well bear scrutiny; there certainly are a few (she added, smiling towards Mr. Clayford) whom we might hold up for imitation."

Mr. Clayford looked grave, and observed that it was always an unsafe thing to exalt the creature too much. "I have remarked," he said, "that where this has been the case, we have ever had cause to repent it, our creature-idolatry is not unfrequently punished by the fall of the idol, or at least some inconsistency is suffered to overtake them; a lesson to both parties; the one learns to distrust his own strength more entirely than he was perhaps inclined to do before, while the other is taught to place no fixed dependance on any thing short of Christ. It is a cruelty to any one to hold them up for admiration, for the consequences generally follow, as I have observed. God will not give his glory to another.”

"But what a delightful, encouraging thought it is," said the lady, "that we have all such privileges; that we may all hope, by following in the path of other holy characters, to attain the degree of grace to which they reached! And may we not conclude, that as there are various degrees of holiness, so there are various degrees of rewards for the redeemed, as well as of punishments for the condemned?"

"We may, I think, conclude from scripture that there are many mansions,' and that we shall not all have the same places assigned to us, though every redeemed soul will be certain of a full portion of happiness, and every one of them dwell for ever with the Sun of Righteousness."

"Yes! but don't you think, that according to our advance in holiness, I mean according as our affections become dead to earth, and alive only to heaven; and we cease to be under the dominion of sin, that in the same ratio we may expect to receive our reward?"

Before Mr. Clayford could furnish the lady with an answer, (for he looked hesitating and doubtful what to reply) Mrs. Percy, who had been attentively listening to all that was said, turned to Mary, and with a look of mingled surprise and anxiety exclaimed, "What then will become of me!"

"And what," added Mr. Conroy, "of the poor thief on the cross, for he had no time for his work of holiness."

Colonel Percy brought forward the parable of the labourers in the vineyard, some at the eleventh hour receiving the same as others hired early in the day; and professed himself unable to understand the scope and intent of the para

ble, if it was not to teach us, that salvation had no connexion or respect whatsoever to human merit, or fancied good deeds.

"I remember," said Mary, "a beautiful passage in the Private Thoughts of Bishop Beveridge, which, I think, is expressed in these words, 'I do not only betray the inbred venom of my heart by poisoning my common actions, but even my most religious performances also, with sin. I cannot pray, but I sin; I cannot hear or preach a sermon, but I sin; I cannot give an alms or receive the sacrament, but I sin ;-nay I cannot even confess my sins, but my very confessions are aggravations of them ; my repentance needs to be repented of, and my tears want washing in the blood of Christ.' I never," she added, "hear Christians talking of the ratios and degrees of their reward, but my mind recurs to these expressions of the Bishop and I ask myself what expectation he would have formed, of the ratio of his reward in the future state."

:

The lady meantime had walked to the window, and was calling Mr. Clayford's attention to an account Mrs. Darling was giving her of her park, which scarcely now retained any thing of its former pretensions to that name. Mrs. Darling explained, in her own low under-tone of

voice, that she had had it all ploughed up to plant potatoes and turnips for the poor, and insisted on no ridicule being thrown on her profitable plantation. The tall lady laughed much, and declared she had carried her benevolence too far, and destroyed the beauty of the place altogether. Mrs. Darling pointed out further marks of destruction, in the levelling of a clump of fine oaks, which formed a noble group from the drawing-room windows. Mr. Clayford's opinion was called upon as to the propriety of such a procedure; he was a great admirer of nature in all her forms, and could scarcely bring himself to justify Mrs. Darling's measures, he, however, commended the motive, though he lamented the sacrifice.

Mr. Conroy, who heard and saw every thing said or done, expressed his opinions very freely, "he thought the next heir would by no means entertain a sense of the justice of the procedure." While he was delivering his sentiments, Mrs. Darling was explaining her situation: she said, "that being left by her late husband with the entire management of the estate, and with full power to do with it as she liked; and having no children or near relative to claim any thing, she considered herself in the light of a steward acting for his master, and her only aim was to discover

in what way she should best succeed in making her property turn to most advantage." She said with a smile, in which every one present readily joined, "that dress was no snare to her, and that her whole wardrobe scarcely cost her ten pounds a year; that her household economy was by no means an expensive one; that her servants officiated in various capacities; the coachman acting as footman, groom, or assistant in the field, as occasion might require; and the horses served the double capacity of drawing the carriage and the plough.' She then proceeded to give the details of her domestic arrangements, and on summing up the difference of expenditure between the last few years, and those which had been past without consideration for the responsibility of her situation, and the claims of her fellowcreatures, the result was nearly incredible. She assured Mr. Clayford, that while she had formerly spent five thousand a year on almost useless expenses, she now found a few hundreds would equally well provide for all necessities, and she had the overplus to lay out as she liked. Mr. Clayford reminded her of the responsibility of such means, and the watchfulness which was necessary to prevent the too natural feeling of self-complacency attendant on the