be found by those who look for it) that the brethren of St. Swithun's are all supplied from the same spring, and that we cannot draw water from our common fountain without having at least the opportunity of being reminded, in Scripture phrase, of our common need and common hopes."

Mr. Livingstone answered not; but whether his silence arose from conviction, or from his being unable to understand, or at least to appreciate the force of what Dr. Clinton had said, is a matter which must be left to the candid judgment of the reader. In themselves, neither the conversation nor the matters discussed were important, but the opinions held, and the mode in which they were expressed, were so very characteristic of the several individuals of the party as to make them worth recording. And the same tone was maintained by each through the remainder of the day. When, for instance, they approached the Church, or rather Chapel of the Hospital,-a semiNorman structure of much more ancient date than the buildings with which it had become connected subsequently, (having formed part of the ancient castle of Berkingholt, which had been dismantled during the Wars of the Roses, and on the site of which St. Swithun's had been built) the Warden stopped to point out to Mrs. Becket the admirable beauty of the Western end, with its characteristic arcade of inter

secting semicircular arches, adorned with zig-zag mouldings, above the richly decorated door-way, Mr. Livingstone acknowledged the effect to be striking, though ponderous, but could not help expressing his satisfaction that a state of things no longer existed in which capital was thrown away upon such objects, and in which labour was so cheap that ingenuity could be perverted.

So likewise, when Mary Clinton, who had by this time emancipated herself from the support of that gentleman's arm, was showing to Mrs. Becket, in the interior of the Chapel, a window closed by a shutter, which communicated with the Infirmary, and which was opened daily at the hours of morning and evening prayer, in order that the patients, as they lay in their beds, might hear and join in the service of the Church, the old lady's admiration of the tender thoughtfulness exhibited in the arrangement, was cut short by her nephew's exclamation, "Well, certainly, this must lighten the Warden's duties; it is a sort of killing two birds with one stone! And talking of killing, by the bye, I should think that the draughts of cold wind which must rush up from the Church whenever that window is opened must make short work with the poor old fellows in their beds: there must be speedy promotion from the Infirmary to the graveyard."

"Why you don't suppose, Sir, do you," asked Mary Clinton indignantly, "that my father neglects his ministrations towards the brethren, because they are not cut off from the privilege of uniting in the public devotions of the Church ?”

"Nonsense, Mary," said the Warden interposing, "don't you see that Livingstone is laughing at us? You should retort upon him, and tell him that if he really takes that view of the case, he should recommend it to the notice of his Board of Guardians. I see they are advertising for a Cheap Chaplain, and promising him light work. And then, as regards the cold draughts which he talks of, we have no such things here. Our church is never locked up from year's end to year's end; our daily congregations keep it well aired: but as I hear, Livingstone, that your Union Chapel is open but once a week, I dare say the air in it may be cold and damp and foul enough to effect the object without difficulty, which you suggested, that we may have proposed to ourselves in opening yonder lattice."

This was said laughingly, but the Warden saw he was getting on delicate ground, and changed the subject. Mr. Livingstone was one of those people who are fond of raising a smile at their neighbour's expense, but are altogether impatient of any return of the compliment.