again, and among my native converts, where I might hear the moaning of the ringdoves in the high bamboo woods, mingling with the simple hymns of praise adapted to the ancient melodies of the Hindoos.

Occupied with these thoughts, a tear started in the eyes of the old man as he shut himself up in his apartment: but in the solitude of his chamber this simple Christian soon found comfort from many sweet promises of Scripture, and was speedily favoured in his own mind with the most satisfactory evidence, that the Lord bestows perfect peace on those who love and honour him, in whatever situation or circumstance they may be found on earth. The old gentleman was very busy during this day in arranging his little matters; and the next day being Sunday, he accompanied his cousins to the place of worship, where he enjoyed the ministry of a truly pious and devoted servant of the Lord. The intervals between divine service were spent by him in prayer, reading, and meditation, and he concluded the day by conducting the family devotions: so that upon the whole he enjoyed himself much during the whole of this Sabbath.

The next morning, a hint was given him, not without much circumlocution, that as he had made his appearance at church the day before, he might expect several visiters during the course of the morning. These two things being put together, rather puzzled the old gentleman, who had entirely forgotten the English custom in this respect. However, he made no inquiries; but told the ladies that he was always ready to see any friend who might choose to honour him with their company. Accordingly, towards one o'clock, the ladies sent up their servant to see if the drawing-room was in exact order; and about a quarter of an hour afterward, the younger Miss Clinton came up, ushering in the minister with whose discourses Mr. Eliot had been so greatly pleased the day before, together with a young gentleman of about twenty-one, by name George Phillips, a youth of extremely sweet and prepossessing manners, and one who was at the present time under the tuition of Mr. Sandford, the minister above mentioned. With these gentlemen Mr. Eliot enjoyed an hour's truly pious and

agreeable intercourse, and was led by them to some interesting conversation respecting the state of religion in India. But during this conversation, not one word of undue flattery or praise of Mr. Eliot, fell from the mouth of these Christian gentlemen, though their manner to-wards the excellent Mr. Eliot was that of the most profound and sincere respect.

While the gentlemen were thus delightfully engaged, eagerly discoursing on what the Lord was doing for his poor people abroad, several shrill voices were heard upon the stairs, among which one was distinctly heard exclaiming, "And where is he? I am all agitation. Where is this dear old gentleman?" A moment after which, Mrs. Essington entered with an air all impatience, and without ceremony rushed forward with her hand extended to Mr. Eliot, at the same time pouring forth such a profusion of compliments, that the astonished old gentleman evidently drew back confounded, though he failed not to bow with his usually respectful and modest air. "Is there no one here," said Mrs. Essington, "to perform the ceremony of introduction? Miss Clinton, Miss Esther, how you forget yourselves," she added, turning round to the ladies, "I am very angry at your slowness. You have compelled me, all impatient as I was, to shock this gentleman by my over forwardness in introducing myself. Come, come: since none of you will speak for me, I am under the necessity of introducing myself. My name is Essington; and for the two years last past, I have been dying, absolutely dying, to see Mr. Eliot. I should have been here on Saturday or Sunday, but these hardhearted ladies would not suffer it; and now I am come, they leave me to say all for myself.

66 Well, but now," added she, sitting down, "now we are met, you must tell me, Mr. Eliot, indeed, you must tell me, how you left all those dear good creatures in India, all the good people in the jungles! Ay, jungle; that is the word. O that delightful account in the magazine! Dear Mr. Eliot, do tell us all about it: how could you part with them? how could they part with you? Well, but it is a perpetual feast for you to think how you have laboured among the heathen, and how many are and will be the better for your exertions! Well! what a

privilege! What an honour to have been employed in such a work! You have lived to some purpose, Mr. Eliot; you are a happy man. What sweet reflections you will have on your death-bed! I absolutely envy you."

During this time, the old gentleman remained perfectly silent, but eyeing, with mixed wonder and curiosity, the fair, faded, fashionable creature, who thus addressed him with such a mixture of vanity, thoughtlessness, and good intention. Such, however, was her incessant and tiresome volubility, that no opportunity offered itself of turning aside this amazing torrent of folly and flattery; so that Mr. Eliot was compelled to sit quietly and hear it all, till the two gentlemen withdrew, and another party of visiters arrived, who added to the confusion of the good man's ideas by echoing and re-echoing all Mrs. Essington had said in his commendation, all which was only heightened and inflamed by the few disparaging sentences which he contrived to introduce as it were edgeways at certain momentary pauses.

