Uneasiness and curiosity drove me thither at the appointed hour. The Baroness was waiting for me. "The Countess is at church," said she, "let me take advantage of her short absence, and commit a little treachery; but take heed not so betray me to my friend!"
"Certainly not," I replied, my curiosity being harrowed up to the highest degree by this exordium.
"All that I have to disclose to you is contained in two words: you are beloved, my Lord!"
"My Lady!"---
"Give me leave to relate the matter in a proper manner." The Baroness, seemed delighted with my astonishment, continued, "recollect your first interview with the Countess; you have not been indifferent to her already, at the time when she accepted the ring which you offered her; however, the good Countess did not know it then herself. She fancied her sentiments to be merely the effects of the grat.i.tude which she imagined the owed you, because you have been the primary cause of the long wished for apparition of her deceased Lord. However, that apparition which declared you, afterwards, the son of the murderer, made thereby Amelia think it her duty to restrain her kindness for you. The difficulty which she had to submit to the voice of duty, told her plainly, that in her heart something more than grat.i.tude was panting for you. Fortunately, the ghost himself had desired her to forgive the murderer; she imagined, therefore, it would be but just to extend the forgiveness to the son.
She did not foresee that her tenderness for you, covered by that pretext, would find so much the less difficulty to steal again into the heart which it scarcely had been expelled. Not before Amelia"s tenderness for you rose to a degree, which left no room for doubt of her attachment for you, did she perceive that her readiness to be reconciled to you, originated less from the request of the ghost, than from that of her own heart. You may believe me, my Lord, that it was no easy matter to draw these particulars from Amelia"s lips. She concealed carefully in her bosom a pa.s.sion, the existence of which she trembled to confess. She had made a vow of eternal fidelity to her late Lord, and although she fancied she had not violated her promise by voluntary sentiments, yet a confession of these sentiments, though deposited only in the bosom of an intimate friend, appeared to her a profanation of her solemn declaration. However her speaking frequently of you with evident marks of partiality, made me, nevertheless, suspect a part of the secret, which the Irishman"s vision unfolded entirely to me.
(_To be continued._)
MISFORTUNE.
To fly from misfortunes, and endeavour to console ourselves by retiring from the world, is undoubtedly encreasing the evil we wish to lessen.
This has often been the case of disappointed lovers. They have vainly imagined, that there must be something very soothing to the afflicted mind, in listening to the plaintive sound of some purling and meandering stream, or in uttering their plaints to the gentle breezes and the nodding groves. But, alas! these delusive consolations only contribute to feed the disorders of the mind, and increase the evil till melancholy takes deep root in their souls, and renders their complaints incurable.
The society of the polite and refined of both s.e.xes is the only relief, at least the princ.i.p.al one, for any uneasiness of the mind. Here a variety of objects will insensibly draw our attention from that one which tyrannises in our bosom, and endeavours to exclude all others.
EXTRAORDINARY THIRST FOR FAME.
Pausanias, a domestic, and near attendant upon the person of Philip, king of Macedon, enquired of Hermocles, which was the most expeditious way to be famous in the world on a sudden? Who answered he must kill some eminent person, and then the glory of that man would fall upon himself; hereupon, forgetting his duty and obligations, he murdered his sovereign and master king Philip, and had what he aimed at, being as well known in succeeding ages by his horrid parricide, as Philip was by his great virtue.
_NEW-YORK._
MARRIED,
On Sunday evening, by the Rev. Mr. Pilmore, Mr. LEONARD ROGERS to Miss BETSEY OAKLEY.
Not long since, Capt. JAMES WARD, of Middle-Point, (N.J.) to Miss JANE VANPELT, of that place.
On Thursday 7th inst. Mr. FRANCIS ST MARY, to Miss ELIZABETH ROUSSEAU, of Cayenne.
_METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS._ _From the 11th to the 17th inst._
_Days of the Month._ _Thermometer observed at 8, A.M. 1, P.M. 6, P.M._ _Prevailing winds._ _OBSERVATIONS on the WEATHER._
deg. deg. deg. 8. 1. 6. 8. 1. 6.
100 100 100 Sept. 11 72 81 79 w. do. do. clear, lt. wd. do. do. do.
12 74 75 82 81 sw. w. do. cloudy, lt. wd. do. do.
13 70 25 76 72 75 sw. do. se. rn lt. wd. clear cloudy do.
14 76 83 73 50 sw do. w. clear do. rain thun & lt.
15 73 78 50 76 w. do. do. thun. lt. rain at night do.
16 64 71 25 70 50 nw. do w. clear lt. wd. do. do. do.
17 67 25 73 25 63 50 s. sw. w. clear h. wd. do. l. wd.
_N.B._ On Wednesday last, at about 5 o"clock P.M. a very violent whirlwind seemed to concentrate within the vicinity of the house in which the Balloon was suspended, in the suburbs of this city.--Such was its violence, that it threw down and rent in pieces the said house, in all directions; the fence around it was also destroyed. The Balloon was suspended, and at this time was compleatly filled with atmospheric air; by the fall and rending of the house the Balloon was totally separated in several pieces, and otherwise so torn and rent as to be totally irreparable. Such was the dreadful violence of the wind at this place, and but for a moment, that a round tin gutter, which was well fastened to the house adjoining, and which had resisted other storms, was totally broken in several pieces, and part of it carried 50 yards distant. The fence at this house was rent and torn very much. This storm was attended with very violent thunder and lightning, which continued nearly an hour, and a great quant.i.ty of rain. In the night following a very heavy storm of thunder, lightning, very high wind, and rain.
It may very justly be presumed, that there was as great a quant.i.ty of thunder and lightning in eight hours, as ever was experienced in so short a time; and it evidently appears to have left a charming, agreeable and healthy atmosphere, and, doubtless, great public good will result therefrom.
_For the +New-York Weekly Magazine+._
_ELEGY_
ON MISS MARGARETTA HERVEY,
Who Departed This Life _March 14, 1796_.
Vain are the loveliest virtues of the heart, The charms of beauty and of youth are vain To stop thy progress Death, to turn thy dart, Or the beloved spirit to retain.
Else Margaretta still had blest our sight, Nor sad affection wept upon her tomb; Yet boast not, Death, for hope"s celestial light Points to a place where thou canst never come.
There friends shall meet on Heaven"s eternal sh.o.r.e; There we shall triumph when thou art no mare.
New-York, _Sept. 17, 1796_.
_For the +New-York Weekly Magazine+._
WRITTEN DURING THE STORM ON WEDNESDAY LAST, THE _15th_ INST.