glaring absurdities daily exhibited by his own sex; in short, the train of his ideas was ever calculated to awaken that restless impatience, that incitement after some pursuit, some useful end, which the vigorous and well-ordered mind is so susceptible of feeling, when it makes to itself the painful and humiliating reflection, "What have I hitherto lived for? How useless has been my being! I have lived for myself alone!"
The letters he received from Mrs. Melbourne, and the pressing invitation she gave him, conjointly with Mrs. Boville her sister, to join them in the country coincided exactly with his views, and as it thus favoured his inclinations, induced him, in compliance with their wishes, to make an immediate excursion thither; where, finding the air salubrious, the scenery lovely, the spot in itself so tranquil and serene, the labourer employed in husbandry, the shepherd tending his flock, the fragrance of nature breathing around, the clear canopy of Heaven above him,—"It is here," thought he, "I should like to rest from my toils, and, after a due repose, recommence my career,—to be permitted to meditate amidst these shades awhile, and then to exertion! for it is active, and not passive life, to which man should feel himself called."
Douglas paused. His eye ranged over the verdant and extensive landscape, that exquisite scenery on which the eye also of Rosilia had so often rested;—he had no conception she was so near him! A sort of heavenly and soothing calm stole upon his soul, as
