tree, which
+      soon fell to the ground with a tremendous crash. The fire was further
+      useful to him in stripping off the long, thick, and pointed leaves, within
+      which the cabbage was inclosed. Having thus succeeded in obtaining this
+      fruit, they ate part of it raw, and part dressed upon the ashes, which
+      they found equally palatable. They made this frugal repast with delight,
+      from the remembrances of the benevolent action they had performed in the
+      morning: yet their joy was embittered by the thoughts of the uneasiness
+      which their long absence from home would occasion their mothers. Virginia
+      often recurred to this subject; but Paul, who felt his strength renewed by
+      their meal, assured her, that it would not be long before they reached
+      home, and, by the assurance of their safety, tranquillized the minds of
+      their parents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After dinner they were much embarrassed by the recollection that they had
+      now no guide, and that they were ignorant of the way. Paul, whose spirit
+      was not subdued by difficulties, said to Virginia,&mdash;"The sun shines
+      full upon our huts at noon: we must pass, as we did this morning, over
+      that mountain with its three points, which you see yonder. Come, let us be
+      moving." This mountain was that of the Three Breasts, so called from the
+      form of its three peaks. They then descended the steep bank of the Black
+      River, on the northern side; and arrived, after an hour's walk, on the
+      banks of a large river, which stopped their further progress. This large
+      portion of the island, covered as it is with forests, is even now so
+      little known that many of its rivers and mountains have not yet received a
+      name. The stream, on the banks of which Paul and Virginia were now
+      standing, rolls foaming over a bed of rocks. The noise of the water
+      frightened Virginia, and she was afraid to wade through the current: Paul
+      therefore took her up in his arms, and went thus loaded over the slippery
+      rocks, which formed the bed of the river, careless of the tumultuous noise
+      of its waters. "Do not be afraid," cried he to Virginia; "I feel very
+      strong with you. If that planter at the Black River had refused you the
+      pardon of his slave, I would have fought with him."&mdash;"What!" answered
+      Virginia, "with that great wicked man? To what have I exposed you!
+      Gracious heaven! how difficult it is to do good! and yet it is so easy to
+      do wrong."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Paul had crossed the river, he wished to continue the journey
+      carrying his sister: and he flattered himself that he could ascend in that
+      way the mountain of the Three Breasts, which was still at the distance of
+      half a league; but his strength soon failed, and he was obliged to set
+      down his burthen, and to rest himself by her side. Virginia then said to
+      him, "My dear brother, the sun is going down; you have still some strength
+      left, but mine has quite failed: do leave me here, and return home alone
+      to ease the fears of our mothers."&mdash;"Oh no," said Paul, "I will not
+      leave you if night overtakes us in this wood, I will light a fire, and
+      bring down another palm-tree: you shall eat the cabbage, and I will form a
+      covering of the leaves to shelter you." In the meantime, Virginia being a
+      little rested, she gathered from the trunk of an old tree, which overhung
+      the bank of the river, some long leaves of the plant called hart's tongue,
+      which grew near its root. Of these leaves she made a sort of buskin, with
+      which she covered her feet, that were bleeding from the sharpness of the
+      stony paths; for in her eager desire to do good, she had forgotten to put
+      on her shoes. Feeling her feet cooled by the freshness of the leaves, she
+      broke off a branch of bamboo, and continued her walk, leaning with one
+      hand on the staff, and with the other on Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They walked on in this manner slowly through the woods; but from the
+      height of the trees, and the thickness of their foliage, they soon lost
+      sight of the mountain of the Three Breasts, by which they had hitherto
+      directed their course, and also of the sun, which was now setting. At
+      length they wandered, without perceiving it, from the beaten path in which
+      they had hitherto walked, and found themselves in a labyrinth of trees,
+      underwood, and rocks, whence there appeared to be no outlet. Paul made
+      Virginia sit down, while he ran backwards and forwards, half frantic, in
+      search of a path which might lead them out of this thick wood; but he
+      fatigued himself to no purpose. He then climbed to the top of a lofty
+      tree, whence he hoped at least to perceive the mountain of the Three
+      Breasts: but he could discern nothing around him but the tops of trees,
+      some of which were gilded with the last beams of the setting sun. Already
+      the shadows of the mountains were spreading over the forests in the
+      valleys. The wind lulled, as is usually the case at sunset. The most
+      profound silence reigned in those awful solitudes, which was only
+      interrupted by the cry of the deer, who came to their lairs in that
+      unfrequented spot. Paul, in the hope that some hunter would hear his
+      voice, called out as loud as he was able,&mdash;"Come, come to the help of
+      Virginia." But the echoes of the forest alone answered his call, and
+      repeated again and again, "Virginia&mdash;Virginia."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul at length descended from the tree, overcome with fatigue and
+      vexation. He looked around in order to make some arrangement for passing
+      the night in that desert; but he could find neither fountain, nor
+      palm-tree, nor even a branch of dry wood fit for kindling a fire. He was
+      then impressed, by experience, with the sense of his own weakness, and
+      began to weep. Virginia said to him,&mdash;"Do not weep, my dear brother,
+      or I shall be overwhelmed with grief. I am the cause of all your sorrow,
+      and of all that our mothers are suffering at this moment. I find we ought
+      to do nothing, not even good, without consulting our parents. Oh, I have
+      been very imprudent!"&mdash;and she began to shed tears. "Let us pray to
+      God, my dear brother," she again said, "and he will hear us." They had
+      scarcely finished their prayer, when they heard the barking of a dog. "It
+      must be the dog of some hunter," said Paul, "who comes here at night, to
+      lie in wait for the deer." Soon after, the dog began barking again with
+      increased violence. "Surely," said Virginia, "it is Fidele, our own dog:
+      yes,&mdash;now I know his bark. Are we then so near home?&mdash;at the
+      foot of our own mountain?" A moment after, Fidele was at their feet,
+      barking, howling, moaning, and devouring them with his caresses. Before
+      they could recover from their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards
+      them. At the sight of the good old negro, who wept for joy, they began to
+      weep too, but had not the power to utter a syllable. When Domingo had
+      recovered himself a little,&mdash;"Oh, my dear children," said he, "how
+      miserable have you made your mothers! How astonished they were when they
+      returned with me from mass, on not finding you at home. Mary, who was at
+      work at a little distance, could not tell us where you were gone. I ran
+      backwards and forwards in the plantation, not knowing where to look for
+      you. At last I took some of your old clothes, and showing them to Fidele,
+      the poor animal, as if he understood me, immediately began to scent your
+      path; and conducted me, wagging his tail all the while, to the Black
+      River. I there saw a planter, who told me you had brought back a Maroon
+      negro woman, his slave, and that he had pardoned her at your request. But
+      what a pardon! he showed her to me with her feet chained to a block of
+      wood, and an iron collar with three hooks fastened round her neck! After
+      that, Fidele, still on the scent, led me up the steep bank of the Black
+      River, where he again stopped, and barked with all his might. This was on
+      the brink of a spring, near which was a fallen palm-tree, and a fire,
+      still smoking. At last he led me to this very spot. We are now at the foot
+      of the mountain of the Three Breasts, and still a good four leagues from
+      home. Come, eat, and recover your strength." Domingo then presented them
+      with a cake, some fruit, and a large gourd, full of beverage composed of
+      wine, water, lemon-juice, sugar, and nutmeg, which their mothers had
+      prepared to invigorate and refresh them. Virginia sighed at the
+      recollection of the poor slave, and at the uneasiness they had given their
+      mothers. She repeated several times&mdash;"Oh, how difficult it is to do
+      good!" While she and Paul were taking refreshment, it being already night,
+      Domingo kindled a fire: and having found among the rocks a particular kind
+      of twisted wood, called bois de ronde, which burns when quite green, and
+      throws out a great blaze, he made a torch of it, which he lighted. But
+      when they prepared to continue their journey, a new difficulty occurred;
+      Paul and Virginia could no longer walk, their feet being violently swollen
+      and inflamed. Domingo knew not what to do; whether to leave them and go in
+      search of help, or remain and pass the night with them on that spot.
+      "There was a time," said he, "when I could carry you both together in my
+      arms! But now you are grown big, and I am grown old." When he was in this
+      perplexity, a troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from
+      them. The chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to them,&mdash;"Good
+      little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this morning, with
+      a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon for her of her
+      wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you home upon our
+      shoulders." He then made a sign, and four of the strongest negroes
+      immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees and lianas,
+      and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them upon their
+      shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch, and they
+      proceeded amidst the rejoicings of the whole troop, who overwhelmed them
+      with their benedictions. Virginia, affected by this scene, said to Paul,
+      with emotion,&mdash;"Oh, my dear brother! God never leaves a good action
+      unrewarded."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on the
+      ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began to
+      ascend, they heard voices exclaiming&mdash;"Is it you, my children?" They
+      answered immediately, and the negroes also,&mdash;"Yes, yes, it is." A
+      moment after they could distinguish their mothers and Mary coming towards
+      them with lighted sticks in their hands. "Unhappy children," cried Madame
+      de la Tour, "where have you been? What agonies you have made us suffer!"&mdash;"We
+      have been," said Virginia, "to the Black River, where we went to ask
+      pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave our breakfast this morning,
+      because she seemed dying of hunger; and these Maroon negroes have brought
+      us home." Madame de la Tour embraced her daughter, without being able to
+      speak; and Virginia, who felt her face wet with her mother's tears,
+      exclaimed, "Now I am repaid for all the hardships I have suffered."
+      Margaret, in a transport of delight, pressed Paul in her arms, exclaiming,
+      "And you also, my dear child, you have done a good action." When they
+      reached the cottages with their children, they entertained all the negroes
+      with a plentiful repast, after which the latter returned to the woods,
+      praying Heaven to shower down every description of blessing on those good
+      white people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every day was to these families a day of happiness and tranquillity.
+      Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. They did not seek to
+      obtain a useless reputation out of doors, which may be procured by
+      artifice and lost by calumny; but were contented to be the sole witnesses
+      and judges of their own actions. In this island, where, as is the case in
+      most colonies, scandal forms the principal topic of conversation, their
+      virtues, and even their names were unknown. The passer-by on the road to
+      Shaddock Grove, indeed, would sometimes ask the inhabitants of the plain,
+      who lived in the cottages up there? and was always told, even by those who
+      did not know them, "They are good people." The modest violet thus,
+      concealed in thorny places sheds all unseen its delightful fragrance
+      around.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Slander, which, under an appearance of justice, naturally inclines the
+      heart to falsehood or to hatred, was entirely banished from their
+      conversation; for it is impossible not to hate men if we believe them to
+      be wicked, or to live with the wicked without concealing that hatred under
+      a false pretence of good feeling. Slander thus puts us ill at ease with
+      others and with ourselves. In this little circle, therefore, the conduct
+      of individuals was not discussed, but the best manner of doing good to
+      all; and although they had but little in their power, their unceasing
+      good-will and kindness of heart made them constantly ready to do what they
+      could for others. Solitude, far from having blunted these benevolent
+      feelings, had rendered their dispositions even more kindly. Although the
+      petty scandals of the day furnished no subject of conversation to them,
+      yet the contemplation of nature filled their minds with enthusiastic
+      delight. They adored the bounty of that Providence, which, by their
+      instrumentality, had spread abundance and beauty amid these barren rocks,
+      and had enabled them to enjoy those pure and simple pleasures, which are
+      ever grateful and ever new.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than most
+      European youths are at fifteen; and the plantations, which Domingo merely
+      cultivated, were embellished by him. He would go with the old negro into
+      the neighbouring woods, where he would root up the young plants of lemon,
+      orange, and tamarind trees, the round heads of which are so fresh a green,
+      together with date-palm trees, which produce fruit filled with a sweet
+      cream, possessing the fine perfume of the orange flower. These trees,
+      which had already attained to a considerable size, he planted round their
+      little enclosure. He had also sown the seed of many trees which the second
+      year bear flowers or fruit; such as the agathis, encircled with long
+      clusters of white flowers which hang from it like the crystal pendants of
+      a chandelier; the Persian lilac, which lifts high in air its gray
+      flax-coloured branches; the pappaw tree, the branchless trunk of which
+      forms a column studded with green melons, surmounted by a capital of broad
+      leaves similar to those of the fig-tree.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mango, alligator pear,
+      the guava, the bread-fruit tree, and the narrow-leaved rose-apple, were
+      also planted by him with profusion: and the greater number of these trees
+      already afforded their young cultivator both shade and fruit. His
+      industrious hands diffused the riches of nature over even the most barren
+      parts of the plantation. Several species of aloes, the Indian fig, adorned
+      with yellow flowers spotted with red, and the thorny torch thistle, grew
+      upon the dark summits of the rocks, and seemed to aim at reaching the long
+      lianas, which, laden with blue or scarlet flowers, hung scattered over the
+      steepest parts of the mountain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I loved to trace the ingenuity he had exercised in the arrangement of
+      these trees. He had so disposed them that the whole could be seen at a
+      single glance. In the middle of the hollow he had planted shrubs of the
+      lowest growth; behind grew the more lofty sorts; then trees of the
+      ordinary height; and beyond and above all, the venerable and lofty groves
+      which border the circumference. Thus this extensive enclosure appeared,
+      from its centre, like a verdant amphitheatre decorated with fruits and
+      flowers, containing a variety of vegetables, some strips of meadow land,
+      and fields of rice and corn. But, in arranging these vegetable productions
+      to his own taste, he wandered not too far from the designs of Nature.
+      Guided by her suggestions, he had thrown upon the elevated spots such
+      seeds as the winds would scatter about, and near the borders of the
+      springs those which float upon the water. Every plant thus grew in its
+      proper soil, and every spot seemed decorated by Nature's own hand. The
+      streams which fell from the summits of the rocks formed in some parts of
+      the valley sparkling cascades, and in others were spread into broad
+      mirrors, in which were reflected, set in verdure, the flowering trees, the
+      overhanging rocks, and the azure heavens.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground, these plantations
+      were, for the most part, easy of access. We had, indeed, all given him our
+      advice and assistance, in order to accomplish this end. He had conducted
+      one path entirely round the valley, and various branches from it led from
+      the circumference to the centre. He had drawn some advantage from the most
+      rugged spots, and had blended, in harmonious union, level walks with the
+      inequalities of the soil, and trees which grow wild with the cultivated
+      varieties. With that immense quantity of large pebbles which now block up
+      these paths, and which are scattered over most of the ground of this
+      island, he formed pyramidal heaps here and there, at the base of which he
+      laid mould, and planted rose-bushes, the Barbadoes flower-fence, and other
+      shrubs which love to climb the rocks. In a short time the dark and
+      shapeless heaps of stones he had constructed were covered with verdure, or
+      with the glowing tints of the most beautiful flowers. Hollow recesses on
+      the borders of the streams shaded by the overhanging boughs of aged trees,
+      formed rural grottoes, impervious to the rays of the sun, in which you
+      might enjoy a refreshing coolness during the mid-day heats. One path led
+      to a clump of forest trees, in the centre of which sheltered from the
+      wind, you found a fruit-tree, laden with produce. Here was a corn-field;
+      there, an orchard; from one avenue you had a view of the cottages; from
+      another, of the inaccessible summit of the mountain. Beneath one tufted
+      bower of gum trees, interwoven with lianas, no object whatever could be
+      perceived: while the point of the adjoining rock, jutting out from the
+      mountain, commanded a view of the whole enclosure, and of the distant
+      ocean, where, occasionally, we could discern the distant sail, arriving
+      from Europe, or bound thither. On this rock the two families frequently
+      met in the evening, and enjoyed in silence the freshness of the flowers,
+      the gentle murmurs of the fountain, and the last blended harmonies of
+      light and shade.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nothing could be more charming than the names which were bestowed upon
+      some of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of which I
+      have been speaking, whence they could discern my approach at a
+      considerable distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and
+      Virginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot; and
+      whenever they saw me coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief, by
+      way of signal of my approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the
+      neighbouring mountain on the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck me
+      of engraving an inscription on the stalk of this reed; for I never, in the
+      course of my travels, experienced any thing like the pleasure in seeing a
+      statue or other monument of ancient art, as in reading a well-written
+      inscription. It seems to me as if a human voice issued from the stone,
+      and, making itself heard after the lapse of ages, addressed man in the
+      midst of a desert, to tell him that he is not alone, and that other men,
+      on that very spot, had felt, and thought, and suffered like himself. If
+      the inscription belongs to an ancient nation, which no longer exists, it
+      leads the soul through infinite space, and strengthens the consciousness
+      of its immortality, by demonstrating that a thought has survived the ruins
+      of an empire.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I inscribed then, on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag, the
+      following lines of Horace:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+     Ventorumque regat pater,
+     Obstrictis, aliis, praeter Iapiga.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you, and the Father of the
+      winds, guide you; and may you feel only the breath of the zephyr."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a gum-tree, under the shade of which Paul was accustomed to sit,
+      to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of this tree,
+      I engraved the following lines from Virgil:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Happy are thou, my son, in knowing only the pastoral divinities."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the families so
+      frequently met, I placed this line:&mdash;
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      "Here dwell a calm conscience, and a life that knows not deceit."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Virginia did not approve of my Latin: she said, that what I had placed
+      at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. "I should have
+      liked better," added she, "to have seen inscribed, EVER AGITATED, YET
+      CONSTANT."&mdash;"Such a motto," I answered, "would have been still more
+      applicable to virtue." My reflection made her blush.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested in every
+      thing around them. They gave the tenderest names to objects in appearance
+      the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain and rose-apple trees,
+      planted round a green sward where Virginia and Paul sometimes danced,
+      received the name of Concord. An old tree, beneath the shade of which
+      Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount their misfortunes, was
+      called the Burial-place of Tears. They bestowed the names of Brittany and
+      Normandy on two little plots of ground, where they had sown corn,
+      strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary, wishing, in imitation of their
+      mistresses, to recall to mind Angola and Foullepoint, the places of their
+      birth in Africa, gave those names to the little fields where the grass was
+      sown with which they wove their baskets, and where they had planted a
+      calabash-tree. Thus, by cultivating the productions of their respective
+      climates, these exiled families cherished the dear illusions which bind us
+      to our native country, and softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas!
+      I have seen these trees, these fountains, these heaps of stones, which are
+      now so completely overthrown,&mdash;which now, like the desolated plains
+      of Greece, present nothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances,
+      all called into life by the many charming appellations thus bestowed upon
+      them!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that called
+      Virginia's resting-place. At the foot of the rock which bore the name of
+      The Discovery of Friendship, is a small crevice, whence issues a fountain,
+      forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in the middle of a
+      field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had made Margaret a
+      present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and which she planted
+      on the border of this fenny ground, in order that the tree might one day
+      serve to mark the epoch of her son's birth. Madame de la Tour planted
+      another cocoa with the same view, at the birth of Virginia. These nuts
+      produced two cocoa-trees, which formed the only records of the two
+      families; one was called Paul's tree, the other, Virginia's. Their growth
+      was in the same proportion as that of the two young persons, not exactly
+      equal: but they rose, at the end of twelve years, above the roofs of the
+      cottages. Already their tender stalks were interwoven, and clusters of
+      young cocoas hung from them over the basin of the fountain. With the
+      exception of these two trees, this nook of the rock was left as it had
+      been decorated by nature. On its embrowned and moist sides broad plants of
+      maiden-hair glistened with their green and dark stars; and tufts of
+      wave-leaved hart's tongue, suspended like long ribands of purpled green,
+      floated on the wind. Near this grew a chain of the Madagascar periwinkle,
+      the flowers of which resemble the red gilliflower; and the long-podded
+      capsicum, the seed-vessels of which are of the colour of blood, and more
+      resplendent than coral. Near them, the herb balm, with its heart-shaped
+      leaves, and the sweet basil, which has the odour of the clove, exhaled the
+      most delicious perfumes. From the precipitous side of the mountain hung
+      the graceful lianas, like floating draperies, forming magnificent canopies
+      of verdure on the face of the rocks. The sea-birds, allured by the
+      stillness of these retreats, resorted here to pass the night. At the hour
+      of sunset we could perceive the curlew and the stint skimming along the
+      seashore; the frigate-bird poised high in air; and the white bird of the
+      tropic, which abandons, with the star of day, the solitudes of the Indian
+      ocean. Virginia took pleasure in resting herself upon the border of this
+      fountain, decorated with wild and sublime magnificence. She often went
+      thither to wash the linen of the family beneath the shade of the two
+      cocoa-trees, and thither too she sometimes led her goats to graze. While
+      she was making cheeses of their milk, she loved to see them browse on the
+      maiden-hair fern which clothes the steep sides of the rock, and hung
+      suspended by one of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that
+      Virginia was fond of this spot, brought thither, from the neighbouring
+      forest, a great variety of bird's nests. The old birds following their
+      young, soon established themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated
+      times, distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and maize. As soon
+      as she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird, whose note is
+      so soft, the cardinal, with its flame coloured plumage, forsook their
+      bushes; the parroquet, green as an emerald, descended from the
+      neighbouring fan-palms, the partridge ran along the grass; all advanced
+      promiscuously towards her, like a brood of chickens: and she and Paul
+      found an exhaustless source of amusement in observing their sports, their
+      repasts, and their loves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Amiable children! thus passed your earlier days in innocence, and in
+      obeying the impulses of kindness. How many times, on this very spot, have
+      your mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the
+      consolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years,
+      while they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin
+      life under the happiest auspices! How many times, beneath the shade of
+      those rocks, have I partaken with them of your rural repasts, which never
+      cost any animal its life! Gourds full of milk, fresh eggs, cakes of rice
+      served up on plantain leaves, with baskets of mangoes, oranges, dates,
+      pomegranates, pineapples, furnished a wholesome repast, the most agreeable
+      to the eye, as well as delicious to the taste, that can possibly be
+      imagined.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Like the repast, the conversation was mild, and free from every thing
+      having a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of the day
+      and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for the
+      accommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the paths
+      were rugged; there, that the seats were uncomfortable: sometimes the young
+      arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and Virginia might be better
+      pleased elsewhere.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage, and
+      employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of bamboo.
+      Rakes, spades, and hatchets, were ranged along the walls in the most
+      perfect order; and near these instruments of agriculture were heaped its
+      products,&mdash;bags of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of plantains.
+      Some degree of luxury usually accompanies abundance; and Virginia was
+      taught by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbert and cordials from
+      the juice of the sugar-cane, the lemon and the citron.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When night came, they all supped together by the light of a lamp; after
+      which Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of travellers
+      benighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested by banditti; or
+      told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown by the tempest upon
+      the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals the children listened with
+      eager attention, and earnestly hoped that Heaven would one day grant them
+      the joy of performing the rites of hospitality towards such unfortunate
+      persons. When the time for repose arrived, the two families separated and
+      retired for the night, eager to meet again the following morning.
+      Sometimes they were lulled to repose by the beating of the rains, which
+      fell in torrents upon the roofs of their cottages, and sometimes by the
+      hollow winds, which brought to their ear the distant roar of the waves
+      breaking upon the shore. They blessed God for their own safety, the
+      feeling of which was brought home more forcibly to their minds by the
+      sound of remote danger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of the
+      Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon these sacred
+      volumes, for their theology centred in a feeling of devotion towards the
+      Supreme Being, like that of nature: and their morality was an active
+      principle, like that of the Gospel. These families had no particular days
+      devoted to pleasure, and others to sadness. Every day was to them a
+      holyday, and all that surrounded them one holy temple, in which they ever
+      adored the Infinite Intelligence, the Almighty God, the Friend of human
+      kind. A feeling of confidence in his supreme power filled their minds with
+      consolation for the past, with fortitude under present trials, and with
+      hope in the future. Compelled by misfortune to return almost to a state of
+      nature, these excellent women had thus developed in their own and their
+      children's bosoms the feelings most natural to the human mind, and its
+      best support under affliction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, as clouds sometimes arise, and cast a gloom over the best regulated
+      tempers, so whenever any member of this little society appeared to be
+      labouring under dejection, the rest assembled around, and endeavoured to
+      banish her painful thoughts by amusing the mind rather than by grave
+      arguments against them. Each performed this kind office in their own
+      appropriate manner: Margaret, by her gaiety; Madame de la Tour, by the
+      gentle consolations of religion; Virginia, by her tender caresses; Paul,
+      by his frank and engaging cordiality. Even Mary and Domingo hastened to
+      offer their succour, and to weep with those that wept. Thus do weak plants
+      interweave themselves with each other, in order to withstand the fury of
+      the tempest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the fine season, they went every Sunday to the church of the
+      Shaddock Grove, the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain. Many
+      wealthy members of the congregation, who came to church in palanquins,
+      sought the acquaintance of these united families, and invited them to
+      parties of pleasure. But they always repelled these overtures with
+      respectful politeness, as they were persuaded that the rich and powerful
+      seek the society of persons in an inferior station only for the sake of
+      surrounding themselves with flatterers, and that every flatterer must
+      applaud alike all the actions of his patron, whether good or bad. On the
+      other hand, they avoided, with equal care, too intimate an acquaintance
+      with the lower class, who are ordinarily jealous, calumniating, and gross.
+      They thus acquired, with some, the character of being timid, and with
+      others, of pride: but their reserve was accompanied with so much obliging
+      politeness, above all towards the unfortunate and the unhappy, that they
+      insensibly acquired the respect of the rich and the confidence of the
+      poor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After service, some kind office was often required at their hands by their
+      poor neighbours. Sometimes a person troubled in mind sought their advice;
+      sometimes a child begged them to its sick mother, in one of the adjoining
+      hamlets. They always took with them a few remedies for the ordinary
+      diseases of the country, which they administered in that soothing manner
+      which stamps a value upon the smallest favours. Above all, they met with
+      singular success in administrating to the disorders of the mind, so
+      intolerable in solitude, and under the infirmities of a weakened frame.
+      Madame de la Tour spoke with such sublime confidence of the Divinity, that
+      the sick, while listening to her, almost believed him present. Virginia
+      often returned home with her eyes full of tears, and her heart overflowing
+      with delight, at having had an opportunity of doing good; for to her
+      generally was confided the task of preparing and administering the
+      medicines,&mdash;a task which she fulfilled with angelic sweetness. After
+      these visits of charity, they sometimes extended their walk by the Sloping
+      Mountain, till they reached my dwelling, where I used to prepare dinner
+      for them on the banks of the little rivulet which glides near my cottage.
+      I procured for these occasions a few bottles of old wine, in order to
+      heighten the relish of our Oriental repast by the more genial productions
+      of Europe. At other times we met on the sea-shore, at the mouth of some
+      little river, or rather mere brook. We brought from home the provisions
+      furnished us by our gardens, to which we added those supplied us by the
+      sea in abundant variety. We caught on these shores the mullet, the roach,
+      and the sea-urchin, lobsters, shrimps, crabs, oysters, and all other kinds
+      of shell-fish. In this way, we often enjoyed the most tranquil pleasures
+      in situations the most terrific. Sometimes, seated upon a rock, under the
+      shade of the velvet sunflower-tree, we saw the enormous waves of the
+      Indian Ocean break beneath our feet with a tremendous noise. Paul, who
+      could swim like a fish, would advance on the reefs to meet the coming
+      billows; then, at their near approach, would run back to the beach,
+      closely pursued by the foaming breakers, which threw themselves, with a
+      roaring noise, far on the sands. But Virginia, at this sight, uttered
+      piercing cries, and said that such sports frightened her too much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Other amusements were not wanting on these festive occasions. Our repasts
+      were generally followed by the songs and dances of the two young people.
+      Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life, and the misery of those who
+      were impelled by avarice to cross the raging ocean, rather than cultivate
+      the earth, and enjoy its bounties in peace. Sometimes she performed a
+      pantomime with Paul, after the manner of the negroes. The first language
+      of man is pantomime: it is known to all nations, and is so natural and
+      expressive, that the children of the European inhabitants catch it with
+      facility from the negroes. Virginia, recalling, from among the histories
+      which her mother had read to her, those which had affected her most,
+      represented the principal events in them with beautiful simplicity.
+      Sometimes at the sound of Domingo's tantam she appeared upon the green
+      sward, bearing a pitcher upon her head, and advanced with a timid step
+      towards the source of a neighbouring fountain, to draw water. Domingo and
+      Mary, personating the shepherds of Midian forbade her to approach, and
+      repulsed her sternly. Upon this Paul flew to her succour, beat away the
+      shepherds, filled Virginia's pitcher, and placing it upon her heard, bound
+      her brows at the same time with a wreath of the red flowers of the
+      Madagascar periwinkle, which served to heighten the delicacy of her
+      complexion. Then joining in their sports, I took upon myself the part of
+      Raguel, and bestowed upon Paul, my daughter Zephora in marriage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another time Virginia would represent the unhappy Ruth, returning poor and
+      widowed with her mother-in-law, who, after so prolonged an absence, found
+      herself as unknown as in a foreign land. Domingo and Mary personated the
+      reapers. The supposed daughter of Naomi followed their steps, gleaning
+      here and there a few ears of corn. When interrogated by Paul,&mdash;a part
+      which he performed with the gravity of a patriarch,&mdash;she answered his
+      questions with a faltering voice. He then, touched with compassion,
+      granted an asylum to innocence, and hospitality to misfortune. He filled
+      her lap with plenty; and, leading her towards us as before the elders of
+      the city, declared his purpose to take her in marriage. At this scene,
+      Madame de la Tour, recalling the desolate situation in which she had been
+      left by her relations, her widowhood, and the kind reception she had met
+      with from Margaret, succeeded now by the soothing hope of a happy union
+      between their children, could not forbear weeping; and these mixed
+      recollections of good and evil caused us all to unite with her in shedding
+      tears of sorrow and of joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These dramas were performed with such an air of reality that you might
+      have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of Palestine.
+      We were not unfurnished with decorations, lights, or an orchestra,
+      suitable to the representation. The scene was generally placed in an open
+      space of the forest, the diverging paths from which formed around us
+      numerous arcades of foliage, under which we were sheltered from the heat
+      all the middle of the day; but when the sun descended towards the horizon,
+      its rays, broken by the trunks of the trees, darted amongst the shadows of
+      the forest in long lines of light, producing the most magnificent effect.
+      Sometimes its broad disk appeared at the end of an avenue, lighting it up
+      with insufferable brightness. The foliage of the trees, illuminated from
+      beneath by its saffron beams, glowed with the lustre of the topaz and the
+      emerald. Their brown and mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of
+      antique bronze; and the birds, which had retired in silence to their leafy
+      shades to pass the night, surprised to see the radiance of a second
+      morning, hailed the star of day all together with innumerable carols.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Night often overtook us during these rural entertainments; but the purity
+      of the air and the warmth of the climate, admitted of our sleeping in the
+      woods, without incurring any danger by exposure to the weather, and no
+      less secure from the molestations of robbers. On our return the following
+      day to our respective habitations, we found them in exactly the same state
+      in which they had been left. In this island, then unsophisticated by the
+      pursuits of commerce, such were the honesty and primitive manners of the
+      population, that the doors of many houses were without a key, and even a
+      lock itself was an object of curiosity to not a few of the native
+      inhabitants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were, however, some days in the year celebrated by Paul and Virginia
+      in a more peculiar manner; these were the birth-days of their mothers.
+      Virginia never failed the day before to prepare some wheaten cakes, which
+      she distributed among a few poor white families, born in the island, who
+      had never eaten European bread. These unfortunate people, uncared for by
+      the blacks, were reduced to live on tapioca in the woods; and as they had
+      neither the insensibility which is the result of slavery, nor the
+      fortitude which springs from a liberal education, to enable them to
+      support their poverty, their situation was deplorable. These cakes were
+      all that Virginia had it in her power to give away, but she conferred the
+      gift in so delicate a manner as to add tenfold to its value. In the first
+      place, Paul was commissioned to take the cakes himself to these families,
+      and get their promise to come and spend the next day at Madame de la
+      Tour's. Accordingly, mothers of families, with two or three thin, yellow,
+      miserable looking daughters, so timid that they dared not look up, made
+      their appearance. Virginia soon put them at their ease; she waited upon
+      them with refreshments, the excellence of which she endeavoured to
+      heighten by relating some particular circumstance which in her own
+      estimation, vastly improved them. One beverage had been prepared by
+      Margaret; another, by her mother: her brother himself had climbed some
+      lofty tree for the very fruit she was presenting. She would then get Paul
+      to dance with them, nor would she leave them till she saw that they were
+      happy. She wished them to partake of the joy of her own family. "It is
+      only," she said, "by promoting the happiness of others, that we can secure
+      our own." When they left, she generally presented them with some little
+      article they seemed to fancy, enforcing their acceptance of it by some
+      delicate pretext, that she might not appear to know they were in want. If
+      she remarked that their clothes were much tattered, she obtained her
+      mother's permission to give them some of her own, and then sent Paul to
+      leave them, secretly at their cottage doors. She thus followed the divine
+      precept,&mdash;concealing the benefactor, and revealing only the benefit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You Europeans, whose minds are imbued from infancy with prejudices at
+      variance with happiness, cannot imagine all the instruction and pleasure
+      to be derived from nature. Your souls, confined to a small sphere of
+      intelligence, soon reach the limit of its artificial enjoyments: but
+      nature and the heart are inexhaustible. Paul and Virginia had neither
+      clock, nor almanack, nor books of chronology, history or philosophy. The
+      periods of their lives were regulated by those of the operations of
+      nature, and their familiar conversation had a reference to the changes of
+      the seasons. They knew the time of day by the shadows of the trees; the
+      seasons, by the times when those trees bore flowers or fruit; and the
+      years, by the number of their harvests. These soothing images diffused an
+      inexpressible charm over their conversation. "It is time to dine," said
+      Virginia, "the shadows of the plantain-trees are at their roots:" or,
+      "Night approaches, the tamarinds are closing their leaves." "When will you
+      come and see us?" inquired some of her companions in the neighbourhood.
+      "At the time of the sugar-canes," answered Virginia. "Your visit will be
+      then still more delightful," resumed her young acquaintances. When she was
+      asked what was her own age and that of Paul,&mdash;"My brother," said she,
+      "is as old as the great cocoa-tree of the fountain; and I am as old as the
+      little one: the mangoes have bore fruit twelve times and the orange-trees
+      have flowered four-and-twenty times, since I came into the world." Their
+      lives seemed linked to that of the trees, like those of Fauns or Dryads.
+      They knew no other historical epochs than those of the lives of their
+      mothers, no other chronology than that of doing good, and resigning
+      themselves to the will of Heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What need, indeed, had these young people of riches or learning such as
+      ours? Even their necessities and their ignorance increased their
+      happiness. No day passed in which they were not of some service to one
+      another, or in which they did not mutually impart some instruction. Yes,
+      instruction; for if errors mingled with it, they were, at least, not of a
+      dangerous character. A pure-minded being has none of that description to
+      fear. Thus grew these children of nature. No care had troubled their
+      peace, no intemperance had corrupted their blood, no misplaced passion had
+      depraved their hearts. Love, innocence, and piety, possessed their souls;
+      and those intellectual graces were unfolding daily in their features,
+      their attitudes, and their movements. Still in the morning of life, they
+      had all its blooming freshness: and surely such in the garden of Eden
+      appeared our first parents, when coming from the hands of God, they first
+      saw, and approached each other, and conversed together, like brother and
+      sister. Virginia was gentle, modest, and confiding as Eve; and Paul, like
+      Adam, united the stature of manhood with the simplicity of a child.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sometimes, if alone with Virginia, he has a thousand times told me, he
+      used to say to her, on his return from labour,&mdash;"When I am wearied,
+      the sight of you refreshes me. If from the summit of the mountain I
+      perceive you below in the valley, you appear to me in the midst of our
+      orchard like a blooming rose-bud. If you go towards our mother's house,
+      the partridge, when it runs to meet its young, has a shape less beautiful,
+      and a step less light. When I lose sight of you through the trees, I have
+      no need to see you in order to find you again. Something of you, I know
+      not how, remains for me in the air through which you have passed, on the
+      grass where you have been seated. When I come near you, you delight all my
+      senses. The azure of the sky is less charming than the blue of your eyes,
+      and the song of the amadavid bird less soft than the sound of your voice.
+      If I only touch you with the tip of my finger, my whole frame trembles
+      with pleasure. Do you remember the day when we crossed over the great
+      stones of the river of the Three Breasts? I was very tired before we
+      reached the bank: but, as soon as I had taken you in my arms, I seemed to
+      have wings like a bird. Tell me by what charm you have thus enchanted me!
+      Is it by your wisdom?&mdash;Our mothers have more than either of us. Is it
+      by your caresses?&mdash;They embrace me much oftener than you. I think it
+      must be by your goodness. I shall never forget how you walked bare-footed
+      to the Black River, to ask pardon for the poor run-away slave. Here, my
+      beloved, take this flowering branch of a lemon-tree, which I have gathered
+      in the forest: you will let it remain at night near your bed. Eat this
+      honey-comb too, which I have taken for you from the top of a rock. But
+      first lean on my bosom, and I shall be refreshed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia would answer him,&mdash;"Oh, my dear brother, the rays of the sun
+      in the morning on the tops of the rocks give me less joy than the sight of
+      you. I love my mother,&mdash;I love yours; but when they call you their
+      son, I love them a thousand times more. When they caress you, I feel it
+      more sensibly than when I am caressed myself. You ask me what makes you
+      love me. Why, all creatures that are brought up together love one another.
+      Look at our birds; reared up in the same nests, they love each other as we
+      do; they are always together like us. Hark! how they call and answer from
+      one tree to another. So when the echoes bring to my ears the air which you
+      play on your flute on the top of the mountain, I repeat the words at the
+      bottom of the valley. You are dear to me more especially since the day
+      when you wanted to fight the master of the slave for me. Since that time
+      how often have I said to myself, 'Ah, my brother has a good heart; but for
+      him, I should have died of terror.' I pray to God every day for my mother
+      and for yours; for you, and for our poor servants; but when I pronounce
+      your name, my devotion seems to increase;&mdash;I ask so earnestly of God
+      that no harm may befall you! Why do you go so far, and climb so high, to
+      seek fruits and flowers for me? Have we not enough in our garden already?
+      How much you are fatigued,&mdash;you look so warm!"&mdash;and with her
+      little white handkerchief she would wipe the damps from his face, and then
+      imprint a tender kiss on his forehead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For some time past, however, Virginia had felt her heart agitated by new
+      sensations. Her beautiful blue eyes lost their lustre, her cheek its
+      freshness, and her frame was overpowered with a universal langour.
+      Serenity no longer sat upon her brow, nor smiles played upon her lips. She
+      would become all at once gay without cause for joy, and melancholy without
+      any subject for grief. She fled her innocent amusements, her gentle toils,
+      and even the society of her beloved family; wandering about the most
+      unfrequented parts of the plantations, and seeking every where the rest
+      which she could no where find. Sometimes, at the sight of Paul, she
+      advanced sportively to meet him; but, when about to accost him, was
+      overcome by a sudden confusion; her pale cheeks were covered with blushes,
+      and her eyes no longer dared to meet those of her brother. Paul said to
+      her,&mdash;"The rocks are covered with verdure, our birds begin to sing
+      when you approach, everything around you is gay, and you only are
+      unhappy." He then endeavoured to soothe her by his embraces, but she
+      turned away her head, and fled, trembling towards her mother. The caresses
+      of her brother excited too much emotion in her agitated heart, and she
+      sought, in the arms of her mother, refuge from herself. Paul, unused to
+      the secret windings of the female heart, vexed himself in vain in
+      endeavouring to comprehend the meaning of these new and strange caprices.
+      Misfortunes seldom come alone, and a serious calamity now impended over
+      these families.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of those summers, which sometimes desolate the countries situated
+      between the tropics, now began to spread its ravages over this island. It
+      was near the end of December, when the sun, in Capricorn, darts over the
+      Mauritius, during the space of three weeks, its vertical fires. The
+      southeast wind, which prevails throughout almost the whole year, no longer
+      blew. Vast columns of dust arose from the highways, and hung suspended in
+      the air; the ground was every where broken into clefts; the grass was
+      burnt up; hot exhalations issued from the sides of the mountains, and
+      their rivulets, for the most part, became dry. No refreshing cloud ever
+      arose from the sea: fiery vapours, only, during the day, ascended from the
+      plains, and appeared, at sunset, like the reflection of a vast
+      conflagration. Night brought no coolness to the heated atmosphere; and the
+      red moon rising in the misty horizon, appeared of supernatural magnitude.
+      The drooping cattle, on the sides of the hills, stretching out their necks
+      towards heaven, and panting for breath, made the valleys re-echo with
+      their melancholy lowings: even the Caffre by whom they were led threw
+      himself upon the earth, in search of some cooling moisture: but his hopes
+      were vain; the scorching sun had penetrated the whole soil, and the
+      stifling atmosphere everywhere resounded with the buzzing noise of
+      insects, seeking to allay their thirst with the blood of men and of
+      animals.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this sultry season, Virginia's restlessness and disquietude were
+      much increased. One night, in particular, being unable to sleep, she arose
+      from her bed, sat down, and returned to rest again; but could find in no
+      attitude either slumber or repose. At length she bent her way, by the
+      light of the moon, towards her fountain, and gazed at its spring, which,
+      notwithstanding the drought, still trickled, in silver threads down the
+      brown sides of the rock. She flung herself into the basin: its coolness
+      reanimated her spirits, and a thousand soothing remembrances came to her
+      mind. She recollected that in her infancy her mother and Margaret had
+      amused themselves by bathing her with Paul in this very spot; that he
+      afterwards, reserving this bath for her sole use, had hollowed out its
+      bed, covered the bottom with sand, and sown aromatic herbs around its
+      borders. She saw in the water, upon her naked arms and bosom, the
+      reflection of the two cocoa trees which were planted at her own and her
+      brother's birth, and which interwove above her head their green branches
+      and young fruit. She thought of Paul's friendship, sweeter than the odour
+      of the blossoms, purer than the waters of the fountain, stronger than the
+      intertwining palm-tree, and she sighed. Reflecting on the hour of the
+      night, and the profound solitude, her imagination became disturbed.
+      Suddenly she flew, affrighted, from those dangerous shades, and those
+      waters which seemed to her hotter than the tropical sunbeam, and ran to
+      her mother for refuge. More than once, wishing to reveal her sufferings,
+      she pressed her mother's hand within her own; more than once she was ready
+      to pronounce the name of Paul: but her oppressed heart left her lips no
+      power of utterance, and, leaning her head on her mother's bosom, she
+      bathed it with her tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, though she easily discerned the source of her
+      daughter's uneasiness, did not think proper to speak to her on the
+      subject. "My dear child," said she, "offer up your supplications to God,
+      who disposes at his will of health and of life. He subjects you to trial
+      now, in order to recompense you hereafter. Remember that we are only
+      placed upon earth for the exercise of virtue."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The excessive heat in the meantime raised vast masses of vapour from the
+      ocean, which hung over the island like an immense parasol, and gathered
+      round the summits of the mountains. Long flakes of fire issued from time
+      to time from these mist-embosomed peaks. The most awful thunder soon after
+      re-echoed through the woods, the plains, and the valleys: the rains fell
+      from the skies in cataracts; foaming torrents rushed down the sides of
+      this mountain; the bottom of the valley became a sea, and the elevated
+      platform on which the cottages were built, a little island. The
+      accumulated waters, having no other outlet, rushed with violence through
+      the narrow gorge which leads into the valley, tossing and roaring, and
+      bearing along with them a mingled wreck of soil, trees, and rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The trembling families meantime addressed their prayers to God all
+      together in the cottage of Madame de la Tour, the roof of which cracked
+      fearfully from the force of the winds. So incessant and vivid were the
+      lightnings, that although the doors and window-shutters were securely
+      fastened, every object without could be distinctly seen through the joints
+      in the wood-work! Paul, followed by Domingo, went with intrepidity from
+      one cottage to another, notwithstanding the fury of the tempest; here
+      supporting a partition with a buttress, there driving in a stake; and only
+      returning to the family to calm their fears, by the expression of a hope
+      that the storm was passing away. Accordingly, in the evening the rains
+      ceased, the trade-winds of the southeast pursued their ordinary course,
+      the tempestuous clouds were driven away to the northward, and the setting
+      sun appeared in the horizon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her Resting-place. Paul
+      approached her with a timid air, and offered her the assistance of his
+      arm; she accepted it with a smile, and they left the cottage together. The
+      air was clear and fresh: white vapours arose from the ridges of the
+      mountain, which was furrowed here and there by the courses of torrents,
+      marked in foam, and now beginning to dry up on all sides. As for the
+      garden, it was completely torn to pieces by deep water-courses, the roots
+      of most of the fruit trees were laid bare, and vast heaps of sand covered
+      the borders of the meadows, and had choked up Virginia's bath. The two
+      cocoa trees, however, were still erect, and still retained their
+      freshness; but they were no longer surrounded by turf, or arbours, or
+      birds, except a few amadavid birds, which, upon the points of the
+      neighbouring rocks, were lamenting, in plaintive notes, the loss of their
+      young.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the sight of this general desolation, Virginia exclaimed to Paul,&mdash;"You
+      brought birds hither, and the hurricane has killed them. You planted this
+      garden, and it is now destroyed. Every thing then upon earth perishes, and
+      it is only Heaven that is not subject to change."&mdash;"Why," answered
+      Paul, "cannot I give you something that belongs to Heaven? but I have
+      nothing of my own even upon the earth." Virginia with a blush replied,
+      "You have the picture of Saint Paul." As soon as she had uttered the
+      words, he flew in quest of it to his mother's cottage. This picture was a
+      miniature of Paul the Hermit, which Margaret, who viewed it with feelings
+      of great devotion, had worn at her neck while a girl, and which, after she
+      became a mother, she had placed round her child's. It had even happened,
+      that being, while pregnant, abandoned by all the world, and constantly
+      occupied in contemplating the image of this benevolent recluse, her
+      offspring had contracted some resemblance to this revered object. She
+      therefore bestowed upon him the name of Paul, giving him for his patron a
+      saint who had passed his life far from mankind by whom he had been first
+      deceived and then forsaken. Virginia, on receiving this little present
+      from the hands of Paul, said to him, with emotion, "My dear brother, I
+      will never part with this while I live; nor will I ever forget that you
+      have given me the only thing you have in the world." At this tone of
+      friendship,&mdash;this unhoped for return of familiarity and tenderness,
+      Paul attempted to embrace her; but, light as a bird, she escaped him, and
+      fled away, leaving him astonished, and unable to account for conduct so
+      extraordinary.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour, "Why do we not unite our
+      children by marriage? They have a strong attachment for each other, and
+      though my son hardly understands the real nature of his feelings, yet
+      great care and watchfulness will be necessary. Under such circumstances,
+      it will be as well not to leave them too much together." Madame de la Tour
+      replied, "They are too young and too poor. What grief would it occasion us
+      to see Virginia bring into the world unfortunate children, whom she would
+      not perhaps have sufficient strength to rear! Your negro, Domingo, is
+      almost too old to labor; Mary is infirm. As for myself, my dear friend, at
+      the end of fifteen years, I find my strength greatly decreased; the
+      feebleness of age advances rapidly in hot climates, and, above all, under
+      the pressure of misfortune. Paul is our only hope: let us wait till he
+      comes to maturity, and his increased strength enables him to support us by
+      his labour: at present you well know that we have only sufficient to
+      supply the wants of the day: but were we to send Paul for a short time to
+      the Indies, he might acquire, by commerce, the means of purchasing some
+      slaves; and at his return we could unite him to Virginia; for I am
+      persuaded no one on earth would render her so happy as your son. We will
+      consult our neighbour on this subject."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They accordingly asked my advice, which was in accordance with Madame de
+      la Tour's opinion. "The Indian seas," I observed to them, "are calm, and,
+      in choosing a favourable time of the year, the voyage out is seldom longer
+      than six weeks; and the same time may be allowed for the return home. We
+      will furnish Paul with a little venture from my neighbourhood, where he is
+      much beloved. If we were only to supply him with some raw cotton, of which
+      we make no use for want of mills to work it, some ebony, which is here so
+      common that it serves us for firing, and some rosin, which is found in our
+      woods, he would be able to sell those articles, though useless here, to
+      good advantage in the Indies."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took upon myself to obtain permission from Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to
+      undertake this voyage; and I determined previously to mention the affair
+      to Paul. But what was my surprise, when this young man said to me, with a
+      degree of good sense above his age, "And why do you wish me to leave my
+      family for this precarious pursuit of fortune? Is there any commerce in
+      the world more advantageous than the culture of the ground, which yields
+      sometimes fifty or a hundred-fold? If we wish to engage in commerce, can
+      we not do so by carrying our superfluities to the town without my
+      wandering to the Indies? Our mothers tell me, that Domingo is old and
+      feeble; but I am young, and gather strength every day. If any accident
+      should happen during my absence, above all to Virginia, who already
+      suffers&mdash;Oh, no, no!&mdash;I cannot resolve to leave them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So decided an answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la Tour
+      had not concealed from me the cause of Virginia's illness and want of
+      spirits, and her desire of separating these young people till they were a
+      few years older. I took care, however, not to drop any thing which could
+      lead Paul to suspect the existence of these motives.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About this period a ship from France brought Madame de la Tour a letter
+      from her aunt. The fear of death, without which hearts as insensible as
+      hers would never feel, had alarmed her into compassion. When she wrote she
+      was recovering from a dangerous illness, which had, however, left her
+      incurably languid and weak. She desired her niece to return to France: or,
+      if her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage, she begged her to
+      send Virginia, on whom she promised to bestow a good education, to procure
+      for her a splendid marriage, and to leave her heiress of her whole
+      fortune. She concluded by enjoining strict obedience to her will, in
+      gratitude, she said, for her great kindness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the perusal of this letter general consternation spread itself through
+      the whole assembled party. Domingo and Mary began to weep. Paul,
+      motionless with surprise, appeared almost ready to burst with indignation;
+      while Virginia, fixing her eyes anxiously upon her mother, had not power
+      to utter a single word. "And can you now leave us?" cried Margaret to
+      Madame de la Tour. "No, my dear friend, no, my beloved children," replied
+      Madame de la Tour; "I will never leave you. I have lived with you, and
+      with you I will die. I have known no happiness but in your affection. If
+      my health be deranged, my past misfortunes are the cause. My heart has
+      been deeply wounded by the cruelty of my relations, and by the loss of my
+      beloved husband. But I have since found more consolation and more real
+      happiness with you in these humble huts, than all the wealth of my family
+      could now lead me to expect in my country."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight.
+      Paul, pressing Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaimed,&mdash;"Neither
+      will I leave you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for you,
+      dear mamma; and you shall never feel any want with us." But of the whole
+      society, the person who displayed the least transport, and who probably
+      felt the most, was Virginia; and during the remainder of the day, the
+      gentle gaiety which flowed from her heart, and proved that her peace of
+      mind was restored, completed the general satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At sun-rise the next day, just as they had concluded offering up, as
+      usual, their morning prayer before breakfast, Domingo came to inform them
+      that a gentleman on horseback, followed by two slaves, was coming towards
+      the plantation. It was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. He entered the cottage,
+      where he found the family at breakfast. Virginia had prepared, according
+      to the custom of the country, coffee, and rice boiled in water. To these
+      she had added hot yams, and fresh plantains. The leaves of the
+      plantain-tree, supplied the want of table-linen; and calabash shells,
+      split in two, served for cups. The governor exhibited, at first, some
+      astonishment at the homeliness of the dwelling; then, addressing himself
+      to Madame de la Tour, he observed, that although public affairs drew his
+      attention too much from the concerns of individuals, she had many claims
+      on his good offices. "You have an aunt at Paris, madam," he added, "a
+      woman of quality, and immensely rich, who expects that you will hasten to
+      see her, and who means to bestow upon you her whole fortune." Madame de la
+      Tour replied, that the state of her health would not permit her to
+      undertake so long a voyage. "At least," resumed Monsieur de la
+      Bourdonnais, "you cannot without injustice, deprive this amiable young
+      lady, your daughter, of so noble an inheritance. I will not conceal from
+      you, that your aunt has made use of her influence to secure your daughter
+      being sent to her; and that I have received official letters, in which I
+      am ordered to exert my authority, if necessary, to that effect. But as I
+      only wish to employ my power for the purpose of rendering the inhabitants
+      of this country happy, I expect from your good sense the voluntary
+      sacrifice of a few years, upon which your daughter's establishment in the
+      world, and the welfare of your whole life depends. Wherefore do we come to
+      these islands? Is it not to acquire a fortune? And will it not be more
+      agreeable to return and find it in your own country?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He then took a large bag of piastres from one of his slaves, and placed it
+      upon the table. "This sum," he continued, "is allotted by your aunt to
+      defray the outlay necessary for the equipment of the young lady for her
+      voyage." Gently reproaching Madame de la Tour for not having had recourse
+      to him in her difficulties, he extolled at the same time her noble
+      fortitude. Upon this Paul said to the governor,&mdash;"My mother did apply
+      to you, sir, and you received her ill."&mdash;"Have you another child,
+      madam?" said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to Madame de la Tour. "No, Sir,"
+      she replied; "this is the son of my friend; but he and Virginia are
+      equally dear to us, and we mutually consider them both as our own
+      children." "Young man," said the governor to Paul, "when you have acquired
+      a little more experience of the world, you will know that it is the
+      misfortune of people in place to be deceived, and bestow, in consequence,
+      upon intriguing vice, that which they would wish to give to modest merit."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, at the request of Madame de la Tour, placed
+      himself next to her at table, and breakfasted after the manner of the
+      Creoles, upon coffee, mixed with rice boiled in water. He was delighted
+      with the order and cleanliness which prevailed in the little cottage, the
+      harmony of the two interesting families, and the zeal of their old
+      servants. "Here," he exclaimed, "I discern only wooden furniture; but I
+      find serene countenances and hearts of gold." Paul, enchanted with the
+      affability of the governor, said to him,&mdash;"I wish to be your friend:
+      for you are a good man." Monsieur de la Bourdonnais received with pleasure
+      this insular compliment, and, taking Paul by the hand, assured him he
+      might rely upon his friendship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After breakfast, he took Madame de la Tour aside and informed her that an
+      opportunity would soon offer itself of sending her daughter to France, in
+      a ship which was going to sail in a short time; that he would put her
+      under the charge of a lady, one of the passengers, who was a relation of
+      his own; and that she must not think of renouncing an immense fortune, on
+      account of the pain of being separated from her daughter for a brief
+      interval. "Your aunt," he added, "cannot live more than two years; of this
+      I am assured by her friends. Think of it seriously. Fortune does not visit
+      us every day. Consult your friends. I am sure that every person of good
+      sense will be of my opinion." She answered, "that, as she desired no other
+      happiness henceforth in the world than in promoting that of her daughter,
+      she hoped to be allowed to leave her departure for France to her own
+      inclination."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour was not sorry to find an opportunity of separating Paul
+      and Virginia for a short time, and provide by this means, for their mutual
+      felicity at a future period. She took her daughter aside, and said to her,&mdash;"My
+      dear child, our servants are now old. Paul is still very young, Margaret
+      is advanced in years, and I am already infirm. If I should die what would
+      become of you, without fortune, in the midst of these deserts? You would
+      then be left alone, without any person who could afford you much
+      assistance, and would be obliged to labour without ceasing, as a hired
+      servant, in order to support your wretched existence. This idea overcomes
+      me with sorrow." Virginia answered,&mdash;"God has appointed us to labour,
+      and to bless him every day. Up to this time he has never forsaken us, and
+      he never will forsake us in time to come. His providence watches most
+      especially over the unfortunate. You have told me this very often, my dear
+      mother! I cannot resolve to leave you." Madame de la Tour replied, with
+      much emotion,&mdash;"I have no other aim than to render you happy, and to
+      marry you one day to Paul, who is not really your brother. Remember then
+      that his fortune depends upon you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A young girl who is in love believes that every one else is ignorant of
+      her passion; she throws over her eyes the veil with which she covers the
+      feelings of her heart; but when it is once lifted by a friendly hand, the
+      hidden sorrows of her attachment escape as through a newly-opened barrier,
+      and the sweet outpourings of unrestrained confidence succeed to her former
+      mystery and reserve. Virginia, deeply affected by this new proof of her
+      mother's tenderness, related to her the cruel struggles she had undergone,
+      of which heaven alone had been witness; she saw, she said, the hand of
+      Providence in the assistance of an affectionate mother, who approved of
+      her attachment; and would guide her by her counsels; and as she was now
+      strengthened by such support, every consideration led her to remain with
+      her mother, without anxiety for the present, and without apprehension for
+      the future.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, perceiving that this confidential conversation had
+      produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected,
+      said,&mdash;"My dear child, I do not wish to constrain you; think over it
+      at leisure, but conceal your affection from Paul. It is better not to let
+      a man know that the heart of his mistress is gained."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia and her mother were sitting together by themselves the same
+      evening, when a tall man, dressed in a blue cassock, entered their
+      cottage. He was a missionary priest and the confessor of Madame de la Tour
+      and her daughter, who had now been sent to them by the governor. "My
+      children," he exclaimed as he entered, "God be praised! you are now rich.
+      You can now attend to the kind suggestions of your benevolent hearts, and
+      do good to the poor. I know what Monsieur de la Bourdonnais has said to
+      you, and what you have said in reply. Your health, dear madam, obliges you
+      to remain here; but you, young lady, are without excuse. We must obey our
+      aged relations, even when they are unjust. A sacrifice is required of you;
+      but it is the will of God. Our Lord devoted himself for you; and you in
+      imitation of his example, must give up something for the welfare of your
+      family. Your voyage to France will end happily. You will surely consent to
+      go, my dear young lady."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia, with downcast eyes, answered, trembling, "If it is the command
+      of God, I will not presume to oppose it. Let the will of God be done!" As
+      she uttered these words, she wept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The priest went away, in order to inform the governor of the success of
+      his mission. In the meantime Madame de la Tour sent Domingo to request me
+      to come to her, that she might consult me respecting Virginia's departure.
+      I was not at all of opinion that she ought to go. I consider it as a fixed
+      principle of happiness, that we ought to prefer the advantages of nature
+      to those of fortune, and never go in search of that at a distance, which
+      we may find at home,&mdash;in our own bosoms. But what could be expected
+      from my advice, in opposition to the illusions of a splendid fortune?&mdash;or
+      from my simple reasoning, when in competition with the prejudices of the
+      world, and an authority held sacred by Madame de la Tour? This lady indeed
+      only consulted me out of politeness; she had ceased to deliberate since
+      she had heard the decision of her confessor. Margaret herself, who,
+      notwithstanding the advantages she expected for her son from the
+      possession of Virginia's fortune, had hitherto opposed her departure, made
+      no further objections. As for Paul, in ignorance of what had been
+      determined, but alarmed at the secret conversations which Virginia had
+      been holding with her mother, he abandoned himself to melancholy. "They
+      are plotting something against me," cried he, "for they conceal every
+      thing from me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A report having in the meantime been spread in the island that fortune had
+      visited these rocks, merchants of every description were seen climbing
+      their steep ascent. Now, for the first time, were seen displayed in these
+      humble huts the richest stuffs of India; the fine dimity of Gondelore; the
+      handkerchiefs of Pellicate and Masulipatan; the plain, striped, and
+      embroidered muslins of Dacca, so beautifully transparent: the delicately
+      white cottons of Surat, and linens of all colours. They also brought with
+      them the gorgeous silks of China, satin damasks, some white, and others
+      grass-green and bright red; pink taffetas, with the profusion of satins
+      and gauze of Tonquin, both plain and decorated with flowers; soft pekins,
+      downy as cloth; and white and yellow nankeens, and the calicoes of
+      Madagascar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase whatever she liked; she
+      only examined the goods, and inquired the price, to take care that the
+      dealers did not cheat her. Virginia made choice of everything she thought
+      would be useful or agreeable to her mother, or to Margaret and her son.
+      "This," said she, "will be wanted for furnishing the cottage, and that
+      will be very useful to Mary and Domingo." In short, the bag of piastres
+      was almost emptied before she even began to consider her own wants; and
+      she was obliged to receive back for her own use a share of the presents
+      which she had distributed among the family circle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune, which
+      he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days after to
+      my dwelling. With an air of deep despondency he said to me&mdash;"My
+      sister is going away; she is already making preparations for her voyage. I
+      conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother and mine, in
+      order to detain her here." I could not refuse the young man's
+      solicitations, although well convinced that my representations would be
+      unavailing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse cloth of
+      Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head: you may therefore
+      imagine how much her beauty was increased, when she was attired in the
+      graceful and elegant costume worn by the ladies of this country! She had
+      on a white muslin dress, lined with pink taffeta. Her somewhat tall and
+      slender figure was shown to advantage in her new attire, and the simple
+      arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with the form of her head. Her
+      fine blue eyes were filled with an expression of melancholy; and the
+      struggles of passion, with which her heart was agitated, imparted a flush
+      to her cheek, and to her voice a tone of deep emotion. The contrast
+      between her pensive look and her gay habiliments rendered her more
+      interesting than ever, nor was it possible to see or hear her unmoved.
+      Paul became more and more melancholy; and at length Margaret, distressed
+      at the situation of her son, took him aside and said to him,&mdash;"Why,
+      my dear child, will you cherish vain hopes, which will only render your
+      disappointment more bitter? It is time for me to make known to you the
+      secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de la Tour belongs, by her
+      mother's side, to a rich and noble family, while you are but the son of a
+      poor peasant girl; and what is worse you are illegitimate."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul, who had never heard this last expression before, inquired with
+      eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, "I was not married to your
+      father. When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness of
+      which you are the offspring. The consequence of my fault is, that you are
+      deprived of the protection of a father's family, and by my flight from
+      home you have also lost that of your mother's. Unfortunate child! you have
+      no relations in the world but me!"&mdash;and she shed a flood of tears.
+      Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, "Oh, my dear mother! since I
+      have no relation in the world but you, I will love you all the more. But
+      what a secret have you just disclosed to me! I now see the reason why
+      Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself so much from me for the last
+      two months, and why she has determined to go to France. Ah! I perceive too
+      well that she despises me!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The hour of supper being arrived, we gathered round the table; but the
+      different sensations with which we were agitated left us little
+      inclination to eat, and the meal, if such it may be called, passed in
+      silence. Virginia was the first to rise; she went out, and seated herself
+      on the very spot where we now are. Paul hastened after her, and sat down
+      by her side. Both of them, for some time, kept a profound silence. It was
+      one of those delicious nights which are so common between the tropics, and
+      to the beauty of which no pencil can do justice. The moon appeared in the
+      midst of the firmament, surrounded by a curtain of clouds, which was
+      gradually unfolded by her beams. Her light insensibly spread itself over
+      the mountains of the island, and their distant peaks glistened with a
+      silvery green. The winds were perfectly still. We heard among the woods,
+      at the bottom of the valleys, and on the summits of the rocks, the piping
+      cries and the soft notes of the birds, wantoning in their nests, and
+      rejoicing in the brightness of the night and the serenity of the
+      atmosphere. The hum of insects was heard in the grass. The stars sparkled
+      in the heavens, and their lurid orbs were reflected, in trembling
+      sparkles, from the tranquil bosom of the ocean. Virginia's eye wandered
+      distractedly over its vast and gloomy horizon, distinguishable from the
+      shore of the island only by the red fires in the fishing boats. She
+      perceived at the entrance of the harbour a light and a shadow; these were
+      the watchlight and the hull of the vessel in which she was to embark for
+      Europe, and which, all ready for sea, lay at anchor, waiting for a breeze.
+      Affected at this sight, she turned away her head, in order to hide her
+      tears from Paul.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and I, were seated at a little distance,
+      beneath the plantain-trees; and, owing to the stillness of the night, we
+      distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul said to her,&mdash;"You are going away from us, they tell me, in
+      three days. You do not fear then to encounter the danger of the sea, at
+      the sight of which you are so much terrified?" "I must perform my duty,"
+      answered Virginia, "by obeying my parent." "You leave us," resumed Paul,
+      "for a distant relation, whom you have never seen." "Alas!" cried
+      Virginia, "I would have remained here my whole life, but my mother would
+      not have it so. My confessor, too, told me it was the will of God that I
+      should go, and that life was a scene of trials!&mdash;and Oh! this is
+      indeed a severe one."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What!" exclaimed Paul, "you could find so many reasons for going, and not
+      one for remaining here! Ah! there is one reason for your departure that
+      you have not mentioned. Riches have great attractions. You will soon find
+      in the new world to which you are going, another, to whom you will give
+      the name of brother, which you bestow on me no more. You will choose that
+      brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their birth, and by
+      a fortune which I have not to offer. But where can you go to be happier?
+      On what shore will you land, and find it dearer to you than the spot which
+      gave you birth?&mdash;and where will you form around you a society more
+      delightful to you than this, by which you are so much accustomed? What
+      will become of her, already advanced in years, when she no longer sees you
+      at her side at table, in the house, in the walks, where she used to lean
+      upon you? What will become of my mother, who loves you with the same
+      affection? What shall I say to comfort them when I see them weeping for
+      your absence? Cruel Virginia! I say nothing to you of myself; but what
+      will become of me, when in the morning I shall no more see you; when the
+      evening will come, and not reunite us?&mdash;when I shall gaze on these
+      two palm trees, planted at our birth, and so long the witnesses of our
+      mutual friendship? Ah! since your lot is changed,&mdash;since you seek in
+      a far country other possessions than the fruits of my labour, let me go
+      with you in the vessel in which you are about to embark. I will sustain
+      your spirits in the midst of those tempests which terrify you so much even
+      on shore. I will lay my head upon your bosom: I will warm your heart upon
+      my own; and in France, where you are going in search of fortune and of
+      grandeur, I will wait upon you as your slave. Happy only in your
+      happiness, you will find me, in those palaces where I shall see you
+      receiving the homage and adoration of all, rich and noble enough to make
+      you the greatest of all sacrifices, by dying at your feet."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The violence of his emotions stopped his utterance, and we then heard
+      Virginia, who, in a voice broken by sobs, uttered these words:&mdash;"It
+      is for you that I go,&mdash;for you whom I see tired to death every day by
+      the labour of sustaining two helpless families. If I have accepted this
+      opportunity of becoming rich, it is only to return a thousand-fold the
+      good which you have done us. Can any fortune be equal to your friendship?
+      Why do you talk about your birth? Ah! if it were possible for me still to
+      have a brother, should I make choice of any other than you? Oh, Paul,
+      Paul! you are far dearer to me than a brother! How much has it cost me to
+      repulse you from me! Help me to tear myself from what I value more than
+      existence, till Heaven shall bless our union. But I will stay or go,&mdash;I
+      will live or die,&mdash;dispose of me as you will. Unhappy that I am! I
+      could have repelled your caresses; but I cannot support your affliction."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed close
+      to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, "I will go with her,&mdash;nothing
+      shall ever part us." We all ran towards him; and Madame de la Tour said to
+      him, "My son, if you go, what will become of us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He, trembling, repeated after her the words,&mdash;"My son!&mdash;my son!
+      You my mother!" cried he; "you, who would separate the brother from the
+      sister! We have both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been
+      reared upon your knees; we have learnt of you to love another; we have
+      said so a thousand times; and now you would separate her from me!&mdash;you
+      would send her to Europe, that inhospitable country which refused you an
+      asylum, and to relations by whom you yourself were abandoned. You will
+      tell me that I have no right over her, and that she is not my sister. She
+      is everything to me;&mdash;my riches, my birth, my family,&mdash;all that
+      I have! I know no other. We have had but one roof,&mdash;one cradle,&mdash;and
+      we will have but one grave! If she goes, I will follow her. The governor
+      will prevent me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea?&mdash;will
+      he prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal
+      to me than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will die
+      before her eyes, far from you. Inhuman mother!&mdash;woman without
+      compassion!&mdash;may the ocean, to which you trust her, restore her to
+      you no more! May the waves, rolling back our bodies amid the shingles of
+      this beach, give you in the loss of your two children, an eternal subject
+      of remorse!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At these words, I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him of
+      reason. His eyes sparkled with fire, the perspiration fell in great drops
+      from his face; his knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat violently
+      against his burning bosom.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Virginia, alarmed, said to him,&mdash;"Oh, my dear Paul, I call to witness
+      the pleasures of our early age, your griefs and my own, and every thing
+      that can for ever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I
+      remain at home, I will live but for you; that if I go, I will one day
+      return to be yours. I call you all to witness;&mdash;you who have reared
+      me from my infancy, who dispose of my life, and who see my tears. I swear
+      by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea which I am going to pass, by the
+      air I breathe, and which I never sullied by a falsehood."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the sun softens and precipitates an icy rock from the summit of one of
+      the Appenines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were subdued by
+      the voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a torrent of tears fell
+      from his eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his, held him in her
+      arms, but was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half distracted, said to
+      me, "I can bear this no longer. My heart is quite broken. This unfortunate
+      voyage shall not take place. Do take my son home with you. Not one of us
+      has had any rest the whole week."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I said to Paul, "My dear friend, your sister shall remain here. To-morrow
+      we will talk to the governor about it; leave your family to take some
+      rest, and come and pass the night with me. It is late; it is midnight; the
+      southern cross is just above the horizon."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of great
+      agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But why should I continue any longer to you the recital of this history?
+      There is but one aspect of human pleasure. Like the globe upon which we
+      revolve, the fleeting course of life is but a day; and if one part of that
+      day be visited by light, the other is thrown into darkness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you
+      have begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are the
+      most pleasing, those of misfortune are the more instructive. Tell me what
+      became of the unhappy young man."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first object beheld by Paul in his way home was the negro woman Mary,
+      who, mounted on a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea. As soon as
+      he perceived her, he called to her from a distance,&mdash;"Where is
+      Virginia?" Mary turned her head towards her young master, and began to
+      weep. Paul, distracted, retracing his steps, ran to the harbour. He was
+      there informed, that Virginia had embarked at the break of day, and that
+      the vessel had immediately set sail, and was now out of sight. He
+      instantly returned to the plantation, which he crossed without uttering a
+      word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Quite perpendicular as appears the wall of rocks behind us, those green
+      platforms which separate their summits are so many stages, by means of
+      which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of sloping
+      and inaccessible rocks, which is called The Thumb. At the foot of that
+      cone is an extended slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and so
+      steep and elevated that it looks like a forest in the air, surrounded by
+      tremendous precipices. The clouds, which are constantly attracted round
+      the summit of the Thumb, supply innumerable rivulets, which fall to so
+      great a depth in the valley situated on the other side of the mountain,
+      that from this elevated point the sound of their cataracts cannot be
+      heard. From that spot you can discern a considerable part of the island,
+      diversified by precipices and mountain peaks, and amongst others,
+      Peter-Booth, and the Three Breasts, with their valleys full of woods. You
+      also command an extensive view of the ocean, and can even perceive the
+      Isle of Bourbon, forty leagues to the westward. From the summit of that
+      stupendous pile of rocks Paul caught sight of the vessel which was bearing
+      away Virginia, and which now, ten leagues out at sea, appeared like a
+      black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a great part of the day
+      with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had disappeared, he still
+      fancied he beheld it; and when, at length, the traces which clung to his
+      imagination were lost in the mists of the horizon, he seated himself on
+      that wild point, forever beaten by the winds, which never cease to agitate
+      the tops of the cabbage and gum trees, and the hoarse and moaning murmurs
+      of which, similar to the distant sound of organs, inspire a profound
+      melancholy. On this spot I found him, his head reclined on the rock, and
+      his eyes fixed upon the ground. I had followed him from the earliest dawn,
+      and, after much importunity, I prevailed on him to descend from the
+      heights, and return to his family. I went home with him, where the first
+      impulse of his mind, on seeing Madame de la Tour, was to reproach her
+      bitterly for having deceived him. She told us that a favourable wind
+      having sprung up at three o'clock in the morning, and the vessel being
+      ready to sail, the governor, attended by some of his staff and the
+      missionary, had come with a palanquin to fetch her daughter; and that,
+      notwithstanding Virginia's objections, her own tears and entreaties, and
+      the lamentations of Margaret, every body exclaiming all the time that it
+      was for the general welfare, they had carried her away almost dying. "At
+      least," cried Paul, "if I had bid her farewell, I should now be more calm.
+      I would have said to her,&mdash;'Virginia, if, during the time we have
+      lived together, one word may have escaped me which has offended you,
+      before you leave me forever, tell me that you forgive me.' I would have
+      said to her,&mdash;'Since I am destined to see you no more, farewell, my
+      dear Virginia, farewell! Live far from me, contented and happy!'" When he
+      saw that his mother and Madame de la Tour were weeping,&mdash;"You must
+      now," said he, "seek some other hand to wipe away your tears;" and then,
+      rushing out of the house, and groaning aloud, he wandered up and down the
+      plantation. He hovered in particular about those spots which had been most
+      endeared to Virginia. He said to the goats, and their little ones, which
+      followed him, bleating,&mdash;"What do you want of me? You will see with
+      me no more her who used to feed you with her own hand." He went to the
+      bower called Virginia's Resting-place, and, as the birds flew around him,
+      exclaimed, "Poor birds! you will fly no more to meet her who cherished
+      you!"&mdash;and observing Fidele running backwards and forwards in search
+      of her, he heaved a deep sigh, and cried,&mdash;"Ah! you will never find
+      her again." At length he went and seated himself upon a rock where he had
+      conversed with her the preceding evening; and at the sight of the ocean
+      upon which he had seen the vessel disappear which had borne her away, his
+      heart overflowed with anguish, and he wept bitterly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We continually watched his movements, apprehensive of some fatal
+      consequence from the violent agitation of his mind. His mother and Madame
+      de la Tour conjured him, in the most tender manner, not to increase their
+      affliction by his despair. At length the latter soothed his mind by
+      lavishing upon him epithets calculated to awaken his hopes,&mdash;calling
+      him her son, her dear son, her son-in-law, whom she destined for her
+      daughter. She persuaded him to return home, and to take some food. He
+      seated himself next to the place which used to be occupied by the
+      companion of his childhood; and, as if she had still been present, he
+      spoke to her, and made as though he would offer her whatever he knew as
+      most agreeable to her taste: then, starting from this dream of fancy, he
+      began to weep. For some days he employed himself in gathering together
+      every thing which had belonged to Virginia, the last nosegays she had
+      worn, the cocoa-shell from which she used to drink; and after kissing a
+      thousand times these relics of his beloved, to him the most precious
+      treasures which the world contained, he hid them in his bosom. Amber does
+      not shed so sweet a perfume as the veriest trifles touched by those we
+      love. At length, perceiving that the indulgence of his grief increased
+      that of his mother and Madame de la Tour, and that the wants of the family
+      demanded continual labour, he began, with the assistance of Domingo, to
+      repair the damage done to the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But, soon after, this young man, hitherto indifferent as a Creole to every
+      thing that was passing in the world, begged of me to teach him to read and
+      write, in order that he might correspond with Virginia. He afterwards
+      wished to obtain a knowledge of geography, that he might form some idea of
+      the country where she would disembark; and of history, that he might know
+      something of the manners of the society in which she would be placed. The
+      powerful sentiment of love, which directed his present studies, had
+      already instructed him in agriculture, and in the art of laying out
+      grounds with advantage and beauty. It must be admitted, that to the fond
+      dreams of this restless and ardent passion, mankind are indebted for most
+      of the arts and sciences, while its disappointments have given birth to
+      philosophy, which teaches us to bear up under misfortune. Love, thus, the
+      general link of all beings, becomes the great spring of society, by
+      inciting us to knowledge as well as to pleasure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography, which, instead
+      of describing the natural history of each country, gave only a view of its
+      political divisions and boundaries. History, and especially modern
+      history, interested him little more. He there saw only general and
+      periodical evils, the causes of which he could not discover; wars without
+      either motive or reason; uninteresting intrigues; with nations destitute
+      of principle, and princes void of humanity. To this branch of reading he
+      preferred romances, which, being chiefly occupied by the feelings and
+      concerns of men, sometimes represented situations similar to his own.
