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appears to me somewhat assuming; and one must confess that love to his children was not a predominant virtue in our poor friend-the want of education which his sons evince is a sufficient proof; and an excessive panegyric on this score would appear like a stinging epigram.' You are quite right," replied his companion; and I was just about to propose to leave out the words, to the tenderest of husbands; for between ourselves, our poor friend was not distinguished for his conjugal virtues, as the hourly disputes with his wife, and the circumstance that the deed of separation was already drawn out, sufficiently proved. There must be no lie in an epitaph.' Why did you not say so at first?' interrupted the proprietor, peevishly; in yonder corner stands exactly what you want just look.' Here lies (the space for the name is open); he was an inoffensive husband, and a well-meaning man.''Pon my honor, it is hardly possible to write less over the grave of any poor devil.' After debating a long time on the choice of the letters which were to perpetuate the name and titles of the deceased, they finally agreed that the former should be one, and the latter two inches long. The price was fixed at a hundred francs, and the proprietor conducted them to the door, observing on his return, that an order like that was not worth the trouble and time he had expended. He had hardly concluded, when a gentleman, apparently about fifty years of age, stepped out of a splendid carriage and entered the Repository. I followed him into the Ladies' Saloon. Here I found the same regularity and order, and far more elegance; the monuments were ornamented with uncommon taste, and loaded with virtues of all

sorts-there was not one that could not boast of at least half-a-dozen qualities; the words Fidelity, Tenderness, Affection, Wisdom, Modesty, &c. were everywhere eminently conspicuous. The proprietor remarked, very judiciously, that it is true we do not always find all these virtues united in real life, but the group looks vastly pretty on a monument, and reads so smoothly. The stranger looked around him with a dissatisfied air: none of the inscriptions did justice to the wife he had had the misfortune to lose. At last the proprietor pointed out to him a slab just finishing, upon which the list of every imaginable virtue appeared to be exhausted. The purchaser was in ecstacies. 'Please add to this,' said he, the words, from her inconsolable husband, and send in the slab this evening, that I may find it on my return from the Opera. I am going to-morrow into the country, to a fete champêtre, and I should like before I go to see how my wife's monument looks, and if it will be likely to take.' So saying, he paid the sum demanded, and took his leave. Being now left with the proprietor, I communicated to him the occasion of my visit. He confessed that he had no monument of the sort ready made; but having read the desired inscription which I put into his hand, exclaimed—' Really this idea of Madam Duvel's is most excellent, and deserves to be held up as a model. If we were to write on the monuments of all deceased persons the causes of their deaths, they would serve as awful warnings to the living, and inculcate the necessity of those precautions which we are too apt to neglect; and,' added he, smiling, 'the epitaphs would be so much the longer, and pay the better!'"

THE TWO WIDOWS.

HAVING passed a considerable part of the summer in a tour among the lakes of Cumberland and Westmore

land, and having been detained there till the end of September by the fascinations of the beautiful and

romantic scenery in their neighborhood, I resolved ou passing the month of October at Harrowgate, which I reached in the morning of a most lovely autumnal day; I proceeded to the principal hotel or boarding-house, and, having secured my bed-room, and made a few necessary arrangements, I set out for the Wells, intending to join the party at the table d'hôte, at the usual dinner hour. On my return I perceived at the door of the hotel a handsome barouche and four, from which servants were taking the luggage, and, on my nearer approach, I recognised, in a gentleman who was just descending from it, an old school-fellow, with whom I had for the last few years revived our ancient friendship. Sir William Etherington was, when I first knew him, the second son of a baronet of ancient family, but small estate; and, having remained at the school at which we were together till he was sixteen, he was, through the interest of a friend, presented with a writership, and went to India, where he was eminently successful, and had already amassed a very considerable fortune, when the death of his father and elder brother, within a few days of each other, recalled him, at the age of fifty, to take possession of the title and estate ; but he had brought back a ruined constitution, an enervated mind, and depressed spirits; so that when, some few years previous to the period of which I am now writing, I met him at Bath, I had difficulty to trace, in the peevish, emaciated, and melancholy invalid, the slightest vestige of the laughing, joyous, and animated boy, who had shared my school pleasures, and sympathised in my juvenile distresses. Since this meeting we had frequently met, and occasionally corresponded, and I was glad now to see him, for, however altered by time, we naturally feel a sort of regard for those who have been the chosen companions of that jocund season of gay feelings, delightful anticipa

tions, and transient sorrows,-that happy period,

The April of existence, when the eye
Is bright, and unacquainted with a tear,
Save such as Hope can in an instant dry.

