faithful to me to retain their true import. One thing I found had escaped my observation, it was the date of the letter which now told me that a twelvemonth and some days had transpired between the time when it was written, and the time when I received it.

The excitement which the reperusal occasioned, brought on a relapse, but this did not prove so serious as was expected; I rallied again in a few days, and was soon so far recovered as to take the air. Now that I had regained full possession of myself and could reflect upon the situation in which I was placed, one subject, one determination alone occupied my thoughts. I was resolved once more to look upon her whom I had so long and so fondly regarded as the partner of my life; upon her whom I had loved so intensely, that the very fibres of my heart were but threads of affection for her twining around it; upon her whom I had idolized as

the purest and most faithful of her sex, and who I had fondly imagined would not have forsaken me, even in death, but who (had an early grave been my lot) would have pined away and followed the friend of her childhood, the betrothed of her youth.

I thought I could so far gain a mastery over my feelings as to look upon her once more, even as the wife of another, and reproach her with her perfidy. I was yet more resolved to see Sir Henry, to hear the contents of his letter owned and corroborated by his own lips, to require of him why I had been thus treated. Why, even though Edith had proved changeable and faithless, I should be regarded as an outcast from a family by whom I had always hitherto been looked upon with so much kindness; whilst in conscious innocence, I could still stand before them with the same unblemished reputation. I had so many queries to have set at rest

before I quitted my country for ever (which I had resolved to do), that I was determined to hazard the attempt, fearful as it was to me. I cared not if death immediately ensued, so that I could wear a manly front till the interview was over. To obtain this point, I embraced every means prescribed to recover health and strength.

CHAPTER XVIII.

"Where the mind's free,

The body's delicate: the tempest in my mind
Doth from my senses take all feeling else,

Save what beats there."

KING LEAR.

"Had it pleas'd heaven

To try me with affliction; had he rain'd

All kinds of sores, and shames, on my bare head;
Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips;

Given to captivity, me and my utmost hopes;

I should have found in some part of my soul,
A drop of patience :

But there where I have garner'd up my heart;
Where either I must live, or bear no life;
The fountain from the which my current runs,
Or else dries up; to be discarded thence!"

OTHELLO.

THE winter had set in, the weather was severely cold, but this was disregarded by me, I had fixed upon a certain day for going to Allingford House; and what, though that

day proved a most inclement one, bad roads, drizzling rain and sleet falling fast, and hollow dismal gusts of wind blowing fearfully over the open country, like the loud whisperings of some angry spirit, threatening devastation to the whole face of nature.

The inclemency of the season was of no moment; it was as nothing compared with the chilliness, the desolation, the discord, the despondency, pent up within my own breast. Perhaps it was more congenial to me than softer weather would have been all outward objects were alike disregarded— and as soon as I arose on the morning of the day appointed, I ordered a chariot to be in waiting for me about noon to convey me I dressed myself with the nicest care I was determined, if possible, to appear so that they should not triumph over me in my distress; for what else could

to