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? <r-i , . . ^ ' I | _ _ ' ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ . / ' ' lewish oBisi,Proprietor.} In Independent Journal: For tlie Promotion of the Political, Social, Agricultural and Commercial Interests of the South. {-?*?& aw?*, or abtawS ' ?_ ? ' . ' 1 VOL. 4. " ~~ YOBKYILLE, S. P., THURSDAY, JULY1, 1858. 36?.. Cjje Storg-Cdlcr. L OS T. A STOEY OP POUE YOUNG MEN,. IV?THE MURDER AND SUICIDE. Ten years passed away. In my happy home, surrounded by ray wife and children, I rarely gave a thought to the wild days of on/I woq rrrnrlnnllv HPt.t.ll ncr down "Jjr JVUVUf BUU n?u J,--- J 0 into a humdrum attorney at law. My profession enlisted all the intellectual energy which I possessed, and for recreation and happiness I did not desire to look beyond the affectionate home circle which met me each day with loving smile and caresses. If in the midst of toils, or my evening joys, the figures of Marquis Cotesbury and his companions ever rose before me?if the beautiful face of Caroline Francis, my wife's former friend, smiled in my memory?if, in a word, that old life came back, in a dream as it were, I did not long continue to dwell upon it. As we pass on in life things change in value for us?old ties become looser, we have a lingering kindness for old times, and old faces ; but the wife at our side, the children round our knees, soon rout all our dreams, and bring us back to the sweeter reality. To sum up everything, Marquis Cotesbury and his companions had completely disappeared from my horizon, when one mnrnincr ?. Wfpr was laid on mv table wbich recalled old things. It was a request from Marquis that I would come to at as early a moment as I found convenient; he required my assistance in a matter of important business. Our Supreme Court had just adjourned, aod the request, which at any other time I could not have responded to, was perfectly feasible. On. the very next morning therefore I took the stage-coach, and set out for the city of . In those days travelling was a very tedious affair; and as I should be two days at least upon the road, I determined to arrange my time economically?a portion for conversation, another portion for thought, another for observation of the country. In the prosecution of this plan I met with but one obstacle. This was the presence of two men upon the outside of the vehicle who were intoxicated, and continued throughout the day to utter the most disgusting oaths. When the coach stopped for the night these men had an altercation with the driver, who declined attempting a very dangerous piece of road in the pitch darkness. He remained stubborn and immovable, and the quarrelsome passengers finally staggered off to the bar-room of the tavern; where they called for whiskey punches, and applied themselves assiduously to the task of 'making a night of it.' As they passed me I thought there was something familiar in their faces, bloated and blotched by habits of confirmed intemperance, and the idea occurred to me that I had defended one at least of them in a criminal onma mote V>nfnro T pnnl<} rmt hfi Per tl Ittl OVUiV JVUJU UV?V?Vi a VVM><* ?.v. tain of this, however, and dismissed the subject from my mind, selected another apartmentfor reading my newspaper, and glad to get away from their drunken revelry. At ten o'olook, as I passed the door of the barroom, I saw the two men wrestling with each other, and uttering oaths mingled with drunken langhter, and then not wishing to sadden myself further with the spectacle, I retired to sleep. I had slept two or three hours, I suppose, when a sudden outcry, followed by the explosion of a pistol, suddenly awakened me. I hastily drew on my clothes and descended to the lower floor, where a confused crowd of persons and lights moving about, indicated some terrible source of excitement. I shall never forget the horrible spectacle which greeted my eyes as I entered the common room. At two paces from the door, one of the two men I had left drinking lay dead, with a terrible wound on his forehead, evidently produced by the ball of a pistol; at the other end of the apartment, his companion was supported in the arms of the landlord?his breast covered with blood, his countenance as pale as ashes. He was evidentlv dvine, and indeed expired in a few minutes after my entrance. But before his eyes became glazed we exchanged a glance which made me draw back, faint and shuddering. I bad recognized in that changed look of thfl. dying man -friend nf other days, Tom Francis. An examination of the other's face revealed also the fact that his companion was the kindest of good fellows ?the sunbeam of our old revels?poor Charley Ashton. For a time my horror and grief were too great for speech; but at last I enquired the particulars of the shocking event. The companions bad continued to sit up and order fresh drink long after every one had retired, despite the remonstrances of the landlord ; and with each additional potation they grew more