"Georgina whispered rather than said, he was a great deal too good; but, affected by all this avowal of his admiration and his tenderness, a tear trickled through the fingers that still covered her eyes, which, devouring her as he did with his, he could not fail to perceive.

"His heart dilated with joy; and a delicious hope, which can be imagined only by those who have felt it, seemed to take possession of him, spite of all Evelyn's prognostics.

"Yes,' continued he, "I could have no doubt who and what was the sweet anodyne to the canker which consumed me-out of humour with myself, with mankind, and particularly I fear with womenkind, until my sweet and lovely neighbour redeemed the whole sex, by convincing me I was wrong.

"How deeply (suspecting no danger or disappointment, where I knew not at first that I had presumed to form a hope,) how deeply did I drink of this comfort till my senses were overcome; and I have waked only to greater and more lasting misery than before.'

"Oh! Mr. Tremaine,' said Georgina, now finding her voice, why all this?— what can your meaning be?

"She stopt; and he instantly replied, My meaning is, Georgina, that I cannot be the coxcomb to presume, that with such disparity of years between us, the friend and school companion of your father, I could ever obtain more than your esteem. To inspire you with those sentiments, that warmth and eagerness of affection, which yet I should be fool enough to look for in the person I sought for my heart's companion-to do this, I should despair.'

"Oh! if that were all!' exclaimed Georgina, while a stifled sigh, amounting even to sobbing, prevented her from going on.

"In my turn, my dear Georgina,' said Tremaine, let me ask what can your meaning be?'

"Alas!' answered Georgina, gathering strength and fortitude to proceed with her purpose, how little would the disparity you talk of be, in my eyes, if there were no other cruel disagreement between us!'

"I will not affect to misunderstand you,' replied Tremaine, for I have gathered all from your father; but tell me, sweet girl, is it possible I have heard aright, and from your own lips-is it possible, (I beseech you to bless me again with the assurance, if true,) is it possible that I could really aspire to your love, were all these disagreements, which you call so cruel, removed?'

"Georgina, immediately became again abashed, and returning to her former position, only covering her face still more with her hand, she asked, in a hesitating subdued voice,

"Does my present behaviour show that Mr. Tremaine's attentions can be unwelcome to me?'

"Tremaine's whole frame became at these words inflated with a joy which his life had never known. He raised her hand to his lips, and was very near throwing himself at her feet, when he exclaimed,

"Then all my soul has desired is accomplished, for all other difficulties are as nothing.'

"Stop,' said Georgina, assuming all her decision, and disengaging herself from his arms; we must not go on thus. Would to heaven the difficulties you speak of were really nothing! But my father has told you, and I confirm every word he has said, that if the tenderness you have avowed to me were even more dear to me than I own it is, it would be impossible to gratify your wishes, or my own, while you think of the most sacred, most awful things, as I fear you do.'

"What,' asked Tremaine, mournfully, has your father represented of my opinions?'

"Alas! I fear he is too accurate to have misunderstood, and is too just to misrepresent them: and we lament, if I may presume to join myself with him on such an occasion, what he calls the ruin of a mind as to sacred things, too noble, in every thing else, not to inspire every one with the sincerest esteem.'

"Has he, then, related no particulars?"

"Oh! yes! but, I beseech you, spare the sorrowful account. To think that you own no providence, no care of the Almighty here, and still less hereafter, fills me with terror, only to be equalled by the grief of thinking that it is you who do this.'

"Her agitation, from mingled sorrow and tenderness, here became extreme.

1.

"Tremaine was infinitely moved; his love was only more and more excited, and had he not been probity itself, he was ready to have fallen at her feet, and confessed himself, as to religion, of any creed she would be pleased to prescribe.

"But he was probity itself, and so wholly the reverse of hypocrisy, that to have gained the world's treasure, in this love-inspiring girl, he would not have assumed it for a moment.

"Oh! sweet and admirable girl,' he exclaimed, 'sweet as thy youth, and admirable as thy beauty, how shall I answer you so as to appease your distress, and yet preserve my own character with you for the honour you allow me? How can I show you the frankness you deserve, when by doing so I probably destroy my hope of you for ever? Have you really considered this matter? is your resolution fixed? is it the spontaneous act of your deliberate mind? or is it your father's counsel that sways you, not your own?'

"Oh, my own, my own,' replied Georgina-'for were it even possible, (which it is not,) for my father to have counselled me differently, such is my horror-oh! excuse me such a word-alas! that ever I should apply it to one who -'her emotions prevented her from finishing.

"Am I, then, an object of horror to you, Georgina?

"The Almighty knows my wretchedness in using the word,' returned Georgina: 'I would say rather my terror, my grief-but whatever it be, it is so strong, lest the guide of my mind, as well as the master of my heart, should lead me into such errors, that were my affection fixed beyond all power to move it, I should dread, and would refuse to gratify it!'

"Noble girl!' cried Tremaine; but surely reasonable as noble, and, if so, will you not hear me?'

