it, she said, in the brook and kept it ever fince in her pocket, to restore it to him in cafe he should ever fee him again, which, fhe added, he had half promised her, As he told me this, he took the hankerchief out of her pocket to let me fee it; fhe had folded it up neatly in a couple of vine leaves, tied round with a tendrilon opening it, I faw an S marked in one of the corners. She had fince that, he told me, ftrayed as far as Rome, and walk'd round St. Peter's once-and return'd back-that he found her way alone acrofs the Appennines-had travelled over all Lombardy without money -and through the flinty roads of Saroy without shoes -how she had borne it, and how she had got fupported, she could not tell-but God tempers the wind, said Maria, TO THE SHORN LAMB. Shorn, indeed! and to the quick, said I; and wast thou in my own land, where I have a cottage, I would take thee to it, and fhelter thee: thou fhouldst eat of my own bread, and drink of my own cup-I would be kind to thy Sylvio-in all thy weaknesses and wanderings I would seek after thee, and bring thee backwhen the fun went down, I would fay my prayers; and when I had done, thou fhouldft play thy evening fong upon thy pipe, nor would the incenfe of my facrifice be worfe accepted for entering Heaven along with that of a broken heart. Nature melted within me, as I uttered this; and Maria obferving, as I took out my handkerchief, that it was fteep'd too much already to be of use, would needs go wash it in the ftream-and where will you dry it, Maria? faid I-I will dry it in my bofom, faid fhe, 'twill do me good. And is your heart still so warm, Maria? faid I. I touch'd upon the ftring on which hung all her forrows fhe look'd with wiftful diforder for fome time in my face; and then, without faying any thing, took her pipe and play'd her service to the VirginThe ftring I had touched ceased to vibrate-in a moment or two Maria returned to herself-let her pipe fall-and rofe up. And where are you going, Maria? faid I.-She faid, to Moulines.-Let us go, faid I, together.-Maria put her arm within mine, and lengthening the ftring, to let the dog follow-in that order we entered Moulines. Though I hate falutations and greetings in the market-place, yet when we got into the middle of this, I ftopp'd to take my last look and laft farewel of Maria. Maria, though not tall, was nevertheless of the first order of fine forms-affliction had touched her looks with fomething that was fcarce earthly-ftill fhe was feminine-and fo much was there about her of all that the heart wishes, or the eye looks for in woman, that could the traces be ever worn out of her brain, and those of Eliza's out of mine, the should not only eat of my bread and drink of my own cup, but Maria should lie in my bofom, and be unto me as a daughter. Adieu, poor lucklefs maiden !imbibe the oil and wine which the compaffion of a stranger, as he journey eth on his way, now pours into thy wounds.-The Being who has twice bruifed thee, can only bind them up for ever. SENT. JOURNEY, PAGE 217. THE PARSON'S HORSE. - B E it known then, that, for about five years before the date of the midwife's licence, of which you have had fo circumftantial an account, the parfon we have to do with had made himself a country-talk by a breach of all decorum, which he had committed against himself, his ftation, and his office; and that was in never appearing better, or otherwife mounted, than upon `a lean, sorry, jackass of a horse, value about one pound fifteen fhillings; who, to fhorten all defcription of him, was full brother to Rofinante, às far as fimilitude congenial could make him; for he anfwered his defcription to a hair-breadth in every thing,—except that I do not remember 'tis any where faid, that Rofinante was bro ken-winded; and that, moreover, Rofinante, as is the happiness of moft Spanish Horfes, fat or lean,-was undoubtedly a horse at all points. I know very well that the HERO's horfe was a horse of chafte deportment, which may have given grounds - for the contrary opinion: But it is as certain at the fame time, that Ronante's continency (as may be demonstrated from the adventure of the Yangu fian carriers) proceeded from no bodily defect or cause whatsoever, but from the temperance and orderly current of his blood. And let me tell you, Madam, there is a great deal of very good chastity in the world, in behalf of which you could not fay more for your life. Let that be as it may, as my purpose is to do exact justice to every creature brought upon the stage of this dramatic work,-I could not ftifle this diftinction in favour of Don Quixote's horse ;—in all other points, the parfon's horfe, I fay, was just such another-for he was as lean, and as lank, and as forry a jade, as HuMILITY herfelf could have bestrode. In the estimation of here and there a man of weak judgment, it was greatly in the parfon's power to have helped the figure of this horfe of his, for he was master of a very handfome demi-peak'd faddle, quilted on the feat with green plush, garnished with a double row of filver-headed ftuds, and noble pair of fhining brafs ftirrups, with a houfing altogether fuitable, of grey fuperfine cloth, with an edging of black lace, terminating in a deep, black, filk fringe, poudré d'or, -all which he had purchased in the pride and prime of his life; together with a grand emboffed bridle, or namented at all points as it fhould be. But not caring to banter his beaft, he had hung all these up behind his study door:-and, in lieu of them, had feriously befitted him with just such a bridle and fuch' a faddle, as the figure and value of such a steed might well and truly deserve. In the feveral fallies about his parish, and in the neighbouring visits to the gentry, who lived around him, you will easily comprehend, that the parfon, fo appointed, would both hear and fee enough to keep his philofophy from rufting. To speak the truth, he never could enter a village, but he caught the attention of both old and young.- -Labour ftood still as he paffed, the bucket hung suspended in the middle of the well,—the spinning-wheel forgot its round, -even chuck-farthing and fhuffle-cap themfelves ftood gaping till he had got out of fight; and as his movement was not of the quickest, he had generally time enough upon his hands to make his obfervations, to hear the groans of the serious, and the laughter of the light-hearted ;-all which he bore with excellent tranquillity. His character was,-he loved a jeft in his heart-and as he saw himself in the true point of ridicule, he would say, he could not be angry with others for feeing him in a light, in which he fo ftrongly faw himself. So that to his friends, who knew his foible was not the love of money, and who therefore made the lefs fcruple in bantering the extravagance of his humour, inftead of giving the true caufe, he chofe rather to join in the laugh against himfelf; and as he never carried one fingle ounce of flesh upon his own bones, being altogether as fpare a figure as his beaft, he would fometimes infift upon it, that the horse was as good as the rider deserved ;-- F |