AUTHOR OF PRACTICAL EDUCATION, BELINDA, CASTLE RACKRENT, ESSAY ON IRISH BULLS, &C. IN SIX VOLUMES. VOL. V. CONTAINING EMILIE DE COULANGES AND THE BEGINNING OF THE ABSENTEE. Tutta la gente in lieta fronte udiva Le graziose e finte istorielle Ed i difetti altrui tosto scopriva Ciascuno, e non i proprj espressi in quelle; O se de proprj sospettava, ignoti Credeali a ciascun altro, e a se nol noti. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON AND CO., Blackwell 3-8-47 EMILIE DE COULANGES. EMILIE de Coulanges was a young French emigrant, of a noble family, and heiress to a large estate; but the property of her family had been confiscated during the revolution. She and her mother, la comtesse de Coulanges, made their escape to England. Madame de Coulanges was in feeble health, and much dispirited by the sudden loss of rank and fortune. Mademoiselle de Coulanges felt the change more for her mother, than for herself; she always spoke of her mother's misfortunes, never of her own. "I am young, I am in good health," said she; "I am not to be pitied.-- But my poor mamma, who has been used all her life to such luxuries! And now to have only her Emilie to wait upon her!Her Emilie, who is but an awkward femme de chambre! But she will improve, it must be hoped; — and as to the rest, things, which are now always changing, and which cannot change for the worse, must soon infallibly change for the better and mamma will certainly recover all her property, one of these days. In the mean time, (if mamma is tolerably well,) we shall be perfectly happy in England — that charming country, which, perhaps, we should never have seen, but for this terrible revolution. Here we shall assuredly find friends. The English are such good people! - Cold, indeed, at first - that's their misfortune!-But then the English coldness is of manner, not of heart. Time immemorial, they have been famous for making the best friends in the world; and even to us, who are their natural enemies, they are generous in our distress. |