farthest borders of Franconia; and had got fo far on his return home, when his afs died. Every one feemed de firous to know what bufinefs could have taken fo old and poor a man fo far a journey from his own home. It had pleafed Heaven, he said, to blefs him with three fons, the finest lads in all Germany; but having in one week loft two of the eldest of them by the fmall-pox, and the youngest falling ill of the fame diftemper, he was afraid of being bereft of them ali; and made a vow, if Heaven would not take him from him alfo, he would go in gratitude to St. Iago in Spain. When the mourner got thus far on his ftory, he stopped to pay nature her tribute and wept bitterly. He said, Heaven had accepted the conditions, and that he had fet out from his cottage with this poor creature, who had been a patient partner of his journey that it had eat the fame bread with him all the way, and was unto him as a friend. La Every body who stood about, heard the poor fellow with concern. Fleur offered him money The mourner said, he did not want it-it was not the value of the afs, but the lofs of him. The afs, he faid, he was affured, loved him-and upon this told them a long ftory of a mifchance upon their paffage over the Pyrenean mountains, which had feparated them from each other three days; during which time the afs had fought him as much as he had fought the afs, and that they had neither fcarce eat or drank till they met. Thou hast one comfort, friend,' faid I, at leaft, in the lofs of thy Por beaft, I am fure thou hast been a merciful master to him.' Alas!' faid the mournier, I thought fo, when he was alive-but now that he is dead, I think otherwife.I fear the weight of myfelf and my afflictions together have been too much for him they have fhortened the poor creature's days, and I fear I have them to anfwer for. Shame on the world!' faid I to myself; did we love each other, as this poor foul but loved his afs-it would be something.' HE concern which the poor fel Tlow's story threw me into requir ed fome attention: the poftillion paid not the leaft to it, but fet off upon the pavé, in a full gallop. The thirtiest foul in the moft fandy defart of Arabia could not have wished more for a cup of cold water, than mine did for grave and quiet movements; and I should have had an high opinion of the postillion, had he but ftolen off with me in fomething like a penfive pace.-On the contrary, as the mourner finifhed his lamentation, the fellow gave an unfeeling lafh to each of his beasts, and set off clattering like a thousand devils. I called to him as loud as I could, for Heaven's fake to go flower-and the louder I called, the more unmercifully he gallopped. The deuce take him, and his gallopping too,' faid 1; he'll go on tearing my nerves pieces till he has worked me into a foolish paflion, and then he'll go flow, that I may enjoy the fweets of it.' to The poftillion managed the point to a miracle: by the time he had got to the foot of a fteep hill about half a league from Nampont-he had put me out of temper with him-and then with myfelf, for being fo. My cafe then required a different treatment; and a good rattling gallop would have been of real fervice to me Then, pr'ythee, get on-get on, my good lad I faid I. The poftillion pointed to the hill-I then tried to return back to the story of the poor German and his afs-but I had broke the clue and could no more get into it again, than the postillion could into a trot. —— The deuce go,' faid I,' with it all! Here I am fitting as candidly 'difpofed to make the best of the worft, as ever wight was, and all runs counter.' There is one fweet lenitive, at least, for evils, which nature holds out to us : fo of laft flame happening to be blown out by a whiff of jealousy on the fudden tur of a corner, I had lighted it up atiefh at the pure taper of Eliza but about three months before-fwearing, as I did it, that it should laft me through the whole journey. Why thould I diffemble theater? I had worn to her eternal fidelity-ihe had a right to my whole heartto divide my affections was to leffen thein to expose THE words were carce oCount de them, was to risk them, where there L***s poft chaife, with his fitter in it, drove hastily by: fhe had just time to make me a bow of recognition—and of that particular kind of it, which told me the had not yet done with me. She was as good as her look; for, before I had quite finished my fupper, her brother's fervant came into the room with a billet, in which he said he had taken the liberty to charge me with a letter, which I was to prefent myself to Madame R*** the firft morning I had nothing to do at Paris. There was only added, the was forry, but from what penchant he had not confidered, that the bad been prevented telling me her ftory-that the ftill owed it me; and if my route fhould ever lay through Bruffels, and I had not by then forgot the name of Madame de L* that Madame de L*** would be glad to discharge her obligation. Then I will meet thee,' faid I, fair fpirit! at Bruffels-It is only return. ing from Italy through Germany to Holland, by the route of Flanders bome it will scarce be ten posts out of my way; but, were it ten thousand, with what a moral delight will it crown my journey, in fharing in the fickening incidents of a tale of mifery told to me by fuch a fufferer? To fee ⚫ her weep! and though I cannot dry up the fountain of her tears, what an exquifite fenfation is there ftill • left, in wiping them away from off • the cheeks of the first and fairest of women, as I am fitting with my handkerchief in my hand in filence ⚫ the whole night befide her.' There was nothing wrong in the fentiment; and yet I inftantly reproached my heart with it in the bittereft and most reprobate of expreffions. It had ever, as I told the reader, been one of the fingular bleffings of my life, to be almost every hour of it miferably in love with fome one; and my is rifk, there may be 15fs- And what wilt thou have, Yorick! to aniwer to a heart fo full of trust and confidence-fo good, fo gentle and unreproaching —— I will not go to Bruffels,' replied I, interrupting mylelf-but my imagination went on--I recalled her looks at that crifis of our feparation, when neither of us had power to lay, • Adieu!'