fitous with a princely revenue, and very wretched amidst perpetual gaiety. This scene. was fo foreign from the idea Sir Edward had formed of the reception his country and friends were to afford him, that he found a conftant fource of difguft in the fociety of his equals. In their converfation fantaftic, not refined, their ideas were frivolous, and their knowledge fhallow; and with all the pride of birth, and infolence of station, their principles were mean, and their minds. ignoble. In their pretended attachments, he difcovered only defigns of selfishnets; and their pleasures, he experienced, were as fallacious. as their friendships. In the fociety of Louifa he found fenfibility and truth; hers was the. only heart that feemed interested in his welfare the faw the return of virtue in Sir Edward, and felt the friendship which he fhewed her. Sometimes when the perceived him forrowful, her lute would leave its melancholy. for more lively airs, and her countenance affume a gaiety it was not formed to wear. But her heart was breaking with that anguish which her generofity endeavoured to conceal from him; her frame, too delicate for the.. fruggle with her feelings, feemed to yield to

:

their

their force; her reft forfook her; the colour faded in her cheek, the luftre of her eyes grew dim. Sir Edward faw thefe fymp toms of decay with the deepeft remorse. Often did he curfe thofe falfe ideas of pleasure which had led him to confider the ruin of an artlefs girl, who loved and trufted him, as an object which it was luxury to attain and pride to accomplish. Often did he wish to blot out from his life a few guilty months, to be again reftored to an opportunity of giving happinefs to that family, whofe unfufpecting kindnefs he had repaid with the treachery of a robber, and the cruelty of an affaffin.

One evening, while he fat in a little parlour with Louifa, his mind alternately agitated and foftened with this impreffion, a hand-organ,. of a remarkably fweet tone, was heard in the ftreet. Louifa laid afide her lute, and liften- · ed: the airs it played were those of her native country; and a few tears, which fhe en. deavoured to hide, ftole from her on hearing them. Sir Edward ordered a fervant to fetch the organist into the room: he was brought in accordingly, and feated at the door of the apartment.

He played one or two fprightly tunes, to

which Louifa had often danced in her infancy: she gave herself up to the recollection, and her tears flowed without controul. Sudden

ly the musician changing the ftop, introduced a little melancholy air of a wild and plaintive kind.- Louisa started from her feat, and rufhed up to the ftranger.- He threw off a tattered coat, and black patch. It was her father! -She would have fprung to embrace him; he turned afide for a few moments, and would not receive her into his arms. But Nature at laft overcame his refentment; he burst into tears, and preffed to his bofom his long-loft daughter.

Sir Edward ftood fixed in aftonishment and confufion." I come not to upbraid you," faid Venoni; "I am a poor, weak, old man, "unable for upbraidings; I am come but to "find my child, to forgive her, and to die! "When you faw us. firft, Sir Edward, we "were not thus. You found us virtuous "and happy; we danced and we fung, and "there was not a fad heart in the valley "where we dwelt. Yet we left our dancing, "our fongs, and our chearfulness; you were

diftreffed, and we pitied you. Since that "day the pipe has never been heard in Veno

"ni's

I

"ni's fields: grief and ficknefs have almoft "brought him to the grave; and his neigh“bours, who loved and pitied him, have been "chearful no more. Yet, methinks, though “you robbed us of happiness, you are not “ happy ; — else why that dejected look which, " amidst all the grandeur around you, "saw you wear, and those tears which, un"der all the gaudinefs of her apparel, I faw "that poor deluded girl fhed ?”— “ But she "fhall fhed no more," cried Sir Edward; 61 you shall be happy, and I shall be just. For"give, my venerable friend, the injuries "which I have done thee; forgive me, my "Louifa, for rating your excellence at a price "fo mean. I have seen those high-born fe"males to which my rank might have allied

me; I am ashamed of their vices, and sick "of their follies. Profligate in their hearts, "amidst affected purity, they are flaves to "pleasure without the fincerity of paffion; and, ..with the name of honour, are infenfible to

the feelings of virtue. You, my Louifa! .66 but I will not call up recollections that "might render me lefs worthy of your future "efteem.-Continue to love your Edward; "but a few hours, and you fhall add the title

to the affections of a wife; let the care. and tenderness of a husband bring back its

peace to your mind, and its bloom to your "cheek. We will leave for a while the won"der and the envy of the fashionable circle

here. We will restore your father to his native home; under that roof I fhall once "more be happy; happy without allay, be"cause I fhall deferve my happiness. Again

fhall the pipe and the dance gladden the "valley, and innocence and peace beam on the cottage of Venoni."

V

VOL. III.

Ff

No 110.