man of judgment fuperior to your own, I should be staggered with his oppofition; but if truth may ever be spoken, it may on this occafion, and who is there that does not fee the weakness of the father's understanding? who but muft acknowledge the pre-eminence of the daughter's? I will fpeak yet plainer, moft incomparable Sappho; it is not fitting that folly fhould prefcribe to wifdom: the question, therefore, is come to an upfhot; Shall Sappho live a life the defpifes and detefts, to humour a father whose weakness fhe pities, but whofe judgment the cannot refpect?'

No,' replied Sappho,that point is decided; pafs on to the next, and fpeak to me upon the practicability of executing what I am refolved to attempt.'

The authority of a parent,' refumed Mufidorus, is fuch over an unprotected child, that reafon will be no defence to you against obftinacy and coerfion. In the cafe of a fon; profeffion gives that defence; new duties are impofed by a man's vocation, which fuperfede what are called natural ones; but in the in• ftance of a daughter, where shall she fly for protection against the imperious controul of a parent, but to the arms——— I tremble to pronounce the word; your own imagination must compleat the fentence. Oh, horrible!' cried Sappho, interrupting him, I will never marry; I will never fo contaminate the fpotlefs • luftre of my incorporeal purity: No, Mufidorus, no-"I'll bear my blush"ing honours ftill about me-' And fit you fhould,' cried Mufidorus, 'what <dæmon dare defile them? Perish the ( man, that could intrude a fenfual thought within the fphere of fuch repelling virtue!-But marriage is a form; and forms are pure; at least they may be fuch; there's no pollution in a name; ⚫ and if a name will fhelter you, why fhould you fear to take it?'—' I perceive,' anfwered Sappho, that I am in a very dangerous dilemma; fince the · very expedient, which is to protect me from violence of one fort, expofes me to it under another fhape, too odious to mention.'' And is there, then,' said Mufidorus, fighing, is there no human being in your thoughts in whom you can confide? Alas, for me! if you believe you have no friend who is not tainted with the impurities of his fex. And what is friendship? what, but the • union of souls? And are not fouls thus

united, already married? Formy part I have long regarded our pure and fpiritualized connection in this light; and 'I cannot foresee how any outward ce remony is to alter that inherent delicacy ⚫ of fentiment, which is infeparable from my foul's attachment to the foul of Sappho. If we are determined to defpife the world, we should alfo defpife the conftructions of the world: if retire'ment is our choice, and the life and habits of Clemens are not to be the life and habits of Sappho, why thould Mufidorus, who is ready to facrifice every thing in her defence, not be thought incapable of abufing her confidence, when he offers the protection of his name? If a few words muttered over us by a Scotch blackfmith, will put all our troubles to reft, why fhould we refort to dangers and difficulties, when fo easy a remedy is before us?-But why should I feek for arguments to allay your apprehenfions, when you have in me fo natural a fecurity for my performance of the strictest ftipulations?'- And

what is that fecurity?' fhe eagerly demanded. Mufidorus now drew back a few paces, and with the moft folemn air and action, laying his hand upon his heart, replied, My age, Madam!

That's true,' cried Sappho. And now the converfation took a new turn, in the courfe of which they agreed upon their plan of proceeding, fettled their rendezvous for the next day, and Mufidorus departed to prepare all things neceffary for the fecurity of their expedition.

Upon the day appointed, Sappho, with her father's confent, fet out in a hired poft-chaife upon a pretended visit to a relation, who lived about twenty miles from town, on the northern road. At the inn where he was to change the horses, the difmiffed her London poftilion with a short note to her father, in which she told him she should write to him in two or three days time: here fhe took poft for the next stage upon the great road, where he was met by Mufidorus; and from thence they preffed forward with all poffible expedition towards Gretna Green.

The mind of Sappho was vifited with fome compunctions by the way; but the eloquence of her companion, and the refpectful delicacy of his behaviour, foon reconciled her confcience to the step fhe had taken. The reflections which paffed in Mufidorus's breaft were not fo eafily quieted; the anxiety of his thoughts, and

the

the fatigues of his journey, brought fo violent an attack upon him, that, when he was within a stage or two of his journey's end, he found himfelf unable to proceed; the gout had feized upon his ftomach, and immediate relief became neceffary: the romantic visions, with which Sappho hitherto had indulged her imagination, now began to vanish, and a gloomy prospect opened upon her; in place of a comforter and companion by the way to foothe her cares, and fill her mind with foft healing fentiments, he had a wretched object before her eyes, tormented with pain, and at the point of death.