+      Thus, no book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus, from the pictures
+      it draws of pastoral life, and of the passions which are most natural to
+      the human breast. He read aloud to his mother and Madame de la Tour, those
+      parts which affected him most sensibly; but sometimes, touched by the most
+      tender remembrances, his emotion would choke his utterance, and his eyes
+      be filled with tears. He fancied he had found in Virginia the dignity and
+      wisdom of Antiope, united to the misfortunes and the tenderness of
+      Eucharis. With very different sensations he perused our fashionable
+      novels, filled with licentious morals and maxims, and when he was informed
+      that these works drew a tolerably faithful picture of European society, he
+      trembled, and not without some appearance of reason, lest Virginia should
+      become corrupted by it, and forget him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      More than a year and a half, indeed, passed away before Madame de la Tour
+      received any tidings of her aunt or her daughter. During that period she
+      only accidently heard that Virginia had safely arrived in France. At
+      length, however, a vessel which stopped here on its way to the Indies
+      brought a packet to Madame de la Tour, and a letter written by Virginia's
+      own hand. Although this amiable and considerate girl had written in a
+      guarded manner that she might not wound her mother's feelings, it appeared
+      evident enough that she was unhappy. The letter painted so naturally her
+      situation and her character, that I have retained it almost word for word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "MY DEAR AND BELOVED MOTHER,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have already sent you several letters, written by my own hand, but
+      having received no answer, I am afraid they have not reached you. I have
+      better hopes for this, from the means I have now gained of sending you
+      tidings of myself, and of hearing from you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have shed many tears since our separation, I who never used to weep,
+      but for the misfortunes of others! My aunt was much astonished, when,
+      having, upon my arrival, inquired what accomplishments I possessed, I told
+      her that I could neither read nor write. She asked me what then I had
+      learnt, since I came into the world; and when I answered that I had been
+      taught to take care of the household affairs, and to obey your will, she
+      told me that I had received the education of a servant. The next day she
+      placed me as a boarder in a great abbey near Paris, where I have masters
+      of all kinds, who teach me, among other things, history, geography,
+      grammar, mathematics, and riding on horseback. But I have so little
+      capacity for all these sciences, that I fear I shall make but small
+      progress with my masters. I feel that I am a very poor creature, with very
+      little ability to learn what they teach. My aunt's kindness, however, does
+      not decrease. She gives me new dresses every season; and she had placed
+      two waiting women with me, who are dressed like fine ladies. She has made
+      me take the title of countess; but has obliged me to renounce the name of
+      LA TOUR, which is as dear to me as it is to you, from all you have told me
+      of the sufferings my father endured in order to marry you. She has given
+      me in place of your name that of your family, which is also dear to me,
+      because it was your name when a girl. Seeing myself in so splendid a
+      situation, I implored her to let me send you something to assist you. But
+      how shall I repeat her answer! Yet you have desired me always to tell you
+      the truth. She told me then that a little would be of no use to you, and
+      that a great deal would only encumber you in the simple life you led. As
+      you know I could not write, I endeavoured upon my arrival, to send you
+      tidings of myself by another hand; but, finding no person here in whom I
+      could place confidence, I applied night and day to learn to read and
+      write, and Heaven, who saw my motive for learning, no doubt assisted my
+      endeavours, for I succeeded in both in a short time. I entrusted my first
+      letters to some of the ladies here, who, I have reason to think, carried
+      them to my aunt. This time I have recourse to a boarder, who is my friend.
+      I send you her direction, by means of which I shall receive your answer.
+      My aunt has forbid me holding any correspondence whatever, with any one,
+      lest, she says, it should occasion an obstacle to the great views she has
+      for my advantage. No person is allowed to see me at the grate but herself,
+      and an old nobleman, one of her friends, who, she says is much pleased
+      with me. I am sure I am not at all so with him, nor should I, even if it
+      were possible for me to be pleased with any one at present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I live in all the splendour of affluence, and have not a sous at my
+      disposal. They say I might make an improper use of money. Even my clothes
+      belong to my femmes de chambre, who quarrel about them before I have left
+      them off. In the midst of riches I am poorer than when I lived with you;
+      for I have nothing to give away. When I found that the great
+      accomplishments they taught me would not procure me the power of doing the
+      smallest good, I had recourse to my needle, of which happily you had
+      taught me the use. I send several pairs of stockings of my own making for
+      you and my mamma Margaret, a cap for Domingo, and one of my red
+      handkerchiefs for Mary. I also send with this packet some kernels, and
+      seeds of various kinds of fruits which I gathered in the abbey park during
+      my hours of recreation. I have also sent a few seeds of violets, daisies,
+      buttercups, poppies and scabious, which I picked up in the fields. There
+      are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows of this country than in
+      ours, but nobody cares for them. I am sure that you and my mamma Margaret
+      will be better pleased with this bag of seeds, than you were with the bag
+      of piastres, which was the cause of our separation and of my tears. It
+      will give me great delight if you should one day see apple trees growing
+      by the side of our plantains, and elms blending their foliage with that of
+      our cocoa trees. You will fancy yourself in Normandy, which you love so
+      much.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You desired me to relate to you my joys and my griefs. I have no joys far
+      from you. As far as my griefs, I endeavour to soothe them by reflecting
+      that I am in the situation in which it was the will of God that you should
+      place me. But my greatest affliction is, that no one here speaks to me of
+      you, and that I cannot speak of you to any one. My femmes de chambre, or
+      rather those of my aunt, for they belong more to her than to me, told me
+      the other day, when I wished to turn the conversation upon the objects
+      most dear to me: 'Remember, mademoiselle, that you are a French woman, and
+      must forget that land of savages.' Ah! sooner will I forget myself, than
+      forget the spot on which I was born and where you dwell! It is this
+      country which is to me a land of savages, for I live alone, having no one
+      to whom I can impart those feelings of tenderness for you which I shall
+      bear with me to the grave. I am,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My dearest and beloved mother,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your affectionate and dutiful daughter,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "VIRGINIE DE LA TOUR."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo, who took so much care of
+      my infancy; caress Fidele for me, who found me in the wood."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul was astonished that Virginia had not said one word of him,&mdash;she,
+      who had not forgotten even the house-dog. But he was not aware that,
+      however long a woman's letter may be, she never fails to leave her dearest
+      sentiments for the end.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a postscript, Virginia particularly recommended to Paul's attention two
+      kinds of seed,&mdash;those of the violet and the scabious. She gave him
+      some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers, and the
+      spots most proper for their cultivation. "The violet," she said, "produces
+      a little flower of a dark purple colour, which delights to conceal itself
+      beneath the bushes; but it is soon discovered by its wide-spreading
+      perfume." She desired that these seeds might be sown by the border of the
+      fountain, at the foot of her cocoa-tree. "The scabious," she added,
+      "produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and a black ground spotted
+      with white. You might fancy it was in mourning; and for this reason it is
+      also called the widow's flower. It grows best in bleak spots, beaten by
+      the winds." She begged him to sow this upon the rock where she had spoken
+      to him at night for the last time, and that, in remembrance of her, he
+      would henceforth give it the name of the Rock of Adieus.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She had put these seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
+      exceedingly simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when he
+      saw on it a P and a V entwined together, and knew that the beautiful hair
+      which formed the cypher was the hair of Virginia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of this
+      amiable and virtuous girl. Her mother answered it in the name of the
+      little society, desiring her to remain or to return as she thought proper;
+      and assuring her, that happiness had left their dwelling since her
+      departure, and that, for herself, she was inconsolable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul also sent her a very long letter, in which he assured her that he
+      would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and mingle
+      together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa, as she had
+      blended their initials together in her work. He sent her some fruit from
+      the cocoa-trees of the fountain, now arrived at maturity telling her, that
+      he would not add any of the other productions of the island, that the
+      desire of seeing them again might hasten her return. He conjured her to
+      comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes of her family, and above
+      all, with his own, since he could never hereafter taste happiness away
+      from her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds, particularly the violet
+      and the scabious, the flowers of which seemed to bear some analogy to the
+      character and present situation of Virginia, by whom they had been so
+      especially recommended; but either they were dried up in the voyage, or
+      the climate of this part of the world is unfavourable to their growth, for
+      a very small number of them even came up, and not one arrived at full
+      perfection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime, envy, which ever comes to embitter human happiness,
+      particularly in the French colonies, spread some reports in the island
+      which gave Paul much uneasiness. The passengers in the vessel which
+      brought Virginia's letter, asserted that she was upon the point of being
+      married, and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was engaged. Some
+      even went so far as to declare that the union had already taken place, and
+      that they themselves had witnessed the ceremony. Paul at first despised
+      the report, brought by a merchant vessel, as he knew that they often
+      spread erroneous intelligence in their passage; but some of the
+      inhabitants of the island, with malignant pity, affecting to bewail the
+      event, he was soon led to attach some degree of belief to this cruel
+      intelligence. Besides, in some of the novels he had lately read, he had
+      seen that perfidy was treated as a subject of pleasantry; and knowing that
+      these books contained pretty faithful representations of European manners,
+      he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and had forgotten its
+      former engagements. Thus his new acquirements had already only served to
+      render him more miserable; and his apprehensions were much increased by
+      the circumstance, that though several ships touched here from Europe,
+      within the six months immediately following the arrival of her letter, not
+      one of them brought any tidings of Virginia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel agitation,
+      often came to visit me, in the hope of confirming or banishing his
+      uneasiness, by my experience of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from this point,
+      upon the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping Mountain:
+      there I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or slaves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After having enjoyed, and lost the rare felicity of living with a
+      congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is
+      doubtless that of solitude. Every man who has much cause of complaint
+      against his fellow-creatures seeks to be alone. It is also remarkable that
+      all those nations which have been brought to wretchedness by their
+      opinions, their manners, or their forms of government, have produced
+      numerous classes of citizens altogether devoted to solitude and celibacy.
+      Such were the Egyptians in their decline, and the Greeks of the Lower
+      Empire; and such in our days are the Indians, the Chinese, the modern
+      Greeks, the Italians, and the greater part of the eastern and southern
+      nations of Europe. Solitude, by removing men from the miseries which
+      follow in the train of social intercourse, brings them in some degree back
+      to the unsophisticated enjoyment of nature. In the midst of modern
+      society, broken up by innumerable prejudices, the mind is in a constant
+      turmoil of agitation. It is incessantly revolving in itself a thousand
+      tumultuous and contradictory opinions, by which the members of an
+      ambitious and miserable circle seek to raise themselves above each other.
+      But in solitude the soul lays aside the morbid illusions which troubled
+      her, and resumes the pure consciousness of herself, of nature, and of its
+      Author, as the muddy water of a torrent which has ravaged the plains,
+      coming to rest, and diffusing itself over some low grounds out of its
+      course, deposits there the slime it has taken up, and, resuming its wonted
+      transparency, reflects, with its own shores, the verdure of the earth and
+      the light of heaven. Thus does solitude recruit the powers of the body as
+      well as those of the mind. It is among hermits that are found the men who
+      carry human existence to its extreme limits; such are the Bramins of
+      India. In brief, I consider solitude so necessary to happiness, even in
+      the world itself, that it appears to me impossible to derive lasting
+      pleasure from any pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by any
+      pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by any stable principle, if
+      we do not create for ourselves a mental void, whence our own views rarely
+      emerge, and into which the opinions of others never enter. I do not mean
+      to say that man ought to live absolutely alone; he is connected by his
+      necessities with all mankind; his labours are due to man: and he owes
+      something too to the rest of nature. But, as God has given to each of us
+      organs perfectly adapted to the elements of the globe on which we live,&mdash;feet
+      for the soil, lungs for the air, eyes for the light, without the power of
+      changing the use of any of these faculties, he has reserved for himself,
+      as the Author of life, that which is its chief organ,&mdash;the heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thus passed my days far from mankind, whom I wished to serve, and by
+      whom I have been persecuted. After having travelled over many countries of
+      Europe, and some parts of America and Africa, I at length pitched my tent
+      in this thinly-peopled island, allured by its mild climate and its
+      solitudes. A cottage which I built in the woods, at the foot of a tree, a
+      little field which I cleared with my own hands, a river which glides
+      before my door, suffice for my wants and for my pleasures. I blend with
+      these enjoyments the perusal of some chosen books, which teach me to
+      become better. They make that world, which I have abandoned, still
+      contribute something to my happiness. They lay before me pictures of those
+      passions which render its inhabitants so miserable; and in the comparison
+      I am thus led to make between their lot and my own, I feel a kind of
+      negative enjoyment. Like a man saved from shipwreck, and thrown upon a
+      rock, I contemplate, from my solitude, the storms which rage through the
+      rest of the world; and my repose seems more profound from the distant
+      sound of the tempest. As men have ceased to fall in my way, I no longer
+      view them with aversion; I only pity them. If I sometimes fall in with an
+      unfortunate being, I try to help him by my counsels, as a passer-by on the
+      brink of a torrent extends his hand to save a wretch from drowning. But I
+      have hardly ever found any but the innocent attentive to my voice. Nature
+      calls the majority of men to her in vain. Each of them forms an image of
+      her for himself, and invests her with his own passions. He pursues during
+      the whole of his life this vain phantom, which leads him astray; and he
+      afterwards complains to Heaven of the misfortunes which he has thus
+      created for himself. Among the many children of misfortune whom I have
+      endeavoured to lead back to the enjoyments of nature, I have not found one
+      but was intoxicated with his own miseries. They have listened to me at
+      first with attention, in the hope that I could teach them how to acquire
+      glory or fortune, but when they found that I only wished to instruct them
+      how to dispense with these chimeras, their attention has been converted
+      into pity, because I did not prize their miserable happiness. They blamed
+      my solitary life; they alleged that they alone were useful to men, and
+      they endeavoured to draw me into their vortex. But if I communicate with
+      all, I lay myself open to none. It is often sufficient for me to serve as
+      a lesson to myself. In my present tranquillity, I pass in review the
+      agitating pursuits of my past life, to which I formerly attached so much
+      value,&mdash;patronage, fortune, reputation, pleasure, and the opinions
+      which are ever at strife over all the earth. I compare the men whom I have
+      seen disputing furiously over these vanities, and who are no more, to the
+      tiny waves of my rivulet, which break in foam against its rocky bed, and
+      disappear, never to return. As for me, I suffer myself to float calmly
+      down the stream of time to the shoreless ocean of futurity; while, in the
+      contemplation of the present harmony of nature, I elevate my soul towards
+      its supreme Author, and hope for a more happy lot in another state of
+      existence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although you cannot descry from my hermitage, situated in the midst of a
+      forest, that immense variety of objects which this elevated spot presents,
+      the grounds are disposed with peculiar beauty, at least to one who, like
+      me, prefers the seclusion of a home scene to great and extensive
+      prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in a straight line
+      across the woods, looking like a long canal shaded by all kinds of trees.
+      Among them are the gum tree, the ebony tree, and that which is here called
+      bois de pomme, with olive and cinnamon-wood trees; while in some parts the
+      cabbage-palm trees raise their naked stems more than a hundred feet high,
+      their summits crowned with a cluster of leaves, and towering above the
+      woods like one forest piled upon another. Lianas, of various foliage,
+      intertwining themselves among the trees, form, here, arcades of foliage,
+      there, long canopies of verdure. Most of these trees shed aromatic odours
+      so powerful, that the garments of a traveller, who has passed through the
+      forest, often retain for hours the most delicious fragrance. In the season
+      when they produce their lavish blossoms, they appear as if half-covered
+      with snow. Towards the end of summer, various kinds of foreign birds
+      hasten, impelled by some inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions on
+      the other side of immense oceans, to feed upon the grain and other
+      vegetable productions of the island; and the brilliancy of their plumage
+      forms a striking contrast to the more sombre tints of the foliage
+      embrowned by the sun. Among these are various kinds of parroquets, and the
+      blue pigeon, called here the pigeon of Holland. Monkeys, the domestic
+      inhabitants of our forests, sport upon the dark branches of the trees,
+      from which they are easily distinguished by their gray and greenish skin,
+      and their black visages. Some hang, suspended by the tail, and swing
+      themselves in air; others leap from branch to branch, bearing their young
+      in their arms. The murderous gun has never affrighted these peaceful
+      children of nature. You hear nothing but sounds of joy,&mdash;the
+      warblings and unknown notes of birds from the countries of the south,
+      repeated from a distance by the echoes of the forest. The river, which
+      pours, in foaming eddies, over a bed of rocks, through the midst of the
+      woods, reflects here and there upon its limpid waters their venerable
+      masses of verdure and of shade, along with the sports of their happy
+      inhabitants. About a thousand paces from thence it forms several cascades,
+      clear as crystal in their fall, but broken at the bottom into frothy
+      surges. Innumerable confused sounds issue from these watery tumults,
+      which, borne by the winds across the forest, now sink in distance, now all
+      at once swell out, booming on the ear like the bells of a cathedral. The
+      air, kept ever in motion by the running water, preserves upon the banks of
+      the river, amid all the summer heats, a freshness and verdure rarely found
+      in this island, even on the summits of the mountains.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At some distance from this place is a rock, placed far enough from the
+      cascade to prevent the ear from being deafened with the noise of its
+      waters, and sufficiently near for the enjoyment of seeing it, of feeling
+      its coolness, and hearing its gentle murmurs. Thither, amidst the heats of
+      summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia, Paul, and myself, sometimes
+      repaired, to dine beneath the shadow of this rock. Virginia, who always,
+      in her most ordinary actions, was mindful of the good of others, never ate
+      of any fruit in the fields without planting the seed or kernel in the
+      ground. "From this," said she, "trees will come, which will yield their
+      fruit to some traveller, or at least to some bird." One day, having eaten
+      of the papaw fruit at the foot of that rock, she planted the seeds on the
+      spot. Soon after, several papaw trees sprang up, among which was one with
+      female blossoms, that is to say, a fruit-bearing tree. This tree, at the
+      time of Virginia's departure, was scarcely as high as her knee; but, as it
+      is a plant of rapid growth, in the course of two years it had gained the
+      height of twenty feet, and the upper part of its stem was encircled by
+      several rows of ripe fruit. Paul, wandering accidentally to the spot, was
+      struck with delight at seeing this lofty tree, which had been planted by
+      his beloved; but the emotion was transient, and instantly gave place to a
+      deep melancholy, at this evidence of her long absence. The objects which
+      are habitually before us do not bring to our minds an adequate idea of the
+      rapidity of life; they decline insensibly with ourselves: but it is those
+      we behold again, that most powerfully impress us with a feeling of the
+      swiftness with which the tide of life flows on. Paul was no less
+      over-whelmed and affected at the sight of this great papaw tree, loaded
+      with fruit, than is the traveller when, after a long absence from his own
+      country, he finds his contemporaries no more, but their children, whom he
+      left at the breast, themselves now become fathers of families. Paul
+      sometimes thought of cutting down the tree, which recalled too sensibly
+      the distracting remembrance of Virginia's prolonged absence. At other
+      times, contemplating it as a monument of her benevolence, he kissed its
+      trunk, and apostrophized it in terms of the most passionate regret.
+      Indeed, I have myself gazed upon it with more emotion and more veneration
+      than upon the triumphal arches of Rome. May nature, which every day
+      destroys the monuments of kingly ambition, multiply in our forests those
+      which testify the beneficence of a poor young girl!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the foot of this papaw tree I was always sure to meet with Paul when he
+      came into our neighbourhood. One day, I found him there absorbed in
+      melancholy and a conversation took place between us, which I will relate
+      to you, if I do not weary you too much by my long digressions; they are
+      perhaps pardonable to my age and to my last friendships. I will relate it
+      to you in the form of a dialogue, that you may form some idea of the
+      natural good sense of this young man. You will easily distinguish the
+      speakers, from the character of his questions and of my answers.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;I am very unhappy. Mademoiselle de la Tour has now been
+      gone two years and eight months and a half. She is rich, and I am poor;
+      she has forgotten me. I have a great mind to follow her. I will go to
+      France; I will serve the king; I will make my fortune; and then
+      Mademoiselle de la Tour's aunt will bestow her niece upon me when I shall
+      have become a great lord.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;But, my dear friend, have not you told me that
+      you are not of noble birth?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;My mother has told me so; but, as for myself, I know
+      not what noble birth means. I never perceived that I had less than others,
+      or that others had more than I.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Obscure birth, in France, shuts every door of
+      access to great employments; nor can you even be received among any
+      distinguished body of men, if you labour under this disadvantage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;You have often told me that it was one source of the
+      greatness of France that her humblest subject might attain the highest
+      honours; and you have cited to me many instances of celebrated men who,
+      born in a mean condition, had conferred honour upon their country. It was
+      your wish, then, by concealing the truth to stimulate my ardour?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Never, my son, would I lower it. I told you the
+      truth with regard to the past; but now, every thing has undergone a great
+      change. Every thing in France is now to be obtained by interest alone;
+      every place and employment is now become as it were the patrimony of a
+      small number of families, or is divided among public bodies. The king is a
+      sun, and the nobles and great corporate bodies surround him like so many
+      clouds; it is almost impossible for any of his rays to reach you.
+      Formerly, under less exclusive administrations, such phenomena have been
+      seen. Then talents and merit showed themselves every where, as newly
+      cleared lands are always loaded with abundance. But great kings, who can
+      really form a just estimate of men, and choose them with judgment, are
+      rare. The ordinary race of monarchs allow themselves to be guided by the
+      nobles and people who surround them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But perhaps I shall find one of these nobles to protect
+      me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;To gain the protection of the great you must
+      lend yourself to their ambition, and administer to their pleasures. You
+      would never succeed; for, in addition to your obscure birth, you have too
+      much integrity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But I will perform such courageous actions, I will be
+      so faithful to my word, so exact in the performance of my duties, so
+      zealous and so constant in my friendships, that I will render myself
+      worthy to be adopted by some one of them. In the ancient histories, you
+      have made me read, I have seen many examples of such adoptions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Oh, my young friend! among the Greeks and
+      Romans, even in their decline, the nobles had some respect for virtue; but
+      out of all the immense number of men, sprung from the mass of the people,
+      in France, who have signalized themselves in every possible manner, I do
+      not recollect a single instance of one being adopted by any great family.
+      If it were not for our kings, virtue, in our country, would be eternally
+      condemned as plebeian. As I said before, the monarch sometimes, when he
+      perceives it, renders to it due honour; but in the present day, the
+      distinctions which should be bestowed on merit are generally to be
+      obtained by money alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;If I cannot find a nobleman to adopt me, I will seek to
+      please some public body. I will espouse its interests and its opinions: I
+      will make myself beloved by it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;You will act then like other men?&mdash;you will
+      renounce your conscience to obtain a fortune?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh no! I will never lend myself to any thing but the
+      truth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Instead of making yourself beloved, you would
+      become an object of dislike. Besides, public bodies have never taken much
+      interest in the discovery of truth. All opinions are nearly alike to
+      ambitious men, provided only that they themselves can gain their ends.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;How unfortunate I am! Every thing bars my progress. I
+      am condemned to pass my life in ignoble toil, far from Virginia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As he said this he sighed deeply.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Let God be your patron, and mankind the public
+      body you would serve. Be constantly attached to them both. Families,
+      corporations, nations and kings have, all of them, their prejudices and
+      their passions; it is often necessary to serve them by the practice of
+      vice: God and mankind at large require only the exercise of the virtues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But why do you wish to be distinguished from other men? It is hardly a
+      natural sentiment, for, if all men possessed it, every one would be at
+      constant strife with his neighbour. Be satisfied with fulfilling your duty
+      in the station in which Providence has placed you; be grateful for your
+      lot, which permits you to enjoy the blessing of a quiet conscience, and
+      which does not compel you, like the great, to let your happiness rest on
+      the opinion of the little, or, like the little, to cringe to the great, in
+      order to obtain the means of existence. You are now placed in a country
+      and a condition in which you are not reduced to deceive or flatter any
+      one, or debase yourself, as the greater part of those who seek their
+      fortune in Europe are obliged to do; in which the exercise of no virtue is
+      forbidden you; in which you may be, with impunity, good, sincere,
+      well-informed, patient, temperate, chaste, indulgent to others' faults,
+      pious and no shaft of ridicule be aimed at you to destroy your wisdom, as
+      yet only in its bud. Heaven has given you liberty, health, a good
+      conscience, and friends; kings themselves, whose favour you desire, are
+      not so happy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Ah! I only want to have Virginia with me: without her I
+      have nothing,&mdash;with her, I should possess all my desire. She alone is
+      to me birth, glory, and fortune. But, since her relations will only give
+      her to some one with a great name, I will study. By the aid of study and
+      of books, learning and celebrity are to be attained. I will become a man
+      of science: I will render my knowledge useful to the service of my
+      country, without injuring any one, or owning dependence on any one. I will
+      become celebrated, and my glory shall be achieved only by myself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;My son, talents are a gift yet more rare than
+      either birth or riches, and undoubtedly they are a greater good than
+      either, since they can never be taken away from us, and that they obtain
+      for us every where public esteem. But they may be said to be worth all
+      that they cost us. They are seldom acquired but by every species of
+      privation, by the possession of exquisite sensibility, which often
+      produces inward unhappiness, and which exposes us without to the malice
+      and persecutions of our contemporaries. The lawyer envies not, in France,
+      the glory of the soldier, nor does the soldier envy that of the naval
+      officer; but they will all oppose you, and bar your progress to
+      distinction, because your assumption of superior ability will wound the
+      self-love of them all. You say that you will do good to men; but
+      recollect, that he who makes the earth produce a single ear of corn more,
+      renders them a greater service than he who writes a book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh! she, then, who planted this papaw tree, has made a
+      more useful and more grateful present to the inhabitants of these forests
+      than if she had given them a whole library.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So saying, he threw his arms around the tree, and kissed it with
+      transport.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;The best of books,&mdash;that which preaches
+      nothing but equality, brotherly love, charity, and peace,&mdash;the
+      Gospel, has served as a pretext, during many centuries, for Europeans to
+      let loose all their fury. How many tyrannies, both public and private, are
+      still practised in its name on the face of the earth! After this, who will
+      dare to flatter himself that any thing he can write will be of service to
+      his fellow men? Remember the fate of most of the philosophers who have
+      preached to them wisdom. Homer, who clothes it in such noble verse, asked
+      for alms all his life. Socrates, whose conversation and example gave such
+      admirable lessons to the Athenians, was sentenced by them to be poisoned.
+      His sublime disciple, Plato was delivered over to slavery by the order of
+      the very prince who protected him; and, before them, Pythagoras, whose
+      humanity extended even to animals, was burned alive by the Crotoniates.
+      What do I say?&mdash;many even of these illustrious names have descended
+      to us disfigured by some traits of satire by which they became
+      characterized, human ingratitude taking pleasure in thus recognising them;
+      and if, in the crowd, the glory of some names is come down to us without
+      spot or blemish, we shall find that they who have borne them have lived
+      far from the society of their contemporaries; like those statues which are
+      found entire beneath the soil in Greece and Italy, and which, by being
+      hidden in the bosom of the earth, have escaped uninjured, from the fury of
+      the barbarians.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You see, then, that to acquire the glory which a turbulent literary career
+      can give you, you must not only be virtuous, but ready, if necessary, to
+      sacrifice life itself. But, after all, do not fancy that the great in
+      France trouble themselves about such glory as this. Little do they care
+      for literary men, whose knowledge brings them neither honours, nor power,
+      nor even admission at court. Persecution, it is true, is rarely practised
+      in this age, because it is habitually indifferent to every thing except
+      wealth and luxury; but knowledge and virtue no longer lead to distinction,
+      since every thing in the state is to be purchased with money. Formerly,
+      men of letters were certain of reward by some place in the church, the
+      magistracy, or the administration; now they are considered good for
+      nothing but to write books. But this fruit of their minds, little valued
+      by the world at large, is still worthy of its celestial origin. For these
+      books is reserved the privilege of shedding lustre on obscure virtue, of
+      consoling the unhappy, of enlightening nations, and of telling the truth
+      even to kings. This is, unquestionably, the most august commission with
+      which Heaven can honour a mortal upon this earth. Where is the author who
+      would not be consoled for the injustice or contempt of those who are the
+      dispensers of the ordinary gifts of fortune, when he reflects that his
+      work may pass from age to age, from nation to nation, opposing a barrier
+      to error and to tyranny; and that, from amidst the obscurity in which he
+      has lived, there will shine forth a glory which will efface that of the
+      common herd of monarchs, the monuments of whose deeds perish in oblivion,
+      notwithstanding the flatterers who erect and magnify them?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Ah! I am only covetous of glory to bestow it on
+      Virginia, and render her dear to the whole world. But can you, who know so
+      much, tell me whether we shall ever be married? I should like to be a very
+      learned man, if only for the sake of knowing what will come to pass.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Who would live, my son, if the future were
+      revealed to him?&mdash;when a single anticipated misfortune gives us so
+      much useless uneasiness&mdash;when the foreknowledge of one certain
+      calamity is enough to embitter every day that precedes it! It is better
+      not to pry too curiously, even into the things which surround us. Heaven,
+      which has given us the power of reflection to foresee our necessities,
+      gave us also those very necessities to set limits to its exercise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;You tell me that with money people in Europe acquire
+      dignities and honours. I will go, then, to enrich myself in Bengal, and
+      afterwards proceed to Paris, and marry Virginia. I will embark at once.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;What! would you leave her mother and yours?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Why, you yourself have advised my going to the Indies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Virginia was then here; but you are now the only
+      means of support both of her mother and of your own.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Virginia will assist them by means of her rich
+      relation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;The rich care little for those, from whom no
+      honour is reflected upon themselves in the world. Many of them have
+      relations much more to be pitied than Madame de la Tour, who, for want of
+      their assistance, sacrifice their liberty for bread, and pass their lives
+      immured within the walls of a convent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh, what a country is Europe! Virginia must come back
+      here. What need has she of a rich relation? She was so happy in these
+      huts; she looked so beautiful and so well dressed with a red handkerchief
+      or a few flowers around her head! Return, Virginia! leave your sumptuous
+      mansions and your grandeur, and come back to these rocks,&mdash;to the
+      shade of these woods and of our cocoa trees. Alas! you are perhaps even
+      now unhappy!"&mdash;and he began to shed tears. "My father," continued he,
+      "hide nothing from me; if you cannot tell me whether I shall marry
+      Virginia, tell me at least if she loves me still, surrounded as she is by
+      noblemen who speak to the king, and who go to see her."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Oh, my dear friend! I am sure, for many reasons,
+      that she loves you; but above all, because she is virtuous. At these words
+      he threw himself on my neck in a transport of joy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But do you think that the women of Europe are false, as
+      they are represented in the comedies and books which you have lent me?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Women are false in those countries where men are
+      tyrants. Violence always engenders a disposition to deceive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;In what way can men tyrannize over women?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;In giving them in marriage without consulting
+      their inclinations;&mdash;in uniting a young girl to an old man, or a
+      woman of sensibility to a frigid and indifferent husband.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Why not join together those who are suited to each
+      other,&mdash;the young to the young, and lovers to those they love?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Because few young men in France have property
+      enough to support them when they are married, and cannot acquire it till
+      the greater part of their life is passed. While young, they seduce the
+      wives of others, and when they are old, they cannot secure the affections
+      of their own. At first, they themselves are deceivers: and afterwards,
+      they are deceived in their turn. This is one of the reactions of that
+      eternal justice, by which the world is governed; an excess on one side is
+      sure to be balanced by one on the other. Thus, the greater part of
+      Europeans pass their lives in this twofold irregularity, which increases
+      everywhere in the same proportion that wealth is accumulated in the hands
+      of a few individuals. Society is like a garden, where shrubs cannot grow
+      if they are overshadowed by lofty trees; but there is this wide difference
+      between them,&mdash;that the beauty of a garden may result from the
+      admixture of a small number of forest trees, while the prosperity of a
+      state depends on the multitude and equality of its citizens, and not on a
+      small number of very rich men.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But where is the necessity of being rich in order to
+      marry?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;In order to pass through life in abundance,
+      without being obliged to work.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;But why not work? I am sure I work hard enough.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;In Europe, working with your hands is considered
+      a degradation; it is compared to the labour performed by a machine. The
+      occupation of cultivating the earth is the most despised of all. Even an
+      artisan is held in more estimation than a peasant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;What! do you mean to say that the art which furnishes
+      food for mankind is despised in Europe? I hardly understand you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Oh! it is impossible for a person educated
+      according to nature to form an idea of the depraved state of society. It
+      is easy to form a precise notion of order, but not of disorder. Beauty,
+      virtue, happiness, have all their defined proportions; deformity, vice,
+      and misery have none.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;The rich then are always very happy! They meet with no
+      obstacles to the fulfilment of their wishes, and they can lavish happiness
+      on those whom they love.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;Far from it, my son! They are, for the most part
+      satiated with pleasure, for this very reason,&mdash;that it costs them no
+      trouble. Have you never yourself experienced how much the pleasure of
+      repose is increased by fatigue; that of eating, by hunger; or that of
+      drinking, by thirst? The pleasure also of loving and being loved is only
+      to be acquired by innumerable privations and sacrifices. Wealth, by
+      anticipating all their necessities, deprives its possessors of all these
+      pleasures. To this ennui, consequent upon satiety, may also be added the
+      pride which springs from their opulence, and which is wounded by the most
+      trifling privation, when the greatest enjoyments have ceased to charm. The
+      perfume of a thousand roses gives pleasure but for a moment; but the pain
+      occasioned by a single thorn endures long after the infliction of the
+      wound. A single evil in the midst of their pleasures is to the rich like a
+      thorn among flowers; to the poor, on the contrary, one pleasure amidst all
+      their troubles is a flower among a wilderness of thorns; they have a most
+      lively enjoyment of it. The effect of every thing is increased by
+      contrast; nature has balanced all things. Which condition, after all, do
+      you consider preferable,&mdash;to have scarcely any thing to hope, and
+      every thing to fear, or to have every thing to hope and nothing to fear?
+      The former condition is that of the rich, the latter, that of the poor.
+      But either of these extremes is with difficulty supported by man, whose
+      happiness consists in a middle station of life, in union with virtue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;What do you understand by virtue?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>The Old Man.</i>&mdash;To you, my son, who support your family by your
+      labour, it need hardly be defined. Virtue consists in endeavouring to do
+      all the good we can to others, with an ultimate intention of pleasing God
+      alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <i>Paul.</i>&mdash;Oh! how virtuous, then, is Virginia! Virtue led her to
+      seek for riches, that she might practise benevolence. Virtue induced her
+      to quit this island, and virtue will bring her back to it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The idea of her speedy return firing the imagination of this young man,
+      all his anxieties suddenly vanished. Virginia, he was persuaded, had not
+      written, because she would soon arrive. It took so little time to come
+      from Europe with a fair wind! Then he enumerated the vessels which had
+      made this passage of four thousand five hundred leagues in less than three
+      months; and perhaps the vessel in which Virginia had embarked might not be
+      more than two. Ship-builders were now so ingenious, and sailors were so
+      expert! He then talked to me of the arrangements he intended to make for
+      her reception, of the new house he would build for her, and of the
+      pleasures and surprises which he would contrive for her every day, when
+      she was his wife. His wife! The idea filled him with ecstasy. "At least,
+      my dear father," said he, "you shall then do no more work than you please.
+      As Virginia will be rich, we shall have plenty of negroes, and they shall
+      work for you. You shall always live with us, and have no other care than
+      to amuse yourself and be happy;"&mdash;and, his heart throbbing with joy,
+      he flew to communicate these exquisite anticipations to his family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a short time, however, these enchanting hopes were succeeded by the
+      most cruel apprehensions. It is always the effect of violent passions to
+      throw the soul into opposite extremes. Paul returned the next day to my
+      dwelling, overwhelmed with melancholy, and said to me,&mdash;"I hear
+      nothing from Virginia. Had she left Europe she would have written me word
+      of her departure. Ah! the reports which I have heard concerning her are
+      but too well founded. Her aunt has married her to some great lord. She,
+      like others, has been undone by the love of riches. In those books which
+      paint women so well, virtue is treated but as a subject of romance. If
+      Virginia had been virtuous, she would never have forsaken her mother and
+      me. I do nothing but think of her, and she has forgotten me. I am
+      wretched, and she is diverting herself. The thought distracts me; I cannot
+      bear myself! Would to Heaven that war were declared in India! I would go
+      there and die."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My son," I answered, "that courage which prompts us to court death is but
+      the courage of a moment, and is often excited by the vain applause of men,
+      or by the hopes of posthumous renown. There is another description of
+      courage, rarer and more necessary, which enables us to support, without
+      witness and without applause, the vexations of life; this virtue is
+      patience. Relying for support, not upon the opinions of others, or the
+      impulse of the passions, but upon the will of God, patience is the courage
+      of virtue."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah!" cried he, "I am then without virtue! Every thing overwhelms me and
+      drives me to despair."&mdash;"Equal, constant, and invariable virtue," I
+      replied, "belongs not to man. In the midst of the many passions which
+      agitate us, our reason is disordered and obscured: but there is an
+      everburning lamp, at which we can rekindle its flame; and that is,
+      literature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Literature, my dear son, is the gift of Heaven, a ray of that wisdom by
+      which the universe is governed, and which man, inspired by a celestial
+      intelligence, has drawn down to earth. Like the rays of the sun, it
+      enlightens us, it rejoices us, it warms us with a heavenly flame, and
+      seems, in some sort, like the element of fire, to bend all nature to our
+      use. By its means we are enabled to bring around us all things, all
+      places, all men, and all times. It assists us to regulate our manners and
+      our life. By its aid, too, our passions are calmed, vice is suppressed,
+      and virtue encouraged by the memorable examples of great and good men
+      which it has handed down to us, and whose time-honoured images it ever
+      brings before our eyes. Literature is a daughter of Heaven who has
+      descended upon earth to soften and to charm away all the evils of the
+      human race. The greatest writers have ever appeared in the worst times,&mdash;in
+      times in which society can hardly be held together,&mdash;the times of
+      barbarism and every species of depravity. My son, literature has consoled
+      an infinite number of men more unhappy than yourself: Xenophon, banished
+      from his country after having saved to her ten thousand of her sons;
+      Scipio Africanus, wearied to death by the calumnies of the Romans;
+      Lucullus, tormented by their cabals; and Catinat, by the ingratitude of a
+      court. The Greeks, with their never-failing ingenuity, assigned to each of
+      the Muses a portion of the great circle of human intelligence for her
+      especial superintendence; we ought in the same manner, to give up to them
+      the regulation of our passions, to bring them under proper restraint.
+      Literature in this imaginative guise, would thus fulfil, in relation to
+      the powers of the soul, the same functions as the Hours, who yoked and
+      conducted the chariot of the Sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have recourse to your books, then, my son. The wise who have written
+      before our days are travellers who have preceded us in the paths of
+      misfortune, and who stretch out a friendly hand towards us, and invite us
+      to join in their society, when we are abandoned by every thing else. A
+      good book is a good friend."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah!" cried Paul, "I stood in no need of books when Virginia was here, and
+      she had studied as little as myself; but when she looked at me, and called
+      me her friend, I could not feel unhappy."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Undoubtedly," said I, "there is no friend so agreeable as a mistress by
+      whom we are beloved. There is, moreover, in woman a liveliness and gaiety,
+      which powerfully tend to dissipate the melancholy feelings of a man; her
+      presence drives away the dark phantoms of imagination produced by
+      over-reflection. Upon her countenance sit soft attraction and tender
+      confidence. What joy is not heightened when it is shared by her? What brow
+      is not unbent by her smiles? What anger can resist her tears? Virginia
+      will return with more philosophy than you, and will be quite surprised to
+      find the garden so unfinished;&mdash;she who could think of its
+      embellishments in spite of all the persecutions of her aunt, and when far
+      from her mother and from you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated the drooping spirits of
+      her lover, and he resumed his rural occupations, happy amidst his toils,
+      in the reflection that they would soon find a termination so dear to the
+      wishes of his heart.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One morning, at break of day, (it was the 24th of December, 1744,) Paul,
+      when he arose, perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain of
+      Discovery. This flag he knew to be the signal of a vessel descried at sea.
+      He instantly flew to the town to learn if this vessel brought any tidings
+      of Virginia, and waited there till the return of the pilot, who was gone,
+      according to custom, to board the ship. The pilot did not return till the
+      evening, when he brought the governor information that the signalled
+      vessel was the Saint-Geran, of seven hundred tons burthen, and commanded
+      by a captain of the name of Aubin; that she was now four leagues out at
+      sea, but would probably anchor at Port Louis the following afternoon, if
+      the wind became fair: at present there was a calm. The pilot then handed
+      to the governor a number of letters which the Saint-Geran had brought from
+      France, among which was one addressed to Madame de la Tour, in the
+      hand-writing of Virginia. Paul seized upon the letter, kissed it with
+      transport, and placing it in his bosom, flew to the plantation. No sooner
+      did he perceive from a distance the family, who were awaiting his return
+      upon the rock of Adieus than he waved the letter aloft in the air, without
+      being able to utter a word. No sooner was the seal broken, than they all
+      crowded round Madame de la Tour, to hear the letter read. Virginia
+      informed her mother that she had experienced much ill-usage from her aunt,
+      who, after having in vain urged her to a marriage against her inclination,
+      had disinherited her, and had sent her back at a time when she would
+      probably reach the Mauritius during the hurricane season. In vain, she
+      added, had she endeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she
+      owed to her mother, and to her early habits; she was treated as a romantic
+      girl, whose head had been turned by novels. She could now only think of
+      the joy of again seeing and embracing her beloved family, and would have
+      gratified her ardent desire at once, by landing in the pilot's boat, if
+      the captain had allowed her: but that he had objected, on account of the
+      distance, and of a heavy swell, which, notwithstanding the calm, reigned
+      in the open sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the letter was finished, the whole of the family, transported
+      with joy, repeatedly exclaimed, "Virginia is arrived!" and mistresses and
+      servants embraced each other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul,&mdash;"My
+      son, go and inform our neighbour of Virginia's arrival." Domingo
+      immediately lighted a torch of bois de ronde, and he and Paul bent their
+      way towards my dwelling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was about ten o'clock at night, and I was just going to extinguish my
+      lamp, and retire to rest, when I perceived, through the palisades round my
+      cottage, a light in the woods. Soon after, I heard the voice of Paul
+      calling me. I instantly arose, and had hardly dressed myself, when Paul,
+      almost beside himself, and panting for breath, sprang on my neck, crying,&mdash;"Come
+      along, come along. Virginia is arrived. Let us go to the port; the vessel
+      will anchor at break of day."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Scarcely had he uttered the words, when we set off. As we were passing
+      through the woods of the Sloping Mountain, and were already on the road
+      which leads from the Shaddock Grove to the port, I heard some one walking
+      behind us. It proved to be a negro, and he was advancing with hasty steps.
+      When he had reached us, I asked him whence he came, and whither he was
+      going with such expedition. He answered, "I come from that part of the
+      island called Golden Dust; and am sent to the port, to inform the governor
+      that a ship from France has anchored under the Isle of Amber. She is
+      firing guns of distress, for the sea is very rough." Having said this, the
+      man left us, and pursued his journey without any further delay.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I then said to Paul,&mdash;"Let us go towards the quarter of the Golden
+      Dust, and meet Virginia there. It is not more than three leagues from
+      hence." We accordingly bent our course towards the northern part of the
+      island. The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and was surrounded
+      by three large black circles. A frightful darkness shrouded the sky; but
+      the frequent flashes of lightning discovered to us long rows of thick and
+      gloomy clouds, hanging very low, and heaped together over the centre of
+      the island, being driven in with great rapidity from the ocean, although
+      not a breath of air was perceptible upon the land. As we walked along, we
+      thought we heard peals of thunder; but, on listening more attentively, we
+      perceived that it was the sound of cannon at a distance, repeated by the
+      echoes. These ominous sounds, joined to the tempestuous aspect of the
+      heavens, made me shudder. I had little doubt of their being signals of
+      distress from a ship in danger. In about half an hour the firing ceased,
+      and I found the silence still more appalling than the dismal sounds which
+      had preceded it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate to each
+      other our mutual apprehensions. At midnight, by great exertion, we arrived
+      at the sea shore, in that part of the island called Golden Dust. The
+      billows were breaking against the bench with a horrible noise, covering
+      the rocks and the strand with foam of a dazzling whiteness, blended with
+      sparks of fire. By these phosphoric gleams we distinguished,
+      notwithstanding the darkness, a number of fishing canoes, drawn up high
+      upon the beach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the entrance of a wood, a short distance from us, we saw a fire, round
+      which a party of the inhabitants were assembled. We repaired thither, in
+      order to rest ourselves till the morning. While we were seated near the
+      fire, one of the standers-by related, that late in the afternoon he had
+      seen a vessel in the open sea, driven towards the island by the currents;
+      that the night had hidden it from his view; and that two hours after
+      sunset he had heard the firing of signal guns of distress, but that the
+      surf was so high, that it was impossible to launch a boat to go off to
+      her; that a short time after, he thought he perceived the glimmering of
+      the watch-lights on board the vessel, which, he feared, by its having
+      approached so near the coast, had steered between the main land and the
+      little island of Amber, mistaking the latter for the Point of Endeavour,
+      near which vessels pass in order to gain Port Louis; and that, if this
+      were the case, which, however, he would not take upon himself to be
+      certain of, the ship, he thought, was in very great danger. Another
+      islander informed us, that he had frequently crossed the channel which
+      separates the isle of Amber from the coast, and had sounded it, that the
+      anchorage was very good, and that the ship would there lie as safely as in
+      the best harbour. "I would stake all I am worth upon it," said he, "and if
+      I were on board, I should sleep as sound as on shore." A third bystander
+      declared that it was impossible for the ship to enter that channel, which
+      was scarcely navigable for a boat. He was certain, he said, that he had
+      seen the vessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber; so that, if the wind
+      rose in the morning, she would either put to sea, or gain the harbour.
+      Other inhabitants gave different opinions upon this subject, which they
+      continued to discuss in the usual desultory manner of the indolent
+      Creoles. Paul and I observed a profound silence. We remained on this spot
+      till break of day, but the weather was too hazy to admit of our
+      distinguishing any object at sea, every thing being covered with fog. All
+      we could descry to seaward was a dark cloud, which they told us was the
+      isle of Amber, at the distance of a quarter of a league from the coast. On
+      this gloomy day we could only discern the point of land on which we were
+      standing, and the peaks of some inland mountains, which started out
+      occasionally from the midst of the clouds that hung around them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At about seven in the morning we heard the sound of drums in the woods: it
+      announced the approach of the governor, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, who
+      soon after arrived on horseback, at the head of a detachment of soldiers
+      armed with muskets, and a crowd of islanders and negroes. He drew up his
+      soldiers upon the beach, and ordered them to make a general discharge.
+      This was no sooner done, than we perceived a glimmering light upon the
+      water which was instantly followed by the report of a cannon. We judged
+      that the ship was at no great distance and all ran towards that part
+      whence the light and sound proceeded. We now discerned through the fog the
+      hull and yards of a large vessel. We were so near to her, that
+      notwithstanding the tumult of the waves, we could distinctly hear the
+      whistle of the boatswain, and the shouts of the sailors, who cried out
+      three times, VIVE LE ROI! this being the cry of the French in extreme
+      danger, as well as in exuberant joy;&mdash;as though they wished to call
+      their princes to their aid, or to testify to him that they are prepared to
+      lay down their lives in his service.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the Saint-Geran perceived that we were near enough to render
+      her assistance, she continued to fire guns regularly at intervals of three
+      minutes. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be lighted at
+      certain distances upon the strand, and sent to all the inhabitants of the
+      neighbourhood, in search of provisions, planks, cables, and empty barrels.
+      A number of people soon arrived, accompanied by their negroes loaded with
+      provisions and cordage, which they had brought from the plantations of
+      Golden Dust, from the district of La Flaque, and from the river of the Ram
+      part. One of the most aged of these planters, approaching the governor,
+      said to him,&mdash;"We have heard all night hollow noises in the mountain;
+      in the woods, the leaves of the trees are shaken, although there is no
+      wind; the sea-birds seek refuge upon the land: it is certain that all
+      these signs announce a hurricane." "Well, my friends," answered the
+      governor, "we are prepared for it, and no doubt the vessel is also."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. The
+      centre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while their
+      skirts were tinged with a copper-coloured hue. The air resounded with the
+      cries of the tropic-birds, petrels, frigate-birds, and innumerable other
+      sea-fowl, which notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere, were seen
+      coming from every point of the horizon, to seek for shelter in the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Towards nine in the morning we heard in the direction of the ocean the
+      most terrific noise, like the sound of thunder mingled with that of
+      torrents rushing down the steeps of lofty mountains. A general cry was
+      heard of, "There is the hurricane!" and the next moment a frightful gust
+      of wind dispelled the fog which covered the isle of Amber and its channel.
+      The Saint-Geran then presented herself to our view, her deck crowded with
+      people, her yards and topmasts lowered down, and her flag half-mast high,
+      moored by four cables at her bow and one at her stern. She had anchored
+      between the isle of Amber and the main land, inside the chain of reefs
+      which encircles the island, and which she had passed through in a place
+      where no vessel had ever passed before. She presented her head to the
+      waves that rolled in from the open sea, and as each billow rushed into the
+      narrow strait where she lay, her bow lifted to such a degree as to show
+      her keel; and at the same moment her stern, plunging into the water,
+      disappeared altogether from our sight, as if it were swallowed up by the
+      surges. In this position, driven by the winds and waves towards the shore,
+      it was equally impossible for her to return by the passage through which
+      she had made her way; or, by cutting her cables, to strand herself upon
+      the beach, from which she was separated by sandbanks and reefs of rocks.
+      Every billow which broke upon the coast advanced roaring to the bottom of
+      the bay, throwing up heaps of shingle to the distance of fifty feet upon
+      the land; then, rushing back, laid bare its sandy bed, from which it
+      rolled immense stones, with a hoarse and dismal noise. The sea, swelled by
+      the violence of the wind, rose higher every moment; and the whole channel
+      between this island and the isle of Amber was soon one vast sheet of white
+      foam, full of yawning pits of black and deep billows. Heaps of this foam,
+      more than six feet high, were piled up at the bottom of the bay; and the
+      winds which swept its surface carried masses of it over the steep
+      sea-bank, scattering it upon the land to the distance of half a league.
+      These innumerable white flakes, driven horizontally even to the very foot
+      of the mountains, looked like snow issuing from the bosom of the ocean.
+      The appearance of the horizon portended a lasting tempest; the sky and the
+      water seemed blended together. Thick masses of clouds, of a frightful
+      form, swept across the zenith with the swiftness of birds, while others
+      appeared motionless as rocks. Not a single spot of blue sky could be
+      discerned in the whole firmament; and a pale yellow gleam only lightened
+      up all the objects of the earth, the sea, and the skies.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the violent rolling of the ship, what we all dreaded happened at
+      last. The cables which held her bow were torn away: she then swung to a
+      single hawser, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the distance of
+      half a cable's length from the shore. A general cry of horror issued from
+      the spectators. Paul rushed forward to throw himself into the sea, when,
+      seizing him by the arm, "My son," I exclaimed, "would you perish?"&mdash;"Let
+      me go to save her," he cried, "or let me die!" Seeing that despair had
+      deprived him of reason, Domingo and I, in order to preserve him, fastened
+      a long cord around his waist, and held it fast by the end. Paul then
+      precipitated himself towards the Saint-Geran, now swimming, and now
+      walking upon the rocks. Sometimes he had hopes of reaching the vessel,
+      which the sea, by the reflux of its waves, had left almost dry, so that
+      you could have walked round it on foot; but suddenly the billows,
+      returning with fresh fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of water, which
+      then lifted it upright upon its keel. The breakers at the same moment
+      threw the unfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs bathed in blood,
+      his bosom wounded, and himself half dead. The moment he had recovered the
+      use of his senses, he arose, and returned with new ardour towards the
+      vessel, the parts of which now yawned asunder from the violent strokes of
+      the billows. The crew then, despairing of their safety, threw themselves
+      in crowds into the sea, upon yards, planks, hen-coops, tables, and
+      barrels. At this moment we beheld an object which wrung our hearts with
+      grief and pity; a young lady appeared in the stern-gallery of the
+      Saint-Geran, stretching out her arms towards him who was making so many
+      efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had discovered her lover by his
+      intrepidity. The sight of this amiable girl, exposed to such horrible
+      danger, filled us with unutterable despair. As for Virginia, with a firm
+      and dignified mien, she waved her hand, as if bidding us an eternal
+      farewell. All the sailors had flung themselves into the sea, except one,
+      who still remained upon the deck, and who was naked, and strong as
+      Hercules. This man approached Virginia with respect, and, kneeling at her
+      feet, attempted to force her to throw off her clothes; but she repulsed
+      him with modesty, and turned away her head. Then were heard redoubled
+      cries from the spectators, "Save her!&mdash;save her!&mdash;do not leave
+      her!" But at that moment a mountain billow, of enormous magnitude,
+      ingulfed itself between the isle of Amber and the coast, and menaced the
+      shattered vessel, towards which it rolled bellowing, with its black sides
+      and foaming head. At this terrible sight the sailor flung himself into the
+      sea; and Virginia, seeing death inevitable, crossed her hands upon her
+      breast, and raising upwards her serene and beauteous eyes, seemed an angel
+      prepared to take her flight to Heaven.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the relentless
+      billows. The surge threw some of the spectators, whom an impulse of
+      humanity had prompted to advance towards Virginia, far upon the beach, and
+      also the sailor who had endeavoured to save her life. This man, who had
+      escaped from almost certain death, kneeling on the sand, exclaimed,&mdash;"Oh,
+      my God! thou hast saved my life, but I would have given it willingly for
+      that excellent young lady, who had persevered in not undressing herself as
+      I had done." Domingo and I drew the unfortunate Paul to the ashore. He was
+      senseless, and blood was flowing from his mouth and ears. The governor
+      ordered him to be put into the hands of a surgeon, while we, on our part,
+      wandered along the beach, in hopes that the sea would throw up the corpse
+      of Virginia. But the wind having suddenly changed, as it frequently
+      happens during hurricanes, our search was in vain; and we had the grief of
+      thinking that we should not be able to bestow on this sweet and
+      unfortunate girl the last sad duties. We retired from the spot overwhelmed
+      with dismay, and our minds wholly occupied by one cruel loss, although
+      numbers had perished in the wreck. Some of the spectators seemed tempted,
+      from the fatal destiny of this virtuous girl, to doubt the existence of
+      Providence: for there are in life such terrible, such unmerited evils,
+      that even the hope of the wise is sometimes shaken.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the meantime Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to a
+      house in the neighbourhood, till he was in a fit state to be removed to
+      his own home. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, to discharge the
+      melancholy duty of preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the
+      disastrous event which had happened. When we had reached the entrance of
+      the valley of the river of Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that the
+      sea had thrown up many pieces of the wreck in the opposite bay. We
+      descended towards it and one of the first objects that struck my sight
+      upon the beach was the corpse of Virginia. The body was half covered with
+      sand, and preserved the attitude in which we had seen her perish. Her
+      features were not sensibly changed, her eyes were closed, and her
+      countenance was still serene; but the pale purple hues of death were
+      blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of her hands
+      was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on her heart,
+      was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with difficulty that I took
+      from its grasp a small box. How great was my emotion when I saw that it
+      contained the picture of Paul, which she had promised him never to part
+      with while she lived! As for Domingo, he beat his breast, and pierced the
+      air with his shrieks. With heavy hearts we then carried the body of
+      Virginia to a fisherman's hut, and gave it in charge of some poor Malabar
+      women, who carefully washed away the sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended the hill
+      with trembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la Tour and
+      Margaret at prayer; hourly expecting to have tidings from the ship. As
+      soon as Madame de la Tour saw me coming, she eagerly cried,&mdash;"Where
+      is my daughter&mdash;my dear daughter&mdash;my child?" My silence and my
+      tears apprised her of her misfortune. She was instantly seized with a
+      convulsive stopping of the breath and agonizing pains, and her voice was
+      only heard in sighs and groans. Margaret cried, "Where is my son? I do not
+      see my son!" and fainted. We ran to her assistance. In a short time she
+      recovered, and being assured that Paul was safe, and under the care of the
+      governor, she thought of nothing but of succouring her friend, who
+      recovered from one fainting fit only to fall into another. Madame de la
+      Tour passed the whole night in these cruel sufferings, and I became
+      convinced that there was no sorrow like that of a mother. When she
+      recovered her senses, she cast a fixed, unconscious look towards heaven.
+      In vain her friend and myself pressed her hands in ours: in vain we called
+      upon her by the most tender names; she appeared wholly insensible to these
+      testimonials of our affection, and no sound issued from her oppressed
+      bosom, but deep and hollow moans.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During the morning Paul was carried home in a palanquin. He had now
+      recovered the use of his reason, but was unable to utter a word. His
+      interview with his mother and Madame de la Tour, which I had dreaded,
+      produced a better effect than all my cares. A ray of consolation gleamed
+      on the countenances of the two unfortunate mothers. They pressed close to
+      him, clasped him in their arms, and kissed him: their tears, which excess
+      of anguish had till now dried up at the source, began to flow. Paul mixed
+      his tears with theirs; and nature having thus found relief, a long stupor
+      succeeded the convulsive pangs they had suffered, and afforded them a
+      lethargic repose, which was in truth, like that of death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse of
+      Virginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it was to be
+      transferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I immediately went down
+      to Port Louis, where I found a multitude assembled from all parts of the
+      island, in order to be present at the funeral solemnity, as if the isle
+      had lost that which was nearest and dearest to it. The vessels in the
+      harbour had their yards crossed, their flags half-mast, and fired guns at
+      long intervals. A body of grenadiers led the funeral procession, with
+      their muskets reversed, their muffled drums sending forth slow and dismal
+      sounds. Dejection was depicted in the countenance of these warriors, who
+      had so often braved death in battle without changing colour. Eight young
+      ladies of considerable families of the island, dressed in white, and
+      bearing palm-branches in their hands, carried the corpse of their amiable
+      companion, which was covered with flowers. They were followed by a chorus
+      of children, chanting hymns, and by the governor, his field officers, all
+      the principal inhabitants of the island, and an immense crowd of people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This imposing funeral solemnity had been ordered by the administration of
+      the country, which was desirous of doing honour to the virtues of
+      Virginia. But when the mournful procession arrived at the foot of this
+      mountain, within sight of those cottages of which she had been so long an
+      inmate and an ornament, diffusing happiness all around them, and which her
+      loss had now filled with despair, the funeral pomp was interrupted, the
+      hymns and anthems ceased, and the whole plain resounded with sighs and
+      lamentations. Numbers of young girls ran from the neighbouring
+      plantations, to touch the coffin of Virginia with their handkerchiefs, and
+      with chaplets and crowns of flowers, invoking her as a saint. Mothers
+      asked of heaven a child like Virginia; lovers, a heart as faithful; the
+      poor, as tender a friend; and the slaves as kind a mistress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the procession had reached the place of interment, some negresses of
+      Madagascar and Caffres of Mozambique placed a number of baskets of fruit
+      around the corpse, and hung pieces of stuff upon the adjoining trees,
+      according to the custom of their several countries. Some Indian women from
+      Bengal also, and from the coast of Malabar, brought cages full of small
+      birds, which they set at liberty upon her coffin. Thus deeply did the loss
+      of this amiable being affect the natives of different countries, and thus
+      was the ritual of various religions performed over the tomb of unfortunate
+      virtue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It became necessary to place guards round her grave, and to employ gentle
+      force in removing some of the daughters of the neighbouring villagers, who
+      endeavoured to throw themselves into it, saying that they had no longer
+      any consolation to hope for in this world, and that nothing remained for
+      them but to die with their benefactress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the western side of the church of the Shaddock Grove is a small copse
+      of bamboos, where, in returning from mass with her mother and Margaret,
+      Virginia loved to rest herself, seated by the side of him whom she then
+      called her brother. This was the spot selected for her interment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At his return from the funeral solemnity, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais came
+      up here, followed by part of his numerous retinue. He offered Madame de la
+      Tour and her friend all the assistance it was in his power to bestow.
+      After briefly expressing his indignation at the conduct of her unnatural
+      aunt, he advanced to Paul, and said every thing which he thought most
+      likely to soothe and console him. "Heaven is my witness," said he, "that I
+      wished to insure your happiness, and that of your family. My dear friend,
+      you must go to France; I will obtain a commission for you, and during your
+      absence I will take the same care of your mother as if she were my own."
+      He then offered him his hand; but Paul drew away and turned his head
+      aside, unable to bear his sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remained for some time at the plantation of my unfortunate friends, that
+      I might render to them and Paul those offices of friendship that were in
+      my power, and which might alleviate, though they could not heal the wounds
+      of calamity. At the end of three weeks Paul was able to walk; but his mind
+      seemed to droop in proportion as his body gathered strength. He was
+      insensible to every thing; his look was vacant; and when asked a question,
+      he made no reply. Madame de la Tour, who was dying said to him often,&mdash;"My
+      son, while I look at you, I think I see my dear Virginia." At the name of
+      Virginia he shuddered, and hastened away from her, notwithstanding the
+      entreaties of his mother, who begged him to come back to her friend. He
+      used to go alone into the garden, and seat himself at the foot of
+      Virginia's cocoa-tree, with his eyes fixed upon the fountain. The
+      governor's surgeon, who had shown the most humane attention to Paul and
+      the whole family, told us that in order to cure the deep melancholy which
+      had taken possession of his mind, we must allow him to do whatever he
+      pleased, without contradiction: this, he said, afforded the only chance of
+      overcoming the silence in which he persevered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I resolved to follow this advice. The first use which Paul made of his
+      returning strength was to absent himself from the plantation. Being
+      determined not to lose sight of him I set out immediately, and desired
+      Domingo to take some provisions and accompany us. The young man's strength
+      and spirits seemed renewed as he descended the mountain. He first took the
+      road to the Shaddock Grove, and when he was near the church, in the Alley
+      of Bamboos, he walked directly to the spot where he saw some earth fresh
+      turned up; kneeling down there, and raising his eyes to heaven, he offered
+      up a long prayer. This appeared to me a favourable symptom of the return
+      of his reason; since this mark of confidence in the Supreme Being showed
+      that his mind was beginning to resume its natural functions. Domingo and
+      I, following his example, fell upon our knees, and mingled our prayers
+      with his. When he arose, he bent his way, paying little attention to us,
+      towards the northern part of the island. As I knew that he was not only
+      ignorant of the spot where the body of Virginia had been deposited, but
+      even of the fact that it had been recovered from the waves, I asked him
+      why he had offered up his prayer at the foot of those bamboos. He
+      answered,&mdash;"We have been there so often."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He continued his course until we reached the borders of the forest, when
+      night came on. I set him the example of taking some nourishment, and
+      prevailed on him to do the same; and we slept upon the grass, at the foot
+      of a tree. The next day I thought he seemed disposed to retrace his steps;
+      for, after having gazed a considerable time from the plain upon the church
+      of the Shaddock Grove, with its long avenues of bamboos, he made a
+      movement as if to return home; but suddenly plunging into the forest, he
+      directed his course towards the north. I guessed what was his design, and
+      I endeavoured, but in vain, to dissuade him from it. About noon we arrived
+      at the quarter of Golden Dust. He rushed down to the sea-shore, opposite
+      to the spot where the Saint-Geran had been wrecked. At the sight of the
+      isle of Amber, and its channel, when smooth as a mirror, he exclaimed,&mdash;"Virginia!
+      oh my dear Virginia!" and fell senseless. Domingo and I carried him into
+      the woods, where we had some difficulty in recovering him. As soon as he
+      regained his senses, he wished to return to the sea-shore; but we conjured
+      him not to renew his own anguish and ours by such cruel remembrances, and
+      he took another direction. During a whole week he sought every spot where
+      he had once wandered with the companion of his childhood. He traced the
+      path by which she had gone to intercede for the slave of the Black River.
+      He gazed again upon the banks of the river of the Three Breasts, where she
+      had rested herself when unable to walk further, and upon that part of the
+      wood where they had lost their way. All the haunts, which recalled to his
+      memory the anxieties, the sports, the repasts, the benevolence of her he
+      loved,&mdash;the river of the Sloping Mountain, my house, the neighbouring
+      cascade, the papaw tree she had planted, the grassy fields in which she
+      loved to run, the openings of the forest where she used to sing, all in
+      succession called forth his tears; and those very echoes which had so
+      often resounded with their mutual shouts of joy, now repeated only these
+      accents of despair,&mdash;"Virginia! oh, my dear Virginia!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During this savage and wandering life, his eyes became sunk and hollow,
+      his skin assumed a yellow tint, and his health rapidly declined. Convinced
+      that our present sufferings are rendered more acute by the bitter
+      recollection of bygone pleasures, and that the passions gather strength in
+      solitude, I resolved to remove my unfortunate friend from those scenes
+      which recalled the remembrance of his loss, and to lead him to a more busy
+      part of the island. With this view, I conducted him to the inhabited part
+      of the elevated quarter of Williams, which he had never visited, and where
+      the busy pursuits of agriculture and commerce ever occasioned much bustle
+      and variety. Numbers of carpenters were employed in hewing down and
+      squaring trees, while others were sawing them into planks; carriages were
+      continually passing and repassing on the roads; numerous herds of oxen and
+      troops of horses were feeding on those wide-spread meadows, and the whole
+      country was dotted with the dwellings of man. On some spots the elevation
+      of the soil permitted the culture of many of the plants of Europe: the
+      yellow ears of ripe corn waved upon the plains; strawberry plants grew in
+      the openings of the woods, and the roads were bordered by hedges of
+      rose-trees. The freshness of the air, too, giving tension to the nerves,
+      was favourable to the health of Europeans. From those heights, situated
+      near the middle of the island, and surrounded by extensive forests,
+      neither the sea, nor Port Louis, nor the church of the Shaddock Grove, nor
+      any other object associated with the remembrance of Virginia could de
+      discerned. Even the mountains, which present various shapes on the side of
+      Port Louis, appear from hence like a long promontory, in a straight and
+      perpendicular line, from which arise lofty pyramids of rock, whose summits
+      are enveloped in the clouds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Conducting Paul to these scenes, I kept him continually in action, walking
+      with him in rain and sunshine, by day and by night. I sometimes wandered
+      with him into the depths of the forests, or led him over untilled grounds,
+      hoping that change of scene and fatigue might divert his mind from its
+      gloomy meditations. But the soul of a lover finds everywhere the traces of
+      the beloved object. Night and day, the calm of solitude and the tumult of
+      crowds, are to him the same; time itself, which casts the shade of
+      oblivion over so many other remembrances, in vain would tear that tender
+      and sacred recollection from the heart. The needle, when touched by the
+      loadstone, however it may have been moved from its position, is no sooner
+      left to repose, than it returns to the pole of its attraction. So, when I
+      inquired of Paul, as we wandered amidst the plains of Williams,&mdash;"Where
+      shall we now go?" he pointed to the north, and said, "Yonder are our
+      mountains; let us return home."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I now saw that all the means I took to divert him from his melancholy were
+      fruitless, and that no resource was left but an attempt to combat his
+      passion by the arguments which reason suggested I answered him,&mdash;"Yes,
+      there are the mountains where once dwelt your beloved Virginia; and here
+      is the picture you gave her, and which she held, when dying, to her heart&mdash;that
+      heart, which even in its last moments only beat for you." I then presented
+      to Paul the little portrait which he had given to Virginia on the borders
+      of the cocoa-tree fountain. At this sight a gloomy joy overspread his
+      countenance. He eagerly seized the picture with his feeble hands, and held
+      it to his lips. His oppressed bosom seemed ready to burst with emotion,
+      and his eyes were filled with tears which had no power to flow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My son," said I, "listen to one who is your friend, who was the friend of
+      Virginia, and who, in the bloom of your hopes, has often endeavoured to
+      fortify your mind against the unforeseen accidents of life. What do you
+      deplore with so much bitterness? Is it your own misfortunes, or those of
+      Virginia, which affect you so deeply?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your own misfortunes are indeed severe. You have lost the most amiable of
+      girls, who would have grown up to womanhood a pattern to her sex, one who
+      sacrificed her own interests to yours: who preferred you to all that
+      fortune could bestow, and considered you as the only recompense worthy of
+      her virtues.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But might not this very object, from whom you expected the purest
+      happiness, have proved to you a source of the most cruel distress? She had
+      returned poor and disinherited; all you could henceforth have partaken
+      with her was your labour. Rendered more delicate by her education, and
+      more courageous by her misfortunes, you might have beheld her every day
+      sinking beneath her efforts to share and lighten your fatigues. Had she
+      brought you children, they would only have served to increase her
+      anxieties and your own, from the difficulty of sustaining at once your
+      aged parents and your infant family.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very likely you will tell me that the governor would have helped you; but
+      how do you know that in a colony where governors are so frequently
+      changed, you would have had others like Monsieur de la Bourdonnais?&mdash;that
+      one might not have been sent destitute of good feeling and of morality?&mdash;that
+      your young wife, in order, to procure some miserable pittance, might not
+      have been obliged to seek his favour? Had she been weak you would have
+      been to be pitied; and if she had remained virtuous, you would have
+      continued poor: forced even to consider yourself fortunate if, on account
+      of the beauty and virtue of your wife, you had not to endure persecution
+      from those who had promised you protection.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It would have remained to you, you may say, to have enjoyed a pleasure
+      independent of fortune,&mdash;that of protecting a loved being, who, in
+      proportion to her own helplessness, had more attached herself to you. You
+      may fancy that your pains and sufferings would have served to endear you
+      to each other, and that your passion would have gathered strength from
+      your mutual misfortunes. Undoubtedly virtuous love does find consolation
+      even in such melancholy retrospects. But Virginia is no more; yet those
+      persons still live, whom, next to yourself, she held most dear; her
+      mother, and your own: your inconsolable affliction is bringing them both
+      to the grave. Place your happiness, as she did hers, in affording them
+      succour. My son, beneficence is the happiness of the virtuous: there is no
+      greater or more certain enjoyment on the earth. Schemes of pleasure,
+      repose, luxuries, wealth, and glory are not suited to man, weak,
+      wandering, and transitory as he is. See how rapidly one step towards the
+      acquisition of fortune has precipitated us all to the lowest abyss of
+      misery! You were opposed to it, it is true; but who would not have thought
+      that Virginia's voyage would terminate in her happiness and your own? an
+      invitation from a rich and aged relation, the advice of a wise governor,
+      the approbation of the whole colony, and the well-advised authority of her
+      confessor, decided the lot of Virginia. Thus do we run to our ruin,
+      deceived even by the prudence of those who watch over us: it would be
+      better, no doubt, not to believe them, nor even to listen to the voice or
+      lean on the hopes of a deceitful world. But all men,&mdash;those you see
+      occupied in these plains, those who go abroad to seek their fortunes, and
+      those in Europe who enjoy repose from the labours of others, are liable to
+      reverses! not one is secure from losing, at some period, all that he most
+      values,&mdash;greatness, wealth, wife, children, and friends. Most of
+      these would have their sorrow increased by the remembrance of their own
+      imprudence. But you have nothing with which you can reproach yourself. You
+      have been faithful in your love. In the bloom of youth, by not departing
+      from the dictates of nature, you evinced the wisdom of a sage. Your views
+      were just, because they were pure, simple, and disinterested. You had,
+      besides, on Virginia, sacred claims which nothing could countervail. You
+      have lost her: but it is neither your own imprudence, nor your avarice,
+      nor your false wisdom which has occasioned this misfortune, but the will
+      of God, who had employed the passions of others to snatch from you the
+      object of your love; God, from whom you derive everything, who knows what
+      is most fitting for you, and whose wisdom has not left you any cause for
+      the repentance and despair which succeed the calamities that are brought
+      upon us by ourselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Vainly, in your misfortunes, do you say to yourself, 'I have not deserved
+      them.' Is it then the calamity of Virginia&mdash;her death and her present
+      condition that you deplore? She has undergone the fate allotted to all,&mdash;to
+      high birth, to beauty, and even to empires themselves. The life of man,
+      with all his projects, may be compared to a tower, at whose summit is
+      death. When your Virginia was born, she was condemned to die; happily for
+      herself, she is released from life before losing her mother, or yours, or
+      you; saved, thus from undergoing pangs worse than those of death itself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Learn then, my son, that death is a benefit to all men: it is the night
+      of that restless day we call by the name of life. The diseases, the
+      griefs, the vexations, and the fears, which perpetually embitter our life
+      as long as we possess it, molest us no more in the sleep of death. If you
+      inquire into the history of those men who appear to have been the
+      happiest, you will find that they have bought their apparent felicity very
+      dear; public consideration, perhaps, by domestic evils; fortune, by the
+      loss of health; the rare happiness of being loved, by continual
+      sacrifices; and often, at the expiration of a life devoted to the good of
+      others, they see themselves surrounded only by false friends, and
+      ungrateful relations. But Virginia was happy to her very last moment. When
+      with us, she was happy in partaking of the gifts of nature; when far from
+      us, she found enjoyment in the practice of virtue; and even at the
+      terrible moment in which we saw her perish, she still had cause for
+      self-gratulation. For, whether she cast her eyes on the assembled colony,
+      made miserable by her expected loss, or on you, my son, who, with so much
+      intrepidity, were endeavouring to save her, she must have seen how dear
+      she was to all. Her mind was fortified against the future by the
+      remembrance of her innocent life; and at that moment she received the
+      reward which Heaven reserves for virtue,&mdash;a courage superior to
+      danger. She met death with a serene countenance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My son! God gives all the trials of life to virtue, in order to show that
+      virtue alone can support them, and even find in them happiness and glory.
