our fubftantive Home; but it is not the melancholy of a four unfocial being; on the contrary, I believe, there will always be found a tone of benevolence in it both to ourfelves and others ;—I fay our felves, because I hold the fenfation of peace and friendship with our own minds to be one of the beft preparatives, as well as one of the beft rewards of virtue.

Nor has Nature given us this propenfity in vain. From this the principle of patriotifin has its earliest fource, and fome of thofe ties are formed which link the inhabitants of lefsfavoured regions to the heaths and mountains. of their native land. In cultivated fociety, this fentiment of Home cherishes the ufeful virtues of domeftic life; it oppofes, to the tumultuous pleasures of diffipation and intemperance, the quiet enjoyments of fobriety, economy, and family-affection; qualities, which, though not attractive of much applaufe or admiration, are equally conducive to the advantage of the individual and the welfare of the community.

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VOL. II.

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N° 620

No 62. SATURDAY, December 11. 1779.

To the AUTHOR of the MIRROR,

SIR,

HEN I was in Languedoc, many years

WE

ago, I had an invitation to a great entertainment given by the Intendant. The company was very numerous; and, several foreigners happening to be prefent, the natives vied with each other in difplaying their own importance. The converfation chanced to turn on the campaign of Marthal de Villars against the people of the Cévennes; and fome of the guests were old enough to remember the events of those times.

"M. de la Tour le Colombier, my father," faid an old lady," had connections with "many of the most confiderable Calvinists; “and, after their defeat, he generously af"forded an afylum to M. Cavalier and three "hundred and fixty-four of his followers. "They were concealed among old ruins in a large foreft which lay behind my father's

"Chateau,

"Chateau, and compofed part of his domain. "None of the fervants of the family were let "into the fecret, excepting one of my owit "maids, a fenfible handy girl; fhe and I went

every day, and carried provifions to the "whole band, and we dreffed the wounds of "fuch of them as had been wounded in the "action. We did this, day after day, for a "fortnight, or rather, if I remember right, "for near three weeks. Minute circumstances "are apt to efcape one's memory after an in"terval of many years; but I fhall never for(( get the gratitude of those poor people, and "the ardent thanks which they bestowed on us when they went away and dispersed them"felves "

I took the liberty of obferving, that the provifions neceffary for fo many mouths, might poffibly have been miffed in the family, and that this might have led to a discovery. "Not at all," replied the. "Feu M. mon "Pére fe piquoit toujours de tenir bonne table, "ceftoit fa marotte même; [my father, who "is now gone, always made a point of living "handfomely; that was even his hobby"horfe]. But indeed I recollect," continued fhe," that we were once very near being dif"covered..

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"covered. The wives of fome of the fugi"tives had heard, I know not how, that their "hufbands lay concealed near my father's "Chateau. They came and fearched, and "actually difcovered the lurking-place. Un*fortunately they brought a good many chil "dren along with them; and, as we had no "eatables fit for the little creatures, they be 65 gan to pule and cry, which might have a "larmed the neighbourhood. It happened "that M. Cavalier, the general of the insur"gents, had been a journeyman pastry-cook "before the war. He prefently made fome 66 prune tarts for the children, and fo quieted "them. This was a proof of his good nature, "as well as of his fingular prefence of mind "in critical fituations. Candour obliges me to bear fo ample teftimony in favour of a "heretic and a rebel."

We had fcarcely time to draw breath after this story, when a mean-looking elderly man faid, with the affectation of modeft dignity, "I had the happiness to be known to M. de “Villars, and he was pleafed greatly to over. "rate my poor fervices. On a certain occa"fion, he did me the honour to present me "with a horfe of the unmixed Arabian breed,.

"and

"and a wonderful animal it was:

"Then ad

dreffing himself to Lady W, “I much "doubt, mi Ledi, whether it could have been "matched in your country, fo justly celebra "ted for fine women and horfes.-One even"ing while I was in garrifon at Pont St Esprit, "I took him out to exercife. Being in high "spirits and excellent wind, he went off at an. << eafy gallop, and did not stop till he brought me to the gates of Montpelier, [between: twenty and thirty leagues diftant], and: "there, to my no fmall furprife, I found the "Dean and whole Faculty of Medicine ftand"ing in their gowns to receive me. The Dean "made a long harangue in Latin, of which, "to say the truth, I understood not one word; "and then, in name of his brethren, put into

my hands a diploma of Doctor of Phyfic,, "with the ufual powers of curing, and fo "forth. He would have had me to partake of

་་

an entertainment prepared for the occafion ;, "but I did not chufe to fleep out of garrifon;, "fo I just ordered my horfe to be rubbed "down, gave him a fingle feed, mounted a "gain, and got back to Pont St Esprit, as they ́ "were fhutting the gates. Perhaps I have "dwelt too long on the praifes of my horfe.