THE

Lady's Magazine;

For

APRIL, 1789.

The FATAL EFFECTS of attraction; but Louifa alone was
DESPAIR. A TALE.

mistress of his affections. Louisa was
not a beauty, in a rigorous fenfe of

[Embellished with a beautiful En- the word, but fhe had fo many ways

graving.]

TUMEROUS are the diftreffes arising from the predominance of love in the human breast, and many of the fituations into which thofe, under the preffure of fuch diftreffes have been thrown, are of fo overwhelming a nature, that they would draw tears from the hardened eyes of infenfibility:-would melt a favage to compaffion.

of pleafing, peculiar to herself, that
fhe always faw a crowd of fmart fel-
lows round her, whenever the ap-
peared in a fashionable circle of the
two fexes.

As the Chevalier was a man of
the niceft honour, in love as well as
in war, the addreffes which he made
to Leuifa, as foon as he found that
fhe was abfolutely neceffary to his
domestic happiness, were liftened to
with the most pointed attention, and
accepted in a manner which increased
the felicity of the moment; as he
had all the reafon in the world to
believe, that the fair one to whom
he was particularly partial, felt the
ftrongest prepoffeffion in his favour.

Louifa de Baumelle, a young lady in one of the richest provinces in France, well born, and well educated, had a fufficient number of perfonal charms, and mental accomplishments, to fecure a train of admirers-of profeffional lovers; among whom there were not a few who figured to great advantage in her eyes, but theChevalier de Moiu, a brave officer in the service of his fovereign, and a finished gentleman in every retp.ct, was the only man who made an impreffion upon her heart. The Chevalier was, indeed, very happily formed to make himself thoroughly agreeable to the fair fex, and heden gloom over the scene before was, of course, diftinguished in the them, which the Chevalier, with all moft flattering manner, by feveral his vivacity, was not able to diffipate, females, in the first line of Cytherean and which affected Louifa fo deeply

When matters between two lovers are in this pleafant fituation, they are foon productive of matrimonial preparations; and fuch preparations were foon made for the union of the Chevalier de Molu and Louifa de Baumelle: but, in the midft of them, they met with a difappointment which gave a fevere check to their fpirited operations, and threw a fud

Z 2

that

that he was almost driven into a state | waiting for letters which never ar

of defpondence.

On the day before that appointed for his wedding, the Chevalier received orders to prepare for his departure from France, with the corps under his command, in order to affift the allies of his country in their operations against the Turks, with whom they had for fome time carried on a bloody, but very doubtful

war.

Upon the receipt of his orders the Chevalier, as a foldier, felt all the hero rifing in his breast; as a lover, on the point of being united to a woman most dear to him, he felt the tenderest fenfations fpringing up in his bofom: but the former, after he had endured a few struggles with regard to love and glory, gained a complete victory over the latter. Summoned to the field of honour, to that animating field he directed all his views, and took leave of his dearest Louifa with as much fortitude as he could poffibly muster up on the trying occafon: but his feelings were fo acute that he could hardly articulate the final word the feparating adieu.

rived, though he had promised to write by every opportunity, and giving encouragement to the most difheartening reflections, fhe felt herself utterly unable to remain in her little retreat, while he, on whom fhe doated, was so far removed from her, the procured a paffage on board a fhip bound to a Turkish port, and, as the failed with a fair wind, received fome fatisfaction, in the midst of all her anxiety, from being carried nearer and nearer, every day, to the man whom of all men living fhe most wished to behold.

