My father, in proportion as he grew old and rich, became
weary of Aleppo. His natal soil, had it been the haunt of
Calmucks or Bedwins, his fancy would have transformed into
Paradise. No wonder that the equitable aristocracy, and
the peaceful husbandmen of Ragusa, should be endeared to
his heart by comparison with Egyptian plagues and Turkish
tyranny. Besides, he lived for his children as well as himself.
Their education and future lot required him to seek a
permanent home.

He embarked with his wife and offspring, at Scanderoon.
No immediate conveyance to Ragusa offering, the appearance
of the plague in Syria, induced him to hasten his departure.
He entered a French vessel for Marseilles. After
being three days at sea, one of the crew was seized by the
fatal disease, which had depopulated all the towns upon the
coast. The voyage was made with more than usual despatch,
but before we reached our port, my mother and half the
crew perished. My father died in the Lazzaretto, more
through grief than disease.

My brother and I were children and helpless. My father's
fortune was on board this vessel, and was left by his death
to the mercy of the captain. This man was honest, and
consigned us and our property to the merchant with whom

[figure description] Page 171.[end figure description]

he dealt. Happily for us, our protector was childless and
of scrupulous integrity. We henceforth became his adopted
children. My brother's education and my own, were
conducted on the justest principles.

At the end of four years, our protector found it expedient
to make a voyage to Cayenne. His brother was an extensive
proprietor in that colony, but his sudden death made
way for the succession of our friend. To establish his
claims, his presence was necessary on the spot. He was little
qualified for arduous enterprises, and his age demanded
repose, but his own acquisitions, having been small, and being
desirous of leaving us in possession of competence, he
cheerfully embarked.

Meanwhile, my brother was placed at a celebrated seminary
in the Pais de Vaud, and I was sent to a sister who
resided at Verona. I was at this time fourteen years old,
one year younger than my brother, whom, since that period,
I have neither heard of nor seen.

I was now a woman, and qualified to judge and act for
myself. The character of my new friend was austere and devout,
and there were so many incongenial points between us,
that but little tranquillity was enjoyed under her control.
The priest who discharged the office of her confessor, thought
proper to entertain views with regard to me, grossly inconsistent
with the sanctity of his profession. He was a man
of profound dissimulation and masterly address. His efforts,
however, were repelled with disdain. My security against
his attempts lay in the uncouthness and deformity which nature
had bestowed upon his person and visage, rather than
in the firmness of my own principles.

The courtship of Father Bartoli, the austerities of Madame
Roselli, the disgustful or insipid occupations to which I was
condemned, made me impatiently wish for a change, but my
father, so I will call him, had decreed that I should remain
under his sister's guardianship till his return from Guiana.
When this would happen was uncertain. Events unforeseer
might protract it for years, but it could not arrive in less than
a twelvemonth.

I was incessantly preyed upon by discontent. My solitude
was loathsome. I panted after liberty and friendship,
and the want of these were not recompensed by luxury and

[figure description] Page 172.[end figure description]

quiet, and by the instructions in useful science, which I received
from Bartoli, who, though detested as a hypocrite
and lover, was venerable as a scholar. He would fain have
been an Abelard, but it was not his fate to meet with an Heloise.

Two years passed away in this durance. My miseries
were exquisite. I am almost at a loss to account for the
unhappiness of that time, for looking back upon it, I perceive
that an equal period could not have been spent with more
benefit. For the sake of being near me, Bartoli importunately
offered his instructions. He had nothing to communicate
but metaphysics and geometry. These were little
to my taste, but I could not keep him at distance. I had
no other alternative than to endure him as a lover or a teacher.
His passion for science was at least equal to that which
he entertained for me, and both these passions combined to
make him a sedulous instructer. He was a disciple of the
newest doctrines respecting matter and mind. He denied
the impenetrability of the first, and the immateriality of the
second. These he endeavored to inculcate upon me, as
well as to subvert my religious tenets, because he delighted,
like all men, in transfusing his opinions, and because he regarded
my piety as the only obstacle to his designs. He
succeeded in dissolving the spell of ignorance, but not in producing
that kind of acquiescence he wished. He had, in
this respect, to struggle not only with my principles, but my
weakness. He might have overcome every obstacle, but
my abhorrence of deformity and age. To cure me of this
aversion was beyond his power. My servitude grew daily
more painful. I grew tired of chasing a comet to its aphelion,
and of untying the knot of an infinite series. A
change in my condition became indispensable to my very
existence. Languor and sadness, and unwillingness to eat or
to move, were at last my perpetual attendants.