wild and ungovernable. Commencing a mere playful altercation, they had grappled in a laughing wrestle, but the rough play irritated them both. The landlord said that he first comprehended this dangerous change of feeling from their voices, but, quickly as he hastened from his post behind the counter, he had been unable to part them. Drawing a knife from his bosom one of them had plunged it into the other's heart?and then, reooiling with wild horror at the deed, had drawn a pistol, and placing it to his forehead, put an end to his own life. I shall not attempt to convey an impression of my feelings at this terrible tragedy. The murder and suicide of twomenwhohad been my close friends, communicated to my nature a shock which it did not recover from for years. I pray that never while I live a similar speotacle may be presented to my eyes. The dead bodies were solemnly removed, few words were spoken, and on the next day, when we continued our journey, little was said of the occurrence. It was something too awful for convereatipn. J reached at four in the eveniflg, and ifci?? at five had made my toilet, and presented myself at the door of Marquis Cotesbury'e splendid mansion, once so familiar. V.?MARQUIS COTESBURY AT THIRTY-SIX. I had not been in the well remembered receiving room five minutes when Marquis entered. His appearance shocked me profoundly. All his bloom and beauty of countenance had disappeared, his cheeks were sunken and flushed, his eyes blood-shot, and of a lack-lustre appearance, and as he came towards me I perceived that his gait was unctnoilir anrt of nno mnmonf, lif> was onmnelled r to catch the comer of a marble table to keep himself from staggering. 'Why how are you, my dear Will?' he said, shaking my hand warmly, and looking at me with his old kind glance. 'It is'good for soje eyes to see you, my boy, and you see my eyes are not far from that?rings around 'em, and sunken?drink, drink j I told you how it would be?ha 1 ha !?but you ? You look as fresh as a May morning, my youngster I' And Marquis gazed at me again with his kind good eyes, until tears nearly rushed from my own. Oh, my dear Marquis 1 my dear friend,' I could not help saying, ?it pains me to the heart to see you looking so ill. Ten years hate worsted you painfully?very painfully.' Marquis steadied himself by a chair and sat down, with a laugh. That's true, Will, my boy. Ten years of drink are enough to hurt any constitution, and mine wasof iron. Iam really astonished some times, to think how strong I must have been originally. I think I'll last five or ten years longer?the rest won't. I was too much pained to reply. 'There was that fellow Thornbnrg, who had the little affair with me, you remember, in the year ,' continued Marquis, laughing, 'drank himself within a foot of the grave, and then as luck would have it, broke his neck by a fall from his horse, after dinner. He was a great rascal?he cheated me at cards, if I recall rightly?I remember something about it, but my memory grows sadly treacherous. Then there was Charley and Tom?poor Tom ! They still keep it up. They are both long since ruined, and lead wandering lives. I've tried to reclaim Tom, and?this is a fanrily secret?he gets piles of money from me, but the devil of drink's got him. It's only a question of sooner or later?poor Tom!?and I cry sometimes thinking of him, thinking to what he may come, poor fellow I Tom's a good fellow!' And for a moment Marquis looked profoundly sorrowful. I could not find it in my heart to tell him of the terrible tragedy I had witnessed, and turned the conversation. I found that I could easily lead Marquis to am/1 net tlirt aP V? /% ttt i n A A UUJ fiUUJCU^ auu uo hjc tuttt UI. buc niug uv had taken wore off I thought it as favorable an opportunity as I might obtain to talk upon business. Marquis declared that the topic should not be introduced until I had been with him for a month; but I.vetoed this, and was soon put in possession of the points he desired my opinion upon. It is only necessary to say that they were questions of law, touching the doctrins of wills, and indeed it was to write his complicated will that Marquis sent for me. In spite of enormous losses at cards, his property was still immense, aod every day increased in value: and after a general conversation on the subject, dinner was announced. As I entered the well-remembered apartment, where the great dark mahogany table was set forth, with its splendid service of plate, I almost started at the sight of Jugurtha standing, waiter in hand, behind his master's chair. The sight of the servants face brought a rush of memories, and when he bowed and respectfully smiled by way of / vAA^in/y if moo Via ooma Kaitt nn/V omila ttt i f Vi gicuuugj iv nao mv ouiug uuu uuuouiitv nnu which he had handed the pitcher of julep to us, before we had risen, ten long years before. . Marquis apologized for ?Mrs. Cotesbury's non-appearance. She was a little unwell today, and begged to be excused.' So we dined in solitary state surrounded