parents before I marry you; nor will fet my foot in the dominions of Great Britain, till I receive an invitation from them, as their intended daughter. You commands were inftantly obeyed, and being arrived at some small diftance from the fuburbs of the town, fhe addreffed herfelf to Mr M- in a very collect ed and determined manner, to the fol-will, therefore, continue your travels, towing effect: and I will either precede or follow you be fo continually with you, as to give the world any juft reason to determine unfavourably of me. When you shall be called home, I will fix my abode on the coaft of France, where I fhall be equally impatient with yourself to receive that command from your father, which will inftantly authorile me to give my hand, where I have moft irrevocably given my heart. 'I have now given you every proof of throughout the courfe of them,-so as affection in my power. I have left my never to be at that diftance from you family, my country,-nay, my repu-which may give you pain, and never to tation itself for your fake;-from the fame motives, I have rifqued my life; -nor do I mean to harbour a doubt of your fidelity or your honour ;-every engagement you have made to me I am certain you are ready to fulfil; but there yet remains fomething due to myfelf; and though I had formed a de< termination, relative to my conduct, between the time I fhould fee you again and that of our final union, it has now Thefe,' continued fhe, are my fixed been more duly deliberated, and the determinations, which no human powcircumftances of it, in fome degree, er can induce me to change ;-and if changed, from the fituation of my should once attempt to exert your friend, the companion of my flight.great power over me, in order to turn The Count,' continued fhe, returned me from them, you shall see me no immediately after you had left us, and more.---I have fecured a little treasure, offered fuch propofitions to Celeftina which will be fufficient to give me an you rigours of it,---rather than hear a re as made me tremble, and her defper-humble fupport in any part of the worlds ate. In fhort, he declared, that he --but I would even return to the con⚫ could not openly marry her without his vent I have quitted, with all the added father's confent, and he was certain that could never be obtained. He, there-petition of thofe propofitions which I fore, propofed a fecret marriage, or a difdain of public opinion in living with him, unreftrained by nuptial ties.She reproached him bitterly, and her • reproaches went to his heart. He loves fhould confider as attempts to betray 'me, how dear foever the betrayer might be. I now ask no protesting res ply from you; your future conduct can alone answer me.While we itay her, but fhould he marry her pub-here you fhall, fee us every day ;-and licly without his father's approbation, his ruin is inevitable; and he is, at this moment, in the cruel fufpenfe of facri'ficing his fortune or his love. He was, I fuppofe, fully perfuaded, when Ce⚫leftina had left her convent, that, from the ftrength of her affection, she would be weak enough to abandon herself at once to his pleasure ;-but neither the nor myself broke through our fecular engagements, with any other view than to an honourable eftablishment,-in which our conduct would prove, to those who might become acquainted with our hiftory,that it was not from a wanton, foolish difpofition that we bid adieu to a conventual life-but the love of liberty, affociated to the hopes of attaining a folid and rational happiness. Re affured, Mr M- -,' added fhe, I do not harbour the moft diftant fuf, picion of you; but I am refolved to act myfelf, as I have advised my friend :I mean to obtain the confent of your when it becomes neceffary for you to leave this place, I will depart, a fhort time before you, to fome appointed place upon your route, where we may meet again. At prefent we will return to my difconfolate friend, whom you will do well to comfort,-and alfo to • influence the Count, who is very much attached to you, to think of propofing nothing that may wound her honour but either to obtain, by fome means or other, the confent of his father to a legitimate union with Celeftina, or to leave her till that object can be fully completed.' On concluding this addrefs to Mr M-, fhe burst into tears, which were accompanied by his, and, I hope, not difhonoured by mine.After a fhort filence, which had an equal share of admiration and disappointment on the part of my friend,-a kind of broken converfation took place, which continued till we arrived at the hotel, where we found the Bea Count Count and Celeflina in a fituation that called forth all our pity. We remained there till midnight, contriving various fchemes for promoting the happiness of this unfortunate pair. He did not, however, think it in the scope of poffibility to obtain his father's confent to a legitimate union with Celeftina ; and the, with a pride that became her, refufed to bear a doubtful name, though fanctioned by a private marriage.—It was therefore, at length, refolved, that she fhould remain the companion of Marguerita,that an epiftolary correfpondence fhould be maintained between her and her lover,--and that they must be contented to wait with patience till a kinder fortune fhould fmile upon them. In a fhort time after, Marguerita left Vienna for Berlin,-whither we followed her in about a week ;-and, notwithftanding the object which was before us, our departure from that city was greatly embittered by our feparation from the Count, whofe numerous accomplishments, and endearing behaviour, had rivetted, even during fo fhort an acquaintance, our fincereft affection and esteem.