WORKS PUBLISHED IN

APPLETON'S

MINIATURE CLASSICAL LIBRARY.

This unique Library will comprise the best works of our venerated authors; published in an elegant form, with a beautiful frontispiece, tastefully ornamented.

The following are now ready:

THOMPSON.—THE SEASONS. BY JAMES THOMSON.

"Place the 'Seasons' in any light and the poem appears faultless—and above all, the sentiments are so pure, toe lessons in virtue so attractive, the religion so natural, graceful, and winning, that the reader cannot fail to become better and wiser by the perusal of that which produces sensations of the most supreme pleasure."—S.C. Hall.

GEMS FROM AMERICAN POETS; Consisting of selections from the most esteemed authors.

"Above a hundred and twenty specimens of popular American poets adorn the pages, most of them worthy of being so chosen, and some of them eminently sweet and beautiful."—London Lit. Gaz.

HANNAH MORE'S PRIVATE DEVOTIONS; With selections from various authors.

CLARKE'S SCRIPTURE PROMISES.—In this edition every passage of Scripture has been compared and verified.

GOLDSMITH.—ESSAYS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH, M.B.

GOLDSMITH.—THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD. BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH.

"Goldsmith, both in verse and prose, was one of the most delightful writers in the language. His verse flows like a limpid stream. His ease is quite unconscious. Everything in him is spontaneous, unstudied, unaffected, yet elegant, harmonious, graceful, and nearly faultless."—Hazlitt.

JOHNSON.—THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA. A TALE. BY SAMUEL JOHNSON, LL.D.

The fund of thinking which this work contains is such that almost every sentence of it may furnish a subject of long meditation.

COTTIN.—ELIZABETH, OR THE EXILES OF SIBERIA. BY MADAME COTTIN. The extensive popularity of this little tale is well known.

TOKEN OF AFFECTION
         —      OF FRIENDSHIP.
         —      OF REMEMBRANCE.
         —      OF THE HEART.
         —      OF LOVE.

Each volume consists of appropriate poetical extracts from the best writers of the day.

PURE GOLD FROM THE RIVERS OF WISDOM. A collection of short extracts on religious subjects, by Bishop Hall, Sherlock, &c.

ST. PIERRE.—PAUL AND VIRGINIA; FROM THE FRENCH OF J.B.H. DE ST. PIERRE

MOORE.—LALLA ROOKH, AN ORIENTAL ROMANCE. BY THOMAS MOORE, ESQ.

WILSON.—SACRA PRIVATA. The private meditations and prayers of the Right Rev. THOMAS WILSON, D.D., Lord Bishop of Sodor and Man; accommodated to general use.

POLLOCK.—THE COURSE OF TIME. BY ROBERT POLLOCK, A.M.

YOUNG.—THE COMPLAINT: OR NIGHT THOUGHTS. BY EDWARD YOUNG, D.D.

MORE.—PRACTICAL PIETY; Or, the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of the Life. BY HANNAH MORE.

PAUL AND VIRGINIA,

FROM THE FRENCH

OF

J.B.H. DE SAINT PIERRE.

NEW YORK :

D APPLETON AND COMPANY,

200 BROADWAY

1851

PREFACE.

The following translation of "Paul and Virginia," was written at Paris, amidst the horrors of Robespierre's tyranny. During that gloomy epocha it was difficult to find occupations which might cheat the days of calamity of their weary length. Society had vanished; and amidst the minute vexations of Jacobinical despotism, which, while it murdered in mass, persecuted in detail, the resources of writing, and even reading, were encompassed with danger. The researches of domiciliary visits had already compelled me to commit to the flames a manuscript volume, where I had traced the political scenes of which I had been a witness, with the colouring of their first impressions on my mind, with those fresh tints that fade from recollection; and since my pen, accustomed to follow the impulse of my feelings, could only have drawn, at that fatal period, those images of desolation and despair which haunted my imagination, and dwelt upon my heart, writing was forbidden employment. Even reading had its perils; for books had sometimes aristocratical insignia, and sometimes counter revolutionary allusions; and when the administrators of police happened to think the writer a conspirator, they punished the reader as his accomplice.

In this situation I gave myself the task of employing a few hours every day in translating the charming little novel of Bernardin St. Pierre, entitled "Paul and Virginia;" and I found the most soothing relief in wandering from my own gloomy reflections to those enchanting scenes of the Mauritius, which he has so admirably described. I also composed a few Sonnets adapted to the peculiar productions of that part of the globe, which are interspersed in the work. Some, indeed, are lost, as well as a part of the translation, which I have since supplied, having been sent to the Municipality of Paris, in order to be examined as English papers; where they still remain, mingled with revolutionary placards, motions, and harangues; and are not likely to be restored to my possession.

With respect to the translation, I can only hope to deserve the humble merit of not having deformed the beauty of the original. I have, indeed, taken one liberty with my author, which it is fit I should acknowledge, that of omitting several pages of general observations, which, however excellent in themselves, would be passed over with impatience by the English reader, when they interrupt the pathetic narrative. In this respect, the two nations seem to change characters; and while the serious and reflecting Englishman requires, in novel writing, as well as on the theatre, a rapid succession of incidents, much bustle and stage effect, without suffering the author to appear himself, and stop the progress of the story; the gay and restless Frenchman listens attentively to long philosophical reflections, while the catastrophe of the drama hangs in suspense.

My last poetical productions (the Sonnets which are interspersed in this work) may perhaps be found even more imperfect than my earlier compositions; since, after a long exile from England, I can scarcely flatter myself that my ear is become more attuned to the harmony of a language, with the sounds of which it is seldom gladdened; or that my poetical taste is improved by living in a country where arts have given place to arms. But the public will, perhaps, receive with indulgence a work written under such peculiar circumstances; not composed in the calm of literary leisure, or in pursuit of literary fame, but amidst the turbulence of the most cruel sensations, and in order to escape awhile from overwhelming misery.

H.M.W.

PAUL AND VIRGINIA.

On the eastern coast of the mountain which rises above Port Louis in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of former cultivation, are seen