DOSS MOI, TANE STIGMEN!
and soon was enfolded in the silken fetters of Morpheus.
The duchess usually sat up an hour or two in her chamber previous to her retiring to repose, her time being occupied in reading, writing, or entering memoranda in her common-place book; but her Grace always finished with her devotions. When these were duly performed, slowly advancing to the bedside of her beloved daughter, she already be held her in a profound sleep. "Happy state of youth!" thought the duchess,
"Thou hast no figures, nor no fantasies,
Which busy care draws in the brains of men:
Therefore thou sleep'st so sound."
"Oh, my darling daughter, may care, anxiety, and sorrow, ever be strangers to thy dwelling! and, oh heaven grant, that thy bosom, and thy peace of mind, may be ever calm and serene as at this present moment they are!"
Having mentally expressed this fervent prayer, the duchess retired to her pillow, mournfully revolving upon the past, and deeply meditating upon the future; much wearied both from mental, as well as bodily fatigue, she fell into a deep slumber. But her sleep was restless and perturbed, she went back to the days of her youth. For as Milton finely expresses,
"When nature rests,
Oft in her absence mimic fancy wakes,