Married! she cried; your father, and the son of that good man, whom every one reveres, married so hastily, so rashly, so unworthily! It must not be. True, my Amelia. Look upon this relick, which gives the image of your gallant father, and to which your piety allots that envied station nearest to your heart; then, tell me, what would that brave hero say, if I, aspiring to his daughter’s love, should scruple to obey the call of honour: Would he not bid me go and save a father? He was the friend, that upon such an errand would not have suffered you to go forth alone. And such a friend I have in Edward Wilson; he is resolved to bear me company. Devereux returns with me, and in his house I find a family of friends: Nay, my good fortune seems resolved to give me a host of friends, for Henry, our old Colonel’s eldest son, whom in himself I may account a host, is now upon his way to join his regiment in Lisbon, and goes with us. Thus am I trebly furnished with companions. What has my dear Amelia now to fear, if thus befriended, thus accompanied, and sanctioned not by the consent alone, but the command of my good grandfather, I go where duty calls me? Now, my angel!--And, saying this, he clasped her in his arms. Where can thy gentle spirit apprehend one distant chance of danger to alarm it? What can my lovely, my betrothed Amelia, oppose to the necessity, painful although it is, of a short absence from her? Nothing; for the decree is absolute, and what am I but a devoted creature whose heart is wholly your’s? Nothing remains for me to do, but to return you my unbounded thanks for all your goodness, and especially for condescending to impart these tidings, sad as they are, in this considerate manner to me, who in your absence can expect to live but in the hope that we shall meet again. I see, I know, I feel that we must part. Here her voice failing for a while she seemed quite overcome by sorrow, till her tears relieved her; and at length, turning a look upon her anxious lover, that spoke a conscious dignity of mind, she rose and said--I am ashamed of this unworthy weakness. I know I ought not to bewail, but greet, the opportunity, that does you honour. To deserve a hero I must not show the softness of a child--Come, let us walk. I feel assurance of a happy issue. When you go forth upon the summons of a helpless father, I trust that Providence will be your guard: It were a sin to doubt it--This said, she gave her hand to him, and smiled: He pressed it to his heart, and thus, endeared each to the other in the purest sense of virtue’s chaste affection, forth they went-- * * * * *