-From Berlin we paffed on to Hamburgh, where we were most agreeably surprized by the arrival of the Count, who hav ing received an account of his father's death, as he was leaving Vienna,-did not hesitate a moment to take our route, till he had joined us at the former place, where we faw him united to his lovely Celestina. They remained with us but a few days, and left us with mutual promites of regard and remembrance. The Count would gladly have prolonged his ftay with us, but it was neceffary that he fhould return home to take poffeffion of the wealth and honours of his family. We did not remain long after our friends,-but continued our journey thro Holland and the Auftrian Low Countries, till we arrived at Bruges, where it was determined Marguerita fhould remain in an English convent, to learn what the imagined was to be the future language of her life, and to wait the fummons to Ireland, which was to make her the hap pieft of women. It will be needlefs to prolong my narrative with a detail of circumstances, which have no peculisr intereft to recom mend them;-I shall therefore pass at once to our arrival in Ireland.We now, indeed, draw nigh to that critical period which was to give fun-fhine or fhade to the future life of my friend, and such a “fituation afflicted me with the moftpoig nant apprehenfions.-I was aware from the beginning, of fome of the bad effects, at leaft, which have fince happen- ed; at the fame time I was fully convinced, that if I opposed the defign, however dangerous or inconfiderate, he would fall a victim to defpair.To preferve him, therefore, was my firft object,-and I fubmitted the reft to the will of Heaven;nor at this moment does my confcience reproach me. On our arrival at Dublin, the old gentleman's delight was beyond description: Indeed, nothing could exceed the appearance of his fon,-nor did his talents and qualifications belie his exterior figure and deportment.-His mother was with difficulty recovered from the ecftacy of embracing her charming boy, as the tenderly called him,-who was now returned, in every refpect equal to the fondeft hopes of maternal affection. As the period now approached when Mr M- would be of age, we all went to the family feat at fome diftance from Dublin, to celebrate it with great feftivity.-No expence was fpared to give joy to all who were prefent,-and the feftive defign had its due effect, I believe, upon every heart but that of my friend and myself. He had doubts which beclouded his happiness, and I had fears which did not fuffer me to enjoy a mo ment's repose. At length, the hurry of rejoicing being over, Mr M- -made known to his mother his fituation and engagement with Marguerita, together with all the circumftances of it, and the refolutions which he had formed respecting it, preffing her in the moft earneft manher to communicate the whole to his father-That amiable woman ufed every argument which her authority and her tenderness could employ, to turn his thoughts from the purpofed connexion, but to no purpofe ;-fhe then fent for me, —and after hearing my fentiments on the bufinefs, the determined to make the old gentleman acquainted with it,-and to exert all her influence in procuring the happiness of her son, tho? the had every reafon to believe it would be in vain ;and the advised me to prepare my friend for an immediate and abfolute refusai from his father." This lady poffeffed a very excellent underftanding, and well knew that à fpeedy determination, whatever it might prove, would at all events be the beft ;The therefore took the first opportunity to inform the elder Mr Mof every circumftance circumstance relative to his son's paffion for Marguerita, and the engagements which had taken place between them. which might favour of passion rather than judgment,-1 have confulted those who could and would advise me beft in the prefent pofition of our domestic circumstances; and I have found the fentiments of my friends to be unanimous against indulging you in the marriage you propofe, with a lady of a foreign country,-fpeaking only a foreign language, and profeffing a differ "He heard her with frequent changes of countenance; and, when he had told her ftory, defired immediately to fee my friend, from whom he received a repetition of it:-On his filent difmiffion I was ordered to attend, and give my account of the bufinefs; when I was queftioned very particularly refpectingent religion;-and who ventured to the character, qualifications, and family of poor Marguerita.-Having done juftice to her and to truth,-the old gentleman, without making a fingle obfervation, wished me a good night, with his ufual civility, and quitted the room,The next morning, at a very early hour, he fet out for Dublin, and left a written order, that we fhould remain in the country till we received notice to follow him, After a week of fad fufpence, we received the fummons.-On our arrival at his house in Dublin, he bid us follow him into his library ;-and, after many affecting obfervations, on filial duty, paternal regard, and domeftic obligation, he continued his difcourfe to his fon in the following manner: You cannot be a ftranger to the many enemies I have made among my relations, and the continual ill-ufage I have received from them, on account of my tendernefs for you,-which was fo great as to ⚫ determine me to make you my heir in preference to prior claims. Since your abfence from me, however, a propofal has been made, by fome of my beft friends, to unite every part of my family to me, without oppofing the defigns I had formed in your favour :This was no lefs than to marry you to the daughter of my neareft relation ; a young lady formed to gain the ad'miration of all who fee her; and the love of all who know her-whofe heart and hand you must have confider⚫ed as a fupreme happinefs to poffefs,if your reafon had not been fo ftrange ly perverted by the fatal prepoffeffion which has undone you.