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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Paul and Virginia, by Bernadin de Saint-Pierre
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Paul and Virginia
+
+Author: Bernadin de Saint-Pierre
+
+Release Date: January 28, 2004 [EBook #10859]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PAUL AND VIRGINIA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Internet Archive; University of Florida, Children, Grenet
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: _Paul and Virginia. p.29._]
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA,
+
+FROM THE FRENCH
+
+OF
+
+J.B.H. DE SAINT PIERRE.
+
+
+
+
+1851
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The following translation of "Paul and Virginia," was written at Paris,
+amidst the horrors of Robespierre's tyranny. During that gloomy epocha it
+was difficult to find occupations which might cheat the days of calamity of
+their weary length. Society had vanished; and amidst the minute vexations
+of Jacobinical despotism, which, while it murdered in _mass_, persecuted in
+detail, the resources of writing, and even reading, were encompassed with
+danger. The researches of domiciliary visits had already compelled me to
+commit to the flames a manuscript volume, where I had traced the political
+scenes of which I had been a witness, with the colouring of their first
+impressions on my mind, with those fresh tints that fade from recollection;
+and since my pen, accustomed to follow the impulse of my feelings, could
+only have drawn, at that fatal period, those images of desolation and
+despair which haunted my imagination, and dwelt upon my heart, writing was
+forbidden employment. Even reading had its perils; for books had sometimes
+aristocratical insignia, and sometimes counter revolutionary allusions; and
+when the administrators of police happened to think the writer a
+conspirator, they punished the reader as his accomplice.
+
+In this situation I gave myself the task of employing a few hours every day
+in translating the charming little novel of Bernardin St. Pierre, entitled
+"Paul and Virginia;" and I found the most soothing relief in wandering from
+my own gloomy reflections to those enchanting scenes of the Mauritius,
+which he has so admirably described. I also composed a few Sonnets adapted
+to the peculiar productions of that part of the globe, which are
+interspersed in the work. Some, indeed, are lost, as well as a part of the
+translation, which I have since supplied, having been sent to the
+Municipality of Paris, in order to be examined as English papers; where
+they still remain, mingled with revolutionary placards, motions, and
+harangues; and are not likely to be restored to my possession.
+
+With respect to the translation, I can only hope to deserve the humble
+merit of not having deformed the beauty of the original. I have, indeed,
+taken one liberty with my author, which it is fit I should acknowledge,
+that of omitting several pages of general observations, which, however
+excellent in themselves, would be passed over with impatience by the
+English reader, when they interrupt the pathetic narrative. In this
+respect, the two nations seem to change characters; and while the serious
+and reflecting Englishman requires, in novel writing, as well as on the
+theatre, a rapid succession of incidents, much bustle and stage effect,
+without suffering the author to appear himself, and stop the progress of
+the story; the gay and restless Frenchman listens attentively to long
+philosophical reflections, while the catastrophe of the drama hangs in
+suspense.
+
+My last poetical productions (the Sonnets which are interspersed in this
+work) may perhaps be found even more imperfect than my earlier
+compositions; since, after a long exile from England, I can scarcely
+flatter myself that my ear is become more attuned to the harmony of a
+language, with the sounds of which it is seldom gladdened; or that my
+poetical taste is improved by living in a country where arts have given
+place to arms. But the public will, perhaps, receive with indulgence a work
+written under such peculiar circumstances; not composed in the calm of
+literary leisure, or in pursuit of literary fame, but amidst the turbulence
+of the most cruel sensations, and in order to escape awhile from
+overwhelming misery.
+
+H.M.W.
+
+
+
+
+PAUL AND VIRGINIA.
+
+
+On the eastern coast of the mountain which rises above Port Louis in the
+Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of former cultivation,
+are seen the ruins of two small cottages. Those ruins are situated near the
+centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks, and which opens only towards
+the north. On the left rises the mountain, called the Height of Discovery,
+from whence the eye marks the distant sail when it first touches the verge
+of the horizon, and whence the signal is given when a vessel approaches the
+island. At the foot of this mountain stands the town of Port Louis. On the
+right is formed the road, which stretches from Port Louis to the Shaddock
+Grove, where the church, bearing that name, lifts its head, surrounded by
+its avenues of bamboo, in the midst of a spacious plain; and the prospect
+terminates in a forest extending to the furthest bounds of the island. The
+front view presents the bay, denominated the Bay of the Tomb: a little on
+the right is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and beyond rolls the expanded
+ocean, on the surface of which appear a few uninhabited islands, and, among
+others, the Point of Endeavour, which resembles a bastion built upon the
+flood.
+
+At the entrance of the valley which presents those various objects, the
+echoes of the mountain incessantly repeat the hollow murmurs of the winds
+that shake the neighbouring forests, and the tumultuous dashing of the
+waves which break at a distance upon the cliffs. But near the ruined
+cottages all is calm and still, and the only objects which there meet the
+eye are rude steep rocks, that rise like a surrounding rampart. Large
+clumps of trees grow at their base, on their rifted sides, and even on
+their majestic tops, where the clouds seem to repose. The showers, which
+their bold points attract, often paint the vivid colours of the rainbow on
+their green and brown declivities, and swell the sources of the little
+river which flows at their feet, called the river of Fan-Palms.
+
+Within this enclosure reigns the most profound silence. The waters, the
+air, all the elements are at peace. Scarcely does the echo repeat the
+whispers of the palm-trees spreading their broad leaves, the long points of
+which are gently balanced by the winds. A soft light illuminates the bottom
+of this deep valley, on which the sun only shines at noon. But even at
+break of day the rays of light are thrown on the surrounding rocks; and the
+sharp peaks, rising above the shadows of the mountain, appear like tints of
+gold and purple gleaming upon the azure sky.
+
+To this scene I loved to resort, where I might enjoy at once the richness
+of the extensive landscape, and the charm of uninterrupted solitude. One
+day, when I was seated at the foot of the cottages, and contemplating their
+ruins, a man, advanced in years, passed near the spot. He was dressed in
+the ancient garb of the island, his feet were bare, and he leaned upon a
+staff of ebony: his hair was white, and the expression of his countenance
+was dignified and interesting. I bowed to him with respect; he returned the
+salutation: and, after looking at me with some earnestness, came and placed
+himself upon the hillock where I was seated. Encouraged by this mark of
+confidence, I thus addressed him:--
+
+"Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once belonged?" "My son,"
+replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish, and that unfilled land, were,
+twenty years ago, the property of two families, who then found happiness in
+this solitude. Their history is affecting; but what European, pursuing his
+way to the Indies, will pause one moment to interest himself in the fate of
+a few obscure individuals? What European can picture happiness to his
+imagination amidst poverty and neglect? The curiosity of mankind is only
+attracted by the history of the great; and yet from that knowledge little
+use can be derived." "Father," I rejoined, "from your manners and your
+observations, I perceive that you have acquired much experience of human
+life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech you, the history of the
+ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be assured, that even the men who
+are most perverted by the prejudices of the world, find a soothing pleasure
+in contemplating that happiness which belongs to simplicity and virtue."
+The old man, after a short silence, during which he leaned his face upon
+his hands, as if he were trying to recall the images of the past, thus began
+his narration:--
+
+"Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
+having in vain solicited a commission in the French Army, or some support
+from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in this
+island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young woman whom he
+loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly beloved. She belonged
+to a rich and ancient family of the same province; but he had married her
+without fortune, and in opposition to the will of her relations, who
+refused their consent, because he was found guilty of being descended from
+parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur de la Tour, leaving his
+wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in order to purchase a few
+slaves to assist him in forming a plantation in this island. He landed at
+that unhealthy season which commences about the middle of October: and soon
+after his arrival died of the pestilential fever, which prevails in that
+country six months of the year, and which will forever baffle the attempts
+of the European nations to form establishments on that fatal soil. His
+effects were seized upon by the rapacity of strangers; and his wife, who
+was pregnant, found herself a widow in a country where she had neither
+credit nor recommendation, and no earthly possession, or rather support,
+save one negro woman. Too delicate to solicit protection or relief from any
+other man after the death of him whom alone she loved, misfortune armed her
+with courage, and she resolved to cultivate with her slave a little spot of
+ground, and procure for herself the means of subsistence. In an island
+almost a desert, and where the ground was left to the choice of the
+settler, she avoided those spots which were most fertile and most
+favourable to commerce; and seeking some nook of the mountain, some secret
+asylum, where she might live solitary and unknown, she bent her way from
+the town towards those rocks, where she wished to shelter herself as in a
+nest. All suffering creatures, from a sort of common instinct, fly for
+refuge amidst their pains to haunts the most wild and desolate; as if rocks
+could form a rampart against misfortune; as if the calm of nature could
+hush the tumults of the soul. That Providence, which lends its support when
+we ask but the supply of our necessary wants, had a blessing in reserve for
+Madame de la Tour, which neither riches nor greatness can purchase; this
+blessing was a friend.
+
+"The spot to which Madame de la Tour fled had already been inhabited a year
+by a young woman of a lively, good natured, and affectionate disposition.
+Margaret (for that was her name) was born in Britany, of a family of
+peasants, by whom she was cherished and beloved, and with whom she might
+have passed life in simple rustic happiness, if, misled by the weakness of
+a tender heart, she had not listened to the passion of a gentleman in the
+neighbourhood, who promised her marriage. He soon abandoned her, and adding
+inhumanity to seduction, refused to ensure a provision for the child of
+which she was pregnant. Margaret then determined to leave for ever her
+native village, and go, where her fault might be concealed, to some colony
+distant from that country where she had lost the only portion of a poor
+peasant girl--her reputation. With some borrowed money she purchased an old
+negro slave, with whom she cultivated a little spot of this canton. Here
+Madame de la Tour, followed by her negro woman, found Margaret suckling her
+child. Soothed by the sight of a person in a situation somewhat similar to
+her own, Madame de la Tour related, in a few words, her past condition and
+her present wants. Margaret was deeply affected by the recital; and, more
+anxious to excite confidence than esteem, she confessed, without disguise,
+the errors of which she had been guilty. 'As for me,' said she, 'I deserve
+my fate: but you, madam--you! at once virtuous and unhappy--' And, sobbing,
+she offered Madame de la Tour both her hut and her friendship. That lady,
+affected by this tender reception, pressed her in her arms, and exclaimed,
+'Ah, surely Heaven will put an end to my misfortunes, since it inspires
+you, to whom I am a stranger, with more goodness towards me than I have
+ever experienced from my own relations!'
+
+"I knew Margaret; and, although my habitation is a league and a half from
+hence, in the woods behind that sloping mountain, I considered myself as
+her neighbour. In the cities of Europe a street, sometimes even a less
+distance, separates families whom nature had united; but in new colonies we
+consider those persons as neighbours from whom we are divided only by woods
+and mountains; and above all, at that period when this island had little
+intercourse with the Indies, neighbourhood alone gave a claim to
+friendship, and hospitality toward strangers seemed less a duty than a
+pleasure. No sooner was I informed that Margaret had found a companion,
+than I hastened thither, in hope of being useful to my neighbour and her
+guest.
+
+"Madame de la Tour possessed all those melancholy graces which give beauty
+additional power, by blending sympathy with admiration. Her figure was
+interesting, and her countenance expressed at once dignity and dejection.
+She appeared to be in the last stage of her pregnancy. I told them that,
+for the future interests of their children, and to prevent the intrusion of
+any other settler, it was necessary they should divide between them the
+property of this wild sequestered valley, which is nearly twenty acres in
+extent. They confided that task to me, and I marked out two equal portions
+of land. One includes the higher part of this enclosure, from, the peak of
+that rock buried in clouds, whence springs the rapid river of Fan-Palms, to
+that wide cleft which you see on the summit of the mountain, and which is
+called the Cannon's Mouth, from the resemblance in its form. It is
+difficult to find a path along this wild portion of enclosure, the soil of
+which is encumbered with fragments of rock, or worn into channels formed by
+torrents; yet it produces noble trees, and innumerable fountains and
+rivulets. The other portion of land is comprised in the plain extending
+along the banks of the river of Fan-Palms, to the opening where we are now
+seated, from whence the river takes its course between those two hills,
+until it falls into the sea. You may still trace the vestiges of some
+meadow-land; and this part of the common is less rugged, but not more
+valuable than the other; since in the rainy season it becomes marshy, and
+in dry weather is so hard and unbending, that it will yield only to the
+stroke of the hatchet. When I had thus divided the property, I persuaded my
+neighbours to draw lots for their separate possessions. The higher portion
+of land became the property of Madame de la Tour; the lower, of Margaret;
+and each seemed satisfied with her respective share. They entreated me to
+place their habitations together, that they might at all times enjoy the
+soothing intercourse of friendship, and the consolation of mutual kind
+offices. Margaret's cottage was situated near the centre of the valley, and
+just on the boundary of her own plantation. Close to that spot I built
+another cottage for the dwelling of Madame de la Tour: and thus the two
+friends, while they possessed all the advantages of neighbourhood, lived on
+their own property. I myself cut palisades from the mountain, and brought
+leaves of Fan-Palms from the seashore, in order to construct those two
+cottages, of which you can now discern neither the entrance nor the roof.
+Yet, alas! there still remain but too many traces for my remembrance! Time,
+which so rapidly destroys the proud monuments of empires, seems in this
+desert to spare those of friendship, as if to perpetuate my regrets to the
+last hour of my existence.
+
+"Scarcely was her cottage finished, when Madame de la Tour was delivered of
+a girl. I had been the godfather of Margaret's child, who was christened by
+the name of Paul. Madame de la Tour desired me to perform the same office
+for her child also, together with her friend, who gave her the name of
+Virginia. 'She will be virtuous,' cried Margaret, 'and she will be happy. I
+have only known misfortune by wandering from virtue.'
+
+"At the time Madame de la Tour recovered, those two little territories had
+already begun to yield some produce, perhaps in a small degree owing to the
+care which I occasionally bestowed on their improvement, but far more to
+the indefatigable labours of the two slaves. Margaret's slave, who was
+called Domingo, was still healthy and robust, although advanced in years:
+he possessed some knowledge, and a good natural understanding. He
+cultivated indiscriminately, on both settlements, such spots of ground as
+were most fertile, and sowed whatever grain he thought most congenial to
+each particular soil. Where the ground was poor, he strewed maize; where it
+was most fruitful, he planted wheat; and rice in such spots as were marshy.
+He threw the seeds of gourds and cucumbers at the foot of the rocks, which
+they loved to climb, and decorate with their luxuriant foliage. In dry
+spots he cultivated the sweet potato; the cotton-tree flourished upon the
+heights, and the sugar-cane grew in the clayey soil. He reared some plants
+of coffee on the hills, where the grain, although small, is excellent. The
+plantain-trees, which spread their grateful shade on the banks of the
+river, and encircled the cottage, yielded fruit throughout the year. And,
+lastly, Domingo cultivated a few plants of tobacco, to charm away his own
+cares. Sometimes he was employed in cutting wood for firing from the
+mountain, sometimes in hewing pieces of rock within the enclosure, in order
+to level the paths. He was much attached to Margaret, and not less to
+Madame de la Tour, whose negro-woman, Mary, he had married at the time of
+Virginia's birth; and he was passionately fond of his wife. Mary was born
+at Madagascar, from whence she had brought a few arts of industry. She
+could weave baskets, and a sort of stuff, with long grass that grows in the
+woods. She was active, cleanly, and, above all, faithful. It was her care
+to prepare their meals, to rear the poultry, and go sometimes to Port
+Louis, and sell the superfluities of these little plantations, which were
+not very considerable. If you add to the personages I have already
+mentioned two goats, who were brought up with the children, and a great
+dog, who kept watch at night, you will have a complete idea of the
+household, as well as of the revenue of those two farms.
+
+"Madame de la Tour and her friend were employed from the morning till the
+evening in spinning cotton for the use of their families. Destitute of all
+those things which their own industry could not supply, they walked about
+their habitations with their feet bare, and shoes were a convenience
+reserved for Sunday, when, at an early hour, they attended mass at the
+church of the Shaddock Grove, which you see yonder. That church is far more
+distant than Port Louis; yet they seldom visited the town, lest they should
+be treated with contempt, because they were dressed in the coarse blue
+linen of Bengal, which is usually worn by slaves. But is there in that
+external deference which fortune commands a compensation for domestic
+happiness? If they had something to suffer from the world, this served but
+to endear their humble home. No sooner did Mary and Domingo perceive them
+from this elevated spot, on the road of the Shaddock Grove, than they flew
+to the foot of the mountain, in order to help them to ascend. They
+discerned in the looks of their domestics that joy which their return
+inspired. They found in their retreat neatness, independence, all those
+blessings which are the recompense of toil, and received those services
+which have their source in affection.--United by the tie of similar wants,
+and the sympathy of similar misfortunes, they gave each other the tender
+names of companion, friend, sister.--They had but one will, one interest,
+one table. All their possessions were in common. And if sometimes a passion
+more ardent than friendship awakened in their hearts the pang of unavailing
+anguish, a pure religion, united with chaste manners, drew their affections
+towards another life; as the trembling flame rises towards heaven, when it
+no longer finds any aliment on earth.
+
+"Madame de la Tour sometimes, leaving the household cares to Margaret,
+wandered out alone; and, amidst the sublime scenery, indulged that luxury
+of pensive sadness, which is so soothing to the mind after the first
+emotions of turbulent sorrow have subsided. Sometimes she poured forth the
+effusions of melancholy in the language of verse; and, although her
+compositions have little poetical merit, they appear to me to bear the
+marks of genuine sensibility. Many of her poems are lost; but some still
+remain in my possession, and a few still hang on my memory. I will repeat
+to you a sonnet addressed to Love.
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO LOVE.
+
+    Ah, Love! ere yet I knew thy fatal power,
+    Bright glow'd the colour of my youthful days,
+    As, on the sultry zone, the torrid rays,
+    That paint the broad-leaved plantain's glossy bower;
+    Calm was my bosom as this silent hour,
+    When o'er the deep, scarce heard, the zephyr strays,
+    'Midst the cool tam'rinds indolently plays,
+    Nor from the orange shakes its od'rous flower:
+    But, ah! since Love has all my heart possess'd,
+    That desolated heart what sorrows tear!
+    Disturb'd and wild as ocean's troubled breast,
+    When the hoarse tempest of the night is there
+    Yet my complaining spirit asks no rest;
+    This bleeding bosom cherishes despair.
+
+"The tender and sacred duties which nature imposed, became a source of
+additional happiness to those affectionate mothers, whose mutual friendship
+acquired new strength at the sight of their children, alike the offspring
+of unhappy love. They delighted to place their infants together in the same
+bath, to nurse them in the same cradle, and sometimes changed the maternal
+bosom at which they received nourishment, as if to blend with the ties of
+friendship that instinctive affection which this act produces.
+
+'My friend,' cried Madame de la Tour, 'we shall each of us have two
+children, and each of our children will have two mothers.' As two buds
+which remain on two trees of the same kind, after the tempest has broken
+all their branches, produce more delicious fruit, if each, separated from
+the maternal stem, be grafted on the neighbouring tree; so those two
+children, deprived of all other support, imbibed sentiments more tender
+than those of son and daughter, brother and sister, when exchanged at the
+breast of those who had given them birth. While they were yet in their
+cradle, their mothers talked of their marriage; and this prospect of
+conjugal felicity, with which they soothed their own cares, often called
+forth the tears of bitter regret. The misfortunes of one mother had arisen
+from having neglected marriage, those of the other from having submitted to
+its laws: one had been made unhappy by attempting to raise herself above
+her humble condition of life, the other by descending from her rank. But
+they found consolation in reflecting that their more fortunate children,
+far from the cruel prejudices of Europe, those prejudices which poison the
+most precious sources of our happiness, would enjoy at once the pleasures
+of love and the blessings of equality.
+
+"Nothing could exceed that attachment which those infants already displayed
+for each other. If Paul complained, his mother pointed to Virginia; and at
+that sight he smiled, and was appeased. If any accident befel Virginia, the
+cries of Paul gave notice of the disaster; and then Virginia would suppress
+her complaints when she found that Paul was unhappy. When I came hither, I
+usually found them quite naked, which is the custom of this country,
+tottering in their walk, and holding each other by the hands and under the
+arms, as we represent the constellation of the Twins. At night these
+infants often refused to be separated, and were found lying in the same
+cradle, their cheeks, their bosoms pressed close together, their hands
+thrown round each other's neck, and sleeping, locked in one another's arms.
