not theory, and his gueft was averfe from difputation; their difcourfe, therefore, did not lead to questions concerning the belief of either; yet would the old man fometimes fpeak of his, from the fullnefs of a heart impreffed with its force, and wifhing to fpread the pleafure he enjoyed in it. The ideas of his God, and his Saviour, were fo congenial to his mind, that every emotion of it naturally awaked them. A philofopher might have called him an enthufiaft; but, if he poffeffed the fervour of enthusiasts, he was guiltlefs of their bigotry. "Our Father which art in heaven!" might the good man fay-for he felt itand all mankind were his brethren.

"You regret, my friend," faid he to Mr.

"when my daughter and I talk of "the exquifite pleasure derived from mufic; you regret your want of musical powers and "mufical feelings; it is a department of foul, 'you fay, which nature has almost denied "you, which, from the effects you see it have

on others, you are fure must be highly de "lightful. Why fhould not the fame thing "be faid of religion? Trust me, I feel it in "the fame way, an energy, an inspiration, "which I would not lofe for all the bleffings

" of

"of fenfe, or enjoyments of the world; yet, "fo far from leffening my relifh of the plea"fures of life, methinks I feel it heighten "them all. The thought of receiving it from "God, adds the blefling of fentiment to that "of fenfation in every good thing. I poffefs; "and when calamities overtake me- and "I have had my fhare-it confers a dignity "on my affliction, fo lifts me above the "world.-Man, I know, is but a worm

yet, methinks, I am then allied to God!". It would have been inhuman in our philofopher to have clouded, even with a doubt, the fun-fhine of this belief.

--

His difcourfe, indeed, was very remote from metaphyfical difquifition, or religious controverfy. Of all men I ever knew, his ordinary converfation was the leaft tinctured with pedantry, or liable to differtation. With La Roche and his daughter, it was perfectly familiar. The country round them, the manners of the village, the comparison of both with thofe of England, remarks on the works of favourite authors, on the fentiments they conveyed, and the paffions they excited, with many other topics in which there was an equality, or alternate advantage, among the fpeakers,

fpeakers, were the subjects they talked on Their hours too of riding and walking were many, in which Mr , as a ftranger, was shown the remarkable fcenes and curiofities of the country. They would fometimes make little expeditions to contemplate, in different attitudes, thofe aftonishing mountains, the cliffs of which, covered with eternal fnows, and fometimes fhooting into fantastic fhapes, form the termination of most of the Swifs profpects. Our philofopher asked many questions as to their natural history and productions. La Roche obferved the fublimity of the ideas which the view of their stupendous fummits, inacceffible to mortal foot, was calculated to inspire, which naturally, faid he, leads the mind to that Being by whom their foundations were laid." They are not seen "in Flanders!" faid Ma'moifelle with a figh. "That's an odd remark," faid Mr

fmiling. farther.

She blushed, and he inquired no

'Twas with regret he left a fociety in which he found himself fo happy; but he fettled with La Roche and his daughter a plan of correfpondence; and they took his promife,

that,

that, if ever he came within fifty leagues of their dwelling, he should travel thofe fifty leagues to vifit them.

Z

N° 44

N° 44.

A

SATURDAY, June 26. 1779.

Conclufion of the ftory of LA ROCHE.

BOUT three years after, our philofo

pher was on a vitit at Geneva; the promise he had made to La Roche and his daughter, on his former vifit, was recalled to his mind, by the view of that range of mountains, on a part of which they had often looked together. There was a reproach, too, conveyed along with the recollection, for his having failed to write to either for feveral months paft. The truth was, that indolence was the habit moft natural to him, from which he was not eafily roused by the claims of correfpondence, either of his friends or of his enemies; when the latter drew their pens in controverfy, they were often unanfwered as well as the former. While he was. hefitating about a vifit to La Roche, which he wished to make, but found the effort rather too much for him, he received a letter from the old man, which had been forwarded to him

from