and beforeus, at the end of the valley, is the Bay of the Tomb, where Virginia wasfound buried in the sand; as if the waves had sought to restore her corpseto her family, that they might render it the last sad duties on thoseshores of which her innocence had been the ornament.
"Ye faithful lovers, who were so tenderly united! unfortunate mothers!beloved family! those woods which sheltered you with their foliage, thosefountains which flowed for you, those hillocks upon which you reposed,still deplore your loss! No one has since presumed to cultivate thatdesolated ground, or repair those fallen huts. Your goats are become wild,your orchards are destroyed, your birds are fled, and nothing is heard butthe cry of the sparrowhawk, who skims around the valley of rocks. As formyself, since I behold you no more, I am like a father bereft of hischildren, like a traveller who wanders over the earth, desolate and alone."
In saying these words, the good old man retired, shedding tears, and minehad often flowed, during this melancholy narration.
THE END.
Paul and Virginia from the French of J.B.H. de Saint Pierre Page 21
