Chapter 8

He went by the way of Burgundy, and passing through Dijon proceeded to Lyons, where the sight of the ruins of some Roman palaces yet remaining there, the fine churches, and beautiful prospect that city affords, being situated at the confluence of the rivers Rhone and Soane, tempted him to stay some days.--He was one evening sitting with his landlord in the inn-yard, when a post-chaise came in, out of which alighted a gentleman and a lady, just by the place where they were.--The man got up with all the obsequiousness of persons of his calling, to bid them welcome, and shew them into a room:--the lady, in passing, looked earnestly at Natura, and his eyes were no less attached on her: he thought he saw in her face features he was perfectly acquainted with, but could not, at that instant, recollect where he had been so. Not so with her, she easily remembered him, and in less than half an hour he received an invitation by his name from these new guests to sup with them, which he accepted of with great politeness, but said at the same time, he could not imagine to whom he was obliged for that honour.--On his coming into the room, 'Difference of habit,' said the lady, smiling, 'joined with the little probability there was of meeting me in this place, may well disguise me from your knowledge; but these impediments to remembrance, are not on your account; monsieur Natura is the same in person at Lyons, as at the convent of Riche Dames, though perhaps,' added she, 'somewhat changed in mind.' There needed no more to make him know she was one of the two nuns who always dined, when he was there, with the abbess, and was her particular confidante.--'By what miracle, madam, are you here?' cried he: 'by such another,' answered she, 'as might have brought Elgidia here, had not an unlucky spirit put other thoughts into her head.'

She then proceeded to inform him, that loving, and being equally beloved by the gentleman who was with her, she had made her escape with him from the monastery, and was going with him into one of the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, of which he was a native, and where they were certain of being safe from any prosecutions, either from her kindred, or the church.

Natura, after having made his compliments to the gentleman on the occasion, enquired of her concerning the abbess and Elgidia; on which she informed him of all the particulars related in the preceding chapter; adding, that after the receipt of the two letters he had sent, the sisters came to a mutual understanding, each confessed her foible to the other, and the cause of their quarrel being for ever removed, a sincere reconciliation between them ensued.

As gratitude is natural to the soul, and never is erased but by the worst passions that can obtrude upon the human mind, Natura had enough for these ladies to make him extremely glad no worse consequences had attended their acquaintance with him, but was extremely merry, as they were all indeed, at the story of the supposed spirit:--they passed the best part of the night together in very entertaining discourses, and the next day the two lovers proceeded on their journey to Switzerland, as Natura the following one did his to Avignon.

Here again he halted for some time, to feast his eyes, and give subject for future contemplation, on the magnificent buildings, fine gardens, churches, and other curiosities, which he was told of, gave him a sample, tho' infinitely short, of what he would find in Rome;--the grandeur in which the nobility lived, the elegance and politeness in the houses of even the lowest rank of gentry, and the masquerades, balls, and other public diversions, which every night afforded, made him already see that neither the pleasures, nor the delicacies of life were confined to Paris.

The desire of novelty is inherent to a youthful heart, and nothing so much gratifies that passion as travelling:--variety succeeds variety;--whether you climb the craggy mountains, or traverse the flowery vale;--whether thick woods set limits to the light, or the wide common yields unbounded prospect;--whether the ocean rolls in solemn state before you, or gentle streams run purling by your side, nature in all her different shapes delights; each progressive day brings with it fresh matter to admire, and every stage you come to presents at night customs and manners new and unknown before.

The stupendous mountains of the Alps, after the plains and soft embowered recesses of Avignon, gave perhaps a no less grateful sensation to the mind of Natura: he wanted indeed such a companion as death had deprived him of in his good governor, to instruct him how to improve contemplation, and to moralize on the amazing and different objects he beheld; yet as his thoughts were now wholly at liberty, and his reason unclouded by any passions of what kind soever, he did not fail to make reflections suitable to the different occasions.

Whoever has seen Rome will acknowledge he must find sufficient there to exercise all his faculties; but though the architecture, and the paintings which ornament that august city might have engrossed his whole attention, the many venerable reliques which were shewn him of old Rome, appeared yet more lovely in his eyes; which shews the charms antiquity has for persons even of the most gay dispositions: but this, according to my opinion, is greatly owing to the prejudice of education, which forces us as it were to an admiration of the antients, meerly because they are so, and not that they are in any essential respect always deserving that vast preference given them over the moderns:--this may be easily proved by the exorbitant prices some of our virtuoso's give for pieces of old copper, which are reckoned the most valuable, as the inscriptions or figures on them are least legible.

