To the EDITOR of the LADY's death of her brother; I have two SIR, MAGAZINE. The following plain Love-Letter was wristen many years ago by a plain man to an elderly lady, whom he wished to woo. It contains none of the nonfenfe of our modern beaus, nor the high flights of our amorous wits. If you think as highly of its characteristic origina. lity as I do, you will infert it in your entertaining Mifcellany. May 3, 1793. Madam, W Eliza M 7HEN I fee you upon your gravity looks, I conclude you to be a fuitable wife for me; my last wife, when I first faw her, told me that the intended to marry; being weary of boarding, he would have a house and table of her own; and if you should be fick, none fo tender over you as a husband; my laft wife had feven hundred pounds of ready money; fhe brought me a filver tankard which coft eight pounds, and ten filver spoons; and as many fuits of grave filks as coft above forty pounds, laced with filver and gold lace up to the pocket; her best of which I keep for you. daughters at home with me at prefent, the youngest as tall as yourself; they have their portions fet out, my eldeft fon is to pay them out of my perpetual advow on 1 have fettled on him after my deceafe; my eldest daughter has lived twice with her brother, the confectioner, and intends to go again as foon as I marry you; then I have but one daughter who waits upon me and you, and one maid you fhall chufe; my brewing, an old fervant does it, and I hire a washer-woman, a baker, and a butcher, both which we have in town near us; fo that you and 'I may enjoy our clves with all the exquifite pleafures of matrimony, so long as God fhall fend us health. I fhall keep a calah to take the air; I can walk three miles in the middle of winter, dry, one way; and a wood within a furlong, in May, full of lilies of the valley, and all variety of herbs; I understand phyfic: My firit wife died in childbed, and the laft would take nothing of phyfic to ftop a loofenefs, when I cured divers of it; her fever seized her vitals; the was not fick till the two laft days. I had four eminent phyficians, but he would not take what they preferibed; but faid the was burnt up and fcorched within, and that their cordials were too hot for her. Madam, fear nothing, all fhall be My father gave me twelve hun-plain, and a houte I have well furdred pounds. I have been a good nifhed, no daughter married, to take husband and have fettled my family; any thing from me. I have a living my eldest fon hath of about 12cl. a of 150l. a year this thirty years; I year, a minifter, and fo is my fecond have only one grand-child with my fon, who has two places, befides daughter's father, it is all the comteaching a school; they have been pany they have, it is about four above ten years for themselves; my years old, they will never part from third fon is married, a confectioner him. and gro.er, fells alfo tea and chocoMadam, I hope you have had the late, and coffee which he roafts him-letter I left for you at the George; the felf; had three hundred pounds with bearer was an excifeman, and can his wite, and now eighty pounds a intorm you there is forty fi-trees, year, fallen to him lately by the gold and filver hollies, with many VOL. XXIV. Y y yew. You know yew-trees, and all green, to enter- EDWARD my point of view, my principles and philofophy. Per lo caro Giefu, replies Carlo, that philofophy is goed for nothing. Nothing can bid defiance to the machinations of the wicked: pru dence, in fuch cafes, frequently draws you into their fnares: certąmente, it is wifer to fly from them entirely, than to strive to avoid them by watching their motions! You are right, faid the marquis; better would it have been for me and my fpoufe to have fled from our tyran's, and to have left a house.-You could not Signor Corfanjo! You will pardon me, fir, I could have done it very early in the beginning. Eh, no, perche, you was to iuffer all thofe E. M. misfortunes!-it was to be, it was I am forry I cannot acquaint the pub'ic with the fuccefs of this letter upon the lady it is addretled to. but if I may be allowed to guefs, i think it could not fail, for however the author might be wrong in point of form and ceremony, I affure you I have heard feveral fenfible women declare that in the main, he talked very much to the purpose. ALEXIS; or, THE COTTAGE IN THE WOODS. An original Novel from the French. PART FOURTH. Alexis and the cottage change names. written predeftination! Oh, predeftination, breaks in Alexis, are you going to begin your nonfenfe, Sciocco? Pardonate mi, tenero pa drone-have not you yourself approved of it? How, purfues the marquis, does Mr. Sciocco think, that all that happens to us, has been prefcribed? Si veramente, Signor. Let him run on, father, replies Alexis - he will fometimes only talk nonfenfe. His moral dogmas are very nonfeofical, my fon. Upon that footing, there would be no criminals, every body would excufe himself by predeftination!-heavens, THE marquis de Corfange conHE marquis de Corfange con- what an error!