since he was unable to endure the pain oftheir separation.
"With a careful hand Paul sowed the European seeds, particularly the violetand the scabious, the flowers of which seem to bear some analogy to thecharacter and situation of Virginia, by whom they had been recommended: butwhether they were injured by the voyage, or whether the soil of this partof Africa is unfavourable to their growth, a very small number of themblew, and none came to perfection.
"Meanwhile that envy, which pursues human happiness, spread reports overthe island which gave great uneasiness to Paul. The persons who had broughtVirginia's letter asserted that she was upon the point of being married,and named the nobleman of the court with whom she was going to be united.Some even declared that she was already married, of which they werewitnesses. Paul at first despised this report, brought by one of thosetrading ships, which often spread erroneous intelligence in their passage;but some ill-natured persons, by their insulting pity, led him to give somedegree of credit to this cruel intelligence. Besides, he had seen in thenovels which he had lately read that perfidy was treated as a subject ofpleasantry; and knowing that those books were faithful representations ofEuropean manners, he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted, andhad forgotten its former engagements. Thus his acquirements only served torender him miserable, and what increased his apprehension was, that severalships arrived from Europe, during the space of six months, and not onebrought any tidings of Virginia.
"This unfortunate young man, with a heart torn by the most cruel agitation,came often to visit me, that I might confirm or banish his inquietude, bymy experience of the world.
"I live, as I have already told you, a league and a half from hence, uponthe banks of a little river which glides along the Sloping Mountain: thereI lead a solitary life, without wife, children, or slaves.
"After having enjoyed, and lost, the rare felicity of living with acongenial mind, the state of life which appears the least wretched is thatof solitude. It is remarkable that all those nations which have beenrendered unhappy by their political opinions, their manners, or their formsof government, have produced numerous classes of citizens altogetherdevoted to solitude and celibacy. Such were the Egyptians in their decline,the Greeks of the lower empire; and such in our days are the Indians, theChinese, the modern Greeks, the Italians, and most part of the eastern andsouthern nations of Europe.
"Thus I pass my days far from mankind whom I wished to serve, and by whom Ihave been persecuted. After having travelled over many countries of Europe,and some parts of America and Africa, I at length pitched my tent in thisthinly-peopled island, allured by its mild temperature and its solitude. Acottage which I built in the woods, at the foot of a tree, a little fieldwhich I cultivated with my own hands, a river which glides before my door,suffice for my wants and for my pleasures. I blend with those enjoymentsthat of some chosen books, which teach me to become better. They make thatworld, which I have abandoned, still contribute to my satisfaction. Theyplace before me pictures of those passions which render its inhabitants somiserable; and the comparison which I make between their destiny and myown, leads me to feel a sort of negative happiness. Like a man whomshipwreck has thrown upon a rock, I contemplate, from my solitude, thestorms which roll over the rest of the world; and my repose seems moreprofound from the distant sounds of the tempest.
"I suffer myself to be led calmly down the stream of time to the ocean offuturity, which has no boundaries; while, in the contemplation of thepresent harmony of nature, I raise my soul towards its supreme Author, andhope for a more happy destiny in another state of existence.
"Although you do not descry my hermitage, which is situated in the midst ofa forest, among that immense variety of objects which this elevated spotpresents, the grounds are disposed with particular beauty, at least to onewho, like me, loves rather the seclusion of a home scene, than great andextensive prospects. The river which glides before my door passes in astraight line across the woods, and appears like a long canal shaded bytrees of all kinds. There are black date plum trees, what we here call thenarrow-leaved dodonea, olive wood, gum trees, and the cinnamon tree; whilein some parts the cabbage trees raise their naked columns more than ahundred feet high, crowned at their summits with clustering leaves, andtowering above the wood like one forest piled upon another. Lianas, ofvarious foliage, intertwining among the woods, form arcades of flowers, andverdant canopies; those trees, for the most part, shed aromatic odours of anature so powerful, that the garments of a traveller, who has passedthrough the forest, retain for several hours the delicious fragrance. Inthe season when those trees produce their lavish blossoms, they appear asif covered with snow. One of the principal ornaments of our woods is thecalbassia, a tree not only distinguished for its beautiful tint of verdure;but for other properties, which Madame de la Tour has described in thefollowing sonnet, written at one of her first visits to my hermitage:
SONNET
TO THE CALBASSIA TREE
Sublime Calbassia, luxuriant tree! How soft the gloom thy bright-lined foliage throws, While from thy pulp a healing balsam flows, Whose power the suffering wretch from pain can free! My pensive footsteps ever turn to thee! Since oft, while musing on my lasting woes, Beneath thy flowery white bells I repose, Symbol of friendship dost thou seem to me; For thus has friendship cast her soothing shade O'er my unsheltered bosom's keen distress: Thus sought to heal the wounds which love has made, And temper bleeding sorrow's sharp excess! Ah! not in vain she lends her balmy aid: The agonies she cannot cure, are less!
