he requested them, with visible dejection, to retire; and immediately afterwards drawing from his pocket a piftol, which he had carried about him the whole afternoon, blew out his brains. It appeared that he had passed the evening with these women in the same manner as he had been used to pass many others with different women of the same description, without demanding favours which they would moft willingly have granted, and only defiring, in return for the money he lavifhed on them, the diffipation of their difcourfe, or, at most, the ceremony of a falute, to divert the forrow that preyed upon his tortured mind. But the gratitude he felt for the temporary oblivion which these intercourfes afforded, fometimes ripened into feelings of the warmest friendship. A celebrated actress of the London Theatre, whofe converfations had already drained him of confiderable fums of money, requested of him, only three days before his death, to send her five-and-twenty guineas. At that moment he had only ten guineas about him; but he fent her, with an apology for his inability to comply immediately with her request, all he had, and foon after borrowed the remainder of the money, and fent it to her without delay. This unhappy young man, shortly before the fatal catastrophe, had written to his father, and disclosed to him the diftreffed fituation he was in; and the night, the very night on which he terminated his existence, existence, his affectionate parent, the good Lord Milton, arrived in London, for the purpose of discharging all the debts, and arranging the affairs, of his unhappy fon. Thus lived and died this deftitute and diffipated man! How different from that life which the innocent live, or that death which the virtuous die! Sub I HOPE I may be permitted,in this place to relate the story of a young lady whofe memory I am extremely anxious to preserve; for I can with great truth say of her, as Petrarch faid of his beloved Laura, "The world was unacquainted with the "excellence of her character; for fhe was only "known to those whom she has left behind to "bewail her lofs."-Solitude was all the world fhe knew; for her only pleasures were those which a retired and virtuous life affords. mitting with pious refignation to the dispensations of Heaven, her weak frame sustained, with fteady fortitude, every affliction of mortality. Mild, good, and tender, fhe endured her fufferings without a murmur or a figh; and, although naturally timid and reserved, disclosed the feelings of her foul with all the warmth of filial enthusiasm. Of this defcription was the fuperior character of whom I now write; a character who convinced me, by her fortitude under the fevereft misfor tunes, how much ftrength Solitude is capable of conveying to the mind even of the feebleft be ing. Diffident of her own powers, fhe liftened to the precepts of a fond parent, and relied with per fect confidence on the goodness of God. Taught by my experience, fubmitting to my judgment, she entertained for me the most ardent affection; and convinced me not by profeffions, but by actions, of her fincerity. Willingly would I have facrificed my life to have faved her; and I am fatisfied that she would as willingly have given up her own for me. I had no pleasure but in pleafing her, and my endeavours for that purpose were most gratefully returned. A rofe was my favourite flower, and fhe presented one to me almost daily during the season. I received it from her hand with the highest delight, and cherished it as the richest treasure. A malady of almost a fingular kind, a hæmorrhage in the lungs, fuddenly deprived me of the comfort of this beloved child, and tore her from my protecting arms. From the knowledge I had of her constitution, I immediately perceived that the disorder was mortal. How frequently during that fatal day did my wounded, bleeding heart bend me on my knees before God to fupplicate for her recovery. But I concealed my feelings from her obfervation. Although fenfible of her danger, fhe never discovered the leaft apprehenfion of its ap proach. Smiles played around her pallid cheeks whenever I entered or quitted the room; and when worn worn down by the fatal diftemper, a prey to the moft corroding grief, a victim to the fharpeft and most intolerable pains, she made no complaint; but mildly answered all my questions by fome short sentence, without entering into any detail. Her decay and impending diffolution became obvious to the eye; but to the last moment of her life, her countenance preferved a ferenity correfpondent to the purity of her mind, and the affectionate tenderness of her heart. Thus I beheld my dear, my only daughter, at the age of five-andtwenty,after a lingering fuffering of nine long, long months, expire in my arms. So long and fo fevere an attack was not neceffary to the conqueft: fhe had been the fubmiffive victim of ill health from her earliest infancy: her appetite was almost gone when we left Swifferland; a refidence which she quitted with her usual sweetness of temper, and without discovering the smallest regret ; although a young man, as handfome in his perfon as he was amiable in the qualities of his mind, the object of her firft, her only affection, a few weeks afterwards put a period to his exiftence. During the few happy days we paffed at Hanover, where the rendered herself univerfally refpected and beloved, fhe amused herself by compofing religious prayers, which were afterwards found among her papers, and in which she implores death to afford her a fpeedy relief from her pains. During the fame period S 2 period fhe wrote also many letters, always affecting, and frequently fublime. They were couched in expreffions of the fame defire speedily to reunite her foul with the Author of her days. The laft words that my dear, my well-beloved child uttered, amidst the most painful agonies, were thefe" To-day I fhall tafte the joys of Heaven!"* How The meek, calm, and pious refignation with which this amiablé girl is defcribed to have endured the afflictions of life, and defied the torments of death, will perhaps bring to mind the fentiments of that fublime Ode by Mr. Pope, of "A dying Christian to his Soul. "Vital fpark of heavenly flame! "Oh the pain, the blifs of dying! Ceafe, fond Nature, cease thy ftrife, "And let me languish into life! "Hark! they whisper; Angels fay, Sifter Spirit, come away! "Steals my fenfes, fhuts my fight, "Drowns my fpirits, draws my breath? The world recedes! it difappears! O, Grave! where is thy Victory! "O, Death! where is thy Sting? |