to the authority of Britain. nuptial contract is only witnessed by the hallowed minister that pronounces it, is as blest as the prince a court, and furnishes an additional festival to a giddy nation. My Amelia has surely no vanity to gratify with idle pageautry; and as the privacy of the marriage does not take from its sanctity, I will venture to propose-nay, look not with severity-at the neighbouring farm we may be met by the chaplain of my regiment, and love and honor shall record a union, which produce fetters with a temporary secrecy." chuse the means of happiness-who weds in all the ostentation of and yet, as the time approaches when it will be inconsistent with the duty and honor of a soldier to enjoy any longer the society of Amelia, how can I reflect upon my situation without anguish and despair!" The delicate frame of Amelia was agitated with the sensations which this picture had excited; and, for the first time, she became acquainted with the force of love, and the dread of separation from its object.. Doliscus traced the sentiments of her heart in the silent, but certain indications of her countenance, and when tears had melted the violence of her first emotion into a soft and sympathetic grief, the treacherous suitor thus prosecuted his sceme against her peace and innocence. "But it is impossible to resolve upon perpetual misery! One thing may yet be done to change the scene without incuring a father's resentment and reproach :-can my Amelia consent to sacrifice a sentimont of delicacy, to insure a life of happi Hope, fear, the sense of decorum, and the incitments of a passion pure, but fervent, completed the painful peturbation of Amelia's heart, and, in this critical moment of her fate, deprived her of speech and recollection. (To be continued.) SYMPATHY, A FRAGMENT, BY S. Y. -WHEN passing the village, Ricardo alighted from the chaise ; with pensive step he entered the ness?" Her complexion brigh-church-yard, and deligently search ed the dreary abodes of the silent dead, to find the spot that contained the relics of his departed friend. There, as he pass'd with silent step and slow, A pleasing sadness o'er his bosom stole; did flow, the everlasting home of his de And sighs of sympathy escap'd his parted friend he plucked from the soul.' turf some wild-flowers that waved their gentle foliage over his remains, while he feasted in the luxury of meditation. 'Grief's sharpest thorn hard pressed on his breast, He approached the rising sodhe leaned on the grave-stone, and dropt a tear; and, as the tide of tenderness came over his heart, he seemed to articulate-Alas! my departed friend! Soon must I follow the-soon must all submit, and be as thou art! Soon, ah! soon must all descend into the gloo-in my silent grave !- "Ay, but to die, and go we now not To lie in old obstruction, and to rot ; To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside 2 The pendent world; or to be worse than worst Of those of lawless and incertain thoughts Imagine howling! 'tis too horrible! That age, ach, penury, imprisonment Bending o'er the silent sod, reflection told him 'that life is a passing shadow, a waking dream; and all human grandeur a scene of folly. Let the vain court the hand of ambition: let obsequious meanness bend to tyranny in dower; but let me dedicate my little day of life to Him who gave it.Ere he took his last farewell of He strove with wakeful melody to cheer He returned with the flowerets his hand-he said they would constitute a memorial. He proposed giving a part of them to her who once claimed the friendship and the love of the deceased.'With tears,' he exclaimed, 'will she snatch from me so dear a prize! but, alas! how afflicting must that moment be; it will draw from the eyes of the hapless maiden a flood of tears!-tears of sorrow, sympathy, and affection! As he uttered these words I beheld the manly tear "Stand trembling in his eye; And the deep sigh, tho' half suppress'd, escape The confines of his breast.' EPITAPH ON AN AMIABLE LADY. With all that nature could supply. Then why, dread tyrant, was it giv'n, For thee to sink such worth in dust? Why, 'twas the great command of Heav'n, To pluck the fairest flow'r the first." Convince a man against his will Yet does vanity and that spirit of contradiction, which men say is so peculiar to my sex, these added to a thorough conviction of the superiority of truth over imagination, to continue that state, of at least negative happiness which may be enjoyed in this life, and enable us to attain that glorious and eternal hereafter, prompts me to attempt an answer. Like yourself Morden, I was once the slave of her fallacious sway. Fanny painted in her brightest colours, scenes of calm domestic bliss, which even reason appeared to justify; but, whether the hope was too great to be realized, or whether designed as a punishment for presuming to expect from Mortals, what the Creator only has power to bestow, my airy fabric fell to the ground, even hope for a time was buried beneath its ruins, and became in my bosom extinct, while dark despair usurped its place, and drew me to the verge of distraction. I bowed beneath her dispotic sway for a time, and reason crouched under her iron sceptre, till truth, with her calm and heavenly breath, dispersed the mist, and reason, pure as nature formed her, again deffused her tranquil influence over my mind, and gradually convinced me, the greatest part of the sorrows I had experienced, were the phantom of a heated immagination. And shall not I, who owe it to her alone, that I am not at this moment plunged to the lowest depth of misery, declare her power ? Can you, or any person whom nature has blest with her best gift, a comprehensive mind, believe, even for a moment seriously, that the great and benevolent creator, formed man, his * last best work,' to be miserable? Certainly not, consequently, as hap. piness is a mental