The bare idea that this meekest, humblést, and most amiable of women, who would not have injured a worm, could dream in her last moments of needing our forgiveness, overcame us with such a gush of tenderness, that our tears fell fast upon her hands. If you love me,' she continued, I beseech you to be calm: look at me; I am not agitated, not unhappy. God bless you, my husband! God bless you, my daughter! Bear my last blessing to my poor boy, to my dear Reuben, if you ever see him again!

"She paused to gather strength, and then turning to me, added, "I should wish to be buried in the little chapel where I have most tasted the consolations of that religion by which I have been all along sustained !'

1

"Her mild eyes were fixed upwards, as if contemplating the heaven to which she was about to wing her flight; her lips continued to move for some time longer in inaudible prayer, and in this attitude did the dear saint, calmly and without suffering, finally yield up her gentle spirit. tot

I

With my own land's did I dig her grave on the spot pointed out by herself with my own hands did I throw down the earth upon the corpse of her who for so many years had form. ed the chief solace of my life, whose never met mine but with the fonds beam of

eye

had

affection, whose accents had never fallen upon mine ear but to soothe and comfort me. It was evening when I committed her to the dust, and the rejoicing splendours and glory of the fir mament formed a sad contrast to the gloom that reigned within my bosom; my sun seemed to be setting in dark despair, while that of the sky was sinking gladly down amid unparalleled magnificence. Methought it lingered that it might throw a parting ray into the open grave before it was closed for ever; and the pale moon came forth to peer down upon the burialplace; and the constellations hung glimmering over it; and ere I left the spot a faint and dis tant hallelujah seemed to float upon mine ear; as if the heavenly choir were celebrating the arrival of the disembodied spirit in the blissful mansions of the sky. In

"My own agony at this disruption would probably have been more acute, but that I was compelled to wrestle with and conceal it, that I might not aggravate the distress of Agnes, who, with the usual vehemence of her feelings, abandoned herself in the first instance to a passionate burst of grief. When this gush of affection had in some degree subsided, I observed that she gave herself up to the hope of deliverance from a captivity which had become doubly hateful to her, with a yearning of the whole soul, an unrelaxing anxiety of hope, that amounted to a perfect fever of impatience.

"The intense heats were now about to be tempered. The low moaning noise of the West winds raising up the sea gradually increased to a roar; the moisture exhaled from the surrounding ocean spread over the island like a dark canopy, the thunder burst from its dense prison, and the rain descended upon the parched earth in torrents, which for some days were only relaxed by occasional gleams of sunshine lighting up the most brilliant rainbows upon the sides of the hills. Sheltered in the Hermitage during this

tempestuous season, I naturally wished to intermit "our" diurnal visits to the observatory, as we sometimes called it, near the little chapel, but Agnes would not listen to the remission of a single day, hardly of an hour. In vain did I implore her, since she had set her heart upon the continuance of this duty, to allow me to perform it, offering to visit the hill three times a-day, if she would only refrain from braving the elements herself. Whenever it was

her turn to go she produced her talipot-um

brella, and set off without e

t'even

listening to my entreaties. Delicate, timid, obedient as she had

ever been, her mind seemed now to

be under.

going a change. Whatever she resolved upon

h a calm resolute earnest.

she persevered in with a c

ness that might almost be called obstinacy; and

opposition did but irritate her fervid and sensi

was but the out

tive
ve nature. Poor child! it was'

breaking of her misery! her natural temper was

amiability itself.

botsybas bad I ristiw

Anxious, however, to prevent that t

'daily ex

posure to the rains under which I was sure her

stitution must suffer, as well as to terminate

that quivering suspense and sickness of prolonged hope which I considered equally injurious to her mind, I determined to wean her from her visits by expressing my opinion of their inuti lity, and endeavouring to reconcile her to the idea of our remaining for ever upon the island. This was perhaps a hazardous experiment, but feeling it to be a necessary one, I proceeded to execute it with all possible caution. After several preliminary hints, intended as preparatives, I expatiated at some length upon the happiness of our lot, and ended with stating my perfect conviction that it was utterly hopeless to look for any deliverance. She had listened to me in silence, but when I arrived at this conclusion I heard a deep groan, and she sunk down at my feet in an hysterical fit.

"At first I bitterly regretted the imprudence of my proceeding, but when she came to herself, and instead of giving way to that ebullient grief which I had anticipated, exhibited a calm and settled resignation, I congratulated myself on the success of my painful corrective. To the observatory indeed she no longer repeated her