took her advice in the village always prospered."

It would have been in vain to try to strip the legend of its marvels; I merely said, therefore, that unholy aid was not to be sought in any emergency; that in the case of Dr. Friend, whom she stated to have received it, she saw it instantly followed by an agony of repentance. I added, that the charm he used had passed away with himself, and, I believed, the whole of his science. But if the passages from which he sought comfort had been handed down in the family, I had no sort of doubt they would still be found as efficacious as ever. And if the strings which guided to them had fallen out, the volume might be explored for consolation with still greater confidence, as its pages would now probably be turned by the hand of innocent misfortune, or that of infirm old age.

The attentive creature told me, that the book she spoke of had been lost to the family. It had been distrained for rent in a hard season, with other things from her own mother, who had injured her circumstances by endeavouring to save a young man related to her from ruin. He had, it seems, run through the usual course of village profligacy, and the alehouse and the gaol had the most of his company. He had broken the hearts which loved him, and cheat

ed all who trusted him.

The discipline of the

army took the last and only chance of reclaiming him. As far as his figure went, he was thought worthy to serve his king; and in the field of battle he was said not to want a ferocious or desperate courage. Though unworthy constantly of life, he never feared to die; and at last was sentenced to the gibbet for acts of outrage, in addition to plunder, calculated to stain the soldier, and disgrace his country. He went up the ladder as if he had been scaling a fortress; squirted his last quid of tobacco, with a laugh, in the face of the hangman, and sprang to his fate as he had done upon the enemy when he had surmounted the breach made by the field-pieces in their walls. What a singular thing is courage! The old woman shuddered at the wickedness of the ruffian; but his reckless obduracy was related in a tone of voice, that showed the feeling which contempt of danger always excites, until it is corrected by other considerations.

The good dame at length said, that she was sure the passages to which she had alluded, must be well known to a great scholar like myself, and that she should be happy beyond measure, if I would mark them down for her meditation and comfort. I was happily well read. in the sacred writings, and promised my best

endeavours to supply her want. I accordingly bought for her at Cambridge a Bible printed in a firm bold type, suited to aged eyes, and by the usual helps, soon put down for her a series of consolatory passages, which the philosophy of all ages has never equalled, and revisited her cottage with the feeling of no ordinary spirit.

My present announced itself. Like the ministers of the religion, it wore its peculiar and proper dress. "I have greatly pleased myself, mother," said I," in preparing this volume for your use. I hope I have myself profited also in the task of drawing together so many interesting passages. Their combined influence is irresistible. Under a few general heads you will find distinct references to the counsel and consolation which this book affords. I have disposed them in the order which best displays their force. To these you can have recourse when there is gloom around you; when the winds are sighing abroad, and the waste of waters is rolling with violence at your feet, here is a light which will show you a sure path, though you will not see the hand that urges you safely forward."

"Nay, now," said she, "you are reminding me of my foolish talk about Friend."

"Only just enough," I replied, "to make

you throw away all idle superstition, and seek in every thing its proper good. Whatever benefit your magician might derive from certain passages, they derive no credit whatever from his adoption of them. To be, or suppose one's self to be, in league with wicked spirits is a delusion wearing fast away; and, indeed, the passions in their excesses are abundant engines of human misery. You have yourself never known or happily survived their errors, and find all at peace in your remembrance. But there are those who feel it impossible to escape remorse. Think with tenderness of such sufferers, and pray that their anguish may be efficacious."

A look of some surprise followed the earnestness of my injunction; but my gift was received with a grateful feeling, too humble for the expression of any curiosity, and I shortly after rose and took my leave. In the vacations I usually passed my time in London, and, at the recommendation of my father, mixed a good deal in miscellaneous society, in order to try the effect of varied scenes and different characters upon a mind sinking under one too powerful impression. The west end of the town was easily exhausted; in the city there was a great and quick succession in the dininghouses, and I often met with natives of Sweden,

Denmark, and Germany, with whom I kept up my acquisition of the northern languages. Though chiefly engaged in commerce, I sometimes found among these gentlemen considerable literary attainments. And one of them

left an impression upon me that has long survived the excellent man himself. The name

of this gentleman was Herman. He was by birth a Swede, and, as a linguist, far surpassed the most general scholars of my acquaintance. He spoke the southern languages as perfectly as the northern; and of the Italian he possessed the dialects, numerous as they are, and, without the slightest confusion, passed from tongue to tongue, and from rusticity to refinement. He had made the world itself his school, and retained all that it had taught him. And this was the grand difference between Herman and the professors in our colleges. They were mere lexicons, accurate guides to books, and the knowledge of them: but to the living world, and the living tongues of the mighty Babel, they were in a great measure strangers. Herman's education had been classical, and his university had done him justice. Ten years in the world subsequently had made him the finished man I found him. As his knowledge was liberal, such, I may add, was his use of it. He saw in a moment what I did not know, and let