--I looked at the picture she had tied in a black ribband about my neck-and blushed as I looked at it-I would have given the world to have kiffed it but was afhamed—‹ And fhall this tender flower,' faid I, preffing it between my hands, fhall it be Imitten to it's very root--and fmitten, Yorick! by thee, who haft promifed to fhelter it in thy breaft?' Eternal Fountain of Happiness!` faid I, kneeling down upon the ground-be thou my witness-and every pure spirit which taftes it, be my witnefs alfo,-that I would not travel to Bruffels, unlefs Eliza went along with me, did the road lead me towards heaven!' hold of it; and in order to do honour to his matter, had taken him into a back parlour in the Auberge, and treated him with a cup or two of the best wine in Picardy; and the Count de L***'s fervant in return, and not to be behind-hand in politenefs with La Fleur, had taken him back with him to the count's hotel. La Fleur's prevenancy (for there was a palport in his very looks) foon fet every fervant in the kitchen at eafe with him; and as a Frenchman, whatever be his talents, has no fort of prudery in fhewing them, La Fleur, in less than five minutes, had pulled out his fife, and leading off the dance himself with the first note, fet the fille de chambre, the maitre d'hotel, the cook, the fcullion, and all the houfhold, dogs and cats, befides an old monkey, a dancing: I fuppofe there never was a merrier kitchen fince the Flood. Madame de L in paffing from her brother's apartments to her own, hearing fo much jollity below ftairs, rung up her fille de chambre to ask about it; and hearing it was the English gentleman's fervant who had fet the whole house merry with his pipe, fhe ordered him up. As the poor fellow could not prefent himfelf empty, he had loaden'd himteif in going up fairs with a thoufand compliments to Madame de L***, on the part of his mafter-added a long apo. crypha of inquiries after Madame De L***'s health-told her, that Monfeur his matter was au defefpoire for her re establishment from the fatigues of her journey-and, to clofe all, that Monfieur had received the letter which Madame had done him the honour And he has done him the honour, faid Madame de L***. interrupting La Fleur, to fend a billet in return.' Madame de L*** had faid this with fuch a tone of reliance upon the fact, that La Fleur had not power to difappoint her expectations-he trembled for my honour-and poffibly might not altogether be unconcerned for his own, as a man capable of being attached to a mafter who could be want ing en egards vis a vis d'une femme! fo that when Madame de L*** afked La Fleur if he had brought a letter O qu'oui!' faid La Fleur-fo laying down his hat upon the ground, and taking hold of the flap of his right-fide pocket with his left-hand, he began to search for the letter with his right—then contrary wife—' Diable!'-Then fought every pocket, pocket by pocket, round, not forgetting his fob Pefte !"— Then La Fleur emptied them upon the floor-pulled out a dirty crava?—a handkerchief-a comb-a whip-latha night-cap-then gave a peep into his hat Quelle etcurderie! He had left the letter upon the table in the Auberge he would run for it, and be back with it in three minutes. I had just finished my fupper when La Fleur came in to give me an account of his adventure: he told the whole ftory fimply as it was; and only added, that if Monfieur had forgot (par hagard) to answer Madame's letter, the arrangement gave him an opportunity to recover the faux pas--and if not, that things were only as they were. Now I was not altogether fure of my etiquette, whether I ought to have wrote or no; but if I had a devil himfelf could not have been angry: it was but the officious zeal of a well-meaning creature for my honour; and however he might have miftook the road-or embarraffed me in fo doing—his heart was in no fault-I was under no neceflity to write-and what weighed more than all-he did not look as if he had done amifs. It is all very well, La Fleur!' faid I. It was fufficient. La Fleur flew out of the room like lightning, and returned with pen, ink, and paper, in his hand; and coming up to the table, laid them close before me, with fuch a delight in his countenance, that I could not help taking up the pen. I begun, and begun again; and though I had nothing to fay, and that nothing might have been expressed in half a dozen lines, I made half a dozen different beginnings, and could no way pleafe myself. In fhort, I was in no mood to write. La Fleur ftepped out, and brought a little water in a glafs to dilute my ink then fetched fand and feal-wax-It was all one I wrote, and blotted, and tore off, and burnt, and wrote again Le diable l'emporte!' faid I, half to myfelf- I cannot write this felf-fame letter! throwing the pen down depairingly as I said it. As foon as I had caft down the pen, La Fleur advanced with the molt refpectful fedful carriage up to the table, and Baking a