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which ſeemed impoſſible to happen, which imagination might trifle with, but which reaſon would ſcarcely believe; in ſhort, were I to mention, what I myſelf ſaw, and what numbers could witneſs; I ſhould be afraid to offer them to the ſerious regard of my readers, in the dread that I might be thought to inſult their underſtandings, and to advance as fiction, what it would be very difficult, indeed, to credit as truth.
The diſtreſſes of the miſerable inhabitants of Savanna-la-Mar, during the period, and for a long time after the ceſſation; of the form, muſt have exceeded the moſt nervous, as they would have ſurpaſſed the moſt melancholy powers of deſcription They were ſuch as ought to have affected (if public loſſes and private ſufferings can ever affect the ſtony boſoms of the rapacious, and the icy bowels of the intereſted), they were ſuch, I ſay, as could almoſt have melted the unfeeling, and have ſoftend the obdurate: but, alas! they could not, in too many inſtances, divert the rigid purpoſe, and withhold the rigorous hand of the man of buſineſs. Thoſe who the day before were poſſeſſed, not only of every domeſtic comfort, but of every reaſonable luxury of life, were now obliged to ſeek for ſhelter upon a board; and were expoſed, in ſickneſs and affliction, unſheltered and unprovided, to the noiſy intrusions of the wind and the cold, and the frequent viſitations of the ſhower.
Were I to enumerate private afflictions in this ſcene of general devaſtation and deſpair, I ſhould require the pathetic pen of that accompliſhed writer who has given a charm to grief, and a dignity to ſuffering, in the tender parts of Emma Corbet: and who could ſo well have expreſſed by correſponding ſentiment, by flowing language, and glowing truth, thoſe mighty ſorrows which the
