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1As the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot refrain from relating them. One of his most
2intimate friends was a merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into poverty. This
3man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to live in poverty and
4oblivion in the same country where he had formerly been distinguished for his rank and magnificence. Having paid his
5debts, therefore, in the most honourable manner, he retreated with his daughter to the town of Lucerne, where he lived
6unknown and in wretchedness. My father loved Beaufort with the truest friendship and was deeply grieved by his retreat
7in these unfortunate circumstances. He bitterly deplored the false pride which led his friend to a conduct so little
8worthy of the affection that united them. He lost no time in endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of persuading
9him to begin the world again through his credit and assistance. Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal
10himself, and it was ten months before my father discovered his abode. Overjoyed at this discovery, he hastened to the
11house, which was situated in a mean street near the Reuss. But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him.
12Beaufort had saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck of his fortunes, but it was sufficient to provide him
13with sustenance for some months, and in the meantime he hoped to procure some respectable employment in a merchant's
14house. The interval was, consequently, spent in inaction; his grief only became more deep and rankling when he had
15leisure for reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his mind that at the end of three months he lay on a bed
16of sickness, incapable of any exertion. His daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw with despair
17that their little fund was rapidly decreasing and that there was no other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort
18possessed a mind of an uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. She procured plain work;
19she plaited straw and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life. Several months
20passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time was more entirely occupied in attending him; her means of
21subsistence decreased; and in the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving her an orphan and a beggar. This last
22blow overcame her, and she knelt by Beaufort's coffin weeping bitterly, when my father entered the chamber. He came like
23a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself to his care; and after the interment of his friend he
24conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the protection of a relation. Two years after this event Caroline became
25his wife. There was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite them
26only closer in bonds of devoted affection. There was a sense of justice in my father's upright mind which rendered it
27necessary that he should approve highly to love strongly. Perhaps during former years he had suffered from the
28late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved and so was disposed to set a greater value on tried worth. There was a show
29of gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from the doting fondness of age, for it was
30inspired by reverence for her virtues and a desire to be the means of, in some degree, recompensing her for the sorrows
31she had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace to his behaviour to her. Everything was made to yield to her wishes
32and her convenience. He strove to shelter her, as a fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher wind
33and to surround her with all that could tend to excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and benevolent mind. Her health,
34and even the tranquillity of her hitherto constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through. During the two
35years that had elapsed previous to their marriage my father had gradually relinquished all his public functions; and
36immediately after their union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy, and the change of scene and interest attendant
37on a tour through that land of wonders, as a restorative for her weakened frame. From Italy they visited Germany and
38France. I, their eldest child, was born at Naples, and as an infant accompanied them in their rambles. I remained for
39several years their only child. Much as they were attached to each other, they seemed to draw inexhaustible stores of
40affection from a very mine of love to bestow them upon me. My mother's tender caresses and my father's smile of
41benevolent pleasure while regarding me are my first recollections. I was their plaything and their idol, and something
42better--their child, the innocent and helpless creature bestowed on them by Heaven, whom to bring up to good, and whose
43future lot it was in their hands to direct to happiness or misery, according as they fulfilled their duties towards me.
44With this deep consciousness of what they owed towards the being to which they had given life, added to the active
45spirit of tenderness that animated both, it may be imagined that while during every hour of my infant life I received a
46lesson of patience, of charity, and of self-control, I was so guided by a silken cord that all seemed but one train of
47enjoyment to me. For a long time I was their only care. My mother had much desired to have a daughter, but I continued
48their single offspring. When I was about five years old, while making an excursion beyond the frontiers of Italy, they
49passed a week on the shores of the Lake of Como. Their benevolent disposition often made them enter the cottages of the
50poor. This, to my mother, was more than a duty; it was a necessity, a passion--remembering what she had suffered, and
51how she had been relieved--for her to act in her turn the guardian angel to the afflicted. During one of their walks a
52poor cot in the foldings of a vale attracted their notice as being singularly disconsolate, while the number of
53half-clothed children gathered about it spoke of penury in its worst shape. One day, when my father had gone by himself
54to Milan, my mother, accompanied by me, visited this abode. She found a peasant and his wife, hard working, bent down by
55care and labour, distributing a scanty meal to five hungry babes. Among these there was one which attracted my mother
56far above all the rest. She appeared of a different stock. The four others were dark-eyed, hardy little vagrants; this
57child was thin and very fair. Her hair was the brightest living gold, and despite the poverty of her clothing, seemed to
58set a crown of distinction on her head. Her brow was clear and ample, her blue eyes cloudless, and her lips and the
59moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness that none could behold her without looking on her as of
60a distinct species, a being heaven-sent, and bearing a celestial stamp in all her features. The peasant woman,
61perceiving that my mother fixed eyes of wonder and admiration on this lovely girl, eagerly communicated her history. She
62was not her child, but the daughter of a Milanese nobleman. Her mother was a German and had died on giving her birth.
63The infant had been placed with these good people to nurse: they were better off then. They had not been long married,
64and their eldest child was but just born. The father of their charge was one of those Italians nursed in the memory of
65the antique glory of Italy--one among the schiavi ognor frementi, who exerted himself to obtain the liberty of his
66country. He became the victim of its weakness. Whether he had died or still lingered in the dungeons of Austria was not
67known. His property was confiscated; his child became an orphan and a beggar. She continued with her foster parents and
68bloomed in their rude abode, fairer than a garden rose among dark-leaved brambles.
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