Part 77 (1/2)

”I should be very sorry at it.”

”For what reason?” I asked, thunderstruck.

”The young Princess of L**** --what do you think of her?”

”I don't like her at all.”

”This would grieve me extremely, for I have chosen her for your wife.”

”My heart has already chosen. Your consent, my father--”

”The Countess of Clairval? Never!”

”You don't know her. Her family and fortune are very considerable.”

”I hope you will not liken her, in that respect, to the Princess of L****?”

”Not at all! but the amiable character of the Countess--”

”The character of the Princess is without blame. My dear son, consider the splendor and the honour which our family would derive from that alliance. Consider that you will render me happy by that union. When you, by my desire, broke off your connection with a certain Darbis, you revived my hope of seeing you allied to the family of L****; do not thwart my plan by a new love, do not cross my fondest wishes. You are, indeed, your own master, and may chuse for yourself; you must, however, not expect my consent and a father's blessing, if you do not marry the Princess of L****. I am sensible that it will give you pain to renounce the Countess, and for that reason will not press you farther at present.

I shall not desire you to come to a resolution before the end of seven weeks. Till then, do not mention a word about the matter.”

Seeing that I was going to reply, he took me by the hand. ”Be a man,”

said he, ”who knows how to conquer juvenile pa.s.sions. Gain my regard as you have gained my affection. My life is joyless, do not make me hate it. My dear son, I have sacrificed much for you, sacrifice now in return a little for your father!” So saying, he left me.

(_To be continued._)

MAXIM.

False appearances of profit are the greatest enemies to true interest.

Future sorrows present themselves in the disguise of present pleasures, and short-sighted folly eagerly embraces the deceit.

_For the +New-York Weekly Magazine+._

REMARKS ON MUSIC.

(Continued from page 140.)

The monaulos, or single flute, called by the Egyptions photinx, was probably one of the most ancient instruments used either by them or any other nation. From various remains of ancient sculpture, it appears to have been shaped like a bull's horn, and was at first, it may be supposed, no other than the horn itself.---Before the invention of flutes, as no other instruments except those of percussion were known, music must have been little more than metrical, when the art of refining and lengthening sounds was first discovered, the power of Music over mankind, from the agreeable surprize occasioned by soft and extended notes was probably irresistable. At a time when all the rest of the world was involved in savage ignorance, the Egyptians were possessed of musical instruments capable of much variety and expression.----Of this the astonis.h.i.+ng remains of the city of Thebes, still subsisting, afford ample evidence. In a letter from Mr. Bruce, ingrossed in Dr. Burney's history of Music, there is given a particular description of the Theban harp, an instrument of extensive compa.s.s, and exquisite elegance of form. It is accompanied with a drawing taken from the ruins of an ancient sepulchre at Thebes, supposed by Mr. Bruce, to be that of the father of Sesostris.

On the subject of this harp, Mr. Bruce makes the following striking observation. ”It overturns all the accounts of the earliest state of ancient music, and instruments in Egypt, and is altogether in its form, ornaments, and compa.s.s, an incontestable proof, stronger than a thousand Greek quotations, that geometry, drawing, mechanics, and music, were at the greatest perfection when this harp was made; and that what we think in Egypt was the invention of arts, was only the beginning of the era of their restoration.”