HELOISE.

HARDLY could a finer exemplar of the principle of self-abnegation be pointed out than Heloise. She formed an embodiment of that generous passion of love which prefers the honour of the beloved object to its own. That noble affection which lives and has its breath in the welfare of another-the chosen one. That affection whose ambition is exalted,—for it seeks the glory of another self, instead of self-aggrandizement; whose aspirations are all disinterested, having for aim the advantage of the beloved one, forgetful of personal distinction. Peculiarly a womanly affection,—content to merge all considerations of individual fame (even womanhood's fame itself) in that of the man preferred, proud of his renown, and humbly willing to remain obscure, and even defamed for his sake.

Her tragical history may be gathered from the celebrated "Letters" written by Abelard, and herself, which fortunately time has preserved; thus enabling us to trace, almost in autobiographical form (the incidents of the story in his, the inner essence, its truth of respective character in hers), the private particulars of two beings who played so conspicuous a part in the World's great. Drama, seven centuries since. In Abelard's letter, which was addressed to a friend, who had suffered severe misfortune, and

whom he wished to inspire with fortitude, from a detail of griefs far exceeding those he strove to console, and indeed, almost unexampled in calamity,-are detailed the afflicting circumstances of his and Heloise's life up to that peried; and in the letters of Heloise, are revealed the intimate vestiges of character, and moral conformation that marked each. Her own character is brightly visible in the warm outpourings of the woman-heart, overflowing through every line and every word; while that of Abelard is latently legible in the appeals she with such fervour and eloquence addresses to him.

Heloise was one of those women, in whom a strong intellect is combined with equal strength of feeling; in whom ardour of mind is co-existent with the most glowing generosity of soul. From childhood, she was distinguished by mental capacity and affectionate disposition. From earliest youth she applied herself to science and philosophy; and became mistress of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. Very beautiful, she diligently cultivated her understanding, which was naturally vigorous. She received her first education in the convent of Argenteuil, near Paris; and during girlhood, pursued her studies under the roof of her uncle, Fulbert, who was a canon in the cathedral of Paris, and almoner to King Henry I. of France.

Her uncle, proud of Heloise's attainments,-rare at any time in a woman, but especially so at the period when she lived,-which had already won her a name in the world, was eager to promote her tuition. When therefore Abelard appeared in Paris, in the full lustre of his scholastic reputation, and proposed to enter Fulbert's house as a boarder, giving instruction to the niece as an equivalent, the canon,-who was no less parsimonious than violenttempered, caught at this proposal, which afforded so fair an opportunity of fulfilling his views. Abelard's own words remark upon

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the rash folly of the canon's behaviour; thus "confiding," as it were, a tender lambkin to the care of a famished wolf." The advantages to be gained by the plan so blinded Fulbert to its dangers, that he actually placed his young niece under the sole direction of her new preceptor; begging him to devote all the hours he could spare, to her instruction, and went so far as to empower Abelard not only to see her at all hours, but, if he found her negligent or inattentive, to use chastisement.

Thus, the designs of Abelard were offered every facility for success, by the imprudence of the uncle; and, placed in this constant proximity with his beautiful pupil, he failed not to take full advantage of his position. Heloise was but seventeen, when she first met Abelard; while he was a man of thirty-nine. Hers was the very age at which a girl of her temperament and her endowments, was likely to become enamoured of a man of his age and character. He came to her surrounded by all the influences of his learned reputation, his graces of person and manner, his scholarly and varied accomplishments. She herself makes touching allusion to this. It has an effect, as if recording to posterity her lover's talent, and appealing to it in extenuation of her early fault.

"Among the qualities that distinguished you," writes she to him many years afterwards, "you possessed two gifts especially, which must have won you the heart of any woman: I mean, those of poet and musician. I cannot think that these accomplishments were ever before possessed by a philosopher in equal degree. It was thus, that, as a relaxation from your philosophical studies, you composed, by way of pastime, numberless verses and love-songs, whose poetic thought and musical grace, found an echo in every heart. Your name flew from mouth to mouth; and your stanzas remained graven in the memory of even the most ignorant, by the sweetness of your melodies. And ah! in consequence, how the

hearts of all the women were drawn towards you! But as the greater number of your verses sang our love, my name soon became distinguished, and then the envy of women was roused."

The classical reading of Heloise had habituated her to imbibe her ideas of right and wrong from such precepts as she found in the pages of the ancients. She had no mother, no female guide near her to counsel and advise; no friend at hand to point out where a girl might run fearfullest hazard in forming her conduct solely upon the tenets of such authors as she read. Aided by womanly admonitions, Heloise might have reaped wholesome advantage from her studies, and learned to gather fuller and wiser meaning from them. As it was, she may be imagined to have made her own crude and too-large construction of such books as she studied; and that from this-joined with her own generous nature-she grew to be over-reliant and confiding, where she gave her heart. It is probable that her girlish enthusiasm implicitly interpreted passages like the following one from Plato:-" For when the lover and the beloved have once arrived at the same point, the province of each being distinguished; the one able to assist in the cultivation of the mind and in the acquirement of every other excellence; the other yet requiring education, and seeking the possession of wisdom; then alone, by the union of these conditions, and in no other case, is it honourable for the beloved to yield up the affections to the lover."

From his character of professor of divinity, numbering among his scholars those who subsequently proved some of the most eminent men of the time-(a pope, nineteen cardinals, more than fifty archbishops and bishops, among ecclesiastics; and the almost incredible number of five thousand disciples in all, are asserted to have owed their education to Abelard's school of instruction)from his high reputation-from being one of the most able dialec