satisfying these feelings, he was habitually silent, though without haughtiness. One would have thought that benevolence was in him the only quality which grief had not extinguished. He was generally inattentive to what was passing around him, and seemed to seek no advantage to himself in the attentions he paid to others. This gentleness and apparent disinterestedness, the effects of deep mental suffering, awaken more sympathy than the most eloquent complaints.

I sought to win the confidence of this young man; but, notwithstanding the kind of intimacy, which naturally takes place between passengers in the same vessel during a voyage, I made no progress in my attempt. When I went to sit near him, and addressed my conversation to him, he answered my questions; and, if they had reference merely to the indifferent relations of society, without touching on the more tender feelings of the heart, he sometimes added a reflection; but, as soon as I entered into the subject of the passions, or of the sufferings of the mind, which I often did, in order to draw from him some confession

of the cause of his grief, he either rose and went away, or his countenance assumed an expression of so deep a melancholy, that I had not courage to persevere. Had he not excited in me so deep an interest, I should have been satisfied with what he voluntarily discovered to me of his character, for he had a mind singularly original; he saw nothing in a common point of view, and the reason of that was, that vanity never influenced the decisions of his judgment. He was the most independent

man I ever knew; misfortune had, as it were, estranged him from mankind; he was just, because he was impartial; and impartial, because every thing was alike indifferent to him. This apathy to external circumstances, when not productive of inordinate selfishness, developes the judgment, and gives vigour to the understanding. It was evident that his mind had been highly cultivated; yet, during our whole passage, I never saw him open a book; he sought not, apparently, to break, by any occupation, the tedious monotony of our life. He remained for hours together seated on a bench at the stern of the vessel, leaning over

EDWARD.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH

OF THE

AUTHOR OF OURIKA.

66 BRAMA ASSAI, POCO SPERA, E NULLA CHIEDE."-TASSO.

OTH

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, REES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, PATERNOSTER ROW.

1826.