+
+"When they began to speak, the first names they learnt to give each other
+were those of brother and sister, and childhood knows no softer
+appellation. Their education served to augment their early friendship, by
+directing it to the supply of their reciprocal wants. In a short time, all
+that regarded the household economy, the care of preparing the rural
+repasts, became the task of Virginia, whose labours were always crowned
+with the praises and kisses of her brother. As for Paul, always in motion,
+he dug the garden with Domingo, or followed him with a little hatchet into
+the woods, where, if in his rambles he espied a beautiful flower, fine
+fruit, or a nest of birds, even at the top of a tree, he climbed up, and
+brought it home to his sister.
+
+"When you met with one of these children, you might be sure the other was
+not distant. One day, coming down that mountain, I saw Virginia at the end
+of the garden, running toward the house, with her petticoat thrown over her
+head, in order to screen herself from a shower of rain. At a distance, I
+thought she was alone; but as I hastened towards her, in order to help her
+on, I perceived that she held Paul by the arm, who was almost entirely
+enveloped in the same cavity, and both were laughing heartily at being
+sheltered together under an umbrella of their own invention. Those two
+charming faces, placed within the petticoat, swelled by the wind, recalled
+to my mind the children of Leda, enclosed within the same shell.
+
+"Their sole study was how to please and assist each other; for of all other
+things they were ignorant, and knew neither how to read nor write. They
+were never disturbed by researches into past times, nor did their curiosity
+extend beyond the bounds of that mountain. They believed the world ended at
+the shores of their own island, and all their ideas and affections were
+confined within its limits. Their mutual tenderness, and that of their
+mothers, employed all the activity of their souls. Their tears had never
+been called forth by long application to useless sciences. Their minds had
+never been wearied by lessons of morality, superfluous to bosoms
+unconscious of ill. They had never been taught that they must not steal,
+because every thing with them was in common; or be intemperate, because
+their simple food was left to their own discretion; or false, because they
+had no truth to conceal. Their young imaginations had never been terrified
+by the idea that God has punishments in store for ungrateful children,
+since with them filial affection arose naturally from maternal fondness.
+All they had been taught of religion was to love it; and if they did not
+offer up long prayers in the church, wherever they were, in the house, in
+the fields, in the woods, they raised towards heaven their innocent hands,
+and their hearts purified by virtuous affections.
+
+"Thus passed their early childhood, like a beautiful dawn, the prelude of a
+bright day. Already they partook with their mothers the cares of the
+household. As soon as the cry of the wakeful cock announced the first beam
+of the morning, Virginia arose, and hastened to draw water from a
+neighbouring spring; then returning to the house, she prepared the
+breakfast. When the rising sun lighted up the points of those rocks which
+overhang this enclosure, Margaret and her child went to the dwelling of
+Madame de la Tour, and they offered up together their morning prayer. This
+sacrifice of thanksgiving always preceded their first repast, which they
+often partook before the door of the cottage, seated upon the grass, under
+a canopy of plantain; and while the branches of that delightful tree
+afforded a grateful shade, its solid fruit furnished food ready prepared by
+nature; and its long glossy leaves, spread upon the table, supplied the
+want of linen.
+
+"Plentiful and wholesome nourishment gave early growth and vigour to the
+persons of those children, and their countenances expressed the purity and
+peace of their souls. At twelve years of age the figure of Virginia was in
+some degree formed: a profusion of light hair shaded her face, to which her
+blue eyes and coral lips gave the most charming brilliancy. Her eyes
+sparkled with vivacity when she spoke; but when she was silent, her look
+had a cast upwards, which gave it an expression of extreme sensibility, or
+rather of tender melancholy. Already the figure of Paul displayed the
+graces of manly beauty. He was taller than Virginia; his skin was of a
+darker tint; his nose more aquiline; and his black eyes would have been too
+piercing, if the long eyelashes, by which were shaded, had not given them a
+look of softness. He was constantly in motion, except when his sister
+appeared; and then, placed at her side, he became quiet. Their meals often
+passed in silence, and, from the grace of their attitudes, the beautiful
+proportions of their figures, and their naked feet, you might have fancied
+you beheld an antique group of white marble, representing some of the
+children of Niobe; if those eyes which sought to meet those smiles which
+were answered by smiles of the most tender softness, had not rather given
+you the idea of those happy celestial spirits, whose nature is love, and
+who are not obliged to have recourse to words for the expression of that
+intuitive sentiment. In the mean time, Madame de la Tour, perceiving every
+day some unfolding grace, some new beauty, in her daughter, felt her
+maternal anxiety increase with her tenderness. She often said to me, 'If I
+should die, what will become of Virginia without fortune?'
+
+"Madame de la Tour had an aunt in France, who was a woman of quality, rich,
+old and a great bigot. She had behaved towards her niece with so much
+cruelty upon her marriage that Madame de la Tour had determined that no
+distress or misfortune should ever compel her to have recourse to her
+hard-hearted relation. But when she became a mother, the pride of
+resentment was stilled in the stronger feelings of maternal tenderness. She
+wrote to her aunt, informing her of the sudden death of her husband, the
+birth of her daughter, and the difficulties in which she was involved at a
+distance from her own country, without support, and burthened with a child.
+She received no answer; but, notwithstanding that high spirit which was
+natural to her character, she no longer feared exposing herself to
+mortification and reproach; and, although she knew her relation would never
+pardon her for having married a man of merit, but not of noble birth, she
+continued to write to her by every opportunity, in the hope of awakening
+her compassion for Virginia. Many years, however, passed, during which she
+received not the smallest testimony of her remembrance.
+
+"At length, in 1738, three years after the arrival of Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais in this island, Madame de la Tour was informed that the
+governor had a letter to give her from her aunt. She flew to Port Louis,
+careless on this occasion of appearing in her homely garment. Maternal hope
+and joy subdued all those little considerations, which are lost when the
+mind is absorbed by any powerful sentiment. Monsieur de la Bourdonnais
+delivered to her a letter from her aunt, who informed her, that she
+deserved her fate for having married an adventurer and a libertine; that
+misplaced passions brought along with them their own punishment, and that
+the sudden death of her husband must be considered as a visitation from
+heaven; that she had done well in going to a distant island, rather than
+dishonour her family by remaining in France: and that, after all, in the
+colony where she had taken refuge, every person grew rich except the idle.
+Having thus lavished sufficient censure upon the conduct of her niece, she
+finished by a eulogium on herself. To avoid, she said, the almost
+inevitable evils of marriage, she had determined to remain in a single
+state. In truth, being of a very ambitious temper, she had resolved only to
+unite, herself to a man of high rank; and although she; was very rich, her
+fortune was not found a sufficient bribe, even at court, to counterbalance
+the malignant dispositions of her mind, and the disagreeable qualities of
+her person.
+
+"She added, in a postscript, that, after mature deliberation, she had
+strongly recommended her niece to Monsieur de la Bourdonnais. This she had
+indeed done, but in a manner of late too common, and which renders a patron
+perhaps even more formidable than a declared enemy: for, in order to
+justify herself, she had cruelly slandered her niece, while she affected to
+pity her misfortunes.
+
+"Madame de la Tour, whom no unprejudiced person could have seen without
+feeling sympathy and respect, was received with the utmost coolness by
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais; and when she painted to him her own situation,
+and that of her child, he replied, 'We will see what can be done--there are
+so many to relieve--why did you affront so respectable a relation?--You
+have been much to blame.'
+
+"Madame de la Tour returned to her cottage, her bosom throbbing with all
+the bitterness of disappointment. When she arrived, she threw herself on a
+chair, and then flinging her aunt's letter on the table, exclaimed to her
+friend, 'This is the recompense of eleven years of patient expectation!' As
+Madame de la Tour was the only person in the little circle who could read,
+she again took up the letter, which she read aloud. Scarcely had she
+finished, when Margaret exclaimed, 'What have we to do with your relations?
+Has God then forsaken us? He only is our father! Have we not hitherto been
+happy? Why then this regret? You have no courage.' Seeing Madame de la Tour
+in tears, she threw herself upon her neck, and pressing her in her arms,
+'My dear friend!' cried she, 'my dear friend!' But her emotion choked her
+utterance.
+
+"At this sight Virginia burst into tears, and pressed her mother's hand and
+Margaret's alternately to her lips and to her heart: while Paul, with his
+eyes inflamed with anger, cried, clasped his hands together, and stamped
+with his feet, not knowing whom to blame for this scene of misery. The
+noise soon led Domingo and Mary to the spot, and the little habitation
+resounded with the cries of distress. Ah, Madame!--My good mistress!--My
+dear mother!--Do not weep!'
+
+"Those tender proofs of affection at length dispelled Madame de la Tour's
+sorrow. She took Paul and Virginia in her arms, and, embracing them, cried,
+'You are the cause of my affliction, and yet my only source of delight!
+Yes, my dear children, misfortune has reached me from a distance, but
+surely I am surrounded by happiness.' Paul and Virginia did not understand
+this reflection; but, when they saw that she was calm, they smiled, and
+continued to caress her. Thus tranquillity was restored, and what had
+passed proved but a transient storm, which serves to give fresh verdure to
+a beautiful spring.
+
+"Although Madame de la Tour appeared calm in the presence of her family,
+she sometimes communicated to me the feelings that preyed upon her mind,
+and soon after this period gave me the following sonnet:--
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO DISAPPOINTMENT.
+
+    Pale Disappointment! at thy freezing name
+    Chill fears in every shivering vein I prove;
+    My sinking pulse almost forgets to move,
+    And life almost forsakes my languid frame:
+    Yet thee, relentless nymph! no more I blame:
+    Why do my thoughts 'midst vain illusions rove?
+    Why gild the charms of friendship and of love
+    With the warm glow of fancy's purple flame?
+    When ruffling winds have some bright fane o'erthrown,
+    Which shone on painted clouds, or seem'd to shine,
+    Shall the fond gazer dream for him alone
+    Those clouds were stable, and at fate repine?
+    I feel alas! the fault is all my own,
+    And, ah! the cruel punishment is mine!
+
+"The amiable disposition of those children unfolded itself daily. On a
+Sunday, their mothers having gone at break of day to mass, at the church of
+the Shaddock Grove, the children perceived a negro woman beneath the
+plantains which shaded their habitation. She appeared almost wasted to a
+skeleton, and had no other garment than a shred of coarse cloth thrown
+across her loins. She flung herself at Virginia's feet, who was preparing
+the family breakfast, and cried, 'My good young lady, have pity on a poor
+slave. For a whole month I have wandered amongst these mountains, half dead
+with hunger, and often pursued by the hunters and their dogs. I fled from
+my master, a rich planter of the Black River, who has used me as you see;'
+and she showed her body marked by deep scars from the lashes she had
+received. She added, 'I was going to drown myself; but hearing you lived
+here, I said to myself, since there are still some good white people in
+this country, I need not die yet.'
+
+"Virginia answered with emotion, 'Take courage, Unfortunate creature! here
+is food,' and she gave her the breakfast she had prepared, which the poor
+slave in a few minutes devoured. When her hunger was appeased, Virginia
+said to her, 'Unhappy woman! will you let me go and ask forgiveness for you
+of your master? Surely the sight of you will touch him with pity.--Will you
+show me the way?'--'Angel of heaven!' answered the poor negro woman, 'I
+will follow you where you please.' Virginia called her brother, and begged
+him to accompany her. The slave led the way, by winding and difficult
+paths, through the woods, over mountains which they climbed with
+difficulty, and across rivers, through which they were obliged to wade. At
+length they reached the foot of a precipice upon the borders of the Black
+River. There they perceived a well-built house, surrounded by extensive
+plantations, and a great number of slaves employed at their various
+labours. Their master was walking amongst them with a pipe in his mouth,
+and a switch in his hand. He was a tall thin figure, of a brown complexion;
+his eyes were sunk in his head, and his dark eyebrows were joined together.
+Virginia, holding Paul by the hand, drew near, and with much emotion begged
+him, for the love of God, to pardon his poor slave, who stood trembling a
+few paces behind. The man at first paid little attention to the children,
+who, he saw, were meanly dressed. But when he observed the elegance of
+Virginia's form, and the profusion of her beautiful light tresses, which
+had escaped from beneath her blue cap; when he heard the soft tone of her
+voice, which trembled, as well as her own frame, while she implored his
+compassion; he took the pipe from his mouth, and lifting up his stick,
+swore, with a terrible oath, that he pardoned his slave, not for the love
+of Heaven, but of her who asked his forgiveness. Virginia made a sign to
+the slave to approach her master, and instantly sprung away, followed by
+Paul.
+
+"They climbed up the precipice they had descended; and, having gained the
+summit, seated themselves at the foot of a tree, overcome with fatigue,
+hunger, and thirst. They had left their cottage fasting, and had walked
+five leagues since break of day. Paul said to Virginia, 'My dear sister, it
+is past noon, and I am sure you are thirsty and hungry; we shall find no
+dinner here; let us go down the mountain again, and ask the master of the
+poor slave for some food.'--'Oh no,' answered Virginia; 'he frightens me
+too much. Remember what mamma sometimes says, the bread of the wicked is
+like stones in the mouth.'--'What shall we do then?' said Paul: 'these
+trees produce no fruit; and I shall not be able to find even a tamarind or
+a lemon to refresh you.' Scarcely had he pronounced these words, when they
+heard the dashing of waters which fell from a neighbouring rock. They ran
+thither, and having quenched their thirst at this crystal spring, they
+gathered a few cresses which grew on the border of the stream. While they
+were wandering in the woods in search of more solid nourishment, Virginia
+spied a young palm tree. The kind of cabbage which is found at the top of
+this tree, enfolded within its leaves, forms an excellent sustenance; but,
+although the stalk of the tree was not thicker than a man's leg, it was
+above sixty feet in height. The wood of this tree is composed of fine
+filaments; but the bark is so hard that it turns the edge of the hatchet,
+and Paul was not even furnished with a knife. At length he thought of
+setting fire to the palm tree, but a new difficulty occurred, he had no
+steel with which to strike fire; and, although the whole island is covered
+with rocks, I do not believe it is possible to find a flint. Necessity,
+however, is fertile in expedients, and the most useful inventions have
+arisen from men placed in the most destitute situations. Paul determined to
+kindle a fire in the manner of the negroes. With the sharp end of a stone
+he made a small hole in the branch of a tree that was quite dry, which he
+held between his feet; he then sharpened another dry branch of a different
+sort of wood, and afterwards placing the piece of pointed wood in the small
+hole of the branch which he held with his feet, and turning it rapidly
+between his hands, in a few minutes smoke and sparks of fire issued from
+the points of contact. Paul then heaped together dried grass and branches,
+and set fire to the palm tree, which soon fell to the ground. The fire was
+useful to him in stripping off the long, thick and pointed leaves, within
+which the cabbage was enclosed.
+
+"Paul and Virginia ate part of the cabbage raw, and part dressed upon the
+ashes, which they found equally palatable. They made this frugal repast
+with delight, from the remembrance of the benevolent action they had
+performed in the morning: yet their joy was embittered by the thoughts of
+that uneasiness which their long absence would give their mothers. Virginia
+often recurred to this subject: but Paul, who felt his strength renewed by
+their meal, assured her that it would not be long before they reached home.
+
+"After dinner they recollected that they had no guide, and that they were
+ignorant of the way. Paul, whose spirit was not subdued by difficulties,
+said to Virginia, 'The sun shines full upon our huts at noon: we must pass
+as we did this morning, over that mountain with its three points, which you
+see yonder. Come, let us go.' This mountain is called the Three Peaks. Paul
+and Virginia descended the precipice of the Black River, on the northern
+side; and arrived, after an hour's walk, on the banks of a large stream.
+
+"Great part of this island is so little known, even now, that many of its
+rivers and mountains have not yet received a name. The river, on the banks
+of which our travellers stood, rolls foaming over a bed of rocks. The noise
+of the water frightened Virginia, and she durst not wade through the
+stream: Paul therefore took her up in his arms, and went thus loaded over
+the slippery rocks, which formed the bed of the river, careless of the
+tumultuous noise of its waters. 'Do not be afraid,' cried he to Virginia;
+'I feel very strong with you. If the inhabitant of the Black River had
+refused you the pardon of his slave, I would have fought with
+him.'--'What!' answered Virginia, 'with that great wicked man? To what have
+I exposed you! Gracious heaven! How difficult it is to do good! and it is
+so easy to do wrong.'
+
+"When Paul had crossed the river, he wished to continue his journey,
+carrying his sister, and believed he was able to climb in that way the
+mountain of the Three Peaks, which was still at the distance of half a
+league; but his strength soon failed, and he was obliged to set down his
+burden, and to rest himself by her side. Virginia then said to him, 'My
+dear brother the sun is going down: you have still some strength left, but
+mine has quite failed: do leave me here, and return home alone to ease the
+fears of our mothers.'--'Oh, no,' said Paul, 'I will not leave you. If
+night surprises us in this wood, I will light a fire, and bring down
+another palm-tree: you shall eat the cabbage; and I will form a covering of
+the leaves to shelter you.' In the mean time, Virginia being a little
+rested, pulled from the trunk of an old tree, which hung over the bank of
+the river, some long leaves of hart's tongue, which grew near its root.
+With those leaves she made a sort of buskin, with which she covered her
+feet, that were bleeding from the sharpness of the stony paths; for, in her
+eager desire to do good, she had forgot to put on her shoes. Feeling her
+feet cooled by the freshness of the leaves, she broke off a branch of
+bamboo, and continued her walk leaning with one hand on the staff, and with
+the other on Paul.
+
+"They walked on slowly through the woods, but from the height of the trees,
+and the thickness of their foliage, they soon lost sight of the mountain of
+the Tree Peaks, by which they had directed their course, and even of the
+sun, which was now setting. At length they wandered without perceiving it,
+from the beaten path in which they had hitherto walked, and found
+themselves in a labyrinth of trees and rocks, which appeared to have no
+opening. Paul made Virginia sit down, while he ran backwards and forwards,
+half frantic, in search of a path which might lead them out of this thick
+wood; but all his researches were in vain. He climbed to the top of a tree,
+from whence he hoped at least to discern the mountain of the Three Peaks;
+but all he could perceive around him were the tops of trees, some of which
+were gilded by the last beams of the setting sun. Already the shadows of
+the mountains were spread over the forests in the valleys. The wind ceased,
+as it usually does, at the evening hour. The most profound silence reigned
+in those awful solitudes, which was only interrupted by the cry of the
+stags, who came to repose in that unfrequented spot. Paul, in the hope that
+some hunter would hear his voice, called out as loud as he was able, 'Come,
+come to the help of Virginia.' But the echoes of the forests alone answered
+his call, and repeated again and again, 'Virginia--Virginia.' Paul at
+length descended from the tree, overcome with fatigue and vexation, and
+reflected how they might best contrive to pass the night in that desert.
+But he could find neither a fountain, a palm-tree, nor even a branch of dry
+wood to kindle a fire. He then felt, by experience, the sense of his own
+weakness, and began to weep. Virginia said to him, 'Do not weep, my dear
+brother, or I shall die with grief. I am the cause of all your sorrow, and
+of all that our mothers suffer at this moment. I find we ought to do
+nothing, not even good, without consulting our parents. Oh, I have been
+very imprudent!' and she began to shed tears. She then said to Paul, 'Let
+us pray to God, my dear brother, and he will hear us.'
+
+"Scarcely had they finished their prayer, when they heard the barking of a
+dog. 'It is the dog of some hunter,' said Paul, 'who comes here at night to
+lay in wait for the stags.'
+
+"Soon after the dog barked again with more violence. 'Surely,' said
+Virginia, 'it is Fidele, our own dog; yes, I know his voice. Are we then so
+near home? at the foot of our own mountain? a moment after Fidele was at
+their feet, barking, howling, crying, and devouring them with his caresses.
+Before they had recovered their surprise, they saw Domingo running towards
+them. At the sight of this good old negro, who wept with joy, they began to
+weep too, without being able to utter one word. When Domingo had recovered
+himself a little, 'Oh, my dear children,' cried he, 'how miserable have you
+made your mothers! How much were they astonished when they returned from
+mass, where I went with them, and not finding you! Mary, who was at work at
+a little distance, could not tell us where you were gone. I ran backwards
+and forwards about the plantation, not knowing where to look for you. At
+last I took some of your old clothes, and showing them to Fidele, the poor
+animal, as if he understood me, immediately began to scent your path; and
+conducted me, continually wagging his tail, to the Black River. It was
+there a planter told me that you had brought back a negro woman, his slave,
+and that he had granted you her pardon. But what pardon! he showed her to
+me with her feet chained to a block of wood, and an iron collar with three
+hooks fastened round her neck.
+
+"'From thence Fidele, still on the scent, led me up the precipice of the
+Black River, where he again stopped and barked with all his might. This was
+on the brink of a spring, near a fallen palm tree, and close to a fire
+which was still smoking. At last he led me to this very spot. We are at the
+foot of the mountains of the Three Peaks, and still four leagues from home.
