66 of the cathedral. As soon as the monarch | passage, shouting with joyful acclamations appeared, Smoloff, holding Elizabeth by the of approbation at the transcendent virtue of hand, forced a passage through the guards, the heroine and the clemency of the monand threw himself with her at the Emperor's arch, and was conveyed back to the house of feet. "Sire," he cried, "vouchsafe to listen the benevolent Rossi. to the voice of suffering virtue; behold the After recovering her senses, the first obdaughter of the unfortunate Stanislaus Po-ject that met her eyes was Smoloff, kneeling towsky; she has come from the deserts of beside her: the first sound she heard was Ischim, where her parents have for twelve that of a repetition from his lips of the years languished in exile. She has had no words used by the Emperor : Elizabeth, guide nor protector; has performed the jour- the pardon is granted, your father is free." ney on foot, begging her bread, and braving For some moments it was by looks only that scorn and misery, snow and tempests, every she could express her joy and gratitude; but danger and every fatigue, to implore of your they expressed more than language could Majesty forgiveness for her father." Eliza- have imparted. At length, turning to Smobeth raised her clasped hands towards heav- loff, she pronounced, in a faltering voice, the en, repeating the last words, "Forgiveness names of her father and mother. "We shall for my father!" A clamor of admiration again behold them, then," said she; we shall arose from among the crowd! The Emperor enjoy the sight of their happiness." These himself joined in it; and deeply rooted as words sunk deeply into the heart of him to his prejudices had been against Stanislaus whom they were addressed. Elizabeth had Potowsky, in an instant they were totally not said that she loved him; but she had effaced. He could not hesitate to believe associated him with the first sentiment of that the father of a daughter so virtuous her soul, with that object of felicity in which must be innocent of the crimes alleged all her ideas and all her hopes so long had against him; but, had it been otherwise, centred. From that happy moment Smoloff Alexander would not have withheld forgive- ventured to indulge a hope that she would, ness. "The pardon is granted," said he ; on a future day, consent to realize his happi"your father is free." Elizabeth heard no ness. more; at the word "pardon" joy overpowered her, and she fell senseless into the arms of Smoloff. In this state she was carried through an immense crowd, who opened a *There is some inconvenience in romances which XII. 66 SEVERAL days elapsed before the deed of are founded in history, in employing well-known pardon could be drawn up and signed. Prenames and remarkable eras. The Powtowska, or, viously to its final accomplishment it was according to the true orthography, Potocka family, requisite to inquire into the causes of Powas indeed one of the most illustrious in Poland, towsky's condemnation; and the investigaand a member of that family really fell a victim, tion proved so favorable to the noble Polandin Russia, to his patriotic courage but it was Count Ignacio Potocky, and not Stanislaus. He er, that equity alone would have authorized was not sent into Siberia, but confined in the dungeons of a very rigorous state prison with the brave Kosciusco, and it was the Empress Catharine II. who placed him there. He was liberated, as well as his companion in misfortune, by the son of that Empress, the Emperor Paul, who, from the first day of his reign, went to visit the noble martyrs of Polish liberty, and broke their chains. The young girl who really accomplished two thousand four hundred English miles alone, on foot, to solicit the pardon of her father at St. Petersburg, belonged to no distinguished family: Her name was Praskowja Lupolowa. She died at Novogorod in 1810, six years after her generous devotion. Her father was exiled into Siberia in 1798. the Emperor to break the chains of the illustrious patriot. But he had listened to the dictates of clemency before he knew what those of justice required; an act of generosity which those whom he thus nobly pardoned never forgot. One morning Smoloff called on Elizabeth at an earlier hour than he had before presumed to visit her, and presented to her a parchment with the imperial seal. "Behold," said he, "the mandate in which the Emperor commands my father to restore liberty to yours." Elizabeth seized the parchment, and, pressing it to her lips, bathed it moment from the respect he owed her. She was at a distance from her parents; she looked to him alone for protection; and the valuable deposit, thus intrusted to his charge, he considered so sacred, that he could not have prevailed with himself to utter any sentiment that had the least tendency to excite emotion either in her countenance or her heart. During the long journey they had to perform, he preserved the same respectful silence. Constantly seated by her, beholding her, hearing her, his passion continued to increase, but never overcame his resolution. He bestowed upon her always the appellation of sister; and, though his attentions were more assiduous than those of the fondest brother, they were not the less innocent; they were calculated to inspire confidence in the most scrupulous delicacy, and must have satisfied expectations the most unbounded. His sentiments were only perceptible in the attempts that he made to conceal them; friendship seemed to prompt all he uttered; in his silence alone could his love be discovered. with tears. "This is not all," continued before. But never had he deviated for a Smoloff; 66 our magnanimous sovereign performs a noble action in a manner worthy of himself. He restores to your father his dignities, his rank, his property all those honors which elevate man in the estimation of his fellows, but which can never elevate Elizabeth. The courier who is to convey the order to Tobolsk departs to-morrow, and I have obtained permission from the Emperor to accompany him.”