e
shepherd, when he had sheared his sheep, would let the wool lie to be
scattered by the winds, deeming it useless to provide clothing for another
winter. At times however the spirit of life was awakened by these
employments; the sun, the refreshing breeze, the sweet smell of the hay,
the rustling leaves and prattling rivulets brought repose to the agitated
bosom, and bestowed a feeling akin to happiness on the apprehensive. Nor,
strange to say, was the time without its pleasures. Young couples, who had
loved long and hopelessly, suddenly found every impediment removed, and
wealth pour in from the death of relatives. The very danger drew them
closer. The immediate peril urged them to seize the immediate opportunity;
wildly and passionately they sought to know what delights existence
afforded, before they yielded to death, and

Snatching their pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life,[4]

they defied the conquering pestilence to destroy what had been, or to
erase even from their death-bed thoughts the sentiment of happiness
which had been theirs.

One instance of this kind came immediately under our notice, where a
high-born girl had in early youth given her heart to one of meaner
extraction. He was a schoolfellow and friend of her brother's, and usually
spent a part of the holidays at the mansion of the duke her father. They
had played together as children, been the confidants of each other's little
secrets, mutual aids and consolers in difficulty and sorrow. Love had crept
in, noiseless, terrorless at first, till each felt their life bound up in
the other, and at the same time knew that they must part. Their extreme
youth, and the purity of their attachment, made them yield with less
resistance to the tyranny of circumstances. The father of the fair Juliet
separated them; but not until the young lover had promised to remain absent
only till he had rendered himself worthy of her, and she had vowed to
preserve her virgin heart, his treasure, till he returned to claim and
possess it.

Plague came, threatening to destroy at once the aim of the ambitious and
the hopes of love. Long the Duke of L----derided the idea that there
could be danger while he pursued his plans of cautious seclusion; and he so
far succeeded, that it was not till this second summer, that the destroyer,
at one fell stroke, overthrew his precautions, his security, and his life.
Poor Juliet saw one by one, father, mother, broth