retracting or qualifying the statement of every symptom which he appeared to think unfavourable. At the close of his visit, I quitted the room with him. He had written no prescription; and I inquired whether he had no directions to give. "None," said he, hastening to be gone, "except to let her do as she pleases." I offered him the customary fee. "No, no, child,” said he, "it is needless to throw away both my time and your money; either of them is enough to lose."

Strong as had been my conviction of the danger, I was shocked at this unequivocal opinion. "Oh Sir!" cried I, can nothing be done?"

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Nothing in the world, my dear," said he, carelessly; "all the physicians in Europe could not keep her alive a week."

Our melancholy dialogue was interrupted by a noise as of somebody falling to the ground. I sprung back into the passage, and found Juliet lying senseless on the floor. Some apprehension excited by Dr -'s manner had induced her to steal from her apartment, and listen to our con

versation. The intelligence thus obtained, she had not fortitude to bear. She recovered from her insensibility, only to give way to the most pitiable anguish. She wept aloud, and wrung her wasted hands in agony. "Oh I shall die, I shall die!" she cried; and she continued to repeat this mournful cry, as if all the energies of her mind could furnish only one frightful thought. In vain did I attempt to console her; in vain endeavour to lead towards a better world the hope which was driven from its rest below. To all sights and sounds she was already dead. At last exhausted nature could struggle with its burden no more; and the cries of despair, and the sobs of weakness, sunk by degrees into the moanings of an unquiet slumber.

In the morning, when I opened my eyes, Juliet was so peacefully still, that I listened doubtfully for her breathing; and felt myself relieved by the certainty that she was alive. I was astonished to find that she was awake, though so composed; and was wondering at this unaccountable change, when she suddenly asked me whether Dr was reckoned a man of any skill in his profession; for," said she," he seemed to know nothing at all of my disorder, except what he

learnt from myself; so most likely he mistakes it altogether." Shocked to see her thus obstinately cling to the broken reed, yet wanting courage to wrest it from her hold, I entreated her to consider that it would not add to the justice of Dr's fears, if she should act as though they were well-founded; nor shorten her life, if she should hasten to accomplish whatever she would wish to perform ere its close. She was silent for a little; then, with a deep sigh, "You are right," said she. "Sit down, and I will dictate a letter which you shall write to my brother."

I obeyed; and she began to dictate with wonderful precision a letter, in which she detailed the opinion of her counsel; named the persons who could evidence her claims; and dexterously appealed to the ruling passion of Mr Arnold, by reminding him, that if he could establish the legitimacy of his nephew, he must, in case of Lord Glendower's death, become the natural guardian of a youth possessed of five and twenty thousand pounds a year. Who could observe without a sigh, that, while with a sort

of instinctive tact, she addressed herself to the faults of others, she remained in melancholy blindness to her own; and that the transient strength which the morning restored to her mind, could not reach her more than childish improvidence in regard to her most important concerns. But her powers were soon exhausted; before the letter was finished, her thoughts wandered, and she lay for some hours as if in a sort of waking dream.

How little do they know of a death-bed who have seen it only in the graceful pictures of fiction! How little do they guess the ghastly horrors of sudden dissolution, the humiliating weakness of slow decay! Paint them even from the life, and much remains to tell which no spectator can record, much which no language can unfold. "Oh, who that could see thee thus," thought I, as I looked upon the languid inexpressive countenance of the once playful Juliet," who that could see thee thus, would defer to an hour, like this, the hard task of learning to die with decency?"

I was sitting by the bed-side of my com