thousand apologies for the Eberty he was going to take, told me he had a letter in his pocket wrote by a tammer in his regiment to a corporal's wife, which, he durft fay, would fuit the occation. I had a mind to let the poor fellow have his humour- Then, pr'ythee, Gid I, let me fee it." his own, and the honour of his letter- PARIS. HEN a man can conteft the La Fieur instantly pulled out a little WH dry pocket-book crammed full of fmali letters and billet-doux in a fad condition; and laying it upon the table, and then untying the string which held them all together, run them over, one by one, till he came to the letter in question—“ La voila!' faid he, clapng his hands-So, unfolding it firit, be laid it before me, and retired three eps from the table, whilst I read it. THE LETTER. MADAME, E fuis penetré de la douleur la plus JE vise, et reduit en même temp au * desespoirs par ce retour imprevu du corporal, qui rend notre entrevue de ce foir la chofe du monde la plus im• poffible. point by dint of equipage, and carry all floundering before him with half a dozen lacquies and a couple of cooks-it is very well in fuch a place as Paris-he may drive in at which end of a street he will. A poor prince who is weak in cavaly, and whofe whole infantry does not exceed a fingle man, had heit quit the field, and signalize himte.f in the cabinet, if he can get up into it—I fay, up into it for there is no defcending perpendicular amongst them, with a Me voici, mes enfans-here I am!whatever many may think. I was left folitary and alone in my own chamber in the hotel, were far from being fo flattering as I had prefi ured them. I walked up gravely to the window in my dufty black coat, and look 'Mais vive la joie! et toute la mi-ing through the glafs, faw all the world enne fera de penfer à vous. 'L'amour n'eft rien fans fentiment. Et le fentiment eit encore moins fans amour. On dit qu'on ne doit jamais fe de• fefperer. 'On dit, auffi, que Monfieur le cor'poral monte la garde Mecredi: alors 'ce fera mon tour. • Chacun a fon tour. • En attendant-Vive l'amour! et vive • la bagatelle! Je fuis, Madame, • Avec toutes les fentiments les plus respecteux et les plus tendres, ⚫ tout à vous, 'JAQUES ROQUE.' It was but changing the Corporal into the Count-and faying nothing about mounting guard on Wednesday and the letter was neither right or wrong-fo to gratify the poor fellow, who stood trembling for my honour, in yellow, blue, and green, running at the ring of pleafore. The old with broken lances, and in heimets which had loft their vizors-the young in armour bright which thone like gold, beplumed with each gay feather of the Eaft-all-all-tilting at it, like fafcinated knights in tournaments of yore, for fame and love But I fear, friend,' faid I, 'this buckle won't ftand.' You may immerge it,' replied he, into the ocean, and it will ftand.' What a great fcale is every thing upon in this city!' thought I; the • utmost stretch of an Englith periwig• maker's ideas could have gone no farther than to have dipped it into a pail of water.-What difference! it is like time to eternity.' I confefs, I do hate all cold conceptions, as I do the puny ideas which engender them; and am generally fo ftruck with the great works of nature, that for my own part, if I could help it, I never would make a comparifon less than a mountain at least. All that can be faid against the French fublime in this inftance of it, is this --that the grandeur is more in the word; and lefs in the thing. No doubt, the ocean fills the mind with vaft ideas; but Paris being fo far inland, it was not likely I fhould run poft a hundred miles out of it, to try the experiment the Parifian barber meant nothing. The pail of water ftanding befide the great deep, makes certainly but a forry figure in fpeech-but it will be faidit has one advantage-'tis in the next room, and the truth of the buckle may be tried in it without more ado, in a fingle moment. In honest truth, and upon a more candid revifion of the matter- The French expreffion professes more than it performs. I think I can fee the precife and diftinguishing marks of national characters more in these nonfenfical minutia, than in the most important matters of state; where great men of all nations talk and talk fo much alike, that I would not give nine-pence to chufe amongst them. I was fo long in getting from under my barber's hands, that it was too late I had given a caft with my eye into half a dozen fhops as I came along, in fearch of a face not likely to be difordered by fuch an interruption; till at laft, this hitting my fancy, I had walked in. She was working a pair of ruffles as fhe fat in a low chair on the far fide of the fhop facing the door Tres volontiers; most willingly!' faid he, laying her work down upon a chair next her, and rifing up from the low chair fhe was fitting it, with fo chearful a movement, and fo chearful a look, that had I been laying out fifty louis d'ors with her, I fhould have faid This woman is grateful.' You must turn Monfieur,' faid she, going with me to the door of the shop, and pointing the way down the street I was to take you must turn first to your left-hand-mais prenez garde— there are two turns; and be to good as to take the second-then go down a little way, and you'll fee a church, and when you are past it, give yourfelf the trouble to turn directly to • the right, and that will lead you to the foot of the Pont Neuf, which you • must cross-and there any one will do himself the plea fure to fhew you.” She repeated her inftructions three times over to me, with the fame goodnatured |