by a dozen servants, silent, and moving noiselessly. The dinner was superb, and my host did full justice to it. His constitution was indeed an iron one; the immense assaults he had made upon it seemed not to have impaired its capacities of enjoyment, and Marquis ate with the air of a trained epicure. I found by my plate a semicircle of glasses, variously shaped and of different colors, for the numerous wines?Champagne, Madeira, hock, sherry, Valde panas, Bordeaux, etc.; but to all Marquis's invitations I turned a deaf ear. I have drank nothing for ten years,' I said 'and you must excuse me.' Nothing for ten years!' cried Marquis, filling my glass and his own with Champagne from a bottle which Jugurtba had just opened; 'is such a thing possible in the nature of human things ? The idea! Why what a dull life ! You've kept yourself from a thousand?yes, ten thousand glorious delights, Will 1' 'Marquis/ I said, looked him calmly in the face, 'I've kept myself from perdition ; and if you don't imitate me, your own prophecy will come true/ 'What prophecy ?' he said, sipping his Champagne with a good natured smile. 'The warning you read in Burton's 'Anatomy.' 'Why, certainly, I remember 1' cried Marquis shaking with laughter; <1 think I came on the word?stop, what was it ?' and with contracted brows he seemed trying to remember. 'I will tell you/ I said. The word was Lost! 'So it was; but what are we fashing our heads with all this nonsense for? Let me give you a piece of this duok and a glass of sherry. No! Well, my dear boy, you're a man of taBte, I despise all these slops. Jugurtha/ turning his head, 'take away these glasses and bring me some whiskey.' Jugurtha silently glided to the wine closet, and brought forth ? common black bottle, which he preBcnted to hie master on a silver waiter. 'After all,' said Marquis pouring out half a tumblerful of the pale yellow Hquid, which an attentive servant diluted with ice water, 'after all there's nothing like good old whiskey. Your brandies nauseate me, and burn me up but this is the pure agua vita,.?water of life. When I d::ink it I am surrounded by all the heathen gods and goddesses, ha! ha !?especially the goddesses?for 'never alone come the immortals I' A harsh, cracked laugh accompanied the words, and Marquis drained bis whiskey at a single draught. When the desert was removed from the table Marquis had emptied the whiskey bottle, and declared himself growing 'companionable.' I witnessed with astonishment the immense amount he drank?for another capacious bottle of the beady liquor gradually disappeared before his determined attacks. To have remonstrated with him for this enormous excess would have been purely gratuitous. It was plainly a fixed, daily habit, and I could only sit silent and gaze at my companion, who refused to rise 'till he had finished his allowances.' I was compelled to yield; and on that afternoon listened to talk such as, for wild and brilliant vigor, penetrating criticism, and dazzling subtley, I had never heard from mortal in this world. The liquids he had drunk seemed simply to warm his intellect " 1 -'-i- i 10 lis normal suue?iu uruuac tuc ucuuu energy of this extraordinary man?and when some weird extravagance marred his vivid sentences, it was not caused by what he had drunken now, but the warping of the brain, resulting from habitual excess. I shall only add, in ending my sketch of a scene actually painful to me, though crammed with tragic interest, that I have never met with the human intellect which exhibited such splendid grace and strength; never heard the talker?who poured out suoh grand ideas in such gorgeous and imperial profusions.? I sometimes sit and wonder now if the ejiemy of Souls was not personally present in what is his best emblem?the fiery liquid, and if he did not prompt the speaker in his flights of royal thought?giving him logic, criticism, pathos, humor, satire, scoffing, and sneers?and laughing from behind the bottle as he listened and wondered at the matchless intellect he had roused to this wild activity. When we rose there was the same unsteady gait observable in Marquis, and the slight hesitation of speech I had noticed in the morning. Beyond this he exhibited none of the evidences of intoxication. I returned to my lodgings, and on the next day, shutting myself up in ray chamber, accomplished the legal business which my friend ?. 