While Louifa was on her voyage in this ineligible state of mind, the Chevalier was closely confined in one of the Turkish dungeons, hav, ing been taken prifoner in the very first action, in which he was furiously engaged, foon after his arrival from Europe. In this dungeon, while he lamented his fituation as a foldier, he could not help feeling as a man, as a lover; and, in confequence of thofe feelings, the remembrance of the delightful hours which he had fpent with his Louifa, threw him into a train of the most painful reflections,

While fuch reflections were rolling in his mind, one day, he was rouzed from them by the account which he received of a female captive just arrived from France, of whose beauty the Sultan had received fo

In this distressful ftate Louifa could only draw confolation from that part of the laft fcene between her and her lover, from the strong affurances which he repeatedly gave her-affurances of which the could not question the fincerity-that he would make her his wife with the highest fatisfaction when the cam-flattering a defeription, that he had paign was over, if his defigns were hot fruftrated by captivity or death. With this confolation poor Louifa remained for a while tolerably fatisfied; and endeavoured, by procuring as many innocent amusements as fhe could in a private way of life, (having given up all public exhibitions) to make the abfence of her By making a friend of the man to amiable lover more fupportable.-whofe care he had been committed, he foon removed himself to ConftanFor a while fhe fupported his departure from her with patience, and tinople, and, in a fhort time, he was reafoned herself into fomething like thoroughly convinced that his concontentment, but at last, weary of jectures were well grounded. By a

taken her into his feraglio.-By making more minute enquiries, he found that this captive was his Louifa; and from that moment formed plans not only to get to the fight of her, but to make himself known to her, and to procure her deliverance.

train

The Index. A Periodical Paper.

train of well concerted manoeuvres,
he procured a meeting with his
Louifa, unknown to the Sultan, in
which an escape was projected. In
confequence of this unexpected in-
terview, it was agreed that Louifa
fhould fecrete herself in a particular
part of the gardens referved for the
Sultan's private amufement, of which
he had gained a key, and to wait
there till he came to take her under
his protection.

Louifa punctually obeyed her lo-
ver, and waited with the utmost im-
patience and trepidation for his ar-
rival, fearing that the Sultan him.
felf might take her by furprize, and
force difcoveries from her which
would prove fatal to them both.
Her impatience increafed, when the
appointed hour was paft, and she, at
length, abandoned herself to defpair;"
concluding that her lover had been
detected, and that the execution of
his defign had been effectually pre-
vented her fears, indeed, carried
her fill farther; fhe fancied, during
the tortures of imagination, that he
was fuffering in the fevereft manner,
for the part he had been acting for
her releasement.

173

ruption, and who deemed it proper,
in confequence of fome intelligence
he received, to drefs himself like
the Sultan, that he might not be in-
tercepted in his progrefs to the gar
den.-In this deplorable condition
he found his Louifa, lifelefs at his
feet, her own executioner.-To
find her, whom he expected to re-
ceive him with raptures, in fuch a
condition, was a fhock, the severest
he had ever felt-but the fight of
the poniard almoft drove him to
distraction.

"Ay, there it is, Mr. Maftix,
you are always for keeping up ap
pearances. Why, this keeping up
of appearances is nothing but mak-
ing us all hypocrites, and liars and
deceivers, and falfe and perfidious,

"Enough, enough, Mrs. Maflix,
you have faid enough, to make me
for ever quit all appearances -

"What!-

"I mean, my dear, all appear-
ances that are not the figns, the
fymptoms and outward thow of fin-
cerity, and honefty, and goodness,
and affection, and virtue."

In this harrowing fituation fhe re-and-
mained for fome time; but, at last,
her patience was exhaufted. Draw
ing a poniard from her pocket,
which he always carried about her,
determined never to be forced to the
violation of her virtue, fhe was just
going to plunge it into her heart,
when the heard the turning of a key,
and immediately turned her eyes to-
wards the garden-door, fondly ima
gining that her lover was come at
laft to her relief; but, on feeing, by
the faint light of the moon, at that
moment, a man enter the garden in a
Turkish habit, with a lanthern in
his hand, fhe, at one stroke, put an
end to her existence.

My wife as I faid in my laft pa-
per, column eight, or thereabouts,
is a true Maflix, but he has a twist

"A twift, fir!"-Yes, ma'am,
fhe has a trift-and now give me
leave to leave to tell you that I do
not mean that there is any bone or
bones of her corporeal part fo mif-

In this deplorable condition, driv-placed, feparated, divided, or over-
en to it by defpair, the Chevalier, grown, that he may be faid to be
who was prevented from keeping his crooked-but, the truth is, there is
appointment by an unforeseen inter- place-fomewhere between the

a

head