et and the scabious, the flowers of which seemed to bear some
analogy to the character and present situation of Virginia, by whom they
had been so especially recommended; but either they were dried up in
the voyage, or the climate of this part of the world is unfavourable to
their growth, for a very small number of them even came up, and not one
arrived at full perfection.

In the meantime, envy, which ever comes to embitter human happiness,
particularly in the French colonies, spread some reports in the island
which gave Paul much uneasiness. The passengers in the vessel which
brought Virginia's letter, asserted that she was upon the point of being
married, and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was engaged.
Some even went so far as to declare that the union had already taken
place, and that they themselves had witnessed the ceremony. Paul at
first despised the report, brought by a merchant vessel, as he knew that
they often spread erroneous intelligence in their passage; but some of
the inhabitants of the island, with malignant pity, affecting to bewail
the event, he was soon led to attach some degree of belief to this cruel
intelligence. Besides, in some of the novels he had lately read, he had
seen that perfidy was treated as a subject of pleasantry; and knowing
that these books contained pretty faithful representations of European
manners, he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, and had
forgotten its former engagements. Thus his new acquirements had already
only served to render him more miserable; and his apprehensions were
much increased by the circumstance, that though several ships touched
here from Europe, within the six months immediately following the
arrival of her letter, not one of them brought any tidings of Virginia.

This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel
agitation, often came to visit me, in the hope of confirming or
banishing his uneasiness, by my experience of the world.

I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from this
point, upon the banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping
Mountain: there I lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or
slaves.

After having enjoyed, and lost the rare felicity of living with a
congenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is
doubtless that of solitude. Every man who has much cause of complaint
against his fellow-creatures seeks to be alone. It is also remarkable