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Their noble countenances inspired confidence and respect; innocence and happiness were depicted in their looks; they often lifted their eyes towards heaven, and as often uttered a name which I afterwards knew to be that of the Eternal, while their cheeks were moistened with the tears of gratitude.

I experienced great emotion while I conversed with these sublime beings. They poured out their hearts with the most sincere tenderness; and the voice of reason, most majestic, and no less melting, was, at the same time, conveyed to my enraptured ear.

I soon perceived this abode was totally different from that which I had left. A divine impulse made me fly into their arms;-I bowed my knees to them; but being raised up in the most endearing manner, I was pressed to the bosoms that enclosed such excellent hearts, and I conceived a presentiment of celestial amity, of that amity which united their souls, and formed the greatest portion of their felicity.

The angel of darkness, with all his artifice, was never able to discover the entrance into this world !—Notwithstanding his ever-watchful malice, he never found out the means to spread his poison over this happy globe. Anger, envy, and pride, were there unknown; the happiness of one appeared the happiness of all! An ecstatic transport incessantly elevating their souls at the sight of the magnificent and bountiful hand that collected over their heads the most astonishing prodigies of the creation.

The lovely morning, with her humid saffron wings, distilled the pearly dew from the shrubs and flowers, and the rays of the rising sun multiplied the most enchanting colours, when I perceived a wood embellished by the opening dawn.

The youth of both sexes there sent forth hymns of adoration towards Heaven, and were filled at the same time with the grandeur and majesty of God, which rolled almost visibly over their heads; for in this world of innocence, he vouchsafed to manifest himself by means unknown to our weak understandings.

All things announced his august presence; the serenity of the air, the dyes of the flowers, the brilliancy of the insects, a kind of universal sensibility spread over all beings, and which vivified bodies that seemed the least susceptible of it, every thing bore the appearance of

sentiment; and the birds stopped in the midst of their flight, as if attentive to the affecting modulations of their

voices.

But no pencil can express the ravishing countenance of the young beauties whose bosoms breathed love. Who can describe that love of which we have not any idea, that love for which we have no name, that love, the lot of pure intelligent beings, divine love, which they only eau conceive and feel? The tongue of man, incapable, must be silent! The remembrance of this enchanting place suspends at this moment all the faculties of my soul.

The sun was rising-the pencil falls from my hand.Oh, Thomson, never did your Muse view such a sun! What a world, and what magnificent order! I trod, with regret, on the flowery plants, endued, like that which we call sensitive, with a quick and lively feeling; they bent under my foot, only to rise with more brilliancy: the fruit gently dropped, on the first touch, from the complying branch, and had scarcely gratified the palate when the delicious sensation of its juices was felt glowing in every vein the eye, more piercing, sparkled with uncommon lustre; the ear was more lively; the heart, which expanded itself all over nature, seemed to possess and enjoy its fertile extent: the universal enjoyment did not disturb any individual: for union multiplied their delights, and they esteemed themselves less happy in their own fruition than in the happiness of others.

The sun did not resemble the comparative paleness and weakness which illuminates our gloomy terrestrial prison: yet the eye could bear to gaze on it, and, in a manner, plunge itself in a kind of ecstacy in its mild and pure light: it enlivened at once the sight and the understanding, and even penetrated the soul.The bodies of those fortunate persons became, as it were, transparent; while each read in his brother's heart the sentiments of affability and tenderness with, which himself was affected.

There darted from the leaves of all the shrubs that the planet enlightened a luminous matter which resembled, at a distance, all the colours of the rainbow: its orb, which was never eclipsed, was crowned with sparkling rays that the daring prism of Newton could not divide. When this planet set, six brilliant moons floated in the atmosphere: their progression, in different

orbits, each night formed a new exhibition. The multitude of stars, which seem to us as if scattered by chance, were here seen in their true point of view, and the order of the universe appeared in all its pomp and splendor.

In this happy country, when a man gave way to sleep, his body, which had none of the properties of terrestrial elements, gave no opposition to the soul, but contemplated in a vision, bordering on reality, the lucid region, the throne of the Eternal, to which it was soon to be elevated. Men awaked from a light slumber without perturbation or uneasiness: enjoying futurity by a forcible sentiment of immortality, being intoxicated with the image of an approaching felicity, exceeding that which they already enjoyed.

Grief, the fatal result of the imperfect sensibility of our rude frames, was unknown to these innocent men: a light sensation warned them of the objects that could hurt them and nature removed them from the danger, as a tender mother would gently draw her child by the hand from a pit-fall.

