Literary cadet and Rhode-Island statesman. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1827-1829, 1828-05-17


ministerial vocation, the sweet lips o.
Adelia would give out the hymn, in a
voice Of music and of piety, and tho
untu;orcd voices of the villagers woulo
Join in concert Of psalmody. Ii wa,
a blessed sight to behold this fair Great
urc, glowing in the radiance Of youth
and beauty, by the side of the aged
pastor-she indeed seemed child o
God, one of those who were weicom.
ed to his communions, and if ever
there was "A scene calculated to win
the sinner from the error Of his ways,
it was one similar to that We have at
tempted to describe.
The day was just closing, when the
strangers we spoke of, came among
the jewellers. They were father and
son-the former "A venerable old man,
the latter tall and well formed strip
ling, just enteing the pride of manhood.
After the courtesy due to strangers,
the elder gentleman inquired for Mr..
Staunton. He appeared, and after a
moments conversation, recognized in
the stranger brother, and fell into his
arms with all the warmth Of fiIiaI af-
fection. They had not met since boy
hood-had parted in poverty to gath
er the thorns and flowers Of life, and
their destinies were widely different.
The one after thousand difficulties
and hazardous adventures, had grown
into wealthy merchant-thc other
with equal revolutions in fortune, had
long since deserted the business OF
worldliness and become a village pas
tor. He was the founder OF Rose burg
and the gatherer together of the vine
yard Of souls that surrounded him.
His morn Of life was gliding calm and
peacefully in the performance Of char
table and benevolent actions. He
knew not that on earth he had liv-
ing relative, much less brother, and
now that he felt the pressure Of that
brothers bosom as it bounded against
his own-a thousand teudcr rccollec-
tons rushed along the brain of the old
man, sleeping his furrowed cheek in a
torrent of tears.
1t would he unnecessary to detail all
the minute circumstance which inter
vencd previous to the acquaintance of
Augustus Staunton, the PASTORS ncph-
ew, and Adclia Montrose. He had
glanced upon her as she stood the pre-
siding goddess among the village
nymphs, and his hearts pulses bea,
quicker and more frequently. 1t was
strange, he pondered to himself, that
an Hour should be found among uncul-
tivated mortals- creature OF such re-
fined beauty in wilderness, and he
gazcd upon the fair features Of AdrIia,
until they grew crimson with bushes
at the intensity Of his admiration.
Augustus Staunton was an infidcl. -
Blessed with an extraordinary portion
of intellectual power, his thirst for
knowledge, kept pace with his thIr-,
for reputation, and before he attained
the years of manhood, he had appear
ed before the world in the character
of a poet. The world had loslered
his genius for little while, and hai-
tered his ambition. lie relied too
confidently upon his own powers, and
attempted the path ola novelist. His
fictitious productions bore evident
traces of genius-of mind fertile in
Imagination, and rich in metaphysical
problems. With all the wildness OF
Maturin, he combined the spccious-
ness of Rosscau, and the scepticlsm OF
Paine. The passions were admirably
but violently pourtrayed. The hero
was a creature of passion and of pride
-one who would rather reign in hell
then serve in heaven-and in the his
tory Of that hero, was dclineated the
character Of the author. lie loudly
profcssed himself dcmon-one who
had coIdly broken the heart of wo.
man, and thwarted the purposes Of
man-onc who mocked the regulations
Of honour, and laughed at the dogmas
of religion-a Don Juan in love-a
Molten in hypocrisy Napoleon in
ambition and Lucifer in soul, This
was not his real character, but it wa:
that Of his hero, and so closely were
they allied in other particulars, that
they were in all deemed the same
The world shuddcred at the picture
which he had drawn-religion looked
aghast, and morality cried avaunt! In
short he had damned himself to ever.
lasting infamy, and was considered a
renegade from the rights and privileges