would pay for her. Immediately after, while
changing horses at Bishopton, the passengers
were sauntering about, except the captain and
old lady, who remained in the coach. The
lady thanked him for his kindly feeling towards
her, as she was now unable to pay for a seat.
He said he had always a compassionate feeling
for weary pedestrians since he himself was in
that state when a boy twenty years ago near
this very place, when a tender-hearted, com-
passionate lady ordered the coachman to take
him up and paid for his seat.
Well do I

remember that incident,' she said; 'I am that
lady, but my lot in life has changed. I was
then independent. Now I am reduced to
poverty by the doings of a prodigal son.'
How happy I am,' replied the captain, that
I have been successful in my enterprises, and
arn returning home to live on my fortune.
From this day I shall bind myself and heirs
to supply you with twenty-five pounds per
annum till your death.'

ON MERCY AND HUMANITY.

A wealthy man who can help a poor man, and will not, has no more sense of humanity than a poor ruffian who kills a rich man to supply his necessities.

The quality of mercy is not strain'd:

It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven,
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed :
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.

Consider this

That in the course of justice none of us

Should see salvation. We do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

That men should be merciful and humane is the doctrine of all ages and people. In regions bound in by eternal frosts, uncivilised and almost inaccessible, where the elements and sterility combine to render subsistence precarious, and seem to shut up the heart, mercy remains a sacred though solitary virtue, and relief is extended to those whom age or infirmity renders unable to toil. Why should we talk of occasionally obeying a sentiment which in the children of nature is a living and invariable instinct? Were the wildest barbarian told that our bread is often withheld from the hungry; that some of us are clothed in soft raiment and wallow in all the enjoyments of luxury and ease, while multitudes are suffered to perish from the absolute want of food, while poverty stalks round us ravenous and despairing-were he told that the impoverished and sequestered parts of some of our great cities would present sights more terrific than that of a neglected battle-field; that famine is the consequence of arrested toil, that families in consternation look round without hope or prospect of relief_ were he told all this, his honest heart would be filled with astonishment and horror! and yet we flatter ourselves that we are merciful!

Look into the divine volume of our law, mark the rule of mercy and humanity it lays down, and then let us confess the immensity of our obligations and of our distance from it. It may be said that these virtues are often remembered. True; and how should they not be remembered? But why are we obliged to use all the arts of colouring and eloquence to make appeals to men's hearts, to expose all the miseries of distress, to mingle our tears with the tears of the unhappy objects that invoke us? And after all, why do we so often fail? Is it not because men generally do not feel that to be merciful is a duty incumbent upon them?

Let us then consider this matter, and remember that he who displays a want of mercy discovers a depraved heart, and that to be unmerciful is productive of misery both to ourselves and others, while on the contrary a merciful and humane disposition is productive of great happiness. 'Blessed,' says our Saviour, are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;' and again it is said: 'What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?' O mercy! thou principle of great souls, how glorious are thy works! Thou preventest a deluge of indigence ! Thou preventest a deluge of vice! Thou throwest an immortal guard round virtue! Thou recallest not the dead, but thou givest life and health to the diseased and the expiring.

A MERCIFUL JUDGE, AND A HUMANE KING.

A poor widow was a few years ago charged before the Assistant-Judge at the Middlesex Sessions with stealing some ribbon and silk braid. She had been in prison three weeks, and was now on her trial as a shoplifter. She pleaded guilty. In her defence, it appeared that she had borne a good character all her life, and had been driven to this dishonest act from sheer distress. The landlord of the house in which she had lodged for eleven years came forward to bear witness in her behalf. He stated that she was a widow, and had a son whom she had put apprentice to a trade. She was a well-conducted and hard-working woman, and was often engaged until two, three, and four o'clock in the morning at dressmaking to earn her living and to support her son. He believed that she had been driven to this act in consequence of ladies for whom she worked not paying her as the work was done, but taking long credit, which, as she was very poor, she could not afford to give. Not having the means to purchase materials when required to finish the work she had in hand for them, she had unfortunately resorted to stealing them. The judge took a merciful view of the case, and dismissed it with a few words of sorrow and pity, saying that those who had so cruelly wronged this poor creature by holding back so long the reward of her

labour ought, when they heard of the case, to be truly ashamed of their unmerciful conduct.

During the retreat of the famous King Alfred at Athelney, in Somersetshire, after the defeat of his forces by the Danes, the following circumstance happened, which gives a striking proof of his pious and humane disposition :-A beggar came to his little castle and requested alms. His queen informed him that they had only one small loaf remaining, which was insufficient for themselves and their friends, who were gone in quest of food with little hopes of success. But the

king replied, 'Give the poor Christian one half of the loaf. He that could feed five thousand with five loaves and two fishes can certainly make that half of the loaf suffice for more than our necessities.' Accordingly the poor man was relieved, and this noble act of humanity was soon rewarded by a store of fresh provisions with which his people returned.

ON CONDOLENCE AND CONSOLATION. Condolence and consolation indiscreetly pressed upon those who are suffering under affliction only serve to increase their pain, and to render their grief more poignant. God in His bounty works up storms about us, That give mankind occasion to exert

Their hidden strength, and throw out into practice
Virtues that shun the day, and lie conceal'd

In the smooth seasons and the calms of life.

To condole with and administer consolation to those in trouble and distress is a duty the