Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/197

 not I find here, had I been the greatest infidel living, to adore and admire the wisdom of an all-directing Providence! CHAP. XIV.

fulfilled the duties of a husband and a father, I prepared to per form those of friendship. Predetermined to quit an abode, which incessantly retraced to my mind the instability of mortal happiness, mingled with its bitterest recollections, I prepared to join the two friends who had, as I stated elsewhere, preceded me to Paris. When we last parted, it had been mutually agreed on between us, that should any unforeseen obstacle prevent or retard my journey, to apprize them of it, by addressing a letter to be left at the Spanish Ambassador's at Paris. Unfortunately, amidst the transports of my meeting again with a beloved wife, I had forgot this promise, which did not return to my mind, till the fatal consequences arising from