"don't you know that his lectures are only for gentle-folks? Why nobody else can understand them. Ask any one that was there last week what he talked about, and my life to a shilling they can't tell you. And I'm sure I can't for one, though I tried to understand all that I was able. My husband slunk out before it was over, and away he went to the Bull, and he says he'll never go again, 'tis such dry work. If he had served parson Plain so, he would soon have found it out, and we should have seen him at our house the next day, and he would have made him ashamed of himself. Do, Mr. Trusty come and talk to him one day; oh! if Sir Charles was but as religious as you, what a blessed thing it would be for us all. But I must be gone."

Away went Mrs. Prate, after Roger had assured her he would call on her husband very shortly. He then entered the little parlour, and told Sir Charles, that he had taken the liberty of saying so much to his neighbour in his hearing, that he might have an opportunity of judging of the mode of thinking and talking amongst them; assuring him at the same time, that Mrs. Prate was one of the most sensible women employed in the manufactory, and that if she was incapable of understanding Mr. D---'s lectures, he was certain every other female was. Sir Charles hanked him for his consideration, and immedi

ately departed. Roger thought he looked displeased. But he was not so; he retired grave and thoughtful; the artless story he had thus accidentally overheard affected him; he sympathized with the poor woman; he regretted the cause of her distress; and he was almost inclined to think, that if her husband had continued under the eye and instructions of parson Plain, it would not have happened. He resolved to inform Mr. D-- the particulars of this evening's adventures, and to consult on the propriety of making his lectures, for the future, more simple, and better adapted to ignorant minds.

Sir Charles was surprised at the cool indifference with which Mr. D---- treated the subject, and now, for the first time, began to suspect, that the name, more than Virtue herself, was the object of his regard. For surely were it not so, Mr. D--- would not have objected to try another method of instruction, which he peremptorily refused to attempt. Sir Charles retired, for the first time in his life, displeased with this gentleman. He passed a sleepless night, contrasting in his mind the different characters of Mr. D--and Roger Trusty--both professedly the friends of virtue; yet the one so zealous in her cause, and the other so lukewarm. The unreasonableness of his own conduct too, in opposing a book he had never, with the least attention, examined,

now struck him with great force, and he once more formed a resolution, which the reader will recollect he did before, that he would give the sacred volume a candid perusal.

CHAP. XV.

The Disposition of Mind with which every Book should be perused. Sir Charles reads the Bible: a brief Statement of his. Feelings and Sentiments. In what Respects Mr. D-- and Sir Charles's Characters differ most materially. The latter takes the Liberty of judging for himself. His Conduct in consequence.

IR Charles Bright was a reasonable being.

More is comprised in this term, than perhaps

strikes the mind on a first view. It comprises candour, ingenuousness, and humility. What can be more unreasonable than want of candour? In the absence of this lovely quality, the human mind is fettered by the chains of prejudice, blinded by the mists of ill-humour, and bewildered in the mazes of caprice. Such an one cannot be dignified with the epithet of a reasonable being : and he is, consequently, no proper judge of any subject proposed to his attention. Pride was not made for man," is the language of Scripture, and did we not see and feel its power, we should certainly doubt its existence. Viewed by the

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eye of reason, a proud man is a preposterous sight. A creature, dependant every moment upon the will of another, to be self-sufficient, absurd propensity. A being endued with bodily or intellectual powers, superior to the generality of those around him, to substitute pride in the place of gratitude--astonishing conduct! The surprise such conduct may reasonably excite in our minds, can only be equalled by our admiration of the forbearance of the infinite Bestower of such blessings, in not commissioning the arrow of disease to destroy the boasted preeminence, or to level the unreasonable boaster with his original dust. As Sir Charles was a reasonable being, that is, possessed candour and humility, he was a proper judge of every book he undertook to read; and happy would it be for authors, if all readers were thus reasonable. The humility of his mind, led him to suppose it possible, that he' might derive instruction from every volume he opened; and the candour of his disposition induced him to be lenient to the faults, and susceptible of the excellencies of his author.

With this disposition, he opened the sacred' volume, and the reflections, and observations, he made upon its contents, we scruple not to say, were precisely what every person, who enters upon the same study, with the same disposition, will unavoidably make.