3 ? \?j_ tj. requested at my iiauus. xt waa a will, as I said, and Providence decreed, in its good pleasure, that many charitable public institutions should know and admire the discriminating benevolenoe of this singular man. , On the next day, the last of my stay, I was compelled, much against my wishes, to attend a great dinner party which Marquis had assembled in compliment to me?at which some of the most celebrated statesmen, lawyers, and judges of the day were present? and at this entertainment I saw Mrs. Cotesbury for the only time during my visit.? Plainly the intelligence of her brother's awful death had not reached her; or, if she knew of it, her powers of self control were immense. Marquis was undoubtedly ignorant of it. The beautiful Caroline Francis of old times was terribly changed! Her countenance had lost all its bloom and roundness; and from the thin, pale face looked forth a pair of haggard eyes, filled with an expression of silent suffering and rigid endurance of pain. Her gait was slow and unsteady, as is seen in confirmed invalids, and when she gravely inclined to me, and gave me her cold, white hand, I felt as though I had exchanged salutations with a ghost. A single daughter had been the result of the marriage, but the child, whose name was Aurora, did uot appear at the set dinner. I shall not dwell upon the splendid banquet, from which Mrs. Cotesbury made her escape at the earliest moment which e tiquette would permit?pressing me more powerfully than before with the idea that she belonged to another state of being. The company were a set of bon vivans, men of the old school, who drank deep and played "high, as though to revenge themselves in passionate stimulants for the toil and burden of their public stations. On that evening I saw Senators drowse and heard them stammer witless jests, or unworthy anecdotes; great lawyers exchange facetia which I will not repeat, judges nodded under the effect of their potations and abdicated the dignity of Themis for the cap and bells of Harlequin. It was a wild revel and the wildest reveler of all was Marquis. The quantities of wine which he drank was perfectly astounding. As before, however, the wine produced merely a slight change in his voice, and a species of unsteadiness in walking, when the banquet was over, he led the way to the cardtables. Here the playing was on a scale corresponding to the excesses which had proceeded it. Marquis and Judge engaged each other, and in an hour Marquis had won two thousand dollars. He lit a fresh cigar, and re-commenced. When, an hour afterwards, the party broke up, Marquis had lost his winnings and five thousand dol lars in addition. He sonbbled a line in his check book, and tearing out the leaf, pushed it to the Judge with a gay laugh?the most careless imaginable. But I shall not dwell farther on the party. In half an hour Marquis and myself were left alone. He drew a full decanter of sherry to him, and emptying his glass, said: jolly set, eb, Will? All moo of dis fcinction. What a humbug distinction is ! Here's something better!' And he refilled his glass. I did not rePly'You saw Caroline, he continued, a slight shadow passing over his face. 'Poor thiDg! she's not in good health. Some people would say that made them drink, but you see, I'm more candid, my boy. I drink because it's good for me?my youth comes back to me. Hurrah for youth! Codfusion to old age, with its cares and its wrinkles ! Eat, drink, and be morrvis mv motto, mon oarcon. even J y . y , if to-morrow we die. And that reminds me you're going- to-morrow^and haven't seen my little Aurora. Jugurtha.' The confidential servant glided from the shadow of the door-way, in which he had been lost, so noiselessly that I almost started. Tell nurse to bring Miss Aurora.' I remonstrated strongly against taking the child from her bed, and declared that it was most unreasonable. But Jugurtha wa? gone, as he came, like a shadow, and Marquis greeted my remonstrace with a gay laugh. A strong look, like that of a sleepwalker, began to appear in his eyes as he continued to drink; and gazed in painful absorption at the curious spectacle. It seemed as if no amount of drink could in toxicate this iron man?he dreamed wane awake, that was all. In a few moments the narse, who had hurriedly dressed herself, appeared, leading in the girl of seven, who wore only a little figured gown over her night-dress, hci small, white feet having been hastily thrnst into embroidered slippers. She was a child of rare, almost angelic beanty, with chesnnt hair profusely curling, violet eyes, and lips of a sad sweetness. At sight of her I saw pass over Marquis's face an expression cf the deepest love; and when he held out his arm and spoke to her, his strident voice melted into musio. But the child for a moment shrank from him? yielding at last to his caresses with a cold respect, and even it seemed, some fear. The quick and jealous eyes of the father discerned it, and a shadow of acute wretchedness made his brow gloomy. There was no anger, however; and releasing her with grave tenderness he kissed her brow, and bade the nurse re-conduct hemp stairs. She disappeared as she came, bestowing upon me as she went a look so filled with strange pathos and settled sorrow that it haunted me foi years. As the door closed Sgunqnis let bis powerful hands fall upon the delicate stand containing the wine?carried away, it seemed, by a rush of feeling. The table yielded, and its contents were hurled to the floor.? Then rising, the unhappy man for some moments paced the apartment with rapid and unsteady steps, passing his hand more than once across his eyes. When he again fell into his seat, I saw that there were Aerj tears in them. 