within the jaws of immortality, is doubtless, immortal. And, as for a Deity, nothing less than an Almighty could inflict what I feel.'

"I was about to congratulate this passive involuntary confessor, on his asserting the two prime articles of his creed, extorted by the rack of nature, when he thus very passionately exclaimed: 'No, no! let me speak on. I have not long to speak. My much injured friend! my soul, as my body, lies in ruins; in scattered fragments of broken thought! Remorse for the past, throws my thought on the future. Worse dread of the future, strikes it back on the past. I turn, and turn, and find no ray. Didst thou feel half the mountain that is on me, thou wouldst struggle with the martyr for his stake; and bless Heaven for the flames; that is not an everlasting flame; that is not an unquenchable fire.'

"How were we struck! yet, soon after, still more. With what an eye of distraction, what a face of despair, he cried out: 'My principles have poisoned my friend! my extravagance has beggared my boy! my unkindness has murdered my wife! And is there another hell? Oh! thou blasphemed, yet indulgent LORD GOD! hell itself is a refuge, if it hide me from thy frown! Soon after his understanding failed. His terrified imagination uttered horrors not to be repeated, or ever forgotten. And ere the sun (which, I hope, has seen few like him) arose, the gay, young,

noble, ingenuous, accomplished, and most wretched Altamont expired!

"If this is a man of pleasure, what is a man of pain? How quick, how total, is the transit of such persons! In what a dismal gloom they set for ever! How short, alas! the day of their rejoicing! For a moment they glitter, they dazzle! In a moment, where are they? Oblivion covers their memories! Ah! would it did! Infamy snatches them from oblivion. In the long-living annals of infamy their triumphs are recorded. Thy sufferings, poor Altamont! still bleed in the bosom of the heart-stricken friend-for Altamont had a friend. He might have had many. His transient morning might have been the dawn of an immortal day. His name might have been gloriously enrolled in the records of eternity. His memory might have left a sweet fragrance behind it, grateful to the surviving friend, salutary to the succeeding generation. With what capacity was he endowed! with what advantages for being greatly good! But with the talents of an angel, a man may be a fool. If he judges amiss in the supreme point, judging right in all else, but aggravates his folly as it shows him wrong, though blessed with the best capacity of being right."

CHAPTER X.

BARON HALLER-JOHN HOWARD-NEWTON'S LETTERS-MARGARET M. ALTHENS-ZIMMERMAN-JAMES HAY BEATTIEELIZABETH SMITH-ELIZABETH CARTER-SIR WILLIAM JONES -CONCLUSION.

SECTION I.

BARON HALLER.

ALBERT HALLER, one of the most illustrious literary characters of his age, was the son of a citizen and advocate of Berne, where he was born, in the year 1708. The accounts of his early display of talents, are as extraordinary as almost any upon record. He chose the medical profession, in which he became very eminent. He was an anatomist, a physiologist, and a botanist, of the first order. It is not too much to say of him, that he was one of the best informed men in Europe. He wrote and spoke, with equal facility, the German, French, and Latin languages; and read all the other tongues of civilized Europe, except the Scla

vonic dialects. His acquaintance with books was so extensive, that it would be difficult to point out any of the least note, which he had not perused, and of which the contents did not dwell upon his memory. He was a poet, too, of distinguished merit. The critics of Germany reckon Haller among the first who gave sublimity, richness, and harmony to their poetical language; and who described nature in its true colors.

The talents and knowledge of Haller, his works in various departments of science and literature, and his unblemished integrity and virtue, rendered him, in the highest degree, respectable among the learned of Europe; and his friendship and correspondence were courted by the most celebrated men of his time. He was professor of medicine in the university of Gottingen. He filled successively the botanical, chemical, and anatomical chairs; and raised the reputation of the university to a very high pitch. There he resided near seventeen years; and then returned to Berne, his native place, where he was elected a member of the sovereign council; and enjoyed the first authority in the administration of public affairs, till the time of his death, which took place in the year 1777.

This great and good man, in the early part of his life, had doubts concerning the objects of the Christian faith. But these doubts were dispelled by a successful application to every branch of science, on the one hand; and by a candid exam、

ination of the sacred oracles, on the other. The first, by purging his soul, according to his own emphatic phrase, of arrogance and pride, filled it with true poverty of spirit. The second convinced him that the Divine revelation, conveyed in the Holy Scriptures, is a boon worthy of the merciful Author of our nature to give; and such as is fit for guilty mortals to receive, with humble gratitude and reverence.

There are hours of mental depression in human life, which can neither be prevented nor remedied, by the most prosperous worldly circumstances, or by the greatest skill of man. The healing art, which Haller applied with singular success to the diseases of the body, could not, as he experienced in his own case, reach that dissatisfaction with the present, and that apprehension of a future state, which so frequently disturb the breasts of mankind. But he found other aids, which proved a sovereign remedy to all his fears and depressions. The Divine laws were to him a delightful subject of attention, and a joyful object of hope. confidence in the goodness of God, refreshed his mind; and so fortified it, that he contemplated, without dismay, the king of terrors.

His

The consolations which he felt himself, he was anxious to impart to others. In imitation of the Saviour of the world, he went about doing good to the souls and the bodies of men. He eagerly seized the numberless opportunities, which his