The houfe, in which he had taken fhelter, was of the meanest fort, but the good people were humane and affiduous, and the village afforded a medical affiftant of no contemptible skill in his profeffion. There was another confolation attended her fituation; for in the fame inn was quartered a dragoon officer, with a fmall recruiting party: this young cornet was of a good family, of an engaging perfon, and very elegant addrefs; his humanity was exerted not only in confoling Sappho, but in nurfing and cheering Mufidorus. These charitable offices were performed with fuch a natural benignity, that Sappho must have been moft infenfible if the could have overlooked them; her gentle heart, on the contrary, overflowed with gratitude, and in the extremity of her diftrefs, the freely confeffed to him, that, but for his fupport, fhe must have funk outright. Though the extremity of Mufidorus's danger was now over, yet he was incapable of exertion; and Sappho, who was at leisure to reflect upon her fituation, began to waver in her refolution, and to put fome questions to herself which reafon could not readily anfwer. Her thoughts were fo diftracted and perplexed, that the faw no refource but to unburden them, and throw herfelf upon the honour and difcretion of Lionel, for fo this young officer was called. This fhe had frequently in mind to do; and many opportunities offered themselves for it, but ftill her fenfibility of fhame prevented it. The conftant apprehenfion of purfuit hung over her, and fometimes the meditated to go back to her father: in one of these moments she had begun to write a letter to Clemens, to prepare him for her return; when Lionel entered the room, and informed her, that he perceived fo vifible an amendment in Mufidorus, that he ex

pected to congratulate her on his recovery in a very few days-' And then, Madam, added he, 'my forrows will begin where your's end: be it fo! if you are happy, I must not complain. I prefume this gentleman is your father, or near relation? Father!' exclaimed Sappho.

She caft her eyes upon the letter fhe was inditing, and burst into tears. Lionel approached, and took her hand in his; the raised her handkerchief to her eyes with the other, and he proceeded If my anxious folicitude for an unknown lady, in whofe happiness my heart is warmly interested, expofes me to any hazard of your displeasure, ftop me, before I fpeak another word; if not, con fide in me, and you shall find me ready to devote my life to ferve you. The mystery about you and the road you are upon (were it not for the companion you are with) would tempt me to believe you was upon a generous errand, to reward fome worthy man, whom fortune and your parents do not favour; but this poor object above-ftairs makes that impoffible. If, however, there is any favoured lover, waiting in fecret agony for that expected moment, when 'your release from hence may crown him with the best of human bleffings, the hand, which now has hold of your's, fhall be devoted to his fervice: command me where you will; I never yet have forfeited my honour, and cannot wrong confidence.You are truly generous,' replied Sappho; there is no fuch man; the hand you hold is yet untainted, and till now has been untouched; release it, therefore, and I will proceed.-My innocence has been my error; I have been the dupe of fentiment; I am the only child of a fond father, and never knew the bleffing of a mo ther. When I look back upon my edu'cation, I perceive that art has been exhaufted, and nature overlooked in it. The unhappy object above-stairs has been my fole adviser and director; for my father is immerfed in bufinefs: from him, and from the duty which I owe him, I confefs I have feceded, and my defign was to have devoted myself to ' retirement. My fcheme, I now perceive, was vifionary in the extreme; left to my own reflections, reafon fhews me both the danger and the folly of it: I have • therefore determined upon returning to my father; and am writing to him a letter, which I shall fend by exprefs, to

your

relievo

relieve him from the agonies my filly conduct has occafioned.'-'What you have now disclosed to me,' faid Lionel, with a fincerity that does equal honour to yourself and me, demands a like fincerity on my part; and I must therefore confefs to you, that Mufidorus, believing himself at the point of death, imparted to me not only every thing that has paffed, but all the future purpofes of this treacherous plot, from which you have fo providentially escaped: thefe I fhall not explain to you at prefent; but you may depend upon it, that this attack upon his life has faved his conscience. I cannot, as a man of honour, oppose myself to your refolution of returning home immediately; and yet, when I confider the ridicule you will have to encounter from the world at large; the reflections that will arife in your mind, when there is perhaps no ⚫ friend at hand to affuage them; but, ' above all, when I thus contemplate your 'charms, and recollect that affectation is expelled, and nature reinftated in your heart, I cannot refift the impulfe nor the opportunity of appealing to that nature against a separation fo fatal to my peace: yes, lovelieft of women, I must appeal to nature; I muft hope this heart of your's, where fuch refined fenfations • have refided, will not be fhut from others of a more generous kind. What could the name of Mufidorus do, which Lio. nel's cannot? Why fhould you not replace an unworthy friend with one of fairer principles? with one of honourable birth, of equal age, and owner of a heart that beats with ardent paffion towards you? Had you been made the 'facrifice of this chimera, this illufion, what had your father fuffered? If I am honoured with your hand in marriage, what can he complain of? My conduct, my connections, and my hopes in life, ⚫ will bear the fcrutiny: fuffer me to fay you will have a protector, whofe charac ⚫ter can face the world, and whofe fpirit cannot fear it. As for worldly motives, I renounce them; give me yourself and your affections; give me poffeffion of this hand, thefe eyes, and the foul which looks through them; let your father with-hold the reft. Now, lovelieft and most beloved, have you the heart to fhare a foldier's fortune? Have you the noble ⚫ confidence to take his word? Will you follow, where his honour bids him go; and whether a joyful victory or a gloVOL. I,

