Page:Narrative of a captivity and adventures in France and Flanders between the years 1803 and 1809.djvu/245

 affording relief, nor of learning his fate; their minds agitated too with the consciousness, that if not already numbered with the dead, he must still be wandering through dreary woods, exposed to the severest sufferings, and "every man his foe;" these were indeed heart-rending reflections, sufficient to harrow up the feelings, and tincture every thought with inconsoleable grief. It was in the plenitude of these feelings, at the day's first dawn, for

"Nature's soft nurse, Had fled their pillow:"

when they were endeavouring to afford mutual consolation, and actually discussing the propriety of family mourning, that my brother burst upon their deep, yet pious sorrow, with news of our safety and arrival.

The effect which this sudden information must have had upon the best of parents—parents alone can judge; suffice it to say, they were not unmindful that their prayers were heard by Him, "who is able to save."

On the road from Dover, at a moment