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Gregory fe

The Mourner was

sitting upon a stone bench at the Door, with the ass's pannel & its bridle &c.

lancholy ftream, finging to her lute. She taught men to weep, for fhe took a ftrange delight in tears; and often, when the virgins of the hamlet were affembled at their evening sports, she would steal in amongst them, and captivate their hearts by her tales, full of charming fadnefs. She wore on her head a garland compofed of her father's myrtles, twisted with her mother's cyprefs.

One day, as the fat mufing by the waters of Helicon, her tears by chance fell into the fountain, and ever fince, the Mufes' fpring has retained a ftrong tafle of the infufion. Pity was commanded by Jupiter to follow the steps of her mother through the world, dropping balm into the wounds the made, and binding up the hearts the had broken. She follows with her hair loose, her bosom bare and throbbing, her garments torn by the briers, and her feet bleeding with the roughness of the path. The nymph is mortal, for her mother is fo; and when he has fulfilled her destined course upon the earth, they fhall both expire together, and Love be again united to Joy, his immortal and long betrothed bride.

MRS. BARBAULD.

CHAPTER IX.

THE DEAD ASS.

AND this faid he, putting the remains of a cruft into his wallet-and this fhould have been thy portion, faid he, hadft thou been alive to have thared it with me. I thought by the accent, it had been an apoftrophe to his child; but it was to his afs, and to the very afs we had feen dead in the road, which had occafioned La Fleur's misadventure. The man feemed to lament it much; and it inftantly

brought into my mind Sancho's lamentation for his; but he did it with more true touches of nature.

The mourner was fitting upon a ftone bench at the door, with the afs's painel and its bridle on one fide, which he took up from time to time-then laid them down-looked at them and fhook his head. He then took his cruft of bread out of his wallet again, as if to eat it; held it fome time in his hand-then laid it upon the bit of his afs's bridle-looked wififully at the little arrangement he had made-and then gave a sigh.

The fimplicity of his grief drew numbers about him, and La Fleur'among the reft, whilft the horses were getting ready as I continued fitting in the poft chaise, I could fee and hear over their heads.

He faid he had come laft from Spain, where he had been from the fartheft borders of Franconia; and had got fo far on his return home, when his afs died. Every one feemed defirous to know what bufinefs could have taken fo old and poor a man fo far a journey from his own home.

It had pleafed Heaven, he faid, to blefs him with three fons, the fineft lads in all Germany; but having in one week loft two of them by the fmall pox, and the youngest falling ill of the fame diftemper, he was afraid of being bereft of them all, and made a vow, if Heaven would not take him from him alfo, he would go in gratitude to St. Jago in Spain.

When the mourner got thus far in his story, he stopped to pay nature her tribute-and wept bitterly.

He faid Heaven had accepted the conditions; and that he had fet out from his cottage with his poor creature, who had been a patient partner of his journey—that it had eat the fame bread with him all the way, and was unto him as a friend.

Every body who stood about, heard the poor fellow with concern-La Fleur offered him money-The mourner faid he did not want it-it was not the value of the assbut the lofs of him.-The afs, he said, he was affured, loved him—and upon this told them a long ftory of a mifchance upon their paffage over the Pyrenean mountains, which had feparated them from each other three days; during which time the afs had fought him as much as he had fought the afs, and that neither had scarce eat or drank till they met.

Thou hast one comfort, friend, faid I, at leaft, in the lofs of thy poor beaft; I am sure thou hast been a merciful matter to him.-Alas! faid the mourner, I thought fo, when he was alive-but now he is dead, I think otherwise -I fear the weight of myfelf and my afflictions together have been too much for him-they have fhortened the poor creature's days, and I fear I have them to answer for. -Shame on the world! said I to myself-Did we love each other, as this poor foul but lov'd his'afs-'twould be fomething.

STERNE

CHAPTER X.

THE SWORD.

WHEN ftates and empires have their periods of declension, and feel in their turns what diftrefs and poverty is-I ftop not to tell the caufes which gradually brought the house of d'E**** in Britany into decay. The Marquis d'E**** had fought up against his condition with great firmness; wishing to preserve and ftill fhew to the world fome little fragments of what his ancestors had been-their indifcretion had put it out of his power. There was enough left for the little exigencies of obfcurity-But he had two

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