+Come, eat, and gather strength.' He then presented them with cakes, fruits,
+and a very large gourd filled with a liquor composed of wine, water, lemon
+juice sugar, and nutmeg, which their mothers had prepared. Virginia sighed
+at the recollection of the poor slave, and at the uneasiness which they had
+given their mothers. She repeated several times, 'Oh, how difficult it is
+to do good.'
+
+"While she and Paul were taking refreshment, Domingo kindled a fire, and
+having sought among the rocks for a particular kind of crooked wood, which
+burns when quite green, throwing out a great blaze, he made a torch, which
+he lighted, it being already night. But when they prepared to continue
+their journey, a new difficulty occurred; Paul and Virginia could no longer
+walk, their feet being violently swelled and inflamed. Domingo knew not
+whether it were best to leave them, and go in search of help, or remain and
+pass the night with them on that spot. 'What is become of the time,' said
+he, 'when I used to carry you both together in my arms? But now you are
+grown big, and I am grown old.' While he was in this perplexity, a troop of
+Maroon negroes appeared at the distance of twenty paces. The chief of the
+band, approaching Paul and Virginia, said to them, 'Good little white
+people, do not be afraid. We saw you pass this morning, with a negro woman
+of the Black River. You went to ask pardon for her of her wicked master,
+and we, in return for this, will carry you home upon our shoulders.' He
+then made a sign, and four of the strongest negroes immediately formed a
+sort of litter with the branches of trees and lianas, in which, having
+seated Paul and Virginia, they placed it upon their shoulders. Domingo
+marched in front, carrying his lighted torch, and they proceeded amidst the
+rejoicings of the whole troop, and overwhelmed with their benedictions.
+Virginia, affected by this scene, said to Paul, with emotion, 'O, my dear
+brother! God never leaves a good action without reward.'
+
+"It was midnight when they arrived at the foot of the mountain, on the
+ridges of which several fires were lighted. Scarcely had they begun to
+ascend, when they heard voices crying out, 'Is it you, my children?' They
+answered together with the negroes, 'Yes, it is us;' and soon after
+perceived their mothers and Mary coming towards them with lighted sticks in
+their hands. 'Unhappy children!' cried Madame de la Tour, 'from whence do
+you come? What agonies you have made us suffer!' 'We come, said Virginia,
+'from the Black River, where we went to ask pardon for a poor Maroon slave,
+to whom I gave our breakfast this morning, because she was dying of hunger;
+and these Maroon negroes have brought us home.'--Madame de la Tour embraced
+her daughter without being able to speak; and Virginia, who felt her face
+wet with her mother's tears, exclaimed, 'You repay me for all the hardships
+I have suffered.' Margaret, in a transport of delight, pressed Paul in her
+arms, crying, 'And you also, my dear child! you have done a good action.'
+When they reached the hut with their children, they gave plenty of food to
+the negroes, who returned to their woods, after praying the blessing of
+heaven might descend on those good white people.
+
+"Every day was to those families a day of tranquillity and of happiness.
+Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. In this island, where, as
+in all the European colonies, every malignant anecdote is circulated with
+avidity, their virtues, and even their names, were unknown. Only when a
+traveller on the road of the Shaddock Grove inquired of any of the
+inhabitants of the plain, 'Who lives in those two cottages above?' he was
+always answered, even by those who did not know them, 'They are good
+people.' Thus the modest violet, concealed beneath the thorny bushes, sheds
+its fragrance, while itself remains unseen.
+
+"Doing good appeared to those amiable families to be the chief purpose of
+life. Solitude, far from having blunted their benevolent feelings, or
+rendered their dispositions morose, had left their hearts open to every
+tender affection. The contemplation of nature filled their minds with
+enthusiastic delight. They adored the bounty of that Providence which had
+enabled them to spread abundance and beauty amidst those barren rocks, and
+to enjoy those pure and simple pleasures which are ever grateful and ever
+new. It was, probably, in those dispositions of mind that Madame de la Tour
+composed the following sonnet.
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO SIMPLICITY.
+
+    Nymph of the desert! on this lonely shore,
+    Simplicity, thy blessings still are mine,
+    And all thou canst not give I pleased resign,
+    For all beside can soothe my soul no more.
+    I ask no lavish heaps to swell my store,
+    And purchase pleasures far remote from thine.
+    Ye joys, for which the race of Europe pine,
+    Ah! not for me your studied grandeur pour,
+    Let me where yon tall cliffs are rudely piled,
+    Where towers the palm amidst the mountain trees,
+    Where pendant from the steep, with graces wild,
+    The blue liana floats upon the breeze,
+    Still haunt those bold recesses, Nature's child,
+    Where thy majestic charms my spirit seize!
+
+"Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than
+Europeans are at fifteen, and had embellished the plantations which Domingo
+had only cultivated. He had gone with him to the neighbouring woods, and
+rooted up young plants of lemon trees, oranges, and tamarinds, the round
+heads of which are of so fresh a green, together with date palm trees,
+producing fruit filled with a sweet cream, which has the fine perfume of
+the orange flower. Those trees, which were already of a considerable size,
+he planted round this little enclosure. He had also sown the seeds of many
+trees which the second year bear flowers or fruits. The agathis, encircled
+with long clusters of white flowers, which hang upon it like the crystal
+pendants of a lustre. The Persian lilac, which lifts high in air its gay
+flax-coloured branches. The pappaw tree, the trunk of which, without
+branches, forms a column set round with green melons, bearing on their
+heads large leaves like those of the fig tree.
+
+"The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mangoes, alligator
+pears, the guava, the bread tree, and the narrow-leaved eugenia, were
+planted with profusion; and the greater number of those trees already
+afforded to their young cultivator both shade and fruit. His industrious
+hands had diffused the riches of nature even on the most barren parts of
+the plantation. Several kinds of aloes, the common Indian fig, adorned with
+yellow flowers, spotted with red, and the thorny five-angled touch thistle,
+grew upon the dark summits of the rocks, and seemed to aim at reaching the
+long lianas, which, loaded with blue or crimson flowers, hung scattered
+over the steepest part of the mountain. Those trees were disposed in such a
+manner that you could command the whole at one view. He had placed in the
+middle of this hollow the plants of the lowest growth: behind grew the
+shrubs; then trees of an ordinary height: above which rose majestically the
+venerable lofty groves which border the circumference. Thus from its centre
+this extensive enclosure appeared like a verdant amphitheatre spread with
+fruits and flowers, containing a variety of vegetables, a chain of meadow
+land, and fields of rice and corn. In blending those vegetable productions
+to his own taste, he followed the designs of Nature. Guided by her
+suggestions, he had thrown upon the rising grounds such seeds as the winds
+might scatter over the heights, and near the borders of the springs such
+grains as float upon the waters. Every plant grew in its proper soil, and
+every spot seemed decorated by her hands. The waters, which rushed from the
+summits of the rocks, formed in some parts of the valley limpid fountains,
+and in other parts were spread into large clear mirrors, which reflected
+the bright verdure, the trees in blossom, the bending rocks, and the azure
+heavens.
+
+"Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground, most of these
+plantations were easy of access. We had, indeed, all given him our advice
+and assistance, in order to accomplish this end. He had formed a path which
+wound round the valley, and of which various ramifications led from the
+circumference to the centre. He had drawn some advantage from the most
+rugged spots; and had blended, in harmonious variety, smooth walks with the
+asperities of the soil, and wild with domestic productions. With that
+immense quantity of rolling stones which now block up those paths, and
+which are scattered over most of the ground of this island, he formed here
+and there pyramids; and at their base he laid earth, and planted the roots
+of rose bushes, the Barbadoes flower fence, and other shrubs which love to
+climb the rocks. In a short time those gloomy shapeless pyramids were
+covered with verdure, or with the glowing tints of the most beautiful
+flowers. The hollow recesses of aged trees, which bent over the borders of
+the stream, formed vaulted caves impenetrable to the sun, and where you
+might enjoy coolness during the heats of the day. That path led to a clump
+of forest trees, in the centre of which grew a cultivated tree, loaded with
+fruit. Here was a field ripe with corn, there an orchard. From that avenue
+you had a view of the cottages; from this, of the inaccessible summit of
+the mountain. Beneath that tufted bower of gum trees, interwoven with
+lianas, no object could be discerned even at noon, while the point of the
+neighbouring rock, which projects from the mountain commanded a few of the
+whole enclosure, and of the distant ocean, where sometimes we spied a
+vessel coming from Europe, or returning thither. On this rock the two
+families assembled in the evening, and enjoyed, in silence, the freshness
+of the air, the fragrance of the flowers, the murmurs of the fountains, and
+the last blended harmonies of light and shade.
+
+"Nothing could be more agreeable than the names which were bestowed upon
+some of the charming retreats of this labyrinth. That rock, of which I was
+speaking, and from which my approach was discerned at a considerable
+distance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and Virginia, amidst
+their sports, had planted a bamboo on that spot; and whenever they saw me
+coming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief, by way of signal of my
+approach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the neighbouring mountain at
+the sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck me of engraving an
+inscription upon the stalk of this reed. Whatever pleasure I have felt,
+during my travels, at the sight of a statue or monument of antiquity, I
+have felt still more in reading of well written inscription. It seems to me
+as if a human voice issued from the stone and making itself heard through
+the lapse of ages, addressed man in the midst of a desert, and told him
+that I was not alone; that other men, on that very spot, have felt, and
+thought, and suffered like himself. If the inscription belongs to an
+ancient nation which no longer exists, it leads the soul through infinite
+space, and inspires the feeling of its immortality, by showing that a
+thought has survived the ruins of an empire.
+
+"I inscribed then, on the little mast of Paul and Virginia's flag, those
+lines of Horace:
+
+    Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera,
+    Ventorumque regat pater,
+    Obstrictis alils, praeter Iapyga.
+
+'May the brothers of Helen, lucid stars like you, and the Father of the
+winds, guide you; and may you only feel the breath of the zephyr.'
+
+"I engraved this line of Virgil upon the bark of a gum tree, under the
+shade of which Paul sometimes seated himself, in order to contemplate the
+agitated sea:--
+
+    Fortunatue et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
+
+'Happy art thou, my son, to know only the pastoral divinities.'
+
+"And above the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage, where the families used
+to assemble, I placed this line:
+
+    At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
+
+'Here is a calm conscience, and a life ignorant of deceit.'
+
+"But Virginia did not approve of my Latin; she said, that what I had placed
+at the foot of her weather flag was too long and too learned. 'I should
+have liked better,' added she, 'to have seen inscribed, _Always agitated,
+yet ever constant_.'
+
+"The sensibility of those happy families extended itself to every thing
+around them. They had given names the most tender to objects in appearance
+the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain, and bread trees,
+planted round a greensward where Virginia and Paul sometimes danced, was
+called Concord. An old tree, beneath the shade of which Madame de la Tour
+and Margaret used to relate their misfortunes, was called, The Tears wiped
+away. They gave the names of Britany and Normandy to little portions of
+ground where they had sown corn, strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary,
+wishing, in imitation of their mistresses, to recall the places of their
+birth in Africa, gave the names of Angola and Foullepointe to the spots
+where grew the herb with which they wove baskets, and where they had
+planted a calbassia tree. Thus, with the productions of their respective
+climates, those exiled families cherished the dear illusions which bind us
+to our native country, and softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas!
+I have seen animated by a thousand soothing appellations, those trees,
+those fountains, those stones which are now overthrown, which now, like the
+plains of Greece, present nothing but ruins and affecting remembrances.
+
+"Neither the neglect of her European friends, nor the delightful romantic
+spot which she inhabited, could banish from the mind of Madame de la Tour
+this tender attachment to her native country. While the luxurious fruits of
+this climate gratified the taste of her family, she delighted to rear those
+which were more graceful, only because they were the productions of her
+early home. Among other little pieces addressed to flowers and fruits of
+northern climes, I found the following sonnet to the Strawberry.
+
+       SONNET.
+
+       TO THE STRAWBERRY.
+
+    The strawberry blooms upon its lowly bed:
+    Plant of my native soil! The lime may fling
+    More potent fragrance on the zephyr's wing,
+    The milky cocoa richer juices shed,
+    The white guava lovelier blossoms spread:
+    But not, like thee, to fond remembrance bring
+    The vanish'd hours of life's enchanting spring;
+    Short calendar of joys for ever fled!
+    Thou bidst the scenes of childhood rise to view,
+    The wild wood path which fancy loves to trace,
+    Where, veil'd in leaves, thy fruit of rosy hue,
+    Lurk'd on its pliant stem with modest grace.
+    But, ah! when thought would later years renew,
+    Alas! successive sorrows crowd the space.
+
+"But perhaps the most charming spot of this enclosure was that which was
+called the Repose of Virginia. At the foot of the rock which bore the name
+of the Discovery of Friendship, is a nook, from whence issues a fountain,
+forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in the midst of a
+field of rich grass. At the time Margaret was delivered of Paul, I made her
+a present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and which she planted
+on the border of this fenny ground, in order that the tree might one day
+serve to mark the epocha of her son's birth. Madame de la Tour planted
+another cocoa, with the same view, at the birth of Virginia. Those fruits
+produced two cocoa trees, which formed all the records of the two families:
+one was called the tree of Paul, the other the tree of Virginia. They grew
+in the same proportion as the two young persons, of an unequal height; but
+they rose, at the end of twelve years, above the cottages. Already their
+tender stalks were interwoven, and their young branches of cocoas hung over
+the basin of the fountain. Except this little plantation, the nook of the
+rock had been left as it was decorated by nature. On its brown and humid
+sides large plants of maidenhair glistened with their green and dark stars;
+and tufts of wave-leaved hartstongue, suspended like long ribands of
+purpled green, floated on the winds. Near this grew a chain of the
+Madagascar periwinkle, the flowers of which resemble the red gilliflower;
+and the long-podded capsicum, the cloves of which are of the colour of
+blood, and more glowing than coral. The herb of balm, with its leaves
+within the heart, and the sweet basil, which has the odour of the
+gilliflower, exhaled the most delicious perfumes. From the steep summit of
+the mountain hung the graceful lianas, like a floating drapery, forming
+magnificent canopies of verdure upon the sides of the rocks. The sea birds,
+allured by the stillness of those retreats, resorted thither to pass the
+night. At the hour of sunset we perceived the curlew and the stint skimming
+along the sea shore; the cardinal poised high in air; and the white bird of
+the tropic, which abandons, with the star of day, the solitudes of the
+Indian ocean. Virginia loved to repose upon the border of this fountain,
+decorated with wild and sublime magnificence. She often seated herself
+beneath the shade of the two cocoa trees, and there she sometimes led her
+goats to graze. While she prepared cheeses of their milk, she loved to see
+them browse on the maidenhair which grew upon the steep sides of the rock,
+and hung suspended upon one of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul,
+observing that Virginia was fond of this spot, brought thither, from the
+neighbouring forest, a great variety of birds' nests. The old birds,
+following their young, established themselves in this new colony. Virginia,
+at stated times, distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, and
+maize. As soon as she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird,
+the note of which is so soft: the cardinal, the black frigate bird, with
+its plumage the colour of flame, forsook their bushes; the paroquet, green
+as an emerald, descended from the neighbouring fan palms; the partridge ran
+along the grass: all advanced promiscuously towards her, like a brood of
+chickens: and she and Paul delighted to observe their sports, their
+repasts, and their loves.
+
+"Amiable children! thus passed your early days in innocence, and in the
+exercise of benevolence. How many times, on this very spot, have your
+mothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the consolations
+your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years, while already
+they enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin life under the most happy
+auspices! How many times, beneath the shade of those rocks, have I partaken
+with them of your rural repasts, which cost no animal its life. Gourds
+filled with milk, fresh eggs, cakes of rice placed upon plantain leaves,
+baskets loaded with mangoes, oranges, dates, pomegranates, pine-apples,
+furnished at the same time the most wholesome food, the most beautiful
+colours, and the most delicious juices.
+
+"The conversation was gentle and innocent as the repasts. Paul often talked
+of the labours of the day, and those of the morrow. He was continually
+forming some plan of accommodation for their little society. Here he
+discovered that the paths were rough; there that the family circle was ill
+seated: sometimes the young arbours did not afford sufficient shade, and
+Virginia might be better pleased elsewhere.
+
+"In the rainy seasons the two families assembled together in the hut, and
+employed themselves in weaving mats of grass, and baskets of bamboo. Rakes,
+spades, and hatchets were ranged along the walls in the most perfect order;
+and near those instruments of agriculture were placed the productions which
+were the fruits of labour: sacks of rice, sheaves of corn, and baskets of
+the plantain fruit. Some degree of luxury is usually united with plenty;
+and Virginia was taught by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbet and
+cordials from the juice of the sugar-cane, the orange, and the citron.
+
+"When night came, those families supped together by the light of a lamp;
+after which, Madame de la Tour or Margaret related histories of travellers
+lost during the night in such of the forests of Europe as are infested by
+banditti; or told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel, thrown by the
+tempest upon the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals their children
+listened with eager sensibility, and earnestly begged that Heaven would
+grant they might one day have the joy of showing their hospitality towards
+such unfortunate persons. At length the two families separated and retired
+to rest, impatient to meet again the next morning. Sometimes they were
+lulled to repose by the beating rains, which fell in torrents upon the roof
+of their cottages; and sometimes by the hollow winds, which brought to
+their ear the distant murmur of the waves breaking upon the shore. They
+blessed God for their personal safety, of which their feeling became
+stronger from the idea of remote danger.
+
+"Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of the
+Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon those sacred
+books, for their theology consisted in sentiment, like that of nature: and
+their morality in action, like that of the gospel. Those families had no
+particular days devoted to pleasure, and others to sadness. Every day was
+to them a holiday, and all which surrounded them one holy temple, where
+they for ever adored an Infinite Intelligence, the friend of human kind. A
+sentiment of confidence in his supreme power filled their minds with
+consolation under the past, with fortitude for the present, and with hope
+for the future. Thus, compelled by misfortune to return to a state of
+nature, those women had unfolded in their own bosoms, and in those of their
+children, the feelings which are most natural to the human mind, and which
+are our best support under evil.
+
+"But as clouds sometimes arise which cast a gloom over the best regulated
+tempers, whenever melancholy took possession of any member of this little
+society, the rest endeavoured to banish painful thoughts rather by
+sentiment than by arguments. Margaret exerted her gaiety; Madame de la Tour
+employed her mild theology; Virginia, her tender caresses; Paul, his
+cordial and engaging frankness. Even Mary and Domingo hastened to offer
+their succour, and to weep with those that wept. Thus weak plants are
+interwoven, in order to resist the tempests.
+
+"During the fine season they went every Sunday to the church of the
+Shaddock Grove, the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain. After
+service, the poor often came to require some kind office at their hands.
+Sometimes an unhappy creature sought their advice, sometimes a child led
+them to its sick mother in the neighbourhood. They always took with them
+remedies for the ordinary diseases of the country, which they administered
+in that soothing manner which stamps so much value upon the smallest
+favours. Above all, they succeeded in banishing the disorders of the mind,
+which are so intolerable in solitude, and under the infirmities of a
+weakened frame. Madame de la Tour spoke with such sublime confidence of the
+Divinity, that the sick, while listening to her, believed that he was
+present. Virginia often returned home with her eyes wet with tears and her
+heart overflowing with delight, having had an opportunity of doing good.
+After those visits of charity, they sometimes prolonged their way by the
+Sloping Mountain, till they reached my dwelling, where I had prepared
+dinner for them upon the banks of the little river which glides near my
+cottage. I produced on those occasions some bottles of old wine, in order
+to heighten the gaiety of our Indian repast by the cordial productions of
+Europe. Sometimes we met upon the seashore, at the mouth of little rivers,
+which are here scarcely larger than brooks. We brought from the plantation
+our vegetable provisions, to which we added such as the sea furnished in
+great variety. Seated upon a rock, beneath the shade of the velvet
+sunflower, we heard the mountain billows break at our feet with a dashing
+noise; and sometimes on that spot we listened to the plaintive strains of
+the water curlew Madame de la Tour answered his sorrowful notes in the
+following sonnet:--
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO THE CURLEW.
+
+    Sooth'd by the murmurs on the sea-beat shore
+    His dun grey plumage floating to the gale,
+    The curlew blends his melancholy wail
+    With those hoarse sounds the rushing waters pour.
+    Like thee, congenial bird: my steps explore
+    The bleak lone seabeach, or the rocky dale,
+    And shun the orange bower, the myrtle vale,
+    Whose gay luxuriance suits my soul no more.
+    I love the ocean's broad expanse, when dress'd
+    In limpid clearness, or when tempests blow.
+    When the smooth currents on its placid breast
+    Flow calm, as my past moments us'd to flow;
+    Or when its troubled waves refuse to rest,
+    And seem the symbol of my present wo.
