confined, but with it she was satisfied. All the beauties of nature, the most savage, and the most cultivated, dispersed around her with so much grace and majesty, in the various and romantic sites with which the solitary mansion of her father was surrounded, filled her soul with the most tender and lively admiration, and elevated her thoughts to him, by whose Almighty hand the scene was formed. Blythe as the lark which carolled over her head-happy as the lamb which gamboled at her feet, she ran the even tenor of her life. With Ellen Rosenheim, her chosen favourite of all the novitiates, she enjoyed the bliss of a fond, affectionate, and amiable friend; they worked and read together, and the only grief which Adeline felt was, that when the novitiateship of Ellen was concluded, and she had taken the veil, their intercourse would be more confined and restricted. From her almost daily society with the abbess and the novitiates, her mind and external demeanor assumed that pensive melancholy cast, which so particularly distinguishes the inmates of a convent, and the most ardent wish of her heart at that time was, to enrol herself in the number of religious enthusiasts; she had even determined to request her father to permit her to follow the bias of her inclinations, when circumstances arose to blight her prospects, and the sun of her happiness became dimmed. CHAPTER II! "Bear a fair presence, tho' your heart be tainted Be secret false." AFFAIRS were thus situated at the Castle of Niolo, when the father of Adeline was cited to attend a meeting of the nobility at Zurich, to take into consideration the proper measures to be adopted to restore tranquillity to the agitated country. The dawnings of Helvetia's liberty were seen glimmering at a distance; the sun of priestcraft, tyranny, and superstition had reached its meridian, and it threatened to set in storm and ruin. Though Frederic interfered not in the politics of his country, yet in his heart throbbed the ardour of genuine patriotism. He could not therefore behold with indifference the intestine broils, which threatened to subvert the government and religion of his country, and he consequently determined to obey the summons with the utmost alacrity. The necessary preparations were made for the journey, and in the breasts of the females, who were to be the companions of Frederic, rose the leading principle of the female character vanity. Adeline was young, she was beautiful, and although no pert, prating, or prigmatical coxcomb, had yet sounded in her ears the greatness of her charms, nor in the high rhapsodical cant of the lover had compared her to the most beautiful of the angel tribe, or to the houris in paradise-nor told her that her eyes were brighter than the geins of Golconda, that her bosom was whiter than the snow of spring which covers the blossom of the peach-the hue of her lip, more lovely than the bursting rose-bud, and the dimple of her cheek more bewitching than those of Hebe-yet where is the glowing girl possessing real charms, who is at the same time ignorant of it, and with that knowledge, where is the girl who wishes not to display them? With all the joy natural to the youthful breast, which anticipates the purest happiness from every opening scene, Adeline looked forward to the day fixed for the departure. In the human mind the idea of novelty is always attended with pleasure, a thousand charms present themselves in the perspective arrayed in the most gorgeous colours, and though actual fruition never equals the expectation, which has been formed, yet hope still points to the future, and man is the subject of deception, till the grave closes upon the scene. " At length the morning of departure came, and all was bustle in the castle; on some faces hung the clouds of grief, which separation always VOL. 1. No. 2. D causes, and on a few shone the smile of joy at the prospect of approaching happiness. With a jocund heart, Adeline saw the carriage at the door, which was to convey her from her tranquil home, to the rude and heterogeneous uproar of civilized society. She heeded not the caresses of her favourite dog, nor did a sigh break from her bosom, as she beheld the many momentoes of her infant sports. The flowers which she had planted, were passed by unheeded the arbour which she had reared, round which the eglantine and jessamine planted by her hands, entwined their branches, had lost its charms. The distant mountains which she had hitherto regarded as the boundary of her world, now appeared to her to be the barriers which kept her from scenes of joy and happiness: beyond them a new world was to open upon her view, and how poor and trifling then appeared the one, in which she had hitherto moved. A tear indeed, glistened in her eye, as she kissed her aged grandfather, but fleeting as the hour of spring was, the grief she felt, the sun of joy and bliss shone at a distance, and though slant its beams, she felt their force, and revelled in their glow. Mademoiselle Schlaffenhausen had a hundred trifling minutiæ to adjust, before she was ready to depart-she had forgotten to pack up this bauble or the other bauble, and when the party thought she was in readiness to step into the carriage, she bounced away, exclaiming, I have forgotten my rouge, and my satin shoes, and my newly embroidered stomacher. The carriage was crammed in every corner with boxes of various sizes, cou taining the paraphernalia, in which she was to figure away at Zurich, and by the force of which she hoped to effect a conquest over some enamoured swain-for, reader, thou must know, or. if thou dost not know, I will tell thee, that though the bloom of youth may have flown from the cheeks of a female, though quenched be the sparkling lustre of her eye, betraying the fire which glows within, though the dimples of the face, where the loves once nestled, have given way to the wrinkles of age, though the bosom with its magic power swells no more lovely on the sight, yet, infatuated woman still apes the dalliance of youth, demands the tribute which is paid alone to beauty, and prides herself upon the charms that are no more. With tears in his eyes, the old Count bade adieu to his son, and to his lovely favourite. The carriage drove off, and in a short time, the walls of Niolo were lost from the view of the travellers. When will they see them again? When will the noise of mirth again sound in the halls? When will the song of joy again break on the stilness of night? Ere then the raven will croak on the battlements scenting his coming prey -the eye will be closed in death which now.glistens with youthful rapture, and the heart which now beats with Nature's, fond affections, will lie |