yed to answer; as oft his tongue denied its
office. His hair stood upright, and a cold vapour seemed to thrill
through every nerve. This was not fear, but the infirmity of human
nature, oppressed by the presence of a superior being.

At length his agony was overcome. He recollected all his resolution,
and, in a strain of awestruck rapture, thus addressed the heavenly
visitant: "Hast thou then heard, pure spirit! the wailings of my grief?
hast thou descended from the realms of bliss, in pity to my woe? and art
thou come to speak the words of peace to my desponding soul? To bid the
wretched smile, to lift the load of misery and care from the afflicted
breast; to fill thy lover's heart with joy and pleasing hope, was still
the darling task of my Monimia, ere yet refined to that perfection which
mortality can never attain. No wonder then, blessed shade, that now,
when reunited to thy native heaven, thou art still kind, propitious, and
beneficent to us, who groan in this inhospitable vale of sorrow thou hast
left. Tell me, ah! tell me, dost thou still remember those fond hours we
passed together? Doth that enlightened bosom feel a pang of soft regret,
when thou recallest our fatal separation? Sure that meekened glance
bespeaks thy sympathy! Ah! how that tender look o'erpowers me! Sacred
Heaven! the pearly drops of pity trickle down thy cheeks! Such are the
tears that angels shed o'er man's distress!--Turn not away--Thou
beckonest me to follow. Yes, I will follow thee, ethereal spirit, as far
as these weak limbs, encumbered with mortality, will bear my weight; and,
would to Heaven! I could, with ease, put off these vile corporeal
shackles, and attend thy flight."

So saying, he started from the ground, and, in a transport of eager
expectation, at awful distance, traced the footsteps of the apparition,
which, entering a detached apartment, sunk down upon a chair, and with a
sigh exclaimed, "Indeed, this is too much!" What was the disorder of
Renaldo's mind, when he perceived this phenomenon! Before reflection
could perform its office, moved by a sudden impulse, he sprung forwards,
crying, "If it be death to touch thee, let me die!" and caught in his
arms, not the shadow, but the warm substance of the all-accomplished
Monimia. "Mysterious powers of Providence! this is no phantom! this is
no shade! this is the life! the panting bosom of her whom I have so long,
so bitterly deplored! I fold her in my arms! I pres