him. Poor Ernest saw, with infinite concern, the effects of his intelligence; tears stood glistening in his aged eyes.—"My dear master (said he) resume your courage; let not the machinations of the wicked have power to wring your noble heart with sorrow, to shake your fortitude, which has already struggled through the bitterest troubles."
"Ernest (said Ferdinand, after a long pause) you have bereft me of my last and only hope; all the consolation I could look forward to in life must derive its source from my brother. My brother did I say? alas! if what you tell me is true, and surely you would not deceive me, I have no longer a brother. Count Rhodophil is my father's heir, and I am cast off for ever. O, what a blessing is ignorance! Yesterday I thought myself wretched, but it was a state of bliss to what I now feel; my head burns like fire. Oh! my old, and now my only friend, tell me where, where shall I fly to, now that all my visionary hopes of this morning are va-
