Letter III.
"How strangely and how suddenly are events sometimes brought about! How little did I imagine, when, in Portugal, you charged me with letters for your friend, that that friend was to become my father, by his child, his lovely child, becoming my wife! About two months have revolved since I first beheld her: she is now mine! Angelina is mine, by the closest and most indissoluble ties. But her father, that best of men, is no more—he is gone for ever! Heaven heard this departed saint; unworthy as I am, I was sent a harbinger of peace to him, in becoming the protector of his child. He had then nothing more to desire in this world. For many years the infirmity of his body had been rapidly advancing; it was easy therefore for his spirit to break its fetters, and soar to immortality,—that haven of eternal tranquillity, rest, and happiness.
"Had I never before entertained sentiments of religion, callous indeed must I have been, had I not become deeply impressed by the lessons I have been taught these few last months. What exemplary piety! what virtue and goodness have I not witnessed! and how has it caused me to deplore my former levities! Surely, had this good divine
