and passed the whole winter with us; and in the spring, Harriet was delivered of that little girl you so much admire. I now pressed him to acknowledge my daughter as his wife. To this he answered, that, had she brought him a son, he would readily have complied with my request; but that his cousin was so great an oddity, that he could not bear the idea (to use his own expression) of having his fortune lavished in a milliner's shop:' but,' added he, if you insist upon it, I will now risk the loss of all his fortune, and introduce my Harriet to his presence.' Harriet, however, again interfered, and desired that Mr. H. might not be forced into measures that might in the end prove destructive of his future prospect, and induce him. to regret the day he ever saw her. These arguments prevailed, and Mr. H. was suffered to continue as a member of the family without any farther notice being taken of the subject. In this manner had three years elapsed undistinguished by any remarkable event, Mr. H. generally passing half the year with us, and the remainder in London, attending, as he said, on his cousin; when one day, as he was sitting with us at dinner, a chaise and four drove up to the house. The servants inquired for Mr. H. and on hearing he was there, opened the carriage door. A gentleman, dressed like an officer, jumped out, followed by a lady in a travelling dress; they rushed immediately into the room. Their appear'ance amazed us; but Mr. H. betrayed the most visible marks of consternation. The lady appeared to be about thirty. She was a woman by no means destitute of personal charms. The moment she entered the room, she seized upon Harriet, and, loading her with every horrible epithet, proceeded to indulge her passion by striking her innocent rival. On seeing this, an old servant of mine seized the lady, and forcibly turned her out of the house; then fastened the door. It was not till now that we perceived the absence of Mr. H. who had, it seems, retired with the lady's companion. Whilst we were still lost in amazement at the transaction we had just witnessed, we were alarmed to the highest pitch by the report of a pistol. Harriet instantly fainted. Whilst Mrs. T. was recovering her, I flew to the spot from whence the sound proceeded, and there found Mr. H. weltering in his blood, with a pistol lying by him. I approached, and found him still sensible. He informed me, that the lady's brother and he had fought, and that seeing him fall, they had both escaped as fast as possible. I instantly procured assistance, and conveyed him to the house, where he was put to bed, and a surgeon was sent for. In the mean time Harriet had several fits, and we were very apprehensive that the hour of her fate was approaching. On the arrival of the surgeon, he declared the wound Mr. H. had received would probably prove mortal, and recommended the arrangement of his affairs. Mr. H. received the news with great agony, and desired that I might be left alone with him. No sooner was this request granted, than he addressed me in the following terms: "In me, sir, behold the most unfortunate, and, alas! the most guilty of men. The lady, whose ill-timed visit has lost me my life, is, I tremble to pronounce the word,—my wife." Seeing me pale with horror, he proceeded: "No wonder, sir, that you should behold with horror one who has repaid unbounded hospitality by unequalled villany. The bare remembrance of my own guilt distracts me. The awful hour is now fast approaching, when I must receive my final doom from that Heaven whose laws I have so daringly violated. To redress the injuries I have committed is, alas! impossible. My death will be an atonement by no means sufficient. I cannot, however, leave this world till you shall be informed, that ten thousand pounds, the whole of my property that is at my disposal, has long ago been transferred by me into the hands of trustees, for the benefit of my much-injured Harriet, and her unhappy infant. In niy own defence, I have nothing to urge. Suffer me only to remark, that my misfortune arose from the avarice of my father, who forced me into a marriage with the woman you lately saw, and whose brother has been the instrument in the hand of Providence to inflict on me the doom I so much merited. If possible, conceal from Harriet that I was married. Picture, for her sake, an innocent deception, and tell her that I was only engaged to that lady. This will contribute to promote her repose, and the deception may possibly plead the merit of prolonging a life so dear to you: for the elevated mind of my Harriet would never survive the fatal discovery of my villany. But, oh! when my unhappy child shall ask the fate of him who gave her being, in pity draw a veil over that guilt which can scarcely hope to obtain the pardon of Heaven." There he ceased, and, uttering a short prayer, expired. Happily for Harriet, she continued in a state of insensibility for three days, during which time I had the body removed to a neighbourVOL. II. F A ing house, there to wait for interment. Having addressed a letter to Mr. H.'s agent in town, he sent orders for the body to be removed to the family burying-place, where it was accordingly interred. Harriet recovered by slow degrees from the state of happy insensibility into which the death of Mr. H. had plunged her. Her grief became silent and settled. Groans and exclamations now gave way to sighs and the bitter tears of desponding grief. She seldom or never spoke; but would cry for hours together over her hapless infant, then call on the shadow of her departed Henry, little suspecting the irreparable injury he had done her. It was with infinite anxiety I beheld the decline of Harriet's .health. Prone as we ever are to hope what we ardently desire, I now despaired of her recovery. Whilst in a state of hopeless inactivity, I was doomed to witness the lingering death of my lamented Harriet, I received a visit from an old friend. On his arrival, I allotted him the apartment formerly inhabited by Mr. H. and Harriet. About midnight he was awoke by some one entering the apartment. On removing the curtain, he discovered, by the light of the moon, my adored Harriet, in a white dress. Her eyes were open, but had a vacant look, that plainly proved she was not awake. She advanced with a slow step; then seating herself at the foot of the bed, remained there an hour, weeping bitterly the whole time, but without uttering a word. My friend, fearful of the consequences, forbore to awake her, and she retired with the same deliberate step she had entered. This intelligence alarmed me excessively. On the next night she was watched, and the same scene was repeated, with this difference, that, after quitting the fatal apartment, she went to the room where her daughter usually slept, and, laying herself down on the bed, wept over the child for some time; then returned to her apartment. The next morning we waited with anxiety for her appearance at breakfast; but, alas !"-Here a flood of tears afforded to my friend that relief which he so much needed; and we returned to the house. After passing some days with this worthy couple, I proceeded on my tour; quitting, with reluctance, the abode of sorrow and resignation.-Those whom the perusal of this tale may interest, will, if ever they visit the banks of the Alna, find that the author has copied his characters from nature. X. BERKELEY. No. XXXIX. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1787. Τυμβῳτε στηλητε το γαρ γέρας εστι θανόντων. Iliad, xvi. 457. What honours mortals after death receive, Pope. THAT fame is the universal passion is by nothing more conspicuously discovered than by epitaphs. The generality of mankind are not content to sink |