+      When he designs for it an illustrious reputation, he exhibits it on a wide
+      theatre, and contending with death. Then does the courage of virtue shine
+      forth as an example, and the misfortunes to which it has been exposed
+      receive for ever, from posterity, the tribute of their tears. This is the
+      immortal monument reserved for virtue in a world where every thing else
+      passes away, and where the names, even of the greater number of kings
+      themselves, are soon buried in eternal oblivion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Meanwhile Virginia still exists. My son, you see that every thing changes
+      on this earth, but that nothing is ever lost. No art of man can annihilate
+      the smallest particle of matter; can, then, that which has possessed
+      reason, sensibility, affection, virtue, and religion be supposed capable
+      of destruction, when the very elements with which it is clothed are
+      imperishable? Ah! however happy Virginia may have been with us, she is now
+      much more so. There is a God, my son; it is unnecessary for me to prove it
+      to you, for the voice of all nature loudly proclaims it. The wickedness of
+      mankind leads them to deny the existence of a Being, whose justice they
+      fear. But your mind is fully convinced of his existence, while his works
+      are ever before your eyes. Do you then believe that he would leave
+      Virginia without recompense? Do you think that the same Power which
+      inclosed her noble soul in a form so beautiful,&mdash;so like an emanation
+      from itself, could not have saved her from the waves?&mdash;that he who
+      has ordained the happiness of man here, by laws unknown to you, cannot
+      prepare a still higher degree of felicity for Virginia by other laws, of
+      which you are equally ignorant? Before we were born into this world, could
+      we, do you imagine, even if we were capable of thinking at all, have
+      formed any idea of our existence here? And now that we are in the middle
+      of this gloomy and transitory life, can we foresee what is beyond the
+      tomb, or in what manner we shall be emancipated from it? Does God, like
+      man, need this little globe, the earth, as a theatre for the display of
+      his intelligence and his goodness?&mdash;and can he only dispose of human
+      life in the territory of death? There is not, in the entire ocean, a
+      single drop of water which is not peopled with living beings appertaining
+      to man: and does there exist nothing for him in the heavens above his
+      head? What! is there no supreme intelligence, no divine goodness, except
+      on this little spot where we are placed? In those innumerable glowing
+      fires,&mdash;in those infinite fields of light which surround them, and
+      which neither storms nor darkness can extinguish, is there nothing but
+      empty space and an eternal void? If we, weak and ignorant as we are, might
+      dare to assign limits to that Power from whom we have received every
+      thing, we might possibly imagine that we were placed on the very confines
+      of his empire, where life is perpetually struggling with death, and
+      innocence for ever in danger from the power of tyranny!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Somewhere, then, without doubt, there is another world, where virtue will
+      receive its reward. Virginia is now happy. Ah! if from the abode of angels
+      she could hold communication with you, she would tell you, as she did when
+      she bade you her last adieus,&mdash;'O, Paul! life is but a scene of
+      trial. I have been obedient to the laws of nature, love, and virtue. I
+      crossed the seas to obey the will of my relations; I sacrificed wealth in
+      order to keep my faith; and I preferred the loss of life to disobeying the
+      dictates of modesty. Heaven found that I had fulfilled my duties, and has
+      snatched me for ever from all the miseries I might have endured myself,
+      and all I might have felt for the miseries of others. I am placed far
+      above the reach of all human evils, and you pity me! I am become pure and
+      unchangeable as a particle of light, and you would recall me to the
+      darkness of human life! O, Paul! O, my beloved friend! recollect those
+      days of happiness, when in the morning we felt the delightful sensations
+      excited by the unfolding beauties of nature; when we seemed to rise with
+      the sun to the peaks of those rocks, and then to spread with his rays over
+      the bosom of the forests. We experienced a delight, the cause of which we
+      could not comprehend. In the innocence of our desires, we wished to be all
+      sight, to enjoy the rich colours of the early dawn; all smell, to taste a
+      thousand perfumes at once; all hearing, to listen to the singing of our
+      birds; and all heart, to be capable of gratitude for those mingled
+      blessings. Now, at the source of the beauty whence flows all that is
+      delightful upon earth, my soul intuitively sees, hears, touches, what
+      before she could only be made sensible of through the medium of our weak
+      organs. Ah! what language can describe these shores of eternal bliss,
+      which I inhabit for ever! All that infinite power and heavenly goodness
+      could create to console the unhappy: all that the friendship of numberless
+      beings, exulting in the same felicity can impart, we enjoy in unmixed
+      perfection. Support, then, the trial which is now allotted to you, that
+      you may heighten the happiness of your Virginia by love which will know no
+      termination,&mdash;by a union which will be eternal. There I will calm
+      your regrets, I will wipe away your tears. Oh, my beloved friend! my
+      youthful husband! raise your thoughts towards the infinite, to enable you
+      to support the evils of a moment.'"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My own emotion choked my utterance. Paul, looking at me steadfastly,
+      cried,&mdash;"She is no more! she is no more!" and a long fainting fit
+      succeeded these words of woe. When restored to himself, he said, "Since
+      death is good, and since Virginia is happy, I will die too, and be united
+      to Virginia." Thus the motives of consolation I had offered, only served
+      to nourish his despair. I was in the situation of a man who attempts to
+      save a friend sinking in the midst of a flood, and who obstinately refuses
+      to swim. Sorrow had completely overwhelmed his soul. Alas! the trials of
+      early years prepare man for the afflictions of after-life; but Paul had
+      never experienced any.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I took him back to his own dwelling, where I found his mother and Madame
+      de la Tour in a state of increased languor and exhaustion, but Margaret
+      seemed to droop the most. Lively characters, upon whom petty troubles have
+      but little effect, sink the soonest under great calamities.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "O my good friend," said Margaret, "I thought last night I saw Virginia,
+      dressed in white, in the midst of groves and delicious gardens. She said
+      to me, 'I enjoy the most perfect happiness:' and then approaching Paul
+      with a smiling air, she bore him away with her. While I was struggling to
+      retain my son, I felt that I myself too was quitting the earth, and that I
+      followed with inexpressible delight. I then wished to bid my friend
+      farewell, when I saw that she was hastening after me, accompanied by Mary
+      and Domingo. But the strangest circumstance remains yet to be told; Madame
+      de la Tour has this very night had a dream exactly like mine in every
+      possible respect."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My dear friend," I replied, "nothing, I firmly believe, happens in this
+      world without the permission of God. Future events, too, are sometimes
+      revealed in dreams."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Madame de la Tour then related to me her dream which was exactly the same
+      as Margaret's in every particular; and as I had never observed in either
+      of these ladies any propensity to superstition, I was struck with the
+      singular coincidence of their dreams, and I felt convinced that they would
+      soon be realized. The belief that future events are sometimes revealed to
+      us during sleep, is one that is widely diffused among the nations of the
+      earth. The greatest men of antiquity have had faith in it; among whom may
+      be mentioned Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, the Scipios, the two
+      Catos, and Brutus, none of whom were weak-minded persons. Both the Old and
+      the New Testament furnish us with numerous instances of dreams that came
+      to pass. As for myself, I need only, on this subject, appeal to my
+      experience, as I have more than once had good reason to believe that
+      superior intelligences, who interest themselves in our welfare,
+      communicate with us in these visions of the night. Things which surpass
+      the light of human reason cannot be proved by arguments derived from that
+      reason; but still, if the mind of man is an image of that of God, since
+      man can make known his will to the ends of the earth by secret missives,
+      may not the Supreme Intelligence which governs the universe employ similar
+      means to attain a like end? One friend consoles another by a letter,
+      which, after passing through many kingdoms, and being in the hands of
+      various individuals at enmity with each other, brings at last joy and hope
+      to the breast of a single human being. May not in like manner the
+      Sovereign Protector of innocence come in some secret way, to the help of a
+      virtuous soul, which puts its trust in Him alone? Has He occasion to
+      employ visible means to effect His purpose in this, whose ways are hidden
+      in all His ordinary works?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Why should we doubt the evidence of dreams? for what is our life, occupied
+      as it is with vain and fleeting imaginations, other than a prolonged
+      vision of the night?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Whatever may be thought of this in general, on the present occasion the
+      dreams of my friends were soon realized. Paul expired two months after the
+      death of his Virginia, whose name dwelt on his lips in his expiring
+      moments. About a week after the death of her son, Margaret saw her last
+      hour approach with that serenity which virtue only can feel. She bade
+      Madame de la Tour a most tender farewell, "in the certain hope," she said,
+      "of a delightful and eternal re-union. Death is the greatest of blessings
+      to us," added she, "and we ought to desire it. If life be a punishment, we
+      should wish for its termination; if it be a trial, we should be thankful
+      that it is short."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The governor took care of Domingo and Mary, who were no longer able to
+      labour, and who survived their mistresses but a short time. As for poor
+      Fidele, he pined to death, soon after he had lost his master.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I afforded an asylum in my dwelling to Madame de la Tour, who bore up
+      under her calamities with incredible elevation of mind. She had
+      endeavoured to console Paul and Margaret till their last moments, as if
+      she herself had no misfortunes of her own to bear. When they were not
+      more, she used to talk to me every day of them as of beloved friends, who
+      were still living near her. She survived them however, but one month. Far
+      from reproaching her aunt for the afflictions she had caused, her benign
+      spirit prayed to God to pardon her, and to appease that remorse which we
+      heard began to torment her, as soon as she had sent Virginia away with so
+      much inhumanity.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Conscience, that certain punishment of the guilty, visited with all its
+      terrors the mind of this unnatural relation. So great was her torment,
+      that life and death became equally insupportable to her. Sometimes she
+      reproached herself with the untimely fate of her lovely niece, and with
+      the death of her mother, which had immediately followed it. At other times
+      she congratulated herself for having repulsed far from her two wretched
+      creatures, who, she said, had both dishonoured their family by their
+      grovelling inclinations. Sometimes, at the sight of the many miserable
+      objects with which Paris abounds, she would fly into a rage, and exclaim,&mdash;"Why
+      are not these idle people sent off to the colonies?" As for the notions of
+      humanity, virtue and religion, adopted by all nations, she said, they were
+      only the inventions of their rulers, to serve political purposes. Then,
+      flying all at once to the other extreme, she abandoned herself to
+      superstitious terrors, which filled her with mortal fears. She would then
+      give abundant alms to the wealthy ecclesiastics who governed her,
+      beseeching them to appease the wrath of God by the sacrifice of her
+      fortune,&mdash;as if the offering to Him of the wealth she had withheld
+      from the miserable could please her Heavenly Father! In her imagination
+      she often beheld fields of fire, with burning mountains, wherein hideous
+      spectres wandered about, loudly calling on her by name. She threw herself
+      at her confessor's feet, imagining every description of agony and torture;
+      for Heaven&mdash;just Heaven, always sends to the cruel the most frightful
+      views of religion and a future state.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Atheist, thus, and fanatic in turn, holding both life and death in equal
+      horror, she lived on for several years. But what completed the torments of
+      her miserable existence, was that very object to which she had sacrificed
+      every natural affection. She was deeply annoyed at perceiving that her
+      fortune must go, at her death, to relations whom she hated, and she
+      determined to alienate as much of it as she could. They, however, taking
+      advantage of her frequent attacks of low spirits, caused her to be
+      secluded as a lunatic, and her affairs to be put into the hands of
+      trustees. Her wealth, thus completed her ruin; and, as the possession of
+      it had hardened her own heart, so did its anticipation corrupt the hearts
+      of those who coveted it from her. At length she died; and, to crown her
+      misery, she retained enough reason at last to be sensible that she was
+      plundered and despised by the very persons whose opinions had been her
+      rule of conduct during her whole life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the same spot, and at the foot of the same shrubs as his Virginia, was
+      deposited the body of Paul; and round about them lie the remains of their
+      tender mothers and their faithful servants. No marble marks the spot of
+      their humble graves, no inscription records their virtues; but their
+      memory is engraven upon the hearts of those whom they have befriended, in
+      indelible characters. Their spirits have no need of the pomp, which they
+      shunned during their life; but if they still take an interest in what
+      passes upon earth, they no doubt love to wander beneath the roofs of these
+      humble dwellings, inhabited by industrious virtue, to console poverty
+      discontented with its lot, to cherish in the hearts of lovers the sacred
+      flame of fidelity, and to inspire a taste for the blessings of nature, a
+      love of honest labour, and a dread of the allurements of riches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The voice of the people, which is often silent with regard to the
+      monuments raised to kings, has given to some parts of this island names
+      which will immortalize the loss of Virginia. Near the isle of Amber, in
+      the midst of sandbanks, is a spot called The Pass of the Saint-Geran, from
+      the name of the vessel which was there lost. The extremity of that point
+      of land which you see yonder, three leagues off, half covered with water,
+      and which the Saint-Geran could not double the night before the hurricane,
+      is called the Cape of Misfortune; and before us, at the end of the valley,
+      is the Bay of the Tomb, where Virginia was found buried in the sand; as if
+      the waves had sought to restore her corpse to her family, that they might
+      render it the last sad duties on those shores where so many years of her
+      innocent life had been passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joined thus in death, ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united!
+      unfortunate mothers! beloved family! these woods which sheltered you with
+      their foliage,&mdash;these fountains which flowed for you,&mdash;these
+      hill-sides upon which you reposed, still deplore your loss! No one has
+      since presumed to cultivate that desolate spot of land, or to rebuild
+      those humble cottages. Your goats are become wild: your orchards are
+      destroyed; your birds are all fled, and nothing is heard but the cry of
+      the sparrow-hawk, as it skims in quest of prey around this rocky basin. As
+      for myself, since I have ceased to behold you, I have felt friendless and
+      alone, like a father bereft of his children, or a traveller who wanders by
+      himself over the face of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Ending with these words, the good old man retired, bathed in tears; and my
+      own, too, had flowed more than once during this melancholy recital.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
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+Project Gutenberg's Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Paul and Virginia
+
+Author: Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+Release Date: March 25, 2006 [EBook #2127]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL AND VIRGINIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Dagny and John Bickers
+
+
+
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+
+by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+
+With A Memoir Of The Author
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+In introducing to the Public the present edition of this well known
+and affecting Tale,--the _chef d'oeuvre_ of its gifted author, the
+Publishers take occasion to say, that it affords them no little
+gratification, to apprise the numerous admirers of "Paul and Virginia,"
+that the _entire_ work of St. Pierre is now presented to them. All the
+previous editions have been disfigured by interpolations, and mutilated
+by numerous omissions and alterations, which have had the effect of
+reducing it from the rank of a Philosophical Tale, to the level of a
+mere story for children.
+
+Of the merits of "Paul and Virginia," it is hardly necessary to utter
+a word; it tells its own story eloquently and impressively, and in a
+language simple, natural and true, it touches the common heart of the
+world. There are but few works that have obtained a greater degree
+of popularity, none are more deserving it; and the Publishers cannot
+therefore refrain from expressing a hope that their efforts in thus
+giving a faithful transcript of the work,--an acknowledged classic by
+the European world,--may be, in some degree, instrumental in awakening
+here, at home, a taste for those higher works of Fancy, which, while
+they seek to elevate and strengthen the understanding, instruct and
+purify the heart. It is in this character that the Tale of "Paul and
+Virginia" ranks pre-eminent. [Prepared from an edition published by
+Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, U.S.A.]
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE
+
+Love of Nature, that strong feeling of enthusiasm which leads to
+profound admiration of the whole works of creation, belongs, it may be
+presumed, to a certain peculiarity of organization, and has, no doubt,
+existed in different individuals from the beginning of the world. The
+old poets and philosophers, romance writers, and troubadours, had all
+looked upon Nature with observing and admiring eyes. They have most of
+them given incidentally charming pictures of spring, of the setting sun,
+of particular spots, and of favourite flowers.
+
+There are few writers of note, of any country, or of any age, from
+whom quotations might not be made in proof of the love with which
+they regarded Nature. And this remark applies as much to religious and
+philosophic writers as to poets,--equally to Plato, St. Francois de
+Sales, Bacon, and Fenelon, as to Shakespeare, Racine, Calderon, or
+Burns; for from no really philosophic or religious doctrine can the love
+of the works of Nature be excluded.
+
+But before the days of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Buffon, and Bernardin
+de St. Pierre, this love of Nature had not been expressed in all its
+intensity. Until their day, it had not been written on exclusively.
+The lovers of Nature were not, till then, as they may perhaps since be
+considered, a sect apart. Though perfectly sincere in all the adorations
+they offered, they were less entirely, and certainly less diligently and
+constantly, her adorers.
+
+It is the great praise of Bernardin de St. Pierre, that coming
+immediately after Rousseau and Buffon, and being one of the most
+proficient writers of the same school, he was in no degree their
+imitator, but perfectly original and new. He intuitively perceived the
+immensity of the subject he intended to explore, and has told us that
+no day of his life passed without his collecting some valuable materials
+for his writings. In the divine works of Nature, he diligently sought
+to discover her laws. It was his early intention not to begin to write
+until he had ceased to observe; but he found observation endless, and
+that he was "like a child who with a shell digs a hole in the sand to
+receive the waters of the ocean." He elsewhere humbly says, that not
+only the general history of Nature, but even that of the smallest plant,
+was far beyond his ability. Before, however, speaking further of him as
+an author, it will be necessary to recapitulate the chief events of his
+life.
+
+HENRI-JACQUES BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE, was born at Havre in 1737. He
+always considered himself descended from that Eustache de St. Pierre,
+who is said by Froissart, (and I believe by Froissart only), to have so
+generously offered himself as a victim to appease the wrath of Edward
+the Third against Calais. He, with his companions in virtue, it is also
+said, was saved by the intercession of Queen Philippa. In one of his
+smaller works, Bernardin asserts this descent, and it was certainly one
+of which he might be proud. Many anecdotes are related of his childhood,
+indicative of the youthful author,--of his strong love of Nature, and
+his humanity to animals.
+
+That "the child is the father of the man," has been seldom more strongly
+illustrated. There is a story of a cat, which, when related by him many
+years afterwards to Rousseau, caused that philosopher to shed tears. At
+eight years of age, he took the greatest pleasure in the regular culture
+of his garden; and possibly then stored up some of the ideas which
+afterwards appeared in the "Fraisier." His sympathy with all living
+things was extreme.
+
+In "Paul and Virginia," he praises, with evident satisfaction, their
+meal of milk and eggs, which had not cost any animal its life. It has
+been remarked, and possibly with truth, that every tenderly disposed
+heart, deeply imbued with a love of Nature, is at times somewhat
+Braminical. St. Pierre's certainly was.
+
+When quite young, he advanced with a clenched fist towards a carter
+who was ill-treating a horse. And when taken for the first time, by his
+father, to Rouen, having the towers of the cathedral pointed out to him,
+he exclaimed, "My God! how high they fly." Every one present naturally
+laughed. Bernardin had only noticed the flight of some swallows who had
+built their nests there. He thus early revealed those instincts which
+afterwards became the guidance of his life: the strength of which
+possibly occasioned his too great indifference to all monuments of
+art. The love of study and of solitude were also characteristics of
+his childhood. His temper is said to have been moody, impetuous, and
+intractable. Whether this faulty temper may not have been produced
+or rendered worse by mismanagement, cannot not be ascertained. It,
+undoubtedly became afterwards, to St. Pierre a fruitful source of
+misfortune and of woe.
+
+The reading of voyages was with him, even in childhood, almost a
+passion. At twelve years of age, his whole soul was occupied by Robinson
+Crusoe and his island. His romantic love of adventure seeming to his
+parents to announce a predilection in favour of the sea, he was sent
+by them with one of his uncles to Martinique. But St. Pierre had
+not sufficiently practised the virtue of obedience to submit, as was
+necessary, to the discipline of a ship. He was afterwards placed with
+the Jesuits at Caen, with whom he made immense progress in his studies.
+But, it is to be feared, he did not conform too well to the regulations
+of the college, for he conceived, from that time, the greatest
+detestation for places of public education. And this aversion he has
+frequently testified in his writings. While devoted to his books of
+travels, he in turn anticipated being a Jesuit, a missionary or a
+martyr; but his family at length succeeded in establishing him at Rouen,
+where he completed his studies with brilliant success, in 1757. He soon
+after obtained a commission as an engineer, with a salary of one hundred
+louis. In this capacity he was sent (1760) to Dusseldorf, under the
+command of Count St. Germain. This was a career in which he might have
+acquired both honour and fortune; but, most unhappily for St. Pierre,
+he looked upon the useful and necessary etiquettes of life as so many
+unworthy prejudices. Instead of conforming to them, he sought to trample
+on them. In addition, he evinced some disposition to rebel against his
+commander, and was unsocial with his equals. It is not, therefore, to be
+wondered at, that at this unfortunate period of his existence, he made
+himself enemies; or that, notwithstanding his great talents, or the
+coolness he had exhibited in moments of danger, he should have been sent
+back to France. Unwelcome, under these circumstances, to his family, he
+was ill received by all.
+
+It is a lesson yet to be learned, that genius gives no charter for the
+indulgence of error,--a truth yet _to be_ remembered, that only a small
+portion of the world will look with leniency on the failings of the
+highly-gifted; and, that from themselves, the consequences of their
+own actions can never be averted. It is yet, alas! _to be_ added to
+the convictions of the ardent in mind, that no degree of excellence in
+science or literature, not even the immortality of a name can exempt
+its possessor from obedience to moral discipline; or give him happiness,
+unless "temper's image" be stamped on his daily words and actions. St.
+Pierre's life was sadly embittered by his own conduct. The adventurous
+life he led after his return from Dusseldorf, some of the circumstances
+of which exhibited him in an unfavourable light to others, tended,
+perhaps, to tinge his imagination with that wild and tender melancholy
+so prevalent in his writings. A prize in the lottery had just doubled
+his very slender means of existence, when he obtained the appointment of
+geographical engineer, and was sent to Malta. The Knights of the Order
+were at this time expecting to be attacked by the Turks. Having already
+been in the service, it was singular that St. Pierre should have had the
+imprudence to sail without his commission. He thus subjected himself to
+a thousand disagreeables, for the officers would not recognize him
+as one of themselves. The effects of their neglect on his mind were
+tremendous; his reason for a time seemed almost disturbed by the
+mortifications he suffered. After receiving an insufficient indemnity
+for the expenses of his voyage, St. Pierre returned to France, there to
+endure fresh misfortunes.
+
+Not being able to obtain any assistance from the ministry or his family,
+he resolved on giving lessons in the mathematics. But St. Pierre was
+less adapted than most others for succeeding in the apparently easy,
+but really ingenious and difficult, art of teaching. When education
+is better understood, it will be more generally acknowledged, that,
+to impart instruction with success, a teacher must possess deeper
+intelligence than is implied by the profoundest skill in any one branch
+of science or of art. All minds, even to the youngest, require, while
+being taught, the utmost compliance and consideration; and these
+qualities can scarcely be properly exercised without a true knowledge of
+the human heart, united to much practical patience. St. Pierre, at this
+period of his life, certainly did not possess them. It is probable that
+Rousseau, when he attempted in his youth to give lessons in music, not
+knowing any thing whatever of music, was scarcely less fitted for
+the task of instruction, than St. Pierre with all his mathematical
+knowledge. The pressure of poverty drove him to Holland. He was well
+received at Amsterdam, by a French refugee named Mustel, who edited a
+popular journal there, and who procured him employment, with handsome
+remuneration. St. Pierre did not, however, remain long satisfied with
+this quiet mode of existence. Allured by the encouraging reception given
+by Catherine II. to foreigners, he set out for St. Petersburg. Here,
+until he obtained the protection of the Marechal de Munich, and the
+friendship of Duval, he had again to contend with poverty. The latter
+generously opened to him his purse and by the Marechal he was introduced
+to Villebois, the Grand Master of Artillery, and by him presented to the
+Empress. St. Pierre was so handsome, that by some of his friends it was
+supposed, perhaps, too, hoped, that he would supersede Orloff in the
+favor of Catherine. But more honourable illusions, though they were
+but illusions, occupied his own mind. He neither sought nor wished to
+captivate the Empress. His ambition was to establish a republic on the
+shores of the lake Aral, of which in imitation of Plato or Rousseau,
+he was to be the legislator. Pre-occupied with the reformation of
+despotism, he did not sufficiently look into his own heart, or seek to
+avoid a repetition of the same errors that had already changed friends
+into enemies, and been such a terrible barrier to his success in
+life. His mind was already morbid, and in fancying that others did
+not understand him, he forgot that he did not understand others. The
+Empress, with the rank of captain, bestowed on him a grant of fifteen
+hundred francs; but when General Dubosquet proposed to take him with him
+to examine the military position of Finland, his only anxiety seemed to
+be to return to France: still he went to Finland; and his own notes of
+his occupations and experiments on that expedition prove, that he gave
+himself up in all diligence to considerations of attack and defence. He,
+who loved Nature so intently, seems only to have seen in the extensive
+and majestic forests of the north, a theatre of war. In this instance,
+he appears to have stifled every emotion of admiration, and to have
+beheld, alike, cities and countries in his character of military
+surveyor.
+
+On his return to St. Petersburg, he found his protector Villebois,
+disgraced. St. Pierre then resolved on espousing the cause of the Poles.
+He went into Poland with a high reputation,--that of having refused
+the favours of despotism, to aid the cause of liberty. But it was his
+private life, rather than his public career, that was affected by his
+residence in Poland. The Princess Mary fell in love with him, and,
+forgetful of all considerations, quitted her family to reside with
+him. Yielding, however, at length, to the entreaties of her mother,
+she returned to her home. St. Pierre, filled with regret, resorted to
+Vienna; but, unable to support the sadness which oppressed him, and
+imagining that sadness to be shared by the Princess, he soon went back
+to Poland. His return was still more sad than his departure; for he
+found himself regarded by her who had once loved him, as an intruder.
+It is to this attachment he alludes so touchingly in one of his letters.
+"Adieu! friends dearer than the treasures of India! Adieu! forests of
+the North, that I shall never see again!--tender friendship, and the
+still dearer sentiment which surpassed it!--days of intoxication and
+of happiness adeiu! adieu! We live but for a day, to die during a whole
+life!"
+
+This letter appears to one of St. Pierre's most partial biographers,
+as if steeped in tears; and he speaks of his romantic and unfortunate
+adventure in Poland, as the ideal of a poet's love.
+
+"To be," says M. Sainte-Beuve, "a great poet, and loved before he had
+thought of glory! To exhale the first perfume of a soul of genius,
+believing himself only a lover! To reveal himself, for the first time,
+entirely, but in mystery!"
+
+In his enthusiasm, M. Sainte-Beuve loses sight of the melancholy sequel,
+which must have left so sad a remembrance in St. Pierre's own mind.
+His suffering, from this circumstance, may perhaps have conduced to his
+making Virginia so good and true, and so incapable of giving pain.
+
+In 1766, he returned to Havre; but his relations were by this time dead
+or dispersed, and after six years of exile, he found himself once
+more in his own country, without employment and destitute of pecuniary
+resources.
+
+The Baron de Breteuil at length obtained for him a commission as
+Engineer to the Isle of France, whence he returned in 1771. In this
+interval, his heart and imagination doubtless received the germs of his
+immortal works. Many of the events, indeed, of the "Voyage a l'Ile de
+France," are to be found modified by imagined circumstances in "Paul and
+Virginia." He returned to Paris poor in purse, but rich in observation
+and mental resources, and resolved to devote himself to literature. By
+the Baron de Breteuil he was recommended to D'Alembert, who procured
+a publisher for his "Voyage," and also introduced him to Mlle. de
+l'Espinasse. But no one, in spite of his great beauty, was so ill
+calculated to shine or please in society as St. Pierre. His manners
+were timid and embarrassed, and, unless to those with whom he was very
+intimate, he scarcely appeared intelligent.
+
+It is sad to think, that misunderstanding should prevail to such an
+extent, and heart so seldom really speak to heart, in the intercourse of
+the world, that the most humane may appear cruel, and the sympathizing
+indifferent. Judging of Mlle. de l'Espinasse from her letters, and the
+testimony of her contemporaries, it seems quite impossible that she
+could have given pain to any one, more particularly to a man possessing
+St. Pierre's extraordinary talent and profound sensibility. Both she and
+D'Alembert were capable of appreciating him; but the society in which
+they moved laughed at his timidity, and the tone of raillery in which
+they often indulged was not understood by him. It is certain that he
+withdrew from their circle with wounded and mortified feelings, and, in
+spite of an explanatory letter from D'Alembert, did not return to it.
+The inflictors of all this pain, in the meantime, were possibly as
+unconscious of the meaning attached to their words, as were the birds of
+old of the augury drawn from their flight.
+
+St. Pierre, in his "Preambule de l'Arcadie," has pathetically and
+eloquently described the deplorable state of his health and feelings,
+after frequent humiliating disputes and disappointments had driven him
+from society; or rather, when, like Rousseau, he was "self-banished"
+from it.
+
+"I was struck," he says, "with an extraordinary malady. Streams of fire,
+like lightning, flashed before my eyes; every object appeared to me
+double, or in motion: like OEdipus, I saw two suns. . . In the
+finest day of summer, I could not cross the Seine in a boat without
+experiencing intolerable anxiety. If, in a public garden, I merely
+passed by a piece of water, I suffered from spasms and a feeling of
+horror. I could not cross a garden in which many people were collected:
+if they looked at me, I immediately imagined they were speaking ill of
+me." It was during this state of suffering, that he devoted himself with
+ardour to collecting and making use of materials for that work which was
+to give glory to his name.
+
+It was only by perseverance, and disregarding many rough and
+discouraging receptions, that he succeeded in making acquaintance with
+Rousseau, whom he so much resembled. St. Pierre devoted himself to his
+society with enthusiasm, visiting him frequently and constantly, till
+Rousseau departed for Ermenonville. It is not unworthy of remark, that
+both these men, such enthusiastic admirers of Nature and the natural
+in all things, should have possessed factitious rather than practical
+virtue, and a wisdom wholly unfitted for the world. St. Pierre asked
+Rousseau, in one of their frequent rambles, if, in delineating St.
+Preux, he had not intended to represent himself. "No," replied Rousseau,
+"St. Preux is not what I have been, but what I wished to be." St. Pierre
+would most likely have given the same answer, had a similar question
+been put to him with regard to the Colonel in "Paul and Virginia."
+This at least, appears the sort of old age he loved to contemplate, and
+wished to realize.
+
+For six years, he worked at his "Etudes," and with some difficulty found
+a publisher for them. M. Didot, a celebrated typographer, whose daughter
+St. Pierre afterwards married, consented to print a manuscript which had
+been declined by many others. He was well rewarded for the undertaking.
+The success of the "Etudes de la Nature" surpassed the most sanguine
+expectation, even of the author. Four years after its publication, St.
+Pierre gave to the world "Paul and Virginia," which had for some time
+been lying in his portfolio. He had tried its effect, in manuscript,
+on persons of different characters and pursuits. They had given it no
+applause; but all had shed tears at its perusal: and perhaps, few works
+of a decidedly romantic character have ever been so generally read, or
+so much approved. Among the great names whose admiration of it is on
+record, may be mentioned Napoleon and Humboldt.
+
+In 1789, he published "Les Veoeux d'un Solitaire," and "La Suite des
+Voeux." By the _Moniteur_ of the day, these works were compared to the
+celebrated pamphlet of Sieyes,--"Qu'est-ce que le tiers etat?" which
+then absorbed all the public favour. In 1791, "La Chaumiere Indienne"
+was published: and in the following year, about thirteen days before
+the celebrated 10th of August, Louis XVI. appointed St. Pierre
+superintendant of the "Jardin des Plantes." Soon afterwards, the King,
+on seeing him, complimented him on his writings and told him he was
+happy to have found a worthy successor to Buffon.
+
+Although deficient in the exact knowledge of the sciences, and knowing
+little of the world, St. Pierre was, by his simplicity, and the
+retirement in which he lived, well suited, at that epoch, to the
+situation. About this time, and when in his fifty-seventh year, he
+married Mlle. Didot.
+
+In 1795, he became a member of the French Academy, and, as was just,
+after his acceptance of this honour, he wrote no more against literary
+societies. On the suppression of his place, he retired to Essonne. It is
+delightful to follow him there, and to contemplate his quiet existence.
+His days flowed on peaceably, occupied in the publication of "Les
+Harmonies de la Nature," the republication of his earlier works, and
+the composition of some lesser pieces. He himself affectingly regrets an
+interruption to these occupations. On being appointed Instructor to the
+Normal School, he says, "I am obliged to hang my harp on the willows
+of my river, and to accept an employment useful to my family and my
+country. I am afflicted at having to suspend an occupation which has
+given me so much happiness."
+
+He enjoyed in his old age, a degree of opulence, which, as much as
+glory, had perhaps been the object of his ambition. In any case, it is
+gratifying to reflect, that after a life so full of chance and change,
+he was, in his latter years, surrounded by much that should accompany
+old age. His day of storms and tempests was closed by an evening of
+repose and beauty.
+
+Amid many other blessings, the elasticity of his mind was preserved to
+the last. He died at Eragny sur l'Oise, on the 21st of January, 1814.
+The stirring events which then occupied France, or rather the whole
+world, caused his death to be little noticed at the time. The Academy
+did not, however, neglect to give him the honour due to its members.
+Mons. Parseval Grand Maison pronounced a deserved eulogium on his
+talents, and Mons. Aignan, also, the customary tribute, taking his seat
+as his successor.
+
+Having himself contracted the habit of confiding his griefs and sorrows
+to the public, the sanctuary of his private life was open alike to the
+discussion of friends and enemies. The biographer, who wishes to be
+exact, and yet set down nought in malice, is forced to the contemplation
+of his errors. The secret of many of these, as well as of his miseries,
+seems revealed by himself in this sentence: "I experience more pain from
+a single thorn, than pleasure from a thousand roses." And elsewhere,
+"The best society seems to me bad, if I find in it one troublesome,
+wicked, slanderous, envious, or perfidious person." Now, taking into
+consideration that St. Pierre sometimes imagined persons who were really
+good, to be deserving of these strong and very contumacious epithets,
+it would have been difficult indeed to find a society in which he could
+have been happy. He was, therefore, wise, in seeking retirement, and
+indulging in solitude. His mistakes,--for they were mistakes,--arose
+from a too quick perception of evil, united to an exquisite and diffuse
+sensibility. When he felt wounded by a thorn, he forgot the beauty and
+perfume of the rose to which it belonged, and from which perhaps it
+could not be separated. And he was exposed (as often happens) to the
+very description of trials that were least in harmony with his defects.
+Few dispositions could have run a career like his, and have remained
+unscathed. But one less tender than his own would have been less soured
+by it. For many years, he bore about with him the consciousness of
+unacknowledged talent. The world cannot be blamed for not appreciating
+that which had never been revealed. But we know not what the jostling
+and elbowing of that world, in the meantime, may have been to him--how
+often he may have felt himself unworthily treated--or how far that
+treatment may have preyed upon and corroded his heart. Who shall
+say that with this consciousness there did not mingle a quick and
+instinctive perception of the hidden motives of action,--that he did
+not sometimes detect, where others might have been blind, the
+under-shuffling of the hands, in the by-play of the world?
+
+Through all his writings, and throughout his correspondence, there are
+beautiful proofs of the tenderness of his feelings,--the most essential
+quality, perhaps, in any writer. It is at least, one that if not
+possessed, can never be attained. The familiarity of his imagination
+with natural objects, when he was living far removed from them, is
+remarkable, and often affecting.
+
+"I have arranged," he says to Mr. Henin, his friend and patron, "very
+interesting materials, but it is only with the light of Heaven over
+me that I can recover my strength. Obtain for me a _rabbit's hole_, in
+which I may pass the summer in the country." And again, "With the _first
+violet_, I shall come to see you." It is soothing to find, in passages
+like these, such pleasing and convincing evidence that
+
+     "Nature never did betray,
+     The heart that loved her."
+
+In the noise of a great city, in the midst of annoyances of many kinds
+these images, impressed with quietness and beauty, came back to the mind
+of St. Pierre, to cheer and animate him.
+
+In alluding to his miseries, it is but fair to quote a passage from
+his "Voyage," which reveals his fond remembrance of his native land. "I
+should ever prefer my own country to every other," he says, "not because
+it was more beautiful, but because I was brought up in it. Happy he,
+who sees again the places where all was loved, and all was lovely!--the
+meadows in which he played, and the orchard that he robbed!"
+
+He returned to this country, so fondly loved and deeply cherished in
+absence, to experience only trouble and difficulty. Away from it, he had
+yearned to behold it,--to fold it, as it were, once more to his bosom.
+He returned to feel as if neglected by it, and all his rapturous
+emotions were changed to bitterness and gall. His hopes had proved
+delusions--his expectations, mockeries. Oh! who but must look with
+charity and mercy on all discontent and irritation consequent on such
+a depth of disappointment: on what must have then appeared to him such
+unmitigable woe. Under the influence of these saddened feelings, his
+thoughts flew back to the island he had left, to place all beauty, as
+well as all happiness, there!
+
+One great proof that he did beautify the distant, may be found in the
+contrast of some of the descriptions in the "Voyage a l'Ile de France,"
+and those in "Paul and Virginia." That spot, which when peopled by the
+cherished creatures of his imagination, he described as an enchanting
+and delightful Eden, he had previously spoken of as a "rugged country
+covered with rocks,"--"a land of Cyclops blackened by fire." Truth,
+probably, lies between the two representations; the sadness of
+exile having darkened the one, and the exuberance of his imagination
+embellished the other.
+
+St. Pierre's merit as an author has been too long and too universally
+acknowledged, to make it needful that it should be dwelt on here. A
+careful review of the circumstances of his life induces the belief, that
+his writings grew (if it may be permitted so to speak) out of his life.
+In his most imaginative passages, to whatever height his fancy soared,
+the starting point seems ever from a fact. The past appears to have been
+always spread out before him when he wrote, like a beautiful landscape,
+on which his eye rested with complacency, and from which his mind
+transferred and idealized some objects, without a servile imitation
+of any. When at Berlin, he had had it in his power to marry Virginia
+Tabenheim; and in Russia, Mlle. de la Tour, the niece of General
+Dubosquet, would have accepted his hand. He was too poor to marry
+either. A grateful recollection caused him to bestow the names of the
+two on his most beloved creation. Paul was the name of a friar, with
+whom he had associated in his childhood, and whose life he wished to
+imitate. How little had the owners of these names anticipated that
+they were to become the baptismal appellations of half a generation in
+France, and to be re-echoed through the world to the end of time!
+
+It was St. Pierre who first discovered the poverty of language
+with regard to picturesque descriptions. In his earliest work, the
+often-quoted "Voyages," he complains, that the terms for describing
+nature are not yet invented. "Endeavour," he says, "to describe a
+mountain in such a manner that it may be recognised. When you have
+spoken of its base, its sides, its summit, you will have said all!
+But what variety there is to be found in those swelling, lengthened,
+flattened, or cavernous forms! It is only by periphrasis that all this
+can be expressed. The same difficulty exists for plains and valleys.
+But if you have a palace to describe, there is no longer any difficulty.
+Every moulding has its appropriate name."
+
+It was St. Pierre's glory, in some degree, to triumph over this
+dearth of expression. Few authors ever introduced more new terms into
+descriptive writing: yet are his innovations ever chastened, and in good
+taste. His style, in its elegant simplicity, is, indeed, perfection. It
+is at once sonorous and sweet, and always in harmony with the sentiment
+he would express, or the subject he would discuss. Chenier might well
+arm himself with "Paul and Virginia," and the "Chaumiere Indienne," in
+opposition to those writers, who, as he said, made prose unnatural, by
+seeking to elevate it into verse.
+
+The "Etudes de la Nature" embraced a thousand different subjects, and
+contained some new ideas on all. It is to the honour of human nature,
+that after the uptearing of so many sacred opinions, a production like
+this, revealing the chain of connection through the works of Creation,
+and the Creator in his works, should have been hailed, as it was, with
+enthusiasm.
+
+His motto, from his favourite poet Virgil, "Taught by calamity, I pity
+the unhappy," won for him, perhaps many readers. And in its touching
+illusions, the unhappy may have found suspension from the realities of
+life, as well as encouragement to support its trials. For, throughout,
+it infuses admiration of the arrangements of Providence, and a desire
+for virtue. More than one modern poet may be supposed to have drawn a
+portion of his inspiration, from the "Etudes." As a work of science it
+contains many errors. These, particularly his theory of the tides,(*)
+St. Pierre maintained to the last, and so eloquently, that it was said
+at the time, to be impossible to unite less reason with more logic.
+
+     (*) Occasioned, according to St. Pierre, by the melting of
+     the ice at the Poles.
+
+In "Paul and Virginia," he was supremely fortunate in his subject. It
+was an entirely new creation, uninspired by any previous work; but which
+gave birth to many others, having furnished the plot to six theatrical
+pieces. It was a subject to which the author could bring all his
+excellences as a writer and a man, while his deficiencies and defects
+were necessarily excluded. In no manner could he incorporate politics,
+science, or misapprehension of persons, while his sensibility, morals,
+and wonderful talent for description, were in perfect accordance with,
+and ornaments to it. Lemontey and Sainte-Beuve both consider success
+to be inseparable from the happy selection of a story so entirely in
+harmony with the character of the author; and that the most successful
+writers might envy him so fortunate a choice. Buonaparte was in the
+habit of saying, whenever he saw St. Pierre, "M. Bernardin, when do you
+mean to give us more Pauls and Virginias, and Indian Cottages? You ought
+to give us some every six months."
+
+The "Indian Cottage," if not quite equal in interest to "Paul and
+Virginia," is still a charming production, and does great honour to the
+genius of its author. It abounds in antique and Eastern gems of thought.
+Striking and excellent comparisons are scattered through its pages; and
+it is delightful to reflect, that the following beautiful and solemn
+answer of the Paria was, with St. Pierre, the results of his own
+experience:--"Misfortune resembles the Black Mountain of Bember,
+situated at the extremity of the burning kingdom of Lahore; while you
+are climbing it, you only see before you barren rocks; but when you have
+reached its summit, you see heaven above your head, and at your feet the
+kingdom of Cachemere."
+
+When this passage was written, the rugged, and sterile rock had been
+climbed by its gifted author. He had reached the summit,--his genius had
+been rewarded, and he himself saw the heaven he wished to point out to
+others.
+
+SARAH JONES.
+
+     [For the facts contained in this brief Memoir, I am indebted
+     to St. Pierre's own works, to the "Biographie Universelle,"
+     to the "Essai sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de Bernardin de St.
+     Pierre," by M. Aime Martin, and to the very excellent and
+     interesting "Notice Historique et Litteraire," of M. Sainte-
+     Beauve.]
+
+
+
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+
+
+Situated on the eastern side of the mountain which rises above Port
+Louis, in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of
+former cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. These
+ruins are not far from the centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks,
+and which opens only towards the north. On the left rises the mountain
+called the Height of Discovery, whence the eye marks the distant sail
+when it first touches the verge of the horizon, and whence the signal is
+given when a vessel approaches the island. At the foot of this mountain
+stands the town of Port Louis. On the right is formed the road which
+stretches from Port Louis to the Shaddock Grove, where the church
+bearing that name lifts its head, surrounded by its avenues of bamboo,
+in the middle of a spacious plain; and the prospect terminates in a
+forest extending to the furthest bounds of the island. The front view
+presents the bay, denominated the Bay of the Tomb; a little on the right
+is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and beyond rolls the expanded ocean,
+on the surface of which appear a few uninhabited islands; and, among
+others, the Point of Endeavour, which resembles a bastion built upon the
+flood.
+
+At the entrance of the valley which presents these various objects,
+the echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of the
+winds that shake the neighbouring forests, and the tumultuous dashing of
+the waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs; but near the ruined
+cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects which there meet
+the eye are rude steep rocks, that rise like a surrounding rampart.
+Large clumps of trees grow at their base, on their rifted sides, and
+even on their majestic tops, where the clouds seem to repose. The
+showers, which their bold points attract, often paint the vivid colours
+of the rainbow on their green and brown declivities, and swell the
+sources of the little river which flows at their feet, called the river
+of Fan-Palms. Within this inclosure reigns the most profound silence.
+The waters, the air, all the elements are at peace. Scarcely does the
+echo repeat the whispers of the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves,
+the long points of which are gently agitated by the winds. A soft light
+illumines the bottom of this deep valley, on which the sun shines only
+at noon. But, even at the break of day, the rays of light are thrown on
+the surrounding rocks; and their sharp peaks, rising above the shadows
+of the mountain, appear like tints of gold and purple gleaming upon the
+azure sky.
+
+To this scene I loved to resort, as I could here enjoy at once the
+richness of an unbounded landscape, and the charm of uninterrupted
+solitude. One day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages, and
+contemplating their ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the
+spot. He was dressed in the ancient garb of the island, his feet were
+bare, and he leaned upon a staff of ebony; his hair was white, and the
+expression of his countenance was dignified and interesting. I bowed to
+him with respect; he returned the salutation; and, after looking at me
+with some earnestness, came and placed himself upon the hillock on which
+I was seated. Encouraged by this mark of confidence I thus
+addressed him: "Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once
+belonged?"--"My son," replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish,
+and that untilled land, were, twenty years ago, the property of two
+families, who then found happiness in this solitude. Their history is
+affecting; but what European, pursuing his way to the Indies, will pause
+one moment to interest himself in the fate of a few obscure individuals?
+What European can picture happiness to his imagination amidst poverty
+and neglect? The curiosity of mankind is only attracted by the
+history of the great, and yet from that knowledge little use can
+be derived."--"Father," I rejoined, "from your manner and your
+observations, I perceive that you have acquired much experience of human
+life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech you, the history of
+the ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be assured, that even
+the men who are most perverted by the prejudices of the world, find
+a soothing pleasure in contemplating that happiness which belongs to
+simplicity and virtue." The old man, after a short silence, during which
+he leaned his face upon his hands, as if he were trying to recall the
+images of the past, thus began his narration:--
+
+Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
+having in vain solicited a commission in the French army, or some
+support from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in
+this island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young woman,
+whom he loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly beloved. She
+belonged to a rich and ancient family of the same province: but he had
+married her secretly and without fortune, and in opposition to the will
+of her relations, who refused their consent because he was found guilty
+of being descended from parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur
+de la Tour, leaving his wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in
+order to purchase a few slaves, to assist him in forming a plantation on
+this island. He landed at Madagascar during that unhealthy season which
+commences about the middle of October; and soon after his arrival died
+of the pestilential fever, which prevails in that island six months of
+the year, and which will forever baffle the attempts of the European
+nations to form establishments on that fatal soil. His effects were
+seized upon by the rapacity of strangers, as commonly happens to persons
+dying in foreign parts; and his wife, who was pregnant, found herself a
+widow in a country where she had neither credit nor acquaintance, and no
+earthly possession, or rather support, but one negro woman. Too delicate
+to solicit protection or relief from any one else after the death of
+him whom alone she loved, misfortune armed her with courage, and she
+resolved to cultivate, with her slave, a little spot of ground, and
+procure for herself the means of subsistence.
+
+Desert as was the island, and the ground left to the choice of the
+settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most
+favorable to commerce: seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret
+asylum where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way
+from the town towards these rocks, where she might conceal herself
+from observation. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort of
+common instinct, fly for refuge amidst their pains to haunts the
+most wild and desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart against
+misfortune--as if the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the soul.
+That Providence, which lends its support when we ask but the supply of
+our necessary wants, had a blessing in reserve for Madame de la Tour,
+which neither riches nor greatness can purchase:--this blessing was a
+friend.
+
+The spot to which Madame de la Tour had fled had already been inhabited
+for a year by a young woman of a lively, good-natured and affectionate
+disposition. Margaret (for that was her name) was born in Brittany, of a
+family of peasants, by whom she was cherished and beloved, and with
+whom she might have passed through life in simple rustic happiness, if,
+misled by the weakness of a tender heart, she had not listened to the
+passion of a gentleman in the neighbourhood, who promised her marriage.
+He soon abandoned her, and adding inhumanity to seduction, refused to
+insure a provision for the child of which she was pregnant. Margaret
+then determined to leave forever her native village, and retire, where
+her fault might be concealed, to some colony distant from that country
+where she had lost the only portion of a poor peasant girl--her
+reputation. With some borrowed money she purchased an old negro slave,
+with whom she cultivated a little corner of this district.
+
+Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, came to this spot, where
+she found Margaret engaged in suckling her child. Soothed and charmed by
+the sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to her own, Madame
+de la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition and her present
+wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and more anxious to
+merit confidence than to create esteem, she confessed without disguise,
+the errors of which she had been guilty. "As for me," said she,
+"I deserve my fate: but you, madam--you! at once virtuous and
+unhappy"--and, sobbing, she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut and
+her friendship. That lady, affected by this tender reception, pressed
+her in her arms, and exclaimed,--"Ah surely Heaven has put an end to my
+misfortunes, since it inspires you, to whom I am a stranger, with more
+goodness towards me than I have ever experienced from my own relations!"
+
+I was acquainted with Margaret: and, although my habitation is a league
+and a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, I
+considered myself as her neighbour. In the cities of Europe, a street,
+even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of the same family from
+meeting for years; but in new colonies we consider those persons as
+neighbours from whom we are divided only by woods and mountains; and
+above all at that period, when this island had little intercourse with
+the Indies, vicinity alone gave a claim to friendship, and hospitality
+towards strangers seemed less a duty than a pleasure. No sooner was I
+informed that Margaret had found a companion, than I hastened to her, in
+the hope of being useful to my neighbour and her guest. I found Madame
+de la Tour possessed of all those melancholy graces which, by
+blending sympathy with admiration give to beauty additional power.
+Her countenance was interesting, expressive at once of dignity and
+dejection. She appeared to be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I told
+the two friends that for the future interests of their children, and
+to prevent the intrusion of any other settler, they had better divide
+between them the property of this wild, sequestered valley, which is
+nearly twenty acres in extent. They confided that task to me, and I
+marked out two equal portions of land. One included the higher part of
+this enclosure, from the cloudy pinnacle of that rock, whence springs
+the river of Fan-Palms, to that precipitous cleft which you see on the
+summit of the mountain, and which, from its resemblance in form to the
+battlement of a fortress, is called the Embrasure. It is difficult to
+find a path along this wild portion of the enclosure, the soil of which
+is encumbered with fragments of rock, or worn into channels formed
+by torrents; yet it produces noble trees, and innumerable springs and
+rivulets. The other portion of land comprised the plain extending along
+the banks of the river of Fan-Palms, to the opening where we are now
+seated, whence the river takes its course between these two hills, until
+it falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges of some meadow
+land; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not more valuable
+than the other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy, and in dry
+weather is so hard and unyielding, that it will almost resist the stroke
+of the pickaxe. When I had thus divided the property, I persuaded my
+neighbours to draw lots for their respective possessions. The higher
+portion of land, containing the source of the river of Fan-Palms, became
+the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, comprising the plain
+on the banks of the river, was allotted to Margaret; and each seemed
+satisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their habitations
+together, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing intercourse
+of friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind offices. Margaret's
+cottage was situated near the centre of the valley, and just on the
+boundary of her own plantation. Close to that spot I built another
+cottage for the residence of Madame de la Tour; and thus the two
+friends, while they possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood lived
+on their own property. I myself cut palisades from the mountain, and
+brought leaves of fan-palms from the sea-shore in order to construct
+those two cottages, of which you can now discern neither the entrance
+nor the roof. Yet, alas! there still remains but too many traces for
+my remembrance! Time, which so rapidly destroys the proud monuments of
+empires, seems in this desert to spare those of friendship, as if to
+perpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my existence.
+
+As soon as the second cottage was finished, Madame de la Tour was
+delivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who
+was christened by the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me to
+perform the same office for her child also, together with her friend,
+who gave her the name of Virginia. "She will be virtuous," cried
+Margaret, "and she will be happy. I have only known misfortune by
+wandering from virtue."
+
+About the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little estates had
+already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owing
+to the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but far
+more to the indefatigable labours of the two slaves. Margaret's slave,
+who was called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, though advanced in
+years: he possessed some knowledge, and a good natural understanding.
+He cultivated indiscriminately, on both plantations, the spots of ground
+that seemed most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought most
+congenial to each particular soil. Where the ground was poor, he strewed
+maize; where it was most fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in such
+spots as were marshy. He threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the
+foot of the rocks, which they loved to climb and decorate with their
+luxuriant foliage. In dry spots he cultivated the sweet potatoe; the
+cotton-tree flourished upon the heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the
+clayey soil. He reared some plants of coffee on the hills, where the
+grain, although small, is excellent. His plantain-trees, which spread
+their grateful shade on the banks of the river, and encircled the
+cottages, yielded fruit throughout the year. And lastly, Domingo, to
+soothe his cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco. Sometimes he was
+employed in cutting wood for firing from the mountain, sometimes in
+hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level the paths.
+The zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform all these labours
+with intelligence and activity. He was much attached to Margaret, and
+not less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had married
+on the birth of Virginia; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary
+was born at Madagascar, and had there acquired the knowledge of some
+useful arts. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long
+grass that grows in the woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above all,
+faithful. It was her care to prepare their meals, to rear the poultry,
+and go sometimes to Port Louis, to sell the superfluous produce of these
+little plantations, which was not however, very considerable. If you
+add to the personages already mentioned two goats, which were brought up
+with the children, and a great dog, which kept watch at night, you will
+have a complete idea of the household, as well as of the productions of
+these two little farms.
+
+Madame de la Tour and her friend were constantly employed in spinning
+cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of everything which
+their own industry could not supply, at home they went bare-footed:
+shoes were a convenience reserved for Sunday, on which day, at an early
+hour, they attended mass at the church of the Shaddock Grove, which
+you see yonder. That church was more distant from their homes than Port
+Louis; but they seldom visited the town, lest they should be treated
+with contempt on account of their dress, which consisted simply of the
+coarse blue linen of Bengal, usually worn by slaves. But is there,
+in that external deference which fortune commands, a compensation for
+domestic happiness? If these interesting women had something to suffer
+from the world, their homes on that very account became more dear to
+them. No sooner did Mary and Domingo, from this elevated spot, perceive
+their mistresses on the road of the Shaddock Grove, than they flew to
+the foot of the mountain in order to help them to ascend. They discerned
+in the looks of their domestics the joy which their return excited. They
+found in their retreat neatness, independence, all the blessings which
+are the recompense of toil, and they received the zealous services
+which spring from affection. United by the tie of similar wants, and the
+sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave each other the tender names
+of companion, friend, sister. They had but one will, one interest, one
+table. All their possessions were in common. And if sometimes a passion
+more ardent than friendship awakened in their hearts the pang of
+unavailing anguish, a pure religion, united with chaste manners, drew
+their affections towards another life: as the trembling flame rises
+towards heaven, when it no longer finds any ailment on earth.
+
+The duties of maternity became a source of additional happiness to these
+affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship gained new strength at
+the sight of their children, equally the offspring of an ill-fated
+attachment. They delighted in washing their infants together in the same
+bath, in putting them to rest in the same cradle, and in changing the
+maternal bosom at which they received nourishment. "My friend," cried
+Madame de la Tour, "we shall each of us have two children, and each
+of our children will have two mothers." As two buds which remain on
+different trees of the same kind, after the tempest has broken all their
+branches, produce more delicious fruit, if each, separated from the
+maternal stem, be grafted on the neighbouring tree, so these two
+infants, deprived of all their other relations, when thus exchanged
+for nourishment by those who had given them birth, imbibed feelings of
+affection still more tender than those of son and daughter, brother and
+sister. While they were yet in their cradles, their mothers talked of
+their marriage. They soothed their own cares by looking forward to the
+future happiness of their children; but this contemplation often drew
+forth their tears. The misfortunes of one mother had arisen from having
+neglected marriage; those of the other from having submitted to its
+laws. One had suffered by aiming to rise above her condition, the other
+by descending from her rank. But they found consolation in reflecting
+that their more fortunate children, far from the cruel prejudices of
+Europe, would enjoy at once the pleasures of love and the blessings of
+equality.
+
+Rarely, indeed, has such an attachment been seen as that which the
+two children already testified for each other. If Paul complained of
+anything, his mother pointed to Virginia: at her sight he smiled, and
+was appeased. If any accident befel Virginia, the cries of Paul gave
+notice of the disaster; but the dear little creature would suppress
+her complaints if she found that he was unhappy. When I came hither,
+I usually found them quite naked, as is the custom of the country,
+tottering in their walk, and holding each other by the hands and under
+the arms, as we see represented in the constellation of the Twins. At
+night these infants often refused to be separated, and were found lying
+in the same cradle, their cheeks, their bosoms pressed close together,
+their hands thrown round each other's neck, and sleeping, locked in one
+another's arms.
+
+When they first began to speak, the first name they learned to give each
+other were those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no softer
+appellation. Their education, by directing them ever to consider each
+other's wants, tended greatly to increase their affection. In a short
+time, all the household economy, the care of preparing their rural
+repasts, became the task of Virginia, whose labours were always crowned
+with the praises and kisses of her brother. As for Paul, always in
+motion, he dug the garden with Domingo, or followed him with a little
+hatchet into the woods; and if, in his rambles he espied a beautiful
+flower, any delicious fruit, or a nest of birds, even at the top of the
+tree, he would climb up and bring the spoil to his sister. When you met
+one of these children, you might be sure the other was not far off.
+
+One day as I was coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the end of
+the garden running towards the house with her petticoat thrown over her
+head, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a distance,
+I thought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her in order to help
+her on, I perceived she held Paul by the arm, almost entirely enveloped
+in the same canopy, and both were laughing heartily at their being
+sheltered together under an umbrella of their own invention. Those two
+charming faces in the middle of a swelling petticoat, recalled to my
+mind the children of Leda, enclosed in the same shell.
+
+Their sole study was how they could please and assist one another; for
+of all other things they were ignorant, and indeed could neither read
+nor write. They were never disturbed by inquiries about past times, nor
+did their curiosity extend beyond the bounds of their mountain. They
+believed the world ended at the shores of their own island, and all
+their ideas and all their affections were confined within its limits.
+Their mutual tenderness, and that of their mothers, employed all the
+energies of their minds. Their tears had never been called forth by
+tedious application to useless sciences. Their minds had never been
+wearied by lessons of morality, superfluous to bosoms unconscious of
+ill. They had never been taught not to steal, because every thing with
+them was in common: or not to be intemperate, because their simple
+food was left to their own discretion; or not to lie, because they had
+nothing to conceal. Their young imaginations had never been terrified
+by the idea that God has punishment in store for ungrateful children,
+since, with them, filial affection arose naturally from maternal
+tenderness. All they had been taught of religion was to love it, and if
+they did not offer up long prayers in the church, wherever they were, in
+the house, in the fields, in the woods, they raised towards heaven their
+innocent hands, and hearts purified by virtuous affections.
+
+All their early childhood passed thus, like a beautiful dawn, the
+prelude of a bright day. Already they assisted their mothers in the
+duties of the household. As soon as the crowing of the wakeful cock
+announced the first beam of the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened to
+draw water from a neighbouring spring: then returning to the house she
+prepared the breakfast. When the rising sun gilded the points of the
+rocks which overhang the enclosure in which they lived, Margaret and her
+child repaired to the dwelling of Madame de la Tour, where they offered
+up their morning prayer together. This sacrifice of thanksgiving always
+preceded their first repast, which they often took before the door of
+the cottage, seated upon the grass, under a canopy of plantain: and
+while the branches of that delicious tree afforded a grateful shade, its
+fruit furnished a substantial food ready prepared for them by nature,
+and its long glossy leaves, spread upon the table, supplied the place of
+linen. Plentiful and wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour
+to the persons of these children, and their countenances expressed the
+purity and the peace of their souls. At twelve years of age the figure
+of Virginia was in some degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded
+her face, to which her blue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming
+brilliancy. Her eyes sparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she
+was silent they were habitually turned upwards, with an expression of
+extreme sensibility, or rather of tender melancholy. The figure of Paul
+began already to display the graces of youthful beauty. He was taller
+than Virginia: his skin was of a darker tint; his nose more aquiline;
+and his black eyes would have been too piercing, if the long eye-lashes
+by which they were shaded, had not imparted to them an expression of
+softness. He was constantly in motion, except when his sister appeared,
+and then, seated by her side, he became still. Their meals often passed
+without a word being spoken; and from their silence, the simple elegance
+of their attitudes, and the beauty of their naked feet, you might have
+fancied you beheld an antique group of white marble, representing some
+of the children of Niobe, but for the glances of their eyes, which were
+constantly seeking to meet, and their mutual soft and tender smiles,
+which suggested rather the idea of happy celestial spirits, whose nature
+is love, and who are not obliged to have recourse to words for the
+expression of their feelings.
+
+In the meantime Madame de la Tour, perceiving every day some unfolding
+grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her maternal anxiety
+increase with her tenderness. She often said to me, "If I were to die,
+what would become of Virginia without fortune?"
+
+Madame de la Tour had an aunt in France, who was a woman of quality,
+rich, old, and a complete devotee. She had behaved with so much
+cruelty towards her niece upon her marriage, that Madame de la Tour
+had determined no extremity of distress should ever compel her to have
+recourse to her hard-hearted relation. But when she became a mother, the
+pride of resentment was overcome by the stronger feelings of maternal
+tenderness. She wrote to her aunt, informing her of the sudden death of
+her husband, the birth of her daughter, and the difficulties in which
+she was involved, burthened as she was with an infant, and without means
+of support. She received no answer; but notwithstanding the high spirit
+natural to her character, she no longer feared exposing herself to
+mortification; and, although she knew her aunt would never pardon her
+for having married a man who was not of noble birth, however estimable,
+she continued to write to her, with the hope of awakening her compassion
+for Virginia. Many years, however passed without receiving any token of
+her remembrance.
+
+At length, in 1738, three years after the arrival of Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais in this island, Madame de la Tour was informed that the
+Governor had a letter to give her from her aunt. She flew to Port Louis;
+maternal joy raised her mind above all trifling considerations, and
+she was careless on this occasion of appearing in her homely attire.
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais gave her a letter from her aunt, in which she
+informed her, that she deserved her fate for marrying an adventurer and
+a libertine: that the passions brought with them their own punishment;
+that the premature death of her husband was a just visitation from
+Heaven; that she had done well in going to a distant island, rather than
+dishonour her family by remaining in France; and that, after all, in
+the colony where she had taken refuge, none but the idle failed to
+grow rich. Having thus censured her niece, she concluded by eulogizing
+herself. To avoid, she said, the almost inevitable evils of marriage,
+she had determined to remain single. In fact, as she was of a very
+ambitious disposition she had resolved to marry none but a man of
+high rank; but although she was very rich, her fortune was not found
+a sufficient bribe, even at court, to counterbalance the malignant
+dispositions of her mind, and the disagreeable qualities of her person.
+
+After mature deliberations, she added, in a postscript, that she had
+strongly recommended her niece to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. This she
+had indeed done, but in a manner of late too common which renders a
+patron perhaps even more to be feared than a declared enemy; for, in
+order to justify herself for her harshness, she had cruelly slandered
+her niece, while she affected to pity her misfortunes.
+
+Madame de la Tour, whom no unprejudiced person could have seen without
+feelings of sympathy and respect, was received with the utmost coolness
+by Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, biased as he was against her. When she
+painted to him her own situation and that of her child, he replied in
+abrupt sentences,--"We shall see what can be done--there are so many to
+relieve--all in good time--why did you displease your aunt?--you have
+been much to blame."
+
+Madame de la Tour returned to her cottage, her heart torn with grief,
+and filled with all the bitterness of disappointment. When she
+arrived, she threw her aunt's letter on the table, and exclaimed to her
+friend,--"There is the fruit of eleven years of patient expectation!"
+Madame de la Tour being the only person in the little circle who could
+read, she again took up the letter, and read it aloud. Scarcely had
+she finished, when Margaret exclaimed, "What have we to do with your
+relations? Has God then forsaken us? He only is our father! Have we not
+hitherto been happy? Why then this regret? You have no courage."
+Seeing Madame de la Tour in tears, she threw herself upon her neck,
+and pressing her in her arms,--"My dear friend!" cried she, "my dear
+friend!"--but her emotion choked her utterance. At this sight Virginia
+burst into tears, and pressed her mother's and Margaret's hand
+alternately to her lips and heart; while Paul, his eyes inflamed with
+anger, cried, clasped his hands together, and stamped his foot, not
+knowing whom to blame for this scene of misery. The noise soon brought
+Domingo and Mary to the spot, and the little habitation resounded with
+cries of distress,--"Ah, madame!--My good mistress!--My dear mother!--Do
+not weep!" These tender proofs of affections at length dispelled the
+grief of Madame de la Tour. She took Paul and Virginia in her arms, and,
+embracing them, said, "You are the cause of my affliction, my children,
+but you are also my only source of delight! Yes, my dear children,
+misfortune has reached me, but only from a distance: here, I am
+surrounded with happiness." Paul and Virginia did not understand this
+reflection; but, when they saw that she was calm, they smiled, and
+continued to caress her. Tranquillity was thus restored in this happy
+family, and all that had passed was but a storm in the midst of fine
+weather, which disturbs the serenity of the atmosphere but for a short
+time, and then passes away.
+
+The amiable disposition of these children unfolded itself daily. One
+Sunday, at day-break, their mothers having gone to mass at the church
+of Shaddock Grove, the children perceived a negro woman beneath the
+plantains which surrounded their habitation. She appeared almost wasted
+to a skeleton, and had no other garment than a piece of coarse cloth
+thrown around her. She threw herself at the feet of Virginia, who was
+preparing the family breakfast, and said, "My good young lady, have pity
+on a poor runaway slave. For a whole month I have wandered among these
+mountains, half dead with hunger, and often pursued by the hunters and
+their dogs. I fled from my master, a rich planter of the Black River,
+who has used me as you see;" and she showed her body marked with scars
+from the lashes she had received. She added, "I was going to drown
+myself, but hearing you lived here, I said to myself, since there are
+still some good white people in this country, I need not die yet."
+Virginia answered with emotion,--"Take courage, unfortunate creature!
+here is something to eat;" and she gave her the breakfast she had been
+preparing, which the slave in a few minutes devoured. When her hunger
+was appeased, Virginia said to her,--"Poor woman! I should like to go
+and ask forgiveness for you of your master. Surely the sight of you
+will touch him with pity. Will you show me the way?"--"Angel of heaven!"
+answered the poor negro woman, "I will follow you where you please!"
+Virginia called her brother, and begged him to accompany her. The slave
+led the way, by winding and difficult paths, through the woods, over
+mountains, which they climbed with difficulty, and across rivers,
+through which they were obliged to wade. At length, about the middle of
+the day, they reached the foot of a steep descent upon the borders of
+the Black River. There they perceived a well-built house, surrounded by
+extensive plantations, and a number of slaves employed in their various
+labours. Their master was walking among them with a pipe in his mouth,
+and a switch in his hand. He was a tall thin man, of a brown complexion;
+his eyes were sunk in his head, and his dark eyebrows were joined
+in one. Virginia, holding Paul by the hand, drew near, and with much
+emotion begged him, for the love of God, to pardon his poor slave, who
+stood trembling a few paces behind. The planter at first paid little
+attention to the children, who, he saw, were meanly dressed. But when
+he observed the elegance of Virginia's form, and the profusion of her
+beautiful light tresses which had escaped from beneath her blue cap;
+when he heard the soft tone of her voice, which trembled, as well as her
+whole frame, while she implored his compassion; he took his pipe from
+his mouth, and lifting up his stick, swore, with a terrible oath, that
+he pardoned his slave, not for the love of Heaven, but of her who asked
+his forgiveness. Virginia made a sign to the slave to approach her
+master; and instantly sprang away followed by Paul.
+
+They climbed up the steep they had descended; and having gained the
+summit, seated themselves at the foot of a tree, overcome with fatigue,
+hunger and thirst. They had left their home fasting, and walked five
+leagues since sunrise. Paul said to Virginia,--"My dear sister, it is
+past noon, and I am sure you are thirsty and hungry: we shall find no
+dinner here; let us go down the mountain again, and ask the master
+of the poor slave for some food."--"Oh, no," answered Virginia, "he
+frightens me too much. Remember what mamma sometimes says, 'The bread
+of the wicked is like stones in the mouth.' "--"What shall we do then,"
+said Paul; "these trees produce no fruit fit to eat; and I shall not be
+able to find even a tamarind or a lemon to refresh you."--"God will take
+care of us," replied Virginia; "he listens to the cry even of the little
+birds when they ask him for food." Scarcely had she pronounced these
+words when they heard the noise of water falling from a neighbouring
+rock. They ran thither and having quenched their thirst at this crystal
+spring, they gathered and ate a few cresses which grew on the border
+of the stream. Soon afterwards while they were wandering backwards and
+forwards in search of more solid nourishment, Virginia perceived in
+the thickest part of the forest, a young palm-tree. The kind of cabbage
+which is found at the top of the palm, enfolded within its leaves,
+is well adapted for food; but, although the stock of the tree is not
+thicker than a man's leg, it grows to above sixty feet in height. The
+wood of the tree, indeed, is composed only of very fine filaments; but
+the bark is so hard that it turns the edge of the hatchet, and Paul was
+not furnished even with a knife. At length he thought of setting fire to
+the palm-tree; but a new difficulty occurred: he had no steel with which
+to strike fire; and although the whole island is covered with rocks,
+I do not believe it is possible to find a single flint. Necessity,
+however, is fertile in expedients, and the most useful inventions have
+arisen from men placed in the most destitute situations. Paul determined
+to kindle a fire after the manner of the negroes. With the sharp end of
+a stone he made a small hole in the branch of a tree that was quite dry,
+and which he held between his feet: he then, with the edge of the same
+stone, brought to a point another dry branch of a different sort of
+wood, and, afterwards, placing the piece of pointed wood in the small
+hole of the branch which he held with his feet and turning it rapidly
+between his hands, in a few minutes smoke and sparks of fire issued
+from the point of contact. Paul then heaped together dried grass and
+branches, and set fire to the foot of the palm-tree, which soon fell to
+the ground with a tremendous crash. The fire was further useful to him
+in stripping off the long, thick, and pointed leaves, within which the
+cabbage was inclosed. Having thus succeeded in obtaining this fruit,
+they ate part of it raw, and part dressed upon the ashes, which they
+found equally palatable. They made this frugal repast with delight,
+from the remembrances of the benevolent action they had performed in the
+morning: yet their joy was embittered by the thoughts of the uneasiness
+which their long absence from home would occasion their mothers.
+Virginia often recurred to this subject; but Paul, who felt his strength
+renewed by their meal, assured her, that it would not be long before
+they reached home, and, by the assurance of their safety, tranquillized
+the minds of their parents.
+
+After dinner they were much embarrassed by the recollection that they
+had now no guide, and that they were ignorant of the way. Paul, whose
+spirit was not subdued by difficulties, said to Virginia,--"The sun
+shines full upon our huts at noon: we must pass, as we did this morning,
+over that mountain with its three points, which you see yonder. Come,
+let us be moving." This mountain was that of the Three Breasts, so
+called from the form of its three peaks. They then descended the steep
+bank of the Black River, on the northern side; and arrived, after an
+hour's walk, on the banks of a large river, which stopped their further
+progress. This large portion of the island, covered as it is with
+forests, is even now so little known that many of its rivers and
+mountains have not yet received a name. The stream, on the banks of
+which Paul and Virginia were now standing, rolls foaming over a bed of
+rocks. The noise of the water frightened Virginia, and she was afraid
+to wade through the current: Paul therefore took her up in his arms, and
+went thus loaded over the slippery rocks, which formed the bed of
+the river, careless of the tumultuous noise of its waters. "Do not be
+afraid," cried he to Virginia; "I feel very strong with you. If that
+planter at the Black River had refused you the pardon of his slave,
+I would have fought with him."--"What!" answered Virginia, "with that
+great wicked man? To what have I exposed you! Gracious heaven! how
+difficult it is to do good! and yet it is so easy to do wrong."
+
+When Paul had crossed the river, he wished to continue the journey
+carrying his sister: and he flattered himself that he could ascend
+in that way the mountain of the Three Breasts, which was still at the
+distance of half a league; but his strength soon failed, and he was
+obliged to set down his burthen, and to rest himself by her side.
+Virginia then said to him, "My dear brother, the sun is going down; you
+have still some strength left, but mine has quite failed: do leave me
+here, and return home alone to ease the fears of our mothers."--"Oh no,"
+said Paul, "I will not leave you if night overtakes us in this wood, I
+will light a fire, and bring down another palm-tree: you shall eat the
+cabbage, and I will form a covering of the leaves to shelter you." In
+the meantime, Virginia being a little rested, she gathered from the
+trunk of an old tree, which overhung the bank of the river, some long
+leaves of the plant called hart's tongue, which grew near its root. Of
+these leaves she made a sort of buskin, with which she covered her feet,
+that were bleeding from the sharpness of the stony paths; for in her
+eager desire to do good, she had forgotten to put on her shoes. Feeling
+her feet cooled by the freshness of the leaves, she broke off a branch
+of bamboo, and continued her walk, leaning with one hand on the staff,
+and with the other on Paul.
+
+They walked on in this manner slowly through the woods; but from the
+height of the trees, and the thickness of their foliage, they soon lost
+sight of the mountain of the Three Breasts, by which they had hitherto
+directed their course, and also of the sun, which was now setting. At
+length they wandered, without perceiving it, from the beaten path in
+which they had hitherto walked, and found themselves in a labyrinth of
+trees, underwood, and rocks, whence there appeared to be no outlet.
