MILITARY DISTRESS;ther inexorable: they are going to An ANECDOTE. WHAT remove him to a prifon more hideous than the former: I have heard of it this inftant. I know likewife that your retirement, a religious afylum, may make M. Monforin change in his fon's favour, and that is the only refource we have left." THAT fhocks did the young Felicia endeavoured to rally her, lady's firmnefs endure! Her ftrength-" I have already explained uncle had, in one refpect, bound him- myfelf-I am ready, dear uncle, to felf by an obligation which nothing bury myself for ever, for ever in the could break: befides, this was the on-gloom of a cloifter. If that facrily measure to take off the chains office-" She could not finish her fenĎaminville; and he would certainly tence; her feelings were too great. fall a facrifice to this frightful fitua tion, if he were not fuddenly snatched from it. "My dear friend," replied Villemont, "for you cannot doubt that I have the moft tender affection for you; I can fathom your heart; I can trace all its emotions, and foresee what expedients you must recur to. Remem A ftranger, by the interpofition of a domestic who was bribed, had accefs to Felicia, and endeavoured to prefent another letter to her from Damin-ber that I have always reprefented the ville: fhe immediately cried, "I will receive no letter! I will receive no letter!"-The man went out-fhe called him back: "What is his fituation?-Tell me without referve ?"-honour leaves you no other refource. "I do not think that he can live till to-morrow He is devoured by chagrin-He is ready to expire." "To expire!-Let him live-let him hope! Tell him that he will foon be at liberty-Yes, he will foon be at liberty: you may affure him that he will!" convent as an afylum for those of your fex, who like you are destitute of fortune and hopes, exclufive of heaven, which ought to be the leading object : In fine, deprived of the bleffings of fortune, what part can you act in the world? What refpect is ever fhown to thofe victims of adverfity, who have nothing but birth, agremens, and virtue?-The event which has happened to Daminville, has ferved only to accelerate the moment in which you ought to tear yourfelf from fociety.-I am convinced that Monforin, when informed of the meafures you have taken, will not delay to break the. haps, to be pitied more than Damin-chains of the unhappy youth, who is fo ville. He fhall know how much his his misfortunes, shall have an end.". "And muft I bring him no other news?-This billet-" "No, I will not receive it-I have promifed-retire-begone-I am, per dear to you." "Yes, indeed, he is dear to meI fhall be too happy if the facrifice of my life can be of any fervice to Da The man had gone but a few steps from her, when the unhappy Felicia opened, the fluices of her grief. Sheminville.” had obeyed her uncle; but what did her obedience coft her -Love never lafes its rights. When it feems to conftrain itself, it makes the greateft ravages; therefore the greatest object of pity is a female confumed by a fecret paffion, which he is obliged to conceal. Mons. and Mad. Villemont were. buffed in their arrangements for thefr: niece's departure. There were fome moments in which the latter gave her felf up to the illufions of hope; it is the last deceit which quits us in this life. She flattered herself that a refi-dence of a few months in a convent; Villemont came into the prefence of would fuffice to difarm Monforin; fhe his niece. "Daminville finds his favas ever hardy enough to imagine that that time would produce fome viciffr- one The prifoner difcovered, no knows how, the retirement of Felicia, and the conditions annexed to the facrifice he was about to make. Darnicourt exhorted him to take advantage of this circumftance, and to throw himfelf entirely upon his father's kindness: "Efpecially," added he, "promife faithfully never to speak any more of Felicia-to forget her." ble a fingle moment. Tell my father that I am all fubmiffion to his wishes, lenfible of the attachment I owe him, but more fond of Mifs de Villemont than ever." Darnicourt now affumed an air of rigour and feverity; he displayed all his falfe and disgusting piety, and only exafperated the unfortunate youth, who could not forgive himself on account of the ftep which Felicia had. taken. ""Tis I," cried he, "who tear her from her family! who rob her of her liberty, her happiness, and, for ought I know, of her life!-Hea vens! what a fcene! I ought to have played the hypocrite: but is it poffible to brook controul, when we love with fo much fincerity and ardour?" Monforin, listening to Darnicourt, loft the bowels of a parent. He reprefented to him the dreadful confequences of his bursting the chains of his fon."Felicia, I grant you, lives in a religious retirement, but he is under no engage ment to continue in it: the first steps which Daminville will take on his en largement, will be towards his mistress. What cannot be dreaded from fuch an interview ?-M. de Villemont himfelf can have little influence on fuch an oc♣ cafion. An attachment of this fort leads to the most violent exceffes.Prudence, therefore, requires that Daminville fhould be removed to another prifon, which fhould be known to no one but Monforin and Darnicourt, and be close confined there. His folicitations increased in vivacity: he obtained that the fecret fhould be kept from Beranger above all others: he reprefented him as weak, complying, as miftaking his effeminacy and foftnefs for the fentiments of humani ty, and uninfpired by the true spirit of religion. It is by a decided firmness that we are enabled to vanquish fuch tempers as that of the young man, and the hypocritical wretch affured him of the victory." "What advice are you giving me! What! fhall I purchase my liberty at the expence of the fufferings of her whom I love alone? But though the were lefs dear to me, though M. de Villemont's niece had infpired me with a feeble paffion, do you think that I would degrade myself with fuch a kind of bafenefs? Promife to love Felicia no longer! to banish her image from my heart!