My life had been before as a pleasing country rill, never destined to leave its native fields, but when its task was fulfilled quietly to be absorbed, and leave no trace.

Now it seemed to me to be as a various river flowing through a fertile and lovely lanscape, ever changing and ever beautiful.

Alas! I knew not the desart it was about to reach; the rocks that would tear its waters, and the hideous scene that would be reflected in a more distorted manner in its waves.

Life was then brilliant; I began to learn to hope and what brings a more bitter despair to the heart than hope destroyed?
Is it not strange[18] that grief should quickly follow so divine a happiness?
I drank of an enchanted cup but gall was at the bottom of its long drawn sweetness.

My heart was full of deep affection, but it was calm from its very depth and fulness.