+Paul made Virginia sit down, while he ran backwards and forwards, half
+frantic, in search of a path which might lead them out of this thick
+wood; but he fatigued himself to no purpose. He then climbed to the top
+of a lofty tree, whence he hoped at least to perceive the mountain of
+the Three Breasts: but he could discern nothing around him but the tops
+of trees, some of which were gilded with the last beams of the setting
+sun. Already the shadows of the mountains were spreading over the
+forests in the valleys. The wind lulled, as is usually the case at
+sunset. The most profound silence reigned in those awful solitudes,
+which was only interrupted by the cry of the deer, who came to their
+lairs in that unfrequented spot. Paul, in the hope that some hunter
+would hear his voice, called out as loud as he was able,--"Come, come to
+the help of Virginia." But the echoes of the forest alone answered his
+call, and repeated again and again, "Virginia--Virginia."
+
+Paul at length descended from the tree, overcome with fatigue and
+vexation. He looked around in order to make some arrangement for passing
+the night in that desert; but he could find neither fountain, nor
+palm-tree, nor even a branch of dry wood fit for kindling a fire. He was
+then impressed, by experience, with the sense of his own weakness, and
+began to weep. Virginia said to him,--"Do not weep, my dear brother, or
+I shall be overwhelmed with grief. I am the cause of all your sorrow,
+and of all that our mothers are suffering at this moment. I find we
+ought to do nothing, not even good, without consulting our parents. Oh,
+I have been very imprudent!"--and she began to shed tears. "Let us pray
+to God, my dear brother," she again said, "and he will hear us." They
+had scarcely finished their prayer, when they heard the barking of a
+dog. "It must be the dog of some hunter," said Paul, "who comes here at
+night, to lie in wait for the deer." Soon after, the dog began barking
+again with increased violence. "Surely," said Virginia, "it is Fidele,
+our own dog: yes,--now I know his bark. Are we then so near home?--at
+the foot of our own mountain?" A moment after, Fidele was at their feet,
+barking, howling, moaning, and devouring them with his caresses. Before
+they could recover from their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards
+them. At the sight of the good old negro, who wept for joy, they began
+to weep too, but had not the power to utter a syllable. When Domingo
+had recovered himself a little,--"Oh, my dear children," said he, "how
+miserable have you made your mothers! How astonished they were when they
+returned with me from mass, on not finding you at home. Mary, who was at
+work at a little distance, could not tell us where you were gone. I ran
+backwards and forwards in the plantation, not knowing where to look
+for you. At last I took some of your old clothes, and showing them to
+Fidele, the poor animal, as if he understood me, immediately began to
+scent your path; and conducted me, wagging his tail all the while, to
+the Black River. I there saw a planter, who told me you had brought back
+a Maroon negro woman, his slave, and that he had pardoned her at your
+request. But what a pardon! he showed her to me with her feet chained to
+a block of wood, and an iron collar with three hooks fastened round her
+neck! After that, Fidele, still on the scent, led me up the steep bank
+of the Black River, where he again stopped, and barked with all his
+might. This was on the brink of a spring, near which was a fallen
+palm-tree, and a fire, still smoking. At last he led me to this very
+spot. We are now at the foot of the mountain of the Three Breasts,
+and still a good four leagues from home. Come, eat, and recover your
+strength." Domingo then presented them with a cake, some fruit, and
+a large gourd, full of beverage composed of wine, water, lemon-juice,
+sugar, and nutmeg, which their mothers had prepared to invigorate and
+refresh them. Virginia sighed at the recollection of the poor slave,
+and at the uneasiness they had given their mothers. She repeated several
+times--"Oh, how difficult it is to do good!" While she and Paul were
+taking refreshment, it being already night, Domingo kindled a fire: and
+having found among the rocks a particular kind of twisted wood, called
+bois de ronde, which burns when quite green, and throws out a great
+blaze, he made a torch of it, which he lighted. But when they prepared
+to continue their journey, a new difficulty occurred; Paul and Virginia
+could no longer walk, their feet being violently swollen and inflamed.
+Domingo knew not what to do; whether to leave them and go in search of
+help, or remain and pass the night with them on that spot. "There was
+a time," said he, "when I could carry you both together in my arms!
+But now you are grown big, and I am grown old." When he was in this
+perplexity, a troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from
+them. The chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to
+them,--"Good little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this
+morning, with a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon
+for her of her wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you
+home upon our shoulders." He then made a sign, and four of the strongest
+negroes immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees
+and lianas, and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them upon
+their shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch, and
+they proceeded amidst the rejoicings of the whole troop, who overwhelmed
+them with their benedictions. Virginia, affected by this scene, said
+to Paul, with emotion,--"Oh, my dear brother! God never leaves a good
+action unrewarded."
+
+It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on the
+ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began to
+ascend, they heard voices exclaiming--"Is it you, my children?" They
+answered immediately, and the negroes also,--"Yes, yes, it is." A moment
+after they could distinguish their mothers and Mary coming towards them
+with lighted sticks in their hands. "Unhappy children," cried Madame
+de la Tour, "where have you been? What agonies you have made us
+suffer!"--"We have been," said Virginia, "to the Black River, where we
+went to ask pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave our breakfast
+this morning, because she seemed dying of hunger; and these Maroon
+negroes have brought us home." Madame de la Tour embraced her daughter,
+without being able to speak; and Virginia, who felt her face wet with
+her mother's tears, exclaimed, "Now I am repaid for all the hardships I
+have suffered." Margaret, in a transport of delight, pressed Paul in
+her arms, exclaiming, "And you also, my dear child, you have done a
+good action." When they reached the cottages with their children, they
+entertained all the negroes with a plentiful repast, after which the
+latter returned to the woods, praying Heaven to shower down every
+description of blessing on those good white people.
+
+Every day was to these families a day of happiness and tranquillity.
+Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. They did not seek
+to obtain a useless reputation out of doors, which may be procured
+by artifice and lost by calumny; but were contented to be the sole
+witnesses and judges of their own actions. In this island, where, as
+is the case in most colonies, scandal forms the principal topic of
+conversation, their virtues, and even their names were unknown. The
+passer-by on the road to Shaddock Grove, indeed, would sometimes ask the
+inhabitants of the plain, who lived in the cottages up there? and
+was always told, even by those who did not know them, "They are good
+people." The modest violet thus, concealed in thorny places sheds all
+unseen its delightful fragrance around.
+
+Slander, which, under an appearance of justice, naturally inclines
+the heart to falsehood or to hatred, was entirely banished from their
+conversation; for it is impossible not to hate men if we believe them
+to be wicked, or to live with the wicked without concealing that hatred
+under a false pretence of good feeling. Slander thus puts us ill at ease
+with others and with ourselves. In this little circle, therefore, the
+conduct of individuals was not discussed, but the best manner of doing
+good to all; and although they had but little in their power, their
+unceasing good-will and kindness of heart made them constantly ready to
+do what they could for others. Solitude, far from having blunted these
+benevolent feelings, had rendered their dispositions even more
+kindly. Although the petty scandals of the day furnished no subject of
+conversation to them, yet the contemplation of nature filled their minds
+with enthusiastic delight. They adored the bounty of that Providence,
+which, by their instrumentality, had spread abundance and beauty amid
+these barren rocks, and had enabled them to enjoy those pure and simple
+pleasures, which are ever grateful and ever new.
+
+Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than
+most European youths are at fifteen; and the plantations, which Domingo
+merely cultivated, were embellished by him. He would go with the old
+negro into the neighbouring woods, where he would root up the young
+plants of lemon, orange, and tamarind trees, the round heads of which
+are so fresh a green, together with date-palm trees, which produce fruit
+filled with a sweet cream, possessing the fine perfume of the orange
+flower. These trees, which had already attained to a considerable size,
+he planted round their little enclosure. He had also sown the seed of
+many trees which the second year bear flowers or fruit; such as the
+agathis, encircled with long clusters of white flowers which hang from
+it like the crystal pendants of a chandelier; the Persian lilac, which
+lifts high in air its gray flax-coloured branches; the pappaw tree,
+the branchless trunk of which forms a column studded with green
+melons, surmounted by a capital of broad leaves similar to those of the
+fig-tree.
+
+The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mango, alligator
+pear, the guava, the bread-fruit tree, and the narrow-leaved rose-apple,
+were also planted by him with profusion: and the greater number of these
+trees already afforded their young cultivator both shade and fruit.
+His industrious hands diffused the riches of nature over even the most
+barren parts of the plantation. Several species of aloes, the Indian
+fig, adorned with yellow flowers spotted with red, and the thorny torch
+thistle, grew upon the dark summits of the rocks, and seemed to aim at
+reaching the long lianas, which, laden with blue or scarlet flowers,
+hung scattered over the steepest parts of the mountain.
+
+I loved to trace the ingenuity he had exercised in the arrangement of
+these trees. He had so disposed them that the whole could be seen at a
+single glance. In the middle of the hollow he had planted shrubs of
+the lowest growth; behind grew the more lofty sorts; then trees of
+the ordinary height; and beyond and above all, the venerable and lofty
+groves which border the circumference. Thus this extensive enclosure
+appeared, from its centre, like a verdant amphitheatre decorated with
+fruits and flowers, containing a variety of vegetables, some strips
+of meadow land, and fields of rice and corn. But, in arranging these
+vegetable productions to his own taste, he wandered not too far from
+the designs of Nature. Guided by her suggestions, he had thrown upon the
+elevated spots such seeds as the winds would scatter about, and near
+the borders of the springs those which float upon the water. Every
+plant thus grew in its proper soil, and every spot seemed decorated by
+Nature's own hand. The streams which fell from the summits of the rocks
+formed in some parts of the valley sparkling cascades, and in others
+were spread into broad mirrors, in which were reflected, set in verdure,
+the flowering trees, the overhanging rocks, and the azure heavens.
+
+Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground, these plantations
+were, for the most part, easy of access. We had, indeed, all given
+him our advice and assistance, in order to accomplish this end. He had
+conducted one path entirely round the valley, and various branches from
+it led from the circumference to the centre. He had drawn some advantage
+from the most rugged spots, and had blended, in harmonious union, level
+walks with the inequalities of the soil, and trees which grow wild with
+the cultivated varieties. With that immense quantity of large pebbles
+which now block up these paths, and which are scattered over most of the
+ground of this island, he formed pyramidal heaps here and there, at
+the base of which he laid mould, and planted rose-bushes, the Barbadoes
+flower-fence, and other shrubs which love to climb the rocks. In a short
+time the dark and shapeless heaps of stones he had constructed were
+covered with verdure, or with the glowing tints of the most beautiful
+flowers. Hollow recesses on the borders of the streams shaded by the
+overhanging boughs of aged trees, formed rural grottoes, impervious
+to the rays of the sun, in which you might enjoy a refreshing coolness
+during the mid-day heats. One path led to a clump of forest trees, in
+the centre of which sheltered from the wind, you found a fruit-tree,
+laden with produce. Here was a corn-field; there, an orchard; from one
+avenue you had a view of the cottages; from another, of the inaccessible
+summit of the mountain. Beneath one tufted bower of gum trees,
+interwoven with lianas, no object whatever could be perceived: while the
+point of the adjoining rock, jutting out from the mountain, commanded
+a view of the whole enclosure, and of the distant ocean, where,
+occasionally, we could discern the distant sail, arriving from Europe,
+or bound thither. On this rock the two families frequently met in the
+evening, and enjoyed in silence the freshness of the flowers, the gentle
+murmurs of the fountain, and the last blended harmonies of light and
+shade.
+
+Nothing could be more charming than the names which were bestowed upon
+some of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of which
+I have been speaking, whence they could discern my approach at a
+considerable distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and
+Virginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot; and
+whenever they saw me coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief,
+by way of signal of my approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the
+neighbouring mountain on the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck
+me of engraving an inscription on the stalk of this reed; for I never,
+in the course of my travels, experienced any thing like the pleasure
+in seeing a statue or other monument of ancient art, as in reading a
+well-written inscription. It seems to me as if a human voice issued from
+the stone, and, making itself heard after the lapse of ages, addressed
+man in the midst of a desert, to tell him that he is not alone, and that
+other men, on that very spot, had felt, and thought, and suffered like
+himself. If the inscription belongs to an ancient nation, which no
+longer exists, it leads the soul through infinite space, and strengthens
+the consciousness of its immortality, by demonstrating that a thought
+has survived the ruins of an empire.
+
+I inscribed then, on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag, the
+following lines of Horace:--
+
+     Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+     Ventorumque regat pater,
+     Obstrictis, aliis, praeter Iapiga.
+
+"May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you, and the Father of the
+winds, guide you; and may you feel only the breath of the zephyr."
+
+There was a gum-tree, under the shade of which Paul was accustomed to
+sit, to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of this
+tree, I engraved the following lines from Virgil:--
+
+     Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
+
+"Happy are thou, my son, in knowing only the pastoral divinities."
+
+And over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the families so
+frequently met, I placed this line:--
+
+     At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
+
+"Here dwell a calm conscience, and a life that knows not deceit."
+
+But Virginia did not approve of my Latin: she said, that what I had
+placed at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. "I
+should have liked better," added she, "to have seen inscribed, EVER
+AGITATED, YET CONSTANT."--"Such a motto," I answered, "would have been
+still more applicable to virtue." My reflection made her blush.
+
+The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested in
+every thing around them. They gave the tenderest names to objects
+in appearance the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain and
+rose-apple trees, planted round a green sward where Virginia and Paul
+sometimes danced, received the name of Concord. An old tree, beneath
+the shade of which Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount their
+misfortunes, was called the Burial-place of Tears. They bestowed the
+names of Brittany and Normandy on two little plots of ground, where they
+had sown corn, strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary, wishing, in
+imitation of their mistresses, to recall to mind Angola and Foullepoint,
+the places of their birth in Africa, gave those names to the little
+fields where the grass was sown with which they wove their baskets,
+and where they had planted a calabash-tree. Thus, by cultivating
+the productions of their respective climates, these exiled families
+cherished the dear illusions which bind us to our native country, and
+softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas! I have seen these trees,
+these fountains, these heaps of stones, which are now so completely
+overthrown,--which now, like the desolated plains of Greece, present
+nothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances, all called into
+life by the many charming appellations thus bestowed upon them!
+
+But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that called
+Virginia's resting-place. At the foot of the rock which bore the name
+of The Discovery of Friendship, is a small crevice, whence issues a
+fountain, forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in the
+middle of a field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had made
+Margaret a present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and which
+she planted on the border of this fenny ground, in order that the tree
+might one day serve to mark the epoch of her son's birth. Madame de la
+Tour planted another cocoa with the same view, at the birth of Virginia.
+These nuts produced two cocoa-trees, which formed the only records of
+the two families; one was called Paul's tree, the other, Virginia's.
+Their growth was in the same proportion as that of the two young
+persons, not exactly equal: but they rose, at the end of twelve years,
+above the roofs of the cottages. Already their tender stalks were
+interwoven, and clusters of young cocoas hung from them over the basin
+of the fountain. With the exception of these two trees, this nook of the
+rock was left as it had been decorated by nature. On its embrowned and
+moist sides broad plants of maiden-hair glistened with their green and
+dark stars; and tufts of wave-leaved hart's tongue, suspended like long
+ribands of purpled green, floated on the wind. Near this grew a chain
+of the Madagascar periwinkle, the flowers of which resemble the red
+gilliflower; and the long-podded capsicum, the seed-vessels of which are
+of the colour of blood, and more resplendent than coral. Near them, the
+herb balm, with its heart-shaped leaves, and the sweet basil, which has
+the odour of the clove, exhaled the most delicious perfumes. From the
+precipitous side of the mountain hung the graceful lianas, like floating
+draperies, forming magnificent canopies of verdure on the face of
+the rocks. The sea-birds, allured by the stillness of these retreats,
+resorted here to pass the night. At the hour of sunset we could perceive
+the curlew and the stint skimming along the seashore; the frigate-bird
+poised high in air; and the white bird of the tropic, which abandons,
+with the star of day, the solitudes of the Indian ocean. Virginia took
+pleasure in resting herself upon the border of this fountain, decorated
+with wild and sublime magnificence. She often went thither to wash
+the linen of the family beneath the shade of the two cocoa-trees, and
+thither too she sometimes led her goats to graze. While she was making
+cheeses of their milk, she loved to see them browse on the maiden-hair
+fern which clothes the steep sides of the rock, and hung suspended by
+one of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that Virginia
+was fond of this spot, brought thither, from the neighbouring forest, a
+great variety of bird's nests. The old birds following their young, soon
+established themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated times,
+distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and maize. As soon as
+she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird, whose note is
+so soft, the cardinal, with its flame coloured plumage, forsook
+their bushes; the parroquet, green as an emerald, descended from the
+neighbouring fan-palms, the partridge ran along the grass; all advanced
+promiscuously towards her, like a brood of chickens: and she and Paul
+found an exhaustless source of amusement in observing their sports,
+their repasts, and their loves.
+
+Amiable children! thus passed your earlier days in innocence, and in
+obeying the impulses of kindness. How many times, on this very spot,
+have your mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the
+consolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years,
+while they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin
+life under the happiest auspices! How many times, beneath the shade
+of those rocks, have I partaken with them of your rural repasts, which
+never cost any animal its life! Gourds full of milk, fresh eggs, cakes
+of rice served up on plantain leaves, with baskets of mangoes, oranges,
+dates, pomegranates, pineapples, furnished a wholesome repast, the
+most agreeable to the eye, as well as delicious to the taste, that can
+possibly be imagined.
+
+Like the repast, the conversation was mild, and free from every thing
+having a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of the
+day and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for the
+accommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the paths
+were rugged; there, that the seats were uncomfortable: sometimes the
+young arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and Virginia might be
+better pleased elsewhere.
+
+During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage,
+and employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of bamboo.
+Rakes, spades, and hatchets, were ranged along the walls in the most
+perfect order; and near these instruments of agriculture were heaped its
+products,--bags of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of plantains. Some
+degree of luxury usually accompanies abundance; and Virginia was taught
+by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbert and cordials from the
+juice of the sugar-cane, the lemon and the citron.
+
+When night came, they all supped together by the light of a lamp; after
+which Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of travellers
+benighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested by banditti;
+or told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown by the tempest
+upon the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals the children
+listened with eager attention, and earnestly hoped that Heaven would one
+day grant them the joy of performing the rites of hospitality towards
+such unfortunate persons. When the time for repose arrived, the two
+families separated and retired for the night, eager to meet again the
+following morning. Sometimes they were lulled to repose by the beating
+of the rains, which fell in torrents upon the roofs of their cottages,
+and sometimes by the hollow winds, which brought to their ear the
+distant roar of the waves breaking upon the shore. They blessed God for
+their own safety, the feeling of which was brought home more forcibly to
+their minds by the sound of remote danger.
+
+Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of the
+Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon these sacred
+volumes, for their theology centred in a feeling of devotion towards
+the Supreme Being, like that of nature: and their morality was an active
+principle, like that of the Gospel. These families had no particular
+days devoted to pleasure, and others to sadness. Every day was to them
+a holyday, and all that surrounded them one holy temple, in which they
+ever adored the Infinite Intelligence, the Almighty God, the Friend of
+human kind. A feeling of confidence in his supreme power filled their
+minds with consolation for the past, with fortitude under present
+trials, and with hope in the future. Compelled by misfortune to return
+almost to a state of nature, these excellent women had thus developed in
+their own and their children's bosoms the feelings most natural to the
+human mind, and its best support under affliction.
+
+But, as clouds sometimes arise, and cast a gloom over the best regulated
+tempers, so whenever any member of this little society appeared to be
+labouring under dejection, the rest assembled around, and endeavoured
+to banish her painful thoughts by amusing the mind rather than by grave
+arguments against them. Each performed this kind office in their own
+appropriate manner: Margaret, by her gaiety; Madame de la Tour, by the
+gentle consolations of religion; Virginia, by her tender caresses; Paul,
+by his frank and engaging cordiality. Even Mary and Domingo hastened
+to offer their succour, and to weep with those that wept. Thus do weak
+plants interweave themselves with each other, in order to withstand the
+fury of the tempest.
+
+During the fine season, they went every Sunday to the church of the
+Shaddock Grove, the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain. Many
+wealthy members of the congregation, who came to church in palanquins,
+sought the acquaintance of these united families, and invited them
+to parties of pleasure. But they always repelled these overtures with
+respectful politeness, as they were persuaded that the rich and powerful
+seek the society of persons in an inferior station only for the sake of
+surrounding themselves with flatterers, and that every flatterer must
+applaud alike all the actions of his patron, whether good or bad. On the
+other hand, they avoided, with equal care, too intimate an acquaintance
+with the lower class, who are ordinarily jealous, calumniating, and
+gross. They thus acquired, with some, the character of being timid, and
+with others, of pride: but their reserve was accompanied with so much
+obliging politeness, above all towards the unfortunate and the unhappy,
+that they insensibly acquired the respect of the rich and the confidence
+of the poor.
+
+After service, some kind office was often required at their hands by
+their poor neighbours. Sometimes a person troubled in mind sought their
+advice; sometimes a child begged them to its sick mother, in one of the
+adjoining hamlets. They always took with them a few remedies for the
+ordinary diseases of the country, which they administered in that
+soothing manner which stamps a value upon the smallest favours. Above
+all, they met with singular success in administrating to the disorders
+of the mind, so intolerable in solitude, and under the infirmities of a
+weakened frame. Madame de la Tour spoke with such sublime confidence of
+the Divinity, that the sick, while listening to her, almost believed him
+present. Virginia often returned home with her eyes full of tears, and
+her heart overflowing with delight, at having had an opportunity of
+doing good; for to her generally was confided the task of preparing and
+administering the medicines,--a task which she fulfilled with angelic
+sweetness. After these visits of charity, they sometimes extended their
+walk by the Sloping Mountain, till they reached my dwelling, where I
+used to prepare dinner for them on the banks of the little rivulet which
+glides near my cottage. I procured for these occasions a few bottles of
+old wine, in order to heighten the relish of our Oriental repast by
+the more genial productions of Europe. At other times we met on the
+sea-shore, at the mouth of some little river, or rather mere brook. We
+brought from home the provisions furnished us by our gardens, to which
+we added those supplied us by the sea in abundant variety. We caught
+on these shores the mullet, the roach, and the sea-urchin, lobsters,
+shrimps, crabs, oysters, and all other kinds of shell-fish. In this
+way, we often enjoyed the most tranquil pleasures in situations the most
+terrific. Sometimes, seated upon a rock, under the shade of the velvet
+sunflower-tree, we saw the enormous waves of the Indian Ocean break
+beneath our feet with a tremendous noise. Paul, who could swim like a
+fish, would advance on the reefs to meet the coming billows; then, at
+their near approach, would run back to the beach, closely pursued by the
+foaming breakers, which threw themselves, with a roaring noise, far on
+the sands. But Virginia, at this sight, uttered piercing cries, and said
+that such sports frightened her too much.
+
+Other amusements were not wanting on these festive occasions. Our
+repasts were generally followed by the songs and dances of the two young
+people. Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life, and the misery
+of those who were impelled by avarice to cross the raging ocean, rather
+than cultivate the earth, and enjoy its bounties in peace. Sometimes she
+performed a pantomime with Paul, after the manner of the negroes. The
+first language of man is pantomime: it is known to all nations, and is
+so natural and expressive, that the children of the European inhabitants
+catch it with facility from the negroes. Virginia, recalling, from among
+the histories which her mother had read to her, those which had affected
+her most, represented the principal events in them with beautiful
+simplicity. Sometimes at the sound of Domingo's tantam she appeared upon
+the green sward, bearing a pitcher upon her head, and advanced with a
+timid step towards the source of a neighbouring fountain, to draw water.
+Domingo and Mary, personating the shepherds of Midian forbade her to
+approach, and repulsed her sternly. Upon this Paul flew to her succour,
+beat away the shepherds, filled Virginia's pitcher, and placing it upon
+her heard, bound her brows at the same time with a wreath of the red
+flowers of the Madagascar periwinkle, which served to heighten the
+delicacy of her complexion. Then joining in their sports, I took upon
+myself the part of Raguel, and bestowed upon Paul, my daughter Zephora
+in marriage.
+
+Another time Virginia would represent the unhappy Ruth, returning poor
+and widowed with her mother-in-law, who, after so prolonged an absence,
+found herself as unknown as in a foreign land. Domingo and Mary
+personated the reapers. The supposed daughter of Naomi followed their
+steps, gleaning here and there a few ears of corn. When interrogated by
+Paul,--a part which he performed with the gravity of a patriarch,--she
+answered his questions with a faltering voice. He then, touched
+with compassion, granted an asylum to innocence, and hospitality to
+misfortune. He filled her lap with plenty; and, leading her towards us
+as before the elders of the city, declared his purpose to take her
+in marriage. At this scene, Madame de la Tour, recalling the desolate
+situation in which she had been left by her relations, her widowhood,
+and the kind reception she had met with from Margaret, succeeded now
+by the soothing hope of a happy union between their children, could not
+forbear weeping; and these mixed recollections of good and evil caused
+us all to unite with her in shedding tears of sorrow and of joy.
+
+These dramas were performed with such an air of reality that you
+might have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of
+Palestine. We were not unfurnished with decorations, lights, or an
+orchestra, suitable to the representation. The scene was generally
+placed in an open space of the forest, the diverging paths from which
+formed around us numerous arcades of foliage, under which we were
+sheltered from the heat all the middle of the day; but when the sun
+descended towards the horizon, its rays, broken by the trunks of the
+trees, darted amongst the shadows of the forest in long lines of light,
+producing the most magnificent effect. Sometimes its broad disk appeared
+at the end of an avenue, lighting it up with insufferable brightness.
+The foliage of the trees, illuminated from beneath by its saffron beams,
+glowed with the lustre of the topaz and the emerald. Their brown and
+mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of antique bronze; and
+the birds, which had retired in silence to their leafy shades to pass
+the night, surprised to see the radiance of a second morning, hailed the
+star of day all together with innumerable carols.
+
+Night often overtook us during these rural entertainments; but the
+purity of the air and the warmth of the climate, admitted of our
+sleeping in the woods, without incurring any danger by exposure to the
+weather, and no less secure from the molestations of robbers. On our
+return the following day to our respective habitations, we found them in
+exactly the same state in which they had been left. In this island, then
+unsophisticated by the pursuits of commerce, such were the honesty and
+primitive manners of the population, that the doors of many houses were
+without a key, and even a lock itself was an object of curiosity to not
+a few of the native inhabitants.
+
+There were, however, some days in the year celebrated by Paul and
+Virginia in a more peculiar manner; these were the birth-days of their
+mothers. Virginia never failed the day before to prepare some wheaten
+cakes, which she distributed among a few poor white families, born
+in the island, who had never eaten European bread. These unfortunate
+people, uncared for by the blacks, were reduced to live on tapioca in
+the woods; and as they had neither the insensibility which is the result
+of slavery, nor the fortitude which springs from a liberal education,
+to enable them to support their poverty, their situation was deplorable.
+These cakes were all that Virginia had it in her power to give away, but
+she conferred the gift in so delicate a manner as to add tenfold to
+its value. In the first place, Paul was commissioned to take the cakes
+himself to these families, and get their promise to come and spend the
+next day at Madame de la Tour's. Accordingly, mothers of families, with
+two or three thin, yellow, miserable looking daughters, so timid that
+they dared not look up, made their appearance. Virginia soon put them
+at their ease; she waited upon them with refreshments, the excellence
+of which she endeavoured to heighten by relating some particular
+circumstance which in her own estimation, vastly improved them. One
+beverage had been prepared by Margaret; another, by her mother: her
+brother himself had climbed some lofty tree for the very fruit she was
+presenting. She would then get Paul to dance with them, nor would she
+leave them till she saw that they were happy. She wished them to partake
+of the joy of her own family. "It is only," she said, "by promoting the
+happiness of others, that we can secure our own." When they left, she
+generally presented them with some little article they seemed to fancy,
+enforcing their acceptance of it by some delicate pretext, that she
+might not appear to know they were in want. If she remarked that their
+clothes were much tattered, she obtained her mother's permission to
+give them some of her own, and then sent Paul to leave them, secretly at
+their cottage doors. She thus followed the divine precept,--concealing
+the benefactor, and revealing only the benefit.
+
+You Europeans, whose minds are imbued from infancy with prejudices at
+variance with happiness, cannot imagine all the instruction and pleasure
+to be derived from nature. Your souls, confined to a small sphere of
+intelligence, soon reach the limit of its artificial enjoyments: but
+nature and the heart are inexhaustible. Paul and Virginia had neither
+clock, nor almanack, nor books of chronology, history or philosophy.
+The periods of their lives were regulated by those of the operations of
+nature, and their familiar conversation had a reference to the changes
+of the seasons. They knew the time of day by the shadows of the trees;
+the seasons, by the times when those trees bore flowers or fruit;
+and the years, by the number of their harvests. These soothing images
+diffused an inexpressible charm over their conversation. "It is time to
+dine," said Virginia, "the shadows of the plantain-trees are at their
+roots:" or, "Night approaches, the tamarinds are closing their leaves."
+"When will you come and see us?" inquired some of her companions in
+the neighbourhood. "At the time of the sugar-canes," answered Virginia.
+"Your visit will be then still more delightful," resumed her young
+acquaintances. When she was asked what was her own age and that of
+Paul,--"My brother," said she, "is as old as the great cocoa-tree of the
+fountain; and I am as old as the little one: the mangoes have bore fruit
+twelve times and the orange-trees have flowered four-and-twenty times,
+since I came into the world." Their lives seemed linked to that of the
+trees, like those of Fauns or Dryads. They knew no other historical
+epochs than those of the lives of their mothers, no other chronology
+than that of doing good, and resigning themselves to the will of Heaven.
+
+What need, indeed, had these young people of riches or learning such
+as ours? Even their necessities and their ignorance increased their
+happiness. No day passed in which they were not of some service to one
+another, or in which they did not mutually impart some instruction. Yes,
+instruction; for if errors mingled with it, they were, at least, not of
+a dangerous character. A pure-minded being has none of that description
+to fear. Thus grew these children of nature. No care had troubled their
+peace, no intemperance had corrupted their blood, no misplaced passion
+had depraved their hearts. Love, innocence, and piety, possessed their
+souls; and those intellectual graces were unfolding daily in their
+features, their attitudes, and their movements. Still in the morning of
+life, they had all its blooming freshness: and surely such in the garden
+of Eden appeared our first parents, when coming from the hands of God,
+they first saw, and approached each other, and conversed together, like
+brother and sister. Virginia was gentle, modest, and confiding as Eve;
+and Paul, like Adam, united the stature of manhood with the simplicity
+of a child.
+
+Sometimes, if alone with Virginia, he has a thousand times told me, he
+used to say to her, on his return from labour,--"When I am wearied, the
+sight of you refreshes me. If from the summit of the mountain I perceive
+you below in the valley, you appear to me in the midst of our orchard
+like a blooming rose-bud. If you go towards our mother's house, the
+partridge, when it runs to meet its young, has a shape less beautiful,
+and a step less light. When I lose sight of you through the trees, I
+have no need to see you in order to find you again. Something of you, I
+know not how, remains for me in the air through which you have passed,
+on the grass where you have been seated. When I come near you, you
+delight all my senses. The azure of the sky is less charming than the
+blue of your eyes, and the song of the amadavid bird less soft than the
+sound of your voice. If I only touch you with the tip of my finger,
+my whole frame trembles with pleasure. Do you remember the day when we
+crossed over the great stones of the river of the Three Breasts? I was
+very tired before we reached the bank: but, as soon as I had taken you
+in my arms, I seemed to have wings like a bird. Tell me by what charm
+you have thus enchanted me! Is it by your wisdom?--Our mothers have more
+than either of us. Is it by your caresses?--They embrace me much oftener
+than you. I think it must be by your goodness. I shall never forget how
+you walked bare-footed to the Black River, to ask pardon for the poor
+run-away slave. Here, my beloved, take this flowering branch of a
+lemon-tree, which I have gathered in the forest: you will let it remain
+at night near your bed. Eat this honey-comb too, which I have taken for
+you from the top of a rock. But first lean on my bosom, and I shall be
+refreshed."
+
+Virginia would answer him,--"Oh, my dear brother, the rays of the sun in
+the morning on the tops of the rocks give me less joy than the sight of
+you. I love my mother,--I love yours; but when they call you their son,
+I love them a thousand times more. When they caress you, I feel it more
+sensibly than when I am caressed myself. You ask me what makes you love
+me. Why, all creatures that are brought up together love one another.
+Look at our birds; reared up in the same nests, they love each other as
+we do; they are always together like us. Hark! how they call and answer
+from one tree to another. So when the echoes bring to my ears the air
+which you play on your flute on the top of the mountain, I repeat the
+words at the bottom of the valley. You are dear to me more especially
+since the day when you wanted to fight the master of the slave for me.
+Since that time how often have I said to myself, 'Ah, my brother has a
+good heart; but for him, I should have died of terror.' I pray to
+God every day for my mother and for yours; for you, and for our
+poor servants; but when I pronounce your name, my devotion seems to
+increase;--I ask so earnestly of God that no harm may befall you! Why
+do you go so far, and climb so high, to seek fruits and flowers for
+me? Have we not enough in our garden already? How much you are
+fatigued,--you look so warm!"--and with her little white handkerchief
+she would wipe the damps from his face, and then imprint a tender kiss
+on his forehead.
+
+For some time past, however, Virginia had felt her heart agitated by
+new sensations. Her beautiful blue eyes lost their lustre, her cheek
+its freshness, and her frame was overpowered with a universal langour.
+Serenity no longer sat upon her brow, nor smiles played upon her lips.
+She would become all at once gay without cause for joy, and melancholy
+without any subject for grief. She fled her innocent amusements, her
+gentle toils, and even the society of her beloved family; wandering
+about the most unfrequented parts of the plantations, and seeking every
+where the rest which she could no where find. Sometimes, at the sight
+of Paul, she advanced sportively to meet him; but, when about to accost
+him, was overcome by a sudden confusion; her pale cheeks were covered
+with blushes, and her eyes no longer dared to meet those of her brother.
+Paul said to her,--"The rocks are covered with verdure, our birds begin
+to sing when you approach, everything around you is gay, and you only
+are unhappy." He then endeavoured to soothe her by his embraces, but
+she turned away her head, and fled, trembling towards her mother. The
+caresses of her brother excited too much emotion in her agitated heart,
+and she sought, in the arms of her mother, refuge from herself. Paul,
+unused to the secret windings of the female heart, vexed himself in
+vain in endeavouring to comprehend the meaning of these new and strange
+caprices. Misfortunes seldom come alone, and a serious calamity now
+impended over these families.
+
+One of those summers, which sometimes desolate the countries situated
+between the tropics, now began to spread its ravages over this island.
+It was near the end of December, when the sun, in Capricorn, darts over
+the Mauritius, during the space of three weeks, its vertical fires.
+The southeast wind, which prevails throughout almost the whole year,
+no longer blew. Vast columns of dust arose from the highways, and hung
+suspended in the air; the ground was every where broken into clefts;
+the grass was burnt up; hot exhalations issued from the sides of
+the mountains, and their rivulets, for the most part, became dry. No
+refreshing cloud ever arose from the sea: fiery vapours, only, during
+the day, ascended from the plains, and appeared, at sunset, like the
+reflection of a vast conflagration. Night brought no coolness to
+the heated atmosphere; and the red moon rising in the misty horizon,
+appeared of supernatural magnitude. The drooping cattle, on the sides
+of the hills, stretching out their necks towards heaven, and panting for
+breath, made the valleys re-echo with their melancholy lowings: even the
+Caffre by whom they were led threw himself upon the earth, in search of
+some cooling moisture: but his hopes were vain; the scorching sun
+had penetrated the whole soil, and the stifling atmosphere everywhere
+resounded with the buzzing noise of insects, seeking to allay their
+thirst with the blood of men and of animals.
+
+During this sultry season, Virginia's restlessness and disquietude were
+much increased. One night, in particular, being unable to sleep, she
+arose from her bed, sat down, and returned to rest again; but could find
+in no attitude either slumber or repose. At length she bent her way, by
+the light of the moon, towards her fountain, and gazed at its spring,
+which, notwithstanding the drought, still trickled, in silver threads
+down the brown sides of the rock. She flung herself into the basin: its
+coolness reanimated her spirits, and a thousand soothing remembrances
+came to her mind. She recollected that in her infancy her mother and
+Margaret had amused themselves by bathing her with Paul in this very
+spot; that he afterwards, reserving this bath for her sole use, had
+hollowed out its bed, covered the bottom with sand, and sown aromatic
+herbs around its borders. She saw in the water, upon her naked arms and
+bosom, the reflection of the two cocoa trees which were planted at her
+own and her brother's birth, and which interwove above her head their
+green branches and young fruit. She thought of Paul's friendship,
+sweeter than the odour of the blossoms, purer than the waters of the
+fountain, stronger than the intertwining palm-tree, and she sighed.
+Reflecting on the hour of the night, and the profound solitude, her
+imagination became disturbed. Suddenly she flew, affrighted, from those
+dangerous shades, and those waters which seemed to her hotter than the
+tropical sunbeam, and ran to her mother for refuge. More than once,
+wishing to reveal her sufferings, she pressed her mother's hand within
+her own; more than once she was ready to pronounce the name of Paul: but
+her oppressed heart left her lips no power of utterance, and, leaning
+her head on her mother's bosom, she bathed it with her tears.
+
+Madame de la Tour, though she easily discerned the source of her
+daughter's uneasiness, did not think proper to speak to her on the
+subject. "My dear child," said she, "offer up your supplications to God,
+who disposes at his will of health and of life. He subjects you to trial
+now, in order to recompense you hereafter. Remember that we are only
+placed upon earth for the exercise of virtue."
+
+The excessive heat in the meantime raised vast masses of vapour from the
+ocean, which hung over the island like an immense parasol, and gathered
+round the summits of the mountains. Long flakes of fire issued from time
+to time from these mist-embosomed peaks. The most awful thunder soon
+after re-echoed through the woods, the plains, and the valleys: the
+rains fell from the skies in cataracts; foaming torrents rushed down the
+sides of this mountain; the bottom of the valley became a sea, and the
+elevated platform on which the cottages were built, a little island. The
+accumulated waters, having no other outlet, rushed with violence through
+the narrow gorge which leads into the valley, tossing and roaring, and
+bearing along with them a mingled wreck of soil, trees, and rocks.
+
+The trembling families meantime addressed their prayers to God all
+together in the cottage of Madame de la Tour, the roof of which cracked
+fearfully from the force of the winds. So incessant and vivid were the
+lightnings, that although the doors and window-shutters were securely
+fastened, every object without could be distinctly seen through
+the joints in the wood-work! Paul, followed by Domingo, went with
+intrepidity from one cottage to another, notwithstanding the fury of the
+tempest; here supporting a partition with a buttress, there driving in
+a stake; and only returning to the family to calm their fears, by the
+expression of a hope that the storm was passing away. Accordingly, in
+the evening the rains ceased, the trade-winds of the southeast pursued
+their ordinary course, the tempestuous clouds were driven away to the
+northward, and the setting sun appeared in the horizon.
+
+Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her Resting-place.
+Paul approached her with a timid air, and offered her the assistance
+of his arm; she accepted it with a smile, and they left the cottage
+together. The air was clear and fresh: white vapours arose from the
+ridges of the mountain, which was furrowed here and there by the courses
+of torrents, marked in foam, and now beginning to dry up on all
+sides. As for the garden, it was completely torn to pieces by deep
+water-courses, the roots of most of the fruit trees were laid bare, and
+vast heaps of sand covered the borders of the meadows, and had choked
+up Virginia's bath. The two cocoa trees, however, were still erect, and
+still retained their freshness; but they were no longer surrounded by
+turf, or arbours, or birds, except a few amadavid birds, which, upon the
+points of the neighbouring rocks, were lamenting, in plaintive notes,
+the loss of their young.
+
+At the sight of this general desolation, Virginia exclaimed to
+Paul,--"You brought birds hither, and the hurricane has killed them.
+You planted this garden, and it is now destroyed. Every thing then
+upon earth perishes, and it is only Heaven that is not subject to
+change."--"Why," answered Paul, "cannot I give you something that
+belongs to Heaven? but I have nothing of my own even upon the earth."
+Virginia with a blush replied, "You have the picture of Saint Paul."
+As soon as she had uttered the words, he flew in quest of it to his
+mother's cottage. This picture was a miniature of Paul the Hermit, which
+Margaret, who viewed it with feelings of great devotion, had worn at her
+neck while a girl, and which, after she became a mother, she had placed
+round her child's. It had even happened, that being, while pregnant,
+abandoned by all the world, and constantly occupied in contemplating
+the image of this benevolent recluse, her offspring had contracted some
+resemblance to this revered object. She therefore bestowed upon him the
+name of Paul, giving him for his patron a saint who had passed his life
+far from mankind by whom he had been first deceived and then forsaken.
+Virginia, on receiving this little present from the hands of Paul, said
+to him, with emotion, "My dear brother, I will never part with this
+while I live; nor will I ever forget that you have given me the only
+thing you have in the world." At this tone of friendship,--this unhoped
+for return of familiarity and tenderness, Paul attempted to embrace
+her; but, light as a bird, she escaped him, and fled away, leaving him
+astonished, and unable to account for conduct so extraordinary.
+
+Meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour, "Why do we not unite our
+children by marriage? They have a strong attachment for each other, and
+though my son hardly understands the real nature of his feelings, yet
+great care and watchfulness will be necessary. Under such circumstances,
+it will be as well not to leave them too much together." Madame de la
+Tour replied, "They are too young and too poor. What grief would it
+occasion us to see Virginia bring into the world unfortunate children,
+whom she would not perhaps have sufficient strength to rear! Your negro,
+Domingo, is almost too old to labor; Mary is infirm. As for myself, my
+dear friend, at the end of fifteen years, I find my strength greatly
+decreased; the feebleness of age advances rapidly in hot climates, and,
+above all, under the pressure of misfortune. Paul is our only hope: let
+us wait till he comes to maturity, and his increased strength enables
+him to support us by his labour: at present you well know that we have
+only sufficient to supply the wants of the day: but were we to send Paul
+for a short time to the Indies, he might acquire, by commerce, the
+means of purchasing some slaves; and at his return we could unite him to
+Virginia; for I am persuaded no one on earth would render her so happy
+as your son. We will consult our neighbour on this subject."
+
+They accordingly asked my advice, which was in accordance with Madame
+de la Tour's opinion. "The Indian seas," I observed to them, "are calm,
+and, in choosing a favourable time of the year, the voyage out is seldom
+longer than six weeks; and the same time may be allowed for the return
+home. We will furnish Paul with a little venture from my neighbourhood,
+where he is much beloved. If we were only to supply him with some raw
+cotton, of which we make no use for want of mills to work it, some
+ebony, which is here so common that it serves us for firing, and some
+rosin, which is found in our woods, he would be able to sell those
+articles, though useless here, to good advantage in the Indies."
+
+I took upon myself to obtain permission from Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+to undertake this voyage; and I determined previously to mention the
+affair to Paul. But what was my surprise, when this young man said to
+me, with a degree of good sense above his age, "And why do you wish me
+to leave my family for this precarious pursuit of fortune? Is there any
+commerce in the world more advantageous than the culture of the ground,
+which yields sometimes fifty or a hundred-fold? If we wish to engage
+in commerce, can we not do so by carrying our superfluities to the town
+without my wandering to the Indies? Our mothers tell me, that Domingo
+is old and feeble; but I am young, and gather strength every day. If
+any accident should happen during my absence, above all to Virginia, who
+already suffers--Oh, no, no!--I cannot resolve to leave them."
+
+So decided an answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la
+Tour had not concealed from me the cause of Virginia's illness and want
+of spirits, and her desire of separating these young people till they
+were a few years older. I took care, however, not to drop any thing
+which could lead Paul to suspect the existence of these motives.
+
+About this period a ship from France brought Madame de la Tour a letter
+from her aunt. The fear of death, without which hearts as insensible as
+hers would never feel, had alarmed her into compassion. When she wrote
+she was recovering from a dangerous illness, which had, however, left
+her incurably languid and weak. She desired her niece to return to
+France: or, if her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage,
+she begged her to send Virginia, on whom she promised to bestow a good
+education, to procure for her a splendid marriage, and to leave
+her heiress of her whole fortune. She concluded by enjoining strict
+obedience to her will, in gratitude, she said, for her great kindness.
+
+At the perusal of this letter general consternation spread itself
+through the whole assembled party. Domingo and Mary began to weep.
+Paul, motionless with surprise, appeared almost ready to burst with
+indignation; while Virginia, fixing her eyes anxiously upon her mother,
+had not power to utter a single word. "And can you now leave us?" cried
+Margaret to Madame de la Tour. "No, my dear friend, no, my beloved
+children," replied Madame de la Tour; "I will never leave you. I have
+lived with you, and with you I will die. I have known no happiness but
+in your affection. If my health be deranged, my past misfortunes are the
+cause. My heart has been deeply wounded by the cruelty of my relations,
+and by the loss of my beloved husband. But I have since found more
+consolation and more real happiness with you in these humble huts, than
+all the wealth of my family could now lead me to expect in my country."
+
+At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight.
+Paul, pressing Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaimed,--"Neither will
+I leave you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for you,
+dear mamma; and you shall never feel any want with us." But of the whole
+society, the person who displayed the least transport, and who probably
+felt the most, was Virginia; and during the remainder of the day, the
+gentle gaiety which flowed from her heart, and proved that her peace of
+mind was restored, completed the general satisfaction.
+
+At sun-rise the next day, just as they had concluded offering up, as
+usual, their morning prayer before breakfast, Domingo came to inform
+them that a gentleman on horseback, followed by two slaves, was coming
+towards the plantation. It was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. He entered
+the cottage, where he found the family at breakfast. Virginia had
+prepared, according to the custom of the country, coffee, and rice
+boiled in water. To these she had added hot yams, and fresh plantains.
+The leaves of the plantain-tree, supplied the want of table-linen; and
+calabash shells, split in two, served for cups. The governor exhibited,
+at first, some astonishment at the homeliness of the dwelling; then,
+addressing himself to Madame de la Tour, he observed, that although
+public affairs drew his attention too much from the concerns of
+individuals, she had many claims on his good offices. "You have an aunt
+at Paris, madam," he added, "a woman of quality, and immensely rich, who
+expects that you will hasten to see her, and who means to bestow upon
+you her whole fortune." Madame de la Tour replied, that the state of her
+health would not permit her to undertake so long a voyage. "At least,"
+resumed Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, "you cannot without injustice,
+deprive this amiable young lady, your daughter, of so noble an
+inheritance. I will not conceal from you, that your aunt has made use of
+her influence to secure your daughter being sent to her; and that I have
+received official letters, in which I am ordered to exert my authority,
+if necessary, to that effect. But as I only wish to employ my power for
+the purpose of rendering the inhabitants of this country happy, I expect
+from your good sense the voluntary sacrifice of a few years, upon which
+your daughter's establishment in the world, and the welfare of your
+whole life depends. Wherefore do we come to these islands? Is it not to
+acquire a fortune? And will it not be more agreeable to return and find
+it in your own country?"
+
+He then took a large bag of piastres from one of his slaves, and placed
+it upon the table. "This sum," he continued, "is allotted by your aunt
+to defray the outlay necessary for the equipment of the young lady for
+her voyage." Gently reproaching Madame de la Tour for not having had
+recourse to him in her difficulties, he extolled at the same time her
+noble fortitude. Upon this Paul said to the governor,--"My mother did
+apply to you, sir, and you received her ill."--"Have you another child,
+madam?" said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to Madame de la Tour. "No, Sir,"
+she replied; "this is the son of my friend; but he and Virginia are
+equally dear to us, and we mutually consider them both as our own
+children." "Young man," said the governor to Paul, "when you have
+acquired a little more experience of the world, you will know that it
+is the misfortune of people in place to be deceived, and bestow, in
+consequence, upon intriguing vice, that which they would wish to give to
+modest merit."
+
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, at the request of Madame de la Tour, placed
+himself next to her at table, and breakfasted after the manner of the
+Creoles, upon coffee, mixed with rice boiled in water. He was delighted
+with the order and cleanliness which prevailed in the little cottage,
+the harmony of the two interesting families, and the zeal of their old
+servants. "Here," he exclaimed, "I discern only wooden furniture; but I
+find serene countenances and hearts of gold." Paul, enchanted with the
+affability of the governor, said to him,--"I wish to be your friend: for
+you are a good man." Monsieur de la Bourdonnais received with pleasure
+this insular compliment, and, taking Paul by the hand, assured him he
+might rely upon his friendship.
+
+After breakfast, he took Madame de la Tour aside and informed her
+that an opportunity would soon offer itself of sending her daughter to
+France, in a ship which was going to sail in a short time; that he would
+put her under the charge of a lady, one of the passengers, who was
+a relation of his own; and that she must not think of renouncing an
+immense fortune, on account of the pain of being separated from her
+daughter for a brief interval. "Your aunt," he added, "cannot live
+more than two years; of this I am assured by her friends. Think of it
+seriously. Fortune does not visit us every day. Consult your friends.
+I am sure that every person of good sense will be of my opinion." She
+answered, "that, as she desired no other happiness henceforth in the
+world than in promoting that of her daughter, she hoped to be allowed to
+leave her departure for France to her own inclination."
+
+Madame de la Tour was not sorry to find an opportunity of separating
+Paul and Virginia for a short time, and provide by this means, for their
+mutual felicity at a future period. She took her daughter aside, and
+said to her,--"My dear child, our servants are now old. Paul is still
+very young, Margaret is advanced in years, and I am already infirm. If
+I should die what would become of you, without fortune, in the midst
+of these deserts? You would then be left alone, without any person who
+could afford you much assistance, and would be obliged to labour
+without ceasing, as a hired servant, in order to support your wretched
+existence. This idea overcomes me with sorrow." Virginia answered,--"God
+has appointed us to labour, and to bless him every day. Up to this time
+he has never forsaken us, and he never will forsake us in time to come.
+His providence watches most especially over the unfortunate. You have
+told me this very often, my dear mother! I cannot resolve to leave you."
+Madame de la Tour replied, with much emotion,--"I have no other aim than
+to render you happy, and to marry you one day to Paul, who is not really
+your brother. Remember then that his fortune depends upon you."
+
+A young girl who is in love believes that every one else is ignorant of
+her passion; she throws over her eyes the veil with which she covers the
+feelings of her heart; but when it is once lifted by a friendly hand,
+the hidden sorrows of her attachment escape as through a newly-opened
+barrier, and the sweet outpourings of unrestrained confidence succeed
+to her former mystery and reserve. Virginia, deeply affected by this new
+proof of her mother's tenderness, related to her the cruel struggles
+she had undergone, of which heaven alone had been witness; she saw,
+she said, the hand of Providence in the assistance of an affectionate
+mother, who approved of her attachment; and would guide her by her
+counsels; and as she was now strengthened by such support, every
+consideration led her to remain with her mother, without anxiety for the
+present, and without apprehension for the future.
+
+Madame de la Tour, perceiving that this confidential conversation had
+produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected,
+said,--"My dear child, I do not wish to constrain you; think over it at
+leisure, but conceal your affection from Paul. It is better not to let a
+man know that the heart of his mistress is gained."
+
+Virginia and her mother were sitting together by themselves the same
+evening, when a tall man, dressed in a blue cassock, entered their
+cottage. He was a missionary priest and the confessor of Madame de la
+Tour and her daughter, who had now been sent to them by the governor.
+"My children," he exclaimed as he entered, "God be praised! you are
+now rich. You can now attend to the kind suggestions of your benevolent
+hearts, and do good to the poor. I know what Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+has said to you, and what you have said in reply. Your health, dear
+madam, obliges you to remain here; but you, young lady, are without
+excuse. We must obey our aged relations, even when they are unjust.
+A sacrifice is required of you; but it is the will of God. Our Lord
+devoted himself for you; and you in imitation of his example, must give
+up something for the welfare of your family. Your voyage to France will
+end happily. You will surely consent to go, my dear young lady."
+
+Virginia, with downcast eyes, answered, trembling, "If it is the command
+of God, I will not presume to oppose it. Let the will of God be done!"
+As she uttered these words, she wept.
+
+The priest went away, in order to inform the governor of the success of
+his mission. In the meantime Madame de la Tour sent Domingo to request
+me to come to her, that she might consult me respecting Virginia's
+departure. I was not at all of opinion that she ought to go. I consider
+it as a fixed principle of happiness, that we ought to prefer the
+advantages of nature to those of fortune, and never go in search of that
+at a distance, which we may find at home,--in our own bosoms. But what
+could be expected from my advice, in opposition to the illusions of a
+splendid fortune?--or from my simple reasoning, when in competition with
+the prejudices of the world, and an authority held sacred by Madame de
+la Tour? This lady indeed only consulted me out of politeness; she had
+ceased to deliberate since she had heard the decision of her confessor.
+Margaret herself, who, notwithstanding the advantages she expected for
+her son from the possession of Virginia's fortune, had hitherto opposed
+her departure, made no further objections. As for Paul, in ignorance of
+what had been determined, but alarmed at the secret conversations which
+Virginia had been holding with her mother, he abandoned himself to
+melancholy. "They are plotting something against me," cried he, "for
+they conceal every thing from me."
+
+A report having in the meantime been spread in the island that fortune
+had visited these rocks, merchants of every description were seen
+climbing their steep ascent. Now, for the first time, were seen
+displayed in these humble huts the richest stuffs of India; the fine
+dimity of Gondelore; the handkerchiefs of Pellicate and Masulipatan;
+the plain, striped, and embroidered muslins of Dacca, so beautifully
+transparent: the delicately white cottons of Surat, and linens of all
+colours. They also brought with them the gorgeous silks of China,
+satin damasks, some white, and others grass-green and bright red; pink
+taffetas, with the profusion of satins and gauze of Tonquin, both plain
+and decorated with flowers; soft pekins, downy as cloth; and white and
+yellow nankeens, and the calicoes of Madagascar.
+
+Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase whatever she liked;
+she only examined the goods, and inquired the price, to take care that
+the dealers did not cheat her. Virginia made choice of everything she
+thought would be useful or agreeable to her mother, or to Margaret and
+her son. "This," said she, "will be wanted for furnishing the cottage,
+and that will be very useful to Mary and Domingo." In short, the bag of
+piastres was almost emptied before she even began to consider her own
+wants; and she was obliged to receive back for her own use a share of
+the presents which she had distributed among the family circle.
+
+Paul, overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune, which
+he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days after to
+my dwelling. With an air of deep despondency he said to me--"My sister
+is going away; she is already making preparations for her voyage. I
+conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother and
+mine, in order to detain her here." I could not refuse the young man's
+solicitations, although well convinced that my representations would be
+unavailing.
+
+Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse
+cloth of Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head: you
+may therefore imagine how much her beauty was increased, when she was
+attired in the graceful and elegant costume worn by the ladies of this
+country! She had on a white muslin dress, lined with pink taffeta.
+Her somewhat tall and slender figure was shown to advantage in her new
+attire, and the simple arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with
+the form of her head. Her fine blue eyes were filled with an expression
+of melancholy; and the struggles of passion, with which her heart was
+agitated, imparted a flush to her cheek, and to her voice a tone of deep
+emotion. The contrast between her pensive look and her gay habiliments
+rendered her more interesting than ever, nor was it possible to see or
+hear her unmoved. Paul became more and more melancholy; and at length
+Margaret, distressed at the situation of her son, took him aside and
+said to him,--"Why, my dear child, will you cherish vain hopes, which
+will only render your disappointment more bitter? It is time for me to
+make known to you the secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de
+la Tour belongs, by her mother's side, to a rich and noble family, while
+you are but the son of a poor peasant girl; and what is worse you are
+illegitimate."
+
+Paul, who had never heard this last expression before, inquired with
+eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, "I was not married to your
+father. When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness
+of which you are the offspring. The consequence of my fault is, that you
+are deprived of the protection of a father's family, and by my flight
+from home you have also lost that of your mother's. Unfortunate child!
+you have no relations in the world but me!"--and she shed a flood of
+tears. Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, "Oh, my dear mother!
+since I have no relation in the world but you, I will love you all the
+more. But what a secret have you just disclosed to me! I now see the
+reason why Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself so much from me
+for the last two months, and why she has determined to go to France. Ah!
+I perceive too well that she despises me!"
+
+The hour of supper being arrived, we gathered round the table; but
+the different sensations with which we were agitated left us little
+inclination to eat, and the meal, if such it may be called, passed
+in silence. Virginia was the first to rise; she went out, and seated
+herself on the very spot where we now are. Paul hastened after her,
+and sat down by her side. Both of them, for some time, kept a profound
+silence. It was one of those delicious nights which are so common
+between the tropics, and to the beauty of which no pencil can do
+justice. The moon appeared in the midst of the firmament, surrounded
+by a curtain of clouds, which was gradually unfolded by her beams. Her
+light insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island, and
+their distant peaks glistened with a silvery green. The winds were
+perfectly still. We heard among the woods, at the bottom of the valleys,
+and on the summits of the rocks, the piping cries and the soft notes of
+the birds, wantoning in their nests, and rejoicing in the brightness
+of the night and the serenity of the atmosphere. The hum of insects was
+heard in the grass. The stars sparkled in the heavens, and their lurid
+orbs were reflected, in trembling sparkles, from the tranquil bosom of
+the ocean. Virginia's eye wandered distractedly over its vast and gloomy
+horizon, distinguishable from the shore of the island only by the red
+fires in the fishing boats. She perceived at the entrance of the harbour
+a light and a shadow; these were the watchlight and the hull of the
+vessel in which she was to embark for Europe, and which, all ready for
+sea, lay at anchor, waiting for a breeze. Affected at this sight, she
+turned away her head, in order to hide her tears from Paul.
+
+Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and I, were seated at a little distance,
+beneath the plantain-trees; and, owing to the stillness of the night, we
+distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.
+
+Paul said to her,--"You are going away from us, they tell me, in three
+days. You do not fear then to encounter the danger of the sea, at the
+sight of which you are so much terrified?" "I must perform my duty,"
+answered Virginia, "by obeying my parent." "You leave us," resumed
+Paul, "for a distant relation, whom you have never seen." "Alas!" cried
+Virginia, "I would have remained here my whole life, but my mother would
+not have it so. My confessor, too, told me it was the will of God that I
+should go, and that life was a scene of trials!--and Oh! this is indeed
+a severe one."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Paul, "you could find so many reasons for going, and
+not one for remaining here! Ah! there is one reason for your departure
+that you have not mentioned. Riches have great attractions. You will
+soon find in the new world to which you are going, another, to whom you
+will give the name of brother, which you bestow on me no more. You will
+choose that brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their
+birth, and by a fortune which I have not to offer. But where can you go
+to be happier? On what shore will you land, and find it dearer to you
+than the spot which gave you birth?--and where will you form around you
+a society more delightful to you than this, by which you are so much
+accustomed? What will become of her, already advanced in years, when
+she no longer sees you at her side at table, in the house, in the walks,
+where she used to lean upon you? What will become of my mother, who
+loves you with the same affection? What shall I say to comfort them when
+I see them weeping for your absence? Cruel Virginia! I say nothing to
+you of myself; but what will become of me, when in the morning I shall
+no more see you; when the evening will come, and not reunite us?--when
+I shall gaze on these two palm trees, planted at our birth, and so
+long the witnesses of our mutual friendship? Ah! since your lot is
+changed,--since you seek in a far country other possessions than the
+fruits of my labour, let me go with you in the vessel in which you
+are about to embark. I will sustain your spirits in the midst of those
+tempests which terrify you so much even on shore. I will lay my head
+upon your bosom: I will warm your heart upon my own; and in France,
+where you are going in search of fortune and of grandeur, I will wait
+upon you as your slave. Happy only in your happiness, you will find
+me, in those palaces where I shall see you receiving the homage and
+adoration of all, rich and noble enough to make you the greatest of all
+sacrifices, by dying at your feet."
+
+The violence of his emotions stopped his utterance, and we then heard
+Virginia, who, in a voice broken by sobs, uttered these words:--"It is
+for you that I go,--for you whom I see tired to death every day by the
+labour of sustaining two helpless families. If I have accepted this
+opportunity of becoming rich, it is only to return a thousand-fold
+the good which you have done us. Can any fortune be equal to your
+friendship? Why do you talk about your birth? Ah! if it were possible
+for me still to have a brother, should I make choice of any other than
+you? Oh, Paul, Paul! you are far dearer to me than a brother! How much
+has it cost me to repulse you from me! Help me to tear myself from what
+I value more than existence, till Heaven shall bless our union. But
+I will stay or go,--I will live or die,--dispose of me as you will.
+Unhappy that I am! I could have repelled your caresses; but I cannot
+support your affliction."
+
+At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed
+close to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, "I will go with
+her,--nothing shall ever part us." We all ran towards him; and Madame de
+la Tour said to him, "My son, if you go, what will become of us?"
+
+He, trembling, repeated after her the words,--"My son!--my son! You my
+mother!" cried he; "you, who would separate the brother from the sister!
+We have both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been reared upon
+your knees; we have learnt of you to love another; we have said so a
+thousand times; and now you would separate her from me!--you would send
+her to Europe, that inhospitable country which refused you an asylum,
+and to relations by whom you yourself were abandoned. You will tell me
+that I have no right over her, and that she is not my sister. She is
+everything to me;--my riches, my birth, my family,--all that I have! I
+know no other. We have had but one roof,--one cradle,--and we will have
+but one grave! If she goes, I will follow her. The governor will prevent
+me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea?--will he
+prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal
+to me than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will
+die before her eyes, far from you. Inhuman mother!--woman without
+compassion!--may the ocean, to which you trust her, restore her to you
+no more! May the waves, rolling back our bodies amid the shingles
+of this beach, give you in the loss of your two children, an eternal
+subject of remorse!"
+
+At these words, I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him
+of reason. His eyes sparkled with fire, the perspiration fell in great
+drops from his face; his knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat
+violently against his burning bosom.
+
+Virginia, alarmed, said to him,--"Oh, my dear Paul, I call to witness
+the pleasures of our early age, your griefs and my own, and every thing
+that can for ever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I
+remain at home, I will live but for you; that if I go, I will one day
+return to be yours. I call you all to witness;--you who have reared me
+from my infancy, who dispose of my life, and who see my tears. I swear
+by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea which I am going to pass, by
+the air I breathe, and which I never sullied by a falsehood."
+
+As the sun softens and precipitates an icy rock from the summit of
+one of the Appenines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were
+subdued by the voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a torrent of
+tears fell from his eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his,
+held him in her arms, but was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half
+distracted, said to me, "I can bear this no longer. My heart is quite
+broken. This unfortunate voyage shall not take place. Do take my son
+home with you. Not one of us has had any rest the whole week."
+
+I said to Paul, "My dear friend, your sister shall remain here.
+To-morrow we will talk to the governor about it; leave your family to
+take some rest, and come and pass the night with me. It is late; it is
+midnight; the southern cross is just above the horizon."
+
+He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of
+great agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
+
+But why should I continue any longer to you the recital of this history?
+There is but one aspect of human pleasure. Like the globe upon which we
+revolve, the fleeting course of life is but a day; and if one part of
+that day be visited by light, the other is thrown into darkness.
+
+"My father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you
+have begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are
+the most pleasing, those of misfortune are the more instructive. Tell me
+what became of the unhappy young man."
+
+The first object beheld by Paul in his way home was the negro woman
+Mary, who, mounted on a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea. As
+soon as he perceived her, he called to her from a distance,--"Where is
+Virginia?" Mary turned her head towards her young master, and began to
+weep. Paul, distracted, retracing his steps, ran to the harbour. He was
+there informed, that Virginia had embarked at the break of day, and
+that the vessel had immediately set sail, and was now out of sight. He
+instantly returned to the plantation, which he crossed without uttering
+a word.
+
+Quite perpendicular as appears the wall of rocks behind us, those green
+platforms which separate their summits are so many stages, by means of
+which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of sloping
+and inaccessible rocks, which is called The Thumb. At the foot of that
+cone is an extended slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and so
+steep and elevated that it looks like a forest in the air, surrounded by
+tremendous precipices. The clouds, which are constantly attracted round
+the summit of the Thumb, supply innumerable rivulets, which fall to so
+great a depth in the valley situated on the other side of the mountain,
+that from this elevated point the sound of their cataracts cannot be
+heard. From that spot you can discern a considerable part of the island,
+diversified by precipices and mountain peaks, and amongst others,
+Peter-Booth, and the Three Breasts, with their valleys full of woods.
+You also command an extensive view of the ocean, and can even perceive
+the Isle of Bourbon, forty leagues to the westward. From the summit of
+that stupendous pile of rocks Paul caught sight of the vessel which was
+bearing away Virginia, and which now, ten leagues out at sea, appeared
+like a black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a great part of
+the day with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had disappeared,
+he still fancied he beheld it; and when, at length, the traces which
+clung to his imagination were lost in the mists of the horizon, he
+seated himself on that wild point, forever beaten by the winds, which
+never cease to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum trees, and the
+hoarse and moaning murmurs of which, similar to the distant sound of
+organs, inspire a profound melancholy. On this spot I found him, his
+head reclined on the rock, and his eyes fixed upon the ground. I had
+followed him from the earliest dawn, and, after much importunity, I
+prevailed on him to descend from the heights, and return to his family.
+I went home with him, where the first impulse of his mind, on seeing
+Madame de la Tour, was to reproach her bitterly for having deceived him.
+She told us that a favourable wind having sprung up at three o'clock in
+the morning, and the vessel being ready to sail, the governor, attended
+by some of his staff and the missionary, had come with a palanquin to
+fetch her daughter; and that, notwithstanding Virginia's objections, her
+own tears and entreaties, and the lamentations of Margaret, every body
+exclaiming all the time that it was for the general welfare, they had
+carried her away almost dying. "At least," cried Paul, "if I had bid
+her farewell, I should now be more calm. I would have said to
+her,--'Virginia, if, during the time we have lived together, one word
+may have escaped me which has offended you, before you leave me forever,
+tell me that you forgive me.' I would have said to her,--'Since I am
+destined to see you no more, farewell, my dear Virginia, farewell! Live
+far from me, contented and happy!'" When he saw that his mother and
+Madame de la Tour were weeping,--"You must now," said he, "seek some
+other hand to wipe away your tears;" and then, rushing out of the house,
+and groaning aloud, he wandered up and down the plantation. He hovered
+in particular about those spots which had been most endeared to
+Virginia. He said to the goats, and their little ones, which followed
+him, bleating,--"What do you want of me? You will see with me no more
+her who used to feed you with her own hand." He went to the bower called
+Virginia's Resting-place, and, as the birds flew around him, exclaimed,
+"Poor birds! you will fly no more to meet her who cherished you!"--and
+observing Fidele running backwards and forwards in search of her, he
+heaved a deep sigh, and cried,--"Ah! you will never find her again."
+At length he went and seated himself upon a rock where he had conversed
+with her the preceding evening; and at the sight of the ocean upon which
+he had seen the vessel disappear which had borne her away, his heart
+overflowed with anguish, and he wept bitterly.
+
+We continually watched his movements, apprehensive of some fatal
+consequence from the violent agitation of his mind. His mother and
+Madame de la Tour conjured him, in the most tender manner, not to
+increase their affliction by his despair. At length the latter soothed
+his mind by lavishing upon him epithets calculated to awaken his
+hopes,--calling him her son, her dear son, her son-in-law, whom she
+destined for her daughter. She persuaded him to return home, and to take
+some food. He seated himself next to the place which used to be occupied
+by the companion of his childhood; and, as if she had still been
+present, he spoke to her, and made as though he would offer her whatever
+he knew as most agreeable to her taste: then, starting from this
+dream of fancy, he began to weep. For some days he employed himself in
+gathering together every thing which had belonged to Virginia, the last
+nosegays she had worn, the cocoa-shell from which she used to drink; and
+after kissing a thousand times these relics of his beloved, to him the
+most precious treasures which the world contained, he hid them in his
+bosom. Amber does not shed so sweet a perfume as the veriest trifles
+touched by those we love. At length, perceiving that the indulgence of
+his grief increased that of his mother and Madame de la Tour, and that
+the wants of the family demanded continual labour, he began, with the
+assistance of Domingo, to repair the damage done to the garden.
+
+But, soon after, this young man, hitherto indifferent as a Creole to
+every thing that was passing in the world, begged of me to teach him
+to read and write, in order that he might correspond with Virginia. He
+afterwards wished to obtain a knowledge of geography, that he might form
+some idea of the country where she would disembark; and of history, that
+he might know something of the manners of the society in which she would
+be placed. The powerful sentiment of love, which directed his present
+studies, had already instructed him in agriculture, and in the art of
+laying out grounds with advantage and beauty. It must be admitted, that
+to the fond dreams of this restless and ardent passion, mankind are
+indebted for most of the arts and sciences, while its disappointments
+have given birth to philosophy, which teaches us to bear up under
+misfortune. Love, thus, the general link of all beings, becomes the
+great spring of society, by inciting us to knowledge as well as to
+pleasure.
+
+Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography, which, instead
+of describing the natural history of each country, gave only a view of
+its political divisions and boundaries. History, and especially modern
+history, interested him little more. He there saw only general and
+periodical evils, the causes of which he could not discover; wars
+without either motive or reason; uninteresting intrigues; with nations
+destitute of principle, and princes void of humanity. To this branch
+of reading he preferred romances, which, being chiefly occupied by the
+feelings and concerns of men, sometimes represented situations similar
+to his own. Thus, no book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus, from
+the pictures it draws of pastoral life, and of the passions which are
+most natural to the human breast. He read aloud to his mother and Madame
+de la Tour, those parts which affected him most sensibly; but sometimes,
+touched by the most tender remembrances, his emotion would choke his
+utterance, and his eyes be filled with tears. He fancied he had found
+in Virginia the dignity and wisdom of Antiope, united to the misfortunes
+and the tenderness of Eucharis. With very different sensations he
+perused our fashionable novels, filled with licentious morals and
+maxims, and when he was informed that these works drew a tolerably
+faithful picture of European society, he trembled, and not without some
+appearance of reason, lest Virginia should become corrupted by it, and
+forget him.
+
+More than a year and a half, indeed, passed away before Madame de la
+Tour received any tidings of her aunt or her daughter. During that
+period she only accidently heard that Virginia had safely arrived in
+France. At length, however, a vessel which stopped here on its way to
+the Indies brought a packet to Madame de la Tour, and a letter written
+by Virginia's own hand. Although this amiable and considerate girl
+had written in a guarded manner that she might not wound her mother's
+feelings, it appeared evident enough that she was unhappy. The letter
+painted so naturally her situation and her character, that I have
+retained it almost word for word.
+
+"MY DEAR AND BELOVED MOTHER,
+
+"I have already sent you several letters, written by my own hand, but
+having received no answer, I am afraid they have not reached you. I have
+better hopes for this, from the means I have now gained of sending you
+tidings of myself, and of hearing from you.
+
+"I have shed many tears since our separation, I who never used to weep,
+but for the misfortunes of others! My aunt was much astonished, when,
+having, upon my arrival, inquired what accomplishments I possessed, I
+told her that I could neither read nor write. She asked me what then I
+had learnt, since I came into the world; and when I answered that I
+had been taught to take care of the household affairs, and to obey your
+will, she told me that I had received the education of a servant. The
+next day she placed me as a boarder in a great abbey near Paris, where
+I have masters of all kinds, who teach me, among other things, history,
+geography, grammar, mathematics, and riding on horseback. But I have
+so little capacity for all these sciences, that I fear I shall make but
+small progress with my masters. I feel that I am a very poor creature,
+with very little ability to learn what they teach. My aunt's kindness,
+however, does not decrease. She gives me new dresses every season; and
+she had placed two waiting women with me, who are dressed like fine
+ladies. She has made me take the title of countess; but has obliged me
+to renounce the name of LA TOUR, which is as dear to me as it is to you,
+from all you have told me of the sufferings my father endured in order
+to marry you. She has given me in place of your name that of your
+family, which is also dear to me, because it was your name when a girl.
+Seeing myself in so splendid a situation, I implored her to let me send
+you something to assist you. But how shall I repeat her answer! Yet you
+have desired me always to tell you the truth. She told me then that
+a little would be of no use to you, and that a great deal would only
+encumber you in the simple life you led. As you know I could not write,
+I endeavoured upon my arrival, to send you tidings of myself by another
+hand; but, finding no person here in whom I could place confidence, I
+applied night and day to learn to read and write, and Heaven, who saw my
+motive for learning, no doubt assisted my endeavours, for I succeeded in
+both in a short time. I entrusted my first letters to some of the ladies
+here, who, I have reason to think, carried them to my aunt. This time I
+have recourse to a boarder, who is my friend. I send you her direction,
+by means of which I shall receive your answer. My aunt has forbid me
+holding any correspondence whatever, with any one, lest, she says, it
+should occasion an obstacle to the great views she has for my advantage.
+No person is allowed to see me at the grate but herself, and an old
+nobleman, one of her friends, who, she says is much pleased with me.
+I am sure I am not at all so with him, nor should I, even if it were
+possible for me to be pleased with any one at present.
+
+"I live in all the splendour of affluence, and have not a sous at
+my disposal. They say I might make an improper use of money. Even my
+clothes belong to my femmes de chambre, who quarrel about them before I
+have left them off. In the midst of riches I am poorer than when I lived
+with you; for I have nothing to give away. When I found that the great
+accomplishments they taught me would not procure me the power of doing
+the smallest good, I had recourse to my needle, of which happily you had
+taught me the use. I send several pairs of stockings of my own making
+for you and my mamma Margaret, a cap for Domingo, and one of my red
+handkerchiefs for Mary. I also send with this packet some kernels, and
+seeds of various kinds of fruits which I gathered in the abbey park
+during my hours of recreation. I have also sent a few seeds of violets,
+daisies, buttercups, poppies and scabious, which I picked up in the
+fields. There are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows of this
+country than in ours, but nobody cares for them. I am sure that you and
+my mamma Margaret will be better pleased with this bag of seeds, than
+you were with the bag of piastres, which was the cause of our separation
+and of my tears. It will give me great delight if you should one day
+see apple trees growing by the side of our plantains, and elms blending
+their foliage with that of our cocoa trees. You will fancy yourself in
+Normandy, which you love so much.
+
+"You desired me to relate to you my joys and my griefs. I have no
+joys far from you. As far as my griefs, I endeavour to soothe them by
+reflecting that I am in the situation in which it was the will of God
+that you should place me. But my greatest affliction is, that no one
+here speaks to me of you, and that I cannot speak of you to any one. My
+femmes de chambre, or rather those of my aunt, for they belong more
+to her than to me, told me the other day, when I wished to turn the
+conversation upon the objects most dear to me: 'Remember, mademoiselle,
+that you are a French woman, and must forget that land of savages.' Ah!
