the kindness of the Marchesa, it must have broken." "Do not distress yourself, my love," said the amiable, Marchesa, 'your society, makes us happy, and I trust that in time we shall be able to enjoy it without interruption. Do not weep, my dear Claudina, you are yet agitated, but adjust your dress, and come into the saloon, you ought to thank this valiant stranger, surely he equals Orlando, or Rinaldo, or any other hero however renowned, and we have now an admirable opportunity of displaying our genius, by celebrating his exploits in an epic poem." Claudina smiled, and a faint blush passed across her cheek; she however begged to decline seeing him again, and Everilda kindly offered to stay with her. Now Claudina, like many others of her sex, when her request was complied with, became less anxious to abide by it, she hesitated, begged that she might not detain Everilda, and at last owned that perhaps company might

amuse

amuse her spirits, and that if she found it over-powered them, she would retire.

With Clayton's ardent and romantic disposition, it was natural that he should be very anxious to see the fair objects, whom he had rescued from violence. The tones of their voices were extremely pleasing, but with their features he was entirely unacquainted, as they were both veiled, and the evening was too far adadvanced, to permit him to make any observations. In this uncertainty it is not to be wondered at, if the time of their absence appeared tedious, his eyes wandered frequently to the door, which at length opened, and three ladies entered; the first was intoduced as the Marchesa, the second, whose paleness, langour, and dejection, proclaimed that she it was, whom he had rescued from fraternal tyranny, as Donna Claudina, Louisa, Elvira, de Gomez, and the third beautiful as one of Mahomet's fabled houries, as Signora di Rodalvi. Now by all

the laws of romance, we ought to make the valiant knight vow everlasting fidelity to the fair one, for whom his conquering arm had put a host to flight; and this was certainly what he had already intended, but unfortunately, he intended also to find her, "All that painting could express, or youthful poets fancy when they love." Such was one of the ladies, but not the one whom he had expected to find so. The delicate languor, the interesting sensibility, the melting tenderness, of Donna Claudina, could not be seen without being felt, but the brightness of Everilda's beauty made every other fade in the comparison; she was now in her twentieth year, and in the meridian of her attractions; her height rose to the majestic, her eyes were of a dark hazle, and expressed most eloquently, every emotion of a noble, ardent, and generous, though uncontrollable soul, her complexion was not very fair, but it was clear, and heightened by

a bloom

a bloom of nature's deepest and richest dyes; her bright brown hair curled in a profusion of natural ringlets, and her animated expressive countenance, received a thousand additional charms, from the harmonious tones of her voice, and the enchanting natural graces of her figure. She was one who could inspire only violent passions, if admired it must be with enthusiasm, if loved, to distraction. If Clayton had been struck with Lady Rosamond, in whom dignity supplied the place of female softness, how was his admiration now excited by one, in whom dignity and sensibility were joined? If Lady Rosamond's talents had gained his homage, notwithstanding the repulsive manner in which she often displayed them; what was not due to Everilda, who combined every varied power to please, with an unwearied desire to exert them? The ardent Clayton soon devoted his glowing heart, entirely to one, who appeared so worthy of it, he

no longer complained of the insipidity of life, but of its shortness; his whole soul was filled with the ardour of his passion, he lived only to love, but with the unconquering timidity of a real lover, silence closed his lips, though the dictates of his heart continually hovered on them; in the presence of his mistress he gazed on her in mute admiraton, but in absence he delighted his imagination by talking to her.

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