the heavenly family, even from the deepest glooms of doubt and dejection which encompass him, he derives a sweet consolation. For his good all things are working together;' and there is a living witness within him,' which directs his eyes to that morning whose sun shall not go down, or be obscured, for ever, when his apprehensions will be finally dissipated, and when his soul, how disquieted soever in this his hour of temptation, will be tranquillized in the full fruition of everlasting beatitude. He bears the cross for a moment-the crown will be worn through eternity.

6

Similar to these, were the sentiments which influenced Albert and his partner. Not elated in prosperity, they accepted the proffered boon, and used it to the Divine glory in adversity, not desponding, they turned to the strong hold, waiting His leisure' whose word was pledged on their behalf. But, while they hailed the gleam of comfort, which a gracious God now permitted for a season to assuage their parental solicitude, and which gave promise of cheer

ing their retirement, and lighting their descent to the tomb, they were still aware it was under a higher direction; and that, if such were the Supreme will, all their expectations might be rendered abortive in a moment, and what appeared to them the staff of solacing affection, converted into the rod of chastening love. In either event, they were ready to say with the patriarch of old, in his exemplary resignation under bereavements, perhaps without a parallel; 'The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!'

At a moderate distance from the glen, and towards the southern extremity of the Canton, resided the representative of a powerful Baronial family. His ancestry was ancient. Many of those, whose blood flowed in his veins, had signalized themselves on various occasions at home and abroad, and were honourably recorded in the annals of the Helvetic Confederacy; and in point of rank, fortune, and character, he himself was considered at the present

moment, as one of the most respectable of the Alpine chiefs. His possessions extended far and wide: his flocks were numerous; and, if we may be allowed to apply in a lower sense the beautiful language of Inspiration, many a beast of the forest was his, and his the cattle on a thousand hills.'

Of retired habits, and inoffensive demeanour, and mixing little in the political innovations of the day, he was among the few who had been permitted to retain the inheritance of their fathers.*-In him, perhaps, as one from whom no danger was to be apprehended, the unprincipled invaders, though actuated only by the sordid motives of personal aggrandizement, were desirous of making an ostentatious display of magnanimity; and thus, by an instance which they were well aware would not be unnoticed, to throw an air of generosity over their treatment of the vanquished. Here, in an insulated building, encircled by a deep moat, and uniting, as was usual in the residence of warlike princes,

See note p.