e, and he leaned upon a
staff of ebony: his hair was white, and the expression of his countenance
was dignified and interesting. I bowed to him with respect; he returned the
salutation: and, after looking at me with some earnestness, came and placed
himself upon the hillock where I was seated. Encouraged by this mark of
confidence, I thus addressed him:--

"Father, can you tell me to whom those cottages once belonged?" "My son,"
replied the old man, "those heaps of rubbish, and that unfilled land, were,
twenty years ago, the property of two families, who then found happiness in
this solitude. Their history is affecting; but what European, pursuing his
way to the Indies, will pause one moment to interest himself in the fate of
a few obscure individuals? What European can picture happiness to his
imagination amidst poverty and neglect? The curiosity of mankind is only
attracted by the history of the great; and yet from that knowledge little
use can be derived." "Father," I rejoined, "from your manners and your
observations, I perceive that you have acquired much experience of human
life. If you have leisure, relate to me, I beseech you, the history of the
ancient inhabitants of this desert; and be assured, that even the men who
are most perverted by the prejudices of the world, find a soothing pleasure
in contemplating that happiness which belongs to simplicity and virtue."
The old man, after a short silence, during which he leaned his face upon
his hands, as if he were trying to recall the images of the past, thus began
his narration:--

"Monsieur de la Tour, a young man who was a native of Normandy, after
having in vain solicited a commission in the French Army, or some support
from his own family, at length determined to seek his fortune in this
island, where he arrived in 1726. He brought hither a young woman whom he
loved tenderly, and by whom he was no less tenderly beloved. She belonged
to a rich and ancient family of the same province; but he had married her
without fortune, and in opposition to the will of her relations, who
refused their consent, because he was found guilty of being descended from
parents who had no claims to nobility. Monsieur de la Tour, leaving his
wife at Port Louis, embarked for Madagascar, in order to purchase a few
slaves to assist him in forming a plantation in this island. He landed at
that unhealthy season which commences about the middle of October: and soon
after his arrival died of