given to children, may be almost merged in the accompanying sweets. Do not abandon yourself to the dispiriting and erroneous belief that yours is an incurable lot; for it is only a persistance in thus thinking that can render Duties discharged, domestic affections cultivated, and the consciousness of having no subject for self-reproach, preclude unhappiness; though they may not bestow that vivid, but evanescent feeling, which the young and romantic but too often mistake for it. it so. Believe me, my dear Augusta, Your most affectionate friend, MARY DELAWARD. THE COUNTESS OF ANNANDALE TO THE You give me good counsel, dearest Mary; would to heaven that I had sufficient resolution to follow it! But I am a wayward creature, and cannot feign a semblance of affection when I do not entertain the sentiment. It would be wiser, and more amiable, to endeavour to win Lord Annandale to purer, better, feelings and pursuits, - even though, as I strongly suspect, the attempt would be utterly unavailing,—than to dwell on his defects, as I am prone to do: but when was I wise or amiable? Alas! never the first, and rarely, if ever, the second. You will reproach me if I dwell on this painful theme; I will, therefore, dismiss it, and adopt an agreeable one. The only amusements I enjoy in London are the theatres, and the opera. One of the divine Shakspeare's tragedies, with Macready to personate the chief character, can always charm me; and at such representations I forget my chagrin and myself. I have always had, as you know, an inordinate passion for music; but it has greatly increased since I have been accustomed to listen to the heart-stirring voice of the inspired Malibran, or the dulcet tones of la Grisi. The first inimitable songstress draws me continually to Drury Lane, where she is engaged; and it seems to me, that I listen with increased delight to her the more I become acquainted with the power and pathos of her voice. The low notes of it produce an effect on me that no others ever did. The sound appears to emanate from a soul thrilling with sublime emotions; and its deep harmony causes mine to vibrate. There is something mysterious, something magical, in its influence on me. It haunts me for many succeeding hours; and seems to me as if it arose from an inspired, passionate, and despairing heart, in an intensely profound consciousness of the insufficiency of mortal powers to satisfy the aspirations of an immortal spirit to a release from its earthly trammels, and to the fulfilment of a wider and nobler destiny. I have avoided becoming personally acquainted with Malibran, because, I am told, she is the most animated and gay person imaginable, giving utterance to the liveliest sallies, and most naïve observations. For this peculiarity, which draws a flattering homage around her, I shun her society; because I would not have the associations with which she is mingled in my mind, disturbed by a light word or heartless jest from lips that seem to me only formed for the creation of the most sublime sounds. Those deep eyes of hers, too, have a profound melancholy, even in their flashing lustre ; and I have never so perfect a sympathy with my compatriots, as when I hear those divine notes of hers followed by the plaudits of hundreds, too enthusiastically expressed to leave a doubt of the sincerity of the heartfelt admiration that excites them. Malibran, in my opinion, seems to inspire her audience they are no longer a vast crowd assembled to be amused; no, they assume a much more imposing aspect. They are carried away by passionate emotion, by generous impulses, and they feel within themselves capabilities, of the existence of which they were previously ignorant. She ceases to be a mere their eyes; she singer, or paid actress, in their becomes an inspired sybil that reveals to them gleams of a purer, brighter world, which they had forgotten, but to which her divine tones summon them to return. Grisi's voice, charming as it is, produces no such effect on me; it is round, liquid, |