purity of intention, on the part of those whose high toned souls sought to alleviate suffering, and to extend the hand of sympathy towards forsakenness, and want— at the professions of the honestly pious, he was the ready satirist and unremitting scoffer -and the active spirit of detraction was ever ready to rise up within him, and level darts at those whose very worthiness inspired his hatred. Deluded and disingenuous man, as if in this wide world, in which he dwelt, there were no noblenessno virtue no sincerity-as if forsooth all he met were formed of that base mould from whence had sprung Gideon Clynchiere!

Feeling secure in the abundance of his own treasures, he heard not the cries of the fatherless, heeded not the tears of the widow, nor beheld the beggar's sores. To penetrate dens of squalor, and haunts of penury, was to him a vitiated taste, and those who did so were in his false and flinty-hearted reasonings, fools or hypocrites. Like many other worldly calculators, he ever sought the quid pro quo for whatever he speciously

If

performed, and when he did chance to do anything in the shape of a kind action, he exacted its worth in demonstrations of gratitude, or in some tangible return. the interrogatives of conscience raised their whisperings in his bosom, he essayed to stifle such pain-giving questions, and tried to lull the inward monitor to repose. But a disturbing reflection would at times make the appeal within his breast, to say how it was that a stream of good fortune had placed him and his family in the aged halls of a now exiled line-and why it was that he was not the poor starvling to shiver uncared for on a bed of straw.

He might try to refer these astounding differences to the self merit of a free agency, but the still small voice, even in his own blunted and insensible mind, gave the impress of a calm conviction, that men's good and ill, are ordered by a power superior to their own ignoble selves. A convenient way indeed for such hireling and debased men as yourself Gideon, to sneer at religion, and call it a fashion. It is much to be regretted

that into such fashion you never fell had you done so, perchance your future history had been less embittered. Is it not better to leave other's consciences to themselves and their God, than for impious men like yourself, to rise up as the severe censors of those who shame you by their worth? If Lady Dashover were insincere, her insincerity could do no harm, whilst her offices of kindness were advantageous acts to the recipients of her favours. It is to be feared, even upon the most superficial judgment, that Letitia had commenced her deeds of alms-doing, not with that sincerity, for the want of which she erroneously impugned Lady Dashover. But it is one of the failings common to our fallen nature, to note others' faults, and be blind to our own.

In the process of time not only Mr. Inglis, but also his revered father-in-law, felt overcome with ennui. The irksomeness of a dull and unvarying country life became hard of endurance. Gideon's active faculties sought some unrest as a relief from the stagnant tedium of unoccupied hours, and Inglis had

now began to sigh for metropolitan excitation, as a change from that weary monotony under which he chafed. Neither of the twain had any refined or intellectual tastes -no resources within themselves on which to fall back. The matter-of-fact concerns associated with gain, were stimulants suited to both, and sensuous pleasures had a syren charm for the younger. London was the place of all others fitted to the gratification of such minds. Gideon on his retirement imagined that he could sink into dignified repose, and become at once a being of entire enjoyment, but with all his vaunted knowledge of human nature, he reflected not that long confirmed habits, and a life passed in rearing up some darling idol to the fancy, are not with comfort to be renounced at once -he remembered not the abrupt cessation of the functions of any faculties cannot be achieved precipitately. But Gideon was not the first who felt disappointed in the new life which well nigh half a century of labour had procured. The prospect in the distance had ever looked enchanting, but

when entered upon the illusion became apparent. As to the affianced of his child, the giddy rounds of metropolitan dissipation and frivolous amusements, were regarded by him as things the most worth living for.

"Father," said Inglis one day in a firm and endearing tone as they were walking together in the park surrounding the mansion (he ever used this filial appellative when about to carry a point)" Father," repeated he after a brief pause, "I have recently been revolving a project in my mind, but I know not whether you will or will not accede to my proposals, yet-"

"What are they?what are they, James ?" impatiently asked the elder.

"Well, Sir, I cannot fail to observe that you like myself are not in love with an idle life; it seemed all very pleasant at first to have nothing to do but lay upon one's oars; yet really this Elleringay is a dull place, and I have been cogitating that a scheme might be hit upon, to the advantage of both. I now it is true run up once a month to town, and have a little to occupy my thoughts, so