I beheld all that was rare in form, all that was exquisite in beauty: her blue eyes, melting in tender languor, were fixed upon her parent, while over her lovely features the laughing graces of Hygeia seemed to play, as her rosy finger pointed to the gaily freighted bosom of the Adriatic.Alas! who, unmoved, could have beheld a being so peerless, so replete with infantine innocence, with modest unobtrusive playfulness? Her soul was the seat of every virtue, her countenance the reflective mirror of that soul.-But I forget," said the Duca mournfully, "that the panegyrics of a lover possess no claim on the attention of a stranger; I forget that you, Signor, unacquainted with the glowing charms of Philippina, must condemn the minuteness of a detail, which can boast no other ornament than truth.

"Musing on the beauteous vision which, but a moment before, had burst upon my sight; nay, almost pitying the unfortunate being whose adoration could claim no re

ciprocal

ciprocal sigh, I turned once more to gaze on the sylphid form, but the envious rock had interposed; and, as I stood, a shriek of mingled agony and terror assailed my ear. Pausing not an instant, for my heart whispered it could be none other than Philippina, I grasped my sword, and, calling to my servant, rushed hastily to her rescue. It was indeed Philippina, struggling in the sacrilegious grasp of a wretch,. who, heedless of her distraction, was endeavouring to force her to a boat; while the nearly-frantic father, rendered desperate by outraged nature, combatting the united strength of two assassins, was madly calling on Heaven to avenge her wrongs. The effect and the design were alike instantaneous: my sword was unsheathed-the villain fell. Regardless of the pale, the almost dying Philippina, I flew to the assistance of her father; but, alas! the daggers of his assailants had already laid him low-gasping, bleeding, he had fallen on the sand; and the cowardly instruments of another's

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another's vengeance, beholding the fall of their leader, and the unexpected interference of myself and servant, fled. At a loss how to act, I returned to the stillsenseless Philippina, hoping, by recalling her to life, to be aided by her counsels; and, as I knelt at her side, as I drew her from the nerveless grasp of her ravisher, my eyes resting on his face, I recognised the inveterate foe of my dearest friendthe Marchese di Montranzo, the oncerejected lover of the Marchesa.

"Soon were the fleeting senses of Philippina restored, and, with them, that rich mine of fortitude, those powers of action, so peculiarly her own. My servant was sent to the villa to procure assistance; and in a short time, upon a kind of litter, we conveyed thither the unfortunate De Linchtenstein. But Philippina, even in her anxious solicitude for her father, forgot not the cause of humanity; she raised her blue to my face, as, kneeling, she supported the head of her parent, and besought me to

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succour

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succour the guilty author of her calamity: If he should die,' she articulated, and tears, such as angels shed, streamed down her cheeks, ah think, Signor, how little he can be prepared!'- Believe me, sweet maid, he merits the doom he has provoked.'' But, so guilty!' resumed Philippina: fly, in mercy fly, and awaken the powers of repentance!'- Perhaps the powers of future mischief,' I involuntarily pronounced. Humanity sanctions the effort, Heaven destines the effect,' rejoined Philippina. The solemnity of her manner conveyed a reproach, which deprived me of the power of further delay: I hastened from her presence, and returned to the beach; but the body of the Conte Manfredini was nowhere to be seen; the sand, still stained with the empurpled stream, marked the spot where he had reclined, but the boat had disappeared, and no vestige to steer by could be discovered.

"It is here necessary," said the Duca,. bowing an apology for digressing from his story,

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story, "to acquaint you, Signor, how my knowledge of the Conte Manfredini commenced it was at Florence that I first beheld him, when love led thither the young Marchese di Montranzo, to lay at the feet of the beautiful heiress of the Marchese di Novarra, the laurels of fame, the hopes of bliss. The discernment of the Signora singled out my friend; and Di Manfredini, rejected, became his foe. His implacable heart harboured vengeance: like the insidious serpent, envying the happiness he could not share, he pined to turn its rich hopes into bitterness, to poison the vital stream of Di Montranzo's felicity but the effort, black as the soul which formed it, was blasted; his machinations recoiled upon himself; and, in the disgrace of convicted baseness, he fled in secrecy. The Marchese, blessed in the affection of the fondly-selected partner of his life, blessed in the darling heir which she had given to his honours, wasted not one thought on a being so unworthy; he returned to his na