But what astonished the old gentleman above all things, was, that these ladies interspersed their discourse with texts of Scripture, religious phrases, and allusions to the most important and awful doctrines of Christianity; and all with a rapidity, ease, and levity, which would not have been misplaced in a ball-room or at a theatre.

After what Mr. Eliot considered as a very long time, these ladies arose and took their leave. Upon which the old gentleman, taking up his hat, and making his escape by a back-door, passed down a private street, and presently found himself in the skirts of the town; where, though he was at this time surrounded only by mean houses and poor people, yet such was his dread of being again encountered by any of the fair flatterers from whom he had just made his escape, that he did not feel at ease till he found himself quite clear of every habitation of man.

He had entered upon a fine gravel road, bordered on one side with a paling, which, from its extent and the lofty trees which hung over it, conveyed the idea of its being the paling of a park belonging to some nobleman's seat; and on the other, by a deep dingle, thickly shaded with

coppice. The dash of waterfalls distinctly met the ear from the depths of this dell.

In this road, thus shaded on the right and left, no sound of the human voice or step was to be heard; and nothing interrupted the deep silence of the place, except the murmur of the waterfall, the rustling of leaves as they were gently agitated by the light breeze, together with the song of the thrush and blackbird far away in the woods. The quiet and solemn beauty of this scene were particularly affecting at this moment to the mind of Mr. Eliot; insomuch that he could not help repeating with particular warmth and feeling the following stanzas of that beautiful hymn of Cowper:

"Far from the world, O Lord, I flee,
From strife and tumult far,

From scenes where Satan wages still,
His most successful war.

"The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree,
And seem by thy sweet bounty made,
For those who follow thee.

"There if thy Spirit touch the soul,
And grace her mean abode,

O! with what peace, and joy, and love,
She communes with her God!

"There, like the nightingale, she pours
Her solitary lays,

Nor asks a witness of her song,

Nor thirsts for human praise."

When Mr. Eliot had pursued this road some little way, he arrived at a spot where a low stile in the hedge on the side of the dingle, and a ladder against the park-paling on the other side of the road, pointed out a pathway probably from some village to another. He hesitated a moment between these; and then, turning to the side of the park, he mounted the ladder, and descending on the inside, presently found himself beneath the shade of a grove of oak, chestnut and beach, between the shafts of which trees his eye reached many a sunny glade, in which deer and herds of black cattle were feeding in perfect repose.

His feet being guided by a narrow pathway trodden in the grass, he went forward till he came to a more open part of the park, where, sitting down to rest himself on the root of an oak, which formed a convenient seat, he fell into a long and deep meditation.

There was much in the present prospect which reminded him of scenes to which he had been accustomed in India, and of one especially near his own habitation, where a wide and spacious lawn was richly adorned with groups and clusters of forest trees, under which herds of buffaloes were frequently seen reposing at noon-day. There wanted only, to render the illusion complete, some trees resembling that beautiful and peculiar family of vegetables with which the tropical forests are ever adorned-but an obelisk, or rather shaft of stone, fixed on a pedestal, tastefully placed in a situation where two groves approached each other, near the brow of a hill, supplied in some degree to the old gentleman the absence of a favourite palm tree, which occupied a somewhat similar situation in the well-remembered oriental scene to which he compared the one now presented to his view.

Mr. Eliot remained for awhile quietly contemplating the surrounding objects, and then broke out almost unconsciously, in words to the following effect: "O India! ever dear! O! scenes of tranquillity, which while I live I shall never cease to regret! O my poor people! my forsaken, neglected ones! why am I thus separated from you?" Here the old man wiped away a tear; and, yielding to his imagination, visited again, in thought, all those beloved scenes which he now never expected to behold in any other way.

At length, recollecting himself, he called his wandering fancy to order, and inquired of himself what it was which made him thus deeply to lament that he was never more to return to his former mode of life in India? "And what is it," asked he, "which, in this highly-favoured and enlightened country, frequently renders me so extremely uneasy, that I am ready to separate myself from all my connexions, and escape to some place where my name and person are equally unknown?

The answer to this question was-"A want of Christian simplicity."