'You have seen,' he murmured, hoarsely, 'my own child is afraid of me 1'?my Aurora, my little flower, whose slightest happi ness I would purchase with my life ! Tbej have told her that I cause her mothers siokness, and her heart is already gone from me ?wretched me I' And I saw two scalding tears escape through the Angers covering his eyes. ?I, who love my child more than life?1 can not gain her heart 1 She fears me, shrinks from me, shudders when I caress her, and I love her more than my own soul!' Never have Iheard a cry of such profound wretchedness wrung more despairingly from the depths of the human heart. It was a spectacle of agony unspeakable to listen to the unhappy man thns mourning the cold?aoo ltfa Atvn /*V? 11/5 f | ucm ui 11 io unu V/Uaivi * I will not repeat what I said to him. ] spoke as I should have spoken to one whom I loved aDd regarded with inexpressible sympathy and compassion. I dare not attempt to detail our passionate interview. All my words fell unheeded. No human voice ever seemed to affect this strange character. He even appeared to regain his customary carelessness as I spoke, and once ox twice he laughed when I painted the wretched effects of his deplorable habit. 'You are right, Will,' he'said, at last in a husky voice. 'It's killing me. I'm?'lost' ?you remember the word. But there is no help for it. You see, my boy, the devil's got hold of me?but he has not conquered. You see my hand's are steady yet!' And catching the decanter by the neck, he hurled it full in the centre of a magnificent mirror; which burst into a thousand pieces, and fell to the floor with a tremenduous crash. I rose sorrowfully, and held out mv band. 'Ah!' cried Marquis, laughing, 'don't mind my little jokes 1 You are going so soon, eh? Well, take care of yourself, old fellow! As for me, I'm not going to bed yet. I haven't commenced drinking. Jugurtha!' The servant appeared, silent and respectful, like an attendant imp. 'Jugurtha, the whisky I' VI THE END OF THE DRAMA My sad narrative approaches its termination. After the scenes which I have just related, Marquis Cotesbury and myself did not meet again for seven years. They had been seven years of such excesses as we only read of in the strange annals of the Roman emperors. But the longdelayed retribution came on surely. One day I was summoned by a hurried letter from Mrs. Cotesbury to come and see my poor friend. I hastened to , and again entered the splendid mansion, which even now conveys to my mind, whenever I pass it, the idea of an arena upon which has been enacted some wild carnival?the stage of a dazzling comedy, ending in tragedy and tears?the scene of som superb banquet, where the revelers wear roses on their hair, and roses wreathe the plate?roses which turn into blood, and then vanish ! An imperial musioj sounding over orgies dead and gone, is ever in my ears as I pass that house ?a wild, mad music, which changes at last ; to a funeral march?as the joy and laughter of the revels pass away, and end in sobbing and sighing. I saw again this strange man of whom I have tried to speak. The canival of his life ..it. Li. - L.J a. tL. vytta ifuuc uyci? uib uup uttu uuuju vu tuc dregs?the bubbles, and sparkle and delicious flavor had all gone?only the bitterness of death remained. If I was shocked on my former visit, when I saw the change in his once noble face, my pain was now a huni dred-fold greater?for the informing essence of the mighty structure had gone to complete decay. The grand intellect had neari ly burned to the sooket to disappear in acid smoke, the imperial reason was dethroned and lay in the dust, the demon had half seized upon his prey to bear it away into the gulf of despair. I found Mrs. Cotesbury in a rapid decline, ; tended unceasingly by ber daughter Aurora i now a sweet girl ot fourteen. Of the head of the house I scarcely dare speak; it is my ' task, however, and I must fulfil it briefly. I found Marquis a raving maniac. It was i the result of such a train of excesses?they were afterward described to me?as I won der did not hurl him, months before, violen tly into his grave. Of late years, they mi formed me, he had seemed to be possessed of a burning thrist which no amount of drink 1 could slake. Whisky had been literally his ; food and drink, for latterly his digestive ori gans had given way, and no longer perform' ed their functions. The moment came final> ly, when even the capacity of swallowing 1 failed the unfortunate man, and his physi; cians?the most celebrated of the whole i State?feared shat he would die of simple starvation. 