+sooner will I forget myself, than forget the spot on which I was
+born and where you dwell! It is this country which is to me a land of
+savages, for I live alone, having no one to whom I can impart those
+feelings of tenderness for you which I shall bear with me to the grave.
+I am,
+
+"My dearest and beloved mother,
+
+"Your affectionate and dutiful daughter,
+
+"VIRGINIE DE LA TOUR."
+
+"I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo, who took so much care of
+my infancy; caress Fidele for me, who found me in the wood."
+
+Paul was astonished that Virginia had not said one word of him,--she,
+who had not forgotten even the house-dog. But he was not aware that,
+however long a woman's letter may be, she never fails to leave her
+dearest sentiments for the end.
+
+In a postscript, Virginia particularly recommended to Paul's attention
+two kinds of seed,--those of the violet and the scabious. She gave him
+some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers, and
+the spots most proper for their cultivation. "The violet," she said,
+"produces a little flower of a dark purple colour, which delights to
+conceal itself beneath the bushes; but it is soon discovered by its
+wide-spreading perfume." She desired that these seeds might be sown
+by the border of the fountain, at the foot of her cocoa-tree. "The
+scabious," she added, "produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and a
+black ground spotted with white. You might fancy it was in mourning; and
+for this reason it is also called the widow's flower. It grows best in
+bleak spots, beaten by the winds." She begged him to sow this upon the
+rock where she had spoken to him at night for the last time, and that,
+in remembrance of her, he would henceforth give it the name of the Rock
+of Adieus.
+
+She had put these seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
+exceedingly simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when
+he saw on it a P and a V entwined together, and knew that the beautiful
+hair which formed the cypher was the hair of Virginia.
+
+The whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of
+this amiable and virtuous girl. Her mother answered it in the name of
+the little society, desiring her to remain or to return as she thought
+proper; and assuring her, that happiness had left their dwelling since
+her departure, and that, for herself, she was inconsolable.
+
+Paul also sent her a very long letter, in which he assured her that he
+would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and mingle
+together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa, as she had
+blended their initials together in her work. He sent her some fruit from
+the cocoa-trees of the fountain, now arrived at maturity telling her,
+that he would not add any of the other productions of the island, that
+the desire of seeing them again might hasten her return. He conjured her
+to comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes of her family, and
+above all, with his own, since he could never hereafter taste happiness
+away from her.
+
+Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds, particularly the
+violet and the scabious, the flowers of which seemed to bear some
+analogy to the character and present situation of Virginia, by whom they
+had been so especially recommended; but either they were dried up in
+the voyage, or the climate of this part of the world is unfavourable to
+their growth, for a very small number of them even came up, and not one
+arrived at full perfection.
+
+In the meantime, envy, which ever comes to embitter human happiness,
+particularly in the French colonies, spread some reports in the island
+which gave Paul much uneasiness. The passengers in the vessel which
+brought Virginia's letter, asserted that she was upon the point of being
+married, and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was engaged.
+Some even went so far as to declare that the union had already taken
+place, and that they themselves had witnessed the ceremony. Paul at
+first despised the report, brought by a merchant vessel, as he knew that
+they often spread erroneous intelligence in their passage; but some of
+the inhabitants of the island, with malignant pity, affecting to bewail
+the event, he was soon led to attach some degree of belief to this cruel
+intelligence. Besides, in some of the novels he had lately read, he had
+seen that perfidy was treated as a subject of pleasantry; and knowing
+that these books contained pretty faithful representations of European
+manners, he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and had
+forgotten its former engagements. Thus his new acquirements had already
+only served to render him more miserable; and his apprehensions were
+much increased by the circumstance, that though several ships touched
+here from Europe, within the six months immediately following the
+arrival of her letter, not one of them brought any tidings of Virginia.
+
+This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel
+agitation, often came to visit me, in the hope of confirming or
+banishing his uneasiness, by my experience of the world.
+
+I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from this
+point, upon the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping
+Mountain: there I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or
+slaves.
+
+After having enjoyed, and lost the rare felicity of living with a
+congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is
+doubtless that of solitude. Every man who has much cause of complaint
+against his fellow-creatures seeks to be alone. It is also remarkable
+that all those nations which have been brought to wretchedness by their
+opinions, their manners, or their forms of government, have produced
+numerous classes of citizens altogether devoted to solitude and
+celibacy. Such were the Egyptians in their decline, and the Greeks of
+the Lower Empire; and such in our days are the Indians, the Chinese,
+the modern Greeks, the Italians, and the greater part of the eastern and
+southern nations of Europe. Solitude, by removing men from the miseries
+which follow in the train of social intercourse, brings them in some
+degree back to the unsophisticated enjoyment of nature. In the midst of
+modern society, broken up by innumerable prejudices, the mind is in a
+constant turmoil of agitation. It is incessantly revolving in itself a
+thousand tumultuous and contradictory opinions, by which the members of
+an ambitious and miserable circle seek to raise themselves above each
+other. But in solitude the soul lays aside the morbid illusions which
+troubled her, and resumes the pure consciousness of herself, of nature,
+and of its Author, as the muddy water of a torrent which has ravaged the
+plains, coming to rest, and diffusing itself over some low grounds out
+of its course, deposits there the slime it has taken up, and, resuming
+its wonted transparency, reflects, with its own shores, the verdure of
+the earth and the light of heaven. Thus does solitude recruit the powers
+of the body as well as those of the mind. It is among hermits that are
+found the men who carry human existence to its extreme limits; such
+are the Bramins of India. In brief, I consider solitude so necessary to
+happiness, even in the world itself, that it appears to me impossible
+to derive lasting pleasure from any pursuit whatever, or to regulate
+our conduct by any pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by
+any stable principle, if we do not create for ourselves a mental void,
+whence our own views rarely emerge, and into which the opinions
+of others never enter. I do not mean to say that man ought to live
+absolutely alone; he is connected by his necessities with all mankind;
+his labours are due to man: and he owes something too to the rest of
+nature. But, as God has given to each of us organs perfectly adapted to
+the elements of the globe on which we live,--feet for the soil, lungs
+for the air, eyes for the light, without the power of changing the use
+of any of these faculties, he has reserved for himself, as the Author of
+life, that which is its chief organ,--the heart.
+
+I thus passed my days far from mankind, whom I wished to serve, and by
+whom I have been persecuted. After having travelled over many countries
+of Europe, and some parts of America and Africa, I at length pitched my
+tent in this thinly-peopled island, allured by its mild climate and its
+solitudes. A cottage which I built in the woods, at the foot of a tree,
+a little field which I cleared with my own hands, a river which glides
+before my door, suffice for my wants and for my pleasures. I blend with
+these enjoyments the perusal of some chosen books, which teach me to
+become better. They make that world, which I have abandoned, still
+contribute something to my happiness. They lay before me pictures of
+those passions which render its inhabitants so miserable; and in the
+comparison I am thus led to make between their lot and my own, I feel a
+kind of negative enjoyment. Like a man saved from shipwreck, and thrown
+upon a rock, I contemplate, from my solitude, the storms which rage
+through the rest of the world; and my repose seems more profound from
+the distant sound of the tempest. As men have ceased to fall in my way,
+I no longer view them with aversion; I only pity them. If I sometimes
+fall in with an unfortunate being, I try to help him by my counsels, as
+a passer-by on the brink of a torrent extends his hand to save a
+wretch from drowning. But I have hardly ever found any but the innocent
+attentive to my voice. Nature calls the majority of men to her in vain.
+Each of them forms an image of her for himself, and invests her with his
+own passions. He pursues during the whole of his life this vain phantom,
+which leads him astray; and he afterwards complains to Heaven of the
+misfortunes which he has thus created for himself. Among the many
+children of misfortune whom I have endeavoured to lead back to the
+enjoyments of nature, I have not found one but was intoxicated with his
+own miseries. They have listened to me at first with attention, in the
+hope that I could teach them how to acquire glory or fortune, but when
+they found that I only wished to instruct them how to dispense with
+these chimeras, their attention has been converted into pity, because I
+did not prize their miserable happiness. They blamed my solitary life;
+they alleged that they alone were useful to men, and they endeavoured to
+draw me into their vortex. But if I communicate with all, I lay myself
+open to none. It is often sufficient for me to serve as a lesson to
+myself. In my present tranquillity, I pass in review the agitating
+pursuits of my past life, to which I formerly attached so much
+value,--patronage, fortune, reputation, pleasure, and the opinions which
+are ever at strife over all the earth. I compare the men whom I have
+seen disputing furiously over these vanities, and who are no more, to
+the tiny waves of my rivulet, which break in foam against its rocky
+bed, and disappear, never to return. As for me, I suffer myself to
+float calmly down the stream of time to the shoreless ocean of futurity;
+while, in the contemplation of the present harmony of nature, I elevate
+my soul towards its supreme Author, and hope for a more happy lot in
+another state of existence.
+
+Although you cannot descry from my hermitage, situated in the midst of
+a forest, that immense variety of objects which this elevated spot
+presents, the grounds are disposed with peculiar beauty, at least to
+one who, like me, prefers the seclusion of a home scene to great and
+extensive prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in a
+straight line across the woods, looking like a long canal shaded by all
+kinds of trees. Among them are the gum tree, the ebony tree, and that
+which is here called bois de pomme, with olive and cinnamon-wood trees;
+while in some parts the cabbage-palm trees raise their naked stems
+more than a hundred feet high, their summits crowned with a cluster of
+leaves, and towering above the woods like one forest piled upon another.
+Lianas, of various foliage, intertwining themselves among the trees,
+form, here, arcades of foliage, there, long canopies of verdure. Most
+of these trees shed aromatic odours so powerful, that the garments of a
+traveller, who has passed through the forest, often retain for hours the
+most delicious fragrance. In the season when they produce their lavish
+blossoms, they appear as if half-covered with snow. Towards the end
+of summer, various kinds of foreign birds hasten, impelled by some
+inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions on the other side of immense
+oceans, to feed upon the grain and other vegetable productions of the
+island; and the brilliancy of their plumage forms a striking contrast to
+the more sombre tints of the foliage embrowned by the sun. Among these
+are various kinds of parroquets, and the blue pigeon, called here the
+pigeon of Holland. Monkeys, the domestic inhabitants of our forests,
+sport upon the dark branches of the trees, from which they are easily
+distinguished by their gray and greenish skin, and their black visages.
+Some hang, suspended by the tail, and swing themselves in air; others
+leap from branch to branch, bearing their young in their arms. The
+murderous gun has never affrighted these peaceful children of nature.
+You hear nothing but sounds of joy,--the warblings and unknown notes of
+birds from the countries of the south, repeated from a distance by the
+echoes of the forest. The river, which pours, in foaming eddies, over
+a bed of rocks, through the midst of the woods, reflects here and there
+upon its limpid waters their venerable masses of verdure and of shade,
+along with the sports of their happy inhabitants. About a thousand paces
+from thence it forms several cascades, clear as crystal in their fall,
+but broken at the bottom into frothy surges. Innumerable confused sounds
+issue from these watery tumults, which, borne by the winds across the
+forest, now sink in distance, now all at once swell out, booming on the
+ear like the bells of a cathedral. The air, kept ever in motion by
+the running water, preserves upon the banks of the river, amid all the
+summer heats, a freshness and verdure rarely found in this island, even
+on the summits of the mountains.
+
+At some distance from this place is a rock, placed far enough from the
+cascade to prevent the ear from being deafened with the noise of its
+waters, and sufficiently near for the enjoyment of seeing it, of feeling
+its coolness, and hearing its gentle murmurs. Thither, amidst the heats
+of summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia, Paul, and myself,
+sometimes repaired, to dine beneath the shadow of this rock. Virginia,
+who always, in her most ordinary actions, was mindful of the good of
+others, never ate of any fruit in the fields without planting the seed
+or kernel in the ground. "From this," said she, "trees will come, which
+will yield their fruit to some traveller, or at least to some bird."
+One day, having eaten of the papaw fruit at the foot of that rock, she
+planted the seeds on the spot. Soon after, several papaw trees sprang
+up, among which was one with female blossoms, that is to say, a
+fruit-bearing tree. This tree, at the time of Virginia's departure, was
+scarcely as high as her knee; but, as it is a plant of rapid growth, in
+the course of two years it had gained the height of twenty feet, and
+the upper part of its stem was encircled by several rows of ripe fruit.
+Paul, wandering accidentally to the spot, was struck with delight at
+seeing this lofty tree, which had been planted by his beloved; but the
+emotion was transient, and instantly gave place to a deep melancholy,
+at this evidence of her long absence. The objects which are habitually
+before us do not bring to our minds an adequate idea of the rapidity of
+life; they decline insensibly with ourselves: but it is those we behold
+again, that most powerfully impress us with a feeling of the swiftness
+with which the tide of life flows on. Paul was no less over-whelmed and
+affected at the sight of this great papaw tree, loaded with fruit, than
+is the traveller when, after a long absence from his own country, he
+finds his contemporaries no more, but their children, whom he left at
+the breast, themselves now become fathers of families. Paul sometimes
+thought of cutting down the tree, which recalled too sensibly the
+distracting remembrance of Virginia's prolonged absence. At other times,
+contemplating it as a monument of her benevolence, he kissed its trunk,
+and apostrophized it in terms of the most passionate regret. Indeed,
+I have myself gazed upon it with more emotion and more veneration than
+upon the triumphal arches of Rome. May nature, which every day destroys
+the monuments of kingly ambition, multiply in our forests those which
+testify the beneficence of a poor young girl!
+
+At the foot of this papaw tree I was always sure to meet with Paul when
+he came into our neighbourhood. One day, I found him there absorbed in
+melancholy and a conversation took place between us, which I will relate
+to you, if I do not weary you too much by my long digressions; they are
+perhaps pardonable to my age and to my last friendships. I will relate
+it to you in the form of a dialogue, that you may form some idea of the
+natural good sense of this young man. You will easily distinguish the
+speakers, from the character of his questions and of my answers.
+
+_Paul._--I am very unhappy. Mademoiselle de la Tour has now been gone
+two years and eight months and a half. She is rich, and I am poor;
+she has forgotten me. I have a great mind to follow her. I will go
+to France; I will serve the king; I will make my fortune; and then
+Mademoiselle de la Tour's aunt will bestow her niece upon me when I
+shall have become a great lord.
+
+_The Old Man._--But, my dear friend, have not you told me that you are
+not of noble birth?
+
+_Paul._--My mother has told me so; but, as for myself, I know not what
+noble birth means. I never perceived that I had less than others, or
+that others had more than I.
+
+_The Old Man._--Obscure birth, in France, shuts every door of access to
+great employments; nor can you even be received among any distinguished
+body of men, if you labour under this disadvantage.
+
+_Paul._--You have often told me that it was one source of the greatness
+of France that her humblest subject might attain the highest honours;
+and you have cited to me many instances of celebrated men who, born in
+a mean condition, had conferred honour upon their country. It was your
+wish, then, by concealing the truth to stimulate my ardour?
+
+_The Old Man._--Never, my son, would I lower it. I told you the truth
+with regard to the past; but now, every thing has undergone a great
+change. Every thing in France is now to be obtained by interest alone;
+every place and employment is now become as it were the patrimony of a
+small number of families, or is divided among public bodies. The king
+is a sun, and the nobles and great corporate bodies surround him like so
+many clouds; it is almost impossible for any of his rays to reach you.
+Formerly, under less exclusive administrations, such phenomena have been
+seen. Then talents and merit showed themselves every where, as newly
+cleared lands are always loaded with abundance. But great kings, who can
+really form a just estimate of men, and choose them with judgment, are
+rare. The ordinary race of monarchs allow themselves to be guided by the
+nobles and people who surround them.
+
+_Paul._--But perhaps I shall find one of these nobles to protect me.
+
+_The Old Man._--To gain the protection of the great you must lend
+yourself to their ambition, and administer to their pleasures. You would
+never succeed; for, in addition to your obscure birth, you have too much
+integrity.
+
+_Paul._--But I will perform such courageous actions, I will be so
+faithful to my word, so exact in the performance of my duties, so
+zealous and so constant in my friendships, that I will render myself
+worthy to be adopted by some one of them. In the ancient histories, you
+have made me read, I have seen many examples of such adoptions.
+
+_The Old Man._--Oh, my young friend! among the Greeks and Romans, even
+in their decline, the nobles had some respect for virtue; but out of
+all the immense number of men, sprung from the mass of the people, in
+France, who have signalized themselves in every possible manner, I
+do not recollect a single instance of one being adopted by any great
+family. If it were not for our kings, virtue, in our country, would
+be eternally condemned as plebeian. As I said before, the monarch
+sometimes, when he perceives it, renders to it due honour; but in the
+present day, the distinctions which should be bestowed on merit are
+generally to be obtained by money alone.
+
+_Paul._--If I cannot find a nobleman to adopt me, I will seek to please
+some public body. I will espouse its interests and its opinions: I will
+make myself beloved by it.
+
+_The Old Man._--You will act then like other men?--you will renounce
+your conscience to obtain a fortune?
+
+_Paul._--Oh no! I will never lend myself to any thing but the truth.
+
+_The Old Man._--Instead of making yourself beloved, you would become an
+object of dislike. Besides, public bodies have never taken much interest
+in the discovery of truth. All opinions are nearly alike to ambitious
+men, provided only that they themselves can gain their ends.
+
+_Paul._--How unfortunate I am! Every thing bars my progress. I am
+condemned to pass my life in ignoble toil, far from Virginia.
+
+As he said this he sighed deeply.
+
+_The Old Man._--Let God be your patron, and mankind the public body
+you would serve. Be constantly attached to them both. Families,
+corporations, nations and kings have, all of them, their prejudices and
+their passions; it is often necessary to serve them by the practice of
+vice: God and mankind at large require only the exercise of the virtues.
+
+But why do you wish to be distinguished from other men? It is hardly a
+natural sentiment, for, if all men possessed it, every one would be at
+constant strife with his neighbour. Be satisfied with fulfilling your
+duty in the station in which Providence has placed you; be grateful for
+your lot, which permits you to enjoy the blessing of a quiet conscience,
+and which does not compel you, like the great, to let your happiness
+rest on the opinion of the little, or, like the little, to cringe to the
+great, in order to obtain the means of existence. You are now placed
+in a country and a condition in which you are not reduced to deceive or
+flatter any one, or debase yourself, as the greater part of those who
+seek their fortune in Europe are obliged to do; in which the exercise
+of no virtue is forbidden you; in which you may be, with impunity, good,
+sincere, well-informed, patient, temperate, chaste, indulgent to others'
+faults, pious and no shaft of ridicule be aimed at you to destroy your
+wisdom, as yet only in its bud. Heaven has given you liberty, health, a
+good conscience, and friends; kings themselves, whose favour you desire,
+are not so happy.
+
+_Paul._--Ah! I only want to have Virginia with me: without her I have
+nothing,--with her, I should possess all my desire. She alone is to me
+birth, glory, and fortune. But, since her relations will only give her
+to some one with a great name, I will study. By the aid of study and of
+books, learning and celebrity are to be attained. I will become a man of
+science: I will render my knowledge useful to the service of my country,
+without injuring any one, or owning dependence on any one. I will become
+celebrated, and my glory shall be achieved only by myself.
+
+_The Old Man._--My son, talents are a gift yet more rare than either
+birth or riches, and undoubtedly they are a greater good than either,
+since they can never be taken away from us, and that they obtain for
+us every where public esteem. But they may be said to be worth all
+that they cost us. They are seldom acquired but by every species of
+privation, by the possession of exquisite sensibility, which often
+produces inward unhappiness, and which exposes us without to the malice
+and persecutions of our contemporaries. The lawyer envies not, in
+France, the glory of the soldier, nor does the soldier envy that of the
+naval officer; but they will all oppose you, and bar your progress to
+distinction, because your assumption of superior ability will wound
+the self-love of them all. You say that you will do good to men; but
+recollect, that he who makes the earth produce a single ear of corn
+more, renders them a greater service than he who writes a book.
+
+_Paul._--Oh! she, then, who planted this papaw tree, has made a more
+useful and more grateful present to the inhabitants of these forests
+than if she had given them a whole library.
+
+So saying, he threw his arms around the tree, and kissed it with
+transport.
+
+_The Old Man._--The best of books,--that which preaches nothing but
+equality, brotherly love, charity, and peace,--the Gospel, has served as
+a pretext, during many centuries, for Europeans to let loose all their
+fury. How many tyrannies, both public and private, are still practised
+in its name on the face of the earth! After this, who will dare to
+flatter himself that any thing he can write will be of service to his
+fellow men? Remember the fate of most of the philosophers who have
+preached to them wisdom. Homer, who clothes it in such noble verse,
+asked for alms all his life. Socrates, whose conversation and example
+gave such admirable lessons to the Athenians, was sentenced by them to
+be poisoned. His sublime disciple, Plato was delivered over to slavery
+by the order of the very prince who protected him; and, before them,
+Pythagoras, whose humanity extended even to animals, was burned alive
+by the Crotoniates. What do I say?--many even of these illustrious names
+have descended to us disfigured by some traits of satire by which
+they became characterized, human ingratitude taking pleasure in thus
+recognising them; and if, in the crowd, the glory of some names is come
+down to us without spot or blemish, we shall find that they who have
+borne them have lived far from the society of their contemporaries;
+like those statues which are found entire beneath the soil in Greece
+and Italy, and which, by being hidden in the bosom of the earth, have
+escaped uninjured, from the fury of the barbarians.
+
+You see, then, that to acquire the glory which a turbulent literary
+career can give you, you must not only be virtuous, but ready, if
+necessary, to sacrifice life itself. But, after all, do not fancy that
+the great in France trouble themselves about such glory as this. Little
+do they care for literary men, whose knowledge brings them neither
+honours, nor power, nor even admission at court. Persecution, it
+is true, is rarely practised in this age, because it is habitually
+indifferent to every thing except wealth and luxury; but knowledge and
+virtue no longer lead to distinction, since every thing in the state
+is to be purchased with money. Formerly, men of letters were certain
+of reward by some place in the church, the magistracy, or the
+administration; now they are considered good for nothing but to write
+books. But this fruit of their minds, little valued by the world at
+large, is still worthy of its celestial origin. For these books
+is reserved the privilege of shedding lustre on obscure virtue, of
+consoling the unhappy, of enlightening nations, and of telling the truth
+even to kings. This is, unquestionably, the most august commission with
+which Heaven can honour a mortal upon this earth. Where is the author
+who would not be consoled for the injustice or contempt of those who are
+the dispensers of the ordinary gifts of fortune, when he reflects that
+his work may pass from age to age, from nation to nation, opposing a
+barrier to error and to tyranny; and that, from amidst the obscurity
+in which he has lived, there will shine forth a glory which will efface
+that of the common herd of monarchs, the monuments of whose deeds perish
+in oblivion, notwithstanding the flatterers who erect and magnify them?
+
+_Paul._--Ah! I am only covetous of glory to bestow it on Virginia, and
+render her dear to the whole world. But can you, who know so much, tell
+me whether we shall ever be married? I should like to be a very learned
+man, if only for the sake of knowing what will come to pass.
+
+_The Old Man._--Who would live, my son, if the future were revealed
+to him?--when a single anticipated misfortune gives us so much useless
+uneasiness--when the foreknowledge of one certain calamity is enough
+to embitter every day that precedes it! It is better not to pry too
+curiously, even into the things which surround us. Heaven, which has
+given us the power of reflection to foresee our necessities, gave us
+also those very necessities to set limits to its exercise.
+
+_Paul._--You tell me that with money people in Europe acquire dignities
+and honours. I will go, then, to enrich myself in Bengal, and afterwards
+proceed to Paris, and marry Virginia. I will embark at once.
+
+_The Old Man._--What! would you leave her mother and yours?
+
+_Paul._--Why, you yourself have advised my going to the Indies.
+
+_The Old Man._--Virginia was then here; but you are now the only means
+of support both of her mother and of your own.
+
+_Paul._--Virginia will assist them by means of her rich relation.
+
+_The Old Man._--The rich care little for those, from whom no honour is
+reflected upon themselves in the world. Many of them have relations
+much more to be pitied than Madame de la Tour, who, for want of their
+assistance, sacrifice their liberty for bread, and pass their lives
+immured within the walls of a convent.
+
+_Paul._--Oh, what a country is Europe! Virginia must come back here.
+What need has she of a rich relation? She was so happy in these huts;
+she looked so beautiful and so well dressed with a red handkerchief or
+a few flowers around her head! Return, Virginia! leave your sumptuous
+mansions and your grandeur, and come back to these rocks,--to the shade
+of these woods and of our cocoa trees. Alas! you are perhaps even now
+unhappy!"--and he began to shed tears. "My father," continued he, "hide
+nothing from me; if you cannot tell me whether I shall marry Virginia,
+tell me at least if she loves me still, surrounded as she is by noblemen
+who speak to the king, and who go to see her."
+
+_The Old Man._--Oh, my dear friend! I am sure, for many reasons, that
+she loves you; but above all, because she is virtuous. At these words he
+threw himself on my neck in a transport of joy.
+
+_Paul._--But do you think that the women of Europe are false, as they
+are represented in the comedies and books which you have lent me?
+
+_The Old Man._--Women are false in those countries where men are
+tyrants. Violence always engenders a disposition to deceive.
+
+_Paul._--In what way can men tyrannize over women?
+
+_The Old Man._--In giving them in marriage without consulting their
+inclinations;--in uniting a young girl to an old man, or a woman of
+sensibility to a frigid and indifferent husband.
+
+_Paul._--Why not join together those who are suited to each other,--the
+young to the young, and lovers to those they love?
+
+_The Old Man._--Because few young men in France have property enough
+to support them when they are married, and cannot acquire it till the
+greater part of their life is passed. While young, they seduce the wives
+of others, and when they are old, they cannot secure the affections of
+their own. At first, they themselves are deceivers: and afterwards, they
+are deceived in their turn. This is one of the reactions of that eternal
+justice, by which the world is governed; an excess on one side is sure
+to be balanced by one on the other. Thus, the greater part of Europeans
+pass their lives in this twofold irregularity, which increases
+everywhere in the same proportion that wealth is accumulated in the
+hands of a few individuals. Society is like a garden, where shrubs
+cannot grow if they are overshadowed by lofty trees; but there is this
+wide difference between them,--that the beauty of a garden may result
+from the admixture of a small number of forest trees, while the
+prosperity of a state depends on the multitude and equality of its
+citizens, and not on a small number of very rich men.
+
+_Paul._--But where is the necessity of being rich in order to marry?
+
+_The Old Man._--In order to pass through life in abundance, without
+being obliged to work.
+
+_Paul._--But why not work? I am sure I work hard enough.
+
+_The Old Man._--In Europe, working with your hands is considered a
+degradation; it is compared to the labour performed by a machine. The
+occupation of cultivating the earth is the most despised of all. Even an
+artisan is held in more estimation than a peasant.
+
+_Paul._--What! do you mean to say that the art which furnishes food for
+mankind is despised in Europe? I hardly understand you.
+
+_The Old Man._--Oh! it is impossible for a person educated according to
+nature to form an idea of the depraved state of society. It is easy to
+form a precise notion of order, but not of disorder. Beauty, virtue,
+happiness, have all their defined proportions; deformity, vice, and
+misery have none.
+
+_Paul._--The rich then are always very happy! They meet with no
+obstacles to the fulfilment of their wishes, and they can lavish
+happiness on those whom they love.
+
+_The Old Man._--Far from it, my son! They are, for the most part
+satiated with pleasure, for this very reason,--that it costs them no
+trouble. Have you never yourself experienced how much the pleasure of
+repose is increased by fatigue; that of eating, by hunger; or that of
+drinking, by thirst? The pleasure also of loving and being loved is
+only to be acquired by innumerable privations and sacrifices. Wealth, by
+anticipating all their necessities, deprives its possessors of all these
+pleasures. To this ennui, consequent upon satiety, may also be added
+the pride which springs from their opulence, and which is wounded by
+the most trifling privation, when the greatest enjoyments have ceased to
+charm. The perfume of a thousand roses gives pleasure but for a moment;
+but the pain occasioned by a single thorn endures long after the
+infliction of the wound. A single evil in the midst of their pleasures
+is to the rich like a thorn among flowers; to the poor, on the contrary,
+one pleasure amidst all their troubles is a flower among a wilderness
+of thorns; they have a most lively enjoyment of it. The effect of every
+thing is increased by contrast; nature has balanced all things. Which
+condition, after all, do you consider preferable,--to have scarcely any
+thing to hope, and every thing to fear, or to have every thing to hope
+and nothing to fear? The former condition is that of the rich,
+the latter, that of the poor. But either of these extremes is with
+difficulty supported by man, whose happiness consists in a middle
+station of life, in union with virtue.
+
+_Paul._--What do you understand by virtue?
+
+_The Old Man._--To you, my son, who support your family by your labour,
+it need hardly be defined. Virtue consists in endeavouring to do all the
+good we can to others, with an ultimate intention of pleasing God alone.
+
+_Paul._--Oh! how virtuous, then, is Virginia! Virtue led her to seek for
+riches, that she might practise benevolence. Virtue induced her to quit
+this island, and virtue will bring her back to it.
+
+The idea of her speedy return firing the imagination of this young man,
+all his anxieties suddenly vanished. Virginia, he was persuaded, had not
+written, because she would soon arrive. It took so little time to come
+from Europe with a fair wind! Then he enumerated the vessels which had
+made this passage of four thousand five hundred leagues in less than
+three months; and perhaps the vessel in which Virginia had embarked
+might not be more than two. Ship-builders were now so ingenious, and
+sailors were so expert! He then talked to me of the arrangements he
+intended to make for her reception, of the new house he would build for
+her, and of the pleasures and surprises which he would contrive for her
+every day, when she was his wife. His wife! The idea filled him with
+ecstasy. "At least, my dear father," said he, "you shall then do no more
+work than you please. As Virginia will be rich, we shall have plenty of
+negroes, and they shall work for you. You shall always live with us, and
+have no other care than to amuse yourself and be happy;"--and, his heart
+throbbing with joy, he flew to communicate these exquisite anticipations
+to his family.
+
+In a short time, however, these enchanting hopes were succeeded by the
+most cruel apprehensions. It is always the effect of violent passions to
+throw the soul into opposite extremes. Paul returned the next day to my
+dwelling, overwhelmed with melancholy, and said to me,--"I hear nothing
+from Virginia. Had she left Europe she would have written me word of her
+departure. Ah! the reports which I have heard concerning her are but
+too well founded. Her aunt has married her to some great lord. She,
+like others, has been undone by the love of riches. In those books which
+paint women so well, virtue is treated but as a subject of romance. If
+Virginia had been virtuous, she would never have forsaken her mother
+and me. I do nothing but think of her, and she has forgotten me. I am
+wretched, and she is diverting herself. The thought distracts me; I
+cannot bear myself! Would to Heaven that war were declared in India! I
+would go there and die."
+
+"My son," I answered, "that courage which prompts us to court death is
+but the courage of a moment, and is often excited by the vain applause
+of men, or by the hopes of posthumous renown. There is another
+description of courage, rarer and more necessary, which enables us to
+support, without witness and without applause, the vexations of life;
+this virtue is patience. Relying for support, not upon the opinions
+of others, or the impulse of the passions, but upon the will of God,
+patience is the courage of virtue."
+
+"Ah!" cried he, "I am then without virtue! Every thing overwhelms me
+and drives me to despair."--"Equal, constant, and invariable virtue,"
+I replied, "belongs not to man. In the midst of the many passions which
+agitate us, our reason is disordered and obscured: but there is an
+everburning lamp, at which we can rekindle its flame; and that is,
+literature.
+
+"Literature, my dear son, is the gift of Heaven, a ray of that wisdom by
+which the universe is governed, and which man, inspired by a celestial
+intelligence, has drawn down to earth. Like the rays of the sun, it
+enlightens us, it rejoices us, it warms us with a heavenly flame, and
+seems, in some sort, like the element of fire, to bend all nature to
+our use. By its means we are enabled to bring around us all things, all
+places, all men, and all times. It assists us to regulate our manners
+and our life. By its aid, too, our passions are calmed, vice is
+suppressed, and virtue encouraged by the memorable examples of great and
+good men which it has handed down to us, and whose time-honoured images
+it ever brings before our eyes. Literature is a daughter of Heaven who
+has descended upon earth to soften and to charm away all the evils of
+the human race. The greatest writers have ever appeared in the worst
+times,--in times in which society can hardly be held together,--the
+times of barbarism and every species of depravity. My son, literature
+has consoled an infinite number of men more unhappy than yourself:
+Xenophon, banished from his country after having saved to her ten
+thousand of her sons; Scipio Africanus, wearied to death by the
+calumnies of the Romans; Lucullus, tormented by their cabals; and
+Catinat, by the ingratitude of a court. The Greeks, with their
+never-failing ingenuity, assigned to each of the Muses a portion of the
+great circle of human intelligence for her especial superintendence;
+we ought in the same manner, to give up to them the regulation of our
+passions, to bring them under proper restraint. Literature in this
+imaginative guise, would thus fulfil, in relation to the powers of
+the soul, the same functions as the Hours, who yoked and conducted the
+chariot of the Sun.
+
+"Have recourse to your books, then, my son. The wise who have written
+before our days are travellers who have preceded us in the paths of
+misfortune, and who stretch out a friendly hand towards us, and invite
+us to join in their society, when we are abandoned by every thing else.
+A good book is a good friend."
+
+"Ah!" cried Paul, "I stood in no need of books when Virginia was here,
+and she had studied as little as myself; but when she looked at me, and
+called me her friend, I could not feel unhappy."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said I, "there is no friend so agreeable as a mistress
+by whom we are beloved. There is, moreover, in woman a liveliness and
+gaiety, which powerfully tend to dissipate the melancholy feelings of a
+man; her presence drives away the dark phantoms of imagination produced
+by over-reflection. Upon her countenance sit soft attraction and tender
+confidence. What joy is not heightened when it is shared by her? What
+brow is not unbent by her smiles? What anger can resist her tears?
+Virginia will return with more philosophy than you, and will be quite
+surprised to find the garden so unfinished;--she who could think of its
+embellishments in spite of all the persecutions of her aunt, and when
+far from her mother and from you."
+
+The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated the drooping spirits of
+her lover, and he resumed his rural occupations, happy amidst his toils,
+in the reflection that they would soon find a termination so dear to the
+wishes of his heart.
+
+One morning, at break of day, (it was the 24th of December, 1744,)
+Paul, when he arose, perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain
+of Discovery. This flag he knew to be the signal of a vessel descried at
+sea. He instantly flew to the town to learn if this vessel brought any
+tidings of Virginia, and waited there till the return of the pilot,
+who was gone, according to custom, to board the ship. The pilot did not
+return till the evening, when he brought the governor information that
+the signalled vessel was the Saint-Geran, of seven hundred tons burthen,
+and commanded by a captain of the name of Aubin; that she was now
+four leagues out at sea, but would probably anchor at Port Louis the
+following afternoon, if the wind became fair: at present there was a
+calm. The pilot then handed to the governor a number of letters which
+the Saint-Geran had brought from France, among which was one addressed
+to Madame de la Tour, in the hand-writing of Virginia. Paul seized upon
+the letter, kissed it with transport, and placing it in his bosom, flew
+to the plantation. No sooner did he perceive from a distance the family,
+who were awaiting his return upon the rock of Adieus than he waved the
+letter aloft in the air, without being able to utter a word. No sooner
+was the seal broken, than they all crowded round Madame de la Tour,
+to hear the letter read. Virginia informed her mother that she had
+experienced much ill-usage from her aunt, who, after having in vain
+urged her to a marriage against her inclination, had disinherited
+her, and had sent her back at a time when she would probably reach
+the Mauritius during the hurricane season. In vain, she added, had she
+endeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she owed to her
+mother, and to her early habits; she was treated as a romantic girl,
+whose head had been turned by novels. She could now only think of the
+joy of again seeing and embracing her beloved family, and would have
+gratified her ardent desire at once, by landing in the pilot's boat, if
+the captain had allowed her: but that he had objected, on account of the
+distance, and of a heavy swell, which, notwithstanding the calm, reigned
+in the open sea.
+
+As soon as the letter was finished, the whole of the family, transported
+with joy, repeatedly exclaimed, "Virginia is arrived!" and mistresses
+and servants embraced each other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul,--"My
+son, go and inform our neighbour of Virginia's arrival." Domingo
+immediately lighted a torch of bois de ronde, and he and Paul bent their
+way towards my dwelling.
+
+It was about ten o'clock at night, and I was just going to extinguish my
+lamp, and retire to rest, when I perceived, through the palisades round
+my cottage, a light in the woods. Soon after, I heard the voice of Paul
+calling me. I instantly arose, and had hardly dressed myself, when
+Paul, almost beside himself, and panting for breath, sprang on my neck,
+crying,--"Come along, come along. Virginia is arrived. Let us go to the
+port; the vessel will anchor at break of day."
+
+Scarcely had he uttered the words, when we set off. As we were passing
+through the woods of the Sloping Mountain, and were already on the
+road which leads from the Shaddock Grove to the port, I heard some one
+walking behind us. It proved to be a negro, and he was advancing with
+hasty steps. When he had reached us, I asked him whence he came, and
+whither he was going with such expedition. He answered, "I come from
+that part of the island called Golden Dust; and am sent to the port, to
+inform the governor that a ship from France has anchored under the Isle
+of Amber. She is firing guns of distress, for the sea is very rough."
+Having said this, the man left us, and pursued his journey without any
+further delay.
+
+I then said to Paul,--"Let us go towards the quarter of the Golden Dust,
+and meet Virginia there. It is not more than three leagues from hence."
+We accordingly bent our course towards the northern part of the island.
+The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and was surrounded by
+three large black circles. A frightful darkness shrouded the sky; but
+the frequent flashes of lightning discovered to us long rows of thick
+and gloomy clouds, hanging very low, and heaped together over the centre
+of the island, being driven in with great rapidity from the ocean,
+although not a breath of air was perceptible upon the land. As we walked
+along, we thought we heard peals of thunder; but, on listening more
+attentively, we perceived that it was the sound of cannon at a distance,
+repeated by the echoes. These ominous sounds, joined to the tempestuous
+aspect of the heavens, made me shudder. I had little doubt of their
+being signals of distress from a ship in danger. In about half an hour
+the firing ceased, and I found the silence still more appalling than the
+dismal sounds which had preceded it.
+
+We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate to
+each other our mutual apprehensions. At midnight, by great exertion, we
+arrived at the sea shore, in that part of the island called Golden
+Dust. The billows were breaking against the bench with a horrible noise,
+covering the rocks and the strand with foam of a dazzling whiteness,
+blended with sparks of fire. By these phosphoric gleams we
+distinguished, notwithstanding the darkness, a number of fishing canoes,
+drawn up high upon the beach.
+
+At the entrance of a wood, a short distance from us, we saw a fire,
+round which a party of the inhabitants were assembled. We repaired
+thither, in order to rest ourselves till the morning. While we were
+seated near the fire, one of the standers-by related, that late in
+the afternoon he had seen a vessel in the open sea, driven towards the
+island by the currents; that the night had hidden it from his view; and
+that two hours after sunset he had heard the firing of signal guns
+of distress, but that the surf was so high, that it was impossible to
+launch a boat to go off to her; that a short time after, he thought he
+perceived the glimmering of the watch-lights on board the vessel, which,
+he feared, by its having approached so near the coast, had steered
+between the main land and the little island of Amber, mistaking the
+latter for the Point of Endeavour, near which vessels pass in order to
+gain Port Louis; and that, if this were the case, which, however, he
+would not take upon himself to be certain of, the ship, he thought,
+was in very great danger. Another islander informed us, that he had
+frequently crossed the channel which separates the isle of Amber from
+the coast, and had sounded it, that the anchorage was very good, and
+that the ship would there lie as safely as in the best harbour. "I
+would stake all I am worth upon it," said he, "and if I were on board,
+I should sleep as sound as on shore." A third bystander declared that
+it was impossible for the ship to enter that channel, which was scarcely
+navigable for a boat. He was certain, he said, that he had seen the
+vessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber; so that, if the wind rose
+in the morning, she would either put to sea, or gain the harbour.
+Other inhabitants gave different opinions upon this subject, which
+they continued to discuss in the usual desultory manner of the indolent
+Creoles. Paul and I observed a profound silence. We remained on this
+spot till break of day, but the weather was too hazy to admit of our
+distinguishing any object at sea, every thing being covered with fog.
+All we could descry to seaward was a dark cloud, which they told us was
+the isle of Amber, at the distance of a quarter of a league from the
+coast. On this gloomy day we could only discern the point of land on
+which we were standing, and the peaks of some inland mountains, which
+started out occasionally from the midst of the clouds that hung around
+them.
+
+At about seven in the morning we heard the sound of drums in the woods:
+it announced the approach of the governor, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais,
+who soon after arrived on horseback, at the head of a detachment of
+soldiers armed with muskets, and a crowd of islanders and negroes. He
+drew up his soldiers upon the beach, and ordered them to make a general
+discharge. This was no sooner done, than we perceived a glimmering light
+upon the water which was instantly followed by the report of a cannon.
+We judged that the ship was at no great distance and all ran towards
+that part whence the light and sound proceeded. We now discerned through
+the fog the hull and yards of a large vessel. We were so near to her,
+that notwithstanding the tumult of the waves, we could distinctly hear
+the whistle of the boatswain, and the shouts of the sailors, who cried
+out three times, VIVE LE ROI! this being the cry of the French in
+extreme danger, as well as in exuberant joy;--as though they wished
+to call their princes to their aid, or to testify to him that they are
+prepared to lay down their lives in his service.
+
+As soon as the Saint-Geran perceived that we were near enough to render
+her assistance, she continued to fire guns regularly at intervals of
+three minutes. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be
+lighted at certain distances upon the strand, and sent to all the
+inhabitants of the neighbourhood, in search of provisions, planks,
+cables, and empty barrels. A number of people soon arrived, accompanied
+by their negroes loaded with provisions and cordage, which they had
+brought from the plantations of Golden Dust, from the district of La
+Flaque, and from the river of the Ram part. One of the most aged of
+these planters, approaching the governor, said to him,--"We have heard
+all night hollow noises in the mountain; in the woods, the leaves of the
+trees are shaken, although there is no wind; the sea-birds seek refuge
+upon the land: it is certain that all these signs announce a hurricane."
+"Well, my friends," answered the governor, "we are prepared for it, and
+no doubt the vessel is also."
+
+Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. The
+centre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while their
+skirts were tinged with a copper-coloured hue. The air resounded with
+the cries of the tropic-birds, petrels, frigate-birds, and innumerable
+other sea-fowl, which notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere,
+were seen coming from every point of the horizon, to seek for shelter in
+the island.
+
+Towards nine in the morning we heard in the direction of the ocean the
+most terrific noise, like the sound of thunder mingled with that of
+torrents rushing down the steeps of lofty mountains. A general cry was
+heard of, "There is the hurricane!" and the next moment a frightful
+gust of wind dispelled the fog which covered the isle of Amber and its
+channel. The Saint-Geran then presented herself to our view, her deck
+crowded with people, her yards and topmasts lowered down, and her flag
+half-mast high, moored by four cables at her bow and one at her stern.
+She had anchored between the isle of Amber and the main land, inside
+the chain of reefs which encircles the island, and which she had passed
+through in a place where no vessel had ever passed before. She presented
+her head to the waves that rolled in from the open sea, and as each
+billow rushed into the narrow strait where she lay, her bow lifted to
+such a degree as to show her keel; and at the same moment her stern,
+plunging into the water, disappeared altogether from our sight, as if it
+were swallowed up by the surges. In this position, driven by the winds
+and waves towards the shore, it was equally impossible for her to return
+by the passage through which she had made her way; or, by cutting her
+cables, to strand herself upon the beach, from which she was separated
+by sandbanks and reefs of rocks. Every billow which broke upon the coast
+advanced roaring to the bottom of the bay, throwing up heaps of shingle
+to the distance of fifty feet upon the land; then, rushing back, laid
+bare its sandy bed, from which it rolled immense stones, with a hoarse
+and dismal noise. The sea, swelled by the violence of the wind, rose
+higher every moment; and the whole channel between this island and the
+isle of Amber was soon one vast sheet of white foam, full of yawning
+pits of black and deep billows. Heaps of this foam, more than six feet
+high, were piled up at the bottom of the bay; and the winds which swept
+its surface carried masses of it over the steep sea-bank, scattering it
+upon the land to the distance of half a league. These innumerable white
+flakes, driven horizontally even to the very foot of the mountains,
+looked like snow issuing from the bosom of the ocean. The appearance of
+the horizon portended a lasting tempest; the sky and the water seemed
+blended together. Thick masses of clouds, of a frightful form, swept
+across the zenith with the swiftness of birds, while others appeared
+motionless as rocks. Not a single spot of blue sky could be discerned in
+the whole firmament; and a pale yellow gleam only lightened up all the
+objects of the earth, the sea, and the skies.
+
+From the violent rolling of the ship, what we all dreaded happened at
+last. The cables which held her bow were torn away: she then swung to a
+single hawser, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the distance
+of half a cable's length from the shore. A general cry of horror issued
+from the spectators. Paul rushed forward to throw himself into the
+sea, when, seizing him by the arm, "My son," I exclaimed, "would you
+perish?"--"Let me go to save her," he cried, "or let me die!" Seeing
+that despair had deprived him of reason, Domingo and I, in order to
+preserve him, fastened a long cord around his waist, and held it fast
+by the end. Paul then precipitated himself towards the Saint-Geran,
+now swimming, and now walking upon the rocks. Sometimes he had hopes of
+reaching the vessel, which the sea, by the reflux of its waves, had left
+almost dry, so that you could have walked round it on foot; but suddenly
+the billows, returning with fresh fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of
+water, which then lifted it upright upon its keel. The breakers at the
+same moment threw the unfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs
+bathed in blood, his bosom wounded, and himself half dead. The moment
+he had recovered the use of his senses, he arose, and returned with new
+ardour towards the vessel, the parts of which now yawned asunder from
+the violent strokes of the billows. The crew then, despairing of their
+safety, threw themselves in crowds into the sea, upon yards, planks,
+hen-coops, tables, and barrels. At this moment we beheld an object
+which wrung our hearts with grief and pity; a young lady appeared in the
+stern-gallery of the Saint-Geran, stretching out her arms towards him
+who was making so many efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had
+discovered her lover by his intrepidity. The sight of this amiable girl,
+exposed to such horrible danger, filled us with unutterable despair. As
+for Virginia, with a firm and dignified mien, she waved her hand, as
+if bidding us an eternal farewell. All the sailors had flung themselves
+into the sea, except one, who still remained upon the deck, and who
+was naked, and strong as Hercules. This man approached Virginia with
+respect, and, kneeling at her feet, attempted to force her to throw
+off her clothes; but she repulsed him with modesty, and turned away
+her head. Then were heard redoubled cries from the spectators, "Save
+her!--save her!--do not leave her!" But at that moment a mountain
+billow, of enormous magnitude, ingulfed itself between the isle of Amber
+and the coast, and menaced the shattered vessel, towards which it rolled
+bellowing, with its black sides and foaming head. At this terrible
+sight the sailor flung himself into the sea; and Virginia, seeing death
+inevitable, crossed her hands upon her breast, and raising upwards her
+serene and beauteous eyes, seemed an angel prepared to take her flight
+to Heaven.
+
+Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the relentless
+billows. The surge threw some of the spectators, whom an impulse of
+humanity had prompted to advance towards Virginia, far upon the beach,
+and also the sailor who had endeavoured to save her life. This man,
+who had escaped from almost certain death, kneeling on the sand,
+exclaimed,--"Oh, my God! thou hast saved my life, but I would have given
+it willingly for that excellent young lady, who had persevered in not
+undressing herself as I had done." Domingo and I drew the unfortunate
+Paul to the ashore. He was senseless, and blood was flowing from his
+mouth and ears. The governor ordered him to be put into the hands of a
+surgeon, while we, on our part, wandered along the beach, in hopes
+that the sea would throw up the corpse of Virginia. But the wind having
+suddenly changed, as it frequently happens during hurricanes, our search
+was in vain; and we had the grief of thinking that we should not be able
+to bestow on this sweet and unfortunate girl the last sad duties. We
+retired from the spot overwhelmed with dismay, and our minds wholly
+occupied by one cruel loss, although numbers had perished in the wreck.
+Some of the spectators seemed tempted, from the fatal destiny of this
+virtuous girl, to doubt the existence of Providence: for there are in
+life such terrible, such unmerited evils, that even the hope of the wise
+is sometimes shaken.
+
+In the meantime Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to a
+house in the neighbourhood, till he was in a fit state to be removed
+to his own home. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, to discharge the
+melancholy duty of preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the
+disastrous event which had happened. When we had reached the entrance of
+the valley of the river of Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that
+the sea had thrown up many pieces of the wreck in the opposite bay. We
+descended towards it and one of the first objects that struck my sight
+upon the beach was the corpse of Virginia. The body was half covered
+with sand, and preserved the attitude in which we had seen her perish.
+Her features were not sensibly changed, her eyes were closed, and her
+countenance was still serene; but the pale purple hues of death were
+blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of her hands
+was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on her heart,
+was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with difficulty that I
+took from its grasp a small box. How great was my emotion when I saw
+that it contained the picture of Paul, which she had promised him never
+to part with while she lived! As for Domingo, he beat his breast, and
+pierced the air with his shrieks. With heavy hearts we then carried the
+body of Virginia to a fisherman's hut, and gave it in charge of some
+poor Malabar women, who carefully washed away the sand.
+
+While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended the hill
+with trembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la Tour and
+Margaret at prayer; hourly expecting to have tidings from the ship. As
+soon as Madame de la Tour saw me coming, she eagerly cried,--"Where
+is my daughter--my dear daughter--my child?" My silence and my tears
+apprised her of her misfortune. She was instantly seized with a
+convulsive stopping of the breath and agonizing pains, and her voice was
+only heard in sighs and groans. Margaret cried, "Where is my son? I do
+not see my son!" and fainted. We ran to her assistance. In a short time
+she recovered, and being assured that Paul was safe, and under the care
+of the governor, she thought of nothing but of succouring her friend,
+who recovered from one fainting fit only to fall into another. Madame de
+la Tour passed the whole night in these cruel sufferings, and I became
+convinced that there was no sorrow like that of a mother. When she
+recovered her senses, she cast a fixed, unconscious look towards heaven.
+In vain her friend and myself pressed her hands in ours: in vain we
+called upon her by the most tender names; she appeared wholly insensible
+to these testimonials of our affection, and no sound issued from her
+oppressed bosom, but deep and hollow moans.
+
+During the morning Paul was carried home in a palanquin. He had now
+recovered the use of his reason, but was unable to utter a word. His
+interview with his mother and Madame de la Tour, which I had dreaded,
+produced a better effect than all my cares. A ray of consolation gleamed
+on the countenances of the two unfortunate mothers. They pressed close
+to him, clasped him in their arms, and kissed him: their tears, which
+excess of anguish had till now dried up at the source, began to flow.
+Paul mixed his tears with theirs; and nature having thus found relief,
+a long stupor succeeded the convulsive pangs they had suffered, and
+afforded them a lethargic repose, which was in truth, like that of
+death.
+
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse
+of Virginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it was
+to be transferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I immediately
+went down to Port Louis, where I found a multitude assembled from all
+parts of the island, in order to be present at the funeral solemnity,
+as if the isle had lost that which was nearest and dearest to it. The
+vessels in the harbour had their yards crossed, their flags half-mast,
+and fired guns at long intervals. A body of grenadiers led the funeral
+procession, with their muskets reversed, their muffled drums sending
+forth slow and dismal sounds. Dejection was depicted in the countenance
+of these warriors, who had so often braved death in battle without
+changing colour. Eight young ladies of considerable families of the
+island, dressed in white, and bearing palm-branches in their hands,
+carried the corpse of their amiable companion, which was covered with
+flowers. They were followed by a chorus of children, chanting hymns, and
+by the governor, his field officers, all the principal inhabitants of
+the island, and an immense crowd of people.
+
+This imposing funeral solemnity had been ordered by the administration
+of the country, which was desirous of doing honour to the virtues of
+Virginia. But when the mournful procession arrived at the foot of this
+mountain, within sight of those cottages of which she had been so long
+an inmate and an ornament, diffusing happiness all around them, and
+which her loss had now filled with despair, the funeral pomp was
+interrupted, the hymns and anthems ceased, and the whole plain resounded
+with sighs and lamentations. Numbers of young girls ran from the
+neighbouring plantations, to touch the coffin of Virginia with their
+handkerchiefs, and with chaplets and crowns of flowers, invoking her as
+a saint. Mothers asked of heaven a child like Virginia; lovers, a heart
+as faithful; the poor, as tender a friend; and the slaves as kind a
+mistress.
+
+When the procession had reached the place of interment, some negresses
+of Madagascar and Caffres of Mozambique placed a number of baskets of
+fruit around the corpse, and hung pieces of stuff upon the adjoining
+trees, according to the custom of their several countries. Some Indian
+women from Bengal also, and from the coast of Malabar, brought cages
+full of small birds, which they set at liberty upon her coffin.
+Thus deeply did the loss of this amiable being affect the natives
+of different countries, and thus was the ritual of various religions
+performed over the tomb of unfortunate virtue.
+
+It became necessary to place guards round her grave, and to employ
+gentle force in removing some of the daughters of the neighbouring
+villagers, who endeavoured to throw themselves into it, saying that
+they had no longer any consolation to hope for in this world, and that
+nothing remained for them but to die with their benefactress.
+
+On the western side of the church of the Shaddock Grove is a small copse
+of bamboos, where, in returning from mass with her mother and Margaret,
+Virginia loved to rest herself, seated by the side of him whom she then
+called her brother. This was the spot selected for her interment.
+
+At his return from the funeral solemnity, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+came up here, followed by part of his numerous retinue. He offered
+Madame de la Tour and her friend all the assistance it was in his power
+to bestow. After briefly expressing his indignation at the conduct of
+her unnatural aunt, he advanced to Paul, and said every thing which he
+thought most likely to soothe and console him. "Heaven is my witness,"
+said he, "that I wished to insure your happiness, and that of your
+family. My dear friend, you must go to France; I will obtain a
+commission for you, and during your absence I will take the same care
+of your mother as if she were my own." He then offered him his hand; but
+Paul drew away and turned his head aside, unable to bear his sight.
+
+I remained for some time at the plantation of my unfortunate friends,
+that I might render to them and Paul those offices of friendship that
+were in my power, and which might alleviate, though they could not heal
+the wounds of calamity. At the end of three weeks Paul was able to
+walk; but his mind seemed to droop in proportion as his body gathered
+strength. He was insensible to every thing; his look was vacant; and
+when asked a question, he made no reply. Madame de la Tour, who was
+dying said to him often,--"My son, while I look at you, I think I see my
+dear Virginia." At the name of Virginia he shuddered, and hastened away
+from her, notwithstanding the entreaties of his mother, who begged him
+to come back to her friend. He used to go alone into the garden, and
+seat himself at the foot of Virginia's cocoa-tree, with his eyes fixed
+upon the fountain. The governor's surgeon, who had shown the most humane
+attention to Paul and the whole family, told us that in order to cure
+the deep melancholy which had taken possession of his mind, we must
+allow him to do whatever he pleased, without contradiction: this, he
+said, afforded the only chance of overcoming the silence in which he
+persevered.
+
+I resolved to follow this advice. The first use which Paul made of his
+returning strength was to absent himself from the plantation. Being
+determined not to lose sight of him I set out immediately, and desired
+Domingo to take some provisions and accompany us. The young man's
+strength and spirits seemed renewed as he descended the mountain. He
+first took the road to the Shaddock Grove, and when he was near the
+church, in the Alley of Bamboos, he walked directly to the spot where
+he saw some earth fresh turned up; kneeling down there, and raising
+his eyes to heaven, he offered up a long prayer. This appeared to me
+a favourable symptom of the return of his reason; since this mark of
+confidence in the Supreme Being showed that his mind was beginning to
+resume its natural functions. Domingo and I, following his example, fell
+upon our knees, and mingled our prayers with his. When he arose, he bent
+his way, paying little attention to us, towards the northern part of the
+island. As I knew that he was not only ignorant of the spot where the
+body of Virginia had been deposited, but even of the fact that it had
+been recovered from the waves, I asked him why he had offered up his
+prayer at the foot of those bamboos. He answered,--"We have been there
+so often."
+
+He continued his course until we reached the borders of the forest, when
+night came on. I set him the example of taking some nourishment, and
+prevailed on him to do the same; and we slept upon the grass, at the
+foot of a tree. The next day I thought he seemed disposed to retrace his
+steps; for, after having gazed a considerable time from the plain upon
+the church of the Shaddock Grove, with its long avenues of bamboos, he
+made a movement as if to return home; but suddenly plunging into the
+forest, he directed his course towards the north. I guessed what was his
+design, and I endeavoured, but in vain, to dissuade him from it. About
+noon we arrived at the quarter of Golden Dust. He rushed down to the
+sea-shore, opposite to the spot where the Saint-Geran had been wrecked.
+At the sight of the isle of Amber, and its channel, when smooth as
+a mirror, he exclaimed,--"Virginia! oh my dear Virginia!" and fell
+senseless. Domingo and I carried him into the woods, where we had some
+difficulty in recovering him. As soon as he regained his senses, he
+wished to return to the sea-shore; but we conjured him not to renew his
+own anguish and ours by such cruel remembrances, and he took another
+direction. During a whole week he sought every spot where he had once
+wandered with the companion of his childhood. He traced the path by
+which she had gone to intercede for the slave of the Black River. He
+gazed again upon the banks of the river of the Three Breasts, where she
+had rested herself when unable to walk further, and upon that part of
+the wood where they had lost their way. All the haunts, which recalled
+to his memory the anxieties, the sports, the repasts, the benevolence
+of her he loved,--the river of the Sloping Mountain, my house, the
+neighbouring cascade, the papaw tree she had planted, the grassy fields
+in which she loved to run, the openings of the forest where she used to
+sing, all in succession called forth his tears; and those very echoes
+which had so often resounded with their mutual shouts of joy, now
+repeated only these accents of despair,--"Virginia! oh, my dear
+Virginia!"
+
+During this savage and wandering life, his eyes became sunk and hollow,
+his skin assumed a yellow tint, and his health rapidly declined.
+Convinced that our present sufferings are rendered more acute by the
+bitter recollection of bygone pleasures, and that the passions gather
+strength in solitude, I resolved to remove my unfortunate friend from
+those scenes which recalled the remembrance of his loss, and to lead him
+to a more busy part of the island. With this view, I conducted him to
+the inhabited part of the elevated quarter of Williams, which he had
+never visited, and where the busy pursuits of agriculture and commerce
+ever occasioned much bustle and variety. Numbers of carpenters were
+employed in hewing down and squaring trees, while others were sawing
+them into planks; carriages were continually passing and repassing on
+the roads; numerous herds of oxen and troops of horses were feeding on
+those wide-spread meadows, and the whole country was dotted with the
+dwellings of man. On some spots the elevation of the soil permitted the
+culture of many of the plants of Europe: the yellow ears of ripe corn
+waved upon the plains; strawberry plants grew in the openings of
+the woods, and the roads were bordered by hedges of rose-trees. The
+freshness of the air, too, giving tension to the nerves, was favourable
+to the health of Europeans. From those heights, situated near the middle
+of the island, and surrounded by extensive forests, neither the sea, nor
+Port Louis, nor the church of the Shaddock Grove, nor any other object
+associated with the remembrance of Virginia could de discerned. Even
+the mountains, which present various shapes on the side of Port
+Louis, appear from hence like a long promontory, in a straight and
+perpendicular line, from which arise lofty pyramids of rock, whose
+summits are enveloped in the clouds.
+
+Conducting Paul to these scenes, I kept him continually in action,
+walking with him in rain and sunshine, by day and by night. I sometimes
+wandered with him into the depths of the forests, or led him over
+untilled grounds, hoping that change of scene and fatigue might divert
+his mind from its gloomy meditations. But the soul of a lover finds
+everywhere the traces of the beloved object. Night and day, the calm
+of solitude and the tumult of crowds, are to him the same; time itself,
+which casts the shade of oblivion over so many other remembrances, in
+vain would tear that tender and sacred recollection from the heart. The
+needle, when touched by the loadstone, however it may have been moved
+from its position, is no sooner left to repose, than it returns to the
+pole of its attraction. So, when I inquired of Paul, as we wandered
+amidst the plains of Williams,--"Where shall we now go?" he pointed to
+the north, and said, "Yonder are our mountains; let us return home."
+
+I now saw that all the means I took to divert him from his melancholy
+were fruitless, and that no resource was left but an attempt to
+combat his passion by the arguments which reason suggested I answered
+him,--"Yes, there are the mountains where once dwelt your beloved
+Virginia; and here is the picture you gave her, and which she held, when
+dying, to her heart--that heart, which even in its last moments only
+beat for you." I then presented to Paul the little portrait which he
+had given to Virginia on the borders of the cocoa-tree fountain. At this
+sight a gloomy joy overspread his countenance. He eagerly seized the
+picture with his feeble hands, and held it to his lips. His oppressed
+bosom seemed ready to burst with emotion, and his eyes were filled with
+tears which had no power to flow.
+
+"My son," said I, "listen to one who is your friend, who was the friend
+of Virginia, and who, in the bloom of your hopes, has often endeavoured
+to fortify your mind against the unforeseen accidents of life. What
+do you deplore with so much bitterness? Is it your own misfortunes, or
+those of Virginia, which affect you so deeply?
+
+"Your own misfortunes are indeed severe. You have lost the most amiable
+of girls, who would have grown up to womanhood a pattern to her sex, one
+who sacrificed her own interests to yours: who preferred you to all that
+fortune could bestow, and considered you as the only recompense worthy
+of her virtues.
+
+"But might not this very object, from whom you expected the purest
+happiness, have proved to you a source of the most cruel distress?
+She had returned poor and disinherited; all you could henceforth
+have partaken with her was your labour. Rendered more delicate by her
+education, and more courageous by her misfortunes, you might have beheld
+her every day sinking beneath her efforts to share and lighten your
+fatigues. Had she brought you children, they would only have served to
+increase her anxieties and your own, from the difficulty of sustaining
+at once your aged parents and your infant family.
+
+"Very likely you will tell me that the governor would have helped you;
+but how do you know that in a colony where governors are so
+frequently changed, you would have had others like Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais?--that one might not have been sent destitute of good
+feeling and of morality?--that your young wife, in order, to procure
+some miserable pittance, might not have been obliged to seek his favour?
+Had she been weak you would have been to be pitied; and if she had
+remained virtuous, you would have continued poor: forced even to
+consider yourself fortunate if, on account of the beauty and virtue of
+your wife, you had not to endure persecution from those who had promised
+you protection.
+
+"It would have remained to you, you may say, to have enjoyed a pleasure
+independent of fortune,--that of protecting a loved being, who, in
+proportion to her own helplessness, had more attached herself to you.
+You may fancy that your pains and sufferings would have served to endear
+you to each other, and that your passion would have gathered strength
+from your mutual misfortunes. Undoubtedly virtuous love does find
+consolation even in such melancholy retrospects. But Virginia is no
+more; yet those persons still live, whom, next to yourself, she held
+most dear; her mother, and your own: your inconsolable affliction is
+bringing them both to the grave. Place your happiness, as she did hers,
+in affording them succour. My son, beneficence is the happiness of the
+virtuous: there is no greater or more certain enjoyment on the earth.
+Schemes of pleasure, repose, luxuries, wealth, and glory are not suited
+to man, weak, wandering, and transitory as he is. See how rapidly one
+step towards the acquisition of fortune has precipitated us all to the
+lowest abyss of misery! You were opposed to it, it is true; but who
+would not have thought that Virginia's voyage would terminate in her
+happiness and your own? an invitation from a rich and aged relation, the
+advice of a wise governor, the approbation of the whole colony, and the
+well-advised authority of her confessor, decided the lot of Virginia.
+Thus do we run to our ruin, deceived even by the prudence of those who
+watch over us: it would be better, no doubt, not to believe them, nor
+even to listen to the voice or lean on the hopes of a deceitful world.
+But all men,--those you see occupied in these plains, those who go
+abroad to seek their fortunes, and those in Europe who enjoy repose from
+the labours of others, are liable to reverses! not one is secure from
+losing, at some period, all that he most values,--greatness, wealth,
+wife, children, and friends. Most of these would have their sorrow
+increased by the remembrance of their own imprudence. But you have
+nothing with which you can reproach yourself. You have been faithful in
+your love. In the bloom of youth, by not departing from the dictates of
+nature, you evinced the wisdom of a sage. Your views were just,
+because they were pure, simple, and disinterested. You had, besides, on
+Virginia, sacred claims which nothing could countervail. You have lost
+her: but it is neither your own imprudence, nor your avarice, nor your
+false wisdom which has occasioned this misfortune, but the will of God,
+who had employed the passions of others to snatch from you the object of
+your love; God, from whom you derive everything, who knows what is most
+fitting for you, and whose wisdom has not left you any cause for the
+repentance and despair which succeed the calamities that are brought
+upon us by ourselves.
+
+"Vainly, in your misfortunes, do you say to yourself, 'I have not
+deserved them.' Is it then the calamity of Virginia--her death and her
+present condition that you deplore? She has undergone the fate allotted
+to all,--to high birth, to beauty, and even to empires themselves. The
+life of man, with all his projects, may be compared to a tower, at whose
+summit is death. When your Virginia was born, she was condemned to die;
+happily for herself, she is released from life before losing her mother,
+or yours, or you; saved, thus from undergoing pangs worse than those of
+death itself.
+
+"Learn then, my son, that death is a benefit to all men: it is the night
+of that restless day we call by the name of life. The diseases, the
+griefs, the vexations, and the fears, which perpetually embitter our
+life as long as we possess it, molest us no more in the sleep of death.
+If you inquire into the history of those men who appear to have been the
+happiest, you will find that they have bought their apparent felicity
+very dear; public consideration, perhaps, by domestic evils; fortune,
+by the loss of health; the rare happiness of being loved, by continual
+sacrifices; and often, at the expiration of a life devoted to the good
+of others, they see themselves surrounded only by false friends, and
+ungrateful relations. But Virginia was happy to her very last moment.
+When with us, she was happy in partaking of the gifts of nature; when
+far from us, she found enjoyment in the practice of virtue; and even at
+the terrible moment in which we saw her perish, she still had cause
+for self-gratulation. For, whether she cast her eyes on the assembled
+colony, made miserable by her expected loss, or on you, my son, who,
+with so much intrepidity, were endeavouring to save her, she must have
+seen how dear she was to all. Her mind was fortified against the future
+by the remembrance of her innocent life; and at that moment she received
+the reward which Heaven reserves for virtue,--a courage superior to
+danger. She met death with a serene countenance.
+
+"My son! God gives all the trials of life to virtue, in order to show
+that virtue alone can support them, and even find in them happiness and
+glory. When he designs for it an illustrious reputation, he exhibits it
+on a wide theatre, and contending with death. Then does the courage of
+virtue shine forth as an example, and the misfortunes to which it has
+been exposed receive for ever, from posterity, the tribute of their
+tears. This is the immortal monument reserved for virtue in a world
+where every thing else passes away, and where the names, even of the
+greater number of kings themselves, are soon buried in eternal oblivion.
+
+"Meanwhile Virginia still exists. My son, you see that every thing
+changes on this earth, but that nothing is ever lost. No art of man can
+annihilate the smallest particle of matter; can, then, that which
+has possessed reason, sensibility, affection, virtue, and religion be
+supposed capable of destruction, when the very elements with which it is
+clothed are imperishable? Ah! however happy Virginia may have been with
+us, she is now much more so. There is a God, my son; it is unnecessary
+for me to prove it to you, for the voice of all nature loudly proclaims
+it. The wickedness of mankind leads them to deny the existence of a
+Being, whose justice they fear. But your mind is fully convinced of
+his existence, while his works are ever before your eyes. Do you then
+believe that he would leave Virginia without recompense? Do you
+think that the same Power which inclosed her noble soul in a form so
+beautiful,--so like an emanation from itself, could not have saved her
+from the waves?--that he who has ordained the happiness of man here, by
+laws unknown to you, cannot prepare a still higher degree of felicity
+for Virginia by other laws, of which you are equally ignorant? Before
+we were born into this world, could we, do you imagine, even if we were
+capable of thinking at all, have formed any idea of our existence here?
+And now that we are in the middle of this gloomy and transitory life,
+can we foresee what is beyond the tomb, or in what manner we shall be
+emancipated from it? Does God, like man, need this little globe,
+the earth, as a theatre for the display of his intelligence and his
+goodness?--and can he only dispose of human life in the territory of
+death? There is not, in the entire ocean, a single drop of water which
+is not peopled with living beings appertaining to man: and does there
+exist nothing for him in the heavens above his head? What! is there no
+supreme intelligence, no divine goodness, except on this little spot
+where we are placed? In those innumerable glowing fires,--in those
+infinite fields of light which surround them, and which neither storms
+nor darkness can extinguish, is there nothing but empty space and an
+eternal void? If we, weak and ignorant as we are, might dare to assign
+limits to that Power from whom we have received every thing, we might
+possibly imagine that we were placed on the very confines of his empire,
+where life is perpetually struggling with death, and innocence for ever
+in danger from the power of tyranny!
+
+"Somewhere, then, without doubt, there is another world, where virtue
+will receive its reward. Virginia is now happy. Ah! if from the abode of
+angels she could hold communication with you, she would tell you, as she
+did when she bade you her last adieus,--'O, Paul! life is but a scene of
+trial. I have been obedient to the laws of nature, love, and virtue. I
+crossed the seas to obey the will of my relations; I sacrificed
+wealth in order to keep my faith; and I preferred the loss of life to
+disobeying the dictates of modesty. Heaven found that I had fulfilled my
+duties, and has snatched me for ever from all the miseries I might have
+endured myself, and all I might have felt for the miseries of others. I
+am placed far above the reach of all human evils, and you pity me! I
+am become pure and unchangeable as a particle of light, and you would
+recall me to the darkness of human life! O, Paul! O, my beloved friend!
+recollect those days of happiness, when in the morning we felt the
+delightful sensations excited by the unfolding beauties of nature; when
+we seemed to rise with the sun to the peaks of those rocks, and then
+to spread with his rays over the bosom of the forests. We experienced a
+delight, the cause of which we could not comprehend. In the innocence of
+our desires, we wished to be all sight, to enjoy the rich colours of
+the early dawn; all smell, to taste a thousand perfumes at once; all
+hearing, to listen to the singing of our birds; and all heart, to be
+capable of gratitude for those mingled blessings. Now, at the source
+of the beauty whence flows all that is delightful upon earth, my soul
+intuitively sees, hears, touches, what before she could only be made
+sensible of through the medium of our weak organs. Ah! what language can
+describe these shores of eternal bliss, which I inhabit for ever! All
+that infinite power and heavenly goodness could create to console the
+unhappy: all that the friendship of numberless beings, exulting in the
+same felicity can impart, we enjoy in unmixed perfection. Support,
+then, the trial which is now allotted to you, that you may heighten the
+happiness of your Virginia by love which will know no termination,--by a
+union which will be eternal. There I will calm your regrets, I will wipe
+away your tears. Oh, my beloved friend! my youthful husband! raise your
+thoughts towards the infinite, to enable you to support the evils of a
+moment.'"
+
+My own emotion choked my utterance. Paul, looking at me steadfastly,
+cried,--"She is no more! she is no more!" and a long fainting fit
+succeeded these words of woe. When restored to himself, he said, "Since
+death is good, and since Virginia is happy, I will die too, and be
+united to Virginia." Thus the motives of consolation I had offered,
+only served to nourish his despair. I was in the situation of a man
+who attempts to save a friend sinking in the midst of a flood, and who
+obstinately refuses to swim. Sorrow had completely overwhelmed his
+soul. Alas! the trials of early years prepare man for the afflictions of
+after-life; but Paul had never experienced any.
+
+I took him back to his own dwelling, where I found his mother and Madame
+de la Tour in a state of increased languor and exhaustion, but Margaret
+seemed to droop the most. Lively characters, upon whom petty troubles
+have but little effect, sink the soonest under great calamities.
+
+"O my good friend," said Margaret, "I thought last night I saw Virginia,
+dressed in white, in the midst of groves and delicious gardens. She said
+to me, 'I enjoy the most perfect happiness:' and then approaching Paul
+with a smiling air, she bore him away with her. While I was struggling
+to retain my son, I felt that I myself too was quitting the earth, and
+that I followed with inexpressible delight. I then wished to bid my
+friend farewell, when I saw that she was hastening after me, accompanied
+by Mary and Domingo. But the strangest circumstance remains yet to be
+told; Madame de la Tour has this very night had a dream exactly like
+mine in every possible respect."
+
+"My dear friend," I replied, "nothing, I firmly believe, happens in this
+world without the permission of God. Future events, too, are sometimes
+revealed in dreams."
+
+Madame de la Tour then related to me her dream which was exactly the
+same as Margaret's in every particular; and as I had never observed in
+either of these ladies any propensity to superstition, I was struck with
+the singular coincidence of their dreams, and I felt convinced that
+they would soon be realized. The belief that future events are sometimes
+revealed to us during sleep, is one that is widely diffused among the
+nations of the earth. The greatest men of antiquity have had faith in
+it; among whom may be mentioned Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar,
+the Scipios, the two Catos, and Brutus, none of whom were weak-minded
+persons. Both the Old and the New Testament furnish us with numerous
+instances of dreams that came to pass. As for myself, I need only, on
+this subject, appeal to my experience, as I have more than once had good
+reason to believe that superior intelligences, who interest themselves
+in our welfare, communicate with us in these visions of the night.
+Things which surpass the light of human reason cannot be proved by
+arguments derived from that reason; but still, if the mind of man is an
+image of that of God, since man can make known his will to the ends of
+the earth by secret missives, may not the Supreme Intelligence which
+governs the universe employ similar means to attain a like end? One
+friend consoles another by a letter, which, after passing through many
+kingdoms, and being in the hands of various individuals at enmity with
+each other, brings at last joy and hope to the breast of a single human
+being. May not in like manner the Sovereign Protector of innocence come
+in some secret way, to the help of a virtuous soul, which puts its trust
+in Him alone? Has He occasion to employ visible means to effect His
+purpose in this, whose ways are hidden in all His ordinary works?
