Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/213

with the torch of reason, or warmed with the beneficent glow of universal philanthropy. I was all feeling, when I heard the disastrous tale of this unhappy mother, and pouring the balm of comfort into the deep wounds her suffering breast had received, gladdened her maternal heart with the promise of ample and instant relief, and a decent provision to support her children and self. In order to give a prompt effect to my promise, in proportion to the exigency of the circumstances, I put my hand in my pocket to pull out some gold, but found none, as I had already bestowed it on the man in the prison, together with the purse that contained it. Unwilling however, that their sufferings of which I considered myself as a distant cause, should unnecessarily be prolonged, even for a moment, I took a diamond ring off my finger, and begged my conductor to go and pledge it. Having waited his return I remitted the produce to the widowed parent, informing her at the same time, that in a few days I would put her in possession of a farm on one of my estates, and settle an annuity upon her