We entered the hotel together, and at the dinner table we were, according to rule, placed next to each other. The company was

numerous, and, as is usual, afforded infinite variety, consisting of some beautiful girls and fine young men, with the accustomed number of grey or bald-headed old gentlemen, ancient maidens, comely wives, dashing widows, and rouged and flaxen-wigged dowagers, with a large proportion of quizzes and nondescripts. Exactly opposite to Sir William and myself were placed two ladies: the elder, who seemed to be about fifty, had nothing remarkable in her appearance; she was fat, and had a good-humored countenance the other lady (her friend) might be about thirty; she was extremely handsome, and finely formed; and her majestic figure and noble cast of countenance were shown to advantage by her becoming, though singular, attire, which was a flowing dress of black crape, embroidered round the edge with branches of cypress. On her hair, which was beautiful and braided across her forehead, was placed a black veil, similar to that worn by nuns, which was suffered to flow down on each side till it nearly reached the ground. A chain of jet, to which was affixed a locket containing hair, was passed round. her neck, and bracelets of the same material completed her dress. After having been seated for a few minutes at dinner, I perceived her to fix her eyes intently on Sir William, and exhibit signs of the most alarming agitation; she took out her essence bottle, called for water, and appeared to make every effort to recover herself, and at length whispered to her friend, who seemed anxiously to persuade her to endeavor to remain at table. Sir William, who could not avoid no

ticing her distress, recommended a glass of wine rather than water, and requested the honor of taking some with her; at the sound of his voice she started, trembled, and, after apparently making a violent effort to conquer her feelings, burst into tears, and, accompanied by her friend, quitted the room.

"This," said I, "is very extraordinary; the illness of the lady appeared to be partly occasioned by the sight of you, Sir William : have you ever met before?"-"Never in my life, to my knowledge," said he, but I do not care how soon we meet again: she is a beautiful creature, and I feel curious to know the occasion of this attack, which, as you say, did seem to be brought on by looking at me."

After sitting the usual time at our wine, we adjourned to the drawing-room, where all the ladies and several of the gentlemen were assembled, and, perceiving our fair invalid and her friend on a sofa together, we approached them and inquired after the health of the former; she thanked us in a musical voice, and with a sweet smile professed herself much better, and, after a little general conversation, I entered into talk with her on the subject of the Lakes, which I told her I had just left, and which she professed her intention of visiting in the course of the following summer. Sir William and the friend were in the meantime deeply engaged in a conversation, the whole of which I was prevented from hearing, by the sound of so many other voices near us, but I could occasionally catch a few words from the lady, such as "a charming woman-variety of offers-but so devoted-can never expect such happiness again-memory-refinement--luxury of grief," &c. &c. &c., to which my friend, Sir William, replied in short sentences, such as "Indeed!-very true really!very uncommon, indeed!-so little of that feeling in these days," &c. &c. &c.

In the course of the evening I

found an opportunity to ask some of the party who these ladies were, and was informed that the younger was a Mrs. Morton, the widow of an officer, that she was much admired by the gentlemen, but was not at all a favorite with the ladies; that she had been seen a great deal at public places, and had received particular attentions from several gentlemen, but seldom any of a serious nature, which was not wonderful, as my informant added that she appeared to have a great turn for expense, and was supposed to be in possession of only a slender income; her singularity in still continuing to wear the colors and the emblems of woe, while her dress exhibited proofs of the most fantastic vanity, had been much ridiculed, and the reality of her deeply-seated grief for the loss of her husband was much doubted, especially by those of her own sex. The other lady was a Mrs. Sims, her aunt and constant companion everywhere; she was the constant puffer and flatterer also of her fair niece, and they appeared to be well known in all places which were the resort of the gay and the idle.

In the course of the day, however, I noticed that Sir William was a constant attendant on the fair widow, his whimsicalities and his complaints seemed forgotten while he was conversing with her, and, having, before a week was completed, heard him, at her suggestion, gravely propose mounting the coach-box, and driving her himself in his barouche to visit some of the neighboring villages, I became really uneasy, and seizing the opportunity at an hour in which I knew the ladies were otherwise engaged, I invited him to take a walk with me, to which he consented very readily. When we had proceeded a litle way, 'Pray," said I," how is it that you and I are almost strangers? I do not think I have had an hour's conversation with you since the first day that you came here. Have the charms of the beautiful widow entire

ly fascinated you?"-"Ah, Medley," said he, "I thought I should not escape your observation, but I am really not sorry that you have yourself introduced the subject, as it is always an awkward one for a man to begin himself; but to tell you the truth I am more pleased with Mrs. Morton than I ever was before with any woman. "She is certainly very handsome," said I, "and beauty" "That is not her attraction in my eyes," said Sir William; "I have gazed on beauty unmoved, and, though it may have excited my admiration, it would never have gained my love. The charm of Mrs. Morton in my eyes is her devoted attachment to the memory of her husband; her aunt has told me such instances of her love for him while living, and her fond remembrance of him now that he his dead, that I venerate and admire her, and could not have thought the female mind capable of cherishing such constant recollection and fidelity." "How, then," said I, can you encourage yourself in an attachment which, if reciprocal, must deprive her of that meritorious constancy which has made so deep an impression on your mind?" "You shall hear," said he, " and when you have listened to what I have to relate, you will find those feelings not so incompatible as they may now appear to you. You noticed that Mrs. Morton was taken ill on the first day we met her, at dinner, and Mrs. Sims told me that the occasion of it was my wonderful likeness to her late husband, which she said was quite supernatural; my face and my form she thought the exact prototype of his, and when I spoke, the voice was so similar that it produced the effect you witpessed." "Mrs. Morton's husband must then have been much older than herself," said I, significantly; "I understand that he has been dead for several years.' "" That,' replied Sir William, peevishly, "I did not ask, but she herself says that not only do I exactly resemble him in