enjoyment, it is created with us, and those corroding passions, the acrimony of which, holds the heart in a continual palpitation, and the mind upon a torture, (pardon me for using your own expressions) are, in my opinion, the result of Envy, the baneful parent of Malice, from whom descends Hatred; these are all dispersed by Truth; who, by pourtraying things as they really exist, convinces us that those who appeared to us our superiors, may in other points, be so far our inferiors as to place us on a perfect equality with them. a share of your heart, as maturity and an intercourse with the world, gives ti, and which is so great an Thus by leveling a few distinctions, leaving no room for envy. You say that you are not of opinion, that hap-enemy to happiness, that she im piness accompanies us into the world, as children are born crying. This is truth, but as it has never yet been properly ascertained, whether the sounds proceeds from Joy or Grief, and as the tear of joy is experienced by the bosom of sensibility, to be as soothing as that of sorrow is alleviating, we may as well infer that theirs is, from the former as the latter Now, as it always been allowed. that happiness is seated in the heart, take an infant of five or six months old, that has been reared according to the dictates of nature. namely, suffered to enjoy the free air, receives, a proper degree of exercise, and whose nerves are braced by the daily use of cold water. Take snch a child, dandle and play with it till its feelings are aroused, and observe the inexpres-.. sible happiness that will disclose itself in its eyes and laugh, its little heart will dance in its bosom, such is nature; recall to memory your days of childhood, when you uncorrupted imagination pourtray. ed pleasure pure simple and unadulterated by the sophistry of art, that enemy to man, and say, were you not then happy. transient as an evening shadow, it faded from your mind, nor left a trace behind': Pride, another sting, that grows with our growth and strengthens with our strength, had not then monopolized so large Anger was perceptibly deserts, the habitation that receives it as a welcome guest. This too, is an offspring of a warm imagination; I perfectly coincide with you in your ideas, of the influence of education conducing to our future happiness, nor do I think any thing can justify a parent suffering the seeds of those baneful passions, that so, tetally anihilates it taking root in the bosoms of their innocent off spring. As a mother myself, I am fully sensible that the early part of this essential, particularly in the female's province. This is I fear the reason that it is generally so improperly attended to, if not totally neglected. But I canin not agree with you that happiness is pleasure unaloyed, for be assured, your idea "That heart can never pleasure know That never felt a pain." Now my ideas of happiness are, that to support the various and unavoidable revolutions in life with fortitude. Consider them as the. dispensations of an all-wise providence, who affects us at the moment for our future advantage to catch the fleeting phantom pleasure as she flies, nor anticipate her return, for like her sex, she is so capricious that she rarely ever deigns to come when invited ; appears, to me the most ratinoal, that selection of a compan foundation on which to erect our you in your fabric, to render it permanent ion for life, who will shew you her Besides, there are so many differ- as she really is, viz. a woman who ent modes of seeking pleasure, is to depend on yau for every future that an immense fortune might be comfort, nay, whose happiness or exhausted, and nothing remain but misery hangs on your caprice, and regret for time and money mis- from whose soothing consolations pent, To me, those of Nature you are to receive a healing balm appear the most delightful, as well for those various disagreeables that as affording the greatest variety. men in business are necessiated In short, my ideas of happiness to encounter, but if you suffer are so consonant with Lady Grace fancy to pourtray her in those in the Provoked Husband, brilliant tints, she so richly abounds should yours bear an analogy to in, as one blest with beauty, Lady Townly's though you may be wealth and talents, devoid of tempted to call for a bottle of sur- faults; in short, such as you seem feit water, you will at once define to think them, Angels. Alas, them, and save both the Printer how bitter is the disappointment and me further trouble. (Him in that awaits you. But can you, decyphering the characters, and Morden, for a moment think me me forming them.) Now, what so ignorant, or so illiberal as to beyou call Happiness, I should de-lieve that men are all the exact nominate Joy, which is a gleam that sometimes irradiates the most gloomy paths, while Happiness is a steady, serene, unruffled calm in the heart, where not a wish is ungratified. Such I have found it. You say you never expect to realize your ideas of it. This prototypes of their writings, though I confess unless it is their trade.- is another phantom of the imagi-writers differ materially from the nation, which will ultimately plunge you into the gulph of misery. You probably fancy there is no real happiness in a single life. Here again I think you are mistaken; though I confess, if either man or woman joins an agreeable companion, matrimony is certainly the best calculated to ensure it. Here again your ideas are at once pure, natural and attainable, provided you permit truth to guide accounts that their Historians give. of their propensities, for where can any production of the pen, more brilliantly glow with the spirit of Philanthropy than, Goldsmith, and he is represented as a man of pee-. vish, irritable disposition, yet how sweetly soothing is his Edwin and Angelina. Or where can a more. calm, contented mind be expressed than in the idea of |