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elicited wondering conjecture, than it conciliated sympathy and affection. The nearer she approached the capitol, so fruitful in classic associations, the more these tributes of admiration increased. That resplendent atmosphere, these Romans so full of enthusiasm, above all, Corinne herself, produced an electric effect on Oswald. He had often, in his own land, seen statesmen drawn in triumph by the people; but this was the first time that he had ever witnessed the tender of such honors to a woman, illustrious only in mind. Her car of victory cost no fellow-mortal's tear; nor terror nor regret could check his admiration for those fairest gifts of nature-creative fancy, sensibility, and reason. These new ideas so intensely occupied him, that he noticed none of the long-famed spots over which Corinne proceeded. At the foot of the steps leading to the capitol the car stopped, and all her friends rushed to offer their hands she took that of Prince Castel Forte, the nobleman most esteemed in Rome for his talents and character. Every one approved her choice. She ascended to the capitol, whose imposing majesty seemed graciously to welcome the light footsteps of woman. The instruments sounded with fresh vigor, the cannon shook the air, and the all-conquering Sibyl entered the palace prepared for her reception.

In the centre of the hall stood the senator who was to crown Corinne, surrounded by his brothers in office; on one side, all the cardinals and most distinguished ladies of Rome; on the other, the members of the academy; while the opposite extremity was filled by some portion of the multitude who had followed Corinne. The chair destined for her was placed a step lower than that of the senator. Ere seating herself in the presence of that august assembly, she complied with the custom of bending one knee to the earth: the gentle dignity of this action filled Oswald's eyes with tears, to his own surprise; but, in the midst of all this success, it seemed as if the looks of Corinne implored the protection of a friend, with which no woman, however superior, can dispense; and he thought how delicious it were to be the stay of her, whose sensitiveness alone could render such a prop necessary. As soon as Corinne was seated, the Roman poets recited the odes and sonnets composed for this occasion: all praised her to the highest; but in styles that described her no more than they would have done any other woman of genius. The same mythological images and illusions might have been addressed to such beings from the days of Sappho to our own.

Already Nelvil was displeased with this kind of incense for her; he fancied that he could that moment have drawn a truer, a more finished portrait; such, indeed, as could have belonged to no one but Corinne.

THE ACCEPTANCE AND THE RELEASE.—Mrs. E. E. SMITH.

It was one of those bright and sunny mornings in June, which seem to realize all that the poets have sung of the loveliness of spring. The party at Cleveland had divided into sundry sets, driving, riding, sailing, fishing, walking, as caprice or inclination prompted; but all were abroad, wooing the glad influence of a blue and beaming sky. Catharine, also, was inhaling the balmy air, her heart bounding with the joy of its own hopes, throwing its own gladness over "the universal face of things," and gratefully exulting in the deep, internal consciousness, that in this fair world there is, if somewhat to be suffered, more—much more—to be enjoyed.

"If life were ever thus !" said Sir Greville, who had walked for some minutes in silence at her side; "the vicious and the trifling, far away;-all creation radiant as if the angels were abroad, and it rejoiced in their smiles, no clouds,—the very shadows rendering the sunshine more beautifnl,-what could one crave more than its eternity?"

"Change," said Catharine, smiling at the unwonted mood into which he had fallen.

"Such a thought is rather premature in early youth,--a youth so bright as yours," returned Sir Greville, thoughtfully, "The lesson it inculcates should be learned only from experience."

"An experience, however, which commences in childhood," said Catharine, playfully. "The flowers I loved bloomed with equal beauty in my presence for many hours, but one sufficed to send me to my birds,—and their warbling, in turn, was enjoyed, until satiety compelled me to employment, and employment again to amusement. Even I have lived long enough to feel that the mind requires variety, and is not only refreshed, but strengthened by it."

"You rest your argument on sensations; but sentimentsyou ought hardly to have awakened from the beautiful illusion of their immutability."

A cloud shaded the brow of Catharine. "She remembered her dead," and the anguish which had passed away, leaving a

tender regret unmingled with repining, too soothing to be painful. Cleveland saw the shadow, but he misinterpreted its

source.

"You cannot have lived long enough to feel that all the happiness of life consists in illusions? You cannot have experienced the withering fact, that to be happy is but the result of skillfully deceiving ourselves?"

“Far from it,” said Catharine.

"The true is to me likewise the beautiful. I cannot allow that there is no reality about us, -that all the noble feelings of our nature are mere vanities. There is truth in religion,-truth in philosophy: let us hope there may be truth within man as around him."

"Philosophy should be true," said Sir Greville, with a smile, "for it has divested life of much of its poetry. We smile at the thunder, which our ancestors regarded as an omen, and calmly calculate the period of a comet, which they deemed a messenger sent to warn the nations of impending fate. all, are we the happier for our knowledge ?"