+
+"Our repasts were succeeded by the songs and dances of the two young
+people. Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life, and the misery of
+those who were impelled, by avarice, to cross the furious ocean, rather
+than cultivate the earth, and enjoy its peaceful bounties. Sometimes she
+performed a pantomime with Paul, in the manner of the negroes. The first
+language of man is pantomime; it is known to all nations, and is so natural
+and so expressive, that the children of the European inhabitants catch it
+with facility from the negroes. Virginia recalling, amongst the histories
+which her mother had read to her, those which had affected her most,
+represented the principal events with beautiful simplicity. Sometimes at
+the sound of Domingo's tantam she appeared upon the greensward, bearing a
+pitcher upon her head, and advanced with a timid step towards the source of
+a neighbouring fountain, to draw water. Domingo and Mary, who personated
+the shepherds of Midian, forbade her to approach, and repulsed her sternly.
+Upon which Paul flew to her succour, beat away the shepherds, filled
+Virginia's pitcher, and placing it upon her head, bound her brows at the
+same time with a wreath of the red flowers of the Madagascar periwinkle,
+which served to heighten the delicacy of her skin. Then, joining their
+sports, I took upon me the part of Raguel, and bestowed upon Paul my
+daughter Zephora in marriage.
+
+"Sometimes Virginia represented the unfortunate Ruth, returning poor and
+widowed to her own country, where after so long an absence, she found
+herself as in a foreign land. Domingo and Mary personated the reapers.
+Virginia followed their steps, gleaning here and there a few ears of corn.
+She was interrogated by Paul with the gravity of a patriarch, and answered,
+with a faltering voice, his questions. Soon touched with compassion, he
+granted an asylum to innocence, and hospitality to misfortune. He filled
+Virginia's lap with plenty; and, leading her towards us, as before the old
+men of the city, declared his purpose to take her in marriage. At this
+scene, Madame de la Tour, recalling the desolate situation in which she had
+been left by her relations, her widowhood, the kind reception she had met
+with from Margaret, succeeded by the soothing hope of a happy union between
+their children, could not forbear weeping; and the sensations which such
+recollections excited led the whole audience to pour forth those luxurious
+tears which have their mingled source in sorrow and in joy.
+
+"These dramas were performed with such an air of reality, that you might
+have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of Palestine.
+We were not unfurnished, with either decorations, lights, or an orchestra,
+suitable to the representation. The scene was generally placed in an
+opening of the forest, where such parts of the wood as were penetrable
+formed around us numerous arcades of foliage, beneath which we were
+sheltered from the heat during the whole day; but when the sun descended
+towards the horizon, its rays, broken upon the trunks of the trees,
+diverged amongst the shadows of the forest in strong lines of light, which
+produced the most sublime effect. Sometimes the whole of its broad disk
+appeared at the end of an avenue, spreading one dazzling mass of
+brightness. The foliage of the trees, illuminated from beneath by its
+saffron beams, glowed with the lustre of the topaz and the emerald. Their
+brown and mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of antique bronze;
+and the birds, which had retired in silence to their leafy shades to pass
+the night, surprised to see the radiance of a second morning, hailed the
+star of day with innumerable carols.
+
+"Night soon overtook us during those rural entertainments; but the purity
+of the air, and the mildness of the climate, admitted of our sleeping in
+the woods secure from the injuries of the weather, and no less secure from
+the molestation of robbers. At our return the following day to our
+respective habitations, we found them exactly in the same state in which
+they had been left. In this island, which then had no commerce, there was
+so much simplicity and good faith, that the doors of several houses were
+without a key, and a lock was an object of curiosity to many of the
+natives.
+
+"Amidst the luxuriant beauty of this favoured climate, Madame de la Tour
+often regretted the quick succession from day to night which takes place
+between the tropics, and which deprived her pensive mind of that hour of
+twilight, the softened gloom of which is so soothing and sacred to the
+feelings of tender melancholy. This regret is expressed in the following
+sonnet:--
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO THE TORRID ZONE.
+
+    Pathway of light! o'er thy empurpled zone
+    With lavish charms perennial summer strays;
+    Soft 'midst thy spicy groves the zephyr plays,
+    While far around the rich perfumes are thrown:
+    The amadavid bird for thee alone
+    Spreads his gay plumes, that catch thy vivid rays,
+    For thee the gems with liquid lustre blaze,
+    And Nature's various wealth is all thy own.
+    But, ah! not thine is twilight's doubtful gloom,
+    Those mild gradations, mingling day with night;
+    Here instant darkness shrouds thy genial bloom,
+    Nor leaves my pensive soul that lingering light,
+    When musing memory would each trace resume
+    Of fading pleasures in successive flight.
+
+"Paul and Virginia had neither clock nor almanac, nor books of chronology,
+history, or philosophy. The periods of their lives were regulated by those
+of nature. They knew the hours of the day by the shadows of the trees, the
+seasons by the times when those trees bore flowers or fruit, and the years
+by the number of their harvests. These soothing images diffused an
+inexpressible charm over their conversation. 'It is time to dine,' said
+Virginia, 'the shadows of the plantain trees are at their roots; or, 'night
+approaches; the tamarinds close their leaves.' 'When will you come to see
+us?' inquired some of her companions in the neighbourhood. 'At the time of
+the sugar canes,' answered Virginia. 'Your visit will be then still more
+delightful,' resumed her young acquaintances. When she was asked what was
+her own age, and that of Paul, 'My brother,' said she, 'is as old as the
+great cocoa tree of the fountain; and I am as old as the little cocoa tree.
+The mangoes have borne fruit twelve times, and the orange trees have borne
+flowers four-and-twenty times, since I came into the world.' Their lives
+seemed linked to the trees like those of fauns or dryads. They knew no
+other historical epochas than that of the lives of their mothers, no other
+chronology than that of their orchards, and no other philosophy than that
+of doing good, and resigning themselves to the will of Heaven.
+
+"Thus grew those children of nature. No care had troubled their peace, no
+intemperance had corrupted their blood, no misplaced passion had depraved
+their hearts. Love, innocence, and piety, possessed their souls; and those
+intellectual graces unfolded themselves in their features, their attitudes,
+and their motions. Still in the morning of life, they had all its blooming
+freshness; and surely such in the garden of Eden appeared our first
+parents, when, coming from the hands of God, they first saw, approached,
+and conversed together, like brother and sister. Virginia was gentle,
+modest, and confiding as Eve; and Paul, like Adam, united the figure of
+manhood with the simplicity of a child.
+
+"When alone with Virginia, he has a thousand times told me, he used to say
+to her, at his return from labour, 'When I am wearied, the sight of you
+refreshes me. If from the summit of the mountain I perceive you below in
+the valley, you appear to me in the midst of our orchard like a blushing
+rosebud. If you go towards our mother's house, the partridge, when it runs
+to meet its young has a shape less beautiful, and a step less light. When I
+lose sight of you through the trees, I have no need to see you in order to
+find you again. Something of you, I know not how, remains for me in the air
+where you have passed, in the grass where you have been seated. When I come
+near you, you delight all my senses. The azure of heaven is less charming
+than the blue of your eyes, and the song of the amadavid bird less soft
+than the sound of your voice. If I only touch you with my finger, my whole
+frame trembles with pleasure. Do you remember the day when we crossed over
+the great stones of the river of the Three Peaks; I was very much tired
+before we reached the bank; but as soon as I had taken you in my arms, I
+seemed to have wings like a bird. Tell me by what charm you have so
+enchanted me? Is it by your wisdom? Our mothers have more than either of
+us. Is it by your caresses? They embrace me much oftener than you. I think
+it must be by your goodness. I shall never forget how you walked barefooted
+to the Black River, to ask pardon for the poor wandering; slave. Here, my
+beloved, take this flowering orange branch, which I have culled in the
+forest; you will place it at night near your bed. Eat this honeycomb, which
+I have taken for you from the top of a rock. But first lean upon my bosom,
+and I shall be refreshed.'
+
+"Virginia then answered, 'Oh my dear brother, the rays of the sun in the
+morning at the top of the rocks give me less joy than the sight of you. I
+love my mother, I love yours; but when they call you their son, I love them
+a thousand times more. When they caress you, I feel it more sensibly than
+when I am caressed myself. You ask me why you love me. Why, all creatures
+that are brought up together love one another. Look at our birds reared up
+in the same nests; they love like us; they are always together like us.
+Hark? how they call and answer from one tree to another. So when the echoes
+bring to my ears the air which you play upon your flute at the top of the
+mountain, I repeat the words at the bottom of the valley. Above all, you
+are dear to me since the day when you wanted to fight the master of the
+slave for me. Since that time how often have I said to myself, 'Ah, my
+brother has a good heart; but for him I should have died of terror.' I pray
+to God every day for my mother and yours; for you, and for our poor
+servants; but when I pronounce your name, my devotion seems to increase, I
+ask so earnestly of God that no harm may befal you! Why do you go so far,
+and climb so high, to seek fruits and flowers for me? How much you are
+fatigued!' and with her little white handkerchief she wiped the damps from
+his brow.
+
+"For some time past, however, Virginia had felt her heart agitated by new
+sensations. Her fine blue eyes lost their lustre, her cheek its freshness,
+and her frame was seized with universal languor. Serenity no longer sat
+upon her brow, nor smiles played upon her lips. She became suddenly gay
+without joy, and melancholy without vexation. She fled her innocent sports,
+her gentle labours, and the society of her beloved family; wandering along
+the most unfrequented parts of the plantation, and seeking every where that
+rest which she could no where find. Sometimes, at the sight of Paul, she
+advanced sportively towards him, and, when going to accost him, was seized
+with sudden confusion: her pale cheeks were overspread with blushes, and
+her eyes no longer dared to meet those of her brother. Paul said to her,
+'The rocks are covered with verdure, our birds begin to sing when you
+approach, every thing around you is gay, and you only are unhappy.' He
+endeavoured to soothe her by his embraces; but she turned away her head,
+and fled trembling towards her mother. The caresses of her brother excited
+too much emotion in her agitated heart. Paul could not comprehend the
+meaning of those new and strange caprices.
+
+"One of those summers, which sometimes desolate the countries situated
+between the tropics, now spread its ravages over this island. It was near
+the end of December, when the sun in Capricorn darts over Mauritius, during
+the space of three weeks, its vertical fires. The south wind, which
+prevails almost throughout the whole year, no longer blew. Vast columns of
+dust arose from the highways, and hung suspended in the air: the ground was
+every where broken into clefts; the grass was burnt; hot exhalations issued
+from the sides of the mountains, and their rivulets, for the most part
+became dry: fiery vapours, during the day, ascended from the plains, and
+appeared, at the setting of the sun, like a conflagration. Night brought no
+coolness to the heated atmosphere: the orb of the moon seemed of blood,
+and, rising in a misty horizon, appeared of supernatural magnitude. The
+drooping cattle, on the sides of the hills, stretching out their necks
+towards heaven, and panting for air, made the valleys reecho with their
+melancholy lowings; even the Caffree, by whom they were led, threw himself
+upon the earth, in search of coolness; but the scorching sun had every
+where penetrated, and the stifling atmosphere resounded with the buzzing
+noise of insects, who sought to allay their thirst in the blood of man and
+of animals.
+
+"On one of those sultry nights Virginia, restless and unhappy, arose, then
+went again to rest, but could find in no attitude either slumber or repose.
+At length she bent her way, by the light of the moon, towards her fountain,
+and gazed at its spring, which, notwithstanding the drought, still flowed
+like silver threads down the brown sides of the rock. She flung herself
+into the basin; its coolness reanimated her spirits, and a thousand
+soothing remembrances presented themselves to her mind. She recollected
+that in her infancy her mother and Margaret amused themselves by bathing
+her with Paul in this very spot; that Paul afterwards, reserving this bath
+for her use only, had dug its bed, covered the bottom with sand, and sown
+aromatic herbs around the borders. She saw, reflected through the water
+upon her naked arms and bosom, the two cocoa trees which were planted at
+her birth and that of her brother, and which interwove about her head their
+green branches and young fruit. She thought of Paul's friendship, sweeter
+than the odours, purer than the waters of the fountains, stronger than the
+intertwining palm trees, and she sighed. Reflecting upon the hour of the
+night, and the profound solitude, her imagination again grew disordered.
+Suddenly she flew affrighted from those dangerous shades, and those waters
+which she fancied hotter than the torrid sunbeam, and ran to her mother, in
+order to find a refuge from herself. Often, wishing to unfold her
+sufferings, she pressed her mother's hand within her own; often she was
+ready to pronounce the name of Paul; but her oppressed heart left not her
+lips the power of utterance; and, leaning her head on her mother's bosom,
+she could only bathe it with her tears.
+
+"Madame de la Tour, though she easily discerned the source of her
+daughter's uneasiness, did not think proper to speak to her on that
+subject. 'My dear child,' said she, address yourself to God, who disposes,
+at his will, of health and of life. He tries you now, in order to
+recompense you hereafter. Remember that we are only placed upon earth for
+the exercise of virtue.'
+
+"The excessive heat drew vapours from the ocean, which hung over the island
+like a vast awning, and slithered round the summits of the mountains, while
+long flakes of fire occasionally issued from their misty peaks. Soon after
+the most terrible thunder reechoed through the woods, the plains and the
+valleys; the rains fell from the skies like cataracts; foaming torrents
+rolled down the sides of the mountain; the bottom of the valley became a
+sea; the plat of ground on which the cottages were built, a little island:
+and the entrance of this valley a sluice, along which rushed precipitately
+the moaning waters, earth, trees, and rocks.
+
+"Meantime the trembling family addressed their prayers to God in the
+cottage of Madame de la Tour, the roof of which cracked horribly from the
+struggling winds. So vivid and frequent were the lightnings, that, although
+the doors and window-shutters were well fastened, every object without was
+distinctly seen through the jointed beams. Paul, followed by Domingo, went
+with intrepidity from one cottage to another, notwithstanding the fury of
+the tempest; here supporting a partition with a buttress, there driving in
+a stake, and only returning to the family to calm their fears, by the hope
+that the storm was passing away. Accordingly, in the evening the rains
+ceased, the trade-winds of the south pursued their ordinary course, the
+tempestuous clouds were thrown towards the north-east, and the setting sun
+appeared in the horizon.
+
+"Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her _Repose_. Paul
+approached her with a timid air, and offered her the assistance of his arm,
+which she accepted, smiling, and they left the cottage together. The air
+was fresh and clear; white vapours arose from the ridges of the mountains,
+furrowed here and there by the foam of the torrents, which were now
+becoming dry. The garden was altogether destroyed by the hollows which the
+floods had worn, the roots of the fruit trees were for the most part laid
+bare, and vast heaps of sand covered the chain of meadows, and choked up
+Virginia's bath. The two cocoa trees, however, were still erect, and still
+retained their freshness: but they were no longer surrounded by turf, or
+arbours, or birds, except a few amadavid birds, who, upon the points of the
+neighbouring rocks, lamented, in plaintive notes, the loss of their young.
+
+"At the sight of this general desolation, Virginia exclaimed to Paul, 'You
+brought birds hither, and the hurricane has killed them. You planted this
+garden, and it is now destroyed. Every thing then upon earth perishes, and
+it is only heaven that is not subject to change.' 'Why,' answered Paul,
+'why cannot I give you something which belongs to heaven? but I am
+possessed of nothing even upon earth.' Virginia, blushing, resumed, 'You
+have the picture of Saint Paul.' Scarcely had she pronounced the words,
+when he flew in search of it to his mother's cottage. This picture was a
+small miniature, representing Paul the Hermit, and which Margaret, who was
+very pious, had long worn hung at her neck when she was a girl, and which,
+since she became a mother, she had placed round the neck of her child. It
+had even happened, that being while pregnant, abandoned by the whole world,
+and continually employed in contemplating the image of this benevolent
+recluse, her offspring had contracted, at least so she fancied, some
+resemblance to this revered object. She therefore bestowed upon him the
+name of Paul, giving him for his patron a saint, who had passed his life
+far from mankind, by whom he had been first deceived, and then forsaken.
+Virginia, upon receiving this little picture from the hands of Paul, said
+to him, with emotion, 'My dear brother, I will never part with this while I
+live; nor will I ever forget that you have given me the only thing which
+you possess in the world.' At this tone of friendship this unhoped-for
+return of familiarity and tenderness, Paul attempted to embrace her; but,
+light as a bird, she fled, and left him astonished, and unable to account
+for a conduct so extraordinary.
+
+"Meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour, 'Why do we not unite our
+children by marriage? They have a tender attachment to each other.' Madame
+de la Tour replied, 'They are too young, and too poor. What grief would it
+occasion us to see Virginia bring into the world unfortunate children, whom
+she would not perhaps have sufficient strength to rear! Your negro,
+Domingo, is almost too old to labour; Mary is infirm. As for myself, my
+dear friend, in the space of fifteen years I find my strength much failed;
+age advances rapidly in hot climates, and, above all, under the pressure of
+misfortune. Paul is our only hope: let us wait till his constitution is
+strengthened, and till he can support us by his labour: at present you well
+know that we have only sufficient to supply the wants of the day: but were
+we to send Paul for a short time to the Indies, commerce would furnish him
+with the means of purchasing a slave; and at his return we will unite him
+to Virginia: for I am persuaded no one on earth can render her so happy as
+your son. We will consult our neighbour on this subject.
+
+"They accordingly asked my advice, and I was of their opinion. 'The Indian
+seas,' I observed to them, are calm, and, in choosing a favourable season,
+the voyage is seldom longer than six weeks. We will furnish Paul with a
+little venture in my neighbourhood, where he is much beloved. If we were
+only to supply him with some raw cotton, of which we make no use, for want
+of mills to work it, some ebony, which is here so common, that it serves us
+for firing, and some resin, which is found in our woods: all those articles
+will sell advantageously in the Indies, though to us they are useless.'
+
+"I engaged to obtain permission from Monsieur de la Bourdonnais to
+undertake this voyage: but I determined previously to mention the affair to
+Paul; and my surprise was great, when this young man said to me, with a
+degree of good sense above his age, 'And why do you wish me to leave my
+family for this precarious pursuit of fortune? Is there any commerce more
+advantageous than the culture of the ground, which yields sometimes fifty
+or a hundred fold? If we wish to engage in commerce, we can do so by
+carrying our superfluities to the town, without my wandering to the Indies.
+Our mothers tell me, that Domingo is old and feeble; but I am young, and
+gather strength every day. If any accident should happen during my absence,
+above all, to Virginia, who already suffers--Oh, no, no!--I cannot resolve
+to learn them.'
+
+"This answer threw me into great perplexity, for Madame de la Tour had not
+concealed from me the situation of Virginia, and her desire of separating
+those young people for a few years. These ideas I did not dare to suggest
+to Paul.
+
+"At this period, a ship, which arrived from France, brought Madame de la
+Tour a letter from her aunt. Alarmed by the terrors of approaching death,
+which could alone penetrate a heart so insensible, recovering from a
+dangerous disorder, which had left her in a state of weakness, rendered
+incurable by age, she desired that her niece would return to France; or, if
+her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage, she conjured her to
+send Virginia, on whom she would bestow a good education, procure for her a
+splendid marriage, and leave her the inheritance of her whole fortune. The
+perusal of this letter spread general consternation through the family.
+Domingo and Mary began to weep. Paul, motionless with surprise, appeared as
+if his heart was ready to burst with indignation; while Virginia, fixing
+her eyes upon her mother, had not power to utter a word.
+
+"'And can you now leave us?' cried Margaret to Madame de la Tour. 'No, my
+dear friend, no, my beloved children,' replied Madame de la Tour; 'I will
+not leave you. I have lived with you, and with you I will die. I have known
+no happiness but in your affection. If my health be deranged, my past
+misfortunes are the cause. My heart, deeply wounded by the cruelty of a
+relation, and the loss of my husband, has found more consolation and
+felicity with you beneath these humble huts, than all the wealth of my
+family could now give me in my own country.'
+
+"At this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight. Paul
+pressed Madame de la Tour in his arms, exclaiming, 'Neither will I leave
+you! I will not go to the Indies. We will all labour for you, my dear
+mother; and you shall never feel any wants with us.' But of the whole
+society, the person who displayed the least transport, and who probably
+felt the most, was Virginia; and, during the remainder of the day, that
+gentle gaiety which flowed from her heart, and proved that her peace was
+restored, completed the general satisfaction.
+
+"The next day, at sunrise, while they were offering up, as usual, their
+morning sacrifice of praise, which preceded their breakfast, Domingo
+informed them that a gentleman on horseback, followed by two slaves, was
+coming towards the plantation. This person was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais.
