What, though I mourn not? still prevails HARRIET ELTRAVE, A VILLAGE TALE. "These tales are sad," he cries; Reveal them, as the beacon's timely fire." At a village in the south-eastern district of Berkshire, lived, at the commencement of the present century, Harriet Eltrave, the daughter of parents who could neither complain of poverty, nor boast of great affluence. She was an only child, and had been bred up with all that tenderness which is generally lavished on a single offspring. Her parents, who themselves had been taught but little of the politer accomplishments, wished the more ardently to have their daughter instructed in them, and she was accordingly sent to a school appropriated to the reception of young ladies generally above her in rank. Harriet possessed a quick apprehension, a retentive memory, and a ductile temper; her progress, therefore, in whatever she undertook to learn, was rapid. And when she returned home, after twelve months' absence, her parents viewed with astonishment the proofs of ability and skill she exhibited; and they soon began to think how desirable it would be to see their darling elevated to that station where her beauty and accomplishments would be duly appreciated. During the last vacation, which she spent at home, a youth who had been brought up in the neighbourhood, and who had from childhood been on terms of intimacy with the family, grew enamoured of her, and by his attentions won' the smile of tenderness from Harriet. Her heart was of that temperament which is calculated to receive any impression which circumstances operating on it even in the slightest degree might have a tendency to impart. They met fre quently, and every time became more and more decisive in the preference of each other. The parents of Harriet viewed L. 35. 1. L the attachment of the young couple as a mere ebullition of juvenile sentiment, which would be absorbed in the flow of stronger passions maturity would soon call forth. Without restraint, therefore, they conversed together, walked, together, and danced together; and Harriet and Henry were invited at the same time to every merry-making, where they attracted the attention of all beholders. Fortune had dealt equally with the lovers, so that no reasonable objection on that head could be raised against the connection. Such was the nature of their association, that although several young farmers in the neighbourhood burned in secret with a passion for Harriet, yet her fate seemed too closely interwoven with that of Henry, for any art of theirs to disentwine it. Day after day they met with joy, and parted with sighs. But soon a circumstance occurred, which was to interrupt their dream of happiness. A regiment of soldiers was quartered at a neighbouring town; a gay young lieutenant belonging to which, wandered into the village where Harriet resided; aod perceiving so much beauty and simplicity coinbined, deemed her an object worthy of his pursuit. He found the means of introducing himself privately into her company; and though at first his advances were received with coolness, the ease and politeness of his address, together with the fervency of his manner, gained so much upon her, that she began to feel complacency, and even pleasure in his company. Before her heart had been assailed by temptation, it was wholly Henry's; but neither of these inex perienced villagers suspected that it would be brought to so severe a test, or if brought, prove so weak. As her intimacy with the soldier ripened, her regard for Henry diminished. They met now with less interest, and paried-at least on her side-with perfect indifference. Henry perceived and regretted the change in her behaviour; but he was some time before he divined the cause. At length the fact was made known to him, and his heart shrunk and sickened at it, as if the source of every pleasure were shut up from him for ever. When the intelligence reached the parents, it affected them differently the mother endeavoured to view it in a light favourable to her hopes and wishes; but the father saw much to dread in the connection. He was not ignorant of the ་་ 'character of many of the young men in the army, who, he was conscious, value their reputation for intrigue as much as they do their reputation for valour. The mother was not able to support by argument her view of the subject; but she had unbounded confidence in the power of her daughter's charms, and the invincibility of those principles of virtue and honour which she had early instilled into her mind. The father knew that many as fair and as well instructed as his daughter had yielded to temptation, and considering her "a shred of nature with themselves," felt less confidence in her ability to resist the arts which might he employed to destroy her. He severely censured the duplicity of her conduct, and peremp torily forbad her ever to meet the lieutenant again, But the spell of love was in operation: 'she disobeyed her father's mandate, and met the military gallant at the appointed place and time, who then and there proved the force of his eloquence; for he prevailed upon her to elope with him that night to London, where he promised to place her under the protection of his mother till their marriage could be solemnized. But the poor infatuated gil soon found that the protection she was placed under was not that of a mother to ber lover. She did not, however, entirely awake from her dream of hope till her ruin was