tender affection. The contemplation of nature filled their minds with
enthusiastic delight. They adored the bounty of that Providence which had
enabled them to spread abundance and beauty amidst those barren rocks, and
to enjoy those pure and simple pleasures which are ever grateful and ever
new. It was, probably, in those dispositions of mind that Madame de la Tour
composed the following sonnet.

SONNET

TO SIMPLICITY.

Nymph of the desert! on this lonely shore,
Simplicity, thy blessings still are mine,
And all thou canst not give I pleased resign,
For all beside can soothe my soul no more.
I ask no lavish heaps to swell my store,
And purchase pleasures far remote from thine.
Ye joys, for which the race of Europe pine,
Ah! not for me your studied grandeur pour,
Let me where yon tall cliffs are rudely piled,
Where towers the palm amidst the mountain trees,
Where pendant from the steep, with graces wild,
The blue liana floats upon the breeze,
Still haunt those bold recesses, Nature's child,
Where thy majestic charms my spirit seize!

"Paul, at twelve years of age, was stronger and more intelligent than
Europeans are at fifteen, and had embellished the plantations which Domingo
had only cultivated. He had gone with him to the neighbouring woods, and
rooted up young plants of lemon trees, oranges, and tamarinds, the round