+
+Why should we doubt the evidence of dreams? for what is our life,
+occupied as it is with vain and fleeting imaginations, other than a
+prolonged vision of the night?
+
+Whatever may be thought of this in general, on the present occasion the
+dreams of my friends were soon realized. Paul expired two months after
+the death of his Virginia, whose name dwelt on his lips in his expiring
+moments. About a week after the death of her son, Margaret saw her last
+hour approach with that serenity which virtue only can feel. She bade
+Madame de la Tour a most tender farewell, "in the certain hope," she
+said, "of a delightful and eternal re-union. Death is the greatest of
+blessings to us," added she, "and we ought to desire it. If life be a
+punishment, we should wish for its termination; if it be a trial, we
+should be thankful that it is short."
+
+The governor took care of Domingo and Mary, who were no longer able to
+labour, and who survived their mistresses but a short time. As for poor
+Fidele, he pined to death, soon after he had lost his master.
+
+I afforded an asylum in my dwelling to Madame de la Tour, who bore
+up under her calamities with incredible elevation of mind. She had
+endeavoured to console Paul and Margaret till their last moments, as if
+she herself had no misfortunes of her own to bear. When they were not
+more, she used to talk to me every day of them as of beloved friends,
+who were still living near her. She survived them however, but one
+month. Far from reproaching her aunt for the afflictions she had caused,
+her benign spirit prayed to God to pardon her, and to appease that
+remorse which we heard began to torment her, as soon as she had sent
+Virginia away with so much inhumanity.
+
+Conscience, that certain punishment of the guilty, visited with all its
+terrors the mind of this unnatural relation. So great was her torment,
+that life and death became equally insupportable to her. Sometimes she
+reproached herself with the untimely fate of her lovely niece, and with
+the death of her mother, which had immediately followed it. At other
+times she congratulated herself for having repulsed far from her two
+wretched creatures, who, she said, had both dishonoured their family
+by their grovelling inclinations. Sometimes, at the sight of the many
+miserable objects with which Paris abounds, she would fly into a rage,
+and exclaim,--"Why are not these idle people sent off to the colonies?"
+As for the notions of humanity, virtue and religion, adopted by all
+nations, she said, they were only the inventions of their rulers, to
+serve political purposes. Then, flying all at once to the other extreme,
+she abandoned herself to superstitious terrors, which filled her
+with mortal fears. She would then give abundant alms to the wealthy
+ecclesiastics who governed her, beseeching them to appease the wrath of
+God by the sacrifice of her fortune,--as if the offering to Him of the
+wealth she had withheld from the miserable could please her Heavenly
+Father! In her imagination she often beheld fields of fire, with burning
+mountains, wherein hideous spectres wandered about, loudly calling on
+her by name. She threw herself at her confessor's feet, imagining every
+description of agony and torture; for Heaven--just Heaven, always sends
+to the cruel the most frightful views of religion and a future state.
+
+Atheist, thus, and fanatic in turn, holding both life and death in equal
+horror, she lived on for several years. But what completed the torments
+of her miserable existence, was that very object to which she had
+sacrificed every natural affection. She was deeply annoyed at perceiving
+that her fortune must go, at her death, to relations whom she hated, and
+she determined to alienate as much of it as she could. They, however,
+taking advantage of her frequent attacks of low spirits, caused her to
+be secluded as a lunatic, and her affairs to be put into the hands of
+trustees. Her wealth, thus completed her ruin; and, as the possession
+of it had hardened her own heart, so did its anticipation corrupt the
+hearts of those who coveted it from her. At length she died; and, to
+crown her misery, she retained enough reason at last to be sensible that
+she was plundered and despised by the very persons whose opinions had
+been her rule of conduct during her whole life.
+
+On the same spot, and at the foot of the same shrubs as his Virginia,
+was deposited the body of Paul; and round about them lie the remains of
+their tender mothers and their faithful servants. No marble marks the
+spot of their humble graves, no inscription records their virtues;
+but their memory is engraven upon the hearts of those whom they have
+befriended, in indelible characters. Their spirits have no need of the
+pomp, which they shunned during their life; but if they still take an
+interest in what passes upon earth, they no doubt love to wander beneath
+the roofs of these humble dwellings, inhabited by industrious virtue, to
+console poverty discontented with its lot, to cherish in the hearts
+of lovers the sacred flame of fidelity, and to inspire a taste for
+the blessings of nature, a love of honest labour, and a dread of the
+allurements of riches.
+
+The voice of the people, which is often silent with regard to the
+monuments raised to kings, has given to some parts of this island names
+which will immortalize the loss of Virginia. Near the isle of Amber, in
+the midst of sandbanks, is a spot called The Pass of the Saint-Geran,
+from the name of the vessel which was there lost. The extremity of that
+point of land which you see yonder, three leagues off, half covered with
+water, and which the Saint-Geran could not double the night before the
+hurricane, is called the Cape of Misfortune; and before us, at the end
+of the valley, is the Bay of the Tomb, where Virginia was found buried
+in the sand; as if the waves had sought to restore her corpse to her
+family, that they might render it the last sad duties on those shores
+where so many years of her innocent life had been passed.
+
+Joined thus in death, ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united!
+unfortunate mothers! beloved family! these woods which sheltered you
+with their foliage,--these fountains which flowed for you,--these
+hill-sides upon which you reposed, still deplore your loss! No one has
+since presumed to cultivate that desolate spot of land, or to rebuild
+those humble cottages. Your goats are become wild: your orchards are
+destroyed; your birds are all fled, and nothing is heard but the cry of
+the sparrow-hawk, as it skims in quest of prey around this rocky basin.
+As for myself, since I have ceased to behold you, I have felt friendless
+and alone, like a father bereft of his children, or a traveller who
+wanders by himself over the face of the earth.
+
+Ending with these words, the good old man retired, bathed in tears; and
+my own, too, had flowed more than once during this melancholy recital.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
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+Project Gutenberg Etext of Paul and Virginia, by de Saint Pierre
+by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
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+April, 2000  [Etext #2127]
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+Etext prepared by Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com
+and John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
+
+
+
+
+
+Paul and Virginia
+
+by Bernardin de Saint Pierre
+
+
+
+
+WITH A
+MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+In introducing to the Public the present edition of this well known
+and affecting Tale,--the /chef d'oeuvre/ of its gifted author, the
+Publishers take occasion to say, that it affords them no little
+gratification, to apprise the numerous admirers of "Paul and
+Virginia," that the /entire/ work of St. Pierre is now presented to
+them. All the previous editions have been disfigured by
+interpolations, and mutilated by numerous omissions and alterations,
+which have had the effect of reducing it from the rank of a
+Philosophical Tale, to the level of a mere story for children.
+
+Of the merits of "Paul and Virginia," it is hardly necessary to utter
+a word; it tells its own story eloquently and impressively, and in a
+language simple, natural and true, it touches the common heart of the
+world. There are but few works that have obtained a greater degree of
+popularity, none are more deserving it; and the Publishers cannot
+therefore refrain from expressing a hope that their efforts in thus
+giving a faithful transcript of the work,--an acknowledged classic by
+the European world,--may be, in some degree, instrumental in awakening
+here, at home, a taste for those higher works of Fancy, which, while
+they seek to elevate and strengthen the understanding, instruct and
+purify the heart. It is in this character that the Tale of "Paul and
+Virginia" ranks pre-eminent. [Prepared from an edition published by
+Porter & Coates, Philadelphia, U.S.A.]
+
+
+
+MEMOIR OF BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE
+
+Love of Nature, that strong feeling of enthusiasm which leads to
+profound admiration of the whole works of creation, belongs, it may be
+presumed, to a certain peculiarity of organization, and has, no doubt,
+existed in different individuals from the beginning of the world. The
+old poets and philosophers, romance writers, and troubadours, had all
+looked upon Nature with observing and admiring eyes. They have most of
+them given incidentally charming pictures of spring, of the setting
+sun, of particular spots, and of favourite flowers.
+
+There are few writers of note, of any country, or of any age, from
+whom quotations might not be made in proof of the love with which they
+regarded Nature. And this remark applies as much to religious and
+philosophic writers as to poets,--equally to Plato, St. Francois de
+Sales, Bacon, and Fenelon, as to Shakespeare, Racine, Calderon, or
+Burns; for from no really philosophic or religious doctrine can the
+love of the works of Nature be excluded.
+
+But before the days of Jean Jacques Rousseau, Buffon, and Bernardin de
+St. Pierre, this love of Nature had not been expressed in all its
+intensity. Until their day, it had not been written on exclusively.
+The lovers of Nature were not, till then, as they may perhaps since be
+considered, a sect apart. Though perfectly sincere in all the
+adorations they offered, they were less entirely, and certainly less
+diligently and constantly, her adorers.
+
+It is the great praise of Bernardin de St. Pierre, that coming
+immediately after Rousseau and Buffon, and being one of the most
+proficient writers of the same school, he was in no degree their
+imitator, but perfectly original and new. He intuitively perceived the
+immensity of the subject he intended to explore, and has told us that
+no day of his life passed without his collecting some valuable
+materials for his writings. In the divine works of Nature, he
+diligently sought to discover her laws. It was his early intention not
+to begin to write until he had ceased to observe; but he found
+observation endless, and that he was "like a child who with a shell
+digs a hole in the sand to receive the waters of the ocean." He
+elsewhere humbly says, that not only the general history of Nature,
+but even that of the smallest plant, was far beyond his ability.
+Before, however, speaking further of him as an author, it will be
+necessary to recapitulate the chief events of his life.
+
+HENRI-JACQUES BERNARDIN DE ST. PIERRE, was born at Havre in 1737. He
+always considered himself descended from that Eustache de St. Pierre,
+who is said by Froissart, (and I believe by Froissart only), to have
+so generously offered himself as a victim to appease the wrath of
+Edward the Third against Calais. He, with his companions in virtue, it
+is also said, was saved by the intercession of Queen Philippa. In one
+of his smaller works, Bernardin asserts this descent, and it was
+certainly one of which he might be proud. Many anecdotes are related
+of his childhood, indicative of the youthful author,--of his strong
+love of Nature, and his humanity to animals.
+
+That "the child is the father of the man," has been seldom more
+strongly illustrated. There is a story of a cat, which, when related
+by him many years afterwards to Rousseau, caused that philosopher to
+shed tears. At eight years of age, he took the greatest pleasure in
+the regular culture of his garden; and possibly then stored up some of
+the ideas which afterwards appeared in the "Fraisier." His sympathy
+with all living things was extreme.
+
+In "Paul and Virginia," he praises, with evident satisfaction, their
+meal of milk and eggs, which had not cost any animal its life. It has
+been remarked, and possibly with truth, that every tenderly disposed
+heart, deeply imbued with a love of Nature, is at times somewhat
+Braminical. St. Pierre's certainly was.
+
+When quite young, he advanced with a clenched fist towards a carter
+who was ill-treating a horse. And when taken for the first time, by
+his father, to Rouen, having the towers of the cathedral pointed out
+to him, he exclaimed, "My God! how high they fly." Every one present
+naturally laughed. Bernardin had only noticed the flight of some
+swallows who had built their nests there. He thus early revealed those
+instincts which afterwards became the guidance of his life: the
+strength of which possibly occasioned his too great indifference to
+all monuments of art. The love of study and of solitude were also
+characteristics of his childhood. His temper is said to have been
+moody, impetuous, and intractable. Whether this faulty temper may not
+have been produced or rendered worse by mismanagement, cannot not be
+ascertained. It, undoubtedly became afterwards, to St. Pierre a
+fruitful source of misfortune and of woe.
+
+The reading of voyages was with him, even in childhood, almost a
+passion. At twelve years of age, his whole soul was occupied by
+Robinson Crusoe and his island. His romantic love of adventure seeming
+to his parents to announce a predilection in favour of the sea, he was
+sent by them with one of his uncles to Martinique. But St. Pierre had
+not sufficiently practised the virtue of obedience to submit, as was
+necessary, to the discipline of a ship. He was afterwards placed with
+the Jesuits at Caen, with whom he made immense progress in his
+studies. But, it is to be feared, he did not conform too well to the
+regulations of the college, for he conceived, from that time, the
+greatest detestation for places of public education. And this aversion
+he has frequently testified in his writings. While devoted to his
+books of travels, he in turn anticipated being a Jesuit, a missionary
+or a martyr; but his family at length succeeded in establishing him at
+Rouen, where he completed his studies with brilliant success, in 1757.
+He soon after obtained a commission as an engineer, with a salary of
+one hundred louis. In this capacity he was sent (1760) to Dusseldorf,
+under the command of Count St. Germain. This was a career in which he
+might have acquired both honour and fortune; but, most unhappily for
+St. Pierre, he looked upon the useful and necessary etiquettes of life
+as so many unworthy prejudices. Instead of conforming to them, he
+sought to trample on them. In addition, he evinced some disposition to
+rebel against his commander, and was unsocial with his equals. It is
+not, therefore, to be wondered at, that at this unfortunate period of
+his existence, he made himself enemies; or that, notwithstanding his
+great talents, or the coolness he had exhibited in moments of danger,
+he should have been sent back to France. Unwelcome, under these
+circumstances, to his family, he was ill received by all.
+
+It is a lesson yet to be learned, that genius gives no charter for the
+indulgence of error,--a truth yet /to be/ remembered, that only a
+small portion of the world will look with leniency on the failings of
+the highly-gifted; and, that from themselves, the consequences of
+their own actions can never be averted. It is yet, alas! /to be/ added
+to the convictions of the ardent in mind, that no degree of excellence
+in science or literature, not even the immortality of a name can
+exempt its possessor from obedience to moral discipline; or give him
+happiness, unless "temper's image" be stamped on his daily words and
+actions. St. Pierre's life was sadly embittered by his own conduct.
+The adventurous life he led after his return from Dusseldorf, some of
+the circumstances of which exhibited him in an unfavourable light to
+others, tended, perhaps, to tinge his imagination with that wild and
+tender melancholy so prevalent in his writings. A prize in the lottery
+had just doubled his very slender means of existence, when he obtained
+the appointment of geographical engineer, and was sent to Malta. The
+Knights of the Order were at this time expecting to be attacked by the
+Turks. Having already been in the service, it was singular that St.
+Pierre should have had the imprudence to sail without his commission.
+He thus subjected himself to a thousand disagreeables, for the
+officers would not recognize him as one of themselves. The effects of
+their neglect on his mind were tremendous; his reason for a time
+seemed almost disturbed by the mortifications he suffered. After
+receiving an insufficient indemnity for the expenses of his voyage,
+St. Pierre returned to France, there to endure fresh misfortunes.
+
+Not being able to obtain any assistance from the ministry or his
+family, he resolved on giving lessons in the mathematics. But St.
+Pierre was less adapted than most others for succeeding in the
+apparently easy, but really ingenious and difficult, art of teaching.
+When education is better understood, it will be more generally
+acknowledged, that, to impart instruction with success, a teacher must
+possess deeper intelligence than is implied by the profoundest skill
+in any one branch of science or of art. All minds, even to the
+youngest, require, while being taught, the utmost compliance and
+consideration; and these qualities can scarcely be properly exercised
+without a true knowledge of the human heart, united to much practical
+patience. St. Pierre, at this period of his life, certainly did not
+possess them. It is probable that Rousseau, when he attempted in his
+youth to give lessons in music, not knowing any thing whatever of
+music, was scarcely less fitted for the task of instruction, than St.
+Pierre with all his mathematical knowledge. The pressure of poverty
+drove him to Holland. He was well received at Amsterdam, by a French
+refugee named Mustel, who edited a popular journal there, and who
+procured him employment, with handsome remuneration. St. Pierre did
+not, however, remain long satisfied with this quiet mode of existence.
+Allured by the encouraging reception given by Catherine II. to
+foreigners, he set out for St. Petersburg. Here, until he obtained the
+protection of the Marechal de Munich, and the friendship of Duval, he
+had again to contend with poverty. The latter generously opened to him
+his purse and by the Marechal he was introduced to Villebois, the
+Grand Master of Artillery, and by him presented to the Empress. St.
+Pierre was so handsome, that by some of his friends it was supposed,
+perhaps, too, hoped, that he would supersede Orloff in the favor of
+Catherine. But more honourable illusions, though they were but
+illusions, occupied his own mind. He neither sought nor wished to
+captivate the Empress. His ambition was to establish a republic on the
+shores of the lake Aral, of which in imitation of Plato or Rousseau,
+he was to be the legislator. Pre-occupied with the reformation of
+despotism, he did not sufficiently look into his own heart, or seek to
+avoid a repetition of the same errors that had already changed friends
+into enemies, and been such a terrible barrier to his success in life.
+His mind was already morbid, and in fancying that others did not
+understand him, he forgot that he did not understand others. The
+Empress, with the rank of captain, bestowed on him a grant of fifteen
+hundred francs; but when General Dubosquet proposed to take him with
+him to examine the military position of Finland, his only anxiety
+seemed to be to return to France: still he went to Finland; and his
+own notes of his occupations and experiments on that expedition prove,
+that he gave himself up in all diligence to considerations of attack
+and defence. He, who loved Nature so intently, seems only to have seen
+in the extensive and majestic forests of the north, a theatre of war.
+In this instance, he appears to have stifled every emotion of
+admiration, and to have beheld, alike, cities and countries in his
+character of military surveyor.
+
+On his return to St. Petersburg, he found his protector Villebois,
+disgraced. St. Pierre then resolved on espousing the cause of the
+Poles. He went into Poland with a high reputation,--that of having
+refused the favours of despotism, to aid the cause of liberty. But it
+was his private life, rather than his public career, that was affected
+by his residence in Poland. The Princess Mary fell in love with him,
+and, forgetful of all considerations, quitted her family to reside
+with him. Yielding, however, at length, to the entreaties of her
+mother, she returned to her home. St. Pierre, filled with regret,
+resorted to Vienna; but, unable to support the sadness which oppressed
+him, and imagining that sadness to be shared by the Princess, he soon
+went back to Poland. His return was still more sad than his departure;
+for he found himself regarded by her who had once loved him, as an
+intruder. It is to this attachment he alludes so touchingly in one of
+his letters. "Adieu! friends dearer than the treasures of India!
+Adieu! forests of the North, that I shall never see again!--tender
+friendship, and the still dearer sentiment which surpassed it!--days
+of intoxication and of happiness adeiu! adieu! We live but for a day,
+to die during a whole life!"
+
+This letter appears to one of St. Pierre's most partial biographers,
+as if steeped in tears; and he speaks of his romantic and unfortunate
+adventure in Poland, as the ideal of a poet's love.
+
+"To be," says M. Sainte-Beuve, "a great poet, and loved before he had
+thought of glory! To exhale the first perfume of a soul of genius,
+believing himself only a lover! To reveal himself, for the first time,
+entirely, but in mystery!"
+
+In his enthusiasm, M. Sainte-Beuve loses sight of the melancholy
+sequel, which must have left so sad a remembrance in St. Pierre's own
+mind. His suffering, from this circumstance, may perhaps have conduced
+to his making Virginia so good and true, and so incapable of giving
+pain.
+
+In 1766, he returned to Havre; but his relations were by this time
+dead or dispersed, and after six years of exile, he found himself once
+more in his own country, without employment and destitute of pecuniary
+resources.
+
+The Baron de Breteuil at length obtained for him a commission as
+Engineer to the Isle of France, whence he returned in 1771. In this
+interval, his heart and imagination doubtless received the germs of
+his immortal works. Many of the events, indeed, of the "Voyage a l'Ile
+de France," are to be found modified by imagined circumstances in
+"Paul and Virginia." He returned to Paris poor in purse, but rich in
+observation and mental resources, and resolved to devote himself to
+literature. By the Baron de Breteuil he was recommended to D'Alembert,
+who procured a publisher for his "Voyage," and also introduced him to
+Mlle. de l'Espinasse. But no one, in spite of his great beauty, was so
+ill calculated to shine or please in society as St. Pierre. His
+manners were timid and embarrassed, and, unless to those with whom he
+was very intimate, he scarcely appeared intelligent.
+
+It is sad to think, that misunderstanding should prevail to such an
+extent, and heart so seldom really speak to heart, in the intercourse
+of the world, that the most humane may appear cruel, and the
+sympathizing indifferent. Judging of Mlle. de l'Espinasse from her
+letters, and the testimony of her contemporaries, it seems quite
+impossible that she could have given pain to any one, more
+particularly to a man possessing St. Pierre's extraordinary talent and
+profound sensibility. Both she and D'Alembert were capable of
+appreciating him; but the society in which they moved laughed at his
+timidity, and the tone of raillery in which they often indulged was
+not understood by him. It is certain that he withdrew from their
+circle with wounded and mortified feelings, and, in spite of an
+explanatory letter from D'Alembert, did not return to it. The
+inflictors of all this pain, in the meantime, were possibly as
+unconscious of the meaning attached to their words, as were the birds
+of old of the augury drawn from their flight.
+
+St. Pierre, in his "Preambule de l'Arcadie," has pathetically and
+eloquently described the deplorable state of his health and feelings,
+after frequent humiliating disputes and disappointments had driven him
+from society; or rather, when, like Rousseau, he was "self-banished"
+from it.
+
+"I was struck," he says, "with an extraordinary malady. Streams of
+fire, like lightning, flashed before my eyes; every object appeared to
+me double, or in motion: like OEdipus, I saw two suns. . . In the
+finest day of summer, I could not cross the Seine in a boat without
+experiencing intolerable anxiety. If, in a public garden, I merely
+passed by a piece of water, I suffered from spasms and a feeling of
+horror. I could not cross a garden in which many people were
+collected: if they looked at me, I immediately imagined they were
+speaking ill of me." It was during this state of suffering, that he
+devoted himself with ardour to collecting and making use of materials
+for that work which was to give glory to his name.
+
+It was only by perseverance, and disregarding many rough and
+discouraging receptions, that he succeeded in making acquaintance with
+Rousseau, whom he so much resembled. St. Pierre devoted himself to his
+society with enthusiasm, visiting him frequently and constantly, till
+Rousseau departed for Ermenonville. It is not unworthy of remark, that
+both these men, such enthusiastic admirers of Nature and the natural
+in all things, should have possessed factitious rather than practical
+virtue, and a wisdom wholly unfitted for the world. St. Pierre asked
+Rousseau, in one of their frequent rambles, if, in delineating St.
+Preux, he had not intended to represent himself. "No," replied
+Rousseau, "St. Preux is not what I have been, but what I wished to
+be." St. Pierre would most likely have given the same answer, had a
+similar question been put to him with regard to the Colonel in "Paul
+and Virginia." This at least, appears the sort of old age he loved to
+contemplate, and wished to realize.
+
+For six years, he worked at his "Etudes," and with some difficulty
+found a publisher for them. M. Didot, a celebrated typographer, whose
+daughter St. Pierre afterwards married, consented to print a
+manuscript which had been declined by many others. He was well
+rewarded for the undertaking. The success of the "Etudes de la Nature"
+surpassed the most sanguine expectation, even of the author. Four
+years after its publication, St. Pierre gave to the world "Paul and
+Virginia," which had for some time been lying in his portfolio. He had
+tried its effect, in manuscript, on persons of different characters
+and pursuits. They had given it no applause; but all had shed tears at
+its perusal: and perhaps, few works of a decidedly romantic character
+have ever been so generally read, or so much approved. Among the great
+names whose admiration of it is on record, may be mentioned Napoleon
+and Humboldt.
+
+In 1789, he published "Les Veoeux d'un Solitaire," and "La Suite des
+Voeux." By the /Moniteur/ of the day, these works were compared to the
+celebrated pamphlet of Sieyes,--"Qu'est-ce que le tiers etat?" which
+then absorbed all the public favour. In 1791, "La Chaumiere Indienne"
+was published: and in the following year, about thirteen days before
+the celebrated 10th of August, Louis XVI. appointed St. Pierre
+superintendant of the "Jardin des Plantes." Soon afterwards, the King,
+on seeing him, complimented him on his writings and told him he was
+happy to have found a worthy successor to Buffon.
+
+Although deficient in the exact knowledge of the sciences, and knowing
+little of the world, St. Pierre was, by his simplicity, and the
+retirement in which he lived, well suited, at that epoch, to the
+situation. About this time, and when in his fifty-seventh year, he
+married Mlle. Didot.
+
+In 1795, he became a member of the French Academy, and, as was just,
+after his acceptance of this honour, he wrote no more against literary
+societies. On the suppression of his place, he retired to Essonne. It
+is delightful to follow him there, and to contemplate his quiet
+existence. His days flowed on peaceably, occupied in the publication
+of "Les Harmonies de la Nature," the republication of his earlier
+works, and the composition of some lesser pieces. He himself
+affectingly regrets an interruption to these occupations. On being
+appointed Instructor to the Normal School, he says, "I am obliged to
+hang my harp on the willows of my river, and to accept an employment
+useful to my family and my country. I am afflicted at having to
+suspend an occupation which has given me so much happiness."
+
+He enjoyed in his old age, a degree of opulence, which, as much as
+glory, had perhaps been the object of his ambition. In any case, it is
+gratifying to reflect, that after a life so full of chance and change,
+he was, in his latter years, surrounded by much that should accompany
+old age. His day of storms and tempests was closed by an evening of
+repose and beauty.
+
+Amid many other blessings, the elasticity of his mind was preserved to
+the last. He died at Eragny sur l'Oise, on the 21st of January, 1814.
+The stirring events which then occupied France, or rather the whole
+world, caused his death to be little noticed at the time. The Academy
+did not, however, neglect to give him the honour due to its members.
+Mons. Parseval Grand Maison pronounced a deserved eulogium on his
+talents, and Mons. Aignan, also, the customary tribute, taking his
+seat as his successor.
+
+Having himself contracted the habit of confiding his griefs and
+sorrows to the public, the sanctuary of his private life was open
+alike to the discussion of friends and enemies. The biographer, who
+wishes to be exact, and yet set down nought in malice, is forced to
+the contemplation of his errors. The secret of many of these, as well
+as of his miseries, seems revealed by himself in this sentence: "I
+experience more pain from a single thorn, than pleasure from a
+thousand roses." And elsewhere, "The best society seems to me bad, if
+I find in it one troublesome, wicked, slanderous, envious, or
+perfidious person." Now, taking into consideration that St. Pierre
+sometimes imagined persons who were really good, to be deserving of
+these strong and very contumacious epithets, it would have been
+difficult indeed to find a society in which he could have been happy.
+He was, therefore, wise, in seeking retirement, and indulging in
+solitude. His mistakes,--for they were mistakes,--arose from a too
+quick perception of evil, united to an exquisite and diffuse
+sensibility. When he felt wounded by a thorn, he forgot the beauty and
+perfume of the rose to which it belonged, and from which perhaps it
+could not be separated. And he was exposed (as often happens) to the
+very description of trials that were least in harmony with his
+defects. Few dispositions could have run a career like his, and have
+remained unscathed. But one less tender than his own would have been
+less soured by it. For many years, he bore about with him the
+consciousness of unacknowledged talent. The world cannot be blamed for
+not appreciating that which had never been revealed. But we know not
+what the jostling and elbowing of that world, in the meantime, may
+have been to him--how often he may have felt himself unworthily
+treated--or how far that treatment may have preyed upon and corroded
+his heart. Who shall say that with this consciousness there did not
+mingle a quick and instinctive perception of the hidden motives of
+action,--that he did not sometimes detect, where others might have
+been blind, the under-shuffling of the hands, in the by-play of the
+world?
+
+Through all his writings, and throughout his correspondence, there are
+beautiful proofs of the tenderness of his feelings,--the most
+essential quality, perhaps, in any writer. It is at least, one that if
+not possessed, can never be attained. The familiarity of his
+imagination with natural objects, when he was living far removed from
+them, is remarkable, and often affecting.
+
+"I have arranged," he says to Mr. Henin, his friend and patron, "very
+interesting materials, but it is only with the light of Heaven over me
+that I can recover my strength. Obtain for me a /rabbit's hole/, in
+which I may pass the summer in the country." And again, "With the
+/first violet/, I shall come to see you." It is soothing to find, in
+passages like these, such pleasing and convincing evidence that
+
+    "Nature never did betray,
+  The heart that loved her."
+
+In the noise of a great city, in the midst of annoyances of many kinds
+these images, impressed with quietness and beauty, came back to the
+mind of St. Pierre, to cheer and animate him.
+
+In alluding to his miseries, it is but fair to quote a passage from
+his "Voyage," which reveals his fond remembrance of his native land.
+"I should ever prefer my own country to every other," he says, "not
+because it was more beautiful, but because I was brought up in it.
+Happy he, who sees again the places where all was loved, and all was
+lovely!--the meadows in which he played, and the orchard that he
+robbed!"
+
+He returned to this country, so fondly loved and deeply cherished in
+absence, to experience only trouble and difficulty. Away from it, he
+had yearned to behold it,--to fold it, as it were, once more to his
+bosom. He returned to feel as if neglected by it, and all his
+rapturous emotions were changed to bitterness and gall. His hopes had
+proved delusions--his expectations, mockeries. Oh! who but must look
+with charity and mercy on all discontent and irritation consequent on
+such a depth of disappointment: on what must have then appeared to him
+such unmitigable woe. Under the influence of these saddened feelings,
+his thoughts flew back to the island he had left, to place all beauty,
+as well as all happiness, there!
+
+One great proof that he did beautify the distant, may be found in the
+contrast of some of the descriptions in the "Voyage a l'Ile de
+France," and those in "Paul and Virginia." That spot, which when
+peopled by the cherished creatures of his imagination, he described as
+an enchanting and delightful Eden, he had previously spoken of as a
+"rugged country covered with rocks,"--"a land of Cyclops blackened by
+fire." Truth, probably, lies between the two representations; the
+sadness of exile having darkened the one, and the exuberance of his
+imagination embellished the other.
+
+St. Pierre's merit as an author has been too long and too universally
+acknowledged, to make it needful that it should be dwelt on here. A
+careful review of the circumstances of his life induces the belief,
+that his writings grew (if it may be permitted so to speak) out of his
+life. In his most imaginative passages, to whatever height his fancy
+soared, the starting point seems ever from a fact. The past appears to
+have been always spread out before him when he wrote, like a beautiful
+landscape, on which his eye rested with complacency, and from which
+his mind transferred and idealized some objects, without a servile
+imitation of any. When at Berlin, he had had it in his power to marry
+Virginia Tabenheim; and in Russia, Mlle. de la Tour, the niece of
+General Dubosquet, would have accepted his hand. He was too poor to
+marry either. A grateful recollection caused him to bestow the names
+of the two on his most beloved creation. Paul was the name of a friar,
+with whom he had associated in his childhood, and whose life he wished
+to imitate. How little had the owners of these names anticipated that
+they were to become the baptismal appellations of half a generation in
+France, and to be re-echoed through the world to the end of time!
+
+It was St. Pierre who first discovered the poverty of language with
+regard to picturesque descriptions. In his earliest work, the often-
+quoted "Voyages," he complains, that the terms for describing nature
+are not yet invented. "Endeavour," he says, "to describe a mountain in
+such a manner that it may be recognised. When you have spoken of its
+base, its sides, its summit, you will have said all! But what variety
+there is to be found in those swelling, lengthened, flattened, or
+cavernous forms! It is only by periphrasis that all this can be
+expressed. The same difficulty exists for plains and valleys. But if
+you have a palace to describe, there is no longer any difficulty.
+Every moulding has its appropriate name."
+
+It was St. Pierre's glory, in some degree, to triumph over this dearth
+of expression. Few authors ever introduced more new terms into
+descriptive writing: yet are his innovations ever chastened, and in
+good taste. His style, in its elegant simplicity, is, indeed,
+perfection. It is at once sonorous and sweet, and always in harmony
+with the sentiment he would express, or the subject he would discuss.
+Chenier might well arm himself with "Paul and Virginia," and the
+"Chaumiere Indienne," in opposition to those writers, who, as he said,
+made prose unnatural, by seeking to elevate it into verse.
+
+The "Etudes de la Nature" embraced a thousand different subjects, and
+contained some new ideas on all. It is to the honour of human nature,
+that after the uptearing of so many sacred opinions, a production like
+this, revealing the chain of connection through the works of Creation,
+and the Creator in his works, should have been hailed, as it was, with
+enthusiasm.
+
+His motto, from his favourite poet Virgil, "Taught by calamity, I pity
+the unhappy," won for him, perhaps many readers. And in its touching
+illusions, the unhappy may have found suspension from the realities of
+life, as well as encouragement to support its trials. For, throughout,
+it infuses admiration of the arrangements of Providence, and a desire
+for virtue. More than one modern poet may be supposed to have drawn a
+portion of his inspiration, from the "Etudes." As a work of science it
+contains many errors. These, particularly his theory of the tides,[*]
+St. Pierre maintained to the last, and so eloquently, that it was said
+at the time, to be impossible to unite less reason with more logic.
+
+[*] Occasioned, according to St. Pierre, by the melting of the ice at
+    the Poles.
+
+In "Paul and Virginia," he was supremely fortunate in his subject. It
+was an entirely new creation, uninspired by any previous work; but
+which gave birth to many others, having furnished the plot to six
+theatrical pieces. It was a subject to which the author could bring
+all his excellences as a writer and a man, while his deficiencies and
+defects were necessarily excluded. In no manner could he incorporate
+politics, science, or misapprehension of persons, while his
+sensibility, morals, and wonderful talent for description, were in
+perfect accordance with, and ornaments to it. Lemontey and Sainte-
+Beuve both consider success to be inseparable from the happy selection
+of a story so entirely in harmony with the character of the author;
+and that the most successful writers might envy him so fortunate a
+choice. Buonaparte was in the habit of saying, whenever he saw St.
+Pierre, "M. Bernardin, when do you mean to give us more Pauls and
+Virginias, and Indian Cottages? You ought to give us some every six
+months."
+
+The "Indian Cottage," if not quite equal in interest to "Paul and
+Virginia, is still a charming production, and does great honour to the
+genius of its author. It abounds in antique and Eastern gems of
+thought. Striking and excellent comparisons are scattered through its
+pages; and it is delightful to reflect, that the following beautiful
+and solemn answer of the Paria was, with St. Pierre, the results of
+his own experience:--"Misfortune resembles the Black Mountain of
+Bember, situated at the extremity of the burning kingdom of Lahore;
+while you are climbing it, you only see before you barren rocks; but
+when you have reached its summit, you see heaven above your head, and
+at your feet the kingdom of Cachemere."
+
+When this passage was written, the rugged, and sterile rock had been
+climbed by its gifted author. He had reached the summit,--his genius
+had been rewarded, and he himself saw the heaven he wished to point
+out to others.
+
+SARAH JONES.
+
+
+[For the facts contained in this brief Memoir, I am indebted to St.
+Pierre's own works, to the "Biographie Universelle," to the "Essai sur
+la Vie et les Ouvrages de Bernardin de St. Pierre," by M. Aime Martin,
+and to the very excellent and interesting "Notice Historique et
+Litteraire," of M. Sainte-Beauve.]
+
+
+
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA
+
+
+
+Situated on the eastern side of the mountain which rises above Port
+Louis, in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of
+former cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. These
+ruins are not far from the centre of a valley, formed by immense
+rocks, and which opens only towards the north. On the left rises the
+mountain called the Height of Discovery, whence the eye marks the
+distant sail when it first touches the verge of the horizon, and
+whence the signal is given when a vessel approaches the island. At the
+foot of this mountain stands the town of Port Louis. On the right is
+formed the road which stretches from Port Louis to the Shaddock Grove,
+where the church bearing that name lifts its head, surrounded by its
+avenues of bamboo, in the middle of a spacious plain; and the prospect
+terminates in a forest extending to the furthest bounds of the island.
+The front view presents the bay, denominated the Bay of the Tomb; a
+little on the right is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and beyond rolls
+the expanded ocean, on the surface of which appear a few uninhabited
+islands; and, among others, the Point of Endeavour, which resembles a
+bastion built upon the flood.
+
+At the entrance of the valley which presents these various objects,
+the echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of
+the winds that shake the neighbouring forests, and the tumultuous
+dashing of the waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs; but
+near the ruined cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects
+which there meet the eye are rude steep rocks, that rise like a
+surrounding rampart. Large clumps of trees grow at their base, on
+their rifted sides, and even on their majestic tops, where the clouds
+seem to repose. The showers, which their bold points attract, often
+paint the vivid colours of the rainbow on their green and brown
+declivities, and swell the sources of the little river which flows at
+their feet, called the river of Fan-Palms. Within this inclosure
+reigns the most profound silence. The waters, the air, all the
+elements are at peace. Scarcely does the echo repeat the whispers of
+the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves, the long points of which
+are gently agitated by the winds. A soft light illumines the bottom of
+this deep valley, on which the sun shines only at noon. But, even at
+the break of day, the rays of light are thrown on the surrounding
+rocks; and their sharp peaks, rising above the shadows of the
+mountain, appear like tints of gold and purple gleaming upon the azure
+sky.
+
+To this scene I loved to resort, as I could here enjoy at once the
+richness of an unbounded landscape, and the charm of uninterrupted
+solitude. One day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages, and
+contemplating their ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the
+spot. He was dressed in the ancient garb of the island, his feet were
+bare, and he leaned upon a staff of ebony; his hair was white, and the
+expression of his countenance was dignified and interesting. I bowed
+to him with respect; he returned the salutation; and, after looking at
+me with some earnestness, came and placed himself upon the hillock on
+which I was seated. Encouraged by this mark of confidence I thus
+addressed him: "Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once
+belonged?"--"My son," replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish,
+and that untilled land, were, twenty years ago, the property of two
+families, who then found happiness in this solitude. Their history is
+affecting; but what European, pursuing his way to the Indies, will
+pause one moment to interest himself in the fate of a few obscure
+individuals? What European can picture happiness to his imagination
+amidst poverty and neglect? The curiosity of mankind is only attracted
+by the history of the great, and yet from that knowledge little use
+can be derived."--"Father," I rejoined, "from your manner and your
+observations, I perceive that you have acquired much experience of
+human life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech you, the
+history of the ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be assured,
+that even the men who are most perverted by the prejudices of the
+world, find a soothing pleasure in contemplating that happiness which
+belongs to simplicity and virtue." The old man, after a short silence,
+during which he leaned his face upon his hands, as if he were trying
+to recall the images of the past, thus began his narration:--
+
+Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
+having in vain solicited a commission in the French army, or some
+support from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune
+in this island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young
+woman, whom he loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly
+beloved. She belonged to a rich and ancient family of the same
+province: but he had married her secretly and without fortune, and in
+opposition to the will of her relations, who refused their consent
+because he was found guilty of being descended from parents who had no
+claims to nobility. Monsieur de la Tour, leaving his wife at Port
+Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in order to purchase a few slaves, to
+assist him in forming a plantation on this island. He landed at
+Madagascar during that unhealthy season which commences about the
+middle of October; and soon after his arrival died of the pestilential
+fever, which prevails in that island six months of the year, and which
+will forever baffle the attempts of the European nations to form
+establishments on that fatal soil. His effects were seized upon by the
+rapacity of strangers, as commonly happens to persons dying in foreign
+parts; and his wife, who was pregnant, found herself a widow in a
+country where she had neither credit nor acquaintance, and no earthly
+possession, or rather support, but one negro woman. Too delicate to
+solicit protection or relief from any one else after the death of him
+whom alone she loved, misfortune armed her with courage, and she
+resolved to cultivate, with her slave, a little spot of ground, and
+procure for herself the means of subsistence.
+
+Desert as was the island, and the ground left to the choice of the
+settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most
+favorable to commerce: seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret
+asylum where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way
+from the town towards these rocks, where she might conceal herself
+from observation. All sensitive and suffering creatures, from a sort
+of common instinct, fly for refuge amidst their pains to haunts the
+most wild and desolate; as if rocks could form a rampart against
+misfortune--as if the calm of Nature could hush the tumults of the
+soul. That Providence, which lends its support when we ask but the
+supply of our necessary wants, had a blessing in reserve for Madame de
+la Tour, which neither riches nor greatness can purchase:--this
+blessing was a friend.
+
+The spot to which Madame de la Tour had fled had already been
+inhabited for a year by a young woman of a lively, good-natured and
+affectionate disposition. Margaret (for that was her name) was born in
+Brittany, of a family of peasants, by whom she was cherished and
+beloved, and with whom she might have passed through life in simple
+rustic happiness, if, misled by the weakness of a tender heart, she
+had not listened to the passion of a gentleman in the neighbourhood,
+who promised her marriage. He soon abandoned her, and adding
+inhumanity to seduction, refused to insure a provision for the child
+of which she was pregnant. Margaret then determined to leave forever
+her native village, and retire, where her fault might be concealed, to
+some colony distant from that country where she had lost the only
+portion of a poor peasant girl--her reputation. With some borrowed
+money she purchased an old negro slave, with whom she cultivated a
+little corner of this district.
+
+Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, came to this spot,
+where she found Margaret engaged in suckling her child. Soothed and
+charmed by the sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to
+her own, Madame de la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition
+and her present wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital;
+and more anxious to merit confidence than to create esteem, she
+confessed without disguise, the errors of which she had been guilty.
+"As for me," said she, "I deserve my fate: but you, madam--you! at
+once virtuous and unhappy"--and, sobbing, she offered Madame de la
+Tour both her hut and her friendship. That lady, affected by this
+tender reception, pressed her in her arms, and exclaimed,--"Ah surely
+Heaven has put an end to my misfortunes, since it inspires you, to
+whom I am a stranger, with more goodness towards me than I have ever
+experienced from my own relations!"
+
+I was acquainted with Margaret: and, although my habitation is a
+league and a half from hence, in the woods behind that sloping
+mountain, I considered myself as her neighbour. In the cities of
+Europe, a street, even a simple wall, frequently prevents members of
+the same family from meeting for years; but in new colonies we
+consider those persons as neighbours from whom we are divided only by
+woods and mountains; and above all at that period, when this island
+had little intercourse with the Indies, vicinity alone gave a claim to
+friendship, and hospitality towards strangers seemed less a duty than
+a pleasure. No sooner was I informed that Margaret had found a
+companion, than I hastened to her, in the hope of being useful to my
+neighbour and her guest. I found Madame de la Tour possessed of all
+those melancholy graces which, by blending sympathy with admiration
+give to beauty additional power. Her countenance was interesting,
+expressive at once of dignity and dejection. She appeared to be in the
+last stage of her pregnancy. I told the two friends that for the
+future interests of their children, and to prevent the intrusion of
+any other settler, they had better divide between them the property of
+this wild, sequestered valley, which is nearly twenty acres in extent.
+They confided that task to me, and I marked out two equal portions of
+land. One included the higher part of this enclosure, from the cloudy
+pinnacle of that rock, whence springs the river of Fan-Palms, to that
+precipitous cleft which you see on the summit of the mountain, and
+which, from its resemblance in form to the battlement of a fortress,
+is called the Embrasure. It is difficult to find a path along this
+wild portion of the enclosure, the soil of which is encumbered with
+fragments of rock, or worn into channels formed by torrents; yet it
+produces noble trees, and innumerable springs and rivulets. The other
+portion of land comprised the plain extending along the banks of the
+river of Fan-Palms, to the opening where we are now seated, whence the
+river takes its course between these two hills, until it falls into
+the sea. You may still trace the vestiges of some meadow land; and
+this part of the common is less rugged, but not more valuable than the
+other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy, and in dry weather
+is so hard and unyielding, that it will almost resist the stroke of
+the pickaxe. When I had thus divided the property, I persuaded my
+neighbours to draw lots for their respective possessions. The higher
+portion of land, containing the source of the river of Fan-Palms,
+became the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, comprising the
+plain on the banks of the river, was allotted to Margaret; and each
+seemed satisfied with her share. They entreated me to place their
+habitations together, that they might at all times enjoy the soothing
+intercourse of friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind offices.
+Margaret's cottage was situated near the centre of the valley, and
+just on the boundary of her own plantation. Close to that spot I built
+another cottage for the residence of Madame de la Tour; and thus the
+two friends, while they possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood
+lived on their own property. I myself cut palisades from the mountain,
+and brought leaves of fan-palms from the sea-shore in order to
+construct those two cottages, of which you can now discern neither the
+entrance nor the roof. Yet, alas! there still remains but too many
+traces for my remembrance! Time, which so rapidly destroys the proud
+monuments of empires, seems in this desert to spare those of
+friendship, as if to perpetuate my regrets to the last hour of my
+existence.
+
+As soon as the second cottage was finished, Madame de la Tour was
+delivered of a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who
+was christened by the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me to
+perform the same office for her child also, together with her friend,
+who gave her the name of Virginia. "She will be virtuous," cried
+Margaret, "and she will be happy. I have only known misfortune by
+wandering from virtue."
+
+About the time Madame de la Tour recovered, these two little estates
+had already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree
+owing to the care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement,
+but far more to the indefatigable labours of the two slaves.
+Margaret's slave, who was called Domingo, was still healthy and
+robust, though advanced in years: he possessed some knowledge, and a
+good natural understanding. He cultivated indiscriminately, on both
+plantations, the spots of ground that seemed most fertile, and sowed
+whatever grain he thought most congenial to each particular soil.
+Where the ground was poor, he strewed maize; where it was most
+fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in such spots as were marshy. He
+threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the foot of the rocks,
+which they loved to climb and decorate with their luxuriant foliage.
+In dry spots he cultivated the sweet potatoe; the cotton-tree
+flourished upon the heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the clayey
+soil. He reared some plants of coffee on the hills, where the grain,
+although small, is excellent. His plantain-trees, which spread their
+grateful shade on the banks of the river, and encircled the cottages,
+yielded fruit throughout the year. And lastly, Domingo, to soothe his
+cares, cultivated a few plants of tobacco. Sometimes he was employed
+in cutting wood for firing from the mountain, sometimes in hewing
+pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order to level the paths. The
+zeal which inspired him enabled him to perform all these labours with
+intelligence and activity. He was much attached to Margaret, and not
+less to Madame de la Tour, whose negro woman, Mary, he had married on
+the birth of Virginia; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary
+was born at Madagascar, and had there acquired the knowledge of some
+useful arts. She could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long
+grass that grows in the woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above
+all, faithful. It was her care to prepare their meals, to rear the
+poultry, and go sometimes to Port Louis, to sell the superfluous
+produce of these little plantations, which was not however, very
+considerable. If you add to the personages already mentioned two
+goats, which were brought up with the children, and a great dog, which
+kept watch at night, you will have a complete idea of the household,
+as well as of the productions of these two little farms.
+
+Madame de la Tour and her friend were constantly employed in spinning
+cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of everything which
+their own industry could not supply, at home they went bare-footed:
+shoes were a convenience reserved for Sunday, on which day, at an
+early hour, they attended mass at the church of the Shaddock Grove,
+which you see yonder. That church was more distant from their homes
+than Port Louis; but they seldom visited the town, lest they should be
+treated with contempt on account of their dress, which consisted
+simply of the coarse blue linen of Bengal, usually worn by slaves. But
+is there, in that external deference which fortune commands, a
+compensation for domestic happiness? If these interesting women had
+something to suffer from the world, their homes on that very account
+became more dear to them. No sooner did Mary and Domingo, from this
+elevated spot, perceive their mistresses on the road of the Shaddock
+Grove, than they flew to the foot of the mountain in order to help
+them to ascend. They discerned in the looks of their domestics the joy
+which their return excited. They found in their retreat neatness,
+independence, all the blessings which are the recompense of toil, and
+they received the zealous services which spring from affection. United
+by the tie of similar wants, and the sympathy of similar misfortunes,
+they gave each other the tender names of companion, friend, sister.
+They had but one will, one interest, one table. All their possessions
+were in common. And if sometimes a passion more ardent than friendship
+awakened in their hearts the pang of unavailing anguish, a pure
+religion, united with chaste manners, drew their affections towards
+another life: as the trembling flame rises towards heaven, when it no
+longer finds any ailment on earth.
+
+The duties of maternity became a source of additional happiness to
+these affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship gained new
+strength at the sight of their children, equally the offspring of an
+ill-fated attachment. They delighted in washing their infants together
+in the same bath, in putting them to rest in the same cradle, and in
+changing the maternal bosom at which they received nourishment. "My
+friend," cried Madame de la Tour, "we shall each of us have two
+children, and each of our children will have two mothers." As two buds
+which remain on different trees of the same kind, after the tempest
+has broken all their branches, produce more delicious fruit, if each,
+separated from the maternal stem, be grafted on the neighbouring tree,
+so these two infants, deprived of all their other relations, when thus
+exchanged for nourishment by those who had given them birth, imbibed
+feelings of affection still more tender than those of son and
+daughter, brother and sister. While they were yet in their cradles,
+their mothers talked of their marriage. They soothed their own cares
+by looking forward to the future happiness of their children; but this
+contemplation often drew forth their tears. The misfortunes of one
+mother had arisen from having neglected marriage; those of the other
+from having submitted to its laws. One had suffered by aiming to rise
+above her condition, the other by descending from her rank. But they
+found consolation in reflecting that their more fortunate children,
+far from the cruel prejudices of Europe, would enjoy at once the
+pleasures of love and the blessings of equality.
+
+Rarely, indeed, has such an attachment been seen as that which the two
+children already testified for each other. If Paul complained of
+anything, his mother pointed to Virginia: at her sight he smiled, and
+was appeased. If any accident befel Virginia, the cries of Paul gave
+notice of the disaster; but the dear little creature would suppress
+her complaints if she found that he was unhappy. When I came hither, I
+usually found them quite naked, as is the custom of the country,
+tottering in their walk, and holding each other by the hands and under
+the arms, as we see represented in the constellation of the Twins. At
+night these infants often refused to be separated, and were found
+lying in the same cradle, their cheeks, their bosoms pressed close
+together, their hands thrown round each other's neck, and sleeping,
+locked in one another's arms.
+
+When they first began to speak, the first name they learned to give
+each other were those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no
+softer appellation. Their education, by directing them ever to
+consider each other's wants, tended greatly to increase their
+affection. In a short time, all the household economy, the care of
+preparing their rural repasts, became the task of Virginia, whose
+labours were always crowned with the praises and kisses of her
+brother. As for Paul, always in motion, he dug the garden with
+Domingo, or followed him with a little hatchet into the woods; and if,
+in his rambles he espied a beautiful flower, any delicious fruit, or a
+nest of birds, even at the top of the tree, he would climb up and
+bring the spoil to his sister. When you met one of these children, you
+might be sure the other was not far off.
+
+One day as I was coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the end
+of the garden running towards the house with her petticoat thrown over
+her head, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a
+distance, I thought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her in
+order to help her on, I perceived she held Paul by the arm, almost
+entirely enveloped in the same canopy, and both were laughing heartily
+at their being sheltered together under an umbrella of their own
+invention. Those two charming faces in the middle of a swelling
+petticoat, recalled to my mind the children of Leda, enclosed in the
+same shell.
+
+Their sole study was how they could please and assist one another; for
+of all other things they were ignorant, and indeed could neither read
+nor write. They were never disturbed by inquiries about past times,
+nor did their curiosity extend beyond the bounds of their mountain.
+They believed the world ended at the shores of their own island, and
+all their ideas and all their affections were confined within its
+limits. Their mutual tenderness, and that of their mothers, employed
+all the energies of their minds. Their tears had never been called
+forth by tedious application to useless sciences. Their minds had
+never been wearied by lessons of morality, superfluous to bosoms
+unconscious of ill. They had never been taught not to steal, because
+every thing with them was in common: or not to be intemperate, because
+their simple food was left to their own discretion; or not to lie,
+because they had nothing to conceal. Their young imaginations had
+never been terrified by the idea that God has punishment in store for
+ungrateful children, since, with them, filial affection arose
+naturally from maternal tenderness. All they had been taught of
+religion was to love it, and if they did not offer up long prayers in
+the church, wherever they were, in the house, in the fields, in the
+woods, they raised towards heaven their innocent hands, and hearts
+purified by virtuous affections.
+
+All their early childhood passed thus, like a beautiful dawn, the
+prelude of a bright day. Already they assisted their mothers in the
+duties of the household. As soon as the crowing of the wakeful cock
+announced the first beam of the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened
+to draw water from a neighbouring spring: then returning to the house
+she prepared the breakfast. When the rising sun gilded the points of
+the rocks which overhang the enclosure in which they lived, Margaret
+and her child repaired to the dwelling of Madame de la Tour, where
+they offered up their morning prayer together. This sacrifice of
+thanksgiving always preceded their first repast, which they often took
+before the door of the cottage, seated upon the grass, under a canopy
+of plantain: and while the branches of that delicious tree afforded a
+grateful shade, its fruit furnished a substantial food ready prepared
+for them by nature, and its long glossy leaves, spread upon the table,
+supplied the place of linen. Plentiful and wholesome nourishment gave
+early growth and vigour to the persons of these children, and their
+countenances expressed the purity and the peace of their souls. At
+twelve years of age the figure of Virginia was in some degree formed:
+a profusion of light hair shaded her face, to which her blue eyes and
+coral lips gave the most charming brilliancy. Her eyes sparkled with
+vivacity when she spoke; but when she was silent they were habitually
+turned upwards, with an expression of extreme sensibility, or rather
+of tender melancholy. The figure of Paul began already to display the
+graces of youthful beauty. He was taller than Virginia: his skin was
+of a darker tint; his nose more aquiline; and his black eyes would
+have been too piercing, if the long eye-lashes by which they were
+shaded, had not imparted to them an expression of softness. He was
+constantly in motion, except when his sister appeared, and then,
+seated by her side, he became still. Their meals often passed without
+a word being spoken; and from their silence, the simple elegance of
+their attitudes, and the beauty of their naked feet, you might have
+fancied you beheld an antique group of white marble, representing some
+of the children of Niobe, but for the glances of their eyes, which
+were constantly seeking to meet, and their mutual soft and tender
+smiles, which suggested rather the idea of happy celestial spirits,
+whose nature is love, and who are not obliged to have recourse to
+words for the expression of their feelings.
+
+In the meantime Madame de la Tour, perceiving every day some unfolding
+grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her maternal anxiety
+increase with her tenderness. She often said to me, "If I were to die,
+what would become of Virginia without fortune?"
+
+Madame de la Tour had an aunt in France, who was a woman of quality,
+rich, old, and a complete devotee. She had behaved with so much
+cruelty towards her niece upon her marriage, that Madame de la Tour
+had determined no extremity of distress should ever compel her to have
+recourse to her hard-hearted relation. But when she became a mother,
+the pride of resentment was overcome by the stronger feelings of
+maternal tenderness. She wrote to her aunt, informing her of the
+sudden death of her husband, the birth of her daughter, and the
+difficulties in which she was involved, burthened as she was with an
+infant, and without means of support. She received no answer; but
+notwithstanding the high spirit natural to her character, she no
+longer feared exposing herself to mortification; and, although she
+knew her aunt would never pardon her for having married a man who was
+not of noble birth, however estimable, she continued to write to her,
+with the hope of awakening her compassion for Virginia. Many years,
+however passed without receiving any token of her remembrance.
+
+At length, in 1738, three years after the arrival of Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais in this island, Madame de la Tour was informed that the
+Governor had a letter to give her from her aunt. She flew to Port
+Louis; maternal joy raised her mind above all trifling considerations,
+and she was careless on this occasion of appearing in her homely
+attire. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais gave her a letter from her aunt, in
+which she informed her, that she deserved her fate for marrying an
+adventurer and a libertine: that the passions brought with them their
+own punishment; that the premature death of her husband was a just
+visitation from Heaven; that she had done well in going to a distant
+island, rather than dishonour her family by remaining in France; and
+that, after all, in the colony where she had taken refuge, none but
+the idle failed to grow rich. Having thus censured her niece, she
+concluded by eulogizing herself. To avoid, she said, the almost
+inevitable evils of marriage, she had determined to remain single. In
+fact, as she was of a very ambitious disposition she had resolved to
+marry none but a man of high rank; but although she was very rich, her
+fortune was not found a sufficient bribe, even at court, to
+counterbalance the malignant dispositions of her mind, and the
+disagreeable qualities of her person.
+
+After mature deliberations, she added, in a postscript, that she had
+strongly recommended her niece to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. This she
+had indeed done, but in a manner of late too common which renders a
+patron perhaps even more to be feared than a declared enemy; for, in
+order to justify herself for her harshness, she had cruelly slandered
+her niece, while she affected to pity her misfortunes.
+
+Madame de la Tour, whom no unprejudiced person could have seen without
+feelings of sympathy and respect, was received with the utmost
+coolness by Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, biased as he was against her.
+When she painted to him her own situation and that of her child, he
+replied in abrupt sentences,--"We shall see what can be done--there
+are so many to relieve--all in good time--why did you displease your
+aunt?--you have been much to blame."
+
+Madame de la Tour returned to her cottage, her heart torn with grief,
+and filled with all the bitterness of disappointment. When she
+arrived, she threw her aunt's letter on the table, and exclaimed to
+her friend,--"There is the fruit of eleven years of patient
+expectation!" Madame de la Tour being the only person in the little
+circle who could read, she again took up the letter, and read it
+aloud. Scarcely had she finished, when Margaret exclaimed, "What have
+we to do with your relations? Has God then forsaken us? He only is our
+father! Have we not hitherto been happy? Why then this regret? You
+have no courage." Seeing Madame de la Tour in tears, she threw herself
+upon her neck, and pressing her in her arms,--"My dear friend!" cried
+she, "my dear friend!"--but her emotion choked her utterance. At this
+sight Virginia burst into tears, and pressed her mother's and
+Margaret's hand alternately to her lips and heart; while Paul, his
+eyes inflamed with anger, cried, clasped his hands together, and
+stamped his foot, not knowing whom to blame for this scene of misery.
+The noise soon brought Domingo and Mary to the spot, and the little
+habitation resounded with cries of distress,--"Ah, madame!--My good
+mistress!--My dear mother!--Do not weep!" These tender proofs of
+affections at length dispelled the grief of Madame de la Tour. She
+took Paul and Virginia in her arms, and, embracing them, said, "You
+are the cause of my affliction, my children, but you are also my only
+source of delight! Yes, my dear children, misfortune has reached me,
+but only from a distance: here, I am surrounded with happiness." Paul
+and Virginia did not understand this reflection; but, when they saw
+that she was calm, they smiled, and continued to caress her.
+Tranquillity was thus restored in this happy family, and all that had
+passed was but a storm in the midst of fine weather, which disturbs
+the serenity of the atmosphere but for a short time, and then passes
+away.
+
+The amiable disposition of these children unfolded itself daily. One
+Sunday, at day-break, their mothers having gone to mass at the church
+of Shaddock Grove, the children perceived a negro woman beneath the
+plantains which surrounded their habitation. She appeared almost
+wasted to a skeleton, and had no other garment than a piece of coarse
+cloth thrown around her. She threw herself at the feet of Virginia,
+who was preparing the family breakfast, and said, "My good young lady,
+have pity on a poor runaway slave. For a whole month I have wandered
+among these mountains, half dead with hunger, and often pursued by the
+hunters and their dogs. I fled from my master, a rich planter of the
+Black River, who has used me as you see;" and she showed her body
+marked with scars from the lashes she had received. She added, "I was
+going to drown myself, but hearing you lived here, I said to myself,
+since there are still some good white people in this country, I need
+not die yet." Virginia answered with emotion,--"Take courage,
+unfortunate creature! here is something to eat;" and she gave her the
+breakfast she had been preparing, which the slave in a few minutes
+devoured. When her hunger was appeased, Virginia said to her,--"Poor
+woman! I should like to go and ask forgiveness for you of your master.
+Surely the sight of you will touch him with pity. Will you show me the
+way?"--"Angel of heaven!" answered the poor negro woman, "I will
+follow you where you please!" Virginia called her brother, and begged
+him to accompany her. The slave led the way, by winding and difficult
+paths, through the woods, over mountains, which they climbed with
+difficulty, and across rivers, through which they were obliged to
+wade. At length, about the middle of the day, they reached the foot of
+a steep descent upon the borders of the Black River. There they
+perceived a well-built house, surrounded by extensive plantations, and
+a number of slaves employed in their various labours. Their master was
+walking among them with a pipe in his mouth, and a switch in his hand.
+He was a tall thin man, of a brown complexion; his eyes were sunk in
+his head, and his dark eyebrows were joined in one. Virginia, holding
+Paul by the hand, drew near, and with much emotion begged him, for the
+love of God, to pardon his poor slave, who stood trembling a few paces
+behind. The planter at first paid little attention to the children,
+who, he saw, were meanly dressed. But when he observed the elegance of
+Virginia's form, and the profusion of her beautiful light tresses
+which had escaped from beneath her blue cap; when he heard the soft
+tone of her voice, which trembled, as well as her whole frame, while
+she implored his compassion; he took his pipe from his mouth, and
+lifting up his stick, swore, with a terrible oath, that he pardoned
+his slave, not for the love of Heaven, but of her who asked his
+forgiveness. Virginia made a sign to the slave to approach her master;
+and instantly sprang away followed by Paul.
+
+They climbed up the steep they had descended; and having gained the
+summit, seated themselves at the foot of a tree, overcome with
+fatigue, hunger and thirst. They had left their home fasting, and
+walked five leagues since sunrise. Paul said to Virginia,--"My dear
+sister, it is past noon, and I am sure you are thirsty and hungry: we
+shall find no dinner here; let us go down the mountain again, and ask
+the master of the poor slave for some food."--"Oh, no," answered
+Virginia, "he frightens me too much. Remember what mamma sometimes
+says, 'The bread of the wicked is like stones in the mouth.' "--"What
+shall we do then," said Paul; "these trees produce no fruit fit to
+eat; and I shall not be able to find even a tamarind or a lemon to
+refresh you."-- "God will take care of us," replied Virginia; "he
+listens to the cry even of the little birds when they ask him for
+food." Scarcely had she pronounced these words when they heard the
+noise of water falling from a neighbouring rock. They ran thither and
+having quenched their thirst at this crystal spring, they gathered and
+ate a few cresses which grew on the border of the stream. Soon
+afterwards while they were wandering backwards and forwards in search
+of more solid nourishment, Virginia perceived in the thickest part of
+the forest, a young palm-tree. The kind of cabbage which is found at
+the top of the palm, enfolded within its leaves, is well adapted for
+food; but, although the stock of the tree is not thicker than a man's
+leg, it grows to above sixty feet in height. The wood of the tree,
+indeed, is composed only of very fine filaments; but the bark is so
+hard that it turns the edge of the hatchet, and Paul was not furnished
+even with a knife. At length he thought of setting fire to the palm-
+tree; but a new difficulty occurred: he had no steel with which to
+strike fire; and although the whole island is covered with rocks, I do
+not believe it is possible to find a single flint. Necessity, however,
+is fertile in expedients, and the most useful inventions have arisen
+from men placed in the most destitute situations. Paul determined to
+kindle a fire after the manner of the negroes. With the sharp end of a
+stone he made a small hole in the branch of a tree that was quite dry,
+and which he held between his feet: he then, with the edge of the same
+stone, brought to a point another dry branch of a different sort of
+wood, and, afterwards, placing the piece of pointed wood in the small
+hole of the branch which he held with his feet and turning it rapidly
+between his hands, in a few minutes smoke and sparks of fire issued
+from the point of contact. Paul then heaped together dried grass and
+branches, and set fire to the foot of the palm-tree, which soon fell
+to the ground with a tremendous crash. The fire was further useful to
+him in stripping off the long, thick, and pointed leaves, within which
+the cabbage was inclosed. Having thus succeeded in obtaining this
+fruit, they ate part of it raw, and part dressed upon the ashes, which
+they found equally palatable. They made this frugal repast with
+delight, from the remembrances of the benevolent action they had
+performed in the morning: yet their joy was embittered by the thoughts
+of the uneasiness which their long absence from home would occasion
+their mothers. Virginia often recurred to this subject; but Paul, who
+felt his strength renewed by their meal, assured her, that it would
+not be long before they reached home, and, by the assurance of their
+safety, tranquillized the minds of their parents.
+
+After dinner they were much embarrassed by the recollection that they
+had now no guide, and that they were ignorant of the way. Paul, whose
+spirit was not subdued by difficulties, said to Virginia,--"The sun
+shines full upon our huts at noon: we must pass, as we did this
+morning, over that mountain with its three points, which you see
+yonder. Come, let us be moving." This mountain was that of the Three
+Breasts, so called from the form of its three peaks. They then
+descended the steep bank of the Black River, on the northern side; and
+arrived, after an hour's walk, on the banks of a large river, which
+stopped their further progress. This large portion of the island,
+covered as it is with forests, is even now so little known that many
+of its rivers and mountains have not yet received a name. The stream,
+on the banks of which Paul and Virginia were now standing, rolls
+foaming over a bed of rocks. The noise of the water frightened
+Virginia, and she was afraid to wade through the current: Paul
+therefore took her up in his arms, and went thus loaded over the
+slippery rocks, which formed the bed of the river, careless of the
+tumultuous noise of its waters. "Do not be afraid," cried he to
+Virginia; "I feel very strong with you. If that planter at the Black
+River had refused you the pardon of his slave, I would have fought
+with him."--"What!" answered Virginia, "with that great wicked man? To
+what have I exposed you! Gracious heaven! how difficult it is to do
+good! and yet it is so easy to do wrong."
+
+When Paul had crossed the river, he wished to continue the journey
+carrying his sister: and he flattered himself that he could ascend in
+that way the mountain of the Three Breasts, which was still at the
+distance of half a league; but his strength soon failed, and he was
+obliged to set down his burthen, and to rest himself by her side.
+Virginia then said to him, "My dear brother, the sun is going down;
+you have still some strength left, but mine has quite failed: do leave
+me here, and return home alone to ease the fears of our mothers."--"Oh
+no," said Paul, "I will not leave you if night overtakes us in this
+wood, I will light a fire, and bring down another palm-tree: you shall
+eat the cabbage, and I will form a covering of the leaves to shelter
+you." In the meantime, Virginia being a little rested, she gathered
+from the trunk of an old tree, which overhung the bank of the river,
+some long leaves of the plant called hart's tongue, which grew near
+its root. Of these leaves she made a sort of buskin, with which she
+covered her feet, that were bleeding from the sharpness of the stony
+paths; for in her eager desire to do good, she had forgotten to put on
+her shoes. Feeling her feet cooled by the freshness of the leaves, she
+broke off a branch of bamboo, and continued her walk, leaning with one
+hand on the staff, and with the other on Paul.
+
+They walked on in this manner slowly through the woods; but from the
+height of the trees, and the thickness of their foliage, they soon
+lost sight of the mountain of the Three Breasts, by which they had
+hitherto directed their course, and also of the sun, which was now
+setting. At length they wandered, without perceiving it, from the
+beaten path in which they had hitherto walked, and found themselves in
+a labyrinth of trees, underwood, and rocks, whence there appeared to
+be no outlet. Paul made Virginia sit down, while he ran backwards and
+forwards, half frantic, in search of a path which might lead them out
+of this thick wood; but he fatigued himself to no purpose. He then
+climbed to the top of a lofty tree, whence he hoped at least to
+perceive the mountain of the Three Breasts: but he could discern
+nothing around him but the tops of trees, some of which were gilded
+with the last beams of the setting sun. Already the shadows of the
+mountains were spreading over the forests in the valleys. The wind
+lulled, as is usually the case at sunset. The most profound silence
+reigned in those awful solitudes, which was only interrupted by the
+cry of the deer, who came to their lairs in that unfrequented spot.
+Paul, in the hope that some hunter would hear his voice, called out as
+loud as he was able,--"Come, come to the help of Virginia." But the
+echoes of the forest alone answered his call, and repeated again and
+again, "Virginia--Virginia."
+
+Paul at length descended from the tree, overcome with fatigue and
+vexation. He looked around in order to make some arrangement for
+passing the night in that desert; but he could find neither fountain,
+nor palm-tree, nor even a branch of dry wood fit for kindling a fire.
+He was then impressed, by experience, with the sense of his own
+weakness, and began to weep. Virginia said to him,--"Do not weep, my
+dear brother, or I shall be overwhelmed with grief. I am the cause of
+all your sorrow, and of all that our mothers are suffering at this
+moment. I find we ought to do nothing, not even good, without
+consulting our parents. Oh, I have been very imprudent!"--and she
+began to shed tears. "Let us pray to God, my dear brother," she again
+said, "and he will hear us." They had scarcely finished their prayer,
+when they heard the barking of a dog. "It must be the dog of some
+hunter," said Paul, "who comes here at night, to lie in wait for the
+deer." Soon after, the dog began barking again with increased
+violence. "Surely," said Virginia, "it is Fidele, our own dog: yes,--
+now I know his bark. Are we then so near home?--at the foot of our own
+mountain?" A moment after, Fidele was at their feet, barking, howling,
+moaning, and devouring them with his caresses. Before they could
+recover from their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards them. At
+the sight of the good old negro, who wept for joy, they began to weep
+too, but had not the power to utter a syllable. When Domingo had
+recovered himself a little,--"Oh, my dear children," said he, "how
+miserable have you made your mothers! How astonished they were when
+they returned with me from mass, on not finding you at home. Mary, who
+was at work at a little distance, could not tell us where you were
+gone. I ran backwards and forwards in the plantation, not knowing
+where to look for you. At last I took some of your old clothes, and
+showing them to Fidele, the poor animal, as if he understood me,
+immediately began to scent your path; and conducted me, wagging his
+tail all the while, to the Black River. I there saw a planter, who
+told me you had brought back a Maroon negro woman, his slave, and that
+he had pardoned her at your request. But what a pardon! he showed her
+to me with her feet chained to a block of wood, and an iron collar
+with three hooks fastened round her neck! After that, Fidele, still on
+the scent, led me up the steep bank of the Black River, where he again
+stopped, and barked with all his might. This was on the brink of a
+spring, near which was a fallen palm-tree, and a fire, still smoking.
+At last he led me to this very spot. We are now at the foot of the
+mountain of the Three Breasts, and still a good four leagues from
+home. Come, eat, and recover your strength." Domingo then presented
+them with a cake, some fruit, and a large gourd, full of beverage
+composed of wine, water, lemon-juice, sugar, and nutmeg, which their
+mothers had prepared to invigorate and refresh them. Virginia sighed
+at the recollection of the poor slave, and at the uneasiness they had
+given their mothers. She repeated several times--"Oh, how difficult it
+is to do good!" While she and Paul were taking refreshment, it being
+already night, Domingo kindled a fire: and having found among the
+rocks a particular kind of twisted wood, called bois de ronde, which
+burns when quite green, and throws out a great blaze, he made a torch
+of it, which he lighted. But when they prepared to continue their
+journey, a new difficulty occurred; Paul and Virginia could no longer
+walk, their feet being violently swollen and inflamed. Domingo knew
+not what to do; whether to leave them and go in search of help, or
+remain and pass the night with them on that spot. "There was a time,"
+said he, "when I could carry you both together in my arms! But now you
+are grown big, and I am grown old." When he was in this perplexity, a
+troop of Maroon negroes appeared at a short distance from them. The
+chief of the band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to them,--"Good
+little white people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this morning,
+with a negro woman of the Black River. You went to ask pardon for her
+of her wicked master; and we, in return for this, will carry you home
+upon our shoulders." He then made a sign, and four of the strongest
+negroes immediately formed a sort of litter with the branches of trees
+and lianas, and having seated Paul and Virginia on it, carried them
+upon their shoulders. Domingo marched in front with his lighted torch,
+and they proceeded amidst the rejoicings of the whole troop, who
+overwhelmed them with their benedictions. Virginia, affected by this
+scene, said to Paul, with emotion,--"Oh, my dear brother! God never
+leaves a good action unrewarded."
+
+It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of their mountain, on
+the ridges of which several fires were lighted. As soon as they began
+to ascend, they heard voices exclaiming--"Is it you, my children?"
+They answered immediately, and the negroes also,--"Yes, yes, it is."
+A moment after they could distinguish their mothers and Mary coming
+towards them with lighted sticks in their hands. "Unhappy children,"
+cried Madame de la Tour, "where have you been? What agonies you have
+made us suffer!"--"We have been," said Virginia, "to the Black River,
+where we went to ask pardon for a poor Maroon slave, to whom I gave
+our breakfast this morning, because she seemed dying of hunger; and
+these Maroon negroes have brought us home." Madame de la Tour embraced
+her daughter, without being able to speak; and Virginia, who felt her
+face wet with her mother's tears, exclaimed, "Now I am repaid for all
+the hardships I have suffered." Margaret, in a transport of delight,
+pressed Paul in her arms, exclaiming, "And you also, my dear child,
+you have done a good action." When they reached the cottages with
+their children, they entertained all the negroes with a plentiful
+repast, after which the latter returned to the woods, praying Heaven
+to shower down every description of blessing on those good white
+people.
+
+Every day was to these families a day of happiness and tranquillity.
+Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. They did not seek to
+obtain a useless reputation out of doors, which may be procured by
+artifice and lost by calumny; but were contented to be the sole
+witnesses and judges of their own actions. In this island, where, as
+is the case in most colonies, scandal forms the principal topic of
+conversation, their virtues, and even their names were unknown. The
+passer-by on the road to Shaddock Grove, indeed, would sometimes ask
+the inhabitants of the plain, who lived in the cottages up there? and
+was always told, even by those who did not know them, "They are good
+people." The modest violet thus, concealed in thorny places sheds all
+unseen its delightful fragrance around.
+
+Slander, which, under an appearance of justice, naturally inclines the
+heart to falsehood or to hatred, was entirely banished from their
+conversation; for it is impossible not to hate men if we believe them
+to be wicked, or to live with the wicked without concealing that
+hatred under a false pretence of good feeling. Slander thus puts us
+ill at ease with others and with ourselves. In this little circle,
+therefore, the conduct of individuals was not discussed, but the best
+manner of doing good to all; and although they had but little in their
+power, their unceasing good-will and kindness of heart made them
+constantly ready to do what they could for others. Solitude, far from
+having blunted these benevolent feelings, had rendered their
+dispositions even more kindly. Although the petty scandals of the day
+furnished no subject of conversation to them, yet the contemplation of
+nature filled their minds with enthusiastic delight. They adored the
+bounty of that Providence, which, by their instrumentality, had spread
+abundance and beauty amid these barren rocks, and had enabled them to
+enjoy those pure and simple pleasures, which are ever grateful and
+ever new.