"Oh! gladly; yes, if you will confess we are mistaken.'

"Tremaine was severely pushed, in his turn. His heart's best hope hung on the answer he might choose to give to this one question. But his truth prevailed. Recovering, therefore, from the struggle, he contented himself with saying, 'of this we will talk farther; at present, I only wish to observe upon your fear that I should lead you into such errors. Whatever my opinions, (and I really know not that I have been correctly represented,) think not I would attempt to mislead you, or lead you at all. If, therefore, the most perfect freedom in your sentiments, uninfluenced by me; if the most solemn promise to abstain from even the assertion of my own in your presence; in short, a sacred compact, that the very subject shall not even be mentioned between us;-if this can insure your peace, and deliver you from your fears, by the honour you are so kind as to ascribe to me, I swear to adhere to such a promise in all the amplitude you can possibly prescribe. One exception, indeed, I possibly might ask of my Georgina, and that is, that I might be myself her pupil, until her innocent nature had so purified mine, as at least to leave no hinderance from prejudice to my arriving at truth. Lastly, should I really be thus blessed, and should our union increase the number of those interested, I would leave them all to the direction and tutorage of him in whom my Georgina would most confide-that excellent and pious man from whom she herself derives her principles, as her birth.'

"A proposal so congenial to her every feeling, so agreeable to her wishes, so soothing to her fears, so flattering to her hopes, so encouraging to all her prepossessions, made the most vivid and visible impression upon her firmness. It staggered much of her resolution, and had well nigh overpowered her whole purpose at once. Nor would, perhaps, the most virtuous, the most pious, have blamed, or at least refused to have excused her, had she yielded to terms so delightful to her heart.

"Oh! Mr. Tremaine,' she replied, in a hesitating, irresolute, but at the same time the softest voice in the world, do not thus use your power over the heart whose secret you have surprised. Tempt not, I implore you, the affection I have owned, and never will deny. Rather assert the generosity that belongs to you-that distinguishes you, I should say, from all other men whatever-and assist a poor weak creature, struggling to do what is right;-assist her against herself!'

"Ah! dearest Georgina,' replied Tremaine, what an appeal do you make! and how could I withstand it, if really there were any thing wrong or unreasonable in my proposal? But why shock me by the supposition, that I would tempt that purest of hearts to any thing against itself? Why imagine that I, who would

VOL. VII. No. 37.-Museum.

H

lay down my life to preserve any one of your principles, on which your honour or happiness depended, would, for a selfish purpose, seek to seduce those principles, or weaken the resolution that guarded them? Be more just to the man whom you have so exalted by your dear, your delicious confession."

"Oh! talk not to me thus,' answered Georgina.-You task my weakness to withstand what you know to be your strength, and which nothing but Heaven, in whose cause I feel I am a sacrifice, can enable me to resist,if indeed I can resist it!'

"Tremaine saw all his advantage elicited by the frankness of this speech, and to his eternal honour let it be recorded, that he did not push it in the moment when perhaps the victory would have been his.

་

"Reflecting an instant, he took her hand once more, and with the elevation that was at times peculiar to him, and at the same time a calmness proceeding from the sincerity of his purpose, 'My soft, yet noble girl, said he, 'no appeal of this sort could ever be made to me in vain, even if I were not, as I am, penetrated with gratitude for your kindness, and admiration at the honesty which has disdained to conceal it. Let me not therefore endeavour to push you when off your guard, or surprise you into promises which your reason may hereafter repent. To avoid all this, and remove, indeed, from myself a temptation I cannot withstand, allow me to propose a reference of my offer to your father. In his hands even the dear prejudices of your heart in my favour will surely be safe, and should he decide for me, you cannot have a fear.'

"Georgina was penetrated to her heart at this honourable conduct. She looked at Tremaine with a confidence she had never ventured upon before. Her eyes fixed themselves upon him with an expression of affection, indeed, but so mingled with respect, that it amounted to little short of veneration. It is very certain that the world did not seem to her (with all his errors) ever to have contained a being like the person who then stood before her.

"She could only ejaculate that he was the most generous of friends, and that she accepted the proposal. Nor could she deny herself to the fond embrace on which he now for the first time ventured; a ratification, as he hoped, of a compact which would render them all in all to each other.

"Agitated and unnerved beyond every thing she had before experienced in her life, Georgina broke from his arms, yet with a softness which only made her ten thousand times more his than ever. She entreated for time and opportunity to compose herself.

"It will do me good,' said she, 'to be alone for a little while, to recall my scat tered senses, which I seem to have lost. Heaven knows, I little thought to have seen this hour. It has been a bitter one to me.' "It has been bitter,' said Tremaine, and yet there have been things in it that have made it the sweetest of my life. May I not hope that this sentiment is in some degree participated by my adored friend?'

"The words were gratifying to Georgina, yet she gave a deep sigh, and loosening her hand from his, and repeating that what she had confessed she never would deny, she said it was absolutely necessary for her to be alone.

