Page:Letters of Mlle. de Lespinasse.djvu/335

 darkness ! what solitude ! dreadful emblem of my heart! To-morrow the night that surrounds me will have passed, but the night that enfolds Eliza is eternal ! to-morrow the universe will waken again; Eliza alone will never waken.

Soul sublime, where art thou? in what region? Ah! thou hast returned to thy source; thou hast taken thy flight to thy native country! An emanation from heaven, heaven has recalled thee. It had left thee too long to dwell among men.

Yes, without a decree of heaven Eliza could not have fallen a prey to death. She was so active, so animated, so living! Alas! for the last two years her soul deceived my anxiety and allayed my fears. Daily I saw her fading and weakening, but never was her mind more brilliant, never was her heart so loving. "She will live, she will live," I said to myself on quitting her. "So much life must surely conquer death." I could no more conceive the idea of her dying than that of the sun extinguished.

Eliza is no more! who will enlighten my judgment, who will warm my imagination, who will spur me to glory, who will replace in me the profound sentiment with which she inspired me? What shall I do with my soul and with my life? my heart! recall to my thoughts what she was! I wish to extol her, and to extol her I need only paint her. Eliza can never die in the memory of her friends, but her