Page:Sarah Sheppard - L. E. L.pdf/111

 and to die. Heaven has restored us to each other; it wills that our future be eternal. A deep and a sweet repose is in my heart at this moment; and I await, as at an altar, that fate which is not of this life.' "He gazed on her large bright eyes, raised for one moment to the sky, whose light was within them: they were uplifted but for that moment, and then turned upon him; from his face they moved no more. Suddenly they were flung with violence against the side where they leant; the vessel shivered like a living thing; and planks and joints flew asunder with a sound which echoed far across the waters. One wild shriek, the cry of many voices, arose to Heaven, but in vain. Again the parting waves lifted the shattered vessel on high; again it was dashed on the hidden rock; this time it arose no more, and the last of life's agony was lost beneath the unfathomable sea." We have given this abstract of Francesca's history, and dwelt thus particularly on her character, because we have felt in our inmost soul the touching beauty, the dignified yet softened charm, thrown around her noble and womanly spirit. The whole work, peopled with its interesting beings of the mind, rich in its truthful sentiments, glowing with its radiant descriptions, language and imagery, leaves an impression of the softly-blended bright and mournful; of soothing and elevating influences;–-more like than aught beside, in their soul-subduing pathos and spirit-stirring power, to the effects kindled by music's spell as breathed in the haunting strains of Beethoven’s "Fidelia."*