. "And may not I also accompany him?" eagerly interrupted Elizabeth. "Unquestionably," resumed Smoloff; "and from your lips only your father must learn that he is free. Presuming upon my knowledge of your sentiments, I told the Emperor that it was your wish to be yourself the bearer of the joyful intelligence. He approved the design, and charged me with the commission of informing you that you have leave to depart to-morrow in one of his carriages, attended by two female domestics; and he has sent a purse of two thousand rubles to defray the expenses of your journey." Elizabeth, fixing her eyes thoughtfully on Smoloff, replied, "From the day on which I first saw you to the present hour, I do not recollect that I have obtained a single benefit of which you have not been the author. Without your assistance I could not have obtained my father's pardon; without your generous interference never would he have beheld his country again: to you then it belongs to tell him he is free: this glorious recompense alone is adequate to your benefits.""No, Elizabeth," replied Smoloff, "that happiness must be yours; the recompense to which I aspire is still greater." "O Heaven!" exclaimed Elizabeth, "what higher reward can there be?" Smoloff was on the point of answering in terms expressive of the rapture he felt; but, repressing his emotion, he colored, and cast his eyes upon the ground. An interval of silence ensued; at length, in a faltering voice, Smoloff answered, "Elizabeth, I must not tell you but in the presence of your father." --- From the time that Smoloff had so unexpectedly found Elizabeth, he had not suffered a single day to pass without seeing her, without remaining in her company for many successive hours, without discovering some new reason for loving her more ardently than Before she quitted Moscow, Elizabeth liberally rewarded her generous hosts; nor on recrossing the Wolga, at Casan, was she unmindful of Kisoloff the waterman. She inquired for him, and was informed that in consequence of a serious accident he had been reduced to the lowest state of poverty, and was languishing on a sick-bed, surrounded by six children, who were in want of food. Elizabeth requested to be immediately conducted to his habitation. When he before saw her, it was in poverty, in dejection, and clothed in rags; now that he beheld her in splendor, with joy and animation sparkling in her eyes, and diffusing a brilliancy over her whole appearance, he was unable to recognize her. Elizabeth took from her purse the little coin which he had given her, and, showing it to him, brought to his memory the act of kindness he had performed; then, laying a hundred rubles upon his bed, she added, "Charity fails not to reap its reward; behold, that which you gave me Heaven now returns a hundred-fold." Elizabeth was so eager to rejoin her parents, that she travelled night and day. On her arrival at Sarapol, notwithstanding her haste, she stopped to visit the tomb of Elizabeth, unable to support herself, fell the missionary. As this was a tribute of into their extended arms. "It is Elizabeth," grateful veneration, almost equivalent to an exclaimed Smoloff; "she is bearer of your act of filial duty, Elizabeth could not let it pardon: she has triumphed over every pass unfulfilled. She beheld once more the obstacle, and has attained, from the generoscross, with the inscription which she had en-ity of the Emperor, even more than she had graved upon it. Again she wept over that expected." These words added not to the grave where she had formerly shed so many joy of the delighted parents; every sensabitter tears; but these she now shed were tion was absorbed in that all-powerful the tears of soothing consolation. She im- one of happiness in again beholding their agined that, in that celestial paradise of which he was now a blessed inhabitant, the missionary partook of her felicity; and that, in his soul, so full of benevolence, her happiness added to the happiness which he enjoyed in the bosom of his God. child. She was restored; and this was, to them, the greatest blessing on earth. Long did they remain in a delirium of joy which could admit of no increase. A few unconnected sentences escaped from their lips, but they knew not what they uttered. In vain did they seek for words to express the feelings that overpowered them; by tears and by looks only could they make themselves understood; and their strength, as well as their reason, began to fail under excess of Smoloff prostrated himself at the feet of Stanislaus and Phedora. "O," he exclaimed, "condescend in this moment of your bliss to regard me also as your child. Hitherto Elizabeth has condescended to distinguish me by the affectionate name of brother; but now, perhaps, she will permit me to aspire to a title still more endearing." But I hasten to bring my story to a conclusion, and, with Elizabeth, to reach the dwelling where the days of her absence were numbered with excessive anxiety. I will not attempt a description of the scene of joy exhibited at Tobolsk, when young Smoloff joy. presented Elizabeth to his father; and she, in all the effusions of her grateful heart, acknowledged the blessings she owed to his assistance. Elizabeth would not consent to let her parents be informed of her approach. She learned at Tobolsk that they were well, and this information was further confirmed at Saimka. Wishing agreeably to surprise them, she proceeded with a palpitating heart to their cottage, attended only by Smoloff. What varying emotions agitated her as she crossed the