the friends, that fhe poffeffed, while the lamented thofe that were departed; and fhe, at length, left the pavilion and the terrace, without having obferved a shadow of Valan court or of any other perfon..

CHAP.

CHA P. XI.

"Ah happy hills! ah pleafing fhade!

Ah fields belov'd in vain!

Where once my careless childhood ftray'd,

A ftranger yet to pain!

I feel the gales, that from ye blow,

A momentary blifs beftow

As waving fresh their gladfome wing,

My weary foul they feem to footh."

GRAY.

ON the following morning, Emily left

Tholouse at an early hour, and reached La Vallée about fun-fet. With the melancholy she experienced on the review of a place which had been the refidence of her parents, and the scene of her earliest delight, was mingled, after the first fhock had fubfided, a tender and undefcribable pleasure. For time had fo far blunted the acutenefs of her grief, that she now courted every scene that awakened the memory of her friends; in every room where fhe had been accuf

tomed

tomed to see them, they alfo feemed to live again; and he felt that La Vallée was still her happiest home. One of the first apartments fhe vifited was that which had been her father's library, and here fhe feated her felf in his arm-chair, and, while fhe contemplated, with tempered refignation, the picture of paft times, which her memory gave, the tears the fhed could fcarcely be called thofe of grief.

Soon after her arrival, fhe was surprised by a vifit from the venerable M. Barreaux, who came impatiently to welcome the daugh. ter of his late refpected neighbour to her long-deferted home. Emily was comforted by the prefence of an old friend, and they passed an interefting hour in converfing of former times, and in relating fome of the circumftances that had occurred to each, fince they parted.

The evening was fo far advanced, when M. Barreaux left Emily, that fhe could not vifit the garden that night; but, on the following morning, she traced its long-regretted

fcenes

fcenes with fond impatience; and, as fhe walked beneath the groves, which her father had planted, and where he had so often fauntered in affectionate converfation with him, his countenance, his fmile, even the accents of his voice, returned with exactnefs to her fancy, and her heart melted to the tender recollections.

This, too, was his favourite feason of the year, at which they had often together admired the rich and variegated tints of these woods, and the magical effect of autumnal lights upon the mountains; and now, the view of these circumftances made memory eloquent. As fhe wandered penfively on, The fancied the following addrefs

TO AUTUMN.

Sweet Autumn! how thy melancholy grace
Steals on my heart, as through these fhades I wind!..
Sooth'd by thy breathing figh, I fondly trace
Each lonely image of the penfive mind!

Lov'd fcenes, lov'd friends-long loft! around me rife,
And wake the melting thought, the tender tear !
That tear, that thought, which more than mirth I prize
Sweet as the gradual tint, that paints thy year!

Thy

Thy farewel fmile, with fond regret, I view,
Thy beaming lights, soft gliding o'er the woods;
Thy diftant landscape, touch'd with yellow hue
While falls the lengthen'd gleam; thy winding floods,
Now veil'd in shade, save where the skiff's white fails
Swell to the breeze, and catch thy ftreaming ray.
But now,
e'n now!—the partial vision fails,
And the wave fmiles, as fweeps the cloud away!
Emblem of life!-Thus checquer'd is its plan,
Thus joy fucceeds to grief-thus fmiles the varied mand

One of Emily's earlieft enquiries, after her arrival at La Vallée, was concerning Therefa, her father's old fervant, whom it may be remembered that M. Quefnel had turned from the house when it was let, without any provifion. Understanding that the lived in a cottage at no great diftance, Emily walked thither, and, on approaching, was pleased to fee, that her habitation was pleafantly fituated on a green slope, sheltered by a tuft of oaks, and had an appearance comfort and extreme neatnefs. She found the old woman within, picking vine-stalks, who, on perceiving her young mistress, was nearly overcome with joy.

of

"Ah!