sealed. Soon after they arrived in London, the lieutenant was ordered to join his regiment in Ireland, whither the unfortunate dupe of his villainy followed him, but he soon abandoned her. What were the feelings of her doating parents, when they discovered that Harriet was flown! At first they tried by every means they could to recover her; but when they found the real situation in which she was placed, despair took possession of their hearts. Henry's hopes were likewise blasted, and his feelings as deeply wounded as those of her parents. Dejection settled on his spirits; he courted solitude, and nursed his grief in private. Alas! what an alteration now took place in the house of farmer Eltrave. A short time since all was cheerfulness, harmony, and affection; and now gloom, despondency, and horror, pervaded it. Thr grief of the bereaved couple, however, soon became of that silent description which, exhibiting few outward signs, the more effectually consumes the heart. When, indeed, their eyes rested on any object which had been a favourite of Harriet, the involuntary sob would burst from their labouring bosoms, and the starting tear lend a momentary lustre to their fading eyes. But her name!"Oh no, they never mentioned her-her name was never heard ;"-they avoided it, as if the very sound were pregnant with calamity. And so deeply were their minds absorbed with the event, that they could scarcely discharge their usual avocations. But the saddest time they experienced was the long winter evenings, when active occupation ceased: then would they sit, and, unable to utter a sentence, read, by stolen glances, in each other's countenance, the ravages which anguish was effecting in the heart. About eighteen months after her elopement, Harriet found herself without money and without a friend, in a strange country. Disappointment, sorrow, and want, superinduced disease; and that form, erewhile so beautiful, was now emaciated and covered with rags. At length, she procured the means of making her passage in one of the packets to England; but when arrived here, she had not the courage to proceed directly to the friends whom she had so grossly deceived, and so deeply injured. In the course of her desultory wanderings, however, she came near to her native village. The spell of homeward attraction acted too forcibly upon her to be resisted. But she did not enter the street in which her parents resided till twilight had disguised every object; and then she stole from end to end of it like a criminal after whom the hue and cry has been raised. She perceived the light in her parents' chamber as they retired to bed, and sinking on her knees, poured forth floods of sorrow and repentance, while praying for their temporal and eternal welfare. Oh! who shall say what were the recollections that then crowded upon her memory? -How the visions of former felicity darted their lightning glances to shew the depth and palpability of the darkness in which she was now involved, while fresh drops of gall seemed momentarily to augment the bitterness of her inisery. She remained awhile in the posture of supplication; and then, in order to -procure a little repose, sought the village church, and laid herself down in its well-known porch, beside the ashes of her venerable ancestors, whose unsullied fame was blazoned on the surrounding tombs. When the morning broke, the father rose from his bed of restlessness, and proceeding by the usual pathway through the churchyard, he cast his eyes on some newly raised mould, and exclaimed Would that my child, though in the prime of youth, lay without loss of honour in that dreary receptacle of the dead!" A responsive heavy-laden sob of acquiescence reached his ear: he flew to the spot whence it issued, and discovered, extended on the seat, his long-lost, guilty, yet still beloved Harriet. Shocked, and almost petrified with amazement, he gazed for awhile, as if doubting whether that could be the same form which, with conscious pride, he had so often led thither to lisp the artless prayer in the innocence of infancy, and to receive the instructions of the worthy pastor, in the fresh bloom of early womanhood, when every eye followed her with admiration. But soon breaking from the sad reverie, he raised and folded her in a passionate embrace. The tears from both flowed copiously; but it was not the time for discourse. He conveyed her in silence home, and hastened to prepare the mind of his consort for the interview: but the meeting proved too much for either. As they approached, convulsive shudderings seized their frames, and they were unable to express by words, joy or sorrow; but their looks!-oh!— those looks, earthly language cannot interpret. As each endeavoured to restrain her feelings on the occasion, it seemed as if their very souls were effusing in the effort. The daughter died in less than a week after she reached home. The mother survived her only two months, and ele a year had elapsed the father was laid with them in the same grave. Sometimes in the twilight, Henry visits the spot where they are interred. He still preserves his habits of abstraction and recluseness, and seems to take interest in nothing but a long-cherished dog, to which he has often been heard to mutter," Thou at least, Fido, wilt not deceive me, and wreck the last hope of my almost desolate heart." TO A DIRTY FRIEND IN TROUBLE. AN EPIGRAM-BY THOMAS CAMPBELL. You've got into hot water, you say, and I hope |