Madame Roselli was alarmed at my condition. The
sources of my inquietude were incomprehensible to her.
The truth was, that I scarcely understood them myself, and
my endeavors to explain them to my friend, merely instilled
into her an opinion, that I was either lunatic or deceitful.
She complained and admonished, but my disinclination to my
usual employments would not be conquered, and my health

[figure description] Page 173.[end figure description]

rapidly declined. A physician, who was called, confessed
that my case was beyond his power to understand, but recommended,
as a sort of desperate expedient, a change of
scene. A succession and variety of objects might possibly
contribute to my cure.

At this time there arrived at Verona, Lady D'Arcy, an
English woman of fortune and rank, and a strenuous Catholic.
Her husband had lately died, and in order to divert
her grief, as well as to gratify her curiosity in viewing the
great seat of her religion, she had come to Italy. Intercourse
took place between her and Madame Roselli. By
this means she gained a knowledge of my person and condition,
and kindly offered to take me under her protection.
She meant to traverse every part of Italy, and was willing
that I should accompany her in all her wanderings.

This offer was gratefully accepted, in spite of the artifices
and remonstrances of Bartoli. My companion speedily contracted
for me the affection of a mother. She was without
kindred of her own religion, having acquired her faith, not
by inheritance, but conversion. She desired to abjure her
native country, and to bind herself by every social tie, to a
people who adhered to the same faith. Me, she promised
to adopt as her daughter, provided her first impressions in
my favor, were not belied by my future deportment.

My principles were opposite to her's, but habit, an aversion
to displease my friend, my passion for knowledge, which
my new condition enabled me to gratify, all combined to
make me a deceiver, but my imposture was merely of a
negative kind; I deceived her rather by forbearance to contradict,
and by acting as she acted, than by open assent and
zealous concurrence. My new state was, on this account,
not devoid of inconvenience. The general deportment and
sentiments of Lady D'Arcy, testified a vigorous and pure
mind. New avenues to knowledge, by converse with mankind
and with books, and by the survey of new scenes,
were open for my use. Gratitude and veneration attached
me to my friend, and made the task of pleasing her, by a
seeming conformity of sentiments, less irksome.

During this interval, no tidings were received by his sister,
at Verona, respecting the fate of Sebastian Roselli. The

[figure description] Page 174.[end figure description]

supposition of his death, was too plausible, not to be adopted.
What influence this disaster possessed over my brother's
destiny, I know not. The generosity of Lady D'Arcy,
hindered me from experiencing any disadvantage from this
circumstance. Fortune seemed to have decreed, that I
should not be reduced to the condition of an orphan.

At an age and in a situation like mine, I could not remain
long unacquainted with love. My abode at Rome, introduced
me to the knowledge of a youth from England, who
had every property which I regarded as worthy of esteem.
He was a kinsman of Lady D'Arcy, and as such admitted
at her house on the most familiar footing. His patrimony
was extremely slender, but was in his own possession. He
had no intention of increasing it by any professional pursuit,
but was contented with the frugal provision it afforded. He
proposed no other end of his existence, than the acquisition
of virtue and knowledge.

The property of Lady D'Arcy was subject to her own
disposal, but, on the failure of a testamant, this youth was,
in legal succession, the next heir. He was well acquainted
with her temper and views, but in the midst of urbanity
and gentleness, studied none of those concealments of opinion,
which would have secured him her favor. That he
was not of her own faith, was an insuperable, but the only
obstacle, to the admission of his claims.

If conformity of age and opinions, and the mutual fascination
of love, be a suitable basis for marriage, Wentworth
and I were destined for each other. Mutual disclosure added
sanctity to our affection, but the happiness of Lady
D'Arcy, being made to depend upon the dissolution of our
compact, the heroism of Wentworth made him hasten to
dissolve it. As soon as she discovered our attachment, she
displayed symptoms of the deepest anguish. In addition
to religious motives, her fondness for me forbade her to exist
but in my society, and in the belief of the purity of my
faith. The contention, on my part, was vehement, between
the regards due to her felicity and to my own. Had Wentworth
left me the power to decide, my decision would doubtless
have evinced the frailty of my fortitude, and the strength
of my passion, but having informed me fully of the reasons
of his conduct, he precipitately retired from Rome. He

[figure description] Page 175.[end figure description]

left me no means of tracing his footsteps and of assailing
his weakness, by expostulation and entreaty.