+He entered the cottage where he found the family at breakfast. Virginia had
+prepared, according to the custom of the country, coffee and rice boiled in
+water: to which she added hot yams and fresh cocoas. The leaves of the
+plantain tree supplied the want of table-linen; and calbassia shells, split
+in two, served for utensils. The governor expressed some surprise at the
+homeliness of the dwelling: then, addressing himself to Madame de la Tour,
+he observed, that although public affairs drew his attention too much from
+the concerns of individuals, she had many claims to his good offices. 'You
+have an aunt at Paris, Madam,' he added, 'a woman of quality, and immensely
+rich, who expects that you will hasten to see her, and who means to bestow
+upon you her whole fortune.' Madame de la Tour replied, that the state of
+her health would not permit her to undertake so long a voyage. 'At least,'
+resumed Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, 'you cannot, without injustice, deprive
+this amiable young lady, your daughter, of so noble an inheritance. I will
+not conceal from you that your aunt has made use of her influence to oblige
+you to return; and that I have received official letters, in which I am
+ordered to exert my authority, if necessary, to that effect. But, as I only
+wish to employ my power for the purpose of rendering the inhabitants of
+this colony happy, I expect from your good sense the voluntary sacrifice of
+a few years, upon which depend your daughter's establishment in the world,
+and the welfare of your whole life. Wherefore do we come to these islands?
+Is it not to acquire a fortune? And will it not be more agreeable to return
+and find it in your own country?'
+
+"He then placed a great bag of piastres, which had been brought hither by
+one of his slaves, upon the table. 'This,' added he, 'is allotted by your
+aunt for the preparations necessary for the young lady's voyage.' Gently
+reproaching Madame de la Tour for not having had recourse to him in her
+difficulties, he extolled at the same time her noble fortitude. Upon this,
+Paul said to the governor, 'My mother did, address herself to you, Sir, and
+you received her ill.'--'Have you another child, Madam? said Monsieur de la
+Bourdonnais to Madame de la Tour.--'No, Sir,' she replied: 'this is the
+child of my friend; but he and Virginia are equally dear to us.' 'Young
+man,' said the governor to Paul, 'when you have acquired a little more
+experience of the world, you will know that it is the misfortune of people
+in place to be deceived and thence to bestow upon intriguing vice that
+which belongs to modest merit.'
+
+"Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, at the request of Madame de la Tour, placed
+himself next her at the table, and breakfasted in the manner of the
+Creoles, upon coffee mixed with rice boiled in water. He was delighted with
+the order and neatness which prevailed in the little cottage, the harmony
+of the two interesting families, and the zeal of their old servants.
+'Here,' exclaimed he, 'I discern only wooden furniture, but I find serene
+contenances, and hearts of gold.' Paul, enchanted with the affability of
+the governor, said to him, 'I wish to be your friend; you are a good man.'
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais received with pleasure this insular compliment,
+and, taking Paul by the hand, assured him that he might rely upon his
+friendship.
+
+"After breakfast, he took Madame de la Tour aside, and informed her that an
+opportunity presented itself of sending her daughter to France in a ship
+which was going to sail in a short time; that he would recommend her to a
+lady a relation of his own, who would be a passenger; and that she must not
+think of renouncing an immense fortune on account of bring separated from
+her daughter a few years. 'Your aunt,'he added, 'cannot live more than two
+years; of this I am assured by her friends. Think of it seriously. Fortune
+does not visit us every day. Consult your friends. Every person of good
+sense will be of my opinion.' She answered, 'that, desiring no other
+happiness henceforth in the world than that of her daughter, she would
+leave her departure for France entirely to her own inclination.
+
+"Madame de la Tour was not sorry to find an opportunity of separating Paul
+and Virginia for a short time, and provide, by this means, for their mutual
+felicity at a future period. She took her daughter aside, and said to her,
+'My dear child, our servants are now old. Paul is still very young;
+Margaret is advanced in years, and I am already infirm. If I should die,
+what will become of you, without fortune, in the midst of these deserts?
+You will then be left alone without any person who can afford you much
+succour, and forced to labour without ceasing, in order to support your
+wretched existence. This idea fills my soul with sorrow.' Virginia
+answered, 'God has appointed us to labour. You have taught me to labour,
+and to bless him every day. He never has forsaken us, he never will forsake
+us. His providence peculiarly watches the unfortunate. You have told me
+this often my dear mother! I cannot resolve to leave you.' Madame de la
+Tour replied, with much emotion, 'I have no other aim than to render you
+happy, and to marry you one day to Paul, who is not your brother. Reflect
+at present that his fortune depends upon you.'
+
+"A young girl who loves believes that all the world is ignorant of her
+passion; she throws over her eyes the veil which she has thrown over her
+heart; but when it is lifted up by some cherishing hand, the secret
+inquietudes of passion suddenly burst their bounds, and the soothing
+overflowings of confidence succeed that reserve and mystery with which the
+oppressed heart had enveloped its feelings. Virginia, deeply affected by
+this new proof of her mother's tenderness, related to her how cruel had
+been those struggles which Heaven alone had witnessed; declared that she
+saw the succour of Providence in that of an affectionate mother, who
+approved of her attachment, and would guide her by her counsels; that,
+being now strengthened by such support, every consideration led her to
+remain with her mother, without anxiety for the present, and without
+apprehensions for the future.
+
+"Madame de la Tour, perceiving that this confidential conversation had
+produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected, said,
+'My dear child, I will not any more constrain your inclination: deliberate
+at leisure, but conceal your feelings from Paul.'
+
+"Towards evening, when Madame de la Tour and Virginia were again together,
+their confessor, who was a missionary in the island, entered the room,
+having been sent by the governor. 'My children,' he exclaimed, as he
+entered, 'God be praised!' you are now rich. You can now listen to the kind
+suggestion of your excellent hearts, and do good to the poor. I know what
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais has said to you, and what you have answered.
+Your health, dear Madam, obliges you to remain here: but you, young lady,
+are without excuse. We must obey the will of Providence; and we must also
+obey our aged relations, even when they are unjust. A sacrifice is required
+of you; but it is the order of God. He devoted himself for you: and you, in
+imitation of his example, must devote yourself for the welfare of your
+family. Your voyage to France will have a happy termination. You will
+surely consent to go, my dear young lady.'
+
+"Virginia, with downcast eyes, answered, trembling, 'If it be the command
+of God, I will not presume to oppose it. Let the will of God be done!' said
+she, weeping.
+
+"The priest went away, and informed the governor of the success of his
+mission. In the meantime Madame de la Tour sent Domingo to desire I would
+come hither, that she might consult me upon Virginia's departure. I was of
+opinion that she ought not to go. I consider it as a fixed principle of
+happiness, that we ought to prefer the advantages of nature to those of
+fortune; and never go in search of that at a distance, which we may find in
+our own bosoms. But what could be expected from my moderate counsels,
+opposed to the illusions of a splendid fortune; and my simple reasoning,
+contradicted by the prejudices of the world, and an authority which Madame
+de la Tour held sacred? This lady had only consulted me from a sentiment of
+respect, and had, in reality, ceased to deliberate since she had heard the
+decision of her confessor. Margaret herself, who, notwithstanding the
+advantages she hoped for her son, from the possession of Virginia's
+fortune, had hitherto opposed her departure, made no further objections. As
+for Paul, ignorant of what was decided, and alarmed at the secret
+conversation which Madame de la Tour held with her daughter, he abandoned
+himself to deep melancholy. 'They are plotting something against my peace,'
+cried he, 'since they are so careful of concealment.'
+
+"A report having in the meantime been spread over the island, that fortune
+had visited those rocks, we beheld merchants of all kinds climbing their
+steep ascent, and displaying in those humble huts the richest stuffs of
+India. The fine dimity of Gondelore; the handkerchiefs of Pellicate and
+Mussulapatan; the plain, striped, and embroidered muslins of Decca, clear
+as the day. Those merchants unrolled the gorgeous silks of China, white
+satin damasks, others of grass-green, and bright red; rose-coloured
+taffetas, a profusion of satins, pelongs, and gauze of Tonquin, some plain,
+and some beautifully decorated with flowers; the soft pekins, downy like
+cloth; white and yellow nankeens, and the calicoes of Madagascar.
+
+"Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase every thing she liked;
+and Virginia made choice of whatever she believed would be agreeable to her
+mother, Margaret, and her son. 'This,' said she, 'will serve for furniture,
+and that will be useful to Mary and Domingo.' In short, the bag of piastres
+was emptied before she had considered her own wants; and she was obliged to
+receive a share of the presents which she had distributed to the family
+circle.
+
+"Paul, penetrated with sorrow at the sight of those gifts of fortune, which
+he felt were the presage of Virginia's departure, came a few days after to
+my dwelling. With an air of despondency he said to me, 'My sister is going;
+they are already making preparations for her voyage. I conjure you to come
+and exert your influence over her mother and mine, in order to detain her
+here.' I could not refuse the young man's solicitations, although well
+convinced that my representations would be unavailing.
+
+"If Virginia had appeared to me charming when clad in the blue cloth of
+Bengal, with a red handkerchief tied round her head, how much was her
+beauty improved, when decorated with the graceful ornaments worn by the
+ladies of this country! She was dressed in white muslin, lined with
+rose-coloured taffeta. Her small and elegant shape was displayed to
+advantage by her corset, and the lavish profusion of her light tresses were
+carelessly blended with her simple head-dress. Her fine blue eyes were
+filled with an expression of melancholy: and the struggles of passion, with
+which her heart was agitated, flushed her cheek, and gave her voice a tone
+of emotion. The contrast between her pensive look and her gay habiliments
+rendered her more interesting than ever, nor was it possible to see or hear
+her unmoved. Paul became more and more melancholy; at length Margaret,
+distressed by the situation of her son, took him aside, and said to him,
+'Why, my dear son, will you cherish vain hopes, which will only render your
+disappointment more bitter! It is time that I should make known to you the
+secret of your life and of mine. Mademoiselle de la Tour belongs, by her
+mother, to a rich and noble family, while you are but the son of a poor
+peasant girl; and, what is worse, you are a natural child.'
+
+"Paul, who had never before heard this last expression, inquired with
+eagerness its meaning. His mother replied, 'You had no legitimate father.
+When I was a girl, seduced by love, I was guilty of a weakness of which you
+are the offspring. My fault deprived you of the protection of a father's
+family, and my flight from home, of that of a mother's family. Unfortunate
+child! you have no relation in the world but me!' And she shed a flood of
+tears. Paul, pressing her in his arms, exclaimed, 'Oh, my dear mother!
+since I have no relation in the world but you, I will love you still more!
+But what a secret have you disclosed to me! I now see the reason why
+Mademoiselle de la Tour has estranged herself from me for two months past,
+and why she has determined to go. Ah! I perceive too well that she despises
+me!'
+
+"'The hour of supper being arrived, we placed ourselves at table; but the
+different sensations with which we were all agitated left us little
+inclination to eat, and the meal passed in silence. Virginia first went
+out, and seated herself on the very spot where we now are placed. Paul
+hastened after her, and seated himself by her side. It was one of those
+delicious nights which are so common between the tropics, and the beauty of
+which no pencil can trace. The moon appeared in the midst of the firmament,
+curtained in clouds which her beams gradually dispelled. Her light
+insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island, and their peaks
+glistened with a silvered green. The winds were perfectly still. We heard
+along the woods, at the bottom of the valleys, and on the summits of the
+rocks, the weak cry and the soft murmurs of the birds, exulting in the
+brightness of the night, and the serenity of the atmosphere. The hum of
+insects was heard in the grass. The stars sparkled in the heavens, and
+their trembling and lucid orbs were reflected upon the bosom of the ocean.
+Virginia's eyes wandered over its vast and gloomy horizon, distinguishable
+from the bay of the island by the red fires in the fishing boat. She
+perceived at the entrance of the harbour a light and a shadow: these were
+the watch-light and the body of the vessel in which she was to embark for
+Europe, and which, ready to set sail, lay at anchor, waiting for the wind.
+Affected at this sight, she turned away her head, in order to hide her
+tears from Paul.
+
+"Madame de la Tour, Margaret, and myself were seated at a little distance
+beneath the plantain trees; and amidst the stillness of the night we
+distinctly heard their conversation, which I have not forgotten.
+
+"Paul said to her, 'You are going, they tell me, in three days. You do not
+fear, then, to encounter the danger of the sea, at which you are so much
+terrified!' 'I must fulfil my duty,' answered Virginia, 'by obeying my
+parent.' 'You leave us,' resumed Paul, 'for a distant relation, whom you
+have never seen.' 'Alas!' cried Virginia, 'I would have remained my whole
+life here, but my mother would not have it so. My confessor told me that it
+was the will of God I should go, and that life was a trial!'
+
+"'What,' exclaimed Paul, 'you have found so many reasons then for going,
+and not one for remaining here! Ah! there is one reason for your departure,
+which you have not mentioned. Riches have great attractions. You will soon
+find in the new world, to which you are going, another to whom you will
+give the name of brother, which you will bestow on me no more. You will
+choose that brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their
+birth, and by a fortune which I have not to offer. But where will you go in
+order to be happier? On what shore will you land which will be dearer to
+you than the spot which gave you birth? Where will you find a society more
+interesting to you than this by which you are so beloved? How will you bear
+to live without your mother's caresses, to which you are so accustomed?
+What will become of her, already advanced in years, when she will no longer
+see you at her side at table, in the house, in the walks where she used to
+lean upon you? What will become of my mother who loves you with the same
+affection? What shall I say to comfort them when I see them weeping for
+your absence! Cruel! I speak not to you of myself; but what will become of
+me, when in the morning I shall no more see you: when the evening will come
+and will not reunite us? When I shall gaze on the two palm trees, planted
+at our birth, and so long the witnesses of our mutual friendship? Ah; since
+a new destiny attracts you, since you seek in a country, distant from your
+own, other possessions than those which were the fruits of my labour, let
+me accompany you in the vessel in which you are going to embark. I will
+animate your courage in the midst of those tempests at which you are so
+terrified even on shore. I will lay your head on my bosom. I will warm your
+heart upon my own; and in France, where you go in search of fortune and of
+grandeur, I will attend you as your slave. Happy only in your happiness,
+you will find me in those palaces where I shall see you cherished and
+adored, at least sufficiently noble to make for you the greatest of all
+sacrifices, by dying at your feet.'
+
+"The violence of his emotion stifled his voice, and we then heard that of
+Virginia, which, broken by sobs, uttered these words: 'It is for you I go:
+for you, whom I see every day bent beneath the labour of sustaining two
+infirm families. If I have accepted this opportunity of becoming rich, it
+is only to return you a thousandfold the good which you have done us. Is
+there any fortune worthy of your friendship? Why do you talk to me of your
+birth? Ah! if it were again possible to give me a brother, should I make
+choice of any other than you? Oh, Paul! Paul! you are far dearer to me than
+a brother! How much has it cost me to avoid you! Help me to tear myself
+from what I value more than existence, till Heaven can bless our union. But
+I will stay or go: I will live or die; dispose of me as you will. Unhappy,
+that I am! I could resist your caresses, but I am unable to support your
+affliction.'
+
+"At these words Paul seized her in his arms, and, holding her pressed fast
+to his bosom, cried, in a piercing tone, 'I will go with her; nothing shall
+divide us.' We ran towards him, and Madame de la Tour said to him, 'My son,
+if you go, what will become of us?'
+
+"He, trembling, repeated the words, 'My son:--My son'--You my mother,'
+cried he; 'you, who would separate the brother from the sister! We have
+both been nourished at your bosom; we have both been reared upon your
+knees; we have learnt of you to love each other; we have said so a thousand
+times; and now you would separate her from me! You send her to Europe, that
+barbarous country which refused you an asylum, and to relations by whom you
+were abandoned. You will tell me that I have no right over her, and that
+she is not my sister. She is everything to me, riches, birth, family, my
+sole good; I know no other. We have had but one roof, one cradle, and we
+will have but one grave. If she goes, I will follow her. The governor will
+prevent me! Will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea? Will he
+prevent me from following her by swimming? The sea cannot be more fatal to
+me than the land. Since I cannot live with her, at least I will die before
+her eyes; far from you, inhuman mother! woman without compassion! May the
+ocean, to which you trust her, restore her to you no more! May the waves,
+rolling back our corpses amidst the stones of the beach, give you, in the
+loss of your two children, an eternal subject of remorse!'
+
+"At these words I seized him in my arms, for despair had deprived him of
+reason. His eyes flashed fire, big drops of sweat hung upon his face, his
+knees trembled, and I felt his heart beat violently against his burning
+bosom.
+
+"Virginia, affrighted, said to him, 'Oh, my friend, I call to witness the
+pleasures of our early age, your sorrow and my own, and every thing that
+can forever bind two unfortunate beings to each other, that if I remain, I
+will live but for you; that if I go, I will one day return to be yours. I
+call you all to witness, you who have reared my infancy, who dispose of my
+life, who see my tears. I swear by that Heaven which hears me, by the sea
+which I am going to pass, by the air I breathe, and which I never sullied
+by a falsehood.'
+
+"As the sun softens and dissolves an icy rock upon the summit of the
+Apennines, so the impetuous passions of the young man were subdued by the
+voice of her he loved. He bent his head, and a flood of tears fell from his
+eyes. His mother, mingling her tears with his, held him in her arms, but
+was unable to speak. Madame de la Tour, half distracted, said to me, 'I can
+bear this no longer. My heart is broken. This unfortunate Voyage shall not
+take place. Do take my son home with you. It is eight days since any one
+here has slept.'
+
+"I said to Paul, 'My dear friend, your sister will remain. To-morrow we
+will speak to the governor; leave your family, to take some rest, and come
+and pass the night with me.'
+
+"He suffered himself to be led away in silence; and, after a night of great
+agitation, he arose at break of day, and returned home.
+
+"But why should I continue any longer the recital of this history? There is
+never but one aspect of human life which we can contemplate with pleasure.
+Like the globe upon which we revolve, our fleeting course is but a day: and
+if one part of that day be visited by light, the other is thrown into
+darkness."
+
+"Father," I answered, "finish, I conjure you, the history which you have
+begun in a manner so interesting. If the images of happiness are most
+pleasing, those of misfortune are more instructive. Tell me what became of
+the unhappy young man."
+
+"The first object which Paul beheld in his way home was Mary, who, mounted
+upon a rock, was earnestly looking towards the sea. As soon as he perceived
+her, he called to her from a distance, 'Where is Virginia?' Mary turned her
+head towards her young master, and began to weep. Paul, distracted, and
+treading back his steps, ran to the harbour. He was there informed, that
+Virginia had embarked at break of day, that the vessel had immediately
+after set sail, and could no longer be discerned. He instantly returned to
+the plantation, which he crossed without uttering a word.
+
+"Although the pile of rocks behind us appears almost perpendicular, those
+green platforms which separate their summits are so many stages by means of
+which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of hanging and
+inaccessible rocks, called the Thumb. At the foot of that cone is a
+stretching slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and which is so high
+and steep that it appears like a forest in air, surrounded by tremendous
+precipices. The clouds, which are attracted round the summit of those
+rocks, supply innumerable rivulets, which rush from so immense a height
+into that deep valley situated behind the mountain, that from this elevated
+point we do not hear the sound of their fall. On that spot you can discern
+a considerable part of the island with its precipices crowned with their
+majestic peaks; and, amongst others, Peterbath, and the three Peaks, with
+their valley filled with woods. You also command an extensive view of the
+ocean, and even perceive the Isle of Bourbon forty leagues towards the
+west. From the summit of that stupendous pile of rocks Paul gazed upon the
+vessel which had borne away Virginia, and which, now ten leagues out at
+sea, appeared like a black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a
+great part of the day with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had
+disappeared, he still fancied he beheld it: and when, at length, the traces
+which clung to his imagination were lost amidst the gathering mists of the
+horizon, he seated himself on that wild point, for ever beaten by the
+winds, which never cease to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum trees,
+and the hoarse and moaning murmurs of which, similar to the distant sound
+of organs, inspire a deep melancholy. On that spot. I found Paul, with his
+head reclined on the rock, and his eyes fixed upon the ground. I had
+followed him since break of day, and after much importunity, I prevailed
+with him to descend from the heights, and return to his family. I conducted
+him to the plantation, where the first impulse of his mind, upon seeing
+Madame de la Tour, was to reproach her bitterly for having deceived him.
+Madame de la Tour told us, that a favourable wind having arose at three
+o'clock in the morning, and the vessel being ready to set sail, the
+governor, attended by his general officers, and the missionary, had come
+with a palanquin in search of Virginia, and that, notwithstanding her own
+objections, her tears, and those of Margaret, all the while exclaiming that
+it was for the general welfare they had carried away Virginia almost dying.
