, and on which he used to give her his opinions with eagerness and animation; but he now answered her enquiries in a cold indifferent manner, which shewed that he considered it as a task.
Sometimes she endeavoured to forget her wretchedness, and tried to divert him by those sprightly sallies with which he used to be amused; or indulged the fondness of her heart by

an expression of tenderness; but she saw, or fancied she saw, that her gaiety, or her tenderness, were alike troublesome, and received with a degree of coldness and gravity that petrified her soul. On these occasions she concealed her emotion till he left the room, and then gave way to the tears which she had with difficulty suppressed. Yet Seymour meant to give every proof of attachment, and earnestly wished to make her happy. But when those attentions which belong to affection are prompted only by a sense of duty, there is often some failure in the execution, even with the greatect rectitude of intention. Such services, when weighed in the scale of reason, may prove rigorously just, but, in the balance of love, they will be found wanting. The head may understand the general theory of kindness, but the heart only can practise the detail; as the sculptor can

give to marble an expression of human feeling, but cannot animate the image with a soul.
We have obtained a copy of the Sonnet mentioned by Chartres, in the former part of this chapter:

SONNET TO PEACE.
OH visit, soothing Peace! the thorny dale,
Where, sad and slow, my early steps are led,
Far from the sunny paths which others tread,
While youth enlivens, and while joys prevail.
Then I no more shall vanish'd hopes bewail!
No more the fruitless tear shall love to shed,
When pensive eve her cherish'd gloom has spread,
And day's bright tints, like my short pleasures, fail!
But ah, lost Peace! on thee I call in vain.
When loud the angry winds of winter roll,
Can he who "bides the pelting storm," repose?
The bitter storms of life have pierc'd my soul!
Yet earth one lonely spot of refuge shows,
The sheltering grave, where Peace returns again!


IT was about the middle of June, and Mrs. Melbourne invited a party to dine at her villa, near town. Charlotte was not well enough for this excursion. She expected in a short time to become a mother; and with delight had anticipated that period, when Seymour would have an additional reason for loving her; when the