1 I cannot repeat the thousand tales of his 1 mad excesses, his disgraceful courses?courses by which he dishonored the name of his ' noble father, and Jiurried his sick and suf' fering wife into her grave. I would not ' raise the curtain whioh rests upon the terri1 ble drama?open the volume containing the woeful record. Something is due to the once 1 noble nature, the generous heart, the lofty ' intellect in ruins. Let human charity cov1 er such things, not excuse or defend them; 1 we need ourselves such charity for sins dif/? ' *. i i y T 1.11 lenog, it may De, in aegree oniy. i snau 1 not speak, therefore, of the mad extravagan1 ces of my poor friend, of his insane revels, his awfal acts when crazed by the impossibility of retaining on his stomach what had grown to be the very necessity of his exis tence. I shall mention bat one sad act, bei cause it concerns my narrative. In one of , his mad moments they had introdaced into the apartment his little Aurora, hoping that the sight of the child would tend to calm i his horrible delirium. It was an illadvised i act, and the result was most afflicting. The 1 unhappy man had not recognized his daugh' ter f his tottering brain had conceived the idea that the figure before him was that of , a beautiful fiend come to betray him. In his horror and fear he had broken from those who held him, and, with his hand, struck r the child violently, inflicting a cruel wound on her cheek. Aurora fainted and fell as s though struck by lightning, and they hastily bore her from the apartment. * I arrived on the day succeeding this terrible soeno, and entered the chamber of the L unfortunate roan. In a corner, erect, mo' tionless, and silent, stood the eternal figure > of Jueurtha. and in his measured and res " ~ " , O " ? pectful salute I discerned no change. MarI quis was in an apathetic state, and two phy> sicians were whispering at his bedside. \ I drew the curtain, and looked upon him. > I shall never forget that face. It makes me thrill now?the simple memory?with a strange awful horror and compassion. I ' would I had never seen it. A deadly pallor i quite covered it; the eyes were deeply sunk en in what appeared to be immense caverns ' beneath the lordly brows; the lips scarcely met over the teeth, and the whole counteni ance was as guant and sinister as that of a corpse. I turned away, and drawing one of the ' physicians aside?he was a man of great celebrity?asked if there was any chance of recovery ? ?Mr. Cotesbury's case is quite hopeless, Sir,' was the reply. 'We do not anticipate i his living throughout the night. No remei dies can now reach him.' I bowed my head with grief and suffering too deep for tears. In response to my further questions Dr. said there was little . likelihood of any further delirium. Nature was worn out. Qis passing away would probably be quite tranquil. And so it proved. At three in the morning he began to sink, and with the giving ? ? ? ? ^ niwAnatilt V? 5 CI TNATTtAKl OO/ltM f\ IXYfay Ul BtlDUgtu mo ucuiai |JVHCID oevuisu to revive. He smiled faintly as his eye met mine, and murmured. 'Thank you, Will?you always loved me.' He then asked for his wife and daughter. They came hastily. Poor Marquis took a hand of each, and said: 'My wife, my ohild, I shall soon die; can you forgive me ?' The tones of his voice were unspeakably tender and sweet; and poor Mrs. Cotesbury could only sink upon her knees, and, with long repressed love, cover the thin hand she held with kisses. A smile of happiness diffused itself over the wan face of Marquis, and then he raised his weak arm and placed it around the neck of Aurora. As he did so the fresh wound upon her cheek caught his eye, and ho asked who had hurt his darling. ?No one?it it nothing dear, dear papa I' cried the child, bursting into tears, and pressing her eheek to bis own, with deep sobs. He drew her closer to him, and then I saw from his eyes that he wished to speak in ma Thpnfcdnwn. <Do you remember, Will/ he ipurmured, 'that night? Your words were not wholly vain. Do yon know I prayed that night ? My ohild you broke my stubborn heart I I have prayed often siaw, with sobe and team; bat my terrible, fatal habit brought me here r inexorably. Yes : and yet?and yet I dare p to hope?I do not yield to utter despair? 'Lost ? lost!' that rung in my my ears a long time. But 'tis no longer my haunting E dream !?Will?come closer?you see I'm i faint. * v Here Marquis paused for some moments, c ; overcome by weakness, and grasping for s breath. E Poor and?wretched,' he added in a e mnrmur, 'I try?to trust in my Saviour.? c Will?my dear old friend?take care of my wife?and my child?' The voice died away, and soon afterwards Mrs. Cotesbury and Aurora were warned that too much excitement was injurious to the invalid. It is only to spare their feelings,' said the old physician as the door closed, (he cannot live another hour. And so it proved. In less than an hour Marquis Cotesbury had passed awayj the cold body which lay before me was all that remained {of that splendid and matchless being. The soul had fled to the awful account with its Creator. Let me not dare to penetrate that veil and speculate upon the mysteries it shrouds. I shall pass over a year now, and termiate my narrative in a few words. I was left the executor of my friend's estate, and his will directed that a life-interest in his entire property should ensure to his wife, to revert on her death to her daughter in fee-simple; ^ and in case of Aurora's death without issue ? the immense property was to go to various i benevolent institutions. 