he did not want it-it was not the value of the afs-but the lofs of him-The afs, he faid, he was affured, loved him-and upon this told them a long ftory of a mischance upon their paffage over the Pyrenean mountains, which had feparated them from each other three days; during which time the ass had fought him as much as he had fought the afs, and that neither had scarce eaten or drunk till they met.

THOU haft one comfort, friend, faid I, at least, in the lofs of thy poor beaft; I am fure thou hast been a merciful mafter 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! faid I to myself-Did we but love each other as this poor foul loved his afs—'twould be fomething.STERNE.

CHAP. X.

THE SWORD.

WHEN ftates and empires have their periods of declenfion, and feel in their turns what distress and poverty is→ I ftop not to tell the caufes, which gradually brought the houfe of d'E**** in Britany into decay. The Marquis d'E**** had fought up against his condition with great firmness; wishing to preferve, and ftill fhow 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 boys who looked up to him for light-he thought they deferved it. He had tried his fword-it could not open the way-the mounting was too expenfive-and fimple economy was not a match for it-there was no refource but commerce.

In any other province in France, fave Britany, this was fmiting the root for ever of the little tree his pride and affection wifhed to fee rebloffom-But in Britany, there being a provifion for this, he availed himself of it; and taking an occafion when the ftates were affembled at Rennes, the Marquis, attended with his two fons, entered the court; and having pleaded the right of an ancient law of the duchy, which, though seldom claimed, he faid, was no lefs in force; he took his fword from his fide-Here-faid he-take it; and be trufty guardians of it, till better times put me in condition to reclaim it.

-THE prefident accepted the Marquis's fword-he ftaid a few minutes to fee it depofited in the archives of his house -and departed.

THE Marquis and his whole family embarked the next day for Martinico, and in about nineteen or twenty years of fuccefsful application to bufinefs, with fome unlookedfor bequests from diftant branches of his house-returned home to reclaim his nobility, and to support it.

Ir was an incident of good fortune which will never happen to any traveller, but a fentimental one, that I fhould be at Rennes at the very time of his folemn requifition; I call it folemn-it was fo to me.

THE Marquis entered the court with his whole family; he fupported his lady-his eldeft fon fupported his fifter, and his youngest was at the other extreme of the line next his mother he put his handkerchief to his face twice

THERE was a dead filence. When the Marquis had approached within fix paces of the tribunal, he gave the Marchionefs to his youngest fon, and advancing three steps before his family-he reclaimed his fword. His fword was given him, and the moment he got it into his hand he drew it almoft out of the fcabbard-it was the fhining face of a friend he had once given up. He looked attentively a long time at it, beginning at the hilt, as if to see whether it was

the

the fame-when obferving a little ruft which it had contracted near the point, he brought it near his eye, and bending his head down over it-I think I faw a tear fall upon the place: I could not be deceived by what followed.

"I SHALL find," faid he, "fome other way to get it off." WHEN the Marquis had faid this, he returned his fword into its fcabbard, made a bow to the guardian of it-and, with his wife and daughter, and his two fons following him, walked out.

O HOW I envied him his feelings!

CHAP. XI.

MARI A.

FIRST PART.

STERNE.

-THEY were the fweetest notes I ever heard; and I inftantly let down the fore glafs to hear them more dif tinctly 'Tis Maria, faid the poftillion, obferving I was liftening.-Poor Maria, continued he, (leaning his body on one fide to let me fee her, for he was in a line between us) is fitting upon a bank playing her vefpers her pipe, with her little goat befide her.

upon

THE young fellow uttered this with an accent and a look fo perfectly in tune to a feeling heart, that I inftantly made a vow, I would give him a four and twenty fous piece when I got to Moulines

AND who is poor Maria? faid I.

:

THE love and pity of all the villages around us, faid the poftillion it is but three years ago, that the fun did not thiné upon fo fair, fo quick-witted, and amiable a maid; and better fate did Maria deferve, than to have her banns forbid, by the intrigues of the curate of the parish who published them

He was geing on, when Maria, who had made a fhort pause, put the pipe to her mouth and began the air again

they were the fame notes ;-yet were ten times fweeter: It is the evening service to the Virgin, faid the young man— but who has taught her to play it— t-or how the came by her pipe, no one knows: we think that Heaven has affifted her in both; for ever fince the has been unfettled in her mind, it feems her only confolation-fhe has never once had the pipe out of her hand, but plays that service upon it almoft night and day.

THE poftillion delivered this with fo much difcretion and natural eloquence, that I could not help deciphering fomething in his face above his condition, and should have fifted out his history, had not poor Maria taken fuch full poffeffion of me,

We had got up by this time almoft to the bank where Maria was fitting the was in a thin white jacket, with her hair, all but two treffes, drawn up in a filk net, with a few olive leaves twisted a little fantastically on one fidefhe was beautiful; and if ever I felt the full force of an honeft heart-ache, it was the moment I faw her

GOD help her! poor damfel! above a hundred maffes, faid the poftillion, have been faid in the feveral parish churches and convents around for her-but without effect: we have still hopes, as fhe is fenfible for fhort intervals, that the Virgin at laft will reftore her to herfelf; but her parents, who know her beft, are hopeless upon that fcore, and think her fenfes are loft for ever.

As the poftillion spoke this, Maria made a cadence fo melancholy, fo tender, and querulous, that I fprung out of the chaife to help her, and found myfelf fitting betwixt her and her goat before I relapfed from my enthufiafm.

MARIA looked wiftfully for fome time at me, and then at her goat-and then at me-and then at her goat again, and fo on alternately

WELL, Maria, faid I foftly-What refemblance do you find?

I Do entreat the candid reader to believe me, that it was from the humbleft conviction of what a beaft man is,—that I asked the queftion; and that I would not have let fall an unfeafonable pleafantry in the venerable prefence of Mifery, to be entitled to all the wit that ever Rabelais fcattered.

ADIEU, Maria!—adieu, poor haplefs damfel!-fome time, but not now, I may hear thy forrows from thy own lips-but I was deceived; for that moment fhe took her pipe, and told me fuch a tale of woe with it, that 1 rofe up, and with broken and irregular fteps walked foftly to my chaife.

SECOND PART.

WHEN we had got within half a league of Moulines, at a little opening in the road leading to a thicket, I difcovered poor Maria fitting under a poplar-he was fitting with her elbow in her lap, and her head leaning on one Ade within her hand- -a fmall brook ran at the foot of the tree.

A

I BADE the poftillion go on with the chaife to Moulines -and la Fleur to befpeak my fupper and that I would walk after him.

SHE was dreffed in white, and much as my friend defcribed her, except that her hair hung loofe, which before was twisted within a filk net. She had fuperadded likewise to her jacket a pale green riband, which fell across her shoulder to the waist; at the end of which hung her pipe. Her goat had been as faithlefs as her lover; and fhe had got a little dog in lieu of him, which she kept tied by a ftring to her girdle; as I looked at her dog, fhe drew him towards her with the ftring- Thou shalt not leave me, Sylvio," faid fhe. I looked in Maria's eyes, and saw she was thinking more of her father than of her lover or her little goat; as she uttered them, the tears trickled down her cheeks. I SAT down close by her; and Maria let me wipe them

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