-Never fo fhameful a deception can come from me! Should I be plunged in the most horrible dun- The old man gave himself up withgeon, fhould I be crushed with chains, out reserve to that kind of predomithis would be my expiring fentiment; nancy which this brutal fellow had uI would rather die a thousand deaths furped over him : he was not contentthan cease to adore Felicia, or diffem-ed to profcribe Daminville, and to Military Diftrefs. have forged his fetters, if I may be permitted the expreffion; he had, in fome thape, fubflituted his nephew in the place of his fon. : 265 duced to bare complaints on the misfortunes of Daminville. We may recollect that hope had not abandoned Felicia; it was a ray of comfort which illumined that night of grief and uncertainty in which he was involved. She imagined that Daminville had obtained his liberty, and by her generofity. This idea flattered at once her love and her pride: the happinefs of her lover depended on her. On the other hand, was it poffible for him to be compleatly happy if he pre Daligny, his nephew, was a proper tool for Darnicourt to work with:nature had already anticipated the cares of the mafter the youth feemed to have an obdurate heart; the rich man one that was the most infolent and inflexible: he therefore faw that his uncle's attachment increafed every day, who rejoiced that he lived again in one fo like himself. "This (referved his tendreffe? Could he not have peated Monforin inceffantly) is my true fon. Daligny poffeffes my fentiments, my economy, my forefight: he never will fquander away his money in diffipations, nor give way to amorous extravagances. He will make himfelf an ample fortune." We fhould not omit a circumstance which almoft juftifies the predilection of Darnicourt in favour of Dalign.i. The crafty hypocrite had extorted from his pupil the promife of a confiderable fum of money if he kept Monforin in his favourable difpofitions towards him; and, in fhort, if he fhould be named his heir, in excluiion of his coulin. found out fome way to inform her of this refolution, and, in a word, to convince her that his heart was not changed?-Should he be inconftant could he forget at what price his liberty was purchased! - Such furarifes and apprehenfions as thefe contin ally difturbed the repofe of the wretched Felicia. M. de Villemont, whom the did not ceafe writing to, in his answers to her, was fhy of mentioning Daminville.-" Was he dead ?”—-This laft idea rivets itfelf in the eyes, or rather the heart of an unfortunate lover, Villemont, at laft, paid her a vifit. Overcome by preffing folicitations and tears, he reveals what till that moment he had refolved to conceal from her. Monforin, notwithstanding the flep which Felicia had taken, was fill upon his guard: his fon had only changed his grave, and no one knew whither he was removed to. The old man, apprehenfive that the facrifice was not complete, that is to fay, that Felicia had not yet taken the vow which muit Beranger, who frequently vifited Daminville, not finding him in the prifon, ran to the old man, and begged of him, with tears and entreaties, to inform him of the deftiny of his fon. Nature cannot be entirely conquered. Darnicourt appeared luckily to recal him to difcretion, and to vanquish the emotions which were fo incompatible with his fyftem of villany. From that moment he never loft fight of Damin-bind her for ever. Daminville would ville's father, laboured ail he could to ruin him in his opinion, and went fo far as to get the virtuous Beranger to be forbidden his houfe. The latter, obliged to yield to the irrefiftible fate which feemed always to traverso the execution of his honeft endeavours, could only make ufe of fruitlefs refearches. He could not difcover the prifon where the youth was confined; the leaft glimpfe of difcovery was denied him; and he found himfelf reVOL. X. make no other use of the first moments of his enlargement, than to listen to the allurements of his paffion, to exert his utmost endeavours to gain a fight of the object of his love, and that his laft error fhould lead him to contract a marriage, to which his father would never give his fanction. While Villemont was fpeaking, a variety of paffions painted themfelves on the face of his Liece. She interrupted him" What! has Monforin M m vowed vowed my deftruction!--My dear | pid, are a mere blank, are nothing.Infenfible, totally infenfible they are to the beauties which every where furround them, and all the ftupendous productions of the univerfe. What a poverty of genius! what a grovelling mind does it argue, to be thus infenfible of nature,eligion, and God! Deferts, gloomy forefts, huge rocks, purling brooks, and hauging precipices, may, therefore, ftrike with horror a low, foolf, fordid mind, incapable of "Come then, my dear uncle, I will comply! I will die, that Daminville may live!-only let him know what I have done! Alas! love expires! An eternal oblivion follows us to the grave, and—-I know not his fate!-reflection; but they beget delicious Cruel parent! this is the confequence of not having a fortune!