the General had reigned with so much honour and splendour, and which for more than five years had offered to them so secure and peaceful an asylum. Had they listened to that silent but warning voice, that perhaps is sometimes sent to dissuade us from our favourite selfwilled projects, they might have been furnished with the means of detecting and frustrating the encroachments of their enemy. In escaping that pit yawning under their feet, mortifications, regrets, and sorrows might have been averted, and the brightest prospects have succeeded.
Their friends at the Fort, who had never ceased with their telescopes to watch the vessel in its tossings upon the tumultuous wave, welcomed the return of the amiable General, who had been the idol of all hearts, and his interesting family with the most lively protestations of joy. Partaking of the hospitable entertainment given him by the officer appointed to take the command in his absence, it seemed as if each there collected separately vied in civility, hoping to induce him to change his purpose and stay amongst them. Alas! had he consulted his own private judgment he would have done so, but again, erring from the kindness of his heart, it was renounced: private feeling, in one so little selfish, was never suffered to
