manners.

When I had informed him of what

I came to relate, he burst into a frantic laugh, and then, for the first time, I discovered that he was intoxicated. Yes, Caroline, even at two o'clock in the afternoon he was in a state that at once alarmed and disgusted me.

"And so, my poor Delphine, you have been duped as well as I!" exclaimed he, his utterance impeded by a hiccough; “mais soyez tranquille, chère amie, tu seras vengé, je t'en repond."

He lavished every possible term of reproach on the duc and comtesse; and revealed to me, that more than half his pecuniary embarrassments had been occasioned by the sums he had raised, at usurious interest, to extricate them from theirs. Yes, Caroline, I, who foolishly believed that the duc had, on more than one occasion, come forward to assist my poor Florestan, and felt grateful to him for it, have now ascertained

that he, like the vile object of his present preference, has plunged him in ruin.

Yet, in the midst of intoxication, and its debasing effects, the good heart and kind disposition of my poor husband shone conspicuous. I could have wept over his degradation, forgetful of my own, in the interest and pity he excited.

66

Oui, ma pauvre Delphine," said he, " cette méchante coquine étoit toujours jalouse de toi toi, qui étoit si gentille, si bon enfant, qui ne m'a jamais cherché querelle. Elle étoit fachée, quand je te donnois le plus petit cadeau, et avide d'en recevoir elle même; mais je l'arrangerai, soyez en sure; et lui aussi, le coquin!"

I have taken a lodging close to St. Pelagie, that I may be near my poor Florestan, the only friend I now have. I shall pass all my days with him during his incarceration, and endeavour to wean him from this dreadful

habit of intoxication, which has been, I am convinced, induced by solitude and depression of spirits. Why have I so long left him a prey to their influence? I hear a noise and weeping; what can it be?

-

a cry

Madame la comtesse,-It has become my painful task to conclude the letter of my unfortunate niece. She is no more! having closed her errors by a crime that has plunged us all in terror and dismay. Yes, madame, a life of folly has been terminated by suicide. Her unhappy husband, my nephew, having fallen, mortally wounded, by the sword of her seducer, the wretched wife struck by horror and remorse, has destroyed herself by laudanum. How far your evil example and counsel may have tended to produce this fearful catastrophe, I leave your own conscience to

determine. Do not stifle its whispers; but, ere it be too late, turn from your wickedness, and seek, by repentance, to make your peace with an offended God.

Your voluminous correspondence with my unfortunate niece I have looked over, sealed up, and addressed to Lord Vernon, the bereaved father, who owes to your vile machinations the stain cast on the honour of his innocent daughter, and, eventually, that daughter's death. I was tempted to consign these proofs of your duplicity and wickedness to the husband you have duped, and whose name you dishonour; but, on reflection, I have refrained from so doing, to prove that I am not "aussi méchante que béte," as you pronounced me to be.

You, madam, have ever piqued yourself on your ésprit. Let me now ask you, what have been its results? Ruin, dishonour, and death,

to all whose destiny you could influence, and

to yourself,

But no, I leave your fate unpredicted; for it needs no sibyl's prescience to divine, that it must be as dark as your crimes. ELEONORE, DUCHESSE DE CHATEAUNEUF.

FROM THE MARQUESS OF NOTTINGHAM TO EDWARD MORDAUNT, ESQ.

MY DEAR MORDAUNT,- Recalled to England by the dangerous illness of my sister, I find myself again in London, after more than a year's absence, with broken health, and spirits so depressed, as to render a sojourn in this gay metropolis most uncongenial to my feelings. Though the grief that drove me from my native land has been calmed by time and reason, enough of old regrets remain to unfit me from mingling with those from whom I