re closely with thee, and be thou my bridal night forever."

The Beloved was Sophia; concerning whom he writes as follows:--

"Weissenfels, March 22d, 1797.

"It is for me a mournful duty to inform you that Sophia is no more.
After unspeakable sufferings, borne with exemplary resignation, she
died on the 10th of March, at half past nine in the morning. She was
born on the 17th of March, 1783, and on the 15th of March, 1795, I
gained from her the assurance, that she would be mine. She has suffered
since the 7th of November, 1795. Eight days before her death I left her
with the strongest conviction, that I should never see her again. I
could not have endured to look impotently upon the terrible struggle of
blooming youth down-stricken, the fearful anguish of the heavenly
creature. Fate have I never feared. For three previous weeks I saw its
menaces. It has become evening about me, whilst I was yet gazing into
the morning-red. My sorrow is boundless, like my love. For three years
had she been my hourly thought. She alone has bound me to life, to my
country, and to my occupations. With her loss I am separated from
everything, for I scarcely have myself any longer. But it has become
evening, and it seems to me, as if I soon were about to depart, and so
would I gladly be tranquil, and see around me only kind, friendly
faces, and live entirely in her spirit, gentle and kindhearted, as she
was.

"Cherished by me, as my own immortal Sophia, will be the friendship,
the assiduity with which you strove to render her last days serene.
Sophia still treasures your kindnesses with the warmest gratitude, and
I have felt a silent impulse to express to you this gratitude, united
with my own. You will pardon it to my love, when I tell you, that your
attention to Sophia's wishes, and that half year's residence with her,
now first has made you really dear to me.... I must cling to the past,
as I have nothing more to expect from the future. Farewell, and be
happier than

Your friend,
HARDENBERG."

But how soon does his grief become holy, and therefore a joy! The
letter is chiefly valuable as an introduction to the third Hymn to the
Night:--

"Once as I shed bitter tears, when my hope dissolved into pain flowed
away, and I stood alone by the barren hillock, which hid in a dark,
narrow space the form of my life; alone, as n