NAMPONT.

THE DEAD ASS.

__AND ND this, faid he, putting the reinains of a cruft into his wallet-and this, fhould have been thy portion, faid he, hadft thou been alive to have fhared it with me.-I thought by the accent, it had been an apoftrophe to his child; but 'twas to his afs, and to the very afs we had feen dead in the road,

venture.

which had occafioned La Fleur's mifadThe ma feemed to lament it much; and it instantly brought into my mind Sancho's lamentation for his; but he did it with more true touches of nature.

The mourner was fitting upon a flone bench at the door, with the afs's pannel and its bridle on one fide, which

he took up from time to time-then laid them down-look'd at them and fhook his head. He then took his cruft of bread out of his wallet again, as if to eat it; held it fome time in his hand

then laid it upon the bit of his afs's bridle-looked wiftfully at the little arrangement he had made-and then gave a figh.

The fimplicity of his grief drew numbers about him. and La Fleur amongst the reft, whilft the horses were getting ready; as I continued fitting in the poft-chaife, I could fee and hear over their heads.

-He faid he had come laft from Spain, where he had been .from the furtheft borders of Franconia; and had got fo far on his return home, when his afs died. Every one feem'd defirous

to

to know what bufinefs could have taken fo old and poor a man fo far a journey from his own home.

It had pleafed heaven, he faid, to bless him with three fons, the finest lads in all Germany; but having in one week loft two of the eldest of them by the fmall-pox, and the youngest falling ill of the fame diftemper, he was afraidof being bereft of them all; and made. a vow, if Heaven would not take him from him alfo, he would go in gra titude to St. Iago in Spain, wa

When the mourner got thus far on his ftory, he ftopp'd to pay nature her tribute and wept bitterly.

He faid, Heaven had accepted the conditions; and that he had set out from his cottage with this poor creature, who

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who had been a patient partner of his journey that it had eat the fame bread with him all the way, and was untó him as a friend.

Every body who flood about, heard the poor fellow with concern-La Fleur offered him money. The mourner faid, he did not want it-it was not the value of the afs--but the lofs of him. -The afs, he faid, he was affüred loved him-and upon this told them a long flory of a mifchance upon their paffage over the Pyrenean mountains which had feparated them from each other three days; during which time the afs had fought him as much as he had fought the afs, and that they had neither scarce eat or drank till they met.

Thou haft one comfort, friend, faid. I, at leaft in the lofs of thy poor beast;

I'm fure thou haft been a merciful mafter to him.-Alas! faid the mourner, I thought fo, when he was alive-but now that he is dead I think otherwise.

I fear the weight of myself and my afflictions together have been too much for him-they have fhortened the poor creature's days, and I fear I have them to answer for.-Shame on the world! faid I to myself-Did we love each other, as this poor foul but loved his afs-twould be fomething