+'At least,' cried Paul, 'if I had bid her farewell, I should now be more
+calm. I would have said to her, Virginia, if, during the time we have lived
+together, one word may have escaped me which has offended you, before you
+leave me for ever, tell me that you forgive me. I would have said to her,
+since I am destined to see you no more, farewell, my dear Virginia,
+farewell! Live far from me, contented and happy!'
+
+"When he saw that his mother and Madame de la Tour were weeping, 'You must
+now,' said he, 'seek some other than me to wipe away your tears;' and then,
+rushing out of the house, he wandered up and down the plantation. He flew
+eagerly to those spots which had been most dear to Virginia. He said to the
+goats and their kids which followed him, bleating, 'What do you ask of me?
+You will see her no more who used to feed you with her own hand.' He went
+to the bower called the Repose of Virginia; and, as the birds flew around
+him, exclaimed, 'Poor little birds! you will fly no more to meet her who
+cherished you!' and observing Fidele running backwards and forwards in
+search of her, he heaved a deep sigh, and cried, 'Ah! you will never find
+her again.' At length he went and seated himself upon the rock where he had
+conversed with her the preceding evening; and at the view of the ocean,
+upon which he had seen the vessel disappear, which bore her away, he wept
+bitterly.
+
+"We continually watched his steps, apprehending some fatal consequence from
+the violent agitation of his mind. His mother and Madame de la Tour
+conjured him, in the most tender manner, not to increase their affliction
+by his despair. At length Madame de la Tour soothed his mind by lavishing
+upon him such epithets as were best calculated to revive his hopes. She
+called him her son, her dear son, whom she destined for her daughter. She
+prevailed with him to return to the house, and receive a little
+nourishment. He seated himself with us at table, next to the place which
+used to be occupied by the companion of his childhood, and, as if she had
+still been present, he spoke to her, and offered whatever he knew was most
+agreeable to her taste; and then, starting from this dream of fancy, he
+began to weep. For some days he employed himself in gathering together
+every thing which had belonged to Virginia; the last nosegays she had worn,
+the cocoa shell in which she used to drink; and after kissing a thousand
+times those relics of his friend, to him the most precious treasures which
+the world contained, he hid them in his bosom. The spreading perfumes of
+the amber are not so sweet as the objects which have belonged to those we
+love. At length, perceiving that his anguish increased that of his mother
+and Madame de la Tour, and that the wants of the family required continual
+labour, he began, with the assistance of Domingo, to repair the garden.
+
+"Soon after, this young man, till now indifferent as a Creole with respect
+to what was passing in the world, desired I would teach him to read and
+write, that he might carry on a correspondence with Virginia. He then
+wished to be instructed in geography, in order that he might form a just
+idea of the country where she had disembarked; and in history, that he
+might know the manners of the society in which she was placed. The powerful
+sentiment of love, which directed his present studies, had already taught
+him the arts of agriculture, and the manner of laying out the most
+irregular grounds with advantage and beauty. It must be admitted, that to
+the fond dreams of this restless and ardent passion, mankind are indebted
+for a great number of arts and sciences, while its disappointments have
+given birth to philosophy, which teaches us to bear the evils of life with
+resignation. Thus, nature having made love the general link which binds all
+beings, has rendered it the first spring of society, the first incitement
+of knowledge as well as pleasure.
+
+"Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography, which, instead
+of describing the natural history of each country, only gave a view of its
+political boundaries. History, and especially modern history, interested
+him little more. He there saw only general and periodical evils of which he
+did not discern the cause; wars for which there was no reason and no
+object; nations without principle, and princes without humanity. He
+preferred the reading of romances, which being filled with the particular
+feelings and interests of men, represented situations similar to his own.
+No book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus, from the pictures which it
+draws of pastoral life, and of those passions which are natural to the
+human heart. He read aloud to his mother and Madame de la Tour those parts
+which affected him most sensibly, when, sometimes, touched by the most
+tender remembrances, his emotion choked his utterance, and his eyes were
+bathed in tears. He fancied he had found in Virginia the wisdom of Antiope,
+with the misfortunes and the tenderness of Eurcharis. With very different
+sensations he perused our fashionable novels, filled with licentious maxims
+and manners. And when he was informed that those romances drew a just
+picture of European society, he trembled, not without reason, lest Virginia
+should become corrupted, and should forget him.
+
+"More than a year and a half had indeed passed away before Madame de la
+Tour received any tidings of her daughter. During that period she had only
+accidentally heard that Virginia had arrived safely in France. At length a
+vessel, which stopped in its way to the Indies, conveyed to Madame de la
+Tour a packet, and a letter written with her own hand. Although this
+amiable young woman had written in a guarded manner, in order to avoid
+wounding the feelings of a mother, it was easy to discern that she was
+unhappy. Her letter paints so naturally her situation and her character,
+that I have retained it almost word for word.
+
+"'My dear and beloved mother, I have already sent you several letters,
+written with my own hand but having received no answer, I fear they have
+not reached you. I have better hopes for this, from the means I have now
+taken of sending you tidings of myself, and of hearing from you. I have
+shed many tears since our separation; I, who never used to weep, but for
+the misfortunes of others! My aunt was much astonished, when, having, upon
+my arrival, inquired what accomplishments I possessed, I told her that I
+could neither read nor write. She asked me what then I had learnt since I
+came into the world; and, when I answered that I had been taught to take
+care of the household affairs, and obey your will, she told me that I had
+received the education of a servant. The next day she placed me as a
+boarder in a great abbey near Paris, where I have masters of all kinds, who
+teach me, among other things, history, geography, grammar, mathematics and
+riding. But I have so little capacity for all those sciences, that I make
+but small progress with my masters.
+
+"'My aunt's kindness, however, does not abate towards me. She gives me new
+dresses for each season; and she has placed two waiting women with me, who
+are both dressed like fine ladies. She has made me take the title of
+countess, but has obliged me to renounce the name of La Tour, which is as
+dear to me as it is to you, from all you have told me of the sufferings my
+father endured in order to marry you. She has replaced your name by that of
+your family, which is also dear to me, because it was your name when a
+girl. Seeing myself in so splendid a situation, I implored her to let me
+send you some assistance. But how shall I repeat her answer? Yet you have
+desired me always to tell you the truth. She told me then, that a little
+would be of no use to you, and that a great deal would only encumber you in
+the simple life you led.
+
+"'I endeavoured, upon my arrival, to send you tidings of myself by another
+hand, but finding no person here in whom I could place confidence, I
+applied night and day to reading and writing; and Heaven, who saw my motive
+for learning, no doubt assisted my endeavours, for I acquired both in a
+short time. I entrusted my first letters to some of the ladies here, who, I
+have reason to think, carried them to my aunt. This time I have had
+recourse to a boarder, who is my friend. I send you her direction, by means
+of which I shall receive your answer. My aunt has forbid my holding any
+correspondence whatever, which might, she says, be come an obstacle to the
+great views she has for my advantage. No person is allowed to see me at the
+grate but herself, and an old nobleman, one of her friends, who, she says,
+is much pleased with me. I am sure I am not at all so with him; nor should
+I, even if it were possible for me to be pleased with any one at present.
+
+"'I live in the midst of affluence, and have not a livre at my disposal.
+They say I might make an improper use of money. Even my clothes belong to
+my waiting women who quarrel about them before I have left them off. In the
+bosom of riches, I am poorer than when I lived with you; for I have nothing
+to give. When I found that the great accomplishments they taught me would
+not procure me the power of doing the smallest good, I had recourse to my
+needle, of which happily you had learnt me the use. I send several pair of
+stockings of my own making for you and my mamma Margaret, a cap for
+Domingo, and one of my red handkerchiefs for Mary. I also send with this
+packet some kernels and seeds of various kinds of fruits, which I gathered
+in the fields. There are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows of this
+country than in ours, but nobody cares for them. I am sure that you and my
+mamma Margaret will be better pleased with this bag of seeds, than you were
+with the bag of piastres, which was the cause of our separation and of my
+tears. It will give me great delight if you should one day see apple-trees
+growing at the side of the plantain, and elms blending their foliage with
+our cocoa-trees. You will fancy yourself in Normandy, which you love so
+much.
+
+"'You desired me to relate to you my joys and my griefs. I have no joys far
+from you. As for my griefs, I endeavour to soothe them by reflecting that I
+am in the situation in which you placed me by the will of God. But my
+greatest affliction is, that no one here speaks to me of you, and that I
+must speak of you to no one. My waiting women, or rather those of my aunt,
+for they belong more to her than to me, told me the other day, when I
+wished to turn the conversation upon the objects most dear to me,
+'Remember, madam, that you are a Frenchwoman, and must forget that country
+of savages.' Ah! sooner will I forget myself than forget the spot on which
+I was born, and which you inhabit! It is this country which is to me a land
+of savages; for I live alone, having no one to whom I can impart, those
+feelings of tenderness for you which I shall bear with me to the grave.
+
+                           'I am,
+                           'My dearest and beloved mother,
+                           'Your affectionate and dutiful daughter,
+                           'VIRGINIA DE LA TOUR."
+
+"'I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo, who took so much care of
+my infancy. Caress Fidele for me who found me in the wood.'
+
+"Paul was astonished that Virginia had not said one word of him, she who
+had not forgotten even the house dog. But Paul was not aware that, however
+long may be a woman's letter, she always puts the sentiments most dear to
+her at the end.
+
+"In a postscript, Virginia recommended particularly to Paul's care two
+kinds of seed, those of the violet and scabious. She gave him some
+instructions upon the nature of those plants, and the spots most proper for
+their cultivation. 'The first,' said she, 'produces a little flower of a
+deep violet, which loves to hide itself beneath the bushes, but is soon
+discovered by its delightful odours.' She desired those seeds might be sown
+along the borders of the fountain, at the foot of her cocoa tree. 'The
+scabious,' she added, 'produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue, and a
+black ground, spotted with white. You might fancy it was in mourning; and
+for this reason, it is called the widow's flower. It delights in bleak
+spots beaten by the winds.' She begged this might be sown upon the rock
+where she had spoken to him for the last time, and that, for her sake, he
+would henceforth give it the name of the Farewell Rock.
+
+"She had put those seeds into a little purse, the tissue of which was
+extremely simple; but which appeared above all price to Paul, when he
+perceived a P and a V intwined together, and knew that the beautiful hair
+which formed the cipher was the hair of Virginia.
+
+"The whole family listened with tears to the letter of that amiable and
+virtuous young woman. Her mother answered it in the name of the little
+society, and desired her to remain or return as she thought proper;
+assuring her, that happiness had fled from their dwelling since her
+departure, and that, as for herself, she was inconsolable.
+
+"Paul also sent her a long letter, in which he assured her that he would
+arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste, and blend the plants
+of Europe with those of Africa. He sent her some fruit culled from the
+cocoa trees of the mountain, which were now arrived at maturity: telling
+her that he would not add any more of the other seeds of the island, that
+the desire of seeing those productions again might hasten her return. He
+conjured her to comply without delay with the ardent wishes of her family,
+and, above all, with his own, since he was unable to endure the pain of
+their separation.
+
+"With a careful hand Paul sowed the European seeds, particularly the violet
+and the scabious, the flowers of which seem to bear some analogy to the
+character and situation of Virginia, by whom they had been recommended: but
+whether they were injured by the voyage, or whether the soil of this part
+of Africa is unfavourable to their growth, a very small number of them
+blew, and none came to perfection.
+
+"Meanwhile that envy, which pursues human happiness, spread reports over
+the island which gave great uneasiness to Paul. The persons who had brought
+Virginia's letter asserted that she was upon the point of being married,
+and named the nobleman of the court with whom she was going to be united.
+Some even declared that she was already married, of which they were
+witnesses. Paul at first despised this report, brought by one of those
+trading ships, which often spread erroneous intelligence in their passage;
+but some ill-natured persons, by their insulting pity, led him to give some
+degree of credit to this cruel intelligence. Besides, he had seen in the
+novels which he had lately read that perfidy was treated as a subject of
+pleasantry; and knowing that those books were faithful representations of
+European manners, he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and
+had forgotten its former engagements. Thus his acquirements only served to
+render him miserable, and what increased his apprehension was, that several
+ships arrived from Europe, during the space of six months, and not one
+brought any tidings of Virginia.
+
+"This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel agitation,
+came often to visit me, that I might confirm or banish his inquietude, by
+my experience of the world.
+
+"I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from hence, upon
+the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping Mountain: there
+I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or slaves.
+
+"After having enjoyed, and lost, the rare felicity of living with a
+congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is that
+of solitude. It is remarkable that all those nations which have been
+rendered unhappy by their political opinions, their manners, or their forms
+of government, have produced numerous classes of citizens altogether
+devoted to solitude and celibacy. Such were the Egyptians in their decline,
+the Greeks of the lower empire; and such in our days are the Indians, the
+Chinese, the modern Greeks, the Italians, and most part of the eastern and
+southern nations of Europe.
+
+"Thus I pass my days far from mankind whom I wished to serve, and by whom I
+have been persecuted. After having travelled over many countries of Europe,
+and some parts of America and Africa, I at length pitched my tent in this
+thinly-peopled island, allured by its mild temperature and its solitude. A
+cottage which I built in the woods, at the foot of a tree, a little field
+which I cultivated with my own hands, a river which glides before my door,
+suffice for my wants and for my pleasures. I blend with those enjoyments
+that of some chosen books, which teach me to become better. They make that
+world, which I have abandoned, still contribute to my satisfaction. They
+place before me pictures of those passions which render its inhabitants so
+miserable; and the comparison which I make between their destiny and my
+own, leads me to feel a sort of negative happiness. Like a man whom
+shipwreck has thrown upon a rock, I contemplate, from my solitude, the
+storms which roll over the rest of the world; and my repose seems more
+profound from the distant sounds of the tempest.
+
+"I suffer myself to be led calmly down the stream of time to the ocean of
+futurity, which has no boundaries; while, in the contemplation of the
+present harmony of nature, I raise my soul towards its supreme Author, and
+hope for a more happy destiny in another state of existence.
+
+"Although you do not descry my hermitage, which is situated in the midst of
+a forest, among that immense variety of objects which this elevated spot
+presents, the grounds are disposed with particular beauty, at least to one
+who, like me, loves rather the seclusion of a home scene, than great and
+extensive prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in a
+straight line across the woods, and appears like a long canal shaded by
+trees of all kinds. There are black date plum trees, what we here call the
+narrow-leaved dodonea, olive wood, gum trees, and the cinnamon tree; while
+in some parts the cabbage trees raise their naked columns more than a
+hundred feet high, crowned at their summits with clustering leaves, and
+towering above the wood like one forest piled upon another. Lianas, of
+various foliage, intertwining among the woods, form arcades of flowers, and
+verdant canopies; those trees, for the most part, shed aromatic odours of a
+nature so powerful, that the garments of a traveller, who has passed
+through the forest, retain for several hours the delicious fragrance. In
+the season when those trees produce their lavish blossoms, they appear as
+if covered with snow. One of the principal ornaments of our woods is the
+calbassia, a tree not only distinguished for its beautiful tint of verdure;
+but for other properties, which Madame de la Tour has described in the
+following sonnet, written at one of her first visits to my hermitage:
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO THE CALBASSIA TREE
+
+    Sublime Calbassia, luxuriant tree!
+    How soft the gloom thy bright-lined foliage throws,
+    While from thy pulp a healing balsam flows,
+    Whose power the suffering wretch from pain can free!
+    My pensive footsteps ever turn to thee!
+    Since oft, while musing on my lasting woes,
+    Beneath thy flowery white bells I repose,
+    Symbol of friendship dost thou seem to me;
+    For thus has friendship cast her soothing shade
+    O'er my unsheltered bosom's keen distress:
+    Thus sought to heal the wounds which love has made,
+    And temper bleeding sorrow's sharp excess!
+    Ah! not in vain she lends her balmy aid:
+    The agonies she cannot cure, are less!
+
+"Towards the end of summer various kinds of foreign birds hasten, impelled
+by an inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions, and across immense
+oceans, to gather the profuse grains of this island; and the brilliancy of
+their expanded plumage forms a contrast to the trees embrowned by the sun.
+Such, among others, are various kinds of paroquets, the blue pigeon, called
+here the pigeon of Holland, and the wandering and majestic white bird of
+the Tropic, which Madame de la Tour thus apostrophised:--
+
+       SONNET
+
+       TO THE WHITE BIRD OF THE TROPIC.
+
+    Bird of the Tropic! thou, who lov'st to stray
+    Where thy long pinions sweep the sultry line,
+    Or mark'st the bounds which torrid beams confine
+    By thy averted course, that shuns the ray
+    Oblique, enamour'd of sublimer day:
+    Oft on yon cliff thy folded plumes recline,
+    And drop those snowy feathers Indians twine
+    To crown the warrior's brow with honours gay.
+    O'er Trackless oceans what impels thy wing?
+    Does no soft instinct in thy soul prevail?
+    No sweet affection to thy bosom cling,
+    And bid thee oft thy absent nest bewail?
+    Yet thou again to that dear spot canst spring
+    But I my long lost home no more shall hail!
+
+"The domestic inhabitants of our forests, monkeys, sport upon the dark
+branches of the trees, from which they are distinguished by their gray and
+greenish skin, and their black visages. Some hang suspended by the tail,
+and balance themselves in air; others leap from branch to branch, bearing
+their young in their arms. The murderous gun has never affrighted those
+peaceful children of nature. You sometimes hear the warblings of unknown
+birds from the southern countries, repeated at a distance by the echoes of
+the forest. The river, which runs in foaming cataracts over a bed of rocks,
+reflects here and there, upon its limpid waters, venerable masses of woody
+shade, together with the sport of its happy inhabitants. About a thousand
+paces from thence the river precipitates itself over several piles of
+rocks, and forms, in its fall, a sheet of water smooth as crystal, but
+which breaks at the bottom into frothy surges. Innumerable confused sounds
+issue from those tumultuous waters, which, scattered by the winds of the
+forest, sometimes sink, sometimes swell, and send forth a hollow tone like
+the deep bells of a cathedral. The air, for ever renewed by the circulation
+of the waters, fans the banks of that river with freshness, and leaves a
+degree of verdure, notwithstanding the summer heats, rarely found in this
+island, even upon the summits of the mountains.
+
+"At some distance is a rock, placed far enough from the cascade to prevent
+the ear from being deafened by the noise of its waters, and sufficiently
+near for the enjoyment of their view, their coolness, and their murmurs.
+Thither, amidst the heats of summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia,
+Paul, and myself sometimes repaired, and dined beneath the shadow of the
+rock. Virginia, who always directed her most ordinary actions to the good
+of others, never ate of any fruit without planting the seed or kernel in
+the ground. 'From this,' said she, 'trees will come, which will give their
+fruit to some traveller, or at least to some bird.' One day having eaten of
+the papaw fruit, at the foot of that rock she planted the seeds. Soon after
+several papaws sprung up, amongst which was one that yielded fruit. This
+tree had risen but a little from the ground at the time of Virginia's
+departure; but its growth being rapid, in the space of two years it had
+gained twenty feet of height, and the upper part of its stem was encircled
+with several layers of ripe fruit. Paul having wandered to that spot, was
+delighted to see that this lofty tree had arisen from the small seed
+planted by his beloved friend; but that emotion instantly gave place to a
+deep melancholy, at this evidence of her long absence. The objects which we
+see habitually do not remind us of the rapidity of life; they decline
+insensibly with ourselves; but those which we behold again, after having
+for some years lost sight of them, impress us powerfully with the idea of
+that swiftness with which the tide of our days flows on. Paul was no less
+overwhelmed and affected at the sight of this great papaw tree, loaded with
+fruit, than is the traveller, when, after a long absence from his own
+country, he finds not his contemporaries, but their children, whom he left
+at the breast, and whom he sees are become fathers of families. Paul
+sometimes thought of hewing down the tree, which recalled too sensibly the
+distracted image of that length of time which had clasped since the
+departure of Virginia. Sometimes, contemplating it as a monument of her
+benevolence, he kissed its trunk, and apostrophised it in terms of the most
+passionate regret; and, indeed I have myself gazed upon it with more
+emotion and more veneration than upon the triumphal arches of Rome.
+
+"At the foot of this papaw I was always sure to meet with Paul when he came
+into our neighbourhood. One day, when I found him absorbed in melancholy,
+we had a conversation, which I will relate to you, if I do not weary you by
+my long digressions; perhaps pardonable to my age and my last friendships.
+
+"Paul said to me, 'I am very unhappy. Mademoiselle de la Tour has now been
+gone two years and two months; and we have heard no tidings of her for
+eight months and two weeks. She is rich, and I am poor. She has forgotten
+me. I have a great mind to follow her. I will go to France; I will serve
+the king; make a fortune; and then Mademoiselle de la Tour's aunt will
+bestow her niece upon me when I shall have become a great lord.