+
+Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than
+most European youths are at fifteen; and the plantations, which
+Domingo merely cultivated, were embellished by him. He would go with
+the old negro into the neighbouring woods, where he would root up the
+young plants of lemon, orange, and tamarind trees, the round heads of
+which are so fresh a green, together with date-palm trees, which
+produce fruit filled with a sweet cream, possessing the fine perfume
+of the orange flower. These trees, which had already attained to a
+considerable size, he planted round their little enclosure. He had
+also sown the seed of many trees which the second year bear flowers or
+fruit; such as the agathis, encircled with long clusters of white
+flowers which hang from it like the crystal pendants of a chandelier;
+the Persian lilac, which lifts high in air its gray flax-coloured
+branches; the pappaw tree, the branchless trunk of which forms a
+column studded with green melons, surmounted by a capital of broad
+leaves similar to those of the fig-tree.
+
+The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mango, alligator
+pear, the guava, the bread-fruit tree, and the narrow-leaved rose-
+apple, were also planted by him with profusion: and the greater number
+of these trees already afforded their young cultivator both shade and
+fruit. His industrious hands diffused the riches of nature over even
+the most barren parts of the plantation. Several species of aloes, the
+Indian fig, adorned with yellow flowers spotted with red, and the
+thorny torch thistle, grew upon the dark summits of the rocks, and
+seemed to aim at reaching the long lianas, which, laden with blue or
+scarlet flowers, hung scattered over the steepest parts of the
+mountain.
+
+I loved to trace the ingenuity he had exercised in the arrangement of
+these trees. He had so disposed them that the whole could be seen at a
+single glance. In the middle of the hollow he had planted shrubs of
+the lowest growth; behind grew the more lofty sorts; then trees of the
+ordinary height; and beyond and above all, the venerable and lofty
+groves which border the circumference. Thus this extensive enclosure
+appeared, from its centre, like a verdant amphitheatre decorated with
+fruits and flowers, containing a variety of vegetables, some strips of
+meadow land, and fields of rice and corn. But, in arranging these
+vegetable productions to his own taste, he wandered not too far from
+the designs of Nature. Guided by her suggestions, he had thrown upon
+the elevated spots such seeds as the winds would scatter about, and
+near the borders of the springs those which float upon the water.
+Every plant thus grew in its proper soil, and every spot seemed
+decorated by Nature's own hand. The streams which fell from the
+summits of the rocks formed in some parts of the valley sparkling
+cascades, and in others were spread into broad mirrors, in which were
+reflected, set in verdure, the flowering trees, the overhanging rocks,
+and the azure heavens.
+
+Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground, these
+plantations were, for the most part, easy of access. We had, indeed,
+all given him our advice and assistance, in order to accomplish this
+end. He had conducted one path entirely round the valley, and various
+branches from it led from the circumference to the centre. He had
+drawn some advantage from the most rugged spots, and had blended, in
+harmonious union, level walks with the inequalities of the soil, and
+trees which grow wild with the cultivated varieties. With that immense
+quantity of large pebbles which now block up these paths, and which
+are scattered over most of the ground of this island, he formed
+pyramidal heaps here and there, at the base of which he laid mould,
+and planted rose-bushes, the Barbadoes flower-fence, and other shrubs
+which love to climb the rocks. In a short time the dark and shapeless
+heaps of stones he had constructed were covered with verdure, or with
+the glowing tints of the most beautiful flowers. Hollow recesses on
+the borders of the streams shaded by the overhanging boughs of aged
+trees, formed rural grottoes, impervious to the rays of the sun, in
+which you might enjoy a refreshing coolness during the mid-day heats.
+One path led to a clump of forest trees, in the centre of which
+sheltered from the wind, you found a fruit-tree, laden with produce.
+Here was a corn-field; there, an orchard; from one avenue you had a
+view of the cottages; from another, of the inaccessible summit of the
+mountain. Beneath one tufted bower of gum trees, interwoven with
+lianas, no object whatever could be perceived: while the point of the
+adjoining rock, jutting out from the mountain, commanded a view of the
+whole enclosure, and of the distant ocean, where, occasionally, we
+could discern the distant sail, arriving from Europe, or bound
+thither. On this rock the two families frequently met in the evening,
+and enjoyed in silence the freshness of the flowers, the gentle
+murmurs of the fountain, and the last blended harmonies of light and
+shade.
+
+Nothing could be more charming than the names which were bestowed upon
+some of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of which I
+have been speaking, whence they could discern my approach at a
+considerable distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul
+and Virginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot;
+and whenever they saw me coming, they hoisted a little white
+handkerchief, by way of signal of my approach, as they had seen a flag
+hoisted on the neighbouring mountain on the sight of a vessel at sea.
+The idea struck me of engraving an inscription on the stalk of this
+reed; for I never, in the course of my travels, experienced any thing
+like the pleasure in seeing a statue or other monument of ancient art,
+as in reading a well-written inscription. It seems to me as if a human
+voice issued from the stone, and, making itself heard after the lapse
+of ages, addressed man in the midst of a desert, to tell him that he
+is not alone, and that other men, on that very spot, had felt, and
+thought, and suffered like himself. If the inscription belongs to an
+ancient nation, which no longer exists, it leads the soul through
+infinite space, and strengthens the consciousness of its immortality,
+by demonstrating that a thought has survived the ruins of an empire.
+
+I inscribed then, on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag, the
+following lines of Horace:--
+
+    Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+  Ventorumque regat pater,
+  Obstrictis, aliis, praeter Iapiga.
+
+"May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you, and the Father of
+the winds, guide you; and may you feel only the breath of the zephyr."
+
+There was a gum-tree, under the shade of which Paul was accustomed to
+sit, to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of
+this tree, I engraved the following lines from Virgil:--
+
+  Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
+
+"Happy are thou, my son, in knowing only the pastoral divinities."
+
+And over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the families so
+frequently met, I placed this line:--
+
+  At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
+
+"Here dwell a calm conscience, and a life that knows not deceit."
+
+But Virginia did not approve of my Latin: she said, that what I had
+placed at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. "I
+should have liked better," added she, "to have seen inscribed, EVER
+AGITATED, YET CONSTANT."--"Such a motto," I answered, "would have been
+still more applicable to virtue." My reflection made her blush.
+
+The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested in
+every thing around them. They gave the tenderest names to objects in
+appearance the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain and
+rose-apple trees, planted round a green sward where Virginia and Paul
+sometimes danced, received the name of Concord. An old tree, beneath
+the shade of which Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount
+their misfortunes, was called the Burial-place of Tears. They bestowed
+the names of Brittany and Normandy on two little plots of ground,
+where they had sown corn, strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary,
+wishing, in imitation of their mistresses, to recall to mind Angola
+and Foullepoint, the places of their birth in Africa, gave those names
+to the little fields where the grass was sown with which they wove
+their baskets, and where they had planted a calabash-tree. Thus, by
+cultivating the productions of their respective climates, these exiled
+families cherished the dear illusions which bind us to our native
+country, and softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas! I have
+seen these trees, these fountains, these heaps of stones, which are
+now so completely overthrown,--which now, like the desolated plains of
+Greece, present nothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances,
+all called into life by the many charming appellations thus bestowed
+upon them!
+
+But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that called
+Virginia's resting-place. At the foot of the rock which bore the name
+of The Discovery of Friendship, is a small crevice, whence issues a
+fountain, forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in
+the middle of a field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had
+made Margaret a present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me,
+and which she planted on the border of this fenny ground, in order
+that the tree might one day serve to mark the epoch of her son's
+birth. Madame de la Tour planted another cocoa with the same view, at
+the birth of Virginia. These nuts produced two cocoa-trees, which
+formed the only records of the two families; one was called Paul's
+tree, the other, Virginia's. Their growth was in the same proportion
+as that of the two young persons, not exactly equal: but they rose, at
+the end of twelve years, above the roofs of the cottages. Already
+their tender stalks were interwoven, and clusters of young cocoas hung
+from them over the basin of the fountain. With the exception of these
+two trees, this nook of the rock was left as it had been decorated by
+nature. On its embrowned and moist sides broad plants of maiden-hair
+glistened with their green and dark stars; and tufts of wave-leaved
+hart's tongue, suspended like long ribands of purpled green, floated
+on the wind. Near this grew a chain of the Madagascar periwinkle, the
+flowers of which resemble the red gilliflower; and the long-podded
+capsicum, the seed-vessels of which are of the colour of blood, and
+more resplendent than coral. Near them, the herb balm, with its heart-
+shaped leaves, and the sweet basil, which has the odour of the clove,
+exhaled the most delicious perfumes. From the precipitous side of the
+mountain hung the graceful lianas, like floating draperies, forming
+magnificent canopies of verdure on the face of the rocks. The sea-
+birds, allured by the stillness of these retreats, resorted here to
+pass the night. At the hour of sunset we could perceive the curlew and
+the stint skimming along the seashore; the frigate-bird poised high in
+air; and the white bird of the tropic, which abandons, with the star
+of day, the solitudes of the Indian ocean. Virginia took pleasure in
+resting herself upon the border of this fountain, decorated with wild
+and sublime magnificence. She often went thither to wash the linen of
+the family beneath the shade of the two cocoa-trees, and thither too
+she sometimes led her goats to graze. While she was making cheeses of
+their milk, she loved to see them browse on the maiden-hair fern which
+clothes the steep sides of the rock, and hung suspended by one of its
+cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that Virginia was fond of
+this spot, brought thither, from the neighbouring forest, a great
+variety of bird's nests. The old birds following their young, soon
+established themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated times,
+distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and maize. As soon as
+she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird, whose note
+is so soft, the cardinal, with its flame coloured plumage, forsook
+their bushes; the parroquet, green as an emerald, descended from the
+neighbouring fan-palms, the partridge ran along the grass; all
+advanced promiscuously towards her, like a brood of chickens: and she
+and Paul found an exhaustless source of amusement in observing their
+sports, their repasts, and their loves.
+
+Amiable children! thus passed your earlier days in innocence, and in
+obeying the impulses of kindness. How many times, on this very spot,
+have your mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the
+consolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years,
+while they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you
+begin life under the happiest auspices! How many times, beneath the
+shade of those rocks, have I partaken with them of your rural repasts,
+which never cost any animal its life! Gourds full of milk, fresh eggs,
+cakes of rice served up on plantain leaves, with baskets of mangoes,
+oranges, dates, pomegranates, pineapples, furnished a wholesome
+repast, the most agreeable to the eye, as well as delicious to the
+taste, that can possibly be imagined.
+
+Like the repast, the conversation was mild, and free from every thing
+having a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of the
+day and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for the
+accommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the
+paths were rugged; there, that the seats were uncomfortable: sometimes
+the young arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and Virginia might
+be better pleased elsewhere.
+
+During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage,
+and employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of
+bamboo. Rakes, spades, and hatchets, were ranged along the walls in
+the most perfect order; and near these instruments of agriculture were
+heaped its products,--bags of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of
+plantains. Some degree of luxury usually accompanies abundance; and
+Virginia was taught by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbert and
+cordials from the juice of the sugar-cane, the lemon and the citron.
+
+When night came, they all supped together by the light of a lamp;
+after which Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of
+travellers benighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested
+by banditti; or told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown
+by the tempest upon the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals
+the children listened with eager attention, and earnestly hoped that
+Heaven would one day grant them the joy of performing the rites of
+hospitality towards such unfortunate persons. When the time for repose
+arrived, the two families separated and retired for the night, eager
+to meet again the following morning. Sometimes they were lulled to
+repose by the beating of the rains, which fell in torrents upon the
+roofs of their cottages, and sometimes by the hollow winds, which
+brought to their ear the distant roar of the waves breaking upon the
+shore. They blessed God for their own safety, the feeling of which was
+brought home more forcibly to their minds by the sound of remote
+danger.
+
+Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of
+the Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon these
+sacred volumes, for their theology centred in a feeling of devotion
+towards the Supreme Being, like that of nature: and their morality was
+an active principle, like that of the Gospel. These families had no
+particular days devoted to pleasure, and others to sadness. Every day
+was to them a holyday, and all that surrounded them one holy temple,
+in which they ever adored the Infinite Intelligence, the Almighty God,
+the Friend of human kind. A feeling of confidence in his supreme power
+filled their minds with consolation for the past, with fortitude under
+present trials, and with hope in the future. Compelled by misfortune
+to return almost to a state of nature, these excellent women had thus
+developed in their own and their children's bosoms the feelings most
+natural to the human mind, and its best support under affliction.
+
+But, as clouds sometimes arise, and cast a gloom over the best
+regulated tempers, so whenever any member of this little society
+appeared to be labouring under dejection, the rest assembled around,
+and endeavoured to banish her painful thoughts by amusing the mind
+rather than by grave arguments against them. Each performed this kind
+office in their own appropriate manner: Margaret, by her gaiety;
+Madame de la Tour, by the gentle consolations of religion; Virginia,
+by her tender caresses; Paul, by his frank and engaging cordiality.
+Even Mary and Domingo hastened to offer their succour, and to weep
+with those that wept. Thus do weak plants interweave themselves with
+each other, in order to withstand the fury of the tempest.
+
+During the fine season, they went every Sunday to the church of the
+Shaddock Grove, the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain.
+Many wealthy members of the congregation, who came to church in
+palanquins, sought the acquaintance of these united families, and
+invited them to parties of pleasure. But they always repelled these
+overtures with respectful politeness, as they were persuaded that the
+rich and powerful seek the society of persons in an inferior station
+only for the sake of surrounding themselves with flatterers, and that
+every flatterer must applaud alike all the actions of his patron,
+whether good or bad. On the other hand, they avoided, with equal care,
+too intimate an acquaintance with the lower class, who are ordinarily
+jealous, calumniating, and gross. They thus acquired, with some, the
+character of being timid, and with others, of pride: but their reserve
+was accompanied with so much obliging politeness, above all towards
+the unfortunate and the unhappy, that they insensibly acquired the
+respect of the rich and the confidence of the poor.
+
+After service, some kind office was often required at their hands by
+their poor neighbours. Sometimes a person troubled in mind sought
+their advice; sometimes a child begged them to its sick mother, in one
+of the adjoining hamlets. They always took with them a few remedies
+for the ordinary diseases of the country, which they administered in
+that soothing manner which stamps a value upon the smallest favours.
+Above all, they met with singular success in administrating to the
+disorders of the mind, so intolerable in solitude, and under the
+infirmities of a weakened frame. Madame de la Tour spoke with such
+sublime confidence of the Divinity, that the sick, while listening to
+her, almost believed him present. Virginia often returned home with
+her eyes full of tears, and her heart overflowing with delight, at
+having had an opportunity of doing good; for to her generally was
+confided the task of preparing and administering the medicines,--a
+task which she fulfilled with angelic sweetness. After these visits of
+charity, they sometimes extended their walk by the Sloping Mountain,
+till they reached my dwelling, where I used to prepare dinner for them
+on the banks of the little rivulet which glides near my cottage. I
+procured for these occasions a few bottles of old wine, in order to
+heighten the relish of our Oriental repast by the more genial
+productions of Europe. At other times we met on the sea-shore, at the
+mouth of some little river, or rather mere brook. We brought from home
+the provisions furnished us by our gardens, to which we added those
+supplied us by the sea in abundant variety. We caught on these shores
+the mullet, the roach, and the sea-urchin, lobsters, shrimps, crabs,
+oysters, and all other kinds of shell-fish. In this way, we often
+enjoyed the most tranquil pleasures in situations the most terrific.
+Sometimes, seated upon a rock, under the shade of the velvet
+sunflower-tree, we saw the enormous waves of the Indian Ocean break
+beneath our feet with a tremendous noise. Paul, who could swim like a
+fish, would advance on the reefs to meet the coming billows; then, at
+their near approach, would run back to the beach, closely pursued by
+the foaming breakers, which threw themselves, with a roaring noise,
+far on the sands. But Virginia, at this sight, uttered piercing cries,
+and said that such sports frightened her too much.
+
+Other amusements were not wanting on these festive occasions. Our
+repasts were generally followed by the songs and dances of the two
+young people. Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life, and the
+misery of those who were impelled by avarice to cross the raging
+ocean, rather than cultivate the earth, and enjoy its bounties in
+peace. Sometimes she performed a pantomime with Paul, after the manner
+of the negroes. The first language of man is pantomime: it is known to
+all nations, and is so natural and expressive, that the children of
+the European inhabitants catch it with facility from the negroes.
+Virginia, recalling, from among the histories which her mother had
+read to her, those which had affected her most, represented the
+principal events in them with beautiful simplicity. Sometimes at the
+sound of Domingo's tantam she appeared upon the green sward, bearing a
+pitcher upon her head, and advanced with a timid step towards the
+source of a neighbouring fountain, to draw water. Domingo and Mary,
+personating the shepherds of Midian forbade her to approach, and
+repulsed her sternly. Upon this Paul flew to her succour, beat away
+the shepherds, filled Virginia's pitcher, and placing it upon her
+heard, bound her brows at the same time with a wreath of the red
+flowers of the Madagascar periwinkle, which served to heighten the
+delicacy of her complexion. Then joining in their sports, I took upon
+myself the part of Raguel, and bestowed upon Paul, my daughter Zephora
+in marriage.
+
+Another time Virginia would represent the unhappy Ruth, returning poor
+and widowed with her mother-in-law, who, after so prolonged an
+absence, found herself as unknown as in a foreign land. Domingo and
+Mary personated the reapers. The supposed daughter of Naomi followed
+their steps, gleaning here and there a few ears of corn. When
+interrogated by Paul,--a part which he performed with the gravity of a
+patriarch,--she answered his questions with a faltering voice. He
+then, touched with compassion, granted an asylum to innocence, and
+hospitality to misfortune. He filled her lap with plenty; and, leading
+her towards us as before the elders of the city, declared his purpose
+to take her in marriage. At this scene, Madame de la Tour, recalling
+the desolate situation in which she had been left by her relations,
+her widowhood, and the kind reception she had met with from Margaret,
+succeeded now by the soothing hope of a happy union between their
+children, could not forbear weeping; and these mixed recollections of
+good and evil caused us all to unite with her in shedding tears of
+sorrow and of joy.
+
+These dramas were performed with such an air of reality that you might
+have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of
+Palestine. We were not unfurnished with decorations, lights, or an
+orchestra, suitable to the representation. The scene was generally
+placed in an open space of the forest, the diverging paths from which
+formed around us numerous arcades of foliage, under which we were
+sheltered from the heat all the middle of the day; but when the sun
+descended towards the horizon, its rays, broken by the trunks of the
+trees, darted amongst the shadows of the forest in long lines of
+light, producing the most magnificent effect. Sometimes its broad disk
+appeared at the end of an avenue, lighting it up with insufferable
+brightness. The foliage of the trees, illuminated from beneath by its
+saffron beams, glowed with the lustre of the topaz and the emerald.
+Their brown and mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of
+antique bronze; and the birds, which had retired in silence to their
+leafy shades to pass the night, surprised to see the radiance of a
+second morning, hailed the star of day all together with innumerable
+carols.
+
+Night often overtook us during these rural entertainments; but the
+purity of the air and the warmth of the climate, admitted of our
+sleeping in the woods, without incurring any danger by exposure to the
+weather, and no less secure from the molestations of robbers. On our
+return the following day to our respective habitations, we found them
+in exactly the same state in which they had been left. In this island,
+then unsophisticated by the pursuits of commerce, such were the
+honesty and primitive manners of the population, that the doors of
+many houses were without a key, and even a lock itself was an object
+of curiosity to not a few of the native inhabitants.
+
+There were, however, some days in the year celebrated by Paul and
+Virginia in a more peculiar manner; these were the birth-days of their
+mothers. Virginia never failed the day before to prepare some wheaten
+cakes, which she distributed among a few poor white families, born in
+the island, who had never eaten European bread. These unfortunate
+people, uncared for by the blacks, were reduced to live on tapioca in
+the woods; and as they had neither the insensibility which is the
+result of slavery, nor the fortitude which springs from a liberal
+education, to enable them to support their poverty, their situation
+was deplorable. These cakes were all that Virginia had it in her power
+to give away, but she conferred the gift in so delicate a manner as to
+add tenfold to its value. In the first place, Paul was commissioned to
+take the cakes himself to these families, and get their promise to
+come and spend the next day at Madame de la Tour's. Accordingly,
+mothers of families, with two or three thin, yellow, miserable looking
+daughters, so timid that they dared not look up, made their
+appearance. Virginia soon put them at their ease; she waited upon them
+with refreshments, the excellence of which she endeavoured to heighten
+by relating some particular circumstance which in her own estimation,
+vastly improved them. One beverage had been prepared by Margaret;
+another, by her mother: her brother himself had climbed some lofty
+tree for the very fruit she was presenting. She would then get Paul to
+dance with them, nor would she leave them till she saw that they were
+happy. She wished them to partake of the joy of her own family. "It is
+only," she said, "by promoting the happiness of others, that we can
+secure our own." When they left, she generally presented them with
+some little article they seemed to fancy, enforcing their acceptance
+of it by some delicate pretext, that she might not appear to know they
+were in want. If she remarked that their clothes were much tattered,
+she obtained her mother's permission to give them some of her own, and
+then sent Paul to leave them, secretly at their cottage doors. She
+thus followed the divine precept,--concealing the benefactor, and
+revealing only the benefit.
+
+You Europeans, whose minds are imbued from infancy with prejudices at
+variance with happiness, cannot imagine all the instruction and
+pleasure to be derived from nature. Your souls, confined to a small
+sphere of intelligence, soon reach the limit of its artificial
+enjoyments: but nature and the heart are inexhaustible. Paul and
+Virginia had neither clock, nor almanack, nor books of chronology,
+history or philosophy. The periods of their lives were regulated by
+those of the operations of nature, and their familiar conversation had
+a reference to the changes of the seasons. They knew the time of day
+by the shadows of the trees; the seasons, by the times when those
+trees bore flowers or fruit; and the years, by the number of their
+harvests. These soothing images diffused an inexpressible charm over
+their conversation. "It is time to dine," said Virginia, "the shadows
+of the plantain-trees are at their roots:" or, "Night approaches, the
+tamarinds are closing their leaves." "When will you come and see us?"
+inquired some of her companions in the neighbourhood. "At the time of
+the sugar-canes," answered Virginia. "Your visit will be then still
+more delightful," resumed her young acquaintances. When she was asked
+what was her own age and that of Paul,--"My brother," said she, "is as
+old as the great cocoa-tree of the fountain; and I am as old as the
+little one: the mangoes have bore fruit twelve times and the orange-
+trees have flowered four-and-twenty times, since I came into the
+world." Their lives seemed linked to that of the trees, like those of
+Fauns or Dryads. They knew no other historical epochs than those of
+the lives of their mothers, no other chronology than that of doing
+good, and resigning themselves to the will of Heaven.
+
+What need, indeed, had these young people of riches or learning such
+as ours? Even their necessities and their ignorance increased their
+happiness. No day passed in which they were not of some service to one
+another, or in which they did not mutually impart some instruction.
+Yes, instruction; for if errors mingled with it, they were, at least,
+not of a dangerous character. A pure-minded being has none of that
+description to fear. Thus grew these children of nature. No care had
+troubled their peace, no intemperance had corrupted their blood, no
+misplaced passion had depraved their hearts. Love, innocence, and
+piety, possessed their souls; and those intellectual graces were
+unfolding daily in their features, their attitudes, and their
+movements. Still in the morning of life, they had all its blooming
+freshness: and surely such in the garden of Eden appeared our first
+parents, when coming from the hands of God, they first saw, and
+approached each other, and conversed together, like brother and
+sister. Virginia was gentle, modest, and confiding as Eve; and Paul,
+like Adam, united the stature of manhood with the simplicity of a
+child.
+
+Sometimes, if alone with Virginia, he has a thousand times told me, he
+used to say to her, on his return from labour,--"When I am wearied,
+the sight of you refreshes me. If from the summit of the mountain I
+perceive you below in the valley, you appear to me in the midst of our
+orchard like a blooming rose-bud. If you go towards our mother's
+house, the partridge, when it runs to meet its young, has a shape less
+beautiful, and a step less light. When I lose sight of you through the
+trees, I have no need to see you in order to find you again. Something
+of you, I know not how, remains for me in the air through which you
+have passed, on the grass where you have been seated. When I come near
+you, you delight all my senses. The azure of the sky is less charming
+than the blue of your eyes, and the song of the amadavid bird less
+soft than the sound of your voice. If I only touch you with the tip of
+my finger, my whole frame trembles with pleasure. Do you remember the
+day when we crossed over the great stones of the river of the Three
+Breasts? I was very tired before we reached the bank: but, as soon as
+I had taken you in my arms, I seemed to have wings like a bird. Tell
+me by what charm you have thus enchanted me! Is it by your wisdom?--
+Our mothers have more than either of us. Is it by your caresses?--They
+embrace me much oftener than you. I think it must be by your goodness.
+I shall never forget how you walked bare-footed to the Black River, to
+ask pardon for the poor run-away slave. Here, my beloved, take this
+flowering branch of a lemon-tree, which I have gathered in the forest:
+you will let it remain at night near your bed. Eat this honey-comb
+too, which I have taken for you from the top of a rock. But first lean
+on my bosom, and I shall be refreshed."
+
+Virginia would answer him,--"Oh, my dear brother, the rays of the sun
+in the morning on the tops of the rocks give me less joy than the
+sight of you. I love my mother,--I love yours; but when they call you
+their son, I love them a thousand times more. When they caress you, I
+feel it more sensibly than when I am caressed myself. You ask me what
+makes you love me. Why, all creatures that are brought up together
+love one another. Look at our birds; reared up in the same nests, they
+love each other as we do; they are always together like us. Hark! how
+they call and answer from one tree to another. So when the echoes
+bring to my ears the air which you play on your flute on the top of
+the mountain, I repeat the words at the bottom of the valley. You are
+dear to me more especially since the day when you wanted to fight the
+master of the slave for me. Since that time how often have I said to
+myself, 'Ah, my brother has a good heart; but for him, I should have
+died of terror.' I pray to God every day for my mother and for yours;
+for you, and for our poor servants; but when I pronounce your name, my
+devotion seems to increase;--I ask so earnestly of God that no harm
+may befall you! Why do you go so far, and climb so high, to seek
+fruits and flowers for me? Have we not enough in our garden already?
+How much you are fatigued,-- you look so warm!"--and with her little
+white handkerchief she would wipe the damps from his face, and then
+imprint a tender kiss on his forehead.
+
+For some time past, however, Virginia had felt her heart agitated by
+new sensations. Her beautiful blue eyes lost their lustre, her cheek
+its freshness, and her frame was overpowered with a universal langour.
+Serenity no longer sat upon her brow, nor smiles played upon her lips.
+She would become all at once gay without cause for joy, and melancholy
+without any subject for grief. She fled her innocent amusements, her
+gentle toils, and even the society of her beloved family; wandering
+about the most unfrequented parts of the plantations, and seeking
+every where the rest which she could no where find. Sometimes, at the
+sight of Paul, she advanced sportively to meet him; but, when about to
+accost him, was overcome by a sudden confusion; her pale cheeks were
+covered with blushes, and her eyes no longer dared to meet those of
+her brother. Paul said to her,--"The rocks are covered with verdure,
+our birds begin to sing when you approach, everything around you is
+gay, and you only are unhappy." He then endeavoured to soothe her by
+his embraces, but she turned away her head, and fled, trembling
+towards her mother. The caresses of her brother excited too much
+emotion in her agitated heart, and she sought, in the arms of her
+mother, refuge from herself. Paul, unused to the secret windings of
+the female heart, vexed himself in vain in endeavouring to comprehend
+the meaning of these new and strange caprices. Misfortunes seldom come
+alone, and a serious calamity now impended over these families.
+
+One of those summers, which sometimes desolate the countries situated
+between the tropics, now began to spread its ravages over this island.
+It was near the end of December, when the sun, in Capricorn, darts
+over the Mauritius, during the space of three weeks, its vertical
+fires. The southeast wind, which prevails throughout almost the whole
+year, no longer blew. Vast columns of dust arose from the highways,
+and hung suspended in the air; the ground was every where broken into
+clefts; the grass was burnt up; hot exhalations issued from the sides
+of the mountains, and their rivulets, for the most part, became dry.
+No refreshing cloud ever arose from the sea: fiery vapours, only,
+during the day, ascended from the plains, and appeared, at sunset,
+like the reflection of a vast conflagration. Night brought no coolness
+to the heated atmosphere; and the red moon rising in the misty
+horizon, appeared of supernatural magnitude. The drooping cattle, on
+the sides of the hills, stretching out their necks towards heaven, and
+panting for breath, made the valleys re-echo with their melancholy
+lowings: even the Caffre by whom they were led threw himself upon the
+earth, in search of some cooling moisture: but his hopes were vain;
+the scorching sun had penetrated the whole soil, and the stifling
+atmosphere everywhere resounded with the buzzing noise of insects,
+seeking to allay their thirst with the blood of men and of animals.
+
+During this sultry season, Virginia's restlessness and disquietude
+were much increased. One night, in particular, being unable to sleep,
+she arose from her bed, sat down, and returned to rest again; but
+could find in no attitude either slumber or repose. At length she bent
+her way, by the light of the moon, towards her fountain, and gazed at
+its spring, which, notwithstanding the drought, still trickled, in
+silver threads down the brown sides of the rock. She flung herself
+into the basin: its coolness reanimated her spirits, and a thousand
+soothing remembrances came to her mind. She recollected that in her
+infancy her mother and Margaret had amused themselves by bathing her
+with Paul in this very spot; that he afterwards, reserving this bath
+for her sole use, had hollowed out its bed, covered the bottom with
+sand, and sown aromatic herbs around its borders. She saw in the
+water, upon her naked arms and bosom, the reflection of the two cocoa
+trees which were planted at her own and her brother's birth, and which
+interwove above her head their green branches and young fruit. She
+thought of Paul's friendship, sweeter than the odour of the blossoms,
+purer than the waters of the fountain, stronger than the intertwining
+palm-tree, and she sighed. Reflecting on the hour of the night, and
+the profound solitude, her imagination became disturbed. Suddenly she
+flew, affrighted, from those dangerous shades, and those waters which
+seemed to her hotter than the tropical sunbeam, and ran to her mother
+for refuge. More than once, wishing to reveal her sufferings, she
+pressed her mother's hand within her own; more than once she was ready
+to pronounce the name of Paul: but her oppressed heart left her lips
+no power of utterance, and, leaning her head on her mother's bosom,
+she bathed it with her tears.
+
+Madame de la Tour, though she easily discerned the source of her
+daughter's uneasiness, did not think proper to speak to her on the
+subject. "My dear child," said she, "offer up your supplications to
+God, who disposes at his will of health and of life. He subjects you
+to trial now, in order to recompense you hereafter. Remember that we
+are only placed upon earth for the exercise of virtue."
+
+The excessive heat in the meantime raised vast masses of vapour from
+the ocean, which hung over the island like an immense parasol, and
+gathered round the summits of the mountains. Long flakes of fire
+issued from time to time from these mist-embosomed peaks. The most
+awful thunder soon after re-echoed through the woods, the plains, and
+the valleys: the rains fell from the skies in cataracts; foaming
+torrents rushed down the sides of this mountain; the bottom of the
+valley became a sea, and the elevated platform on which the cottages
+were built, a little island. The accumulated waters, having no other
+outlet, rushed with violence through the narrow gorge which leads into
+the valley, tossing and roaring, and bearing along with them a mingled
+wreck of soil, trees, and rocks.
+
+The trembling families meantime addressed their prayers to God all
+together in the cottage of Madame de la Tour, the roof of which
+cracked fearfully from the force of the winds. So incessant and vivid
+were the lightnings, that although the doors and window-shutters were
+securely fastened, every object without could be distinctly seen
+through the joints in the wood-work! Paul, followed by Domingo, went
+with intrepidity from one cottage to another, notwithstanding the fury
+of the tempest; here supporting a partition with a buttress, there
+driving in a stake; and only returning to the family to calm their
+fears, by the expression of a hope that the storm was passing away.
+Accordingly, in the evening the rains ceased, the trade-winds of the
+southeast pursued their ordinary course, the tempestuous clouds were
+driven away to the northward, and the setting sun appeared in the
+horizon.
+
+Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her Resting-place.
+Paul approached her with a timid air, and offered her the assistance
+of his arm; she accepted it with a smile, and they left the cottage
+together. The air was clear and fresh: white vapours arose from the
+ridges of the mountain, which was furrowed here and there by the
+courses of torrents, marked in foam, and now beginning to dry up on
+all sides. As for the garden, it was completely torn to pieces by deep
+water-courses, the roots of most of the fruit trees were laid bare,
+and vast heaps of sand covered the borders of the meadows, and had
+choked up Virginia's bath. The two cocoa trees, however, were still
+erect, and still retained their freshness; but they were no longer
+surrounded by turf, or arbours, or birds, except a few amadavid birds,
+which, upon the points of the neighbouring rocks, were lamenting, in
+plaintive notes, the loss of their young.
+
+At the sight of this general desolation, Virginia exclaimed to Paul,--
+"You brought birds hither, and the hurricane has killed them. You
+planted this garden, and it is now destroyed. Every thing then upon
+earth perishes, and it is only Heaven that is not subject to change."
+--"Why," answered Paul, "cannot I give you something that belongs to
+Heaven? but I have nothing of my own even upon the earth." Virginia
+with a blush replied, "You have the picture of Saint Paul." As soon as
+she had uttered the words, he flew in quest of it to his mother's
+cottage. This picture was a miniature of Paul the Hermit, which
+Margaret, who viewed it with feelings of great devotion, had worn at
+her neck while a girl, and which, after she became a mother, she had
+placed round her child's. It had even happened, that being, while
+pregnant, abandoned by all the world, and constantly occupied in
+contemplating the image of this benevolent recluse, her offspring had
+contracted some resemblance to this revered object. She therefore
+bestowed upon him the name of Paul, giving him for his patron a saint
+who had passed his life far from mankind by whom he had been first
+deceived and then forsaken. Virginia, on receiving this little present
+from the hands of Paul, said to him, with emotion, "My dear brother, I
+will never part with this while I live; nor will I ever forget that
+you have given me the only thing you have in the world." At this tone
+of friendship,--this unhoped for return of familiarity and tenderness,
+Paul attempted to embrace her; but, light as a bird, she escaped him,
+and fled away, leaving him astonished, and unable to account for
+conduct so extraordinary.
+
+Meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour, "Why do we not unite our
+children by marriage? They have a strong attachment for each other,
+and though my son hardly understands the real nature of his feelings,
+yet great care and watchfulness will be necessary. Under such
+circumstances, it will be as well not to leave them too much
+together." Madame de la Tour replied, "They are too young and too
+poor. What grief would it occasion us to see Virginia bring into the
+world unfortunate children, whom she would not perhaps have sufficient
+strength to rear! Your negro, Domingo, is almost too old to labor;
+Mary is infirm. As for myself, my dear friend, at the end of fifteen
+years, I find my strength greatly decreased; the feebleness of age
+advances rapidly in hot climates, and, above all, under the pressure
+of misfortune. Paul is our only hope: let us wait till he comes to
+maturity, and his increased strength enables him to support us by his
+labour: at present you well know that we have only sufficient to
+supply the wants of the day: but were we to send Paul for a short time
+to the Indies, he might acquire, by commerce, the means of purchasing
+some slaves; and at his return we could unite him to Virginia; for I
+am persuaded no one on earth would render her so happy as your son. We
+will consult our neighbour on this subject."
+
+They accordingly asked my advice, which was in accordance with Madame
+de la Tour's opinion. "The Indian seas," I observed to them, "are
+calm, and, in choosing a favourable time of the year, the voyage out
+is seldom longer than six weeks; and the same time may be allowed for
+the return home. We will furnish Paul with a little venture from my
+neighbourhood, where he is much beloved. If we were only to supply him
+with some raw cotton, of which we make no use for want of mills to
+work it, some ebony, which is here so common that it serves us for
+firing, and some rosin, which is found in our woods, he would be able
+to sell those articles, though useless here, to good advantage in the
+Indies."
+
+I took upon myself to obtain permission from Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais to undertake this voyage; and I determined previously to
+mention the affair to Paul. But what was my surprise, when this young
+man said to me, with a degree of good sense above his age, "And why do
+you wish me to leave my family for this precarious pursuit of fortune?
+Is there any commerce in the world more advantageous than the culture
+of the ground, which yields sometimes fifty or a hundred-fold? If we
+wish to engage in commerce, can we not do so by carrying our
+superfluities to the town without my wandering to the Indies? Our
+mothers tell me, that Domingo is old and feeble; but I am young, and
+gather strength every day. If any accident should happen during my
+absence, above all to Virginia, who already suffers--Oh, no, no!--I
+cannot resolve to leave them."
+
+So decided an answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la
+Tour had not concealed from me the cause of Virginia's illness and
+want of spirits, and her desire of separating these young people till
+they were a few years older. I took care, however, not to drop any
+thing which could lead Paul to suspect the existence of these motives.
+
+About this period a ship from France brought Madame de la Tour a
+letter from her aunt. The fear of death, without which hearts as
+insensible as hers would never feel, had alarmed her into compassion.
+When she wrote she was recovering from a dangerous illness, which had,
+however, left her incurably languid and weak. She desired her niece to
+return to France: or, if her health forbade her to undertake so long a
+voyage, she begged her to send Virginia, on whom she promised to
+bestow a good education, to procure for her a splendid marriage, and
+to leave her heiress of her whole fortune. She concluded by enjoining
+strict obedience to her will, in gratitude, she said, for her great
+kindness.
+
+At the perusal of this letter general consternation spread itself
+through the whole assembled party. Domingo and Mary began to weep.
+Paul, motionless with surprise, appeared almost ready to burst with
+indignation; while Virginia, fixing her eyes anxiously upon her
+mother, had not power to utter a single word. "And can you now leave
+us?" cried Margaret to Madame de la Tour. "No, my dear friend, no, my
+beloved children," replied Madame de la Tour; "I will never leave you.
+I have lived with you, and with you I will die. I have known no
+happiness but in your affection. If my health be deranged, my past
+misfortunes are the cause. My heart has been deeply wounded by the
+cruelty of my relations, and by the loss of my beloved husband. But I
+have since found more consolation and more real happiness with you in
+these humble huts, than all the wealth of my family could now lead me
+to expect in my country."
+
+At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight.
+Paul, pressing Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaimed,--"Neither
+will I leave you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for
+you, dear mamma; and you shall never feel any want with us." But of
+the whole society, the person who displayed the least transport, and
+who probably felt the most, was Virginia; and during the remainder of
+the day, the gentle gaiety which flowed from her heart, and proved
+that her peace of mind was restored, completed the general
+satisfaction.
+
+At sun-rise the next day, just as they had concluded offering up, as
+usual, their morning prayer before breakfast, Domingo came to inform
+them that a gentleman on horseback, followed by two slaves, was coming
+towards the plantation. It was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. He entered
+the cottage, where he found the family at breakfast. Virginia had
+prepared, according to the custom of the country, coffee, and rice
+boiled in water. To these she had added hot yams, and fresh plantains.
+The leaves of the plantain-tree, supplied the want of table-linen; and
+calabash shells, split in two, served for cups. The governor
+exhibited, at first, some astonishment at the homeliness of the
+dwelling; then, addressing himself to Madame de la Tour, he observed,
+that although public affairs drew his attention too much from the
+concerns of individuals, she had many claims on his good offices. "You
+have an aunt at Paris, madam," he added, "a woman of quality, and
+immensely rich, who expects that you will hasten to see her, and who
+means to bestow upon you her whole fortune." Madame de la Tour
+replied, that the state of her health would not permit her to
+undertake so long a voyage. "At least," resumed Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais, "you cannot without injustice, deprive this amiable young
+lady, your daughter, of so noble an inheritance. I will not conceal
+from you, that your aunt has made use of her influence to secure your
+daughter being sent to her; and that I have received official letters,
+in which I am ordered to exert my authority, if necessary, to that
+effect. But as I only wish to employ my power for the purpose of
+rendering the inhabitants of this country happy, I expect from your
+good sense the voluntary sacrifice of a few years, upon which your
+daughter's establishment in the world, and the welfare of your whole
+life depends. Wherefore do we come to these islands? Is it not to
+acquire a fortune? And will it not be more agreeable to return and
+find it in your own country?"
+
+He then took a large bag of piastres from one of his slaves, and
+placed it upon the table. "This sum," he continued, "is allotted by
+your aunt to defray the outlay necessary for the equipment of the
+young lady for her voyage." Gently reproaching Madame de la Tour for
+not having had recourse to him in her difficulties, he extolled at the
+same time her noble fortitude. Upon this Paul said to the governor,--
+"My mother did apply to you, sir, and you received her ill."--"Have
+you another child, madam?" said Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to Madame
+de la Tour. "No, Sir," she replied; "this is the son of my friend; but
+he and Virginia are equally dear to us, and we mutually consider them
+both as our own children." "Young man," said the governor to Paul,
+"when you have acquired a little more experience of the world, you
+will know that it is the misfortune of people in place to be deceived,
+and bestow, in consequence, upon intriguing vice, that which they
+would wish to give to modest merit."
+
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, at the request of Madame de la Tour,
+placed himself next to her at table, and breakfasted after the manner
+of the Creoles, upon coffee, mixed with rice boiled in water. He was
+delighted with the order and cleanliness which prevailed in the little
+cottage, the harmony of the two interesting families, and the zeal of
+their old servants. "Here," he exclaimed, "I discern only wooden
+furniture; but I find serene countenances and hearts of gold." Paul,
+enchanted with the affability of the governor, said to him,--"I wish
+to be your friend: for you are a good man." Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+received with pleasure this insular compliment, and, taking Paul by
+the hand, assured him he might rely upon his friendship.
+
+After breakfast, he took Madame de la Tour aside and informed her that
+an opportunity would soon offer itself of sending her daughter to
+France, in a ship which was going to sail in a short time; that he
+would put her under the charge of a lady, one of the passengers, who
+was a relation of his own; and that she must not think of renouncing
+an immense fortune, on account of the pain of being separated from her
+daughter for a brief interval. "Your aunt," he added, "cannot live
+more than two years; of this I am assured by her friends. Think of it
+seriously. Fortune does not visit us every day. Consult your friends.
+I am sure that every person of good sense will be of my opinion." She
+answered, "that, as she desired no other happiness henceforth in the
+world than in promoting that of her daughter, she hoped to be allowed
+to leave her departure for France to her own inclination."
+
+Madame de la Tour was not sorry to find an opportunity of separating
+Paul and Virginia for a short time, and provide by this means, for
+their mutual felicity at a future period. She took her daughter aside,
+and said to her,--"My dear child, our servants are now old. Paul is
+still very young, Margaret is advanced in years, and I am already
+infirm. If I should die what would become of you, without fortune, in
+the midst of these deserts? You would then be left alone, without any
+person who could afford you much assistance, and would be obliged to
+labour without ceasing, as a hired servant, in order to support your
+wretched existence. This idea overcomes me with sorrow." Virginia
+answered,--"God has appointed us to labour, and to bless him every
+day. Up to this time he has never forsaken us, and he never will
+forsake us in time to come. His providence watches most especially
+over the unfortunate. You have told me this very often, my dear
+mother! I cannot resolve to leave you." Madame de la Tour replied,
+with much emotion,--"I have no other aim than to render you happy, and
+to marry you one day to Paul, who is not really your brother. Remember
+then that his fortune depends upon you."
+
+A young girl who is in love believes that every one else is ignorant
+of her passion; she throws over her eyes the veil with which she
+covers the feelings of her heart; but when it is once lifted by a
+friendly hand, the hidden sorrows of her attachment escape as through
+a newly-opened barrier, and the sweet outpourings of unrestrained
+confidence succeed to her former mystery and reserve. Virginia, deeply
+affected by this new proof of her mother's tenderness, related to her
+the cruel struggles she had undergone, of which heaven alone had been
+witness; she saw, she said, the hand of Providence in the assistance
+of an affectionate mother, who approved of her attachment; and would
+guide her by her counsels; and as she was now strengthened by such
+support, every consideration led her to remain with her mother,
+without anxiety for the present, and without apprehension for the
+future.
+
+Madame de la Tour, perceiving that this confidential conversation had
+produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected,
+said,--"My dear child, I do not wish to constrain you; think over it
+at leisure, but conceal your affection from Paul. It is better not to
+let a man know that the heart of his mistress is gained."
+
+Virginia and her mother were sitting together by themselves the same
+evening, when a tall man, dressed in a blue cassock, entered their
+cottage. He was a missionary priest and the confessor of Madame de la
+Tour and her daughter, who had now been sent to them by the governor.
+"My children," he exclaimed as he entered, "God be praised! you are
+now rich. You can now attend to the kind suggestions of your
+benevolent hearts, and do good to the poor. I know what Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais has said to you, and what you have said in reply. Your
+health, dear madam, obliges you to remain here; but you, young lady,
+are without excuse. We must obey our aged relations, even when they
+are unjust. A sacrifice is required of you; but it is the will of God.
+Our Lord devoted himself for you; and you in imitation of his example,
+must give up something for the welfare of your family. Your voyage to
+France will end happily. You will surely consent to go, my dear young
+lady."
+
+Virginia, with downcast eyes, answered, trembling, "If it is the
+command of God, I will not presume to oppose it. Let the will of God
+be done!" As she uttered these words, she wept.
+
+The priest went away, in order to inform the governor of the success
+of his mission. In the meantime Madame de la Tour sent Domingo to
+request me to come to her, that she might consult me respecting
+Virginia's departure. I was not at all of opinion that she ought to
+go. I consider it as a fixed principle of happiness, that we ought to
+prefer the advantages of nature to those of fortune, and never go in
+search of that at a distance, which we may find at home,--in our own
+bosoms. But what could be expected from my advice, in opposition to
+the illusions of a splendid fortune?--or from my simple reasoning,
+when in competition with the prejudices of the world, and an authority
+held sacred by Madame de la Tour? This lady indeed only consulted me
+out of politeness; she had ceased to deliberate since she had heard
+the decision of her confessor. Margaret herself, who, notwithstanding
+the advantages she expected for her son from the possession of
+Virginia's fortune, had hitherto opposed her departure, made no
+further objections. As for Paul, in ignorance of what had been
+determined, but alarmed at the secret conversations which Virginia had
+been holding with her mother, he abandoned himself to melancholy.
+"They are plotting something against me," cried he, "for they conceal
+every thing from me."
+
+A report having in the meantime been spread in the island that fortune
+had visited these rocks, merchants of every description were seen
+climbing their steep ascent. Now, for the first time, were seen
+displayed in these humble huts the richest stuffs of India; the fine
+dimity of Gondelore; the handkerchiefs of Pellicate and Masulipatan;
+the plain, striped, and embroidered muslins of Dacca, so beautifully
+transparent: the delicately white cottons of Surat, and linens of all
+colours. They also brought with them the gorgeous silks of China,
+satin damasks, some white, and others grass-green and bright red; pink
+taffetas, with the profusion of satins and gauze of Tonquin, both
+plain and decorated with flowers; soft pekins, downy as cloth; and
+white and yellow nankeens, and the calicoes of Madagascar.
+
+Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase whatever she liked;
+she only examined the goods, and inquired the price, to take care that
+the dealers did not cheat her. Virginia made choice of everything she
+thought would be useful or agreeable to her mother, or to Margaret and
+her son. "This," said she, "will be wanted for furnishing the cottage,
+and that will be very useful to Mary and Domingo." In short, the bag
+of piastres was almost emptied before she even began to consider her
+own wants; and she was obliged to receive back for her own use a share
+of the presents which she had distributed among the family circle.
+
+Paul, overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune,
+which he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days
+after to my dwelling. With an air of deep despondency he said to me--
+"My sister is going away; she is already making preparations for her
+voyage. I conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother
+and mine, in order to detain her here." I could not refuse the young
+man's solicitations, although well convinced that my representations
+would be unavailing.
+
+Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse
+cloth of Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head: you may
+therefore imagine how much her beauty was increased, when she was
+attired in the graceful and elegant costume worn by the ladies of this
+country! She had on a white muslin dress, lined with pink taffeta. Her
+somewhat tall and slender figure was shown to advantage in her new
+attire, and the simple arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with
+the form of her head. Her fine blue eyes were filled with an
+expression of melancholy; and the struggles of passion, with which her
+heart was agitated, imparted a flush to her cheek, and to her voice a
+tone of deep emotion. The contrast between her pensive look and her
+gay habiliments rendered her more interesting than ever, nor was it
+possible to see or hear her unmoved. Paul became more and more
+melancholy; and at length Margaret, distressed at the situation of her
+son, took him aside and said to him,--"Why, my dear child, will you
+cherish vain hopes, which will only render your disappointment more
+bitter? It is time for me to make known to you the secret of your life
+and of mine. Mademoiselle de la Tour belongs, by her mother's side, to
+a rich and noble family, while you are but the son of a poor peasant
+girl; and what is worse you are illegitimate."
+
+Paul, who had never heard this last expression before, inquired with
+eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, "I was not married to your
+father. When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness
+of which you are the offspring. The consequence of my fault is, that
+you are deprived of the protection of a father's family, and by my
+flight from home you have also lost that of your mother's. Unfortunate
+child! you have no relations in the world but me!"--and she shed a
+flood of tears. Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, "Oh, my
+dear mother! since I have no relation in the world but you, I will
+love you all the more. But what a secret have you just disclosed to
+me! I now see the reason why Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged
+herself so much from me for the last two months, and why she has
+determined to go to France. Ah! I perceive too well that she despises
+me!"
+
+The hour of supper being arrived, we gathered round the table; but the
+different sensations with which we were agitated left us little
+inclination to eat, and the meal, if such it may be called, passed in
+silence. Virginia was the first to rise; she went out, and seated
+herself on the very spot where we now are. Paul hastened after her,
+and sat down by her side. Both of them, for some time, kept a profound
+silence. It was one of those delicious nights which are so common
+between the tropics, and to the beauty of which no pencil can do
+justice. The moon appeared in the midst of the firmament, surrounded
+by a curtain of clouds, which was gradually unfolded by her beams. Her
+light insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island, and
+their distant peaks glistened with a silvery green. The winds were
+perfectly still. We heard among the woods, at the bottom of the
+valleys, and on the summits of the rocks, the piping cries and the
+soft notes of the birds, wantoning in their nests, and rejoicing in
+the brightness of the night and the serenity of the atmosphere. The
+hum of insects was heard in the grass. The stars sparkled in the
+heavens, and their lurid orbs were reflected, in trembling sparkles,
+from the tranquil bosom of the ocean. Virginia's eye wandered
+distractedly over its vast and gloomy horizon, distinguishable from
+the shore of the island only by the red fires in the fishing boats.
+She perceived at the entrance of the harbour a light and a shadow;
+these were the watchlight and the hull of the vessel in which she was
+to embark for Europe, and which, all ready for sea, lay at anchor,
+waiting for a breeze. Affected at this sight, she turned away her
+head, in order to hide her tears from Paul.
+
+Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and I, were seated at a little distance,
+beneath the plantain-trees; and, owing to the stillness of the night,
+we distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.
+
+Paul said to her,--"You are going away from us, they tell me, in three
+days. You do not fear then to encounter the danger of the sea, at the
+sight of which you are so much terrified?" "I must perform my duty,"
+answered Virginia, "by obeying my parent." "You leave us," resumed
+Paul, "for a distant relation, whom you have never seen." "Alas!"
+cried Virginia, "I would have remained here my whole life, but my
+mother would not have it so. My confessor, too, told me it was the
+will of God that I should go, and that life was a scene of trials!--
+and Oh! this is indeed a severe one."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Paul, "you could find so many reasons for going, and
+not one for remaining here! Ah! there is one reason for your departure
+that you have not mentioned. Riches have great attractions. You will
+soon find in the new world to which you are going, another, to whom
+you will give the name of brother, which you bestow on me no more. You
+will choose that brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by
+their birth, and by a fortune which I have not to offer. But where can
+you go to be happier? On what shore will you land, and find it dearer
+to you than the spot which gave you birth?--and where will you form
+around you a society more delightful to you than this, by which you
+are so much accustomed? What will become of her, already advanced in
+years, when she no longer sees you at her side at table, in the house,
+in the walks, where she used to lean upon you? What will become of my
+mother, who loves you with the same affection? What shall I say to
+comfort them when I see them weeping for your absence? Cruel Virginia!
+I say nothing to you of myself; but what will become of me, when in
+the morning I shall no more see you; when the evening will come, and
+not reunite us?--when I shall gaze on these two palm trees, planted at
+our birth, and so long the witnesses of our mutual friendship? Ah!
+since your lot is changed,--since you seek in a far country other
+possessions than the fruits of my labour, let me go with you in the
+vessel in which you are about to embark. I will sustain your spirits
+in the midst of those tempests which terrify you so much even on
+shore. I will lay my head upon your bosom: I will warm your heart upon
+my own; and in France, where you are going in search of fortune and of
+grandeur, I will wait upon you as your slave. Happy only in your
+happiness, you will find me, in those palaces where I shall see you
+receiving the homage and adoration of all, rich and noble enough to
+make you the greatest of all sacrifices, by dying at your feet."
+
+The violence of his emotions stopped his utterance, and we then heard
+Virginia, who, in a voice broken by sobs, uttered these words:--"It is
+for you that I go,--for you whom I see tired to death every day by the
+labour of sustaining two helpless families. If I have accepted this
+opportunity of becoming rich, it is only to return a thousand-fold the
+good which you have done us. Can any fortune be equal to your
+friendship? Why do you talk about your birth? Ah! if it were possible
+for me still to have a brother, should I make choice of any other than
+you? Oh, Paul, Paul! you are far dearer to me than a brother! How much
+has it cost me to repulse you from me! Help me to tear myself from
+what I value more than existence, till Heaven shall bless our union.
+But I will stay or go,--I will live or die,--dispose of me as you
+will. Unhappy that I am! I could have repelled your caresses; but I
+cannot support your affliction."
+
+At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed
+close to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, "I will go with her,--
+nothing shall ever part us." We all ran towards him; and Madame de la
+Tour said to him, "My son, if you go, what will become of us?"
+
+He, trembling, repeated after her the words,--"My son!--my son! You my
+mother!" cried he; "you, who would separate the brother from the
+sister! We have both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been
+reared upon your knees; we have learnt of you to love another; we have
+said so a thousand times; and now you would separate her from me!--you
+would send her to Europe, that inhospitable country which refused you
+an asylum, and to relations by whom you yourself were abandoned. You
+will tell me that I have no right over her, and that she is not my
+sister. She is everything to me;--my riches, my birth, my family,--all
+that I have! I know no other. We have had but one roof,--one cradle,--
+and we will have but one grave! If she goes, I will follow her. The
+governor will prevent me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into
+the sea?--will he prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea
+cannot be more fatal to me than the land. Since I cannot live with
+her, at least I will die before her eyes, far from you. Inhuman
+mother!--woman without compassion!--may the ocean, to which you trust
+her, restore her to you no more! May the waves, rolling back our
+bodies amid the shingles of this beach, give you in the loss of your
+two children, an eternal subject of remorse!"
+
+At these words, I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him
+of reason. His eyes sparkled with fire, the perspiration fell in great
+drops from his face; his knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat
+violently against his burning bosom.
+
+Virginia, alarmed, said to him,--"Oh, my dear Paul, I call to witness
+the pleasures of our early age, your griefs and my own, and every
+thing that can for ever bind two unfortunate beings to each other,
+that if I remain at home, I will live but for you; that if I go, I
+will one day return to be yours. I call you all to witness;--you who
+have reared me from my infancy, who dispose of my life, and who see my
+tears. I swear by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea which I am
+going to pass, by the air I breathe, and which I never sullied by a
+falsehood."
+
+As the sun softens and precipitates an icy rock from the summit of one
+of the Appenines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were
+subdued by the voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a torrent
+of tears fell from his eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his,
+held him in her arms, but was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half
+distracted, said to me, "I can bear this no longer. My heart is quite
+broken. This unfortunate voyage shall not take place. Do take my son
+home with you. Not one of us has had any rest the whole week."
+
+I said to Paul, "My dear friend, your sister shall remain here.
+To-morrow we will talk to the governor about it; leave your family to
+take some rest, and come and pass the night with me. It is late; it is
+midnight; the southern cross is just above the horizon."
+
+He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of
+great agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
+
+But why should I continue any longer to you the recital of this
+history? There is but one aspect of human pleasure. Like the globe
+upon which we revolve, the fleeting course of life is but a day; and
+if one part of that day be visited by light, the other is thrown into
+darkness.
+
+"My father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you
+have begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are
+the most pleasing, those of misfortune are the more instructive. Tell
+me what became of the unhappy young man."
+
+The first object beheld by Paul in his way home was the negro woman
+Mary, who, mounted on a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea.
+As soon as he perceived her, he called to her from a distance,--"Where
+is Virginia?" Mary turned her head towards her young master, and began
+to weep. Paul, distracted, retracing his steps, ran to the harbour. He
+was there informed, that Virginia had embarked at the break of day,
+and that the vessel had immediately set sail, and was now out of
+sight. He instantly returned to the plantation, which he crossed
+without uttering a word.
+
+Quite perpendicular as appears the wall of rocks behind us, those
+green platforms which separate their summits are so many stages, by
+means of which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone
+of sloping and inaccessible rocks, which is called The Thumb. At the
+foot of that cone is an extended slope of ground, covered with lofty
+trees, and so steep and elevated that it looks like a forest in the
+air, surrounded by tremendous precipices. The clouds, which are
+constantly attracted round the summit of the Thumb, supply innumerable
+rivulets, which fall to so great a depth in the valley situated on the
+other side of the mountain, that from this elevated point the sound of
+their cataracts cannot be heard. From that spot you can discern a
+considerable part of the island, diversified by precipices and
+mountain peaks, and amongst others, Peter-Booth, and the Three
+Breasts, with their valleys full of woods. You also command an
+extensive view of the ocean, and can even perceive the Isle of
+Bourbon, forty leagues to the westward. From the summit of that
+stupendous pile of rocks Paul caught sight of the vessel which was
+bearing away Virginia, and which now, ten leagues out at sea, appeared
+like a black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a great part
+of the day with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had
+disappeared, he still fancied he beheld it; and when, at length, the
+traces which clung to his imagination were lost in the mists of the
+horizon, he seated himself on that wild point, forever beaten by the
+winds, which never cease to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum
+trees, and the hoarse and moaning murmurs of which, similar to the
+distant sound of organs, inspire a profound melancholy. On this spot I
+found him, his head reclined on the rock, and his eyes fixed upon the
+ground. I had followed him from the earliest dawn, and, after much
+importunity, I prevailed on him to descend from the heights, and
+return to his family. I went home with him, where the first impulse of
+his mind, on seeing Madame de la Tour, was to reproach her bitterly
+for having deceived him. She told us that a favourable wind having
+sprung up at three o'clock in the morning, and the vessel being ready
+to sail, the governor, attended by some of his staff and the
+missionary, had come with a palanquin to fetch her daughter; and that,
+notwithstanding Virginia's objections, her own tears and entreaties,
+and the lamentations of Margaret, every body exclaiming all the time
+that it was for the general welfare, they had carried her away almost
+dying. "At least," cried Paul, "if I had bid her farewell, I should
+now be more calm. I would have said to her,--'Virginia, if, during the
+time we have lived together, one word may have escaped me which has
+offended you, before you leave me forever, tell me that you forgive
+me.' I would have said to her,--'Since I am destined to see you no
+more, farewell, my dear Virginia, farewell! Live far from me,
+contented and happy!' " When he saw that his mother and Madame de la
+Tour were weeping,--"You must now," said he, "seek some other hand to
+wipe away your tears;" and then, rushing out of the house, and
+groaning aloud, he wandered up and down the plantation. He hovered in
+particular about those spots which had been most endeared to Virginia.
+He said to the goats, and their little ones, which followed him,
+bleating,--"What do you want of me? You will see with me no more her
+who used to feed you with her own hand." He went to the bower called
+Virginia's Resting-place, and, as the birds flew around him,
+exclaimed, "Poor birds! you will fly no more to meet her who cherished
+you!"--and observing Fidele running backwards and forwards in search
+of her, he heaved a deep sigh, and cried,--"Ah! you will never find
+her again." At length he went and seated himself upon a rock where he
+had conversed with her the preceding evening; and at the sight of the
+ocean upon which he had seen the vessel disappear which had borne her
+away, his heart overflowed with anguish, and he wept bitterly.
+
+We continually watched his movements, apprehensive of some fatal
+consequence from the violent agitation of his mind. His mother and
+Madame de la Tour conjured him, in the most tender manner, not to
+increase their affliction by his despair. At length the latter soothed
+his mind by lavishing upon him epithets calculated to awaken his
+hopes,--calling him her son, her dear son, her son-in-law, whom she
+destined for her daughter. She persuaded him to return home, and to
+take some food. He seated himself next to the place which used to be
+occupied by the companion of his childhood; and, as if she had still
+been present, he spoke to her, and made as though he would offer her
+whatever he knew as most agreeable to her taste: then, starting from
+this dream of fancy, he began to weep. For some days he employed
+himself in gathering together every thing which had belonged to
+Virginia, the last nosegays she had worn, the cocoa-shell from which
+she used to drink; and after kissing a thousand times these relics of
+his beloved, to him the most precious treasures which the world
+contained, he hid them in his bosom. Amber does not shed so sweet a
+perfume as the veriest trifles touched by those we love. At length,
+perceiving that the indulgence of his grief increased that of his
+mother and Madame de la Tour, and that the wants of the family
+demanded continual labour, he began, with the assistance of Domingo,
+to repair the damage done to the garden.
+
+But, soon after, this young man, hitherto indifferent as a Creole to
+every thing that was passing in the world, begged of me to teach him
+to read and write, in order that he might correspond with Virginia. He
+afterwards wished to obtain a knowledge of geography, that he might
+form some idea of the country where she would disembark; and of
+history, that he might know something of the manners of the society in
+which she would be placed. The powerful sentiment of love, which
+directed his present studies, had already instructed him in
+agriculture, and in the art of laying out grounds with advantage and
+beauty. It must be admitted, that to the fond dreams of this restless
+and ardent passion, mankind are indebted for most of the arts and
+sciences, while its disappointments have given birth to philosophy,
+which teaches us to bear up under misfortune. Love, thus, the general
+link of all beings, becomes the great spring of society, by inciting
+us to knowledge as well as to pleasure.
+
+Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography, which,
+instead of describing the natural history of each country, gave only a
+view of its political divisions and boundaries. History, and
+especially modern history, interested him little more. He there saw
+only general and periodical evils, the causes of which he could not
+discover; wars without either motive or reason; uninteresting
+intrigues; with nations destitute of principle, and princes void of
+humanity. To this branch of reading he preferred romances, which,
+being chiefly occupied by the feelings and concerns of men, sometimes
+represented situations similar to his own. Thus, no book gave him so
+much pleasure as Telemachus, from the pictures it draws of pastoral
+life, and of the passions which are most natural to the human breast.
+He read aloud to his mother and Madame de la Tour, those parts which
+affected him most sensibly; but sometimes, touched by the most tender
+remembrances, his emotion would choke his utterance, and his eyes be
+filled with tears. He fancied he had found in Virginia the dignity and
+wisdom of Antiope, united to the misfortunes and the tenderness of
+Eucharis. With very different sensations he perused our fashionable
+novels, filled with licentious morals and maxims, and when he was
+informed that these works drew a tolerably faithful picture of
+European society, he trembled, and not without some appearance of
+reason, lest Virginia should become corrupted by it, and forget him.
+
+More than a year and a half, indeed, passed away before Madame de la
+Tour received any tidings of her aunt or her daughter. During that
+period she only accidently heard that Virginia had safely arrived in
+France. At length, however, a vessel which stopped here on its way to
+the Indies brought a packet to Madame de la Tour, and a letter written
+by Virginia's own hand. Although this amiable and considerate girl had
+written in a guarded manner that she might not wound her mother's
+feelings, it appeared evident enough that she was unhappy. The letter
+painted so naturally her situation and her character, that I have
+retained it almost word for word.
+
+  "MY DEAR AND BELOVED MOTHER,
+
+  "I have already sent you several letters, written by my own hand,
+  but having received no answer, I am afraid they have not reached
+  you. I have better hopes for this, from the means I have now
+  gained of sending you tidings of myself, and of hearing from you.
+
+  "I have shed many tears since our separation, I who never used to
+  weep, but for the misfortunes of others! My aunt was much
+  astonished, when, having, upon my arrival, inquired what
+  accomplishments I possessed, I told her that I could neither read
+  nor write. She asked me what then I had learnt, since I came into
+  the world; and when I answered that I had been taught to take care
+  of the household affairs, and to obey your will, she told me that
+  I had received the education of a servant. The next day she placed
+  me as a boarder in a great abbey near Paris, where I have masters
+  of all kinds, who teach me, among other things, history,
+  geography, grammar, mathematics, and riding on horseback. But I
+  have so little capacity for all these sciences, that I fear I
+  shall make but small progress with my masters. I feel that I am a
+  very poor creature, with very little ability to learn what they
+  teach. My aunt's kindness, however, does not decrease. She gives
+  me new dresses every season; and she had placed two waiting women
+  with me, who are dressed like fine ladies. She has made me take
+  the title of countess; but has obliged me to renounce the name of
+  LA TOUR, which is as dear to me as it is to you, from all you have
+  told me of the sufferings my father endured in order to marry you.
+  She has given me in place of your name that of your family, which
+  is also dear to me, because it was your name when a girl. Seeing
+  myself in so splendid a situation, I implored her to let me send
+  you something to assist you. But how shall I repeat her answer!
+  Yet you have desired me always to tell you the truth. She told me
+  then that a little would be of no use to you, and that a great
+  deal would only encumber you in the simple life you led. As you
+  know I could not write, I endeavoured upon my arrival, to send you
+  tidings of myself by another hand; but, finding no person here in
+  whom I could place confidence, I applied night and day to learn to
+  read and write, and Heaven, who saw my motive for learning, no
+  doubt assisted my endeavours, for I succeeded in both in a short
+  time. I entrusted my first letters to some of the ladies here,
+  who, I have reason to think, carried them to my aunt. This time I
+  have recourse to a boarder, who is my friend. I send you her
+  direction, by means of which I shall receive your answer. My aunt
+  has forbid me holding any correspondence whatever, with any one,
+  lest, she says, it should occasion an obstacle to the great views
+  she has for my advantage. No person is allowed to see me at the
+  grate but herself, and an old nobleman, one of her friends, who,
+  she says is much pleased with me. I am sure I am not at all so
+  with him, nor should I, even if it were possible for me to be
+  pleased with any one at present.
+
+  "I live in all the splendour of affluence, and have not a sous at
+  my disposal. They say I might make an improper use of money. Even
+  my clothes belong to my femmes de chambre, who quarrel about them
+  before I have left them off. In the midst of riches I am poorer
+  than when I lived with you; for I have nothing to give away. When
+  I found that the great accomplishments they taught me would not
+  procure me the power of doing the smallest good, I had recourse to
+  my needle, of which happily you had taught me the use. I send
+  several pairs of stockings of my own making for you and my mamma
+  Margaret, a cap for Domingo, and one of my red handkerchiefs for
+  Mary. I also send with this packet some kernels, and seeds of
+  various kinds of fruits which I gathered in the abbey park during
+  my hours of recreation. I have also sent a few seeds of violets,
+  daisies, buttercups, poppies and scabious, which I picked up in
+  the fields. There are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows
+  of this country than in ours, but nobody cares for them. I am sure
+  that you and my mamma Margaret will be better pleased with this
+  bag of seeds, than you were with the bag of piastres, which was
+  the cause of our separation and of my tears. It will give me great
+  delight if you should one day see apple trees growing by the side
+  of our plantains, and elms blending their foliage with that of our
+  cocoa trees. You will fancy yourself in Normandy, which you love
+  so much.
+
+  "You desired me to relate to you my joys and my griefs. I have no
+  joys far from you. As far as my griefs, I endeavour to soothe them
+  by reflecting that I am in the situation in which it was the will
+  of God that you should place me. But my greatest affliction is,
+  that no one here speaks to me of you, and that I cannot speak of
+  you to any one. My femmes de chambre, or rather those of my aunt,
+  for they belong more to her than to me, told me the other day,
+  when I wished to turn the conversation upon the objects most dear
+  to me: 'Remember, mademoiselle, that you are a French woman, and
+  must forget that land of savages.' Ah! sooner will I forget
+  myself, than forget the spot on which I was born and where you
+  dwell! It is this country which is to me a land of savages, for I
+  live alone, having no one to whom I can impart those feelings of
+  tenderness for you which I shall bear with me to the grave. I am,
+
+"My dearest and beloved mother,
+"Your affectionate and dutiful daughter,
+"VIRGINIE DE LA TOUR."
+
+  "I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo, who took so much
+  care of my infancy; caress Fidele for me, who found me in the wood."
+
+Paul was astonished that Virginia had not said one word of him,--she,
+who had not forgotten even the house-dog. But he was not aware that,
+however long a woman's letter may be, she never fails to leave her
+dearest sentiments for the end.
+
+In a postscript, Virginia particularly recommended to Paul's attention
+two kinds of seed,--those of the violet and the scabious. She gave him
+some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers, and
+the spots most proper for their cultivation. "The violet," she said,
+"produces a little flower of a dark purple colour, which delights to
+conceal itself beneath the bushes; but it is soon discovered by its
+wide-spreading perfume." She desired that these seeds might be sown by
+the border of the fountain, at the foot of her cocoa-tree. "The
+scabious," she added, "produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and
+a black ground spotted with white. You might fancy it was in mourning;
+and for this reason it is also called the widow's flower. It grows
+best in bleak spots, beaten by the winds." She begged him to sow this
+upon the rock where she had spoken to him at night for the last time,
+and that, in remembrance of her, he would henceforth give it the name
+of the Rock of Adieus.
+
+She had put these seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
+exceedingly simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when
+he saw on it a P and a V entwined together, and knew that the
+beautiful hair which formed the cypher was the hair of Virginia.
+
+The whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of
+this amiable and virtuous girl. Her mother answered it in the name of
+the little society, desiring her to remain or to return as she thought
+proper; and assuring her, that happiness had left their dwelling since
+her departure, and that, for herself, she was inconsolable.
+
+Paul also sent her a very long letter, in which he assured her that he
+would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and
+mingle together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa, as
+she had blended their initials together in her work. He sent her some
+fruit from the cocoa-trees of the fountain, now arrived at maturity
+telling her, that he would not add any of the other productions of the
+island, that the desire of seeing them again might hasten her return.
+He conjured her to comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes
+of her family, and above all, with his own, since he could never
+hereafter taste happiness away from her.
+
+Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds, particularly the
+violet and the scabious, the flowers of which seemed to bear some
+analogy to the character and present situation of Virginia, by whom
+they had been so especially recommended; but either they were dried up
+in the voyage, or the climate of this part of the world is
+unfavourable to their growth, for a very small number of them even
+came up, and not one arrived at full perfection.
+
+In the meantime, envy, which ever comes to embitter human happiness,
+particularly in the French colonies, spread some reports in the island
+which gave Paul much uneasiness. The passengers in the vessel which
+brought Virginia's letter, asserted that she was upon the point of
+being married, and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was
+engaged. Some even went so far as to declare that the union had
+already taken place, and that they themselves had witnessed the
+ceremony. Paul at first despised the report, brought by a merchant
+vessel, as he knew that they often spread erroneous intelligence in
+their passage; but some of the inhabitants of the island, with
+malignant pity, affecting to bewail the event, he was soon led to
+attach some degree of belief to this cruel intelligence. Besides, in
+some of the novels he had lately read, he had seen that perfidy was
+treated as a subject of pleasantry; and knowing that these books
+contained pretty faithful representations of European manners, he
+feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and had forgotten its
+former engagements. Thus his new acquirements had already only served
+to render him more miserable; and his apprehensions were much
+increased by the circumstance, that though several ships touched here
+from Europe, within the six months immediately following the arrival
+of her letter, not one of them brought any tidings of Virginia.
+
+This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel
+agitation, often came to visit me, in the hope of confirming or
+banishing his uneasiness, by my experience of the world.
+
+I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from this
+point, upon the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping
+Mountain: there I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or
+slaves.
+
+After having enjoyed, and lost the rare felicity of living with a
+congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is
+doubtless that of solitude. Every man who has much cause of complaint
+against his fellow-creatures seeks to be alone. It is also remarkable
+that all those nations which have been brought to wretchedness by
+their opinions, their manners, or their forms of government, have
+produced numerous classes of citizens altogether devoted to solitude
+and celibacy. Such were the Egyptians in their decline, and the Greeks
+of the Lower Empire; and such in our days are the Indians, the
+Chinese, the modern Greeks, the Italians, and the greater part of the
+eastern and southern nations of Europe. Solitude, by removing men from
+the miseries which follow in the train of social intercourse, brings
+them in some degree back to the unsophisticated enjoyment of nature.
+In the midst of modern society, broken up by innumerable prejudices,
+the mind is in a constant turmoil of agitation. It is incessantly
+revolving in itself a thousand tumultuous and contradictory opinions,
+by which the members of an ambitious and miserable circle seek to
+raise themselves above each other. But in solitude the soul lays aside
+the morbid illusions which troubled her, and resumes the pure
+consciousness of herself, of nature, and of its Author, as the muddy
+water of a torrent which has ravaged the plains, coming to rest, and
+diffusing itself over some low grounds out of its course, deposits
+there the slime it has taken up, and, resuming its wonted
+transparency, reflects, with its own shores, the verdure of the earth
+and the light of heaven. Thus does solitude recruit the powers of the
+body as well as those of the mind. It is among hermits that are found
+the men who carry human existence to its extreme limits; such are the
+Bramins of India. In brief, I consider solitude so necessary to
+happiness, even in the world itself, that it appears to me impossible
+to derive lasting pleasure from any pursuit whatever, or to regulate
+our conduct by any pursuit whatever, or to regulate our conduct by any
+stable principle, if we do not create for ourselves a mental void,
+whence our own views rarely emerge, and into which the opinions of
+others never enter. I do not mean to say that man ought to live
+absolutely alone; he is connected by his necessities with all mankind;
+his labours are due to man: and he owes something too to the rest of
+nature. But, as God has given to each of us organs perfectly adapted
+to the elements of the globe on which we live,--feet for the soil,
+lungs for the air, eyes for the light, without the power of changing
+the use of any of these faculties, he has reserved for himself, as the
+Author of life, that which is its chief organ,--the heart.
