with that treasure, my task shall be to make her happy, even should my heart burst in the conflict; and when I abandon her, may God abandon me!
"Yours, &c., &c.,
"Aubrey De Brooke."
"July 12."
Letter II.
"My imagination, my whole soul I should say, having become susceptible of a variety of feelings during my first visit to the Parsonage,—,veneration for the sire, love for the daughter preponderating over all,—I resolved to take up my abode in the little village, near the dear habitation containing objects superior to any the world had ever before presented to me. I thought I could not better employ my time during the leave of absence graciously granted me in consideration of my services abroad.
"The aged Basil, who is a man of penetration, soon discovered that I felt a more than common interest in visiting so frequently his rural retreat; and I was not less flattered and encouraged by the partiality he manifested, than by the confidence he reposed in me. He often expatiated with a parent's fondness upon the sweetness of disposition, the many amiable qualities of his dearly beloved
