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have all before you; we feel ресиliarly happy in the opportunity of reference to so good and wise a friend. Our brother has not writ

ten to us at all. The possibility of our wanting money, I suppose, has never occurred to him. We are, however, thanks to Mrs. Wilson, who with all her faults has some generous fits, not under the necessity of soliciting him. Adieu! my dear madam; with the greatest affection and respect, I subscribe myself your

MARIA VERNON.

(To be continued.)

SOLITARY WALKS

IN A COUNTRY CHURCH-YARD

BY JOHN WEBB.

WALK IV.

When I enter into a church-yard I love to converse with the dead. See

how thick the hillocks of mortality arise

H around nie, each of them a monufent of death, and the covering of a son or daughter of Adam. Perhaps a thousand, or ten thousand pieces of human nature, heaps upon heaps, lie buried in this spot of ground; it is the old repository of the inhabitants of the neighbouring towns, a collection of the ruins of many ages, and the rubbish of twenty generations."

Dr. WATTS.

A NEW-fallen shower had refreshed the parched realms of Nature, and sweets exhaled from, a flaunting woodbine, impregnated the passing breeze with fragrance, when I began my fourth excursion among the tombs. The air, which a short time before resounded with the melody of birds, and the buzz, of insects, was all tranquillity.

The blackbird had retired to his bowery recess, and the bee to his honied dome: the bat no longer plied his leathern wing, the beetle forbore to wheel his droning flight,' and the butterfly had ceased to display his enamelled pinions bedropt with azure, green,, and gold.'

The queen of night, enthroned in the blue expanse, gilt the surrounding scenery with her silvery rays, and, as Milton says, shadowy set off the face of things, and prompted the solitary mind to melancholy musings. Fast by the chancel of the church lies Florio, the youthful, gay, the murdered Florio, who was stabbed in an affray at a cricket-match. The hapless youth sleeps forgotten, beneath a grassy sod, and no memorial records his hapless fate.

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Taught by my fate, by my experience Ah! rather think, that to the future

wise,

Shun those mad haunts where storms of

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Traversing the dreary scene I came to a spot where the relics of a Dutch soldier were laid. During the rebellion in 1745 he came to England with an army of 6000 of his countrymen, to assist the English in subduing the Scottish rebels. Being quartered in this town, he sickened and died. Poor youth! far from thy native country, thy much-prized home, the father that dandled thee on hi knee, the mother who supplied thy infancy with milky beverage, and the maiden who bestowed on thee her affections. Strangers performed the last sad office, closet thine and delved thee eyes, in this place of skulls.' Poor youth!

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After visiting another tomb

Could to these childrens hapless fate stone, and reading the following

be blind;

verse inscribed thereon,

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But hark! what

At

good night' may come !-One youth, the kindest of the throng, bids the farewell; and, with his little dog, hastens his steps toward his father's cot. rattling in the trees! Louder and louder is the sound! The wind still rises, and sable clouds precede the impending storm. once the whole horizon is a dismal scene! The tempest comes; the dreadful lightning darts its fatal blaze, and thunder shakes the earth! Alas! the moment fraught with direst woe is now at handA burning flash strikes the poor youth, and lays him prostrate on the ground! The faithful dog, close to his master's feet, howls out and feels the blow. The dog comes to him; but ah! in vain he expects his master's kind caress; no more he feels his soothing hand. The peasant falls to rise no more! Virtue and filial affection inscribe these lines upon his rural grave:

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FASHIONABLE RUSTIC

WALKING AND HALF DRESS.

tion, say to my mainma, 1 an now a man, fulfil now your promise; give me my father's sword;

(With an Engraving, elegantly co- let me join the army, fight for my

loured.)

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country, and be a hero like my father!

"Aye, brother, but suppose you should, like my father, die in battle, or like that brave hero we read of in the news-papers the other day, who in the great sea-fight fought the French so nobly-"

And conquered, sister!-That was a glorious death! He will ever live in the hearts of his countrymen; and each rising generation will read the name of Nelson with rapture, and try to imitate so great an example.'

"Indeed, Frederic, I do not like to hear you speak so; one would think you were unhappy, I

am

sure mamma is the best of women. We have an elegant cottage, and beautiful gardens to play in. Now, for my part, I never would wish to quit mamma's side But, come brother, suppose you and I were to attend a little to our tasks to day; you know mamma has promised, if we are good, to take us to Theodore's cottage; long to know how his arm is; it was a sad thing for him to break it: I wonder who attends his silkworms now, as his children are too young to do any thing for him. I am sure when I am there and see their distress, I bless God for his goodness to me, and enabling mamma to relieve the poor."

Madame de Soleure here interrupted the conversation; the children looked frightened, for the tasks were totally forgotten. My beloved children,' said the amiable lady, I have heard your conver sation; I was sitting in the next room; the partition is so thin, and

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miss Meadows. The opening blos-
soms of genious which she saw ris-
ing in the mind of Maria inspired
her with an idea which she thought
would sooth many hours of sad re-
flection. This was to educate her
niece herself; and no person was
better calculated for such a task
than miss Meadows.
She was
well educated, had read a great
deal, reflected much, had mixed
with the higher circles of life, and
could draw from each scene, and
each character, those traits she
thought would so form her Maria

you spoke so loud that it was impossible for me not to hear you; your sentiments delight me.; Yours, my darling boy, must be as yet suppressed; if it be the will, of Heaven to spare you, a few years will bring you to that period you so ardently wish for. In the intervening time you have a great deal to learn. A true hero must be a gentleman; both his mind and manners, must be polished; and without education that will never be. Return, my dear Frederic, to your studies; waste not even a particle of your time, for like paras to make her amiable in domesticles of gold they each have their separate value; and if lost, the mind which polished might prove your greatest ornament, would be dormant to yourself and friends. I will keep my promise by attending you this evening to the cottage of Theodore.'

While I have my young friends hard at their task, and their amiable mother occupied in domestic arrangements, I will give my little readers an outline of madame de Soleure's history. I think I hear niss Fanny say, 'Oh! I hope we shall hear more of sweet little Madeline; and master Tom says, I long to know if Frederic gets his father's sword;' while miss Eliza, is quite pleased that the author or authoress is to tell them something of good madame de Soleure; as I shall make miss Eliza the oldest in the present party, she shall be gratified.

'Madame de Soleure lost both her parents at so early a period of life that she had no recollection of them: her mother's sister took charge of the orphan, and never was trust more implicitly fulfilled than it was by miss Meadows. The death of a beloved sister had chased the smile of joy from the face of VOL. XXXVIII.

tic. life. Under such a preceptress the little Maria could not fail of improvement, and never was trouble better repaid. Often would the little orphan say, when her aunt rewarded her with a kiss for well executing her task, 'I should be an ungrateful little girl if I did not endeavour to please my dear aunt! I will never, while I live, vex my dear aunt!' Maria was blessed with the outward form of beauty; her mind was the seat of the milder virtues; she possessed sensibility to feel for the woes of others; to feel that gratitude was the first debt due to the Almighty for his benefits to her, and to her aunt who had endowed her with those mental accomplishments that taught her to look on the frivolities of life with indifference. She had just reached her eighteenth year when her aunt's health began to decline: a rapid consumption had taken possession of her frame. With what tender care and anxiety did Maria watch over her early friend; by each endearment she would try to ease the heavy hours of pain; night and morn would she implore Heaven to spare her aunt, her more than parent.

The climate of England was ૩૨

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