her shoulders was graceful beyond expression. Her eye-brows were arched,
and from her eyes shot forth the grateful rays of the rising sun. Her
waist was slender; and as she ran, she outstripped the winds, and her
footsteps were printless on the tender herb. Her mind, though soft, was
firm; and though yielding as wax to the precepts of wisdom, and the
persuasion of innocence, it was resolute and inflexible to the
blandishments of folly, and the sternness of despotism. Her ruling
passion was the love of virtue. Chastity was the first feature in her
character. It gave substance to her accents, and dignity to her
gestures. Conscious innocence ennobled all her reflexions, and gave to
her sentiments and manner of thinking, I know not what of celestial and
divine.

Edwin and Imogen had been united in the sports of earliest infancy. They
had been mutual witnesses to the opening blossoms of understanding and
benevolence in each others breasts. While yet a boy, Edwin had often
rescued his mistress from the rude vivacity of his playmates, and had
bestowed upon her many of those little distinctions which were
calculated to excite the flame of envy among the infant daughters of the
plain. For her he gathered the vermeil-tinctured pearmain, and the
walnut with an unsavoury rind; for her he hoarded the brown filberd, and
the much prized earth-nut. When she was near, the quoit flew from his
arm with a stronger whirl, and his steps approached more swiftly to the
destined goal. With her he delighted to retire from the heat of the sun
to the centre of the glade, and to sooth her ear with the gaiety of
innocence, long before he taught her to hearken to the language of love.
For her sake he listened with greater eagerness to the mirthful
relation, to the moral fiction, and to the song of the bards. His store
of little narratives was in a manner inexhaustible. With them he
beguiled the hour of retirement, and with them he hastened the sun to