be the first of peasants, than the last of kings; besides, the darker we find our prospects here, the more diligently we explore the light that leads to heaven. May that light shine on you, and comfort you, when all other comforts fail. So wishes Your friend. LETTER XXVII. TO MRS. BROWN. Laggan, January 26, 1801. MY DEAR MRS. BROWN, I TOOK your last letter very kindly indeed, though my long delay in answering appears rather against me. This young family of mine, which seems destined to be ever young and ever growing, engrosses me more than ever, as I grow more than ever indifferent about other matters of this world. Not that I love my children better than formerly, but I love other things less. And though I have not, as yet, made any extraordinary progress F 5 progress in that easy and pleasant science of self-love, I still love myself so well as to fly the approaches of despondency, whom I consider as cousin-german to despair; and the best mere earthly refuge I know, is constant earnest employment. Yet I could contrive to find time to write, if I could find spirits; but all the melancholy events of the last year, with their more melancholy consequences, did so overwhelm me, when I endeavoured to write to any one whom I knew to be conscious of my feeelings, that I shrunk from what used to be my consolation. My heart has been so softened, so melted by distress, that I feel more than ever the kindness of my few remaining friends. I cling to them in idea with a stronger grasp. The value you express for my correspondence, and the sense you retain of our long endeared intimacy, is a cordial to my sick heart. I am cheered by the reflection, how much Providence has suited the kind and degree of comfort, allotted to me, to my taste and inclination; indulging my love of freedom and tranquillity, and giving me a warm interest in so many worthy hearts, and and making those, with which mine was most intimately blended, all I could wish. Without this, the world would have been a desert to me, and all its most envied enjoyments splendid trifles. You will rejoice to hear, after all the sorrows and sad privations I have suffered, that I have an increasing stock of comfort in my children. Such have been my comforts under this illness. How many, many languish in vain, amidst splendor and affluence, for these high, peculiar blessings, that can only be given or received by minds of a certain description. How are Mr. Brown's monarchical spirits supported under the triumphs of the great consul? We are here all in sackcloth and ashes. I did not give myself credit for so much public spirit as this occasion has called forth. My blood really chilled with horror and anguish. Alas, for the poor Swiss! I fancy the wits of all your politicians are sharpened by hunger. We are better off than most of our neighbours. Our crop, I hope, will feed us till the new one comes. I wrote to your sister about a commission of rice for the Duke's tenants, which I thought your brother might procure. We long to hear from you. Mr. G. joins cordially, in every good wish to you and yours, with your affectionate friend. LETTER XXVIII. TO MRS. MACINTOSH, GLASGOW. DEAR MADAM, Laggan, Dec. 17, Ì801. IF sympathy could alleviate the greatest of possible calamities, mine might be softened by the sincere and tender compassion of my friends, which is beyond what I could have hoped. Yours I believe to be not only sincere, but very painful. Willingly would I lessen your pain by shewing you how Divine mercy has enabled me to soothe my The storm of adversity has indeed been let loose upon me, and shattered my fabric of happiness; so frequent, so heavy were the shocks, that it is no wonder I lay own. stunned stunned among the ruins. But I have not abandoned myself to sinful despair; I am gathering up the fragments to build a little hovel, where I may live the appointed time on hope and recollection, and then die in peace. I will not describe my sorrows; I will not tell you that when half my heart was torn away, the other half ached at the separation. All this you must know, for you too have a heart. But you have been too prosperous, to know how minds, not inelegant, are endeared to each other by retirement, and sharing sorrows and difficulties. But I meant to tell you my resolutions. Pecuniary evils I neither feel nor fear. God is all sufficient, and my trust in him unlimited. * Dear madam, what right have I to repine, when the time must needs be so short till the period that reunites us? In the mean time, I will hover round his remains as long as I possibly can.-I cannot at this time write longer, or I would tell you how indulgent the Duke has been, in permitting me to continue somewhat longer on the farm, at the old |