8 Mrs. Cotesbury died in less than a year ^ after her husband, and Aurora never lived * to reach seventeen. The unhappy scenes of < her childhood seemed to have broken her f strength, and she passed away in a decline which terminated her days. I was with her when she died, and we had much conversation about her father, my friend, whose memory she seemed to love and cherish with a sort of fearful fondness, which impressed me strangely. ": I remember the smile on her face as she was going away from me; it was like tha^ upon the wan countenance of Marquis Cotesbury. We placed her 'pure and unpolluted flesh' in a grave between her mother and her father. There, waiting the final tramp, they take their, repose. May they rest in peace, and rise to the life everlasting?the roses blooming on their graves be ohanged to the pure lilies of eternal peace. pkfcwis 1 Lafayette.?The sympathy for Ameri- 1 ca which prevailed more and more in Eng- | gland, reached the King's Own brother, the weak but amiable Duke of Gloucester. In 1 July he crossed the channel, with the view J to inspect the citadels of France. When be left Dover, nothing bad been beard from ' Amerioa later than the retreat of the British from Concord, and the surprise of Ticonderoga. Metz, the strangest place on the east of France, was a particular object of his journey; and as his tour was made with the sanction of Louis XVI, he was received thero by the Court de Broglie as the guest of the King. Among the visitors on the occasion, came a young man not yet eighteen, whom De Broglie loved with parental tenderness, Gilbert Motier de la Fayette. His father had fallen in his twenty-fifth year, in the Battle of Minden, leaving his only child less than two years old. The boyish dreams of the orphan had been of glory and liberty; at the college in Paris, at the academy of Versailles, no studies charmed him like tales of republics; rich by vast inheritances, and married at sixteen, he was haunted by a passion to rove the world as an adventurer in quest of frame, and the opportunity to strike a blow for freedom. A guest at the banquet in honor of the Dnke of Gloucester, he listened with avidity to an authentic version of the uprising of New England husbandmen. The reality of life had now brought before bim something more wonderful than the brightest of his visions; the youthful nation insurgent against oppression, and fight- * ing for the right to govern themselves, took 8 possession of his imagination. He inquir- 8 ed; he grew warm with enthusiasm; and 8 before he left the table, the men of Leziug- . ton and Concord had won for America a volunteer in Lafayette.?Bancroft. 4%%%% tl A French Opinion op England.?The Paris Univers, a Roman Catholic journal, thus speaks of the present state of feeling in France towards Great Britain : 'Frenchmen do not like England. They ? have their reasons for their dislike, reasons of whioh the English may be proud, but ^ which should not be met with too great disdain. Amidst all our discord and divisions ? there exists a word?perhaps it is the only 11 one?which speaks to all hearts, even to j* those which appear to have lost their nation- _ ality through study or through enthusiasm for foreign laws and customs. On the Py- ' renees, along the shores bathed by the ocean ; in the plains of Asatia, and of Sologne, in 81 the streets of our towns, in mansions and in } hovels, in workshops, and even in banking 1 -? ? i * i n establishments, tnatwora, once pronounceu, would excite the same eagerness, the same ^ inexhaustible vigor. This may be termed 01 a vulgar passion, but not so vulgar but that * reason has failed in restraining it for a time, 01 and may continue to restrain it; but it would ^ take centuries to extinguish that sentiment, while to let it loose would be the work of an instant. England should wish that this mo- c< ment may never arrive; she should desire bi this the more, since, having identified her * cause with that of the revolution, she poes- p< esses no longer the friends on whom she tfa counted at the eommenoement of this een- ec tury, and since the events of late years have ]0 considerably diminished the prestige of Waterloo. She no longer possesses the strength derived from her triumphs; and thia is one ox of the facts which Is fcaowa to the ftwt&t w uler of our d&tiniei^*ho.jnay justly bft rnmd-of being thebcirbfSt.Helewu' I^P" ?-r A Destructive War Eircratx.?we aentioned some time since that two of Jdul ogenious citizens, Messrs. Wrightfianu Jould, had completed the mTOfcttj ' annon which conld be fired6$!