rious death attends him, will you re'ceive him living, or entomb him dying in your arms?'

Whilft Lionel was uttering these words, his action, his motion, that honeft glow of paffion, which nature only can affume, and artifice cannot counterfeit, had fo fubdued the yielding heart of Sappho, that he must have been dull indeed, if he could have wanted any stronger confirmation of his fuccefs than what her looks beftowed. Never was filence more eloquent; the labour of language, and the forms of law, had no fhare in this contract: a figh of speechlefs ecftafy drew up the nuptial bond; the operations of love are momentary; tears of affection interchangeably witneffed the deed, and the contracting parties fealed it with an inviolable embrace

Every moment now had wings to waft them to that happy fpot, where the unholy hand of law has not yet plucked up the root of love: Freedom met them on the very extremity of her precincts; Nature held out her hand to welcome them; and the Loves and Graces, though exiled to a defart, danced in her train.

Thus was Sappho, when brought to the very brink of deftruction, refcued by the happy intervention of Providence. The next day produced an interview with Clemens, at the houfe to which they returned after the ceremony in Scotland; the meeting, as might well be expected, was poignant and reproachful; but when Sappho, in place of a fuperannuated fentimentalift, prefented to him a fon-inlaw, in whofe martial form and counte nance he beheld youth, honour, manly beauty, and every attractive grace that could juftify her choice, his tranfports became exceffive; and their union, being now fanctified by the bleffing of a father, and warranted by love and nature, has fnatched a deluded victim from mifery and error, and added one conjugal infance to the fcanty records of unfashionable felicity.

Let not my young female readers believe the extravagance of Sappho's conduct is altogether out of nature, or that they have nothing to apprehend from men of Mufidorus's age and character; my obfervation convinces me to the contrary.

Gravity,' fays Lord Shaftesbury, the very effence of impofture;' and fentimental gravity, varnished over with the experienced artifice of age and wisdom, is the worst of it's fpecies, R

THE

tures of the Face, or rather than are the difpofitions of the Mind;-difpofitions, which are, indeed, of those effects the neceffary cause.

From a text fo fententiously grave, what a scope for the frigid pen of Infenfibility to prove a fact which, felfevident already, fets farther proofs at defiance, and which, to the eye of philofophic obfervation, may, every day, be more forcibly illuftrated by fcenes in actual LIFE than it could be by the learned infipidity of fifty VOLUMES!

Thus it is with many other truths, in which, the HEART alone being concerned, it were vain to expect inftruction but from an attention to the operations of the heart. On the prefent occafion, then, begone, ye multy comments! and ah! begone alfo if it be poffible!-thou Power foporific, who of fuch comments art the fource, unanimating, as unanimated!

Jack Melville-having bidden a final adieu to the restraints of a collegiate life -had not left Oxford many weeks, nor arrived in London many days, when he faw Mifs Julia Howard-faw her, and loved!-Naturally fanguine, he instantly vowed to her his paffion; and, fanguine as he was, for months and months did he continue to vow it, unrewarded with the smallest apparent return from the idolifed miftrefs of his affections..

This was too much for the impetuous, the love-untutored, Melville.

If Julia,' exclaimed he to himself with a sigh, one morning, as he was taking a peufive turn in the Park if Julia did but know a thousandth part of the pangs that torture my bofom, fhe would not-she could not be thus provok⚫ingly filent!-Cruel Julia, from this moment will I forget thee!-will I tear thee from my heart!-will I—”

Right, Jack! interruptively cried the gay Sir Charles Frankley, who, gently pacing it behind him, had overheard the impaffioned foliloquy-' right,

my boy!' cried he renounce the

unfeeling fimpleton! leave to me the formation of her infant-manners! and in the mean while-courting in her ftead Variety-enjoy thofe pleasures which alone from Variety can flow!' In no humour was Melville to relifh the coxcombly advice of his diffipated friend.-Love feemed ftill to infinuate to him, that it was bashfulness, not in difference, which fealed the lips of his Julia; and that, of course, his wishes might, in time, be crowned with fuccefs,

To the completion of those wishes, however, there was another obstacle more powerful than he yet imagined.—Miss Howard refided under the roof of a maiden aunt, who, at the fober age of forty, retained all the affectation of giddy fifteen; and who, difappointed in love at that early period herself, seemed ever after to be happy but in proportion as the reft of her fex were difappointed in it alfo.

