WHICH IS SHORT, BUT RETROSPECTIVE.

I PRAY you, dear reader, to loosen the reins of your imagination; but turn its chafing steeds from their onward burn

ing path, and, for a little while, glide back with me into the dream-like Past! I would ask you to pass a lenient judgment

on those whose early fault had entailed on them ten years of punishment. But it is of no use conjecturing if you be old or young, and

addressing you accordingly; since it is quite a mistake to suppose that a warm heart and generous sympathies, of necessity belong to youth; or that a hard, unpitying judgment must proceed from age.

No; life should be measured by emotions, not by years; and they who have lived by that calendar bear witness, and should judge!

Ten years ago William Cavendish Hamilton was two-and-twenty; his brother Reginald, four years his junior, and Edward, a sickly child of nine years old, made up the offspring and hope of their parents. It had always been intended that William should succeed his father, and from an early age he had been initiated into the mysteries of the countinghouse; while the wealthy merchant's second son was sent to Oxford, there to uphold the dignity of the family, and complete a scholastic education, not with the absolute view of his following any learned profession, but as a necessary step in the career of a "gentleman." Alas! for the youngest, and, as it almost seemed, the best beloved-so fondly was he watched, so lavishly was wealth poured out whenever Science held forth the light of hope, or even Ru

mour babbled of a remedy. He had inherited with his birth a delicate constitution, and at a very early age symptoms of spinal disease appeared; yet to this feeble body was joined a mind of extraordinary, and, as with such subjects often happens, precocious power. It was impossible altogether to hinder its development, although physicians advised that it should by no means be stimulated to exertion. What plan was to be adopted? Schools were utterly out of the question. Learned professors would scarcely stoop to impart the rudiments; inferior tutors might not have patience meet to deal with the fitful energies, and wayward fancies of the little invalid; but it was thought that a Dependant Girl might be found to combine all the high qualities of the competent instructress, the watchful nurse, and the unwearying companion!

It is really a great compliment to the gentler sex to find that these, and similar excellent combinations, are quite commonly expected from her; a token that the expectation is not very often disappointed. Alas! alas! in this hard, selfish, world where suffering, that does not loudly complain, is only beginning to be recognised, and rights are not allowed unless

they be clamorously asserted, it seems to me that the Worthiest are ever ready to step forward, and perform with silent dignity the service of endurance, unsustained even by the self-consciousness of greatness— uncheered by the world's applause, which is reserved only for Active Heroism!

Louisa Grey was about nineteen when she accepted the situation of governess to poor little Edward Hamilton. She was to walk by the side of the garden-chair; or sit beside the sofa where the sick child was stretched; and insinuate knowledge, as it were, drop by drop, in the form of pleasant, amusing discourse; or, seizing with rare discretion, the invalid's "better days," apply them to such mental exercise as might expedite his course on the other and more royal road to learning. This was the rough outline of her duties, but countless were the offices, not in the bond, which her zeal and acquirements prompted her to fulfil. No one knew much about the family or connections of Louisa Grey, and few seemed to care. She had been orphaned at a very early age, sheltered for a few years in the house of a relative; then sent to school from the combined resources of three or four friends. This was one of

the most fortunate events of her life, for the lady, with whom she was placed, was a pattern for her class, and, thoroughly understanding Louisa's dependant condition, and the purposes of her education, she not only laboured to make her competent as an instructress, but trained a disposition, naturally affectionate and docile, to meekness, forbearance, self-command, and withal self-respect. There was another characteristic about her even as a child, which she owed more to nature than to education. This was an elegance of mind and manner which seemed innate; and which at times threw a charm around her akin to the fascinations of beauty. Interpreting itself by grace of movement, by apt expressions, and by quick appreciation of the Good in all things. People, often carried away by a first and hurried impression, thought her beautiful; yet she was not so if you came to measure her face by the rule and compass of cold, material criticism.

And this was the being with whom the sisterless William Hamilton was permitted to become intimately associated! For the chamber of the sick child was a centre of attraction to the whole family, and the Governess was thus less in the back-ground