Natura, however, was not so absorbed in his admiration of the ruined corner of a bath, or the half-demolished portico of an amphitheatre, as to neglect those entertainments which more affect the senses, and consequently give the most natural delight;--the exquisite music performed at the churches, carried him there much oftener than devotion would have done, and rarely did he fail the opera at night.

As the Romans are allowed to be the best bred people upon earth, especially to strangers, be they of what country or perswasion soever, neither the being an Englishman or a Protestant hindered him from making very good acquaintance, and receiving the greatest civilities from them; but the person to whom he was most obliged, and who indeed had taken a particular fancy to him, was the younger son of the family of Caranna: this nobleman, knowing his taste for music, would frequently take him with him to his box at the opera-house, most persons of condition having little closets or boxes to themselves, of which every one keeps his own key, and none can be admitted but by it:--nothing can be more indulging, as there are curtains to draw before them, and the seats are made in such a manner that the person may lie down at his ease.

The signior of Caranna being otherwise engaged one night, when a celebrated piece was to be performed, he lent his key to Natura, unknowing that his wife, who had also one, had made a compliment of her's to a young lady of her acquaintance.

Natura by some accident being delayed from going till after the opera began, on entering was surprized to find a very beautiful young person there, stretched on the sopha:--as he had been told the box would be intirely empty, he knew not whether he ought to retire or go forward and seat himself by her:--this consideration kept him some minutes in the posture he was in, and perceiving she was too much taken up with the music, either to have heard him open the door, or see him after he came in, he had the opportunity of feasting his eyes, with gazing on the thousand charms she was mistress of; all which were displayed to a great advantage by the shadowy light which gleamed from the stage thro' a thin crimson taffety curtain, which she had drawn before her, to the end she might neither be seen by others, nor see any thing herself which might take off her attention from the music.

In fine, he drew near, and had placed himself close by her before she observed him; but no sooner did so, than she started, and appeared in some confusion: he made a handsome apology for the intrusion, which he assured her, with a great deal of truth, was wholly owing to chance, and said he would withdraw, if his presence would be any interruption to the pleasure she proposed:--she seemed obliged to him for the offer, but told him she would not abuse the proof he gave of his complaisance by accepting it; on which he bowed, and continued in his place.

Both the music, and the words, seemed intended to lull the soul into a forgetfulness of all beside, and fill it only with soft ideas:--it had at least this effect upon the lady, who had closed her eyes, and was in reality lost to every other sense than that of hearing.--Natura, either was, or pretended to be, equally transported, and sunk insensibly upon her bosom, without any opposition on her part:--she had possibly even forgot she was not alone, and when an air full of the most inchanting tenderness was singing, was so much dissolved in extasy, that crying out, 'O God, 'tis insupportable!' she threw her arms over Natura's neck, who was still in the same posture I just mentioned;--he spoke not a word, but was not so absorbed in the gratification of one faculty, as to let slip the gratification of the others:--he seized the lucky moment;--he pressed her close, and in this trance of thought, this total absence of mind, stole himself, as it were, into the possession of a bliss, which the assiduity of whole years would perhaps never have been able to obtain.

Reason and thought at last returned; she opened her eyes, she knew to what the rapture she had been in had exposed her, and was struck with the most poignant shame and horror:--she broke with all her force from that strict embrace in which he had continued to hold her; and being withdrawn to the farther corner of the closet,--'What have I done,' cried she, 'What have I done!'--these words she repeated several times, and accompanied them with tears, wringing her hands, and every testimony of remorse.--It was in vain for him to attempt to pacify her, much less to prevail on her to suffer any second proofs of his tenderness;--she would not even give him leave to touch her hand, and on his offering it, pushed him back, saying, 'No, stranger! you have taken the advantage of my _insensibility_ but shall never triumph over my _reason_, which enables me to hate you,--to fly from you for ever, as from a serpent.'

Natura said every thing that love and wit could inspire, to reconcile her to what had past; but she remained inflexible, and only condescended to request him to leave the place before the opera was ended, that they might not be seen coming out together, and that he would tell signior Carrana, that having unexpectedly found a lady in the box, he had withdrawn without entering.--He then begged she would entertain a more favourable opinion of an action, which her beauty, the bewitching softness of the entertainment, and the place they were in, had all concurred to make him guilty of; but she would listen to nothing on that head, insisted on his never taking the least notice of her, wherever they might chance to meet; and only told him, that tho' she was unalterably fixed in this resolution, yet he might depend upon it she hated him less than she did herself.

