view of the cottages; from this, of the inaccessible summit ofthe mountain. Beneath that tufted bower of gum trees, interwoven withlianas, no object could be discerned even at noon, while the point of theneighbouring rock, which projects from the mountain commanded a few of thewhole enclosure, and of the distant ocean, where sometimes we spied avessel coming from Europe, or returning thither. On this rock the twofamilies assembled in the evening, and enjoyed, in silence, the freshnessof the air, the fragrance of the flowers, the murmurs of the fountains, andthe last blended harmonies of light and shade.
"Nothing could be more agreeable than the names which were bestowed uponsome of the charming retreats of this labyrinth. That rock, of which I wasspeaking, and from which my approach was discerned at a considerabledistance, was called the Discovery of Friendship. Paul and Virginia, amidsttheir sports, had planted a bamboo on that spot; and whenever they saw mecoming, they hoisted a little white handkerchief, by way of signal of myapproach, as they had seen a flag hoisted on the neighbouring mountain atthe sight of a vessel at sea. The idea struck me of engraving aninscription upon the stalk of this reed. Whatever pleasure I have felt,during my travels, at the sight of a statue or monument of antiquity, Ihave felt still more in reading of well written inscription. It seems to meas if a human voice issued from the stone and making itself heard throughthe lapse of ages, addressed man in the midst of a desert, and told himthat I was not alone; that other men, on that very spot, have felt, andthought, and suffered like himself. If the inscription belongs to anancient nation which no longer exists, it leads the soul through infinitespace, and inspires the feeling of its immortality, by showing that athought has survived the ruins of an empire.
"I inscribed then, on the little mast of Paul and Virginia's flag, thoselines of Horace:
Fratres Helenae, lucida sidera, Ventorumque regat pater, Obstrictis alils, praeter Iapyga.
'May the brothers of Helen, lucid stars like you, and the Father of thewinds, guide you; and may you only feel the breath of the zephyr.'
"I engraved this line of Virgil upon the bark of a gum tree, under theshade of which Paul sometimes seated himself, in order to contemplate theagitated sea:--
Fortunatue et ille deos qui novit agrestes!
'Happy art thou, my son, to know only the pastoral divinities.'
"And above the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage, where the families usedto assemble, I placed this line:
At secura quies, et nescia fallere vita.
'Here is a calm conscience, and a life ignorant of deceit.'
"But Virginia did not approve of my Latin; she said, that what I had placedat the foot of her weather flag was too long and too learned. 'I shouldhave liked better,' added she, 'to have seen inscribed, _Always agitated,yet ever constant_.'
"The sensibility of those happy families extended itself to every thingaround them. They had given names the most tender to objects in appearancethe most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain, and bread trees,planted round a greensward where Virginia and Paul sometimes danced, wascalled Concord. An old tree, beneath the shade of which Madame de la Tourand Margaret used to relate their misfortunes, was called, The Tears wipedaway. They gave the names of Britany and Normandy to little portions ofground where they had sown corn, strawberries, and peas. Domingo and Mary,wishing, in imitation of their mistresses, to recall the places of theirbirth in Africa, gave the names of Angola and Foullepointe to the spotswhere grew the herb with which they wove baskets, and where they hadplanted a calbassia tree. Thus, with the productions of their respectiveclimates, those exiled families cherished the dear illusions which bind usto our native country, and softened their regrets in a foreign land. Alas!I have seen animated by a thousand soothing appellations, those trees,those fountains, those stones which are now overthrown, which now, like theplains of Greece, present nothing but ruins and affecting remembrances.
"Neither the neglect of her European friends, nor the delightful romanticspot which she inhabited, could banish from the mind of Madame de la Tourthis tender attachment to her native country. While the luxurious fruits ofthis climate gratified the taste of her family, she delighted to rear thosewhich were more graceful, only because they were the productions of herearly home. Among other little pieces addressed to flowers and fruits ofnorthern climes, I found the following sonnet to the Strawberry.
SONNET.
TO THE STRAWBERRY.
