6

LIFE OF

mind. Her fortune was humble, but her family was respec-table. Her mother, a native of France , had preferred herreligion to her country. The profession of her father did notextinguish the moderation and philosophy of his temper, andhe lived contented with a small salary and laborious duty, inthe obscure lot of minister of Crassy, in the mountains thatseparate Pays de Vaud from the province of Burgundy. Inthe solitude of a sequestered village, he bestowed a liberaland even learned education on his only daughter. She sur-passed his hopes by her proficiency in the sciences and lan-guages ; and in her short visits to some relations at Lausanne ,the wit, the beauty, and the erudition of mademoiselle Cur-chod, were the theme of universal applause. The report ofsuch a prodigy awakened my curiosity: I saw, and loved.

I found her learned without pedantry, lively in conversation,pure in sentiment, and elegant in manners; and the first sud-den emotion was fortified by the. habits and knowledge of amore familiar acquaintance. She permitted me to make hertwo or three visits at her father’s house. I passed somehappy days there in the mountains of Burgundy, and herparents honourably encouraged the connection. In a calmretirement the gay vanity of youth no longer fluttered in herbosom: she listened to the voice of truth and passion, and Imight presume to hope that I had made some impression ona virtuous heart. At Crassy and Lausanne I indulged mydream of felicity; but on my return to England I soon disco-vered that my father w'ould not hear of this strange alliance,and that without his consent I W'as myself destitute and help-less. After a painful struggle I yielded to my fate; I sighedas a lover, I obeyed as a son; my wound was insensiblyhealed by time, absence, and the habits of a new life. Mycure was accelerated by a faithful report of the tranquillityand cheerfulness of the lady herself; and my love subsidedinto friendship and esteem. The minister of Crassy soon af-terwards died, his stipend died with him; his daughter re-tired to Geneva, where, by teaching young ladies, she earneda hard subsistence for herself and her mother: but in her low-est distress she maintained a spotless reputation and a digni-fied behaviour. A rich banker of Paris , a citizen of Geneva,had the good fortune and good sense to discover and possessthis inestimable treasure; and in the capital of taste and