lar occasions, and was known by the name of 'The stranger's room.' His aspect was venerable, and indicated a peculiar serenity of mind. The lines of age were strongly marked in his countenance, which seemed to have been handsome in youth, and beamed, as it were, mysteriously, at this moment, with the dignified expression, which denotes piety contending with sorrow. As yet,

however, although the faculties of life were evidently returning, his visage was fixed as by the hand of death; imparting to it an indescribable look, as if the spirit that animated it had already set out for heaven, but was just tarrying for an instant at the boundaries of time, to fulfil its last duty, and then bid a final farewell to sublunary things.

Not many minutes had elapsed before the painful suspense of the family was relieved. He slowly opened his eyes, and, viewing them with a smile in which praise to God was blended with gratitude to man, said, in a voice tremulous from years, but in a tone that bespoke the fervour of devotion: How gracious is my eternal Friend! How kind are you! I was an hungered, and ye gave

me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Until this moment an awful silence had prevailed, as if they had dreaded lest any sudden sound should frighten the wavering soul from its abode. But, now, every eye sparkled with delight, or swelled with the tear of thankfulness. They had been instrumental in rescuing a fellow-creature from the grave, and they had their reward. But, he, who calls the spirits his own, had a recompence yet more ample in reserve for them. Their guest, in the appointed season, was destined to be withdrawn, but he was to be permitted to leave a blessing, yet more valuable than gold or silver, of which he had none, behind.

After an interval of several hours, when his limbs, which had been benumbed from long exposure to the cold and wet, had recovered from their torpor, and his exhausted frame had in some degree been restored to the little remnant of strength which age and misfortune had not consumed, he thus once more addressed his friendly hosts: I am aware that you must naturally be solicitous to learn the circumstances, which have so

mysteriously thrown me as an intruder on your generous hospitality. My story, indeed,' he said, as the tear rolled slowly along his cheek, is brief as mournful: too little interesting, perhaps, to merit narration. Yet, under the blessing from on high, it may tend to reveal to you the vanity, and transitory nature, of all earthly enjoyment, and lead us mutually to set our affections more undividedly on the things above.'

The mild benevolence of his aspect, softened yet more by that melancholy, which proclaims a heart that has long been the habitation of deep and varied sorrow; the dignity of his manner; and the purity of his accent, indicating some other than Alpine intercourse; having already during these few words commanded the esteem, and riveted the attention of the family who were seated in anxious expectation about him, he fetched a sigh, as you would have thought, of mingled resignation and sorrow, while he raised his eyes, it seemed in silent supplication, to heaven, as if summoning resolution to detail the affecting incidents, and imploring a blessing on the narrative, of his life.

CHAP. IV.

'Tis here,' he said, and I beheld the tear

Wetting his cheek; the good man sleeps. Be calm
His rest, for he was beat by many a storm!
'Twas on a night-and I remember well

How swept the wild-wind o'er the dark hill-side,
And that calm sea to mountains rose, and cold
The snow, and drifting, fell-his bark was cast
Upon our lonely shores. We brought him home,
And he reviv'd a little; just to tell

His tale of varied sorrow, and resign
His spirit into his Redeemer's hands.'

'Nor unknown,' began the venerable stranger, in the annals of my country, De La Roche is my name. A subject of the 'Bourbons, it was in Alsace that I first drew the vital air. Born to the possession of estates, which had been successively inherited by the long line of my ancestors under another dynasty,* I was instructed in

* It was not until towards the conclusion of the last century, that Alsace became a province of France.

such accomplishments as were considered suitable to my rank and expectations; and, being an only child, I met with every indulgence from my too fond parents.

Before I attained my fifteenth year, I had the misfortune to lose my father. Intrusted to the guardianship of my mother, a descendant of the great and good Philip De Mornay, and having no control but her mild and gentle reproof, I quickly became impa tient of restraint. The victim of an ardent imagination, and encouraged by my companions in crime, I was no sooner the master of my own actions, than I determined to disengage myself from the trammels of maternal entreaties, withdraw myself from the presence of one, whose conduct was a continual rebuke, and procure elsewhere that liberty of transgression which was denied me under her watchful tutelage.

'Confirmed in this resolution by what I regarded as a laudable desire of acquainting myself with foreign nations, and the manners and customs of the world, I now waited a favourable opportunity for informing my