+
+I thus passed my days far from mankind, whom I wished to serve, and by
+whom I have been persecuted. After having travelled over many
+countries of Europe, and some parts of America and Africa, I at length
+pitched my tent in this thinly-peopled island, allured by its mild
+climate and its solitudes. A cottage which I built in the woods, at
+the foot of a tree, a little field which I cleared with my own hands,
+a river which glides before my door, suffice for my wants and for my
+pleasures. I blend with these enjoyments the perusal of some chosen
+books, which teach me to become better. They make that world, which I
+have abandoned, still contribute something to my happiness. They lay
+before me pictures of those passions which render its inhabitants so
+miserable; and in the comparison I am thus led to make between their
+lot and my own, I feel a kind of negative enjoyment. Like a man saved
+from shipwreck, and thrown upon a rock, I contemplate, from my
+solitude, the storms which rage through the rest of the world; and my
+repose seems more profound from the distant sound of the tempest. As
+men have ceased to fall in my way, I no longer view them with
+aversion; I only pity them. If I sometimes fall in with an unfortunate
+being, I try to help him by my counsels, as a passer-by on the brink
+of a torrent extends his hand to save a wretch from drowning. But I
+have hardly ever found any but the innocent attentive to my voice.
+Nature calls the majority of men to her in vain. Each of them forms an
+image of her for himself, and invests her with his own passions. He
+pursues during the whole of his life this vain phantom, which leads
+him astray; and he afterwards complains to Heaven of the misfortunes
+which he has thus created for himself. Among the many children of
+misfortune whom I have endeavoured to lead back to the enjoyments of
+nature, I have not found one but was intoxicated with his own
+miseries. They have listened to me at first with attention, in the
+hope that I could teach them how to acquire glory or fortune, but when
+they found that I only wished to instruct them how to dispense with
+these chimeras, their attention has been converted into pity, because
+I did not prize their miserable happiness. They blamed my solitary
+life; they alleged that they alone were useful to men, and they
+endeavoured to draw me into their vortex. But if I communicate with
+all, I lay myself open to none. It is often sufficient for me to serve
+as a lesson to myself. In my present tranquillity, I pass in review
+the agitating pursuits of my past life, to which I formerly attached
+so much value,--patronage, fortune, reputation, pleasure, and the
+opinions which are ever at strife over all the earth. I compare the
+men whom I have seen disputing furiously over these vanities, and who
+are no more, to the tiny waves of my rivulet, which break in foam
+against its rocky bed, and disappear, never to return. As for me, I
+suffer myself to float calmly down the stream of time to the shoreless
+ocean of futurity; while, in the contemplation of the present harmony
+of nature, I elevate my soul towards its supreme Author, and hope for
+a more happy lot in another state of existence.
+
+Although you cannot descry from my hermitage, situated in the midst of
+a forest, that immense variety of objects which this elevated spot
+presents, the grounds are disposed with peculiar beauty, at least to
+one who, like me, prefers the seclusion of a home scene to great and
+extensive prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in a
+straight line across the woods, looking like a long canal shaded by
+all kinds of trees. Among them are the gum tree, the ebony tree, and
+that which is here called bois de pomme, with olive and cinnamon-wood
+trees; while in some parts the cabbage-palm trees raise their naked
+stems more than a hundred feet high, their summits crowned with a
+cluster of leaves, and towering above the woods like one forest piled
+upon another. Lianas, of various foliage, intertwining themselves
+among the trees, form, here, arcades of foliage, there, long canopies
+of verdure. Most of these trees shed aromatic odours so powerful, that
+the garments of a traveller, who has passed through the forest, often
+retain for hours the most delicious fragrance. In the season when they
+produce their lavish blossoms, they appear as if half-covered with
+snow. Towards the end of summer, various kinds of foreign birds
+hasten, impelled by some inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions
+on the other side of immense oceans, to feed upon the grain and other
+vegetable productions of the island; and the brilliancy of their
+plumage forms a striking contrast to the more sombre tints of the
+foliage embrowned by the sun. Among these are various kinds of
+parroquets, and the blue pigeon, called here the pigeon of Holland.
+Monkeys, the domestic inhabitants of our forests, sport upon the dark
+branches of the trees, from which they are easily distinguished by
+their gray and greenish skin, and their black visages. Some hang,
+suspended by the tail, and swing themselves in air; others leap from
+branch to branch, bearing their young in their arms. The murderous gun
+has never affrighted these peaceful children of nature. You hear
+nothing but sounds of joy,--the warblings and unknown notes of birds
+from the countries of the south, repeated from a distance by the
+echoes of the forest. The river, which pours, in foaming eddies, over
+a bed of rocks, through the midst of the woods, reflects here and
+there upon its limpid waters their venerable masses of verdure and of
+shade, along with the sports of their happy inhabitants. About a
+thousand paces from thence it forms several cascades, clear as crystal
+in their fall, but broken at the bottom into frothy surges.
+Innumerable confused sounds issue from these watery tumults, which,
+borne by the winds across the forest, now sink in distance, now all at
+once swell out, booming on the ear like the bells of a cathedral. The
+air, kept ever in motion by the running water, preserves upon the
+banks of the river, amid all the summer heats, a freshness and verdure
+rarely found in this island, even on the summits of the mountains.
+
+At some distance from this place is a rock, placed far enough from the
+cascade to prevent the ear from being deafened with the noise of its
+waters, and sufficiently near for the enjoyment of seeing it, of
+feeling its coolness, and hearing its gentle murmurs. Thither, amidst
+the heats of summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia, Paul, and
+myself, sometimes repaired, to dine beneath the shadow of this rock.
+Virginia, who always, in her most ordinary actions, was mindful of the
+good of others, never ate of any fruit in the fields without planting
+the seed or kernel in the ground. "From this," said she, "trees will
+come, which will yield their fruit to some traveller, or at least to
+some bird." One day, having eaten of the papaw fruit at the foot of
+that rock, she planted the seeds on the spot. Soon after, several
+papaw trees sprang up, among which was one with female blossoms, that
+is to say, a fruit-bearing tree. This tree, at the time of Virginia's
+departure, was scarcely as high as her knee; but, as it is a plant of
+rapid growth, in the course of two years it had gained the height of
+twenty feet, and the upper part of its stem was encircled by several
+rows of ripe fruit. Paul, wandering accidentally to the spot, was
+struck with delight at seeing this lofty tree, which had been planted
+by his beloved; but the emotion was transient, and instantly gave
+place to a deep melancholy, at this evidence of her long absence. The
+objects which are habitually before us do not bring to our minds an
+adequate idea of the rapidity of life; they decline insensibly with
+ourselves: but it is those we behold again, that most powerfully
+impress us with a feeling of the swiftness with which the tide of life
+flows on. Paul was no less over-whelmed and affected at the sight of
+this great papaw tree, loaded with fruit, than is the traveller when,
+after a long absence from his own country, he finds his contemporaries
+no more, but their children, whom he left at the breast, themselves
+now become fathers of families. Paul sometimes thought of cutting down
+the tree, which recalled too sensibly the distracting remembrance of
+Virginia's prolonged absence. At other times, contemplating it as a
+monument of her benevolence, he kissed its trunk, and apostrophized it
+in terms of the most passionate regret. Indeed, I have myself gazed
+upon it with more emotion and more veneration than upon the triumphal
+arches of Rome. May nature, which every day destroys the monuments of
+kingly ambition, multiply in our forests those which testify the
+beneficence of a poor young girl!
+
+At the foot of this papaw tree I was always sure to meet with Paul
+when he came into our neighbourhood. One day, I found him there
+absorbed in melancholy and a conversation took place between us, which
+I will relate to you, if I do not weary you too much by my long
+digressions; they are perhaps pardonable to my age and to my last
+friendships. I will relate it to you in the form of a dialogue, that
+you may form some idea of the natural good sense of this young man.
+You will easily distinguish the speakers, from the character of his
+questions and of my answers.
+
+/Paul./--I am very unhappy. Mademoiselle de la Tour has now been gone
+two years and eight months and a half. She is rich, and I am poor; she
+has forgotten me. I have a great mind to follow her. I will go to
+France; I will serve the king; I will make my fortune; and then
+Mademoiselle de la Tour's aunt will bestow her niece upon me when I
+shall have become a great lord.
+
+/The Old Man./--But, my dear friend, have not you told me that you are
+not of noble birth?
+
+/Paul./--My mother has told me so; but, as for myself, I know not what
+noble birth means. I never perceived that I had less than others, or
+that others had more than I.
+
+/The Old Man./--Obscure birth, in France, shuts every door of access
+to great employments; nor can you even be received among any
+distinguished body of men, if you labour under this disadvantage.
+
+/Paul./--You have often told me that it was one source of the
+greatness of France that her humblest subject might attain the highest
+honours; and you have cited to me many instances of celebrated men
+who, born in a mean condition, had conferred honour upon their
+country. It was your wish, then, by concealing the truth to stimulate
+my ardour?
+
+/The Old Man./--Never, my son, would I lower it. I told you the truth
+with regard to the past; but now, every thing has undergone a great
+change. Every thing in France is now to be obtained by interest alone;
+every place and employment is now become as it were the patrimony of a
+small number of families, or is divided among public bodies. The king
+is a sun, and the nobles and great corporate bodies surround him like
+so many clouds; it is almost impossible for any of his rays to reach
+you. Formerly, under less exclusive administrations, such phenomena
+have been seen. Then talents and merit showed themselves every where,
+as newly cleared lands are always loaded with abundance. But great
+kings, who can really form a just estimate of men, and choose them
+with judgment, are rare. The ordinary race of monarchs allow
+themselves to be guided by the nobles and people who surround them.
+
+/Paul./--But perhaps I shall find one of these nobles to protect me.
+
+/The Old Man./--To gain the protection of the great you must lend
+yourself to their ambition, and administer to their pleasures. You
+would never succeed; for, in addition to your obscure birth, you have
+too much integrity.
+
+/Paul./--But I will perform such courageous actions, I will be so
+faithful to my word, so exact in the performance of my duties, so
+zealous and so constant in my friendships, that I will render myself
+worthy to be adopted by some one of them. In the ancient histories,
+you have made me read, I have seen many examples of such adoptions.
+
+/The Old Man./--Oh, my young friend! among the Greeks and Romans, even
+in their decline, the nobles had some respect for virtue; but out of
+all the immense number of men, sprung from the mass of the people, in
+France, who have signalized themselves in every possible manner, I do
+not recollect a single instance of one being adopted by any great
+family. If it were not for our kings, virtue, in our country, would be
+eternally condemned as plebeian. As I said before, the monarch
+sometimes, when he perceives it, renders to it due honour; but in the
+present day, the distinctions which should be bestowed on merit are
+generally to be obtained by money alone.
+
+/Paul./--If I cannot find a nobleman to adopt me, I will seek to
+please some public body. I will espouse its interests and its
+opinions: I will make myself beloved by it.
+
+/The Old Man./--You will act then like other men?--you will renounce
+your conscience to obtain a fortune?
+
+/Paul./--Oh no! I will never lend myself to any thing but the truth.
+
+/The Old Man./--Instead of making yourself beloved, you would become
+an object of dislike. Besides, public bodies have never taken much
+interest in the discovery of truth. All opinions are nearly alike to
+ambitious men, provided only that they themselves can gain their ends.
+
+/Paul./--How unfortunate I am! Every thing bars my progress. I am
+condemned to pass my life in ignoble toil, far from Virginia.
+
+As he said this he sighed deeply.
+
+/The Old Man./--Let God be your patron, and mankind the public body
+you would serve. Be constantly attached to them both. Families,
+corporations, nations and kings have, all of them, their prejudices
+and their passions; it is often necessary to serve them by the
+practice of vice: God and mankind at large require only the exercise
+of the virtues.
+
+But why do you wish to be distinguished from other men? It is hardly a
+natural sentiment, for, if all men possessed it, every one would be at
+constant strife with his neighbour. Be satisfied with fulfilling your
+duty in the station in which Providence has placed you; be grateful
+for your lot, which permits you to enjoy the blessing of a quiet
+conscience, and which does not compel you, like the great, to let your
+happiness rest on the opinion of the little, or, like the little, to
+cringe to the great, in order to obtain the means of existence. You
+are now placed in a country and a condition in which you are not
+reduced to deceive or flatter any one, or debase yourself, as the
+greater part of those who seek their fortune in Europe are obliged to
+do; in which the exercise of no virtue is forbidden you; in which you
+may be, with impunity, good, sincere, well-informed, patient,
+temperate, chaste, indulgent to others' faults, pious and no shaft of
+ridicule be aimed at you to destroy your wisdom, as yet only in its
+bud. Heaven has given you liberty, health, a good conscience, and
+friends; kings themselves, whose favour you desire, are not so happy.
+
+/Paul./--Ah! I only want to have Virginia with me: without her I have
+nothing,--with her, I should possess all my desire. She alone is to me
+birth, glory, and fortune. But, since her relations will only give her
+to some one with a great name, I will study. By the aid of study and
+of books, learning and celebrity are to be attained. I will become a
+man of science: I will render my knowledge useful to the service of my
+country, without injuring any one, or owning dependence on any one. I
+will become celebrated, and my glory shall be achieved only by myself.
+
+/The Old Man./--My son, talents are a gift yet more rare than either
+birth or riches, and undoubtedly they are a greater good than either,
+since they can never be taken away from us, and that they obtain for
+us every where public esteem. But they may be said to be worth all
+that they cost us. They are seldom acquired but by every species of
+privation, by the possession of exquisite sensibility, which often
+produces inward unhappiness, and which exposes us without to the
+malice and persecutions of our contemporaries. The lawyer envies not,
+in France, the glory of the soldier, nor does the soldier envy that of
+the naval officer; but they will all oppose you, and bar your progress
+to distinction, because your assumption of superior ability will wound
+the self-love of them all. You say that you will do good to men; but
+recollect, that he who makes the earth produce a single ear of corn
+more, renders them a greater service than he who writes a book.
+
+/Paul./--Oh! she, then, who planted this papaw tree, has made a more
+useful and more grateful present to the inhabitants of these forests
+than if she had given them a whole library.
+
+So saying, he threw his arms around the tree, and kissed it with
+transport.
+
+/The Old Man./--The best of books,--that which preaches nothing but
+equality, brotherly love, charity, and peace,--the Gospel, has served
+as a pretext, during many centuries, for Europeans to let loose all
+their fury. How many tyrannies, both public and private, are still
+practised in its name on the face of the earth! After this, who will
+dare to flatter himself that any thing he can write will be of service
+to his fellow men? Remember the fate of most of the philosophers who
+have preached to them wisdom. Homer, who clothes it in such noble
+verse, asked for alms all his life. Socrates, whose conversation and
+example gave such admirable lessons to the Athenians, was sentenced by
+them to be poisoned. His sublime disciple, Plato was delivered over to
+slavery by the order of the very prince who protected him; and, before
+them, Pythagoras, whose humanity extended even to animals, was burned
+alive by the Crotoniates. What do I say?--many even of these
+illustrious names have descended to us disfigured by some traits of
+satire by which they became characterized, human ingratitude taking
+pleasure in thus recognising them; and if, in the crowd, the glory of
+some names is come down to us without spot or blemish, we shall find
+that they who have borne them have lived far from the society of their
+contemporaries; like those statues which are found entire beneath the
+soil in Greece and Italy, and which, by being hidden in the bosom of
+the earth, have escaped uninjured, from the fury of the barbarians.
+
+You see, then, that to acquire the glory which a turbulent literary
+career can give you, you must not only be virtuous, but ready, if
+necessary, to sacrifice life itself. But, after all, do not fancy that
+the great in France trouble themselves about such glory as this.
+Little do they care for literary men, whose knowledge brings them
+neither honours, nor power, nor even admission at court. Persecution,
+it is true, is rarely practised in this age, because it is habitually
+indifferent to every thing except wealth and luxury; but knowledge and
+virtue no longer lead to distinction, since every thing in the state
+is to be purchased with money. Formerly, men of letters were certain
+of reward by some place in the church, the magistracy, or the
+administration; now they are considered good for nothing but to write
+books. But this fruit of their minds, little valued by the world at
+large, is still worthy of its celestial origin. For these books is
+reserved the privilege of shedding lustre on obscure virtue, of
+consoling the unhappy, of enlightening nations, and of telling the
+truth even to kings. This is, unquestionably, the most august
+commission with which Heaven can honour a mortal upon this earth.
+Where is the author who would not be consoled for the injustice or
+contempt of those who are the dispensers of the ordinary gifts of
+fortune, when he reflects that his work may pass from age to age, from
+nation to nation, opposing a barrier to error and to tyranny; and
+that, from amidst the obscurity in which he has lived, there will
+shine forth a glory which will efface that of the common herd of
+monarchs, the monuments of whose deeds perish in oblivion,
+notwithstanding the flatterers who erect and magnify them?
+
+/Paul./--Ah! I am only covetous of glory to bestow it on Virginia, and
+render her dear to the whole world. But can you, who know so much,
+tell me whether we shall ever be married? I should like to be a very
+learned man, if only for the sake of knowing what will come to pass.
+
+/The Old Man./--Who would live, my son, if the future were revealed to
+him?--when a single anticipated misfortune gives us so much useless
+uneasiness--when the foreknowledge of one certain calamity is enough
+to embitter every day that precedes it! It is better not to pry too
+curiously, even into the things which surround us. Heaven, which has
+given us the power of reflection to foresee our necessities, gave us
+also those very necessities to set limits to its exercise.
+
+/Paul./--You tell me that with money people in Europe acquire
+dignities and honours. I will go, then, to enrich myself in Bengal,
+and afterwards proceed to Paris, and marry Virginia. I will embark at
+once.
+
+/The Old Man./--What! would you leave her mother and yours?
+
+/Paul./--Why, you yourself have advised my going to the Indies.
+
+/The Old Man./--Virginia was then here; but you are now the only means
+of support both of her mother and of your own.
+
+/Paul./--Virginia will assist them by means of her rich relation.
+
+/The Old Man./--The rich care little for those, from whom no honour is
+reflected upon themselves in the world. Many of them have relations
+much more to be pitied than Madame de la Tour, who, for want of their
+assistance, sacrifice their liberty for bread, and pass their lives
+immured within the walls of a convent.
+
+/Paul./--Oh, what a country is Europe! Virginia must come back here.
+What need has she of a rich relation? She was so happy in these huts;
+she looked so beautiful and so well dressed with a red handkerchief or
+a few flowers around her head! Return, Virginia! leave your sumptuous
+mansions and your grandeur, and come back to these rocks,--to the
+shade of these woods and of our cocoa trees. Alas! you are perhaps
+even now unhappy!"--and he began to shed tears. "My father," continued
+he, "hide nothing from me; if you cannot tell me whether I shall marry
+Virginia, tell me at least if she loves me still, surrounded as she is
+by noblemen who speak to the king, and who go to see her.
+
+/The Old Man./--Oh, my dear friend! I am sure, for many reasons, that
+she loves you; but above all, because she is virtuous. At these words
+he threw himself on my neck in a transport of joy.
+
+/Paul./--But do you think that the women of Europe are false, as they
+are represented in the comedies and books which you have lent me?
+
+/The Old Man./--Women are false in those countries where men are
+tyrants. Violence always engenders a disposition to deceive.
+
+/Paul./--In what way can men tyrannize over women?
+
+/The Old Man./--In giving them in marriage without consulting their
+inclinations;--in uniting a young girl to an old man, or a woman of
+sensibility to a frigid and indifferent husband.
+
+/Paul./--Why not join together those who are suited to each other,--
+the young to the young, and lovers to those they love?
+
+/The Old Man./--Because few young men in France have property enough
+to support them when they are married, and cannot acquire it till the
+greater part of their life is passed. While young, they seduce the
+wives of others, and when they are old, they cannot secure the
+affections of their own. At first, they themselves are deceivers: and
+afterwards, they are deceived in their turn. This is one of the
+reactions of that eternal justice, by which the world is governed; an
+excess on one side is sure to be balanced by one on the other. Thus,
+the greater part of Europeans pass their lives in this twofold
+irregularity, which increases everywhere in the same proportion that
+wealth is accumulated in the hands of a few individuals. Society is
+like a garden, where shrubs cannot grow if they are overshadowed by
+lofty trees; but there is this wide difference between them,--that the
+beauty of a garden may result from the admixture of a small number of
+forest trees, while the prosperity of a state depends on the multitude
+and equality of its citizens, and not on a small number of very rich
+men.
+
+/Paul./--But where is the necessity of being rich in order to marry?
+
+/The Old Man./--In order to pass through life in abundance, without
+being obliged to work.
+
+/Paul./--But why not work? I am sure I work hard enough.
+
+/The Old Man./--In Europe, working with your hands is considered a
+degradation; it is compared to the labour performed by a machine. The
+occupation of cultivating the earth is the most despised of all. Even
+an artisan is held in more estimation than a peasant.
+
+/Paul./--What! do you mean to say that the art which furnishes food
+for mankind is despised in Europe? I hardly understand you.
+
+/The Old Man./--Oh! it is impossible for a person educated according
+to nature to form an idea of the depraved state of society. It is easy
+to form a precise notion of order, but not of disorder. Beauty,
+virtue, happiness, have all their defined proportions; deformity,
+vice, and misery have none.
+
+/Paul./--The rich then are always very happy! They meet with no
+obstacles to the fulfilment of their wishes, and they can lavish
+happiness on those whom they love.
+
+/The Old Man./--Far from it, my son! They are, for the most part
+satiated with pleasure, for this very reason,--that it costs them no
+trouble. Have you never yourself experienced how much the pleasure of
+repose is increased by fatigue; that of eating, by hunger; or that of
+drinking, by thirst? The pleasure also of loving and being loved is
+only to be acquired by innumerable privations and sacrifices. Wealth,
+by anticipating all their necessities, deprives its possessors of all
+these pleasures. To this ennui, consequent upon satiety, may also be
+added the pride which springs from their opulence, and which is
+wounded by the most trifling privation, when the greatest enjoyments
+have ceased to charm. The perfume of a thousand roses gives pleasure
+but for a moment; but the pain occasioned by a single thorn endures
+long after the infliction of the wound. A single evil in the midst of
+their pleasures is to the rich like a thorn among flowers; to the
+poor, on the contrary, one pleasure amidst all their troubles is a
+flower among a wilderness of thorns; they have a most lively enjoyment
+of it. The effect of every thing is increased by contrast; nature has
+balanced all things. Which condition, after all, do you consider
+preferable,--to have scarcely any thing to hope, and every thing to
+fear, or to have every thing to hope and nothing to fear? The former
+condition is that of the rich, the latter, that of the poor. But
+either of these extremes is with difficulty supported by man, whose
+happiness consists in a middle station of life, in union with virtue.
+
+/Paul./--What do you understand by virtue?
+
+/The Old Man./--To you, my son, who support your family by your
+labour, it need hardly be defined. Virtue consists in endeavouring to
+do all the good we can to others, with an ultimate intention of
+pleasing God alone.
+
+/Paul./--Oh! how virtuous, then, is Virginia! Virtue led her to seek
+for riches, that she might practise benevolence. Virtue induced her to
+quit this island, and virtue will bring her back to it.
+
+The idea of her speedy return firing the imagination of this young
+man, all his anxieties suddenly vanished. Virginia, he was persuaded,
+had not written, because she would soon arrive. It took so little time
+to come from Europe with a fair wind! Then he enumerated the vessels
+which had made this passage of four thousand five hundred leagues in
+less than three months; and perhaps the vessel in which Virginia had
+embarked might not be more than two. Ship-builders were now so
+ingenious, and sailors were so expert! He then talked to me of the
+arrangements he intended to make for her reception, of the new house
+he would build for her, and of the pleasures and surprises which he
+would contrive for her every day, when she was his wife. His wife! The
+idea filled him with ecstasy. "At least, my dear father," said he,
+"you shall then do no more work than you please. As Virginia will be
+rich, we shall have plenty of negroes, and they shall work for you.
+You shall always live with us, and have no other care than to amuse
+yourself and be happy;"--and, his heart throbbing with joy, he flew to
+communicate these exquisite anticipations to his family.
+
+In a short time, however, these enchanting hopes were succeeded by the
+most cruel apprehensions. It is always the effect of violent passions
+to throw the soul into opposite extremes. Paul returned the next day
+to my dwelling, overwhelmed with melancholy, and said to me,--"I hear
+nothing from Virginia. Had she left Europe she would have written me
+word of her departure. Ah! the reports which I have heard concerning
+her are but too well founded. Her aunt has married her to some great
+lord. She, like others, has been undone by the love of riches. In
+those books which paint women so well, virtue is treated but as a
+subject of romance. If Virginia had been virtuous, she would never
+have forsaken her mother and me. I do nothing but think of her, and
+she has forgotten me. I am wretched, and she is diverting herself. The
+thought distracts me; I cannot bear myself! Would to Heaven that war
+were declared in India! I would go there and die."
+
+"My son," I answered, "that courage which prompts us to court death is
+but the courage of a moment, and is often excited by the vain applause
+of men, or by the hopes of posthumous renown. There is another
+description of courage, rarer and more necessary, which enables us to
+support, without witness and without applause, the vexations of life;
+this virtue is patience. Relying for support, not upon the opinions of
+others, or the impulse of the passions, but upon the will of God,
+patience is the courage of virtue."
+
+"Ah!" cried he, "I am then without virtue! Every thing overwhelms me
+and drives me to despair."--"Equal, constant, and invariable virtue,"
+I replied, "belongs not to man. In the midst of the many passions
+which agitate us, our reason is disordered and obscured: but there is
+an everburning lamp, at which we can rekindle its flame; and that is,
+literature.
+
+"Literature, my dear son, is the gift of Heaven, a ray of that wisdom
+by which the universe is governed, and which man, inspired by a
+celestial intelligence, has drawn down to earth. Like the rays of the
+sun, it enlightens us, it rejoices us, it warms us with a heavenly
+flame, and seems, in some sort, like the element of fire, to bend all
+nature to our use. By its means we are enabled to bring around us all
+things, all places, all men, and all times. It assists us to regulate
+our manners and our life. By its aid, too, our passions are calmed,
+vice is suppressed, and virtue encouraged by the memorable examples of
+great and good men which it has handed down to us, and whose time-
+honoured images it ever brings before our eyes. Literature is a
+daughter of Heaven who has descended upon earth to soften and to charm
+away all the evils of the human race. The greatest writers have ever
+appeared in the worst times,--in times in which society can hardly be
+held together,--the times of barbarism and every species of depravity.
+My son, literature has consoled an infinite number of men more unhappy
+than yourself: Xenophon, banished from his country after having saved
+to her ten thousand of her sons; Scipio Africanus, wearied to death by
+the calumnies of the Romans; Lucullus, tormented by their cabals; and
+Catinat, by the ingratitude of a court. The Greeks, with their never-
+failing ingenuity, assigned to each of the Muses a portion of the
+great circle of human intelligence for her especial superintendence;
+we ought in the same manner, to give up to them the regulation of our
+passions, to bring them under proper restraint. Literature in this
+imaginative guise, would thus fulfil, in relation to the powers of the
+soul, the same functions as the Hours, who yoked and conducted the
+chariot of the Sun.
+
+"Have recourse to your books, then, my son. The wise who have written
+before our days are travellers who have preceded us in the paths of
+misfortune, and who stretch out a friendly hand towards us, and invite
+us to join in their society, when we are abandoned by every thing
+else. A good book is a good friend."
+
+"Ah!" cried Paul, "I stood in no need of books when Virginia was here,
+and she had studied as little as myself; but when she looked at me,
+and called me her friend, I could not feel unhappy."
+
+"Undoubtedly," said I, "there is no friend so agreeable as a mistress
+by whom we are beloved. There is, moreover, in woman a liveliness and
+gaiety, which powerfully tend to dissipate the melancholy feelings of
+a man; her presence drives away the dark phantoms of imagination
+produced by over-reflection. Upon her countenance sit soft attraction
+and tender confidence. What joy is not heightened when it is shared by
+her? What brow is not unbent by her smiles? What anger can resist her
+tears? Virginia will return with more philosophy than you, and will be
+quite surprised to find the garden so unfinished;--she who could think
+of its embellishments in spite of all the persecutions of her aunt,
+and when far from her mother and from you."
+
+The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated the drooping spirits
+of her lover, and he resumed his rural occupations, happy amidst his
+toils, in the reflection that they would soon find a termination so
+dear to the wishes of his heart.
+
+One morning, at break of day, (it was the 24th of December, 1744,)
+Paul, when he arose, perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain
+of Discovery. This flag he knew to be the signal of a vessel descried
+at sea. He instantly flew to the town to learn if this vessel brought
+any tidings of Virginia, and waited there till the return of the
+pilot, who was gone, according to custom, to board the ship. The pilot
+did not return till the evening, when he brought the governor
+information that the signalled vessel was the Saint-Geran, of seven
+hundred tons burthen, and commanded by a captain of the name of Aubin;
+that she was now four leagues out at sea, but would probably anchor at
+Port Louis the following afternoon, if the wind became fair: at
+present there was a calm. The pilot then handed to the governor a
+number of letters which the Saint-Geran had brought from France, among
+which was one addressed to Madame de la Tour, in the hand-writing of
+Virginia. Paul seized upon the letter, kissed it with transport, and
+placing it in his bosom, flew to the plantation. No sooner did he
+perceive from a distance the family, who were awaiting his return upon
+the rock of Adieus than he waved the letter aloft in the air, without
+being able to utter a word. No sooner was the seal broken, than they
+all crowded round Madame de la Tour, to hear the letter read. Virginia
+informed her mother that she had experienced much ill-usage from her
+aunt, who, after having in vain urged her to a marriage against her
+inclination, had disinherited her, and had sent her back at a time
+when she would probably reach the Mauritius during the hurricane
+season. In vain, she added, had she endeavoured to soften her aunt, by
+representing what she owed to her mother, and to her early habits; she
+was treated as a romantic girl, whose head had been turned by novels.
+She could now only think of the joy of again seeing and embracing her
+beloved family, and would have gratified her ardent desire at once, by
+landing in the pilot's boat, if the captain had allowed her: but that
+he had objected, on account of the distance, and of a heavy swell,
+which, notwithstanding the calm, reigned in the open sea.
+
+As soon as the letter was finished, the whole of the family,
+transported with joy, repeatedly exclaimed, "Virginia is arrived!" and
+mistresses and servants embraced each other. Madame de la Tour said to
+Paul,--"My son, go and inform our neighbour of Virginia's arrival."
+Domingo immediately lighted a torch of bois de ronde, and he and Paul
+bent their way towards my dwelling.
+
+It was about ten o'clock at night, and I was just going to extinguish
+my lamp, and retire to rest, when I perceived, through the palisades
+round my cottage, a light in the woods. Soon after, I heard the voice
+of Paul calling me. I instantly arose, and had hardly dressed myself,
+when Paul, almost beside himself, and panting for breath, sprang on my
+neck, crying,--"Come along, come along. Virginia is arrived. Let us go
+to the port; the vessel will anchor at break of day."
+
+Scarcely had he uttered the words, when we set off. As we were passing
+through the woods of the Sloping Mountain, and were already on the
+road which leads from the Shaddock Grove to the port, I heard some one
+walking behind us. It proved to be a negro, and he was advancing with
+hasty steps. When he had reached us, I asked him whence he came, and
+whither he was going with such expedition. He answered, "I come from
+that part of the island called Golden Dust; and am sent to the port,
+to inform the governor that a ship from France has anchored under the
+Isle of Amber. She is firing guns of distress, for the sea is very
+rough." Having said this, the man left us, and pursued his journey
+without any further delay.
+
+I then said to Paul,--"Let us go towards the quarter of the Golden
+Dust, and meet Virginia there. It is not more than three leagues from
+hence." We accordingly bent our course towards the northern part of
+the island. The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and was
+surrounded by three large black circles. A frightful darkness shrouded
+the sky; but the frequent flashes of lightning discovered to us long
+rows of thick and gloomy clouds, hanging very low, and heaped together
+over the centre of the island, being driven in with great rapidity
+from the ocean, although not a breath of air was perceptible upon the
+land. As we walked along, we thought we heard peals of thunder; but,
+on listening more attentively, we perceived that it was the sound of
+cannon at a distance, repeated by the echoes. These ominous sounds,
+joined to the tempestuous aspect of the heavens, made me shudder. I
+had little doubt of their being signals of distress from a ship in
+danger. In about half an hour the firing ceased, and I found the
+silence still more appalling than the dismal sounds which had preceded
+it.
+
+We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate to
+each other our mutual apprehensions. At midnight, by great exertion,
+we arrived at the sea shore, in that part of the island called Golden
+Dust. The billows were breaking against the bench with a horrible
+noise, covering the rocks and the strand with foam of a dazzling
+whiteness, blended with sparks of fire. By these phosphoric gleams we
+distinguished, notwithstanding the darkness, a number of fishing
+canoes, drawn up high upon the beach.
+
+At the entrance of a wood, a short distance from us, we saw a fire,
+round which a party of the inhabitants were assembled. We repaired
+thither, in order to rest ourselves till the morning. While we were
+seated near the fire, one of the standers-by related, that late in the
+afternoon he had seen a vessel in the open sea, driven towards the
+island by the currents; that the night had hidden it from his view;
+and that two hours after sunset he had heard the firing of signal guns
+of distress, but that the surf was so high, that it was impossible to
+launch a boat to go off to her; that a short time after, he thought he
+perceived the glimmering of the watch-lights on board the vessel,
+which, he feared, by its having approached so near the coast, had
+steered between the main land and the little island of Amber,
+mistaking the latter for the Point of Endeavour, near which vessels
+pass in order to gain Port Louis; and that, if this were the case,
+which, however, he would not take upon himself to be certain of, the
+ship, he thought, was in very great danger. Another islander informed
+us, that he had frequently crossed the channel which separates the
+isle of Amber from the coast, and had sounded it, that the anchorage
+was very good, and that the ship would there lie as safely as in the
+best harbour. "I would stake all I am worth upon it," said he, "and if
+I were on board, I should sleep as sound as on shore." A third
+bystander declared that it was impossible for the ship to enter that
+channel, which was scarcely navigable for a boat. He was certain, he
+said, that he had seen the vessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber;
+so that, if the wind rose in the morning, she would either put to sea,
+or gain the harbour. Other inhabitants gave different opinions upon
+this subject, which they continued to discuss in the usual desultory
+manner of the indolent Creoles. Paul and I observed a profound
+silence. We remained on this spot till break of day, but the weather
+was too hazy to admit of our distinguishing any object at sea, every
+thing being covered with fog. All we could descry to seaward was a
+dark cloud, which they told us was the isle of Amber, at the distance
+of a quarter of a league from the coast. On this gloomy day we could
+only discern the point of land on which we were standing, and the
+peaks of some inland mountains, which started out occasionally from
+the midst of the clouds that hung around them.
+
+At about seven in the morning we heard the sound of drums in the
+woods: it announced the approach of the governor, Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais, who soon after arrived on horseback, at the head of a
+detachment of soldiers armed with muskets, and a crowd of islanders
+and negroes. He drew up his soldiers upon the beach, and ordered them
+to make a general discharge. This was no sooner done, than we
+perceived a glimmering light upon the water which was instantly
+followed by the report of a cannon. We judged that the ship was at no
+great distance and all ran towards that part whence the light and
+sound proceeded. We now discerned through the fog the hull and yards
+of a large vessel. We were so near to her, that notwithstanding the
+tumult of the waves, we could distinctly hear the whistle of the
+boatswain, and the shouts of the sailors, who cried out three times,
+VIVE LE ROI! this being the cry of the French in extreme danger, as
+well as in exuberant joy;--as though they wished to call their princes
+to their aid, or to testify to him that they are prepared to lay down
+their lives in his service.
+
+As soon as the Saint-Geran perceived that we were near enough to
+render her assistance, she continued to fire guns regularly at
+intervals of three minutes. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great
+fires to be lighted at certain distances upon the strand, and sent to
+all the inhabitants of the neighbourhood, in search of provisions,
+planks, cables, and empty barrels. A number of people soon arrived,
+accompanied by their negroes loaded with provisions and cordage, which
+they had brought from the plantations of Golden Dust, from the
+district of La Flaque, and from the river of the Ram part. One of the
+most aged of these planters, approaching the governor, said to him,--
+"We have heard all night hollow noises in the mountain; in the woods,
+the leaves of the trees are shaken, although there is no wind; the
+sea-birds seek refuge upon the land: it is certain that all these
+signs announce a hurricane." "Well, my friends," answered the
+governor, "we are prepared for it, and no doubt the vessel is also."
+
+Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. The
+centre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while their
+skirts were tinged with a copper-coloured hue. The air resounded with
+the cries of the tropic-birds, petrels, frigate-birds, and innumerable
+other sea-fowl, which notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere,
+were seen coming from every point of the horizon, to seek for shelter
+in the island.
+
+Towards nine in the morning we heard in the direction of the ocean the
+most terrific noise, like the sound of thunder mingled with that of
+torrents rushing down the steeps of lofty mountains. A general cry was
+heard of, "There is the hurricane!" and the next moment a frightful
+gust of wind dispelled the fog which covered the isle of Amber and its
+channel. The Saint-Geran then presented herself to our view, her deck
+crowded with people, her yards and topmasts lowered down, and her flag
+half-mast high, moored by four cables at her bow and one at her stern.
+She had anchored between the isle of Amber and the main land, inside
+the chain of reefs which encircles the island, and which she had
+passed through in a place where no vessel had ever passed before. She
+presented her head to the waves that rolled in from the open sea, and
+as each billow rushed into the narrow strait where she lay, her bow
+lifted to such a degree as to show her keel; and at the same moment
+her stern, plunging into the water, disappeared altogether from our
+sight, as if it were swallowed up by the surges. In this position,
+driven by the winds and waves towards the shore, it was equally
+impossible for her to return by the passage through which she had made
+her way; or, by cutting her cables, to strand herself upon the beach,
+from which she was separated by sandbanks and reefs of rocks. Every
+billow which broke upon the coast advanced roaring to the bottom of
+the bay, throwing up heaps of shingle to the distance of fifty feet
+upon the land; then, rushing back, laid bare its sandy bed, from which
+it rolled immense stones, with a hoarse and dismal noise. The sea,
+swelled by the violence of the wind, rose higher every moment; and the
+whole channel between this island and the isle of Amber was soon one
+vast sheet of white foam, full of yawning pits of black and deep
+billows. Heaps of this foam, more than six feet high, were piled up at
+the bottom of the bay; and the winds which swept its surface carried
+masses of it over the steep sea-bank, scattering it upon the land to
+the distance of half a league. These innumerable white flakes, driven
+horizontally even to the very foot of the mountains, looked like snow
+issuing from the bosom of the ocean. The appearance of the horizon
+portended a lasting tempest; the sky and the water seemed blended
+together. Thick masses of clouds, of a frightful form, swept across
+the zenith with the swiftness of birds, while others appeared
+motionless as rocks. Not a single spot of blue sky could be discerned
+in the whole firmament; and a pale yellow gleam only lightened up all
+the objects of the earth, the sea, and the skies.
+
+From the violent rolling of the ship, what we all dreaded happened at
+last. The cables which held her bow were torn away: she then swung to
+a single hawser, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the
+distance of half a cable's length from the shore. A general cry of
+horror issued from the spectators. Paul rushed forward to throw
+himself into the sea, when, seizing him by the arm, "My son," I
+exclaimed, "would you perish?"--"Let me go to save her," he cried, "or
+let me die!" Seeing that despair had deprived him of reason, Domingo
+and I, in order to preserve him, fastened a long cord around his
+waist, and held it fast by the end. Paul then precipitated himself
+towards the Saint-Geran, now swimming, and now walking upon the rocks.
+Sometimes he had hopes of reaching the vessel, which the sea, by the
+reflux of its waves, had left almost dry, so that you could have
+walked round it on foot; but suddenly the billows, returning with
+fresh fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of water, which then lifted
+it upright upon its keel. The breakers at the same moment threw the
+unfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs bathed in blood, his
+bosom wounded, and himself half dead. The moment he had recovered the
+use of his senses, he arose, and returned with new ardour towards the
+vessel, the parts of which now yawned asunder from the violent strokes
+of the billows. The crew then, despairing of their safety, threw
+themselves in crowds into the sea, upon yards, planks, hen-coops,
+tables, and barrels. At this moment we beheld an object which wrung
+our hearts with grief and pity; a young lady appeared in the stern-
+gallery of the Saint-Geran, stretching out her arms towards him who
+was making so many efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had
+discovered her lover by his intrepidity. The sight of this amiable
+girl, exposed to such horrible danger, filled us with unutterable
+despair. As for Virginia, with a firm and dignified mien, she waved
+her hand, as if bidding us an eternal farewell. All the sailors had
+flung themselves into the sea, except one, who still remained upon the
+deck, and who was naked, and strong as Hercules. This man approached
+Virginia with respect, and, kneeling at her feet, attempted to force
+her to throw off her clothes; but she repulsed him with modesty, and
+turned away her head. Then were heard redoubled cries from the
+spectators, "Save her!--save her!--do not leave her!" But at that
+moment a mountain billow, of enormous magnitude, ingulfed itself
+between the isle of Amber and the coast, and menaced the shattered
+vessel, towards which it rolled bellowing, with its black sides and
+foaming head. At this terrible sight the sailor flung himself into the
+sea; and Virginia, seeing death inevitable, crossed her hands upon her
+breast, and raising upwards her serene and beauteous eyes, seemed an
+angel prepared to take her flight to Heaven.
+
+Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the
+relentless billows. The surge threw some of the spectators, whom an
+impulse of humanity had prompted to advance towards Virginia, far upon
+the beach, and also the sailor who had endeavoured to save her life.
+This man, who had escaped from almost certain death, kneeling on the
+sand, exclaimed,--"Oh, my God! thou hast saved my life, but I would
+have given it willingly for that excellent young lady, who had
+persevered in not undressing herself as I had done." Domingo and I
+drew the unfortunate Paul to the ashore. He was senseless, and blood
+was flowing from his mouth and ears. The governor ordered him to be
+put into the hands of a surgeon, while we, on our part, wandered along
+the beach, in hopes that the sea would throw up the corpse of
+Virginia. But the wind having suddenly changed, as it frequently
+happens during hurricanes, our search was in vain; and we had the
+grief of thinking that we should not be able to bestow on this sweet
+and unfortunate girl the last sad duties. We retired from the spot
+overwhelmed with dismay, and our minds wholly occupied by one cruel
+loss, although numbers had perished in the wreck. Some of the
+spectators seemed tempted, from the fatal destiny of this virtuous
+girl, to doubt the existence of Providence: for there are in life such
+terrible, such unmerited evils, that even the hope of the wise is
+sometimes shaken.
+
+In the meantime Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to a
+house in the neighbourhood, till he was in a fit state to be removed
+to his own home. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, to discharge the
+melancholy duty of preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the
+disastrous event which had happened. When we had reached the entrance
+of the valley of the river of Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that
+the sea had thrown up many pieces of the wreck in the opposite bay. We
+descended towards it and one of the first objects that struck my sight
+upon the beach was the corpse of Virginia. The body was half covered
+with sand, and preserved the attitude in which we had seen her perish.
+Her features were not sensibly changed, her eyes were closed, and her
+countenance was still serene; but the pale purple hues of death were
+blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of her
+hands was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on
+her heart, was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with
+difficulty that I took from its grasp a small box. How great was my
+emotion when I saw that it contained the picture of Paul, which she
+had promised him never to part with while she lived! As for Domingo,
+he beat his breast, and pierced the air with his shrieks. With heavy
+hearts we then carried the body of Virginia to a fisherman's hut, and
+gave it in charge of some poor Malabar women, who carefully washed
+away the sand.
+
+While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended the
+hill with trembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la
+Tour and Margaret at prayer; hourly expecting to have tidings from the
+ship. As soon as Madame de la Tour saw me coming, she eagerly cried,--
+"Where is my daughter--my dear daughter--my child?" My silence and my
+tears apprised her of her misfortune. She was instantly seized with a
+convulsive stopping of the breath and agonizing pains, and her voice
+was only heard in sighs and groans. Margaret cried, "Where is my son?
+I do not see my son!" and fainted. We ran to her assistance. In a
+short time she recovered, and being assured that Paul was safe, and
+under the care of the governor, she thought of nothing but of
+succouring her friend, who recovered from one fainting fit only to
+fall into another. Madame de la Tour passed the whole night in these
+cruel sufferings, and I became convinced that there was no sorrow like
+that of a mother. When she recovered her senses, she cast a fixed,
+unconscious look towards heaven. In vain her friend and myself pressed
+her hands in ours: in vain we called upon her by the most tender
+names; she appeared wholly insensible to these testimonials of our
+affection, and no sound issued from her oppressed bosom, but deep and
+hollow moans.
+
+During the morning Paul was carried home in a palanquin. He had now
+recovered the use of his reason, but was unable to utter a word. His
+interview with his mother and Madame de la Tour, which I had dreaded,
+produced a better effect than all my cares. A ray of consolation
+gleamed on the countenances of the two unfortunate mothers. They
+pressed close to him, clasped him in their arms, and kissed him: their
+tears, which excess of anguish had till now dried up at the source,
+began to flow. Paul mixed his tears with theirs; and nature having
+thus found relief, a long stupor succeeded the convulsive pangs they
+had suffered, and afforded them a lethargic repose, which was in
+truth, like that of death.
+
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse
+of Virginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it
+was to be transferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I
+immediately went down to Port Louis, where I found a multitude
+assembled from all parts of the island, in order to be present at the
+funeral solemnity, as if the isle had lost that which was nearest and
+dearest to it. The vessels in the harbour had their yards crossed,
+their flags half-mast, and fired guns at long intervals. A body of
+grenadiers led the funeral procession, with their muskets reversed,
+their muffled drums sending forth slow and dismal sounds. Dejection
+was depicted in the countenance of these warriors, who had so often
+braved death in battle without changing colour. Eight young ladies of
+considerable families of the island, dressed in white, and bearing
+palm-branches in their hands, carried the corpse of their amiable
+companion, which was covered with flowers. They were followed by a
+chorus of children, chanting hymns, and by the governor, his field
+officers, all the principal inhabitants of the island, and an immense
+crowd of people.
+
+This imposing funeral solemnity had been ordered by the administration
+of the country, which was desirous of doing honour to the virtues of
+Virginia. But when the mournful procession arrived at the foot of this
+mountain, within sight of those cottages of which she had been so long
+an inmate and an ornament, diffusing happiness all around them, and
+which her loss had now filled with despair, the funeral pomp was
+interrupted, the hymns and anthems ceased, and the whole plain
+resounded with sighs and lamentations. Numbers of young girls ran from
+the neighbouring plantations, to touch the coffin of Virginia with
+their handkerchiefs, and with chaplets and crowns of flowers, invoking
+her as a saint. Mothers asked of heaven a child like Virginia; lovers,
+a heart as faithful; the poor, as tender a friend; and the slaves as
+kind a mistress.
+
+When the procession had reached the place of interment, some negresses
+of Madagascar and Caffres of Mozambique placed a number of baskets of
+fruit around the corpse, and hung pieces of stuff upon the adjoining
+trees, according to the custom of their several countries. Some Indian
+women from Bengal also, and from the coast of Malabar, brought cages
+full of small birds, which they set at liberty upon her coffin. Thus
+deeply did the loss of this amiable being affect the natives of
+different countries, and thus was the ritual of various religions
+performed over the tomb of unfortunate virtue.
+
+It became necessary to place guards round her grave, and to employ
+gentle force in removing some of the daughters of the neighbouring
+villagers, who endeavoured to throw themselves into it, saying that
+they had no longer any consolation to hope for in this world, and that
+nothing remained for them but to die with their benefactress.
+
+On the western side of the church of the Shaddock Grove is a small
+copse of bamboos, where, in returning from mass with her mother and
+Margaret, Virginia loved to rest herself, seated by the side of him
+whom she then called her brother. This was the spot selected for her
+interment.
+
+At his return from the funeral solemnity, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+came up here, followed by part of his numerous retinue. He offered
+Madame de la Tour and her friend all the assistance it was in his
+power to bestow. After briefly expressing his indignation at the
+conduct of her unnatural aunt, he advanced to Paul, and said every
+thing which he thought most likely to soothe and console him. "Heaven
+is my witness," said he, "that I wished to insure your happiness, and
+that of your family. My dear friend, you must go to France; I will
+obtain a commission for you, and during your absence I will take the
+same care of your mother as if she were my own." He then offered him
+his hand; but Paul drew away and turned his head aside, unable to bear
+his sight.
+
+I remained for some time at the plantation of my unfortunate friends,
+that I might render to them and Paul those offices of friendship that
+were in my power, and which might alleviate, though they could not
+heal the wounds of calamity. At the end of three weeks Paul was able
+to walk; but his mind seemed to droop in proportion as his body
+gathered strength. He was insensible to every thing; his look was
+vacant; and when asked a question, he made no reply. Madame de la
+Tour, who was dying said to him often,--"My son, while I look at you,
+I think I see my dear Virginia." At the name of Virginia he shuddered,
+and hastened away from her, notwithstanding the entreaties of his
+mother, who begged him to come back to her friend. He used to go alone
+into the garden, and seat himself at the foot of Virginia's cocoa-
+tree, with his eyes fixed upon the fountain. The governor's surgeon,
+who had shown the most humane attention to Paul and the whole family,
+told us that in order to cure the deep melancholy which had taken
+possession of his mind, we must allow him to do whatever he pleased,
+without contradiction: this, he said, afforded the only chance of
+overcoming the silence in which he persevered.
+
+I resolved to follow this advice. The first use which Paul made of his
+returning strength was to absent himself from the plantation. Being
+determined not to lose sight of him I set out immediately, and desired
+Domingo to take some provisions and accompany us. The young man's
+strength and spirits seemed renewed as he descended the mountain. He
+first took the road to the Shaddock Grove, and when he was near the
+church, in the Alley of Bamboos, he walked directly to the spot where
+he saw some earth fresh turned up; kneeling down there, and raising
+his eyes to heaven, he offered up a long prayer. This appeared to me a
+favourable symptom of the return of his reason; since this mark of
+confidence in the Supreme Being showed that his mind was beginning to
+resume its natural functions. Domingo and I, following his example,
+fell upon our knees, and mingled our prayers with his. When he arose,
+he bent his way, paying little attention to us, towards the northern
+part of the island. As I knew that he was not only ignorant of the
+spot where the body of Virginia had been deposited, but even of the
+fact that it had been recovered from the waves, I asked him why he had
+offered up his prayer at the foot of those bamboos. He answered,--"We
+have been there so often."
+
+He continued his course until we reached the borders of the forest,
+when night came on. I set him the example of taking some nourishment,
+and prevailed on him to do the same; and we slept upon the grass, at
+the foot of a tree. The next day I thought he seemed disposed to
+retrace his steps; for, after having gazed a considerable time from
+the plain upon the church of the Shaddock Grove, with its long avenues
+of bamboos, he made a movement as if to return home; but suddenly
+plunging into the forest, he directed his course towards the north. I
+guessed what was his design, and I endeavoured, but in vain, to
+dissuade him from it. About noon we arrived at the quarter of Golden
+Dust. He rushed down to the sea-shore, opposite to the spot where the
+Saint-Geran had been wrecked. At the sight of the isle of Amber, and
+its channel, when smooth as a mirror, he exclaimed,--"Virginia! oh my
+dear Virginia!" and fell senseless. Domingo and I carried him into the
+woods, where we had some difficulty in recovering him. As soon as he
+regained his senses, he wished to return to the sea-shore; but we
+conjured him not to renew his own anguish and ours by such cruel
+remembrances, and he took another direction. During a whole week he
+sought every spot where he had once wandered with the companion of his
+childhood. He traced the path by which she had gone to intercede for
+the slave of the Black River. He gazed again upon the banks of the
+river of the Three Breasts, where she had rested herself when unable
+to walk further, and upon that part of the wood where they had lost
+their way. All the haunts, which recalled to his memory the anxieties,
+the sports, the repasts, the benevolence of her he loved,--the river
+of the Sloping Mountain, my house, the neighbouring cascade, the papaw
+tree she had planted, the grassy fields in which she loved to run, the
+openings of the forest where she used to sing, all in succession
+called forth his tears; and those very echoes which had so often
+resounded with their mutual shouts of joy, now repeated only these
+accents of despair,--"Virginia! oh, my dear Virginia!"
+
+During this savage and wandering life, his eyes became sunk and
+hollow, his skin assumed a yellow tint, and his health rapidly
+declined. Convinced that our present sufferings are rendered more
+acute by the bitter recollection of bygone pleasures, and that the
+passions gather strength in solitude, I resolved to remove my
+unfortunate friend from those scenes which recalled the remembrance of
+his loss, and to lead him to a more busy part of the island. With this
+view, I conducted him to the inhabited part of the elevated quarter of
+Williams, which he had never visited, and where the busy pursuits of
+agriculture and commerce ever occasioned much bustle and variety.
+Numbers of carpenters were employed in hewing down and squaring trees,
+while others were sawing them into planks; carriages were continually
+passing and repassing on the roads; numerous herds of oxen and troops
+of horses were feeding on those wide-spread meadows, and the whole
+country was dotted with the dwellings of man. On some spots the
+elevation of the soil permitted the culture of many of the plants of
+Europe: the yellow ears of ripe corn waved upon the plains; strawberry
+plants grew in the openings of the woods, and the roads were bordered
+by hedges of rose-trees. The freshness of the air, too, giving tension
+to the nerves, was favourable to the health of Europeans. From those
+heights, situated near the middle of the island, and surrounded by
+extensive forests, neither the sea, nor Port Louis, nor the church of
+the Shaddock Grove, nor any other object associated with the
+remembrance of Virginia could de discerned. Even the mountains, which
+present various shapes on the side of Port Louis, appear from hence
+like a long promontory, in a straight and perpendicular line, from
+which arise lofty pyramids of rock, whose summits are enveloped in the
+clouds.
+
+Conducting Paul to these scenes, I kept him continually in action,
+walking with him in rain and sunshine, by day and by night. I
+sometimes wandered with him into the depths of the forests, or led him
+over untilled grounds, hoping that change of scene and fatigue might
+divert his mind from its gloomy meditations. But the soul of a lover
+finds everywhere the traces of the beloved object. Night and day, the
+calm of solitude and the tumult of crowds, are to him the same; time
+itself, which casts the shade of oblivion over so many other
+remembrances, in vain would tear that tender and sacred recollection
+from the heart. The needle, when touched by the loadstone, however it
+may have been moved from its position, is no sooner left to repose,
+than it returns to the pole of its attraction. So, when I inquired of
+Paul, as we wandered amidst the plains of Williams,--"Where shall we
+now go?" he pointed to the north, and said, "Yonder are our mountains;
+let us return home."
+
+I now saw that all the means I took to divert him from his melancholy
+were fruitless, and that no resource was left but an attempt to combat
+his passion by the arguments which reason suggested I answered him,--
+"Yes, there are the mountains where once dwelt your beloved Virginia;
+and here is the picture you gave her, and which she held, when dying,
+to her heart--that heart, which even in its last moments only beat for
+you." I then presented to Paul the little portrait which he had given
+to Virginia on the borders of the cocoa-tree fountain. At this sight a
+gloomy joy overspread his countenance. He eagerly seized the picture
+with his feeble hands, and held it to his lips. His oppressed bosom
+seemed ready to burst with emotion, and his eyes were filled with
+tears which had no power to flow.
+
+"My son," said I, "listen to one who is your friend, who was the
+friend of Virginia, and who, in the bloom of your hopes, has often
+endeavoured to fortify your mind against the unforeseen accidents of
+life. What do you deplore with so much bitterness? Is it your own
+misfortunes, or those of Virginia, which affect you so deeply?
+
+"Your own misfortunes are indeed severe. You have lost the most
+amiable of girls, who would have grown up to womanhood a pattern to
+her sex, one who sacrificed her own interests to yours: who preferred
+you to all that fortune could bestow, and considered you as the only
+recompense worthy of her virtues.
+
+"But might not this very object, from whom you expected the purest
+happiness, have proved to you a source of the most cruel distress? She
+had returned poor and disinherited; all you could henceforth have
+partaken with her was your labour. Rendered more delicate by her
+education, and more courageous by her misfortunes, you might have
+beheld her every day sinking beneath her efforts to share and lighten
+your fatigues. Had she brought you children, they would only have
+served to increase her anxieties and your own, from the difficulty of
+sustaining at once your aged parents and your infant family.
+
+"Very likely you will tell me that the governor would have helped you;
+but how do you know that in a colony where governors are so frequently
+changed, you would have had others like Monsieur de la Bourdonnais?--
+that one might not have been sent destitute of good feeling and of
+morality?--that your young wife, in order, to procure some miserable
+pittance, might not have been obliged to seek his favour? Had she been
+weak you would have been to be pitied; and if she had remained
+virtuous, you would have continued poor: forced even to consider
+yourself fortunate if, on account of the beauty and virtue of your
+wife, you had not to endure persecution from those who had promised
+you protection.
+
+"It would have remained to you, you may say, to have enjoyed a
+pleasure independent of fortune,--that of protecting a loved being,
+who, in proportion to her own helplessness, had more attached herself
+to you. You may fancy that your pains and sufferings would have served
+to endear you to each other, and that your passion would have gathered
+strength from your mutual misfortunes. Undoubtedly virtuous love does
+find consolation even in such melancholy retrospects. But Virginia is
+no more; yet those persons still live, whom, next to yourself, she
+held most dear; her mother, and your own: your inconsolable affliction
+is bringing them both to the grave. Place your happiness, as she did
+hers, in affording them succour. My son, beneficence is the happiness
+of the virtuous: there is no greater or more certain enjoyment on the
+earth. Schemes of pleasure, repose, luxuries, wealth, and glory are
+not suited to man, weak, wandering, and transitory as he is. See how
+rapidly one step towards the acquisition of fortune has precipitated
+us all to the lowest abyss of misery! You were opposed to it, it is
+true; but who would not have thought that Virginia's voyage would
+terminate in her happiness and your own? an invitation from a rich and
+aged relation, the advice of a wise governor, the approbation of the
+whole colony, and the well-advised authority of her confessor, decided
+the lot of Virginia. Thus do we run to our ruin, deceived even by the
+prudence of those who watch over us: it would be better, no doubt, not
+to believe them, nor even to listen to the voice or lean on the hopes
+of a deceitful world. But all men,--those you see occupied in these
+plains, those who go abroad to seek their fortunes, and those in
+Europe who enjoy repose from the labours of others, are liable to
+reverses! not one is secure from losing, at some period, all that he
+most values,--greatness, wealth, wife, children, and friends. Most of
+these would have their sorrow increased by the remembrance of their
+own imprudence. But you have nothing with which you can reproach
+yourself. You have been faithful in your love. In the bloom of youth,
+by not departing from the dictates of nature, you evinced the wisdom
+of a sage. Your views were just, because they were pure, simple, and
+disinterested. You had, besides, on Virginia, sacred claims which
+nothing could countervail. You have lost her: but it is neither your
+own imprudence, nor your avarice, nor your false wisdom which has
+occasioned this misfortune, but the will of God, who had employed the
+passions of others to snatch from you the object of your love; God,
+from whom you derive everything, who knows what is most fitting for
+you, and whose wisdom has not left you any cause for the repentance
+and despair which succeed the calamities that are brought upon us by
+ourselves.
+
+"Vainly, in your misfortunes, do you say to yourself, 'I have not
+deserved them.' Is it then the calamity of Virginia--her death and her
+present condition that you deplore? She has undergone the fate
+allotted to all,--to high birth, to beauty, and even to empires
+themselves. The life of man, with all his projects, may be compared to
+a tower, at whose summit is death. When your Virginia was born, she
+was condemned to die; happily for herself, she is released from life
+before losing her mother, or yours, or you; saved, thus from
+undergoing pangs worse than those of death itself.
+
+"Learn then, my son, that death is a benefit to all men: it is the
+night of that restless day we call by the name of life. The diseases,
+the griefs, the vexations, and the fears, which perpetually embitter
+our life as long as we possess it, molest us no more in the sleep of
+death. If you inquire into the history of those men who appear to have
+been the happiest, you will find that they have bought their apparent
+felicity very dear; public consideration, perhaps, by domestic evils;
+fortune, by the loss of health; the rare happiness of being loved, by
+continual sacrifices; and often, at the expiration of a life devoted
+to the good of others, they see themselves surrounded only by false
+friends, and ungrateful relations. But Virginia was happy to her very
+last moment. When with us, she was happy in partaking of the gifts of
+nature; when far from us, she found enjoyment in the practice of
+virtue; and even at the terrible moment in which we saw her perish,
+she still had cause for self-gratulation. For, whether she cast her
+eyes on the assembled colony, made miserable by her expected loss, or
+on you, my son, who, with so much intrepidity, were endeavouring to
+save her, she must have seen how dear she was to all. Her mind was
+fortified against the future by the remembrance of her innocent life;
+and at that moment she received the reward which Heaven reserves for
+virtue,--a courage superior to danger. She met death with a serene
+countenance.
+
+"My son! God gives all the trials of life to virtue, in order to show
+that virtue alone can support them, and even find in them happiness
+and glory. When he designs for it an illustrious reputation, he
+exhibits it on a wide theatre, and contending with death. Then does
+the courage of virtue shine forth as an example, and the misfortunes
+to which it has been exposed receive for ever, from posterity, the
+tribute of their tears. This is the immortal monument reserved for
+virtue in a world where every thing else passes away, and where the
+names, even of the greater number of kings themselves, are soon buried
+in eternal oblivion.
+
+"Meanwhile Virginia still exists. My son, you see that every thing
+changes on this earth, but that nothing is ever lost. No art of man
+can annihilate the smallest particle of matter; can, then, that which
+has possessed reason, sensibility, affection, virtue, and religion be
+supposed capable of destruction, when the very elements with which it
+is clothed are imperishable? Ah! however happy Virginia may have been
+with us, she is now much more so. There is a God, my son; it is
+unnecessary for me to prove it to you, for the voice of all nature
+loudly proclaims it. The wickedness of mankind leads them to deny the
+existence of a Being, whose justice they fear. But your mind is fully
+convinced of his existence, while his works are ever before your eyes.
+Do you then believe that he would leave Virginia without recompense?
+Do you think that the same Power which inclosed her noble soul in a
+form so beautiful,--so like an emanation from itself, could not have
+saved her from the waves?--that he who has ordained the happiness of
+man here, by laws unknown to you, cannot prepare a still higher degree
+of felicity for Virginia by other laws, of which you are equally
+ignorant? Before we were born into this world, could we, do you
+imagine, even if we were capable of thinking at all, have formed any
+idea of our existence here? And now that we are in the middle of this
+gloomy and transitory life, can we foresee what is beyond the tomb, or
+in what manner we shall be emancipated from it? Does God, like man,
+need this little globe, the earth, as a theatre for the display of his
+intelligence and his goodness?--and can he only dispose of human life
+in the territory of death? There is not, in the entire ocean, a single
+drop of water which is not peopled with living beings appertaining to
+man: and does there exist nothing for him in the heavens above his
+head? What! is there no supreme intelligence, no divine goodness,
+except on this little spot where we are placed? In those innumerable
+glowing fires,--in those infinite fields of light which surround them,
+and which neither storms nor darkness can extinguish, is there nothing
+but empty space and an eternal void? If we, weak and ignorant as we
+are, might dare to assign limits to that Power from whom we have
+received every thing, we might possibly imagine that we were placed on
+the very confines of his empire, where life is perpetually struggling
+with death, and innocence for ever in danger from the power of
+tyranny!
+
+"Somewhere, then, without doubt, there is another world, where virtue
+will receive its reward. Virginia is now happy. Ah! if from the abode
+of angels she could hold communication with you, she would tell you,
+as she did when she bade you her last adieus,--'O, Paul! life is but a
+scene of trial. I have been obedient to the laws of nature, love, and
+virtue. I crossed the seas to obey the will of my relations; I
+sacrificed wealth in order to keep my faith; and I preferred the loss
+of life to disobeying the dictates of modesty. Heaven found that I had
+fulfilled my duties, and has snatched me for ever from all the
+miseries I might have endured myself, and all I might have felt for
+the miseries of others. I am placed far above the reach of all human
+evils, and you pity me! I am become pure and unchangeable as a
+particle of light, and you would recall me to the darkness of human
+life! O, Paul! O, my beloved friend! recollect those days of
+happiness, when in the morning we felt the delightful sensations
+excited by the unfolding beauties of nature; when we seemed to rise
+with the sun to the peaks of those rocks, and then to spread with his
+rays over the bosom of the forests. We experienced a delight, the
+cause of which we could not comprehend. In the innocence of our
+desires, we wished to be all sight, to enjoy the rich colours of the
+early dawn; all smell, to taste a thousand perfumes at once; all
+hearing, to listen to the singing of our birds; and all heart, to be
+capable of gratitude for those mingled blessings. Now, at the source
+of the beauty whence flows all that is delightful upon earth, my soul
+intuitively sees, hears, touches, what before she could only be made
+sensible of through the medium of our weak organs. Ah! what language
+can describe these shores of eternal bliss, which I inhabit for ever!
+All that infinite power and heavenly goodness could create to console
+the unhappy: all that the friendship of numberless beings, exulting in
+the same felicity can impart, we enjoy in unmixed perfection. Support,
+then, the trial which is now allotted to you, that you may heighten
+the happiness of your Virginia by love which will know no termination,
+--by a union which will be eternal. There I will calm your regrets, I
+will wipe away your tears. Oh, my beloved friend! my youthful husband!
+raise your thoughts towards the infinite, to enable you to support the
+evils of a moment.' "
+
+My own emotion choked my utterance. Paul, looking at me steadfastly,
+cried,--"She is no more! she is no more!" and a long fainting fit
+succeeded these words of woe. When restored to himself, he said,
+"Since death is good, and since Virginia is happy, I will die too, and
+be united to Virginia." Thus the motives of consolation I had offered,
+only served to nourish his despair. I was in the situation of a man
+who attempts to save a friend sinking in the midst of a flood, and who
+obstinately refuses to swim. Sorrow had completely overwhelmed his
+soul. Alas! the trials of early years prepare man for the afflictions
+of after-life; but Paul had never experienced any.
+
+I took him back to his own dwelling, where I found his mother and
+Madame de la Tour in a state of increased languor and exhaustion, but
+Margaret seemed to droop the most. Lively characters, upon whom petty
+troubles have but little effect, sink the soonest under great
+calamities.
+
+"O my good friend," said Margaret, "I thought last night I saw
+Virginia, dressed in white, in the midst of groves and delicious
+gardens. She said to me, 'I enjoy the most perfect happiness:' and
+then approaching Paul with a smiling air, she bore him away with her.
+While I was struggling to retain my son, I felt that I myself too was
+quitting the earth, and that I followed with inexpressible delight. I
+then wished to bid my friend farewell, when I saw that she was
+hastening after me, accompanied by Mary and Domingo. But the strangest
+circumstance remains yet to be told; Madame de la Tour has this very
+night had a dream exactly like mine in every possible respect."
+
+"My dear friend," I replied, "nothing, I firmly believe, happens in
+this world without the permission of God. Future events, too, are
+sometimes revealed in dreams."
+
+Madame de la Tour then related to me her dream which was exactly the
+same as Margaret's in every particular; and as I had never observed in
+either of these ladies any propensity to superstition, I was struck
+with the singular coincidence of their dreams, and I felt convinced
+that they would soon be realized. The belief that future events are
+sometimes revealed to us during sleep, is one that is widely diffused
+among the nations of the earth. The greatest men of antiquity have had
+faith in it; among whom may be mentioned Alexander the Great, Julius
+Caesar, the Scipios, the two Catos, and Brutus, none of whom were
+weak-minded persons. Both the Old and the New Testament furnish us
+with numerous instances of dreams that came to pass. As for myself, I
+need only, on this subject, appeal to my experience, as I have more
+than once had good reason to believe that superior intelligences, who
+interest themselves in our welfare, communicate with us in these
+visions of the night. Things which surpass the light of human reason
+cannot be proved by arguments derived from that reason; but still, if
+the mind of man is an image of that of God, since man can make known
+his will to the ends of the earth by secret missives, may not the
+Supreme Intelligence which governs the universe employ similar means
+to attain a like end? One friend consoles another by a letter, which,
+after passing through many kingdoms, and being in the hands of various
+individuals at enmity with each other, brings at last joy and hope to
+the breast of a single human being. May not in like manner the
+Sovereign Protector of innocence come in some secret way, to the help
+of a virtuous soul, which puts its trust in Him alone? Has He occasion
+to employ visible means to effect His purpose in this, whose ways are
+hidden in all His ordinary works?
+
+Why should we doubt the evidence of dreams? for what is our life,
+occupied as it is with vain and fleeting imaginations, other than a
+prolonged vision of the night?
+
+Whatever may be thought of this in general, on the present occasion
+the dreams of my friends were soon realized. Paul expired two months
+after the death of his Virginia, whose name dwelt on his lips in his
+expiring moments. About a week after the death of her son, Margaret
+saw her last hour approach with that serenity which virtue only can
+feel. She bade Madame de la Tour a most tender farewell, "in the
+certain hope," she said, "of a delightful and eternal re-union. Death
+is the greatest of blessings to us," added she, "and we ought to
+desire it. If life be a punishment, we should wish for its
+termination; if it be a trial, we should be thankful that it is
+short."
+
+The governor took care of Domingo and Mary, who were no longer able to
+labour, and who survived their mistresses but a short time. As for
+poor Fidele, he pined to death, soon after he had lost his master.
+
+I afforded an asylum in my dwelling to Madame de la Tour, who bore up
+under her calamities with incredible elevation of mind. She had
+endeavoured to console Paul and Margaret till their last moments, as
+if she herself had no misfortunes of her own to bear. When they were
+not more, she used to talk to me every day of them as of beloved
+friends, who were still living near her. She survived them however,
+but one month. Far from reproaching her aunt for the afflictions she
+had caused, her benign spirit prayed to God to pardon her, and to
+appease that remorse which we heard began to torment her, as soon as
+she had sent Virginia away with so much inhumanity.
+
+Conscience, that certain punishment of the guilty, visited with all
+its terrors the mind of this unnatural relation. So great was her
+torment, that life and death became equally insupportable to her.
+Sometimes she reproached herself with the untimely fate of her lovely
+niece, and with the death of her mother, which had immediately
+followed it. At other times she congratulated herself for having
+repulsed far from her two wretched creatures, who, she said, had both
+dishonoured their family by their grovelling inclinations. Sometimes,
+at the sight of the many miserable objects with which Paris abounds,
+she would fly into a rage, and exclaim,--"Why are not these idle
+people sent off to the colonies?" As for the notions of humanity,
+virtue and religion, adopted by all nations, she said, they were only
+the inventions of their rulers, to serve political purposes. Then,
+flying all at once to the other extreme, she abandoned herself to
+superstitious terrors, which filled her with mortal fears. She would
+then give abundant alms to the wealthy ecclesiastics who governed her,
+beseeching them to appease the wrath of God by the sacrifice of her
+fortune,--as if the offering to Him of the wealth she had withheld
+from the miserable could please her Heavenly Father! In her
+imagination she often beheld fields of fire, with burning mountains,
+wherein hideous spectres wandered about, loudly calling on her by
+name. She threw herself at her confessor's feet, imagining every
+description of agony and torture; for Heaven--just Heaven, always
+sends to the cruel the most frightful views of religion and a future
+state.
+
+Atheist, thus, and fanatic in turn, holding both life and death in
+equal horror, she lived on for several years. But what completed the
+torments of her miserable existence, was that very object to which she
+had sacrificed every natural affection. She was deeply annoyed at
+perceiving that her fortune must go, at her death, to relations whom
+she hated, and she determined to alienate as much of it as she could.
+They, however, taking advantage of her frequent attacks of low
+spirits, caused her to be secluded as a lunatic, and her affairs to be
+put into the hands of trustees. Her wealth, thus completed her ruin;
+and, as the possession of it had hardened her own heart, so did its
+anticipation corrupt the hearts of those who coveted it from her. At
+length she died; and, to crown her misery, she retained enough reason
+at last to be sensible that she was plundered and despised by the very
+persons whose opinions had been her rule of conduct during her whole
+life.
+
+On the same spot, and at the foot of the same shrubs as his Virginia,
+was deposited the body of Paul; and round about them lie the remains
+of their tender mothers and their faithful servants. No marble marks
+the spot of their humble graves, no inscription records their virtues;
+but their memory is engraven upon the hearts of those whom they have
+befriended, in indelible characters. Their spirits have no need of the
+pomp, which they shunned during their life; but if they still take an
+interest in what passes upon earth, they no doubt love to wander
+beneath the roofs of these humble dwellings, inhabited by industrious
+virtue, to console poverty discontented with its lot, to cherish in
+the hearts of lovers the sacred flame of fidelity, and to inspire a
+taste for the blessings of nature, a love of honest labour, and a
+dread of the allurements of riches.
+
+The voice of the people, which is often silent with regard to the
+monuments raised to kings, has given to some parts of this island
+names which will immortalize the loss of Virginia. Near the isle of
+Amber, in the midst of sandbanks, is a spot called The Pass of the
+Saint-Geran, from the name of the vessel which was there lost. The
+extremity of that point of land which you see yonder, three leagues
+off, half covered with water, and which the Saint-Geran could not
+double the night before the hurricane, is called the Cape of
+Misfortune; and before us, at the end of the valley, is the Bay of the
+Tomb, where Virginia was found buried in the sand; as if the waves had
+sought to restore her corpse to her family, that they might render it
+the last sad duties on those shores where so many years of her
+innocent life had been passed.
+
+Joined thus in death, ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united!
+unfortunate mothers! beloved family! these woods which sheltered you
+with their foliage,--these fountains which flowed for you,--these
+hill-sides upon which you reposed, still deplore your loss! No one has
+since presumed to cultivate that desolate spot of land, or to rebuild
+those humble cottages. Your goats are become wild: your orchards are
+destroyed; your birds are all fled, and nothing is heard but the cry
+of the sparrow-hawk, as it skims in quest of prey around this rocky
+basin. As for myself, since I have ceased to behold you, I have felt
+friendless and alone, like a father bereft of his children, or a
+traveller who wanders by himself over the face of the earth.
+
+Ending with these words, the good old man retired, bathed in tears;
+and my own, too, had flowed more than once during this melancholy
+recital.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Paul and Virginia, by de Saint Pierre
+
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