ners were frank and prepossessing, the genuine offspring of an amiable disposition. While he knew where to distinguish, and check, an intruding familiarity, there was no assumption of authority in his behaviour, that would demand the adulation, or even the homage, of inferiors, or obtrude his rank on your attention.

Though still a youth, he had encountered many a whirlwind, that would have made the hardiest of his vassals shrink. Brought up among the hills, and as it were cradled in the storm,' he derived a kind of wild transport from the howl of the tempest, as if it had lulled his soul, or raised it above material things.

"The blast that roared o'er steeps so high,
The tumult of an Alpine sky,

Might well be dangerous food

For him, a youth to whom was given,
As yet, no steady hope of heaven,
And such impetuous blood."

For a mind thus constituted, the fever and excitations of the chase would naturally have many and powerful attractions. From

his infancy, and here, perhaps, was most discernible the waywardness of a heart as yet unsubdued by grace, it was his delight to follow the chamois over precipices, where a false step would have hurled him a thousand fathoms to his grave-to trace the wolf to his retreat-rouse the bear in her fastness -or snare the eagle on her nest' and in these daring adventures, for address, or agility, few could compete with the youthful lord of Mertenburg. Yet, the breast of Alphonzo was susceptible of other emotions; emotions, better calculated to adorn and ennoble man. He well knew that there was ONE, more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.' If he had hitherto occupied a great part of his leisure in such exercises, as comport but too lamentably with the mind inattentive to the calls of retirement and meditation, he was conscious, notwithstanding, that there was a something connected with them of supreme and paramount interest. Amidst the delirium attendant on his engagements, he had heard a whisper- This must have an end.' The

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pageant of life was passing rapidly away, and would ere long vanish from his eyes even while he gazed on it. Every moment that left its mark upon his brow was hurrying him to an eternal world :-this he felt, and the reflection had often found him ill at ease. But, he was not to be permitted thus. to continue estranged from God, until the things that belonged to his peace were hid from him for ever. There was an eye over

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him for good'-a Power whose favour, though long unsolicited, still watched his path. The season of its appointed mercy had at length arrived; and the germ, which had been implanted in his heart in childhood, was now gradually to be elicited and matured.

Upon his father's domains, was residing an officer who had lately withdrawn from the tumults of the camp. Of devotional habits, Major Villaret had followed the profession of a soldier. from necessity rather than inclination; and, having been disabled in one of the sanguinary revolu

tionary combats, had gladly seized the opportunity it afforded him, for retiring from the profligacy with which he had been surrounded, to spend the residue of his years in employments, better adapted to the character, and more accordant with the destination, of an immortal being.

After wandering for a considerable period in search of some quiet spot, where he might close his days unmolested, he learned that du Blesne, the companion of his youth, had returned to his hereditary estates; and he determined to visit him, with the intention, should the renewal of their acquaintance promise a permanency to its duration, of finally settling in his neighbourhood. To his contemplative mind, the lake of Geneva presented an inviting scene. Its picturesque confines its lovely and serene waters, occasionally agitated by storms, which here have an effect peculiarly sublime, amidst lightnings playing over a hundred snow-clad summits, and thunders rolling in deep reverberations among the hills, as they take

up the peal, and repeat it to a thousand echoes* its genial climate, free from the extremes of temperature, and perhaps for eight months in the year unrivalled by any in Europe:-these, united with easy access to all the comforts, and many of the elegancies, of life, offered to the eye of Villaret, numerous and powerful inducements; and he already beheld himself, in imagination, seated on its romantic banks, calmly preparing for the important change that awaited him.

In pursuance of this resolution, he accordingly visited du Blesne. Mutually great, and agreeable, was their surprize. Since they parted, they had alike learned the value of that time they had once so thoughtlessly squandered; and alike had they found, under a Divine tuition, the sole happiness attainable on this side the grave. Many were the mercies they had to enumerate,

and many

"A silent tear of thankfulness they shed."

See note r.