+
+"'But, my dear friend,' I answered, 'have you not told me that you are not
+of noble birth?'
+
+"'My mother has told me so,' said Paul. 'As for myself I know not what
+noble birth means.'
+
+"'Obscure birth,' I replied, 'in France shuts out all access to great
+employments; nor can you even be received among any distinguished body of
+men.'
+
+"'How unfortunate I am!' resumed Paul; 'every thing repulses me. I am
+condemned to waste my wretched life in labour, far from Virginia.' And he
+heaved a deep sigh.
+
+"'Since her relation,' he added, 'will only give her in marriage to some
+one with a great name, by the aid of study we become wise and celebrated. I
+will fly then to study; I will acquire sciences; I will serve my country
+usefully by my attainments; I shall be independent; I shall become
+renowned; and my glory will belong only to myself.'
+
+"'My son! talents are still more rare than birth or riches, and are
+undoubtedly an inestimable good, of which nothing can deprive us, and which
+every where conciliate public esteem. But they cost dear: they are
+generally allied to exquisite sensibility, which renders their possessor
+miserable. But you tell me that you would serve mankind. He who, from the
+soil which he cultivates, draws forth one additional sheaf of corn, serves
+mankind more than he who presents them with a book.'
+
+"'Oh! she then,' exclaimed Paul, 'who planted this papaw tree, made a
+present to the inhabitants of the forest more dear and more useful than if
+she had given them a library.' And seizing the tree in his arms, he kissed
+it with transport.
+
+"'Ah! I desire glory only,' he resumed, 'to confer it upon Virginia, and
+render her dear to the whole universe. But you, who know so much, tell me
+if we shall ever be married. I wish I was at least learned enough to look
+into futurity. Virginia must come back. What need has she of a rich
+relation? she was so happy in those huts, so beautiful, and so well
+dressed, with a red handkerchief or flowers round her head! Return,
+Virginia! Leave your palaces, your splendour! Return to these rocks, to the
+shade of our woods and our cocoa trees! Alas! you are, perhaps, unhappy!'
+And he began to weep. 'My father! conceal nothing from me. If you cannot
+tell me whether I shall marry Virginia or no, tell me, at least, if she
+still loves me amidst those great lords who speak to the king, and go to
+see her.'
+
+"'Oh! my dear friend,' I answered, 'I am sure that she loves you, for
+several reasons; but, above all, because she is virtuous.' At those words
+he threw himself upon my neck in a transport of joy.
+
+"'But what,' said he, 'do you understand by virtue?'
+
+"'My son! to you, who support your family by your labour, it need not be
+defined. Virtue is an effort which we make for the good of others, and with
+the intention of pleasing God.'
+
+"'Oh! how virtuous then,' cried he, 'is Virginia! Virtue made her seek for
+riches, that she might practise benevolence. Virtue led her to forsake this
+island, and virtue will bring her back.' The idea of her near return fired
+his imagination, and his inquietudes suddenly vanished. Virginia, he was
+persuaded, had not written, because she would soon arrive. It took so
+little time to come from Europe with a fair wind! Then he enumerated the
+vessels which had made a passage of four thousand five hundred leagues in
+less than three months; and perhaps the vessel in which Virginia had
+embarked might not be longer than two. Ship builders were now so ingenious,
+and sailors so expert! He then told me of the arrangements he would make
+for her reception, of the new habitation he would build for her, of the
+pleasures and surprises which each day should bring along with it when she
+was his wife? His wife! That hope was ecstasy. 'At least, my dear father,'
+said he, 'you shall then do nothing more than you please. Virginia being
+rich, we shall have a number of negroes, who will labour for you. You shall
+always live with us, and have no other care than to amuse and rejoice
+yourself:' and, his heart throbbing with delight, he flew to communicate
+those exquisite sensations to his family.
+
+"In a short time, however, the most cruel apprehensions succeeded those
+enchanting hopes. Violent passions ever throw the soul into opposite
+extremes. Paul returned to my dwelling absorbed in melancholy, and said to
+me, 'I hear nothing from Virginia. Had she left Europe she would have
+informed me of her departure. Ah! the reports which I have heard concerning
+her are but too well founded. Her aunt has married her to some great lord.
+She, like others, has been undone by the love of riches. In those books
+which paint women so well, virtue is but a subject of romance. Had Virginia
+been virtuous, she would not have forsaken her mother and me, and, while I
+pass life in thinking of her, forgotten me. While I am wretched, she is
+happy. Ah! that thought distracts me: labour becomes painful, and society
+irksome. Would to heaven that war were declared in India! I would go there
+and die.'
+
+"'My son,' I answered, 'that courage which, prompts us to court death is
+but the courage of a moment, and is often excited by the vain hopes of
+posthumous fame. There is a species of courage more necessary, and more
+rare, which makes us support, without witness, and without applause, the
+various vexations of life; and that is, patience. Leaning not upon the
+opinions of others, but upon the will of God, patience is the courage of
+virtue.'
+
+"'Ah!' cried he,' I am then without virtue! Every thing overwhelms and
+distracts me.'
+
+"'Equal, constant, and invariable virtue,' I replied, 'belongs not to man.'
+In the midst of so many passions, by which we are agitated, our reason is
+disordered and obscured: but there is an ever-burning lamp, at which we can
+rekindle its flame; and that is, literature.
+
+"'Literature, my dear son, is the gift of Heaven; a ray of that wisdom
+which governs the universe; and which man, inspired by celestial
+intelligence, has drawn down to earth. Like the sun, it enlightens, it
+rejoices, it warms with a divine flame, and seems, in some sort, like the
+element of fire, to bend all nature to our use. By the aid of literature,
+we bring around us all things, all places, men, and times. By its aid we
+calm the passions, suppress vice, and excite virtue. Literature is the
+daughter of heaven, who has descended upon earth to soften and to charm all
+human evils.
+
+"'Have recourse to your books, then, my son. The sages who have written
+before our days, are travellers who have preceded us in the paths of
+misfortune; who stretch out a friendly hand towards us, and invite us to
+join their society, when every thing else abandons us. A good book is a
+good friend.'
+
+"'Ah!' cried Paul, 'I stood in no need of books when Virginia was here, and
+she had studied as little as me: but when she looked at me, and called me
+her friend, it was impossible for me to be unhappy.'
+
+"'Undoubtedly,' said I, 'there is no friend so agreeable as a mistress by
+whom we are beloved. There is in the gay graces of a woman a charm that
+dispels the dark phantoms of reflection. Upon her face sits soft attraction
+and tender confidence. What joy is not heightened in which she shares? What
+brow is not unbent by her smiles? What anger can resist her tears? Virginia
+will return with more philosophy than you, and will be surprised not to
+find the garden finished: she who thought of its establishments amidst the
+persecutions of her aunt, and far from her mother and from you.'
+
+"The idea of Virginia's speedy return reanimated her lover's courage, and
+he resumed his pastoral occupations; happy amidst his toils, in the
+reflection that they would find a termination so dear to the wishes of his
+heart.
+
+"The 24th of December, 1774, at break of day, Paul, when he arose,
+perceived a white flag hoisted upon the Mountain of Discovery, which was
+the signal of a vessel descried at sea. He flew to the town, in order to
+learn if this vessel brought any tidings of Virginia, and waited till the
+return of the pilot, who had gone as usual to visit the ship. The pilot
+brought the governor information that the vessel was the Saint Geran, of
+seven hundred tons, commanded by a captain of the name of Aubin; that the
+ship was now four leagues out at sea, and would anchor at Port Louis the
+following afternoon, if the wind was favourable: at present there was a
+calm. The pilot then remitted to the governor a number of letters from
+France, amongst which was one addressed to Madame de la Tour in the
+hand-writing of Virginia. Paul seized upon the letter, kissed it with
+transport, placed it in his bosom, and flew to the plantation. No sooner
+did he perceive from a distance the family, who were waiting his return
+upon the Farewell Rock, than he waved the letter in the air, without having
+the power to speak; and instantly the whole family crowded round Madame de
+la Tour to hear it read. Virginia informed her mother that she had suffered
+much ill treatment from her aunt, who, after having in vain urged her to
+marry against her inclination, had disinherited her; and at length sent her
+back at such a season of the year, that she must probably reach the
+Mauritius at the very period of the hurricanes. In vain, she added, she had
+endeavoured to soften her aunt, by representing what she owed to her
+mother, and to the habits of her early years: she had been treated as a
+romantic girl, whose head was turned by novels. At present she said she
+could think of nothing but the transport of again seeing and embracing her
+beloved family, and that she would have satisfied this dearest wish of her
+heart that very day, if the captain would have permitted her to embark in
+the pilot's boat; but that he had opposed her going, on account of the
+distance from the shore, and of a swell in the ocean, notwithstanding it
+was a calm.
+
+"Scarcely was the letter finished, when the whole family, transported with
+joy repeated, 'Virginia is arrived!' and mistresses and servants embraced
+each other. Madame de la Tour said to Paul, 'My son, go and inform our
+neighbour of Virginia's arrival.' Domingo immediately lighted a torch, and
+he and Paul bent their way towards my plantation.
+
+"It was about ten at night, and I was going to extinguish my lamp, when I
+perceived through the palisades of my hut a light in the woods. I arose,
+and had just dressed myself when Paul, half wild, and panting for breath,
+sprung on my neck, crying, 'Come along, come along. Virginia is arrived!
+Let us go to the Port: the vessel will anchor at break of day.'
+
+"We instantly set off. As we were traversing the woods of the Sloping
+Mountain, and were already on the road which leads from the Shaddock Grove
+to the Port, I heard some one walking behind us. When the person, who was a
+negro, and who advanced with hasty steps, had reached us, I inquired from
+whence he came, and whither he was going with such expedition. He answered,
+'I come from that part of the island called Golden Dust, and am sent to the
+Port, to inform the governor, that a ship from France has anchored upon the
+island of Amber, and fires guns of distress, for the sea is very stormy.'
+Having said this, the man left us, and pursued his journey.
+
+"'Let us go,' said I to Paul, 'towards that part of the island, and meet
+Virginia. It is only three leagues from hence.' Accordingly we bent our
+course thither. The heat was suffocating. The moon had risen, and it was
+encompassed by three large black circles. A dismal darkness shrouded the
+sky; but the frequent flakes of lightning discovered long chains of thick
+clouds, gloomy, low hung, and heaped together over the middle of the
+island, after having rolled with great rapidity from the ocean, although we
+felt not a breath of wind upon the land. As we walked along we thought we
+heard peals of thunder; but, after listening more attentively, we found
+they were the sound of distant cannon repeated by the echoes. Those sounds,
+joined to the tempestuous aspect of the heavens, made me shudder. I had
+little doubt that they were signals of distress from a ship in danger. In
+half an hour the firing ceased, and I felt the silence more appalling than
+the dismal sounds which had preceded.
+
+"We hastened on without uttering a word, or daring to communicate our
+apprehensions. At midnight we arrived on the sea shore at that part of the
+island. The billows broke against the beach with a horrible noise, covering
+the rocks and the strand with their foam of a dazzling whiteness, and
+blended with sparks of fire. By their phosphoric gleams we distinguished,
+notwithstanding the darkness, the canoes of the fishermen, which they had
+drawn far upon the sand.
+
+"Near the shore, at the entrance of a wood, we saw a fire, round which
+several of the inhabitants were assembled. Thither we repaired, in order to
+repose ourselves till morning. One of the circle related, that in the
+afternoon he had seen a vessel driven towards the island by the currents;
+that the night had hid it from his view; and that two hours after sun-set
+he had heard the firing of guns in distress; but that the sea was so
+tempestuous, no boat could venture out; that a short time after, he thought
+he perceived the glimmering of the watch-lights on board the vessel, which
+he feared, by its having approached so near the coast, had steered between
+the main land and the little island of Amber, mistaking it for the point of
+Endeavour, near which the vessels pass in order to gain Port Louis. If this
+was the case, which, however, he could not affirm, the ship he apprehended
+was in great danger. Another islander then informed us, that he had
+frequently crossed the channel which separates the isle of Amber from the
+coast, and which he had sounded; that the anchorage was good, and that the
+ship would there be in as great security as if it were in harbour. A third
+islander declared it was impossible for the ship to enter that channel,
+which was scarcely navigable for a boat. He asserted that he had seen the
+vessel at anchor beyond the isle of Amber; so that if the wind arose in the
+morning, it could either put to sea or gain the harbour. Different opinions
+were stated upon this subject, which, while those indolent Creoles calmly
+discussed, Paul and I observed a profound silence. We remained on this spot
+till break of day, when the weather was too hazy to admit of our
+distinguishing any object at sea, which was covered with fog. All we could
+descry was a dark cloud, which they told us was the isle of Amber, at the
+distance of a quarter of a league from the coast. We could only discern on
+this gloomy day the point of the beach where we stood, and the peaks of
+some mountains in the interior part of the island, rising occasionally from
+amidst the clouds which hung around them.
+
+"At seven in the morning we heard the beat of drums in the woods; and soon
+after the governor, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais, arrived on horseback,
+followed by a detachment of soldiers armed with muskets, and a great number
+of islanders and blacks. He ranged his soldiers upon the beach, and ordered
+them to make a general discharge, which was no sooner done, than we
+perceived a glimmering light upon the water, which was instantly succeeded
+by the sound of a gun. We judged that the ship was at no great distance,
+and ran towards that part where we had seen the light. We now discerned
+through the fog the hull and tackling of a large vessel; and
+notwithstanding the noise of the waves, we were near enough to hear the
+whistle of the boatswain at the helm, and the shouts of the mariners. As
+soon as the Saint Geran perceived that we were enough to give her succour,
+she continued to fire guns regularly at the interval of three minutes.
+Monsieur de la Bourdonnais caused great fires to be lighted at certain
+distances upon the strand, and sent to all the inhabitants of that
+neighbourhood, in search of provisions, planks, cables, and empty barrels.
+A crowd of people soon arrived, accompanied by their negroes, loaded with
+provisions and rigging. One of the most aged of the planters approaching
+the governor, said to him, 'We have heard all night hoarse noises in the
+mountain, and in the forests: the leaves of the trees are shaken, although
+there is no wind: the sea birds seek refuge upon the land: it is certain
+that all those signs announce a hurricane.' 'Well, my friends,' answered
+the governor, 'we are prepared for it: and no doubt the vessel is also.'
+
+"Every thing, indeed, presaged the near approach of the hurricane. The
+centre of the clouds in the zenith was of a dismal black, while their
+skirts were fringed with a copper hue. The air resounded with the cries of
+the frigate bird, the cur water, and a multitude of other sea birds, who,
+notwithstanding the obscurity of the atmosphere, hastened from all points
+of the horizon to seek for shelter in the island.
+
+"Towards nine in the morning we heard on the side of the ocean the most
+terrific noise, as if torrents of water, mingled with thunder, were rolling
+down the steeps of the mountains. A general cry was heard of, 'There is the
+hurricane!' and in one moment a frightful whirlwind scattered the fog which
+had covered the Isle of Amber and its channel. The Saint Geran then
+presented itself to our view, her gallery crowded with people, her yards
+and main topmast laid upon the deck, her flag shivered, with four cables at
+her head, and one by which she was held at the stern. She had anchored
+between the Isle of Amber and the main land, within that chain of breakers
+which encircles the island, and which bar she had passed over, in a place
+where no vessel had ever gone before. She presented her head to the waves
+which rolled from the open sea; and as each billow rushed into the straits,
+the ship heaved, so that her keel was in air; and at the same moment her
+stern, plunging into the water, disappeared altogether, as if it were
+swallowed up by the surges. In this position, driven by the winds and waves
+towards the shore, it was equally impossible for her to return by the
+passage through which she had made her way; or, by cutting her cables, to
+throw herself upon the beach, from which she was separated by sand banks,
+mingled with breakers. Every billow which broke upon the coast advanced
+roaring to the bottom of the bay, and threw planks to the distance of fifty
+feet upon the land; then rushing back, laid bare its sandy bed, from which
+it rolled immense stones, with a hoarse dismal noise. The sea, swelled by
+the violence of the wind, rose higher every moment; and the channel between
+this island the Isle of Amber was but one vast sheet of white foam, with
+yawning pits of black deep billows. The foam boiling in the gulf was more
+than six feet high: and the winds which swept its surface, bore it over the
+steep coast more than half a league upon the land. Those innumerable white
+flakes, driven horizontally as far as the foot of the mountain, appeared
+like snow issuing from the ocean, which was now confounded with the sky.
+Thick clouds, of a horrible form, swept along the zenith with the swiftness
+of birds, while others appeared motionless as rocks. No spot of azure could
+be discerned in the firmament; only a pale yellow gleam displayed the
+objects of earth sea, and skies.
+
+"From the violent efforts of the ship, what we dreaded happened. The cables
+at the head of the vessel were torn away; it was then held by one anchor
+only, and was instantly dashed upon the rocks, at the distance of half a
+cable's length from the shore. A general cry of horror issued from the
+spectators. Paul rushed towards the sea, when, seizing him by the arm, I
+exclaimed, 'Would you perish?'--'Let me go to save her,' cried he, 'or
+die!' Seeing that despair deprived him of reason, Domingo and I, in order
+to preserve him, fastened a long cord round his waist, and seized hold of
+each end. Paul then precipitated himself towards the ship, now swimming,
+and now walking upon the breakers. Sometimes he had the hope of reaching
+the vessel, which the sea, in its irregular movements, had left almost dry,
+so that you could have made its circuit on foot; but suddenly the waves
+advancing with new fury, shrouded it beneath mountains of water, which then
+lifted it upright upon its keel. The billows at the same moment threw the
+unfortunate Paul far upon the beach, his legs bathed in blood, his bosom
+wounded, and himself half dead. The moment he had recovered his senses, he
+arose, and returned with new ardour towards the vessel, the planks of which
+now yawned asunder from the violent strokes of the billows. The crew, then
+despairing of their safety, threw themselves in crowds into the sea, upon
+yards, planks, hencoops, tables, and barrels. At this moment we beheld an
+object fitted to excite eternal sympathy; a young lady in the gallery of
+the stern of the Saint Geran, stretching out her arms towards him who made
+so many efforts to join her. It was Virginia. She had discovered her lover
+by his intrepidity. The sight of this amiable young woman, exposed to such
+horrible danger, filled us with unutterable despair. As for Virginia, with
+a firm and dignified mien, she waved her hand, as if bidding us an eternal
+farewell. All the sailors had flung themselves into the sea, except one,
+who still remained upon the deck, and who was naked, and strong as
+Hercules. This man approached Virginia with respect, and, kneeling at her
+feet attempted to force her to throw off her clothes; but she repulsed him
+with modesty, and turned away her head. Then was heard redoubled cries from
+the spectators, 'Save her! Save her! Do not leave her!' But at that moment
+a mountain billow, of enormous magnitude, ingulfed itself between the Isle
+of Amber and the coast, and menaced the shattered vessel, towards which it
+rolled bellowing, with its black sides and foaming head. At this terrible
+sight the sailor flung himself into the sea; and Virginia seeing death
+inevitable, placed one hand upon her clothes, the other on her heart, and
+lifting up her lovely eyes, seemed an angel prepared to take her flight to
+heaven.
+
+"Oh, day of horror! Alas! every thing was swallowed up by the relentless
+billows. The surge threw some of the spectators far upon the beach, whom an
+impulse of humanity prompted to advance towards Virginia, and also the
+sailor who had endeavoured to save her life. This man, who had escaped from
+almost certain death, kneeling on the sand, exclaimed, 'Oh, my God! thou
+hast saved my life, but I would have given it willingly for that poor young
+woman!'
+
+"Domingo and myself drew Paul senseless to the shore, the blood flowing
+from his mouth and ears. The governor put him into the hands of a surgeon,
+while we sought along the beach for the corpse of Virginia. But the wind
+having suddenly changed, which frequently happens during hurricanes, our
+search was in vain; and we lamented that we could not even pay this
+unfortunate young woman the last sad sepulchral duties.
+
+"We retired from the spot overwhelmed with dismay, and our minds wholly
+occupied by one cruel loss, although numbers had perished in the wreck.
+Some of the spectators seemed tempted, from the fatal destiny of this
+virtuous young woman, to doubt the existence of Providence. Alas! there are
+in life such terrible, such unmerited evils, that even the hope of the wise
+is sometimes shaken.