"Towards the end of summer various kinds of foreign birds hasten, impelledby an inexplicable instinct, from unknown regions, and across immenseoceans, to gather the profuse grains of this island; and the brilliancy oftheir expanded plumage forms a contrast to the trees embrowned by the sun.Such, among others, are various kinds of paroquets, the blue pigeon, calledhere the pigeon of Holland, and the wandering and majestic white bird ofthe Tropic, which Madame de la Tour thus apostrophised:--
SONNET
TO THE WHITE BIRD OF THE TROPIC.
Bird of the Tropic! thou, who lov'st to stray Where thy long pinions sweep the sultry line, Or mark'st the bounds which torrid beams confine By thy averted course, that shuns the ray Oblique, enamour'd of sublimer day: Oft on yon cliff thy folded plumes recline, And drop those snowy feathers Indians twine To crown the warrior's brow with honours gay. O'er Trackless oceans what impels thy wing? Does no soft instinct in thy soul prevail? No sweet affection to thy bosom cling, And bid thee oft thy absent nest bewail? Yet thou again to that dear spot canst spring But I my long lost home no more shall hail!
"The domestic inhabitants of our forests, monkeys, sport upon the darkbranches of the trees, from which they are distinguished by their gray andgreenish skin, and their black visages. Some hang suspended by the tail,and balance themselves in air; others leap from branch to branch, bearingtheir young in their arms. The murderous gun has never affrighted thosepeaceful children of nature. You sometimes hear the warblings of unknownbirds from the southern countries, repeated at a distance by the echoes ofthe forest. The river, which runs in foaming cataracts over a bed of rocks,reflects here and there, upon its limpid waters, venerable masses of woodyshade, together with the sport of its happy inhabitants. About a thousandpaces from thence the river precipitates itself over several piles ofrocks, and forms, in its fall, a sheet of water smooth as crystal, butwhich breaks at the bottom into frothy surges. Innumerable confused soundsissue from those tumultuous waters, which, scattered by the winds of theforest, sometimes sink, sometimes swell, and send forth a hollow tone likethe deep bells of a cathedral. The air, for ever renewed by the circulationof the waters, fans the banks of that river with freshness, and leaves adegree of verdure, notwithstanding the summer heats, rarely found in thisisland, even upon the summits of the mountains.
"At some distance is a rock, placed far enough from the cascade to pre
ventthe ear from being deafened by the noise of its waters, and sufficientlynear for the enjoyment of their view, their coolness, and their murmurs.Thither, amidst the heats of summer, Madame de la Tour, Margaret, Virginia,Paul, and myself sometimes repaired, and dined beneath the shadow of therock. Virginia, who always directed her most ordinary actions to the goodof others, never ate of any fruit without planting the seed or kernel inthe ground. 'From this,' said she, 'trees will come, which will give theirfruit to some traveller, or at least to some bird.' One day having eaten ofthe papaw fruit, at the foot of that rock she planted the seeds. Soon afterseveral papaws sprung up, amongst which was one that yielded fruit. Thistree had risen but a little from the ground at the time of Virginia'sdeparture; but its growth being rapid, in the space of two years it hadgained twenty feet of height, and the upper part of its stem was encircledwith several layers of ripe