fix miles, and that horfe our main dependance, I made a point of having the fhoe faften'd on again, as well as we could; but the poftillion had thrown away the nails, and the hammer in the chaife- box being of no great ufe without them, I submitted to go on.

He had not mounted half a mile higher, when coming to a flinty piece of road, the poor devil loft a fecond fhoe, and from off his other fore foot; I then got out of the chaife in good earneft; and feeing a houfe about a quarter of a mile to the left hand, with a great deal to do, I prevailed upon the poftillion to The look of the house, The look of the houfe, and of every

turn up to it. thing about it, me to the difafter.

as we drew nearer, foon reconciled

It was a little farm houfe fur rounded with about twenty acres of vineyard, about as much corn and close to the houfe, on one fi de, was a potagerie of an acre and a half, full of every thing which could make plenty in a French peafant's houfe and on the other fide was a little wood which furnished wherewithal to drefs it 1). It was ab out eight in the evening when I got to the houfe fo I left the poftillion to manage his point as he couldand for mine, I walk'd directly into the houfe.

The family confifted of an old grey headed man and his wife, with five or fix fons and fons - inlaw and their feveral wives, and a joyous genealogy out of them.

i

They were all fitting' down together to their lentil foup; a large wheaten loaf was in the middle of

1) which furnish'd wherewithal to drefs Welches Hölzchen das

it.

the

Holz lieferte die Gemüse zu. zubereiten."

the table; and a flaggon of wine at each end of it promifed joy through the ftages of the repaft

feaft of love 2).

the room;

'twas a

The old man rose up to meet me, and with a refpectful cordiality would have me fit down at the ta ble; my heart was fat down the moment I enter'd fo I fat down at once like a fon of the family; and to invest, myself in the character 3, as speedily as I could, I inftantly borrowed the old man's knife, and taking up the loaf cut myself a hearty luncheon; and as I did it I saw a teftimony in every eye, not only of an honeft welcome, but of a welcome mix'd with thanks that I had not feem'd to doubt it.

Was it this; or tell me, Nature, what elfe it was which made this morfel fo sweet and to what magic I owe it, that the draught I took of their flaggon was to delicious with it, that they remain upon my palate to this hour.

THE GRACE.

LXIX.

When fupper was over, the old man gave a knock upon the table with the haft of his knife, to bid them prepare for the dance; the moment the fignal was given, the women and girls ran all together into a back apartment to tye up their hair and the young men to the door to wash their faces, and change their fabots; and in three minutes every foul was ready upon a little efplanade before the house to begin

The

old man and his wife came out laft, and placing me betwixt them, fat down upon a fopha of turf by the door.

The old man had fome fifty years ago been no mean performer upon the vielle1) and, at the age he was then of, touch'd it well enough for the purpofe. His wife fung now and then a little to the and joined her old man again as their children and grand - children danced be. fore them.

tune

then intermitted

It was not till the middle of the second dance, when from fome pauses in the movement wherein they all feemed to look up, I fancied I could diftinguish an elevation of fpirit different from that which is the caufe or the effect of fimple jollity. -In a word, I thought I beheld Religion mixing in the dance but as I had never seen her fo engaged 2), I fhould have look'd

1) viele, mit einem 1 ein franzöfifches Wort, heifst eine Leyer.

a) as I had never feen her fo engaged. Da ich

upon

die Religion noch nicht in einer folchen Gesellschaft gefehen hatte," oder; da ich noch keine Idee von einem religië fen Tanze hatte.

upon it now as one of the illufions of an imagination which is eternally misleading me, had not the old man as foon as the dance ended, faid, that this was their conftant way; ad that all his life long he had made it a rule, after fupper was over, to call out his family to dance and rejoice; believing, he faid, that a chearful and contented mind was the best sort of thanks to hea ven that an illiterate peafant could pay →→→→

rapid movements )! 'Tis a journey of caution; and it fares better with fentiments 2), not to be in

hurry

with them; fo I contracted with a Voiturin to take his time with a couple of moles, and convey me in my own chaise safe to Turin through Savoy.

Poor, patient, quiet, honeft people 3)! fear not; your poverty, the treafury of your fimple virtues, will

not be envied you by the world, nor will your val lies be invaded by it. Nature, in the midst of thy diforders, thou art ftill friendly to the fcantiness thou haft created with all thy great works about thee, little haft thou left to give, either to the fcythe but to that little, thou granteft fafety

or to the ficle

and protection; and fweet are the dwellings which ftand fo fhelter'd.

Let the way worn traveller vent his complaints upon the fudden turns and dangers of your roads your rocks your precipices the difficulties of getting up the horrors of getting down mountains impracticable and cataracts, which roll down great ftones from their fummits, and block his road up. The peasants had been all day at work in removing a fragment of this kind between St. Michael and Madane; and by the time my Voiturin got to the place, it wan-.. ted full two hours of completing before a paffage could any how be gain'd): there was nothing but to wait with patience 'twas a wet and tempeftuous night; fo that by the delay, and that together, the Voiturin found himself obliged to take up five miles fhort of his ftage) at a little decent kind of an inn by the road fide.

I forthwith took poffeffion of my bedchamber got a good fire- order'd fupper; and was thanking