VOLUME 1 CHAPTER I home is the resort Of love , of joy , of peace and plenty , where , Supporting and supported , polish 'd friends And dear relations mingle into bliss .
* * Thomson On the pleasant banks of the Garonne , in the province of Gascony , stood , in the year 1584 , the chateau of Monsieur St. Aubert .
From its windows were seen the pastoral landscapes of Guienne and Gascony stretching along the river , gay with luxuriant woods and vine , and plantations of olives .
To the south , the view was bounded by the majestic Pyrenees , whose summits , veiled in clouds , or exhibiting awful forms , seen , and lost again , as the partial vapours rolled along , were sometimes barren , and gleamed through the blue tinge of air , and sometimes frowned with forests of gloomy pine , that swept downward to their base .
These tremendous precipices were contrasted by the soft green of the pastures and woods that hung upon their skirts ; among whose flocks , and herds , and simple cottages , the eye , after having scaled the cliffs above , delighted to repose .
To the north , and to the east , the plains of Guienne and Languedoc were lost in the mist of distance ; on the west , Gascony was bounded by the waters of Biscay .
M. St. Aubert loved to wander , with his wife and daughter , on the margin of the Garonne , and to listen to the music that floated on its waves .
He had known life in other forms than those of pastoral simplicity , having mingled in the gay and in the busy scenes of the world ; but the flattering portrait of mankind , which his heart had delineated in early youth , his experience had too sorrowfully corrected .
Yet , amidst the changing visions of life , his principles remained unshaken , his benevolence unchilled ; and he retired from the multitude ' more in PITY than in anger , ' to scenes of simple nature , to the pure delights of literature , and to the exercise of domestic virtues .
He was a descendant from the younger branch of an illustrious family , and it was designed , that the deficiency of his patrimonial wealth should be supplied either by a splendid alliance in marriage , or by success in the intrigues of public affairs .
But St. Aubert had too nice a sense of honour to fulfil the latter hope , and too small a portion of ambition to sacrifice what he called happiness , to the attainment of wealth .
After the death of his father he married a very amiable woman , his equal in birth , and not his superior in fortune .
The late Monsieur St. Aubert 's liberality , or extravagance , had so much involved his affairs , that his son found it necessary to dispose of a part of the family domain , and , some years after his marriage , he sold it to Monsieur Quesnel , the brother of his wife , and retired to a small estate in Gascony , where conjugal felicity , and parental duties , divided his attention with the treasures of knowledge and the illuminations of genius .
To this spot he had been attached from his infancy .
He had often made excursions to it when a boy , and the impressions of delight given to his mind by the homely kindness of the grey-headed peasant , to whom it was intrusted , and whose fruit and cream never failed , had not been obliterated by succeeding circumstances .
The green pastures along which he had so often bounded in the exultation of health , and youthful freedom -- the woods , under whose refreshing shade he had first indulged that pensive melancholy , which afterwards made a strong feature of his character -- the wild walks of the mountains , the river , on whose waves he had floated , and the distant plains , which seemed boundless as his early hopes -- were never after remembered by St. Aubert but with enthusiasm and regret .
At length he disengaged himself from the world , and retired hither , to realize the wishes of many years .
The building , as it then stood , was merely a summer cottage , rendered interesting to a stranger by its neat simplicity , or the beauty of the surrounding scene ; and considerable additions were necessary to make it a comfortable family residence .
St. Aubert felt a kind of affection for every part of the fabric , which he remembered in his youth , and would not suffer a stone of it to be removed , so that the new building , adapted to the style of the old one , formed with it only a simple and elegant residence .
The taste of Madame St. Aubert was conspicuous in its internal finishing , where the same chaste simplicity was observable in the furniture , and in the few ornaments of the apartments , that characterized the manners of its inhabitants .
The library occupied the west side of the chateau , and was enriched by a collection of the best books in the ancient and modern languages .
This room opened upon a grove , which stood on the brow of a gentle declivity , that fell towards the river , and the tall trees gave it a melancholy and pleasing shade ; while from the windows the eye caught , beneath the spreading branches , the gay and luxuriant landscape stretching to the west , and overlooked on the left by the bold precipices of the Pyrenees .
