which vibrate at the slightest touch, and convey such clear
intelligence to the brain, that it does not require to be arranged by the
judgment. Such persons instantly enter into the characters of others, and
instinctively discern what will give pain to every human being; their own
feelings are so varied that they seem to contain in themselves, not only
all the passions of the species, but their various modifications.
Exquisite pain and pleasure is their portion; nature wears for them a
different aspect than is displayed to common mortals. One moment it is a
paradise; all is beautiful: a cloud arises, an emotion receives a sudden
damp; darkness invades the sky, and the world is an unweeded garden;--but
go on with your narrative, said Sagestus, recollecting himself.

She proceeded. The man I am describing was humanity itself; but
frequently he did not understand me; many of my feelings were not to be
analyzed by his common sense. His friendships, for he had many friends,
gave him pleasure unmixed with pain; his religion was coldly reasonable,
because he wanted fancy, and he did not feel the necessity of finding,
or creating, a perfect object, to answer the one engraved on his heart:
the sketch there was faint. He went with the stream, and rather caught a
character from the society he lived in, than spread one around him. In my
mind many opinions were graven with a pen of brass, which he thought
chimerical: but time could not erase them, and I now recognize them as
the seeds of eternal happiness: they will soon expand in those realms
where I shall enjoy the bliss adapted to my nature; this is all we need
ask of the Supreme Being; happiness must follow the completion of his
designs. He however could live quietly, without giving a preponderancy to
many important opinions that continually obtruded on my mind; not having
an enthusiastic affection for his fellow creatures, he did them good,
without suffering from their follies. He was particularly attached to me,
and I felt for him all the affection of a daughter; often, when he had
been interesting himself to promote my welfare, have I lamented that he
was not my father; lamented that the vices of mine had dried up one
source of pure affection.

The other friend I have already alluded to, was of a very different
character; greatness of mind, and those combinations of feeling which are
so difficult to describe, raised him above the throng, that bustle their
hour out, lie down