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person, but that in our manners, as well as our sentiments and opinions, on every subject, there is the same almost miraculous coincidence ; and that there is not another human being in existence to whom she would be prevailed on to give her hand, but that in marrying me she shall feel as if reunited to her beloved husband, and will not consider it as any breach of the vow of fidelity that she pledged herself to observe to his memory."-" It is altogether," said I, "a very extraordinary circumstance; but how very sudden is this resolution of yours! I never thought that, having lived to the age of sixty unmarried, as well as myself, you would have altered your mode of life at so advanced a period of it." "I never," said he, “preferred a life of celibacy; the only circumstance that has kept me single has been the difficulty of making a prudent choice; I saw multitudes of our countrywomen in India, but they came thither purposely to gain establishments, and that of itself was quite sufficient to disgust me." "Ladies in England," said I, interrupting him, "sometimes prefer a journey to Harrowgate, Bath, or Cheltenham." "That," said he, "is nothing to the purpose. I wish you would hear me without interruption; I was going to observe that my feelings are peculiarly delicate, and that I should be entirely wretched if I thought that I was chosen only for the rank and wealth which it is in my power to bestow upon a wife. I am not coxcomb enough to suppose that, at my age, and with my broken constitution and irascible temper, I should be likely to gain the affection of a young and lovely woman but this is a very peculiar case; and Mrs. Morton, the first moment she saw me, felt an immediate impression on her mind that, from my surprising resemblance to her husband, I was destined to supply his place, and to dry those tears that she had shed without ceasing since his death; and this you will observe must have been on her part

a real and disinterested feeling, for, as I had but just arrived, she could hardly have known even my name, much less whether I was rich or poor."-"You forget," said I, your barouche and four, which remained for nearly half an hour at the door of the hotel, and I cannot quite comprehend, as this lady has shed such oceans of tears, why she should select Harrowgate, Bath, Scarborough, &c. for the scene of these lachrymals, for I am credibly informed that these are the retreats in which she has chosen to pass the melancholy years of her widowhood; but I beg pardon, I forgot that I had promised not to interrupt you, pray proceed."—" Her having been a frequent visiter at these places," said Sir William," has been entirely against her own wishes or inclination, and merely in compliance with the desire of her aunt, who was really fearful of the effect that solitude might have on her mind in such a state of suffering; but her natural disposition is of the most retired and domestic kind; she would never by choice leave home; she is quite devoted to reading and sedentary amusements, and is so excellent a nurse, and so fond of the duty of attending and watching the sick, that Mrs. Sims says, so far from my infirm state of health being any objection with her niece, she is sure that she would infinitely prefer it, for she was so much in the habit of devoting herself to the comfort and amusement of her husband, who was always sickly and complaining, that she would not feel herself half so useful, and consequently not half so happy, with a healthy one, and I really think that, as my good fortune has thrown so fine a young woman in my way, with so strong a prepossession in my favor, and with tastes and feelings that would render her so charming a companion for a poor invalid like myself, I should be greatly to blame to let the opportunity escape

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money enough for both, and I am sure that you will think so too, and I am therefore glad of this opportunity of asking your advice.". "Which," said I," will I suppose be valued and followed in the exact proportion in which it may happen to accord with your own opinion, for that, I believe, is the usual criterion in matrimonial consultations; but, pray tell me, have you made your proposals, and is the affair settled past retracting?"-"I have only yet," replied he, "spoken to herself in general terms: all the information that I have been giving you respecting her proceeded from the aunt, who is a most discreet and sensible woman."-"Let me entreat you," said I, "to do nothing rashly; your acquaintance is yet but a few days' standing: take time to see and hear a little more, and do not commit yourself by speaking decisively to her for at least a fortnight. Promise me this, I beg of you.". "Well," said he, "I can, I think, venture to promise you as much as that, but mind, you only stipulate for a fortnight, for you know I have not much time to lose, though you_are mistaken in thinking me sixty; I am only fifty-nine, and perhaps, if I had a comfortable home and somebody to amuse me and to care for me, I might recover my health and spirits and be as well as ever. "_"Perhaps so," said I, "but I see a party approaching who will put an end to our conference, so we will resume it at some future time, but remember your promise."

For a week after this, all went on smoothly; my poor friend was completely in a fool's paradise; he rode on horseback, wore fashionable boots, sent to town for a coat of the most stylish cut, and talked very seriously of sporting a Brutus wig, and I was afraid it was all over with him. The widow was demure, cautious, and sentimental, seldom spoke louder than in a whisper, and assented to all that was said, appearing to have neither will nor opinion of her own, and I perceived that

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