|K? rate of ixty rounds per minute^ ffiSnfr-thatjjflh J lonnoement the mventon^.hi^d^n eD^Ub, d in having constructed a working model f a gun, which is now ZB^aps. ested yesterday afternoon in a racantbtxildng on Washington street. The piece\U a >eautiful little brass gun of the usntFWipe^ nonnted on wheels, and so constructed that. \ rotary cylinder constitutes the breech, rhioh contains fonr charges, replenished by aeans of a hopper, and fired rapidly $ oan can work an ordinaiy lever backwards ,nd forward. The piece is discharged by ilectrioity, and from this results an impor*, ant and valuable diecoveiy, which was de- " j sloped after the completipn^of the piece. Jy means of the battery and wires connectng with the cylinder by which iguiden b laused the cylinder becomes perfectly electrized, which keeps it as cool as ftxontinuely bathed with ioe. Some tiro hundred ounds were fired yesterday in rapid sucoee* ion at the rate of about thirty rounds per-k. ninute, at the end of which time, without ' ising the swab once, the breech wo much solder than when the firing cominenoh^? rhe rapidity of the firing was muohTOauls%^ id by the bad quality of tbe cartrid^^pj^T* PUV DUVU AO IV TV CUT IV WOO DUlUUiQUI? KMRWVU* trate the complete sucoess of the iovpotioa. rVo understand that as soon as aU srrangenents are completed the inventors will pro- \ ieed to Washington and laytheir plana be'ore the government?Buffalo ExprtSt. A Maiden's First LovE.-rHuman naare has no essence more pore?the world cnows nothing mom chaste?heaven has enlowed the mortal heart with 09 feeling more ioly, than the nascent affection of a joong. rirgin's sonl. THio warmest language ofihe tunny South is iod oold to (fc&daw forth even A.nd God has made the richest langoi^e poor 0 that same respect, because 111 iTOjin of. aearts that thrill with love's 00 sacred for the comtnon contemplatltii rhe musical voice of Love stirs the sotzrotf A. )f the sweetest thought within this human areast, and steals into the most profound rejesses of the soul, touching chords thai tiirtt -t ribrated before, and calling into gentle companionship delicious hopes till then taown. Yea?the light of a young maiden's first ore breaks dimly but beautifully upon her is the silver lustre of a star gHmmeis ;h rough a thickly-woven bower^andthe flrst )lush that mantles her cheek^a^shefteb he primal influenoe, is faint and paw as hat which a rose leaf might oast uponjMfc )le. But how rapidly does that light gcjpf itronger and that flush deeper?until "the powerful effulgence of the one irradiates -Cvsry corner of her heart andtiie crimsoaghhv >f the other suffuses every feature of bar jountenance.?Mytterie* af London. mn Why Can Nobody Bead Will??-Itis rery singular, that while everybody can read, nobody oan read well. Perhaps the following curt paragraphs will explain: Not one gentleman in a hundred oan. reed 10 as to fflease the ear, and send the with gentle force to the heart and under- ^ itanding. An indistinot utterance, whines, irones, nasal twangs, guttural notes, hesk??' ions, and other viees of elocution, art sinost universal. \ Many a lady can sing an Italian aongwftft lonsideraWe execution, but cannotireadlBF ;lish passably. Yet reading is by far the nore valuable accomplishment of thd two. In most drawing rooms, if a thing Is' to be* ead, it is discovered nobody can read j one las weak lungs, another gets hoarse, another 'Uva^oj auubuu uao au ai/uujumuio^ wuj^" ovg, evidently a tradition of the wtyfn rhioh Watts' hymns were sung, when he ras too yonng to understand Another rambles like* a' board-wheeled ragon j another has a way of reading which eems to proclaim that what is read is of no ort of consequence, and had better not be ttended to. Why all this is, no one can say, unless : be that either the pulpit, or the nunery, r the Sunday school, gives the style in bese days. Slander.?Yes, you pass it along, wbethr you believe it or not. You don't believe be one-sided whisper against the character f another, but you will use your influence ) bear up the false report and pass it on the urrent. Strange creatures are mankind, low many benevolent deeds have been chilld by a shrug of a shoulder. How many ldividuals have been shunned by a gentle, >y8terious hint; how many ohaste bosoms ave been wrung with grief at a single nod. low many graves have been dug by fillae reort. Yet you will keep it above the water y a wag of your tongue, when you might nk it forever. Destroy the passion for tale dling, we pray. Lisp not a word that may jure the character of another. Be deterlined to listen to no slander that, as fiur as 3U are conoerned it may die. Bat tell it ace and it may go as on the wings of the, ind, increasing with each breath, till it has Iroulated through the State, and has brought 1 fvia nmml ftrta vllo miffht haTfl bOflS ft ' vuv J**'" v"w o? 7 lessing to the world.?-Ex. : . JHT* A Charleston (Mass.) paper ASS0Q&- . ts the arrival, at that port, of-a hoaped10k whale, in which, on its being cut open, as found a pair of boots, marked ((J." its >rfeet state of'preaemtion. Of ooona >080 boots belonged to. Jonah (hallmark* I and that was the whale thatawal? wed him. There is said to be a young laty in it city who reoebtly wiahe^idtf Wi M$Hk heel, taawe it has lets sf?Ms?.*