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After

"Are we happier for civilization? Do we value the reason which elevates us above the brute ?" said Catharine, the glow of animation spreading over her countenance. You, who are the owner of palaces, enriched with the most elaborate workmanship of art the most splendid efforts of genius,-would you contentedly return to the barbarous magnificence of the Saxon, whose floor was strewn with rushes, and his naked walls stained with smoke? Surely we should rejoice in the greater light of the present, and in measuring our ascent from the past, anticipate, with rapture, the progress of the future. A thousand years since, what were our countrymen ?--A thousand years hence, what will they be?"

"That is a splendid vista," said Sir Greville, gazing on her with delight.

"What a happiness to you, who have such means of advan cing the improvement which is to give it its splendor! Your rank, your influence,-your talents,--your time,"-Catharine paused, for the expression of his eye caused hers to droop.

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Catharine," said he, (it was the first time he had ever so addressed her,) "shall I tell you what yet I need?—An impulse! By what you have done, judge what you may do! Invest my existence with new charms,--share with me the pursuits-the duties you inculcate. Be yourself the blessing of my home, the angel of my destiny--be mine !"

*

*

*

"I have waited for you," said Cleveland, advancing to meet Catharine, and drawing her arm through his. a somewhat early hour for a sybarite of the abroad, is it not?"

"And yet this is aristocracy to be

Catharine said something, not very intelligible, about the fineness of the morning, and the fragrance of the air.

"Add a commendation of the warbling of the birds, and then you will have made as pretty a young lady's speech, and one as unlike Catharine Vernon, as heart could desire," said Cleveland, with the bitterness of a man who is playing with his own misery. "Never tell me you are not changed, Catharine; tell me truly, frankly, honestly, what has changed you?”

"And do you need to ask?" said Catharine, striving to be firm. "Have you no secret consciousness that I ought to be changed?"

"My want of punctuality impugns my sincerity, perhaps, and you would punish my error by your coldness. I am no school-boy lover, Catharine. Spoiled by the adulation of the world, goaded by thoughts which your calm soul could not understand, and would probably despise; I am not in a temper to endure petulance, even from the woman I so ardently--admire." How Catharine felt that word!

"I will strive not to be petulant," she said, mildly, " and if I err, forgive me; you may, for you know best why I should be petulant."

"For the report of a stupid, lying newspaper, perhaps !" said Cleveland, with some violence, and more haughtiness. "No!-I must not be weighed in that worthless balance, Catharine! I will not defend myself against accusations drawn from such a vehicle! Slander, in all its shapes, is abhorrent, but most when its source is nameless."

"Let there be no anger between us," said Catharine, calmly : "there needs none. I am here, by your own appointment, to hear the explanation of some mystery which, last night, you avowed ought to be made, and of which there had already been too much between us.

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"And it shall be made. First of all, tell me, Catharine, what is love-ay, love-in your thoughts, feelings, heart—understanding, if you will?"

She could not speak a word, and she would have wept, but how could she forgive herself for tears at such a moment-at a question so cruel ?

"Forgive and pity my waywardness, Catharine," he said,

zling and level beams of the descending luminary, and the splendid coloring of the clouds amidst which he was setting. Nearer to the beach, the tide rippled onward in waves of sparkling silver, that imperceptibly, yet rapidly, gained upon the sand.

With a mind employed in admiration of the romantic scene, or perhaps on some more agitating topic, Miss Wardour advanced in silence by her father's side, whose recently offended dignity did not stoop to open any conversation. Following the windings of the beach, they passed one projecting point or headland of rock after another, and now found themselves under a huge and continued extent of the precipices by which that iron-bound coast is in most places defended. Long projecting reefs of rock, extending under water, and only evincing their existence by here and there a peak entirely bare, or by the breakers which foamed over those that were partially covered, rendered Knockwinnock bay dreaded by pilots and shipmasters. The crags which rose between the beach and the mainland, to the height of two or three hundred feet, afforded in their crevices shelter for unnumbered sea-fowl, in situations seemingly secured by their dizzy height from the rapacity of man. Many of these wild tribes, with the instinct which sends them to seek the land before a storm arises, were now winging towards their nests with the shrill and dissonant clang which announces disquietude and fear.

The disk of the sun became almost totally obscured ere he had altogether sunk below the horizon, and an early and lurid shade of darkness blotted the serene twilight of a summer evening. The wind began next to arise, but its wild and moaning sound was heard for some time, and its effects became visible on the bosom of the sea, before the gale was felt on shore. The mass of waters, now dark and threatening, began to lift itself in larger ridges, and sink in deeper furrows, forming waves that rose high in foam upon the breakers, or burst upon the beach with a sound resembling distant thunder.

Appalled by this sudden change of weather, Miss Wardour drew close to her father, and held his arm fast. "I wish," at length she said, but almost in a whisper, as if ashamed to express her increasing apprehensions, "I wish we had kept the road we intended, or waited at Monkbarns for the carriage."

Sir Arthur looked round, but did not see, or would not acknowledge, any signs of an immediate storm. They would reach Knockwinnock, he said, long before the tempest began.

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