+
+"In the meantime, Paul, who began to recover his senses, was taken to a
+house in the neighbourhood, till he was able to be removed to his own
+habitation. Thither I bent my way with Domingo, and undertook the sad task
+of preparing Virginia's mother and her friend for the melancholy event
+which had happened. When we reached the entrance of the valley of the river
+of Fan-Palms, some negroes informed us that the sea had thrown many pieces
+of the wreck into the opposite bay. We descended towards it; and one of the
+first objects which struck my sight upon the beach was the corpse of
+Virginia. The body was half covered with sand, and in the attitude in which
+we had seen her perish. Her features were not changed; her eyes were
+closed, her countenance was still serene; but the pale violets of death
+were blended on her cheek with the blush of virgin modesty. One of her
+hands was placed upon her clothes: and the other, which she held on her
+heart, was fast closed, and so stiffened, that it was with difficulty I
+took from its grasp a small box. How great was my emotion, when I saw it
+contained the picture of Paul; which she had promised him never to part
+with while she lived! At the sight of this last mark of the fidelity and
+tenderness of the unfortunate girl, I wept bitterly. As for Domingo, he
+beat his breast, and pierced the air with his cries. We carried the body of
+Virginia to a fisher's hut, and gave it in charge to some poor Malabar
+women, who carefully washed away the sand.
+
+"While they were employed in this melancholy office, we ascended with
+trembling steps to the plantation. We found Madame de la Tour and Margaret
+at prayer, while waiting for tidings from the ship. As soon as Madame de la
+Tour saw me coming, she eagerly cried, 'Where is my child, my dear child?'
+My silence and my tears apprised her of her misfortune. She was seized with
+convulsive stiflings, with agonizing pains, and her voice was only heard in
+groans. Margaret cried, 'Where is my son? I do not see my son!' and
+fainted. We ran to her assistance. In a short time she recovered, and being
+assured that her son was safe, and under the care of the governor, she only
+thought of succouring her friend, who had long successive faintings. Madame
+de la Tour passed the night in sufferings so exquisite, that I became
+convinced there was no sorrow like a mother's sorrow. When she recovered
+her senses, she cast her languid and steadfast looks on heaven. In vain her
+friend and myself pressed her hands in ours: in vain we called upon her by
+the most tender names; she appeared wholly insensible; and her oppressed
+bosom heaved deep and hollow moans.
+
+"In the morning Paul was brought home in a palanquin. He was now restored
+to reason but unable to utter a word. His interview with his mother and
+Madame de la Tour, which I had dreaded, produced a better effect than all
+my cares. A ray of consolation gleamed upon the countenances of those
+unfortunate mothers. They flew to meet him, clasped him in their arms, and
+bathed him with tears, which excess of anguish had till now forbidden to
+flow. Paul mixed his tears with theirs; and nature having thus found
+relief, a long stupor succeeded the convulsive pangs they had suffered, and
+gave them a lethargic repose like that of death.
+
+"Monsieur de la Bourdonnais sent to apprise me secretly that the corpse of
+Virginia had been borne to the town by his order, from whence it was to be
+transferred to the church of the Shaddock Grove. I hastened to Port Louis,
+and found a multitude assembled from all parts, in order to be present at
+the funeral solemnity, as if the whole island had lost its fairest
+ornament. The vessels in the harbour had their yards crossed, their flags
+hoisted, and fired guns at intervals. The grenadiers led the funeral
+procession, with their muskets reversed, their drums muffled, and sending
+forth slow dismal sounds. Eight young ladies of the most considerable
+families of the island, dressed in white, and bearing palms in their hands,
+supported the pall of their amiable companion, which was strewed with
+flowers. They were followed by a band of children chanting hymns, and by
+the governor, his field officers, all the principal inhabitants of the
+island, and an immense crowd of people.
+
+"This funeral solemnity had been ordered by the administration of the
+country, who were desirous of rendering honours to the virtue of Virginia.
+But when the progression arrived at the foot of this mountain, at the sight
+of those cottages, of which she had long been the ornament and happiness,
+and which her loss now filled with despair, the funeral pomp was
+interrupted, the hymns and anthems ceased, and the plain resounded with
+sighs and lamentations. Companies of young girls ran from the neighbouring
+plantations to touch the coffin of Virginia with their scarfs, chaplets,
+and crowns of flowers, invoking her as a saint. Mothers asked of heaven a
+child like Virginia; lovers, a heart as faithful; the poor, as tender a
+friend; and the slaves, as kind a mistress.
+
+"When the procession had reached the place of interment, the negresses of
+Madagascar, and the caffres of Mosambiac, placed baskets of fruit around
+the corpse, and hung pieces of stuff upon the neighbouring trees, according
+to the custom of their country. The Indians of Bengal, and of the coast of
+Malabar, brought cages filled with birds, which they set at liberty upon
+her coffin. Thus did the loss of this amiable object affect the natives of
+different countries, and thus was the ritual of various religions breathed
+over the tomb of unfortunate virtue.
+
+"She was interred near the church of the Shaddock Grove, upon the western
+side, at the foot of a copse of bamboos, where, in coming from mass with
+her mother and Margaret, she loved to repose herself, seated by him whom
+she called her brother.
+
+"On his return from the funeral solemnity, Monsieur de la Bourdonnais came
+hither, followed by part of his numerous train. He offered Madame de la
+Tour and her friend all the assistance which it was in his power to bestow.
+After expressing his indignation at the conduct of her unnatural aunt, he
+advanced to Paul, and said every thing which he thought most likely to
+soothe and console him. 'Heaven is my witness,' said he, 'that I wished to
+ensure your happiness, and that of your family. My dear friend, you must go
+to France: I will obtain a commission for you, and during your absence will
+take the same care of your mother as if she were my own.' He then offered
+him his hand; but Paul drew away, and turned his head, unable to bear his
+sight.
+
+"I remained at the plantation of my unfortunate friends, that I might
+render to them and Paul those offices of friendship which soften, though
+they cannot cure, calamity. At the end of three weeks Paul was able to
+walk, yet his mind seemed to droop in proportion as his frame gathered
+strength. He was insensible to every thing; his look was vacant; and when
+spoken to, he made no reply. Madame de la Tour, who was dying, said to him
+often, 'My son, while I look at you, I think I see Virginia.' At the name
+of Virginia he shuddered, and hastened from her, notwithstanding the
+entreaties of his mother, who called him back to her friend. He used to
+wander into the garden, and seat himself at the foot of Virginia's cocoa
+tree, with his eyes fixed upon the fountain. The surgeon to the governor,
+who had shown the most humane attention to Paul, and the whole family, told
+us that, in order to cure that deep melancholy which had taken possession
+of his mind, we must allow him to do whatever he pleased, without
+contradiction, as the only means of conquering his inflexible silence.
+
+"I resolved to follow this advice. The first use which Paul made of his
+returning strength was to absent himself from the plantation. Being
+determined not to lose sight of him, I set out immediately, and desired
+Domingo to take some provisions and accompany us. Paul's strength and
+spirits seemed renewed as he descended the mountain. He took the road of
+the Shaddock Grove; and when he was near the church, in the Alley of
+Bamboos, he walked directly to the spot where he saw some new-laid earth,
+and there kneeling down, and raising up his eyes to heaven, he offered up a
+long prayer, which appeared to me a symptom of returning reason; since this
+mark of confidence in the Supreme Being showed that his mind began to
+resume its natural functions. Domingo and I followed his example, fell upon
+our knees, and mingled our prayers with his. When he arose, he bent his
+way, paying little attention to us, towards the northern part of the
+island. As we knew that he was not only ignorant of the spot where the body
+of Virginia was laid, but even whether it had been snatched from the waves,
+I asked him why he had offered up his prayer at the foot of those bamboos.
+He answered, 'We have been there so often!' He continued his course until
+we reached the borders of the forest, when night came on. I prevailed with
+him to take some nourishment; and we slept upon the grass, at the foot of a
+tree. The next day I thought he seemed disposed to trace back his steps;
+for, after having gazed a considerable time upon the church of the Shaddock
+Grove with its avenues of bamboo stretching along the plain, he made a
+motion as if he would return; but, suddenly plunging into the forest, he
+directed his course to the north. I judged what was his design, from which
+I endeavoured to dissuade him in vain. At noon he arrived at that part of
+the island called the Gold Dust. He rushed to the seashore, opposite to the
+spot where the Saint Geran perished. At the sight of the Isle of Amber and
+its channel, then smooth as a mirror, he cried, 'Virginia! Oh, my dear
+Virginia!' and fell senseless. Domingo and myself carried him into the
+woods, where we recovered him with some difficulty. He made an effort to
+return to the seashore; but, having conjured him not to renew his own
+anguish and ours by those cruel remembrances, he took another direction.
+During eight days he sought every spot where he had once wandered with the
+companion of his childhood. He traced the path by which she had gone to
+intercede for the slave of the Black River. He gazed again upon the banks
+of the Three Peaks, where she had reposed herself when unable to walk
+further, and upon that part of the wood where they lost their way. All
+those haunts, which recalled the inquietudes, the sports, the repasts, the
+benevolence of her he loved, the river of the Sloping Mountain, my house,
+the neighbouring cascade, the papaw tree she had planted, the mossy downs
+where she loved to run, the openings of the forest where she used to sing,
+called forth successively the tears of hopeless passion; and those very
+echoes which had so often resounded their mutual shouts of joy, now only
+repeated those accents of despair, 'Virginia! Oh, my dear Virginia!'
+
+"While he led this savage and wandering life, his eyes became sunk and
+hollow, his skin assumed a yellow tint, and his health rapidly decayed.
+Convinced that present sufferings are rendered more acute by the bitter
+recollection of past pleasures, and that the passions gather strength in
+solitude, I resolved to tear my unfortunate friend from those scenes which
+recalled the remembrance of his loss, and to lead him to a more busy part
+of the island. With this view, I conducted him to the inhabited heights of
+Williams, which he had never visited, and where agriculture and commerce
+ever occasioned much bustle and variety. A crowd of carpenters were
+employed in hewing down the trees, while others were sawing planks.
+Carriages were passing and repassing on the roads. Numerous herds of oxen
+and troops of horses were feeding on those ample meadows, over which a
+number of habitations were scattered. On many spots the elevation of the
+soil was favourable to the culture of European trees: ripe corn waved its
+yellow sheaves upon the plains: strawberry plants flourished in the
+openings of the woods, and hedges of rose bushes along the roads. The
+freshness of the air, by giving a tension to the nerves, was favourable to
+the Europeans. From those heights, situated near the middle of the island,
+and surrounded by extensive forests, you could neither discern Port Louis,
+the church of the Shaddock Grove, nor any other object which could recall
+to Paul the remembrance of Virginia. Even the mountains, which appear of
+various shapes on the side of Port Louis, present nothing to the eye from
+those plains but a long promontory, stretching itself in a straight and
+perpendicular line, from whence arise lofty pyramids of rocks, on the
+summits of which the clouds repose.
+
+"To those scenes I conducted Paul, and kept him continually in action,
+walking with him in rain and sunshine, night and day, and contriving that
+he should lose himself in the depths of forests, leading him over untilled
+grounds, and endeavouring, by violent fatigue, to divert his mind from its
+gloomy meditations, and change the course of his reflections, by his
+ignorance of the paths where we wandered. But the soul of a lover finds
+everywhere the traces of the object beloved. The night and the day, the
+calm of solitude, and the tumult of crowds, time itself, while it casts the
+shade of oblivion over so many other remembrances, in vain would tear that
+tender and sacred recollection from the heart, which, like the needle, when
+touched by the loadstone, however it may have been forced into agitation,
+it is no sooner left to repose, than it turns to the pole by which it is
+attracted. When I inquired of Paul, while we wandered amidst the plains of
+Williams, 'Where are we now going?' he pointed to the north and said,
+'Yonder are our mountains; let us return.'
+
+"Upon the whole, I found that every means I took to divert his melancholy
+was fruitless, and that no resource was left but an attempt to combat his
+passion by the arguments which reason suggested. I answered him, 'Yes,
+there are the mountains where once dwelt your beloved Virginia; and this is
+the picture you gave her, and which she held, when dying, to her heart;
+that heart, which even in her last moments only beat for you.' I then gave
+Paul the little picture which he had given Virginia at the borders of the
+cocoa tree fountain. At this sight a gloomy joy overspread his looks. He
+eagerly seized the picture with his feeble hands, and held it to his lips.
+His oppressed bosom seemed ready to burst with emotion, and his eyes were
+filled with tears which had no power to flow.
+
+"'My son,' said I, 'listen to him who is your friend, who was the friend of
+Virginia, and who, in the bloom of your hopes, endeavoured to fortify your
+mind against the unforeseen accidents of life. What do you deplore with so
+much bitterness? Your own misfortunes, or those of Virginia? Your own
+misfortunes are indeed severe. You have lost the most amiable of women: she
+who sacrificed her own interests to yours, who preferred you to all that
+fortune could bestow, and considered you as the only recompense worthy of
+her virtues. But might not this very object, from whom you expected the
+purest happiness, have proved to you a source of the most cruel distress?
+She had returned poor, disinherited; and all you could henceforth have
+partaken with her was your labours: while rendered more delicate by her
+education, and more courageous by her misfortunes, you would have beheld
+her every day sinking beneath her efforts to share and soften your
+fatigues. Had she brought you children, this would only have served to
+increase her inquietudes and your own, from the difficulty of sustaining
+your aged parents and your infant family. You will tell me, there would
+have been reserved to you a happiness independent of fortune, that of
+protecting a beloved object, which attaches itself to us in proportion to
+its helplessness; that your pains and sufferings would have served to
+endear you to each other, and that your passion would have gathered
+strength from your mutual misfortunes. Undoubtedly virtuous love can shed a
+charm over pleasures which are thus mingled with bitterness. But Virginia
+is no more; yet those persons still live, whom, next to yourself, she held
+most dear; her mother, and your own, whom your inconsolable affliction is
+bending with sorrow to the grave. Place your happiness, as she did hers, in
+affording them succour. And why deplore the fate of Virginia? Virginia
+still exists. There is he assured, a region in which virtue receives its
+reward. Virginia now is happy. Ah! if, from the abode of angels, she could
+tell you, as she did when she bid you farewell. 'O, Paul! life is but a
+trial. I was faithful to the laws of nature, love, and virtue. Heaven found
+I had fulfilled my duties, and has snatched me for ever from all the
+miseries I might have endured myself, and all I might have felt for the
+miseries of others. I am placed above the reach of all human evils, and you
+pity me! I am become pure and unchangeable as a particle of light, and you
+would recall me to the darkness of human life! O, Paul! O, my beloved
+friend! recollect those days of happiness, when in the morning we felt the
+delightful sensations excited by the unfolding beauties of nature; when we
+gazed upon the sun, gilding the peaks of those rocks, and then spreading
+his rays over the bosom of the forests.
+
+"'How exquisite were our emotions while we enjoyed the glowing colours of
+the opening day, the odours of our shrubs, the concerts of our birds! Now,
+at the source of beauty, from which flows all that is delightful upon
+earth, my soul intuitively sees, tastes, hears, touches, what before she
+could only be made sensible of through the medium of our weak organs. Ah!
+what language can describe those shores of eternal bliss which I inhabit
+for ever? All that infinite power and celestial bounty can confer, that
+harmony which results from friendship with numberless beings, exulting in
+the same felicity, we enjoy in unmixed perfection. Support, then the trial
+which is allotted you, that you may heighten the happiness of your Virginia
+by love which will know no termination, by hymeneals which will be
+immortal. There I will calm your regrets, I will wipe away your tears. Oh,
+my beloved friend! my husband! raise your thoughts towards infinite
+duration, and bear the evils of a moment.'
+
+"My own emotion choked my utterance. Paul, looking's at me stedfastly,
+cried, 'She is no more! She is no more!' and a long fainting fit succeeded
+that melancholy exclamation. When restored to himself, he said, 'Since
+death is a good, and since Virginia is happy, I would die too, and be
+united to Virginia.' Thus the motives of consolation I had offered, only
+served to nourish his despair. I was like a man who attempts to save a
+friend sinking in the midst of a flood, and refusing to swim. Sorrow had
+overwhelmed his soul. Alas! the misfortunes of early years prepare man for
+the struggles of life: but Paul had never known adversity.
+
+"I led him back to his own dwelling, where I found his mother and Madame de
+la Tour in a state of increased languor, but Margaret drooped most. Those
+lively characters upon which light afflictions make a small impression, are
+least capable of resisting great calamities.
+
+"'O, my good friend,' said Margaret, 'me-thought, last night, I saw
+Virginia dressed in white, amidst delicious bowers and gardens. She said to
+me, 'I enjoy the most perfect happiness;' and then approaching Paul, with a
+smiling air, she bore him away. While I struggled to retain my son, I felt
+that I myself was quitting the earth, and that I followed him with
+inexpressible delight. I then wished to bid my friend farewell, when I saw
+she was hastening after me with Mary and Domingo. But what seems most
+strange is, that Madame de la Tour has this very night had a dream attended
+with the same circumstances.'
+
+"'My dear friend,' I replied, 'nothing, I believe, happens in this world
+without the permission of God. Dreams sometimes foretell the truth.'
+
+"Madame de la Tour related to me her dream, which was exactly similar; and,
+as I had never observed in either of those persons any propensity to
+superstition, I was struck with the singular coincidence of their dreams,
+which, I had little doubt, would soon be realized.
+
+"What I expected took place. Paul died two months after the death of
+Virginia, whose name dwelt upon his lips even in his expiring moments.
+Eight days after the death of her son, Margaret saw her last hour approach
+with that serenity which virtue only can feel. She bade Madame de la Tour
+the most tender farewell, 'in the hope,' she said, 'of a sweet and eternal
+reunion. Death is the most precious good,' added she, 'and we ought to
+desire it. If life be a punishment we should wish for its termination; if
+it be a trial, we should be thankful that it is short.'
+
+"The governor took care of Domingo and Mary, who were no longer able to
+labour, and who survived their mistresses but a short time. As for poor
+Fidele, he pined to death, at the period he lost his master.
+
+"I conducted Madame de la Tour to my dwelling, and she bore her calamities
+with elevated fortitude. She had endeavoured to comfort Paul and Margaret
+till their last moments, as if she herself had no agonies to bear. When
+they were no more, she used to talk of them as of beloved friends, from
+whom she was not distant. She survived them but one month. Far from
+reproaching her aunt for those afflictions she had caused, her benign
+spirit prayed to God to pardon her, and to appease that remorse which the
+consequences of her cruelty would probably awaken in her breast.
+
+"I heard, by successive vessels which arrived from Europe, that this
+unnatural relation, haunted by a troubled conscience, accused herself
+continually of the untimely fate of her lovely niece, and the death of her
+mother, and became at intervals bereft of her reason. Her relations, whom
+she hated, took the direction of her fortune, after shutting her up as a
+lunatic, though she possessed sufficient use of her reason to feel all the
+pangs of her dreadful situation, and died at length in agonies of despair.
+
+"The body of Paul was placed by the side of his Virginia, at the foot of
+the same shrubs; and on that hallowed spot the remains of their tender
+mothers, and their faithful servants, are laid. No marble covers the turf,
+no inscription records their virtues; but their memory is engraven upon our
+hearts, in characters, which are indelible; and surely, if those pure
+spirits still take an interest in what passes upon earth, they love to
+wander beneath the roofs of these dwellings, which are inhabited by
+industrious virtue, to console the poor who complain of their destiny, to
+cherish in the hearts of lovers the sacred flame of fidelity, to inspire a
+taste for the blessing of nature, the love of labour, and the dread of
+riches.
+
+"The voice of the people, which is often silent with regard to those
+monuments raised to flatter the pride of kings, has given to some parts of
+this island names which will immortalize the loss of Virginia. Near the
+Isle of Amber, in the midst of sandbanks, is a spot called the Pass of
+Saint Geran, from the name of the vessel which there perished. The
+extremity of that point of land, which is three leagues distant, and half
+covered by the waves, and which the Saint Geran could not double on the
+night preceding the huricane, is called the Cape of Misfortune; and before
+us, at the end of the valley, is the Bay of the Tomb, where Virginia was
+found buried in the sand; as if the waves had sought to restore her corpse
+to her family, that they might render it the last sad duties on those
+shores of which her innocence had been the ornament.
+
+"Ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united! unfortunate mothers!
+beloved family! those woods which sheltered you with their foliage, those
+fountains which flowed for you, those hillocks upon which you reposed,
+still deplore your loss! No one has since presumed to cultivate that
+desolated ground, or repair those fallen huts. Your goats are become wild,
+your orchards are destroyed, your birds are fled, and nothing is heard but
+the cry of the sparrowhawk, who skims around the valley of rocks. As for
+myself, since I behold you no more, I am like a father bereft of his
+children, like a traveller who wanders over the earth, desolate and alone."
+
+In saying these words, the good old man retired, shedding tears, and mine
+had often flowed, during this melancholy narration.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Paul and Virginia, by Bernadin de Saint-Pierre
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