"Here,' added she, I am really too much in the power of my feelings.' “Tremaine, respecting her as usual, told her she could not express a wish that was not a command to him; and raising her hand to his lips, which she showed no disposition to oppose, he allowed her to retire.

"In point of fact, he had himself almost the same necessity for solitude, if not to recover himself, at least to deliberate what course to pursue. His first purpose, which was to seek his friend, and lay his proposal before him, he checked. It is impossible for him to agree to it, thought he, and then what becomes of this situation, which, with all its uncertainties, so delights me, that my senses are giddy with the thought of it!

"In truth, strange as it may appear, though nothing was less determinate than his prospect, there was no moment of his life that had ever appeared so delicious to him. Such is always the effect, when we love, of the first avowal that our love is returned. Dreading to lose it, Tremaine became absolutely afraid to meet the friend whom he at first so resolutely intended to seek. He was but a few paces off, for Tremaine had seen him loitering within call, during his conference with Georgina; yet his heart sank, when his mind inclined him to join Evelyn in the

garden. Longing therefore to be alone, to hug himself as it were in the thought that he was beloved by her, whom alone of all the world he thought worth loving, and wishing besides for time to examine himself more closely than he had ever yet done, in order to see whether he could not really in some degree approach the wishes of the adored of his heart,-he fairly shrunk for the moment from his purpose, and ordering his horses to follow him, took the road on foot to his own park.

"As he passed up the avenue that led from the house, he could not help turning to take a view of what was now so much dearer than ever to him. Georgina's chamber was in that front, and at the window at that moment, reclining with her head on her hand, and showing the whitest, and most graceful arm in the world -he beheld Georgina herself.

"Their surprise was mutually great at seeing each other again. Georgina's in particular; and he could not help returning, if only to apprise her of his intention to pass an hour or two at home, after which he would have the honour of waiting upon her again. She bowed and kissed her hand, with the grace that always so enchanted him, and while he lingered in sight, at least as long as it was necessary, often did he turn to give and receive greetings, the proofs of the mutual understanding which now informed them."

A great deal of misery follows this scene; but as no novel-reader can be at any great loss to guess what the end of all this is, we shall take leave to say nothing of the third volume of Tremaine, except, indeed, that few novel readers will find in the bulk of it what they expect, and that no one will find, in any part of it, anything which he will not be greatly the better for reading. In truth, we could not quote from the volume at all, unless we quoted to a very great extent; and as to giving any idea of its contents without quotation, that is quite impossible.

There are many episodes scattered all over this novel-some of them serious, others humorous. In the delineation of social manners as they now exist, we have met with nothing better than some of the lighter sketches: indeed, one or two scenes in the second volume are quite as good as any in Sayings and Doings, touching upon ground very similar, and yet doubly amusing on account of the extraordinary contrast which they present to the manner of the popular author of that work.

As usual in all modern novels, there is abundance of stock material. All the subordinate characters are, in fact, of this class,nothing can be more trite than the butlers, valets, house-keepers, retired spinsters, &c. &c. &c. of Tremaine. But Tremaine himself, Evelyn, and Georgina, are three characters fairly entitled to the praise of novelty. The first and the last of them to that of exquisite and original felicity.

On the whole, we can have no doubt that this work will enjoy a lasting, if not a noisy popularity, and unquestionably look forward with high hope and interest to the future exertions of the amiable and accomplished person (whoever that may be) that has written it. [Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.

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SELECTED FOR THE MUSEUM.

MUSIC; A FRAGMENT.

"My Soul is an enchanted boat,

Which, like a sleeping Swan, doth float,

Upon the silver waves of thy sweet singing."-Shelley.

Ir rose upon me, clear and nigh,

A rich and perfect harmony:

Three female voices silver soft

From souls of heavenly music streaming.

Like hymn of Seraphs heard aloft

By youthful Poet dreaming.

And yet 'twas clear that it must be
A strain of earthly melody;
For in the words of that wild song
Did human hopes and wishes throng;
And they who sung it, ye might know
By looks and tones the heart revealing,
Were dwellers on this world below,
Souls fraught with human feeling.

It rose, and sank, and rose again,—
The streams of music sever;
One gentle voice takes up the strain
Like the voice of a lonely river.
I hear its crystal waters flow
In mellow murmurs, lone and low;
The wild flowers on its banks that grow

Beneath my feet are springing.

And o'er my head an azure sky
Extends its boundless canopy;

Flocks graze, and milk-maids carol nigh,
And trees seem waving gracefully,
And village bells are ringing.

And hark! another stream has risen,
With a sudden burst from its silent prison;
A bolder stream which sweeps along
With solemn music clear and strong,
Through the forest's green abysses
Down the rocky precipices,
Rolling with a golden sound-
Now the sister stream is found;
And the kindred waves unite
With a murmur of delight.
Onward-onward, widening ever,

Winds the visionary river

Toward some ocean-hark!-a third!

Never sure hath mortal heard

Such wild music as these three

Make in their sweet unity.

[Knight's Monthly Mog.