Finding she was not to be moved, he obeyed her commands, and straight went out of the box, more amazed at the oddness of the adventure, than can be well expressed; and yet more so, when he afterwards heard she was the wife of a person of great condition, was in the first month of her marriage with him, and had the reputation of a woman of strict virtue.

As this false step was meerly accidental, wholly unpremeditated on either side, and by what can be judged by the character of the lady, and her behaviour afterwards, was no more on her part than a surprize on the senses, in which the mind was not consulted, and had not the least share, I know not whether it may not more justly be called a slip of unguarded nature, than a real crime in her; and as for Natura, though certainly the most guilty of the two, whoever considers his youth, his constitution, and above all the greatness of the temptation, which presented itself before him, will allow, that he must either have been _more_, or _less_, than _man_, to have behaved otherwise than he did.

Let the most severely virtuous, who happily have never fallen into the same error, but figure to themselves the circumstances of this transgressing pair, and well consider in what manner nature must operate, when thus powerfully excited, and if they are not rendered totally incapable of any soft sensations, by an uncommon frigidity of constitution, they will cease either to wonder at, or too cruelly condemn, the effects of so irresistible an impulse.

Were it not for the precepts of religion and morality, the fears of scandal, and shame of offending against law and custom, man would undoubtedly think himself intitled to the same privileges which the brute creation in this point enjoy above him; and it is not therefore strange, that whenever reason nods, as it sometimes will do, even in those who are most careful to preserve themselves under its subjection, that the senses ever craving, ever impatient for gratification, should readily snatch the opportunity of indulging themselves, and which it is observable they ordinarily do to the greater excess, by so much the longer, and the more strictly they have been kept under restraint.

CHAP. III.

The uncertainty of human events displayed in many surprizing turns of fortune, which befel Natura, on his endeavouring to settle himself in the world: with some proofs of the necessity of fortitude, as it may happen that actions, excited by the greatest virtue, may prove the source of evil, both to ourselves and others.

Natura stayed but six months in Rome, and then passed on to Florence, where having seen all the curiosities that place afforded, he only waited to receive some remittances from his father, after which he intended to cross the Appenines to Bolognio, then proceed to Venice, and so through the Tirolose to Vienna, and flattered himself with having time enough to visit all the different courts which compose the mighty empire of Germany.

These remittances were delayed much longer than he had expected, and when they arrived, were accompanied by a positive command from his father to put an end to his travels, and return to England with all the expedition he could.--His surprize at so unlooked for an order, would have been equal to the mortification it gave him, if he had not received a letter from his sister at the same time, which informed him, that his being so suddenly recalled was wholly owing to the misfortunes in which their family was at present involved:--that soon after his departure, their father had discovered an intercourse between his wife and a person who pretended to be a relation, no way to the honour of either of them;--that frequent quarrels had at length separated them;--that he was engaged in a law-suit with her, and also in several others, with people to whom she, in revenge, as it was supposed, had given bonds, dated before marriage, for very great sums of money, pretended to have been borrowed of them by her;--that tho' the imposition was too gross not to be easily seen through, yet the forms of the courts of judicature could not be dispensed with, and the continual demands made upon him had laid him under such inconveniencies as obliged him even to lessen the number of his servants, and retrench his table:--she added, that he spoke of his dear Natura with the utmost tenderness, and was under a very great concern that the necessity of his affairs would not permit to send him any more such supplies as were requisite for the prosecution of his travels.

Natura at first felt a very great shock at this account; but it is the peculiar blessing of youth, not to be for any length of time affected with misfortunes; his melancholly soon dissipated, and he thought of nothing more than compliance with the command he had received, and also to perform it in the cheapest manner he could.--On speaking of his intentions of returning home, he was advised to go to Leghorn, which being a very great port, it would be no difficulty to find a ship bound for Holland or England, in which he might take his passage at an easy rate. He had certainly taken this method, but meeting with an English gentleman, who was on his travels, and had not yet been at Rome, was perswaded by him to go back, on his offering to bear the whole expences of that route, for the pleasure of his company.--After a stay of two or three months there, they pursued their journey to Paris, where Natura renewed all the former acquaintance he had there:--the baron d' Eyrac, with whom he had contracted an intimate friendship, and from whom he concealed nothing of his affairs, was extremely concerned to hear the occasion of his being recalled so much sooner than he had expected, and made him an offer which suited very well with Natura's inclination to accept: it was this.

That an old officer in the army having obtained leave to dispose of his commission, Natura should become the purchaser; and to enable him to do so, the baron would advance a sum of money, to be returned at several easy payments, as he received the profits arising from his troop.