Lady D'Arcy was no less eager to abandon a spot, where
her happiness had been so imminently endangered. Our next
residence was Palermo. I will not dwell upon the sensations,
produced by this disappointment, in me. I review
them with astonishment and self-compassion. If I thought
it possible for me to sink again into imbecility so ignominious,
I should be disposed to kill myself.

There was no end to vows of fondness and tokens of
gratitude in Lady D'Arcy. Her future life should be devoted
to compensate me for this sacrifice. Nothing could
console her in that single state in which she intended to live,
but the consolations of my fellowship. Her conduct coincided
for some time with these professions, and my anguish
was allayed by the contemplation of the happiness conferred
upon one whom I revered.

My friend could not be charged with dissimulation and
artifice. Her character had been mistaken by herself as
well as by me. Devout affections seemed to have filled
her heart, to the exclusion of any object besides myself.
She cherished with romantic tenderness, the memory of her
husband, and imagined that a single state was indispensably
enjoined upon her, by religious duty. This persuasion, however,
was subverted by the arts of a Spanish Cavalier, young,
opulent, and romantic as herself in devotion. An event
like this might, indeed, have been easily predicted, by those
who reflected that the lady was still in the bloom of life,
ardent in her temper and bewitching in her manners.

The fondness she had lavished upon me, was now, in
some degree, transferred to a new object, but I still received
the treatment due to a beloved daughter. She was solicitous
as ever to promote my gratification, and a diminution of
kindness would not have been suspected, by those who had
not witnessed the excesses of her former passion. Her
marriage with the Spaniard removed the obstacle to union
with Wentworth. This man, however, had set himself beyond
the reach of my inquiries. Had there been the shadow
of a clue afforded, me I should certainly have sought
him to the ends of the world.

[figure description] Page 176.[end figure description]

I continued to reside with my friend, and accompanied
her and her husband to Spain. Antonio de Leyva was a
man of probity. His mind was enlightened by knowledge
and his actions dictated by humanity. Though but little
older than myself, and young enough to be the son of his
spouse, his deportment to me was a model of rectitude and
delicacy. I spent a year in Spain, partly in the mountains
of Castile and partly at Segovia. New manners and a new
language occupied my attention for a time, but these, losing
their novelty, lost their power to please. I betook myself to
books, to beguile the tediousness and diversify the tenor of
my life.

This would not have long availed, but I was relieved from
new repinings, by the appointment of Antonio de Leyva to
a diplomatic office at Vienna. Thither we accordingly repaired.
A coincidence of circumstances had led me wide
from the path of ambition and study, usually allotted to my
sex and age. From the computation of eclipses, I now
betook myself to the study of man. My proficiency, when
I allowed it to be seen, attracted great attention. Instead
of adulation and gallantry, I was engaged in watching the
conduct of states, and revolving the theories of politicians.

Superficial observers were either incredulous with regard
to my character, or connected a stupid wonder with their
belief. My attainments and habits, they did not see to be
perfectly consonant with the principles of human nature.
They unavoidably flowed from the illicit attachment of Bartoli,
and the erring magnanimity of Wentworth. Aversion
to the priest was the grand inciter of my former studies; the
love of Wentworth, whom I hoped once more to meet, made
me labor to exclude the importunities of others, and to
qualify myself for securing his affections.

Since our parting in Italy, Wentworth had traversed Syria
and Egypt, and arrived some months after me at Vienna.
He was on the point of leaving the city, when accident informed
me of his being there. An interview was effected,
and our former sentiments respecting each other, having
undergone no change, we were united. Madame de Leyva
reluctantly concurred with our wishes, and, at parting,
forced upon me a considerable sum of money.

[figure description] Page 177.[end figure description]

Wentworth's was a character not frequently met with
in the world. He was a political enthusiast, who esteemed
nothing more graceful or glorious than to die for the
liberties of mankind. He had traversed Greece with an imagination
full of the exploits of ancient times, and derived,
from contemplating Thermopylæ and Marathon, an enthusiasm
that bordered upon phrenzy.

It was now the third year of the revolutionary war in
America, and previous to our meeting at Vienna, he had
formed the resolution of repairing thither, and tendering his
service to the Congress as a volunteer. Our marriage made
no change in his plans. My soul was engrossed by two
passions, a wild spirit of adventure, and a boundless devotion
to him. I vowed to accompany him in every danger,
to vie with him in military ardor; to combat and to die
by his side.

