"I must frankly confess," resumed Oriana, "the consciousness that it is in one's power to call sometimes upon a neighbour, and meet with the kind and friendly sympathies of the heart, manifested in the cordial and warm welcome, carries with it a certain delight which touches and affects the soul, makes an appeal to its feelings which is irresistible, and of which I never fail of being sensible when we visit at the Hermitage, or its inmates come to us. Edmund has the power of charming away time delightfully; this you must allow, my dear Rosilia, to be true."
"I do allow it to be true, and I will, if possible, no longer complain of my seclusion, or view it in the light of a sacrifice; such murmurings and repinings seem as though they sprung from the suggestions of vanity. And oh! what delight is there not still left for me in the contemplation of nature, in the expansion given to the mind by the survey of the wide and beautiful Creation around us! In the superior intelligences thus received, as the good Doctor said the other day, we learn to see the emptiness of all worldly things, and the grandeur and sublimity of an eternity."
"The Doctor seems to have strongly impressed you with his sentiments, dear Rosilia; and tell me