-I entered moft gladly into this arrangement, which feemed to promife fo much happiness 6 te us all, and which had already flat*tered me with the hopes that my latter days would glide on in peace :-Nay, to confirm our domeftic honour and felicity, I had refolved to lead your mother to the altar, and to fuffer her no longer to bear a dubious name.-However, not to do any thing in this im6 portant bufintfs with a precipitancy • break the moft folemn engagements of a facred profeffion to follow you.-[ think all mankind will be with me in 'my determination not to yield to it.Indeed I might be juftly confidered as wantonly forfeiting my understanding, as well as my honour, by fuch a confent:-1 am therefore seriously and folemnly to ask you, and as fuch a bufinefs as this had better be complete at ⚫ once, I shall not repeat the queftion,whether you will banish from your heart a paffion which dishonours you, or become an alien to your father's affections and fociety, for ever? After a very violent conflict in himfelf, that almoft deprived him of the power of utterance, my poor agitated friend declared that, not his heart alone, but his honour, was moft deeply concerned in maintaining, to the utmost of his power, the engagements he had made; that he had formed them in the face of Heaven, and that no power on earth fhould induce him to recede from them, Think, young man,' faid his father, with tears in his eyes, what you are doing :-J will yet give you time to reflect, and fave yourself from ruin." Sir,' replied my friend, it appears to me, that this will be the laft opportunity I fhall ever poffefs of performing an act of perfonal duty to you ;—[ will therefore dignify it by the honeft fincerity with which I declare, that my life, if it were neceffary for your happinefs, fhould be moft readily facrificed to you:-but what you now require is not in my power to give.-Though I fhould never call Marguerita mine, I never will become the husband of another, if even an empire itself were to be her marriage-portion.' Then, Sir,' replied the old man, begone and fee my face no more.' Mr M left the room in an agony he could fcarce fuftain;-and, as I was about to follow him, the old gentleman defired me to call upon him the following morning,--when he received me with calm civility;-and, after re proaching proaching me, but not either with rudenefs or violence of expreffion, for having omitted to inform him of our proceedings in Italy, he said, that as he had educated us like gentlemen, he should not fend us away without fome provifion; he therefore gave me two bonds of annuity, the one of two hundred pounds a year to his fon, and the other of half that fum for myfelf:- and,' added he, 6 as ready money may be neceffary to both, there is a draft of five hundred pounds on my banker and I would advise you to fhape your courfe in fome bonourable way, but without ever thinking any further of me.-My refolutions are fixed,—and I shall know neither of you any more.This event,' continued he,' feems to be the work of Heaven, to turn my thoughts to my legitimate relations, inftead of facrificing them, as I have fo long done, to an idle, illegiti mate paffion.I thanked him in the most respectful manner for all his favours, and took my leave. [To be concluded in our next.] POETR Y. FOR THE EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. -Nunc omnis ager, nunc omnis parturit arbos; Nunc frondent Sylvæ ; nunc formosissimus S annus. VIRG. WEET child of light, with breezes ever Andfefl'ring gleams, effulgent Summer,hail! And from her win'try flumbers wak'd apace Whofe tender opening buds Await thy nurfive ray. Let love-inspiring May, thy fweeteft nymph, Her flow'ry bofom fpread on hill and plain, And cheer the bleaken'd wafte With nectar-breathing bloom, Which Flora rear'd with Zephyr's balmy breath. -Hufh'd are the storms, and through the temper'd air The gloomy north breathes mild. Loud tempefts heave no more The troubled deep, nor fweep the cheerlefs There with flow ftep afcend each graffy steep, And gaze on Nature in her fairest forms, The mountain rough and wild Abroad romantic fhade; oft while the swain, Chear'd by the mildest ray, Sits in fome weftern height And fings his love-notes to the fetting fun. Thefe are the peaceful fcenes Contentment loves, Which charm the penfive eye, And fill the foul with awe. Bright feafon! whose all-piercing warmth enlivens O come, in fimple veft array'd, To blefs my longing fight; No more by varying paffions beat, To find thy hermit cell; The modeft virtues dwell. Simplicity in attic vest, Young Jehu was a lad of fame, Now welcome Whitfuntide was come, A boon, a boon! he cried; My darling boy indeed thou art, So name the boon; I promife thee It shall not be denied. Then give me, Sir, your long-lash'd whipy There Health, thro' whofe calm bofom glide To 'drive alone to yonder town, The temperate joys in even tide, That rarely ebb or flow; To meet the off.r'd blow. Her influence taught the Phrygian fage With fettled fmiles to meet: But thou, O nymph, retir'd and coy! fay what foft propitious hour And fhed thy milder day. When Eve, her dewy ftar beneath, Low whifp'ring through the fhade. And flourish through the fair. The father shook his head, My fon, You know not what you afk; To drive a gig in crowded streets Is no fuch eafy task. The horses, full of reft and corn, Scarce I myfelf can guide; Then think, dear boy, of fomething elfe But nothing could young Jehu pleafe To fpend his breath in ftriving. Or in a ditch both gig and you Will tumble in a trice. Spare, fpare the whip, hold hard the reins, The feeds go fast enough; Keep in the middle beaten track, Nor cross the ruts fo rough: And when within the town you come, Drive clear of fign-pofts, booths, and stalls The youth fearce heard his father out, He feiz'd the reins, and up he fpruug, Take |