committee on business to the north, in the execution of my commission, I was to take up my abode in the habitation of a person worth many thousands. On my approach I found the door was open, the puppy and its mother, the cat and her kitten occupied the hearth, be-. fore a scorching fire. A small pig, a sack of flour, the jay and wicker cage, with other furniture adorned the room. The old lady soon entered, and with a cheering smile most cordially welcomed the stranger to be seated, and take a repast; gin, brandy, rum, various wines, cake, bread and cheese of various sorts, were placed upon the table with dexterity; but the chief obstacle was to distinguish the liquid in the glass, and. effectually separate it from the external and disgusting coating, however, by recollecting how boys pout, I shot the under lip over the edge, of the glass, and succeeded without the difficulty under which my clerical friend was compelled to labour, when he complained of a dirty knife and plate, and the servant muttered, "don't be so scrupulous, sir, for you must eat a peck of dirt before you die." In a passionate tone,

he cried, "You hussy, I don't like to eat so much at once!!!??.

I have often met with people, who, possessing a nicer taste than myself, be-cause they cultivated it more, suffered much on occasions, where, for my own part, I perceived nothing grievously wanting, but a grateful heart, and a renunciation of idolizing the belly.

"If petty evils round you swarm,.

"Let not their buz your temper warm ;
"But brush them from your mind away,
Like insects of a summer's day..

One evening, unhappily my wife: caught the idea that every thing dies with us. Here I saw another trouble arise, for as on the one hand reason could not turn her thoughts the right way, so on the other the salutary check of a future retribution had lost its hold of her mind. She soon affirmed, "We ought to believe our own experience, we were nothing before our birth, and we' shall be nothing after our death.". Well then may not I adopt the analogy by taking my point of comparison from the

moment when I was nothing, and when I came into existence, and what becomes of the argument? Is not one positive proof better than all the negative proofs in the universe? "I am right, say what you will." But consider wife, you conclude from an unknown past to an unknown future, to perpetuate the nothingness of your husband, and I deduce my consequence from the present, which I know to the future which I do not know, as an assurance of this future existence, I proceed on the presumption of a goodness and justice to come; from the instances of goodness and justice which I actually see diffused all around.

me.

Oh! Isabella, all the wealth of worlds,
Nor all its vanities and gay delights
Could e'er seduce my bosom to forego
The sacred hours, when stealing from the noise
Of care and envy.

The more I think of God the more I love him, and the thought of no hereafter to enjoy the felicity and purity of ́ a better state, and the more immediate presence of God, is a shock greater than

I can bear. It casts me with merciless hands from the genial warmth of the sun to the frozen poles. Its cruel grasp presses all the remains of vivacity and turns me to an unfeeling, senseless block.'

Come wife, let us indulge the conviction, that he who has amply provided for our bodies, and brought them to their maturity below, has prepared a place for his people above, where the souls of the redeemed will arrive at that maturity they never can attain on earth.

"And did not he, who fills the middle throne "In yonder world of spirits, lead to founts "Of everlasting joy-wipe ev'ry tear,

"And sighs and sorrows close, each pang I feel. "Eternal blank!!!"

"Well, say what you will, I am wiser than to believe your doctrine." My doctrine, my dear, it is the doctrine of the conscience of the patriarchsjudges-prophets-of the bible, and of God. For it is the province of religion kindly to take us up where philosophy leads us astray; shew us the nature of

ills we experience, by unfolding their origin. Were pride and vanity to be the arbiter of our felicity, they would render us unhappy. We are now in exile, let us look for our future complete emancipation by a teacher that cannot lie, and who kindly says: Acquaint thyself now with God, and be at peace, and thereby good shall come unto thy soul."

66

"Our life in such a mould is cast,
""Tis plain it is not made to last:
"Tis but a state of trial here,
"To fit us for a purer sphere;
"A scene of contest for a prize,
"That in another region lies;
"In better worlds and brighter skies
"Here doom'd a painful lot to bare,
"Our happiness is treasur'd there.”

To proceed with the narrative, it may be remarked that the rapid stream of years roll on, the growth of my childreu, the date of letters, and the mixture of grey upon my companion, not only deeply affected my mind, and excited no small degree of cogitation, but whatever economy I might possess, and