I breathed more freely in this habitation of joy and concord: my existence became most valuable to me: but in proportion as the charms which surrounded me were lively, the greater was my sorrow when my ideas returned to the globe I had quitted. All the calamities of the human race united as in one point to overwhelm my heart, and I exclaimed piteously" Alas! the world I inhabited formerly resembled yours: but peace, innocence, chaste pleasures, soon vanished.-Why was I not born among you? What a contrast! The earth that was my sorrowful abode is incessantly filled with tears and sighs there the smaller number oppress the greater : the dæmon of property infects what he touches, and what he covets. Gold is there a god, and they sacrifice on his altar love, humanity, and the most valuable virtues.

"Shudder, you that hear me! The greatest enemy man has is man; his chiefs are his tyrants; they make all things bend under the yoke of their pride or their caprice; the chains of oppression are in a manner extended from pole to pole: a monster who assumes the mask of glory, makes lawful whatever is most horrible, violence and murder. Since the fatal invention of an inflammable powder, no mortal can say, To-mor

row I shall repose in peace;-to-morrow the arm of despotism will not crush my head;-to-morrow dreadful sorrow will not grind my bones;-to-morrow the wailings of an useless despair, proceeding from a distressed heart, will not escape my lips, and tyranny bury me alive as in a stone coffin !

“Oh, my brethren! weep, weep over us! We are not only surrounded with chains and executioners, but are moreover dependent on the seasons, the elements, and the meanest insects. All nature rebels against us; and even if we subdue her, she makes us pay dearly for the benefits our labour forces from her. The bread we eat is earned by our tears and the sweat of our brow; then greedy men come and plunder us, to squander it on their idle favourites.

"Weep, weep with me, my brethren! Hatred pursues us; revenge sharpens its poniard in the dark; calumny brands us, and even deprives us of the power of making our defence; the object of friendship betrays our confidence, and forces us to curse this otherwise consolatory sentiment. We must live in the midst of all the strokes of wickedness, error, pride, and folly."

Whilst my heart gave a free course to my complaints, I saw a band of shining seraphs descending from heaven; en which shouts of joy were immediately sent forth from the whole race of these fortunate beings. As I gazed with astonishment, I was accosted by an old man, who said, "Farewel, my friend! the moment of our death draws near; or rather that of a new life. The ministers of the God of Clemency are come to take us from this earth; we are going to dwell in a world of still greater perfection."" Why, father." said I, "are you, then, strangers to the agonies of death, the anguish, the pain, the dread, which accompany us in our last moments?"

"Yes, my child," he replied, "these angels of the Highest come at stated periods, and carry us all away, opening to us the road to a new world, of which we have an idea by the undoubted conviction of the unlimited bounty and magnificence of the Creator."

A cheerful glow was immediately spread over their countenances; their brows already seemed crowned with immortal splendor; they sprang lightly from the earth in my sight; I pressed the sacred hand of each for the last time, while with a smile they held out the other to the seraph, who had spread his wings to carry them to Heaven.

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- They ascended all at once, like a flock of beautiful swans, that taking flight raise themselves with majestic rapidity over the tops of our highest palaces. I gazed with sadness; my eye followed them in the air, until their venerable heads were lost in the silver clouds, and I remained alone on this magnificent deserted land.

I perceived I was not yet fitted to dwell in it, and wished to return to this unfortunate world of expiation: thus the animal escaped from his keeper returns, following the track of his chain, with a mild aspect, and enters his prison. Awaking, the illusion was dispelled, which it is beyond the power of my weak tongue or pen to describe in its full splendor: but this illusion I shall for ever cherish; and, supported by the foundation of hope, I will preserve it until death in the inmost recesses of my soul.

LE CHEVALIER BAYARD.

THE Continence and generosity of the Chevalier sans peur et sans reproche have been immortalized in the Spectator" and what history of his time has not celebrated his courage?

Being asked, one day, what was the best legacy which a father could leave to his children, he replied, "La vertu et la sagesse, qui ne craignent ni pluie, ni vent, ni tempeste, ni force d'homme-Valour and virtue, which fear neither rain, nor storm, nor tempest, nor the strength of man. Valour and virtue à toute epreuve."

Francis the First was desirous to be created a Knight by Bayard, the evening before the battle of Marignan, Bayard made his excuses, as not being worthy of that honour. Francis insisted, and Bayard, having given him the accolade with his sword, exclaimed, "Sire, I hope the ceremony performed by me will prevail as much as if it had been performed by Roland." Then, apostro phizing his sword before he returned it into the scabbard, he said, "From this time, my good sword, you will be regarded as preciously as if you were a relic."

In the war carried on by Julius the Second against the Duke of Ferrara and the French, the Duke agreed with Grendo, an Italian, to poison Julius. Bayard, hearing of this, remonstrated in the strongest terms with the Duke against this atrocious action, The Duke en

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