Adjoining the library was a green-house , stored with scarce and beautiful plants ; for one of the amusements of St. Aubert was the study of botany , and among the neighbouring mountains , which afforded a luxurious feast to the mind of the naturalist , he often passed the day in the pursuit of his favourite science .
He was sometimes accompanied in these little excursions by Madame St. Aubert , and frequently by his daughter ; when , with a small osier basket to receive plants , and another filled with cold refreshments , such as the cabin of the shepherd did not afford , they wandered away among the most romantic and magnificent scenes , nor suffered the charms of Nature 's lowly children to abstract them from the observance of her stupendous works .
When weary of sauntering among cliffs that seemed scarcely accessible but to the steps of the enthusiast , and where no track appeared on the vegetation , but what the foot of the izard had left ; they would seek one of those green recesses , which so beautifully adorn the bosom of these mountains , where , under the shade of the lofty larch , or cedar , they enjoyed their simple repast , made sweeter by the waters of the cool stream , that crept along the turf , and by the breath of wild flowers and aromatic plants , that fringed the rocks , and inlaid the grass .
Adjoining the eastern side of the green-house , looking towards the plains of Languedoc , was a room , which Emily called hers , and which contained her books , her drawings , her musical instruments , with some favourite birds and plants .
Here she usually exercised herself in elegant arts , cultivated only because they were congenial to her taste , and in which native genius , assisted by the instructions of Monsieur and Madame St. Aubert , made her an early proficient .
The windows of this room were particularly pleasant ; they descended to the floor , and , opening upon the little lawn that surrounded the house , the eye was led between groves of almond , palm-trees , flowering-ash , and myrtle , to the distant landscape , where the Garonne wandered .
The peasants of this gay climate were often seen on an evening , when the day 's labour was done , dancing in groups on the margin of the river .
Their sprightly melodies , debonnaire steps , the fanciful figure of their dances , with the tasteful and capricious manner in which the girls adjusted their simple dress , gave a character to the scene entirely French .
The front of the chateau , which , having a southern aspect , opened upon the grandeur of the mountains , was occupied on the ground floor by a rustic hall , and two excellent sitting rooms .
The first floor , for the cottage had no second story , was laid out in bed-chambers , except one apartment that opened to a balcony , and which was generally used for a breakfast-room .
In the surrounding ground , St. Aubert had made very tasteful improvements ; yet , such was his attachment to objects he had remembered from his boyish days , that he had in some instances sacrificed taste to sentiment .
There were two old larches that shaded the building , and interrupted the prospect ; St. Aubert had sometimes declared that he believed he should have been weak enough to have wept at their fall .
In addition to these larches he planted a little grove of beech , pine , and mountain-ash .
On a lofty terrace , formed by the swelling bank of the river , rose a plantation of orange , lemon , and palm-trees , whose fruit , in the coolness of evening , breathed delicious fragrance .
With these were mingled a few trees of other species .
Here , under the ample shade of a plane-tree , that spread its majestic canopy towards the river , St. Aubert loved to sit in the fine evenings of summer , with his wife and children , watching , beneath its foliage , the setting sun , the mild splendour of its light fading from the distant landscape , till the shadows of twilight melted its various features into one tint of sober grey .
Here , too , he loved to read , and to converse with Madame St. Aubert ; or to play with his children , resigning himself to the influence of those sweet affections , which are ever attendant on simplicity and nature .
He has often said , while tears of pleasure trembled in his eyes , that these were moments infinitely more delightful than any passed amid the brilliant and tumultuous scenes that are courted by the world .
His heart was occupied ; it had , what can be so rarely said , no wish for a happiness beyond what it experienced .
The consciousness of acting right diffused a serenity over his manners , which nothing else could impart to a man of moral perceptions like his , and which refined his sense of every surrounding blessing .
The deepest shade of twilight did not send him from his favourite plane-tree .
He loved the soothing hour , when the last tints of light die away ; when the stars , one by one , tremble through aether , and are reflected on the dark mirror of the waters ; that hour , which , of all others , inspires the mind with pensive tenderness , and often elevates it to sublime contemplation .
When the moon shed her soft rays among the foliage , he still lingered , and his pastoral supper of cream and fruits was often spread beneath it .
Then , on the stillness of night , came the song of the nightingale , breathing sweetness , and awakening melancholy .