OUR SINS ARE LIKE THE DRAGON'S TEETH, SOWN BY CADMUS-THEY RISE UP AGAINST US IN THE SHAPE OF MEN ARMED FOR OUR DESTRUCTION.

BACON.

THE BOHEMIAN.

CHAPTER IV.

"Il arrivera, je crois, une époque quelconque où l'on donnera une attention sérieuse à l'education que les femmes doivent recevoir..... Ce que reussit aux unes perd les autres; les qualités leur nuisent quelquefois, quelquefois les défauts leur servent; tantôt elles sont tout, tantôt elles ne sont rien.

MME. DE STAEL.

As few changes could be more sudden, so none could be more complete, than that in the condition of Mabel. From a life of wandering and of want, she was laid at once in the lap of luxury -from being slighted and despised, she found herself the object of all the eager and affectionate attention which springs from the first hours of indulged passion. Oberfeldt who, in the first instance, had sought only for something to fill the vacuum in his mind, found his heart warmly touched, and every feeling of intellectual interest

called into full play. Their mutual attachment seemed daily to increase. Oberfeldt gave, more and more, the reins to his inclinations; and the loving disposition and ardent mind of Mabel had now an object to cling to, and to love. Besides the advantages which, naturally, would render the Count a person fitted strongly to call forth her feelings of admiration and of tenderness-besides the fact that he was her first love'-he was, from the position in which they stood to each other, all her world in one. Her thoughts had no other subject to rest on her feelings were excited by him alone. His intellectual powers, and the bril liancy of their cultivation, caused her to look up to and admire him, at the same time, that their exercise gave her direct gratification by the excitation and the aliment which they afforded to her own mind. The constant tenderness and kindness of his manner towards her called forth her fond gratitude the ardour of affection which he evinced, gave rise to a far more than corresponding passion. Those fiery properties of her character that Oberfeldt had shrewdly

discerned, as yet, served only to render her love for him more strong and fervent, No heart, indeed, could be more formed to be actuated by the impulses of a passionate attachment than that of Mabel. The evil and the good of her disposi tion alike made her feelings strong, single and engrossing-sensitively alive to kindness-kindling to a blaze at insult-stern and even fierce at the infliction of wrong. The love of such a heart is among the most ardent and overwhelming of human affections;-what its darker passions may be, it is beside my purpose, at this moment, to enquire.

The first endeavour of the Count, with regard to Mabel, was to give her mind that cultivation and polish which literary acquisitions can alone confer, and which one who was newly come from a long residence at the court of Louis XIV. was likely to appreciate so well. The task of directing, and witnessing the effects of, the studies of such a person was one of the highest curiosity and interest. The contrast between the ripeness and vivacity of her natural understanding, and the lack of acquired knowledge, gave rise to

points equally new and striking. It was produc tive also of peculiar effects upon Mabel herself. In most persons, who are educated at all, the progress of education and the formation of character go hand in hand. The mind and the heart advance towards maturity together, and are both acted upon by the food which they consume→→→→ which, like that of the body, is continually, though unconsciously, becoming part of the system itself. But with Mabel the case was very different. Her character was already in a great degree formed;-circumstances had thrown it far in advance of her years, and had effected the usual work of time. The sentiments arising from humiliation and wrong-scorn, namely, and subdued anger, and compulsory endurance had destroyed the bloom and softness of mental youth almost before they had had time to appear in full existence. The untaught sallies and aspirations of a powerful and ardent understanding had also had their strong effect. For want of worthier objects, they had devoted themselves eagerly to the only intellectual subjects within their reach. It was in great measure owing to