-have you imbibed cluded his narrative, and all thofe prejudices, my Alexis? No, his hearers, who were fingularly my father, but I entertained others moved, began talking in divers ways of a different caft. Speak then, upon events of fo extraordinary a give me an account of your advennature. Unfortunate father, faid tures from the time you let the corthe generous Dumont, you have tage. You must have been conbeen unjust indeed; but how has cealed in fome dark corner of the misfortune foured your temper!-globe, because I had fearches made The wretch fufpects every thing; after you throughout the kingdom. once deceived, he thinks he always I was not concealed, father. Liften will be. The continual habit of all to me, my dear friends, and you forrow irritates his nerves, and rentoo, Clara.-I will foon cure you of ders him paffionate, hard, even dead the unjuft fufpicions you had against to telling!-Obliged to be difruft- me, with regard of my connections Tul against every body, he believes with the wife of the gaoler of St. every body will hurt him: Such is Marcelin, and Sophia of Marseilles. 2 Alexis Alexis; or, the Cottage in the Woods. Alexis fatisfied their curiofity, and when he had done fpeaking, the marquis and marchionefs embraced him again. They were all fatisfied. Duverly and Dorance alone obferved the profoundest filence, Duverly, above all, feemed to be ftruggling with black defpair. The narrative of the marquis had ftolen many a tear from his eyes; and Dulys' god faith and generofity were fo many leffons which upbraided him for his Fast crimes he dared not to look at any one of the company, and feemed to wish to hide himfelf from his ownfelf. Dorance had pity on him. Urhappy man, faid he, here is thy daughter, durft thou give her that fweet nime? Yes, I hall dare, anfwers Duverly!-Yes, I fhall give her that precious name; but not before I have avenged thy caufe! Avenged! Yes: foon. At these words, Duverly draws his fword, and goes to thrust it in his body. They all prevent him! Drance, Dorance himself, who had just thirfted after his blood, feizes the murderer's fteel, and flings it far from him. Dorance, what doft thou? My duty, ungrateful friend!-The misfortunes of the marquis and marchionefs, my own, nay, experience, the greatest of all teachers, in fhort, every thing fhows me what paffions are! They made me commit many imprudent actions, and thee they have led to crimes! What fay I! I am more guilty than Duverly: this hand-my fpoufe-my fon!-But I will pardon thee more than myfelf: Unite thy Clara with my Alexis; and let Hymen put the feal to our reconciliation. He fays, and holding forth bis hand to Ďuverly, fees the latter fall precipitately to his feer; he feizes his beneficent hand, bofprinkles it with his tears, and utters the most woetul moans: the whole company j in with the unhappy Duverly. Do rance, himself, at laft, cannot with hold his tears, he .ningles them with 347 thofe of his repentant friend, and they are now claiped in one anothers arms, and both so moved, as to make it impoffible to diftinguith the offender from the offended! O dirsino fpectacle, cries the Italian, O anguftie delle vicende humane! What hand does conduct you !— What being, great, fublime, and magnanimous, leads thus mortals to happinefs upon a ftormy fea!How I can call myself happy!-An idea just starts in my mind! Signori Cavalieri, per gratia ?-doubtless you will quit this difmal retreat, to live united in Paris. Oh, give me that dear cottage, cede it to me.— Here, in a brown habit, with a girdle about my loins, my days wil fleet in tranquillity and happiness, and you will come from time to time to fee the good hermit-the travellers will top to fee me, I fhail receive them, fhow them the cottage, and tell them: Here is the place where love and nature have long fighed; travellers, learn the forgiveness of injuries, and the respect due to the great author, who alone knows the order of things, and the law of events. This fally of Sciocco excited the laugh in every one of the company : but Carlo was like to be angry; when he remembered that laughing was one of the fweeteft pleasures of man, and ingrafted by nature his fermentation, therefore, fubfided, and he joined in the general laugh. All our heroes were happy; they spent veral days in viewing the different d patients of the cottage, and afterwards all fet out together for Paris; the good natured Candor and his old fervant, regardless of their hoarinefs and infirmities, wou'd be of the party. In confequence, all the aput ren's of the cortage are carefully locked, the drawbridge is fecured, and the journey con nced. How pleasant was this trip!