trait of mankind, which his heart had delineated in early
youth, his experience had too sorrowfully corrected. Yet, amidst
the changing visions of life, his principles remained unshaken, his
benevolence unchilled; and he retired from the multitude 'more in PITY
than in anger,' to scenes of simple nature, to the pure delights of
literature, and to the exercise of domestic virtues.

He was a descendant from the younger branch of an illustrious family,
and it was designed, that the deficiency of his patrimonial wealth
should be supplied either by a splendid alliance in marriage, or by
success in the intrigues of public affairs. But St. Aubert had too nice
a sense of honour to fulfil the latter hope, and too small a portion
of ambition to sacrifice what he called happiness, to the attainment of
wealth. After the death of his father he married a very amiable woman,
his equal in birth, and not his superior in fortune. The late Monsieur
St. Aubert's liberality, or extravagance, had so much involved his
affairs, that his son found it necessary to dispose of a part of
the family domain, and, some years after his marriage, he sold it to
Monsieur Quesnel, the brother of his wife, and retired to a small estate
in Gascony, where conjugal felicity, and parental duties, divided his
attention with the treasures of knowledge and the illuminations of
genius.

To this spot he had been attached from his infancy. He had often made
excursions to it when a boy, and the impressions of delight given to his
mind by the homely kindness of the grey-headed peasant, to whom it
was intrusted, and whose fruit and cream never failed, had not been
obliterated by succeeding circumstances. The green pastures along
which he had so often bounded in the exultation of health, and youthful
freedom--the woods, under whose refreshing shade he had first indulged
that pensive melancholy, which afterwards made a strong feature of his
character--the wild walks of the mountains, the river, on whose waves he
had floated, and the distant plains, which seemed boundless as his early
hopes--were never after remembered by St. Aubert but with enthusiasm
and regret. At length he disengaged himself from the world, and retired
hither, to realize the wishes of many years.

The building, as it then stood, was merely a summer cottage, rendered
interesting to a stranger by its neat simplicity, or the beauty of the
surrounding scene; and considerable additions were necessary to m