I delighted to assume the male dress, to acquire skill at
the sword, and dexterity in every boisterous exercise. The
timidity that commonly attends women, gradually vanished.
I felt as if imbued by a soul that was a stranger to the sexual
distinction. We embarked at Brest, in a frigate destined
for St. Domingo. A desperate conflict with an English
ship in the bay of Biscay, was my first introduction to a
scene of tumult and danger, of whose true nature, I had
formed no previous conception. At first I was spiritless and
full of dismay. Experience, however, gradually reconciled
me to the life that I had chosen.

A fortunate shot, by dismasting the enemy, allowed us to
prosecute our voyage unmolested. At Cape Francois we
found a ship which transported us, after various perils, to
Richmond in Virginia. I will not carry you through the
adventures of four years. You, sitting all your life in peaceful
corners, can scarcely imagine that variety of hardship
and turmoil, which attends the female who lives in a camp.

Few would sustain these hardships with better grace than
I did. I could seldom be prevailed on to remain at a distance
and inactive, when my husband was in battle, and
more than once rescued him from death, by the seasonable
destruction of his adversary.

At the repulse of the Americans at Germantown, Wentworth
was wounded and taken prisoner. I obtained

[figure description] Page 178.[end figure description]

permission to attend his sick bed and supply that care, without
which he would assuredly have died. Being imperfectly
recovered, he was sent to England, and subjected to a rigorous
imprisonment. Milder treatment might have permitted
his complete restoration to health, but, as it was, he died.

His kindred were noble, and rich, and powerful, but it
was difficult to make them acquainted with Wentworth's
situation. Their assistance when demanded, was readily
afforded, but it came too late to prevent his death. Me
they snatched from my voluntary prison, and employed
every friendly art to efface from my mind the images of recent
calamity.

Wentworth's singularities of conduct and opinion, had
estranged him at an early age from his family. They felt
little regret at his fate, but every motive concurred to secure
their affection and succor to me. My character was known
to many officers, returned from America, whose report,
joined with the influence of my conversation, rendered me
an object to be gazed at by thousands. Strange vicissitude!
Now immersed in the infection of a military hospital, the
sport of a wayward fortune, struggling with cold and hunger,
with negligence and contumely. A month after passing
into scenes of gaiety and luxury, exhibited at operas and
masquerades, made the theme of inquiry and encomium at
every place of resort, and caressed by the most illustrious
among the votaries of science, and the advocates of the
American cause.

Here I again met Madame de Leyva. This woman was
perpetually assuming new forms. She was a sincere convert
to the Catholic religion, but she was open to every new
impression. She was the dupe of every powerful reasoner,
and assumed with equal facility the most opposite shapes.
She had again reverted to the Protestant religion, and governed
by a headlong zeal in whatever cause she engaged,
she had sacrificed her husband and child to a new conviction.

The instrument of this change, was a man who passed, at
that time, for a Frenchman. He was young, accomplished
and addressful, but was not suspected of having been
prompted by illicit views, or of having seduced the lady
from allegiance to her husband as well as to her God. De

[figure description] Page 179.[end figure description]

Leyva, however, who was sincere in his religion as well as
his love, was hasty to avenge this injury, and in a contest
with the Frenchman, was killed. His wife adopted at once,
her ancient religion and country, and was once more an
English woman.

At our meeting her affection for me seemed to be revived,
and the most passionate entreaties were used to detain me
in England. My previous arrangements would not suffer it.
I foresaw restraints and inconveniences from the violence
and caprice of her passions, and intended henceforth to
keep my liberty inviolate by any species of engagement,
either of friendship or marriage. My habits were French,
and I proposed henceforward to take up my abode at Paris.
Since his voyage to Guiana, I had heard no tidings of Sebastian
Roselli. This man's image was cherished with filial
emotions, and I conceived that the sight of him would amply
reward a longer journey than from London to Marseilles.

Beyond my hopes, I found him in his ancient abode.
The voyage and a residence of three years at Cayenne, had
been beneficial to his appearance and health. He greeted
me with paternal tenderness, and admitted me to a full participation
of his fortune, which the sale of his American property
had greatly enhanced. He was a stranger to the fate
of my brother. On his return home, he had gone to Switzerland
with a view of ascertaining his destiny. The youth,
a few months after his arrival at Lausanne, had eloped with
a companion, and had hitherto eluded all Roselli's searches
and inquiries. My father was easily prevailed upon to
transfer his residence from Provence to Paris.

Here Martinette paused, and marking the clock, it is time,
resumed she, to be gone. Are you not weary of my tale?
On the day I entered France, I entered the twenty-third
year of my age, so that my promise of detailing my youthful
adventures, is fulfilled. I must away. Till we meet
again, farewell.

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