-all was buried in oblivion: neither conplaints nor reproaches were heard any more! All countenances were Y y 2 fc.cne ferene like all hearts, and the happi- | Dolphin-inn at Lyons. Signor Car ne's of feeing Alexis prefented to the king, became the general topic. lo had also a share of his property, for which he failed not giving thanks to Providence, who had fo favourably conducted that event. Candor lo bent under the fuperior weight of age and infirmity, foon after died compofdly and without a groan: Alexis cloted his eyes, and bound himfelf to execute his it defire. The old man had ordered in his last moments, his body to be tran-ferred to the cottage, to repofe near the afhes of Adela and his on. Therefore, with the permiffion of the restor, in whofe pa Arrived in a is, the marquis and his fon repair immediately to Verfailles they arrive before the king! Alexis trembling, dare, not look up. Is this your fon, Corfange? his majelly alked. Sire, it is he! He looks very fliv.-Young man, be god-natured, modeft, difcreet, and I will ne er forfake you! - Suppofe we begin to give him a regiment; what do you think marquis, we fhal fee how he will manage it! Sire, all the blood in his veins is at your majefty's fervice. He ought to imi-ri tate the ex mole of his granfather, who did in my father's fervice! He was a brave commander. -I have known him my felf, and am not ashamed to own that fighting by his fide, I have learned to be a foldier. -- The king spoke to them for fome time longer with the moft condefending familia i y, and the commition of a colonel being made out, and fined for young Corfange, his majefty difmiffed them, loaded with praite, and benefits. A few da.s after, the young colonel and his Clara stept to the altar, and were joined in holy matrimony! How dai had they purchafed that happiness! Alas, if it must be paid with fo any coffes, can we envy Our mortal lot? Meanwhile, Daverly, always agitated by remorfe, fell dangerously fick, and foon expired in the arms of his friends, after having begged a tho and pardons of Candor, who regretted him fincerely. On his death-bed he made a will, by which he comffituted the colonel and his lady, fole heirs to his confiderable eat which he had much improved in Ameri a, where he had been refi dear fifteen years. He neither for got to fettle an annuity upon the good John Picot, whom he had fo july charged with theft, at the he died, Colonel Corfange, his lady, their children and frien is proceeded to Grenoble with the remains of their late friend. Upon their ar rival, the corpfe was depofited for a while in a chapel of the cathedral, till proper preparations could be made in the cottage for its reception. On the day following, thirty workmen were em loyed to rebuild the cottage two wings and another ftory were added to it; the windows were made wider, and decorated with balconies. Over the myfterious fubterranean they built a chapel, which was foon confecrated by the bishop of Grenoble. The form of the gar den was alfo changed, but the rivulet, the little bridge, the grove, and the great poplar tree were fuffered to remain. In fhort, the young couple left nothing uninproved. They furveyed with pleafure and emotion, the theatre of their "loves and adventures. How fweet is the remembrance of the times when we wee happy!-When we fee places that have been dear to us, the heart dilates, and the fight wanders to and fro, with a real fenfation of delight! Thus the little rivulet, the bridge, the grove, and poplar tree, were the only objects not altered in the gar den; all the remainder was transformed into a magnificent park, and the corage ino a fumptuous sol plendid cattle. There was but one room Alexis; or, the Cottage in the Woods. room in it, left in its original flate. It was the chamber in which Alexis flept the firit night of his refidence in the cottage, and in which he was fo much frightened, when he heard the key turn to lock him up, an! from here he faw, through the window, the funeral rites performed by Candor under the great poplar tree. Clara's husband was fond of that room and ordered his books and mufical inftruments to be placed in it. When the infide was completed, the outside was alfo embellished, the draw-bridge was pulled down and a new one constructed, the folle wa bordered with a fine breast-wall, and before the entry to the cattle, a fine avenue was opened and prolonged as far as St. Marcellin. So diligent were the fearches made in the forest of Chamboran, that within a month's time, the greatest part of the robbers which intefted it were apprehended. Several preci pices and caverns were filled up with ftones and earth. Thus this place once fo gloomy, fad, and dongerous, became in a little time a real pleature-garden, When all was completed, ready, The motives of the colonel's re- 349 Alexis runs quickly down ftairs; He accolts the ftranger. Don't Alexis wis quite ftruck with : From that moment, Alexis receive ed the poor man in his fervice, and wards the man had been a foldier, had never reafon to repent it afterfome foqith trick made him defert, and he was always forry for it. The colonel obtained his pardon, received him in his own regiment, and made him immediately a quarter maller. : Alexis would not confine his generofity and gratitude to thofe only who had obliged him he received Ifo Vincent, who had been his man while he was yet at college, among the number of his domeftics. Even young |