The strawberry blooms upon its lowly bed: Plant of my native soil! The lime may fling More potent fragrance on the zephyr's wing, The milky cocoa richer juices shed, The white guava lovelier blossoms spread: But not, like thee, to fond remembrance bring The vanish'd hours of life's enchanting spring; Short calendar of joys for ever fled! Thou bidst the scenes of childhood rise to view, The wild wood path which fancy loves to trace, Where, veil'd in leaves, thy fruit of rosy hue, Lurk'd on its pliant stem with modest grace. But, ah! when thought would later years renew, Alas! successive sorrows crowd the space.
"But perhaps the most charming spot of this enclosure was that which wascalled the Repose of Virginia. At the foot of the rock which bore the nameof the Discovery of Friendship, is a nook, from whence issues a fountain,forming, near its source, a little spot of marshy soil in the midst of afield of rich grass. At the time Margaret was delivered of Paul, I made hera present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me, and which she plantedon the border of this fenny ground, in order that the tree might one dayserve to mark the epocha of her son's birth. Madame de la Tour plantedanother cocoa, with the same view, at the birth of Virginia. Those fruitsproduced two cocoa trees, which formed all the records of the two families:one was called the tree of Paul, the other the tree of Virginia. They grewin the same proportion as the two young persons, of an unequal height; butthey rose, at the end of twelve years, above the cottages. Already theirtender stalks were interwoven, and their young branches of cocoas hung overthe basin of the fountain. Except this little plantation, the nook of therock had been left as it was decorated by nature. On its brown and humidsides large plants of maidenhair glistened with their green and dark stars;and tufts of wave-leaved hartstongue, suspended like long ribands ofpurpled green, floated on the winds. Near this grew a chain of theMadagascar periwinkle, the flowers of which resemble the red gilliflower;and the long-podded capsicum, the cloves of which are of the colour ofblood, and more glowing than coral. The herb of balm, with its leaveswithin the heart, and the sweet basil, which has the odour of thegilliflower, exhaled the most delicious perfumes. From the steep summit ofthe mountain hung the graceful lianas, like a floating drapery, formingmagnificent canopies of verdure upon the sides of the rocks. The sea birds,allured by the stillness of those retreats, resorted thither to pass thenight. At the hour of sunset we perceived the curlew and the stint skimmingalong the sea shore; the cardinal poised high in air; and the white bird ofthe tropic, which abandons, with the star of day, the solitudes of theIndian ocean. Virginia loved to repose upon the border of this fountain,decorated with wild and sublime magnificence. She often seated herselfbeneath the shade of the two cocoa trees, and there she sometimes led hergoats to graze. While she prepared cheeses of their milk, she loved to seethem browse on the maidenhair which grew upon the steep sides of the rock,and hung suspended upon one of its cornices, as on a pedestal. Paul,observing that Virginia was fond of this spot, brought thither, from theneighbouring forest, a great variety of birds' nests. The old birds,following their young, established themselves in this new colony. Virginia,at stated times, distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet, andmaize. As soon as she appeared, the whistling blackbird, the amadavid bird,the note of which is so soft: the cardinal, the black frigate bird, withits plumage the colour of flame, forsook their bushes; the paroquet, greenas an emerald, descended from the neighbouring fan palms; the partridge ranalong the grass: all advanced promiscuously towards her, like a brood ofchickens: and she and Paul delighted to observe their sports, theirrepast
s, and their loves.
"Amiable children! thus passed your early days in innocence, and in theexercise of benevolence. How many times, on this very spot, have yourmothers, pressing you in their arms, blessed Heaven for the consolationsyour unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years, while alreadythey enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin life under the most happyauspices! How many times, beneath the shade of those rocks, have I partakenwith them of your rural repasts, which cost no animal its life. Gourdsfilled with milk, fresh eggs, cakes of rice placed upon plantain leaves,baskets loaded with mangoes, oranges, dates, pomegranates, pine-apples,furnished at the same time the most wholesome food, the most beautifulcolours, and the most delicious juices.
"The conversation was gentle and innocent as the repasts. Paul often talkedof the labours of the day, and those of the morrow. He was continuallyforming
Paul and Virginia from the French of J.B.H. de Saint Pierre Page 7
