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LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN,

months of solitude and privation — of alternate hopesand fears wound to their highest pitch — of arduousstudy — of excessive physical suffering — must coloura human heing’s whole after-existence. The devotedlove of Sophie ennobled his sufferings. She erred —but her error was redeemed by her heroism and self-abnegation. Resolved in her own thoughts that shewas not the wife of the poor old man to whom herparents had forced her to give her hand, but of himwho possessed her heart, she believed it to be her dutyto bear all rather than concede. That her too ardentnature required the stay of religion cannot be denied,but her generosity and heroism are undoubted, andshed a grace over details which would otherwise berevolting.*

Mirabeau quitted his prison, eager to gain his father’sgood will, and redeem himself in the eyes of the world.He slept out, from so long a series of suffering andimprisonment, with a spirit as vigorous and free asin boyhood. All were astonished by his mingledgentleness and vivacity; his submission to his father,joined to reliance in his own powers. Some months

' ^ The subsequent history of this hapless victim of a depraved state ofsociety which set the seal of guilt on her attachment, may be briefly stated.After the birth of her child, Sophie was taken from the asylum in whichshe was first placed, and confined in the convent of Saintes-Claires, at Gien.By degrees many indulgences were allowed her, and she received visits.Mirabeau became jealous-, and angrily expressed his jealousy, both inletters, and in a single interview which they had after his liberation fromVincennes. Had Mirabeau come to this interview with a candid mindand a constant heart, he had at once have acknowledged Sophie’s inno-cence. But his attachment had waned, and he was intent on completinghis reconciliation with his father, and contriving one with his wife. Heplayed the part of the wolf with the lamb in the fable ; and, to the utterdestruction of Ihe nobler portion of his nature, the ties of love andaffection, the knitting of which had occasioned misery and ruin to both,were broken for ever. Soon after, the death of her husband restoredSophie to her liberty, but she chose to continue to reside within theprecincts of the convent, though she used her liberty to make visits andexcursions. She was greatly loved by all who knew her. Her sweet-ness and gentleness attached many friends: her charity and kind sym-pathy caused her to be beloved by the poor, by whom her memory waslong gratefully preserved. She formed a second attachment for a gentle-man to whom she was about to be married, but his death prevented theirunion. Sophie resolved not to survive him. Immediately on receivinghis last sigh, she prepared to die. She shut herself up with two braziersof burning charcoal; and ;was found on the morrow dead. She died onthe 8th September, 1789, in the 37th year of her age.