forest, drew near the banks of the lake, and recognized every tree and every rock adjacent to the habitation of her parents! At last she caught sight of the paternal roof; she rushed forward; but the violence of her feelings obliged her to stop. Alas! behold the state of human nature! we seek for happiness in excess of joy ; which excess, more violent in its effects than that of misery, we are not able to bear. Elizabeth, leaning upon the arm of Smoloff, faintly uttered, "If I should find my mother ill." The fear of such a calamity moderated the happiness which had overwhelmed her, and recovered all her strength. Again she ran; she reached the threshold; she heard the sound of well-known voices, and called to her parents in an ecstasy which almost deprived her of sense. The door was opened, and her father appeared. At the cry he uttered her mother rushed out, and Elizabeth seized a hand of each of her parents; and regarding them with looks of the tenderest affection, she thus spoke : "Without the aid of M. de Smoloff I should not perhaps have been here. It was he who conducted me into the presence of the Emperor, who advocated my cause, who solicited your forgiveness, and who obtained it. It is he who has been so zealously instrumental in restoring you to your rights, and who has reconducted me to the bosom of my beloved parents. O my mother, instruct me how to convince him of my gratitude! teach me, my father, how to requite it!" Phedora, embracing her daughter, answered, "You must convince him of your gratitude by bestowing upon him your love; a love like that which you have seen me bear to your father." Stanislaus, interrupting her, exclaimed in an accent of enthusiasm, "O my Phedora, who can appreciate the gift of a heart like thine! It is above all value. But on such an occasion as this the generosity of Elizabeth cannot be too great." Elizabeth, uniting the hand of Smoloff with the hands the grief excited by the narrative of her of her parents, said to him, with a look of sufferings, and the joy which they felt upon fascinating innocence, and with the most the recital of her virtues; and, finally, I modest timidity, "Will you promise me would describe their departure from their never to forsake them?"-"O happiness!" rustic habitation and from the land of exile, he exclaimed, “infinitely beyond my desert. where they had encountered so many evils, Her parents give her to me, and she con- but where they had likewise experienced the sents to be mine." His rapture was such as greatest happiness, enhanced by the sorrows to deprive him of further utterance; and which had preceded it, and by the tears such was the enthusiasm of his love that, at which its acquisition had cost them; like the this moment, he could scarcely imagine there sun whose rays are never more vivid and was in the disposal of Heaven a happiness refreshing than when they penetrate the more unmingled, a happiness which could vapors which envelop him, and reflect their equal that which he now enjoyed. The bright beams upon the fields and foliage betransports of the mother in again beholding spangled with dew. her child; the exultation of the father, who owed to the unprecedented efforts and magnanimity of his daughter the recovery of his liberty, even the inexpressible satisfaction of Elizabeth herself, who had already fulfilled the most sacred of human duties, and who had evinced a virtue unparalleled, did not, in the estimation of Smoloff, appear in any degree comparable to the happiness for which he was indebted to love alone. Pure and almost spotless as the angels, Elizabeth was destined to participate on earth a happiness resembling theirs, and like them to live in innocence and love. Here I shall conclude; for when representations of human happiness are prolonged, they become fatiguing, because they become improbable; and the moment we lose sight of probability the narrative ceases to interest us; for we all know from experience that a perpetuity of bliss is not the lot of humanity; and even language, which is so copious and varied in its expression of sorrow, is poor and inadequate in the delineation of joy, — one day of happiness is sufficient to exhaust them all. I have described Elizabeth as restored to her parents. By them she is conducted into Poland, the place of her nativity, and reinstated in the exalted rank occupied by her ancestors; by them she is united to the man whom she loves, to the man whom they esteem worthy of her love. Were I to attempt a description of the days that followed, I would represent the fond parents informing their child of all the apprehensions, alarms, and anguish they had experienced during her long absence; I would represent them listening, with the alternate emotions of hope and fear, to the recital she gave of the diversified adventures of her long and perilous journey; I would recount the blessings which her father invoked on all who had been the friends and protectors of his child, and show the tender Phedora exhibiting the lock of hair, sent by Elizabeth, which she wore next her heart, and which enabled her to divert the painful solicitude of many a tedious hour; I would attempt to convey to my readers some idea of their feelings on that day when the exile who brought it presented himself at the door of the cottage, to inform them how that I might have some misfortune to regreatly he was indebted to the generosity of count; for temporal happiness is never of their daughter; I would endeavor to paint long duration. Here, then, let us close the narrative, and leave her completely happy. Were I to add one page more to my story, I should be apprehensive, from my own knowledge of the vicissitudes of human life, of the crosses, the fallacious hopes, and the fugacious as well as chimerical happiness which mark its tenor, |