-That is all my crime-all my crime, and death alone can expiate it!" H (To be continued.) fenfations, inexpreffible tranfports, in thofe of a more elevated and exalted difpofition. Far from the bufy impertinence of man, and the votaries of pleafure and diffipation; far from thofe feminaries of lewdnefs and impiety, where luxury and excefs go hand in hand, be it my lot to dwell unmolefted in fome fequettered abode, where I may enjoy the fweets of folitude, furvey the works of nature, and contemplate the Creator's works. "Happy is the mortal," faith the French Horace, Boileau, "who, unknown in the world, lives contented with himfelf in fome retired corner:" Qu' heureux eft le mortel qai, du monde ig- Vit content de foi-même, en un coin retiré ! For the LADY'S MAGAZINE. On the PLEASURES of SOLITUDE. OW amiable is fo'itude to them who have a capacity of relishing the beauties of nature! to them whofe minds are formed for ferious thought and divine contemplation !--It has charms incomparably more agreeable than the vain amufements of the great, or the voluptuous enjoyments fo ea gerly fought after in the tumultuous buftle of the world. Take, ye ambitious, ye proud and fupercilious grandees, take to yourselves the pleasures The noife of a clamorous and tuand honours of a deluding world! multuous world is unheard in his Take to yourselves the fplendid equi- peaceful retreat. Silence holds the page, the pomp and parade which door against the fons of riot and diffidazzles the ignoble vulgar!-Let me pation. Luxury and excefs, profuseretire from the gaudy feenes into fome nefs and debauchery, are his averfion. compofed retreat, far from the foolish He does not drink out of the enchantamufements and gay impertinence of ing cup of inebriation, nor bathe himlife, and I will not envy your condi. felf in the licentious and deftructive tion, nor fneak after the gilded enjoy-ftream of impurity. Gaming he dements in which you place your chief and fole delight. Solitude may be irkfome and difagreeable to the fop, the profane libertine, and ignoble vulgar, becaufe they are unfit for fedate thought, divine contemplation, and other fublime meditations of the foul. To them nature, and all her grand works, creation, and its beautifulfcenes, are infi tefts, and his heart is eftranged from all thofe ridiculous amufements which captivate the ignorant and capricious. The mimic and buffoon do not raife in him immoderate laughter, nor the glittering pageantry of an enfnaring world bind his affections. Peace and war are alike to him, whilft favage de-folation carries every where fire and carnage. Whilft the earth refounds Extraordinary Performance on the Violin. with the noife of arms, and all the thunder of war, he [THOMPSON'S AUTUMN, p. 197, An Edition by AIKIN.] And though fuch a one may be a ftranger to what the men of pleasure and the beau monde call fafhionable recreation, or genteel amufement; tho' the harmonious art of mufical trains does not convey to his foul the raptures of feductive pleafure, which foot he away the refolution and activity of virtue in wanton defires, and voluptuous indolence, he is furnished with a concert of mufic more innocent, and incomparably more delightful. Thoufands of beautiful fonglters furround his peaceful habitation, chaunt forth their delightful ftrains, and with their pleafing harmony elevate every faculty of his foul, while the plains low, the hills bleat, and every valley re-murmurs to the fall of filver fountains, or the liquid lapfe of gurgling rills. And is not this melody, this inimitable melody of nature, more agreeable, and infinitely lefs dangerous than that mufical enchantment which captivates the votaries of pleafure, and transfufes the amorous anguifh into the hearer's heart? How happy is a fequestered rural life, where there is every thing that will please the eye, charm the ear, and gratify the every fenfe! Where nature unbofoms all her beauty, and the works of a great and adorable Creator may be contemplated without interruption in eafe and fecurity! Here Peace for ever fmiles with the olive brauch in her hand, and here Silence (a ftranger to the noify buzz of the world) fixes her abode. 267 Happy, happy is the man who has refolution to bid adieu to the follies of the age, and far from the giddy throng, far from the buftling round, is retired into the mantion of undisturbed repofe! Happy is the man who foregoes the fafhionable pleafures of a treacherous world, purposely to ennoble his mind with fublime contemplation, and prepare himself for the important realities of futurity. 1 am, Sir, Your's, &c. Market Lavington, Waus. J. L-G. (To be concluded in our next.) EXTRAORDINARY PERFORMANCE ON the VIOLIN. Mufic hath charms to foothe a favage breaft, To foften rocks, an: bend the knotted oak. To the EDITOR of the LADY'S MA I SIR, GAZINE. Called, a few days ago, upon a friend of mine, who lives in Maiden-Lane, Covent-Garden, and fhe told me if I would ftay and drink tea with her, I fhould meet with fomething that would agreeably furprize me. Accordingly I ftaid, and about feven o'clock a gentleman came in, who the faid was the perfon fae expected to entertain me in a moft furprizing manner, and after having paffed the ufual compliments, and made fome common-placed remarks on the weather, &c. fhe begged him to take a violin, belonging to her fon, and play her a particular part of Handel's Te Deum, which he did, but in a way 1 never heard before in all my life; for he made it found like the organ and two or three voices, and afterwards he changed it to a concert, and I heard the organ, French horn, trumpet, baffoon, kettle drum, and several voices all playing together, fo that if I had not feen him playing, I fhould have fuppofed there was a band of muficians vocal and inftrumental. Indeed it was the greates deception I ever met with. He played feveral parts of Handel's Meffiah, and Coronation Anthem. My friend inform |