Love and gallantry had already had their turns with Natura; ambition, and the pride of being in an independent state, began now to work in him:--as France was in alliance with England, there was neither shame nor danger in entering into her service:--besides, he considered, that as his father was no longer in a condition to supply him with money abroad, he could not expect any settlement to be made on him at home that would be answerable to his former expectations;--and that by a captain's pay, joined to some assistance he might hope to receive sometimes from England, he should be enabled to make a very good figure in the world, till the misfortunes of his family should be retrieved, and if they never were so, he should at least have a provision for life, in a country he was not weary of.

He therefore made no hesitation of accepting this proof of the baron's friendship, who immediately went about making good his promise; and what with his money, and the great interest he had, both with the court and army, Natura was dispensed with, for not having been in the service before; and in a very few days saw himself at the head of a troop of horse.

His father, to whom he wrote an account of the step he had taken, with his motives for it, was far from being offended at it; tho' he told him it added to his trouble, to think his eldest son should be compelled, by his having entered into a second marriage, to have recourse to any avocation whatever for bread; but concluded with telling him, that in the severe necessity of their present circumstances, he could not have pitched on any thing more agreeable to his inclinations, or more honourable in itself.

This letter served to compose all the disquiets Natura had of disobliging a parent, for whom he retained the most tender, as well as dutiful regard, ever since the kind forgiveness be received from him at Wapping, which shews the great effect of lenity over a mind, where gratitude and generosity are not wholly extinguished; which, as I before observed, they never are, but by a long habitude of vice.

He was now as happy as he had any need to wish to be, enjoying all the pleasures of life in a reasonable way, and rarely transgressing the bounds of moderation; and when at any time, through the prevalence of example, or the force of his own passions, he was hurried to some little excesses, they were never such as could incur the censure of dishonourable or mean. He was punctual to his payments with the baron, and had the satisfaction of seeing himself intirely out of debt at three years end; which manner of behaviour so endeared him to that gentleman, that few friendships are to be found more sincere, than that which subsisted between them.

But as good sometimes arises out of evil, so what is in itself a real happiness, is not always without consequences altogether the reverse; as it proved to Natura, who from the most contented situation, all owing to the baron's friendship, was, on a sudden, by that very friendship, thrown into one of the greatest trouble and danger.

One morning, as he was dressing, the baron entered his chamber, with a countenance which before he spoke, denoted he had somewhat of importance to communicate:--Natura easily perceived it, and to put him out of pain, ordered his valet to leave the room; on which the other immediately told him, he was come to desire a proof of that sincere good-will he had professed for him.--'I should,' replied he, 'be the most unworthy of mankind, if I had not in reality much more than is in the power of words to express, and not look on an opportunity given by you of testifying it, equal to any favour you have bestowed on me.'

The baron was at present in too much agitation of spirit to answer this compliment as he would have done at another time; and made haste to inform him, that the countess d' Ermand, who on some misunderstanding with her husband, had been confined in a monastery for several months, without any hopes of obtaining her release, had found means to convey a letter to him, earnestly requesting he would assist her in her escape:--'she has acquainted me,' continued he, 'with the plot she has laid;--there is nothing impracticable in it; but I cannot do what she desires without the help of some trusty friend, and it is you alone I dare rely upon, in a business, which, if not carefully concealed, as well as resolutely acted, may be of very ill consequence.'

Natura did not greatly relish this piece of knight-errantry; but as he thought he ought to refuse nothing to the baron, hesitated not to assure him of the most ready compliance; on which the other told him, he must get two or three of his soldiers, who, disguised like peasants, but well mounted, and their swords concealed under their cloaths, must attend the expedition, and be at hand in case they should meet with any resistance, which, however, he said he did not apprehend, it being but ten small miles to the monastery, the road but little frequented, and the time agreed upon for the execution of the project twelve at night; so there was no great danger of any interruption, unless some unfortunate accident should happen.--'The lady,' continued he, 'informs me she has observed the place where the portress constantly hangs up the key of the outer gate every night, and when the nuns are gone into the chapel to their midnight devotions, can easily slip out:--we have only therefore to be there exactly at the time, and be ready to receive her; and as for the rest, I have already provided a place where she may remain undiscovered, till something can be done for her.'

The baron added many things concerning the ill treatment she had received; but Natura did not give himself any trouble to examine into the merits of the cause, it was sufficient for him to do what he requested of him; and that night being the same had been appointed by the lady for the business to be done, he went immediately about preparing for it.