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pondence is carried on. Such persons may express their tender sympathy for the young people, who are not permitted to meet openly and in the face of day, and may pass some heavy censures on the cruelty of their parents; but can they, on reflection, approve of their own doings, and think themselves entitled to respect? Impossible! They are acting a part, over which they wish the veil of secrecy to be thrown; and often become the means of sacrificing on the same altar, the virtue and happiness of the child, with the honour and felioity of the parent-capable of offering no other apology for their conduct, than, "they did not mean any harm." Mr. Holmes saw with great anxiety the declining health of his beloved Emma, and on surprizing her in tears, as he entered her room, he expressed his fears that she was unhappy. "Yes, my father, I am unhappy; and I believe that I shall never see another happy day in this unhappy world." "But I understood when I spoke to you, on the subject of your unhappiness, that you would for ever renounce all thought of further intimacy." "Yes, I said I would return his letters, and never suffer myself to be again beguiled from the path of duty; but I cannot subdue my feelings. I think if you knew him you would not object." "My dear girl, I have strong objections to his profession, which is not favourable to the cultivation of those domestic virtues on which the happiness of a wife depends." "But papa, he is one of the most attentive and

amiable of men and would, I have no doubt, make me happy." "It is very rarely indeed that a rake ever makes a good husband!" "A rake! Papa; you are misinformed." "Ah, my child, you are not aware of the deception which has been practised on you, by those you once thought your friends. I have made the most minute enquiry respecting his habits, his property, and his character; and I can assure you, on evidence the most decisive, that he is dissolute in his habits-impoverished in his purse, and his general character is the very reverse of what you imagine." "O, Papa! I think you have been deceived. He has his mother's fortune, which was very handsome. I have seen the original deeds which secured it to him." "He had his mother's fortune, my lear but he had squandered it away before he came of

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age; and when it was actually transferred to him, it was not sufficient to pay all his debts." Are you sure Papa, that you are not misinformed?" "I am."

"And

may I be permitted to ask, how you gained this information, which is so contrary to every statement I have ever received; and which if true, must change my opinion of him." "I gained it in the first instance, through the medium of your brothers; but as I was unwilling to believe such an unfavourable account, even on their testimony, I obtained a personal interview with several of his creditors, who gave me occular proof of the correctness of their statements. Indeed, one of them arrested him, last week, for the sum of £20, which had been due more than a year and a half; and others have been induced to wait a few months longer, from the representations of the Colonel, who has told them that his son is just on the eve of marrying a wealthy citizen's daughter, when every thing shall be settled." "Inpossible! Such duplicity cannot dwell in the human bosom !" "It is true, my child." "I am forced to believe it, my father, and yet I cannot. Perhaps it is only some temporary embarrassment, arising from some act of generosity, or some species of fraud that has been practised on him. And you know, Papa, a gentleman who is reduced to poverty, may rise again in society; and gaining wisdom by his experience, he may become more. careful!" "Yes, my dear, if he be a man of probity and virtue; but if not, he will never rise." And is not Mr. Charles Orme a man of probity and virtue ? "No. He may appear such in your presence; and he may be described as such by his own family. but when he is traced in the path-way of his goings, he may be found in places, and at games, and in societies, which a virtuous man would shun as offensive to his taste, and destructive of his honour.

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When a forbidden passion has once gained an ascendancy over the mind of a female, it yery often throws such a charm of infatuation over her, that she becomes either unable or unwilling to see the inevitable ruin that lies before her; and though she will listen to the advice of her friends with apparent interest, and sometimes profess to adopt it, under a full conviction that it is such as she ought to follow, yet as soon as she comes

into contact with the fatal object on which her affections are irrecoverably placed, she feels an influence which shakes down all her wise resolves, and advances to meet her unhappy doom.

Thus it was with the accomplished Emma, who, after struggling against the tide of her affections for many months, and endeavouring to recover that mental quietude which she enjoyed before it set in upon her, rashly consented to follow its course, even thongh her ruin should be the inevitable consequence.

The family had engaged to spend a few days with an intimate friend, who resided near Tonbridge Wells, but as Emma wished not to go into company at present, she was excused, and took leave of her parents and sisters with the tenderest expression of attachment, and said she hoped they would enjoy the visit. On their return they were informed by the housekeeper that Miss Emma had not been home since the day after they left; but had requested her to present the following letter to her father as soon as she saw him.

*MY DEAR FATHER,

"Before you receive this, I shall have committed an act which will plunge you and every one of our family into the greatest distress; but I have been compelled to it by dire necessity. I could not conquer my passion for Mr. Charles Orme, and am therefore now his wife. Had I not consented, my life would have fallen a sacrifice to my feelings; and as I am not prepared to die, I judged it prudent to perpetuate a life, with some chance for happiness, rather than loose it, with a certain prospect of misery. I hope you and my dear mother will forgive me; and if you cannot suffer me to visit you, I hope you will pray for me. My present home is at the Colonel's, and though I do not expect to find it such an one as that which I have left, yet I trust it will not be without its comforts. With every affectionate regard to you, my dear Mamma, and sisters, and brothers, am your undutiful, yet much attached,

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EMMA."

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"Having no doubt of the truth of his statement, she rode to town with him in one of the morning stages; hut just as they were going into the bank, he said, 'There's a friend whom I have been anxious to see some months, you will step in and get the cash, and after I have seen him, I will return and meet you.'" Page 8.

London:

PRINTED FOR FRANCIS WESTLEY, 10, STATIONERS' COURT, AND AVE-MARIA-LANE

THE UNHAPPY MARRIAGE.

PART III.

"Marriage enlarges the scenes of our happiness and miscries. A marriage of love is pleasant; a marriage of interest easy; and a marriage, where both meet, happy; but a marriage which is brought about by intrigue, to repair one ruined fortune, by the sacrifice of another, must be a source of wretchedness to both parties, if it do not end in their mutual disgrace and ruin." Anon.

THE distress into which the family was plunged, on hearing the contents of the letter, exceeds all description; and though during the first ebullition of their grief, they gave utterance to some heavy censures and bitter reproaches, yet, on cooler reflection, they felt more disposed to pity the poor unfortunate Emma.

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"A de

ceived heart," said her weeping father, "hath led her astray, and she needs not the vial of our displeasure, to fill up the measure of woe which she will have to take." "We have had, as a family," he continued, " a larger proportion of happiness for a long series of years, than has fallen to the lot of most; and if in the decline of life, it should please an all wise Providence to throw over us the clouds of evil, we must not repine, but rather bow in submission to his righteous will, and pray for wisdom and for grace, to guide and support us, when walking through the darkness by which we are now surrounded." But," said Mrs. Holmes, "this is an evil which I did not expect. I thought she had too much regard for her own honour, and too much respect for our feelings, to steal away from us in such a clandestine manner, as though her home was a prison, and her parents tyrants. She deserves all she may suffer; and if every atom of sensibility is not become as callous in her breast as the rock of flint, she must endure & martyrdom of anguish." Yes, my dear, but we must not derive an emotion of pleasure from the intensity of her mental pain; for she is still our child, and though she has torn herself away from us, we must not abandon her." "Abandon her! no, impossible! She is still our child. I can never forget that I gave her birth;

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