The

modation, with slices from an ox roasted whole, and draughts from barrels of ten year old October. The day and night passed off with the utmost festivity and mirth. On the following morning, in a walk I was taking through the village, accident led me past a neat little dwelling of peculiar beauty and simplicity: at the moment of my approaching it, I perceived, a young female, of a most interesting appearance, employed in distributing various gifts to a large group of children, who were collected, with smiles on their faces, upon a grass-plot before the house. scene was one of that interesting nature from which I had not resolution immediately to withdraw myself; and I enquired of my steward, who was by my side, what was the name of the young woman I beheld. Georgina Howard, one of the worthiest as well as the handsomest of girls, Sir,' he replied- Georgina Howard is her name. Poor thing, she is the child of misfortune!' " How so?' I asked who are her parents?' She has but one alive,' was the answer of my steward her father, who is a disabled soldier; he was a lieutenant in a marching regiment in the American war; an affectionate wife was the companion of his marches. At the siege of

he had the misfortune to have his leg taken off by a cannon ball: he was carried to his teat, and whilst his wife was administering to his relief, she was shot dead at his feet. He returned to England, with his child, disabled for service, and has retired upon his half pay to this cottage.'The interest which the appearance of Georgina had excited in my heart,

was infinitely increased by the mournful sketch which had been given me of her history; and I determined to introduce myself to her and her father, and make them an offer of any services which it might be in my power to render them. I considered, however, that it would be advisable to defer my visit to some future time, as my presence at this moment would in all probability only discompose the happiness of the hour, both to Georgina and her juvenile friends. I therefore passed quickly on, enquiring of my steward whether he knew on what occasion she was distributing her presents to the young villagers. He informed me that he understood it was in commemoration of her birth-day; and directed my sight to a garland of flowers which they had dressed in honour of her, and suspended between two yew trees, which were placed on either side of the entrance to a little garden, in front of the house in which she dwelt. How great a contrast, I immediately began to reflect, was there between the solemnization of the birth-day of this daughter of innocence, and myself, the son of splendour and of pomp! And this consideration was followed by a wish to ascertain which of these two solemnizations had been productive of the greater share of happiness. There could be no deception in the smiles of the youthful throng now surrounding Georgina; but beneath those which had covered the faces of the guests who had been assembled on the like occasion at my mansion, had doubtless lurked envy, dissatisfaction, and an infinity more of those passions which forbid

the great and fashionable to taste unalloyed pleasure. How much more enviable a human being then was Georgina on her birth-day then I had been on mine! I had held forth to my guests expectations of the greatest enjoyment, which, according to the private calculations of my own heart, were probably realized in the breasts of very few of them. Georgina had promised very little to those whom. she was entertaining; and had succeeded in making them all superlatively happy. How exquisite appeared to me her simple manners, and native charms, when compared with the artificial conduct, and assumed graces, of such women as I had heard extolled by the votaries of fashion, as the pre-eminent goddesses of its fantastic empire! From that moment an interest in the fate of Georgina Howard was excited in my heart; an interest which will only cease to exist when death snaps the chord of feeling: but at that moment my ideas concerning her were not of a tenderer nature than that it had afforded me the highest gratification to contemplate her person, and that I anticipated with pleasure the idea of being introduced to her acquaintance. On the succeeding day I sent my steward, who I found had a slight acquaintance with Lieutenant Howard, to inform him and his daughter, that as I had discovered them to be my neighbours, it was my wish to be known to them, and that I would call upon them that morning, if they had no objection, to receiving my visit. A polite message was returned to my enquiry; and at the hour of noon I set out for the rustic dwelling of the

old soldier. Georgina and her father bade me welcome in terms which, although intended to convey that they considered themselves honoured by my call, were still entirely devoid of the meanness of flattery, or the confusion of low bred manners. I remained with them a considerable time; gave them a most cordial invitation to visit me; offered them the produce of iny gardens; and, in short, departed from them with extreme reluctance, so much was I pleased with the open honesty of the father's character, and the manners of the daughter, which were retiring, without bashfulness-simple, yet expressive of an enlightened mind. The health of the old soldier was very indifferent; and the remainder of his amputated leg, which had been too soon exposed to the cold after the operation had taken place, very painful when he attempted to move upon it; he therefore very seldom stirred beyond the limits of his little garden; and on this account I received only one visit from him, as he seemed to consider that he was giving me an unwarrantable trouble in sending my carriage to convey him to my mansion. He ever expressed the greatest pleasure at receiving visits from me; and as I derived a real satisfaction from increasing my acquaintance with him, I was not slow in accepting his invitations. I found Lieutenant Howard to be by far the pleasantest of my neighbours his education was good, his reflections upon men and manners just and acute; his anecdotes were of the most entertaining and instructive nature: he had served abroad in three campaigns, without the

nfeans of purchasing an advancement in his profession; and was ultimately obliged to retire a cripple, and support himself and his child upon the slender stipend of a lieutenant's half pay. As my acquaintance with his virtues and his situation grew, my tenderest feelings were awakened towards his lot; and I could have wept for the hardness of that man's heart who would not have dropped a tear at hearing the old soldier recount the events of that day, when stretched in agony upon the earth beneath his tent, he beheld the beloved mother of his child, struck by the relentless hand of death, fall a corpse at his feet."

[From the subsequent chapters it appears that Lord Abberville preserves Georgina from the snares of an abandoned character, named Ryecroft, with whom he is obliged to fight a duel; he afterwards marries Georgina himself. For an account of the dreadful event which forced him to go abroad, we refer our readers to the novel itself.]

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EXAMPLE AND PRECEPT.

THE Vicar looked at me as if he meant to lecture me likewise on the language appropriate to my condition; but if that were his first thought he dropped it, and vouchsafed to answer my question philosophically. "Modern times exhibit comparitively but few examples of stoicism, yet modern times can