at great difference;
when the smiles which shed their sunshine have rapidly vanished, and the
voice we loved has died away like the music of a harp; when that which was
light, joy, wit, eloquence, has departed with the latest breath; when, in
short, we are awakened from our revery by the clods falling on the coffin,
and the mourners moving away; it is then that the soul, diminished of its
essence, flits away with a strange sense to its unjoyous abode, as a bird
would return to its lonely nest.

There never existed one who more lived and moved, and had his spiritual
being in the affections; a sensitive nature wooed into life by the
kindness of the faintest breath, but killingly crushed by the footsteps of
the thoughtless or the cruel. For such a one, life is well deserving of
the epithet applied to it by the poet Virgil: _dulcis vita_, sweet life.
It is not a vulgar sensuality, a Lethean torpor; the triumph of the
grosser nature over the eternal principle within. It is already a
separation of the carnal from the spiritual; a refinement of fierce
passions; a present divorce from a close and clinging alliance; a
foretaste of the waters of life; in short, the very essence and devotion
of a pure religion. Would it seem strangely inconsistent that a being of
so sweet a character as I shall describe him, my poor young friend
declared, with a gush of the bitterest tears, that he _could_ not go into
the dark valley, for he loved life with an inconceivable, passionate love?
His was the very agony and pathos of the dying Hoffman, when almost with
his latest breath, he alluded to 'the sweet habitude of being.' But it was
only, thanks be to GOD! a short defection, a momentary clouding of that
bright faith which was destined soon to see beyond the vale. His tears
ceased to flow, glistened a moment, and then passed away as if they had
been wiped by some gentle hand.

He leaned upon a soft couch, so very pale and haggard that his hour seemed
very near. Costly books strewed his table; pictures and many exquisite
things were scattered about with lavish hand; for wealth administered to
refined luxury, and affection crowned him with blessings which gold can
never buy. A mother hid from him her bitter tears, and spoke the words of
cheerfulness; sisters pressed around him with the poignant grief an only
brother can inspire; a beautiful betrothed betokened to him in
irrepressible tears her depth and purity of love. Letters came to him
hurrie