Let cheering hope my eyelids close, With sleep refresh my feeble frame, Safe in thy care may I repose, And wake with praises to thy name.
_Mrs. Harley._ The story you are to read this morning, my dear, is founded upon facts which come within my own observation. I dare say you have frequently heard the French Revolution spoken of: it was this event which gave rise to the incidents contained in
Mr. de Melcour was the son of a younger branch of a good family; his father died when he was quite a child, and left him but a small patrimony. He early entered the army, where for many years he served his country with honour and fidelity: he was present in several engagements, and by his bravery and exemplary conduct, acquired the esteem of all his fellow officers. During the peace which followed the American war he married an amiable lady, whose fortune united to his own, enabled him to quit the noisy scenes of a military life, and settle on a beautiful little estate he purchased in the province of Gascony. Here he enjoyed all the happiness which a good conscience, a good temper, and a feeling heart can bestow, joined to the blessings of domestic peace. Madame de Melcour spent her time in the bosom of her family; she had little taste for the dissipation of the capital, and possessing only a limited income, had she indulged herself in expensive pleasures, she must have foregone the higher satisfaction of contributing to the comfort of those in less fortunate circumstances. She had profited by the excellent education her parents had been careful to give her, and this enabled her to bring up her own children with little assistance from others. Frederic and Elizabeth were the happiest little boy and girl in the neighbourhood: they tenderly loved their parents, and feeling the necessity of doing their duty, it became quite habitual to them. The little faults natural to childhood they were conscious would not be punished with severity, and their good actions they knew would never pass unrewarded. Frederic employed much of his time in working in a little garden that his father had given him: Elizabeth assisted in the management of the flowers, and their highest ambition was to present their mamma with a nosegay of roses, before any were blown in the _great_ garden.