his mistress was desirous of separating from him! He arrives distracted, falls at her feet, employs intreaties, tears, and every thing which tenderness could suggest as most affecting; complaints, reproaches, frenzy, excuses; nothing succeeded. Appia, sustained by too powerful a motive, was immoveable. Ah! what did she not feel when it was better to perish with her lover than to rend his heart. But no, she was determined to save him; and she deprived him of every hope by declaring to him with firmness that he should see her no more.-Distracted, he exclaimed that he could not live without her; and that, in order to possess her hand, he would from that moment abjure the worship by which they were separated. Let those who have felt the dreadful delirium of grief in losing what they loved, picture to themselves the horrible situation of Leon on seeing that Appia refused even his last sacrifice!" No," my dear Leon," said she,

"I will not conduct thee to death by ac-
cepting of thy devotion: the wretched
Christians are all condemned victims;
leave me to perish alone. More con-
vinced than thou art on the doctrines
I profess, I have alone the right to seal
them with my blood. Fly then from
me, O fly! avoid the cruel sight of my
torments, of which thou shouldst not
be a witness.-Farewel, for ever!"-
She attempted to escape from his arms.
He threw himself at her feet; he loathed
his very existence, but he wished to
pass the remainder of it near his Appia.
Without yet partaking of the opinions
of her he loved, he swore that he would
participate in her sufferings and her
dangers, and refused to quit the altars,
at the feet of which he threw himself
in despair. Appia could no longer at-
tempt to leave him; but she constantly
refused to be united to him, in hopes
of one day overcoming his resolution.
She lamented that Leon should thus
quit the world, with all its prospects

A

when she could no more contribute to his happiness. At length the danger which threatened them declared itself; they were both-impeached by the persecutors of the faith, thrown into a dungeon, and condemned to torments. Nevertheless, the fate of this young victim interested even her tyrants. It was proposed to her to renounce her religion a word would have saved her, and restored her to life, to happiness, and to Leon; but she looked forward only to her God, and demanded death.In vain, in order to preserve Leon from torments, did she declare that he professed no proscribed religion; that she alone embraced its doctrines, observed its precepts, and adored its author. Leon wished to close his hateful existence; he even ventured to belie his thoughts, and swear that his opinions and those of Appia were the same.The sentence is pronounced, the pile is lighted, the flame encircles them, and consumes the unhappy lovers, toge

ther with the holy minister who had been Appia's guide the one expires the victim of his love, the other of her faith.

This steadiness in her principles, and this equal balance between what pertained to her duties and to her lover, display at the same time in Appia the energetic power of the human mind, and that unbounded resignation of which a woman is capable when she is virtuous and empassioned.

Women know well how to make sacrifices; and they make of them a merit and a science. It seems as if the desire of living for others were necessary to their existence. Even without having experienced this disposition of theirs, we have a soft and secret presentiment of it; and we resort to them on the ra, pid calculations of the comforts we may derive from them. Sure of them in our pleasures, we desire them in our sufferings; and their reign may be said to recommence at the very moment which terminates our happiness...

SAVAGES.

I HAVE not yet spoken of savages; but, in order to give my readers a faint idea of the state of women among these fierce hordes, I have thought that, on arriving at the æra of the destruction of Europe by the barbarians of the north, I might with propriety place before this wonderful revolution -some account of them, which, from its nature, ought to be far removed from the description of civilized nations.

Among every polished people the women, by their sense, their charms, their address, and their coquetry, possess a thousand means of re-establishing between them and us the balance of power; but among savages, who, in their coarse reserve have no social idea, they remain without hope; their weakness is without support, and their existence, in relation to the men, only a long punishment.