Truft not in the men, Julia-they are diffemblers all!'

Every day did this maxim form the morning-leffon, and the evening-leffon, of Mifs Fairfax to her niece; by whom it could not, at length, have been more implicitly believed, had it been a truth facred as the Gospel,

Alas!' thought the, my aunt can'not be mistaken in a point which the 'conftantly inculcates to me with fo 'much confidence; and though deceived < she may have been, when young, yet now, infenfible furely to love, against ' deception she must be proof.'

Here, however, Julia only betrayed her ignorance,-Mifs Fairfax-not contented with the ridiculous tendresses of Sir Charles Frankley, which he archly lavished upon her, as an indulgence to her vanity, and an amufement to his own caprice-had for fome time beheld also with admiration the manly graces of Jack Melville.

Frankley, thought fhe, and, for once, truly did the think Frankley is

a rake whom the charms of no woman can long feriously attach; but Melville Heavens! what a sweet fellow is Melville!

So watchful was the of this very Melville, that he was rarely bleffed with the fight of Mifs Howard, without being curfed, at the fame time, with the prefence of Miss Fairfax.-On such occafions, hárdly did Julia dare to raise her eyes from the ground; yet could she not help liftening to the foft whifpers of her heart, which told her, that as fhe had for a lover the most amiable of men, fo she had for an aunt the most disagreeable of women.

Thus were they fituated, one day, when Sir Charles Frankley made one of the party.

The fweet innocents!' thought he, a thousand things have they to say to each other, yet must they not open their lips!-I will withdraw, and contrive to carry Mifs Fairfax with me.' This he accordingly effected, to the no fmall joy, but perplexity, of Mifs Howard.

Now faid Melville to himself,. full of gratitude for the expedient which his friend had fo generously adopted to ferve him- now will I come to an explanation with Julia!'

Hardly had he uttered a word, however, when the moved, in order to retire. He held her; and her diforder encreased.

Shall there be no period, then, to your infenfibility, Julia -What, not even a look which may revive my fpirits!' ́Alas!' replied Julia, in the soft ac cent of native innocence- alas! Sir, I • seem to be rather at a loss for fpirits • myself.'

Ah! Julia, I fear you do not love me.'

Julia blushed, but answered not.
Ungrateful girl!'

Indeed, Mr. Melville, I am not ungrateful.'

Then you love me?'

I have not faid fo.'

lefs the remained with confufion.

How eloquent was her filence!--To Melville, however, it had no charms; nor could aught fatisfy him, unless the timid, the artlefs Julia would unrefervedly declare to him her tenderness-declare it, too, in terms enraptured as his

own.

This fcene of embarraffinent was at length terminated by the arrival of Mifs Fairfax; who could not fupprefs a malicious titter, when the found that our lovers had quarrelled. They now both retired

Julia, that the might give a vent to the anguifh of infulted delicacy-Melville, to the fury of ill-requited love.

'How unaccountable is the behaviour of Mr. Melville!' exclaimed Julia, foon as she had reached her chamber. Ungrateful youth! what would he have of me?-Have I not already faid too much?-Will he leave nothing for Fancy to tell him ?-Alas! his motive is too plain: all he wants is, that, having induced me freely to confefs to him

my weaknefs, he may afterwards for'fake me.-Often has my aunt told me, that the deceiver Man loves not but for his own fake-that of all his actions the wretched object felf is the unvaried principle.-Ah me! that I fhould live fo feelingly to experience, that in fpeaking thus my aunt faid nothing but what is truth!'

As for Melville, deprived before of repofe, he was now deprived alfo of health, by the behaviour of Julia; and already had he been confined for two days with a fever, when Sir Charles Frankley paid a vifit to him.

On being told the caufe of his illness, Frankley could not help fmiling. Is that all?' cried he. Defpond not, Jack--I will myfelf be your phyfician. This inftant will I go to Juliathe cruel Julia, as you call her:-to ber will I defcribe your love, your defpair; and confident I am, that, when the has heard of the condition you are in, the will weary Heaven with prayers for your recovery.'

This is no fubject for banter,' replied Melville, difgufted rather than con foled with the levity of his friend.

More would he have faid, but Sir Charles was already gone; nor was it in his power to recall him.

To Mifs Fairfax the fudden abfence of Melville was a fund of attonishment, R 2

ag