d. Still I despaired not,
but rowed cheerfully on.

I should sometimes have taken all the felicities of my youth as the
effect of imagination, had not the melancholy farewell letter which
Madame Bertollon had written from the convent, by some chance remained
with me. I preserved it with veneration, as the last sacred remnant of
what I formerly possessed. I often read it in distant seas, and on the
burning coasts of Africa; and I always drew from it unspeakable
consolation, and rowed cheerfully onwards, nearer and nearer to the end
of my life.

Thus nine-and-twenty years have now elapsed. What are they?

Death, my ardently wished for friend comes to release me. Ah! sir, you
have shown much compassion for me in making the last hours of my life
so sweet. Our minds are congenial, and will, perhaps, meet again.

* * * * *

[The preceding narrative, according to the author, is related to some
friends by the Abbe Dillon, who was with Alamontade the last days of
his life, after his liberation from the galleys.

Shortly before his death, Alamontade learns that Clementine is still
living, and is much delighted to hear that she has remained faithfully
attached to him. His only wish and consolation now is, that his days
may be prolonged till she arrives; but she does not come till the day
after his death; aged and infirm herself, she soon follows him to the
grave.

The whole of Alamontade is divided into two books in the original, the
first containing Zschokhe's[3] views on religion and moral philosophy.
The following are the author's prefatory remarks:

"The following narrative was composed during the winter of 1801-2, at
Berne, where the author having retired from public affairs, wished to
devote his leisure hours to some useful purpose, having, by frequent
intercourse become acquainted with many of those diseased minds who,
being entangled in doubts, have lost their God and the joys of life.
He therefore was desirous of making an attempt to raise again in them a
holy faith and courage for virtue. He was inspired by the affecting
dream of one night; it was an angelic but transient vision, which he in
vain endeavoured to hold fast. However imperfect the original
narrative was, yet it went through four editions during the first ten
years after its appearance. This circumstance makes the author believe
that he has not altogether failed in his object."]

C. A. F.

[1] One of the mo